[news from rio de janiero]
Sunday, 31 October, 2004
Hi
Here is a bit of news from rio de janiero.
We were busy waiting to get to rio to use cheap
internet, but cheap internet seems to be just a dream.
Funny that in florianopolis it was 2 reais per hour,
and here it is 6. Nevermind!
We had a fantastic time on Ilha Grande. It reminded
us a lot of the marlborough sounds, except for the
crocodile warning signs, the portuguese and the
weather.... We had a few thunder and lightning storms
during the evenings, but generally had fine weather.
Mossies at night though... Two of our days there we
walked over to a beach called Lopes Mendes beach. Its
supposed to be the most picturesque in brazil. Donīt
know about that, but it was pretty amazing - and the 2
hour walk there was nice through the bush. The beach
had huge surf and very powerful under currents so you
had to be careful swimming but perfect for sunbathing
while watching the frigate birds soaring overhead.
You can only walk to the beach, so its not to
overcrowded too. On our last day there, I had two
very large crabs decide they liked the look of my
foot, and pounced on it (no nippers got me though), I
got bitten by a huge horse fly, we saw an amazingly
huge bright blue butterfly, and even saw about 6
tamerin monkeys hanging out in the trees on the track
(begging for food). Very very cute. Unfortunately we
hadnīt taken our cameras that time.... We also saw a
couple of MASSIVE spiders on the track and got to
listen to howler monkeys while walking home. It was a
great day.
We caught the boat back to the mainland and a 2 hour
long bus trip to Rio. Its hot here today, (30+
degrees) and everyone is at the beach. We found a
cheap hotel in town that is actually expensive for us
(cheap for rio from what I can work out) and are
paying about $13NZ each for a double room and ensuite
with included breakfast. We were hoping to get a
fully furnished apartment with kitchen for that, or
pay half that much and get a dorm but no such luck.
Big cities are expensive..
Today we have been up to a lookout for photos (to an
army fort) and checked out the famous copacabana beach
where if you arnīt wearing a g-string you have too
many clothes on. everyone was laughing at us cause we
are so white, and had sunhats, shirts and trousers
on... we were just looking at the place and wernīt
planning on going swimming but seems we were the laugh
of the crowd... doesnīt matter how hard you try, you
can never blend into the locals.
The portuguese is not really happening. we know only
the very basics and thats enough to get by. Some
people speak english but no more than in argentina.
in general the people are not quite as polite or
conservative as argentina. It certainly doesnīt feel
quite as safe wandering around with a camera etc. And
our limited dealings with locals so far (ie in shops
etc) arnīt that great - they donīt have patience for
locals struggling with the language.
I went into a hairdressers this morning to find out
how much it would cost to get my legs waxed. They
couldnīt seem to give me a straight answer for the
price, and somehow before I knew it, some young girl
was dragging me into a back room and ripping the hairs
off my legs without me even asking her to. She was
all finished after 5 minutes - literally! Very very
fast and a good job too. It ended up costing me $6NZ
- unbelievably cheap. I am now trying to find
somewhere where I can get my hair braided for cheap
too!
Now we have another 6 days in Rio to spend. Tomorrow
we will visit some fairs. There is a cable car to go
up, another lookout to visit, a museum or two to see,
a good zoo and botanical gardens to see. we also want
to see some samba dancing, go out for a meal and
perhaps go to a crazy soccor match if one is on for
us! So we wonīt be bored.
Next friday we fly back to santiago and then up to
Miami. It will be a big change getting to the USA.
We are starting to firm up plans a bit, and will be
renting a car in miami for 5 days I think. We are
also making a few other changers to our itinery which
hopefully will get confirmed this week.
Not much else to report.
Hope everyone is well
Love Nic
* Chinnoble Adventures #10
Saturday, 23 October, 2004
Well well well. Quite a lot has happened since the
last essay. We have visited 6 contries, had a lot of
laughs, a few scary moments and probably even some
tears.
Our last stop in Peru was at a beach in the north
where we spent two days swimming, sunbathing and
generally relaxing. We managed to find a really cheap
place that was totally made of concrete, beds
included. It also came complete with its own
cockroaches and an anorexic cat. While there, Andrew
tried the local seafood dish īceveicheī - raw fish in
some sort of marinade while Nic fed our anorexic cat
crackers and stuck to more īnormalī food. We even got
to see a Blue Footed Boobie seabird which are usually
only seen in the Galapogos.
We crossed over into Ecuador catching a series of
collectivos and taxis in what turned out to be one of
our most stressful days so far. A combination of
dodgy taxi drivers, very dodgy street dealers, fake
policemen, closed roads, military guys blowing things
up on the side of the road, crowded markets, too many
migration offices and no one around we could trust
made things difficult. We got there though, and still
had all of our stuff. We did however leap on the
wrong bus on the Ecuador side and drove for 6 hours in
the wrong direction before we could get off and get on
another one! Oh well. We could say that the scenery
was nice but we didnīt notice it because we were
terrified and hanging onto the seats in front
white-knuckled due to our lunatic driver who raced any
other bus on the road going in our direction.
