We woke up lazily our last day in La Paz, because A) we wanted the free breakfast, B) we knew we had a ton of driving over the next few days, and C) we had to wait for our laundry. Since the protests were that day, we ended up not being able to pick up our laundry until after 10 am. We packed the car, and said one final goodbye to La Paz, the only city we had left and returned to so many times. However, La Paz never ceases to be a thorn in one´s side, and despite the fact that there was little car traffic to deal with that morning (from the protests), there were protesters throwing rocks and debris into the road. We were able to make it out with no car damage, and starting our long drive. The first day was easy, nothing of note, except the jamming Backstreet Boys marathon we had during the drive. We also discovered outright a fact that we had suspected throughout our stay in Bolivia: despite the amount of tourism there, the governemnt was not that friendly toward foreign presence (which we actually discovered later, through an article on CNN.com, that Bolivia is the #1 most unfriendly country for travelers [google it]).. A bit after leaving La Paz, we routinely stopped for gas, noting that since arriving in the country, we had not needed to fill up yet. The first gas station we arrived at informed us that they could not fill our tank due to our foreign license plate...along with the second and third gas stations. Things were becoming worrisome, but someone mentioned that we might be able to buy gas from a mechanic shop. We found a small, run-down shop, and were able to fill up using our spare gas container from the trunk. We filled up by hand, one liter at a time, taking ages, but we were secure for the time being, and continued on our way. A few hours before we arrived in our first resting town, Jared mentioned that he had started to feel under the weather, sore throat, nausea, aching body etc. By the time we arrived in Cochabamba, he was a mess. I ran around looking for a place for us to stay, while he rested, and when we settled ourselves into a hostel, he basically remained in the fetal position for the rest of the evening.
The next morning, he was not during any better, so I took over driving. We drove from about 7 am I think, until the sun went down, and stopped in a super small town, maybe namme San Juan...memory escapes me at this point. The only thing of notes in the town, was the presence of serious white people. Apparently, there was some sort of amish community that had settles in Bolivia ages ago...who knew? So, yea, it was a bit weird to see tons of little baby towheads running around. Although, they stared at us more than the locals! I had dinner sola, as Jared was barely feeling well enough to hold up his head, and went right back to the hostel for a early night`s sleep.
The next morning, again early wake up and drive. We arrived at the border of Brazil around lunch, ate cheaply, as we assumed prices would skyrocket the second we stepped over the border, and got in line for the usual back-and-forth at customs. Shockingly, the most arduous part of the process was the Bolivian customs office; normally countries make leaving easy, and it´s entering that takes up all the time. On the contrary, it seemed Bolivia was going to have us sit around for 2 hours for their customs officers to eat. The Brazilian side, however, was easy; a short line for immigration, and when we went over to customs, they told us we didn´t need any paperwork to bring in the car!! At least I think they said that...despite attempting to learn Portuguese from a Lonley Planet travel book, my language skills were not up to the task at that point. Somewhat, confounded, we hopped in the car without confirming with the Brazilian government that we had a car through any type of paperwork (the first time since leaving the US), and set out for more driving. I was sure we would get stopped at the first check point, and sent back to the border...or jail, but we did not, so we kept going. Our first pit stop for the night in Brazil, was Campo Grande. I was pretty siked to start using some of the Brazilian Portuguese I had been practicing, and had spent the whole day in the car reading signs and hoping I was pronouncing everything correctly, which I wasn`t, but I tried my damndest! Campo Grande was a nice and big city, but did lack cheaper hostels, so we had to stay at a hotel. One of the first things we did was run to the ATM, and wouldn't you know it, Jared's card got rejected, not once, not twice, but several times, at different locations. Luckily, from the 3 debit cards I left the US with, I was down to one Chase, so we wouldn't be compltetely screwed, but I did get a pretty hefty international ATM withdrawal fee, so cash was only to be used if absolutely necessary. Thankfully, our hotel took card...thankfully we were in Brazil, because pretty much everything took card. I don't remember anything in Bolivia taking card, including paying for our flight to the Madidi National Forest. Anyway, we grabbed dinner at McDonald's, because Jared wanted to see if it did in fact taste different down there, like I had claimed. Now, A) I said it tasted different in Uruguay, I had no idea what Brazilian McDonald's tasted like, and B) I haven't a Mikkie D's burger in years. At this point, I have no idea what a US McDonald's burger tastes like, BUT the burger we had at the Brazilian McDonald's was awesome! And crazy overpriced. Well, maybe not overpriced, as it was most likely real meat, and really only overpriced because I'm so used to US McDonald's prices, this was about $10. Anyway, point is...yes, Brazilian McDonald's has GOT to be better than US McDonalds! After our experiment ended with us successfully full, we walked back to the hostel for the night.
