Leaving Sao Paulo and Technical Difficulties

When I left for this trip I took a number of gadjets and gismos with me to try and enhance the experience and enable me to get the most out of it, however slowly but surely they are the things that are failing the test of time and the rigours of travel.

1) Extending Lens Attachment .... clouds up photos too much and is unable to be attached to the camera, only the phone which takes poor photos at the best of times. Sent Home.
2) Electronic DIctaphone ... bought to take interviews with friends and interesting people but the internal memory corrupted and would not let me format or delete any previous data so soon became full up and then useless for further recording. Left in Madrid
3) Mobile Phone Recharger ... wire at base of plug became frayed and then broke meaning that it would no longer carry the power or charge the phone, thus became useless and made the phone useless also til I manage to find a new recharger. BInned in Sao Paulo.
4) Laptop Modem Extender Lead ... somehow removed itself from my bagm or possibly just fell down the back of my chair and thus out of view, between Sao Paulo hotel reception and arrival in Santa Cruz airport. I bet it was the lepricauns that did it.

I have no idea what will be next, but as I only have my digital camera, the laptop itself, the modem itself, the cellphone itself ( currently dead ) and my small electronic two way Spanish / English translator I hope if any more that it is the last one and I further hope that when it goes it will be after I leave the Dominican Republic as by then I will be out of Latin America and on my way to the Pacific .

On my way to the airport I noticed a few things that I had not previously spotted, mainly more people and how huge Sao Paulo was going by bus.

It was an effort to find the right bus to go to Sao Paulo airport, at a cost of BR $24, as it was not very well sign posted ( but is anything in Brazil ) yet it was either that or get a taxi all the way or finally get a metro most of the way there and then either try and walk 5 kilometers along highways or again try to grab a taxi the rest of the way. For convenience and cost cutting I chose the bus route.

Journeying on the bus I am glad that I chose it sa it seemed to have almost a private lane or the dirver was related to Michael Schumacker, as we passed so many other vehicles I thought we was going to get a speeding fine.

At one point we slowed to a crawl and I was saddened at the sight of a disabled man in a wheelchair with one leg cropped at the knee and the other with signs of decay and damage rolling himself down the road and stopping at each drivers window to beg some small change with almost 100% success, which shows the generosity of the people in Sao Paulo.

At another stage we passed a car showroom and it was here that I saw my frist true Braziiian beauty, or perhaps it was the make up, tight fitting clothes and hidden padded bra, ( at these speeds couldn't really tell for certain), but up til that point I would have sworn that all the stunners you see in the Carnivals are not actualy real Brazilian women but robots that are kept hidden away in container crates and only brought out for show during the fiestas.

Arriving in the airport was not too bad, and it amused me that I couldn't find anywhere in the main town to get a masage ( apart from the x-rated ones in the back of the tourist guide ) but here in the airport there were at least three massage places all within spitting distance of each other, which also meant that there is a good chance there are more near the other gates and zones!

The Brazilians are so totally nutty about football, and not only local but any ones that are on, that in the airport there were more tv screens showing the Italian football seria A than there were screens for the departure and arrivals.

I touched down in Santa Cruz at about 7.30, which became 6.30 local time and my own Terminal Experience started, however I doubt that it will be as exciting as Tom Hanks version. True to form, the female flight attendants are some of the most striking women I have seen, and the Bolivians I saw put most of the Brazilians I met to shame, and their pristeen uniforms and smart hair was a sight to behold.

A local sports team, football I think, were all waiting for a local flight and could be seen all milling about in their track suit tops and sports shorts giving out autographs and having their picture taken with the locals who recognised them and were brave enough to ask.

The airport terminal itself was smaller than my local school, modern but with only 8 departure gates and a top floor that only had two esculators, one up and the other unsurprisingly down. All the stores seemed to close at around 9:00 local time, which was after the last flght took off and I am guessing that no more will be landing either tonight. I seem to be the only person left in the terminal upstairs and I am seriously considering if this was such a good idea of if i should have said hang the cost and got a taxi to the nearest hotel to spend the night there, but by now it will have closed and the taxis wil lhave doubled their costs, plus the currency exchange booth is also now closed so my alternatives have pretty much narrowed themselves down to none.

I hope to still have myself, my laptop and all my belongings in the morning but only time will tell.

:: Kidnapping in Damanhuan ends in tradegy ::

This is an unrelated entry to my own travel, however it is something that I have witnessed and thus sort of experienced and does again reiterate that Brazil is a very dangerous place.

During my time in Sao Paulo there has been an ongoing news event that lasted 100 hours to its completion and I am only guessing as to exactly what happened, piecing bits of information from news headlines I have watched and and from blogs that I have got the internet to translate from their original portuguese.

-

It woud appear that a few days ago in the town of Damanhua a girl and her male friend visited her ex boyfriend at his request, in his apartment high up in an apartment block.

Once there the ex boyfriend became jealous, enraged and taking out a gun threatened them both before holding them hostage, while a forth person a female, was also in the apartment block.

Once the police got involved it all gets a little complicated but the other female was seen at times at the window trying to calm down the police and requesting food, then sent down a rope made of twisted blankets to have the food pulled up.

