Alone in The Dark

I was by myself in Brazil. My friend had flown to Peru to meet up with his family, my other friend had flown home and I wasn’t supposed to meet up with someone else for a few weeks. I was a little nervous to be honest; I had heard many horror stories.

“Did you know that Salvador da Bahia is the most dangerous city in the world?” some people asked me. “You should NEVER take your camera out with you. If you take your camera with you, you will surely get mugged, or killed!”

“Make sure you try not to act like a tourist. They will rob you for sure.”

“You should never walk around at night, even WITH someone else”.

“You shouldn’t stay in the Pelourinho (the old town). It’s very dangerous.”

I had heard it all before....

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Pantanal

Tuiui (source)

We just got out of the Pantanal, where we spent 4 days. We had a great time - we went horseback riding, fishing for piranha, cayman hunting, and on an all day safari. We saw lots of birds, including blue macaw and toucans and a huge giant stork, called in Portuguese "tuiuiu", which is really fun to say. This bird is 1.5 meters tall (about 4-5 feet!) It is crazy! We also saw many, many caymans, a giant river otter and many capyvara, the largest rodent in the world, which looks like a huge guinnea pig and SWIMS! They have crazy animals. It was great!

We were hoping to see an anaconda and a giant anteater and a jaguar...or an anaconda eating an anteater and both of them being eaten by a jaguar... but it was not meant to be. We did see an anteater named Phillipe when we got to the border town of Corumba. It was really cool. He was really big and has no teeth but will suck on your fingers and lick you with his weird tongue. He does have large claws, but is basically like a big funny looking dog. (pics will be put online later)

Now we are in Bolivia. We just arrived today after a long (23 hours) ride on the Death Train, which goes from Quijarros (the border) to Santa Cruz. The ride was good, although long, and we did not have any scary situations. The reason it is called the Death Train is because apparently in the 80s they used to carry a lot of contraband in the inside of the train and the people would ride on the top. The train used to derail a lot and many of the people on the top got killed. Hence the name. But now it does not derail as much and I did not see anyone riding on the top (or any contraband *wink, wink*)

Next stop, the Jesuit Mission Circuit, which is a few hours East of the town of Santa Cruz, where we are now. We are excited to be in Bolivia, but it is going to be hard to adjust to the temperature after being in the warmth of Brazil for so long! Where we are going in the next couple weeks, it gets way below freezing! Oh and now that I finally learned a few words in Portuguese, I have to switch my brain back to Spanish! Oh mio dios...

Jericoacoara - Land of Sand

I found my new favorite place! It was hard to get to, but in the end, it was totally worth it! To get here, I had to take a bus for 2 hours, wait for another 2 hours, take another bus for 8 hours, wait for another 2 hours, take a bus for 5 hours, get off and then on to another "bus" (this one is 4 wheel drive, open sided with bench seats and the luggage goes on the top) for an additional hour.

After all that, I arrive in a town with all sand roads, no sidewalks, barely 2 small markets and no stress. This town is, as the locals say, TRANQUILO, tranquil, layed back and beautiful. The beach stretches some 30 km the town one way and I dont know how many the other way... I was going to stay here for two or three days and then...Chris finally met back up with me AND we both loved it so much we ended up staying about a week. We met some great people, hung out at the beach, relaxed at the hostel with our books, chatted with the owners of the pousada, hiked up sand dunes, rode horses, watched MANY sunsets.... it was great.
Then we decided to get back to the real world...but first we wanted to go to a Park called Lençois Marahenses, which is full of sand dunes and lakes. But to get there, we had to...take a 4x4 for about 2 hours, a van for about 3 hours, a bus for about 4 hours...to the town of Tutoia, where we spent the night. Then the next day, we took another 4x4 to a small town where we spent the night, then the next day another two hours to Barrerinhas, where you can do a jeep tour to the dunes. Whew!

The jeep tour was great! We went in the afternoon to be able to see the sunset, but it was kind of cloudy. However, we did swim in a few warm fresh water lakes and hike over some beautiful white dunes...
Next we went to the big city of Sao Luis, where we walked around the colonial center, met a bunch of people and got to see the locals practicing for the Bumba do Moi festival by dancing around in cool feather costumes...It was very cool!

So, next stop, Brasilia and then the Pantanal!

In The Jungle, The Mighty Jungle...

I have arrived in the Amazon and there are many trees.

