Atrapados en la Mata Atlántica

Our second day happened to be a bit complicated, including one of these stories that make this kind of posts funnier. In the end, everything was less serious than it could have been but still there was a few tense moments.

I was saying in the previous post that, due to a not extremely smart planification, we ended up in a more or less cheap hostel but appart from all signs of civilization in the middle of the Atlantic rainforest. When we asked what we could do around there, we were said about some waterfalls (cachoeiras), lost in the midle of the forest and reachable by a half an hour trekking. It sounded good and we decided to dedicate that morning to the extreme green before laying on the beach. Besides, we still had some parts of skine free of mosquito bites.

So we drove the shitty road all the way to the beginning of the trakking which was even more remote than the place we have spent the night in and we started to walk. It was a good one, not too difficult but not to plain either. Trees to jump, rivers to cross and that kind of natural stuff in the very deep of the forest. After a while you reach a first waterfal which is already good enough but worse than another one a bit more uphill. There we spent some nice time swimming in a small lake and sunbathing in the rocks, surrounded by a bunch of brazilians.

After that it was beach time, we headed to Cambury to take advantage of the great weather that, for the second consecutive day, we were having. And then the crisis occured. We are missing something really important to get out of there…the car keys. Luis can´t find them anywhere… Houston, we have a problem. We are in the middle of the brazilian nowhere in the end of a path in which beginning we dont know if our car is. There is a few theories to explain the situation, for the the most likely one saying that they drop out of his pocket when he took something fronm there to the more conspiratory one of thinking that the brazilians took them when they left before us.

We searched all over the place, clothes and pockets like a thousand times but we didnt find the fucking keys. We definitely have an issue here… The only option we have left is to find either the keys or a person who found them on the way back to the car. So while Luis run to his car (assuming is still there), Crystal and I carefully walk all the way back looking always to the floor. No keys.

So we are almost in the end when I see Luis coming back and ask him the million dollars question. Right answer, good news, the car is still there. Our situation improved a bit, we still have our mean of transportation. We cant get into nor to drive it but there he is. Surprisingly this never happened to me in my very extense dissaster career. What do you do when you have a car but no keys? We start to consider the different options. One is to try to speak with the insurance and get them to send someone. That is the best one, if it does not work, we will have to go all the way to Sao Paulo by bus (4 hours), get the backup keys, and get back to the car (another 4 hours). Luis has to work next morning so I would be the one doing this… I try to see the good side, at least I will have a car for the two days remaining in my trip.

But first we need to try the insurance thing. It looks easy but is not cause in the very remote place where we are, no phone gets signal and, even if it would, the insurrance number is…inside the car of course. So we leave Crystal asking to everybody coming back from the waterfall and Luis and I go looking for a phone.

After a while we reach the most remote supermarket of the world and try to talk the guy there into allowing us to call an information number os something that can point us to the inssurance company. We offered money but he is not too cooperative and says some shit about only been able to do local calls, having no signal and blabla. We are not making too much progress with tis fellow so when we see a car arriving we jump into the couple which gets out.

They happen to be the people living in the last house before the trekking and, besides, they have their car inssurance with the same company and a landline in the house that works. Great, this can be a solution. We just need to wait for them to do the shopping and come back to the house so we go back to the car to inform Crystal about the good news.

When we get to the car we witness quite a funny scene. There is a bunch of people around the car and some guy trying to force the door with a crowbar… The joke comes out easily: “Luis dude, they are stealing your car!” In fact, what is happeing is that Crystal asked help from a group of people going to the waterfal and one of them happened to be a locksmith.

It would have been better if he would have been a thief cause he fails to open the car (one point for Opel Corsa security!). Apparently the guy is missing the right tools but it does not matter, the couple from the supermarket arrives and take us home to make the call. I hear how Luis speaks with the inssurance while I consider the different options. If the car is taken by a lorry back to Sao Paulo, Luis and Crystal will go with it and also all my stuff on the trunk. At least I have my wallet so I can continue the trip but the idea of spending two days only with the clothes I am wearing like a homeless does not really appeal me.

However, everything might be much easier. The inssurance says they are going to send someone that can get into the car with some sort of master key. Afer that, the success of his rescue mission relies enterely on whether some codes can be found in the car manual or not, If they are there he can make a copy inmediately and we can drive out of there. Shit, that sounds good. The only thing is that we are very far away and today is Sunday, lets find out how long it takes him to come. An hour maximum they say.

Just to kill some time I go with Crystal to the supermarket to get some beers and on our way back the second drama explodes. Apparently the stonian girl has lost her wallet with plenty of money and all her ids. Umm, we seem to be very inspired today, arent we?. Looks like everyboy here is master of disaster…but me! I have contradictory feelings at this moment. I am definitely concerned about the unfortunate situation of my travel mates but, on the other side, I feel a very irrational and questionable interior joy seen that, for one time, I am the only one who did not fuck up. I try to get rid of such evil feelings because I am sure they will be punished, I bet I am the next one to loose something…

Anyway, Crystal´s wallet does not show up anywhere and the only tip we end up having is an unbeliable story some kids tell us about this non-local bike driver who found it and took it with him… All this time the insurance guy does not show up so I decide to walk till the closest road crossing to find out whether he got lost or something. Nice idea but I didnt count on the extreme heat and how thirsty I am becoming. As soon as I spot the first bar in that remote place I decide a very cold beer is a much better option. So I sit down in the table of that remote local bar with my beer watching the road crossing. The locals notice and start to speak with me, good vibrations in general appart from this old portuguese fellow who decides to hate me from the first moment. I finish my beer and order another one, and another one…

Fortunately, when I am about to order the fourth leter which surely will launch my friendship with this people to a new and interesting leve, I spot something, out of the corner of my eye: a white van with a logo driving through the road crossing. Looks like the insurance guy, I say my goodbyes to my new friends and quickly walk to the car hoping to be right.

When I get there there are good and bad news. The good ones is that the insurance guy managed to get into the car wo, in the worst case, I will get my stuff back. The bad ones is that the previous owner of the car had the great idea of taking the codes out of the car manual and never put it back when she sold the car. This means there is no way to get a copy of the key. The only option is to get it back to Sao Paulo by crane. At least that same crane will drop us in the closest bus station, a place called Busocanga. From there Luis and Crystal will leave and I will have to find out what I do with my life for the next two days.

Been on a car none of its ocupants drive is a bit surrealistic but funny. We arrive to Busocanga and there, after still another tense moment with the buses schedule, Luis an Crystal book a ticket for the 7 bus to Sao Paulo. I decide to stay in a hostel in Busocanga at least for that night. The place looks good, a small town with a nice beach and well connected with Cambury and Maresias, the two beaches we had considered to visit.

So we ended that weird day having a few caipirinhas on the beach while we wait for their bus to Sao Paulo. It was not such a big deal in the end and, appart from Crystal´s wallet, the consequences were not that serious. We have lost a beach evening but at least now we know brazilian insurance companies are serious. Luis and Crystal leave me alone in that beach with my caipirinha and my sunset…

Paco, master of disaster