We decided not to go the Brazilian side today. We had washing to do and a bus to catch at 8pm so we woke, had breakfast (cheese melted on toast in the microwave) courtesy of the hostel, put the clothes in the washer and headed into the town to withdraw more money. We thought its best to withdraw all our spends for the 2 weeks now rather than chance the next place having a bank that works for us. We did a little shop then headed back. We sat in the sun, I revised some Spanish lee categorised photos on his iPad, we watched some tele, tried to Skype but no one was there, we conversed. Just an all round boring wash and wait for the bus day.
We jumped a taxi to the bus terminal and arrived with bags of time. We went to get our bus ticket at the checkin area. The man asked for our passports. I didn't notice the glass window and tried to put my passport through it. The man laughed at me. I tried again through the slot but misjudged it and punched the glass again. Doh! Finally I Sussed it out and passed my passport through. The man issued our ticket and we were pointed in the direction of the platform. 8pm it was meant to show up but it was 40 minutes late. In the mean time me and lee had been on high alert. It's our first time in Brazil, first time in a bus station here and we've heard so many stories of muggings and theft. Everybody looked shifty. The bus finally arrived and we got in line to check the baggage on. They were very thorough, matching the bag to the ticket before we could get on the bus. 10 minutes after the bus left it stopped again. This time it was for customs. All our bags were removed from the bus and a dog came over to sniff. Armed police got on the bus and checked bags. Me and lee were sat up the front so the first bag he checked was mine. He asked who's it was and lee couldn't have been quicker pointing me out. Jeese talk about save yourself! The man seemed happy with what he'd found. The driver came on the bus and told lee the lady wanted him to open his bag. Lee went down and spoke to the lady. He went to open the bag and she told him not to bother, and to get back on the bus. The bag next to ours was a ladies with loads of electrical stuff in it. Her bag got carted away then the next minute the armed man got back on and told us all to get off whilst the sniffer dog came on the bus. The lady said to us who is blahblahicolablahblah. I didn't say anything but Lee strikes again. 'This is Nicola. It's you Nicola'. I called him a naughty name and told him to shut up. He stepped back laughing and apologising. Apparently he was caught up in it all... a pigging nun was stood behind him looking very disapproving at me. Oops.
We all got back on the bus, the lights went down. Suppose it's bed time then.