The ordeal lasted around 100 hours and in the end someone starting firing their weapons, no one yet is confirming who started it, and then finaly the police were able to break in and video footage can be seen through a partly open doorway of a policeman pummeling the gunman before he was fully arrested and removed from the building.

Stretchers were brought up for the girl and the boy who turned up and the other female was also detained for questioning. Sadly the girl was dead upon arrival at the hospital and the boy is in critical condition so it could be a double fatality.

The press is screaming for answers, all the politicians are trying to claim an advantage by suggesting new reforms for handling such situations and the public are questioning why the food given was not drugged to put the man to sleep or why crack marksmen did not take him out when he appeared at the window beside the other woman during talks with the police.

It is a dark day for anyone who knows either of the victims and certainly an image of Brazil that I cannot help but take away with me, even though I only witnessed it through the media and, thankfully, not personally.

Sao Paulo and the rain

Last night I decided to dare a little bit outside mpmy hotel after dark, but kept myself light of anything valuable and only stuck to the main streets where even I could not get lost no matter how hard I might try.

The rain had stopped for the night and out came the late night revellers, the tramps, the corner market sellers, pimps and prostitutes.

On each corner I could see the homeless talking and huddling together, afraid to get too close to the world less someone shun then, little open topped fires burning though what thew were using as fuel is anyones guess.

The street walkers were up and down, all with phones to their ears looking busy should any police stop then, but as you wlk past them they smile and say ola to you, and then when they reach a group of men they are quick to reach out an inviting hand and hope for a conversation and more.

A few of the local nightclubs that were all shuttered up and invisible during the day were now open, it being after 9pm, thogh I bet some opened a fraction earlier as men were leaving just as I walked past and it had only just a few minutes past the hour.

Occasionally I woudl hear the beat of drums and on investigating it woud appear that certain bands and certain coffee shops / restaurants have deals where they can play their instruments and possibly even attract tourists or locals to come and stay listening to the music. It was nice and a welcome change to the boredom of the day, but soon the repetetive banging was just noise after a long day and I longed to return to the comfort of my hotel room where it was warm and peaceful.

In the morning I woke up very early and had another bash at researching some places to visit in the next few cities that I shall visit and totally forget about breakfast til about 8am, when I grabbed a hsower and rushed down only to find that the rest of the guests had almost totally devowered all the pineapple and delicious syrup cake that was on offer each morning.

Heading on down to the main reception I was saddened to see that the rain had returned in full force and that if I was to take a trip to the airport it would be a boring wait there or to remain in my hotel long after check out doing not a lot either.

Rain stops play, lol

Later this afternoon I will be heading on over to the airport and flying to Bolivia for a night time stop over of about 12 hours, which will be very er um novel and unusual, and perhaps I can take another attempt at a Latourex tour, which is the tour of the airport where you are visiting it rather than there for a trip, as for sure overnight it should come alive .... yeah right.

Sao Paulo, hiding and nightclubs

I have a feeling why GW Bush was so sure that the Iraqi's had WMD's .. it was because someone told him that they had help hiding them from the Brazilians!

These guys can hide anything. So far I have been unable to find a pizza place, various metro stations, a bridge and recently an entire amusement park complete with rollercoasters, haunted house, flashing lights and loud music blaring out ... apparently.

I used their own website to get directions and find on the map exactly where it was meant to be, found the road and walked the entire length looking on both sides, I mean, hw hard can it be to spot an amusement park with a roller coaster in the middle of a grimy city with nothing going on but the occasional bus and train gonig past!

However I must have walked right past it and blinked to have missed it totaly as I ended up on the next road after passing under a bridge and then it was behind me, only when I turned round there was nothing to suggest a park.

I have no idea why they are trying to make their places so hard to find, but there are precious few signs for anything in any direction and I am glad that I don't drive as I would be pulling my hair out trying to find anywhere or anywhere to park.

After a few days of blistering heat it was nice that the clouds covered over earlier today, however I got my wish and more as it continued to cloud over and by dinner time it was a full scale thunderstorm with lighting and rain included.

However, before I made it back to the hotel in my wanderings I managed to walk right into one of Sao Paulo's many red light districts, and had to stop and take some photos of the nigth clubs as they have made an effort to even give them themes, so check them out.

Having already overspend on the first month of this trip I was not about to blow even more money on going inside, so I will have to wonder what shows they have inside, but then from past experience and internet rumours they are shoddy affairs high on expense and low on overall content, plus you get pestered to buy overinflated drinks for the girls just for them to sit next to you and chat ... what a con!

Sao Paulo, day 2

This morning I decided to try and feel more my old self, so I stuck on a few music tracks of the 80's to get me going in the right direction. The travel agents had told me the bad news that I was indeed unable to change my flight this close to takeoff and so I just had to make the best of Sao Paulo and perhaps use the time better to plan more of Peru so that I would not be making the same mistakes again.

After this I then grabbed a bite to eat for breakfast and I had to admit that I have got a slightly better physique these days, probably having lost about a stone in all the walking and not eating that I have been doing recently.

I still say that I am not doing a lot of walking with the full rucksack but then with it weighing 10 kilos I have already noticed some slight tearing of the straps and I am only hoping that the overall strength holds for the remainder of the trip.

