Day 100 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (26 June 2012)

Day 100 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (26 June 2012)

We awake this morning and get ready for our favela tour.  We were to be picked up at 9am and taken to a slum neighbourhood in Rio de Janeiro.  We wait, wait and wait, and finally at 10am our tour guide arrives.  We go outside and to our surprise he picks us up in his personal car.  There were three of us from the hostel, an Asian girl, Ann and myself.  The guy asks us what neighbourhood we want to go to and we say Richoleta, which is the largest slum suburb in the world.  As we were driving to the slum’s, which was about half an hour away, the tour guide was giving us a guide of the city and showing us important buildings and places which was a bit of a bonus.  Also getting a trip through some parts of the city that we would have otherwise not have seen was a bonus too.  We arrived at a neighbourhood which was the richest neighbourhood in Rio.  We continue driving and we exit the rich part of town, turn the corner and we are in the slums.  “Welcome to Richoleta”, our guide Joel proclaims.  We were certainly in the slums now, and what a contrast to around the corner in the rich neighbourhood!  We parked the car close to the outskirts of the suburb, fair enough, I would do the same thing, in fact I don’t think I would park the car there at all! We had been informed and told by other travellers that there was no danger at all in coming to the slums.  The reason being the slums do not try and rob the tourist as if this happens the tourists will not come and visit the area.  Also in exchange for the slums good behaviour the tour guide pays them each time they visit.  I’m more than happy with that.  We parked the car outside a market area where some pretty talented slums had done some paintings of the favelas and the mountains surrounding.  Here we also got some history of the area including how the slum neighbourhood first arose.  This came from back about 100 years ago when the city was not as big and the most valuable land was on the flat and by the beach.  At this time this more valuable land was rural where sugarcanes and coffee fields were located.  Also being close to the beach would be a good thing too.  The cheapest land available was on the mountainous land in the hills, so they bought the land and built there.  This land was dirt cheap as it was not in the city and seen as unusable at the time.  The land however has spectacular views of the now city, beach and ocean and also has fantastic mountains surrounding the area creating a fantastic location.  Pity about the residents and the dwellings!  In saying that the residents were no hassle at all, just a bit of starring at the foreigners but they would see this every day.  We then walked to a medical centre and the water station.  This water station collects water from the hills and distributes it to residents for free.  It is clean and drinkable water.  As we were walking around the streets one noticeable feature was the incredible amount of power lines hanging overhead, I wouldn’t want to be an electrician in this area.

We walked up a hill, appreciating the fantastic views as we ascended, and then went into one of the slums homes.  This was an interesting experience (as if the visit to the neighbourhood wasn’t an interesting enough experience!).  We walked in and there was nothing on the first floor apart from a pile of bricks and some washing on the line.  It was effectively shelter.  We climbed on the roof (via stairs) and once again admired a great view.  When on the roof I realised how many homes had satellites on their roofs.  How could these slums afford pay tv? I decided to ask Joel our guide.  Apparently the pay tv network have a very good deal for the slums for pay tv.  This keeps them busy and out of crime.  If the crime rises, the deal expires. 

We then walked into the ‘commercial hub’ of the suburb.  Shops were selling the usual goods, fish and meat were sold unpackaged on the street and there was just a generally dirty smell and feel.  We walked down an alley way, here we got to see some shops and homes up close.  Not the cleanest of conditions and I reckon health and safety would have a field day!  We did come to a locals home and he let us on his roof for a look, for a small fee.  We continued down the alley and came to some teenagers who wanted to play some music to us, using some tin and an old paint can.  Considering the circumstances they did a good job, and there were two younger kids dancing around while they were playing, they had smiles on their faces and were having a great time so at least they appeared happy.  We continued walking and seeing the same old thing, a lot of poverty.  We then walked back to the car, the tour was over and we were driving ack into the city.  Obviously I would hate to live like this, I asked the guide if many people made it out of the neighbourhood and worked and lived in the city.  He said that people worked in the city but came back to the slums to live, they enjoyed the life there too much.  I can’t understand how, but I guess they don’t know any different.  One positive is that there is no crime in the neighbourhood.  There is only one gang in the suburb and they are good to the locals.  

We got dropped off at the hostel and then caught the metro into the central city for a look around.  We decide to get off the metro at a different stop to what we did yesterday.  What a difference it made!  Yesterday we got out of the metro station to find an old and bustling market while today we found a normal, bustling city full of professionals wandering the city.  There are some very nice buildings in and amongst them too.  We join everyone and take a wander through the city, which is very nice however nothing spectacular.  We walk to the Santa Tereza Tram birdge which is in a relatively dodgy area of the city, so we scamper away pretty quickly.  We then continue our walk and end up at the Candeleria church and have a look around.  It is a pretty nice church, very simple but effective.  We then walk to the market area we were in yesterday and have another look around, no purchases today however.

