Wrong Turn!

After Iguazu and leaving Brazil I felt overwhelmed with the sheer size and length of Argentina and wasn’t sure on my route. I decided to go Posadas then head down but the buses were so expensive and long journeys.  People told me Cordoba was a really nice city to visit and it only took an hour more.  It was also cheaper than going direct to Buenos Aires (despite being 80 euros!!) so I thought I would check it out. The bus was ‘semi cama’ and even served a meal with champagne after. When I arrived in Cordoba it was a grey rainy day and a national holiday for 2 days so nothing was open. The only thing open was the Museo de Memoria which is an ex-police department that imprisoned, tortured and murdered over 20000 people for their political ideas and beliefs right up to 1982 (the year I was born). It was very interesting and incredibly sad. Now Argentina have a national holiday to remember what happened to promote human rights in the country.

After seeing the main plazas and churches and feeling a little fed up with the lack of things to do, combined with the rain and losing my glasses, I decided to leave Cordoba the next day to get all the way to Uruguay to travel with my friend Aleix! This was a big journey that started with an overnight bus to Buenos Aires, a night staying with Carolina there and then catching an early boat to Colonia in Uruguay, a bus to Montevideo and yet another bus to Cabo Polonia! I felt like I lived in bus stations for a few days!!

In Buenos Aires Carolina came to collect me from Retiro the bus station and took me on (another) bus to her apartment. She lives on a busy road in the centre and after some time realxing with Sooky her dog, I got a metro card (Subte) and went to explore and find new glasses. I had a good first impression of the city which is modern and bustling before heading back for dinner with Carolina.

Please note:  This post is named after an awful fiIm I was forced to watch on a bus in the middle of the day in Ecuador which included some highly inappropriate content and was generally terrible!

Iguazu

The almighty Iguazu falls lie on the border between Brazil,  Argentina and Paraguay. I travelled by bus to the Brazil town of Foz de Iguazu overnight leaving Florianopolis at 5:pm and arriving in the town at 10am, just in tme for breakfast. I checked into a hostel and  did some jobs like change money. The city itself is actually quite pleasant with everything you need around and cheap places to eat.  I decided to get the bus to the border of Paraguay and cross into the country by foot to go shopping for a new camera for the afternoon. You don’t need any checks or passport stamps to get into the country so I simply walked across the bridge to Cuidad del Este. There was a big contrast to Brazil, dusty roads, market stalls next to big shopping centres. I focused on the task in hand and managed to find a new camera for a decent price in under 2 hours before I walked back across the bridge into Brazil.

In the evening the hostel had a free caprinha hour on the roof for sunset with a jacuzzi too! I experimented with my new camera at sunset and had a couple of caprihnas in the jacuzzi!

The next day I had breakfast and headed to the Brazilian side of the falls by bus. You pay the entrance fee and get a bus to the beginning of the trail. There were lots of cute coatis everywhere and hundreds of brightly coloured butterflies. You get a view further away from the falls from the top and then get closer and closer until you can walk on a boardwalk right where the water is gushing over the edge. The sun was shining and there were rainbows shining through the falling water. After a fantastic 4 hours I went back to town to grab my last lunch at a typical Brazilian por kilo restaurant and enjoy my last açai for a long while! Then I jumped on the bus to cross the border to Argentina and get to the town of Cataratas.

The border crossing was quick and easy with no fees to pay. The town was very tourist orientated but my bank card wasn’t working anywhere. Luckily a restaurant let me pay in Brazilian reals.

The next day I spent some time sorting out the lack of pesos situation and then headed to the falls on the Argentian side. After the entrance you get on a train whixh takes you to the Gargabta del diablo trail (Devils throat) which is the main part of all the waterfalls crossing the river so you’re almost in the waterfall itself. It was breathetaking. So much water falling and spraying back up again, butterflies everywhere and landing on you and gorgeous rainbows forming in the water spray. It was a very special moment.

After spending some time there and taking a zillion photos I went with a Colombian guy Roberto to the other trails. There is one that takes you to the top of some of the falls like salto Chico with more spectacular views and another that takes you to the bottom of the falls where you get very wet. I had a boat trip booked at 4:50 (the last one of the day) which takes you into the falling water of some of the falls and as close as possible to the devils throat from the river itself. It was so exciting to feel the power of the water and sometimes you fwlt like you couldn’t breathe and were going to drown as there was so much water!

I celebrated this fantastic day with Roberto, a pizza and my 1st bottle of Argentian wine in the evening!

