In the morning, I headed to town looking for the
necessary new pieces for my boat, but it was a fruitless endeavour. If you want
to shop for souvenirs, Rio is an excellent place but if you need to buy
something for your boat, then you encounter a problem. I can find fifty times more
stainless products in my own Estonian e-shop www.dutyhook.eu than in the best shops I
was recommended to visit here in Rio. Ordering the necessary parts might work
but the price would be so high that it is cheaper to send for them from
Estonia. I thought that I probably didn’t know yet where to buy the boat
equipment in Rio because it didn’t seem possible that in such a world class
city the options could be so limited.
The
captain Marcelo I met at the harbour and who was well-informed about the
Amphibear confirmed that finding the necessary boat equipment actually was a
problem in Rio. All industrial enterprises were in Sao Paulo and if you needed
something in Rio, you had to look for their local representatives or change
your location.
The
architecture in Rio is a mixture of beautiful Portuguese colonial buildings,
modern sky-scrapers and shabby brick wall houses
Rio itself was like an oven. The weather was so hot
that even the local men took off their shirts. During the day, the temperatures
rose to 32-34°C and when strolling in the city, it took less than half an hour
to be completely sweaty, regardless of your walking pace. The only way to
escape from sweating when going to the logistics company every day was to take
a taxi; otherwise my shirt would have had ugly sweat stains by the time I got
to the office.
The
Copacabana is further away from here but the beaches of Guanabara Bay were also
crowded
The
Brazilian customs system seemed very similar to the Moroccan one. The local big logistics company Port Logistics and its operational
manager Bianca Pires tried for four days (from Monday morning to Thursday
night) to get the permission for the Amphibear to enter the country. Everything was well-advised and professionally performed. The results
were successful.
Amphibear was lifted from the Geoholm to the ground
and it was legally in the country. For
the time being, the vehicle remained in the warehouse outside the city but
maybe it wasn’t such a bad place to store it.
My travel
companion who finally arrived admires the size of the Marina da Gloria. The
fact that the marina simultaneously hosted Cirque du Soleil and the electronic
music festival gives an idea of how big it is. The
port captain Ricardo Ermel gave us many useful contacts and agreed to find a
place in the harbour for the Amphibear.
Unfortunately, both car keys and the rest of the
equipment were stuck in the customs and the Air Cargo warehouse. The Estonian
Honorary Consul, whose address was marked on the consignment, was out of the
country and didn’t come back until the end of the month. They wouldn’t give the
consignment to anyone else. Luckily, the Port Logistics promised to help me
again. For example, to release a package from customs, you need a list of all
things and pay the 50% customs duty. If every country would ask that, then I
would have to pay in total 1500% duty on my equipment. It isn’t in the
budget...
Next
time, I will talk more about lifting the vehicle, going through the customs
with it and its current condition.
Translated by Luisa Translation Agency
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