A "Special" Day

Up at 08:30 I shower and race out to the HSBC cash point. Visa decide they can't send a replacement card to Argentina as the country is too risky. I'm stuck to making phone calls every time I want to use it. Grrr...

I board my truck and we leave Rio de Janeiro. I'm not sad, it has no special place in my heart. We stop at a supermarket for supplies. I buy a crate of beers, 1 litre of Gin and some tonic water. Quite reserved I thought. But it seemed to only harden my drinking reputation. From a stall on the side of the road I grab a freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. They sieve it before serving to filter out the multitude of wasps that are constantly buzzing around it!

The camp site at Parati is heaving with loads of overland trucks. Everyone had just left Rio from the Carnival. Rich and I share a tent, most of the others grab their own. There's a beach nearby and we all sprint over for a swim - boy, the sea is as hot as a bath! Really bizarre! We walk into the quiet, preserved and cobble stoned town centre for dinner at a posh restaurant with live music. It's all very pleasant. Everyone leaves and heads back to the campsite while I stay for a few beers and soak up the atmosphere. On my return a lot of the trucks are up drinking and blaring out music, but rather than go out and party I grab an early night to be kind to Rich. It seemed cruel / wrong to upset my tent partner on the first night by crawling in pissed in the early hours. As it was, neither of us could sleep for it was sweltering hot. It stayed that way for many an hour.

Posted by Steve Eynon