The end of the beard

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Hello all,

I am curretly in Ciudad (city) Bolivar, Venezuala. Bolivar is the gateway to Angel Falls, which is the highest waterfall in the world at 979 meters, 807 of which are uniterrupted (16 times higher than Niagara in case you were wondering). But alas, these details are better left for my next entry (as I have not yet embarked on the three day journey to see the falls).

Well, my last entry left me off in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After splitting up so I could go home and become a man, Bryce and I managed to meet up at a hostel in Ipanema, a district in Rio (anybody know the Frank Sinatra song, "The Girl from Ipanema"?). After traveling for almost 30 hours from Canada and arriving at the hostel at 8pm, Bryce already had about 3 beers on me. I had no choice but to catch up; after all, it was a Friday night in Rio de Janeiro. In my absence Bryce had befriended an Argentinian from just south of Buenos Aires named Martin (I call him Marty). Marty travelled to Rio with some friends for a football match and stayed behind for a couple more days to catch the sights. He was a great guy and we all decided to check out the Friday night Rio nightlife. And what a nightlife! We wandered to a district called Lapa where hundreds of Brazilians flooded the streets booze in hand and music emanated from the enticing clubs. My favorite were the street vendors selling caipirinas - a mixed drink of something like vodka, sugar and crushed lime and ice (yum!). Also, where in Canada the bars close at 2am, the bars in Rio don´t even get going until then. Needless to say, it was a late night. So late in fact, the sun was well up by the time we hit the hostel.

All that being said, there is much more to Rio than just partying. With its lush peaks, breathtaking beaches and urban ambience, the city occupies one of the most spectacular settings on the planet. Cariocas (inhabitants of Rio) are no less striking. Laid-back and free-spirited, with a love for samba and celebration, they are very welcoming and friendly. Rio´s most famous attractions are therefore sand, sky and the sea of beautiful bodies that parade between the two. However, the marvelous city also boasts plenty of other attractions, most notably, the Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer). Atop the 710 meter high peak known as Corcovado (Huntchback), the looming statute gazes out over the districts of Rio (I am sure you have all seen a picture at one point). The outstretched saviour can be seen from all over the city, particularly at night, when He often appears to be floating in the night sky. Bryce and I went up to see Him and got a decent panoramic view of the city (which would have been better had it not been raining).

After enjoying all that Rio has to offer for about 4 days (I loved going swimming everynight and walking along Copacabana beach - 4km long!), it was time to move on. And it was at this point that Bryce and I had to split up again as he was moving on to the Galapagos Islands before heading back to Canada and at that point I had almost three more weeks of travel time than he did. After a few sentamental tears (Bryce is a real sissy - are you reading this, Bryce?) we parted - him to Quito and I to Iguazu Falls.

The Iguazu Falls (featured in Miami Vice, by the way, which I saw in Buenos Aires and which is horrible) are split between Brazil and Argentina. I flew from Rio to the Brazilian side and then skipped over the border to see the Argentinian side of the falls the next day. Even the most hardened waterfall yawners would be taken aback. It is more than your average "gee, look at gravity go" type of experience. The power, size and sheer noise of the falls is something spectacular. Before reaching the edge the river divides into multiple channels which in turn form over 208 different waterfalls to be seen (the biggest one being called the Devil´s Throat).

Guarani legend (I like this story) says that Iguazu Falls originated when a jealous forest god, enraged by a warrior esaping dowriver by a canoe with a young girl, caused the riverbed to collapse in front of the lovers, producing a precipitous falls over which the girl fell and, at their base, turned into a rock. The warrior survived as a tree overlooking his fallen lover.

Anyway, as usual I digress. From the Argentinian side I flew to Buenos Aires (BA) which has to be one of the highlights of the trip. From a budget traveller´s perspective, BA is a bargain. Where else in the world can you chow down on a USD$5 steak, watch a tango show for $10, grab a couple of beers for $2, and spend the night in a clean, $6 hostel? Where else can you party till the sun comes up (ok, Rio has this too), shop till you drop (I´m almost done my Christmas shopping!), and lie back in elegant leafy parks in a sophisticated city filled with grand European arhitecture?

Needless to say, I had a blast in BA. I even phoned Marty (who lives just outside of the city) who came up with a couple of his friends to take me out on a Saturday. They picked me up a 11:30pm for dinner (Argentinians eat late, and also think we are crazy (loco) for eating dinner at 7:00pm) and we hit the bar district at 2am. From then until 7am we went to 4 different bars and danced the night away. I don´t know where I found the energy to keep going. Maybe it was the tequila shots Marty kept buying me or maybe it was all the beautiful Argentinian women around (or maybe it was the hour and a half long nap I had before going out), nonetheless I was hypnotized by the energy, vibe, and dedication of the Argentianian people.

