Rio in the sun

What a difference a day can make.

In the last two days we have seen a completely different Rio.

The sun came out, the temperatures climbed (about 30 C during the middle of the day), and the people came out in droves.

It appears that on Sundays, they block off half of the divided road along the beaches and open it up for foot traffic. The normal walking path is then utilized for runners and bikers and the beaches are busy with every know net sport imaginable.

To walk from one end of Copacabana to the other end of Ipanema is about 7 kms. An the whole distance is a sun-lovers paradise.

Copacabana is the wider beach, with a lot of upscale hotels and restaurants across the street. Beach vendors will sell anything you could want on a beach and them some.

Ipanema is a little more crowded, with more of the "beautiful" people, and lots of volleyball and other courts set up all along it. People watching is a sport of its own.

Even Flamengo beach, a block our hotel, gets busy when the sun shines.

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Overall, we have found Rio to be a fun and friendly place. The prices are still very reasonable and the selection of food and entertainment is second to none. And the setting is spectacular. Clearly one of the great cities of the world.

Our only regret is that we are going to leave before the new year's celebrations start. There are huge stages, lights and such going up on Copacabana beach, where supposedly the world's largest new year's party is held. The hotels are reportedly about 90% booked already and the prices are going up as I write this.

Maybe it is just as well that we are not here. We are really not fond of big crowds as a rule.

Tomorrow we leave for Canada, and the weather reports we have been hearing are not encouraging.

Rio in the rain

Two days of rain in Rio.

On our last official day of our tour, we did the touristy things anyway, visiting Corcovado and the statue of Cristo Redentor, one of the new seven wonders of the world.

Took the required cheesy photos and tried to admire the view for Rio through the clouds. Still pretty impressive in spite of the weather.

On to Pao de Acucar (Sugar Loaf). Took the two stage cable cars to the top for more artistic pictures of Rio through the clouds. As miserable as it was, it could have been worse. The rain was very light and we could occasionally see most of the city below. And it was not really cold, probably in the mid 20s most of the day.

Discovered the metro system and were able to spend some time downtown looking at sights, and spent most of a day at Copacabana beach. Sort of strange to see it with very few people. Apparently not many people are interested in a rain tan.

Road to Rio

Day 22

Today, we left on another bus trip, this time to Sao Paulo.

The trip takes about 6 hours to get the city, then about 1-1/2 hours to get to the bus terminal. Traffic was very heavy being just a few days before Christmas, and the bus terminal was incredibly busy.

This is a huge bus terminal, with gates for about 100 buses at a time, and we still had to wait for our turn to get into a spot. Makes a lot of airports look pretty small.

As for the weather, it appears that our luck may be running out. We have had incredibly good luck for the entire trip so far. The only times it has rained has been when we are in transit and even then only a couple of times. But coming into Sao Paulo, it was absolutely pouring. Fortunately it let up some by the evening.

Our hotel is situated near the center of the city, on an obviously gay avenue, next to a very dodgy area of town. Lots of same-sex couples parading by the front of the hotel and the occasional fireworks - very loud explosions - to liven things up. Hopefully everything will be much calmer in the morning.

Day 23

Things do look a lot better today.

The weather cleared up and we had a beautiful time strolling through the extensive maze of pedestrian shopping streets. By the afternoon, the streets were incredibly busy with crowds of people doing their last-minute Christmas shopping. It did start raining later in the afternoon and we had to make an emergency umbrella purchase. Spent some time hiding in a Metro station wating for it to subside. The news later was showing some areas of the city that were completely flooded. Fortunately that did not happen to us. Our only problem was with a downed power pole brought down by a bus, which blocked our way for a while when trying to get back to the hotel.

This is a huge city. Estimates on Sao Paulo´s population range from 17 to 24 million people. The people are a very mixed bunch, due to a lot of foreign immigration in the early 20th century. There are a large number of Europeans, mostly Italians and Portuguese, a lot of Africans, and a surprising number of Japanese.

We visited Japan-town, where sushi is a big seller.

Overall, it is a bit intimidating.

