Today, my friends, is a very sad day. Today is the day we must disembark the gypsy train. However, not all is lost, we will still be hanging out with the crew for another few days before starting our epic bus ride up to Cuzco in time for the inca trail. jhjk
The last two weeks have provided many exciting times, wonderful adventures and awe inspiring views - i will try and keep it somewhat concise....maybe, haha.
Our crew had changed slightly since the trip to Mendoza. Carla headed off on her own to see more of Argentina and Zach, one of the owners of the bus made a last minute decision to go back to Buenos Aires to live. This left Alex and Aleana - the other two owners of the bus, Bianca and I, Jonny our other gypsy trainer from BA and two new arrivals - two Aussie sisters who live on the sunny coast. Slightly sleep deprived and eager to get out of Mendoza, we piled into the bus ready to live out some more gypsy dreams.
The first day we drove to the Chillian boarder to check out Puente del Inca (the inca bridge) and Aconcagua (Aconcagua is the highest mountain in the Americas at 6,962 m). The Inca Bridge is an epic red rock formation that forms a natural bridge with hot springs flowing underneigh it - unfortunately we weren´t able to go for a swim. Especially as it was absolutely freezing with an icy wind threatening to blow us over at any moment - a vast difference to the warm sunny days we enjoyed in Mendoza.
We wanted to go for a hike to the base of Aconcagua, however the park ranger told us with the extreme weather conditions it was not advisable. So we contented ourselves with attempting to view the mountain from the lookout point (whilst battling to stay upright against the wind) - however it was so cloudy that we could barely see it! In retrospect it was definitely a good thing we didn´t go hiking, as shortly after we set up camp it started snowing!! Definitely had not packed for this kind of cold!!
The next day we were beaten by the elements again. Having left the Inca bridge behind we headed slowly north and into Parque National el Leoncito for the promise to star gazing at an observatory. The park was the nicest we stayed at, well maintained and the staff were great - also free entry & camping, showers and wifi, unheard of at any other national park we visited! After dinner we all piled into the bus, excited to see some contallations and planets, however when we arrived we were told it was too cloudy and that we couldn´t do it. Dissapointed, but not disheartened we went back to camp and stared at the stars inbetween the clouds.
The first two days seemed to be a journey of things we couldn´t do. The third day however, we woke up to a beautiful blue sky, with an amazing view of the mountains. Moving forever north, with the promise of more star gazing, we were not discouraged.
A mass of snow peaked mountains surrounded the vast dusty, dry landscape we were driving though. Dust filled the gypsy train, with everything and everyone on it being covered with a fine film of brown dirt. The only green to be seen was in the shurbs that covered the desert-like landscape - but even they were struggling with the brown dust that covered them. Everything on the gypsy train shuddered and shook and we drove a few hundred kms down this dusty dirt road. Only seeing other forms of life every 20 minutes or so, by way of cars driving in the opposite direction. No other forms of civilisation to be seen.
We encountered a massive dried up salt lake and left the bus to explore. We found out, through Aleana tasting it, that it did not infact taste like salt. It was hard to imagine that this massive spance of cracked yellow earth, surrounded by desert and mountains used to home a body of water.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Mendoza
Whoever said that mixing bike riding and alcohol was a bad idea, obviously hasn´t been on a gringo wine tour in Mendoza. At 9.45am our group of 7 keen gringos (the gypsy bus crew from BA to Mendoza) gathered at the entrance of Mr Hugo's. Mr Hugo's (backpacker tale famous) wine tour consists of supplying you with a bicycle, a (very inaccurate and not to scale) map, some discount cards, a glass of wine or 10 (pre and post tour) and sending you on your way. I think we were all as equally excited about riding bikes as we were about tasting wine - for at least the first half of the day.
As it was not yet midday we decided to start off easy and go to a wine museum - which also happened to be the only place you could try wine for free, but this is not the reason we went there...i swear!! After 20 minutes of pretending to be respectable we went straight to the chocolate factory/absinthe distillery. There is nothing like a shot of absinthe to kick start your day. All 7 of us were eager to sample the local produce, so as a group we each had a shot of this elusive green liquid. The room was momentarily quiet as we took the shot - quickly followed by coughs and splutters. Drinking it really made all of us feel like we had been throwing up for hours with the burning throat and momentary loss for words it brings.
