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Our stay in Brazil is almost over. We're about to cross to Argentina in Iguaçu. A bus takes us back to Campo Grande's airport then we fly to Iguaçu. We have a big scare at the airport again. They can't find us at first and we are dreading to relive the same ordeal but they eventually do find us... Phew! Intense relief!!! The rest of the day is seamless and we arrive late at night in Iguaçu.
It was the shittiest bus we had so far in South America. It had no AC, we were bored to death but we made it to Bonito. No complains! The rest of the day is spent tour shipping... As is tradition ;)
Fun fact : the accent of the region sounds like a English speaker speaking Portuguese... Weird! I first though they were Americans or Englishmen speaking really good Portuguese but unable to do a proper Portuguese "r". But it was just their accent!
Up with the sun again, it's one of the trend of this year ;) We have to catch the 7:30am bus back to Salvador. It rained heavily all night and it woke us up a few times. It's still pouring as we go to the bus station. It's the way the Pati says goodbye I guess. We leave a bit late, miss our connection in Salvador and eventually arrive at 9:30pm in Diogo. Not a fun day but we don't need to move for the next few days, the program is back to being playa!
Our trek was organized online and we met with the company's owner yesterday afternoon for a quick briefing. We'll be four plus the guide. First, we pick up Phil and Alex, Belgians living in Bruxelles, then, in Palmeiras, on the other side of the park, we pick our hippie guide, Antoine. The driving is clearly wilder here but not as bad as in the Andes... but not as civilized as in the cities ;) It's not aggressive though, people keep their cool spirit behind the wheel.
Our hotel is in Barra, to the south of the city center. We wanted something quiet and close to the beach. We arrived in Brazil quite tired and even though the few days at the beach in Rio were some much needed rest, we need more of it. That said, there are still things in Salvador that we want to see, starting with St Francisco church. The blue mosaics are typically Portuguese, the scenes, however, are odd in a church: court scenes, battles, hunting scenes.
We were told it was way too late to buy the precious new year night metro ticket but that was not true. The subway works all night long during New Year's eve but you need a special ticket from midnight to 5am. Or you have to wait until 5am to hop on the regular subway. We're too old to stay up until 5am so we buy the ticket ;)
We have brunch with with friends of a friend today at the "fruteria". The food is good but the dessert is about to change our life. Brazil's well kept secret (even kept from Brazilians living abroad!) is called Açaí. It's a berry from the Amazon and they make a kind of sorbet with it that you can eat with toppings or not... And it's divine!