We head back to the hostel and cook another steak sandwich for dinner and had a couple of beers.  As we were relaxing watching tv, our hostel managers came in and offered us some Brigadeiro that they had made for themselves and us.  Brigadeiro is a traditional Brazilian dessert and is made of condensed milk, cocoa and butter.  It was delicious and a really nice gesture by the hostel managers.  So far this hostel has been good but I don’t want to put a jinx on it just yet.  This hostel is very new, only opened last week.  As we were researching a hostel in Rio, all other hostels had bad reviews on them so we decided to take a punt with this one as it had no reviews because it was new.  So far, and I am saying so far, the punt has paid off.

Day 99 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (25 June 2012)

Day 99 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (25 June 2012)

We awake this morning to another beautiful day.  We decide it is a perfect day to go up Rio’s other main mountain attraction, Pao de Acucar, also known as Sugar Loaf Mountain.  Before we go today we are going to look at the top of the mountain and check out the conditions, making sure there is no cloud hanging around!  This shouldn’t be a problem today as this mountain is only 396 metres high while Christ the Redeemer mountain is 710 metres high.  We have breakfast, get ready and are on our way.  We walk to the main street which is on the beach that we visited on our first day in Rio, and caught a bus that will take us to the bottom of Sugar Loaf (cost of bus is R$2.75 each).  We arrive and buy our tickets for the cable car (R$53 each).  We then hop aboard the cable car for our short journey to the first stop.  There are two separate mountains and to reach Sugar Loaf you need to take the first cable car to the first mountain called Morro da Urca which is 215 metres high and then change lines.  The cable car is the oldest in the world (obviously modernised) and ascends quite quickly.  As we arrive at Morro da Urca, we get to some amazing views of Rio, the water surrounding the city and the mountains towering over the city.  It really is a spectacular city and we are pretty lucky to be able to witness such a stunning view on a beautiful day.  We hang around on this mountain for about an hour just admiring the view in the sun and slowly walking around the place.  We also watch a short movie about the history of the cable car and the mountains and find out that in 1977 a James Bond movie was filmed on the mountain and they used the cable cars.  I really want to watch this movie now!  We then catch the second cable car up to Sugar Loaf mountain.  This cable car was equally as efficient at getting us to the top, however it could be interesting on a windy day especially as it exposed to both the south and the north.  When we reach the top we had a 360 degree view over the entire city, the Atlantic ocean and the airport, where we watched planes fly over the top of the mountain descending to land, and then we got the opposite as the wind changed direction, we got the planes flying over us as they were taking off.  From this point we could also see the famous Copacabana beach (which we will be visiting in a couple of days (probably day 101)) and also other beaches around Rio de Janeiro.  We stayed up on Sugar Loaf for about an hour and a half, just relaxing and once again admiring the view.  We decided that we wanted to have a beer or two and enjoy the sun with a great vista.  We decided to do this on Morro da Urca as we enjoyed this view better as you were closer to the city and could see the more detail.  We caught the cable car down, went to the bar and got some beers and then parked up on a bench in the sun with a spectacular view over the harbour towards the city with the mountainous terrain in the background.  This city is really spectacular, I’m pretty sure this is the best city in South America, for me anyway. 

We eventually pulled ourselves up and went back down the cable car to ground level.  From here we walked to the metro underground train system and caught a train into town (R$3.20 each).  We decided to get off one stop before the central area as it looked a more populated area on the map.  It was still in the centre of the city however.  When we exited the train terminal we got a bit of a shock, we had entered a local market.  This market was selling all types of goods at pretty cheap prices.  We both bought havaina jandels for R$8 each, Ann also bought a Rio singlet and a Brazilian fridge magnet.  After about an hour or so of wandering around (with one hand in my pocket and the other clutching my bag) we decided to head back to the hostel as we didn’t want to catch a rush hour train.  We then went to the supermarket and bought some steak and salad for dinner and went back to the hostel to cook.
After dinner we booked a favela tour for tomorrow.  The hostel manager also mentioned to us that we should go the market in town to pick up some cheap goods, we laughed and told her we had just been in the afternoon by fluke but then she mentioned that it goes for miles so we might go back later in the week for another look, minus the bag and the cameras this time!!!

