Vacation - Part 1

Carnival Vacation – Part One
I’ve been putting off writing about our vacation over the week of Carnival, trying to find the time to sit down and share our travel experience in detail.  We left Sao Paulo with high hopes of an exotic vacation full of beautiful destinations, and wonderful stories to share.  Instead, we got rain, rain, and more rain, which (quite literally) put a damper on our plans.  However, we did have some humor thrown in, given the conditions in which we traveled, all contributing to our story.  I will do my best to describe what we experienced, but this story would be better appreciated with the photos that we took – thus far I haven’t figured out how to include those pictures into the text or how to post them onto my blog.  

When I last wrote, we were preparing and packing for our trip to the state of Rio de Janeiro, where we were expecting to see beautiful rainforests, tropical islands, and breathtaking waterfalls.  We weren’t ready to go to the capital of Carnival, the city of Rio de Janeiro itself; but we thought we’d have a great time seeing some new places in our new country.  Given the fact that the Friday before Carnival is one of the worst days to be on the roads, we gave ourselves plenty of time to arrive to the Metro station where the bus would be picking us up.    

As it turns out, we gave ourselves a little too much time and arrived at the station almost 2 hours early.  We had taken a taxi (our friends were in a second taxi) and had packed everything but the kitchen sink, so we were loaded down with suitcases and bags.  The place where we were to meet the bus was just that – a place (i.e. sidewalk) where the bus would stop – no bus station, no covered waiting area, and the Metro station was really a block away.  It was dark and raining, and the prospect of standing in the rain, with the kids and all of our luggage, was not an inviting thought.  Luckily, there was a McDonald’s right across the street, so we decided to drag everything and everybody there to wait for the bus.  The kids were thrilled to eat their first McDonald’s hamburger since arriving in Brazil, and I even treated myself to a hot fudge sundae.  At 10pm, we loaded into the bus and were on our way.

Saturday
We arrived at the hotel in Resende at 3:00am – luckily the check-in process was fast and we were in our room and in bed within minutes.  Three hours later, we were up and getting ready for our first adventure – because of the rain, our itinerary had changed, and we boarded the bus at 8am for our first stop in Itatiaia National Park.  The oldest national park in Brazil and situated in the Mantiqueira mountain range, it is home to Brazil's third highest mountain, Pico das Agulhas Negras, which stands at 2,878 meters.  There you can find 250 species of birds; other attractions include hiking and rock climbing.  I couldn’t wait to see the rainforest, the mountain peaks, and waterfalls that can be found there.  

 I guess it should not come as a surprise that in the rainforest we had rain, and lots of it.  The drive to the park was beautiful; but we couldn’t help but be disappointed when we arrived at the park entrance, due to the rain and slippery conditions on the rocky paths, were diverted to the park’s museum, where we would spend the next 2 hours.  It really brought me back to the days of school field trips, to small museums where insects are pinned inside glass cases, and native animals (stuffed, of course) are on display among the native flora behind glass enclosures.  After 30 minutes of looking around we were we getting bored (especially the kids) and were ready to get out of the museum and to see the beautiful nature the park offered.  We finally decided to brave the weather and set out to find an area called “Lago Azul”; so with our ponchos to keep us dry we started down the rocky path, eventually coming to a bridge that spanned a large whitewater creek.  “Lago Azul” literally translates into “Blue Lake” – though it was pretty to see, there was no lake, and nothing blue about the water we were seeing.  After snapping a couple of pictures, we headed back up the trail to the waiting bus.  The highlight of our morning in the park was seeing wild monkeys jumping from tree to tree, just outside the museum.  

Next, we were driven to a small town near Itatiaia, called Penedo – it is Brazil’s only Finnish colony.  Very quaint, with adorable shops and restaurants, Penedo was picturesque, despite the rain.  We enjoyed a long lunch, walked around with our friends, and shopped a bit – at 5pm we boarded the bus once again and headed back to the hotel.  Keep in mind that this was the weekend of Carnival, which is a huge deal in Brazil.  However, though the hotel was nice and clean, with a decent restaurant, it was also a bit dull.  Carnival is famous for its colorful style, with music and dancing – but there was no sign of any of that at the hotel.  There was also no hot water in our room!  After the boys took cold showers (we kept thinking the water would eventually warm up) I went to the front desk to see if they could do anything to warm the water.  I was assured that it would be taken care of, and received a phone call about 15 minutes later telling me the water should be warm.  Not so, as Matt and I each took very quick (and cold) showers, as well.  We were exhausted, and climbed into bed with hopes of a better day to come.

