9/8/15
I am a weak individual, and especially so when I am sick (yeah, I just said I am a big baby when I am not feeling well. Though u do not have a fetish for diapers, baby powder, or baby food. I would admit, however, pedilite is awesome for hangovers. Especially frozen and then mashed like a slurpee.). I can pass out for 12 hours, my friend Tom will usually call and make sure I am still in the land of the living, and then sleep again. It works well: my body simply shuts down (I maybe a robot) and self repair while I am unconscious . of course, this does not work so well when I am traveling. After some thought, I decided to continue to Rio (mostly because everyone said Rio is much better than São Paulo, and I am rapidly running out of time). I got a bed/seat on the 6 hours bus ride, hoping to get some rest. This also marks the return to bus for me: I had been flying in Colombia (because the airfare there is so much cheaper). I had it all planned: leave on the 10:30am bus, get to Ipanema by sunset and enjoy the beautiful scenery (both the beach and the people, so I was told by many many travelers. I think everyone enjoyed the beautiful people more than the beach. In this ca, enjoy means visually. Although it could be physically. Why am I rambling? Must be the illness).
I packed my bags and got ready to leave the hostel, only to find heavy rain and wind outside (thanks to the God of weather!). I managed to get to the bus station without being too wet though, and boarded the bus to Rio. It was a packed bus, and I was thankful for the comfortable seats. I have forgotten how good the buses can be in South America. The ride was generally awesome, except for the instructions given in Portuguese. Apparently, the bus stops for lunch at a rest stop (with seat down meals) for 30 mins around 2pm). Imagine my confusion when everyone jumped off the bus (from door), rushed into the restaurant/gift shop/mini market and started lining up for food. It took me a few minutes to realize what was going on, and then I utilized my city-skill: I joined the line, rushed to grab food, elbowed people out of the way.
One interesting fact about some good places in Brazil: they issue you a disc with barcode (like those you get while waiting for a table at chained restaurants), and they use that to scan what you purchased in the whole store. Then you have to get the disc scanned at checkout, and pay the amount. I am not sure if that is any faster: it seems to just push customers to check out and have a queue there; instead of spreading it out among different sections (wow, I leaned something from my MBA classes after all). I managed to eat, buy cough drops and a water within 20 mins, and the bus went on its way again.
One thing I forgot about bus rides: the delay. Instead of the 6 hours ride, we were treated to an 8 hours ride instead. Traffic got bad around 5pm, and we eventually got to Rio bus station at 6:40pm. After that, it was a quick taxi ride (yeah I was too lazy to catch the bus), and got to the hostel by 7:30pm. Not feeling well, I managed to go out for a quick dinner before heading tot he shower and bed, without seeing the beautiful people or beach. I did notice Rio is a lot warmer than Sai paulo, and hope I will feel better soon.
While I am typing this (and realizing the wifi in this hostel is terrible), I feel a little better about the day. Yeah, I failed to see the famous beach, but I have tomorrow. Surprisingly, it felt good to be back on a bus: it felt like I am coming in a full circle (wow, that statement can be so dirty of one word is misspelled): back to the mode f transport when k first started. It reminds me the trip is ending, and I must make the most out of every moment, even if I am sick.
(Off to bed. Hopefully I don’t sleep for another 12 hours and miss the beach again. I must see tee beatific people…I mean beach….)
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