Rainy Daze

Well, all our complaining about the heat brought us two days of rain in Floripa and lots of time to browse at the street market and get to know other people staying at our hostel. We were both feeling a little sentimental leaving Sunset Backpackers because all of the great people we met there. The rain kept us away from the beach, but not from going to the city center and finding fresh coconut milk, corn on the cob and coconut treats. On our last day in Floripa we went and checked out the sand boarding on our way out of town. The typography of the island is incredible because it has lots or rolling hills either covered in exotic trees or draped in sand dunes and beaches scattered everywhere in between. Sand boarding is a big tourist attraction no doubt, the sand is so white and soft. We drove to Curitiba which is inland and to the North of Brazil just to stay one night before giving up the rental car and busing to Paraty. I say "we" drove, but really it was all Aaron and I have to give him credit for surviving driving the crazy streets or Brazil. In Canada, people´s road rage is unnecessary and luckily not an everyday occurrence. In Brazil, people use their horns like they´re getting paid for it and motorcyclists weave in and out of two lane traffic like they are in a video game or something. The only comforting thing, if you can call it that, is that no one here drives like that because they are actually pissed off and no one on the receiving end takes it personally. It´s just the way the driving culture is here. Looking up motor vehicle accident stats from Brazil is on our to-do list for when we get home for sure! Needless to say, we both came out unscathed and a little more thankful for Canadian driving conditions.

We were only in Curitiba long enough to eat and sleep before catching a bus to Sao Paulo and then onto Paraty. We caught the bus at 9 am and only drove an hour before all traffic was delayed for 7 hours because of a landslide. We sat on the bus for 4 of those hours before attempting to figure out what was going on. Everyone spoke Portuguese and only Portuguese except for one guy from Holland who caught wind that we were struggling with the language barrier and came to our translating rescue. He and his Brazilian girlfriend were so nice, they kept us updated on the status of the road reopening and even got us on the bus to Paraty that we surely didn´t think we would be able to catch at such a late hour leaving Sao Paulo. All was not lost, as we arrived in Paraty at 4:30 am and didn´t have to forfeit our hostel reservation or sleep in the sketchy Sao Paulo airport until the morning.