The Honeymoon Has Started!!

Ok so it's sort of been rough times for the beginning of the trip.  The weather wasn't cooperating and apparently the whole nation of Brazil wanted to vacation where we wanted to vacation since they had a national holiday weekend.  We got stuck in a place we didn't want to be, and had a difficult time booking buses to the place we REALLY wanted to be: Florianopolis.

Well we finally made it, and it is AMAZING.  The weather cleared up as soon as we got here and we basically spent the day exploring beaches and soaking up the sun, which is how a honeymoon should be.  HH and I are having an awesome time!

Florianopolis

But let's get down to business.  I know what you all came here for, so I don't want to keep you waiting.  But one thing I must mention: I am terrified of water snakes.  Snakes in the water are the stuff of nightmares, people.  Moving on..

In a small coastal town called Paraty, it rained.  Since I had strong armed HH into buying us brand new rain jackets for the trip, he insisted on dragging me to a waterfall while it was raining outside to use said jackets.  Sweet revenge, some would say.  I would say poop on you.  Anyways, as we arrived at the waterfall, I saw Brazilians in their bathing suits, like they never take them off or something.  We hiked quickly to the waterfall and saw a huge smooth rock that people were sliding down like a waterslide.  It looked fun, except that it was raining and like 65 degrees outside.  HH and I got weird looks because we were in pants and had coats on, but I gave those squarepants and thong wearers weird looks right back.  Since it was early on our trip and the weather had been less than ideal, I hadn't touched any Brazilian water yet.  In my mind it was warm, maybe too warm on a sunny day.  So I climbed down some rocks to get close enough to the water to touch it.  Just as I reached down, something moved in the water.  @$%##$@ it's a snake!  in the water!  a water snake!  I ran away screaming and HH laughed and got some pictures.  I almost died, I'm pretty sure.  The snake was HUGE and he poked his head out of the water in pursuit of me.  Not today snake, not ever.  I didn't touch any water for 4 days.

On a bus down to São Sebastião, HH and I weren't able to get seats next to each other.  I sat by a nice lady, and across my aisle was her daughter and what looked like the grandmother.  The road was pretty windy (curvy not blowy) and our bus driver was driving like a bat out of hell.  I definitely thought we were going to tip a couple of times.  The girl across the aisle started looking white, then green.  Then all of a sudden the mom and grandma are frantically searching for something.  I wanted to help them but I can't speak portuguese and no one speaks english.  Finally the mom found it: a plastic bag.  She hurredly hands it over the girl who immediately starts puking into the plastic bag.  I never get sick on car rides, I can even read  in the car, but the sound of someone spewing their guts out a foot away from me made me suddenly very nauseous.  I scrambled to get my ipod out, to put my head phones in and turn the volume up as high as possible to drown out the retching.  But still I heard her coughing and yakking into that plastic bag.  When she was finished she tried to hand it to her mother and the bag swayed dangerously towards my face.  Whatever she had for lunch, it was pink.  The mom seemed to tell her to tie it up and put it under her chair, which she did.  As the bus trip wound on, the bus swayed back and forth violently, until the bag o' barf was sliding all over the floor.  The next thing I know we take a sharp right and the bag flies under my seat where my feet are.  I grab everything I can off the floor for fear of it being splattered with puke.  The mom picks up the bag and puts it in her purse.  Hopefully it didn't break or leak in there.  The girl ended up puking a couple more times, and each time the mom would put the new filled bag in her purse.  I couldn't wait to get off that bus.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  We didn't eat a traditional dinner, but we did find a sushi place that was pay by weight.  Yes, an amazing concept that needs to be brought to the states immediately.

Achievement Unlocked: Worst Hotel Value EVER

We're in Paraty, which we almost didn't make it to.  Apparently November 15th is a holiday in Brazil, and everyone likes to go on vacation, especially when there is a weekend involved.  So, when we got to Rio and started to try to book our next leg, we ran into a minor problem: no rooms available.  Anywhere.  HH and I started to sweat a little bit.  We checked neighboring cities.  Nothing.  We started to doubt our traveling strategy.  Is the universe trying to tell us that rolling into a town unannounced and finding a guest house isn't going to work on this trip?  We refused to believe.  Finally, I found a guest house that had a private room available for the 2 nights we wanted.  Except, it was $120.  Per night.  HH balked of course, and I actually did too, but we didn't have many options so we just booked it.

The bus ride was uneventful, except for the old man hacking up mucus, phlegm (sp?) and I'm sure a lung through out the trip.  Hey guess what?  I won't need to eat for awhile due to losing my appetitie, possibly permanently.  There's always an upside.

When we arrived, our host was very nice and spoke english, giving us the low down of the room.  It's the smallest, of course, but it has a big bed and a big shower.  "Hot water?" I asked.  "The hottest."  This gave me hope.  Since one of my piercings has been bothering me, I decided to jump into a hot shower and soak it a little.  I turn on the hot water, and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  The hottest the water ever got is just warm enough not to scream when you get in it.  This is the hottest water in Paraty?  Well shit, I don't think I like this place very much.

Also, since our bathroom shares a wall with the common room, we can hear every conversation, and I'm sure they can hear every tinkle/poopaloop.  Charming.  Add to all this that there's not a proper door, the TV is the size of my ipod and the fridge is so loud I thought we were under attack last night.  I mean, I expect this from the 10 dollar rooms, even 20.  I mean, I've stayed in some terrible rooms.  But the price was right! $120 bucks for a hotel rooms gets you a nice room in Vegas, and this aint no Vegas.  Since the holiday is over today, we are trying to find a new place to stay because I'm pretty sure I only have a limited number of cold showers that I can tolerate.