Day 98 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (24 June 2012)

Day 98 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (24 June 2012)

We awoke to a beautiful day, clear blue skies, temperature of about 24 degrees – perfect conditions! We decided at the start of our Rio adventure that we would go up the mountain to see Christ the Redeemer (Christo Redentor in Portuguese) on the first clear day while we are here.  We catch the bus to the bottom of the hill and buy a train ticket that will take us to the top of the hill for R$44 each (about NZ$30).  We had to wait for about an hour for the train as they went every 20 minutes and the other trains were full.  While we waited we had a look through the gift shops that were around the place, with expectant ridiculously high prices for souvenirs that tourists seemed to be snapping up. 

Finally it was our turn to get on the train, we decided to line up early as we had been told to sit on the right hand side of the train because you get the best views.  When we board the train we are pushed from pillar to post by other people to get on the train.  Had they heard the same thing as we did? The answer to that question is a definite no.  They were pushing to get seats on the other side of the train as it looked like the other side of the train would have the better seats and views, and  they also faced the right way while the right side seats faced backwards.  We had no problem getting a seat on the right hand side and were rewarded with far better views than our impatient and rude fellow passengers.  That will teach you to push us aside.
As we ascended up the hill, we were treated to fantastic views with a beautiful clear sky.  We then reached the top and wouldn’t you know it, the clouds rolled on in! It was extremely foggy.  We thought it was temporary and it would be gone as soon it is came, we were wrong.  The fog stayed all day.  We did get some glimpses of the city and we did see Christ the Redeemer quite frequently, but the clear skies we had earlier were gone!  We waited up the top all afternoon as we didn’t have anything planned for the rest of the day.  The advantages of being at the end of the trip and not having a time schedule to stick by.  This didn’t change a thing however as the cloud stayed.  We decided to leave about 4.30pm.  When we got down the cloud had gone, but when we looked up the mountain we saw the mist was still surrounding the top of the mountain where Christ the Redeemer was.  When we got back to the hostel we found out that the day had been fantastic at sea level, a picture clear perfect day, however the mist lingered around Christ the Redeemer.  This is a common occurrence apparently which made us feel a wee bit better.  We did get the views of the city, albeit brief, and we did get to see Christ the Redeemer so all in all it was still a good day.  Also apparently you get better views of the city from Sugar Loaf mountain, which we will visit on another clear day (this mountain is nowhere near as high so the mist shouldn’t be a problem).  We then cooked dinner, had a bottle of red wine that we bought from Argentina and hung around the hostel area mingling with other guests.

Day 97 - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (23 June 2012)

Day 97 – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (23 June 2012)

We awake at 5am, we have reached Sau Paulo.  I am very glad I am not getting off here, I am tired and it is dark outside and I did not feel like getting off the bus.  I felt sorry for the Australian couple behind us who had to get off.  We then continued up the highway towards Rio de Janeiro.  I tried to go back to sleep but it was pretty hard with the poor suspension on the bus, just as it had been hard to sleep during the night being bumped around all over the place!

We arrived in Rio de Janeiro at about 10.30am, 2 hours ahead of schedule! Finally we have made it! As we get off the bus we are reminded that we have left a Spanish speaking country, now we were in a Portuguese speaking country!!! At least we knew how to speak a wee bit of Spanish, now we are in a country where we have no idea of the language! At least the English is better here.  We get a taxi to our hostel, called Hostel Cafofo.  Ann booked this hostel and apparently it only opened a week or so ago.  It was hard to find a hostel in Rio as they were very expensive and also there were bad reviews on pretty much all of them.  Since this hostel was brand new there were no reviews but Ann decided to take a risk.  First impressions were good, nice and tidy as you would expect and the staff are going that extra mile because they have the enthusiasm because they have just opened.  When we were settled and had showers we went for a walk to the beach which was only a block or two from our hostel.  This beach is fantastic, white sand, stunning water and an amazing backdrop with sugar loaf mountain lingering in the background.  One downside to this beach is that you cannot swim in the water as it is contaminated.  That is such a shame as it is a fantastic beach.  The sand also had football goal posts all along the beach, but no one was playing at that time which was a shame.  We had a walk around the area, including the local shopping centre which is 7 or 8 stories high, and then went to the supermarket and got something to cook for dinner and went back to the hostel.  We then cooked dinner, watched a movie and went to sleep as we were quite tired from the overnight bus.

