I haven't been able to update this whilst I've been away but I will do so now, as much for myself as to keep everyone updated.
From where I left off, we did a half day tour of Cusco. Here we visited the big Inca temple in the historical centre of town which has been coined 'The Vatican of the Incas'. It was a big gold and stone structure which is now half covered by a Spanish colonial church. We then went to the top of one of the hills surrounding the city and saw Saqsaywaman which is a big Inca structure which looks out over the city which is very impressive. Our leader Carlos was brilliant, he told us all about each place and explained everything for us so we really got a good understanding by the end of it.
After our tour we went to an Alpaca factory shop where we learnt to tell the difference in quality between the different types of wool. Vicuña wool is so soft and gorgeous, but they are a protected species. Phyllis bought an incredible alpaca fur coat and Chris haggled his way through for an interesting 'Peruvian' jumper. After that we spent some time getting lost and wandering around some markets in town.
The next day we had an early start 5am (again) and I was very ill. We took the train from Cusco through the mountains to Aguas Calientes which is the town below Machu Picchu. When we got there we dumped our stuff at the hotel and got on a bus up the mountain. The buses are insane, they fly up this wiggly road full of switchbacks up the hill very close to the cliff on a dusty road. By the time we reached the top we were ready to kiss the ground. As we came through the gates and up along the tracks Machu Picchu catches you by surprise, you don't see it until you're right on top of it. When you do see it though it takes your breath away, as you come round the first corner it's the proper postcard style photo. Its incredible, with Huanapicchu mountain behind framing it and surrounded by jungle covered mountains. It was lovely and sunny that day and Carlos gave us a very detailed explanation of the place. The sun temple in the middle is quite spectacular as they have built it such that the sunrise comes through the windows perfectly at both the summer and the winter solstice. That day was also Eddi's birthday so we celebrated in style with a Panpipe rendition of Happy Birthday, cake and pisco sours. Pisco sour itself is lovely but the way they serve it as a cocktail is with whisked raw egg white on top served with cinnamon sprinkles, it's gross!
The next day we had an insanely early start (at which point I still had travellers sickness) we woke up at 4am! The 'Young Ones' (Eddi, Carlos, Chris, Melissa, Richard and myself) We then had to get in the bus queue by 4:30, leaving half the group to get bus tickets and the others to get the park tickets. To be able to climb Huanapicchu you have to be in the first 400 people in, and to be able to do the early walk you have to be in the first 200. By about 6am we were at the park and managed to get our stamp to allow us in and then headed over to the mountain, where we again had to queue and sign in and out. The climb up was amazing though, massive, rickety stone steps up the side of the mountain as the sun rose over the city of Machu Picchu. The views from the top are breathtaking, you get a panoramic view of the Andean mountains. We then did a very dodgy steep walk back down the steps on the side of the mountain and back to Machu Picchu. After that we split up and Eddi and I walked up the baking hot paved path up to the sungate. From there, there is another amazing view and you can see the path which is where the Inca Trail finishes. You could see the amazing porters running up the hill with massive packs on their shoulders, carrying all the weight for the walkers behind. We also walked to see the Inca bridge, which was slightly less dramatic, but we then walked back to the gate, got on the bus down the hill and then onto the train back to Cusco.
Our final day in Cusco we decided to do a day tour of the Sacred Valley. A small group of us got on the bus and Carlos took us round various different ruins along the valley. The weather was lovely and we learnt a lot, we also took some fun photos with Eddi and a water bottle.
The next morning we got up early again and drove towards Puno, we went past beautiful snow capped mountains and took photos of a very fuzzy llama which spat at Chris. When we got to the coast we said goodbye to our drivers, Willy and Darwin and took a little boat across Lake Titikaka. The view on the lake is amazing, the sunset is beautiful. We arrived on Amantani island and were greeted by the locals in Quechuan. After a little wander around the island we were split up and showed to our families. Myself and the boys stayed with Maria in her home, she made us lovely vegetable soup and peppermint (Munya) tea. In the evening we were given local dress, the guys put on big alpaca ponchos and hats and I was given a big black headdress, thick skirt and colourful skirt and belt. We joined everyone at the local house and started a bonfire and the local people led us in a dance around the fire to some local music. We had no electricity or running water on the island. The toilet gets flushed once a day with a bucket and we had candles in the bedroom. Because there was no electricity there was no light pollution which meant we could see the stars across the entire sky, it was beautiful. It was cold on the island at the high altitude and we wore lots of layers and had many alpaca blankets.
We were rudely awoken by a cockerel the next morning at 5 something in the morning. After breakfast of yummy pancakes we got on the boat and headed towards Puno. On the way we stopped at the Uros islands, the floating reed islands on the lake. They spread out with a sort of river in the middle, all along the edges of the islands are amazing reed boats and sculptures. We were showed how the islands were made from reeds and soil and told us how they built things. We had lunch on the island, we were given fresh trout from the trout farms in built in the islands and more munya tea. The islands were really magical, the way they are self sustaining and manage to make everything from the reeds. After lunch we got the boat to Puno shores and took a bus to the hotel.
The next day we headed to Chivay. In the evening we went to the hot springs. When we got there the sun was going down and it was starting to get chilly, there were lots of people there and we were starting to think it wasn't a good idea. We speedily got undressed and ran to the pools, 38 degrees C it was lovely. As soon as the sun went down the pool cleared out and we had it to ourselves. The stars came out and we could see the southern cross. We were brought nice cold beers in the pool with the hot water it was lovely and I was given a lovely hand massage by Eddi.
After our lovely time at the hot spa we had another (!) early morning and got up at 5am. We drove, in the cold into Colca Canyon with a good local guide to the Condor viewing point. We spent the first hour or so standing there whingeing about being cold and not seeing anything. Then all of a sudden the condors came, normally they just pass through the canyon but there were about 6 of them and they stayed for an hour, putting on a show for us. They are around 3m wide in wing span and they flew so close, they kept going back and forth and circling over the tops of our heads. I took an obscene amount of photos as they were absolutely breathtaking. After the condors we went around the local market and had some lunch before heading on to Arequipa.
In Arequipa we went to the Saint Catalina Monastery and looked around that with a local guide which is pretty and you can see the El Misti volcano from the top. Afterwards when we had some free time we had a wander around the market stalls and went to see the ice princess museum. This is where Juanita is, she was a frozen girl corpse who was sacrificed to the mountain Gods by the Incas. She was starved, dehydrated, drugged and walked to the top of the mountain in Arequipa, all the way from Cusco; only to be hit on the head in a ceremony where she was sacrificed to appease the volcano. That afternoon we had our 'Last Supper' together which involved lots of toasts and speeches which was good fun.
That evening we flew to Lima and then had one more night in the start hotel. The last day in Lima we managed to have a lie in, we then went on a city tour and saw the old and new parts of the city and went round the gold museum. The museum was a private collection of Inca and pre-Incan gold and pottery which was really interesting. We then had some time to ourselves as a group and had lunch together, however without the Kiwi's or Chris who had already flown out. That night I joined the group after a teary goodbye to Eddi and Carlos and we headed to the airport.
2 flights later and I arrived in Heathrow where I was met by Mum and Dad with breakfast muffins! Home :)
Monday, 16 August 2010
Wednesday, 4 August 2010
Andes
Taken a long time to update this as I havent been able to get to the internet.
After the first night in Lima we had breakfast at 5am and left the hotel at 6 which was very cold. We all piled onto the coach/minibus and Carlos our leader introduced everyone. The guy sat behind me started talking to me and it turns out he's a year older and is from Exmouth which is a massive coincidence considering not even everyone on the trip is English.
The drive out of Lima as the sun came up was amazing. As you leave the main city there are hundreds of little shanty towns which make Rio's favelas look like palaces. The landscape outside Lima is different also...it is so dry and barren, it is like desert almost with only the occasional cactus or shrub growing.
The first day we drove along the coast where we took a speed boat from the bay out to the ballestras islands which are covered in all sorts of sea birds, and poop! There were penguins, pelicans, cormorants, gulls, sealions and many others all completely covering the rocks. We also saw a preincan design which is drawn into the cliff. The land round there is very dry and barren, it only rains a couple of times a year so it has stayed intact. After the boat journey we went to a restaurant and had local fish which was gorgeous. After lunch we drove towards Ica and stopped along the way at a traditional winery. Our very enthusiastic guide showed us round and explained the traditional ways of making Pisco (the national drink). After the tour we all tried bits of the different types, of which some are lovely and others like paintstripper. After that we drove to Ica and found our hotel which was lovely again and braved a very cold swim in the pool.
The next morning we got up early again and into the mood. We went to the museum in Ica. Here we saw lots of old Barracus (sp?) and Nazca artefacts. They also have fully preserved humans which are thousands of years old that got dried out in the sand and the skin and hair is still all intact and in one even the eyes.
After the museum we drove to the oasis and us 4younger ones opted to do sandboarding. We were strapped into buggies then taken up into the dunes. It was like a rollercoaster the dunes are massive and our driver sped and skidded up and down the slopes whilst we held on for dear life. The dunes are huge.... Everything here is on such a vast scale. The view from the top of the dunes is incredible they just go to the horizon. Then we got onto the boards and we opted to do bodyboarding style not standing up as apparently it's more fun and then flew down the slopes. They go so fast the first bit is gentle then you reach the edge and its like a death slide. It's so much fun but you do get sand everywhere! After that we took another very long drive towards Nazca along the big dry plateau thats between the mountains. When we got there I was one of the stupid people who took the over flight over the Nazca lines in a tiny little 6seater propeller plane. The lines themselves are huge and only 2cm deep into the ground but have still survived all this time. We then headed to our hotel and had an early night before the big assent the next day.
After another early breakfast we headed onto the coach for a whole day of driving. We climbed up out of the plateau where Nazca is up towards Abancay. The mountains are vast and just breathtaking. We watched the scenery change from desert to brush, then up to the high mountains and green valleys. The road was very windy, at our highest point we reached 4500+ metres above sea level. Some people got affected by the altitude, the air is much thinner and when you walk at first your legs burn as they are having to respire anaerobicly which produces lots of lactic acid. On the way we saw Vicoona (sp?) which look like skinny llamas, alpacas, llamas, condors - which are huge and flamingos. We stayed over night near Abancay and celebrated Carlos' birthday with Pisco sours.
Yesterday we had another long drive and along the way as we came up through the valleys we could see the mountains ontop covered in glaciers. It is stunning scenery around here. Along the way we stopped at some Incan ruins sites. The quality of the brickwork and architecture exeeds ours by far. We pass through lots of little towns on the way which all look half built. Mostly made of mud and tin and other scrap. The people look so Andean as well, small ladies with big hats and colourful wool dresses. And everywhere - like Brazil - has millions of stray dogs. Another thing they have are proper Richard Scarymobiles, converted motorbike, rickshaw threewheeled cars. We came to Cusco last night and went out for dinner. Some had Alpaca and I tried a bit, it was nice i think, apparently quite like venison. There's a chance to try guinea pig tonight. Half day tour of Cusco happening this morning then Macchu Pichu tomorrow.
