Day 4: Transfer To GV

After a trio of days into the trip our visit to Castelo draws to a close.

Today is to be a transfer day as the drive to Governador Valadares (GV) will take in excess of 6 hours and everyone is going to be right tired when we arrive. The word from Steve: no flying until tomorrow.

Ashley drying his just laundered shirt during the commute to GV.

The group is split amongst the pair of vehicles with Steve taking Ashley, Rob, Dean and myself in the truck.

The trip is rather uneventful, just the typical Brazilian road experience. Peeps passing in turns on double yellows while speed cameras and sleeping policemen abound.

To break the monotony, Steve stops at what he describes as the 'best' coffee shop in Brazil. The qualifier of 'best' is relative. The general consensus amongst gringos living here is that the Brazilians export their best product and push the leftovers on the locals. So this shop serving the 'best' simply means it serves 'good' by international standards.

The cafe.

The interior.

Back patio overlooking a Koi pond.

By early evening we make GV and are checked in at our hotel, the Ibituruna Center. It is a reasonably decent hotel all in all (4.5 star  by Brazilian standards - 5 star being the Pousada I stayed in last year as it had a room safe). There is a rooftop pool, a breakfast buffet, room service, AC, stocked fridge with Skol + Brahma, and a smattering of English language channels on the tele.

The room, small but functional.

... and doesn't smell funky or is falling apart like the place in Castelo.

Tomorrow we head up the mountain and get down to the business of why we are all here - to rack up airtime and km's.

A strange sense of deja vu ...