Santos, Brazil – We’ve arrived!

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This is how two international triathletes fit two giant duffle bags, two bike cases, two bikes, plus backpacks and themselves into a small hotel room. It feels just like home!!

 

2009_Brazil 001 We don’t have great internet access in the hotel (they say that it is being repaired “right now” but that was 5 hours ago and it is still being repaired “right now”), so Francisco Serrano and I are down the street at the other host hotel for the race, the Hotel Atlantico, where they generously let us have the network key.

I was trying to get the pictures above to post all side by side, but my site doesn’t have enough width. Maybe I can get my dad to download the pictures and Photoshop them into one image. (I don’t know how to do it myself).

2009_Brazil 005 We got an email this morning that there would be a van to take us into Santos. The email said, “The van will be paid for yours ok. the driver is already knowing.” I took this to mean that the van was paid for, but then this afternoon the race organizers changed their mind and asked for us to pay them back for the van. I don’t think I quite understand, but I’m sure we will figure it out. At least the ferry ride to Santos was kind of cool.

[look ma, no hands!!]

Today the ocean went from glassy and flat to substantial surf. I’m not sure how long the swell is supposed to last, but it made today’s ocean swim a lot more fun than the last few days in Guaruja. There were hundreds of surfers, and after swimming for about an hour Francisco and I body surfed for a while before heading to dinner.

This was the first night I’ve eaten anything different from the Hotel Breakfast and the Chicken Filet, Rice and Beans from the restaurant the Fast Triathlon set us up with (it was called Sony, and was really weird, one waiter was awesome, and the others seemed to hate us.) We went to an Italian place in the mall by where we’re staying.

Santos is completely different from Guaruja. It’s actually a big city. There are shops and malls and traffic and bunches of people. Guaruja was silent. Like a get-away town with only a few resaurants and a handful of hotels. The rest of the Guaruja beach was just houses, condos and some beach bars. I never even found a place to buy clothes with the $250 that American Airlines offered to give me. My loss I guess – at least the front desk boy at our hotel was nice enough to lend me some clothing. I will certainly miss the Hotel Miramare, it was run by a really nice family.

That’s about it for now. Maybe tomorrow I can write something with more connectivity.

P.S. Read Courtenay’s blog.

Published by Ben

Ben Collins Professional Triathlete

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1 Comment

  1. ugh.

    how ’bout you send me the photos AND the text and i will fix all of it. omg.

    better yet how ’bout you give me your password and i will start writing blogs of AWESOMENESS for you. i have several topics in mind already!

    miss you! love you! smooches and kisses!

    c

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