South America - Week 1

South America » Brazil
February 24th 2007

Published: March 19th 2007

Edit Blog Post

CU260507

180207A

View from plane into South America, Rio, Brazil

Awoke Sunday morning, after only a few hours of sleep with a deadly hangover. Managed to shower & get my gear packed without disturbing anybody else from the hostel. My underground journey to the airport was easy, just a reversal of the trip two days prior. Finding the right check in area was a little more challenging though, as my paperwork indicated terminal 'S', which didn't actually exist. Managed to get some directions & it's a good job I was running early, as I used up all of my time transitting terminals & queing in check in & immigration lines. I barely managed to eat some lunch before it was time to board the plane.

Iberia fed us twice on the ten hour flight, both very average meals. I slept a while & watched a couple of movies to pass the rest of the time. Got some pictures of day turning into night from the plane window before we landed in Rio. Watched a beautiful sunset from my place in the immigration line, collected my pack & spent the next twenty minutes trying to get transport to my hotel. Directions to the metred taxis were ambiguous & there were plenty

180207B

View from plane into South America, Rio, Brazil

of guys milling around the exit offering rip off set fares, so I picked the best of a bad bunch & ran with it. Once price was agreed upon I was handed over to a second guy, who led me through the terminal & upstairs to the taxi rank where the metred taxis were queing! He briefly chatted with a driver whos taxi I was promptly bustled into. Am pretty sure I got riped off, but couldn't be bothered arguing in Rio's heat, so got in & enjoyed the airconditioned ride to Arcos Palace Hotel.

The town felt electric with Carnival already in full swing & I witnessed the nights commencing fireworks from the comfort of my taxi seat. Upon arrival at Arcos Palace, I was informed my roommate Charlotte had recently arrived & was already upstirs. I went up, met Charlie (another Kiwi) & we spent the next few hours chatting before crashing out, the pair of us exhausted from long journeys.

Was awoken around nine Monday morning by a phone call from Lance, an American I'd met on the Everest Base Camp trek. He is living a couple hours out of Rio & is coming

180207C

View from plane into South America, Rio, Brazil

into town for Carnival & to catch up. Arranged to meet around eleven, then went downstairs to feast on the awesome breakfast buffet. Lance met us at reception & after hello's & intro's, the three of us piled into a taxi & headed off for some sightseeing.

First stop was the Statue of Christ, which we were going to catch the train to, but was far too busy, so a cab ride sufficed. Still a lovely drive up the hill & of course stunning views of Rio from the statue. The place was packed & super hot as there was zero breeze, so we got photos, milled around some, then went for a beer.

Our taxi man took, us down to Copacabana beach & we walked through to Ipanema beach, checking out the stalls & beautiful bodies en route. Charlie bought some Brazilian bikinis, while I was looking for a pair of chocolate coloured Havaianas, with no luck. We hired a beach umbrella, a couple of chairs & went for a well deserved swim to cool off in the surf. Drank a few beers as the day wore on & tried a local speciality, toasted cheese on a

180207D

View from plane into South America, Rio, Brazil

stick, covered in oregano flakes - it was delicious. Decided we needed to return to the hotel to freshen up for our night at the carnival, but stopped to share a pizza at a beachside restaurant before leaving.

Showered & changed quickly then it was off to the big event. We arrived shortly after the first Samba school began at nine & stayed for five of the seven performances before walking back to the hotel in the early morning hours.

Charlie, Lance & I managed a few hours sleep after Carnival before getting up mid Tuesday morning & cabbing it back to Ipanema. First stop was breakfast at a cute little coffee shop, who plied us with piles of bread rolls to go with our bacon & eggs. The three of us walked through to the beach, set up umbrellas & chairs & prepared for a long day of lounging around. Lance & Charlie took the first swim shift, whilst I looked after all our gear. They were gone for ages & just when I was beginning to get grumpy because I was hanging for a swim, they returned, dishevelled & half breathless. It seems a young

190207A

Christa Redentor (Christ Statue), Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

girl & her brother ran into problems whilst swimming & couldn't get back into shore because the waves & undertow were too strong. Charlie & Lance pulled them in & all four ended up dumped up on the beach, covered in sand. I couldn't believe it, a beach rescue on the first swim of the day!

When I finally got down to the water, I could understand how these people got into trouble, the waves were huge. No wonder the shoreline was packed with people cooling off to their knees & nobody was doing much swimming. The conditions were completely different from yesterday, much stronger surf & even I wasn't brave enough to venture out past the breaking waves, fearing I wouldn't return.

The remainder of the day was spent alternating between drinking Caipirinahas on the beach & cooling off on the waters edge, simultaeously being coated in sand; my feet & legs got well exfoliated that's for sure. We saw quite a few helicopter rescues & I think it was a combination of heavy surf & a rip that was catching people unaware.