We first arrived in Manaus, which is not the middle of the jungle villiage you imagine. It is a teeming city of over two million people, which is a major hub for commerce on the river. It reminds me of something that used to be a beautiful place and could still be if it hadnt gone into disrepair years ago and never recovered. The city is filled with what used to be beautiful buildings, with tile façades and gated courtyards, but are now covered with soot and dirt and grime.

Next a boat cruise was in order. There are two ways you can do it... 1) like the locals, who use the Amazonas River as a means of transport as well as commerce. This entails a 3-5 day trip from Belem to Maunaus, which can be fun. However, the river is quite wide and you dont really get to see a lot of wild life. 2) a group tour, with a bunch of white people. We chose the latter. Which I was not really too keen on at first, becuase going with a bunch of other tourists is not usually my thing. However, it was GREAT! The first day we went on a sunset canoe ride and saw snakes, birds and frogs. The next day we went on a sunrise canoe and saw another snake and many birds, including parrots and macaws. We also took a hike and learned a lot about the flora of the jungle. There are about 800 species of vines, many of them with medicinal properties. There are more than 3000 species of trees in the Amazon. And 3000 fish, 70% which are edible. And the Amazon dumps more water in one day into the ocean than the Thames river dumps in ONE YEAR!!! Crazy huh?

The next day we went piranha fishing. I caught NO piranha, but our driver caught about 7. I kept feeling them nibble, but could never jerk the line up fast enough to catch one. They are smaller than you think and most of them do not eat human. So, there goes that myth.

The last day we went to see the meeting of the waters, where the Rio Negro meets the Amazonas river. The Rio Negro is black and the Amazonas is brown and they flow next to each other for about 3-5 miles without mixing. It is pretty cool!

So, I got a little bit of edumacation and had a very awesome time on my jungle trip!

Trip Pics

Well, it is raining today so I finally got a chance to put more photos online! Yay!

You can, of course, view them here.

Enjoy!

Chopping Broccoli

You never realize that when you travel you are going to miss some things. Little things. ¨Normal¨ things. Everyone alwasys wonders how much fun you are having, what new things you are doing, who you are meeting, etc. But sometimes I just want people to tell ME what THEY did today, who they hung out with and what they did. The normal things, the mundane, everyday, normal things have become more desirable to me. I want to go to dinner on Friday night with the normal work crowd. I want to have a beer at Vics while watching the koala fly back and forth. I want to play pool at Cooter Browns; I want to make pizza with Matt and Pam; I want to hike to Bucks creek with Dad and Shay. Okay, so I am not saying I am not having fun, quite the contrary, but it is funny how we always miss or want what we dont have.

The food here is good. A lot of it is fried, but there is also a lot of good local food, seafood and fruit...oh the fruit! It is delicious. Many papaya (mamãou), pineapple (abacaxi), passion fruit, watermelon and more! Every day for breakfast I eat about one ton of fruit. However, I had a dream the other day about broccoli, and now I want some broccoli SO bad! However, they dont have it here at all. Well, at least I have not seen it. And it is not a choice on the street or in the grocery store.

So, I have made a list. When I get home, I am going to eat good cheese and many soy products. I am going to play pool at Cooter Browns; I am going to go to the Mission for a burrito; I am going to have miso soup with K; I am going to have girls night on Thursday (where I eat good cheese and drink good wine) and last but not least, I am going to have tons and tons of Broccoli!

The Bane of the Bag

Chris and I always say that our home is where we lay our backpack. However, it is more than that. Not only do we lay our backpack somewhere, but we also lug the damn thing around everywhere before finally laying it down in its temporary home. There are levels of difficulty when carrying a bag that you dont think about when you are traveling in the US with your car and your hotel room and your whatever else.

The worst so far is Brazil. All the local buses have turnstyles. You pay, then you go through the turnstyle. If you are overweight or you have a big packpack, there is NO WAY you are getting through the turnstyle. So, luckily I am not the former, but I am still the latter. So, here is how it usually goes...

I get on the bus, give the guy at the turnstyle one of those looks (you know, glance at the pack, shrug your shoulders, raise your eyebrows - what should you do now?), then he gives you one of those looks (you know - glances at the pack, raises his eyebrows, shrugs his shoulders - what can he do about it?) then you give him one of those guestures (point at the backdoor - can I get on that way instead?) and he gives you one of those guestures (finger goes in a circle - go around to the backdoor). Then you go around to the backdoor (and, by the way, the bus is ALWAYS packed with people when you have your pack on, never fails) and put your pack down OR bump EVERYONE on your way back up to the front to pay the guy. You finally pay the guy and then have to stand there with your pack on, or stand there next to your pack, always taking up way too much room in a crowded bus.