Eventually we made it to Rio Bamba at 4am, and waited
in the freezing cold urine infested bus station till
it was light enough to safely find some accommodation.
We hadnīt slept for what seemed like days, so figured
"whats another day" and jumped straight on the famous
Devilīs Nose train. The great thing about this train
is you get to sit on the roof, so as well as being
chilled to the bone all day, you get a great view of
the surrounding farms, and scenery. Stand up at the
wrong time (or donīt duck at the right time) you get
taken out by a powerline or branch of a tree (no
tunnels luckily). The train steadily drops altitude
and eventually reaches a huge rock bluff in a gorge
where it reverses down zigzags cut into the rock to
reach the valley floor. Quite an engineering
achievement.
Our next excursion in Ecuador was a climb of Volcan
Chimborazo at 6310m. We managed to link up public
transport and had a bit of luck hitching and were at
the bottom of the climb within 3 hours after leaving
our hostel. We spent a couple of days acclimitising
and fighting off a cold and slight tummy bug before
climbing. We left the refugio at 11.30pm, summitted
sometime around 7.00am in near perfect weather. Spent
an hour on the top admiring the views above the cloud,
and were back in the refugio by 10.30am sipping a cold
coke. All in all a great day. We then managed to
hitch a ride to the main road with a bus full of dutch
tourists before waiting with 5 other bowler hat women
and their children for the regular bus into town. The
bus came, and went without slowing down, even swerving
to avoid everyone standing in the road trying to flag
it down. The next vehicle that drove past was an old
ute. It stopped, the bowler hat women all jumped in.
With no better option we blindly followed. So there
we were, sitting in the rain on a pile of sugar cane,
on the back of a ute with all these women and their
kids. One of them on Nicīs knee and two others being
breast fed. They all thought it was a great joke and
spent most of the trip laughing at us. We spent most
of the trip laughing at us too...
For a bit of R&R we stopped in the small touristy town
of Banos for a couple of days. Banos has hot pools
and sits right underneath an active volcano that
errupts every few years and spews lava bombs and ash
over the town. "Unfortunately" it was quiet while we
were there. Our hostel was great though - hotel
standard with cable TV, really good bed, brand new and
clean bathroom and free use of bikes all for US$3
each. We could of stayed a week. We visited the hot
pools to relieve our aching muscles, and spent a
morning on a hired 4 wheel motor bike. We zoomed up
the hill on the other side of the valley to get views
of the volcano and it was all fun and games until the
back wheel fell off as we went around a corner (good
old South American maintenance). Nic leapt off the
back and chased it down the road before it went off
the edge and we never saw it again. Andrew
ran/hitch-hiked back to town to get someone to fix it
and found the nut that had fallen off in the gutter at
the bottom of the hill. We were given another bike
and finished our journey with no mishaps.
Onwards to Quito where we grabbed more food and raced
off to climb Volcan Cotopaxi. This time we tented
near the refugio to save $$ (the refugio was going to
cost us US$17 each per night for just a matteress).
The little hut warden took a dislike to us and
wouldnīt let us near the refugio, or use the refugios
water. Not really an issue as we could easily get
water from the water tank just up the hill but a bit
sad that he was so against anyone camping. We climbed
in marginal weather, summitted with good views of the
surrounding peaks, froze, and thawed out on the way
down then hitch hiked and bused back to Quito where we
spent the next two days in a great hostel owned by an
Aussie guy with a very crazy cat and two hyperactive
Ecuadorian maids who tried to bleach Andrewīs hair.
Our flight from Quito back to Santiago in Chile was
interesting too... We were supposed to have a quick
stop over in Guayaquil (city in Ecuador) then direct
to Santiago. Instead of visiting another city in
Ecuador we somehow ended up with a broken plane and
got loaded with a handful of others onto a plane bound
for Lima, Peru. Arrived in Peru at midnight only to
find out there was no connecting flight to Santiago.
Bugger... We have no Peru currency any more, airline
is too tight to pay for a hotel for us, and instead,
compensate us with a 5 sole phone card (that we canīt
use cause its the middle of the night and we canīt
speak spanish anyway) and a meal voucher which we use
only cause its free food (not because we are hungry at
2am in the morning!). We spend the rest of the night
trying to sleep lying across the chair arms of the
hard seats in the Lima transit lounge. Finally we get
a plane at 7am in the morning.
Santiago was a flying visit. Say hi to friends, post
stuff back to NZ, wash clothes and then jump on a
plane to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Back in the land of
great steak, cheap wine and alforjes (yummy caramel
filled biscuits). We are happy.
