Rio de Janeiro Day Seven: Rest and Return

The photo above is very significant in our adventures of our last day in Rio de Janeiro. But it came late in the day, so I will first tell you the events that lead up to this dramatic ending.

Saturday Morning

The previous five days of carrying Kylie around the city had all but worn us out. She is over 20 pounds now, and at eight months she does not yet walk on her own. That leaves few options to parents far from home with no stroller near at hand, so carry her we did.

We decided that it would be good just to relax and take it easy as we prepared for our departure. We had our breakfast, did some wash, cleaned up around the apartment, and got our suitcases packed during the morning hours.

Lunch was an interesting mixture of cleaning out the fridge. We had purchased some groceries and done a lot of our own cooking to save money. Afterward we went to return a map we had borrowed to Mark and Helen's apartment just a short walk away.

The Last Meal

One of the very good ideas we had that day was to eat out for our last meal in Rio. We had eaten lunch at a place called "Otto" on Thursday. It is a very good German/Brazilian resturant on Rua Uruguai. The lunch had been so good that I was really ready to go back—what is more it was very economical.

The dinner prices were higher, which was a bit of a surprise, but the food was still excellent. We had oven baked chicken in gravy with mashed potatoes and an exquisite risotto. It cost about US $15 for the two of us, and there was enough left over for two more people to eat.

To the Airport

I am a visual learner, which is why I love to be able to schedule things on my computer's calendar; I can see where conflicts will arise, and re-arrange if need be. Since the laptop broke I have been using a desktop computer, and typically have had no regrets about that.

All day Nádya had been concerned that we were planning things to late, and wanted to get an early start to the airport. I kept saying, "Relax, we are fine." Our flight was at seven. It was six when it finally clicked in my head that we should already be at the airport. I didn't feel stupid, or even really panicked. Just late.

The taxi was backing up to the stairs so we could load our ready-packed bags at that very moment. We bundled into the taxi, and headed off. As we left I had a lingering wish that I had been able to plan the day in my normal way. "Oh well," I thought, "We will get there in time and everything will be fine."

Now, I do not understand completely how the fare system works in Rio de Janeiro, but it seems that there are two ways you can be charged. Either a flat rate from one neighborhood to another, or the meter. It seemed that when we chose the meter method the driver was a bit put off. We think he did some extra driving so that we would pay closer to the flat rate (we ended up paying only a couple of Reais less than that).

No problem, we were to the airport in time for our flight.

Or Not

As it turns out all our (the taxi driver's and mine) killing of time had added up, and we were a whole five minutes to late for the nice people at the check-in counter to help us. No huge deal, we can just catch another flight. Right?

Or not.

We bought the tickets on sale, we paid for the flight there, and the airline would take us home for free. Except when we missed our flight, the deal was off. So I found myself whipping out the plastic and paying for two seats on various planes to get us back to Teresina. I was pretty distraught, frustrated, and... Well, I felt very stupid. And poor.

The picture at the top of this post is a memorial to the R$ 1,950 we paid for plane tickets home, and quite possibly the to the last time I will ever be late to the airport.

Make the best of things, that was the goal of the photo.

The Ride Home

The plane ride home was without significant incident. No star sightings, or missed flights. Just a lingering sense of having a significantly lighter wallet—well, at least for me. We arrived in Teresina in the early hours of the morning and got a few hours of sleep, then unpacked our bags.

Ending

So end our adventures in Rio de Janeiro, but there are a few closing thoughts I would like to share in the next post.

This entry is part of "Rio de Janeiro: A Series." All the published entries are linked from that entry. Don't want to miss out on the coming entries? Try the RSS feed, or getting updates via email.