After the first night in Lima we had breakfast at 5am and left the hotel at 6 which was very cold. We all piled onto the coach/minibus and Carlos our leader introduced everyone. The guy sat behind me started talking to me and it turns out he's a year older and is from Exmouth which is a massive coincidence considering not even everyone on the trip is English.
The drive out of Lima as the sun came up was amazing. As you leave the main city there are hundreds of little shanty towns which make Rio's favelas look like palaces. The landscape outside Lima is different also...it is so dry and barren, it is like desert almost with only the occasional cactus or shrub growing.
The first day we drove along the coast where we took a speed boat from the bay out to the ballestras islands which are covered in all sorts of sea birds, and poop! There were penguins, pelicans, cormorants, gulls, sealions and many others all completely covering the rocks. We also saw a preincan design which is drawn into the cliff. The land round there is very dry and barren, it only rains a couple of times a year so it has stayed intact. After the boat journey we went to a restaurant and had local fish which was gorgeous. After lunch we drove towards Ica and stopped along the way at a traditional winery. Our very enthusiastic guide showed us round and explained the traditional ways of making Pisco (the national drink). After the tour we all tried bits of the different types, of which some are lovely and others like paintstripper. After that we drove to Ica and found our hotel which was lovely again and braved a very cold swim in the pool.
The next morning we got up early again and into the mood. We went to the museum in Ica. Here we saw lots of old Barracus (sp?) and Nazca artefacts. They also have fully preserved humans which are thousands of years old that got dried out in the sand and the skin and hair is still all intact and in one even the eyes.
After the museum we drove to the oasis and us 4younger ones opted to do sandboarding. We were strapped into buggies then taken up into the dunes. It was like a rollercoaster the dunes are massive and our driver sped and skidded up and down the slopes whilst we held on for dear life. The dunes are huge.... Everything here is on such a vast scale. The view from the top of the dunes is incredible they just go to the horizon. Then we got onto the boards and we opted to do bodyboarding style not standing up as apparently it's more fun and then flew down the slopes. They go so fast the first bit is gentle then you reach the edge and its like a death slide. It's so much fun but you do get sand everywhere! After that we took another very long drive towards Nazca along the big dry plateau thats between the mountains. When we got there I was one of the stupid people who took the over flight over the Nazca lines in a tiny little 6seater propeller plane. The lines themselves are huge and only 2cm deep into the ground but have still survived all this time. We then headed to our hotel and had an early night before the big assent the next day.
After another early breakfast we headed onto the coach for a whole day of driving. We climbed up out of the plateau where Nazca is up towards Abancay. The mountains are vast and just breathtaking. We watched the scenery change from desert to brush, then up to the high mountains and green valleys. The road was very windy, at our highest point we reached 4500+ metres above sea level. Some people got affected by the altitude, the air is much thinner and when you walk at first your legs burn as they are having to respire anaerobicly which produces lots of lactic acid. On the way we saw Vicoona (sp?) which look like skinny llamas, alpacas, llamas, condors - which are huge and flamingos. We stayed over night near Abancay and celebrated Carlos' birthday with Pisco sours.
Yesterday we had another long drive and along the way as we came up through the valleys we could see the mountains ontop covered in glaciers. It is stunning scenery around here. Along the way we stopped at some Incan ruins sites. The quality of the brickwork and architecture exeeds ours by far. We pass through lots of little towns on the way which all look half built. Mostly made of mud and tin and other scrap. The people look so Andean as well, small ladies with big hats and colourful wool dresses. And everywhere - like Brazil - has millions of stray dogs. Another thing they have are proper Richard Scarymobiles, converted motorbike, rickshaw threewheeled cars. We came to Cusco last night and went out for dinner. Some had Alpaca and I tried a bit, it was nice i think, apparently quite like venison. There's a chance to try guinea pig tonight. Half day tour of Cusco happening this morning then Macchu Pichu tomorrow.
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Perah darling Perah
Last night we didn't end up going to Lapa after all, Israel and some of the other guys at the hostel put on a churrasco, which involves lots of barbecued meat. Liz and I opted for bread rolls and ice-cream but joined in none the less.
Soon after the food the atmosphere changed into the thing that Villa Carioca does best. The guys and some of the girls that work there brought through the bongos, drums, cowbells, guitars and various other percussion instruments through to the courtyard and everyone starting playing. There were maybe twenty+ people all sat round the little tables by the kitchen all playing different musical instruments. Then Bruno started a song which everyone who could speak Portuguese seemed to understand, it seemed to involve one person making up a funny line about themselves and then everyone chanted it to the music, and it got passed round the circle so that everyone got to say something. The music progressed from that to Samba, there was a brilliantly alive old lady who put everyone to shame with her singing and dancing, and in the absence of a drum, was using a knife and fork to mark out her rhythm.
We then discovered... ten minutes before we were going to leave.. that the buses to the airport don't run as late as 2am. So, as everyone else headed out to Lapa, we caught a cab to the airport. After sitting around in disgusting fluorescent lighting at silly times in the morning, I managed to check in and Liz and I went our separate ways (Eeek!) as she headed off to follow her childhood dream from 'Journey to the River Sea' to go and explore the Amazon. 2 English guys I met at check in got stuck, as they were headed to Costa Rica and one hadn't had his yellow fever certificate done so has to stay in Rio for another ten days! Luckily our trip so far has been relatively plain sailing, (touch wood) but we have been fortunate that we haven't had any major mishaps.
I caught my flight with TACA, a Peruvian airline, and I was flying business class. Which I didn't realise until I saw my ticket. Business class is definitely the way to go, it's going to be a shock having to go home without huge spacious leather seats and blankets. I think I could get used to the life of luxury. However I'm going to have to get used to being on a student budget again when I get home as I am technically unemployed! The flight itself was lovely we flew over beautiful big mountain ranges and left the green mountainous rainforest of Brazil for the dry mountains and snow topped peaks of the Andes. (Dad you would have loved it, I got two windows with my seat and was able to watch the sun rise over the glaciers on the mountains!)
The flight arrived at 9:30 local time which is two hours behind Rio and 6 hours behind England. I blundered my way, after having 2 hours sleep, to baggage claims.. managed to find my bag, get some Peruvian sol from the bank and then left the airport. I found out about buses from the airport to Miraflores but the lady who I asked told me I couldn't get on the buses with my bag, when I saw the buses I understood. The buses here are more like colourful minibuses rather than the large buses we have at home, they've painted all different colours for different routes and have people piled into them.. however they're much cheaper than a cab. I had to get a taxi and was a little unprepared for the amount of taxi drivers who throw themselves at you as you leave the airport. After some negotiating and wandering round feeling rather dazed I managed to find an ok price and get to my hotel.
I'm staying in a nice hotel just on the outskirts of Lima in Miraflores. I can't check in till later so have done a supermarket run and a wander round the town. As you go through Lima itself it feels more like the suburbs of Rio with houses on top of each other with flat roofs and half finished walls. Also you can see the difference in faces between here and Brazil, the face shape is much more Andean than in Brazil.
Meeting the rest of the group tonight at 7 for a quick briefing, then starting early tomorrow morning with breakfast at 5am! To leave before the weekend traffic hits, we'll be taking a boat to the Ballestras Islands tomorrow. I'll try and get some photos.
Soon after the food the atmosphere changed into the thing that Villa Carioca does best. The guys and some of the girls that work there brought through the bongos, drums, cowbells, guitars and various other percussion instruments through to the courtyard and everyone starting playing. There were maybe twenty+ people all sat round the little tables by the kitchen all playing different musical instruments. Then Bruno started a song which everyone who could speak Portuguese seemed to understand, it seemed to involve one person making up a funny line about themselves and then everyone chanted it to the music, and it got passed round the circle so that everyone got to say something. The music progressed from that to Samba, there was a brilliantly alive old lady who put everyone to shame with her singing and dancing, and in the absence of a drum, was using a knife and fork to mark out her rhythm.
We then discovered... ten minutes before we were going to leave.. that the buses to the airport don't run as late as 2am. So, as everyone else headed out to Lapa, we caught a cab to the airport. After sitting around in disgusting fluorescent lighting at silly times in the morning, I managed to check in and Liz and I went our separate ways (Eeek!) as she headed off to follow her childhood dream from 'Journey to the River Sea' to go and explore the Amazon. 2 English guys I met at check in got stuck, as they were headed to Costa Rica and one hadn't had his yellow fever certificate done so has to stay in Rio for another ten days! Luckily our trip so far has been relatively plain sailing, (touch wood) but we have been fortunate that we haven't had any major mishaps.
I caught my flight with TACA, a Peruvian airline, and I was flying business class. Which I didn't realise until I saw my ticket. Business class is definitely the way to go, it's going to be a shock having to go home without huge spacious leather seats and blankets. I think I could get used to the life of luxury. However I'm going to have to get used to being on a student budget again when I get home as I am technically unemployed! The flight itself was lovely we flew over beautiful big mountain ranges and left the green mountainous rainforest of Brazil for the dry mountains and snow topped peaks of the Andes. (Dad you would have loved it, I got two windows with my seat and was able to watch the sun rise over the glaciers on the mountains!)
The flight arrived at 9:30 local time which is two hours behind Rio and 6 hours behind England. I blundered my way, after having 2 hours sleep, to baggage claims.. managed to find my bag, get some Peruvian sol from the bank and then left the airport. I found out about buses from the airport to Miraflores but the lady who I asked told me I couldn't get on the buses with my bag, when I saw the buses I understood. The buses here are more like colourful minibuses rather than the large buses we have at home, they've painted all different colours for different routes and have people piled into them.. however they're much cheaper than a cab. I had to get a taxi and was a little unprepared for the amount of taxi drivers who throw themselves at you as you leave the airport. After some negotiating and wandering round feeling rather dazed I managed to find an ok price and get to my hotel.
I'm staying in a nice hotel just on the outskirts of Lima in Miraflores. I can't check in till later so have done a supermarket run and a wander round the town. As you go through Lima itself it feels more like the suburbs of Rio with houses on top of each other with flat roofs and half finished walls. Also you can see the difference in faces between here and Brazil, the face shape is much more Andean than in Brazil.
Meeting the rest of the group tonight at 7 for a quick briefing, then starting early tomorrow morning with breakfast at 5am! To leave before the weekend traffic hits, we'll be taking a boat to the Ballestras Islands tomorrow. I'll try and get some photos.
