Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: South America 2009
Taxi ride to Brazil
There was no desperate rush this morning, so I allowed myself to sleep until 0745. Breakfast was once again downstairs in the hotel restaurant, then it was a case of returning to the room to pack in readiness for our 1030 checkout and transfer to IGU, the airport over on the Brazilian side. All too soon, it was time to turn our backs for the last time on that wonderful view of the falls. The car was already waiting, so we ended up setting off a little earlier than expected towards the Brazilian border. There were brief exit formalities on the Argentinian side prior to crossing the bridge, from which we also caught sight of Paraguay, as three countries meet at this point.
Entry formalities on the Brazilian side involved getting out of the car, but were easy nonetheless. Minutes later, we were pulling up in front of the tiny airport and saying goodbye to our driver. Check-in was entirely straightforward, although we were both surprised to find that our boarding passes were little more than till receipts.
(Link to flight log in side panel)
It was a relatively easy passage through Guarulhos, although Bruce needed several attempts at coaxing some money out of an ATM. It reminded me of the problems I'd had in Thailand earlier in the year, but at least Bruce's efforts were ultimately successful. We soon found the official taxi desk and in no time we were aboard a comfortable cab and heading for the city at considerable speed through, shall we say, a wide variety of neighbourhoods. We saw some horrible slums - the infamous favelas, one of the negative images of South America that had helped to suppress my appetite for making a visit for all these years. To be fair, though, they didn't necessarily look any worse than, for example, a South African shanty town.
Check-in
at the InterContinental was professional and effortless and we were
soon settling into our comfortable suite. We didn't linger for too
long, however, as it seemed like a good idea to take a short stroll
in the immediate neighbourhood and, as I often like to put it, get a
feel for the streets. We walked a short distance along the
well-known Avenida Paulista, as far as the MASP art museum. Back at
the hotel, we decided that Bruce's usual rule of First Night =
Room Service should be brought into play for dinner. It provided
an excellent opportunity to discuss travel plans for 2010!