Ah Yes.. The Traveling Life

I´m gonna start from the beginning, aka Monday, the day before we left.  HH had to work part of the day, so I was left to try to finish the packing and basically stewing in my own thoughts.  Well my thoughts basically consisted of how I wouldn´t be able to cuddle my dogs for 2 months.  Massive streams of tears ensued and I was basically inconsolable for all of Monday.  I cuddled and held Brooklyn while I could, all the while crying my eyes out.  I cried and cried until we left for Los Angeles, and then I cried a little more.  Oh the humanity! Leaving my babies for 2 months!  What kind of mother am I?  But, I know 2 very good people are taking care of them, and I was able to stop crying by the time we got to our hotel in LA.  We said our goodbyes to HH´s parents and made our way to the hotel.

Our flight to Miami was at 6 in the morning and we wanted to get there in plenty of time, so we set the alarm for 3:30 and tried to get some sleep.  As you can imagine, we both tossed and turned, mostly from excitement, but I´m sure we both felt nervous (I know I did) and a little fear of the alarm not going off.  Needless to say, at 3:30 am we were both up and getting ready to make our flight.  Since I had been crying the previous night, my face was so swollen I was sure they wouldn´t let me board since I looked like quasimodo.  HH told me I looked fine, but to keep my glasses on.

At the airport, we didn`t have much hope for first class on our flight to Miami, but that didn´t stop us from trying.  We walked up to the counter, trying to look all adorable and giddy cuz ya know, it´s our honeymoon! and asked if there were any first class seats available.  The unpleasant, spiky haired attendant shut us down with a cold stare and told us we would be in coach.  Ok then, coach it is.

The flight was uneventful, at least for me, because I slept the whole time.  We arrived in Miami and hunkered down to wait 7 hours before our flight to rio took off.  However, the hope of first class to rio kept was warm and cozy.  As the hour neared, we didn´t dare get our hopes up too high lest it be yanked from our grasp and we would have to weep in coach with no hot towel to comfort us.  But alas! our names were called and we were given our golden tickets to first class and boarded the plane, giddy with excitement and elitism.  We sipped champagne and watched the miserable coach people trudge to the back of the plane, and it felt so glorious.  I think HH is elaborating more on what we got on the plane, but it has ruined me forever.  Coach will never be the same.

Rio was..  interesting.  Lush landscape, ghettos, goats and horses grazing next to the highway.  We weren´t there long, but we fit a lot in.  The food.  Hmm..  well so far I´ve had bread and cheese for 5 meals in a row.  For our first meal in rio, we went to a restaurante that didn´t have any english.  Sooo, we went with something that sort of looked familiar: filet mignon parmisiano.  I´m thinking, great! steak! oh how naive am I.  Basically what came out was a super rough cut of beef that was breaded and fried, a piece of ham on top of the ´steak´ and cheese melted on the very stop.  So it was fried meat and meat and cheese.  Wut.  HH thought it was awesome.  I took 2 bites and that was enough for me. Ever since then it´s pretty much been bread and cheese with a couple of other things thrown in there.  Good thing I brought my multivitamin.  At another restaurant HH ordered some other steak dish, and it came with a pile of breadcrumbs and a sausage.  Apparently all the meat here comes with a side of meat.  We weren´t really sure what do with the breadcrumbs, and we don´t know how to ask.  So he tried eating them alone, but they weren´t particularly appetizing.  He tried dipping his sausage in them, but didn´t think that really tasted good.

We are in a town called Paraty for the next couple of days.  Oh and sorry if there are any typos or misspelled words.  I´m not sure how to change the language on the browser so it is basically telling me that every word is misspelled.

Until next time!

Time for another trip!

HBF (hot boy friend) has become HH (hot husband) and it's time for our epic honeymoon!  2 months exploring the beaches and rain forests of South America.  2 months you say!  Yes I do say.  You know how we do.  We had to make this honeymoon long in order to compete with our other trip!  It was almost going to be 3 months, but HH couldn't get the time off.

This trip has a bitter sweet beginning for me.  Of course it is going to be superamazingawesomeballs, but it also means I am leaving my sweet puppies behind (again).  Since the last trip, we have acquired a new puppy who has stolen our hearts and shed her hair all over our clothes.  Brooklyn is the most cuddly thing with super soft, fluffy hair that you can bury your face in.  And Midas, who I'm pretty sure thought we abandoned him at my parents' house last time, will have to feel the emptiness again when we leave.  At least, that is what I imagine will happen in my head.  In reality, HH's gracious parents are dog sitting for 2 months.  They will get more walks, treats and cuddle time with these people than they usually do with us.  So for them, it's probably a vacation too, and will be slightly disappointed when we return and their 'grandparents' have to leave.

This trip starts with a game.  A game called 'how do we get on first class'.  Right now, it doesn't look good.  But that's only because we haven't had the opportunity to sweet talk the attendant into letting us rub elbows with the beautiful (read: rich) people.  We have hope!  HH has worked up some lines and we're really going to play up the honeymoon aspect.  I am hoping that is enough to get us sippin champagne at 6 in the morning when our plane takes off.  I do love a good game.

We're hittin 4 countries:  Brazil, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru.  The itinerary is rough of course, but we have an approximate path of travel.  That's how we roll.

This is a quick blog post because I haven't actually finished packing and we are headed up to LA soon. So, more to come and it's good to be on the traveling trail again!