ben finch

a selfie of gabi and i in a park in porto alegre. i’m in a t-shirt and shorts, she’s looking beautiful in shorts, a vest and sunglasses

a selfie of gabi and i outside a pizzeria. there’s two good pizzas in front of us, which is unusual. we’re both wearing black tops

a selfie of gabi and i in an arty restaurant in porto alegre. she’s in an off white top and i’m in a stripey t-shirt. large flowers and leaves are painted on the wall behind us

a selfie of gabi and i under the house of culture in porto alegre. it’s an old art deco hotel, painted an orangey pink. the ground floor of it stretches out behind us

happy valentine’s to my amorcita! we have many more adventures and much to discover about each other to come

a selfie of gabi and i beside the fountain of eternal love in gramado, brazil. the edge of the fountain is covered in love notes that people have clipped on. it’s not spraying much water, so the pool is still. behind a large green hedge is a building built in a german style

a german-style stone church is seen through some trees and patio cover. the blue sky is full of fluffy clouds. a red trolley bus is just in front of the church

a vw beetle is parked on a street in gramado. german style chalets are on the edge of the street, and it is lined with trees

statues of jesus’ disciples run along the edge of a pool with small fountains. a green hedge runs behind them and a large building is behind that.

we’re on to gramado, possibly the most german city outside of germany. it’s a romantic place with sights like the fountain of eternal love for us to explore

midnight express: thomas gets caught trying to smuggle weed out of istanbul and is sent crazy in a turkish prison

sunset in porto alegre, brazil. the silhouette of a cyclist and some trees on the bank of a huge river. the sun is close to the horizon and reflected in the water, like a narrow cone stretching to the shore. light is bursting through some clouds into the sky

a selfie of gabi and i on the riverside. we’re both laughing. i have a passion fruit juice and she has a cocktail

think we’ve bumped into one of the prettiest sunsets on the east coast of the americas

i’ve avoided that thankfully, it’s always horrible

the ecuadorian government doesn’t really have much they can complain about here to be honest, except because they want to be friends with trump

got a thing of oreos into me just after that pic. turns out it feels like 37c today!

me trying to smile in front of a bar by a skate park. it looks more like a grimace. my hair is sweaty and everywhere. my face is red, almost the same colour as my cycling jersey

that’s a bonk

a selfie of gabi and i at the iguaçu falls. we’re both a bit wet from the spray. she’s in a white stewpot top and sunglasses, i’m in a navy and orange striped t-shirt and squinting. the falls are crashing all around us

a shot of the iguaçu falls from a distance through the trees. the waterfalls still fill most of the shot. fluffy clouds float in tge blue sky above

a bridge crosses one of the many plunge pools of the falls, closest to the main waterfall. the pool has some green rocks, but is mostly turbulent water

water tumbled over a series of huge waterfalls at iguaçu falls. it’s really hard to describe the scale of it, but it’s larger than you can think of

happy birthday to my beautiful girlfriend! here’s to many more. the iguaçu falls really are everything they’re cracked up to be

it could well be you know. this area of brazil was settled by the northern, central and eastern europeans, so they’ll have seen something similar in it. they’re definitely playing better football here than tayside though

green fields stretch out over rolling hills with a few trees spotted here and there. the sky is a bright blue with fluffy white clouds

a good example of what deforestation looks like. welcome to the atlantic forest, formerly the second largest rainforest on the planet

feel like someone i know should have some help here (i haven’t, for my sins)

a huge clay bowl of moqueca, a bahian seafood stew, with rice, farofa, and a plantain sauce, plus some passion fruit juice

a selfie of gabi and i in a restaurant smiling. we’re both in black tops, and she’s in brown shorts. there are lots of paintings hanging on a red wall behind us

this was followed by a moqueca, which is a delicious (and huge) seafood stew from bahia

a selfie of gabi and i in front of a large statue of the sitting buddha, surrounded by smaller golden statues of buddha. gabi’s smiling, and wearing sunglasses and a floral print dress. i’m smiling, and in a black t-shirt with a rucksack on my back

the gardens of the buddhist temple and full of manicured trees and statues. the sitting buddha is in the distance, and a painted buddha (i’m not sure which one this is) is closer to the camera. you can just about see a row of the multiple golden buddhas

a large golden statue of budai, often called the fat buddha, in the temple’s garden, surrounded by manicured shrubs. another stone statue stands to the right. the sky is a bright blue with a single large white cloud

