BRAZIL AND FOZ DE IGUAZU, ARGENTINA

10 February 2008
Sao Paolo

It is our last day in Brazil and we are due to fly to Ecuador tomorrow. We have just received bad news that my mother-in-law has taken very ill. We have decided to fly back to England. Henry is currently helping us get flight tickets.

9 Feb 2008

Today was the 59th wedding anniversary of Henry’s grandparents. We indulged in the best Brazilian food we had tried and the desserts absolutely mouthwatering at the celebrations. I got the recipe of the Walnut cake. Yumm. We spent 2 days enjoying the company, the steam sauna and the pool. Ribero Preto is famous for sugar cane and the beer Choppe. It is a pretty place and 3-4 hours drive from Sao Paolo.

8 Feb 2008

Henry picked us up at 6.30am - and had to go to work for 9. Poor Henry.
We had a fantastic lunch at Shismo, a Japanese sushi place - if you don´t know - Sao Paolo is famous for great Japanese food. We passed by Henry´s parents in the suburbs for dinner before driving to Riberao Preto.

5 February 2008
Foz de Iguazu, Argentina

Greetings from the Iguazu Falls on the Argentina-side!
Having lost days due to the closure of travel agencies because of the Carnival (everything is shut – and the Rio locals that we’ve met proudly say “we don’t work at Carnival”!), the only “leitos” bus from Rio to Puerto Iguazu in Argentina being full and the fact that we were so knackered after returning to our bed at 5AM from the Carnival parade, we decided last minute to catch a flight to Iguasu on the Brazil side via Curitiba – the German speaking ecological town in Brazil.We slept most of the way to Iguazu but managed to capture views of Curitiba. We had heard from Carolina – the German backpacker that we met in Ilha Grande, that Curitiba is one of the greenest cities in Brazil, very clean and the most ecological. Unfortunately, we did not have time to see for ourselves.
On arrival in Iguasu, Brazil we took a local bus heading to Centro (town centre). Although the tourist information had told us to take the bus all the way into town, we got off halfway as we heard 3 other backpackers say “this is the stop to get to the Argentina side”. We hopped off, crossed the road and now took a bus to the opposite direction marked “Puerto Iguazu”. It was a 5 minute bus ride to the border. We had to get off for our passport checks. The bus driver knew that we would be gone for about 5 minutes. While we were heading to the immigration office, the bus drove off. How nice! We were stranded at the border for 35 minutes with a Polish couple – Lucas and Ana who were traveling around South America for 3 months. So the second bus arrived and we had to pay another bus fare. Thanks!
After spending nearly 2 weeks in Brasil, covering Rio de Janeiro (seeing the Sugar Loaf Mountain, the Giant Jesus Statue, the Copacabana and Ipanema beaches and other sights, experiencing the night life in Lapa andthe amazing Rio Carnival – What a spectacular experience!) and Ilha Grande (the Island - lovely beaches, many trekking opportunites - we did a 3 hour trek), we are now in the Iguassu Falls on the Argentinian side. The Iguassu falls is in a hugenational park (55,000 acers) which is on the borders of Brasil, Argentina and Paraguay. As we heard it is alot cheaper on the Argentinian side, we flew from Rio to Iguassu in Brasil and from here took a local bus tothe Argentinian side, we went through the border control and had to do all the immigration stuff with passports etc. Here in Argentina, things are so cheap compared to Brasil. It is almost half price. We thought Brasil was quite expensive, and it was more expensive on the Carnival days. The hotels and restaurants know they can charge whatever they want because the Carnival is such a Big event. Apparently0.5 million people come from abroad to attend the Carnival.Here in Argentina, we are staying in a hostel with a basic room with bunk beds, a smelly toilet and big lockers to keep out things. The hostel has a small swimming pool which is nice, a garden area with hammocks, a fire place, a small kitchen, an internet room and open spaces to sit. It seems there are a lotof backpackers here. The breakfast