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Published: March 2nd 2014
I spent one week in Brazil, one-half of it was in natural places and the other half in big cities.
I arrived in Rio de Janeiro, which is a big city and was a big contrast for me with Namibia. From the airport to the city center, we drove through some poor areas of the city. From the 1
st look in the city center, Brazilian cities seems close in the architecture to Europeans ones.
In Rio de Janeiro, my hostel was in Lapa district, which is one of the district to go out and it was located in the Escadaria, which is a famous landmark of the city. I got pretty lucky with the hostel as the owner Marcos was a really nice guy. The atmosphere at his hostel (Hostel Casa da Escada) was very nice. Even though, we couldn’t communicate that well because of language differences, we were trying to speak together. We even went together with other people of the hostel to see a soccer game –Fluminense vs Boavista- in Maracana stadium! Such a famous stadium, I was so happy when he told me about this opportunity.
The evening at
the stadium was really good: the atmosphere there was great with people singing all the time to support their team –both when they were winning or when they needed motivation-. Some people even had the logo of Fluminense tattooed on their body. Marcos had a jersey of Fluminense, which was too small for him now, so he offered me to wear it :D I couldn’t be happier: going to see a soccer game in this very good stadium, in the country where soccer is so important, with nice people and wearing the jersey!!
In comparison with my apprehensions about Rio –not safe city, big city without any green-, I was quite surprised to feel the atmosphere of this city with the music everywhere and with much more green than I thought. Around Rio de Janeiro are also a lot of natural places. For instance, the park, where the statue of the Christ Redemptor is, is a very nice park with tropical forest, nice flowers and birds. The statue is impressive, but I have to say that it was so crowded there that you cannot enjoy the place as you would like. The view from there over the
city wasn’t clear: Rio de Janeiro is polluted, I can tell you! What is also very impressive is to see the statue of Christ from the city center. I could indeed see it when I was in the bus there and I loved that view! Symbolizing Christ overlooking at us from there is really well made.
Another thing, which is really nice in Rio de Janeiro is the street art in different areas - in Lapa and Santa Teresa districts- for instance. Walking around was nice from this point of view and also to see the old buildings (opera, theater, churches), the market streets with loud music and people calling you to buy from their shop.
On my 2
nd day in Rio, I got the surprise while walking around to get into the rehearsal of street carnival. There was thus loud music in a vehicle, people playing instruments, a samba dancer and lots of people dressed up looking at it and drinking.
On that day, I could also feel the lifestyle of inhabitants here while walking: it was Sunday and tons of people were out at the beach but also exercising
–running, roller blading, skating, biking-. It was nice to see active people here. It reminded me of Cologne on Sunday along the Rhine river. It would be the same!
Since the beginning of my world trip, what I like and try to do is to discover typical food of the countries. In Africa, it was the only downside there: the food had often no taste. Here in in South America however, every day I discover a new typical food. Sometimes, it’s good, sometimes not, but it has always a taste. The 1
st evening I tasted some fried sausages and onions. For people knowing me, you will know that it’s not really my taste 😉 Why did I order it? Well, this answer is easy: I didn’t understand the menu at the snack bar and it seemed good on the picture. Sometimes those things happen 😉 It also happened to me to order a simple Pao da Batata toasted with some margarina… Same reason: I didn’t know that that word meant margarina or butter. But believe me now I will remember this word. The other things I tasted in Rio de Janeiro were the Saldagos (some snacks with
cheese, ham or other things inside), the Pao da Batata (bread with cheese inside). Those both snacks are really good and cheap. I also tasted some street food like Tapioca –pancakes made out of manioc and coconut with some cheese fillings- and another snack made also of coconut. I love coconut so obviously I love those dishes.
In Rio de Janeiro, I obviously also went to the famous beaches: Ipanema and Copacabana. It’s true that the scenery on those beaches is really nice with the surrounding hills. The weather was however not that great so I didn’t swim there.
After some time in this big city, I decided I needed to go back to a peaceful place so I took a bus to go to the island called “Ilha Grande”. I was not disappointed: this island is so quiet, that it was a very good choice to go there to relax. Even the harbour city Angra Dos Reis seemed to be nice, although I just saw that city while taking the ferry from there. On the island there are almost no vehicle, people are going around by bicycle or walking, which is nice. The
island is really green and where I stayed was closed to the ocean with beaches. I stayed at a camping there, where only locals where staying. Those people are living at the campsite as it is cheaper than having their own home. Most of the people there were nice, except one guy, who was kind of trying to get too close I would say… On that evening, after meeting other nice travelers and locals at one of the hostel, I experienced for the 1
st time a night camping under a heavy rain… I can say now that my tent is definitely resistant to water 😉 But, when it started raining at midnight, I have to say that I wasn’t so sure about it and I was afraid of all my belongings getting wet. It took me a while to fall back to sleep afterwards.
On the island, I spent my day hiking. After no real exercise since leaving Cape Town, I was happy to be able to go hiking again. Moreover, the trail was a very nice one: in the middle of the tropical forest with sometimes view over the ocean and some bamboos forest as well.
