Belated Xmas Musings

It's always hard to drag yourself away from the daily delights of holidaying to sit down at a computer screen for half an hour to document your thoughts.  This, coupled with the invariably long queues to use the computers in the hostel, has meant that this blog is some week and a bit overdue.  In fact, I have written 2 entries in my notebook now that have to be written up...and I am just realising that there is a steady queue forming for using pcs so I may have to abandon this attempt too!

Since my last entry in Paraty, Ash and I have attempted (and succeeded) in completing our 'whistle-stop tour' of Brazil (well at least of one small stretch of the humongous country) before setting our sights on Argentina, where we are currently residing.

After an evening on caiprinhas, card games and a hearty stew courtesy of Justin (see...told you it'd get a mention!!) in Paraty, we embarked on a 20 hour journey to Campo Grande via Sao Paulo. Considering how unprepared we were for this epic journey (no tickets, little to no idea of when the buses actually left) things miraculously fell into place and soon we had arrived at Campo Grande ready to organise our 3 day tour of the Pantanal (the amazon basis where loads of cool wildlife apparently hang out).

We spent a day and night in C.G., which was cool as we got to see a bit of 'real' Brazil - a city that seemed more geared towards normal day-to-day life than tourism.  We were slightly disappointed, however, that we were unable to find one suitable eatery in the whole city; Brazilians seem obsessed with sweet bread and cheese, cake... and not much else.  I put my foot down when Ash suggested Macdonalds and instead suggested a road-side eatery, that turned out to the big mistake on account of the lashings and salt and cheese piled onto my hotdog. I seriously felt as though my mouth had been cured or something after eating - not pleasent!

The morning after we set off on the 4 hour drive to the Pantanal.  We were shown to our 'bedroom' (hammocks hanging in a wooden shack) and introduced to the rest of the group.  More cairprinhas were the order of the day (..when in Rome...) and we wiled away our first evening playing 'Tudo Bem' (a card game adapted in homage to the popular Brazilian saying).

The following day the planned activities started in earnest (breakfast at 5am!!) and were soon trekking through swamp-land and jungle, spotting macaws, howler monkeys, scores of tropical birds and more caiman (alligator types creatures) than you could shake a stick at.  Our guide was a survival expert and showed us loads of cool stuff, like trees whose sap helped relieve the itching from mosquito bites and nuts that could be used as soap.  The Pantanal seemed so much hotter and humid than anywhere else we'd been so far, so much so that the middle section of the day was good for nothing else than swinging on hammocks and sleeping.

The rest of the time in the Pantanel was spent trying to avoid caiman in the camp´s watering hole, fishing for pirannas (i actually managed to catch a fish which was rather exciting!), going on night safaris and more general wildlife spotting

After the Pantanal, we concluded our Brazilian trip with a visit to the spectacular Foz do Igazu (big waterfall to me and you).  Although I´d read how cool and awe-inspiring these falls were, nothing prepared me for how outstanding they really were.  The sheer power of nature you felt while viewing the panorama of falls was incredible and using the wooden walk ways to get up-close amplified this sensation further. It almost felt as though you were on a (really awesome) ride at a theme park with the power of the water and wind smashing into your body from every angle... very exhilaring indeed!

So...with the trip to Foz complete, our time in Brazil had come to an end, something that I felt sad about.  As a country, Brazil had taken me by surprise.  I was astonished about how friendly and willing to help the people were (despite our embarrassingly awful attempts at Portuguese).  I also couldn´t believe the diversity that the country has to offer.. even in the small fraction that we were lucky enough to visit.  No one place was the same and there were so many different landscapes, eco-systems and types of architecture to cater for anyone´s taste.  On the down side, I wouldn´t say I was too enamoured by the food (how much salt and cheese can one girl tolerate?) and I suppose it was quite dear, especially in Rio.  All things considered, though, a brilliant country and a good time had by all!

Greetings from Brazil

Almost a week in the trip now, so thought it was about time to update the old blog.  We’ve just arrived into Paraty, an old colonial town about 4 hours from Rio famed for its cobbled streets and white-wash buildings.  We’ve yet to look round the town as have prioritized the glamorous task of doing the laundry – I can’t believe how much we have managed to amass in just a week – it’ll be all that hiking we’ve been doing in the 30+ degree heat!

