Advertisement
Published: September 6th 2006
Edit Blog Post
The Death Train?! More like the comfort Train! I think the Death part refers to the onboard ebtertainment: two films starring the Rock (sorry Sam!) and 80s pop videos. In actual fact it's because they used to let Bolivians unable to get a seat sit on the roof. You can guess the rest!
As soon as I got to the border of Brazil there was a definite change: people wore smiles and Brazil t-shirts, and there were huge supermarkets and all things Western- very much unlike the impoverishment of Bolivia. I headed straight for my tour of the Pantanal, Brazil's giant marshland which covers half the area of France. There we slept in hammocks, went on sunrise/set walks, safaris in the woods, kayaking, horse-back (or should I say mule-back) riding, and saw various monkeys, capybaras (the world’s largest rodent, roughly the size of a dog), alligators, armadillos, big cats, birds and even a 5 metre long anaconda. We also went piranha fishing, and although I was the only person not to catch a fish (even my Dutch friend, with a broken arm from the World’s Most Dangerous Road in Bolivia, caught one) - because my father is vegetarian, and I
would feel guilty - there were enough for us all to feast on them that evening. I should think so too after they ate about 5 chickens from my line!
Next we all headed to Rio de Janeiro. 24 hours on a bus is nothing to me these days. Rio is the most startling city in terms of setting: after climbing one of the many mountains we saw a panoramic of beach-lined coasts, punctuated by the symbolic Christ the Redeemer statue, hills (like Sugar Loaf mountain), high-rise buildings and the colourful shanty towns. We stayed in Ipanema, an area near the beach, and just beside Copacabana. We got stuck in to the caiparinhas, a classic Rio cocktail that’ll blow your head off, and headed to Lapo, where they have street parties before all going into samba clubs and getting funky. Oh the stories I could tell…! But those are for other times….
The most interesting thing I did was go on a tour of the favelas (shanty towns). They reminded me of geography lessons at school, which were a major reason for me picking my degree, so it was a great experience (thanks Mr Lobban!). The downtrodden nature
of the buildings contrasted with the attitudes of the people who lived there. Those we met, and from whom I bought an amazing painting (which one of you will be getting as a present!), seemed so friendly and upbeat. I’m sure we were in a moderate area, but like the guide said, it was probably safer there than in the city centre where all the thieves go to steal from the wealthier- they don’t steal from their own. The people in charge of these areas are the drug dealers, who reward respect with respect, and who invest in self-help and educational ventures. There was a lot of optimism because of all the projects taking place to help the kids. We visited a school funded by the tour company which focused on encouraging the kids to produce art to sell and to learn working computer skills. People seem not to believe in a route to improvement via politics anymore, and so try to help themselves without any victim mentality. Politically, it’s a good thing that there is now a law granting legal ownership of land to people who have lived on a space for more than 5 years. This means people
have rights, and cannot be thrown off the land by developers or the government, who are keen for tourists not to see favelas. However, President Lula- who won the elections on his 4th attempt- has not made any real difference to the poor despite his election pledges and his history as a trade union leader. Apparently a monkey from Rio Zoo came 3rd in elections a while back, showing that politics is a bit of a joke. The tour guide, however, was keen to stress the positives and sense of community within the favelas. There are of course many social problems, but basic amenities and public services are improving slowly but surely. The favelas we visited are home to tens of thousands of people, and are now an inescapable part of Rio. As such, the government must now acknowledge them and concentrate on improving conditions.
The rest of my time in Rio was a haze of sun (it was 34degrees on the beach) and caiparinhas. I also went to see the local football team, Fluminense, play a league match. The quality of the football was not much better to that in Scotland (believe it or not!), but the highlight
was the crowd, who partied the whole time in what was a fantastic atmosphere.
From there I got on another long bus ride to Iguaçu Falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil. They were absolutely spectacular, and are the best natural wonder I have seen (along with all the others). Higher than Niagara and taller than Victoria, the falls are so powerful and breathtaking. I visited both the Argentinan and Brazilan side, both of which had superb walks and views. the area was hooching with tourists, and because I am allergic to them (despite being one) I spent a lot of time trying to get the perfect photo of me spewing out the water. Lovely stuff.
Like the Pantanal and Amazon, the area is constantly under development pressure, which exposes the soulless and exploitative nature of the Beast of Capitalism. The world’s highest dam is at Iguaçu, and as they are usually large-scale environmental and economic disasters, and require the flooding of huge areas of land- often used by the indigenous farmers who have no legal right to compensation- the area is in danger because of further plans to build more dams. Dams tend to benefit very
few, and their knock-on effects spell even more impoverishment in the cities as rural migrants flood the favelas in search of work after receiving little or no adequate compensation for the land they lost. So hopefully the conservationists will win!
So that was it for Brazil. I found the people to have a very positive outlook, and all had samba in their blood. It was so different to Peru and Bolivia, not least because I couldn’t use my excellent Spanish. But learning the language was easy: all I did was swap “gracias” for “öbrigado”. Sorted.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.101s; Tpl: 0.018s; cc: 8; qc: 61; dbt: 0.0496s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Kate
non-member comment
Stories, stories,stories
Niall, I do believe you experienced the shanty towns first hand!