Friday, 30 July 2010
26hour bus journey, sunny Rio and flights
We woke up at 6am, crawled to the 24hr bakery up the road with our bags and bought breakfast before heading to the bus station. We then took a bus from Puerto Iguazu to the border of Brazil where we had to get out, fill in forms and get more stamps. Then we had to wait for another bus to pick us up from the border. We watched the sun rise as we waited and the mist burnt off the river. We then caught a bus to the main bus station and sat waiting, drinking guarana and eating dehydrated guarana to kick us into life.
We then got on our, slightly nicer than last time, epic bus. 32hours after leaving our hostel we arrived in Rio. We then got another bus to Botafogo where we paid a visit to our old hostel. They let us come in and leave our bags and shower whilst we went on another explore. It was a shock going from the wrap up warm temperatures of Argentina to the 30+ degrees C of Rio. However being back in Rio and back in Vila Carioca has a lovely sense of coming home.
We're going out for a while tonight in Lapa with some old friends before we head to the airport for our flights. Must prepare myself for 'emergency' level of cold, which will be a shock. However i'm well prepared with alpaca jumpers and llama leg warmers. A little concerned also that I've booked a 'leisurely/comfort' tour, even though i've discovered on this holiday I rather like trekking :)
Next post from Peru!
We then got on our, slightly nicer than last time, epic bus. 32hours after leaving our hostel we arrived in Rio. We then got another bus to Botafogo where we paid a visit to our old hostel. They let us come in and leave our bags and shower whilst we went on another explore. It was a shock going from the wrap up warm temperatures of Argentina to the 30+ degrees C of Rio. However being back in Rio and back in Vila Carioca has a lovely sense of coming home.
We're going out for a while tonight in Lapa with some old friends before we head to the airport for our flights. Must prepare myself for 'emergency' level of cold, which will be a shock. However i'm well prepared with alpaca jumpers and llama leg warmers. A little concerned also that I've booked a 'leisurely/comfort' tour, even though i've discovered on this holiday I rather like trekking :)
Next post from Peru!
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Mate, steak, wine, waterfalls and freezing cold...
The first night we ate (rather burnt) pizza and had an explore round the town. The town seems rather sleepy during the day with a few touristy shops selling trinkety things and 'South American' stuff; however in the evenings it seems to come to life more.
The difference between Brazil and Argentina is quite apparent, life still seems to be slow.. a lot less urgency than Europe, however just crossing the border from Brazil to Argentina you can really feel the Spanishy Latin influence. The shapes of people's faces are different too - this is something we noticed as we travelled down through Brazil, the diversity of people groups changes on the area. In this part of Argentina you can see more of the Indian face shapes as opposed to the more European almost Italian faces we were seeing in places like Sao Paulo.
The next day we decided to take it easy after all our travelling and take time to just explore. We had a (kind of) lie in, which was much welcomed by me. Getting up here was quite a shock, seemingly just by crossing the border it was freezing cold. I went to breakfast in almost all the layers I had in my bag, it was the first time I wore trousers with leggings, a scarf and a fleece! You can see your breath here in the mornings, I know it's winter but wasn't expecting that. The days have been clear though, so after the initial shock of waking up it heats up nicely in the day as the winter sun comes up; feels like perfect ski weather.... slightly wishing I had more money to be able to ski in Chile - would be a pretty amazing way to see the Andes!
On our lazy day we walked through the town and worked out where all the shops and restraunts were. After our cold morning shock we went looking for warmer clothes, I managed to find myself a very cosy Alpaca jumper and some llama leg warmers which are very welcomed! Also I bought myself a Mate pot and Bombilla straw to drink some Mate tea with. We tried some in the evening and it was quite a shock. It smells like tobacco, grass and vague dried vegetables. They pack it into tiny pots and then add water bit by bit as they drink it. The taste is course and bitter and kind of how I imagine drinking damp grass would be. A girl we had been staying with said - and I quote - "It tastes like drinking arse", so stubbornly I was determined to be positive about it. It does taste like that kind of, however it is sort of nice and you adjust; like when you first try coffee as a child. Apparently you can drink it with sugar and lemon.. but it's a 'common' thing to do, however I think it would improve the taste.
In the evening we decided to eat out and try some of the cuisine. Everyone here eats a big meal mid afternoon about 3pm for lunch, however we can't seem to get into that as we want lunch at 1 and then want dinner around 7 which throws us out of sync with everyone. We went to a nice looking place near where we're staying and it was very cosy. I put my fears aside and ordered steak, 'Sirloin steak with dijon mustard and white wine sauce, with mandioc mash and leak tart' and Liz opted for a much safer gnocchi. The food arrived and the portions were huge (yes even for you Joe it was a big steak!), but it was incredible. We ordered a small bottle of Argentinian red wine which was gorgeous and started on our meal. The food was amazing, I amazed myself by enjoying, and finishing, my steak. I don't think I'll attempt it again in England though. We then finished with a lovely mousse, brownie and red berry pudding. The prices in Argentina throw us a lot because of the exchange rate the numbers seem huge, however our whole meal with drinks and pudding cost 30GBP between the two of us!
Today we woke up earlier and got our ticket which we had booked for the falls and headed into town. We went to the bakery and got ourselves lunch and then piled onto the bus. It's high season in Argentina at the moment, which is the opposite to Brazil. The park - again - was very crowded but we had a nice walk in the sun around the park and along the waterfalls down to the river. We had booked a boat ride and as we walked down the steps we saw lots of dripping wet people walking back up and had to mentally prepare ourselves. We were given life jackets and went onto a big speed boat with seats, we gripped onto the chairs, pulled up our hoods and were off. The boat sped round, cutting tight corners into the water sending us all lurching one side and the other. The boat then sped through the water in front of the waterfalls and the moment we stopped ploughing forwards you can see the amazing strength of the backcurrents, it was quite scary. We went through lots of rainbows which was beautiful. The boat then drove up, perilously close to the rocks and turning sharply drenching everyone on board. The best (and wettest) moment was when the boat went right up and under the spray directly below the falls. You cannot see anything because of the amount of water and the noise is amazing, but it is really scary. The most funny moment was hearing Liz beside me shriek louder than I thought possible, and upon asking her what was wrong... "WET PANTS!", we got absolutely drenched... wearing a rain coat was slightly riduculous, you just get wet regardless.
After we got off the boat and luckily the sun was still out so we sat and dried off in the sun and ate our lunch. We got back mid afternoon and did a little shop. Our dinner tonight has been soup - the most vegetables we've had all week! We had carrot, onion and butternut squash soup which was lovely. Might head out to try a hostel favourite: Argentinian drink - Ferneta, in one of the lively local bars.
One more day in Argentina, then a 22 hour bus ride to Rio where we're meeting a previous friends from the hostel for the day before our flights early on the morning of the 31st. Separating to Lima and Manaus which is going to be bizarre, but very excited about Peru!
The difference between Brazil and Argentina is quite apparent, life still seems to be slow.. a lot less urgency than Europe, however just crossing the border from Brazil to Argentina you can really feel the Spanishy Latin influence. The shapes of people's faces are different too - this is something we noticed as we travelled down through Brazil, the diversity of people groups changes on the area. In this part of Argentina you can see more of the Indian face shapes as opposed to the more European almost Italian faces we were seeing in places like Sao Paulo.
The next day we decided to take it easy after all our travelling and take time to just explore. We had a (kind of) lie in, which was much welcomed by me. Getting up here was quite a shock, seemingly just by crossing the border it was freezing cold. I went to breakfast in almost all the layers I had in my bag, it was the first time I wore trousers with leggings, a scarf and a fleece! You can see your breath here in the mornings, I know it's winter but wasn't expecting that. The days have been clear though, so after the initial shock of waking up it heats up nicely in the day as the winter sun comes up; feels like perfect ski weather.... slightly wishing I had more money to be able to ski in Chile - would be a pretty amazing way to see the Andes!
On our lazy day we walked through the town and worked out where all the shops and restraunts were. After our cold morning shock we went looking for warmer clothes, I managed to find myself a very cosy Alpaca jumper and some llama leg warmers which are very welcomed! Also I bought myself a Mate pot and Bombilla straw to drink some Mate tea with. We tried some in the evening and it was quite a shock. It smells like tobacco, grass and vague dried vegetables. They pack it into tiny pots and then add water bit by bit as they drink it. The taste is course and bitter and kind of how I imagine drinking damp grass would be. A girl we had been staying with said - and I quote - "It tastes like drinking arse", so stubbornly I was determined to be positive about it. It does taste like that kind of, however it is sort of nice and you adjust; like when you first try coffee as a child. Apparently you can drink it with sugar and lemon.. but it's a 'common' thing to do, however I think it would improve the taste.
In the evening we decided to eat out and try some of the cuisine. Everyone here eats a big meal mid afternoon about 3pm for lunch, however we can't seem to get into that as we want lunch at 1 and then want dinner around 7 which throws us out of sync with everyone. We went to a nice looking place near where we're staying and it was very cosy. I put my fears aside and ordered steak, 'Sirloin steak with dijon mustard and white wine sauce, with mandioc mash and leak tart' and Liz opted for a much safer gnocchi. The food arrived and the portions were huge (yes even for you Joe it was a big steak!), but it was incredible. We ordered a small bottle of Argentinian red wine which was gorgeous and started on our meal. The food was amazing, I amazed myself by enjoying, and finishing, my steak. I don't think I'll attempt it again in England though. We then finished with a lovely mousse, brownie and red berry pudding. The prices in Argentina throw us a lot because of the exchange rate the numbers seem huge, however our whole meal with drinks and pudding cost 30GBP between the two of us!
Today we woke up earlier and got our ticket which we had booked for the falls and headed into town. We went to the bakery and got ourselves lunch and then piled onto the bus. It's high season in Argentina at the moment, which is the opposite to Brazil. The park - again - was very crowded but we had a nice walk in the sun around the park and along the waterfalls down to the river. We had booked a boat ride and as we walked down the steps we saw lots of dripping wet people walking back up and had to mentally prepare ourselves. We were given life jackets and went onto a big speed boat with seats, we gripped onto the chairs, pulled up our hoods and were off. The boat sped round, cutting tight corners into the water sending us all lurching one side and the other. The boat then sped through the water in front of the waterfalls and the moment we stopped ploughing forwards you can see the amazing strength of the backcurrents, it was quite scary. We went through lots of rainbows which was beautiful. The boat then drove up, perilously close to the rocks and turning sharply drenching everyone on board. The best (and wettest) moment was when the boat went right up and under the spray directly below the falls. You cannot see anything because of the amount of water and the noise is amazing, but it is really scary. The most funny moment was hearing Liz beside me shriek louder than I thought possible, and upon asking her what was wrong... "WET PANTS!", we got absolutely drenched... wearing a rain coat was slightly riduculous, you just get wet regardless.