Florianopolis

Florianopolis is actually the main city on Ilha de Catarina but everyone calls the whole island by the city name or Floripa for short. It’s a beautiful island covered in lagoas (lakes), Atlantic forest and 42 stunning beaches.

It took 3 buses to get from the airport to Praia Mole where Rachael was waiting with a caprinha for me. The next day we went on a trip with the hostel to the north of the island. We went to Praia Mosambique which stretches further than the eye can see. Then we went to Ingleses for lunch and I realised what day it was and that I needed to use the internet to apply for some tickets so I got the public bus back alone! I spent the afternoon reading on Praia Mole beach and it was so peaceful. In the evening we went for dinner round the lagoa and found a little bar with two guys playing samba music using a drum and tambourine.

Luckily the hostel let me go on  the trip to the south of the island the next day. We went some beautiful beaches and stopped off for lunch in a traditional fish restaurant where I met the 102 year old owner who sang to us and tried to sell us her homemade dollies! The restaurant was covered in post it notes of customer reviews. We ate a fish feast then moved onto a fishing village with more amazing beaches. One was called Matadeiro because that was where whales were once killed for their meat. The beach next to it was called ‘ capturing ‘ in portuguese as that was where they were caught. I walked to the little island between the two beaches and saw lots of dolphins swimming very close to the surfers. I picked some strange little fruit which tasted sweet and sour at the same time. In the evening we went out to a party on Mole beach.

The next day Rachael, Aleix and I spent the whole day on Praia Galetas sunbathing and swimming. It was a great day. We moved to hostel Daterra I  the evening to relax.

Rachael and I moved to Lagoa de Consecio the next morning,  we had lunch by the lake then hitchiked to praia Joaquina. We got dropped off at the sand dunes and saw the most amazing view over the island. We watched a big storm roll in from the sea with fork lightening and headed back asap!

I woke up the next morning to sunshine so aleix and I hired a moped and went to explore the north of the island. We stopped off at lots of beaches like praia Ingleses, praia Brava and many more. On the way back we stopped at Mozambique and got attacked by a dog! Then popped to Barra de Lagoa in the dark!  Rachael had dinner waiting for us when we got back and then I passed out all night!

My last day on Florianopolis was spent having lunch with Lucia. A lovely local lady who is a good friend of my friend Sarah’s.  She made us a lovely lunch atbher house while we relaxed in the pool. Then we went to the sand dunes to have a go at sandboarding! It’s exacrly the same as snowboarding except with sand! We had a sit down and a stand up board between us. It was really fun zooming down the dunes but absolutely exhausting carrying the board back up in the heat!

Sao Paulo

Sao Paulo is an enormous sprawling city. It’s the 3rd biggest city in the world in fact. It is completely different to Salvador and Rio de Janeiro.  Each have very distinct characters. Rachael and I arrived in Sao Paulo to torrential rain. This was good news for the city as they have been suffering from a serious drought.

Our 1st day we joined a walking tour of downtown SP.  We saw some interesting buildings including Sé cathedral and edificio Italia and learnt about the city’s history before the rain came down again. We exited quickly as I was going to slip over in the flooded streets wearing flip flops (one of my shoes went missing in Paraty, yes ONE!)

In the evening we met up with my friend Sarah’s brother Danny and his friend Nick to sample the SP nightlife near vila Magladena.  We went to a bar with a live samba band who were amazing and then to a big club and had a few caprinhas! In clubs in Brazil they give you a piece of card with your name on and you have to keep it the whole night as your tab and pay at the end.

The next day we decided we needed a rest so we went for sushi and found the best cake shop on the way home. We curled up on the Hostel Alice sofas and watched films and ate cake! It is so homely there.

We attempted to find me a new camera the next day (mine fot stolen in Angra dos Reis) and headed to the electronic street but had no luck amongst the hundreds of shops as they all sold exactly the same limited selection of products.  In the evening I went out to check out the bar scene in Avenida Paulista which is full of hipsters and business folk.

The next Rachael left to go to Florianopolis but I couldn’t book my ticket due to website issues with the Brazilian ID number so I had to catch a flight the following day! I made the most of the day by going to the top of Edificio Italia for a view of the city which  went on forever, a little shopping and a walk to the park which was beautiful.

The metro system is excellent in Sao Paulo. It runs until 12pm and from 5am. It costs R3.50 for a journey however many changes you make. To get tobthe airport you go to Tatuape station on linea 3 and the bus stop is right there as you come out of the station. It costs R5 50 and takes approxiamately 30 minutes depending on traffic.

Ubatuba

Ubatuba is a town between Paraty and Sao Paulo. Rachael and I went for a walk along the sea front which in the cloudy weather looked suspiciously like Southend-on-sea except instead of a cup of tea you can drink fresh coconut water! It was so hot and humid.