The rest of the day was spent riding from winery, to beer garden, to winery sampling all the local produce. After the first winery we discovered that it was much cheaper just to buy a few bottles of wine between us and share them rather than paying for each of us doing a tasting - so this was our plan of attack in each place. We even managed to muster up a picnic in a vineyard, very civilised. It was an amazing day with so many laughs. Anyone who goes to Mendoza HAS to do it. I think lonely planet summed it up best.
¨It is a crime to go to Mendoza and not go to a vineyard. A crime people!¨
Yesterday BB and I went white water rafting in the Mendoza River. The drive out was amazing as we got to see the Andes close up for the first time. Our rafting group was 6 giggling girls from Australia (me & BB) and England (the other 4), so our rafting guide took it upon himself to make sure we all got as wet as possible during the trip. He´s obviously well practiced at this, as he has many different tricks to try and get us thrown into the water (some of which were successful), or just make sure we got absolutely drenched whilst still in the confines of the raft. BB managed not to fall in, I however was defeated by his trickery of making us sit ´horseriding´stance (one leg off the raft in the water and the other in the raft) and fell right into the freezing glacial river alongside the girl in front of me.
After rafting we were left to lay around in the sun, surrounded by mountains and just chill out for a few hours. Bliss. It feels like so long since we have been in the sun - it made me realise how much i miss being on the beach in Brazil. Definitely need to get some more outdoor time soon!
Tomorrow we´re heading off on the next leg of our gypsy train adventure - making a very slow and highly detoured way to Salta. Excited much.
xxxxxxx
As it was not yet midday we decided to start off easy and go to a wine museum - which also happened to be the only place you could try wine for free, but this is not the reason we went there...i swear!! After 20 minutes of pretending to be respectable we went straight to the chocolate factory/absinthe distillery. There is nothing like a shot of absinthe to kick start your day. All 7 of us were eager to sample the local produce, so as a group we each had a shot of this elusive green liquid. The room was momentarily quiet as we took the shot - quickly followed by coughs and splutters. Drinking it really made all of us feel like we had been throwing up for hours with the burning throat and momentary loss for words it brings.
The rest of the day was spent riding from winery, to beer garden, to winery sampling all the local produce. After the first winery we discovered that it was much cheaper just to buy a few bottles of wine between us and share them rather than paying for each of us doing a tasting - so this was our plan of attack in each place. We even managed to muster up a picnic in a vineyard, very civilised. It was an amazing day with so many laughs. Anyone who goes to Mendoza HAS to do it. I think lonely planet summed it up best.
¨It is a crime to go to Mendoza and not go to a vineyard. A crime people!¨
Yesterday BB and I went white water rafting in the Mendoza River. The drive out was amazing as we got to see the Andes close up for the first time. Our rafting group was 6 giggling girls from Australia (me & BB) and England (the other 4), so our rafting guide took it upon himself to make sure we all got as wet as possible during the trip. He´s obviously well practiced at this, as he has many different tricks to try and get us thrown into the water (some of which were successful), or just make sure we got absolutely drenched whilst still in the confines of the raft. BB managed not to fall in, I however was defeated by his trickery of making us sit ´horseriding´stance (one leg off the raft in the water and the other in the raft) and fell right into the freezing glacial river alongside the girl in front of me.
After rafting we were left to lay around in the sun, surrounded by mountains and just chill out for a few hours. Bliss. It feels like so long since we have been in the sun - it made me realise how much i miss being on the beach in Brazil. Definitely need to get some more outdoor time soon!
Tomorrow we´re heading off on the next leg of our gypsy train adventure - making a very slow and highly detoured way to Salta. Excited much.
xxxxxxx
Friday, April 8, 2011
The Gypsy Train - living my hippy dreams
Tuesday morning we boarded the gypsy train in their slow paced journey towards Mendoza. Despite the hangover and crippling mess i become on too few hours sleep, I could feel my soul relax and breathe a deep sigh of relief with every km we drove out of BA. My thoughts slowed and my smile real, undrunken, unsleazy, unoffensively happy.
The gypsy train is a group of fellow backpackers who met in Colombia and decided one hungover morning that they should buy a bus and drive around south America. Skip forward 9 months and the people we are now travelling with are the three remaining owners. If you want to check them out, their website/blog is here: http://www.thegypsytrain.com/.