I wanted to give Sao Paulo another chance as it wasn't really its fault that the hostel owner in Rio pissed me off so much, or that the hotel didn't really have anything for its guests to look at for visiting the city, so I used the web and found that it had an asian district and a Zoo nearby. It also has a water theme park that I might visit tomorrow that should kill off the remainder of my time here and then it will be on to Peru.

But back to today and I found that the best way to travel around was not walking or car but the Metro system, which experts say is one of the best in the world. Well I am not so sure about one of the best, but it was easy to get tickets ( thought not from automated machines like in Europe ) and once you get the hang of it how to tell which way your heading towards then its all easy.

And the reason why you have to travel by the metro is cos the roads are so god damn crazy, like a ball of spaghetti and they can go both over an under each other each other anyway and anytime they like and at once stage I was sure that there was three roads deep before you hit the ground.

The asian district was very cool, as they must have had some serious input in the way it looks as not only have they got some nice huge hotels, etc, but they have even changed the way the street lights are shaped and look going down the roads.
It was funny to look at a very asian scene in the middle of South America and I have never seen so many samurai swords, throwing stars and weird shaped knifes on racks in just about every shop or stall that I passed, whether it was toys, souveneirs or even a book store.

There must have been some sort of parade or rally or something there are just up the road there was lots of photography going on and lots of people wearing matching t-shirts, but I was just trying to get away from the beggards that were chasing me and I found it offputting that one decided to get changed under half a blanket in the middle of the plaza.

After that I headed off towards the zoo and a little bit of warning, go up to the zoo kiosk on the outside of the main metro station to buy your ticket as it comes with the bus ride included, though if you just look at the tube map you might think that you will have to buy a seperate ticket.

The zoo was pretty much like every other zoo, so lots of cages, high fences, obscure animals and places to buy coke. Today must have been the local school visit as it was filled with lots of the horrors all running around and scaring the poor animals witless.

Apart from the arguement of capturing animals and sticking them in cages, the other reason why zoos are not so great to visit in South America, is that during the day it's damn hot and so the animals try to get as much shade as possible, which makes photographing them by the local kids and tourist kind of hard.

I must have rushed my visit, as I missed the wolf and the condor cages, two of the ones I would have liked to see, and on the bus back I was the only one on it, and so I had the whole bus to myself, not that the driver was in any hurry to get back of course.

Once I got back in my hotel I found that the cost of a ticket to Peru was now $1,000, which is waaaay toooo much to try and swallow, so instead I just resolved to email a few people, try not to feel too depressed or lonely and thankfully I found a few people online to chat to that helped.

A few sights of Sao Paulo

It is weird that in the UK we are always complaining that we do not have enough proper sun, but less than a week in Brazil has taught me that this is not such a curse.

It is true that Europe is colder than South America, Africa or the far East and certainly although they have had their civilisations the relatively small, flat and temperate climate of Europe has given rise to many cultures, technologies and languages that have survived intact despite invasion and occupation.

It could be that a lot of the wealth of the Americas was plundered by the Europeans but another part of the puzzle is that the Europeans had to travel, had to trade with other people and forged links right across the world.

But I am getting off the point rather a lot here, aren’t I. Sorry about that. Ok, let me get back on track, with my what-am-I-doing diary proper of Sao Paulo.

I arrived early at my hotel and they were kind enough for me to set up my laptop in the reception even though I could not check in until around 10am. Finding the place was a bit of an effort, but mainly as Google maps tries to make sense of what is a manic and crazy set of roads and give them labels which have either changed or have always been called something else by the locals.

I didn’t recognise the hotel by the front, as the photo on their website that I remember must of been on another building entirely, and I was glad that I had booked this place ahead as it was normally BR $75 minimum per night for even the smallest of rooms, and I had got it for a steal of just over half that.

After checking in I dropped off my bag and began to scan the booklet that the hotel reception had given me when I had asked for a map. In almost the centre was a few different maps, considering that Sao Paulo is considered to be the third largest metropolis and has a population of over ten million people, and I had really hoped that they would have pull out maps of the entire region but in an area that big its seems its not possible.

No one in the hotel speaks fluent English that I have met at least, and so the best that I can do is hope to watch the big football match on a TV somewhere.

The booklet was pretty much the same old rubbish, lots of stuff about other hotels, restaurants and art galleries, all of which are no real use to me, and the stuff about what the best places to visit for a few hours or to get a great photo just seem to be missing from the place.

I would have considered writing one as part of my book, but most of it would have to be second hand knowledge as it would take me an eternity to walk all the streets and in the heat of 36 degrees that just isn’t an option.

Thus it was that I decided to go for a short stroll and see what fun I could find just in the neighbourhood. The thing with a city this big, is that there can’t be fun on every corner and I seemed to have picked a dozy of a place, fairly central but then again not exactly close to anything.

Everywhere I look there is dirt, dust, broken down buildings and I am starting to get a little homesick as nothing seems to mean much to me.

There are loads of cheap corner stalls to grab a bite to eat and can of drink for about BR $2.50, which is absolute peanuts, and I can see why people say that this country is cheap to live in.