However, I got a not so pleasant surprise at one part of my hike: a snake was on the way in front of my foot… It was not such a big snake -red and black- but I still got afraid. What’s funny is that when it happened, I saw the snake but my brain didn’t give me directly the indication “oh, be careful it’s a snake”, it took me one or two seconds to realize that and to start thinking “oh f*** what should I do now?”. But I quickly overpassed my fear and walk on the side as far away from the snake as possible. The snake was moving but not quickly and not in my direction… After seeing the snake, it started to rain but I still continued my hike and after 2,5 hours -11,5km uphill and downhill-, I arrived at a wonderful and remote beach! As I left the campsite early -7.30am-, I was the 1
st to arrive at the beach and I stayed there alone for one hour. It was AWESOME!! It was like discovering a remote paradise! Seeing this, the hike was totally worth it 😊 On the way back, I saw a lot of
people going to the other beach as it was later in the day and I thought that I took the right decision of going to the remote beach and early to enjoy it by myself not with a crowd around me.
From Ilha Grande, I took a ferry back and I took 3 different buses to go to Paraty where I arrived late at night. It was not an easy thing to go there, as I didn’t know, which bus to take and it was already dark but a local guy helped me out kindly and another one as well later. Well, I have to say that the 2
nd one freaked me out totally, as he was getting closer and closer to me and showing me weird pictures on his cellphones. However, after a while, I could finally get rid of him!! In Paraty, I found a cheap hostel in the city center to stay. Paraty is a small quiet city, so even if I arrived there at night, I didn’t feel unsafe while walking to the hostel, that was a good point!
I spent the next day walking around Paraty, which is a
very beautiful town! There is a new and an old part there and both are really nice. In fact, I was first walking around the new part and I didn’t know it was not the old city center and I already liked it. Then, when I arrived in the actual old city center, I was even more amazed by how beautiful it was. So, it was gradually that I discovered the charm of this town. What is nice there is the little white houses with colorful doors and windows, paved lanes and no vehicle. The harbor with the colorful small boats, the beach, the castle at the top of the hill and the different churches are also really nice there.
I would advise anyone looking for beautiful and quiet places to go to Paraty and Ilha Grande, it was definitely a highlight of my trip in Brazil.
After such a quiet place, I went to Sao Paulo, which is a HUGE city. However, I did like that city. It seems a very nice place to live: nice districts with good bars, restaurants, big parks, a lot of museums, a good public transportation service. In
Sao Paulo, I was hosted by a friend of a friend. He and his family were really nice and hospitable. There, I could see how inequalities are at their maximum in Brazil: they had a really big house in a residential district with a maid coming every day at their place. That’s why, Sao Paulo is so big: there are tons of differents district all around the city center. When I was in Sao Paulo, I walked around a lot. At first, I had some problems to orientate myself and not get lost in such a huge city. However, after a while, I could orientate myself and I walked around different districts: Ipiragua with Independence park, Old city center with nice Cathedral da Se, Sao Bento Monastery, the markets street and Mercado municipal (city market), Iparuega park and the Japan Town near Liberdade. On one afternoon there, I took part of a free walking tour in the modern area. I am usually not a big fan of such tours but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the tour. The guy was very enthusiastic and entertaining, so we couldn’t get bored during the 3-hour
tour. I could also meet other travelers from around the world on that day. Some people hearing that I was on a world trip came to talk to me and telling me to stay safe and enjoy it 😉
From Sao Paulo, I took a night bus to Foz do Iguacu, which is a city 30 km away from the world famous waterfalls. From the bus, I could see the difference between the Costa Verde (coast ne ar Rio de Janeiro) and the South of Brazil. It was indeed less green, with no tropical forest; most of it was agricultural land with thus yellow colors. The scenery was really nice as well and I liked noticing such landscapes differences.
After arriving in Foz do Iguacu bus terminal, I had to take 2 different buses + 1 shuttle to arrive at the falls. Obviously, I wasn’t the only one going there and there were huge lines everywhere: to buy the entrance tickets to the national park but also to take a picture in front of the falls!!! Anyway, even though I was surrounded by other people, the place was amazing. It is in the middle
Paulista Avenida Sao Paulo
Visit with "Sao Paulo Free Walking Tour"of the forest –in comparison with Niagara Falls, which are at the border of the road…- and it’s huge. You can’t really imagine how huge it is until you are facing them. There is a trail in the forest along the falls and at each viewpoint I was a bit more amazed by the natural beauty of what was in front of my eyes! At the end of the trail, I could even walk on a “ponton” very close to the falls –better take a raincoat then 😉- in what is called El Gorgio del Diablo 😉 I definitely loved that place!! To replace the African baboons, there were so other small mammals coming everywhere on the path. There were so close to us that I am sure they are used to getting some food from tourists –who don’t respect the rule “don’t feed animals!”-.
After visiting Iguacu Falls, being only 30 minutes away from Paraguay by bus, I took the spontaneous decision of leaving Brazil to visit this new country. I didn’t plan to visit this country but I was in need of a more remote place to tour as I wasn’t feeling myself in the
very touristic Brazil.
Summary to travel in Brazil:
Must see places: Ilha Grande, Paraty and Foz do Iguacu for quietness and nature
Average daily cost (on a budget=hostel + eating snacks): 25€
Cost of visits (Iguacu Falls or the statue of Christ Redemptor): 15€/20€ each
Public transportation: 1€ per journey
Bus Rio de Janeiro – Angra dos Reis (harbour city to go to Ilha Grande): 15€ in 3 hours
Ferry Angra dos Reis – Ilha Grande (not touristy boat, ferry used by locals leaving at 5pm, returning at 10am): 1,5€ in 2 hours
Bus Angra dos Reis – Paraty: 15€ in 2,5 hours
Bus Paraty – Sao Paulo: 17€ in 6 hours
Bus Sao Paulo – Foz do Iguacu: 35€ in 17 hours
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