Archive for the ‘Brasil’ Category
June 29th, 2010 | 
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Cleaning up Brasilia – Today’s Photo
Today’s photo was taken the day after Brasilia’s 49th Anniversary celebrations outside the iconic cathedral. I’d already done the tour of the buildings a couple of days before and I just liked the look of this guy taking a break from his work.
Posted in Brasil, Photos, PotD, South America | 
Tags: architecture, brasilia, building, cathedral | 
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All in a Name
One of the joys of travelling in a country where they don’t speak your language is that occasionally you’ll come across a name that has one meaning for the locals and another entirely for you. And you can take a picture and giggle at the crazy foreign names.
Moron, Salta
Spotted this one in Salta, Moron Firekillers (fire extinguishers). Quite a common one this, it’s also a town in Buenos Aires province.
Farto
A chain of chemists in Brasil. Saw this in the bus station in Sao Paulo which is not normally the sort of place I would recommend walking round with your camera, but I had to make an exception for Farto. Had already spotted it a couple of times, but had been unable to get a picture, so was very happy to catch this example. Kind of like trainspotting – patience and a little bit of luck. You even get a bonus shot of Laura with her backpack.
Barfy Burger
I purchased these fine burgers from my local supermarket here in Buenos Aires, based solely on the name, a mistake I will not be committing twice. Rarely have I come across a product that so ably Does Exactly What It Says on the Tin. God, they were awful.
Wanka Turismo
I was kind of at a loss with this one. Spotted on a tour of bodegas in Mendoza last year. Not my first Wanka spot – there was a poster in the street advertising a Peruvian music concert which featured this word heavily. Was unsure if it’s the music or the group. But again, Google comes to the rescue.
Fanny Tuna
Like the BarfyBurger, I bought this one simply for the name – it’s tinned tuna, it’s called Fanny. This is going to be funnier if you’re English more than if you’re American…
Posted in Argentina, Brasil, Food, General Travel, Peru, South America |
Tags: funny, language, meat, signs |
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King of the Jungle
A quick update from Leticia – got back here last night from a few days in Puerto Narino, which is 70km up the Amazon towards Peru. Tomorrow we’re getting a fast boat from Santa Rosa (an island across the river in Peru) to Iquitos (also in Peru). To buy the ticket we had to go by taxi to Tabatinga (in Brasil) and then back to Leticia airport (in Colombia) to get our exit stamps in the passports. Before getting on the boat we have to go to Peru to get our entry stamps otherwise we’re not allowed back into Colombia and will have to go to Brasil.
All clear?
But on a less bureaucratic note, this really is an incredible region – the jungle is all around and it’s very simple to take little excursions away from the town to get a taste of what the jungle really is like. There is life everywhere, lots of it creepy and crawly, but the air is buzzing with birds and the rivers are full of fish. And pink river dolphins, we even got to see a few…
More detailed accounts will follow when I have a little more time, but now I have to dash to Peru, or maybe Brasil. I’m not sure.
3 Outta 5 Ain’t Bad
The Guardian has published its Readers Travel Awards 2009 – of the 5 winners in the Best Overseas Travel Destination:
1. Iguazu Falls
2. Macchu Pichu
3. Ankgor Temples
4. Grand Canyon
5. Great Barrier Reef
I’ve been to 3 of ‘em in the last year.
My Top 5 is, in approximate order:
1. Macchu Picchu, Peru
Machu Picchu
2. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Lots of Blue, Lots of White
3. Perito Moreno Glacier, Patagonia
Perito Moreno
4. Monument Valley, Arizona
Monument Valley, Arizona
5. Ilha Grande, Brasil
Ilha Grande
Posted in Argentina, Brasil, General Travel, Roadtrip, South America, US Trip |
Tags: lists, nationalpark |
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Braaasil
Ok, so a little out of synch chronologically speaking, but hey, you get what you pay for right? And you’re not paying for it, so there you go.
