La Vida Idealist

Last week I took a day trip to Petrópolis, a city located one hour north of Rio. Dubbed the “Imperial City,” Petrópolis houses the only Royal Palace in South America as well as the Cathedral of Saint Peter of Alcântara, the Crystal Palace, and the House of Santos-Dumont.

As the guide book said, Petrópolis turned out to be a lovely and historic day trip in the mountains. It also turned into quite an adventure. I had been to this city before. But by car. I had never ventured there alone or by bus. All in all, I found it surprisingly easy. I had finally mastered transportation system in Brazil. Well, almost…

On the way home, I got off the bus at the Rodoviária Novo Rio (bus terminal) which is poorly located in a remote part of downtown Rio. From there, I needed to take another bus home. Right outside the station, I was met by a “local bus” that was charging R$ 4.00. Normally, the city bus fare is R$ 2.20. Often, the variation in price is due to an air-conditioned bus, or a bus that is going on a particularly extended route. Owing to my particular budget and my relatively close destination, I opted to search for another appropriately priced local bus.

At times like this I am reminded that the bus system is less than desirable. In Rio, the local bus routes are divided amongst commissioned private companies. Each bus company is in charge of providing bus service along designated routes. Unfortunately, for mass transit commuters, there are no maps or schedules for this configuration.

I assumed there would be a local bus stop near to the terminal, so I headed off in the general direction of home. Slowly, the clouds moved in and the wind picked up. I found myself walking alone, on a dusty sidewalk next to a highway. The highway was surrounded by towering concrete walls. There was no one and nothing around.

Ahead of me, I had a partially blocked view of traffic coming from another direction so I pushed on. I started to feel more and more vulnerable as the sky darkened. I searched desperately for life, or at least, a bus stop. Nothing. I panicked. I decided that ANY bus or taxi would be a good idea. Anything to get me out of the neighborhood. I tried to hail some, but they wouldn’t stop. Then, I really started to panic. But I pushed on. I was almost to the end of the highway corridor anyway.

Finally, I turned the corner. FIRE! There was a huge blazing fire! I had no idea what was burning. There was no structure, just burning. There was no other street. No intersection. To my horror, the traffic I had seen coming from the “other direction” was the same stream of traffic that had been passing me. I had arrived at the traffic circle from hell!

I turned around, almost running, as the sky opened up and started to pour…

I eventually did find a bus, and arrived home safely. But let’s look at what I did wrong. Never assume there will be a bus stop. If there is a bus stop, never assume it will be marked. Before you start assuming, it’s probably in your best interest to ask. If you start to feel unsafe, you don’t have to wait until you see fire to retreat.

*Sorry, Mom.

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