Sunday
On our second day of vacation, we were heading to an area of Rio de Janeiro called Angra dos Reis, which translates into “Islands of the Kings”.  Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, Angra boasts 365 different islands – one for every day of the year.  An area best navigated on the water, our boat would be waiting for us at 9:00am, which meant we had to be on the bus at 7:00am.  After our 5:50am wake-up call (yes, that’s 5:50am on a Sunday morning, on vacation!), we got our things together, ate a quick breakfast, and set out on what was supposed to be a 2-hour drive to Angra.  It was still raining, which given the fact that we were on curvy roads through the mountains of Brazil, added an hour to our trip.  We were all starting to feel the effects of motion sickness, which was only made worse when the smell of vomit (as a girl in the front of the bus did become ill) wafted back through the bus.  I had to keep a pillow pressed up to my face in order to be able to breathe deeply and keep from throwing up myself. 

 

Finally, after 3 hours of winding through the mountains, we were out of the rain and arrived at our destination – I think everyone was happy to be off of the bus, but a bit leery about getting onto a boat, since we were already feeling queasy.  Regardless, the tour guides tried to keep a festive atmosphere, and immediately pulled out cases of beer, sodas, and snacks and got the party started.  We have a running joke here that the safety standards here are very different than in the U.S., therefore we refer to things as being “Brazil Safe”.  The perfect example of “Brazil Safe” was upon embarking, a lady in our group handed us life jackets for the kids – that is the first thing you would have to do on a boat in the States (after signing a waiver, of course).  Our boat captain quickly asked us to please remove the life jackets, as they were only for use in case of an emergency.  The tour guide proceeded to inform us that if the “ocean police” saw a life jacket, they would immediately assume we were in danger and we didn’t want to cause any alarm!  That’s the first time we’ve ever been on a boat and been told, “Please, DO NOT wear the life jackets”! 

    

Though the sky was gray and overcast, we were fortunate to not have rain for a change – the sun even managed to peek out a few times throughout the day.  We stopped at a couple of different islands, and also made two stops in the middle of the water for those who just wanted to jump off of the boat and go for a swim.  The beer flowed freely, and a few of the men enjoyed a little too much – they kept us entertained with their singing and dancing (and sometimes falling) along the way.  At the end of our vacation, we asked the boys what their favorite part of the trip was – their answer, “Watching the drunk guys dance”!  Great, just what you want your children to remember about their first vacation in Brazil!  By 6pm, we were back on the bus for the return trip through the curvy mountain highway – fortunately everyone was so tired that most people slept and didn’t suffer from the same motion sickness as they had on the way there. 

 

Once back at the hotel, and desperate for a hot shower, I asked the concierge if they had figured out how to get us hot water.  I had made a second request for hot water that morning before leaving, at which time I was asked if I’d turned the handle on the left.  I explained that there was no handle on the left, only one handle in the middle.  He continued, saying that the handle on the left was the one for hot water; again, I somewhat calmly tried to explain that there was only ONE handle!  He promised he would look into it before we returned at the end of the day.  The young man working at the desk that evening had been made aware that I was hoping for hot water, and he happily explained to me that the reason we had no hot water was because the shower had an electric heater, rather than a gas one – apparently electric heaters don’t get any hotter than lukewarm.  He said this to me with a smile on his face, as though I should be satisfied to at least know WHY I had no hot water.  I, once again trying to remain calm, explained to him that it wasn’t an acceptable reason, and that I wanted hot water – Brazilians love kids, so I made the plea about my poor children having to take cold showers.  So it was, that after our very long day, we were given a new room at 9:00pm, packing up everything (including our now-sleeping children) and moving to a room with a gas-heated shower.  I happily took a long, hot shower and crawled into bed to get ready for the next day’s adventure.              

To be continued........ for the pictures that go along with the story, go to https://picasaweb.google.com/116320405884338150832/CarnivalTrip?authkey=Gv1sRgCICm_pGVjZWQxAE&feat=email#