We decided to share the bottom bunk. If you can imagine, it was a little tight, but the room was so tiny that if we each took a bunk, there would have been no spot to put our bags without stepping all over them. We used the top bunk as storage. We were able to grab a few hours of sleep somehow and ID90 is supposedly working on a solution/compensation to our issue. For a hotel (glorified capsule hotel) that has “sleep” in its name, the sound proofing left much to be desired. We heard everyone’s alarm clock and morning routine. Quick aside, why would anyone want an alarm that sounds like a bomb raid is imminent? Is it fun to wake up with a racing heart? Anyway…
São Paulo’s Garulhos airport is perpetually chaotic. Nicole compared it to New York’s Penn station with people crossing over each other at speed. The energy at the security checkpoint matched that of people who had woken up to an alarm clock that sounded like they had to rush to a fallout shelter. So much noise and yelling everywhere. Surprisingly, security in Garulhos is pretty efficient for being so crowded. We arrived at gate 256 where they had slowly begun the boarding process. As of two days ago, this flight had just two seats and I didn’t even bother asking for an update. It’s like I didn’t want to know. Miraculously, we snagged seats in row 10, C and D, across the aisle from each other. After a night of close snuggling, perhaps Nicole liked that division from me.
It took a while to push from the gate, and a fair amount of time to work our way over to the runway. Nicole compared the entire process to that of Newark’s airport — inexplicable delays while people just yell at you. I nodded off during the first hour before committing to the day. Perhaps I should also mention where our flight is going, eh? We are off to Ilha Fernando de Noronha, an island off of Brazil’s east coast and a four hour flight from São Paulo. We will only be there for about two days. This also needs some explanation.
We pre-booked an excursion deep into the Amazon, but the group doing it has very specific dates that they do such activities. With an awkward amount of time to kill between Pantanal and Amazon, we thought it might be nice to relax for a couple days before roughing it in the jungle. Nicole booked our island pousada before we pushed from the gate and I used WhatsApp to arrange a rental buggy (an almost car) to meet us at the airport as a way to get around. It will all be a little pricey, but one of our backups was to just spend some time on the beaches in Rio, but all the hotels there were inexplicably even more expensive in most cases, so its best we are seeing something new.
Driving a buggy around is an interesting experience. The guy from the rental company who showed up at the airport to greet us asked if we spoke English, but then continued his Buggy-driving 101 course in Portuguese with the exception of the word “lights” and “reverse.” Words cannot describe the out-of-control feeling one has when driving such a “vehicle.” It’s very loud, vibrates like crazy, has no power steering, and changing gears can often be a violent experience. We took turns trying to make sense of it. At first I struggled to find 3rd, then neither of us could find 1st. For whatever reason, buggies are the “fun” way to get around the island, but as Nicole will attest…I probably didn’t look like I was having much fun for the first time I took it out.
The torrent of expletives hurled in the buggy’s general direction (because precision is not its forte) caused Nicole to wonder if we should ever have rented one. I think I may have started figuring out the nonsensical gears, so maybe it’ll actually be fun tomorrow. After chaotically driving to a market to get some bottles of water, we settled back into our area on the northern tip of Ilha Fernando de Noronha. Truthfully, I didn’t research much about this island, because I didn’t think we had a great chance of getting on the plane and didn’t want to get excited about something that couldn’t happen.
Our pousada (inn) owner told us about some of the local beaches and good spots to snorkel etc. Relieved to not have to take the buggy this time, we headed down to our nearest beach — Praia do Porto de Santo Antonio. I didn’t have a snorkel, but I did pack a set of goggles last minute. Within mere minutes of going into the water, I spotted probably a dozen sea turtles. A well-intentioned Brazilian snorkeler got my attention to make sure I saw a sea turtle near me. Hard to miss, as were the six others in the vicinity that I’m not sure he had yet seen, but it was nice of him nonetheless. I got out of the water to tell Nicole, who was passed out on the beach from a sleep deficit and from reading a book that has too long of chapters. I jumped back in to explore some more. Supposedly there’s a shipwreck out there too.
While I didn’t see that, I appeared to be the only one spotting this lemon shark. Nobody else was nearby, as I did my best to keep pace with it. I debated popping my head out of the water to say, “Tubarão!” to let the other snorkelers in on my secret, but thought it best to not be yelling out “Shark!” at a beach. I wasn’t sure what kind of reaction that might stir up.
Eventually I worried I was going to get fatigued from trying to follow the shark, and it was probably annoyed to be followed by the likes of me, so we parted ways. We returned to the pousada to walk around our peninsula a bit as the sun was setting and then Nicole found a few pizzerias around the island. This would be her very first margherita pizza of the trip. We are basically one week in already! Can you believe it? We brought it back to our pousada in the buggy.
Tomorrow is our only full day here. We are hoping to find the time to see all the things we want to see while also finding the balance to just relax for a spell. We do also desperately need to do laundry to regain control of our suitcases before we leave. But first, we look forward to sleep.
passports & pepto bismol 