Day 24

Today, we were supposed to get a bus to the town of Paraty, but due to the Christmas rush, we could not get any tickets. So instead, we got a bus to another coastal town called Ubatuba, where we had to walk between two bus terminals to snag another bus to Paraty. It actually worked out quite well as the bus to Ubatuba was a little early and we made a better connection than we had thought we would, ending up in Paraty by about 2 PM.

The countryside around here is very lush and green and the land has a lot of character. Very pretty but also lots of people.

Day 25

Paraty turns out to be a very nice seaside resort. Actually a Brazilian colonial city, with a very touristy Historic Centre District. Lots of restaurants and bars and such. Our hotel, which was very pretty, was about as far away from things are you could get. Apparently the local hotels are mostly full of holiday-minded Brazilians - and the prices are a lot more than usual.



We took an optional yacht excursion which visited several beautiful beaches on some of the surrounding islands. Crystal clear warm water and sandy beaches. Snorkelling around the rocks and reefs. A little bit of paradise. And we lucked out and had a very sunny day till late in the afternoon.

This is where we had our Christmas dinner. We had the traditional Christmas Linguini and beer at an Italian restaurant. Apparently Christmas eve is the big day for Brazilians, so not a lot of places were open. Tomorrow, Christmas day, is supposed to be a day of rest, so even less will be open.

Day 26

Merry Christmas!

Today we took a quick 4-hour bus ride to Rio de Janeiro. It was quick because there was hardly any traffic on Christmas day. We got to the hotel, in the rain, in the early afternoon and we all went out for supper in the evening to an all you can eat pizza place.

Tomorrow we will be taking a city tour of Rio. We are hoping for better weather but the forcast is not promising.

WOW!

Day 18

Taxi to bus station, public bus to Foz de Iguazu. Journey took about 7 hours on a so-so bus.

From the looks of things, we will be spending a lot of time in on buses and in bus depots over the next week. A lot of ground to cover.

Today, we once again entered Brazil, but it was quite quick and painless.

When we arrived in Foz, we checked into a very nice hotel, had supper there and crashed again. Tomorrow we go the falls - we are pretty hyped.

Day 19

This morning we went to the Brazilian side of the falls. The town of Foz de Iguazo is actually about 30 km from the falls themselves.

I did the optional helicopter ride over the falls first (Sue said she would wait till they had an ultra-lite option), then we spent the rest of the day just in awe, following the trails along the falls and taking a huge amount of pictures.

Every place you stop is magnificent. Hard to describe the sheer magnitude of these falls. From our memory, they surpass Victoria falls in Zimbabwe that we were fortunate enough to see some years ago.

The whole area is very well developed - well-maintained walkways that take you to the best places to see the falls. You can get good and wet if you want.

75% of the falls are on the Argentinian side of the chasm, so they can apparently best be appreciated as a whole from the Brazilian side.

Tomorrow we will be travelling to Argentina to see what they have to offer from their side.

In the evening, we went to a dinner and show in Foz de Iguazo. That was a real hoot too.

Day 20

Today, most of the group, including us, took the option of travelling to Argentina to see the falls from the other side.

Turns out they are even more impressive from there. You can get very up close and personal with the falls due to an extensive system of walkways and lookouts that get you right on the edge of the action.

Just to make things more fun, we took an optional speed boat ride, starting from a km downstream, blasting over the rapids to arrive at the base of the falls, Then we got thoroughly soaked as they take the boat right into the falls themselves. Very intense. Fortunately, they warned us in advance so we could put cameras and any other items we wanted into some plastic bags before we went under. In the hot sun (about 34 C), our clothes eventually dried out too.

Again, we spent an entire day just following the trails, at the most up-stream point literally crossing a km of river on walkways to get to the head of the falls.

To get from one end of the falls to the other, there is a small,extremely slow, train.

Instead of the train on the way back, we opted for floating down the river in a raft. Took about an hour and was a fitting end to our time at Iguazo. Argentina is at least as oganized on their side of the falls as Brazil, but offer a few more adventure type of options, like hiking, etc. There is also a very ritzy Sheriton hotel right inside the park - maybe next time.

