Brazil and beyond

3 - Buenos Aires

2006-10-08T20:21:35+02:00

2 - Rest of Brazil

2006-09-24T18:39:56+02:00

We left Rio early on Friday 8th Sept and typically it was a gorgeous sunny day!

We had a twenty something hour bus journey to a place called Campo Grande. When I say bus journey they are actually quite comfortable coaches with seats that go back quite far and it stops regularly for breaks so it's not as bad as it sounds.

Campo Grande is the gateway to the Pantanal, the wetlands of West Brazil that are half the size of France. From here it was another 5 hours on the bus and then about 45 mins in the back of a truck, deep into the Pantanal. There were 7 of us in the truck. It was dark. We arrived at the farm and were taken to the barn that we were staying in, a load of bunk beds with dingy old matresses - but clean sheets. The men's bathroom was inside and the ladies for some reason was outside.
I made Andrew come with me to the loo just in case of any spiders or snakes.
I lifted the toilet lid and two little white frogs were sitting there, they scared th life out of me.
I screamed and ran out like a girl!
Went back to the room and used the men's.
Then I was about to get into my bed, the top bunk and saw another frog climbing up the wall by my bed. I stifled a scream! I told Andrew, who laughed and said it would be fine..........then it dropped off the wall.......another stifled scream!
For a few seconds I thought to myself - can I do this, am I the hardened backpacker I was 7 years ago?? I pulled myself together and got into bed (after Andrew had checked it for frogs)into my sleeping back zipped up with the hood tightly wrapped around me with enough of a gap to breathe! I didn't move all night and was roasting hot!!

Anyway we woke up to the most fantastic noises of howler monkeys and all sorts of birds letting us know it was morning, this was followed by yummy homemade banana cake for breakfast. What a way to start the day! All thoughts of scary frogs had gone.

The next few days were spent wild life spotting. We walked, went out in the back of the van, went horse riding and out in a boat. It was amazing seeing so many creatures in their natural environment. We saw Hyacinth Macaws, tucans, storks, hawks, ibis, woodpeckers, monkeys, otters, lots of caiman (small crocodile things), an ant-eater, armadillos and capybara (the world's largest rodent) sadly no pumas or anacondas!

We went piranha fishing, in a small tin boat and ate them for lunch the next day. I only caught one but that was with the help of our guide Tiargo who looks like Ronaldahino!

The farm was run by a family who were really lovely and looked after us all so well. We were well fed and on the second evening we were filled up with caipirihas which is the drink of Brazil and consists of rum, lime and lots of sugar - it certainly made me sleep better!

After the Pantanal Andrew and I went to a small town called Bonito where we spent a morning snorkelling down a beautiful crystal clear river full of fish - Rio de Plata (Silver River). There were two Brazilian blokes with us, luckily one was half American so he could translate what the guide was saying.

In the afternoon we all went to a sort of natural whole in the ground, surround by 100 metre cliffs. There are lots of red and green macaws that nest in the sides and at the bottom is a small lake where there are 2 caimans who keep having babies, then chase them off to go and live their own lives but as there is nowhere to go they go back to their parents who eat them!

Portuguese is the language of Brazil, we learnt a few words and managed to get by but couldn't get the hang of asking for the bill, you have to say something along the lines of ´a koonta'....!!

We then had another overnight bus journey to Foz Du Iguacu. The town which leads to the almighty Iguacu Falls.
But first Andrew took me to see Itaipu Dam. It's the biggest dam in the world and is on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, providing 95% of Paraguay's electicity and 25% of Brazil's.
It was impressive although it was pouring with rain. Being an electrician Andrew enjoyed it and the whole tour was free so he enjoyed it even more!

The next day we went Iguacu Falls. They are spectacular (Andrew says I use the word amazing too much).
They are made up of two hundred and something falls. From the Brazillian side you get a good panoramic view of the falls.
We tried not to take too many photos but you can't help it! The main one is the Devil's Throat, it's huge and the sound is so thunderous.
There's a platform that goes out so you can get a good view, we timed it wrong though and got there the same time as a Brazilian school trip (who all started hugging each other - I tried to get Andrew to jump in and hug some people but he wouldn't!) and of course a group of Japanese tourists so there was a but of a struggle for the money shot of the falls.

That afternoon we got on a bus to the border and crossed into Argentina. It was quite sad to leave Brazil, we'd really enjoyed our time there.

The following day was spent exploring the Argentinian side of the falls, where you can get a lot closer. You walk along a bridge over the river leading up to the top of the Devil's Throat, as you get closer it gets louder and louder then suddenly you're there on top of it.
It was so breath-taking looking down into the mist of an 80m drop We got absolutely soaked from the spray! Luckily it was a sunny day so didn't take long to dry out.

We spent the whole day there s you see a lot more falls from this side.
That night we went out for something to eat with some english people we met. Argentina is so cheap. We ended up at an all you can eat buffet place which was quite posh and had some lovely food; veggies, steak, cheesey potatoes and loads of deserts which, with some nice wine, cost us about a fiver each! It was far too posh for us backpackers!

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1 - Rio

2006-09-24T17:10:59+02:00

Rio de Janeiro

Friday 1st Sept 06, we left England for our trip around Latin America.
We spent the first 2 days in Canada where Andrew has some family then flew to Brazil for some sun, sand and surf to kick start our trip.......or so we thought.
We flew into Sao Paulo, the world's 2nd or 3rd largest city. It's huge. As we came into land even from quite high up, all we could see was building after building, block after block. As far as the eye could see was Sao Paulo, a concrete carpet. Even though it was ugly, it was quite spectacular.

Anyway as well as being big, Sao Paulo was also freezing cold. We were only there for one night and after a long over night flight and plenty of stories of how dangerous Sao Paulo is we were tucked up in bed by 6pm with sleeping bags, sheets and blankets trying to get warm!

The next day we had a 6 hour coach journey to Rio de Janerio and hopefully some sun.
But Andrew's images of Brazilian beauties in skimpy thong bikinis prancing around Copacabana beach were sadly not to be - it was the coldest day in 20 years! Instead he was stuck with me in my jeans, walking boots and fleece!

Rio is a brilliant city. Cariocas (people from Rio) are friendly, fun and like to party. We were only there for 3 days, but managed to get the main sites in and the sun came out for a bit. We climbed up a small mountain called Pedra Bonito for some amazing views of Rio.
We went to the top of Corcovado where there is the looming statue of Cristo Redentor (Christ Redeemer) which overlooks the city with his outstretched arms. More amazing views of Rio and Sugar Loaf Mountain.
There's a joke that Carioca's don't like to work and the Cristo's arms are open about to clap so that they can start work.

Lots of people had told me they'd been mugged when they were in Rio, but luckily we weren't. We stayed in Ipanema which is a really lovely part of Rio and safe. The beach is lovely, it was a shame we couldn't see it in full swing on a hot sunny day.

One night we went to watch a football match at the Maracana football stadium which I think is one of the biggest staduims in the world. We watched two local teams play, Botofogo and Fluminesa.
We did it on an organised tour from our hostel and had been told that we'd probably be sitting in the separate seats for tourists but as it wasn't a huge game we were right in with all the Botofogo fans!!
It was excellent, the Brazilians are very passionate about their football. They were singing and dancing all the way through, cheering when they had the ball, booing when they didn't. They scored and the place went mad - flares and fire crackers going off!
All the way through the game there were people coming round selling t-shirts, hats etc and beers so you didn't have to wait for half time! They were also selling ice-cream and popcorn but sadly no pies, Andrew said it wasn't quite the same without an 'alf time pie!

Here's a photo of me with my new Botofogo hat on!

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