Day 6 - Canoa Quebrada

After out late night playing poker, it was back to bed and waking up a few hours later for another early morning trip (and nap) to a new beach - Canoa Quebrada. I was dead tired that morning and was not very pleased when the tour guide on the bus decided that everyone should wake up and do introductions while I was in the middle of a deep sleep. Apparently the things that some people were saying were pretty funny, because everyone was laughing quite a bit (and making me grumble every time). I decided that from that day on, I would bring my iPod every day to make sure that no one would disturb my beauty sleep from that day on (lord knows I need as much of that as I can get ;o). Daniel asked us if we wanted to introduce ourselves and for some reason (lack of sleep, probably), I agreed to go up there and make a fool of my self by trying to say a few things in Portuguese. So Daniel and Kelly made their introduction to themselves, told everyone they were on their honeymoon (like most of the other passengers on the bus) and that they had gringo friends from USA and Slovakia on the bus (I'm assuming that everyone had already figured this out because Stefan isn't exactly quiet when he talks) and that one of them (me!) was going to say hello and represent the rest of the gringos.

Then it was my turn. For some odd reason, I had spent the last 15 minutes of my semi-consciousness watching everyone introduce themselves (and not understanding them) and I hadn't even thought about what I was going to say when I got to the front of the bus in front of 50 Brazilians. So Daniel tells me to go up to the front and I walk in a trance, suddenly wondering what the hell I was doing and telling myself not to screw up. And then I started thinking about what to say when I was about five feet from the microphone. Not exactly enough time for me to go through my not-so-extensive Portuguese vocabulary and come up with something coherent. But, I was going to do it. So I stood there in front of the world and got terrible stage fright and got really nervous. I quickly said "I am Justin and I am from New York. I am with my friends Daniel and Kelly" (in accent-free Portuguese of course ;o) and I quickly gave the microphone back to the tour guide and headed back to my safety zone in the back of the bus with the other gringos. But, to my surprise, everyone started applauding and that was pretty special to me. But I was so nervous and embarrased that I didn't look at anyone while I walked. Of course, as I sat there afterwards (and over the next few days as well) I thought of a few things that I could say in Portuguese that would have added some humor, things like "I like Brazilian barbeque, Brazilian beer, and caiparinhas" and some more things. I would have been much more comfortable if I'd planned my thoughts instead of just sitting there half asleep!

Anyway, the introductions finished and then they started playing some game on the bus, but I was still tired so I passed out again and slept off and on while they laughed and yelled answers all over the bus!

The buses dropped us off in town and we got free trips down near the beach from some dune buggies that were nearby. This beach was different than any of the others because of the fact that it was surrounded by cliffs made from sandstone or some type of red clay that was severely impacted by erosion from the wind and the occassional rain. The terrain changed every year because the dirt was so easily shaped by the elements. It was terribly hot out, so I was pretty sure that we'd get fried that day while we wandered through the canyons from the tops of the cliffs down to the beach. We had a local boy who was our tour guide and he told us (well, really Daniel and Kelly ;o) about how the area had changed and and how it was now protected because of its fragility. The scenes from this beach were absolutely breath-taking, as the pictures show. While we were walking around with all the other tourists, we heard someone call it the Grand Canyon and us gringos laughed because it was pretty much the first English we'd heard for a while from someone other than Daniel :o).

Once we got to the bottom, we were at another beach restaurant where we could sit back, eat lobster and shrimp, and drink a few beers while taking sun breaks to go swimming. I don't think that there were many waves at this beach, however, so it was more relaxing. There were some of the usual trinket-peddlers, including a guy selling coconuts that were carved in the shape of monkeys. This guy was trying hard to sell them to our table and he and Stefan shared some laughs as Stefan bartered back and forth with the guy throughout the day, telling the guy that when the price got to 15 reais, he'd buy one. The guy responded with jokes like "all the money goes to charity - my kids" and other wisecracks. It was pretty funny and Stefan eventually got his price at the end of the day. Csilla was also heavily involved in the trinket-purchase business, and one minute she was asking Roland "why the hell do these guys always come up to me" and the next minute she was checking out all of the nut necklaces that they were selling :o) .

We headed back up to the buses early that day so that we could shop in the town's tourist shops. We bought a few postcards and a few other trinkets before packing it up and heading back. Apparently we were shopping a bit longer than we were supposed to and Daniel came running after us and said the whole bus was waiting for us so that we could leave. Great, now we were the loud AND annoyingly late gringos!

That night we were going to go see a show that had traditional Brazilian dances, and lord knows they have a lot of them so that was something we were definitely willing to pay $5 to go see. Unfortunately, Csilla wasn't feeling well that day and got really sick that night (possibly from something at the barbeque the day before) and her and Roland never made it. She ended up having to get medicine from the front desk and after that she felt better, but she was in bad shape that night we found out the next day.

But the dance show was amazing. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. They had various types of samba dances, some traditional Portuguese dances, some traditional African dances (from the slaves), some capoeira dancing, and about thirty more dances, all performed by the same cast of dancers who would dance, then run back and change and be out for the next dances. There was also a live band that was playing the music. The food at the restaurant was cafeteria/buffet style and was actually pretty decent. You paid for the food by weight and they had a nice variety of items to choose from. Here are some of the dance videos:
Capoeira
Samba from the 50s
Samba

Another important discovery was made that night that would alter our expenditures and experience for the rest of the week. Daniel, who works in the restaurant business himself, noticed that when you order a Cuba Libre (Rum, Coke, and Limes), they bring you a can of coke and a glass of rum and then they poor them together to make the tasty concoction. But then you're stuck with 2/3 of a coke left to drink. A Cuba Libre was 10 reais, but a rum over ice + a coke was about 7 reais. So, if you ordered three rums over ice and a coke, you were looking at paying about 15 reais vs. the 30 reais that three Cuba Libres would cost - my numbers are off a little, but it was a significant savings. We couldn't afford not to drink more since we were saving so much, so we drank quite a few more rum and cokes that night and the days that followed!

Justinho, Only two days left :o(