We arrived at the Sao Paulo bus station around 9:30-10am. I felt a bit groggy, no more than I usually do after a Unisom and no wine. Apparently I slept through a breakfast stop, and also missed Eli telling off Shaneela and Radha for chattering during the night.
I'd taken my shoes off on the bus and they almost dried overnight (they were soaked from the Friendship Bridge), although the left insole was displaced. Only reason I wore those to Paraguay was because my walking shoes were already wet from the boat the day before.
The bus from Sao Paulo to Paraty was leaving at 12:15pm so we had some time for orange juice (I started to get sick of freshly-squeezed OJ on this trip--it's too much sometimes) and the Internet. I told Jill and LG the Paraguay story and then remembered that's why I write a travelogue instead, so I don't have to e-mail anecdotes to people separately. I paid for a half hour, used it, then right after I left I realized I'd forgotten to read my brother's rotisserie baseball year-in-review e-mail. I hate when that happens.
I was looking forward to Paraty, because you can't spell Paraty without PARTY! Or I suppose you can, if you use the alternate spelling Parati, which we don't.
We boarded the bus to Paraty and Eli's bags and mine were tagged together. We kept fooling people apparently. On the bus we finally cracked open the two beers from my bag, after getting cups of ice at a rest stop. They started to show a movie and I moaned as soon as I recognized it: "Big". Fortunately the tracking got screwed up before the kid turned into Tom Hanks and then they shut the movie off, but Lance had to get one question in: "So Tom, what was it like filming this movie?" Me: "Shut the fuck up! And damn you all straight to hell before you say anything else!" I wasn't irritated; I just like damning people to hell.
Close to Paraty we passed through a nice beach town called Ubatuba. Also known as Oompa-Loompa.
This ride was 12:15pm-6:15pm including stops. So the total time between leaving the Hotel del Rey and arriving at the Paraty bus station was 25 hours 15 minutes.
We checked into the hotel, and Lance and I went for a quick walk around the block to check out the town. I was just trying to clear my head after the long ride and remember what I had on my to-do list (charging batteries etc.). Lance said he had only one thing on his to-do list, but...uh...I forget what it was.
We all had dinner at a nice restaurant. I had a "filet mignon" (they use the designation loosely in Brazil, or just plain incorrectly) in stew-style sauce, rice, a fried egg, beans, a caipirinha, bottle of merlot split with Eli, cake and ice cream, and some coffee & amaretto concoction. At the conclusion the waiter came out with a bill for everyone else, and a separate bill "for the married couple". The group had a good laugh. Damn! After three such incidents I think it qualifies as a common-law marriage now. The dog wedding would have been easier to clean up than this one.
Bedtime 11:45pm.