#2: [16-Apr-11]

#1: [26-Dec-03]

01-Jan-2018 -- This is the 6^th out of 11 reports reaching confluence points during our two-week trip through southern Brazil and eastern Paraguay. The story starts at 23°S 46°W and continues from 23°S 45°W. The itinerary and additional pictures can be found here.

My New Year started at 6 AM with this confluence visit. But since we hadn’t found any opportunity to spend the late night at an event or even a pub, we had gone to bed early, i.e. right after midnight. It appears to me that the Brazilians celebrate New Year’s Eve privately. Nevertheless, when I started driving to this confluence from our hotel in Ourinhos, I was surrounded by groups of drunken youngsters.

The driving distance was 19 km or 19 minutes according to Google. So I thought I should be back when breakfast was ready at our hotel around 7 AM. But I made one wrong turn when I entered the highway, which doubled the distance. And when I finally drove in the right direction, I came to a toll gate. But I had no money with me. Google found a toll-free route taking 45 minutes, so I decided to drive back to the hotel to get money.

The second attempt – being equipped with Reais – succeeded smoothly. From the toll way (which is a normal single-lane country road), it was one more kilometre to the confluence on an asphalted road. To have some exercise, I parked the car sooner and ran. The confluence is located 150 m into a soy bean field. It was possible to reach the exact location by walking along an aisle without damaging any plants. But my shoes got muddy with red soil that even several attempts to wash them would fail. I embarrassingly messed up our hotel room later. I was back at 7:50 AM – still being the first hotel guests to have breakfast.

CP Visit Details:

• Distance of car parking: 1000 m
• Time to reach the CP from the road: 5 minutes
• Time at the CP: 7:26 AM
• Measured height: 481 m
• Minimal distance according to GPS: 0 m
• Position accuracy: 2 m
• Topography: flat
• Vegetation: soybeans in all directions up to the horizon
• Weather: overcast, 23° C (felt temperature)
• Given Name: The Toll Gate Confluence

The story continues at 23°S 51°W.