Day 2
Location: Sao Paulo
Temperature: 22c
Book: Life of Pi pg120
Leaving Ireland was tough. For any of you have headed away for any extensive period of time you’ll probably agree that there is an involuntary instinctive reflex that makes it hard to push one foot after the other towards the departure gates once you’ve said your “slán go foills” to your loved ones and close friends. Well that’s the way it was for me. It’s a bit like walking through very shallow quick sand. You can get through it, there is no doubt that you won’t, but nonetheless you can feel a pull. A clawing type of motion. Like a tracker beam pointing on your heels. It’s strange! Something else that happened worth nothing is something Eusebius said he experienced. Ever since the three of us decided to hit the road Eusebius has been complaining about a knot. He said that when we were walking up the quays one day, passing the Ha-Penny bridge that he looked at the right knot on my Adidas boot runners. As I was attending a trailing lace he recalls the knot hypnotising him. He said it was as if the knot that I tied on those laces somehow went into his body and festered, insidiously, clandestinely at the end of his tail until it violently, and acrimoniously chased from his tail, through his stomach, onto his tongue and out of his mouth. It all happened in a matter of seconds. His report went on to explain that as he went through the departure gates, turning and waging his tail for the last time, it shot out of him like a flame ridden ball bearing from a giant black-widow and pierced an emotional bubble in him he never knew existed. Brutos just laughed and his report. He laughed so hard he nearly wet his fur. It actually caused a fight. It was the first time I’ve seen Eusebius attack Brutos in over ten years. It’s always the other way around. It scared the living day lights out of Brutos. Should have seen him! He was like a harmless little pup again: unconfident, frightened, submissive. I haven’t seen him like that for a long long time. After a few hours silence they were talking again so it wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Both apologised to each other and shook tails; well, I kind of made them do it, but it didn’t take much coercion. They were both feeling bad. Anyway, Brutos, true to form, experienced no catharsis, bubbles, balloons, kites are knots of any description. He simply said he was brimming with excitement at the possibility of getting on the road and doing some serious experience hunting. He did add however that his nose has never been so pink or wet in his life!?!
The flight down was comfortable. It makes a big difference when your flight is leaving at 12’o’clock at night. You naturally fall asleep which I find difficult at the best of times when flying. It helped that there was no one sitting beside me on the way down. It gave me the rare luxury of being able to spread my legs across two seats before getting into the cushion aided, blanket covered foetal position that I’ve been accustomed to getting into on long trips. It felt like being in first class. Overall, I’d certainly fly Iberia again. It was pleasant, the food was better than most I’ve experienced at 10,000 meters and the staff were very cordial and attentive. I’d have to subtract a few points though for the absence of the nowadays typical earphone, radio come film option.
When I arrived there was a customs official strike which meant that four or five plane fulls of people had to queue together to go through immigration. It was pandemonium at the start but it settled fairly quickly, I didn’t find it too bad. Luckily enough, as you do, I bumped into a lovely Naas woman called Deirdre who was down in Brazil for two weeks to hook up with her boyfriend. We traded many a story and with the flapping of an eye lash we were through and stamped. I was warmly greeted by my Brazilian family at the gates. The boisterous and ever welcoming duo of Marcel and Lincoln were there. Muito obrigado! From there we hit the crazier than ever Sao Paulo traffic and headed to Marcel’s apartment to drop off all my gear. And after a quick shower, and a little unpacking I headed to meet some of my other friends for a few beers. It was fantastic to catch up with some stories, learn some new Portuguese phrases, and drink some: Bohemia and Antarctica, and get my teeth into a 30lbs Sirloin steak. I actually got change from ten euros! It was a great start to the day, a firm step on my travels and a wonderfully positive view outwards into my 30s. If the days ahead are anything like this one the future looks bright and the voyage looks exciting……both Eusebius and Brutos are wagging their tails and jumping up and down in agreement….something feels good
I’ve also managed to get myself a local sim-card. It’s with an operator called: Tim. I can now be contacted on my mobile on 0055-(0)11-82767178. I’ve already tried it with the brother and I can take texts as well. I’ll try figure out in the next few days how you can text me cheaply from home. As far as I know it’s about 20c a text to me down here. If anyone can come up with a good site on the net to send from, let me know.
Vagabond Tip: Something I nearly forgot on my travels but am already glad to report have used already is: ankle socks, and a small light for your key ring. I’ve used both already.