The next day we went to Praia do Prumirim which is about 30 minutes north from Ubatuba. We stopped at the waterfalls first where you can slide down the rocks as the water flows down and swim in the pool at the bottom. Very refreshing. Then we walked down to the beach which was beautiful. After lunch we got a taxi boat over to Ilha do Prumirim where there was a handful of people on the tropical beach. The weather was fantastic, bkue skies all day.  After a while we had the island to ourselves apart from one other couple.  The boat driver came to pick us up and took us on a random extra tour around the islands!

Paraty

I arrived to Paraty in the pouring rain and quickly checked into the nearest hostel. Paraty is a small port town surrounded in beautiful beaches with uneven cobbled streets that are very hard to walk on. It has one-storey white buildings and cake stalls on every corner. It has many atmospheric restaurants with tables outside in the evening. Apparently during carnaval there was a shoot out between gangs which is very difficult to imagine in this pretty, quaint town. I spent a couple of days relaxing and exploring the town. W

One day I went with Rachael to Trinidade which is 40 minutes south by bus. It is a small hippy town with lots of amazing beaches to choose from. We spent the day sunbathing and eating acai. In the afternoon we walked through the jungle to a natural pool in the sea made by giant boulders. A couple were having their wedding photos there with an assistant splashing them with water!

Ilha Grande

After carnival and the sad news about my Nan passing away and my camera being stolen I decided to take the boat from Angra dos Reis to Abraao, Ilha Grande to relax a little.  The island is beautiful, covered in protected junge and no cars.  It was so busy when I arrived and there was no accomodation left but luckily someone rang their friend who lived in the jungle and I stayed with Mauri in his jungle house which was beautiful, all openair.  The next day I spent in the jungle alone with no electricity as a boat had accidentally cut the powerline apparently!  A giant lizard stopped by to say hello.

The next day I went to Lopez Mendes beach which is apparently one of the best in the world although I´m not sure who judges these things!  It takes 2.5 hours to walk there through the jungle and was extremely hot. I caught the taxi boat back. I moved to The Mango Tree hostel that night.

I went on a boat trip the next day to Lagoa Verde, Lagoa Azul and more.  We saw 4 dolphins catching fish at Lago Verde which was special.  I met Miguel and two Brazilian girls who were drinking a lot.  We snorkeled, swam and sunbathed all day.  I decided to climb Parrot Peak (named due to looking like a parrot) that night with an Argentinian girl and a guide.  We started at 2am and then walked 3 hours up to get to the top for sunrise.  It was a beautiful morning and we stayed up there for 2 hours watching the world go by and drinking mate (Argentinian tea).  I was exhausted by the time we got back and had to find somewhere else to live.  I spent the afternoon sleeping on the beach.

The next day I caught the 10am ferry to Angra dos Reis and spent a very unenjoyable 3 hours reporting my stolen camera to the police!  Some nice guys from the tourist office helped me translate the whole time.

Guilherme’s trek to Parrot Peak contact: guilhermeflyaway@live.com (Spanish and English speaking guide)

Rio de Janeiro

I’ve decided that there is South America and then there´s Brazil!  It´s like a cross between a 1st world country and a 3rd world country, a 2nd world country if you like!  Rio de Janeiro is a fascinating city of extremes.  You can find everything here, beaches, 24 hour partying, mountains, sightseeing, nature, you name it and it´s available in Rio!

Cheryl and I arrived after a 21 hour bus journey from Porto Seguro to an extremely hot 39 degrees Rio!  We  sturggled to get to the apoartment with our bags in the heat taking a bus and eventually a drag queen dramatically hailed us a taxi in the street!  We were staying in Santa Teresa which is the old part of the city up a hill and pretty.  Clare greeted us  at the top of the mirrored steps leading to the apartment.

After excitedly exchanging all our news we got ready to join the carnaval celebrations. Cheryl went missing for about 2 hours and we had to track her down! She had got lost but eventually came back to the apartment!  We then headed to the Sambadrome.  The Sambadrome is a purpose-built linear stadium especially for the samba schools to parade through each year.  Each night during carnaval 8 schools take 45 minutes each to shimmy and samba their way through the stadium to their own bands.  The floats are enormous and the costumes so detailed with sequins, feathers and everything you can imagine! The dancing and music is world class.  The girls stayed until 1:30am but I couldn´t poissibly leave so I stayed until after the 7th school at 4:30am!  I got hungry at one pooint but there was no veggie food so they let me downstairs to the posh seats get pizza.  The security guard asked whether I wanted to see the carnaval from the VIP area and I jumped at the chance.  It was great seeing the smiles and enthusiasm on the participants faces.  On the way out people were throwing away the costumes it had taken all year to make on the streets.  I wore and collected as many as I could carry and took them back to the apartment!