It is a tough call to say which has been a bigger hi-lite for use, Machu Pichuu or Iguazo. I am glad we did not have to choose between them.

At the end of the day, we did not stay in the hotel, but rather caught an overnight bus to the city of Curitiba. A 10-hour bus ride on a reasonably nice bus. Did manage to get some sleep.

Day 21

Arrived in Curitiba at 7 AM, took taxis to the hotel which, surprisingly, had rooms ready for us.

We had breakfast and just toured around by foot.

Curitiba is one of the most prosperous and oganized cities in Brazil. Population is 1.5 million and is situated about 850 kms south of Rio de Janeiro.

Very modern and busy city, especially as this is the last Saturday before Christmas. Temperature here is a bit more moderate, probably in the mid to high 20s during the day, and cooler at night. We are doing a bit of shopping (mostly the window variety).

NOTE: Very fast internet access here.

Tomorrow we leave on yet another 6-hours bus ride to Sao Paulo.

Apparently Santa is on his way...

Paraguay

Day 15

A 4-hour bus ride (still on our private bus) took us to the border town of Ponto Pora. Our hotel was quite a bit nicer than what we have had for the last few days - hot and cold running water on demand.

We went out for supper with the group before doing our usual wandering around. After we had gone a few blocks, it became apparent that we were in Paraguay as all of the license plates were different and the motorcyclists did not have helmets any more. The border here is quite transparent with 1/2 the town in Brazil and the other 1/2 in Paraguay - no-one seems to pay it any attention. Unfortunately, it was Sunday night and nothing was open, so there was not a lot to do.

Day 16

Today, we officially left Brazil and entered Paraguay. This time we had a nice big bus that took us the mile or so the the official exit point, where we sat on the bus while some strange man took all of our passports and little pieces of paper, eventually returning with our exit-stamped passports. Then the bus took us a few miles to the immigration office in Paraguay where the same guy took our passports and returned them with our entry stamps into Paraguay. Very painless and absolutely no paperwork for us.

We then went to the local bus depot where we waited for the public bus to take us to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay.

This was a 7-hour bus ride but on what had to be the best bus we have ever seen. Huge seats and lots of leg room. We were treated to a Jet Li film festival (in Spanish) for the entire trip. Does it get any better than that?

It was evening by the time we got to Asuncion, just time to grab some supper at a local restaurant before crashing for the night.

Time here for a little note about restaurants in Brazil and Paraguay. Buffets seem to the the norm in both countries but while in Brazil the meal is a fixed price, here in Paraguay they weigh your plate and you pay by the kg. In Brazil, if you want to eat from the menu (al a carte), most meals are priced for 2 people. If you only want a meal for yourself, it is usually about 60% of the menu price, and you have to be very firm that you are eating alone. It would have been nice to have known this before ordering our first meals in Brazil as we ended up with a huge amout of food.

The other issue we are having is with going back and forth from Spanish-speaking to Portugese-speaking countries. At this point we are completely hopeless at ordering anything, resorting to sign language most of the time.

Day 17

Free day in Asuncion.

We toured around by foot in the central area of the city. Lots of excitement as there is a major protest going on by the farm workers, demanding safer working conditions from the new government. Huge rally downtown with lots of loud fireworks, congregating at the constitution building where many speeches went on. Very peacefull march for the most part, but it made it difficult to get near the government buildings.

Our impression of Asuncion is of a big city; a little more cosmopolitan than La Paz, but not as much character. Very hot (mid to high 30s) during the day. Lots of shops selling electronics and fashions, perfumes, etc., as the entire city is a duty-free zone. If we had any idea what anything should be worth, it might be a great buying opportunity.

The currency in Paraguay is the Guaranie. The exchange rate is about 4800 to the US$. A 500ml Coca Cola will cost about 5,000 Guaranies and large (750ml) beer about 10,000. So basically things are cheap but sound expensive.

Tomorrow we can look forward to another 7-hour bus ride, heading for Foz de Iguazu.