Couple travels 11,000 km by bicycle in six years – 06/12/2023 – Tourism

She was an architecture student; he of music. But both had a passion in common: cycling. A hobby that would soon become a life project (and style).

Iris Magalhães from São Paulo and Djoe Rosa from Rio Grande do Sul, both 28 years old, have traveled more than 11,000 kilometers by bicycle in Brazil in six years. A journey with no return forecast, shared in real time by the couple on social networks.

The two met at the University of Pelotas, in Rio Grande do Sul, in 2016. And, before they started dating, they took a 40-day bicycle trip through Uruguay.

When they returned to college, they engaged in romance. But something had changed within them. The feeling of belonging, according to Iris, was no longer the same.

“It seemed that the room had become small, and I realized how young I was. I told Djoe to go to Mexico by bicycle. We started to organize ourselves and the idea matured”, she tells BBC News Brasil.

But how to travel to another country without first exploring Brazil? They then decided to start the journey in national territory.

The plan was to leave the South, where they lived, and explore the six Brazilian biomes.

“We, as Brazilians, had the same stereotyped view of Brazil and with prejudice. We didn’t expect it to be so big. It’s an extremely diverse country.”

To prepare themselves financially for the undertaking, the two started selling brigadeiros in college.

First of all, they needed to buy new bicycles, since the ones they used to get around had been stolen in the middle of the process.

“I paid R$50 for my bike. It’s a 1998 model, and you can buy bread on the corner. I bought it from a friend and put it together with other parts. In the end, it all must have cost around R$700” , recalls Djoe.

Iris, on the other hand, got a new bike through a donation. “I made a post on Facebook talking about the theft, and a colleague offered it to me. I went to see the bike and pedaled away.”

With new bikes in hand, they weighed what would be most important for a long, low-cost trip. So they decided to invest in a good tent and a cheap adventure camera to document the journey.

Departure with R$ 67 in your pocket

In February 2017, the two left university behind to embark on their adventure.

They left Pelotas, in Rio Grande do Sul, by bicycle and went up towards the Serra Gaúcha, passing through the canyon regions, along the coast of Santa Catarina, until they reached cities in the Southeast.

As most of the money they saved had been used to purchase equipment and accessories for the trip, the couple started the journey with just over R$50.

“I left with R$17 in my pocket, and Iris with R$50”, remembers Djoe.

They say the amount was enough at first. That’s because, to capitalize, the two performed music in the cities they stopped at – Djoe on guitar, and Iris on tambourine.

At that time, six years ago, they say they spent only R$300 a month —the biggest expense, according to them, was food.

This was only possible due to the simple and minimalist way of life they adopted, they say.

“We cook our own food. We sleep on the riverbanks, at gas stations, do volunteer work, stay in people’s homes”, says Iris.

Today, the couple’s monthly expenses have increased — but, according to them, the main expenses continue to be food and bike maintenance.

“Currently, it revolves around R$ 1,500 to R$ 2,000 (per month)”, they say.

In order to maintain themselves, in addition to musical performances, the couple has already done weeding, worked as a waiter and sold brigadeiro.

Over time, they saw the need to professionalize audiovisual production for social networks. And they decided to invest in new equipment.

“At the beginning of the trip, we only had an old Iris cell phone and a ‘Go Pobre’ (cheap adventure camera)”, remembers Djoe.

For this, they say they worked eight hours a day on a farm in Brasília for a month.

Iris worked as a maid at the farm’s hotel, while Djoe did general jobs in the agroforestry. On weekends, Djoe still played at the farm’s restaurant, and the two also performed in Brasília. As they had the right to food and housing on the farm, they say their spending was practically zero.

After saving money, they went to Paraguay to buy more modern cameras.

The investment paid off. Since 2020, they have been making money from their Youtube channel, which started monetizing after three years of posting.

They also promote crowdfunding campaigns and have a virtual store where they sell project stickers and t-shirts.

Day by day on the road

The challenges, however, go far beyond the financial issue. The couple says that when moving around, they pedal, on average, 60 kilometers a day —and you need to be very energetic.

To facilitate the journey, they use equipment suitable for cycling.

“We use saddlebags, which are bags for luggage. Nothing goes on our body, and this facilitates weight distribution. It is much less exhausting”, explains Djoe.

Food is also strategic. As they are vegetarians, they invest in a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

And, in order not to carry too much extra weight, they count on taking only the necessary amount — in addition to adopting techniques to prevent the food from spoiling.

“We carry the food in pieces of cloth so as not to accelerate the decomposition process. We make sandwiches with tomatoes and peanut butter and, at the end of the day, we go to the market and buy enough food to live for a couple of days.”

Security is also carefully thought out. They often sleep at gas stations or ask local residents to pitch their tent in their backyards. According to them, there are a lot of suspicious people, especially in the big cities, but most reach out to cycle travelers.

