The final stage of our journey took us from Buenos Aries north to Iguazu Falls which sits on the border of Argentina and Brazil. There is much debate over whether the falls are best seen from the Argentinean or Brazilian side.... We had a day on both and think that if you have the time you probably appreciate them most if you can do both.Iguazu Falls from the Argentinian side.......
The Iguazu Falls, while failing to top other falls around the world in terms of volume or height, are undoubtly beautiful. They stretch for 2.7km and are a collection of hundreds of waterfalls, rather than 1 big waterfall.
A day on the Argentinian side allows you to get up close to the many falls - walking above, under, around and between the different falls. While there are many tourists around, the vast number of tracks which weave through the National Park mean that it never feels overly crowded.While there we went on one of the boat trips to see the falls from the water. Probably the best bit of this trip was when the driver took us right into one of the falls!!! We got absolutely saturated, but this was a welcome respite from the temperatures in the high 30's, and high humidity.
We found that a day here was easily filled with walking, swimming and absorbing the the beauty and power of the falls. A bonus was the wildlife,which far exceeded that which we saw in the Peruvian jungle - butterflies, Cayman crocs, coates (like racoon things....), lizards and birds.
Iguazu Falls from the Brazilian side......
Our next day was spent viewing the falls from the Brazilian side. The Iguazu Falls experience on the Brazilian side complements time spent on the Argentinian side well, as it offers panoramic views of the falls and allows you to see them in their entireity. Unfortunately, there is only one path on the Brazilian side, and therefore its numerous viewing platforms were at times fairly overrun with other photo-hungry tourists.
We again took our time here and were happy to stand and take in the enormous power and volume or water pouring over the falls - suffice to say it leaves Huka Falls looking somewhat modest by comparison!
Temperatures were again close to 40 'C, but the less interactive nature of the Brazilian side of the falls meant that we had to settle for spray drift from the falls to cool us off.
Flocks of Brazilian Birds
At the entrance to the Brazilian national park is a private bird park. The park is a good way to spend the rest of a day on the Brazilian side (which, if you have done the Argentinian side, does not warrant another full day). The bird park was pretty cool - lots of very large enclosures which you could walk through and view and interact with birds.
The star of the show there were the Tucans, which were extremely bold and happy to fly right up to you for a closer look. Very cool to see a Tucan so close - even if it wasn't exactly in the wild!
Into the heart of the Bahia region......
From Iguazu we flew north to the city of Salvador - in the heart of the Bahia region. Salvador is about a 2 hour flight north of Rio. For us, the journey here took a combination of 4 flights on GOL..... the Brazilian airline which was involved in an accident (total loss) around the time we started our trip in South America. This was a fact hard to put out of our mind during each takeoff and landing... and while they do boast one of the newest fleets in South America...... this was little comfort as their plane that crashed was on its maiden commercial flight!
We arrived in Salvador at around midnight on a Sunday evening. We had arranged for a transfer to our hotel, which was in the heart of the historic part of the city. We wound down narrow cobbled streets and happened upon a crowd of young Brazilians spilling out of a local bar all over the street.... things looked a bit out of control.... and we were highly taken aback when our driver stopped to let us (the only white people for miles) out to walk the rest of the way to our hotel! It turned out fine but was a big culture shock for us..... it felt like we had arrived in an African city.... quite different from the very european Argentina which we had become accustomed to!
We only had one day in Salvador, but it proved to be a real highlight, and in hindsight a couple more days there would have been nice. It had amazing characther - due mainly to the history of slave trade here, which has left a rich African culture in amongst often near deralict colonial buildings. It is not uncommon to hear the sound of bongo drums coming from a house as you walk down the street and artists are scattered around the city painting street and beach scenes as you walk by.
We just spent the day wandering and enjoying the city - stumbling on cool little cafes, bars and other interesting spots as we went. It is along way to go - but if you have the time - it is an interesting spot to spend some time.... perhaps en-route to some of Brazil's best beaches, which we were told were further to the north.
Morro de Sao Paulo
We left the sights and sounds of Salvador and took a ferry to a small island 2 hours away - Morro de Sao Paulo. We didn't know quite what to expect here, as english speakers seemed few and far between. We had been trying to book accommodation and 'Neide', the person we had been dealing with had been sending all sorts of strange emails.... including one which seemed to ask us if we could buy her some perfume..... understandibly, we were a little unsure what we were getting ourselves into!
Upon arrival we discovered that the main means of transport on the island are wheel barrows... and locals will happily carry your bags in their 'taxi' in return for a bit of money. Our bags were pushed for about 15 minutes over two beaches to a waiting bus, which took us another 20 minutes down the island to the 4th beach and Hotel Praia do Encanto (http://www.praiadoencanto.com.br/) where we were staying.
It didn't take long after arriving to discover two things about Neide.... 1, she was a woman (we had envisaged a man) and 2, she didn't speak a word of english, rather had been typing english emails using a Portuguese/English dictionary! Her emails to us must have taken hours - and the many miscommunications we had experienced made far more sense!!
The 6 days that followed on the island were fantastic. We had expected the beaches to be the stand out feature of our time here, but in fact it was the people that we met there which made our stay so enjoyable. The staff and other guests (predominantly Brazilian) were so open and welcoming. We quickly formed a great friendship with Neide - who took it upon herself to give us a crash course in Portuguese! The other staff were also very friendly and on numerous occassions the guitars, tamborines and shakers would come out and Michelle and I would be treated to a spontaneous sing along amongst the staff and their friends and family. Musical instruments were so common, that one night when I went to the bar to order a drink I was instead handed a tamborine - only in Brazil!