However although you can survive on cans of coke and a sausage roll I would not exactly call it living, and I am always on the lookout for somewhere that looks cheap but tasty and more importantly doesn’t look as if a few strong kicks would collapse a wall and bring the whole roof caving in over my head.

I would say that I have seen no actual newsagents, as I do not think they exist persay here, but what I have seen are loads and loads of on street market stalls / kiosks offering postcards, newspapers, off the top shelf magazines and cigarettes.

Possibly due to a minor case of sunstroke, I managed to get turned around just a few blocks away and so I spent a good half hour walking around in circles trying to find something I recognised.

Finally making it back to the hotel I decided that I again decided that perhaps Brazil was not for me and so I tried to contact my travel agents to move up my flight by a day or three if it was at all possible.

Here however, I came up against something that I didn’t consider, in that I booked a South American flight online with the cheapest agents who were Zuji who are based in Australia and now when I want to call them I have to wait for their offices to open.

After trying for hours, and killing time by using facebook to kill things and scan in photos, I finally managed to get in touch with them but then they said in order to make the change they would need to contact the airlines office, who by now was closed for the day.

Next point to remember – always book a flight with a agency who have a office in the same city, country or at least continent as the airline that you intend to fly with, otherwise you too could face being unable to make any last minute changes.

By around the time it came to watching the football it was dark enough to make me have second thoughts about leaving the hotel alone with a phone while I was waiting for my travel agents to try and get back in contact, so I just sat in the hotel lobby and surfed the internet, boring but safe.

The football match was boring to watch, without being surrounded by thousands of crazed fans and the fact that there were no goals meant that the whole thing was a complete anticlimax and I just went to bed.

I might just be getting homesick in Brazil

I am not the worlds best traveller and no matter how many countries I visit or how long I stay away from home will not change that fact.

I do not enjoy sleeping alone, breakfasts that I cannot decribe or identify, trying to guide myself about using jedi force and blind luck, hopping on and off buses and metro stops because I am afraid that I will get lost if I chose to walk, music that I cannot sing along with, tv that is so wholy strange I cannot tell where the adverts end and the programs begins, restautants where flies buzzing over the food is just a daily thing to get past, showers that are either constantly hot or cold, sun that is so hot I am diving from shop to shop just to hide from the rays, time zones where everyone is asleep when I am awake and being so far away from my friends that I cannot share a joke or a thought with a familiar face.

It is no wonder that the armed forced enforce a strict busy daily routine, and it is little wonder than on their off hours many soliders just kill time before their next shift by gambling, drinking or searching for a bit of TLC.

I have a new liking for all inclusive package holidays where the reps do all the work for you and all you have to do is go from one amusement to the next and tip a little here and there to oil the wheels.

When I first thought of going travelling I liked the idea, but it was a bit like namedropping with Cities. If I was to mention that I saw Brad Pitt and had a long conversations with him then a lot of people would ask more about it, but other than the fact it was Brad Pitt it is unlikely that any of the conversation itself would be remarkable or worth retelling as a story.

So when I thought about travelling I chose lots of cities that seemed cool, that I had heard lots of good things about and a few that had people I knew of there, but not always good friends. I forgot to include that the people who went there did not do so on a shoestring budget, that they did not go alone, that they could speak a lot more of the local language than me and that they were only going for a couple of weeks as a break from their normal lives.

Whereas I am doing everything the opposite, and it would be nice to find a place that I fitted in and could stay for a week or two to escape from the hassle of travelling without it feeling like I am pulling my nails trying to get through the day without actually spending vast amounts of money or watching movie reruns.

A few people said that this trip was likely to get travelling out of my system and I would say that it has already, at least in countries where I can't converse with any of the locals, where I am alone and where I have nothing that I really want to see.

I can already say that I am looking forward to Peru only because I have an interest in Inca history and culture, but also because I have a few friends that I am sure will not let me down and we can share some good quality time just hanging out and socialising.

Looking at my itiniary I am getting a little nervous about various weeks in the trip when I can already see that I will have no one around to talk with and by the middle of the week I will be feeling a little sorry for myself.

I would not say that going travelling around the world was a mistake, as it was something that I did enjoy, and something that when it is done right I still do enjoy, but after this I think that I will be on the lookout for a new hobby that does not involve spending thousands of pounds and taking me so far out of my comfort zone that

Attempted Theft Of My Laptop

Well I had been warned, so it wasn't a real surprise when it happened, although to be honest there is still a slim possibility that it is my paranoi making up stories.

 

So to tell the story, there I was in the hotel lobby towards the rear of the main entrance with my laptop surfing for something to do and minding my own business and only in the reception cos they are too cheap to install a good enough wifi server to get to the rooms above.

 

What is more the photos of the outside and the rooms are totally different from the ones that they have on their website, and if it was any more expensive I would try and have them done for trades description act, but that's another fight for anoher day.

 

Anyway, I would not have said that anything or anyone was out of place and of course then theives don't wear signs telling you who they were, but every now and again you spot some one that to you has shifty eyes or is acting suspicious to your mind which switches your senses on red alert, and right then a guy came round with a baseball cap and did just that, he got me all on edge.