The last 4 days we have spent on the bus have been amazing. Camping out every night, eating amazing (home made - well...bus made) food and enjoying the, generally unvisited by tourists, small towns in between BA and Mendoza. Last night, with the promise of hot springs, we stayed in a small town that looked like it had been abandoned by 90% of the humans that once resided there - and had almost been entirely taken over by dogs. We rocked up to a campground/park where the hot springs were advertised to discover that it wasn´t really what we were expecting. A hotel had tapped into the springs and made bedrooms (which are for hiring by the hour) that contained something that was the mixture between a small pool and a spa bath and a single bed. What we think was happening is that they fill up the pool/spa with water from the hot springs, but who knows? We were mildly convinced that it may be a ´love hotel´, and had many laughs at the prospect of what exactly was going on.
----
The whole idea of drinking strong green tea out of a wooden cup, with a metal straw (with a filter at one end), may sound peculiar to some. But in Argentina this is a national pass time - along with queuing and saying things to gringo girls as they walk down the street. At any place that there are Argentinians - there will be mate (pronounced Mar-Tae). With friends and families alike bringing all the necessary equipment (thermos, tea leaves, wooden cup, metal straw etc) to share mate amongst themselves. One cup and straw is shared amongst the group, with each person taking turns to drink this bitter herbal tea. There is something distinctly communal and relaxing about the mate drinking ritual, and it has been something we have been enjoying during our last few days on the gypsy train.
As we headed towards Mendoza - our last stint of driving to get there - we passed around mate. Zach was our dedicated refiller, ensuring the cycle wasn´t broken and that the order it was being passed continued - with a chain of people handing the small wooden cup up around the bus in some form of mate relay. Aside from the mate each of us were lost in our own thoughts, when out of no where it happened. After driving for the better part of 4 days and seeing nothing but flat landscape our first glimpse of the Andes just seemed to pop out of nowhere in front of us. They were still enough in the distance that their snowy white peaks could almost be mistaken for clouds.
´Holy Shit´ i exclaimed when i saw them - upon reflection i wish my initial reaction had been much more eloquent. But it was really like it had just been placed in front of us. How could the world's longest continental mountain range just appear like that? and be surrounded by hundreds of kms of flat, flat land? But there it was.
BB and i decided that we have not had enough time on the bus. With this in our minds we have decided to stay on the bus for as long as we can, until a) they kick us off, b) we have to be in Peru for the inca trail or c) we decide that being hippies and never showering isn´t actually for us at all and that we want to return to city lifestyle. Personally i´m betting on option b. But who knows, could be a combination of all three.
I´ve been happy travelling, but now, i´m much happier. Loving the simple, cheap, jaw dropping life that we have been living. Not ready to give that up yet.
xxxxxxx
The gypsy train is a group of fellow backpackers who met in Colombia and decided one hungover morning that they should buy a bus and drive around south America. Skip forward 9 months and the people we are now travelling with are the three remaining owners. If you want to check them out, their website/blog is here: http://www.thegypsytrain.com/.
The last 4 days we have spent on the bus have been amazing. Camping out every night, eating amazing (home made - well...bus made) food and enjoying the, generally unvisited by tourists, small towns in between BA and Mendoza. Last night, with the promise of hot springs, we stayed in a small town that looked like it had been abandoned by 90% of the humans that once resided there - and had almost been entirely taken over by dogs. We rocked up to a campground/park where the hot springs were advertised to discover that it wasn´t really what we were expecting. A hotel had tapped into the springs and made bedrooms (which are for hiring by the hour) that contained something that was the mixture between a small pool and a spa bath and a single bed. What we think was happening is that they fill up the pool/spa with water from the hot springs, but who knows? We were mildly convinced that it may be a ´love hotel´, and had many laughs at the prospect of what exactly was going on.
----
The whole idea of drinking strong green tea out of a wooden cup, with a metal straw (with a filter at one end), may sound peculiar to some. But in Argentina this is a national pass time - along with queuing and saying things to gringo girls as they walk down the street. At any place that there are Argentinians - there will be mate (pronounced Mar-Tae). With friends and families alike bringing all the necessary equipment (thermos, tea leaves, wooden cup, metal straw etc) to share mate amongst themselves. One cup and straw is shared amongst the group, with each person taking turns to drink this bitter herbal tea. There is something distinctly communal and relaxing about the mate drinking ritual, and it has been something we have been enjoying during our last few days on the gypsy train.
As we headed towards Mendoza - our last stint of driving to get there - we passed around mate. Zach was our dedicated refiller, ensuring the cycle wasn´t broken and that the order it was being passed continued - with a chain of people handing the small wooden cup up around the bus in some form of mate relay. Aside from the mate each of us were lost in our own thoughts, when out of no where it happened. After driving for the better part of 4 days and seeing nothing but flat landscape our first glimpse of the Andes just seemed to pop out of nowhere in front of us. They were still enough in the distance that their snowy white peaks could almost be mistaken for clouds.