After we got off the boat and luckily the sun was still out so we sat and dried off in the sun and ate our lunch. We got back mid afternoon and did a little shop. Our dinner tonight has been soup - the most vegetables we've had all week! We had carrot, onion and butternut squash soup which was lovely. Might head out to try a hostel favourite: Argentinian drink - Ferneta, in one of the lively local bars.
One more day in Argentina, then a 22 hour bus ride to Rio where we're meeting a previous friends from the hostel for the day before our flights early on the morning of the 31st. Separating to Lima and Manaus which is going to be bizarre, but very excited about Peru!
Sunday, 25 July 2010
Epic bus, Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina!
We went for ice cream with the Israeli's which was fun, we were hounded by a strangely drunk seeming 'magician', who told us 'I no like your money, i show magic.... how are you from?'... which is always a good start to a conversation.
We woke early the next morning and trooped around Parati looking for a post office.. more difficult than you might think! Before heading to the bus station awaiting our bus to take us to Sao Paulo. Luckily our 6 hour bus ride to Sao Paulo was strangely pleasant.. it went relatively quickly with comfy reclining chairs and we were able to watch Jackie Chan in Portugese... not sure whether to be proud of that or not...?
However on the journey down to Sao Paulo it was interesting watching the scenery change. The trees changed from tropical rainforest to more European looking ones and the landscapes from forest clad mountains to rolling hills of plotted fields. We had been told by a friend who lives in Sao Paulo state, that this area is regarded by other people as more 'country' and simpler... similar perhaps to the South of the USA where the towns are smaller and people are more in the small town mentality. That all changed when we reached Sao Paulo itself... away from the tiny little homestays that look almost Cowboy-esqe, we entered miles and miles of concrete jungle. It was overcast as we entered the huge city which probably didn't help my view.. but the city seems to be a huger version of London. We were dropped off in the bus station.. gathered ourselves together, bought some dinner and then waited for our next (epic) bus.
The bus arrived on time (for once) and we had ordered one of the most simple buses... without beds.. as this was cheaper. However the chairs did go back and there was water available on board. Luckily most of our 16 hour journey was during the night and we dozed off sporadically which wasted nice amounts of time. We stopped occasionally in huge great big rest stops which felt very American. Also, and I think the highlight of my journey, was being woken up at 3am with people asking if I spoke English because someone was stuck in the toilet. I promptly realised that this was Liz and (much to my amusement) half the bus came to the back of the bus peeling off clothing to have a go at wrenching the door open. .. Liz, finally freed, flew back to her seat in fits of giggles.
We arrived in Foz and then made our way.. on another bus.. to the centre of town. We easily found our Pousada El Shaddai. Everyone was very (strangely) friendly there.. it was a cross between a hostel and a hotel and didn't really succeed in being either. It was strangely like a motel, and being a border town we found everything seemed rather lost.
That evening we decided to take a bus head across to Paraguay - just because we could. Whilst looking for the bus a man from a tourism company gave us a lift in the tour bus because we looked so lost and we jumped out at immigration to get pretty stamps to fill up our passports. The moment we crossed the Iguazu river and the border into Paraguay everything changed. The streets are lined with rubbish and mud and the traffic is insane. There doesn't really seem to be any road rules... the biggest car wins and if you're on a motorbike you can weave expertly away from death. The roads are lined with stalls, not nice little market stalls but sprawling piles of clothes, 'Gucci' sunglasses, electricals, counterfeit DVDs and CDs and all manner of bags. You can feel the change of wealth from one country to another even across such a small difference. We attempted to establish the currency in Paraguay and the exchange rate, but the currency is so weak that the numbers are mindboggling.. so it seemed more helpful for everyone if we stuck to Reals. Paraguay is famous for having cheap electricals... they have no tax.. so whilst looking for a camera cable for my digital camera we found some SLRs. Liz is an expert in this and was looking at lenses for her camera, and whilst doing this we looked at some basic SLRs and comparing them to English prices... I found a good basic one for half the price it was going on Amazon in the uk.. and bought it! Impulsive.
We then caught the madly crowded bus back to Brazil, on which a little girl tried to sell us pringles and drinks. When we were back in Brazil we delighted in realising that as we were in a Pousada and not a hostel.. we get given towels!!! This is the most exciting thing we'd heard in days! After a shower and a nice sleep we got up, had a rushed breakfast and headed out again. We took a bus to the Iguazu national park to see the falls. The falls were incredible, but the number of people going to see them was not! There were huge queues to get in, queues to get on buses, queues to stand and take snapshots... just queues everywhere. I'm not used to that many people, even whilst doing the tourist run in Rio.
Once we got to the falls we did a little walk down along the panoramic walkway which takes you out over the middle of the falls - you get soaked. The falls are amazing, I know they're the biggest in the world, but they really are and the thunderous noise they produce doesn't let you forget that. There are lots of different sections all cumulating into one big river at the end which runs between the 3 countries. The rainbows which form across the water are beautiful. Along the walkways friendly coatis come and walk beside you.. which look like a cross between badgers, racoons and anteaters.
After returning from the falls, we donned our massive rucksacks and went to catch - another - bus. We crossed the border into Argentina.. another stamp... and ended up at the bus station in Puerto Igauzu. We are now staying in a lovely little Pousada right by the bus station and we're going to go out and explore the town and see the falls from the Argentinian side by boat. They have an interesting drink here, which I read about before I came to South America and have been dying to try: called Mate. Which in Portugese (Matte) is a type of woody sweet tea but here means something different. It smells like a cross between green tea and sugary tobacco, it's mixed with hot water, and sometimes sugar, and is drunk out of an interesting pot with a metal straw type thing. I'm going to try and bring some home because it's something I've really been looking forward to and I don't think I can get hold of it in England.
Mate
We woke early the next morning and trooped around Parati looking for a post office.. more difficult than you might think! Before heading to the bus station awaiting our bus to take us to Sao Paulo. Luckily our 6 hour bus ride to Sao Paulo was strangely pleasant.. it went relatively quickly with comfy reclining chairs and we were able to watch Jackie Chan in Portugese... not sure whether to be proud of that or not...?
However on the journey down to Sao Paulo it was interesting watching the scenery change. The trees changed from tropical rainforest to more European looking ones and the landscapes from forest clad mountains to rolling hills of plotted fields. We had been told by a friend who lives in Sao Paulo state, that this area is regarded by other people as more 'country' and simpler... similar perhaps to the South of the USA where the towns are smaller and people are more in the small town mentality. That all changed when we reached Sao Paulo itself... away from the tiny little homestays that look almost Cowboy-esqe, we entered miles and miles of concrete jungle. It was overcast as we entered the huge city which probably didn't help my view.. but the city seems to be a huger version of London. We were dropped off in the bus station.. gathered ourselves together, bought some dinner and then waited for our next (epic) bus.
The bus arrived on time (for once) and we had ordered one of the most simple buses... without beds.. as this was cheaper. However the chairs did go back and there was water available on board. Luckily most of our 16 hour journey was during the night and we dozed off sporadically which wasted nice amounts of time. We stopped occasionally in huge great big rest stops which felt very American. Also, and I think the highlight of my journey, was being woken up at 3am with people asking if I spoke English because someone was stuck in the toilet. I promptly realised that this was Liz and (much to my amusement) half the bus came to the back of the bus peeling off clothing to have a go at wrenching the door open. .. Liz, finally freed, flew back to her seat in fits of giggles.
We arrived in Foz and then made our way.. on another bus.. to the centre of town. We easily found our Pousada El Shaddai. Everyone was very (strangely) friendly there.. it was a cross between a hostel and a hotel and didn't really succeed in being either. It was strangely like a motel, and being a border town we found everything seemed rather lost.
That evening we decided to take a bus head across to Paraguay - just because we could. Whilst looking for the bus a man from a tourism company gave us a lift in the tour bus because we looked so lost and we jumped out at immigration to get pretty stamps to fill up our passports. The moment we crossed the Iguazu river and the border into Paraguay everything changed. The streets are lined with rubbish and mud and the traffic is insane. There doesn't really seem to be any road rules... the biggest car wins and if you're on a motorbike you can weave expertly away from death. The roads are lined with stalls, not nice little market stalls but sprawling piles of clothes, 'Gucci' sunglasses, electricals, counterfeit DVDs and CDs and all manner of bags. You can feel the change of wealth from one country to another even across such a small difference. We attempted to establish the currency in Paraguay and the exchange rate, but the currency is so weak that the numbers are mindboggling.. so it seemed more helpful for everyone if we stuck to Reals. Paraguay is famous for having cheap electricals... they have no tax.. so whilst looking for a camera cable for my digital camera we found some SLRs. Liz is an expert in this and was looking at lenses for her camera, and whilst doing this we looked at some basic SLRs and comparing them to English prices... I found a good basic one for half the price it was going on Amazon in the uk.. and bought it! Impulsive.
We then caught the madly crowded bus back to Brazil, on which a little girl tried to sell us pringles and drinks. When we were back in Brazil we delighted in realising that as we were in a Pousada and not a hostel.. we get given towels!!! This is the most exciting thing we'd heard in days! After a shower and a nice sleep we got up, had a rushed breakfast and headed out again. We took a bus to the Iguazu national park to see the falls. The falls were incredible, but the number of people going to see them was not! There were huge queues to get in, queues to get on buses, queues to stand and take snapshots... just queues everywhere. I'm not used to that many people, even whilst doing the tourist run in Rio.
Once we got to the falls we did a little walk down along the panoramic walkway which takes you out over the middle of the falls - you get soaked. The falls are amazing, I know they're the biggest in the world, but they really are and the thunderous noise they produce doesn't let you forget that. There are lots of different sections all cumulating into one big river at the end which runs between the 3 countries. The rainbows which form across the water are beautiful. Along the walkways friendly coatis come and walk beside you.. which look like a cross between badgers, racoons and anteaters.
After returning from the falls, we donned our massive rucksacks and went to catch - another - bus. We crossed the border into Argentina.. another stamp... and ended up at the bus station in Puerto Igauzu. We are now staying in a lovely little Pousada right by the bus station and we're going to go out and explore the town and see the falls from the Argentinian side by boat. They have an interesting drink here, which I read about before I came to South America and have been dying to try: called Mate. Which in Portugese (Matte) is a type of woody sweet tea but here means something different. It smells like a cross between green tea and sugary tobacco, it's mixed with hot water, and sometimes sugar, and is drunk out of an interesting pot with a metal straw type thing. I'm going to try and bring some home because it's something I've really been looking forward to and I don't think I can get hold of it in England.
