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Bom dia from Brazil!
This blog comes to you from a sunny terrace in Florianoplis, watching the surfers (and Joe) playing in the waves! Sorry that this follows hot on the heels of the last blog, I'm sure a point could be made regarding women being more efficient...but instead I'll crack on.
It all began back in Foz du Iguacu, the Brazilian side of the mighty Iguazu falls. Joe was excited about being on level footing with me, language wise, as neither of us had a word of Portuguese! Knowing how many gringos hit Brazil, we were confident that speaking English would be fine...it turns out hardly anyone speaks English and we've had to rely on thumbs-up gestures, smiles and pointing a lot more than we would've liked!
We´d loved the Argentinian side of the falls so we were dubious as to what more the Brazilian side could offer. The approach trail was great, but not nearly as intimate as the Argentinian side but when we reached to final viewing platform we were blown away! The Devil´s throat is best seen from the Brazilian side and is awesome (in it's truest context). The platform lets you get really close and we both came away totally soaked but with big smiles-see pictures.
Here in Foz we had our first taste of the national drink, the Caipirinha. It's made up of sugarcane brandy, sugar, limes and ice (not for diabetics) and in my eyes is a poor man's mojito-but enjoyable none the less. A valid lesson was learnt at the first Brazilian hostel. When heading to bed, leaving Joe in a bar that serves Caipirinhas and he says he is 5 minutes behind you-expect him two hours later, serenading me with made up songs, in his pants, soaking wet, drunk and high on sugar, having jumped into the swimming pool!
From Foz we had planned to visit the Pantanal, a large wetland area to the north...but when backpacking, plans change quickly-especially when you check your online banking and the Brazilian exchange rate! This is also the reason for our horizontal cross-continent jaunt. If we had carried on with the north to south route we would have hit Brazil for carnival (mid Feb), where prices quadruple and it's not unheard of to charge £100 for a bed in a 20 bed dorm!
So, no Pantanal tour, and so we set off on bus 24 hour bus to Rio de Janiero. Even a grim bus ride (seats so narrow that spooning was essential) and a mad dash around Ipanema to find the very last beds available, were not enough to stop the smiles spreading on our faces as we stepped onto Ipanema beach. The white sands, clear, clean, blue waters and the mountains covered on dense green forest makes for a pretty immaculate beach-scape! Again, we'd come to a place that totally justifies the hype-South America is amazing in this respect!
Apart from the brilliant beach on it's doorstep, the Ipanema area of Rio is buzzing with cafes, bars and stereotypes! From the well toned, beautiful people, to the thong bikinis fighting against women with giant asses and the hundreds of white speedo (aka budgie smuggler) wearers! The next day was spent at Copacabana beach, playing in some excellent waves, sunbathing in the view of the Christ the Redeemer statue and feeling quite smug!
The next day I headed out to Pedra Bonita for a spot of hangliding. Having done hangliding before in New Zealand I remembered it as being far less scary than sky diving and bungy jumping, however, when the non-English speaking pilot made me fill out a card with my blood type, donor wishes and next of kin...the nerves increased a tad as we started our run off of the cliff! We soared above the forest, beaches and sea-hangliding is such a natural feeling, it feels amazing!
On our final day in Rio we managed to fit all our major sights, starting with Christ the Redeemer-the immense statue synonymous with Rio. As we headed up the hill, we could see the clouds coming in and we prepared ourselves on missing out on the view of the city. When we got to the top, we couldn't even see the bloomin' 70 metre high statue!!!! Just before a hissy fit was thrown, the clouds parted and we saw the big JC (Jesus Christ not Joe Clark!). It really is such an iconic statue that it felt a bit weird being there but we managed to get our fill of photos.
From here we headed to the Maracana football stadium and the famous Rio Sambadrome. Sadly both were under construction, as is much of the centre of Rio, preparing for the upcoming carnival, the 2014 World Cup and the Olympics in 2016. We visited the cathedral, the Selaron staircase and finally Sugarloaf mountain for excellent views over the city.
We LOVED Rio, it's amazing that such a hyped up city can deliver in every aspect, suppose building a city in between amazing beaches and beautiful mountains is a good start!
