The only way to explain day one would be Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. To say that the trip got off to a rough start would be like saying Adriana Lima is kind of pretty. We arrived very late to the airport Monday morning thanks to my friend not being able to find his passport and my other friend forgetting his wallet. We arrived at the airport at 5:45AM for a 6:15AM flight. Luckily, there are no rules in Brazil (haha) so we didn´t have any problems getting on the plane although checking in was a bit of a scramble. I hate rushing to the airport. It honestly is the most unnecessary stress that we all put on ourselves. Once we arrived in Rio things only got worse. I felt the most miserable travel feeling of them all: standing there like an idiot watching the baggage carousel go round and round long after everything had come out and everyone else had dispersed. We had all three baggage claim tickets, however, we quickly noticed that the baggage attendant had put two tickets on our surfboard bag instead of one. Therefore, not only did I not have my luggage, it was more than likely that it didn´t have a ticket and could theoretically be anywhere. I imagined two weeks traveling up and down Brazil without clothes and I was not a happy camper. After submitting the claim to the lost luggage department, we went outside to find our ride. We waited, waited, and waited but our driver never showed up. Apparently, his cell phone was out of batteries (only in Brazil) so we couldn´t get ahold of him. We hopped in another taxi and were on our way for the hour drive to the dock.
Quick tangent: my first impression of Rio de Janeiro is that it is a city in disrepair. It looks like everyone just gave up and said, "screw it." There is trash everwhere, the buildings look like they just got bombed, there is grafitti as far as you can see, and it smells like crap. I´m interested to see the beaches and the "nicer" parts, but overall it left me widely unimpressed....and even more depressed.
The taxi driver, who apparently was born with a lead foot, was racing like he was driving his pregnant wife to the hospital (sometimes literally driving on the inside shoulder of the highway to pass other cars - no joke). Just as my friend Hans was contemplating saying something to him, there was a huge pop. We had just got a flat tire. As luck would have it, we literally got the flat not 100 feet from a car garage (I´m convinced that they have spikes laid down on the highway). It didn´t take hardly any time for the change and once again we were on our way. After 30 minutes, we stopped for gas. This time the car didn´t start so we had to get out and push the taxi to get it to start (those of you who have seen Little Miss Sunshine would understand). After a good hour and a half, we arrived at the dock and hopped on the boat. Everything from here on out went ok other than the fact that we arrived on what the locals say was the coldest day of the year. You could see how beautiful the island could be in the sunshine but at the time, we were too cranky and cold to imagine much more than staying warm. All of us were tired so we had dinner and crashed early. What a day. You couldn´t make some of this stuff up, and it got to the point that we were just laughing each time something new happened. I have said it before and I will say it again, you have to have a sense of humor if you want to survive in Brazil.
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