Leaving Rio

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This morning we woke up really early for some reason. I think the time difference has something to do with it. It was 6am and the sun had just started to come up. The skies were blue and hazy and the weather looked great which was weird as the forecast was thunderstorms. We tried to go back to sleep but it didn't happen so we leisurely got up and were down having breakfast at 7.30am. It was pretty busy for a Sunday morning. The sun was still blaring when we finished so we got some beach towels from reception and headed to the beach determined to make the most of the sun. The night before my sunburn had come out but somehow it had got worse overnight. I now had one bright red foot which was sore but not as sore as the backs of my legs which were now stinging when I walked and sat down! I'd even put loads of suncream on so I don't know what happened. So before we went to the beach I put loads of cream on determined not to burn anymore, however I'm sat here on the flight to Lima 12 hours doing later with bright red ears and a red neck! I'm useless with suncream! Hopefully it's all gone and faded in the next couple of days. My one ankle has also been swollen for the last couple of days which I think has been from a mixture of a big bite, the heat and walking around lots. Again hopefully this sorts itself out too before the trek. I look like I've already done the trek!



We stayed on the beach for a couple of hours before heading back for showers at the hotel before checking out at midday. Incidentally they have a really good solution to the burning sand issue when you walk barefoot over here, they string out long black hose type things which have holes in. Then they pump water through them so they have a sprinkler effect on the sand either side for about a foot, wetting the sand so it's cool to walk on. Of course it's the beach stalls that set them up and have them go right past their stalls so you have to walk past them so they can try and sell you stuff! So back at the hotel we'd packed all our stuff together the night before so didn't have too much to do. We left our bags with the hotel until we needed to leave later for the airport. So with 3.5 hours to spare we decided to get an Uber to go and check out Ipanema which was the next beach front along from Copacabana. We used the wifi from the hotel and hoped we'd be able to get some free wifi later on to get an Uber back. Data is really expensive here and goes really quickly I've managed to use £20 worth in the last three days on basically nothing, including the translation Uber incident!



We got dropped off outside a hotel at Ipanema and walked along the front. Along the beaches they have like a slow dual carriageway with two lanes going each way with a pedestrian area in the middle. At certain times of the day they switch the direction so at busy times they have four lanes going one way, where as today they closed off two lanes for pedestrian access and just had two going one way. Ipanema was a lot busier than Copacabana with people everywhere. We walked for a bit and got a drink at a cafe, then we tried to find somewhere for lunch but they were just all drink stalls, which was a little strange. We walked for about 2 miles and found nothing. We were both hungry so decided to get a taxi back to Copacabana which is when we realised we couldn't get any wifi anywhere, there were no taxi ranks and we were nowhere near any hotels, there were far fewer than back where ours was. We walked a bit further before realising that we were a bit stranded and didn't know how to get back. Taxis were flying past but with people in, so we walked the 2 miles back where we came starting to panic slightly that we needed to be back at the hotel for our taxi to the airport in a couple of hours. Eventually we managed to hail a taxi and got a lift back to our hotel. I even managed to understand the driver when he asked if we wanted the air con on! That's when we realised that somehow we had managed to get through the last three days just using and knowing the Portuguese words for Yes, No, Please and Thank You! It's amazing how you get by, although it did take a few hours at the beginning to understand it wasn't Spanish they were speaking especially after I thanked the Passport Control guy at the airport in Spanish, no wonder he didn't say anything back!



Back at the hotel we then went to one of the beach bar cafes that did food across the road and had a couple of beers and some food before going back to the hotel to get our bags. We then managed to take over a section of reception while sorting out clothes to get changed into for the airport trip and plane journey to Lima. In the midst of this a lady came in and said my name, turns out she was our taxi driver and was 10 mins early. We managed to bundle everything into the car which felt strangely familiar when we realised that it was the same car we arrived in. Turns out the guy who had picked us up from the airport was her husband and it was in her car! We got to the airport in plenty of time and checked in for our flight dropping the bags off, after trying to originally check in to the domestic departures area when we are international. After spending the last of our Brazilian Reals on a drink to share we went to the gate to charge our phones etc ready for the flight. Steph then managed to completely break the strap from the small bag she's been using as a small handbag. We both found it funny but me even more so when less than 5mins later she got up to board and somehow forgot it was broken and dropped all her stuff over the floor!



Boarding the plane was pretty slow for some reason as they seemed to be using paper and pen to check everyone on. Then when we got on the plane it took forever as people kept moving around seats and some people even had the same seat numbers!? How does that even happen! As per usual after takeoff the people in front of me and Steph both reclined fully back grr! The flight is supposed to be about 6 hours long I think. There's a time difference of 2 hours so that will be 5 hours behind the UK when we land. I'm struggling to remember what day it is at the moment let alone the time, it's crazy how when you have no routine you quickly lose track. I'm sat wedged in the middle seat with a guy next to trying to type this out after letting Steph have my window seat. It's always awkward when you have to sit next to someone you don't know, I always convince myself I need the loo even if I don't! Our rescheduled flight to Cusco is at 5am tomorrow morning (it's 9pm now) and we've noticed our seats aren't next to each other. Steph thought it was funny that mine is 19L where as hers is 19A in a window seat. We joked mine was a standby one as we didn't even know they went to L but the plane we are on is a 3 - aisle - 3 and the seats are ABC then across the aisle JKL so we've both got window seats somehow on the same aisle but opposite sides of the plane that's if people stick to their seats on the next plane. Hopefully we can get our luggage quickly once we land and check in the airport hotel and get at least a couple of hours sleep before we have to get up and check in at 3am. Tomorrow is going to be a very rough day, we will land about 6.30am at altitude after having barely any sleep and check in at our hotel is supposed to be 2pm. We've got another taxi booked to take us from the airport to the hotel so I reckon we'll get there about 8-8.30, drop the bags off then have to head off into Cusco for 4-5 hours. Complete lack of sleep plus possible altitude sickness is not a combination I'm looking forward to although Steph without sleep is even worse! I've started taking the altitude sickness tablets today as you're supposed to take them a couple of days before so hopefully they will help. Steph hasn't taken any yet as she didn't get her own prescription so is having some of mine and is worried there won't be enough. Hopefully that won't be a mistake either!



So that's pretty much it for today, not sure when this will get uploaded, in fact the next few blog posts may be a bit more sporadic as I don't know when I'll get wifi but I'll try and write one a day even if they get uploaded in a batch. Four more hours to go for the flight, I'm going to try and sleep zzzzzzzz

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