Over Rover

 

It has been 67 nights since we left Floripa to visit Brazil, and just like that, it is over. On our 53rd day we met our friends in Sao Paulo and traveled to Ilhabela, Paratay, Ilha Grande, Arraial do Cabo and ended up on Copacabana Beach in Rio. Our friend headed back to the US and we drove the rental back to Sao Paulo where we picked up our trusty Ford. Today we drove the Ford to within 5 hours of  Floripa and tomorrow we will be "home." It's been a little hard, a little frustrating and a lot amazing. We learned a lot, we saw a lot, there was a lot we didn't do and if I had it to do over again, I would do it over and over again.  

The road to Resende

 

We are spending the night in a hotel a few hours outside of Sao Paulo. The drive was challenging. Right outta the gate, we took a google shortcut onto a steep and windy cobblestone road that started out rough and narrow and got rougher and narrower. We avoided a collision on a switchback, passed a horse scavenging through a pile of trash and then encountered a full-sized bus on a road built for one. We navigated to a widespot in the road, got over as far as possible and pulled the side view mirror in. The bus pulled to the other side and crept by with less than an inch between all that metal and our rental car. It ended well and we made it to Juiz de Fora to pick up the Ford. I sweated through a work meeting in a parking lot, we grabbed a blue-collar lunch ($7 for both of us) and got back on the road. The second half of the day featured violent thunderstorms. One of the three storms hit us right in the kisser, with rain so hard we could hardly hear the thunder. We wound up the hills trying to decipher broken limbs and leaves from the mud-filled potholes. We wound down the hills through foamy run-off and puddles standing water. Once we made it to our hotel room in Resende, we stayed put, which explains why we are eating leftovers with toothpicks tonight.

Single track at last

 

We have been to a few national parks in Brazil and they are typically very unlike the parks we are used to. Today we went to the "Organ Mountains" national park and it was kind of familiar. There were backpackers weighing their packs at the visitor's center, Carol and I got a permit for one of the "high" trails, and there were plenty of people near the trailhead but almost nobody after an hour or two of walking. And we walked. We walked 4400 feet to the top of Açu Mountain from which we could see Rio and three national parks.  We are a bit wrecked from the day. 11.5 miles in about 7 hours with more vert than we have seen in a long long time. But it was lovely. The weather was agreeable, the flowers were pretty, and the views were long. Definitely one of the most "us" kind of days we have had since starting this road trip. 

Petropolis

 

After another 9 hour drive we are now in an air b&b near the city of Petropolis, in the mountains west of Rio. For whatever reason, I thought we were going to be up a dirt road, waking up to bird songs. Instead we are up a cobblestone road, with a soundscape that includes barking dogs, revving motos, rumbling trucks and spirit-filled Christians. Petropolis was built by one of the last emperors of Brazil and Rio's ruling class used to escape the summer heat in the area. Nowadays it is packed with tourists. We can tell we are close to Rio because of the carioca accents and the number of people speaking English. Today we checked out the historic center, visited the toy museum and had a feijoada lunch. Tomorrow we are hoping for a long hike in one of the nearby national parks. 

Vitória

 

After seven nights, the most of any place on our trip, we are leaving Vitória in the morning. We were hoping to find some little known nugget of goodness along the way and Vitória fit the bill. It's a big city but kind of chill and very pretty. It's set amidst rivers and bays and oceans and hills and is generally well cared for, with clean buildings and cute neighborhoods and streets that are safe enough to walk after dark. Even the traffic is reasonable. The beach options kind of sealed the deal. We visited six and barely scratched the surface. The folks seem nice but an Uber driver told us the Capaxaba (as the people are called) get a bad rap amongst Brazilians for not being was warm as, say, the Mineiros. We didn't notice and we aren't all that comfortable with all the niceties anyhow. Vitória's got all the good things, it's not too expensive, and we like it. 

Carnival

Vitória, the capital of Espirito Santo, is the fourth capital city of our tour and was kind of a random choice. We became interested in visiting because our guide book mysteriously skipped the state altogether, making it attractive. We did a little research and found that Vitória, like Florianopolis, is technically an island, and rated by some organization as the second most livable city in brazil (behind Florianopolis). It has warm water and lots of beaches, so why not visit? 

We ended up here for Carnival, which wasn't intentional or as specific as it sounds. We were in Belo Horizonte for the Carnival warm up, and in Ouro Preto for pre-Carnival, and Vitória did their Carnival a week early, so technically we are here for post-Carnival. We went out because I wanted to but we misunderstood the directions at found ourselves at the end of one of the parties, walking through the streets with the revellers to the next party. Getting to that party was all we had in the tank, so we walked back through what remained after the revellers revelled and before the cleaners cleaned. In Carol's words, "gross."