After our exploits at Rio De Janeiro’s famous carnival we were in need of some major down time and relaxation. We used our trusty lonely planet guide, various blog posts and other online information and decided to head to Petropolis, just a short hop a few hours north before heading off inland to explore more of Brazil. However, plans were soon shattered when on the morning of our departure date from Rio we woke up feeling rather under the weather.

Blocked noses, sore throats and croaky voices had greeted us both and our energy levels were completely zapped. We even considered staying in Rio a night longer so we could sleep all day, but being the brave souls that we are we dragged our sorry selves to the bus station and purchased our tickets. Before we knew it we had arrived and headed off to our pre-booked hotel. On first impression this small tucked away mountain town looked rather nice and we were hoping that we would be up to exploring. We checked in and took a short stroll as to eat dinner and then went home to ‘sleep it off’.. Or so we thought.

Morning came, way too early and way too often that we would of liked. What felt like every hour we were awaken, moaning to each other about how bad we felt, using up endless tissue and struggling to stay cool even with the air con on full blast. When it actually became a respectable time to rise we attempted to get out of bed but with no exaggeration we literally couldn’t muster more than 20 metre walk to where breakfast was being served. No sooner had we picked at toast and attempted to drink our water were we back in the room, again feeling sorry for ourselves. One blessing from this period was that the hotel had extremely good wifi and we were able to get Netflix up on the iPad. Hayley, in her desperate state to have her mind taken off how bad she felt pleaded with Jonny to let her watch an episode of Desperate Housewives. Eventually he gave in and to his surprise was hooked. (We are writing this post some time in the future and we must inform you that from this point onwards Desperate Housewives became our go to show and Jonny loved every minute, by the time in came to us leaving South America nearly 4 months later we had managed to get through every single episode – how embarrassing).

In total we ended spending 4 days/nights in Petropolis, a place that is suggested as perfect for a day trip from Rio De Janeiro. Don’t be fooled by this fact into thinking that we loved the place so much, the truth of the matter is that we couldn’t even leave the room until the fourth and final day. Bed ridden, convinced that somehow we had contracted the infamous ‘Zika Virus’ only managing to stumble to the nearby shop twice daily for water and any snack we felt up to eating. All the days merged into one and effectively spoilt the rest of the time we had in Brazil as we had to miss out on our next two destinations.

Petropolis does have its up sides and as stated in every online blog would make an excellent day trip from Rio. Spend the day marvelling at the impressive Cathedral de San Pedro de Alcantara or wander around the Imperial Museum of Brazil before heading to Crystal Palace and its surrounding gardens. We managed to squeeze these things in once we had regained some energy and thoroughly enjoyed being out in the open air again.

We caught a local bus ride to the bus station and booked our onward journey towards Belo Horizonte to catch our connecting flight back to Sao Paulo to head off and complete our journey through the western side of South America and back to Santiago.

Rio Carnival 2016 had well and truly ruined us for at least four days straight, so, a word of warning to all those making the trip to Brazil, be prepared to be bed ridden but also, be prepared for the best party of your life!!

Hear about our short time in one of England’s world cup venue cities next..

Jonny & Hayley 🙂