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Published: July 19th 2005
Ipanema Beach
filled beach as the sun is setting Just spent the past week in Rio de Janeiro and am now in Puerto Iguazu getting ready to head back to Buenos Aires tomorrow morning.
Rio was beautiful and lots of fun. Kind of like a Hawaii/California mix with a South American twist. White sand beaches, lots of surf, big boardwalks, and lush green mountains shooting up in the background. I flew from Buenos Aires and arrived in Rio at midnight...not the best idea when you don't have a reservation anywhere during the busy season. I found myself walking around Copacabana at 1am knocking on hostel doors looking for places to stay, knowing little to no portugese. I was about to find a spot on the beach to sleep when I finally came across the last bunk in this hostel just outside of town. I spent the next few days "hostel hopping" since most only had availability one night at a time. I ended up at this really cool hostel for two of the nights (probably the nicest I've stayed at…see picture) just 2 blocks from Ipanema beach (the nicest of all the beaches in a safe, wealthy area).
Overall Rio was much safer than I had imagined.
Copacabana Beach
The most famous beach in Rio (but I think Ipanema is the nicer one) Ipanema and Copacabana are the two main beach areas in town that are both fairly clean with huge long beaches in front of them and shops and restaurants lining the boardwalks. The city is really spread out and as soon as you get out of these main touristy areas I can understand why you have to be a little more cafeful as there were some shady characters. Everyone spoke Portugese and understood spanish so I ended up doing fine but one might have difficulty only speaking english.
It was so nice to be in 85 degree sunny weather again and I enjoyed a few days walking around in board shorts and flip flops, relaxing on the beach and enjoying the sights. The waves looked pretty good and I tried to go surfing, but the day I chose was Sunday when all the rental shops were closed. I met some fun Aussie's at one hostel and we checked out the nightlife which was pretty crazy...the Brasilians love to dance! I took the tram up to the top of the famous Pao de Azucar overlooking the entire city (see pictures) and got some great pictures at sunset.
Next stop
top of Pao de Acucar
overlooking Rio (Ipanema and Copacabana) was the Iguazu Falls on the Brasil/Argentina border. I had some difficulty finding a flight here and ended up having to fly into Sao Paulo, find a bus to another airport 45 minutes away, and then get another flight to Foz do Iguacu (the Brasilian side of the falls). I stayed the night in a hostel there and then met up with some Spaniards and a German the following morning and took a tour across the border to the Argentinaian side of the falls and to the main waterfall park. At one point prior to the falls we stopped at the apex of three countries (Portugal, Brasil and Argentina) for some pictures and then continued on.
The Falls were packed with people but amazing to see….it’s unbelievable how much water is pouring over the falls every second. They are wider than Niagra and higher than Victoria Falls. Our bus driver claims to have jumped off a portion of the falls as a stunt double for Robert Dinero in a movie called “The Mission”…he also claimed to have been married 9 times and has 17 children, so who knows. I’m staying on the Argentinian side of the falls tonight and
top of Pao d'Acucar
awesome sunset over Rio am headed back to Buenos Aires tomorrow morning to gather my things and fly to Boston, USA on the 23rd of July. Hasta Pronto amigos!!
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anonymous
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it's big