Sugar Loaf Mountain

Woke up this morning feeling a bit groggy after the few drinks last night. I don’t think the shoe shine guy would have got away to easily this morning! We had our usual breakfast of bread rolls, cheese and fruit and then relaxed a little around the hostel. The longer you stay in these places the more homely they become and when you see new faces you welcome them and chat for awhile. I met a sound guy from Uruguay who told me that the Uruguayans look at the Irish and feel as that they are a similar sized nation surrounded by larger more dominant countries we have something in common. We spoke through Spanglish (a hybrid of Spanish and English) about both of our countries. He had all his facts right about Ireland except, that he said we were 90% English in our blood! I explained to him that we were Celts which is different to the English who I said were Normans/Saxons (I’m not 100% sure myself but it made sense at the time). He had presumed that in the same way that most south Americans have Portuguese and Spanish blood that we have English blood. I then informed him that our heritage comes from the north of Africa (again I’m sketchy on the details) and he looked at me and said in Spanglish that I ‘was not Black‘. At this stage I could only see the conversation deteriorating so I changed the subject to drink. He likes whiskey and told me that Uruguay is the second biggest consumer of the drink in the world after Scotland. He had a great admiration for Ireland and said in his country we are known for our strong hearts. I showed him pictures of Ireland and he was pretty impressed. He told myself and Michelle that we were his friends and if we needed anything just ask. Most people we meet are like this and its as much a part of our adventure as the sight seeing is.

After breakfast we went to the travel agencies and booked our ticket to Iguaçu waterfalls on the border of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The ticket cost about €70 each and was more expensive than we thought. Back at the hostel we gathered up our stuff and got ready to head out for the day. I was getting brave and I was going to bring out my good camera for some photos at Sugar loaf mountain on the other side of Rio. We were originally going to get the local bus, but Marco (works in the hostel) told us getting a taxi would be quicker and not that expensive. It turned out a little more expensive than he said but when I converted it to Euro it worked out about €1 dearer! Not that much dearer at all really. We arrived at the mountain and joined the queue to pay for the cable cars to get to the top. It was fairly expensive at €30 for the two of us and the lady behind the counter said everyone had the same reaction as us! We paid up and headed for the first cable car. Even though it was busy the queue’s moved quickly and soon we were at the top of the first mountain. From here we got some great pictures of Rio and its surrounding areas. Next we headed for the second cable car to bring us to the top of the Sugar Loaf mountain where the views of Rio were stunning. You can have a look at the pictures and see for yourselves.

The breeze was cool up there and we new we were getting burnt so we headed back down and decided to take a walk around the surrounding neighbourhood. It was a really nice spot with some very nice houses all right next to a marina. We decided to get the local bus back to Ipanema instead of a taxi as the price difference was about 10 reals and the bus would be a bit more of an adventure than an air conditioned taxi. A bus soon arrived and we hoped on board and took our seats. As we were on the other side of Rio we knew it would take a little while to get back. The heat was tough going on the bus. When it was moving the windows were open and it blew in cool air, but when it stopped the heat became too much. Also, we hadn’t a clue which would be our stop as the bus wasn’t going exactly past our hostel. After about 20-30 minutes we came to an area that I recognised and was only two blocks from our hostel. We pulled the chord and hoped off and ventured over to a nice café for lunch. We shared a pizza and chips and sat there watching the world go by. We had intended on going to the beach but we were pretty tired and headed back to the hostel for a rest. Later that evening we met up with Kieran (Canada) and Claire (England) for dinner. We went to another Per kilo restaurant which was a little bit nicer than the one we were at before. They are a pretty cool idea but would never work at home. You basically get your food, weigh it and pay the corresponding price per kilo. I could just hear it at home.. ‘here boss, I didn’t ate that, I’m nah payin for it, put it back’. For dinner I had beef stroganoff, quiche and chicken skewer’s. A great combination. Michelle had sushi and salad. You could then go up and pick a selection of deserts and while I was doing it I thought of Mam and how she could have a little bit of everything she liked and not pick everyone else’s like she does. This place was made for people like you Mam! I had chocolate and strawberry pizza. You had what I hear you say? Pizza with chocolate sauce and strawberry topping. It was exactly as it says on the tin. Michelle had a plate of deserts that weighed more than her dinner and I was surprised at the amount she came back with. The more I think of it the more I think she did it on purpose. When she arrived back I had already scoffed mine and she knew I would polish her plate too given half a chance. And that, I duly did. Michelle ate barely any of her 3 desert selection and I made a pig of myself and ate hers too. There was a Brazilian restaurant a few doors up from the one we were in and I wish we went there instead, only because we could try some local dishes.

There was also and Irish Pub aptly named ‘Irish Pub’ a few doors up. We all hit there for a pint and myself and Kieran went for a pint of Guinness. I had to give it a try and I was surprised at how good it was. While there I had a look at the menu and I was disgusted and embarrassed by what I saw. ‘Claddagh onion rings!’ ‘Blarney stone stew!’ ‘Drunk Irish beef!’ etc etc. There were worse descriptions and I cant remember them now but it was so cheesey it was unreal. If this menu was put on display for tourists back home there would be war. This place was actually owned by an Irish guy too. It’s his business and if it sells more fair play too him, but it was awful and cheap looking.

We are heading on a 22 hr bus journey tomorrow with Pluma and should arrive in Foz de Iguaçu at 11:30am on Wednesday morning. This is our first big bus journey and don’t know what to expect really. We will be armed with supplies and entertainment anyway and hopefully we will see some amazing parts of Brazil on our journey. My blog will be down now for a day or two as I wont have access to the internet and so I’ll give you all a rest from our brilliant adventure for now.

In a bit. DH

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Part of trip: South American Adventure

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