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Published: February 8th 2017
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So after a few days of chilling in the rather hot Brazilian sun and going a bit pink in places we were headed onto another bus for São Paulo. This bus journey was probably the scariest we had been on. The bus kept stopping every half an hour with people either rushing on or rushing off the bus. We were held at a military check point for ages in the dark. With the help of google translate we managed to ask a local, what the hell was going on! Turns out the people running on and off the bus were smuggling contraband and the bus company was helping them!! This continued through out the night so unfortunately no sleep for us! Having done some googling I found out São Paulo is the biggest shipping port in South America and has special import deals with other countries in South America. This brings with it a huge smuggling culture of electrical goods, cigarettes etc for the funding of fire arms and drugs! Seems to be a big problem but there is only so much the police and boarder control can do if supposedly reputable bus companies are helping them!
We arrived in
São Paulo definitely ready for a beer or two! The weather was baking again and it reminded me of a cross between what I would imagine San Francisco to be like- with the hills etc and some parts like New York! The next day we were on a free food tour- sampling the local cuisine (and alcohol- caipirinhas for everyone!). We tried tapioca (not my fave), acacia berry ice cream (pronounced ass-high) and a delicious chicken/potatoes things which class as Brazilian street food. So after filling our stomachs we decided to join the bar crawl and partied well into the morning. Unfortunately Jo was partying so hard she lost her phone 😞 São Paulo is said to be the city known for its food and 24 hour parties- I think it's fair to say São Paulo DONE!
After a few days of city life we have decided to take it a bit easier and have headed to the coast. With the gorgeous weather it wasn't too hard to spend three days on the beach in Santos. We started to get a taste for the Brazilian beach life- beautiful people everywhere, beer and lots of Brazilian bikini bottoms! We haven't quite
been brave enough to purchase a pair yet but it's a work in progress!
We're now on route to a little island called Ilhabela for another couple of days on the beach and bike riding around the island. Again another bus and again another story- a young lad was arrested and removed from our bus for smuggling whilst we have been on route. I feel the blog should be re named stories from on a bus!!! Still it's nice to know they are keeping us safe and the scenery is beautiful- I would go as far to say the most beautiful we have seen on a bus, but as Jo pointed out I've been asleep for most of them!
Must dash- need to top up the tan a bit more!
Lauren and Jo
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Rachel
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I wish I could say the same about the 209 bus!
Have not noticed any smugglers on board just half awake bods slurping take away coffe and glued to their phones. Great photos. X