So here we are at the end of the first half of our trip.
A warning to everyone wanting to go to Brazil: either take someone with you that speaks Portuguese or take a few lessons, since not many people outside the major cities speak english, and while they might understand (or "speak") spanish, they will usually answer in Portuguese, slowed down just a little.
A warning to everyone wanting to go to Brazil: either take someone with you that speaks Portuguese or take a few lessons, since not many people outside the major cities speak english, and while they might understand (or "speak") spanish, they will usually answer in Portuguese, slowed down just a little.
Corumba was very hot and mosquito infested (dengue fever is everywhere there), so we decided to hop on a bus and go to Sao Paulo. The bus ride was long, but we got a break in between to stretch our legs. On arrival to Sao Paulo, we got to take a mode of transportation we hadn't seen yet in South America: the metro! It was really nice, but really small considering the size of the city. We didn't see much in Sao Paulo, we only stayed one night before moving on to Rio, but the hostel and people working there were very nice.
After a shortish bus ride (only 6 hours this time!) we arrived in Rio. It was intimidating at first because the first view of the city are of the favelas (slums), where the bus station is situated. After we hopped in a taxi to the first hostel we were staying in, we felt a lot better about the city and staying there. The hostel was a cute one, up on a hill with a great view of the city at night. It had a hippie-vibe to it, some of the people there were pretty authentic... We only stayed a night there because it was so busy and we wanted to be closer to the beach.
We moved to an apartment for three days, and took day long tour of all the tourist points of the city. First we went to the Christ the Redeemer statue on top of the hill. The views from there were amazing. You could see everything from up there. We took some great pictures. The statue itself was impressive, about 120' tall (I think). It was made out of soapstone in the 1930's. We took some great pictures of him too. We also saw the biggest spider I've ever seen outside of a cage in my life. John says it was bigger than a tarantula. Either way it was huge, with giant fangs and scary. Naturally I took pictures of it too. We then went to the Cathedral which was built in the 1960's. It is a weird shape for a Catholic Cathedral, a pyramid. It had stained-glass windows on four sides and as made out of concrete. The shape and building materials made it very cool on the inside considering the temperature and humidity on the outside. Finally we went to Pão de açúcar, or Sugarloaf, the mountain you see in the background of all the pictures of Copacabana, Ipanema and Christ the Redeemer. We went up in a cable car, which was particuarly nerveracking for John, so I got to take all the pictures from there. The views from the top were incredible, we got a bunch of those, so hopefully we can put some of these up sometime...
The next day we walked to Copacabana beach which was pretty and we decided to go to Ipanema and check out that beach too, also very nice. We only got to stand on each of them as it started raining, so we decided to go to the mall nearby; I was on a mission for a new swimsuit. The mall turned out to be like South Park/Short Hills/Rodeo Dr/wherever you´re from´s version of an expensive mall, so we didn´t end up buying anything.
Our third day there started out sunny so we got to enjoy the Copacabana beach for a little while, which was very pleasant. I know everyone talks about how beautiful the Brazilians are, and while there are a few of them, no one ever mentions the rest of them which are no where near as fit and still squeeze into the same little swimsuits. I suppose the upside (for them) is that everyone seems to be happy or at least comfortable with their own bodies, unlike the US.
From Rio we had a short stopover in Curitiba, a really pretty modern city inland, then from there we took the turist train on the way to the coast. The train had amazing views of canyons and bridges and the Mata Atlantica, the forest that grows all along the coast that is rapidly disappearing. There were beautiful flowering trees and lots of orchids (this region has a ton of them that can only be found there) and lots of pretty blue hydrangeas and morning glories of all colors. Our guide on the train was really nice (funny too), he spoke pretty good english and every so often took the time to come over and explain to us what it was we were seeing.
Off the train, we caught a bus then a ferry to Ilha do Mel (Island of honey), an island with no cars, beautiful beaches and over half of the land is a forest preserve where we spent two nights. We didn´t do much the first day, just explored our side of the island, but the next day we explored the beaches of the island, there were lots of rocks and hills and superfine white sand, it was gorgeous. We walked all the way from our hostel to the lighthouse then to the fort, which was 14km (8.7mi) worth of walking. We were definately sad to leave this place.
Today we are catching a bus to Iguazu Falls, the second highest falls (I think) in South America. From there we will be crossing over into Argentina (and back to Spanish, finally).
Hope you´ve been enjoying my blog!
Love and miss you all!
<3
Lauren
Our third day there started out sunny so we got to enjoy the Copacabana beach for a little while, which was very pleasant. I know everyone talks about how beautiful the Brazilians are, and while there are a few of them, no one ever mentions the rest of them which are no where near as fit and still squeeze into the same little swimsuits. I suppose the upside (for them) is that everyone seems to be happy or at least comfortable with their own bodies, unlike the US.
From Rio we had a short stopover in Curitiba, a really pretty modern city inland, then from there we took the turist train on the way to the coast. The train had amazing views of canyons and bridges and the Mata Atlantica, the forest that grows all along the coast that is rapidly disappearing. There were beautiful flowering trees and lots of orchids (this region has a ton of them that can only be found there) and lots of pretty blue hydrangeas and morning glories of all colors. Our guide on the train was really nice (funny too), he spoke pretty good english and every so often took the time to come over and explain to us what it was we were seeing.
Off the train, we caught a bus then a ferry to Ilha do Mel (Island of honey), an island with no cars, beautiful beaches and over half of the land is a forest preserve where we spent two nights. We didn´t do much the first day, just explored our side of the island, but the next day we explored the beaches of the island, there were lots of rocks and hills and superfine white sand, it was gorgeous. We walked all the way from our hostel to the lighthouse then to the fort, which was 14km (8.7mi) worth of walking. We were definately sad to leave this place.
Today we are catching a bus to Iguazu Falls, the second highest falls (I think) in South America. From there we will be crossing over into Argentina (and back to Spanish, finally).
Hope you´ve been enjoying my blog!
Love and miss you all!
<3
Lauren
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