Bonita Brazil
Trip Start
Jun 26, 2008
1
12
101
Trip End
Jun 2009
Boa Vista,
State of Roraima,
Brazil
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
We have enjoyed our time in Venezuela but are looking forward to adventures new!!
The bus terminal in PLC is fine and we sit in the waiting area which has a TV with the crappest picture quality ever, people dont seem to mind....
Anyway, We board our bus for a 22Hour (Yes people another first for Kings and Ems - the longest bus ride we have ever taken). The bus company is called Ecuatour, and we get on at 3 and stop each and every hour to drop people off and take on new people, the bus is chokka all the way to the Venezeulan boarder (18 hours on.)
Entertaining was that I was not planning on taking a leak on the bus as the speed of the bus and the conditions of the roads meant that it would be all over the place and 50 other people had already been and even from where we were the smell was intoxicating
Brazil at last
. Top that with the fact the A/C was not working we were all sweating like banshees... Lovely!! A little after midnight I tell Ems I am getting off to have a pee while the bus offloads and reloads new passengers. I get out of the banos to see our bus driving off down the road. I had been half asleep, but seeing the bus heading off down the road, I did a double take and started sprinting down the road waving my arms, screaming like a madman at worldrecord speed for the 200M. All the while I am thinking ... Thanks babes, How the hell could you let the bus leave without me...?!
The bus is at the roundabout so I sprint across the grass and run infront of the bus to cut him off and it works a treat. The driver sees me and slams on breaks. Pheeeew I am OK I think, then it starts to dawn on me, This bus looks slightly different and the bus driver is not the same. His head pops out the window and he barks something at me that I dont catch, I then realize this is NOT my bus... Shit! Shit!!! I say Por Favor several times momentarily forgetting all my spanglish and walk off away from the bus without trying tyo draw anymore attention to myself.
I make my way back to the bus terminal to see many bewildered people from our bus that had got off to get food etc had been watching me. One fat chap points, mimicks me and then makes "a drinking and pissed gesture", lots of laughs!! I look back over my shoulder as I board the right bus to see the bus I stopped still in the middle of the road and the driver is not looking happy
Jungle fever
. Good thing is that Ems is oblivious to all that has taken place!! She thinks it is hilarious. Before the baorder the bus is stopped and we are all ordered off the bus, identify our luggae and stand in two lines to unpack and show all the contents to the local Army inspection point. Interesting!!
Then at our last stop before the boarder I am singled out by yet another Army chap who wants to see my bags... He signals to Ems to get her stuff and follow him. We wander to the back of the terminal where he marches me into a room, leaves Ems outside and locks the door. He asks me 20 or 30 different questions which again I cant answer as my spanglish does not work for army interrogation questions. I can tell the serious looking Amy dude is getting pissed off so finally he shows me what he wants which is for me to empy my pockets and show him all my papers, while he goes through my wallet and demands where the rest of my money is.. (dollars, euros, Reals) What a "Nice experience". I can highly recommend it for those who need to raise the heart rate and blood pressure... all the while I am thinking (What would Boorman do, but I draw a blank) anyway the army dude looks very unhappy to see that I am carrying very little money and finally gives up. I pack up all my stuff and leave. Emsīs turn, she is there only a couple of mins and comes out fine.
We read the guidebook again and see that apparently this is normal and routine!! I really should have read up a bit more
Start of the amazon
. Anyway, it turns out he was unhappy as on the brazillian side you may be asked to prove that you have $500 US or a return ticket... Cleary we look poor and the beard and hobo look work.We get through the boarders (yes both) no probs and stop at a little service station inside Brazil... Wow what a difference, people are friendly, the food is better (says Kinsgley.... scotch eggs with chilli beef are not MY idea of better...) and yes the scenery is spectacular.
The last 3 hours of the trip are great and we see anteaters, loads of birds and the jungle looks cool. We make some calls and make a booking using the Portugeuese phrasebook which does NOT help a thing when all the words look like espanol however the pronunciation is VERY different so no one understands a word I am saying. Good thing here is that people do seem to understand a little english whereas Venzuela is solo Espanol and without it you are stuffed.
Boa Vista is a great little town and we are thrilled to be here. People are friendly and the place is cleaner and tidier than anything we saw in V. Our hotel (Ideal) is clean and good value and we decide to see how we sleep to make a decision on what we will do the next day. The decent bed helps and we sleep well and decide we really like it here, so next day we book another night, take in some sites and look up the local travel agents in search of booking some local trips and excursions. BV has almost no tourism which is great in some ways however the two groups we found end up working together.
We book a 4 hour kyaking adventure which is awesome as we start in a narrow part of Aqua Boa which joins the Rio Brano which is about 1km wide (Wow). I was a little cocky in the canoe and managed to turn the thing over which was scary with all the wildlife around.... (Pihranahs, snakes, camen etc- Ems again- the guide said they were NO cayman in the Acqua Boa)) I had to swim to shore and then get back in. At least I did not fall out in the big part of the river as the currents are strong and the banks are impossible to get to....
We are doing a trip to the Serra Grande tomorrow for 2 days which we are really looking forward to. We have a bus booked on Saturday night to Manuas and managed to book some accomm after the woman at the hotel in Manuas started giggling as I tried my best Portuguiizzzeeeee to book a room, she finally gave up and spoke to me in english...