´Holy Shit´ i exclaimed when i saw them - upon reflection i wish my initial reaction had been much more eloquent. But it was really like it had just been placed in front of us. How could the world's longest continental mountain range just appear like that? and be surrounded by hundreds of kms of flat, flat land? But there it was.
BB and i decided that we have not had enough time on the bus. With this in our minds we have decided to stay on the bus for as long as we can, until a) they kick us off, b) we have to be in Peru for the inca trail or c) we decide that being hippies and never showering isn´t actually for us at all and that we want to return to city lifestyle. Personally i´m betting on option b. But who knows, could be a combination of all three.
I´ve been happy travelling, but now, i´m much happier. Loving the simple, cheap, jaw dropping life that we have been living. Not ready to give that up yet.
xxxxxxx
BA round two (fight)
It has been so long since doing this blog that i really don´t know where to begin, and none of it really seems that relevant anymore. We managed to continue drinking late into each night, whilst actually seeing some touristy things during the day. On one day we went out to la boca to see the area where the quintessential photographs of BA are taken (the ones of all the brightly coloured buildings). The area is very dodgy except for the 3 streets that are the dedicated tourist area. So much so a man came up to us at one point and pleaded with us that we don´t even think about leaving the area except by bus or taxi.
On our last night in BA we went to ´La Bomba´ - a drumming group that puts on concerts every Monday night. It was a lot of fun but over waaay too fast! This was made even better as the 1L beers were served in plastic cups, so you had to carry a plastic cup the size of your head around. Two hands on the cup at all times people.
BB and I have decided that no matter where we end up, there always seems to be token English gap year kids and a token kiwi with us, at all times! The exception to that is on the bus we don´t have a kiwi, only an English gap year. It´s funny how it keeps on happening though. Especially when every kiwi we meet tells us they haven´t met any other kiwis.
One interesting thing that happened while we were in BA was the public holiday they had. During the public holiday the locals all took to the streets to march/protest in memory of recent history political events. In vague understanding - there had been a dictatorship in Argentina who detained anyone who opposed them. Something like 30,000 people went ´missing´never to be seen or heard of again and no formal investigation has ever happened about it. It was an amazing thing to see - hundreds of thousands of people on the streets marching and drumming and really being passionate about it. Even if we didn´t know the reason until later...
By the time we left BA we were well and truly ready. I missed being in the sun - even though it was sunny outside the tall buildings kept us always in the shadows.... well that and our inability to leave the hostel before about 4pm.
We think we´ve been getting too settled into cities, so we´ve been enjoying the difference that the gypsy train is providing us. It has also been good to meet new people. As we already knew so many people in BA we didn´t really make the effort to meet new people, which really ended up getting to me a lot. Although we did have a few hilarious nights meeting folks, including the people whose bus we are now on. We also met one group of Argentinians who taught us how to talk back to people in Spanish when they´re being rude to us, which we find hilarious.
So the rest of the last week is going to be made into its own blog entry. As always though - photos will be provided eventually....
xxx
On our last night in BA we went to ´La Bomba´ - a drumming group that puts on concerts every Monday night. It was a lot of fun but over waaay too fast! This was made even better as the 1L beers were served in plastic cups, so you had to carry a plastic cup the size of your head around. Two hands on the cup at all times people.
BB and I have decided that no matter where we end up, there always seems to be token English gap year kids and a token kiwi with us, at all times! The exception to that is on the bus we don´t have a kiwi, only an English gap year. It´s funny how it keeps on happening though. Especially when every kiwi we meet tells us they haven´t met any other kiwis.
One interesting thing that happened while we were in BA was the public holiday they had. During the public holiday the locals all took to the streets to march/protest in memory of recent history political events. In vague understanding - there had been a dictatorship in Argentina who detained anyone who opposed them. Something like 30,000 people went ´missing´never to be seen or heard of again and no formal investigation has ever happened about it. It was an amazing thing to see - hundreds of thousands of people on the streets marching and drumming and really being passionate about it. Even if we didn´t know the reason until later...
By the time we left BA we were well and truly ready. I missed being in the sun - even though it was sunny outside the tall buildings kept us always in the shadows.... well that and our inability to leave the hostel before about 4pm.