So, our trip started off a little further from the ideal due to a cancelled flight from Heathrow to Rio.  The first issue was the ´minor´ (or so we were told) problem with the plane’s hydraulic system – despite being herded onto the plane we were still waiting on-board for a good 3 hours until the problem had been diagnosed and the new part been ordered.  Would have been good to get away on time, but we weren’t too worried at this point – they’d turned on the in-flight entertainment so I happily relaxed into a viewing of ´Made in Dagenham´ and snacked on the freebies they were handing out.  The entertainment was interrupted for an announcement from the pilot, which we all thought would be news of our imminent departure – we should be so lucky!  Instead the call was to ask if there was a doctor of medicine on board; a young child had fallen and hit their head and assistance was needed.  Unfortunately, there mustn’t have been any knight in shining armor on-board, as the next call was to inform the now rather fidgety passengers that an ambulance had been called and we would have to wait for the injured´s luggage to be removed from the craft.  As you can imagine, the mood on board was not great and was only further exacerbated by the lack of a Portuguese speaking crew member on board. It all turned a little embarrassing for BA when a Brazilian passenger had to volunteer to translate over the tannoy.  Just when things couldn’t get any worse, a group of agitated passengers had decided enough was enough and demanded to be let off the aeroplane.  We were told that if this group persisted with their demands that we’d all have to wait for their bags to be taken off and their details taken etc.  The likely outcome of this would be that we wouldn’t be able to depart inside our allotted window, thus meaning the flight would be cancelled. What then ensued was a battle of wills and a debate that wouldn’t seem out of place in an A-Level RE Ethics lesson (greatest good .. and all that).  Despite pleas from the captain and fellow passengers, the splinter group still insisted on leaving, meaning we were off to the Ramada Jarvis for our first night, rather than the far more sunny and exotic climes of Rio de Janeiro.

After this fall at the first hurdle, things started to work out a bit better for us – we were able to cancel our hotel and rearrange our transfer. Our first ´real´ night was spent in Botofogo in Rio in a hostel/hotel.  We grabbed a few beers in the local before setting our heads down for an early start of Sugar Loaf touring and hostel relocation.  The next day, after ´cable-car´ing it up Rio´s most famous (or maybe joint most famous) peak, we moved to Ipanema, a more backpacker friendly part of town fully equipped with its own Louis Vuitton shop and everything.  The next 3 days were spent in the Ipanema Beach House meeting people and seeing the sites.  St Teresa, with its old rickety tram and bohemian atmosphere, was a highlight.  

I spent most of the initial time in Rio being massively paranoid of getting robbed, but, alas, all was fine and I started to relax into it all a lot more when we took a trip to Lapa for a night out.  Lapa is an area of the centre of Rio renowned for its street parties, where musicians improvise to the samba beats and locals and visitors alike dance until the early hours.  Street stalls sell amazing kebabs and strong caiprinias to keep to partiers happy.  We spent the majority of the evening dancing under the arches of the St Teresa tram with new Brazilan friends.  I couldn´t get over how friendly everyone was and we spend the evening having our drinks topped up by and dancing with fellow revelers.  I think we may have taken the party spirit a bit too far by mindlessly sauntering in to one of the bars with our street-bought cocktails and dancing to the band without actually buying a drink – we were soon told where to go!

On Sunday, we left Rio with two new friends, Justin and Emily, to Ihla Grande, an island a couple of hours south.  The island was so absolutely gorgeous and I can see why it’s a popular destination for Cariocas wanting some time away from the city. The Lonely Planet was certainly on the money when it compared the island to those of Thailand, and I did feel as though I was on the Phi Phi of yester-year.  The island also reminded me of the Perenthian Island in Malaysia, with its sweeping white beaches and laid back charm.  We spent 3 nights here in a lovely hostel and completed a couple of walks/ treks as well as having some well-deserved early nights and some cocktails with a crazy group of Chilean guys – there must be something in the water in South America as I´ve never seen a group of men with so much rhythm - they certainly put our dancing to shame!!

So… that brings up to today and Paraty. Ash isn´t feeling too great at the moment (he seems to have been unlucky with reaction to malaria tablets and sun-burn) and so we’ll probably stay here for a couple of days to recuperate before heading up to Campo Grande for a spot of jungle adventure in the Pantanel.

Until next week… Bom dia!

P.s. I´ve just been on my blog to find people have actually ready and left comments – LOVE YOU GUYS!!!