My head hit the pillow at 7:30am which spelt a bit of trouble for me as I had to be up at 11:30am to go to a football match. I almost didn´t make it but am sure glad I did! The Sunday match was between the Boca Juniors and River Plate - the two top Argentinian teams and fierce rivals. I had the pleasure of being in the "standing" section of the sold-out 70,000 capacity stadium (said section being the cheapest and the craziest - and yes, everyone in it stays standing throughout the match: 90+ minutes for you non-footballers). I don´t know how to describe it accept to say that the fans are CRAZY.

The stadium was divided into two sections, one smaller section for the Boca Junior fans (comprising approx 10,000 fans), and everything else for the River Plate fans (comprising approx 60,000 fans - it was River Plate´s stadium). Although, technically, there were third and fourth sections on either side of the Boca Junior section - these sections remained empty so that Boca and River fans couldn´t throw things at one another or get into fights.

The cheering from all sections was relentless and deafening. Both sides had put their own words to popular songs to form cheers, and everyone knew the words by heart (except us gringos in the stands). I wouldn´t be surprised if parents used these songs as lullabies for their children to teach them at a young age where their allegiance is to lie. Furthermore, despite police body searches, I am amazed at how many fans were able to sneak explosives into the game, from small fire crackers and smokescreens in the colors of their team, to what I can only gather were oversized cherry bombs whose explosions vibrated through the stadium bowl. Lastly, cudos to the River fans who hoisted in the largest team flag, I am sure in history, which covered a sizable portion of the stadium (no one seemed to mind being under it either).

River beat out Boca 3-1 and the crowd went nuts (at least, 60,000 of them did). I am glad it turned out this way as I would not have liked the alternative, which was a 60,000 strong angry mob. And just to drive home the extent of the rivalry between these two teams, when the game ended, the River fans had to wait 45 minutes for all of the Boca fans to leave the stadium grounds, lest they meet on the street, which would have had the same effect as mixing two "not-to-be-mixed" chemicals in your high school chem lab: BOOM!

Good times, good times. After a long Sunday of watching football, I needed some much needed rest and therefore went home to bed (after stopping in at my local eatery for a juicy steak of course!). Monday was full of shopping and a tango show at night. On Tuesday, I took a ferry over for the day to Montevideo, the capitol of Uruguay. Not much can be said about the city, except that a day suffices to see it. It has some beautiful European architecture and was pleasent to stroll through and read my book in its parks and plazas.

On Wednesday, I flew from BA to Caracas, the capitol of Venezuela, and from there immediately hoped on an overnight bus to Ciudad Bolivar, which, as I hope you remember, is where I am now. So that´s all folks! After Angel Falls I am a bit torn a to what I will do. I would ideally like to fly to Aruba for some beach time, however, although flights are cheap, the island itself is expensive. We´ll see. I will definitely do some beach time, after which I am headed to Cartegena (beautiful city in Columbia), then to the Galapagos Islands, then home sweet home. I hope you are all amazingly well and thanks to those who post messages on my blog!!

All the best,
Adam

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Photos

Christ the Redeemer
Atop of Corcovado, outlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro, stands the outstretched Christ.

Copacabana Beach
Standing on Sugar Loaf (the name of one of Rio´s most famous peaks), a look at the famed Copacabana beach - a tiny glimpse of the beautiful city that is Rio.

Iguazu Falls
From the Brazilian side, a nice pic of one of the 208 waterfalls that make up Iguazu.

Iguazu Falls
From the Argentinian side, me in front of the Devil´s Throat (look at that sexy beard!).

Buenos Aires
A beautiful European looking city. And yes, that is an oblisk in the distance, much like Washington´s Monument in DC.

River Plate Fans
Dedicated, passionate, crazy.

The flag
I hope the picture does it justice. If so, need I say more?

My latest mugshot
Taken today (Oct 12) before I lopped off my beard, which I did for two reasons: (1) it´s freakin´ hot in Venezuela; (2) I didn´t want to have a freakish facial tanline for my bro´s wedding photos in November. Where are my glasses you ask? Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean - a story not for internet publishing (back to my Buddy Holly´s!)

Comments

[Nan]

Wow! What a trip.
You do manage to pack in a lot when you travel, don't you? Some travel magazine would love your blog....How to see South America and not miss a thing. Anyway, love your descriptions --- almost feels like I'm there too.....almost. Keep 'em coming. Luvs! PS Love the beard, but good thinking on the wedding.