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Published: April 8th 2008
G'day,
Well here we are, another day, another city, another country. We've just arrived in LaPaz, capital of Bolivia and are sitting at 3660m above sea level, which is over twice as high as Mount Hotham for those Aussies reading this. In the past few weeks since leaving Argentina and Iguazu we've covered some serious territory traveling from Florianopolis on the coast in southern Brasil, north to Rio de Janerio, east inland to the Pantanal, across the border to Santa Cruz and Potosi in Bolivia, before turning north again and heading to Uyuni on the Altiplano and ending up here in LaPaz.
We arrived in Florianopolis which is situated on the Ilha de Santa Catarina and is basically a long island with many small towns scattered along it's 52km length of Atlantic Ocean beach front. The town we chose to stay in was a sleepy little hollow called Barra de Lagoa an was just what we needed after the rigours of travelling and partying through Buenos Aires and Puerto Iguazu. We checked into a more family oriented hostel that provided us with a schmick kitchen so we could get a few home cooked meals and avoid going out for
just a few nights prior to hitting Rio. As it was just off peak season Barra de Lagoa was just winding down, with the water still a good temperature for swimming but we were lucky enough to often have a vast expanse of beach to ourselves. The 3 days spent in Barra de Lagoa were spent going to bed at a reasonable hour before getting up at around 7am and wandering the 500m down to the beach for a pre-breakfast swim before spending the days relaxing with whatever we were doing. We climbed a couple of the island peaks and were rewarded with some good views of the island and coast and also spent an afternoon around at the local surf beach Praia Mole. All in all Barra de Lagoa was a good opportunity to recharge our batteries before heading off again.
The trip from Florianpolis to Rio was a 22 hour marathon on a bus during which time it rained almost constantly. We arrived in Rio and were shocked by the contrasts we saw as we drove in. On one side of the freeway were mansions and exclusive looking suburbs, while on the side were the favela's (slum's)
which are the actual home to the majority of Rio's 7 million inhabitants. Arriving in the overcast city we took a cab from the bus station to our hostel, some 500m from Copacabana beach. Arriving there we discovered that many of the peple in the hostel had been there for weeks if not months so we took this as a good sign of things to come. Having safely checked in we headed of to check out what is arguably the most famous beach in the world. Copacabana is approximately 4km in length and about 100m of sand seperating the boardwalk from the waves. In many ways Copcabana resembles Australia's Gold Coast as immediately across the road from the beach hotels and apartment buildings at least 10-20 stories high dominate the skyline. With this quick view and the promise of a swim there later in the week we headed back to our hostel and off to another football game at Rio's largest stadium, Maracana which we were told holds anywhere from 90 to 150,000 spectators. Sitting in it, it did't look anywhere near as big as Melbourne's MCG, and is has only 2 tiers of seating . The game was a
grudge match between local rivals Flamengo and Botafogo and we ended up in the Flamengo section. Similarly to Buenos Aires there was a strong police presence and during our lap of the ground we had to remove all Flamengo colours (red and black) as we passed through the Botafogo section (black and white). Botafogo ended up winning 3-1 which meant the atmosphere in our section was somewhat subdued but the real excitement started outside the ground when a small riot broke out. There was absolutely no holding back by the police and canine units as they took to the rioters with well used batons and broke up the fighting as quickly as it began.
The next day we headed expectantly with boardies and towels to more closely compare Copacabana beach with what Australia has to offer. We were sad to discover that despite the natural beauty of the beach there are also a couple of large stormwater drains that flow directly into the water. This means that as you stand on the shore or swim in the ocean it is easy to see plastic bags and bottles being picked up by the surf and tossed towards the shore before
being sucked back out to sea to do it all again. While the vista of Copacabana beach is certainly spectacular from afar unfortunately close up it is far from pristine. For the week we were in Rio we swam here only once and after finishing immediately went home to shower and was god only knows what off our skin. Along the beach however there is far more infrastructure than on any Australian beach with volley ball courts and soccer goals along it's entire length. There are no shortage of players of either of these games either, as many brazilians seems more interested in being on the sand than in the water. That night we headed off to a funk party in the favela's which was basically 2000 sweaty, dancing people jammed inside an old warehouse. We were given fairly definate instructions regarding what to do and not to do in the club to avoid trouble and after a long night headed home.
After sleeping off the previous night's activities we headed for the largest art deco statue in the world..... Cristo Redentor or Christ the Redeemer. The 30m tall Christ Redeemer sits atop a 710m peak known as Corcovado
(the hunchback) and with arms outstretched is visible from most parts of the city. After baulking at the high price to catch the train up to the statue we decided instead to walk up, through the favela's, which we had been told never to do. Never the less we set off and through a combination of hitch-hiking and taxi's made it to the top unscathed. Because of the height of Corcovado the statue is often shrouded in fog and mist and while the statue itself was amazing views of the city were somewhat limited. We turned and made the 2 hour trip by foot back down the mountain and made it through the favela again unscathed despite a breif moment of panic when we thought we'd be set upon be three vicious Rottweiler guard dogs. The following day dawned with clear blue skies and with this in mind we thought we'd take the opportunity to once again head uip the the Christ Redeemer. The views this time around were absolutely spectacular and it became clear from this vantage point why Guanabara Bay on which Rio sits is listed amongst the seven natural wonders of the world. That afternoon we headed to the nearby beach of Impanema which is where the upper class of Rio spend there sunny days, and were pleased to see that it was somewhat cleaner than Copacabana. Again Impanema has little more than a shore break as far as waves go and with the crowding and danger of thievery I would have to say at this stage that no section of coast line yet seen could match the best that Australia has to offer.
