Brotas, Brazil

12th October – 14th October 2017

Leaving the bush camp at 6.30, the temperature was a good one to start the day with, as it wasn’t too hot. We had a long drive to do though so we knew it would get hotter as the day went on. I managed to get some more sleep at the beginning of the drive but it didn’t last too long because by the time I drifted off, William started serving breakfast around 8.30ish. I didn’t eat anything at first because I wasn’t hungry, but eventually I had a nectarine and a yogurt. Despite criticising my choice of juice in the supermarket, William drank it anyway (as well as the new ones he bought) and said to Sabrina how much he liked it – I didn’t get an apology though.

Our first stop of the day was around 9.30 – which was longer than normal. We stopped off at a very busy gas station because both tanks on Yana needed refilling, so we had about a 20 minute break while that happened.

Back on the truck, I tried to fall asleep again – it seemed to be the coolest way to get through the hot day. When I woke up, it was nearly time to stop for lunch. I wasn’t hungry at all and my watch only said 11.30, but we had gone over a date line again and lost an hour, so it was actually 12.30. I still wasn’t hungry though, but I bought an ice lolly to try and cool me down and I knew I had some snacks in my bag for the afternoon if I needed.

After lunch, we still had 325 sweaty kilometres to go until we arrived at the Brotas campsite. As it was now 1pm, we were at the hottest part of the day and it was so sticky on the truck. I had to move seats because the sun was directly on mine, so I moved to one in the shade and had another snooze.

We stopped a couple more times after lunch, quite close together in time, which I found strange. They weren’t exciting stops though, just toilet stops at gas stations. Just after4, we carried on the last 100 kilometres to Brotas – although it was only 100km, it took us a while because Yana can’t get up hills quickly and there were a few inclines.

We watched the sunset from the truck again, as we drove. It’s pretty to see all of the sunsets but it’s annoying that we arrive in the dark quite a lot – especially when I have to put my tent up when we arrive.

At around 6.30, we arrived at the campsite. Lars showed us the upgrade options for those who didn’t want to sleep in tents; it was one very hot and sweaty house with three bedrooms, with bunk beds in. I decided to stay in my tent – I thought there were better things to spend my money on and staying in a tent is better than sharing a room sometimes – but I was the only one, so that felt kind of lonely at first because I was away from the house. While everyone did back locker, I set up my tent next to the truck (Lars and Adam decided to stay in a tent too).

After back locker, I showered and got ready to go out for dinner. We all met at the reception area at 8 and walked into the town area – it wasn’t far and it was nice to stretch my legs a little bit.

In the town, we went to a restaurant called Brotas Bar, which was very busy. Sara said that last time she was in Brotas, she went there and it was very quiet, but we were there on a public holiday, so that explained why it was so busy. We eventually got seated and were sat in the upstairs area.

For dinner, I ordered a barley risotto with Brie and tomatoes. While the sauce was really tasty, I wasn’t a fan on the risotto because it was really crunchy – I’ve never had barley risotto before – and not how risotto should be. Sabrina had ordered a normal risotto with pumpkin and beef, which she wasn’t particularly keen on, so half way through our meals, we swapped and hers was much nicer than mine, in my opinion.

After dinner, we walked back to the campsite. Most people were tired after the long drive day, so when we got back, we ended up going straight to bed. Earlier in the night, they had talked about having a house party, which some people were still up for, but it didn’t happen because loads went to bed.

Despite sleeping on a slight hill, I slept quite well because I had the windows of the tent open to get some air in. I woke up around 4.30 and through one window I could see, what looked like he silhouette of a person. This freaked me out a little bit and didn’t want to sleep again incase it was a person, but I knew Lars was close by so I could shout him if I needed to. I fell back to sleep anyway and when I woke up at 5.30, the shadow had gone. I didn’t get up until around 8 and the first thing I did when I got up, was check to see what could have been making that shadow on my tent; I couldn’t see anything around, but I’d like to think there wasn’t a person stood there because that’s creepy.

