Driving in Brasil is fucking great!!!

This morning, I checked out of my hotel and since I had half the day to kill before I could check into my next hotel, I rented a car to drive up north of Salvador to go to a beach outside of the city. I got a VW Gol (not Golf). I believe it’s a slightly lesser version of the Golf (one less letter). I haven’t driven a manual since I sold my car and it was great! You remember my post about driving in Brasil, right? Well, I’ve been jonesin’ to join their ranks and try my skills in the race. It was great. It’s exactly how driving was meant to be. Pedestrians wait for cars to pass, if you have a car length to merge, you god damn better merge. It’s all about a non-chalant aggressive driving style. Felt so natural.

So I was driving around for a while looking for a beach that the lady at the front desk told me about and it turns out that it was part of a private beach community. I somehow managed to “talk” my way onto the beach and ended up being the only person, save for a few surfers on the beach. As far as I could see, there was no one. Amazing. The water was a little too rough to swim. Seems there’s been a major swell for the last week hittng the shore. I’ve been seeing 3-6′ waves everywhere I go. It’s too bad I don’t surf (yet).

After getting a little toasted, I decided to head out and get some food since I hadn’t planned on visiting Gilligan’s island. I stopped off at the northern most beach in Salvador, pretty close to the airport and found a spot where I could eat and have a beer or beers. I sat down and finally started seeing the Brasil that I was led to believe existed. The Brasil where women wore g-string bikinis. No, I didn’t see the topless sunbathers. I still think that’s a myth.

While I was enjoying my cerveja and whole friend fish, on the beach, in Brasil, a group of young brazilian girls started playing pickle ball and giggling. Some of them jumped in the water and were splashing each other. You know, like in the commercials… When the girls that were swimming came out of the water, they tried to get their friends in the water and were giving them wet hugs and giggling. WTF? Eventually, they all made it into the water where the giggling continued. I decided it was time to leave after my second big beer and nothing was left of the fish but a skeleton. I thought to myself, “that was a good lunch.”

I got back in the car and reveled in the drive back to the hotel. I decided for my last night in Salvador, I would stay at a super-swanky joint, so I am. Relative to prices in the US, it’s still a great value for what you get. They’ve even got a swim-up bar which I will have to try out tomorrow. Anyway, I made it back to the hotel, checked-in, put on my swim shorts again and ran down to the pool, just in time for a couple laps, a caiparinha and a gorgeous sunset. Tomorrow is feijoada day in Brasil, so my mission is to find a place to eat some. I don’t think it will be hard since the hotel has a feijoada buffet tomorrow.

Tomorrow night, I have a late flight (2:45am) to Rio de Janeiro where I’m meeting Lauren and Becca and spending a couple of days there until we fly back to São Paulo to meet Josh on Thanksgiving.

Samba time!

This entry was posted on Friday, November 17th, 2006 at 2:00 pm and is filed under Brazil, travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.