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Published: January 6th 2011
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Sao Paolo
It is almost dark when we arrive with Emirates from Dubai at Sao Paolo. Sao Paolo is not the city we like to see. As we read it is quite criminal. So we stay not far from the airport at Garulhas at the Ibis Hotel. We travelled more than 30 hours from Johannesburg to come here. So we take it easy for a while.
We have New Year´s eve in our hotelroom. It has a big windowpane, so we can see the fireworks very well. We do some shoppings for our dinner at the hotelroom. We are stupified by the prices. It is as expensive as in The Netherlands. We wonder how can people pay this, specially in the favela´s. Brazil is economically doing very well. To pee at a public toilet costs 0,75 euro, which reflects the glorious Gross National Product accordingly.
Almost no one speaks English. With our mix of Spanish/Italian/French/Poruguese we manage to make clear what we want. In the bookshop we do not find any English book. All books are in Portuguese. No international writers, even not in Portuguese, apart from Paolo Coelho. It is a strange experience, because the country is really well
developed. Everything works and is very well organised. People are friendly.
Rio de Janeiro
So, this is the famous Copacabana beach. Yesterday a mega event took place, here on this very beach. Two million people gathered together to celebrate New Years eve. We walk over the beach and still see te rests. The flowers they threw in the sea are back on the beach again. It is part of their Afro-Brazilian religion. At 31 of december millions of people go to beach ´to pay hommage to Iemanja, the seagoddess´, we read in the Lonely Planet, ´whose alter ego is the Virgin Mary´. Jezus himself must have seen it all happening from his post on top of the Corvocado, at the other end of the Sugar Mountain. No chance to go to this immense statue. All Brazilians are there as on an annual pelgrimage.
It took 6 hours by bus from Sao Paolo to come here. Our hotel (Mercure) is located on the brink between Copacabana and that other famous beach, Ipanema. Who does not know the famous song of Antonio Jobim, sung by Astrud Gilberto? The Girl of Ipanema. On the background the sexy saxophone of Stan Getz.
And Corvocado, another hit of the past. ´She is a Carioca´, I still hear it her singing. Actually she could not sing, but it was so terribly sexy. A Carioca, a young beautiful rich girl from Rio. ´She is a Carioca, that is the way she is´, hmmm... Astrud Gilberto...
But today there are no Carioca´s. The Carioca´s have gone. Like Copacabana and Ipanema beach have gone. The Carioca´s has become fat and old. They walk with their dogs over the boulevard in wide robes, passing the flat plastic tents whith their cheap food. ´She was a Carioca´, I like to sing when we pass one of them. But why to be mean? Hundreds are yogging over the boulevard, play beachvolleyball, do gymnastic exercices. To become a Carioca. Or: to become a Carioca again. But it is over. The Girls of Ipanema have gone. Where are they? In Hoek van Holland? ´The Girl of Hoek van Holland, it does not sound very well.
Curitiba
Curitiba is about 12 hours by bus from Rio de Janeiro. We have the nightbus and we are prepared for a terrible night. But when we enter the bus we see jawdropping luxurious chairs.
Like the chair of your dentist. You can move it in an almost horizontal position and you fall automically asleep.
Curitiba is in it self not so interesting, but it is a fine stop. We had a simple but nice hotel near the busstation (Hotel Maya). When we arrive we look apparently so tired, that Maya offers us a free breakfast.
It is 20 minutes walking of the Botanical Garden. They call it a botanical garden, but is nothing more than a parc. Now and then a billboard, where you can read that nature is beautiful and that you must not spoil it. Inside is a Victorian greenhouse like in Kew gardens in London. It is strange to see trees and palms inside the greenhouse, which grow abundantly out of the fence. It does not make any sense. We would like to go with the train to Panagua at the coast and from there to Ilha do Mel. But we are shocked by the prices and the weather is not really good. So we decide to go to Foz do Iguaçu, near the border with Paraquay and Argentina. It takes 11 hours by bus to come there.
Foz do
Iguaçu
The road to Foz do Iguaçu is not spectacular. Once it was jungle. Now it is almost all agriculture what you see. Now and than we pass villages with houses in bright colours. People sit in front of their houses talking with eachother. The streets full of beautiful trees and plants.
It is already dark when we arrive at our hotel: Vila Canoas.
Foz do Iguaçu is a touristic city. It is famous for its waterfalls. One of the biggest in the world. We go there with the local bus. It is absolulety overwhelming to stand in between these waterfalls. As if we are in a city where the skyscrapers are replaced by waterfalls. An experience we will never forget. The area is part of a Natural Park around and is so big that it stretches out into Argentina, our next stop.
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Patrik
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Very nice waterfalls.
Hi Linda and Andre, Really very nice waterfalls...