Day 96 - Puerto Iguazu, Argentina to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (22 June 2012)

Day 96 – Puerto Iguazu, Argentina to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (22 June 2012)

We packed up our gear, had breakfast and checked out of the hostel by our check out time of 10am in preparation for our last bus ride in South America, a 24 hour trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  We saved the longest bus trip to last! The check out time was annoying as our bus didn’t depart until 1pm and the hostel didn’t have a luggage storage facility.  We decided to go straight to the bus station and went to the restaurant there.  We had a cup of tea, some fries and of course some empanadas.  We had to have some empanadas just before we left Argentina (we ate just before we departed as we had a feeling we were not being fed on this bus).  At 1pm we boarded the bus and began our journey.  This was of course interrupted 10 minutes into the trip with a stop at the Argentinean border crossing, and then for the first time, we stopped at the Brazilian immigration where we received a stamp into Brazil! We have officially arrived in Brazil!

The bus stopped in Foz Iguazu, a city very close to the Brazilian border, to drop off a few passengers.  This bus had originally come from Buenos Aires and was continuing all the way to Rio.  We then continued on our way north.  This bus was not comfortable as it had bad suspension, I felt a bad sleep was on its way.  As we drove through Brazil we were surrounded by sugar cane fields, they stretched for miles!  We also drove through multiple cities.  About 8.30pm we stopped for half an hour for dinner.  The restaurant was designed for bus stopovers but the prices were not too bad.  Here we had our first taste of a Brazilian tradition, a pay per kg meal.  This is where you fill your plate from a buffet style situation and then get the plate weighed.  Mine weighed close to half a kg while Ann’s weighed about half of mine.  It is difficult to gauge how much your plate will weigh as we had never weighed our dinner plates before! My plate was filled to the edges and Ann’s was pretty full too.  One highlight was the vegetables.  We noticed in Argentina, although they have the most amazing meals, especially steak, they did lack on the vegetables.  We did stack our plates with these.  Overall the total cost of the two meals was about $24 Reals (about $NZ17).  Good value.  We then continued on our journey to Rio.  The movies played on this bus were good, only because they were all in English with Spanish subtitles.

Day 95 - Puerto Iguazu, Argentina (21 June 2012)

Day 95 – Puerto Iguazu, Argentina (21 June 2012)

Today was a very interesting day.  We met a couple, we shall call them Trevor and Sue.  They started their day in the usual fashion by getting up and having the supplied breakfast of medialuna’s with cups of tea.  They then went to the bus stop and had to run to catch up to the bus that had just departed.  This bus was heading to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.  The reason why I say their day was interesting was because they had to exit Argentina and then drive through a part of Brazil to get to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay.  But that is only the beginning of the interesting part.  Technically they needed a visa to enter the country of Paraguay, which was going to cost them a bit of money.  However they had heard stories of other people not getting the visa and crossing the border without any customs or immigration.  Ciudad del Este is a bustling but somewhat ugly city which is only renowned for the super cheap shopping available.  People from Argentina and Brazil head across the river and do their shopping for a fraction of the price.  This is what attracted Trevor and Sue so they decided to give it a crack.  At the end of the day they were only going to go to Paraguay for a couple of hours and they were only a couple of hundred metres away from Brazil where they could legally enter. 

The bus took Trevor and Sue to the Argentinean border, which is about 10 minutes away from the centre of Puerto Iguazu.  They were stamped out and then continued their journey, missing the Brazilian border and not being stamped into the country of Brazil, similar to our experiences two days earlier when we went to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls (Day 93).  Their journey took them to Foz Iguazu and then through the immigration area to exit Brazil, over the bridge to Ciudad del Este.  They were now in Paraguay! The bus ride took them about an hour, the longest part of the journey was the traffic jam before and on the bridge over to Paraguay.  It was interesting for them as there was no immigration to attend in Brazil and now in Paraguay, where they exited the bus on the main street and began their shopping.  The shopping went for blocks and blocks, pretty incredible.  Market stalls were set up with all kinds of gear, the majority of stalls selling branded clothing and knock off electronics.  Trevor and Sue decided to stay on the main street, where there was still plenty of shopping, because they didn’t want to get lost or stray in the city where they were technically not welcome.  They stayed in Ciudad del Este for about an hour or so, with both Trevor and Sue buying a jersey each for a very small price.  During the morning Sue had been very nervous, from what they were telling us it sounds like Sue did not like the experience at all, but Trevor didn’t mind.  They caught the next bus back to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina.  The bus took them back down the main street, through the immigration area in Paraguay, over the bridge, through the immigration area in Brazil (this all taking about half an hour because the traffic was terrible, and no customs or immigration checks, just strait on through).  They then drove through Foz Iguazu, Brazil, through the Brazilian immigration area, over the river separating Brazil and Argentina and then to Argentina immigration where they were stamped back into Argentina.  The immigration officer asked Trevor if he had been to Iguazu Falls on the Brazil side which he said yes too.  They were then back in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina by lunchtime. 
Sounds like a very eventful morning – going into two countries without technically being in them (according to the passport), and illegally entering a country with no visa as one was required to enter Paraguay for citizens of Trevor and Sues country.  Sue was very relieved when she got back into Argentina. 

