Rio to Cabo Frio — Same State and Awesomeness, Different Vibe

A bus trip, finally!

It’s not that I’m committed to killing Mother Earth but I had to fly from São Paulo to Buenos Aires, from Buenos Aires to Foz do Iguaçu, and from Foz do Iguaçu to Rio de Janeiro. I’m happy to take the bus when it takes ten hours or less to reach my destination but I’m done with overnight journeys—and flying is about the same price, anyway.

On Sunday night, after an exciting and exhausting weekend in Rio, I packed once again for the next stop, Cabo Frio.

“Carnival is starting,” I explained to Mark. “And I’m not celebrating in Rio, too expensive and too crazy for me alone.”

“Huh. Carnival is starting, eh. I guess we’re not joining you this year…”

“Sorry, Mark. It’s too early. You guys only came back three weeks ago!”

I decided to spend Carnival in Cabo Frio. I discovered this lovely spot two years ago and I loved it so much that I ended up extending my stay and my visa to Brazil. It was packed the year the Carnival was “cancelled” during the pandemic, should be fun this year.

I left the Airbnb at 8 a.m., took an Uber to the rodoviária and arrived too early as usual. Feng and I had debated the perfect timing the night before.

“It’s a huge bus station, I can’t be late.”

“But it’s also a shitty neighbourhood so you don’t want to be too early.”

In fact, I remembered how to navigate the bus terminal and I spent 30 minutes sweating, waiting for the 9:33 a.m. bus. Yes, 9:33 a.m. Personally, I would have scheduled it at 9:30 a.m. or 9:35 a.m.—I’m adding this to my long list of Brazilian mysteries.

The bus was on time and I immediately fell asleep. I woke up 3.5 hours later when we arrived—this is why I love travelling by bus or by train, I can catch up on sleep. Planes aren’t as comfortable, and the whole check-in and security routine is annoying.

I had booked a first Airbnb for three days, then a nicer place for Carnival. My expectations were low and this Airbnb barely met them—a weird ground-floor house with patchy Internet, no air-con except in the bedroom (where I had no signal, ah ah), no windows except in the bathroom and a few ants waiting for me. That and I had trouble locking the door.

I sighed. At least this one had pillows and sheets. And knives—my Foz do Iguaçu Airbnb didn’t have any kitchen knives, so I ended up buying my own (new addition to my backpack!).

Whatever. I’m here for the beach, for the many towns around to explore and for surprises, good or bad.

And I can’t complain, I haven’t seen any cockroaches… yet.