One thought on “Long journey from Rio by bus should have taken 22 hours but took 28 as the bus broke down !”
Day 4: The bus
We LOVED Rio and were very sad to leave our friendly hosts and their beautiful home and family. We vowed to return and spend more time there, maybe even at the end of this adventure. Who knows?
But it was time to move on. We took a taxi to the bus station which was old, massive and bustling, but not too chaotic. We collected our prepaid tickets without fuss, bought some food and waited…. and waited …. watching each bus expectantly.
30 minutes late, our bus arrived and we assumed our places in the front 2 seats ready to start the 21 hour journey. The bus was older than we’d expected and the seats didn’t recline all the way back, but it was comfortable. He was a pretty zippy bus driver dodging slower vehicles as he tried to make up time, but the night passed uneventfully. The bus stopped in various places to collect and drop off passengers. I used the chemical toilet at the back of the bus just once. It was like trying to pee on skis!! So I stuck to using the stationary loos in the clean service stations.
All seemed well, albeit a little behind schedule despite the driver’s best efforts, until just 10km from our destination, then he pulled over and made an announcement in Portuguese. The 10 remaining passengers laughed instantly so we thought he just needed a pee. Ha ha. It was only when they started filing off the bus that we realised the bus had broken down.
At least the driver has a mobile phone. After an hour or so, an engineer turned up, placed some cones around the bus and disappeared. We all had a good old inspection of the bus to find the tires were completely bald. It’s best not to know! Hours later another bus arrived and we reached our final destination 28 hours after we’d set off.
We didn’t mind. No one did. Such is the relaxed way of life here in Brazil. And I finished my first book of the journey.
South America 
Day 4: The bus
We LOVED Rio and were very sad to leave our friendly hosts and their beautiful home and family. We vowed to return and spend more time there, maybe even at the end of this adventure. Who knows?
But it was time to move on. We took a taxi to the bus station which was old, massive and bustling, but not too chaotic. We collected our prepaid tickets without fuss, bought some food and waited…. and waited …. watching each bus expectantly.
30 minutes late, our bus arrived and we assumed our places in the front 2 seats ready to start the 21 hour journey. The bus was older than we’d expected and the seats didn’t recline all the way back, but it was comfortable. He was a pretty zippy bus driver dodging slower vehicles as he tried to make up time, but the night passed uneventfully. The bus stopped in various places to collect and drop off passengers. I used the chemical toilet at the back of the bus just once. It was like trying to pee on skis!! So I stuck to using the stationary loos in the clean service stations.
All seemed well, albeit a little behind schedule despite the driver’s best efforts, until just 10km from our destination, then he pulled over and made an announcement in Portuguese. The 10 remaining passengers laughed instantly so we thought he just needed a pee. Ha ha. It was only when they started filing off the bus that we realised the bus had broken down.
At least the driver has a mobile phone. After an hour or so, an engineer turned up, placed some cones around the bus and disappeared. We all had a good old inspection of the bus to find the tires were completely bald. It’s best not to know! Hours later another bus arrived and we reached our final destination 28 hours after we’d set off.
We didn’t mind. No one did. Such is the relaxed way of life here in Brazil. And I finished my first book of the journey.
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