We think we´ve been getting too settled into cities, so we´ve been enjoying the difference that the gypsy train is providing us. It has also been good to meet new people. As we already knew so many people in BA we didn´t really make the effort to meet new people, which really ended up getting to me a lot. Although we did have a few hilarious nights meeting folks, including the people whose bus we are now on. We also met one group of Argentinians who taught us how to talk back to people in Spanish when they´re being rude to us, which we find hilarious.
So the rest of the last week is going to be made into its own blog entry. As always though - photos will be provided eventually....
xxx
Monday, March 28, 2011
Argentiiiina
After skipping the boarder over to Argentina from Brazil we spent the day exploring Iguazu (different spelling for different country/language) falls from the Argentinian side. The Argentinians actually own the falls so you can get right up over them and around them and such. We paid a little extra and did a speed boat ride up the river and they take you right in under some of the falls, moist. I definitely believe that theory about waterfalls, negative ions and being in a good mood. We were all so crazy happy all day.
I have decided on this trip that butterflies love waterfalls. I´m not sure how this happens. But at all the waterfalls we have frequented this trip there have been huge amounts of butterflies. Particularly at Iguazu. And they don´t seem afraid of people at all. You can pick them up and they´ll chill out on your hand for 10 mins while you walk around. Love it.
From Iguazu to BA is only about 20 hours on a bus. We decided to splash out and get cama class (read expensive, but awesome) seats. On these buses you can recline about 75% of the way back, watch movies and they serve you food and alcohol. Not bad for approx AUD$105. Its the first time we´ve splashed out on one of those but it was totally worth it.
Buenos Aires appears to be another city where we are experiencing it more during the night than during the day. Although we have it on good authority that this is the way to be while you´re here.
The first two nights we stayed in a hostel that could be adequately described as a meat market. Its the kind of place designed for 18-20 year olds on their gap year who don´t want to meet any of the locals or experience any culture and just want to get drunk and have sex. Totally not our scene. We´ve since moved to a smaller hostel in the bohemian suburb of San Telmo, which is still only a short walk from the centre. Our hostel is awesome, doubly so as we have individual beds!! After being in bunk beds for the last 2 months we´re pretty excited about this.
We started doing Spanish lessons last week and lets just say its proving to be a lot harder for us than we initially thought. But we are persevering - so hopefully by the time our 10 hours of lessons are over we can at least say something. Although we have discovered that Argentinian Spanish is different to all other Spanish. For example.. ll over here is pronounced ´sh´ but everywhere else it is pronounced like a y. Also people in BA speak very fast, so we´ve had to learn the phrase ¨Mas Lento¨- more slowly!
As seems to happen on the gringo trail, there are lots of people in BA who we had met previously in Brazil. Its been good to meet up with people and hang out.
On Weds we went to a psy gig in the city. It said that it started at midnight, but we forgot that that would mean 1am ´Argentinian time´- you can NEVER rush an Argentinian. So after rocking up at 1230am to find them closed we decided to go to a bar close by for a few cheeky beers while we waited for the club to open. We didn´t realise the significance of its name ´The Dark Bar´until we were well and truly committed to being in the venue (had already ordered beers). Much to our surprise we were in a goth and emo bar...and really stuck out like sore thumbs...hilarity. But as we were already committed to being there until the end of our beer and tried not to draw attention to ourselves...which didn´t go to plan as i dropped the beer bottle (Litre beer bottles are huge! and thus hard to keep a grip on!!). This resulted in the people next to us not so sneakily taking pictures of me and Bianca laughing her head off. Face Palm. The rest of the night was pretty great. The psy gig was lots of fun and for the first few hours the music was great.
Friday night our friend Nacho, who we met in Paraty, who lives in BA. Took us to a house party his friends were having. It was funny because we were expecting to meet a whole bunch of Argentinians, however it turned out that 90% of the party were also foreigners -French, German, Cuban, Bolivian etc. It was great talking to a whole bunch of people who lived here - even if they were foreign as well.
Yesterday we went to the antique markets around the corner from our house, which are held every Sunday. Soooo many pretty things! There was so many street performances going on as well. Bands, street theatre and artists giving our senses so much delight. I really wish i had an audio recorder so i could keep with me the wonderful mix of sounds i heard. Maybe will need to invest in one of those for the future....
Anyway, i have to do my homework before my next Spanish lessons
¡Hasta Luego!
xxx
I have decided on this trip that butterflies love waterfalls. I´m not sure how this happens. But at all the waterfalls we have frequented this trip there have been huge amounts of butterflies. Particularly at Iguazu. And they don´t seem afraid of people at all. You can pick them up and they´ll chill out on your hand for 10 mins while you walk around. Love it.
