Coach journey - the gringos and the polo mints.

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03/12 - 04/12

For the first time on this trip, Team 897 made a trip/adventure and successfully completed a task. Got my stuff back at 2am this morning and got up at 6am to begin our getting the bus to Salvador challenge. We got a taxi and made it to the right bus station (much simpler) and found the Itapemirim window where we successfully bought tickets for the bus which departed from Rio de Janeiro an hour later - we filled in th forms, got our baggage weighed in and on we got. It was the most smooth of the Team 897 adventures to date. As soon as we got on the coach it was apparent that the air conditioning was not going to work - NIGHTMARE - panic ensued given that Amy is prone to travel sickness - this was definitely not going to be aided by a 35 degree bus journey.

As we made our first stop off the natives demonstrated their anger about the heat by vociferously airing their views to the driver. Nevertheless, the air con still wasn't working. The guy sat in front of us cracked a window and we suddenly felt loads better. I thought Amy might kiss him! By the next stop we had a guy on board fixing our air con and it was all much easier from there. The views are breathtaking between Rio and Salvador - it never in the 29 hours got boring. The lush green mountains almost looked plastic - they were just So green in was truly beautiful. I took photos but they really can't show how amazing and vibrant the colours and landscape were. We travelled through loads of small towns and it felt quite philosophical, we sgared fleeting moments with people I would never see again, people who're unlikely to see anything outside of their town, let alone state or country. This isn't meant to sound patronising, but instead a realisation of just how lucky we are to be doing this trip. We were lucky enough to have a double seat each for the first 6 hours or so before a family moved into the seats next to us. The mother and daughter were suffering from bad travel sickness (which really didn't help Amy) but we swapped polos and crackers to keep each other going - across language barriers!

The journey lasted 29 hours and it wasn't too bad, we all slept through the night pretty well - even though we were a little packed in by this point. There was much more legroom than when we got the flight to Rio and the chairs leant back a long way. Only one issue really, one absolutely nutty Brazilian woman, who progressively got more aggressive as time went on. I think it as fair to say that the three of us reaked of foreign and when she spoke directly to us we smiled and responded in the truly British way, an awkward politeness which apparently didn't convey the message of non-comprehension and confusion we were clearly expressing. I felt like we were glowing with it.

She kept coming back and forth jabbering on until the family sat next to us explçained that we didn't understand Portuguese - this just seemed to provoke more unnecessary and irritating non-banter. The family were protecting us from the barrage of gibberish, she physically shook Tasha to jabber at her, and we all attemped to feign sleep anytime she came towards us. This is the first time I have ever heard myself being referred to as Gringo - which apparently comes from the Green Coat American soldiers - Brazilian's shouted Green coat go home and this eventually became the term gringo.

One interesting point is that we discovered that the loopy sign of spinning your finger at the side of your head is internationally recognised as being a bit loopy as another one of the passengers did that about her towards us. Needless to say that we sighed with relief as we reached Salvador - and our travelling mission continued. Actually this leg was very straightforward, jumped into a taxi abnd headed to the hostel.

The hostel here in Salvador is truly beautiful, it's almost Moroccan in it's architecture, not surprising given the massive African influence here, there is a hammock outside and everything (this is nothing to do with African culture, just an added bonus). The hostel itself is very chilled, and it was so nice to get showered. We're all clean and refreshed now - we had our first alcoholic beverage - a caprihina - and our first proper meal since arriving in Brazil - steak, chips, rice and salad. We have well and truly flopped. Heading to the beach tomorrow - can't wait to get my feet in the sea. Tan here I come!

xxxxx

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Comments

[jude cole]

glad...
you're ok - all sounds amazing. Must admit to being a bit worried, but I expect I'll get used to it. Just got too much time on my hands atm. I was probably in much more peril than you just going to Tesco yesterday. I'm sooo over snow now, I can't tell you. Rob-over-the-road has had a fall and broken his leg really badly. Sunshine now,but still about freezing so no thaw in sight. Quite glad there's no hammock outside here! No post for a week so nothing from bank yet - will keep you posted. Have a lovely time in the sun, looking forward to seeing the photos. Love to all xxx

[Sarah Lou]

not jealous...
...at all and sooo not wishing I was with you guys and preparing to build a sandcastle on the beach as opposed to the igloo I am attempting to build in garden. Loving the blog even if it does make me miss you. xx