We had a good chat with these two, then we went our separate ways after lunch.  After lunch we decided to have a look around the town, there was not too much to see here really.  A few shops were around but half of them were closed.  We later found out they open a bit later in the afternoon and stay open during the evening to cater for the tourists who would all be at Iguazu Falls during the day.  We go out for dinner and get our final steak in Argentina.  Unfortunately this steak was probably the worst we have had in Argentina, it was still pretty good but not up to the high standards we are now used to in this country.  We then head to the supermarket to get some snacks for our long 24 hour bus ride to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil tomorrow (including a bottle of red wine, not to have on the bus but to have in Rio) and then go back to the hostel for the evening.

Day 94 - Puerto Iguazu, Argentina (20 June 2012)

Day 94 – Puerto Iguazu, Argentina (20 June 2012)

We awake this morning and are all ready for our Argentinean Iguazu Falls experience.  John the American has booked a bus for around 7pm tonight so he decides to come to the falls with us even though he went the day before.  His reasoning was the falls were that amazing he doesn’t mind going for a second time and he had nothing else to do that day since he couldn’t get into Brazil!  We catch the bus (bus leaves every 20 minutes, cost is $10 pesos each one way).  Today I am prepared to get wet, I don’t have that much gear on me and most importantly I can leave the passport safely locked away at the hostel.  We arrive at the falls and pay our money, but the attendant passes back a $50 peso note and tells us it is fake.  We inspect it and sure enough it was fake.  There is a ‘black market’ of fake Argentinean notes going around tourist areas, it is especially prevalent in Buenos Aires.  We had been given this by the attendant at the bus office and hadn’t checked the ticket as the bus was just about to leave.  Usually we check every note we receive but this time we hadn’t.  The one note we don’t check and it is a fake.  That will teach us.  Oh well at the end of the day it is only about NZ$15.  Lesson learnt, let’s move on.

We inspect the map and find out there are 3 separate walking paths.  We have been told by numerous sources to do the lower walk last as you get wet!  Sounds good to me.  We decide to do the middle walk first.  This walk takes you to the top of numerous waterfalls and you can look over the drop on platforms.  Just like the Brazilian side I have no idea how these platforms were made, I definitely would not like to be constructing them and putting them in place.  The scenery was spectacular and the noise the water was generating was unbelievable!  Already I was enjoying the Argentinean side of the falls better as we were in amongst the action.  The water was furious as it seemed like the river was in flood, as mentioned in yesterday’s blog. 

We then decided to take in the Upper level.  This required catching a train with the ride taking about 20 minutes to an area in the forest.  From here we walked on a platform that went for 1.1 kilometres over half of the Iguazu River (the Argentina side).  At the end of the platform was a magnificent site.  This is where the half of the river pours over into a mammoth waterfall, called the Devils throat (Garganta Del Diablo in Spanish).  This specific waterfall is 82 metres high, 150 metres wide, and 700 meters long.  It is huge and is U-shaped.  The ferociousness of the water crashing down into the river below causes a large amount of spray, which also is easily visible from the Brazilian side of the river.  This spray does not allow you to see the bottom of the fall, in fact it is difficult to see half way down!   If we thought the waterfalls were making a loud noise, well this was nothing in comparison to the thunderous sound the Devils throat was creating.  We stayed here for a wee while admiring what we were seeing and hearing (surprisingly with not too many tourists around as we timed it to miss the tour groups as they visit this site at the beginning of their tours – yes we did our research!).  We then made the trek back over the long platform, caught the train back and started walking to the lower trail.

When we reach the lower trail, we pass people on their way back who are drenched.  This looks promising, we must be going pretty close the falls here!  We make our way through the forest with some small waterfalls to view and as we get closer to the main waterfalls we can hear the noise getting louder and louder.  We arrive at the edge of the cliff where the waterfall is.  Since the river is in flood the end of the platform as been blocked off, and rightly so as the water is pounding on the edge where people would usually stand.  This water would easily knock them off their feet if not drag them into the water at the bottom.  Best not climb over the barrier.  We get to the barrier and are drenched within seconds.  We are not getting hit by the waterfall but by the spray.  Great experience and would definitely recommend.
That is the end of our Iguazu experience.  Before we leave I want one last look at the falls so I quickly take the middle track for a look and walk over the top of the falls.  We then catch the bus back into town and go out for dinner before John leaves for his journey back to Buenos Aires.