Last year me and five other friends made a trip to visit one of our clubmembers, Jan Jurrien, who was studying in Barcelona. We got to celebrate new years evening with him at an Open Bar party somewhere outside the city, on a hill side next to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya. There we met, along with a great bunch of other people, a group from Peru who were visiting Barcelona with their family. We got acquinted and hang around all night. In the end it turns out, small world or is it just a coincidence?, they were actually studying in Groningen. As part of their curriculum they got do study abroad and they chose Groningen as the place to be. Before I traveled to Brazil we were invited to a big international party and went to get some beers in the city center after. Good times.
As many people do when meeting foreigners they invite them to come visit or just give a call when in need or in the area. Same happened to us. When I got to Brazil and found out I had to travel abroad for a few days it wasn't a difficult choice. Not just because of the hospitality. Peru seems to be one of the most interesting countries of Latin America, it is not as popular as Argentina, or for us dutchies Suriname, and I would probably lack the opportunity to go there the next few years. And some say Peru has the number one cuisine in the world. I've got to put that to the test. It might not be the cheapest option but most definitely one I won't regret. Besides I managed to get myself a fairly priced ticket so all went well. All untill I left Belo Horizonte to the airport. More about that later.
I got the contact information of the two Peruvian girls (thanks Flop!), managed to organize a trip with my *lovely* traveling agency Expedia.nl and made an arrangement with my internship coordinator and professor that I could be absent for a few days. After all I'd rather not get deported now, do I? But that's another story.
Before taking the plane, which would fly from Belo Horizonte (a six hours busride from Vicosa), to São Paulo (a one hour flight and four hours waiting at the airfield) and from there directly to Lima (a five hours flight), I would visit Marco. Hence the plane left early in the morning it was a good opportunity for us to discover the night life of this big city, get some sleep, breakfast and board the plane. The only three things I had to organize in advance were:
- get my ticket printed no more than 24 hours in advance
- get some foreign valuta (even though US dollars are not the main currency in Peru they do accept them everywhere) and
- get Marco a present.
I arrived at the busstation (around 19:30) after which Marco picked me up (20:45 *jeej*, when will I finally addept, or at least get used to the Brazilian habbits) and we took off to his new appartment. The present wasn't the hardest part and Marco turned out to be very happy with my gift (getting birthday presents isn't a common thing in Brazil though). I took a quick shower and we went to a local street full of bars and usually crowded with people (except for a regular working day like Wednesday). After ordering a few beers a friend of him joined us and we switched to the more heavy stuff (do I need to say it was cachaca?) along with a plate of porks rib which had the good of our spearribs (sweet marinated meat) without the bad (bones). Delicious, even though I was told they've had better. We went home early, around two, hence we would wake up early to get breakfast, visit Mercator Central and organize the few things I had left on my to do list.
It turns out net cafes are not only good for gaming and after paying R$1,- I was the proud owner of a black and white e-ticket to São Paulo. If only printing my ticket would have been the hardest part. I had to get a lot of dollars. The exchange rate for Brazilian reals to Peruvian pesos isn't that good (and I already need to pay a fee for getting my euros exchanged to reals) they accept US dollars almost anywhere. Exchanging them at an airport wasn't the best idea though since it would be very expensive. So downtown Belo it is. Turns out it is practically impossible for a foreigner to exchange valuta. First of all you cannot pay with your bank or credit card. Second you need to give almost every private information you can think of (except for what you had for dinner last night) including email, all your phone numbers, social security number, a copy of your identification documentation and so on. Turned out Marco could arrange all this for me and after emptying my bank account (R$700,-) we exchanged a lean $320,-. The last money I had, R$100,-, unfortunately, were spend on a cab to Confince Aeroporto, hence it would take too much time to get a bus (costing either R$8,- or R$22,-) and do my checking in. However, the cab should be able to get there within 40 minutes, instead of the regular one hour by bus. Unless your cab driver gets pulled over, starts a conversation, ignores you (even though he told me my Portuguese was muito muito bom! before) and then arrive after almost one and a half hour at the airport instead. Some of the Brazilian culture and habits did influence me; no flaming, no argueing and no fight. Besides, he wouldn't pay me back the R$420,- anyway.
Yes, fourhundredandtwenty (!!). I missed my flight and could get a new one, which would leave in two hours, but ... would land in a different airport. Thank god all the people working at the TAM desk spoke fluently Portuguese making sure I got the right information. After calling to TACA airlines (Portuguese and Spanish only) to try get another flight I took the chance, bought myself a new TAM ticket (ofcourse the old one wasn't refundable, most definitely not the fault of my wonderful traveling agency Expedia.nl) and hoped I would find the one cab driver who had been a former Formula 1 racing driver and would manage to get me to the other side of São Paulo (one of the biggest cities in the world) within one hour.
