The Dream Vacation

The Dream vacation...

Todd and I have been joking about that phrase for months.  We admittedly are extremely lucky that we are able to travel.   It is exciting and rewarding to see this world we live in.  Going to South America seemed like a logical next step and as we have done before we chose a place that had a marathon so we could run it while we were there.

The logistics of any travel for us start with the generosity of those who love our children....and are subsequently willing to take them for a week or so.  This also requires planning, we live in Arizona, are traveling to Brazil, and have friends in family in California who are watching the kids.  So I took the kids to Cali, Todd finished work and then in a act of faith in air travel we had Todd fly to San Francisco where he met me and we flew together on from there(last year that did not work out so well.)

Airport Todd found a wall plug...and a wheel chair.

He may have gotten the window, 

....but I got an empty seat next to me.

The flight was long but uneventful.  I was delighted that for once the seat guru web sight had actually come through and I picked seats that actually had extra leg room.  We got to Rio in the early morning.  Made it through customs and walked out into a city where our laziness meant we did not know a single word of portuguese and prayed that this mysterious "Andre" would be there with a sign with my name on it.

Adrea the "Giant" driver

Andre was there...and he was giant.  A 6'+++ tall man who looked more like a body guard with a hand written sign stood at the end of a line of sign holders and our eyes met seeming to signal that, ya that's me.  He spoke as much english I we spoke Portuguese so the conversation was light.  But drive us he did.  If anyone who drives in Brazil came to the US and drove they would be arrested in 30 seconds for aggressive driving.  The rules of the road are few, but the one going faster seems to have the right of way.  My mother would have perished on the spot, it took a little to get used to but at the moment I was so tired it seemed I did not care.  The 2 and a half hour drive(that if I had driven would have taken 4 hours) was exciting and took us down the coast of Brazil to a town called Angra.  It was a small city with a nice port and we were taken by Andre and handed off to a boat driver, who also spoke no English.  I just assumed this was the right guy and the right boat and we were heading to the right island but confirmation of that was limited.  The boat ride was about an hour long.  There were a myriad of small islands that the boat seemed to glide past.  The boat driver signaled to me to come up and motioned toward the steering wheel to see if I wanted to drive.  As it seemed there was nothing I could run into I agreed with a nod.

Boat Driver

My sleeping travel companion.

Eventually the colors of a small village sticking out of the dark green monster of a forest began to appear.  I happily handed control of our boat back to the driver and he tried a few times to park the boat at a small dock but the large waves made that task seem like one that would cost someone an arm so he signaled we would dock at a larger dock on the other side of the small bay.  The owners of the small Posada(guest house) we were staying at scurried down the "road"(trail) to the other dock to meet us.  Thankfully they said they would take our bags so I was not faced with dragging my roller bag across a beach.  It became apparent we were not in a tourist trap, we were on an island a living island if you will in that the people who lived there were fishermen, etc and we were but outsiders.

The Posada was amazing, like stuff of travel magazines.  I decided it was time to break it to Todd that they filmed the Honeymoon scene from the Twilight movies across the bay from where we were staying...it got me the look and a quick "that's not why we're here right?"  I plead the 5th.  We are tired but take a shower, dress and head out for a walk down the "road."  I guess the "road" if you will, needs some definition.  There are no cars, there are no bikes, there is no road.  There is a 200 year old trail that really only the locals should attempt with flip flops on.  But it meanders gracefully through huge bamboo groves, past rain forest trees with buttresses, past amazing deserted beaches, and past several plants I recognize as house plants I have killed.  We are looking for lunch...this will turn out to be an issue, as I mentioned this is not a tourist place and restaurants are not exactly ample.  We do find a small snack shack on a beach down the "road" and buy some soda and peanuts, or something like peanuts we really were not sure.  We see some cute monkeys that Todd keeps calling squirrels.

We make it back to our place and eventually have dinner there.  The owners of the place are from South Africa and are delightful.  The son is a former restaurant owner and makes us wonderful food.  We fall asleep with the sound of the ocean outside the open doors to our room.

The next morning.  I am travel hung over.  I am dehydrated and nauseous.  I decide I don't want to go to breakfast but tell Todd to go and bring me something.  A few moments later the sweet older woman who owns the place is knocking on the door.  She has a pot of tea and cookies for me.  Seriously I may move here.
Eventually I am revived and we make it out of the room.  We head over to our one lunch option, a tiny shack on the beach, where apparently some distant relative of the owners of the Posada will make us lunch...no menu...just whatever.  It turns out to be fish and french fries(no I refuse to call them chips)  they are awesome.

We wonder around the small village.  We are walking up the main road(trail) and a man on his way down stops us.  I have no idea what he wants but he seems to want us to go with him.  It them becomes apparent he is showing us his house.  And then it seems he is trying to sell us his house much to the dismay of his wife who he introduces as she glares at him out the window.