Mate
Thursday, 22 July 2010
The Sun has got his hat on
The night of Liz's birthday we headed into town and bumped into some Belgian guys we'd met in Ilha Grande, we met up later at Torre de Pizza.... coined the best pizza in Parati as it was also one of the guys birthdays as well as Liz's. After yummy pizza we headed into the historic centre of the town where we discovered self service ice cream parlours. This is a very bad idea with people such as myself and Liz. Liz especially has a killer sweet tooth! We had dark chocolate, ginger, coffee, hazelnut, and marshmallow flavoured icecreams. They are lethal!
After overdosing ourselves on silly amounts of sugar we walked into the centre where there seemed to be some sort of organised party thing going on in place of the market from the night before. Upon talking to some random people in the crowd we discovered it was a Uni Congress for people studying postgraduate studies in something that mainly involved the study of Algae... strange. Anyway there were interesting people doing dances and there were free shots of Cachaca liquor, which tastes like concentrated fermented banana syrup which we weren't expecting.
The next day the sun came out! The lady at reception told us it would be hotter tomorrow so the falls would be better the next day, so instead we ventured into town and caught a bus to Trindade beach. It's quite a popular surf beach, and popular with the locals as it's surrounded by little bays and there is a natural swimming pool there which is lovely. We spent most of the day on the beach and having a look round the town and generally trying to dry out after our time in Ilha Grande. In the evening we spent another night having a look around the old town and visiting the cake men that line the streets to get Liz's sugar fix. They wheel round carts with chocolate, coconut and dulche de leche sugary treats in them.
The next morning we decided against taking the bikes and took a bus from the centre of town up to Penha, Tobaga which is where the water falls are. The falls as you walk down to them seem rather huge, cold and neck braking... the large expanse of dark rock is covered in different moving currents which crash into a small... rather rock filled.. pool at the bottom.
However from the top, and after watching a strange Danish guy chuck himself down, it seemed much more fun. You sit on one side of the rock at the top and then push yourself down the flattish section, before being taken over the edge by the current and crashing into the pool at the bottom.. instantly filling your nose with cold river water! It's so much fun and the sun was out which was lovely and hot, so that the moment you step out of the water you are refreshed and warming up again... then running back up the slopes for round two!
We then walked up river and saw a proper little rope bridge over the river which was very thin and wobbly! And had a proper piratey looking sign which warned in red and white paint that the bridge could only hold two people at once, which was promptly ignored by everyone else there much to my dismay. When we got back the sun was still up and we swam in the pool at the hostel and soaked up some more sun. We decided to cook ourselves a veggie version of the Brazillian national dish of rice and beans, which was yummy, but more food than we'd eaten in days! Our stable food is bread rolls out here! Then last night we again headed into town and braved the huge uneven cobblestones of the historic centre again in flipflops, and tried some amazing dulche de leche/cake/flan/mousse thing which was really yummy! However we then promised ourselves we'd try proper Caiprifruta which is condensed milk, sugar, fruit and vodka or cachaca - we had been offered some before in Rio but turned it down. So upon trying it this time, we discovered that it was basically alcoholic strawberry milkshake... and therefore disgusting! Our sickly adventures promptly ended up in the bin.
Today we decided against kayaking after words of 'friendly sharks' and high recommendations of boat trips, to take a boat around the Costa Verde and the bays of Parati. We definately didn't regret our choice! We spent 6 hours in the sun on the top deck of a gorgeous boat reading and looking at the stunning scenery. We stopped to snorkle in several bays, one of which was stunning. Under the water as we swam into the shallows, we passed over deep chasms of rock filled with plush pink corals and a variety of different fish. We saw angel fish, stripey fish, long electric blue fish and big shoals of large silvery fish ... Liz even saw an eel! The light streamed through the bluegreen water in only ways you imagine in disney's 'The Little Mermaid' and nature documentaries... It was breathtaking! We were on the boat with an Israeli couple that were our room mates on Ilha Grande and they joined us for snorkling. Also on the boat there was music and free fresh fruit and drinks. The fresh pineapple here is beyond anything from home, all the fruit and veg tastes different here. In England we would have beautiful, ripe, uniform tomatoes which however taste bland... but here, they may all be different colours and shapes and sizes.. but everything has more taste here!
Tonight we are joining the Israeli's after dinner to go into town for a bit, before an early start tomorrow. We are catching a 6 hour bus to Sao Paulo and then a horrendously long over night bus from Sao Paulo to Foz de Iguazu.. joy! However the falls should be incredible so it should all be worth it.
After overdosing ourselves on silly amounts of sugar we walked into the centre where there seemed to be some sort of organised party thing going on in place of the market from the night before. Upon talking to some random people in the crowd we discovered it was a Uni Congress for people studying postgraduate studies in something that mainly involved the study of Algae... strange. Anyway there were interesting people doing dances and there were free shots of Cachaca liquor, which tastes like concentrated fermented banana syrup which we weren't expecting.
The next day the sun came out! The lady at reception told us it would be hotter tomorrow so the falls would be better the next day, so instead we ventured into town and caught a bus to Trindade beach. It's quite a popular surf beach, and popular with the locals as it's surrounded by little bays and there is a natural swimming pool there which is lovely. We spent most of the day on the beach and having a look round the town and generally trying to dry out after our time in Ilha Grande. In the evening we spent another night having a look around the old town and visiting the cake men that line the streets to get Liz's sugar fix. They wheel round carts with chocolate, coconut and dulche de leche sugary treats in them.
The next morning we decided against taking the bikes and took a bus from the centre of town up to Penha, Tobaga which is where the water falls are. The falls as you walk down to them seem rather huge, cold and neck braking... the large expanse of dark rock is covered in different moving currents which crash into a small... rather rock filled.. pool at the bottom.
However from the top, and after watching a strange Danish guy chuck himself down, it seemed much more fun. You sit on one side of the rock at the top and then push yourself down the flattish section, before being taken over the edge by the current and crashing into the pool at the bottom.. instantly filling your nose with cold river water! It's so much fun and the sun was out which was lovely and hot, so that the moment you step out of the water you are refreshed and warming up again... then running back up the slopes for round two!
We then walked up river and saw a proper little rope bridge over the river which was very thin and wobbly! And had a proper piratey looking sign which warned in red and white paint that the bridge could only hold two people at once, which was promptly ignored by everyone else there much to my dismay. When we got back the sun was still up and we swam in the pool at the hostel and soaked up some more sun. We decided to cook ourselves a veggie version of the Brazillian national dish of rice and beans, which was yummy, but more food than we'd eaten in days! Our stable food is bread rolls out here! Then last night we again headed into town and braved the huge uneven cobblestones of the historic centre again in flipflops, and tried some amazing dulche de leche/cake/flan/mousse thing which was really yummy! However we then promised ourselves we'd try proper Caiprifruta which is condensed milk, sugar, fruit and vodka or cachaca - we had been offered some before in Rio but turned it down. So upon trying it this time, we discovered that it was basically alcoholic strawberry milkshake... and therefore disgusting! Our sickly adventures promptly ended up in the bin.
Today we decided against kayaking after words of 'friendly sharks' and high recommendations of boat trips, to take a boat around the Costa Verde and the bays of Parati. We definately didn't regret our choice! We spent 6 hours in the sun on the top deck of a gorgeous boat reading and looking at the stunning scenery. We stopped to snorkle in several bays, one of which was stunning. Under the water as we swam into the shallows, we passed over deep chasms of rock filled with plush pink corals and a variety of different fish. We saw angel fish, stripey fish, long electric blue fish and big shoals of large silvery fish ... Liz even saw an eel! The light streamed through the bluegreen water in only ways you imagine in disney's 'The Little Mermaid' and nature documentaries... It was breathtaking! We were on the boat with an Israeli couple that were our room mates on Ilha Grande and they joined us for snorkling. Also on the boat there was music and free fresh fruit and drinks. The fresh pineapple here is beyond anything from home, all the fruit and veg tastes different here. In England we would have beautiful, ripe, uniform tomatoes which however taste bland... but here, they may all be different colours and shapes and sizes.. but everything has more taste here!
Tonight we are joining the Israeli's after dinner to go into town for a bit, before an early start tomorrow. We are catching a 6 hour bus to Sao Paulo and then a horrendously long over night bus from Sao Paulo to Foz de Iguazu.. joy! However the falls should be incredible so it should all be worth it.
Monday, 19 July 2010
Parati
Sunday morning we woke up early and had breakfast at the hostel. We signed out, put on our massive backpacks and headed into the rain again. The walk to the pier involves walking along the beach.. which has a lot of rivers... and then along mud roads to the 'town' which has about 10 shops and then along the slippery pier to the boat.
Our ferry back to the mainland was much nicer than the journey out. On the way out our ferry was a little wooden boat which got completely soaked in the bad weather. However on the way home we came back on a big boat with proper seats! Very exciting! The journey back was bizarre, waiting for the sun to come through the clouds. Some of the islands looked like parts of northern Scotland, besides the palm trees.
As we came up to the mainland the thing that strikes you most is the colour. The houses; pink, green, yellow, orange, blue... all climb up the hillsides away from the beach up into the rainforest. After wondering around the town asking millions of people how to get to Parati... we finally found the bus stop. The bus was less disgusting than we'd anticipated. However the bus drivers in this country have no sense of fear... They fly into the bends sending the bus (and the passengers) lurching to the side and leaning dangerously.
2 hours later we arrived in Parati bus station and managed to ask various people till we found our way to our hostel. Its right on the edge of the town up against a jungly cliff near the beach. Its about ten minutes walk from the historic centre of Parati which is beautiful. Its all cobbled (no cars) and is full of little shops and restaurants. Last night we went out into Parati and had tapioca pancakes, which is the weirdest thing to describe. Its salty, chewy, jelly-like pancake things which look like they're dusted in sugar-- however taste very salty. We had ones filled with spinach and cheese and tomato. Liz very much approved of them (accustomed strange veggie tastes) however I found them a bit much.. the texture seeming to override much enjoyment gained from the flavour.
After that we walked past a large church. It's the festival of Santa Rita here at the moment and the church was packed full of people singing with red and white roses. The historic centre feels very Portguese and colonial in style, the church is all big and golden fruhfruh. The atmosphere was incredible.. even though we didn't really understand what the service was about the strength of belief that was apparent in peoples lives was moving.
Then we wandered along the sea front eating Churros, - Liz's favourite, before heading back to the hostel. The hostel is very sweet complete with a pool and random wandering horse in the garden - lots of mosquitos here though!
Today we woke up and it's Liz's birthday! We had breakfast with some of the lovely hostel owners... who had cooked her a heart shaped cake, then booked horseriding. We were picked up by taxi half an hour later and taken out to a little stable just out of town. The man who took us didnt speak a word of English, he handed us a horse and off we went. We had no instruction, no questions asked, no helmet and no payment (they're not pushy about it, the entire Brazillian lifestyle is slow). We did western style riding, with sit up sadles which are more comfortable than English sadles.