 

Eventually he wandered off but a few minutes later the telephone goes in the hotels main reception and then the check-in guy comes over telling me that I have a phone call. Now, I hadn't told anyone what my phone number of the hotel was so it was very unlikely to be for me, but then I had been trying to reach the travel agents to change a flight booking and that was top of my mind at that second, so I fell for it and went up to answer the phone, but chose a phone nearer to my laptop than the one in the main reception.

 

Once I had the checkin guy put it through it was someguy speaking portuguese and all I got was something about a restaurant before I knew it was a scam and withouth hesitation I slammed the phone down and spun round like a whip. Although my laptop was still there, the guy had returned and was still acting shifty to my mind and I would bet anything that had I fallen completely for the trap, used the main reception telephone and stayed on the line to try and understand the call with possibly the help of the receptionist then by the time I would have gone back to my seat both the laptop and the shifty eyes man in the baseball cap would have been gone.

 

For me, there is only the tiniest doubt that it wasn't a real attack and just my paranoia acting up and the only serious doubts that I have are a) was the hotel in on it, b) could I prove their involvement and c) how long would it have been before I could get an insurance payout if at all, and finaly d) would I have had to remain here for another week or so while it all went through the system.

 

All in all I am happy to have my paraoid fears and my laptop than be happily at ease all the time right up until the time when I have it stolen.

Waiting to Exit

I had a thought that I could change my flights or cancel and get a different earlier flight to Peru but it would appear that this is not only an unpopular choice but one that I cannot accomplish either over the phone or via the internet.

 

My only chance now is to try the internet one more time tomorrow morning when the offices will be open again or to actually go to the airport and try to talk to someone there, although that has problems as I cant speak Portuguese and I have had experience trying to book something here before, its not as easy as it looks.

 

So the alternative is to try and use the time in Sao Paulo the best to ensure that the rest of my time in South American goes more smoothly and better prepared than my time here in Brazil.

 

A lesson learned the very hard way!

Don't go to Rio

Well I've had a really crap time here in Rio and I do now wish that I had gone straight out to Sao Paulo or even skipping there too and going on directly to Peru which is where I know I have friends who will not let me down.

 

I know that my blog is not the most grammatically correct and a little bit jumpy in places, all I can say is that any final book will be a lot more polished and I don't want to waste too much time writing a great first draft instead of being out there actually trying to enjoy myself.

 

Oh, but just before I carry on where I left off I forgot to say that I got kicked out of a British style restaurant ( that only served jacket potatoes ) for trying to take a photograph of the counter.

 

Anyway, yesterday was a totally crap day and after I had the row with the hostel boss and got kicked out for giving them a bad review I had to take a midnight bus to Sao Paulo for BR $78.

 

Finding the bus station wasn't that hard by using the metro and then a connecting bus and despite the fact that not one person on the entire station seemed to speak English I managed to purchase a ticket.

 

However getting on the bus was another matter as they refused to let me on the bus til I had completed a form, even though the form was all in Portuguese, no one could translate it or tell me what I was meant to put in the boxes and I was only going from one Brazilian city to another.

 

Using a lot of guess work, and I bet that I got some of it wrong, I put down as much information as possible except the document no, which turned out to be my passport number and that pissed me off even more as I hadn't thought to keep it to hand and had to go turing out half my bag in order to find it in the middle of a busy train station at a quarter to midnight.

 

Finally they let me in and I had a little run around trying to find my seat, and if you have never been in a Brazilian overnight coach before let me tell you that the numbers don't go in sequence like a airplane but round the clock up one side and down the other.

 

Luckily I managed to find it before the bus started up and I hoped that this would be the end of a bad time, if only...

 

At about 5am the bus pulled into a layby so that the driver could stretch his legs and then when he got back in he couldn't get it up and running again. So at the coldest time in the day, surrounded by a bunch of crazy half asleep Brazilians all swearing and demanding things that I couldn't understand I had to wait in the cold for the next coach to come by about half an hour later.

 

When I checked my luggage on the first bus they stuck a sticker on it just like they might on a flight, and as the other half of the ticket was on the wrong bus now I chose to sit with my ruckscak on my lap for the remainder of the journey as I certainly wasn't going to want to fight to get my bag back when we finally reached Sao Paulo.

 

I still had no map for Sao Paulo and so I was again using only my googlemap + digital camera to find my way around, and to be honest if it wasn't for there I would have be forced to get taxis almost everywhere I wanted to go in Brazil. I only hope that Peru for me is a much better trip.

 

I arrived finally at my hotel where I had to wait ages before I could check in as the room was not ready or prepared for me at 7am, and so I got a chance to relax in a bit of comfort in their reception til it was ready, and then I would just try to eat and sleep the days away as I have nothing to see or do in Sao Paulo and no one to spend it with.

 

Bring on Peru cos from where I am sitting Brazil has got nothing going for it and the sooner I leave the better.

Rio

 

I today decided to try out flipflips again, I knew that I wanted to get close to the Dude as I could and of course I had to keep my shirt on today as my back was screaming at me in protest the second I got outside and that was with a shirt on!

 

Just like a siesta in Spain I have found that the heat here drains both my energy and my desire to do anything but sleep, and at 36 degrees I am not surprised. I thought that it was only the last 20's but that was at about 5pm at night I had forgot to check it during the hottest part of the day and I realised why it was that my skin was being so damaged with so breif an exposure.

