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Thursday, 14.02.2002: Rio de Janeiro - Parati
We were due to leave at 10-30am. The packers were officially christened and we left at 11-15!! We saw our driver Darrell only briefly for the first time and we tried to get out of Rio - not as easy as we thought ... we got a scenic view driving over a massive bridge and then turned and drove over the bridge again!! We finally got out of Rio, leaving the pick-pockets behind!
On the road
We travelled along the coastal road, passing scenery that could´ve been in New Zealand - sea views to the left and rain forest and mountains to the right. We were sitting at the back, which turns out to be very bumpy. Our lunch stop was at 3-45pm!
We were heading towards Parati, an old pirate town with streets made of stone slabs specifically designed to be cleaned by the incoming tide. It started pouring with rain, thunder and lightening. So the first thing we did at the campsite was to put up the cook tent and we ended up sitting in there for most of the evening, getting very muddy feet. Our driver Darrell went off to eat and party with another group - which was very loud and went on till 4am. Helen had to get out of the tent and fetch our earplugs from the truck - this is the one (and Only!) advantage of having the keys!!
Friday, 15.02.2002: Parati
The next day Paul (leader) had to return to Rio as someone off a third Kumuka truck (going across to Bolivia) had left 1000 US dollars at a money exchange place and had forgotten to pick it up! This wasn´t just bad for Paul but bad for us too as it meant that Darrell had to introduce himself to us and give us a guided tour of Parati. It went as follows:- somewhere over there is an Internet cafe or maybe its over there? I think the bank is over there and the fortress is well worth a visit (a few rusty cannons and an obviously very bored policeman entertaining himself by doing a solo Karaoke very loudly! We visited it the last day).
That afternoon a few of us tried to find a waterfall that Paul had told us about. The bus wasn´t going for another 1.5 hours so we decided to get 2 taxis. At least our taxi driver had 2 arms! I think the others had to change gear for theirs!! (No joke he really only had 1 arm!). The waterfall was really good - the locals were using the flat slippery rocks just above it as a kind of slide and then plunging into the pool at the foot of the waterfall. The good ones stayed upright sliding on their feet as if sliding along ice, which was fun to watch. A couple of our lads tried it ... unsuccessfully and one man (Grant 40 from Oz) broke a toe and sprained his foot! Some people even jumped from a rock 15m (45ft) into a pool.
At the waterfall and on the boat
After the evening meal most of the group went to do market research on the nightlife. We decided to cross the road to the beach cafe to enjoy the natural laser show (lightening on the horizon), with backing music provided by the waves lapping up onto the beach, under a ceiling of stars and joined later by a giant local crab whose route to the sea obviously went under Helen's seat!
Saturday, 16.02.2002: Parati
We all went on a boat trip - 3 Kumuka truck loads of people on a wooden cutter with masts. As we set off Helen said that the Captain wouldn´t be able to see over all the people just as we headed straight for another boat who went into reverse and shouted, and our captain just managed to miss him!! We went to lots of different bays for a swim and water ball sports and the heavy drinkers from our truck were busy emptying the bar at 10-30 in the morning (in fact they did actually run out of beer!)
Paul got really mixed up trying to take our lunch order - there was a choice of chicken (he had to write an "F" in the box), fish ("P") or veggie. Of course he kept writing F for fish!! But we eventually got our lunch. At the last bay it started pouring with rain and we could tell this would be with us for the rest of the day so one of the other tour leaders asked the crew to take us back. We got back to, in some cases, flooded tents at about 4pm. Fortunately our tent was OK.
Sunday, 17.02.2002: Parati
We visited the wonderful boring fortress and the clocks went forward which no one knew about!! Also Sarah (24, English) had hung out her washing on the others Kumuka trucks line which they had taken with them at 4am in the morning, with her clothes still on them!! She ended up wearing her purple frilly underwear during the day.
We spent the rest of the day at the beach bar. We were trying to learn a bit of Portuguese and the word for cheers sounds like "me bits are itchy"!! Otherwise we´re doing ok on the language front. After a yummy fish and chicken barbecue one girl got the cards out - bad mistake - as they started playing a drinking game and the cards got all muddy. After one very drunk girl threw a disgusting mixture of vodka and a kind of apple soya milk drink all over Helen we decided it was time for bed!
Monday, 18.02.2002: Parati - Bertioga
We finally left Parati at 8am - we´d got up 2 hours earlier to get the truck etc. sorted out and Kirsten was on breakfast. We travelled to a beach camp at Bertioga which was far better than the camp at Parati and we all wondered why we hadn´t moved on earlier. We only had time for a quick stroll on the beach before Kirsten had to start preparing the evening meal. We all enjoyed the great hot shower at the campsite. Excellent!
Tuesday, 19.02.2002: Bertioga - Petrol station along the way
The alarm went off at 5am and left for a very long driving day. We went through Sao Paulo the industrial heart of Brazil and the largest city with 20 million inhabitants. It was very smelly and polluted. We stopped off for brunch at the side of the road and had scrambled eggs! We got stopped by the police and were escorted with flashing lights to a police station 10km away because Darrells International driving licence did not have Brazil on it. It took 2.5 hours and then we were escorted back to the main road after emptying our rubbish in the police bins and our bowels in their toilets!
We stopped at a truckers cafe with semi hot food and men who go round with all sorts of weird and wonderful types of meat on skewers which they carve off onto your plate. God knows what kind of meat it was!
We set off again at 8-30pm looking for a place to camp and at 11pm we pulled into a 24hour petrol station in the rain, thinking we would have to set the tents up on a very small, wet and muddy strip of grass in the rain. Fortunately they had 3 rooms so we all divided up into groups of 7 and 8 and used mattresses and thermarests. It didn´t really matter because we had to get up at 4am (4 hours later) to get back in the truck again!!
Sharing a room in Bertioga
