Monday, a.k.a. “OMG – WTF!?”
Monday started off with more rain. Not to worry, the tour guide reassured us, the sun was shining in Visconde de Maua, an area known for its 100 waterfalls (some of which are used as giant, natural waterslides), where we would be spending our day. We were told to wear our bathing suits and bring towels because we would be visiting at least two of the waterfalls and swimming in the clear water pools that form in the creeks. Because the roads where we were headed were narrow, we were loaded into 3 smaller mini-buses, for the one-hour trip. This is where the “OMG”, as well as another example of “Brazil-Safe” comes into play. We’ve been on some pretty bad roads in Brazil, but those that took us to Visconde de Maua seriously take “bad roads” to a whole new level. This is where I would really need pictures to help illustrate for those reading this the conditions in which we traveled, because there really aren’t words to describe it.
As had been the case so far on this trip, the rain added another hour to our travel time; so for two hours we bounced along on curvy, muddy roads, winding through the mountains. I do have to take a moment to say that despite the treacherous drive, the scenery we witnessed was breath-taking. Brazil is a positively beautiful country, with so much lush green land that it helped to take our minds off of the fact that we could very easily topple off the side of one of those “tropical paradise mountains”. I had already envisioned the headlines on a CNN news report, “Tour Bus Carrying Two American Families Topples in Mud Slide in Brazilian Countryside”. I am only partly joking, as we saw the effects of many mudslides that had occurred over the past couple of months – there were visible reminders of the news reports we had seen (while still in the U.S. in January of hillsides just washing away in Rio de Janeiro) right in front of us, on the very roads on which we traveled! We finally reached a small commercialized area where we stopped briefly to use a bathroom (no toilet paper, no soap, and the toilet didn’t flush – at least there was a sink with running water) and buy a couple bottles of water, before getting back on the little buses to continue on our journey. Once again, we found ourselves being jostled and bounced on even more narrow, muddy roads. We did pass a cute little touristy town along the way, which looked like an inviting reprieve from the buses.
This is when the “WTF?!” (I’ll apologize in advance if this offends anyone) makes an appearance in our story. Three hours after leaving the hotel (remember, we’d been told it would take one hour), the tour guide announced that we had arrived at our destination. It was cool and still raining – at this point we were thinking ponchos would have been more useful that bathing suits. We were shown a narrow and muddy path and were told to follow this in order to see one of the waterfalls. We all looked around, shrugged our shoulders, and thought, we’ve come this far, let’s see where this takes us. After a short walk, trying not to slip on the rocks, we came to a creek with rushing (not to mention cold) water – there we were instructed to remove our shoes and walk across the creek! Seriously?! So, with a bit of irritation mixed in with some humor, and with help from the guys in the group, we crossed the rocky creek to the other side. Now, those who know me well, know I am a bit finicky about my feet - I don’t like anything between my toes, and I don’t like for my feet to be dirty. However, with no place to dry our feet and put on our shoes, we continued up the muddy, rocky path to see the falls – in our bare feet!
We finally got to the place we had traveled so long and far to see – a pretty-but-not-so-spectacular-waterfall. We stayed there for about 5 minutes, taking turns posing in front of it, and turned around to trek back through the mud to see what was next on the agenda. After crossing the creek again, we were able to sit on a rock and dry our feet, and finally put our shoes back on. Once back at the buses we were informed that because of the rain and muddy conditions, we would not be able to see the other waterfalls. We would only be stopping for lunch and heading back to the hotel. Are you kidding me?!? We came all the way here, risking our lives along the way, to spend 5 minutes in front of one waterfall? As Porky Pig would say, “That’s all, folks!”
We stopped at that cute touristy area we had passed earlier, at lunch, and headed out onto the horrendous roads (that in the U.S. would never have been allowed to be open for traffic) and back to Resende. Because our day had been cut short, we returned to the hotel fairly early and decided to join our friends for some much-needed drinks. I’m not sure if I’ve written about ‘caipirinhas’ before, but they are worth mentioning. Like a Brazilian version of a margarita, caipirinhas are typically made with cachaca – sugarcane liquor (very popular here) – limes, and sugar. We spent a couple of hours talking and laughing with Brent and Katherine (our friends, and the only other Americans in our group) about our experience earlier that day. We were so glad that they were there with us, making our trip a much more enjoyable one; not to mention that Ian and Alex stayed entertained playing with their kids every chance they got.
The final day of our trip was a “free day” for us – we were ready to pack up and go that morning, but the bus wouldn’t be leaving until 3:00pm. We learned that there is absolutely nothing to do in the town of Resende, so we decided to go back to the Finnish town of Penedo. While walking to some shops, Alex was bitten by a dog on the sidewalk – the dog was on a leash, but managed to reach out and bite him on the hand. Alex was screaming and crying, causing quite a scene, while the dog’s owner was apologetic and offered us hand sanitizer and a Band-Aid. She heard Alex talking in English - I don’t think she understood as he was yelling “How does that stupid lady let her dog just bite kids?” and “I hope that dog goes to hell!” – and she found a lady to talk to him. This bystander kindly tried to explain that the dog had gotten all of its shots and didn’t have any diseases, so he shouldn’t cry. I explained to her that Alex was not crying because he was worried about getting a disease from the dog, but because his hand hurt! Once we got him to calm down, we ate lunch, returned to the hotel, and boarded the bus back to Sao Paulo. Our vacation was over – though it didn’t quite meet our expectations and we didn’t experience anything remotely close to “Carnival”, we managed to keep a good sense of humor about it – and we were happy to be going home!
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