The ride took us through the town and up into the hills. We passed through so many different types of scenery. We went up past little villages and through the mountains. The scenery here is incredible, the little houses and stray dogs set against the backdrop of cloud topped rainforest clad hills feels like something out of 'The Motorcyle Diaries'. I have taken photos but none of them seem to capture the incredible atmosphere. We went up mud tracks and about half way turned off and went off the road into the jungle on a muddy path. It was similar paths to the ones we had been climbing on our Lopes Mendes trek in Ilha Grande, which was rather slippery with the horses hooves, so there were a few hairy moments. Also on the way back we came off the road and went back along the river, there wasn't really a path so most of the ride was done between beaches along the river. We walked through the river, and even on horse back I was up to my knees in the water. The horses were brilliant considering the strength of the current after all this rain.
The lovely thing about being out here away from Rio and the other bigger cities is the quiet once you leave the towns. Even if you can hear civilisation it's still peaceful. There are always stray dogs around, and the sound of someone starting up a moped somewhere. But the rest of the time, all you can hear is the crickets and the sounds of water dripping off the leaves. Occasionally you hear the squeak of a monkey and the whine of a fly, but the rest is calm. You really are out with nature, it's really lovely here. I think we'll feel that even more when everything has dried out a bit more.
The plan for tonight and tomorrow is; find a nice place to eat tonight for Liz's birthday meal, try our first Caipifruta!
Then tomorrow, if the weather is nice: hire some bikes, take a map and find some amazing waterfalls. There is supposed to be a place with big flat rocks that you can slide down and swim and use as shutes, which sounds like fun!
Sunshine soon please, apart from that everything is lovely...
Our ferry back to the mainland was much nicer than the journey out. On the way out our ferry was a little wooden boat which got completely soaked in the bad weather. However on the way home we came back on a big boat with proper seats! Very exciting! The journey back was bizarre, waiting for the sun to come through the clouds. Some of the islands looked like parts of northern Scotland, besides the palm trees.
As we came up to the mainland the thing that strikes you most is the colour. The houses; pink, green, yellow, orange, blue... all climb up the hillsides away from the beach up into the rainforest. After wondering around the town asking millions of people how to get to Parati... we finally found the bus stop. The bus was less disgusting than we'd anticipated. However the bus drivers in this country have no sense of fear... They fly into the bends sending the bus (and the passengers) lurching to the side and leaning dangerously.
2 hours later we arrived in Parati bus station and managed to ask various people till we found our way to our hostel. Its right on the edge of the town up against a jungly cliff near the beach. Its about ten minutes walk from the historic centre of Parati which is beautiful. Its all cobbled (no cars) and is full of little shops and restaurants. Last night we went out into Parati and had tapioca pancakes, which is the weirdest thing to describe. Its salty, chewy, jelly-like pancake things which look like they're dusted in sugar-- however taste very salty. We had ones filled with spinach and cheese and tomato. Liz very much approved of them (accustomed strange veggie tastes) however I found them a bit much.. the texture seeming to override much enjoyment gained from the flavour.
After that we walked past a large church. It's the festival of Santa Rita here at the moment and the church was packed full of people singing with red and white roses. The historic centre feels very Portguese and colonial in style, the church is all big and golden fruhfruh. The atmosphere was incredible.. even though we didn't really understand what the service was about the strength of belief that was apparent in peoples lives was moving.
Then we wandered along the sea front eating Churros, - Liz's favourite, before heading back to the hostel. The hostel is very sweet complete with a pool and random wandering horse in the garden - lots of mosquitos here though!
Today we woke up and it's Liz's birthday! We had breakfast with some of the lovely hostel owners... who had cooked her a heart shaped cake, then booked horseriding. We were picked up by taxi half an hour later and taken out to a little stable just out of town. The man who took us didnt speak a word of English, he handed us a horse and off we went. We had no instruction, no questions asked, no helmet and no payment (they're not pushy about it, the entire Brazillian lifestyle is slow). We did western style riding, with sit up sadles which are more comfortable than English sadles.
The ride took us through the town and up into the hills. We passed through so many different types of scenery. We went up past little villages and through the mountains. The scenery here is incredible, the little houses and stray dogs set against the backdrop of cloud topped rainforest clad hills feels like something out of 'The Motorcyle Diaries'. I have taken photos but none of them seem to capture the incredible atmosphere. We went up mud tracks and about half way turned off and went off the road into the jungle on a muddy path. It was similar paths to the ones we had been climbing on our Lopes Mendes trek in Ilha Grande, which was rather slippery with the horses hooves, so there were a few hairy moments. Also on the way back we came off the road and went back along the river, there wasn't really a path so most of the ride was done between beaches along the river. We walked through the river, and even on horse back I was up to my knees in the water. The horses were brilliant considering the strength of the current after all this rain.
The lovely thing about being out here away from Rio and the other bigger cities is the quiet once you leave the towns. Even if you can hear civilisation it's still peaceful. There are always stray dogs around, and the sound of someone starting up a moped somewhere. But the rest of the time, all you can hear is the crickets and the sounds of water dripping off the leaves. Occasionally you hear the squeak of a monkey and the whine of a fly, but the rest is calm. You really are out with nature, it's really lovely here. I think we'll feel that even more when everything has dried out a bit more.
The plan for tonight and tomorrow is; find a nice place to eat tonight for Liz's birthday meal, try our first Caipifruta!
Then tomorrow, if the weather is nice: hire some bikes, take a map and find some amazing waterfalls. There is supposed to be a place with big flat rocks that you can slide down and swim and use as shutes, which sounds like fun!
Sunshine soon please, apart from that everything is lovely...
Saturday, 17 July 2010
Saturated...
Since the day we arrived on this beautiful island it has not stopped raining! We have had torrential rain, thunder storms and fog. The entire island is covered by cloud. Despite all this it is still beautiful and we're still doing stuff.
After the bbq and reggae night, which we enjoyed from the hammocks on our balcony, we met up some Romanian girls. We had bumped into them the day before and had suggested we go snorkling. We met in the rain and piled into a tiny boat. The boat took us around the island to different bays, the first bay we swam off the boat and snorkled....freezing. We saw long electric blue fish and tiny shrimp and fish. Then we all got back on the boat... Liz's lips turned blue then stayed that way! We carried on to blue lagoon where we saw beautiful stripey fish. We stopped on one beach for lunch....they serve food here in big portions in order to share, but they're huge. Carmen, Valeria and I shared one meal and we were stuffed. We had shrimp in garlic oil, with black bean stew and rice. I've never eaten proper shrimp, it's lovely but messy. I dont think i've eaten something which still has eyes and legs!
After swimming and being in the wind and rain all day we were tired and came back to the hostel for super noodles. Then we ended up chatting to the Israeli couple who are sharing our room. They tried to teach us how to pronunce strange things in hebrew..... Which seems to sound quite like choking without practice!
This morning we went into town after breakfast to get supplies, water and bread rolls. People had told us it was silly to walk to Lopes Mendes in this weather and we would need a guide because it's a hard climb but we went anyway :P .
It poured all day, as we trekked up the temperature changed. We walked, essentially up a river into the rainforest. As we got further from the coast and also higher, the humidity increased. We were climbing through waterfalls and past huge bamboo. Goretex can only be asked to put up with so much! But im very glad I had those shoes. The rainforest is amazing, it's so dense and humid. The sounds are incredible, theres such a loud silence, the sounds of rain, rivers and leaves creates a white noise which is almost silence as it covers up all other sounds. It's so nice to be somewhere without cars.
After trekking for nearly 3hours we arrived at Lopes Mendes, the beach is gorgeous....but google it if you want to see it without rain! We had been told in Abraão that it was possible to get a water taxi back for ten reals... But when we got there they wanted to charge ten times that! So instead we decide to walk back again. 2 and a half hours later we arrived back at the hostel tired, hungry and sodden!
Tomorrow morning we're taking the boat back to the mainland then finding a bus to Parati. Doesnt look like the weather is going to get much better in the next few days, but hopefully we will get some sun in Parati! Only 4weeks today till I'm back home!
After the bbq and reggae night, which we enjoyed from the hammocks on our balcony, we met up some Romanian girls. We had bumped into them the day before and had suggested we go snorkling. We met in the rain and piled into a tiny boat. The boat took us around the island to different bays, the first bay we swam off the boat and snorkled....freezing. We saw long electric blue fish and tiny shrimp and fish. Then we all got back on the boat... Liz's lips turned blue then stayed that way! We carried on to blue lagoon where we saw beautiful stripey fish. We stopped on one beach for lunch....they serve food here in big portions in order to share, but they're huge. Carmen, Valeria and I shared one meal and we were stuffed. We had shrimp in garlic oil, with black bean stew and rice. I've never eaten proper shrimp, it's lovely but messy. I dont think i've eaten something which still has eyes and legs!
After swimming and being in the wind and rain all day we were tired and came back to the hostel for super noodles. Then we ended up chatting to the Israeli couple who are sharing our room. They tried to teach us how to pronunce strange things in hebrew..... Which seems to sound quite like choking without practice!
This morning we went into town after breakfast to get supplies, water and bread rolls. People had told us it was silly to walk to Lopes Mendes in this weather and we would need a guide because it's a hard climb but we went anyway :P .
It poured all day, as we trekked up the temperature changed. We walked, essentially up a river into the rainforest. As we got further from the coast and also higher, the humidity increased. We were climbing through waterfalls and past huge bamboo. Goretex can only be asked to put up with so much! But im very glad I had those shoes. The rainforest is amazing, it's so dense and humid. The sounds are incredible, theres such a loud silence, the sounds of rain, rivers and leaves creates a white noise which is almost silence as it covers up all other sounds. It's so nice to be somewhere without cars.
After trekking for nearly 3hours we arrived at Lopes Mendes, the beach is gorgeous....but google it if you want to see it without rain! We had been told in Abraão that it was possible to get a water taxi back for ten reals... But when we got there they wanted to charge ten times that! So instead we decide to walk back again. 2 and a half hours later we arrived back at the hostel tired, hungry and sodden!
Tomorrow morning we're taking the boat back to the mainland then finding a bus to Parati. Doesnt look like the weather is going to get much better in the next few days, but hopefully we will get some sun in Parati! Only 4weeks today till I'm back home!
Thursday, 15 July 2010
Paradise
On the day of my previous post we walked to the beach, it was in the 30s and sweltering! We ordeded pizza with Israel and Pedro- a med student living at the hostel. The next day we had to take Lissie to the bus to go home, which was a sad goodbye.
The next morning myself and Liz were picked up by taxi, in the pouring rain from the storm the night before. We said a sad goodbye to all our new friends and took the taxi down the coast. We were joined by an irish couple on the last leg of their travels and then we made it to the little sea side village. We walked along the slippery board walk with our big bags onto a rickety wooden boat. The boat took us (in the wind and rain...seasick) to Ilha grande.