is slices of bread and butter, tea and coffee. Very simple.We arrived on the 5th Feb. The town Puerto Iguazu is small with spacious road, it is green and very peaceful and quite. Amit and I think this place reminds us of India. Big green gardens etc. The traffic is civilised (not like in Rio!) and the people are really pleasant and helpful and most of them speak some English. (In Rio a lot of people did not speak any English - even in the travel industry- quite surprising). The food is less salty and less sweet than the Brasilian food we had. Here in Argentina it is a lot of steaks! Big ones! Yesterday, we finally ventured out to the Iguassu Falls. We took a local bus at 7.45am to the Fallswhich took ca. 40 minutes. As we got there the park had already been open for about half an hour and loads of tourist were flogging in. We had booked at tour togo on a truck through 8 km of subtropical rain forest. Luckily we were the first batch, so it was not crowded. We drove through the forest which was nice, but our guide was so bad. She spoke so fast into a microphone and she keeping moving her mouth away,so we only heard every 3rd word. Then she forgot that we were an English -speaking group and it was all in Spanish. Oh well. The truck took us to a base in the jungle, from where we took steps down (200 m walk) to the river where a motor boat was waiting for us. We went on a very fast ride in the river and over rapids which was like going on a roller coaster - such good fun. As we approached the falls, we were told to put away our cameras and keep them safe in these water proof bags that they gave us. In a minute, we were heading straight into a waterfall, it was absolutely amazing. It was like having a very powerful shower or being in a car wash. The boat went so close to the falls that all the water came at such force and showered us completly. We were completely drenched. It was so much fun. Everyone on the boat were so happy and we were all screaming and laughing. Our boat then went into an even bigger waterfall and that was the Best experience. The boat went in twice. After the splash ride, we sailed around seeing all the major falls - there are 275 falls!. It is such a spectacular sight. It is waterfalls falling with such power, force, noise and the sun was shining and the rainbow was out. Just amazing. As the boat ride ended, we were left on part of a hill to dry. It was a really hot day so the sun was strong. After 15 minutes in the sun, we took another boat across to a small Island called San Martin. It had a mini beach - and you could do treks here. We went on a small trek around the island again through rain forest. We spotted black vultures, a huge black and white lizard, probably a bit more than 0.5 m long and quite fat and very colourful big butterflies. After the trek, we left the Island and went back to the other side to start all the walking trails in the National park of the Falls. From every view, the Falls were just so impressive.The most powerful experience was when we took a mini train towards the Garganta del Diablo = theDevil´s Throat. We had to cross from the top of the falls over a river to get to the Throat. When you get there, the waterfall looks like a giant mouth just throwing million of liters of water out down to the lower river. Here is the best view. You stand so close to it and you just get completely sprayed with all the water. We could look over to the order side, to the Brasilian side and see people enjoying the views from the Brasil side. Apparently, the views and experiences are best from the Argentina side as you get very closeto the falls. In Brasil, you only get a panoramic view. After spending 8 hours in the Iguassu Falls yesterday, we were so tired and just had a dip in the swimming pool (was so nice coz it was so hot) went for dinner, had a drink in a bar and then headed backour hostel. This morning we took it easy. Had our breakfast, packed and now we are in an internet cafe just under an hour before we go on our long bus journey.WE will arrive in Sao Paolo tomorrow at 5AM. We are visting my old Brasilian University friend Henry. Amit and I have not seen him since 1998.