While at the desk I thought of fixing my return ticket to Amsterdam. I will have the same 'problem' (three hours in between flights and different airports) and I'd rather be safe then sorry. Especially when calculating the risk of an incompetent taxi chauffeur. So this is what I learned:
- Canceling my flight would cost me, hold on, R$2281,-.
- Easy solution; just skip the flight by 'missing' it, right? Well, that would cause my lovely traveling agency Expedia.nl to cancel my second flight (São Paulo - Amsterdam) as well hence it is some kind of single ticket even though there are two different airlines, two different destinations and two different airfields.
While waiting at the desk I see a girl, who seems to speak only in English, buy herself a ticket as well. After I offer her my help we start a conversation. I am still shivering from missing the flight and buying a new ticket and babbling a lot of rubbish (she's definitely not from Florida, Kentucky or Ohio, nor is she American nor visiting Vicosa (well duh, she just booked a ticket)) but it seems not to matter. While feeling light headed she is telling me she also had just missed her flight, by five minutes to be precise, and is now taking the next plain to São Paulo. She is very calm about the situation (or knows how to hide her state of mind very well) and says it's probably for the better cause. Who knows why we missed it in the first place.
So Macy is from the Phillipines,works for an international company based in Japan cooperating with the Japanse Times and China Daily. Shes in Brazil to do a report on the special coffee market and was supposed to leave the 23th of April. Apparently not the first time she missed her flight. After visiting some places near São Paulo she will be visiting Peru as well and after travel to Europe. Visiting Denmark, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, India, Indonesia and back to the Phillipines. Even though I have been convinced it is not all serenity. I think traveling for work is actually the greatest perk of them all.
After we landed in Congonhas she helped me get a cab and I took off. If we might ever meet again I will most certainly pay my gratitude in whatever way suits.
Mauro was anything but a race car driver. He was wearing filthy clothes, was about 50 years old and didn't speak any English. We did however have the infamous traffic on our side and after some life stories and interesting facts about the city (66% of the countries income is produced in São Paulo) we managed to get to Guarulhos in just over one hour. I didn't have the time to get any cash withdrawl at the airport and didn't have any more (Brazilian) cash on me, except for the few coins which were no way over five reals. Where the day before my creditcard stopped working, leaving me completely dependant on my bankcard, now even this one ceased to be cooperative and stopped doing what it used to do best (helping me be able to shout out loud "money to burn, we're students right?!" for anyone willing to hear). Eventually I managed to pay the R$130,- ride with one of my three onehundred dollar bills and he would give me back my change when I would call him the second time for the same trip. Ofcourse that will never happen. I am actually trying not to think how this will work out once I get to Peru and spend the few dollars I have left. Maestro might have worked for me all over the world (except in Antwerpen >.<), it doesn't in Peru. Visa and MasterCard it is. I should have gotten me one of those prepaid creditcards Neil recommended me.
I am halfway my flight to Lima right now and have, after writing all this stuff, almost forgotten what happened to me today. Even if it might sound different, this is actually one of the many things I have learned in Brazil. Stay calm, don't worry, ofcourse be happy (that's not just for Jamaicans to say), see what will happens and eventually everything work out well.
Many phrases in this post, and maybe many of the things I have been talking about at this blog, tend to have, one way or another, something to do with money. Some might know me as an extremely greedy, frugal person. I know how to safe money and spend even more. However, when I adopted my plans for Brazil I have started to safe a lot of money so I would never regret not doing certain things because of a lack of cash. In Brazil I have not yet been on a spending spree, for several reasons. First of all the life here isn't so much different as it is, money-wise, in Holland. Prices tend to be the same and I always end up spending an average which can be compared to the Groninger life. For half a year I am not earning any money which makes me saving so much. Last but not least, I have, in no way, the intention to come back to Holland empty handed (again money-wise that is).
Furthermore, I like everyone to get an idea of the life here and ofcourse money is a part of that.
I have learned a lot today. A few wise lessons by Macy, not to take the Brazilian lifestyle to the extreme, it is possible to travel between the two airports within an hour and a half, Belo Horizonte is a very nice city afterall which I definitely tend to discover some more and traveling on my own isn't so bad and I will do just fine. In Peru and probably anywhere else in the world (languages for the win!). And I met a great new friend with a lot of experience in life who has given me a lot of things to think about. Oh, and I probably made at least one Paulista cab driver very happy.
Peru, here I come!
Oh and little brother of mine, sorry for naming this post after you but I wanted to internalize you.
Pictures will be posted to my Flickr account when I get back.
This topic has been made available by: one hundred US dollars, TAM, Expedia.nl, Mercator Central, HH Picchioni Corretora de Cambio e Valors Mobili, Macy, Marco, Mauro, Michaël and ABN AMRO.