 

I am sure that a few of my friends back home would be loving the heat and would be out on the beach every day sunning it up, but for me even the ten minutes that it took to kill my back yesterday was enough and without a sunshade, sunglasses and neverending supply of cheap mojito's or sprite I doubt that I could spend more than an couple of hours tops out there.

 

I looked at the stupid tourist map that I picked up in the hostel and found that Rio has its own Metro system, although it only seems to have a few stops, hardly worth the effort but I figured it might be a way of getting around better than waiting at the stupid bus stops for an eterntiy and trying to guess which bus to hop on.

 

As the map was pretty sketchy on its details I used my nose and street signs to guide me in rather than sticking to the map and as soon as I reached the metro I noticed the difference. The metro used plastic cards that are either top up like oyster ones back home or get get swallowed up by the machine for one way rides, and at the other end I found out that I dont need to touch anything to get out, just go through another turnstile.

 

The people on the metro were not like most of the people I had seen around near the shops or the beach and suddenly I found myself underdressed, looking like a cheap tourist rather than a more afluent person about town and even the looks of the other passengers increased dramatically. I am not going to fall into a trap of thinking that just cos you have more money you are better looking or vice versa, but perhaps with more money the people could keep what looks that had for longer and show them off better than those with little or no money.

 

I am also reminded that the people in the airport were much better presented and looked richer than those of the town, but I suppose if you can afford to take a flight then you can afford to buy decent makeup, eat healthy and go to the gym, whereas in the streets and gutters I saw plenty of people sleeping rough in rags and bare feet or eating cold rice out of restaurant garbage bags.

 

I chose to get out of the metro stop called Cinelandia and I thought that this must be a good place to catch a movie, something I had failed to do whilst in Itapua, however my hopes were about to be dashed. The buildings around the entrance were fabulously good looking, even for Brazil and I thought that perhaps yes this was the parts of the city that I should be around, not the hostels or the beach, but alas it was not to be.

 

Cinelandia has but one cinema within walking distance, that cinema shows just one movie at a time and that is shown just once per day. Even now I cannot understand the small attitude to movies, unless it is of course that no one can afford to visit them, but then for sure the people on the street in this part of town certainly could if the prices were set reasonably.

 

Here also I noticed a sight that I had not seen since leaving London, which was the unrespectful posting of numerous sex ads all over public phone booths. I had hoped that this particluar phenomonon was localised only in London, but apparently not, although having said that upon a closer inspection here I noticed one slightly peculiar fact which was that all the adverts featured transvestites, either pre or post op.

 

Making my way back to the hostel I am struggling with making a decision to spend another BR $160, or about £50, for a 4 hour trip to see many of the sights around the city, including right up to the dude and to a brilliant waterfall. I know that I shouldn't spend this extra money, especially not with the football as a treat already for tomorrow, but I am bored, it is only another £50 and I have yet to see a great waterfall so far on my travels, so why not go the whole hog, I already know that I will be eating beans on toast for an eternity once I get back home anyway!

 

Back in the hostel I decided to watch a DVD as I was bored and kinda feeling down a little, only for it to be made a hundred times worse as the owner of the hostel came up to me and started ranting at me for leaving a comment on the booking website that was neutral and not glowing and each time I said what was wrong with the place he just said, "Hey, its Brazil and this is only a poor hostel not a big hotel, what do you expect! What I fucking except you big fat cunt is that you treat your guests with a bit of respect and take on board criticism instead of giving them a hard time and ruining the remainder of the stay"

 

After he started and I had just about enough of his shit that I turned away and started to put away the DVD then he said to me "hey am i boring you" to which I replied no, your just ruining my night and then he replied back "good, cos that makes us even then" - and THAT I feel is a very bad attitude to take.

 

Instead of trying to correct his faults or even apologise all he wanted to do was bring me down ... how bad a manager is that.

 

If it wasnt 20:24 at night, having got dark at 18:00 and no hotel taking internet bookings this late in the day I would have moved out to another hostel or hotel and had it been any other country then I would have jumped on the bus to Sao Paulo tonight but I have nowhere to stay there either and what is worse is that I have had to cancel my football booking.

 

God this city is a dump and the sooner I am out of here the better. Brazil can be both a wonder and a nightmare, it all depends on who your with and where your staying.

Brazilian Sand

After my trip to the banks I came back to my hostel and saw something that made me decide to stay another day here at the cost of losing half a day in Sao Paulo, which was a football match.

Now this is not any normal football match, this is a genuine International football match between Brazil, my favourite team in all the world, against Colombia in the worlds greatest stadium and all for only BR $75, so even if it is right up in the gods and the players look like matchsticks it is the atmosphere that I will be revelling in more than the game itself, though of course I hope that this will be as equally good.

In terms of my travel schedule this means that I will have to catch a night bus to Sao Paulo, a journey of about 6 hours, and have less time at my next destination, but this is no sacrifice at all when I consider that I have nothing fixed or planned to do there other than eating, drinking and taking a quick city tour - especially as all my contacts there have not replied to me in many months!

After paying for my ticket at the hostel I decided that I wanted to take a few photographs of the Botafogo beach and I believe that it is here that the computer game designer of Frogger god his inspiration.

