Stone and Fire: Brazil day 3-6

No, I didn't use four days to get from Rio de Janeiro to Guarapari. But I have used some time to "recover" myself. The sun burn I started to get the first two days in Rio only got worse on the second day. And my bad knee got even worse. So now was the time to calm down, and get my feet back on the ground. I decided to go to Guarapari where my brother lives to recover, and get time to decide what's next.

Day 3 (Friday)

The third day started with getting to the Rodiovaria to get tickets to Guarapari. I took taxi there (no problem), found the ticket stand (no problem), bough tickets to Guarapari (no problem, but they were for the red-eye bus). Ok, I had almost a whole day ahead of me in Rio before the bus left. So I locked my luggage in a locker service, and headed back to Copacabana with taxy (did not go that well). Short story long, I was given fixed price from the bus station to the beach, but forgot to demand advance payment. And of course, he didn't speek any words of english, german or norwegian for that sake. And demanded a "somewhat" steeper price than previously agreed.

That was the first time anybody even tried to bust of my money in Rio. And the two previous days had gone without any incidents... And it was not over yet. Luckily that was "only" result in ruining my (previously nice) leather shoes. The recipe? First get some muck (hopefully stinking), and get that onto the shoes of some unsuspecting tourist. Then suddenly appear as the saviour shoe-shiner. The tourist has little choice, as he now has shoes covered in muck. Next time I'll decline and wash off myself at the nearest public toilet, he certainly didn't deserve anything in return for first defiling my shoes, then "polishing" them with who knows what.

Ok, finally I got rid of the "shoe-shiner", then a few minutes later, a new shoe-shiner comes and "sees my ruined shoes", I have learned, and he didn't get to give a new trie on my shoes. Only two different shoe-shiners later did they seem to give me up. Except for the walk-agound band that played bad music, and wanted atleast R$10 to go away... After the two previous rounds with crooks, I was in a bad mood, at least not in the mood to pay anyone anything.

Later I walked to the end of Copacabana in search for a shopping centre that was marked on my map, but (strangely enough) could not find the entrance. But I found the entrance to an old fort turned museum. I walked a little bit around until my knee gave up, and sat down on a café with some imported beer and dinner, and waited the last hours with a book. Too bad I didn't heed that fact that the clouds parted at that moment, and burnt my skin even further.

Now my head was red as a tomato, my arms still as white as snow, and I was sitting on an air conditioned bus so cold I almost felt like I froze to death. I was only wearing a pair of pants, a t-shirt and using my jacket as a blanket. And almost cached a cold on the way. But I got whole to Guarapari, and slept out a few hours at my brothers house before the next day started.

Day 4 (Saturday)

Finally in place in Guarapari I met Johan for the first time, met Lis again, and got introduced to Glaucia, who is (or is going to be) the godmother of Johan. And here things have a slight different pace than I'm used to. First mission: Get Stein some "Brazilian Clothes". Out to a close by shopping centre, where I was lest with the two women who neither spoke any of the languages I know, to find and select clothes for me. New singlets, t-shirts, and shorts, mostly thin and water proof.

Next mission, get some real brazilian food. This time moqueca, which was a stew of fish, tomato, onion and herbs, served with rice, and a sweet sause, and optional chilli oil. Good stuff, despite that it was served with the fish bones.

Last mission, have a bath. First try of the back yard pool, and in addition another friend of the family Ju(liana) came by. I guess I spent about three hours in the pool before reclining for the day.

And reclining on a Saturday means in this place, taking a few drinks (more like a few beers each), then take a cab to a "nearby" nightclub. Even if the one we first was heading for was closed, we just seeked out the next. Late meal: Tons of Urimake and some peaces of Nigiri Sushi. And loads of beer. No I can't say I was sober when we left the place for afterparty on the other side of town.
Day 5 (Sunday)

If the previous days had been full of events, this day was not so much. Most of the day was spent in the pool. And Ju and a friend of Glaucia named Renato came by. I must say having a back yard pool is real luxury.

Day 6 (Monday)

The weekend is over, and now it's time to start doing things again. Part one: Rent a car. Part two: Do various errands that needs to be done. Part three: Go sightseeing.

I got the message: "Ey Steõ, Foto". And with my camera, we went to a beautiful beath west of Guarapari (and some other small places), called Praya Castilanho, and took a lot of pictures... I let them speak for themselves.