Having seem some of the more obvious highlkights of Rio we next headed off on a walking tour of Central Rio. The centre of the town was much the same as many other cities around the world although some of the garden we walked through were impressive. Tropical trees that grow large supporting pillars for their larger braches were amongst the highlights, ans these pillars grow fromthe branch down and upon reaching the soil simply put down roots and act like a smaller trunk. Strolling through the city was quite nice although one thing that caused me a great deal of annoyacne was the fact that despite the many local cafe's and eateries McDonalds still had a line out the door. It made me wonder for how much longer the aesthetically stunning brazilians of Rio would keep their fabulous figures. That afternoon we headed up to the other great lookout point for Rio, Pao de Azucar - Sugar Loaf. 396m high Sugar Loaf sits on a peninsular and is only accessible via two seperate cable cars but the view looking back over the city are truly awesome. Heading up in the late afternoon we enjoy day time, sunset and night views of what must be by far and away the most beautiful city in the world.
Good friday dawned fine, sunny and hot and we set off with at least 200,000 (Hugh reckons 500,000)other people for Impanema beach. The day was spent swimming and utilising the volleyball courts. In addition we also provided good custom to the vendors walking the beach carrying eskies full of ice cold beers. During the day we also managed to supply the theives of the beach with a camera, t-shirt and my hat. The guy who lost his camera was understandable cranky but I just dont understand who'd steal a dirty, sweaty, unwashed hat. The most annoying thing was that we were constantly mindful of our things and to still have them stolen was just another reason Australia's beaches are the best in the world. That night we headed out to the street party that occurs in Lapa every friday night. It was clearly a fairly good place to party although after only a few minutes there Hugh had the pleasure of witnessing the police open fire at a someone fleeing into the crowd. As the police descended on the area we did a quick lap of the area, had a few beers and headed back to Copacabana. There we decided to go tothe only local place open, a 'club' called Help. Help is not in actual fact a club. Help is a glorified brothel where prostitutes try to wring money out of the gringo's dumb enough to go there. 'Tengo novia' (I have a girlfriend) was spoken about 1000 times between us as we downed a round of beers in record time and got out of there.
After an expensive week in Rio, easter saturday saw us board a bus and head west towards Campo Grande and the Pantanal. Enroute we passed through the 8th largest city in the world Sao Paulo, with a population of 18 million. Heading into the country side it was easy to see why Brazil is an agriculutral superpower. Having driven past thousands of hectares of soybean, corn, rice and other crops closer to the coast this gave way to sprawling rangeland flush with tropical grasses and thousands upon thousands of head of cattle. Arriving in Campo Grande we mat up again with Mel, our Swiss friend from Patagonia who informed us that she was very soon leaving on a tour 3 day tour of the Pantanal. We quickly signed up and were off. The Pantanal itself is the world's largest swamp area covering 230,000km square and is also home to 6 million cattle. After arriving at the drop off point from the main road we were greeted by a tray truck sporting bench seats and began the 2 hour long abd bumpy ride down to our accomodation which was more suprisingly resort like rather than basic as expected. Amazingly we were greeted by an Aussie, Trudy who was born in Numurkah, before moving to Minyip as a girl. She began the whole backpacking thing around 8 years ago and met her now husband while on a similar tour of the Pantanal. We also met our guide, a Brazilian and Pantanal native Pedro, who is a terrific guy.
After our first night in the Pantanal we set of on a walking tour heading out barefoot into the swamps. It was great fun trekking through the water and we saw all manner of animals along the way including aligator's, capibara's, ant-eater's, armadillo's, toucan's, howler monkey's, wild pigs, and racoon like creatures. The water was amazingly warm, almost hot in places and varied between ankle and waist deep for the most part. That afternoon we went for another shorter walk before watching a spectacular sunset. After the sun went down we used a spotlight to see some of the nocturnal animals including foxes and snakes. As well as this we also saw fireflies that emerged as the sun went down. The other creature that emerged at sunset were the mozzies. By the million. Thankfully they took more of a liking to the Irish couple who are with us than ourselves, and after one night of exposure poor Kathy from Dublin had recorded at least 500 bites.
The next morning we set off to attemp to catch that famous aquatic carnivore - the Pirhana. The two boats occupied by our group had varying levels of success, with Pedro and the other boat landing around 10 fish, while in our boat Hughie hauled in the only catch. Thankfully it was by far the biggest fish caught. I and the rest of the people in our boat reported only nibbles. Fishing is just as exciting in Brazil as in Australia. 3 hours in a junky tinny, in the sun for no reward. That afternoon after a lunchtime siesta in the hamocks we set off on a horse riding tour. It was quite a bit of fun and after a slow start we managed to nudge our horses into a canter. Along the way we also saw some Puma tracks. The morning of our third and final day in the Pantanal dawned just as the other two had. About 34 degrees and about 95% humidity. The general consensus was that no one had ever sweated so much in their lives. It was appropriate therefore that we set off to swin and tube down one of the nearby rivers. Conincidently the same one we had caught Pirhana out fo the day before. Hollywood it seems, has something else to answer for. After 3 hours of swimming, floating and splashing around, and despite the fact that Pedro was still pulling Pirhana from the water we emerged unscathed. That afternoon we left the Pantanal having had an absolute ball. The only ting that could have made it better would have been if we'd seen an Anaconda. We headed back to Campo Grande for the night before getting up early and catching the bus to Corumba and crossing the border into Bolivia.
Thus ends the Brazilian leg of our journey. We've been in Bolivia for around a week now, and have almost a month to kill before we trek along the Inca Trial in Peru.
Hope all is well where ever you're reading this from.
Cheers
D
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Milesman
non-member comment
Hey Dan-the-man
Wot up holmes? These messages you send are great reading. You have inspired me to get my Patagonian trip off the back burner. Thanks for the map and card also. Bolivia is touted as the most specy place in S America. Enjoy.