Between my hostel and the beach I had the matter of crossing a road or two, well actually it was 15 lanes, split up into 4, 4, 3, 4 with long narrow islands in between each set of lanes and the traffic on the roads were a nightmare.

You had the slow moving mini vans and medium coaches and buses all competing for best position with their BR $2,10 fixed price labels and list of destinations clearly visible for all to see, though you had to knew where they were before they did you any good.

Then you had the motor cycles, which varied between fast tourists and hot rodders to the snail pace of entire families on bikes on their way to school or perhaps to the shops, who knows.

Next you had the bright yellow taxis, which could be doing any speed between crusing slow for pickups, medium paced for metered journeys or super fast for fixd price jobs, before finally you had the private cars which could be doing any speed they fancied depending on the age of the vehicle.

I have often thought that if you can cross a road in London you can cross anywhere, but here even my well honed skills were put to the test and I would strongly advice anyone with anything in their pockets or on their backs to take the half a mile detour either up or down the road to one of the few crossing points and not to put their life in their hands.

One sight that struck me as a particularly cruel driver on a slightly les busy side road corner was when he had only just missed a girl one way, who then started to cross behind him, well then the driver stopped the car and immediately tried to reversed into a parking space almost knocking her over in the process.

After my near death experience I thought that I would take a trip to the beach in Copacobana and again forgot to take suntan lotion with me so with my back already a light shade of pink I allowed myself only ten minutes front and back but even this was too much and a trip to the chemist to find the Aftersun was my only concern thereafter.

Heading off to Copacobana from Botafogo beach means going the very long way around or to cut through the mountainside at one of the two only roads through, but try as I might I could not see where pedestrians could enter the tunnel, and it was only on my way back that I noticed that seconds before you enter the short tunnel that there was indeed a tiny walkway either side of the motorway heading off into the deep blackness.

Everyone knows that if you visit a beach then for months after you will find sand in the most unlikely of places, however the Rio sand has a habit of reappearing in the same place time and time again. I dusted myself off, took a shower, washed my hair, dusted myself off again and then again the following morning and yet still there is enough sand in my hair and on my back to make a small castle without even trying and the constant rubbing is going to scour my sunburned back like nothing else if I don't manage to get rid of it all before the end of today.

The buses in Rio are a curious breed as they charge by fixed prices and not destinations or stops so an hour ride or a five minute jaunt are the same, which makes travelling on them so much easier as you can see before you board how much their fixed price is and you dont even need to talk to them when you get on, just give them the ticket and proceed through the mini turnstile and take a seat.

However the bad side is that although there are bus stops with numbers on, unlike in Europe where you can also find a map and a timetable here I failed to find a single map or route and so all I could do was go find a main road, wait for a few to go past to see where they were going and in which direction and then once I think I have spotted the one I want take a gamble and hope to recognise the names at the other end.

Once at Copacobana I noticed that the entire coastline was totally filled with high new looking hotels, it would appear that not even a swanky restaurant alone could afford the prime location prices and although this not quite as outrageous as a top Milan, London or New York hotel the cost for a single room here is still far from cheap.

After my short lived trip to the beach I spent the next hour trying to get back to my hostel and once I did I had a quick game on the 9 ball pool table, which was probably about 80 years old and then failing to spot anyone who fancied either a game or even a chat I headed off back to my room to escape the heat and get an early night.

Adjusting To The Latin American Lifestyle

I woke up early, or what would be early anywhere in Europe, and set out to do a little bit of early morning investigating. The second I stepped out from my hostel and looked left I saw the amazing statue of Christ the Redeemer high up on the hillside. Thats right, I saw the Dude himself the second I got outside, what an auspicious start.

I already knew in advance that it would be a hard time to find a bank that accepted European cards, I just didn't realise how hard or how far I had to walk in order to find my nearest citibank branch.

Although this place is big with tourists, and certainly the hostel though almost empty had only Americans and Europeans guests, but nobody around here speaks much English, which means that unless you speak Protuguese I now fully recommend either doing a whole lotta research before you go, book everything up with the internet before you arrive and / or go fully inclusive with a 3 or 4 star hotel and let the tour guide do all the legwork for you.

The place is a mix of modern and falling down, and there are cheap stalls to get food or a drink just about everywhere you look, so you shouldn't have to feel that they will direct you to all the most expensive places in town, and I know that with a local speaking guide around here to keep things honest a person could have a really nice time.

Thing is, that I am finding just like in southern europe only moreson, that south america really has a twin lifestyle that I am still desperately trying to grasp. The day scene is completely different from the night scene and you will have to chose which you want to focus on or face going without sleep in order to get the best of both worlds.

Most day places are closed on a Monday, seem to be dead or closed between 1 and 4 and then close up at 5 or 6 anyway, regardless of how many hours they were actually open, so you can find youtself trying to cram in a lot unless you give yourself enough days to see them all.

Then the day sort of dwindles and nothing can be done in the hours of dusk except a few restaurants and then once it gets to about 9pm then it all starts up again only the night version. This means that if you are meeting friends you have no rush to get home from work to take a shower as its all good bro, take as long as you like, the place wont open up for hours but once it does it will stay open til 2 or 3am.

