An aside: on people and overnight buses

I thought I´d take a quick moment to share our thoughts on the people we have met so far. We started off in Rio in a hostel that is frequented by extremely young (~18-22 year olds) backpacking tourists from over the world. While it was nice to meet them, and they are very good human beings, we felt removed from Brasilian people and culture, and we also felt a little out-of-place since their interests (mostly to party and have a good time) were different from ours. For instance, it was quite unfathomable to them why we would want to spend the weekend in Ouro Preto, a historic town preserved like it was in the 18th century. In Ouro Preto, we´re staying at a hostel where we are the only non-Brasilians! It has been amazing to meet people on their vacations (mostly Paulistanas*!). We met an extremely informative and earnest C., a history teacher, and M. the sociologist who works in urban development for poor people in Sao Paulo. Then we met G., who is a student wanting to be an engineer, who works as a fab technician part time! Then there was M. who is a psychiatrist. Everyone has been so warm and friendly, and we are likely going to meet some of them in Sao Paulo next week. Our quick note to ourselves was to avoid the hostels recommended for `young´ people.

We also had our first experience with overnight bus travel- from Rio to Ouro Preto. To start with, the Rodoviaria Novo Rio (Hodoveeareea Novo Heeo), the central bus terminal in Rio, is enormous in itself, but it seems even bigger when you don´t understand Portuguese signs and directions! We were thoroughly lost, but somehow made our way to the correct terminal. Then, it was a challenge to get on the right bus, since there seemed to be numerous buses going to the same location, run by the same company. Additionally, when we found our bus, and tried to get on, we realised we had to fill out a card (in Portuguese). Somehow, we got through that hurdle, with a lot of help from kind fellow passengers who spoke varying amounts of English. The worst awaited us yet. We got on our bus to realise that two elderly people were sitting in our seats! Luckily, they spoke excellent English and we were able to communicate with them. The bus company had messed up and sold us all the same seats! The two passengers were very apologetic about the situation when they learned this was our first trip to Brasil, and our first bus journey! Much loud discussing ensued in Portuguese with the bus company people, the other passengers, which we were only spectators to. Finally, the two other passengers got on another bus to their destination, and we were finally seated. We don´t know much about the ride since we fell promptly asleep and woke up 8 hours later in Ouro Preto. All we know is that taking high speed curves is a popular national pastime!
We reached Ouro Preto with our backpacks safe and sound the next morning.


*People from Sao Paulo - where we are headed next!