The trip to Foz do Iguaçu was rather irritating. There were no tickets from Rio to it and we were forced to take a bus back to São Paulo then wait at the bus station for another bus to Iguaçu. We basically spent an extra day doing nothing but staying in bus stations waiting for buses and then finally went on the 20 hour trip.
The Pluma bus was really uncomfortable as far as Brazilian buses went, (still more comfortable than the SAA flight) and we eventually arrived at Iguaçu at 6am, 2 hours ahead of schedule. We quickly found our hostel, this place was much cheaper than Rio and it has a swimming pool, communal kitchen, hot showers and power plugs in our rooms and above all else, free internet! A big thing considering we were paying R25/hour in Rio.
We checked in and went straight to the famous Iguaçu falls from the Brazilian side. It is a series of waterfalls around the area and while it was beautiful and I'm glad to be there. It failed to install a sense of awe in me. I spent a lot of time taking photo's of the falls and enjoyed the outing and all.
We met a Brit named Simon while at the falls and we decided to have a braai back at the res and brought meat, lots of beers back to the hostel. That night Justin decided to go on a rampage and got hideously drunk with Simon. I woke up and found his bed empty and eventually found him on a hammock outside. Plans to leave this morning was abandoned because he refused to leave from where he was.
Guess we will be leaving for Buenos Aires tomorrow afternoon (29th March), another 20 hour bus trip. I'm breathing a sigh of relieve as Brazil has been really expensive and at this rate we will be running out of money before we even reached Peru!
Saturday, March 29, 2008
Rio de Janeiro
The bus trip to Rio only took 6 hours. The bus was full thanks to the Easter Weekend coming and we either have to leave that day or only after the weekend.
Arrived at the bus station around 11pm and was able to book a room at Rio Backpackers (in Copacabana!) at one of the bus stops en route. The Lonely Planet guide to South America (henceforth will be known as "The Book") describes the Rio bus station a "in a seedy area" and really it was not kidding. We dropped any ideas of taking the bus to the hostel quickly and took a taxi instead.
Rio was lots of fun. The 1st two days was perfect weather and we spent day 1 on the beach enjoying the sun, warm water, and really skimpy bikini's that truly left little to the imaginations. The guys wore speedo's almost exclusively and really disturbed me. Justin got his day bag and casual shoes stolen by the beach and we were both badly sun burnt due to the lack of sunscreen.
The hostel was expensive considering the rooms were really small and no real facilities to speak of. But the residents were great and were completely over-ran with Swedish girls. :P In fact nine Swedes were with us and only one guy. But the most interesting people were probably the two crazy eccentric and highly energetic Finnish girls. Most people in the hostel seem to have been on the road for a while considering except for two or three others most of them have been on the road for more than three months. Dean (British working at the hostel as a bartender) has been in the continent for well over 18 months.
I phoned Rodrigo from the flight and he was nice enough to take Justin and me on a trip around the city in his new Volvo C30 (a big deal considering that there is a distinct lack of luxury cars in Brazil) and he strongly recommended a fruit juice/ice-cream made from "Acai" a native fruit exclusive to Brazil. He also showed us the night skyline of the "Favelas" (equivalent to the SA informal settlements) and told us that the flickering lights we see were signals to tell people where they could buy drugs from.
Overall I was really sad to leave Rio, the hostel had a great atmosphere and it felt like a non-stop party. But it was also probably the most expensive city to stay and after 5 nights it really was time to leave.
Arrived at the bus station around 11pm and was able to book a room at Rio Backpackers (in Copacabana!) at one of the bus stops en route. The Lonely Planet guide to South America (henceforth will be known as "The Book") describes the Rio bus station a "in a seedy area" and really it was not kidding. We dropped any ideas of taking the bus to the hostel quickly and took a taxi instead.
Rio was lots of fun. The 1st two days was perfect weather and we spent day 1 on the beach enjoying the sun, warm water, and really skimpy bikini's that truly left little to the imaginations. The guys wore speedo's almost exclusively and really disturbed me. Justin got his day bag and casual shoes stolen by the beach and we were both badly sun burnt due to the lack of sunscreen.
The hostel was expensive considering the rooms were really small and no real facilities to speak of. But the residents were great and were completely over-ran with Swedish girls. :P In fact nine Swedes were with us and only one guy. But the most interesting people were probably the two crazy eccentric and highly energetic Finnish girls. Most people in the hostel seem to have been on the road for a while considering except for two or three others most of them have been on the road for more than three months. Dean (British working at the hostel as a bartender) has been in the continent for well over 18 months.
I phoned Rodrigo from the flight and he was nice enough to take Justin and me on a trip around the city in his new Volvo C30 (a big deal considering that there is a distinct lack of luxury cars in Brazil) and he strongly recommended a fruit juice/ice-cream made from "Acai" a native fruit exclusive to Brazil. He also showed us the night skyline of the "Favelas" (equivalent to the SA informal settlements) and told us that the flickering lights we see were signals to tell people where they could buy drugs from.
Overall I was really sad to leave Rio, the hostel had a great atmosphere and it felt like a non-stop party. But it was also probably the most expensive city to stay and after 5 nights it really was time to leave.
Friday, March 28, 2008
Flight to Brazil and São Paulo
The flight to São Paulo was pretty uncomfortable, the plane is easily the oldest plane I've flown in and there was no leg room considering that my knee caps was right against the seat in front of me, luckily since there was no inflight entertainment I slept through the entire flight.
I sat next to a Brazilian named Rodrigo on the flight, he was in Cape Town to learn English and I later found out that we were hiking up Lions Head at the same time the day before the flight. I got to know a bit about Brazil from Rodrigo and was fairly worried that he found everything in South Africa to be very cheap!
São Paulo was pretty uninteresting as a tourist location, I spent much time going around the Japanese Quarters (São Paulo boasts largest Japanese population out of Japan) and I felt as if I'm in a Asian city again. I spent the night and next morning moved to the São Paulo hostel where I stayed waiting for Justin to arrive from Heathrow. I loved the architecture in São Paulo and took over 100 pictures on my first day.
Prices here are really expensive, thanks again to high taxes and the collapsing Rand exchange rate.
Justin arrived the next day and I was a already tired of the city and as soon as he took a shower and freshened up from 40 hour flight, we went to the bus terminal and left for Rio de Jenairo.
I sat next to a Brazilian named Rodrigo on the flight, he was in Cape Town to learn English and I later found out that we were hiking up Lions Head at the same time the day before the flight. I got to know a bit about Brazil from Rodrigo and was fairly worried that he found everything in South Africa to be very cheap!
São Paulo was pretty uninteresting as a tourist location, I spent much time going around the Japanese Quarters (São Paulo boasts largest Japanese population out of Japan) and I felt as if I'm in a Asian city again. I spent the night and next morning moved to the São Paulo hostel where I stayed waiting for Justin to arrive from Heathrow. I loved the architecture in São Paulo and took over 100 pictures on my first day.
Prices here are really expensive, thanks again to high taxes and the collapsing Rand exchange rate.
Justin arrived the next day and I was a already tired of the city and as soon as he took a shower and freshened up from 40 hour flight, we went to the bus terminal and left for Rio de Jenairo.
1st Travel Notes
Mostly due to Alapan's encouragement, I finally decided to actually write a blog about my travels. Since I'm more a paper and hard copy type of guy as far as these things are concerned. This blog should be relatively short and sweet (something I don't do well)
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