Moving day again and with our pick up time set for 7am, the alarm went off at 5.45am and so we were in breakfast at 6.15am. By 6.55am we were checked out of our room and waiting in the lobby. We were still there at 7.30am, at which point I went and asked Reception if they could call the company providing the transfer to Buzios. They advised the time was actually anytime from 7am. I asked if they were joking and they said that it could be 8.30am before they turned up. I tried to argue my point but it wasn’t the Hotels fault.
Anyhow a coach turned up at 7.35am. Unfortunately the driver spoke no English but we found our name on his list. We knew the next Hotel was 111 miles away and so settled down on the comfortable seats for the journey. What we didn’t expect was to be taken to the airport where we sat for 25 minutes waiting to collect some more people. Fortunately the air conditioning was working well and I tried to keep Karen amused by playing Pointless on my phone. Finally we were on the way and we started to make our way out of Rio. After passing many ‘favelas’ we eventually hit the pleasant countryside. As the miles and time passed by, we both had a doze although Karen’s was longer and noisier than mine.
After a couple of hours we pulled into a service station where a guide got on and told us in broken English that we had a break for 15 minutes. We both used the toilet and then bought some drinks and snacks. Back on the coach the guide rode with us and spent the next hour selling loudly in Portuguese & Spanish to the other people his companies tours. It was rather tiresome as he went on and on and we could only identify the odd word.
Then as we got to the outskirts of what we presumed was Buzios we pulled over and told we had to transfer to a small minibus. It was all rather confusing. We went from a comfortable coach to jammed minibus with no air con. I sat next to a Spanish guy who spoke some English and managed to tell me that the coach could not make it down the narrow streets. He knew of our Hotel and assured us that it was really good.
We were the first drop off but sadly Karen’s first impressions did not match up the our Spanish companions views. We checked in or rather we thought we had because after going through all the usual formalities we were then told our room would not be ready until 3pm, which was some 2 ½ hours away. Now I think they did have rooms ready but their process said check is not permitted until 3pm and therefore 3pm it is. I was not happy. We were by now hot, thirsty and hungry. We went and sat in the outside area and were given some complimentary drinks. It was very hot even though we were in the shade. Karen’s mood and optimism deteriorated by the minute. She hated the hotel, the place, the country, the hemisphere and that was only the start. She didn’t like the look of the other guests, the pool area, the gardens, the heat and it was all my fault. It looked as though it could be a very long 5 nights.
At 2pm I suggested she try fluttering her eye lids at Reception about our room and it worked. The problem was the room made Karen’s mood worse. It was not the largest we have ever had. There was no room even for a chair in the room. The room was hot as the air con had obviously been off for a long period. The bathroom windows were broken and could not be shut. The balcony was so small that when was person was sitting on it, then it was difficult to actually open the door for the other person to join them. Also apparently there was a problem with the sheets on the bed although I am not sure I understood what as they were clean but to Karen’s satisfaction. However once we got ourselves organised we soon got used to the room and the Wifi seemed reasonably good and consistent.
After a while we decided to walk to try and find the beach which was 100m away. We were very pleasantly surprised. It was a lovely bay and the Hotel had a section with chairs and brollies that provided much needed shade. We sat for about a hour just watching all the people around us. There were a lot of people but it wasn’t too crowded. It was all rather nice. We then made our way back to our boutique resort where we paid for the ‘afternoon’ tea. This seemed to everything left over from breakfast but we was were grateful for the food. The challenge was that didn’t have any normal black tea. I tried to explain what we wanted but was brought some black teabags with lime.
It was then time for a shower and clean up before going back to the Hotel restaurant for some dinner. We had decided not to venture out tonight and to see what the in house food was like. It was just about acceptable Pasta that they served up but made better by the bottle of Chilean Sauvigon Blanc we washed it down with. Back in our room I put the VPN on the iPad and Karen watched Only Connect whilst I catch up with things on the laptop.
I think that this place will grow on us. We need to slow down into the pace of it and get into a lazy routine first of all. There’s a great new beautiful tomorrow…..