As Joe mentioned, Chile and Argentina were a whole new ball game in terms of finance, but even that hadn't prepared us for Brazilian prices! £60 for a double room in a hostel was simply not in the budget, and so we have been dorming...which has left us with stories of dorm-mates going missing in favelas, a grumpy Joe and bed bug bites! We've realised we definitely aren't 18 year olds anymore and don't enjoy grimey dorm-mates, other people snoring or sharing a bathroom with 30 other people! The prices didn't let up in the next two stops: Parati and Ihla Grande.
We headed to Parati first, despite it being further away from Rio as ALL hostels on Ihla Grande were full over the weekend. Lonely Planet describes Parati as a charming costal town with cobbled streets...it was definitely charming but it wasn't traditional cobbles, more like crazy paving on crack! A really beautiful town, but what, what is this? Rain??!!??
After a month of over 35 degree temperatures and a total lack of cloud, we had a day of rain! As we were stranded by the heavy rain (in a beach bar, nightmare!) we reflected that the last proper rain we'd had was in Cartegena, Colombia. A week into our trip and 6 countries ago!
From here we headed out on a sea kayaking trip across to different beaches and through the mangrove swamps. Once again Joe proved he is a man of the sea, having the time of his life. I meanwhile managed to feel a bit queasy, even on a calm sea! As I'm getting older I'm definitely inheriting my Mum's seasickness genes! Whilst I blame her, I no longer will mock her for being sick on a pedalo! We had a great day and saw many schools of flying fish up close, it was amazing.
As the deep tricep burn continued, we headed to Ihla Grande-the holiday destination for many of Brazil's rich and famous. The island is home to many fabulous beaches and clear water lagoons. We headed to the famous Lopes Mendes beach, you know one of those rubbish white powdery sand beaches, bath temperature waters and guaranteed sunshine...you probably wouldn't like it. We spent most of our 3 days in the sea as the sun was so intense!
To get to our next destination of Florianopolis we had an epic travel day-a boat, a local bus, a 6 hour bus to Sao Paolo followed by a 12 hour night bus...I managed to sleep on every leg of the trip-out doing myself on the moving-transport-narcolepsy front!
Flori is the city that acts as a gateway to Santa Catarina island, we promptly headed to the biggest beach town. A rather messy Australia day ensued on the 26th as 80% of the hostel clientele are Aussie, ending with Joe hitting the hay at 9.30pm! Flori is a nice beach town...but we've been utterly spoiled by the rest of Brazil's coastline and so can't really relate to the large number of backpackers content on spending weeks and weeks here, foregoing Iguazu falls or more beautiful coastline to do beer bongs and shots day after day! Who would've thought, Joe and I-mature!
So, just under 3 weeks in Brazil, our big slice of beach time-and what excellent beaches! We've had some fantastic weather, the tans have been topped up and we are feeling pretty chilled. We are 70% of the way through our South American travels, with 6 weeks left to cover Uruguay, Buenos Aires and then Patagonia (apparently it's below 25 degrees there, better dig out the jumpers!).
We hope 2012 is treating you well, and as always we love to hear from you.
Love to you all.
Kate and Joe
xxx
Best place: Rio
Best Hostel: Che Legarto, Parati
Best beer: Brahma
Best steak: any of the per kilo restaurants, but still a far cry from the podium (we live in hope for Buenos Aires)
- comments
Mum VERY JEALOUS! January in London just can't compete with those gorgeous sunny beaches! Great to see you looking so well- can't wait to meet up in Oz! Love you lotsx
Pete Great blog! Imagine sharing a dorm with the likes of us 7 years ago...nightmare. On the steak front we were told that la cabrera in BA was the best around, only the big JC can be the judge of that. Keep them coming, enjoy U-R-Gay!!
Bren Great to be fully up to date! Another excellent blog - you even (very nearly) made me want to try handgliding. Enjoy the last leg, I'm sure you've got loads more to pack in before Oz! xx
Ed I'm glad to hear that you are both thoroughly enjoying yourselves, despite the inflated prices in Brazil, compared to Chile, & Argentina. I hope taht your jealous, as we had a week of snow of snow. Edjoy it, as it is an experieence of a lifetime.