The island is originally a pirate island. You can tell, we're in a tiny village with little beaches all along this ride of the island with little fishing boats and water taxis. The village has lots of little hostels and restaurants along it's car free streets. It hasnt stopped raining since we got here. Last night we had to wade a river with our bags to reach the hostel at high tide! We're in a lovely big dorm with a balcony overlooking the bay.
On the first night we were with three Irish guys - Eoin, Shane and Finnine (no joke!). We all went to the creperie and had lethally sugary food, then headed along the beach to a bar to drown in Caiprinhas. We learnt a little gaelic and met Sarah a londoner in Brazil for a midlife crisis and we all had fun doing different accents.
This morning, after saying farewell to our irish deathly drinking buddies, we put on our hiking shoes...for the first time....and headed along the coast. We waked to the abandoned ruins of the old pirate prison the headed up into the gorgeous humid rainforest following the river up the mountain. This place is what dreams are made of :). Had a snooze and there's a BBQ tonight at the hostel with live reggae music which should be fun. Hopefully it'll stop raining soon. We're taking a boat trip to green lagoon tomorrow to go snorkling. If I can get to a computer when it's free i.ll put up the photos.
The next morning myself and Liz were picked up by taxi, in the pouring rain from the storm the night before. We said a sad goodbye to all our new friends and took the taxi down the coast. We were joined by an irish couple on the last leg of their travels and then we made it to the little sea side village. We walked along the slippery board walk with our big bags onto a rickety wooden boat. The boat took us (in the wind and rain...seasick) to Ilha grande.
The island is originally a pirate island. You can tell, we're in a tiny village with little beaches all along this ride of the island with little fishing boats and water taxis. The village has lots of little hostels and restaurants along it's car free streets. It hasnt stopped raining since we got here. Last night we had to wade a river with our bags to reach the hostel at high tide! We're in a lovely big dorm with a balcony overlooking the bay.
On the first night we were with three Irish guys - Eoin, Shane and Finnine (no joke!). We all went to the creperie and had lethally sugary food, then headed along the beach to a bar to drown in Caiprinhas. We learnt a little gaelic and met Sarah a londoner in Brazil for a midlife crisis and we all had fun doing different accents.
This morning, after saying farewell to our irish deathly drinking buddies, we put on our hiking shoes...for the first time....and headed along the coast. We waked to the abandoned ruins of the old pirate prison the headed up into the gorgeous humid rainforest following the river up the mountain. This place is what dreams are made of :). Had a snooze and there's a BBQ tonight at the hostel with live reggae music which should be fun. Hopefully it'll stop raining soon. We're taking a boat trip to green lagoon tomorrow to go snorkling. If I can get to a computer when it's free i.ll put up the photos.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Monday, 12 July 2010
Jumping off cliffs, Samba, more Caiprinhas and football
Saturday morning was lovely, our friends who are staying at the hostel didn't have to work as it was the weekend and we enjoyed a slow breakfast sat with everyone. After a lovely lazy morning we managed to persuade Sidney (Eeyore) and Israel to join us on the beach. This then ended up being the one cold day we've had in Rio and Eeyore blamed it on the fact that he was there!
After the beach we all came back to the hostel and met some more people,one swedish guy and a Danish couple with a veryy cute baby. We all went to the supermarket together and had a massive shop buying stuff to cook together. Israel (Mexican) was nominated as our resident chef and cooked us all Mexican food. We had home made salsa, guacamole, chilli, and tortillas. We toasted the tortillas and filled them with cheese and meat and all the homemade food. It was lush, but we were all stuffed and starting on the caiprinhas. Liz managed two diluted caiprinhas before she was completely out of it. We started to learn some Samba, we were taught by some of the really lovely people who work here and we soon relaxed. Mexican dancing and Samba, both seem to consist mainly of wiggling! It was so much fun. Bruno and some of the other guys from the hostel got tambourines and drums out and started playing and singing for us all to dance to. We had had a jam session earlier in the day with the guitar and bongos and did a rendition of 7 Nation Army, with a Mexican accent - which resulted in some strange looks from some people.
After escorting Liz to bed early and everyone crashing quite late we had a very slow day on Sunday.. adjusting to being awake again. In the afternoon, myself and Liz joined thousands of other people on Copacabana beach to watch the world cup. We all packed into the fifa fan fest stadium on the beach. everyone was supporting Espana... it was far too tense! But in Extra time the beach exploded, the atmospher was amazing, and even better than last time because this time we won!
Today we woke up nice and early and went to the bank to get lots of money for our trip and were then picked up by taxi and driven to the far side of the city, past the Rochina favela. We met our instructors and then drove up through the beautiful Tijuca national park to the ramp. After waiting for 1 hour for the wind to be in the right direction and enjoying the view we were ready to go. We had one practice of running along the ramp and then we were strapped into harnesses, attached the glider and told 1,2,3....
We ran off the edge of the ramp and before your feet reach the edge, you're flying. Once your stomach goes back to where it belongs and your heart is out of your throat, it is amazing! You are up in the sky in the thermal with the birds circling up with you. You can see the mountains and the beach and the jungle and favelas and it's beautiful. Definately worth it, Im tempted to try sky diving, the adrenaline rush is amazing! I loved it.
The sun is back to it's normal baking self so we're off to the beach now. Hopefully put up photos from hanggliding when I have a computer with a CD drive, the photos from the samba party are up on facebook.
Samba and Santa Theresa photos
After the beach we all came back to the hostel and met some more people,one swedish guy and a Danish couple with a veryy cute baby. We all went to the supermarket together and had a massive shop buying stuff to cook together. Israel (Mexican) was nominated as our resident chef and cooked us all Mexican food. We had home made salsa, guacamole, chilli, and tortillas. We toasted the tortillas and filled them with cheese and meat and all the homemade food. It was lush, but we were all stuffed and starting on the caiprinhas. Liz managed two diluted caiprinhas before she was completely out of it. We started to learn some Samba, we were taught by some of the really lovely people who work here and we soon relaxed. Mexican dancing and Samba, both seem to consist mainly of wiggling! It was so much fun. Bruno and some of the other guys from the hostel got tambourines and drums out and started playing and singing for us all to dance to. We had had a jam session earlier in the day with the guitar and bongos and did a rendition of 7 Nation Army, with a Mexican accent - which resulted in some strange looks from some people.
After escorting Liz to bed early and everyone crashing quite late we had a very slow day on Sunday.. adjusting to being awake again. In the afternoon, myself and Liz joined thousands of other people on Copacabana beach to watch the world cup. We all packed into the fifa fan fest stadium on the beach. everyone was supporting Espana... it was far too tense! But in Extra time the beach exploded, the atmospher was amazing, and even better than last time because this time we won!
Today we woke up nice and early and went to the bank to get lots of money for our trip and were then picked up by taxi and driven to the far side of the city, past the Rochina favela. We met our instructors and then drove up through the beautiful Tijuca national park to the ramp. After waiting for 1 hour for the wind to be in the right direction and enjoying the view we were ready to go. We had one practice of running along the ramp and then we were strapped into harnesses, attached the glider and told 1,2,3....
We ran off the edge of the ramp and before your feet reach the edge, you're flying. Once your stomach goes back to where it belongs and your heart is out of your throat, it is amazing! You are up in the sky in the thermal with the birds circling up with you. You can see the mountains and the beach and the jungle and favelas and it's beautiful. Definately worth it, Im tempted to try sky diving, the adrenaline rush is amazing! I loved it.
The sun is back to it's normal baking self so we're off to the beach now. Hopefully put up photos from hanggliding when I have a computer with a CD drive, the photos from the samba party are up on facebook.
Samba and Santa Theresa photos
Friday, 9 July 2010
oh and...
photos are up on facebook, unedited and not labelled or tagged as limited time. Just to give you a taste....
A taste of Rio!
A taste of Rio!
A city full of life...
The last few days have been very relaxing. A few days on the beach sunning ourselves, exploring the town by foot, going shopping and we also had a sneaky watch of the new Eclipse film!
The copacabana beach and Ipanema beach and all connected in a long stretch of blue sea and palms. The current here is so stong is quite intimidating, we haven't swam yet.. partly because of Liz's streams of facts about shark attacks in Rio! All along the beaches are beautiful tiled stretches of pathway, they have two different patterns. The famous pattern all along the copacabana is supposed to represent the waves on the sand, it's very beautiful. As with all streets in Rio they are tiled... Very unstable! - but very beautiful.
I still cannot get over how much colour there is in this city. Everyone seems alive and full of passion. On Tuesday we walked up through Botofogo and up to Jardim Botanico, there is a large botanical garden which has lots of huge beautiful trees and plants and we enjoyed getting lost for a bit, this is all hidden in the mass of this big city. We saw; huge ants with leafs, gross bugs, hummingbirds, and parrots!
On Wednesday we went to see Eclipse with Portugese subtitles, and the Brazilian's get just as excited about it as we do! Yesterday we went to the beach in the morning and then walked back through Ipanema to the Museo de Indio which has exhibits all about the lives of the indiginous people from around this area. Again, so much colour, something we seemed to have missed out on in England. However one thing is in this city there is so much traffic, the roads are huge and busy and driving is rather erratic. You are never far from a big road which can be exhausting and make you feel a little as if you're walking along the M25.
We have all developed an addiction to the reems of fresh fruit that we have around here, mangos, pineapple, passion fruit, watermelon, strawberries, acai and guarana. Though I have found a shop that sells Earl Grey tea bags.... well you can take the girl out of England, but not England out of the girl!
Today we walked around the cost from Botafogo to centro and then caught va lovely rickety tram (it's free if you hang off the sides and dont sit inside!) up the hill to Santa Theresa, which is underneath Jesus :) It is full of pretty architecture and has a much calmer Portugese feel to it than the busy latin feel of the city. We met some interesting people, we seem like a comodity here, we were stopped by local boys to take photos with because we're white girls! We had the same when we went to Maracana, we were stopped by schooil children and giggled at because we're English!
At home at the hostel..'home' is definately the word. It's lovely here, music, sofas, friends! We have met some lovely people here and most nights consist of dinner, drinks and late night chats about everything. From how our countries differ, to learning songs in other languages, the best dance clubs, how to insult people in other languages and whether love is real! Our conversations seem to get more deep the later it is and the more Caiprinhas have been drank!
All in all having a lovely time, getting a little tanned (I know!) and enjoying the experience wholly! Hope everyone is ok at home!
The copacabana beach and Ipanema beach and all connected in a long stretch of blue sea and palms. The current here is so stong is quite intimidating, we haven't swam yet.. partly because of Liz's streams of facts about shark attacks in Rio! All along the beaches are beautiful tiled stretches of pathway, they have two different patterns. The famous pattern all along the copacabana is supposed to represent the waves on the sand, it's very beautiful. As with all streets in Rio they are tiled... Very unstable! - but very beautiful.