We also were helped along by Julia, a 14 year old niece of one of the staff, and the only person around who could speak english! She was a very sweet girl and her help is just another of the many examples of friendship that was extended to us.
Our days here were spent lazing by the pool with a book and a caipirinha, swimming and wandering along the beaches. The weather was stunning - and we hardly saw a cloud the entire time we were there. Caipirinhas are Brazil's national drink and are basically cachaca (a spirit made from sugar cane), sugar and lime juice. Definately not for the faint hearted - but I was treated to a course on how to make one by the bar staff.... so watchout next time we have a cocktail party!!!
One day we took a day off our usual routine of lazing by the pool and took a day trip around the island. We started out with some snorkelling in the crystal clear water and then headed on to a beautiful beach for some lunch. Neide had recommended a spot to us and we were treated to fresh grilled prawns..... yum! From here we carried on and stopped at an oyster farm in the middle of an estary..... we jumped onto a floating platform and were then treated to fresh oysters straight from the water....... gold! The boat continued around the island and it was a great chance to see some of the other beaches around (which were nicer to those near to us).
We were very lucky to receive such special treatment at our hotel and saying goodbye to everyone when our time was up was a bit sad...... Neide even told us she loved us as we hugged goodbye!! So cute.
Rio de Janerio
From Salvador we flew back south to Rio where we arrived on Christmas Eve. We were staying close to Copacabana Beach for 2 days so weren't too far from all the action.
Christmas Day was spent sightseeing. We went for walk along Copacabana Beach which was packed full of Brazilian beachgoers. The costume of choice was bikinis for the girls and hot pant budgie smugglers for the guys. No matter what shape the bodies were in there was plenty of flesh on display! The beach itself was huge, nice, but very busy.
Next we headed by gondola up the Sugar Loaf. These are huge stone pinnacles that provide a great panoramic view of Rio. Not much more to say really.... a picture can explain it better than we can!
The next day we headed up to see the famous Christ the Redeemer statue. The statue is of course a real landmark in Rio and there were thousands of people up there taking a look. Something that must be done while in Rio.... and worth a look.
The afternoon was spent wandering down Ipanema Beach, the next bay round from us, and the more 'happening' place to be. The beach is divided into sections.... amongst the informal splits are the sporty section where people play different games and sports, the young section where teenagers hangout and a gay section which was absolutely packed full of budgie smuggling guys.
Rio was a beautiful city, however my perception of it is a bit tainted by its reputation for crime. Everyone we spoke to (locals and other tourists) warned us to be careful with belongings.... the beaches are not safe after dusk and even during the day you are told only to take your towel and swimsuit.... anything else is fair game. Sadly, there seems to be an acceptance that this is the way it is, but to my mind there is no point having a beautiful city and beaches if you can't relax and enjoy it.
Ilhe Grande..... an island paradise?
From Rio we headed to Ilhe Grande. We got off to a bad start.... I dropped the camera and it ceased to function.... our transfer didn't turn up..... and when we did get to our accommodation they gave us a twin room rather than a double.... However, once settled in we got back to relaxing!
Ilhe Grande is billed as a bit of an island paradise away from Rio - upon arriving by boat we were reminded of the Malborough Sounds..... dense bush covered island with little hostels etc scattered around the coast.
We only had 2 nights here, as all the accommodation was then moving onto '5 day New Year' packages. The island was nice (and had some beautiful beaches which could be accessed by boat), however we probably didn't see it at its best.... it was filling up for New Year and we had our first rain affected days in Brazil! We did a bit of kyacking, more relaxing and enjoyed fantastic food at the restaurant of Sagu Mini Resort where we stayed. For me, Morro de Sao Paulo was the pick of the islands.... but nevertheless we had a good time on Ilhe Grande.
Paraty and on to Sao Paulo
From Ilhe Grande we found our way back to the mainland and then a few hours south to Paraty... a colonial town on the mainland coast. This was basically an overnight stop-off on the way to Sao Paulo where our flight to London departed. Once there we really only had time to wander down to one of the local beaches and then look around the town. It was a nice town with cobble stone paths and the shopping here looked pretty good (although we had run out of money by this stage!). The sort of place we could have spent a few more days, but alas the next morning we boarded the bus for Sao Paulo.
The bus trip to Sao Paulo was a bit surreal..... thousands of Brazilians heading out of Sao Paulo for the beaches meant that traffic was crawling, but everyone was in good spirits - dressed in their beach gear, music playing, drinking etc..... felt like New Years Eve in the Coromandel - and there a hint of 'I wish I was in NZ for New Years' sentiment around!
We arrived in Sao Paulo..... a city of over 10 million people and one which is dirty and in parts dangerous. We were staying in the Chinatown part of the city... one of the safer bits... and home to great cheap eats. We basically killed time here until the moment finally arrived for us to head to the airport for the last time on the trip........
We'll try and do some overall reflections of the trip, but on Brazil some of our reflections were that it was worth a visit... but that due to its size you can only scrap the surface in 2 weeks, it is diverse in both its people and landscapes, we were a little underwhelmed by the beaches (I'll take a deserted Coromandel beach anyday) but were over whelmed by the many friendly open people we met in the north. For us, it was a great country to finish the adventure in - as the beaches and culture means that to sit back and relax is very easy.
