Living on a bus - São Paulo to Salvador

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Tim Version:
* Traveled Saõ Paulo to Salvador by bus, heck of a bus ride!
* Listened to a whole lot of Portuguese and learnt to live on a bus.

The 32 hour bus ride version:

Rocking up in Saõ Paulo the airport, at least where we arrived, was a little old and decaying. The immigration line was massive, as was the customs line, but it moved steadily enough and a good bit of time later I was outta there. I got myself some Reals (the currency here) and went to find a bus from here to Salvador. I was both crazily excited for Brazil and Carnaval, but also chronically low on sleep and feeling very cautious after Lima, so I proceeded slowly. I was also now in a country where I couldn't speak the language yet, and my Spanish pronunciation really isn't good enough for them to understand, so I was back to phrase book in hand with a piece of paper and a pen. I found to buy the bus ticket meant going to the bus terminal, so off I went. First bus, very comfortable =) Expencive but comfortable! I'd heard this about Brazilian buses... it's like the buses in Mexico, but with much more leg room (Mexicans = little, Brazilians = big, me = inbetween).

From the bus depot I got my ticket after struggling with a mixture of Spanish, Portuguese and English all muddled together! 32 hours =) Besides travelling from Perth to Canberra as a child that takes the cake as my longest bus ride! I went to a local shopping centre, kinda bathed using the sink and stuff there to the amusement of a few others passing through, bought a Portuguese to English Dictionary and headed back to the bus depot. I had most of a day to kill before my bus (I seem to be living my life in transit) but was so tired I just used it dozing off to sleep and listening to Portuguese tapes I had downloaded in Mexico.

The bus, very comfortable! Better again than the last, and boy was that a good site when you know you've got to spend so much time on the thing! 32 hours... its a long long time. Life is spent looking out the window, listening to your music, and sleeping. Stops become an exciting break to stretch your legs and just get out of the bus. About halfway a British girl introduced herself to me (I thought she may have been Brazilian, and after failing so much before with Portuguese I didn't feel like trying again just yet) so that gave me a travel buddy for the last half. She was going to Salvador for Carnaval too, bot so excited for the week long party that was ahead of us! By the end of the trip after listeing to lots of Portuguese I felt like I'd be able to speak a little so was feeling a bit better about that, and when we rocked up at the Rodovario (bus terminal) in Salvador we parted ways. Then I found I was a dope... I didn't have the address of my hostel! No guide book yet either. Once a net cafe opened I found it though, got directions, and worked my way up to my hostel. So happy to be there, smelling terrible with 3 days of transiting and no shower, I showered, ate and mulled around for a good two hours before I think I even said a word to anyone. Now though the excitement was kicking.. I was here, ready, settled in, and Carnaval was kicking off tonight!!!!

*A note on Brazilian buses*
Long range buses, brilliant. Comnfortable, totally safe, with toilets and usually purified water. Some with TVs and movies, and if you're lucky som English subtitles or sound. Internal city buses, totally useless with a pack... you often enter from the rear door, not the front door. From there you go into a caged area where you pay a guy for the ride, then you go through a turnstyle. No, your bag doesn't fit. Yes, the bus can be very crowded. Thankfully the smaller buses let you in the front, and while they still then instantly split to caged off areas and a tiny turnstyle area you can't get your bag through, you are however able to leave your bag in a space at the front. Taxis become a little essential here with your bag, unless you want a serious struggle... funny since they got the long range buses so so right, yet the short range ones suck so much!
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