Where's Andrew

THE NORTH COAST OF BRAZIL FROM SALVADOR TO BELEM - MAR 29 TO APR 10

For those of you who know me well, you know I love to read. It has always been one of my favourite things and I have read thousands of books and probably at least a hundred on this trip. Like many of us who like to read, I've always thought what a nice life it would be to be a writer. My work involves a lot of writing and I am reasonably good at putting thoughts to paper but this blog has opened my eyes. Writing is difficult and tedious and I have been doing everything in my power to avoid writing my blog the last 2 months. As I write this, I'm sitting on a ferry on the way to the Isla Margarita off the Venezuela coast in the Caribbean. I just finished another book and there's nothing to do so here I am back to the blog. My trip is ending in just over 2 weeks and I have 6 weeks of travel to catch up on in my blog. I hope I a find the will to catch up before I fly home.

My flight on the 29th of March leaves Cuiaba on time in the morning. I have to change planes in Sao Paulo and my flight to Salvador gets delayed for 3 hours. I finally arrive at 7PM and it's dark out. I hate arriving to a new city after sunset when I don't have a place to stay yet. So, I catch a cab to the historic centre of the city and get a room at a nice pousada for $50US. Brazil has been by far the most expensive country I have been to on this trip but I expect things to get cheaper as I head north.

Salvador is a huge city on the coast with a population of over 3 million people. It is one of the main cities of Carnival and its nightlife is reputed to be the best in Brazil. It is also a city with a reputation for gangs and violence. On the taxi ride into the city centre, I see poor neighbourhoods everywhere similar to the Favelas of Rio. I also notice that the demographic of the people has changed. Throughout my travels in Brazil, there has been a large part of the population that is European in decent. In the far south of the country, the majority of the populations' heritage can be traced to Italy or Germany. But here, I am once again the gringo who sticks out.

Once settled into my hotel, I go in search of a restaurant, I missed lunch today and I'm starving. There's a pizza restaurant right across the street so I grab a table on the patio. After ordering, I pull out my tablet to read like I often do when eating alone. The manager of the restaurant quickly warns me about someone trying to steal my tablet while I'm reading. He warns me about 3 times but I am able to eat my pizza and read without incident.

It's Easter this weekend and Salvador is full of tourists and locals alike. The next day, I walk the streets of the historic city centre and it is very pretty with a nice plaza and many colourful shops and cafes but I just can't seem to get into it. The downtown centre is small and I don't have to walk far to get into neighbourhoods that make me feel uncomfortable. I had planned on staying  here for 3 or 4 days but I realize that another big South American city just does not interest me anymore and I decide I'll go north in search of a nice beach. That evening, there is a big free concert in the main plaza a couple blocks away. I quite liked the first band which was a latin/reggae fussion but the main act is a rap band and I don't care much for rap and I quickly realize rap in Portuguese is especially not my thing.

The next morning I'm at the bus station a little after 10AM to catch a bus to Recife. I don't have a ticket or know when a bus leaves but my guide book says buses go 5 or 6 times a day, unfortunately the next bus is not until 1PM. I buy a ticket for $30US and I find a place to sit so I can read a book, and it is about 35C and very humid. A little before 1PM, I start heading to the bus platform. I realize I have my sunglasses on my head so I stop at a table and take off my big pack. I open my small pack in search of my case for the glasses and I pull a few things out of the pack to find it. Suddenly, a young guy grabs a small bag that I put on the table next to me and runs off. There is no way I can go after him with my 2 packs but I kind of chuckle to myself. He just stole toilet paper, bug spray and sun screen, so no big deal.

Within an hour, I'm on the bus on the way to Recife. The bus takes 5.5 hours to get there and it is just getting dark. I did not expect the city to be so big and it looks quite poor. I'm not interested in staying in another city so I decide not to stay and catch a night bus to Natal. Natal is also a big city on the coast but I'm not going to stay there. My bus arrives at about 11AM and I get a taxi to take me 20 minutes south of the city to Ponta Negro. Ponta Negro is a small town with one beautiful long sand beach with giant sand dunes on either end. The main street along the water has no building on the waterside and is full of cafes, restaurants and bars on the other side. It is very nice and has a very laid back feel. I find a nice hotel half a block from the beach and get a room with AC for $25US. It is off season so rates are half of the peak season rate.

