Empty Packages
Whilst waiting for a package to arrive from Lilla´s folks from home, we decided to head a couple of hours north to a small town called Arraial do Cabo, where the beaches were beautiful and the water was this amazing turqoise colour.
After Rio we took it very easy, found a Pousada with some air conditioning & a pool, checked out the beaches around town and really spent the 3 days we were there catching up on sleep. Very relaxed vibe and atmosphere!
From here we headed back to Rio, the plan was to get the package (that was supposedly being delivered that afternoon), head back to the bus station and head North for Porto Seguro and onwards to Arraial D´Ajuda. I thought we had better make one last phone call to confirm the delivery, when I was informed that customs in Rio had gone on strike and that it could be weeks, even months before we can get our package delivered (and this is a 3 day guaranteed delivery from Australia, 2 weeks after it was due to arrive, after spending a morning translating a document emailed to us and depositing some absurd amount of dinero into the delivery company´s bank account for import tax or something else along those lines - some things were never meant to be). Enough of waiting, the package will just have to find us somewhere else in the continent, time to move on; we´re heading North.
Once we arrived in Rio we headed straight to the other bus company to purchase our onward journey tickets, but unfortunately missed out on the semi-leito service and landed on the conventional service leaving 20 minutes later. Out for dinner in Lapa one last time, then back to the bus station for the bus lilla refered to as the poo bus (not really that bad, we´ve just been spoiled by Argentina) for 18 hours to Porto Seguro - if only it was that easy. About 13 hours into the poo bus, a car travelling in front of us decides to break hard for no apparent reason and as we hit the brakes, the bus behind us from the same company travelling North to an alternate destination on an even pooer bus who happened to be travelling just a little too close to us can´t get out of the way and decides to take a corner of our bus out whilst destroying it´s windscreen! Now the poo bus is really in deep shit.
Nothing too outrageous but still a good conversation starter when talking about travelling around South America to scared Americans.
We were finally on the road again about 2 hours later when our replacement bus rocked up, but for some reason we did not reach our final destination until 4 hours past our scheduled time. Now I´m no accountant, but I still can´t figure that one out. I guess when you ask the people behind the desk when your buying the tickets how long is it supposed to take and they answer 18 hours ´mais o menos´ (more or less), you really need to be paying more attention to the mais than the menos. A ferry across the water and we´re finally here, in one of the nicest hostels and towns I have been to yet. The town is real cute with heaps to do, the beaches are amazing and the hostel is awesome. Now you know why once again you have not heard from me in quite some time and why we keep deciding to extend our stay.
Our first night saw us meeting up with an Irish couple from the poo bus for some drinks, dinner and live music, followed by our first day at the beach (until we got rained out). Dinner and drinks out agian (this place is unbelievably cheap for how good it is) followed by our second day, with a much clearer sky, which saw us heading to the local water park where for $24 you can swim (obviously), tan, slide, absail, rock climb, flying fox and all sorts of crazy stuff. Dinner and lots of drinks last night before buggying off down the coast today with the same Irish couple to Trancoso, a small hippy village about 30 min from here where there isn´t much to do but chill out and swim in more beautiful beaches.
All good things have got to come to an end though, and after a much quieter night tonight and a day in the sun tomorrow, it´s time to move again. Salvador de Bahia, heard some great things about this city, now it´s time to check them out.
Oh and don´t worry, we managed to score a non poo bus for this leg of the journey.
After Rio we took it very easy, found a Pousada with some air conditioning & a pool, checked out the beaches around town and really spent the 3 days we were there catching up on sleep. Very relaxed vibe and atmosphere!
From here we headed back to Rio, the plan was to get the package (that was supposedly being delivered that afternoon), head back to the bus station and head North for Porto Seguro and onwards to Arraial D´Ajuda. I thought we had better make one last phone call to confirm the delivery, when I was informed that customs in Rio had gone on strike and that it could be weeks, even months before we can get our package delivered (and this is a 3 day guaranteed delivery from Australia, 2 weeks after it was due to arrive, after spending a morning translating a document emailed to us and depositing some absurd amount of dinero into the delivery company´s bank account for import tax or something else along those lines - some things were never meant to be). Enough of waiting, the package will just have to find us somewhere else in the continent, time to move on; we´re heading North.
Once we arrived in Rio we headed straight to the other bus company to purchase our onward journey tickets, but unfortunately missed out on the semi-leito service and landed on the conventional service leaving 20 minutes later. Out for dinner in Lapa one last time, then back to the bus station for the bus lilla refered to as the poo bus (not really that bad, we´ve just been spoiled by Argentina) for 18 hours to Porto Seguro - if only it was that easy. About 13 hours into the poo bus, a car travelling in front of us decides to break hard for no apparent reason and as we hit the brakes, the bus behind us from the same company travelling North to an alternate destination on an even pooer bus who happened to be travelling just a little too close to us can´t get out of the way and decides to take a corner of our bus out whilst destroying it´s windscreen! Now the poo bus is really in deep shit.
Nothing too outrageous but still a good conversation starter when talking about travelling around South America to scared Americans.
We were finally on the road again about 2 hours later when our replacement bus rocked up, but for some reason we did not reach our final destination until 4 hours past our scheduled time. Now I´m no accountant, but I still can´t figure that one out. I guess when you ask the people behind the desk when your buying the tickets how long is it supposed to take and they answer 18 hours ´mais o menos´ (more or less), you really need to be paying more attention to the mais than the menos. A ferry across the water and we´re finally here, in one of the nicest hostels and towns I have been to yet. The town is real cute with heaps to do, the beaches are amazing and the hostel is awesome. Now you know why once again you have not heard from me in quite some time and why we keep deciding to extend our stay.
Our first night saw us meeting up with an Irish couple from the poo bus for some drinks, dinner and live music, followed by our first day at the beach (until we got rained out). Dinner and drinks out agian (this place is unbelievably cheap for how good it is) followed by our second day, with a much clearer sky, which saw us heading to the local water park where for $24 you can swim (obviously), tan, slide, absail, rock climb, flying fox and all sorts of crazy stuff. Dinner and lots of drinks last night before buggying off down the coast today with the same Irish couple to Trancoso, a small hippy village about 30 min from here where there isn´t much to do but chill out and swim in more beautiful beaches.
All good things have got to come to an end though, and after a much quieter night tonight and a day in the sun tomorrow, it´s time to move again. Salvador de Bahia, heard some great things about this city, now it´s time to check them out.
Oh and don´t worry, we managed to score a non poo bus for this leg of the journey.
posted by Sanchez at 12:19 PM
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