4 Feb 08
Rio de Janeiro
The Rio Carnival yesterday was fabulous. We had allocated seats in Sector 4 which is towards the end of the Sambodromo parade ground. We turned up with our rain coats/poncho, some snacks and water. We stood on our seats most of the time dancing samba to the beats of each Samba school taking part in the parade. Each school takes about 50 minutes to walk from the beginning of the Sambodromo to the end of it. Every school had their own theme. One was the animal theme, another the life and death theme, another the football theme, etc etc. The costumes were awe inspiring, so colourful and detailed and enormous. The parade was so festive and lively.
A little explanation below of what the Sambodromo is: The Sambodromo (also known in English as Sambadrome or Sambodrome) is the "stadium" of samba. It consists ofthe parading Avenue (also called the samba run-way)and several concrete structures for the spectators (the so called sectors) along both sides of theAvenue. The Sambodromo was designed by Brazil's world-famous architect, the modernist Oscar Niemeyer. It was purpose-built for the Samba Parade and inaugurated in1984. Being made of concrete, it seems a bit dated for today’s post-modern eyes and feels derelict if not ugly, surrounded by slums, serving only little cultural events, during the year. However, it comes to life and is really magnificentand totally overpowering, being lit up with allspecial effects, on Samba Parade nights, filled withthousands of cheering spectators and surrounded by other thousands of people who did not get in. It can seat around 60,000 people, which is already far too few for the ever growing Rio Carnival Parade.However, it cannot be rebuilt not even extended since it is under protection.The Sambodromo begins at Avenida Presidente Vargas andends in Rua Frei Caneca. The large square at the end of it, crowned by an idiosyncratic and very memorable large concrete M, is called Apotheosis Square. The parading avenue or samba run-way was named afterProfessor Darcy Ribeiro since it was decided by him tomove the Samba Parade from the city center to here. Itis 700m (half a mile) long. There are snack bars, refreshment stands and restroomsin each Sambodromo sector. In addition, everybody has access to a promenade within the Sambodromo, behind the bleachers, which is lined with restaurants, ice-cream stands, souvenir shops and some more restrooms.The Sambodromo on Samba Parade days is considered to be the safest place in South America. There is a very high concentration of international celebrities, politicians and royalties among the crowd. It is surrounded by huge fences which no-one can pass without using the gates and being checked for safety reasons.

24 Jan - 1 Feb 08
Rio de Janeiro and Ilha Grande

Being jetlagged, it does not help that I got a very bad flu just before leaving England. I am still recovering and since it is our first real day in Rio we have not done anything but just taking it easy. We are going on a full day tour tomorrow to the Jesus Christ the Redeemer statue, the Sugar Loaf mountain by cable car and various beaches and monuments. Our hotel is just three blocks away from the Copacabana Beach and you canfind every shop around here, selling everything from coconut juice, to the famous Havailanas slippers (it used to be know as a poor persons shoes but now it is fashionable), to big clay piggy banks, to diaries and clothes. The water is rough today, so no beach time today. It is ´very pretty here. Today for lunch, we tried for the firsttime the concept of eating by the kilo. This means, you fill your plate with food from a buffet, take the plate for weighing and pay for the weight of the plate. Very interesting concept. Makes you conscious of how much food you put on your plate. This concept is the PER KILO restaurants.

Our time in Ilha Grande has been relaxing. Since it has been raining so much we make the most f the tinniest bit of sun. The beaches here are lovely. We have been hanging out with Mark and Max, Lars, Carolina, Robyn, Katz and Becky - all travellers that we met on the boat in coming from Angros dos Reis to Ilha Grande.

PACKING UP

22 Jan 08
Bedfordshire, England

It was strange saying "goodbye, see you in 6 months" to our colleagues, but what a feeling - off to see the world. We should probably have allowed more time to pack up our 4 years in the Docklands flat, saying our goodbyes to family and friends and organising the many last-minute things for our travels. What a hectic last week, and what a lot of things we had to do and did not manage to.
We are starting our 6 months journey through South America and Asia by catching a flight to Rio de Janeiro tomorrow morning at 7.25AM - that is in 9 hours!

This blog reflects my 6 months travel adventures with Amit through Brasil, Ecuador, Peru, Los Angeles, New Zealand, Australia, Nepal, Tibet, China, Mongolia and Hong Kong (that is what is planned anyway).