From Iguazu to BA is only about 20 hours on a bus. We decided to splash out and get cama class (read expensive, but awesome) seats. On these buses you can recline about 75% of the way back, watch movies and they serve you food and alcohol. Not bad for approx AUD$105. Its the first time we´ve splashed out on one of those but it was totally worth it.
Buenos Aires appears to be another city where we are experiencing it more during the night than during the day. Although we have it on good authority that this is the way to be while you´re here.
The first two nights we stayed in a hostel that could be adequately described as a meat market. Its the kind of place designed for 18-20 year olds on their gap year who don´t want to meet any of the locals or experience any culture and just want to get drunk and have sex. Totally not our scene. We´ve since moved to a smaller hostel in the bohemian suburb of San Telmo, which is still only a short walk from the centre. Our hostel is awesome, doubly so as we have individual beds!! After being in bunk beds for the last 2 months we´re pretty excited about this.
We started doing Spanish lessons last week and lets just say its proving to be a lot harder for us than we initially thought. But we are persevering - so hopefully by the time our 10 hours of lessons are over we can at least say something. Although we have discovered that Argentinian Spanish is different to all other Spanish. For example.. ll over here is pronounced ´sh´ but everywhere else it is pronounced like a y. Also people in BA speak very fast, so we´ve had to learn the phrase ¨Mas Lento¨- more slowly!
As seems to happen on the gringo trail, there are lots of people in BA who we had met previously in Brazil. Its been good to meet up with people and hang out.
On Weds we went to a psy gig in the city. It said that it started at midnight, but we forgot that that would mean 1am ´Argentinian time´- you can NEVER rush an Argentinian. So after rocking up at 1230am to find them closed we decided to go to a bar close by for a few cheeky beers while we waited for the club to open. We didn´t realise the significance of its name ´The Dark Bar´until we were well and truly committed to being in the venue (had already ordered beers). Much to our surprise we were in a goth and emo bar...and really stuck out like sore thumbs...hilarity. But as we were already committed to being there until the end of our beer and tried not to draw attention to ourselves...which didn´t go to plan as i dropped the beer bottle (Litre beer bottles are huge! and thus hard to keep a grip on!!). This resulted in the people next to us not so sneakily taking pictures of me and Bianca laughing her head off. Face Palm. The rest of the night was pretty great. The psy gig was lots of fun and for the first few hours the music was great.
Friday night our friend Nacho, who we met in Paraty, who lives in BA. Took us to a house party his friends were having. It was funny because we were expecting to meet a whole bunch of Argentinians, however it turned out that 90% of the party were also foreigners -French, German, Cuban, Bolivian etc. It was great talking to a whole bunch of people who lived here - even if they were foreign as well.
Yesterday we went to the antique markets around the corner from our house, which are held every Sunday. Soooo many pretty things! There was so many street performances going on as well. Bands, street theatre and artists giving our senses so much delight. I really wish i had an audio recorder so i could keep with me the wonderful mix of sounds i heard. Maybe will need to invest in one of those for the future....
Anyway, i have to do my homework before my next Spanish lessons
¡Hasta Luego!
xxx
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Goodbye Brazil
Since carnival we have been living life at a much slower pace. Our vow to not drink may not have lasted more than a day (damn you English-Rio friends!!) but we did get some well deserved relax time and enjoyed some sea air in our lungs to replace the rio grossness.
Trindade was beautiful as usual and we´re glad Jo was able to come and join us in its paradise before leaving us to go back to Peru.
After a few days of beach time we headed down to Iguaçu falls (6 hours on a bus from Paraty to Sao Paulo followed by a 17hr bus ride to Foz do Iguaçu) to check out the amazing wonder that are the Igauçu falls. The first day we just chilled out by the pool in our hostel with the only notable event being that a bee decided to claim war on my foot - it won the battle but i won the war - though it has still left its mark on me making walking fun....
Yesterday we went to the Brazilian side of the Iguaçu falls (they are the joining point of Paraguay, Brazil & Argentina), they are absolutely stunning. No picture can replace the experience of actually being there! We were there on a rainy/overcast day so the pitcures we took aren´t a great representation - but google some pics and you´ll see how amazing they are.