17 months together, and still very much in love! we’re now deep in gaúcho territory, at the border between brazil, argentina and paraguay. slightly unexpectedly, we spent this anniversary at the region’s chinese buddhist temple with buddha and budai

is that ostrava? that’s a cool, weird little city

me smiling in my blue cycling kit. my eyes are half open cause my sunglasses are slotted into my helmet

a white and red truck enters an industrial estate near curitiba

a red road bike leans on some planters at a petrol station near curitiba

my ride today from curitiba to campo magro and campo largo. it reads: STRAVA Morning Ride Distance 100.46km Elev Gain 1,307 m Time 4h 8m

i’m going to keep trying to find an interesting ride, but at the minute i’m doing tours of industrial estates and highways. i did bump into a few hills

go raibh maith agat!

gabi and i take a selfie in our flat. she’s in a white blouse and i’m in a burgundy t-shirt and shorts

feliz ano novo from us, who had a surprisingly quiet but beautiful new year’s in the end

a selfie of gabi and i in the rain. she’s in a black top and brown shorts and i’m in a burgundy t-shirt. we’re smiling

a wide shot of the city from distance. a small part of the sky is blue, the rest is an angry grey that you can’t see through

the inside of the covered market in curitiba. it’s quite posh and pretty and the food quality looks good

kbbeh, tabbouleh and pita bread, it was good

we got caught in a storm on the way to see the capybaras, so explored the market and had some amazing lebanese food instead

she’s a cx so i’d get by with some knobbly tires, a little mtb could be tempting though. need to go through all the routes i made now cause i’m a bit worried in going to be time trialling on the highways for a while

me smiling in a selfie. i’m in pink cycling kit, with a white helmet that has my sunglasses tucked in. there’s a big lake behind me

the lake at piraqura, curitiba, stretches out to some mountains that aren’t huge. there’s some amazing trees with huge canopies on its banks

a big house on a gravel road. it must be part of a farm, but i’m really not sure. it’s very fancy and covered in decorative details

a red road bike beside some blue flowers that fill the background

komoot fail and some proper underbiking. was expecting ~5k of gravel, but that was 10 before i turned off the route for another 6 or 7k of cobbles. i am blistered and bruised. need to work out if every shop is closed on a sunday this week, or every week because i also ran out of water

it certainly was!

a shoyu and miso ramen on a table with kimchi and sweet potato

and ramen for christmas dinner, because why not? feliz natal!

a selfie of gabi and i in curitiba city centre. she’s in a brown dress with sunglasses on her head and i’m in a brown and white stripy t-shirt. there’s some shops behind us

the main square of curitiba old town is surrounded by pastel coloured buildings — yellows blues and pinks. they’re covered in christmas decorations, like wreaths and bunting. the blue building in the centre has a huge bell tower, it looks so top heavy that it could fall over

a sculpture of a horse’s head in a fountain. water falls from its mouth. behind is a square with some trees and an old big house

a pastel blue church and pastel pink building covered in christmas decorations. the sky is blue with some fluffy clouds

it’s far too hot (32c) but curitiba is a lovely place to wander through so far, and mi amorcita is the perfect person to explore with

it’ll be a new location but the same bike as always 😉

thankfully it’s my duct tape so it’s all my fault if something went wrong with that. she got lost in transit by an airline

to be clear, it’s not a new bike. it just got lost for a few days

rojita’s a her… and i think it’s probably like ships where they’re all meant to be feminine? but i don’t think it matters anymore

thank you!

i’ll build her again later smartarse 😉