ABSTRACT
There are two roads to the capital of Paraná, although the one by Sorocaba and Itapetininga eventually runs out of tarmac. BR 2 keeps closer to the coast, though still on the continental side of the mountains, which south of Santos rise again to heights of six thousand feet. Once free of the city, BR 2 is a good but narrow road. Further inland the country is less tempestuous. Initially BR 2 is forced to rise and fall with the innumerable small but complex hills, all densely covered with forest, as virgin as the day the Portuguese first landed. Only after almost a hundred miles does pasture reappear, and the road enter the long trough of the Rio Ribeiro.
