Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
After another long coach journey (5 and a half hours) we arrived in Porte Alegre. We never really intended to stay here long, as it was merely a stop over to break up the long journey down to Uruguay. But from what our trusty footprints guide had said it told of gaucho country meets the city with lots of sights to see. So we were hoping for a pleasant 2 night stay - if only this was the case!!!
It was 8pm and as we left the comfort of the bus terminal, we arrived in the pitch black to discover we were staying in the downtown slums of Porte Alegre. Our hotel was only a 10 minute walk away but we darnt walk - we got a taxi, who insisted we should walk as it wasn't far but we refused to move. The streets leading to our hotel were swarming with homeless people and prostitutes, what`s more, the shop 2 doors down from our hotel was openly selling guns, knives, samurai swords and other deadly weapons to the public. We were pretty scared but figured our refuge would be our hotel, which was recommeneded to us by our Footprints guide as a 4* but what we found was a hotel that resembled the Bates Motel from Alfred Hitchcock's classic film. I wouldn`t have given it a 1*. It was dark, dingy and the staff and people staying there were the weirdest bunch of people you would ever meet.We were placed in the tiniest room, it was so small me, Matt and our rucksacks just about fitted in. The carpet and bedding looked like it hadn't been cleaned…ever! The noise outside the bedroom window was loud and annoying and the air-conditioning didn`t work, so we were beginning to get over heated and cranky with each other - I was at breaking point, the tears were on there way and Matt knew it, so he quickly resolved the situation by complaining and getting us moved to another room. At first this seemed a vast improvement, and yet, the bedding still didn't look that clean, the toilet didn't work, the air-conditioning made a horrendous noise that it was impossible to sleep and the woman in the next room had a terrible smokers cough and insisted on hocking up flem in the loudest way possible every 5 minutes. Not to mention the strange old couple that roamed the corridors outside our room all night. But as it was late the only option seemed to grim and bare it and hope things looked better in the morning.
After a restless night's sleep we looked forward to the breakfast we had paid extra for, which consisted of black coffee and 4 jars of sugary biscuits to choose from - our stay here truly couldn't get much worse. I hated it here and was wondering how I was going to get through another night. But it must have been bad because Matt turned to me and said lets get the hell out of here. So we rapidly made our way to the bus station, which was an un-nerving, walk because the homeless people and the prostitutes were still about, and drivers yelled something at us from their cars in Portuguese. Thankfully we managed to change our bus tickets without a charge, so we were leaving for Uruguay tonight at 10pm. With great delight we went back to the Bates Motel and checked out. However, then it dawned on us that we had 10 hours to kill before our coach left for Punta del Esta, but then again anything was better than spending another night here.
The day actually passed quite quickly as we checked our bags in and got a local bus into the city centre, whereby we visited a local market, a church, some shops and a military museum - we felt much safer here too. As time went by we decided to make a move back to the bus terminal, so we got on a local bus which we thought was going back to the station, however, it soon became clear we were on the wrong one and ended up miles away from the bus station and in some dodgy looking local estate. The bus driver tried to insist that this was the last stop and we had to get off, but we refused - we wouldn't survive a minute out there on our own. The bus driver must have sensed our panic because he took us back to the station without charge. Thankfully we arrived in time to get our overnight bus across the border into Uruguay. After this experience it was a relief to be leaving Brazil behind us.
The coach was amazing. All of them so far had been very good but this one was particularly special. It was much like being on an aeroplane, with seats that were wide and spacious and laid right back to form a bed. We were given pillows for extra comfort and a meal, followed by drinks and sweets, and to top it all off there was a movie to keep us entertained - National Express could learn a few things from these guys. They even took our passports and visas off us, so that when we crossed the Brazilian/Uruguayan border at 3am we didn't have the inconvenience of having to get up, get off the bus and get them stamped, instead they dealt with it all for us…now that's what I call service. After our awful time in Porte Alegre things were looking up!!!
Next stop Punta del Este in Uruguay…
- comments