From: Tomer Morad [tomer_morad@hotmail.com]
Sent: יום שני 19 נובמבר 2001 1:03
To: tomer_morad@hotmail.com
Subject: Pickpockets, frenchmen, etc...

Hello Everyone!

I am now in Florianopolis, in southern brazil.  This place is beautiful, 
lots of beaches, lots of tourists, sun, and also very western.  The city 
also seems very safe compared to rio.  Great nightlife too!
So after a week in rio, i travelled to a city named teresopolis.  I intended 
to hike from there to peresopolis, which is a 40km hike.  When I got there 
it was raining, and a tourist guide told me that it will rain for a few days 
more, so i decided to go away the same day.  At night i arrived to a city 
called angres dos reis, in order to take a ferry to ilha grande.  That day i 
really needed the help of the local people for directions, but my portugaise 
is really bad (but better than their english!)  The guidebook sais that the 
bus station is called rodoviaria.  When I asked people how to get there, 
noone knew what it was, until some local corrected me to say hodovearea...  
They have a weird way of pronouncing words...  Like when i ask where an 
internet is, they say: oh, interneche??  No internet you moran, not 
interneche...  But now i am better and getting the hand of it...
Anyway, in the morning to catch the ferry, i met a backpacker.  You have to 
understand that brazil is now empty, so it is very rare to meet another 
backpacker that also speaks english...  He was also a citizen of one of my 
favorite countries, france...  Understanding my options I joined him for the 
trip to ihla grande.  This island is supposed to be full of beautiful 
beaches, and it really is, but the cloud from teresopolis kept following me 
even here...   After taking a boat to the island we hiked for 15km to get to 
a surfing beach (he is a surfer), and then headed for a room in another 
beach.
This french guy is relly cheap.  Now I thought that alon is cheap, but he 
really is much cheaper!  Imagine that!  He can calculate with accuracy of 
cents how much he will spend every day.  Anyway we wanted to eat.  He 
decided to teach me the art of beeing a cheap backpacker...  He said, behold 
the PRATO FETO.  The prato feto is a dish made of a plate of rice and beans, 
another plate of beef, and another of salad, all for 1.5 dollars.  When I 
said wow, this is really cheap, so he told me that usually he gets it for 
one dollar...  I and most tourists eat for $4-$6 for a meal...
At night he wanted to camp outside instead of paying for a room, so i let 
him camp and took a room for myself, which contained two beds.  At night it 
was only me, and the fameous mosquitos in the room...  The mosquitos were 
annoying, but i was thinking how many are outside and i smiled...  After a 
few hours it started to rain...  I smiled more...  After another thirty 
minutes he knocked on my door all soaked...  I felt sorry for him, so i let 
him in...  Actually, the truth is that I just thought that it would be a 
good idea to let him in because the mosquitos will have two people to sting, 
instead of one...  eventually it didn't help much.
The next day i toured again the island, and then travelled to parati.  In 
parati i took a boat ride to tour the islands, and i also dived with 
snorkles and saw many fish.  It was raining also that day...
Then sao paulo...  It is ugly and dangerous.  I also got pickpocketed in the 
main bus station - Someone stole my small wallet, that contained about $20, 
the ticket to my bus to florianopolis, and the ticked to my muchila in the 
shmirat hafatzim.  Luckyly my bag was still there...  It was the first time 
I ran in this trip.  I had 12 hours of bus ride to cool of my anger and urge 
to choke the theif...  I am waiting for the next time, but this time i will 
break his neck and all of his fingers.
Now I am in florianopolis, touring beaches and going out at night.
Till the next ephisode!
Tomer.

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