I still cannot get over how much colour there is in this city. Everyone seems alive and full of passion. On Tuesday we walked up through Botofogo and up to Jardim Botanico, there is a large botanical garden which has lots of huge beautiful trees and plants and we enjoyed getting lost for a bit, this is all hidden in the mass of this big city. We saw; huge ants with leafs, gross bugs, hummingbirds, and parrots!
On Wednesday we went to see Eclipse with Portugese subtitles, and the Brazilian's get just as excited about it as we do! Yesterday we went to the beach in the morning and then walked back through Ipanema to the Museo de Indio which has exhibits all about the lives of the indiginous people from around this area. Again, so much colour, something we seemed to have missed out on in England. However one thing is in this city there is so much traffic, the roads are huge and busy and driving is rather erratic. You are never far from a big road which can be exhausting and make you feel a little as if you're walking along the M25.
We have all developed an addiction to the reems of fresh fruit that we have around here, mangos, pineapple, passion fruit, watermelon, strawberries, acai and guarana. Though I have found a shop that sells Earl Grey tea bags.... well you can take the girl out of England, but not England out of the girl!
Today we walked around the cost from Botafogo to centro and then caught va lovely rickety tram (it's free if you hang off the sides and dont sit inside!) up the hill to Santa Theresa, which is underneath Jesus :) It is full of pretty architecture and has a much calmer Portugese feel to it than the busy latin feel of the city. We met some interesting people, we seem like a comodity here, we were stopped by local boys to take photos with because we're white girls! We had the same when we went to Maracana, we were stopped by schooil children and giggled at because we're English!
At home at the hostel..'home' is definately the word. It's lovely here, music, sofas, friends! We have met some lovely people here and most nights consist of dinner, drinks and late night chats about everything. From how our countries differ, to learning songs in other languages, the best dance clubs, how to insult people in other languages and whether love is real! Our conversations seem to get more deep the later it is and the more Caiprinhas have been drank!
All in all having a lovely time, getting a little tanned (I know!) and enjoying the experience wholly! Hope everyone is ok at home!
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Caiprinhas, sun, samba and sights
the past few days have been incredible, and mainly because we're staying in a hostel. We have met a lot of interesting people and have had fun attempting to cross language barriers in inventive ways. We have met; Mexicans, Columbians, Argentinians, Brazilians, Germans and a girl from Easter Island!
On friday we went for a walk around the beaches at Copacabana and Ipanema, they are very long is exhausting in the heat, but the atmosphere is amazing and the scenery is stunning! We stayed up and were made Caiprinhas by our friendly Carioca hostel staff. They consist of, ice, lime, sugar and ridiculous amounts of Cachaça' they're lethal.
The next day we went to go and get lissie and she had a bit of a shock as not long after arriving, and still having no sleep she was introduced to Caiprinhas and invited to Samba. We also tried chocolate and cheese pizza - mistake!
So Saturday night we went out with a big group, so we didn't feel too much like Gringos! We went to Lapa which is supposed to be the best place to go out and our friends taught us a little samba and we had the Brazilian beer again, Brahma! Lapa is amazing....in all aspects of life Cariocas find joy and passion. One road had bars all down it with different music in each, people spilled out onto the road and danced and drank in the street. Everyone is alive here!
On Sunday....after our manic night, we had a lazy day. We woke up and headed to Ipanema and explored the hippy market with all the local tradesmen having stalls and then lay on the beach. Then we decide to walk all the way home which takes forever. And you get a lot of attention being white girls, people just stare! Also on the beach Liz had coco juice, the pull off a coconut, crack it open and stick a straw in, it's very sweet and refreshing but there's a lot of it!
Yesterday we did the touristy thing and booked a tour, which was definately worth it! We took a bus up to Christ the Redeemer, you go up through jungle past the favelas on the hill and up to a platform where you take a lift up to the top. He is huge, but not as big as I imagined, you can see him from nearly everywhere in the city. The views from up there were amazing!
Next we went to the Maracana, the 2nd biggest football stadium in the world, and there and lots of footprints with plaques outside, some we recognised some we dont. Then onto a big cathedral, designed by the same architect who designed Brasilia... Outside it looks like a big concrete pyramid...like a tomb. But inside the stained glass is beautiful!
Then as it was starting to get dark we headed to sugar loaf. As we reached the top of the second peak the sun started to set over the mountains. The view from up there is breathtaking. I felt lucky to be alive yesterday. As we were heading back down in the cable car the lights of the city all came on and sparkled across the water. It truly is beautiful here, i'll try and get pictures on soon :)
On friday we went for a walk around the beaches at Copacabana and Ipanema, they are very long is exhausting in the heat, but the atmosphere is amazing and the scenery is stunning! We stayed up and were made Caiprinhas by our friendly Carioca hostel staff. They consist of, ice, lime, sugar and ridiculous amounts of Cachaça' they're lethal.
The next day we went to go and get lissie and she had a bit of a shock as not long after arriving, and still having no sleep she was introduced to Caiprinhas and invited to Samba. We also tried chocolate and cheese pizza - mistake!
So Saturday night we went out with a big group, so we didn't feel too much like Gringos! We went to Lapa which is supposed to be the best place to go out and our friends taught us a little samba and we had the Brazilian beer again, Brahma! Lapa is amazing....in all aspects of life Cariocas find joy and passion. One road had bars all down it with different music in each, people spilled out onto the road and danced and drank in the street. Everyone is alive here!
On Sunday....after our manic night, we had a lazy day. We woke up and headed to Ipanema and explored the hippy market with all the local tradesmen having stalls and then lay on the beach. Then we decide to walk all the way home which takes forever. And you get a lot of attention being white girls, people just stare! Also on the beach Liz had coco juice, the pull off a coconut, crack it open and stick a straw in, it's very sweet and refreshing but there's a lot of it!
Yesterday we did the touristy thing and booked a tour, which was definately worth it! We took a bus up to Christ the Redeemer, you go up through jungle past the favelas on the hill and up to a platform where you take a lift up to the top. He is huge, but not as big as I imagined, you can see him from nearly everywhere in the city. The views from up there were amazing!
Next we went to the Maracana, the 2nd biggest football stadium in the world, and there and lots of footprints with plaques outside, some we recognised some we dont. Then onto a big cathedral, designed by the same architect who designed Brasilia... Outside it looks like a big concrete pyramid...like a tomb. But inside the stained glass is beautiful!
Then as it was starting to get dark we headed to sugar loaf. As we reached the top of the second peak the sun started to set over the mountains. The view from up there is breathtaking. I felt lucky to be alive yesterday. As we were heading back down in the cable car the lights of the city all came on and sparkled across the water. It truly is beautiful here, i'll try and get pictures on soon :)
Friday, 2 July 2010
today has been lovely and sunny :) we woke up nice and early as we're still adjusting to the time. Last night we went for a late night shop to get some clothes to replace liz's absent bag.
We went for breakfast in a little shop and brought strange bread and pastries that we didnt recognise and then walked to the beach.
Half way there we asked someone for directions....everyone is very friendly here! He told us not to go under the bridge as it's by a favela and theres lots of guns and we should get a taxi. As soon as we got in a taxi we heard gunshots which was a bit of a shock!
On the copacabana beach were around 20thousand people decked out in green and yellow and crowding into a fenced area. We joined them infront of a huge screen and had Guarana drinks and portugese beer. We watched a very tense game but the atmosphere was incredible...especially when we scored!
There was also live music, samba, show girls and an air display.
We belatedly made our way back...!constantly being asked if we're from Holland! We had a lovely veggie lunch and bought lots of fruit from the supermercado.... Some we recognise some we dont :)
After tea tonight we're going to attempt to find a bar and meet some new people. And maybe cool off our sunburn :)
We went for breakfast in a little shop and brought strange bread and pastries that we didnt recognise and then walked to the beach.
Half way there we asked someone for directions....everyone is very friendly here! He told us not to go under the bridge as it's by a favela and theres lots of guns and we should get a taxi. As soon as we got in a taxi we heard gunshots which was a bit of a shock!
On the copacabana beach were around 20thousand people decked out in green and yellow and crowding into a fenced area. We joined them infront of a huge screen and had Guarana drinks and portugese beer. We watched a very tense game but the atmosphere was incredible...especially when we scored!
There was also live music, samba, show girls and an air display.
We belatedly made our way back...!constantly being asked if we're from Holland! We had a lovely veggie lunch and bought lots of fruit from the supermercado.... Some we recognise some we dont :)
After tea tonight we're going to attempt to find a bar and meet some new people. And maybe cool off our sunburn :)
Thursday, 1 July 2010
I'm here...
After a delayed flight from Houston....27 hours after leaving I arrived in Rio. Met Liz....who is still as yet bagless and headed onto the nearest bus. We befriended a local who used to live in london and directed us to our hostel.
It's very colourful and friendly though i wish i spoke portugese because no one speaks English. We went for a wonder round the city...saw monkeys and Christ the redeemer from our road :) there are lots of wierd things to buy here.
We've had guarana fizzy stuff which seems popular here and are now trying 'Corote' which is strong alcohol made from fermented sugar cane. It feels very surreal being here but lots to do to distract me from missing home :) ....photos to come...
It's very colourful and friendly though i wish i spoke portugese because no one speaks English. We went for a wonder round the city...saw monkeys and Christ the redeemer from our road :) there are lots of wierd things to buy here.
We've had guarana fizzy stuff which seems popular here and are now trying 'Corote' which is strong alcohol made from fermented sugar cane. It feels very surreal being here but lots to do to distract me from missing home :) ....photos to come...
Monday, 28 June 2010
Packing....
This is my entire life for the next 7 weeks :)
Clothes, Bikinis, Sleeping bag liner, Steri pen, Med kit, Travel towel, books, camera, coat, hiking shoes, sensible sandals, sunglasses, suncream...... MASSIVE RUCKSACK!
Hopefully I haven't forgotten anything, but of course I will have. But I hear they have shops in Brazil :P so it should all be fine. Hopefully it's not so heavy that it'll break my back though, only one way to find out!
Leaving to drive up to London tomorrow afternoon, then my flight leaves before lunch on Wednesday.... flying for a whole day and arriving in Rio Thursday morning... LONG! :)
Here we go!
Sunday, 27 June 2010
Bon voyage!
It's the Sunday before I leave, I have 2 days to go and I haven't packed and don't feel ready at all.
But apparently, I'm going to be fine and have a good time and not get killed.
Fingers crossed eh?
You can follow all the goings on from my travels round Brazil and Peru on here, I will try and keep it updated when I can and will try and put photos either on here or on my facebook page!
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