After Ilha Grande, we spent 4 days in Rio. Now, Rio is a must-see place, you can’t go to that part of Brasil and not go to Rio, right? I must say, for reasons already mentioned in my earlier Brasil post, I wasn’t that excited about going there. I was enjoying the more rural places in Brasil more than the cities and I was convinced I was going to get mugged or killed or something. But neither happened thankfully. Although my camera died, a freak wave came up over the 5 meter wall i was standing on and drenched me and the aforementioned camera. So, that was the end of that.
With a Parrot
I did enjoy Rio in the end. It’s one of those places you feel like you already know, having seen all the pictures. And let’s face it, it is beautiful. As in stunning. On the first day we caught sunset from Sugarloaf mountain and the next day went up to Cristo Redentor and had a tour of the city.
With Jesus
Laura left on Saturday morning to go back to Buenos Aires and I stayed another day, most of it spent wandering up and down Copacabana watching the waves (and getting soaked by them) and in the evening had a very interesting night at a Brasilian Burlesque cabaret complete with strippers (male and female) and an oversexed Belgian couple. I can’t go into details, but it certainly was memorable. The next day, feeling like death (one too many caipirinhas the night before) I headed off to Petropolis where I bought a new camera and then onto Ouro Preto, the jewel in Brasil’s colonian crown.
Ouro Preto
Like all old, beautiful places I’ve been in South America, these places are not the sterile tourist traps you find in Europe. They are real, lively towns that people actually live in. There are tourists of course, lots, but you meet a lot of people who live there, and have lived there all their lives, and it adds an extra element to the place. I liked it. The buildings were incredibly beautiful, the roads ridiculously steep and history was all around.
High & Cold
Ok, so I haven’t given you a Brasil part 2 yet, but it’s on the way, honest. So, if you’ll allow that little omission I can continue with my dispatches from my current location in Bolivia. Have had a very busy week here and am having a day off from all the madness in La Paz. I’ll fill in all the details when I have the photos, but the highlight has been the 3 day tour of the Bolivian desert and Uyuni Salt Flats which were truly out of this world.
Escaping Autumn
As autumn was arriving in Argentina, I decided to head north and get me some sunshine, and where better to hit the beaches than Brazil? Looking at a map, I saw that the little town of Punta del Diablo in Uruguay where I’d been in December was only 60km from the Brazilian border, so I hopped on a boat, a couple of buses and went back there. It hadn’t changed much, just become a little more expensive but I had a nice couple of days eating fish empanadas and lying on the beach. Went to a little restaurant down by the beach I’d seen last time but didn’t eat at called El Viejo y El Mar. Was run by an Argentinan guy called Ernesto who was either drunk or had taken far too many illicit substances in his time. Incapable of remembering an order, he spent the evening bouncing from table to table chatting to people. Luckily the girl doing the cooking was a bit more on the ball and kept coming out to check exactly what we wanted to eat. At the end of the evening Ernesto wanted a comment in his book, and as I started to write his equally drunken pal who was sat at the bar shouted in Spanish “Write that he poisoned you, that it was the worst meal you’ve ever eaten!”. And when he found out where I was from he switched to English and yelled “The food, it is shit! Ernesto is a fucker!”.
Heading into Brazil was of course not as easy as it looked on a map. It involved buses, jumping off at border points, more buses, taxis to get to another border point and another bus. And even then, still 9 hours to the nearest big town. Which on my map looks like it’s on the border. I was starting to realise Brazil works on a big scale. The town itself, Porto Alegre wasn’t really very special. Checked into the hotel and was told by the man that in no uncertain terms were we to go further than the corner of the street after dark. The town centre was a no-go area. Didn’t stay there long and headed to Florianopolis, another 8 hours up the coast. It’s the big town on the Isla Santa Caterina, a major beach resort with something like 40 beaches of all kinds. It was lovely. We swam, sat around, ate, drank and made friends with a parrot.
