Concretise Your Dreams

So we had a bit of fun trying to arrange a place to sleep in Porto de Galinhas on Saturday night due to the fact that it is a long weekend in Brazil. Well, it's not really a long weekend, but today is a holiday [Republic Day] and whenever a holiday falls on a Tuesday or a Thursday, a lot of people tack on the bridge of Monday or Friday creating a four-day weekend. Makes sense, but means that there is often a lot of holidaying going on! The result is that hotels and pousadas [guesthouses/B&Bs] fill up and the ones which aren't full are usually reluctant to rent out a room for just one of the three or four nights.

After calling close to a dozen places, we finally decided to show up unannouced and see what we could find. Well, we did find a place and, after examining the room, were torn as to whether we should accept it and not waste any more time or whether we should keep looking and potentially not find anything better. It was a tough call, but we finally decided that the effort and time required to find a new/better place which may or may not exist just wasn't worth it. The best part of the room was that all the furniture was made out of concrete. Yes, concrete. Even the bed! Okay, the mattress was made out of mattress material, but that was it!

The television was also brought in and out of the room depending on the time of day. While travelling in Central America throughout the nineties we used to stay in some pretty simple/cheap/questionable places and I've seen a lot when it comes to the lower end of the accommodation market. This is however, the first time that I have seen concrete room furnishings! In any case, lesson definitely learned. I'm all for spontaneity, but peak holidays require a bit of forethought. Makes for a good story though!

Remember, when they ask, you heard it here first!