Late in the afternoon, a gay parade was in full swing up on

190207B

Christa Redentor (Christ Statue), Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

the esplanade, so we raced up to watch. The music & atmosphere was much better than at the Sambadrome for Carnival & we danced away with the shuffling mass of people. I saw somebody selling beautiful masquerade masks & wanted to buy one, but he was on the other side of the street & there was no way I would have been able to cross over. Am hoping I will come across others before I leave Rio, so I can get me a cool souvenir.

some of Lances friends joined us in the afternoon & we all hung out at the beach until well after sunset, then walked to a nearby street party, where we spent the rest of the evening.

Woke up Wednesday morning with a wicked hangover from bloody Caipirinahas. They must use cheap, local spirits, which magnifies the hangover ten times; I wont be drinking them again. Ate a late breakfast downstairs, then sunbaked & swam on the roof until it was time for our Oasis group meeting mid afternoon.

The meeting lasted a couple of hours & we were given a free Caipirinaha, which I begrudgingly acceted; it would have been rude

190207C

View from Christa Redentor (Christ Statue), Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

not to! Plus, considering I'd just cracked my first beer for a hair of the dog, I theorised more alcohol could only make me feel better, faster. Lance came to visit & joined the group for dinner around the corner. Charlie & I shared a pizza & we all drank more Caipirinahas - so much for me never drinking them again... After dinner we returned to Arcos Palace & had more drinks on the rooftop.

Charlie was up half the night throwing up, so I was pretty tired loading the truck for day one on Thursday. She came down at the last minute & managed to not be sick all the way to Parati. We're not sure if she's suffering from dehydration, or if it's a bug she's picked up from somewhere.

Arrived in Parati & booked our boat trip for tommorrow before driving to the campsite. A bunch of us went across the road for a swim in the bay, but the water turned out to be quite murky & as hot as a bath, so that adventure didn't last too long. Instead, we sat up on the beach chatting & making friends with random dogs,

190207D

View from Christa Redentor (Christ Statue), Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

before returning to camp.

Charlie's & my tent ´Fat Bastard´had a broke zip on the mosquito net, so we got to exchange it for a brand new dome tent. Quite happy with the swap really because the regular tents are old school triangles & are way more finicky & time consuming to put up & down, compared to the domes we had in Africa.

Cook group number one made the traditional first meal of the tour, spaghetti bolognaise & it was pretty good. Had quite an early night in preparation for our boat adventure tommorrow.

Had a leisurely start to Friday. Discovered at breakfast that the toaster is; no Vegemite on toast = unhappy Nic. Took taxis to the wharf, via shops to get ice for the beers (priorities), then waited around for the other passengers to arrive. One big group boarded after us & had just settled in, when their tour leader announced they were on the wrong boat - bugga. Eventually it was all sorted out & we cast off with the anticipation of a big day ahead.

We stopped three or four times at different islands to swim & sunbake. Lunch was

190207E

Lance & Nicolle at Christa Redentor (Christ Statue), Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

served onboard & boy was it big. I had fish for a change, followed by a few beers & before I knew it we were back at shore, it was a great day. Charlie & I walked back to camp, via internetting in town & arrived back in time for a beer before dinner.

We ate steak & the best potato & egg salad I've had in my life. Good job they made heaps because almost everyone went back for seconds. It was Pennys birthday, so we sang her happy birthday, had cake for dessert & Emma even made her a card, which everybody signed. Apparently there are quite a few birthdays to celebrate over the coming months, so I can see many big nights ahead.

Big Sam hadn't stopped drinking since the boat trip & was pretty wasted, so he entertained the group with his antics until late in the evening. Afterwards, a few people went out for drinks with Penny, but I was pretty shattered from lots of beer & sun, so opted to stay in.

Woken up by another overland group well bofore dawn on Saturday morning. They had been partying well into

190207F

View from Christa Redentor (Christ Statue), Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

the night quite noisily & continued the racket when it was their time to depart. Our group also had to lave early, as we had our first long day of driving ahead.

After over nine hours of driving, the truck pulled into a service station to set up our first 'rough camp'. A policeman was there & noticed what we were planning, so came over to warn us it wasn't a safe place to stay as the shop closed before midnight & no police patrols were assigned to do checks during the night. At first we thought it was a ploy to move us along, but he actually turned out to be a lovely guy, giving us a police excort to another potential camp spot. He had the lights going the whole time & I can only imagine what people must have thought as our big yellow truck pulled into Bauru. We tried two or three servos, all with no grassed areas & a hostel, who weren't interested in our business. Finally a random guy on a scooter suggested a spot & he joined our convoy to lead the way. We all thought it was quite funny, until he

190207G

Sugar Loaf, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

pulled off the road & into a deserted forest. Then we all started joking that they were taking us in there to rob & kill us, the former of which could have very well been a viable possibility. Fortunately, we came upon some lights & a security station into some institute, which we joked was possibly a lunatic assylum. We set up camp in the forest next to the security post, which even had a toilet for us to use - we were quite lucky. The cook group did their thing, by which time it was fairly late & most people went straight to bed.

Additional photos below

Photos: 35, Displayed: 29