BA was a blast. 4 days of running around visiting the
sights, shopping (filling up that space in the pack
created when we posted the last lot of stuff back to
NZ) and eating good food. One of the highlights was
watching a fantastic tango show at a famous cafe.
Our next bus journey took us to Puerto Iguazu on a
very flash bus that had only 3 huge leather seats
across the bus, engligh films, great food (three
course meal) and champagne. Not quite sure how we
scored this one, cause it was only a few dollars more
than the cheapest one offered!
Iguazu Falls was amazing - as expected. Its
classified one of the (if not ītheī) best waterfalls
in the world, and rightly so. The river was flooded
and red/brown dirty when we were there making the
falls simply huge. We spent a day wandering around
the Argentine side of the falls getting soaked with
spray, and half a day on the Brazilian side getting
soaked with rain - both well worth it. Its hard to
describe the sights and the roar of the water. Photos
will never do it justice. Youīll just have to believe
us when we say it was amazing...
We left Argentina looking like we had chickenpox after
getting bombarded by mosquitos while asleep and had a
very īinternationalī day - breakfast in Argentina,
lunch in Paraguay and dinner in Brazil. Paraguay was
just a short stop to have a look around. We wernīt
left with a great impression as it was pouring with
rain, thunder and lightning, there were too many
people in the dirty border markets, we couldnīt find
anywhere to eat for ages and Nic managed to fall down
a flight of stairs ending up with a bruised ankle and
a bruised pride.
Thus here we are on the south coast of Brazil enjoying
the beaches and struggling with the Portugese.
till next time
byeee
Nic and Andrew
now in Brazil
Thursday, 21 October, 2004
Hi there
Sorry its been a while since writing but havenīt had
internet access for a while. Thunderstorms and flakey
connections have meant no internet at Iguazu Falls.
Here is an update...
We caught a flash bus from Buenos Aires north to
Puerto Iguazu, the argentina border town near Iguazu
falls. It was a long bus ride so we paid the extra
NZ$5 and went for a nice coche cama bus. Turned out
to be well worthwhile. We had the front two seats on
the top story and had flash leather seats that
reclined way back so it was really comfortable to
sleep. Only three seats across, there was heaps more
width too. We were fed lollies and biscuits as an
appetiser and then what we thought was a main course
for dinner. Good potato salad, with lettuce on the
side and bread and crackers. Finished that thinking
there was no more, then were bought the main course.
Rice and cooked meat with a cheese sauce. And it was
hot!! Were given fizzy drink, coffee and tea etc and
were shown english movies. Then to top it all off we
were given champagne in plastic champagne glasses that
we could enjoy while watching the nightime movie.
Very flash.
We got to Puerto Iguazu (Argentina still) and were
immediately struck by the heat. Over 30 degrees and
hummid. We went to a hostel and waited for our room
to be cleaned (someone had just moved out). 5 hours
later our room still wasnīt clean) so we gave up and
moved to another hostel around the corner. There we
ended up in a really nice room for the same price,
lovely owners, a balcony and nice kitchen. It was
good that we moved. Only problem is that the heat
requires no blankets or even sheets on you at night.
Took us a couple of night to work out what was
happening, but there were these mosquito things that
were having a party in our room every night. And with
so much bare skin showing they must have been in
heaven. We couldnīt feel them biting during the night
but would wake up with red dots all over us. Andrew
has literally hundreds over his back and arms. I have
less, but I have reacted to them so have large red
raised lumps on my face, neck and arms. It looks like
we have got some weird disease. Quite gross actually.
I stopped counting after I got to 30 very red itchy
lumps on one arm. The locals donīt seem to be
affected by them at all.
We visited the argentine side of Iguazú Falls on the
first day and the Brazilian side of the falls on our
second day.
So the first day was spent wandering around the
walkways above the water getting soaked. It is a real
close up experience and certainly not for people who
donīt like heights. Some of the walkways take you
right to the edge of the top of the falls so you can
look right over the edge. You get a real vertigo
feeling when you approach the edge. The noise is
immense. Andrew and I had to shout to hear each
other. The fee you pay to enter the park includes a
wee train that takes you around the park. Good value
really given its world famous and they could charge
heaps, and people would still pay. It worked out at
about $NZ15 each for the day. There is a huge circ of
falls that you can explore from the top and bottom on
the argentine side, then you can take the train out
and walk along a long walkway that goes across the
river to the main huge waterfall called īthe devils
throatī. This one is just massive. Its a really
scary platform that you get really wet on. The spray
was coming up so high above us, and the wind blowing
it all onto us. The river was quite high, so the
water was all brown and the waterfalls bigger than
normal. Only downside was we couldnīt get out to the
island to explore another area cause the river was too
high for the boats to land. It really is an
impressive sight. I never thought waterfalls could be
so violent!