And there are pleasant surprises along the way:

“Once, we were cycling, and a woman drove by, honking her car horn, calling us to have breakfast at her house. We followed her, went there, had coffee, then left”, recalls Iris.

And how do you take a shower? Most often they shower at gas stations. But not always in the traditional way — they say that sometimes they need to use a wet wipe, and they have even taken a bath with a mug and watering can.

On the road for six years, the couple has already cycled just over 11,000 kilometers, passing through 17 Brazilian states.

Initially, they would spend months in a given city, but this strategy was extending the trip too far.

Now, the length of stay varies from a few days to weeks, according to local attractions and each one’s interests.

At the time of this report, they were in Porto Velho, Rondônia, and only one biome on the list remained to be seen: the Pantanal.

The biggest challenge – cycling in the ‘desert’

Along this journey, they have had many adventures. And if you ask what was the most challenging part of the route, they won’t think twice: Jalapão, in the state of Tocantins.

“They call (Jalapão) the ‘desert of the waters’, and exploring it by bicycle was almost crazy. 100% of people said that we were crazy and that we were going to die”, recalls Djoe.

They left the Federal District for Jalapão in 2019. On the journey between the cities of Ponte Alta do Tocantins and Mateiros, there were 210 kilometers with practically no structure to stop. It was possible to see only a few locals along the way.

As it was the dry season, they faced high temperatures – with a wind chill of up to 50 degrees in the morning.

And getting hydrated wasn’t easy at all. They say that they often had to travel 50 kilometers to find a source of water. But sometimes they were lucky enough to be able to count on the generosity of tour guides driving by.

“It was the tourism people who gave us support. And there was even a guide who left us food.”

But the most challenging, according to the couple, was pedaling that terrain. They had to get off the bikes.

“We pushed the bicycles and it took four hours to walk three kilometers.”

When they arrived at the homes of local residents, they even heard that they should throw the bicycles away because they would interfere with the crossing.

They remember, however, that they also got unexpected rides along the way.

There were 40 days in this region of the country. And, even with the difficulty of pedaling, the couple says they felt complete.

“We were so happy, the people were so incredible. The landscape is very beautiful, a long sandy road and nothing on both sides. Several times we were there, set up the tent, and at night no one passed”, they recall. .

Other perrengues (and dangers) on the road

This was not the only perrengue they went through. Although the weather can be, in their opinion, one of the main setbacks.

They remember that riding in the rain is also complicated — and not considered as safe. And sometimes weather conditions add up to unforeseen events, like a flat tire.

“In the state of São Paulo, it was raining a lot once, and Iris’s bike tire burst, and I literally had to stand guarding it with the umbrella while she fixed the tire. It’s crazy.”

Another time, under a strong sun in the interior of Rio Grande do Norte, Iris’s bicycle tire burst eight times — they remember that they were very tired, almost dehydrating. But there was no other way but to fix it.

In addition, on many highways, car and truck drivers do not respect cyclists.

Once, just at the beginning of the trip, Iris had an accident. She braked hard as she pedaled, and the bike skidded between the rocks. She hit her head and passed out.

As Djoe was already a little ahead, he didn’t see what happened. When she stopped, he counted to a hundred, and when she didn’t appear, he started back. That’s when he came across Iris lying on the road, being helped by a man.

“I didn’t remember things, they asked if I had had an accident, and I didn’t. My head was a little hurt, and I didn’t really know what had happened.”

Djoe knocked on the door of an elderly couple, who were initially suspicious, looking for help:

“They asked me to take Iris there, and I did. They saw that she was hurt and called Samu. She was taken care of at the hospital and everything went well”, recalls Djoe.

In the end, they ended up spending almost four days at this couple’s house.

After the accident, however, Iris was unsure about getting back on the road.

“At that time, I started to question whether that was for me, I kept thinking, thinking. It was difficult, mentally speaking. I had to overcome that to be able to keep pedaling.”

Perrengues and accidents aside, they say that the breathtaking landscapes are undoubtedly a reward. But they claim that what most marked them, over all these years on the road, were the people.

They believe they managed to see Brazil’s plurality up close.

“We realized how incredible our country is, and what our land, our people really are. A painful history. It’s almost unbelievable that it has all of this at once. The beauty of Brazil is its diversity”, they sum up.

Adventure in South America

After almost six years traveling around Brazil, Djoe and Iris intend to head to the Andes —the idea is to explore the countries of South America from the second half of the year.

The couple wants to start their journey in Bolivia, cross to Peru and then move on to Ecuador and Colombia.

They are calling the project “Courage in the Andes”, an analogy with the name of the profile they have on social networks — “Courage in Bagage”.

And they launched a crowdfunding campaign to help buy cold-weather equipment and clothing.

“This international phase will demand more technical equipment and appropriate clothes, which are expensive outside the country. Cycling at 3,000 meters of altitude is different”, they explain. “We’re going to face extreme cold.”

Their plan is to complete this roadmap in a year — and they say they are not thinking, for now, of returning to the traditional way of life.