Buzios to BH: +13 hours -30 years

Our last day in Buzios was a quiet affair, as befits a Sunday I suppose. The morning was taken up with admin. T was most patient, which was nice. We did more detailed investigation into our proposed trip to Vitoria and decided against it; as the main aim of the trip (to go on the train from Virtoria to Belo Horizonte) would be extremely difficult to achieve. Instead, we decided to go straight to BH (via Rio). After much umming and ahhing about where to stay in BH, we looked at laterooms.com and found that the best hotel in town (according to our guide book) was going for a song. The Internet is a wonderful thing. T is happy.

After a good few hours of admin, we rewarded ourselves with lunch (very late lunch) on the local beach. We had a mixed kebab for two. It was OK. Whilst we were there, the whole beach cleared as it got quite chilly (in Brazil). The restaurant was so busy trying to close that they didn't even bother offering us pudding.

Back to the room for a siesta. T has a new book that she likes. Which means she is worryingly quiet for hours on end. I've even had to do a deal with her so that she'll stop reading for a bit so that we can go out for our tea.

Up bright and early to catch the bus, we had a bit of a rather dodgy breakfast and then got a taxi to the bus stop. After buying our tickets to Rio, we then were chatted to by a nice Brazillian lady who ennumerated her family in Rio at the least provocation.

After a quick stop along the way (where we noted but did not purchase Dulce de Leche) we arived in Rio and went to buy tickets to Belo Horizonte (BH). I waited in one queue whilst T went to another company. She came back to tell me that there were 2 tickets left on the next bus. We did some admirable South American queueing (i.e. We have already spoken to the person behind the counter once - this gives us the automatic right to ignore the queue upon our return) and got the tickets.

May I recommend to you that you don't sit at the back of an Executivo bus, next to the toilet - and next to the chiller (which is pumping out heat) - and on top of the engine, unless you feel like a mobile sauna. Luckily, this was only a 6 1/2 hour bus ride. Never mind - our palacial suite for next to nothing was awaiting in BH.

Perhaps I can digress for a moment, a momentito, if I may.... Reading and interpreting guidebooks is no mean feat. You have to kind of get into the style of the writer to try to read between the lines when interpreting an entry on a town or a hotel or anyhting really. This is complicated by the fact that the guide books have different audiences and styles; so the interpretation has to be modified by the book you read. The whole process is further complicated by the use of multiple authors within a single guidebook. Thus you end up with anomalies. Sometimes something sounds fine and dandy and you toddle off, then wonder what kind of space dust the writer must have been on when they wrote the entry.

Fodors: "The rooftop pool and bar are the best in town"
Lonely Planet: "Don't miss the rooftop bar and pool, one of the best in the city"
Reality: This can be the only rooftop pool and bar - if not, I don't want to see the rest. To be fair, the pool area is nice-ish, if a bit pokey. The bar staff are great, but the food (club sandwich) was inedible. The bar hasn't been redecorated since the Bay City Rollers were number one

Fodors: "Cons: Rooms lack character"
Reality: This is a grossly unfair comment. These rooms ooze character. The problem is that the character that the rooms ooze is Starsky and Hutch circa 1976. Actually, Huggy Bear circa 1976 might be more appropriate.

Of course, it is possible that our bus might actually have been a time machine. Come to think of it - I haven't seen any mobile phones yet. Hmmm.

And it's noisy in our room.

We may not be staying here for Christmas after all. Watch this space.