parati
The first trip on the great big yellow truck. Talk about identifying yourself as a bunch of tourists, possibly flush with cash and a ready target for a highway robbery or more mildly, a suitable bride possibility for corrupt police. This is South America afterall. The truck (it is not acceptable to refer to it as a bus or coach!) is a sturdy, comfortable and appropriate mode of transport for the 45 day journey, across roads of various quality, from Rio to Lima. Atlantic to Pacific.
Our first stop was the old pirate coastal town of Parati. A very pretty place that retains much of its Portugese architectural heritage. It was designed with a fastinating feature. At the highest of tides, the sea water flushes through the streets and cleans the town entirely. Regrettably the high, high tide wasn´t happening when I was there but one could see how it worked. Clever civic planning. Suffice to say it is a quaint place. It has an Irish pub too! What a laugh. It is as Irish as the samba.
This was the first camping night of the tour. 40% will be camping. Two to a tent. No problem. Where I experienced a problem is that the group was divided into ´cook teams´. Anyone foolish, like me, to admit to previous cooking experience would be collared into leading a team. I like cooking but the ingredients available were pitiful and my team were in charge of the first group meal. I freaked out (silently) a little as I did not want to be respònsible for cooking a stir-fry where carrots would be a principal element! Added to this was one of my team members was a complete b*tch who sneered and offered pointless suggestions. I readily offered her the role of cook-in-charge. She fell silent. My first bust up. I cooked it as best as I could and it was passable.
The realities of tour group travel were starting to sink in. Tents pitched, off to bed. One of the group snored like a fog horn. His tent was ten feet away! I couldn´t endure it so I left my tent and trailed over to a well, under a tree hoping that the big yellow truck would act as a good sound barrier. It didn´t. Instead I had ants crawling into my nostrils all night while wrapped in my sleeping bag!
But it must be said that I did enjoy our outing. A boat trip around the vicinty of Parati. Snorkling, swimming at various locations and all with the background of the beautiful Brazilian coast. It was a fantastic day.
Our first stop was the old pirate coastal town of Parati. A very pretty place that retains much of its Portugese architectural heritage. It was designed with a fastinating feature. At the highest of tides, the sea water flushes through the streets and cleans the town entirely. Regrettably the high, high tide wasn´t happening when I was there but one could see how it worked. Clever civic planning. Suffice to say it is a quaint place. It has an Irish pub too! What a laugh. It is as Irish as the samba.
This was the first camping night of the tour. 40% will be camping. Two to a tent. No problem. Where I experienced a problem is that the group was divided into ´cook teams´. Anyone foolish, like me, to admit to previous cooking experience would be collared into leading a team. I like cooking but the ingredients available were pitiful and my team were in charge of the first group meal. I freaked out (silently) a little as I did not want to be respònsible for cooking a stir-fry where carrots would be a principal element! Added to this was one of my team members was a complete b*tch who sneered and offered pointless suggestions. I readily offered her the role of cook-in-charge. She fell silent. My first bust up. I cooked it as best as I could and it was passable.
The realities of tour group travel were starting to sink in. Tents pitched, off to bed. One of the group snored like a fog horn. His tent was ten feet away! I couldn´t endure it so I left my tent and trailed over to a well, under a tree hoping that the big yellow truck would act as a good sound barrier. It didn´t. Instead I had ants crawling into my nostrils all night while wrapped in my sleeping bag!
But it must be said that I did enjoy our outing. A boat trip around the vicinty of Parati. Snorkling, swimming at various locations and all with the background of the beautiful Brazilian coast. It was a fantastic day.
posted by Ciarán at 4:32 p.m.
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