The next day we got dressed up, put face paint on and went to Ipanema beach to the Simpatiae quese amor bloco.  It was crazy with everyone dressed up!  After everyone followed a guy playing a kazoo for ages!  Then it began to storm and rain a lot and took us 4 hours to get back to the city centre!  We went back out to some bars in Lapa drinking Caprinhas.

On the Monday Clare and I went to the Sargento Pimiento bloco in Flamengo.  It is The Beatles songs to samba music and the atmosphere was electric!  We music was amazing and everyone was dancing!  I was wearing a Sergent Pepper themed outfit I pieced together from my finds the night before!  We had the time of our lives!  Then we went to say goodbye to Cheryl and had a by the kilo meal with her.  We headed back out to meet Nivea and Jonathan at the Cachaca bar who we had met earlier at the bloco and listened to some Forro music.

The next morning Clare and I headed to the Carmelitos bloco in Santa Teresa which was fun but soooo hot we nearly fainted!  We gave most of the fancy dress away as we couldn´t carry it anymore!  Then we moved to a hotel in Centro and headed to the Orquestra Joadora bloco in Flamengo.  It was a samba orchestra and the music was great! You had to keep up moving with the band to hear the music as there was so many people! There was a guy playing the trumpet whilst standing on a surfboard held up by the crowd which took crowd surfing to a new level!  After everyone followed to band round the park and then there was a bloco every 5 minutes on the way back, all different and all fantastic!  One had people running around with umbrellas in lines and one was reggae one playing ´Bobby Marley.´.  Everyone was in a good mood!

We moved to Lagoa on the Wednesday and walked round the lake stopping for coconuts and it wasn´t long before we ran into a Brazilian pop music bloco and stayed there for a while!  Then we headed to the Botanical gardens which were beautiful and really peaceful after our party days!  In the evening we went out for a nice meal and relaxed.

On the Thursday we had a tourist day and went to the Christ the Redeemer statue on the train up the mountain.  From there you could see how enormous the scale of the city is and we could see all the differtent parts of the ciuty and beyond.  It was very crowded up there and we decided to head to Pao de azucar (Sugarloaf mountain) by cable car.  It was less crowded up there but so hot and I swear the ice lolly I had at the top was the best I´ve ever had!  The view was even better from there.

After that we rushed to get to the Macarena stadium to watch a football match between Flamengo (who most people in Rio support) and Boa Vista.  We arrived as the game started and joined the big queue to get a ticket.  Apparently people don´t buy tickets in advance here!  We got in just after half time and the score was 1-0 to Flamengo and a samba band was playing loudly.  It wasn´t long before Flamengo scored again and the fans went wild throwiung children in the air, waving gigantic flags and chanting songs!

Friday Clare left in the morning and I moved back to Lapa.,  I went to Copacabana beach and Ipanema beach with Jonathan for the sunset.  They have different posts there where different groups in society hang out.  We ate coconuts and acai.  It was Jon who I´d met in Salvador´s 30th birthday in the evening and I found him a big eagle costume with wings for his present! He loved it and took it back to San Francisco with him.  I wanted to celebrate more with him but I was feeling really ill and had to go to bed.

The next day I went to the Lapa steps.  These steps are where a man called Jorge Selaron used thouasnds of tiles from all over the world to decorate the steps.  There was even Michael Jackon and Guns and Roses tiles amongst them!  Unfortunately he was found dead on the steps in 2013 and had killed himself…very sad.  in the evening I felt werll enough to go to a live music club for a while called Rio Scenarium.  There was a great samba band playing with a strong female lead singer and upstairs a cool Forro band played.

Sunday morning was a sad time as I found out my nan had passed away so I decided I wanted to do something beautiful.  Jonathan and I caught a bus with a rogue bus driver who drove at breakneck speed round corners and was about a millimetre away from having a major accident with another bus and then shouted at them for bad driving!  We got off at the Vidiga favela and got mototaxis up the to the top.  From there we climbed  in the blistering heat and in flipflops (not recommended footwear for this activity!) up Dois Irmaos which is one of 2 mountains overlooking Ipanema.  the day was perfectly clear and the views of the favelas and the city were the most beautiful I´d seen.  From there you could hear the noises and the maze of the favela below. It was really peaceful up there.

We walked back down through the favela and found friendly people and cheap acai!