I guess I never really spent long enough in London as a purist tourist to appreciate all the differences, but I am thinking that 3 days in each city is both too much AND too little, as being alone with no partner or friends I am already spending too much dead time where I can find nothing to do but also when the places are open I have not got enough time to see all or even most of them !

A familiar saying that it is quality not quantity comes back to my mind, and I have to remind myself that I chose to do things this way so that I can get a taste of each place and not become a local anywhere, so I should not really complain about things when it ends up like this.

What I do feel a tiny bit upset about is that, despite having the longest notice period of any of my world wide contacts, so far my native Brazilian contacts are really showing themselves up to be unreliable, and with only a few days left for them to prove otherwise things look pretty much like a complete no show in all three cities!

I would not have changed my route however, as reaching South America is far cheaper via Brazil than jumping to any other country here, and I have enjoyed my stay here so far, just a little more contact could have made all the sweeter.

Praia do Forte

Sometimes everything you touch turns to gold and certainly it was like that this morning and afternoon, if only my luck had held on for a full 24 hours.

Waking up early, I checked out and left my luggage in my friends apartment while we went to have breakfast and then take a bus to Praia do Forte and our timing could not be better as we caught a first and then a second bus without delay or even having to wait for a connecting bus as they were right there and for BR $2 and BR $7 respectively we took two bus journeys that landed us at our destination early and ready to face the day.

In fact we had arrived so early that not even the staff had arrived, so that meant that we were able to take the side entrance and walk in without paying and had free reign of the place to explore. At first I thought that we were there at the wrong time of year, as it was about 8am and the place was still deserted, but by 10am the place had livened up.

While we were strolling around and taking snaps of the turtles we came across three young chaps, mid to late 20's, who were doing pretty much the same thing as us and they asked us if we wanted to see the sharks.

We said that we did and from that moment on we were a five some for the rest of the morning and afternoon. Our new friends were on holidays from south a city more south towards the South of Brazil and with my Spanish friend acting as partial translator and me doing my best in Spanish we pretty much firmed a bond that I hope will last long after I return to the UK.

We shared a second breakfast and a couple of bottles of beer, and when I mean shared a couple I mean exactly that as in Brazil they put a single bottle in a cooler and pour out a glass each rather than what I was expecting and dreading which was a full bottle or pint each. I don't usually drink as a rule, and especially not before the early evening, but I didn't think that a small glass or two would hurt and in the heat a chilled drink went down so very well.

We chatted about football, women, holidays, work and got on so famously that If I had already completed my book I bet they would have bought one each just to be friendly and sociable. Being in a jovial mood they decided that they were going to have a swim my the nearest beach and in order to get there had rented out a pair of pedallo's, which they insisted that I sit up at the front and took photos while they sat at the back and pedalled like maniacs all the way there.

At the beach we all took turns sunbathing and showing off our swimming skills and although I had not brought a towel or change of clothes I thought that the heat would probably dry them out in no time so I did not really hesitate to strip down to not much and dive in after the others.

Despite being very careful with allowing myself only 15 minutes front and back to catch some rays, as I had only sun protected my forearms and legs before coming out I had managed to go a nice rosey pink colour both front and back, which I would later regret having to carry my rucksack around at the airport.

Possibly the three young chaps were exceptionally nice and kind or perhaps the stereotype of Brazil and its people in the UK needs a serious reality check, but despite my inability to speak either Portuguese or Spanish fluently nothing stopped us all from having a great time together, I felt a bit like a special guest as they refused to let me pay for anything or to take a turn cycling and by the end of the afternoon it was all back slaps and exchanging of email addressed before we had to leave the beach and return to Itapua.

Just as we reached the bus stop it began to rain, but thankfully it was empty inside and so I was able to strip off and change from my wet boxers back into my dry shorts in the back of the bus before anyone else got onboard.

Our timing and connections were just as smooth on the way back as on the way there and we were back in Itapua before we knew it. Before I left my Spanish friend insisted that I try a local delicassy which is shredded chicken rolled in mash potatoe and then with a light crispy crumb coating fried, and then it was time to go off to the airport.

Sadly this is where my luck ran out, as despite only having to wait a few minutes time to catch a bus to the airport at a cost of another BR $2 compared to the BR$ 35 for the taxi into town, my flight was no on the board when I arrived and I was soon to find out that it had been cancelled.

I did not panic, but it was not easy being unable to speak the local lingo and find out why it had been cancelled, what they planned to do about it and the fact that I had an additional four hour delay before they could fit me on another flight with a different airline. What was worse was that I was still in my shorts and it gets cold in air conditioned airports at night and certainly the flight over which arrived at midnight was enough to give me a chill again after the sunburning of the afternoon.

The final kick was that as I had now arrived in Rio after midnight I had missed the last bus of the night going into town and had to take a taxi at a cost of BR $80, which again is about ten times the cost of a bus going the same route and will mean yet another trip to the bank early tomorrow morning.

Arriving at the hostel I was partly pleased that my I did not have to share my 4 bed dorm room with anyone else, but this was diminished by seeing a baby cockroach walk along the floor and then killed off by being bitten by a bedbug or flea within the first five minutes of sitting on my bed.

Hopefully the rest of Rio will have more luck for me than the arrival.