Journey to Itacare

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On the bus to Ilheus, I felt fortunate to have another window seat. Also, as a nice aside, I was by myself, which was amazing given the holiday season. Aguia Branca was the nicest bus company thus far in Brasil. It was very clean, a smooth ride and the seats were very comfortable. I slept on and off but mainly just enjoyed the views. It struck me once again how much of the land in Brasil is covered with this red clay sand. It is amazing. If Spielberg ever wants to make a film about settling Mars, this is the place to do it. The red earth covered by green grass and trees in the midst of amazing monoliths was quite awe-striking. I couldn't believe I had no camera to take the pictures. I made it to Ilheus, where I was to take a bus to Itacare around 5. I got off the bus and immediately booked a bus to Itacare for 5:45. Two things were pressing: I was very thirsty and needed to catch an atm. There were three ATMs and I was sre one of them would work. X! X! X! Maybe if I pray and try again, X! X! X! That was three cities in a row and I had heard that Itacare was incredibly tough to get cash in. Nothing I could do about it now and the thirst was still pressing. I got my water and then went out to catch the bus. I walked to the boarding gate, however I came to found out that Ilheus was the only place yet that listed the boarding time, not the departure time. I got on the unair-conditioned Rota bus. Seats were not assigned so I grabbed the first window seat I could. The bus had a few seats left when I started off. However, five minutes later we had stopped to pick up a whole swarm of people. The seats were now all full, as were the aisles. The bus was supposed to take 1:30 minutes but it took over 2 hours. We had left at around 6 and didn't arrive till 8:15.

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