Last day in Brazil

Right now it is 3am In Sao Paulo and 1am in Bogotá.  I am sleeping/killing time in the Bogota airport because I do not want to pay $100usd for a hotel for 4 hours.  4 hours to kill at this AirPort before I am off to Medellin.  What I will do to save a few bucks.  On a very positive note, I just spent $3usd on a Diet Coke (well, Coke Light - NOT Coke Zero) and a bottle of water.  For an airport, that is amazing.  So glad to be traveling in cheaper countries now.  Brazil dented my budget.  

This part below written in Sao Paulo: 

Today is bittersweet.  Right now I am chilling at the São Paulo airport waiting to take off for Medellin, Colombia!!  I have spent 58 glorious days in Brazil and have only 47 days to go! Really, this could be the end of BlondieBravesBrazil - I will Keep the blog title though, with my new love of português I need to come back!!

Flight got delayed, which I do not mind so much as I have a overnight layover in the Bogota airport and sleeping in airports blows.  So, more time here, less time there!

So excited to see Colombia and so excited to get my laundry done.  I have worn these jeans for about 3 days/nights and the cleanest shirt I have left has been worn once already, so I am rocking it again.  Ugh.  At least the hostel in Medellin has laundry service.

Yesterday I wrote this entry from the bus stop:

Ahoy from Ilha Grande - (Well, now the bus station off the island)

The last ferry left ilha grande at 5.  It takes 1.5 hours to get to the mainland from the island.  The bus to Sao Paulo leaves at 10, so now I am trying to kill time.  Important lesson learned: do not book a trip after 3.5 caipirinhas with someone you have known for about 5 hours.  I know my new companion is safe to be around, but they are horrible at planning (we wandered the street for quite awhile trying to find our boat at 6:30 am, had no idea about there being no atms on the island, didn't know where our hostel was) and after a day and a half, I have realized that this person is quite racist and obnoxious.  Plus, had I planned better (or not has 3.5 caipirinhas when I decided to come here), I would have realized Ilha Grande is much easier to get to from Rio.  I have to put up with this obnoxious human being until we part tomorrow around 8 a.m.  Ugh.

Ilha Grande is beautiful and I am always a sucker for a boat ride, but to be honest kinda a waste of a trip.  It is very similar to Florianópolis, and I had wanted to see more in São Paulo than I got to in the 3 days I was there.  Thankfully, at the very end of my trip, I have time to explore São Paulo again. Plus, I lost my favorite Lululemon yoga pants and a body piercing I had in my back on this island.  But really, I am in Brazil, I can't complain too much This definitely beats office life!  

Tonight, my bus leaves at 10pm arrives to São Paulo at 5am will take the metro back to our hostel.  A few notes on these South American buses.  They are absolutely freezing!!  I could not get warm to save my life.  Plus, police come on with their dogs and just sniff around.

Anyway, after that I will sleep a few hours in a hammock and then head off to the airport to catch my flight to Colombia!  I am so excited!  Colombia has such a bad rep, but when you look at the statistics, it has improved greatly in recent years.  But, as in any city/country, it depends what part you visit.  That is also true with how you get to your destination. Most horror stories I have heard from fellow backpackers involve getting to and from places with your luggage - especially corrupt taxi drivers (drivers calling their friends who they then pick up and then all will rob you), so the best advice is to get a cab from a cab service and not try to hail one on the street(or airport, train station, bus depot, etc.).  Although, that does not always work.  One girl a friend of mine knew, called a cab driver she had used before to drop her off at the airport at the very end of a six month stint traveling.  She got dropped off at the airport and the driver took off with all her luggage!  Lesson: always have your bag in the back seat with you, or if you travel in pairs, one sit in the back seat, while the other deal with the bags.  I am telling you all the horrors why?  My love of traveling is worth the chances I am taking I suppose.   Plus, the areas I do a little extra spending are safety precautions, especially when getting to and from my hostel/airport/bus with all my stuff. Hey, I am a cop's kid.

As much as I do love traveling, at times, I get a bit homesick. The last few days I have been daydreaming of my must-dos when I get home:

1. Get my hair done!!
2. Jimmy Johns Beach Club sandwich
3. A authentic gyro
4. Brunch with Bloody Mary's
5. A high quality dirty martini w blue cheese olives - peninsula lobby bar, tavern on rush, my kitchen, and a few other places comes to mind
6. Hendrickxs for a croissant and coffee
7. My own bed

But I definitely have things I will miss about my time in Brazil.  In no order, the top 10:
1.  Randomly hearing "girls just want to have fun" by Cyndi Lauper and dancing in the pouring rain in Lapa, Rio
2. Riding a 15 second wave in Florianópolis
3. Carnival party in Florianópolis
4. Futbol game in São Paulo
5. Every time someone complimented my Portuguese!
6. Drinking on the beach
7.  Winning a Jiu jit su submission
8. Being made to feel like a super model when I walk down the street due to exuberant Brazilian men (this does get old, but it definitely is an ego boast on days I feel disgusting!)
9. The food: fresh seafood, fruit, hot dogs, and rice/beans!
10. All the people I met - they really contributed to the entire experience so thank you!!

Anyway, I need to start changing my "Eu preciso"s (I need in Portuguese) to "Yo necesito"s (I need in Spanish).  Off to practice!

Beijos!
Kendra


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