Advertisement
Published: September 22nd 2009
Edit Blog Post
Our room
8 bed mixed dorm So it's about 9am September 11th and we're packing up our bags to head to the airport to fly to Sao Paulo...was definitely weird travelling that day! We were glad to be leaving New York when we did as the weather had turned for the worst and it was pouring so we had to re-jig before we set off getting all our waterproofs out!
Once at the airport we realised our plane was delayed by about an hour due to the bad weather. All the TVs at the airport were showing what was happening at the World Trade Centre site. It was strange watching it knowing we'd only been there the previous day. Other planes had been cancelled so we were just pleased ours was still on! We had a connecting flight in Miami before we reached Sao Paulo and because of the delay we only had about 45 minutes to get to the next gate!
By the time we reached Sao Paulo it was about 7am on 12th September and we so pleased to have landed! Little did we know that a 2 hour customs queue was awaiting us!
We were both really tired as didn't get much sleep on
the plane (we were right in the middle of a row of 5 seats on the plane and the guy next to Lizzy kept dozing off and falling on her!!!).
Once through customs (around 9am) we realise that we can't check into our hostel for another 5 hours and all we want to do is sleep. Loads of people were wearing face masks....strange.
We ended up deciding to head to the hostel despite being so early as we didn't feel comfortable just hanging around the airport with all our stuff with us...we were getting quite a few stares! At the time neither of us could face public transport so we got a taxi which in the end was such a better idea as even our taxi driver got lost trying to find the hostel! Our first sites of Sao Paulo and Brazil - lots of tall tower blocks with some cool grafitti!
By the time we got there everyone was eating their breakfast and as we couldn't get checked in yet we were told just to wait in the lounge area. We both ended up falling asleep on the couch! The hostel was really nice...very clean! There was a
huge TV in the living room with 2 computers you could use with free internet access. Once it was time for us to be shown our room (8 bed dorm) all we wanted to do was sleep but we decided it was best to try and stick it out for as long as possible. So we freshened up and walked round the area which wasn't much! We were in a really 'non-tourist' area and there didn't seem much about. The area had a very laid back feel to it though...
We headed to the supermarket and bought stuff for dinner, ate that and decided to have a nap!! We got up at about 6:30pm and decided to see what was going on...we'd seen posters up that on a Saturday night they all have drinks. At the time neither of us wanted to drink too much but we soon got tempted by the local cocktails - Caipirinhas (Lime/sugar/Cachaça). It was a good night and we spent the night chatting to the owners of the hostel which were a couple of blokes about our age who were travellers themselves and decided to set up a hostel. A few of their friends were
there too so was good talking to the locals. There were also a couple from Minnesota who had just come from Rio so was interesting to talk to them about their experience (Cory and Abbie).
That evening we ended up sleeping really well from all the cocktails!
The next morning we got up quite early, had breakast (bread, ham, cheese, fruit) and decided to walk to the park recommended nearby (about a 10 minute walk). It was a beautiful day, really hot and as it was a Sunday the park was packed full of families. We walked round for hours, sat by the huge lake, drank coconut water (sold everywhere) and just relaxed. It was lovely! It was the first time we'd really relaxed since leaving merry old England. We then found an art museum within the park which was free entry on Sunday which was a bonus!
We walked back to the hostel which was interesting as between the park and the hostel were major roads but no crossings or paths. We read that some of the roads were dangerous but this was rediculous. We literally had to wait until there was a gap between the cars and
make a run for it!
Once back in the hostel the owners were there with their friends from the previous night and were doing a BBQ. It was R$15 (5 pounds) each and included as much food/drink as you wanted - and they did plenty! We spent all night talking with everyone including a couple of medical students from Austria (Bianca and Rudi). The brazilian women there were saying how they thought the English accent was beautiful (?) and their impression of Europeons is that they eat soooo much potato and drink loads! That was funny coming from them when their local cocktail is a killer!
The next day we had to go to the bus station to book our ticket for Rio the following day (as recommended). We tackled the metro okay and decided to go for the cheapest bus tickets available. They didn't accept the only card we had with us (Solo) so paid with all the cash we had on us. Aferwards we went to get some more money out but it wouldn't authorise it. We thought about phoning the bank but we didn't think we had enough money on us. Luckily the metro ticket we
bought earlier lasted us the whole day so we went back to the hostel so Lizzy could get her Visa. Now confident we could withdraw money we went to place called 'Se' which apparently was pretty and had a good market. Once there Lizzy tried to withdraw the max ammount but it only let her take out R$100 (about 30 pounds). We bought a Portuguese phrase book and Rick needed to buy a new shaver as his broke. Lizzy's card wouldn't work in either shops (strange as it's Visa) so again we paid with the cash. Lizzy went to withdraw more money but it wouldn't let her! Now we're pretty concerned...(well Lizzy was...Rick found this all hilarious) All we had on us was R$10 and 2 bus tickets to Rio. haha!
We got back to the hostel and Lizzy emailed her bank saying we're in Brazil but the only way Rick could contact his was to phone them. We didn't have enough money on us for a phone card and for some reason Lizzy's mobile decided not to call out so we were pretty screwed...anyway...during this time we met a couple of Swedish blokes who just arrived and they invited
us out for beers. We decided to forget about everything until tomorrow as it was about 9pm at this point anyway. Back at the hostel everyone was sitting about and there was a new guy there from Boston watching American Football and everyone was getting into it!
The next day we packed up and headed to the bus station...while waiting for the bus to arrive we started talking to this friendly guy called Hilton who was from Brazil but taught English. When the bus arrived we were amazed about how spacious it was! Considering we bought the 'cheap' tickets...there was sooo much leg room and the seats practically went all the way back, even more comfortable than the flight. The journey was about 6 hours and in the 'toilet break' Rick met this guy called Ryan from New York State. He seemed like a proper 'dude'.
Rick also managed to speak to his bank and sorted everything out. (He'd even called them before we left telling them we were travelling but apparently there's nothing they can do and it may even happen again when we go to other countries....great!) 😊
RIO HERE WE COME!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.063s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 10; qc: 22; dbt: 0.0274s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
dad
non-member comment
hello
enjoyed blog, wish i could share the adventure, the photos were good, the writing reassuring to read. enjoy your weekend and have a happy birthday, where do you go from the island / xx