The adventure of the parents

Something I’ve been looking forward to since my arrival in Brazil was having my parents, Chuck and Tish, come visit me in my Brazilian home. They finally came a couple weeks ago, which means I now have nothing else to look forward to, and suddenly my departure is looming imminently close.

My parents arrived in Porto Seguro, the closest airport, but also about an 8 hour bus trip away. So Thiago and I tried to rent a car in Texeira de Freitas, the closest city to my house in Caravelas. We arrived in Texeira at about noon and walked and taxied around in the high sun to 4 different car rental places, to no avail. Apparently to rent a car I needed proof that I live here (which I don’t have, since my bills don’t come in my name), a check for R$2,000 in a Brazilian bank account that’s existed for more than 2 years, and a special license from Salvador (a day’s trip and US$50 away), which would take 6 weeks to arrive. I already had an international driver’s license, issued by AAA, but apparently it’s valid in all countries except Brazil.

Seriously bummed out and worried about taking my parents on the bus, Thiago and I continued via bus to Porto Seguro. Once there, renting a car was easier than eating and a car was thrust upon us. Amazingly, I managed to get out of the parking lot without killing the engine, since I’m not very experienced in stick shifts. To make up for it, I killed it in the middle of the road and had various Brazilians yelling at me to “Learn to drive!” I cried back, “I’m trying, if you could just stop yelling at me!” Thiago and I took turns driving around town to get some practice in and stayed the night at a cheap hotel.

The next day we took the scenic drive in to Trancoso to get a nice hotel for my parents. We successfully picked out the Aldeia do Sol (Sun Village), and drove back to pick up my parents in Porto Seguro (Porto and Trancoso are about an hour drive away). On our way to the airport, we picked up a sun hat for my mom and a Brazilian style speedo for my dad, but that was never to be seen again.

The hotel in Trancoso was really excellent. It was the last of a series of nice hotels on the beach, and hardly anybody was there. We spent a couple days lounging on the beach and by the pool, and paying way too much for mediocre quality food. We explored Trancoso, Arraial D’Ajuda and Porto Seguro and bought gifts for people at home. One morning we hiked the hillside by the hotel (the red clay cliffs are called trancosos) and after a long walk through the forest, ended up back in town, without any money to even buy ice cream. Another highlight was taking my parents to pick out gifts from the hippies selling jewelry.

From Trancoso we traveled on to Caravelas. The nice hotel was booked for a wedding between a judge from Salvador and some chick from Caravelas. So my parents stayed at a simple hotel on the beach, which was fine for as long as the weather remained nice. Luckily I got them checked into someplace nicer just in time for the rain. It started raining 16 days ago, while they were still here, and hasn’t stopped since. More on that to come.

Despite the rain, I think my parents really enjoyed the trip. We didn’t get to go snorkeling, doing crosswords and sharing books. From Caravelas we returned to spend a couple days in Porto Seguro. The highlight of that trip was probably seeing the Indian Museum in Coroa Vermelha, just North of Porto Seguro. Our hotel had a sauna, but we waited for 2 hours to get burgers from the bar.

Thiago and my parents got along surprisingly well, which was good. Thiago was really nervous, but made a good impression and took good care of all of us (as per the usual).

Until the next installment,

~Helen