The "road"

The School for the whole island

The Pear Chair

Soup with dinner

The next day we venture across the island despite the owners telling us that it's a far hike and only one other guest has ever done it....well that will make Todd determined to do it for sure.  It's pretty cool wondering through a rain forest.  It's hot, like dripping sweat hot.  The little monkeys jump through the tree above our heads and strange noises from the jungle make me wonder.  Todd tries to get me to run and swing from a hanging vine like Tarzan which almost ends badly.  Eventually we find our way to the small village we were searching out.  It is again apparent this is not a tourist trap...the beach there is deserted but one lone boy swimming in the waves.  Having just wandered through the jungle and being very sweaty I don't have to think twice about getting in.  The water is cool but not cold and something about being pummeled by waves makes me feel like I am 12.  After we dry off we go into the town square and see a group of small children getting out of school.  It's amazing how universal childhood is.  They seem completely oblivious to our presence and simply run by to the local store where they buy candy and scamper off.  We briefly discuss trying to see if we can catch a boat to the other side,  and then venture off back over the island.

Our time on the island ends and we return back to the mainland to meet Andre the driver who takes us to the next leg of our Brazilian adventure...Rio.

Awesome Breakfast 

Sweaty hiker...yes even on an island off the coast of Brazil with no roads you can use google maps.

Rio is a huge city...it's hard to say where it begins and ends but it has a definite theme, extremes.  Extreme wealth next to extreme poverty, next to extreme views and mountains, next to extreme beaches.  Driving into Rio my head swings from side to side looking up the towering mountains.  We have no idea where we are going, and as we mentioned before Andrea speaks no english so we have faith our meager explanation of where we are trying to go to is enough and it turns out we are right, he drops us in front of the small alley that is to be our home for the next 5 days.  We had a few laughs about the manager of the house we rented referring the the fact that the "staff" would be ready for us upon our arrival...I did not know if that was a language issue or what but if you had asked me if I really thought Todd and I would be outnumbered by the "staff" 2-1 upon our arrival I would not have believed you.  But sure enough we were met by the lot of them who seemed stumped when they saw just the two of us.  The manager Adan asked "is the rest of your party arriving later?"  No, but we would soon learn why they were confused.  I had rented a small mansion. I knew what we were getting but really had no idea.  We had rented a 3 story house 2 blocks from Copacabana Beach.  Todd and I could not help but exchange smiles and laugh.  Rio was expensive to start with so when I realized how much hotels were I had looked for homes and I had in fact gotten a "deal" on the place but you could seriously sleep 20 people in beds with 6 bathrooms, a private pool, a 3D TV,  outdoor TV, a library, a crystal chandelier dinning room that could seat 20, a roof top garden, and a gourmet kitchen you would kill for.  On top of it all they came each morning and clean up our messes AND cook us breakfast...whatever we wanted.

This Bed?

Or This bed?

Or this Bed?

So while Todd and I ran through our new digs like little kids, trying to decide which of the 6 bedrooms we were going to sleep in we did feel slightly guilty we did not have anyone to share it with.  Now I have in many ways paid my travel dues.  I'm a big Rick Steves fan, we've stayed in hostels, budget inns, "economy room" at the Budget inns, been in hotel rooms with shared baths(and scary neighbors,) rooms we'd discover someone's professed love in glow in the dark pen, yes, we've stayed in some less than desirable places.  So not like we were owed this...but it made me feel better about myself.  Todd suggested we go for a run. I believe I frowned at the prospect of leaving our new place but it needed to be done.  We set out to find some food and fell into some tourist trap before heading out to run down Copacabana beach to Impanema beach and back.  It was very cool, there were a lot of people out watching the sun set and we stopped on the way back and got some coconut water...which was gross...but cold and wet so it worked.


The tour guide with a Jersey accent.

I had set up having a tour guide take us around Rio for a day and Lois came recommended.  We could not help but notice he spoke english very well...and also had a Jersey/Brooklyn accent.  Turns out he lived in NY for 8 years.  He was delightful and gave us a wonderful tour of the whole area in and around Rio.

Jetsons come to Rio

You kinda knew something bad was about to happen....

Turns out we were right, Hand glider in tree....Opps

To be avoided..

The next day our desire not to leave our house was pretty large, but we remembered we were in Rio and thus ventured outdoors.  As we have a tendency to do we had no plan and just started walking.  We eventually formulated a plan to walk around a Lagoon which we failed to appreciate was about 5 miles around at least and then went to the botanical gardens, which were beautiful and on the rather rainy day quiet.  The next day we went to a modern art museum, enjoyed lots of good food.  Then on our last day ran 26 miles got on a plane and flew home.  Todd was fortunate enough on our plane ride home to be sitting by a man with a cat.  Which I found pretty funny until it started to howl in the middle of the flight.  I was worried Todd may chuck it's padded cage across the plane when the owner finally got it quiet. We made it back home safely.

It truly was a dream vacation if you can call it that.  It was nice after how hard Todd works to just have some down time.  Brazil is a unique place with very an interesting past and culture.  I am glad we got the chance to see it!

Ya...that happened.