Today is officially our last day in Brazil and will also be our first day in Argentina. Today we are crossing the boarder and checking out the Argentinian side of the falls and beginning the next leg of our adventure. Our 6 weeks in Brazil have been sooo much fun. We have met so many amazing, wonderful, kind, hilarious people - both locals and other backpackers, who have made our experience so far incredible. Already we are looking back on our trip with so many happy memories and funny stories. 6 weeks was definitely not enough time - we only saw a tiny tiny part of Brazil when you look on a map of the country - but we need to move to cheaper grounds if we want to stay away for a long time - travelling in Brazil is on par with travelling in Australia money wise.
Until Argentina....
xxxx
Trindade was beautiful as usual and we´re glad Jo was able to come and join us in its paradise before leaving us to go back to Peru.
After a few days of beach time we headed down to Iguaçu falls (6 hours on a bus from Paraty to Sao Paulo followed by a 17hr bus ride to Foz do Iguaçu) to check out the amazing wonder that are the Igauçu falls. The first day we just chilled out by the pool in our hostel with the only notable event being that a bee decided to claim war on my foot - it won the battle but i won the war - though it has still left its mark on me making walking fun....
Yesterday we went to the Brazilian side of the Iguaçu falls (they are the joining point of Paraguay, Brazil & Argentina), they are absolutely stunning. No picture can replace the experience of actually being there! We were there on a rainy/overcast day so the pitcures we took aren´t a great representation - but google some pics and you´ll see how amazing they are.
Today is officially our last day in Brazil and will also be our first day in Argentina. Today we are crossing the boarder and checking out the Argentinian side of the falls and beginning the next leg of our adventure. Our 6 weeks in Brazil have been sooo much fun. We have met so many amazing, wonderful, kind, hilarious people - both locals and other backpackers, who have made our experience so far incredible. Already we are looking back on our trip with so many happy memories and funny stories. 6 weeks was definitely not enough time - we only saw a tiny tiny part of Brazil when you look on a map of the country - but we need to move to cheaper grounds if we want to stay away for a long time - travelling in Brazil is on par with travelling in Australia money wise.
Until Argentina....
xxxx
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| Jo and I in Trindade |
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| Finally Leaving Trindade to see other places (again!) |
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| Foz do Iguaçu - trying to use the panorama function on my camera |
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| Foz do Iguaçu - trying to use the panorama function on my camera |
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| Foz do Iguaçu - Devils Throat |
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| Foz do Iguaçu |
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Carnival....wow
It´s hard to know where to begin describing this hilarious/epic/fun filled week. I´m tired, sore and fairly sure i have a chest infection but most definitely worth it. This week we had a guest appearance from Jo, a girl Bianca had met on previous travels in Italy. The three of us combined is a deadly combination.... way too much fun. Every afternoon we would wake up and swap battle stories with the other people in our room, always ending in ´that so sooo much fun!´. But looking back over the week as a whole, everything has blurred and i wouldn´t be able to tell you exactly what happened.
Carnival has two major components. The Sambódromo (Samba Parade) and blockos (street parties). The Sambódromo is where the samba schools each do a very elaborate parade, competing against each other for the title of best samba school. We decided to go on one of the smaller nights as tickets for the 2 main nights were reaaaaally expensive. Buying the tickets was an adventure on its own. We couldn´t buy them online as we don´t have a Brazilian ID, so instead a group of us decided we´d go to the Sambódromo to buy them. When we got there we found out that the tickets had sold out (by someone official) so we were advised to talk with people who were standing around (scalpers) and buy tickets off them. Very fortunately the first person we spoke to spoke English, after deciding we didn´t want his tickets he helped us find ones we wanted (acting as a translator). BB had already done research on which sections were good and bad so we were prepared and knew which tickets were a complete rip off (like a man trying to sell us tickets for a section that is so bad people give them to their friends for free!). The whole thing seemed pretty dodgy but worked out fine - the man met us back at the hostel with the tickets and we ended up with a group of about 20 people from the hostel all going together (only being marginally ripped off). The costumes and floats were amazing! So much colour! This will definitely have to wait for pictures to describe (once again when i find better internet), because i´m struggling to find a way to describe how amazing it was.