Another bus, another 11 hours and leaving the beaches behind us we headed to Sao Paulo home to 15 million crowded souls, the 3rd biggest city in the world (Mexico City is number 1, where’s number 2?). The thing with Brazil is that you hear it’s dangerous, that around every corner a mugger is waiting with a gun to steal your passport, a street kid will watch you take a picture then follow you for an hour waiting for a chance to steal your camera, your pockets will be picked at every available opportunity. And of course, the worst places for this are the big cities. Now, I’m not afraid to admit, I am the worst kind of chicken, I hate this sort of thing and spend my entire time checking my pockets and worrying. Got an idea of the situation there when I saw an armoured car picking some money up from a bank, surrounded by 5 security guards all with shotguns or pistols. Not just safely tucked away but actually holding them, with the finger on the trigger and looking ready to use them. Never saw that in Dorchester. But overall I was pleasantly surprised by Sao Paulo. The hostel was in a “safe” area about 5 minutes from the main drag of Avenida Paulista, with some cool little bars and restaurants round the corner. Didn’t feel threatened once, and nothing got nicked. Place was bloody busy and packed though, absolutely ridiculous.
So, it was a relief to get on a bus, all belongings intact, and to escape the city for the sea again. A short 5 hour hop to the little colonial town of Paraty. After leaving Sao Paulo (took about 2 hours to get clear of the place) the scenery started to change and the forests started to look a bit more like jungle (to my untrained eye at least) and things got a lot more hilly. Paraty was picture postcard material, all cobbled streets, old churches and arty, crafty shops. We went to big sweeping beaches backed by jungle-covered mountains, swam in a natural swimming pool, had my feet nibbled by fish, had a day on a boat, snorkelled, saw a sea turtle, all the usual stuff! Did have one moment of drama when 2 boys in the hostel who had been sharing a dormitory with a Brazilian guy woke up to find their big rucksacks, passports, wallets, cameras and the Brazilian guy had all disappeared during the night.
Only a couple of hours down the road, and a 2 hour ferry trip is Ilha Grande, which was by far my favourite place. An island, with no cars, 1 little town, 100 or so beaches and jungle. Not much else. But it was gorgeous, didn’t get to stay there as long as we would have liked as it was coming up to Easter and everywhere was booked after the 2nd night, but it really had the tropical island paradise thing, complete with torrential rain in the evening and glorious sunshine during the day. The highlight for me was walking along the dock at 11 at night, hearing a noise in the water and looking down to see a 3ft turtle surfacing right beneath us. Totally unperturbed by anything, it swam past us, looking right at us with its wise, sad eyes and then disappeared under the water. 2 minutes later it was back. Sat watching it for 20 minutes or so, one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen in my life. Also, one of the few times I didn’t have my camera with me. Dontcha just hate it when that happens?
Her Name Was Lola
So, here I am, reporting live and direct from Rio de Janeiro. Done most of the touristy stuff so far, been up Sugarloaf at sunset which was beautiful, went up to see Jesus on a clear day which was beautiful, walked up and down Copacabana beach which was busy. Can’t say I’m that taken with the place. The setting is, to be fair, stunning. Mountains, sea, beaches etc. The town itself however is kind of smelly and dirty and pretty run down. Gonna wander around a bit more today clutching everything valuable safely to me, then heading off tomorrow.
Have loved Brasil so far. Apart from 2 days in Sao Paulo have spent pretty much the whole time by the sea which has been fantastic. Eaten lots of seafood, been out on boats, lots of beaches, been snorkelling, seen turtles, parrots, eagles, vultures, lizards and snakes. Photos to be added later…
Size Matters
Ok, so I’m a geography nerd. That’s not news to anyone. I’ve spent more time on buses in Brasil so far than actually in Brasil if you see what I mean and the only reading material I have is my Lonely Planet Brazil. So there I was flicking through the pages yesterday and discovered that there is an island in the mouth of the Amazon the size of Switzerland. Which is pretty amazing in its own right. However look at the size of it compared (top middle, left of Belem) to the rest of the country. Stuff like this fascinates me. It’s called Ilha de Marajó if you’re interested…
And to continue in the nerd vein, in a spare moment on bus I worked out how far my travels in the last four months have taken me. 18,000km so far, give or take, all of it overland. I’ll leave you to figure out how much that is in miles.
That’s it for the nerdy stuff for the time being, off to the beach now.
