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.