Santa Cruz was a nice place. Its got a nice plaza, some good places to eat and good weather but not much in the way of activities. Similarly to Potosi, we could have happily stayed there for an extra day or two, just to chill out, but we were on the move after one night. Plus, we'd just spent four days chilling out in Sucre! Also, compared to what we knew was ahead in terms of expense, we may never have left Bolivia. But on last Tuesday we left, getting on board a fourteen hour train to a little border town called Quijarra.
We were hoping our passage into Brazil would be smooth, but it wasn't according to plan. It took three hours to get from the train station in Quijarro, Bolivia to the bus station in Corumba, Brazil. Then it was another hour and a half waiting for the bus to Bonito, our stop for the night. The problem as we saw it was that the border crossing isn't open 24 hours a day, like some of the others that we've passed through. Also, Bolivians have to visit a lot of desks to get out of their country - for us gringos it was just one.
Our reason for the rush to Bonito was that we only had one night there and we had heard good things about the trips in the area, specifically a cave diving trip with some snorkelling and/or diving and a 72m abseil. But after 26 hours of travelling we were only ready for one thing - bed! We did some research on the trips and they turned out to be a lot more expensive than we expected - welcome to Brazil! To a lesser extent, so did the hostel. As an example, we were paying 40Bs (about €4) a night in Sucre; in Bonito we were paying R$38 (about €15). We knew Brazil would be expensive, but when you finally get around to paying it still a little bit of a shock.
One thing that goes along with this increased cost of living is the increase in the standard of living. Bolivia is probably the poorest country we've been in so far, just from what we've seen. Brazil is noticeably richer, and this is quite evident when you compare the border towns of Quijarro and Corumba - they are only a few kilometres apart but visibly different.
But we couldn't complain too much - we were in Brazil, famous for its football and festivals, my fifth country and home to one of my favourite cocktails - Caipirinhas.
Although we did (and still are) complaining about the language. Having spent three months getting to grips with Spanish, we were now back to square one with Portuguese. And not just regular Portuguese - Brazilian Portuguese is known for being difficult to understand for Portuguese from Portugal.
Bonito was another in a series of nice towns. The hostel was good and the weather was a toasty 35 degrees the next day, so a dip in the pool was nearly mandatory.
Two buses later that day and we were in Sao Paulo, or as the locals affectionately call it - Sampa. It's a bustling lively city and probably the nicest that we've visited. It's also home to the continents largest bus station, which we didn't arrive into, much to our disappointment. After checking in and grabbing some food, a friendly face tried to pickpocket us on the street - Sean was back and the Wolfpack was reunited! A celebratory night out was needed, kicking off with some complimentary Caipirinhas from the hostel and while I may have bailed halfway through, the two lads partied into the wee hours.
Why did I bail? Because I had an early morning date at the airport - Maire was here! We took a trip to one of the larger parks, Parque do Ibirapuera, to bask under some trees in the 30-something degree heat. It being a Saturday, the locals were out in force, walking, jogging and cycling.
That night was very important. Firstly, we were celebrating Maire's arrival, but there was also the matter of the rugby. I'll say it here and Ive no doubt I'll say it again - time zones are a b****! The Ireland v Italy game was kicking off at 430AM for us, so there was nothing for it but to leave the nightclub early (yes, 430 is early for South Americans). The bars and clubs in our area, Jardim Paulista, were mostly down one street, Baixo Augusta, and we found a good one in which to dance and sip Cuba Libres before nipping into one of the local Irish bars. Thankfully the match was a result worth staying up for and hopefully the rest of the bar were suitably entertained by Sean and I belting out The Fields of Athenry.
Naturally we were up late the following day to be greeted by the rain. It was still a warmer-than-Ireland 22 degrees, but the rain left us with little to do - not even the cinema could save us for a couple of hours. We simply had to be more productive on Monday. We spent a few hours walking around Centro, taking in the city's sights. Sadly time got the better of us and we didn't get to go up Barasco for the view of the city or visit the Museo de Futebol. We did however get to visit what is described as Sampa's best bakery, Benjamin Abrahão - delicious!