Current Date: Feb. 14, 2002 (10:47 p.m.)
Location: Buzios hostel
Subject: On to Buzios: A Brazilian Paradise

Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2002 (con’t)
The drive to Buzios did not exactly go without incident. First of all, it took us over an hour to get out of Rio. Of course, the traffic was really bad because it was the last official day of Carnival. We actually drove THROUGH a parade at one point. The second problem was, we had absolutely NO clue where we were going. All we had was the map that was in the Lonely Planet book to get out of the city. The problem was that it had individual barrios on different pages so I was flipping through 8 different pages trying to track where the hell we were and where we were going. Not easy. Still though, I must say that driving wasn’t too difficult…well Tony was driving, but we felt comfortable. Although, we did turn the wrong way down a one-way street at one point. We almost got hit too. It just wasn’t too clearly marked. Anyway, we FINALLY got back to the freeway, crossed the bridge towards Niteroi and we were on our way.
It was getting pretty late by then…I’d say around it was about 8 so we were a little bit worried about driving a portion of the trip to Buzios in the dark. We had absolutely no clue where we were going since we only had a really crude map of South America to lead is in the right direction. We figured we would just follow the signs to this place called Cabo Frio, which we knew was near Buzios, and then find our way from there. The thing is, down here, the signs aren’t quite as clear and frequent as they are in the US. We actually came to this point where there was a fork in the road, but none of the signs had a city that was on our map. Don't you hate that when you're driving and you are following signs toward your destination...you don't change roads but then there is a set of signs that doesn't list the place you're going to?? It's like, "Did I miss the turn or what? Why did they take away the one choice that I was following???" Damn annoying and a frequent occurrence down here. Compounding the problem was the fact that we couldn't really see the sign well because there was only one tiny one that was about ten feet before you had to make your decision. So after we passed it (taking the road to the left), we decided that we better turn around and go ask someone or try to find a road map. Well, let me just tell you folks that once you change directions on the highway in Brazil, be sure about your decision. We had to drive 25 miles back the other direction to find a spot to turn around. What was worse was that there was some kind of Carnival in a small town near that fork in the road so there was a huge traffic jam. It took us an hour just to find a spot to turn around!!! We finally did and I ran into a gas station to try and find a map. What a joke. So I managed to communicate to this guy that I wanted to get to Buzios and he told me to take the fork in the road to the right. That was VERY good because previously we had gone to the LEFT so I am glad we decided to go back.
Anyway, we were on our way once again…or so we thought. We changed drivers because Tony was getting a bit tired. About 45 minutes later, we came upon the first moment in this trip where I can honestly admit that I didn’t feel too safe. There was this random police checkpoint that we had to go through. It's not that there was anything these cops were doing that was particularly shady, it was just that you hear all this stuff about crooked cops down here so it was a bit of a cause for worry. I mean, it was pretty late at night and there were virtually no cars on this little highway we were on and we were basically in the middle of nowhere. Luckily, at the time I was driving, which was good because with my Spanish I could communicate pretty well.
So as they flag me over, of course I'm thinking, "there is no way I'm getting out of the car." I was very reluctant to let them search the car because we were unprepared and all of our stuff was out (money, clothes, cameras, etc.) I mean, we didn’t have any drugs or anything so I wasn’t worried about that…I was more worried that they were gonna rip us off. So after a few pleasantries, the guy starts asking me if I have drugs or guns in the car and I'm like no. Then he says he wants to search the car so we get into this 3 minute conversation where the only thing I'm saying is we don't have any drugs, and the only thing he is saying get out of the car. Well eventually he wins (hey, the guy had a gun...what could I do) so I grab my bag that has all the important stuff in it because I can't let that out of my sight and we both step out. Well, I think that move made things a lot easier because then he just wanted to search that bag...which was fine with me. We just wanted to get out of there. We then began to realize that they weren't gonna steal or do anything to us so things relaxed a bit. It was funny because you could tell that they knew we were scared and they seemed to be enjoying that. Anyway, it was a quick search and then we were on our way, but I admit, I was a bit worried there for a minute.
Around 10:30 or so, we finally arrived here in Buzios! Finding a place to stay proved to be relatively easy. We just drove toward the centro, and eventually we could hear music and see a ton of people going in one direction. There were a lot of places nearby to stay so we decided to bargain a bit. I went into one place that was kinda crappy and had no AC and they wanted 220 reals for two nights. The next place we tried was nice, had two beds in the room, AC, and our own bathroom. I got the guy down to 170 reals for two nights which is much cheaper than what people told us we would find. We got everything inside, showered up and were ready to get out and see what Buzios had to offer.
We didn't really know which direction to head so we just followed the music. We had NO idea what we were in for...when we got to the Centro, it was just packed with people. There were bars/restaurants/stores lining these narrow cobblestone roads that were blocked off from any car traffic. It was SO alive there! We had officially found Carnival. The area really reminded me a lot of the part of Pamplona that is the "old city". It was great. Our first stop was this place called Chez Milou, which was seemed to be an outdoor restaurant but it was packed with people and the music was great. We had a couple caipirinhas there but then decided we just wanted to walk the packed streets for awhile and soak up the great atmosphere. There was a little Samba band playing on the street in this circle so we watched them for awhile. Eventually we started to get hungry so it was time to move on. We stumbled around until we found another restaurant/bar that was playing great music. It was this great place called "Fashion". Sounds like a gay club:) Anyway, I got a plate of Filet Mignon there for 12 reals (5 bucks) and it was a LOT of food. This country is so cheap it blows me away. Anyway, it worked out really well in there because the waiter spoke Spanish. We got the royal treatment in that place. This guy was just feeding us whiskey and cokes. We stayed there until around 4 or so just dancing with all these girls and having a BLAST! What was weird was that later in the night, they had a band playing and they were playing all these old 80's songs in English. I think I heard about 6 Bon Jovi songs! They guitarist even had this 80's "rocker" hair that was hilarous. Anyway, when we were finally ready to leave I ask the guy for the bill. It turns out to be 96 reals (about 40 bucks) which is great for a night of drinking and eating for TWO people. However, a problem did arise. We had not gone to the ATM since the second day in Rio just before going to Corcovado, so our cash had dwindled significantly. We only had 80 something reals on us. Doh!! So I decided that I would run back to the hostel to get my credit card while Tony waited. I even told the waiter that. Well, in a drunken stupor, I go stumbling back to the hostel, which was a bit tough to find since we had just gotten there that night. I finally made it and walked all the way back to "Fashion". It must have taken me a half hour. I get back there, give the guy my freakin' credit card and he proceeds to tell me that they don’t take credit cards. WTF!!!!!! I mean, you have got to be kidding me. So in the end we just gave the guy what we had. What a ridiculous exchange. The only blemish on an otherwise perfect evening. After that night, I knew Buzios was going to be a highpoint on the trip. More later.

AC