While the Sambódromo was amazing and we´re very glad we went for one night, the blockos (street parties) are really where the fun is at. Everyone dresses up in fancy dress (whatever theme you want) and comes together to follow a float and procession down the road, dancing and drinking. There are many many blockos on everyday, so luckily some local friends we made last week advised us on which parties they thought would be the best. Every day we would go to a blocko around 4pm then not get home until 5 or 6 the next morning vowing the next night we would sleep more.... we never did. The blockos only go for a few hours (officially) but the party continues for a long time after, once we had enough of the blocko we would head to lapa for more street party time or to Ipanema to listen to psy trance on the beach. The beach parties were funny ´cause they would be playing really hard psytrance one minute and britney speays the next, then more pstrance, then lady gaga...weird! The beach parties were waaay nicer that lapa in the way that you didn´t feel like you were in a public urinal. We have officially coined the term `that's so lapa´ for anything that is disgusting. But lapa was always way to funny and random not to go back again - always providing funny/horror stories to share. For example ´Ewww - did you guys just see that transvestite licking that hookers foot in the middle of the street´ (lapa foot is a bad syndrome where you walk around in thongs and come home with black feet covered in god knows what - which is what makes this vision doubly as gross). I´m not even going to try and explain all the blockos we went to - all i can say is if you like to party - carnival is the place to be.
Our bodies are now going into shut down and all 3 of us took a vow not to drink yesterday and not get suckered into drinking with anyone that wanted to go out. We´re all sounding like pack-a-day smokers from breathing in too much gross rio air and drinking waaaay too much (not at once just very sustained drinking). Today we´re heading back down to our happy place (Trindade) for some R&R before the next leg of our trip.
Rio i love you, but your killing me.
Carnival has two major components. The Sambódromo (Samba Parade) and blockos (street parties). The Sambódromo is where the samba schools each do a very elaborate parade, competing against each other for the title of best samba school. We decided to go on one of the smaller nights as tickets for the 2 main nights were reaaaaally expensive. Buying the tickets was an adventure on its own. We couldn´t buy them online as we don´t have a Brazilian ID, so instead a group of us decided we´d go to the Sambódromo to buy them. When we got there we found out that the tickets had sold out (by someone official) so we were advised to talk with people who were standing around (scalpers) and buy tickets off them. Very fortunately the first person we spoke to spoke English, after deciding we didn´t want his tickets he helped us find ones we wanted (acting as a translator). BB had already done research on which sections were good and bad so we were prepared and knew which tickets were a complete rip off (like a man trying to sell us tickets for a section that is so bad people give them to their friends for free!). The whole thing seemed pretty dodgy but worked out fine - the man met us back at the hostel with the tickets and we ended up with a group of about 20 people from the hostel all going together (only being marginally ripped off). The costumes and floats were amazing! So much colour! This will definitely have to wait for pictures to describe (once again when i find better internet), because i´m struggling to find a way to describe how amazing it was.
While the Sambódromo was amazing and we´re very glad we went for one night, the blockos (street parties) are really where the fun is at. Everyone dresses up in fancy dress (whatever theme you want) and comes together to follow a float and procession down the road, dancing and drinking. There are many many blockos on everyday, so luckily some local friends we made last week advised us on which parties they thought would be the best. Every day we would go to a blocko around 4pm then not get home until 5 or 6 the next morning vowing the next night we would sleep more.... we never did. The blockos only go for a few hours (officially) but the party continues for a long time after, once we had enough of the blocko we would head to lapa for more street party time or to Ipanema to listen to psy trance on the beach. The beach parties were funny ´cause they would be playing really hard psytrance one minute and britney speays the next, then more pstrance, then lady gaga...weird! The beach parties were waaay nicer that lapa in the way that you didn´t feel like you were in a public urinal. We have officially coined the term `that's so lapa´ for anything that is disgusting. But lapa was always way to funny and random not to go back again - always providing funny/horror stories to share. For example ´Ewww - did you guys just see that transvestite licking that hookers foot in the middle of the street´ (lapa foot is a bad syndrome where you walk around in thongs and come home with black feet covered in god knows what - which is what makes this vision doubly as gross). I´m not even going to try and explain all the blockos we went to - all i can say is if you like to party - carnival is the place to be.
Our bodies are now going into shut down and all 3 of us took a vow not to drink yesterday and not get suckered into drinking with anyone that wanted to go out. We´re all sounding like pack-a-day smokers from breathing in too much gross rio air and drinking waaaay too much (not at once just very sustained drinking). Today we´re heading back down to our happy place (Trindade) for some R&R before the next leg of our trip.
Rio i love you, but your killing me.
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| Carnival Fun |
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| Happy Hangover |
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| Enjoying Free Concerts |
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| Sambódromo floats |
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| Sambódromo - sooo colourful |
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