Everyone else came to breakfast by the truck at around 9 o’clock. Apparently they hadn’t slept very well in the house because it was so hot and if they opened the windows, then bugs would come in – I was glad at this point that I didn’t go in the house because everyone else was because it sounded like I slept better in my tent. Adam and Lars had made breakfast, but they had made porridge and it was about 28 degrees, so not many people were up for that.

Just after breakfast, Steven was leaving the group – he had made the decision the night before that he wanted to sign off the trip, because it wasn’t what he expected apparently. He checked himself into a five star hotel in Rio and said he would see us again when we got there – not to the hotel, obviously. I’m not sure why he left when we are so close to the end, but anyway. He left without actually saying bye to people, so whether we will see him in Rio or not, I don’t know.

The rest of the day was a free day, to do what we wanted to. Katie and Sabrina needed to go food shopping for their cook group, so I tagged along so I could but a cold drink from the shops, and I wanted to have a look around the town a little bit. I didn’t end up staying for the whole shop because I wasn’t needed, so walked back alone.

Back at the campsite at around 11, I got changed into my bikini and spent the rest of the day by the pool, relaxing and enjoying the sunshine. I dipped in and out of the pool, but it wasn’t the cleanest of pools so I didn’t spend too long in there. I smacked on some crackers for lunch – again, I wasn’t overly hungry because of the heat. Throughout the day, everyone had been doing their own thing, but everyone seemed to be gathered around the pool area in the late afternoon, just as the clouds came over.

After about half an hour after the clouds came over, I gave up hope that the sun was coming back out for the day, so I went to get some decent wifi, to try and organise my life after the truck – it’s a strange feeling to know that there won’t be anyone telling me what to do and where to go, in under a week’s time.

Dinner was ready around 8. Katie’s group had made chicken and sausage pasta, which was really nice but they had made loads and we had so much leftover. They had bought ice cream for dessert because there was a freezer in their house, but the freezer had broken in the afternoon and it had melted slightly. As it wasn’t proper ice cream, it was more of a sorbet, it was still okay to eat and it was a really tasty flavour.

Once everything had been cleaned up and tidied away, a few of us sat around and chatted for a while. As they were by my tent, I went to pack my things away while everyone was still there, and then came back out again. Lars had decided to check that the truck was okay, because there had been some problems recently; it was a good job he did, because the battery was flat again and she wouldn’t start. There was no vehicle around that was big enough to jumpstart her, so they had to call for a mechanic. It was fairly late by the time the mechanic arrived, and when he had checked over everything, he said one battery was completely flat, so they had to go and buy a new one, which luckily didn’t take too long. It was just me, Lars and Sara left at this point. As my tent was directly in front of the truck, I didn’t see the point in going to bed, until the problem was sorted.

At around 11.30, the mechanics left and the three of us went to bed. It was a much cooler night but inside my tent, it was still a good temperature. It took me a while to get to sleep, but eventually I did.

My sleep on the second night wasn’t as good as the first night, so I didn’t get much sleep before my alarm went off just after 5. We weren’t leaving until 6.30, but as it was the last camping stop of the trip, I had to sweep out my tent once everything was packed away. It didn’t take me too long, but it meant that I didn’t have to rush, because everyone is always ready early and it makes me panic, thinking I’m late.

As predicted, everyone was ready early and on the truck for 6.20. It was a little annoying because I was trying to charge up my things because I couldn’t do it overnight. We left shortly after 6.20 and set off on our 500+ kilometre drive towards Paraty – the last stop before Rio!

Brotas was a nice place to chill for a day because the weather was nice and sunny but not as hot as the pantanal, so it was bearable. There didn’t seem to be much purpose to this stop, other than to break up the drive between the pantanal and Paraty – I don’t think there’s much else between these stops. It’s strange how close it’s getting to the end of truck life, but I’m excited that there are only two more drive days left!

To travel is to live, Katie x