It is funny, kind of tiring, the bag is very heavy and it is sometimes hard to communicate...but most people are nice and they dont mind too much my standing in their way with my pack or my ignorance about how to board the bus with the huge thing.

Luckily one of the things I DO know how to say in Portuguese is EXCUSE ME.

sol, araya, ondas!!!

That pretty much sums up our last few days. Sol = sun, Araya = sand and Ondas = waves. We are currently in a nice little town called Saquarema, where we are staying with a nice guy named Jose, who runs a small guesthouse only 100 M from the beach. Mira is with us now and has been for the last week and a half. She is leaving tomorrow, sadly. However, our trip with her has been very fun and we are going to be sad to see her go.

First we went to a town called, fittingly enough since Mira is here for her Spring Break, Paraty. It is a nice little colonial town which sits right on the ocean and is surrounded by, as the Lonely Planet states, some 300 beaches. We went to a nice one called Trinidad. Next we headed out to one of the islands, Ilha Grande, which boasts as having the most beautiful beach in Brazil. Ilha Grande is great; it doesn't have any cars and really only consists of one town and maybe a dozen beaches. We were there for a holiday, Tiradentes Day, so it was a little bit crowded, but not too much so. I think the normal population of the island is about 1200 people.

Next, we headed to Rio, which was very beautiful and a great time, but SOOO expensive, so we only stayed a few days there before heading here, to Saquarema, where we have been relaxing and soaking up the sun ever since.

Next stop, I dont know where....we leave tomorrow, but there are so many good places I have not yet been able to decide where I am going to go!

I am still slacking about putting photos on the internet, but Chris has been keeping up with it pretty well...You can see his photos here.

Arcação!!

If you go to Brazil, you absolutely have to stop at the Bells Company Hostel. Even if you are not staying there, have a drink and chat with the lively owner, who´s name is Gecko, yes, like the lizard. This hostel is situated on the Praia (beach) da Arcação, which is on a little island called the Ilha da Santa Catarina which is in the southeast part of the country, about 12 hours south of São Paulo. The reason I say that is this: Gecko is great, the hostel is RIGHT on the beach, there are surfboards, body boards and a kayak just waiting to be used, internet and breakfast come with the room rate, AND if you are lucky, Gecko will drag out the karaoke machine and you can embarrass yourself as much as you want.

Chris and I arrived here on Wednesday after a long bus ride from Iguaçu with plans to stay for two nights. Two quickly turned into four as we met a great group of people, practiced our surfing and honed our karaoke skills. Today we board an overnight bus and go to São Paulo, where we will meet up with my friend Mira, who has decided to come down and meet up with us for her Spring Break. She will stay for about two weeks and we will probably hit up a few different places while she is here, including Rio and a couple of other smaller towns near it. After that, we continue to travel north.

Cataratas do Iguaçu

Well, we are now in Brazil. We had a great time in Buenos Aires, but had to finally move on so we can get everything done that we want to do. One of the things that was on the top of my list was Iguazu Falls (otherwise known as Cataratas de Iguazu - AR- or Cataratas do Iguaçu -BR). So, from Bs As we boarded a bus for Iguazu. We splurged this time...in Argentina there are usually three classes of busses - semi cama: this is a semi-reclining seat and you probably get a little snack cake and some coffee somewhere along the way, cama: this is a seat that reclines more and you may even get a hot meal, and, executivo: this is like first class - the seats go back all the way, you get breakfast, lunch and dinner, movies and DRINKS! The ride was 20 hours, but it seemed like nothing...we ate, watched a movie, had some wine, then some whiskey, watched another movie, went to bed...we got up the next morning, had breakfast, watched a movie and...we were there! It was great!

Then we went to find our hostel. We had booked into a hostel that advertised itself as being an old casino that had been remade into a hostel. When we arrived, we wondered...is this really where we are staying? It was so nice...It had a pool, pool tables, ping pong, free internet, barbeques and tango dancing and nice rooms with their own bathroom! It was like paradise!

The next day we went to see the falls...wow! They were very nice. We spent the day walking around to all the different views and trails... Today we came over to the Brazil side of the falls and spent the day doing the same thing on this side. Both sides are equally magnificent in their own way. I definetely recommend it!

Tomorrow we will go to see the Itaipu dam, then we are on to Florinapolis, which is in the southeast on the coast. It is supposed to have some of the nicest beaches in Brazil. I cant wait!