Christ, Buses & Paraty

Hello Folks,

Just a quick update as time has elapsed and I´ve had no time to get near a PC!
Now sitting in an Airport hotel (yes hotel!) in Sao Paulo after missing boarding and internal night flight yesterday, but more of that later.

Rio is now behind me and I can recommend it as a fantastic place to go. A city with so many attractions (rainforest, mountains, culture, outdoor pursuits, nightlife, beaches).
Make sure you go to the beaches at the weekends when locals are out, so much to see with the Volleyball, Football and of course the ¨body beautiful¨Brazilians.

Went out to a local Samba club in the Lapa district of Rio with a group of fellow travellers on Friday night, although most were severely outclassed on the dance floor. Beer and entrance were cheap and so a good night had for all of 10 pounds.

I have been making the most of different opportunities to view Rio from above. The first vista was taken from the SugarLoaf ¨mountain¨with great views back over the city and inland.
Second vista was my favourite, hang gliding off a high summit for a 30-40 minute glide down, landing on the beach. This being Brazil the whole thing was quite relaxed and lacked organisation. Instructions from the professional were as detailed as ¨put your left hand on my shoulder, look up and keep running¨, I did this (against my logical judgement) and ran straight off the makeshift platform. Enjoyed the experience and was very peaceful when gliding, good value at around 75 pounds.
Finally, I visited the famous Christ statue, which gave fantastic views over the whole region.

On Monday began the overland trip down to Sao Paulo and caught a bus for 5hrs to the beautiful beach resort of Paraty with the intentions of staying for a few days. On discovering that there was a Brazilian football match in Sao Paulo on Wednesday night changed plans. Tuesday was spend on a bus to Sao Paulo. Wednesday wandered round the sights of Sao Paulo (not many) and met the locals (more hostile than in Rio). Was approached regularly and hassled and advised by shop keepers to leave certain areas. Sao Paulo was very industrial and lacks character.

The search for football tickets was exciting with the Mumbai stadium located 40mins from the city. The game was a sell out and offered little chance of getting tickets. This match was the first time Brazil had played a competitive match in Sao Paulo for over 12 years!
Black market tickets on offer on the street to ¨gringos¨at 500 brl. Undeterred got a taxi in the direction of the stadium and walked when the traffic stopped. Wandered round outside the ground and eventually came across a tout (who looked like he´d been sampling a wide array of narcotics looking at his eyes and arms). The tout led us away from the crowds and police and we began negotiation by writing numbers on a piece of paper. Ended up paying 130 brl for a ticket worth 80 brl, so not too bad.
Getting into the ground was carnage and despite have seat, row and block numbers on the tickets people sat where there was space. We found a block and managed to sit down. The next two hours was a carnival of noise and excitement. Brazil beat Uruguay 2 - 1 and the atmosphere was amazing.

Thursday was spent entirely at the airport. Firstly I managed to get a ticket down to Florianopolis that left Sao Paulo at 21:25, next I arranged a hostel to stay in and they were picking me up from the airport.
Got to gate in plenty of time and my flight was showing on the board but not departing as yet. 22:15 and still no sign of flight boarding/leaving so went to get a drink. Got back to gate at 22:25 and plane had left without me. I didn´t hear any calls on the PA but they just went.
At this stage I wasn´t aware the plane had left and it disappeared off the boards. No one from the airline around to speak to and stuck through security not knowing anything. Thankfully some nice Brazilians understood my attempt at Portuguese and took it as a challenge to find out what was going on. Ended up going back through security to an airline office to be reunited with my bag and given a new ticket for tonight (at no cost!). Was now around 01:00 and I had nowhere to stay; decided to bite the bullit and found an airport hotel and checked in.

I now hope that I´ll get on the plane tonight and the hostel owners in Florianopolis are willing to have me still! I now intend to stay in Florianopolis for around a week and enjoy the Islands surf and outdoor pursuits.

JP