While in the park we saw some weird plants, flowers,
lizzards, hundreds of beautiful coloured butterflies
and the crazy wee birds called swifts. They nest and
like hanging out on the vertical cliffs around and in
amongst the waterfalls. I have no idea how they cling
onto the vertical slimey rock in the spray and
actually enjoy it. Some of them even nest behind the
waterfalls and have to fly through the water where it
isnīt too thick. Amazing wee things.
Our second day at the falls was on the brazilian side.
We caught a bus over the border. the argentines
stamped us out but the brazilians didnīt stamp us in.
Not sure why, but didnīt seem to be a problem. We
were stamped back into argentina at the end of the day
when we returned. The brazilian side gave us a good
overview of the whole area of waterfalls. Its further
away and you get less wet - except for us because it
was raining when we visited. Still well worth every
cent.
We returned to our hostel and spent the evening
watching the most impressive electrical storm. There
was so much lightning that night became day. And the
rain was so heavy - like real west coast rain!. We
thought it was just going to be a shower and were
wanting to go into town for dinner, so waited for it
to stop. One and a half hours later we were still
waiting and the raindrops were still bounding off the
road, the lightning was still every 2 seconds and the
thunder was a constant rumble in the distance. It
continued like this for hours. We gave up waiting,
put our sandals on, rolled our jeans up to our knees,
and hid under our tiny umbrella as we ran into town in
the storm. Had a really good pizza for dinner,
including coke and a beer for andrew and it only cost
$NZ5 each. Such good value.
Our last day in the area was a laugh. we woke up and
had breakfast at the hostel - ie argentina. Caught
the bus to the brazilian border town called Foz do
Iguaįu, dumped our packs and took another bus to
Paraguay. The tri border is formed by two rivers and
you can easily bus between the three countries on
local cheap buses. We didnīt unfortunately get stamps
in our passports for paraguay - they donīt stop anyone
going over the border. Its up to you to get stamps if
you require them and you donīt for just a day visit.
If you are staying overnight its a different story
though. We had lunch at a chinese place, got drenched
wandering around the streets of the mad wee town and I
fell down a flight of stairs that were slippery from
the rain. I not only felt like an idiot, but I really
badly bruised my ankle and bum. My ankle then swelled
and I have been nursing it since (getting better
slowly)... We returned to Brazil that afternoon and
had dinner before catching a night bus to the beach
city of Florianopolis. So our claim to fame for the
day was that we had breakfast in Argentina, lunch in
Paraguay and dinner in Brazil. There arnīt too many
places you can do that in under NZ$10 including all
your transport!!
Florianopolis is a city half on an island and half on
the mainland. The city itself is kind of like cairns
in Australia I reckon. Lots of tropical rain forrest
around with hills and nice scenery. Its warm but not
too hot. The island itself is 100km long (I think)
and has endless white sand beaches - some popular and
busy, some not. Its a great place to relax and swim
so thats what we are here to do. We have hired an
apartment for 4 days. Much cheaper than staying in
the hostels. We are paying abut $15nz total per night
for a small place with fully kitted out kitchen,
bathroom and bedroom. Its comfortable (although could
do with a good clean).. This afternoon we are going
to visit the beach, and the next few days will take
the local buses to explore the island further afield.
There is an ice cream shop just down the road that
sells you deserts and ice cream by weight. You pay
for what you eat. Its a different way of working
things, but is actually quite cheap. A lot of the
Brazilian buffets are the same - especially the
grilled meat places. You choose what you want, they
weigh your plate and you eat.
Brazil so far however is expensive. Significantly
more than Argentina. Accommodation especially. and
we are really struggling with the language. We didnīt
realise how well we were going with the spanish or how
much we knew until we crossed the border and were
launched into Portugese. We know nothing. There are
a few similarities between spanish and portugese but
not enough to be useful. Words look the same when
written but pronounced totally different. There are
squiggly īcīs (į) and all sorts of other sounds we
donīt know about. When you listen to locals speaking
it, it sounds almost like french. We spent all day
yesterday searching the bookshops for an
english/portugese phrase book and finally found one.
Phrase books in english (actually any english books)
are hard to come by over here. We thought we were
going to have to settle for a spanish/portugese one
(and our spanish isnīt good enough for that).
So now, people donīt say Hola for hello. They say Oi.
We canīt say gracias for thankyou, and instead I have
to say obrigada (and andrew has to say obrigado).
Thats all we know. Half the numbers are the same as
spanish, but thats all. Everything else is just
jibberish! We have 2 more weeks of this before we can
go back to chile and relax in amongst the spanish
speakers again.
Thats it for now. I really should get outside and
enjoy the sun. Its already 2pm and all I have done
today is write this email and get up. Oh, and andrew
cooked a great omlette for breakfast - he has now set
a standard that will be hard to beat.
bye for now
nic and andrew
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