I end up staying 4 lazy days there enjoying the beach, relaxing in cafes along the waterfront and just taking it easy. I go for long walks on the beach everyday and my big excitement while there is all about the small bag I had stolen. When I first check in, I decide to go get a little more cash out of an ATM and I can't find the small leather case that I keep my bank card and one of my credit cards in. Then I remember as I was packing up in Salvador, this leather case was sitting on the bedside table, and for some reason, I threw it in the bag with my sun screen and bug spray. I never put it there before and just realized now that it was stolen by the guy in the bus terminal in Salvador.

What a pain! Bank cards and credit cards have been my Achilles heel on this trip. I quickly cancel both cards and I'm happy to hear that no transactions have been made with them in the last 24 hours. Now, I'm down to one credit card and getting the bank card and other credit card will take weeks. I only have 6 or 7 weeks left in the trip so I decide not to get my sister to send these new replacement cards to me and I will use the last credit card for everything. I need to stock up on cash for the Amazon and for when I get to Venezuela. Venezuela has a black market for foreign cash. The situation is similar to Argentina. The government has set the exchange rate at 6.2 to 1US dollar. But this is not a true reflection of the value of the Venezuelan Bolivares. A black market has sprung up throughout the country and the exchange is about 4 times the official rate, so I need to bring Brazilian cash.

So, the first day in Ponta Negro, I withdraw $800 Reais which is about $400US. When I get back to my room, there is an email from my credit card company asking me to call them about possible fraudulent activity on my account. I call them right away and my account had been flagged because I had withdrawn money here in Brazil and earlier in the day, purchased an electronic book through Kobo which is registered as a Canadian transaction. The guys very helpful on the phone and we get the issue taken care of and he even updates my travel plans, at least so he tells me. The next day, I decide to get more money and my card won't work in any ATM. I call CapitalOne and now I'm told my account is on hold because I am late on a payment. The balance on my account is $160 with a minimum payment due 8 days ago of $10. I explain my situation, but they say there is nothing they can do until a payment is made. My sister is in Belize and won't be back until a couple of days. I have enough money for a week or so but need to get this cleared up.

I talk to Kelly 2 days later after she gets back from Belize and that morning she goes to the bank and pays off the $160 balance. But now, CapitalOne says it will be 4 business days before the account will be active again. By now, I am about 6 calls in and have worked my way up to the most senior customer service representative. Then, Kelly sends me an email saying she had just got off the phone wth the supervisor I had been dealing wth and the whole issue is not about the outstanding balance but instead is about possible fraudulent transactions. It turns out the 1st guy I dealt when I got the email did not clear the fraud alert and did not update my travel plans, but erased the ones that were previously there. So finally after about 8 phone calls, my card gets reactivated. It seems that CapitalOne does not even now how there own systems work, so frustrating.

Anyway, finally I have some cash and after 4 sort of relaxing days, I'm back on the bus heading north to Fortaleza. I take a day bus that leaves at noon and arrives in Fortaleza around 8PM. I get a room at the Ninho da Pelican for $20US. Next morning I'm very surprised to see that the hotel is right across from the beach. It was so dark, I didn't even realize last night. I stay a couple of relaxing days, this time without the bank stress before catching another night bus to Sao Luis. Sao Luis is near the coast along the Rio Anil and is the last major city or town before Belem and the mouth of the Amazon. It's fairly big, around 800,000 people but feels small and the historic centre is beautiful. so I stay a couple days there.

As I head north, I'm getting very close to the equator and it is getting real hot and humid. After 2 days in Sao Luis, I catch another night bus to Belem. Brazil is big, it seems like I have spent at least a dozen nights on the bus here.  Finally, I'm at the Amazon River. but Belem is not what I expected. I was expecting a dirty little port town bustling with activity. What I found was a city of over 1.3 million people with a bad reputation for gangs. It is dirty, hot and not a nice city to spend time in.

I get a room at the Amazonia Hotel for $25US and immediately go in search of a boat heading west up the Amazon. I walk to the river port and find out that a boat leaves tomorrow which is Friday and then the next one leaves on Tuesday. I buy a ticket which includes a state room for  $175US on tomorrow's boat. I am going to Santarem which is half way to Manaus and it will take 3 days to get there. I'll stay in Santarem for a couple of days before catching another boat west to Manaus. I'm hoping that Santarem may have some jungle tours based from there. I'm able to get some laundry done before the boat leaves the next day at 6PM. At least it is scheduled to leave at 6PM but is is almost 8PM before we are underway.

This is a part of my trip that I have been anticipating for months. I am excited to see the Rio Amazona and the surrounding jungle but more on the trip up the river and my adventures in the jungle rain forest in my next blog entry.

Ciao amigos.