BACK FROM BRAZIL

We survived! From the group of 20 of us we had 4 food poisoning, 1 attempted pick pocket, and 1 motorcycle wipe out. Fortunately myself, wife, and son weren't directly involved in any, but did witness the cycle spill and food poisoning.
We left Newark, NJ on a Friday @10pm and flew through the night landing in Sao Paulo around 6:30am Saturday. There was only a 1 hour time difference so the flight was pretty easy. We then took a quick flight into Rio De Janeiro. From there we piled into an undersized bus and headed north for 2 hours to the small fishing village of Buzios. A great little town made chic by Bridgett Bardo in the early 70's. The stone's often flee their big spread in Rio to hide here also.
Although the countryside was quite beautiful it did show that Brazil is a country of the "haves" and the "have nothings". The houses people were forced to live in were true shantytowns. If they could collect enough bricks to build a room they would. They simply attach it to another building, throw on a corrugated steel roof, and plug into the nearest extension cord.







Anyway the town was amazing. Not a single paved road to be found, only old cobblestones. The food and music were both very exciting. They cook with a lot of salt, but the meats are amazing. My lack of Portuguese and their limited English often brought on some creative pantomiming.


Our porsada (hotel) was extremely tranquil and zen-like. Every room was different, and the views had a Mediterranean look to them.

We toured the town via great little VW dune buggies, although you couldn't drive on the beach going 40mph on a cobblestone road was plenty fun.


I mentioned the 4 food poisonings right? Well the man shown below was directly resposible. The big thing on Brazilian beaches is for various unlicensed vendors to peddle their goods (and bads) up and down the sand. You could walk to the beach starving, sober, and naked and leave a few hours later stuffed, hammered, and fully dressed including jewelry!
Anyway, this man was selling "fresh" oysters, little did anyone know that oysters aren't indigenous to this part of Brazil, quite possibly no where in Brazil. Oh well carpe diem!

2 of the oyster eaters were sick most of the 10 day trip. A doctor was dispatched to help get the wounded get on they feet for a little while anyway.

While in Buzios we took a booze-cruise through some pretty hairy waves, knocking out a few more revilers for the day. We did stop along the way so I could investigate a new bar for Chuck to open. Take a look Chuck and let me know if you want to proceed. My wife Bethany on the boat.


I don't have any pix of the motorcycle incident, but Mike K. was fine, just cut up his elbow nicely. Cooper and I were sitting in the dune buggy waiting to follow Mike on the cycle. Mike says "hey Coop watch this" (you know and I know that nothing good ever follows that statement) He turns the handle bars to the right, revs the engine, and dumps the clutch. The front tire slides sideways on the sand covered cobblestones and 6'4" 250 lbs. Mike hits the cobblestone, hard. Stands up puts his shoe back on, curses the motorcycle, checks to see where all of the blood is coming from, resumes some dignity, and proceeds to go get another beer. All the while my 5 year looks at me with a straight, but bewildered face and says "Dad, why'd Mike do that?". Which answer do I give a) "because he's probably too fuckin' drunk to be near an engine of any kind" or b) "he wasn't being careful and fell"? You decide.
All and all Buzios was a fantastic place to visit. You can go to one of many secluded beaches and chill out by day and head into town for great food and live music at night. Sounds nice eh?

I'll post some more pix from our trip to Rio next.

Enjoy