The next day, we planned on driving from sun-up until soun-down (again), to reach Sao Paolo, but ended a few hours pre-mature when Jared announced the he desperately needed a bed, and couldn`t be in the car anymore. Luckily, we were at a gas station right outside of a really nice town called Bauru. I attempted to chat a bit with the gas station attendants, who were so nice, and helped me with all my Portuguese questions! They then tried to give me directions into town, for us to stay at a hotel, and when a new car came up, this amazing pregnant woman, said we could just follow her into town, and she would show us. As of this point, we had already had very brief, but lovely encounters with Brazilians, but this one took the cake. She started driving us into town, and then stopped a few miles in, came running back to our car, belly swinging around in her hands, to ask what kind of price range we wanted!! Then, when we told her what we were looking for (cheap), she said, "oh geez, well that`s behind us", and I tried to listen as closely as possibly as she gave Portuguese directions, and then said "but don`t worry, you can just follow me". So this amazing woman, literally turned her car around and drove us to a new place in the other direction!! Seriously...nicest people ever! Unfortunately, even the cheap hotel was a bit out of our price range, but the hotel attendant directed us to a different location, that, even though it was still a bit more than we wanted to pay, would suffice, as Jared was having a rough time. As he turned our room into his quarantine cell, I stayed away as much as possible, grabbed dinner, walked around, and attempted to communicate with a pharmacist what Jared`s symptoms were, she gave me some pills, who knows what they were for, and I doled them out to Jared in hopes that they would help in some way. When I did plant myself in our room for the night, the hallway came alive. We heard men yelling and banging, it sounded like some highschool trip fight was breaking out. Luckily, they calmed down (or more accurately, left), and we were able to get some sleep.
The next morning, we went to breakfast at the hotel dinning area, and discovered the rowdy "highschool" kids, were in fact, middle aged men, which really just made me fall in love with the Brazilian people even more! We got into the car, and were determined to make it to Rio de Janeiro that day...or ELSE!!! Well, "or else" nothing really, we would just have to sleep in some highway town again, but I was dying to be done driving; 5 days of 12 hours driving stints, I was done! The only real thing of note during that drive was getting stopped by 2 police officers, who I knew were gonna give me a ticket, beacuse I had passed them earlier on the highway, not knowing they were cops. Instead, they were rally just curious about our drive and our trip; even invited us in for coffee or water! Seriously liking Brazil at this point; I think also because Bolivia had been such a drag on us. Anyway, finally getting closer to Rio, we ran into a bit of traffic as the sun went down, but I was not stopping! We had perfectly functioning headlights, and I was making it to the land of samba, beaches, thongs, and caipirinhas or somebody was gonna get it!!! ...and let`s be honest, it would probably be Jared, just for proximity reasons. Well after dark, we pulled into lovely Rio, and with great modern roads and lights (!!), we easily managaed our way to Copacabana, and our hostel.
Copa, Copacabana. The hottest place south of Havana! Not joking, I had that song stuck in my head the entire time we were in Rio.
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