Venezuela to Brazil (Boa Vista)

Trip Start Dec 27, 2008
1
19
32
Trip End Apr 04, 2009


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Where I stayed
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(Boa Vista hotels)

Flag of Brazil  , Guayana Highlands,
Tuesday, February 17, 2009

We landed in Ciudad Boliva and were greeted by the guy from the tour company. We thanked him and told him how amazing our tour was. He gave us all the information for the bus to Boa Vista, the bus station being only a 15 minute walk down the road. It was only 2pm and the bus didnt leave till 8pm so we had time to chill. But we thought we would go to the station to get our bus tickets sorted. 10 minutes down the road we found na internet café. Went in to print our flight details.Then discovered both bookings for Adams flights had been cancelled. Ahhh!!!! So Karrina searched the internet for MORE flights, while Adam tried to find na ATM that would accept his card, and then go to get our bus tickets.
Karrina found flights for Adam (more expensive than the previous ones of course), but Adam returned with MORE bad news. After trying every ATM in the town, he finally found one he could withdraw money from. But the bus we needed to get to Boa Vista was full!! Nothing till tomorrow!!! We both went searching for a bus to Santa Elena (the border crossing point- 4 hours from Boa Vista), but all buses were full.Finally after an hour of searching we found a bus that left Ciudad Bolívar at 9.30pm, arriving in Santa Elena 6.30am the following day. We were told there was a bus from Santa Elena to Boa Vista that leaves at 8.30am which takes 4 hours. Perfect! Our flights left at 2pm! Ate, Adam got some beer, sat in the bus station with 2 hours to wait. Reading the ever so helpful lonely planet (thanks mum and dad!) we discovered that the bus to Santa Elena takes 10-12 hours. So we went back to the guy who sold us the bus tickets who informed us this time that the bus in fact arrives at 8.30am! But thats the same time the bus departs for Boa Vista!! If we cant get that bus and miss our flights then thats $2000 we spent on flights gone to waste! Not to mention the money we are going to have to fork out to get to rio! Stressed yet?? Trust me, this was pretty fu*king stressful!
We decided to play cards, drink beer (karrina was so stressed she even had half a beer) and just see how it plays out. There was nothing else we could do but keep our fngers crossed we would make our flights.
The bus arrived early and departed at 9.15pm, we were both amazed! Hás our luck taken a sudden turn? Hás Friday the 13th finally ended for us? We both slept as we were exhausted from the hectic afternoon/evening.
We got to Santa Elena at 8am. Karrina ran off the bus into the bus station to find tickets to Boa Vista while Adam got all the bags off the bus. But military stopped Karrina wanting to see passports and ask a million questions. But we dont speak portugese, and the military dont speak english! So they took us to this Brazilian guy who worked in the bus station who spoke portugese and english. Our translator! The military wanted to know what we were doing here, where were we going, why were we going there, when and how we were leaving. So Karrina frantically explained the events of the last 24 hours, the fact that their plane leaves Boa Vista at 2pm, that they just want to go party in Rio etc etc. By the end, the translator was more stressed than Karrina and Adam were!! Military wanted to search every incho f our bags. Ok, fine, go ahead, whatever. While they did this, the translator (we prefer to call him our angel) organised us a táxi to take us across the border through immigration to another bus station on the brazilian side where we could get a táxi to Boa Vista for 25reals (about $20) each. It would take three hours! Perfect! Got through immigration easily, got to the bus station where we immediately moved straight into another táxi and we were then on our way to Boa Vista. It was 9am so we should deffinately make it on time.
Half way through the táxi ride, the car starts doing some weird shit. The driver is turning it off and on constantly while we drive along, which makes the car continuously jerk! Basically, the car is broken! Why wasnt one of us a mechanic?? Ahhhhhh! What could we have possibly done to receive this much bad karma??? Anyway, it turned out ok, he got a different táxi to come get us. We arrived at Boa vista airport at 1pm, na hour before our flight. Both amazed we made it!
Got on the plane to Manaus. Adam got off at Manaus to change planes to fly to Brasília and then onto Rio. Karrina stayed on the plane they were originally on, flying the same route, just 40 mins ahead of Adams flights.
So apparently they dont like to fill planes in Brazil, because at no stage of the trip was Karrinas plane full. Why was Adam not aloud on this flight? Im sure we all have different ideas on the reason for this.
Karrinas theory: The airline was tôo stindgy and were aware of Adams love for free beer, so they refused to let him on!
Let us know your theories on this one!!
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