Day 17: Travel Day -- Capetown to Jo'burg to Sao Paulo to Rio de Janeiro

This was our longest day to date. We got up at 3:00AM in order to drive to the airport, return the rental car, and check in for our 5:45 flight to Jo'burg. After a 2-hour flight, we then had to catch yet another flight, this time to Sao Paulo. Sidenote, we've discovered that we have a distinct knack for almost missing our flights due to bookstores. The first time it happened, we almost missed our flight to Hoedspruit because I was engrossed in "Confessions of a Shopaholic." The second time, we almost missed the Cape Town flight because I had to finish reading Shopaholic. This time, we again almost missed our flight because I picked up a South African version of "Sex and the City" -- clearly, chick lit is very mesmerizing.

The 10-hour flight to Sao Paulo was pretty grueling, but luckily, South African Air offered a great selection of free wine onboard all flights, so there was some comfort to be taken.


Once we arrived in Sao Paulo, we quickly made a bee-line for the ticket counter to see if there were any empty seats on the earlier flight to Rio. Luckily, there was! And thus we were saved from a 7-hour layover and another 1AM arrival in a strange city. Instead, we arrived in Rio around 7:30PM, got picked up by the courteous and capable Junio, who drove us straight to Inia's guesthouse in the Arpoador neighborhood of Rio. Even though it was only 9 o'clock or so Rio-time, we were completely beat (it was nearly midnight in South Africa time!). Direct to shower and bed (or, for Ian, a mumbled something about showering in the morning, and direct to bed).