Brazil - Rio to Buenos Aires

Everything is great in Brazil...

...well, almost  everything!!!

The last week has included spicing it up in Rio de Janeiro, exploring the beautiful Brazilian island of Ilha Grande and a flight down to Buenos Aires for a taste of Argentinian culture.

We departed Iguazu Falls for the long ride (1,600kms!) into Rio. Upon arriving, we needed some comfort after the marathon bus ride so we booked into a plush hotel right in the middle of Copacobana, in preparation for a big weekend in Rio. Our lethargy upon arrival at the hotel obviously showed as they promptly upgraded us to the 'Presidential' suite which was bigger than our house! It included separate lounge area, kitchen, surround sound stereo system, spa and even a private in room sauna...backpacking eh, tough times! Welcome to Rio!!

Feeling the spirit of Christo Redentor

We spent our time exploring the touristy sites, Christo Redentor being the highlight, riding bikes along the beaches, navigating Lake Rodrigo de Freitas, drinking out of coconuts on Copacobana beach and tasting some of the most toxic (super strong!) Capirinhas that we could get our hands on! They destroyed us these things!

The only thing that we missed was dancing up a storm at a big local Brazilian samba party, although not through lack of trying! Ah well, what better reason to return to Rio for the 2014 World Cup or the 2016 Olympics!

Next stop was Ilha Grande. A small island 150km south of Rio. After a weekend in a big city, this was the ideal place for a couple of days of R&R (rest and relaxation)!

Praia Mangues - One of Ilha Grande´s many beautiful beaches 

After a night of sampling a couple of the local cocktails, the concept of R&R quickly wore off when we realised that there were walking trails to gorgeous secluded beaches, which included 'Jennifer' Lopes Mendes, ranked no.1 in the list of Brazil's most beautiful beaches. The day of trekking totalled at least 30km but all very much worthwhile given some of the places that we discovered. After all the trekking, we re-energised with a a gourmet local grilled seafood BBQ dish (Charrasco fruitas del mar) and a quiet bevy or two!

Great location Ilha Grande, we would have spent a couple of weeks there if we had the time and would head back there in a flash!

Unfortunately, time on this occasion was our only enemy, so we quickly departed Ilha Grande for a flight to Buenos Aires, Argentina´s capital.

When most people talk about Buenos Aires, they talk about it being the Paris of South America and being known for it´s European culture and architecture. In all honesty, Buenos Aires was really about two things...steaks and tango!

We were a little fortunate that we checked into a place right in the heart of San Telmo, which is widely renowned as the home of tango. It is also the home of La Brigada which is also widely regarded as the best Parilla (Argentinian BBQ) restaurant in Buenos Aires, famous for it´s incredible steaks...perfect!

Local tango club Lunatics Milonga - plenty of character and very few touristicos! 

We first headed into a quaint little local tango bar for some tango lessons, worked up an appetite then checked into La Brigada at about 10pm (which is early for Argentina) for a meal that absolutely blew us away. They cut the steaks with a spoon they were that tender, and the portions were certainly not small! 

Definitely vying for the best steaks we´ve had the pleasure of eating!

We washed it down with a bottle of Argentinian red wine to ensure that we were primed for some more tango. Unfortunately the tango at the club was well beyond our basic 1 step, 2 step that we had picked up earlier in our tango class, so we camped ourselves on the sidelines, with bevy in hand and soaked up the local atmosphere...great night out.

We leave Buenos Aires today on an overnight bus to Bariloche and some trekking in the Andes Mountain Range.

Another week of adventure ahead...can´t wait!!

Brazil - Santa Cruz to Iguazu

It appears Pachi Mama (Peruvian god of the earth and nature) is still shining on us:

Camped under a rainbow at one of many of Iguacu´s waterfalls

It´s been a big 9 days incorporating 2,426km of travel from La Paz to Iguazu Falls but we´ve entered Brazil and been fortunate enough to be greeted with some magic spots along the way!

We departed La Paz and made our last stop in Bolivia in Santa Cruz - a far cry from the other chaotic, crowded, and colourful big cities of Bolivia. Santa Cruz had very much a Brazilian feel, very relaxed, tropical climate that provided us with a great transition to our next destination - Brazil!

After another 12 hour overnight bus ride, we made it to the Bolivian/Brazilian border nice and early, where we finally stepped foot into Brazil. All we needed was to take a 20 minute bus ride to nearby town, Corumba. However we quickly realised 2 things:

1. We didn't have any Reals (Brazilian $) and there was no bank or cash machine to be seen
2. We couldn't understand a word of Portuguese! Our (Aurelie´s!) semi-fluency in Spanish certainly wasn't helping

Out of nowhere, a young Brazilian girl offered to purchase and pay for our bus tickets! First impressions are good impressions and this certainly didn´t do Brazil´s reputation any harm!

We arrived in Corumba trying to get our bearings when a dodgy looking character offered us all the information we were looking for, bus timetables, cheap hotels and places to go in the village. He even went onto the effort of walking us to the suggested hotel, which actually turned out to be an absolute hole! However, we had been told that Brazil was rather expensive for backpackers and this was no the time to be picky, so we decided to stay. Bad move. Between the 40 degree temperature, the rooms ínteresting´ odour, the relentless mosquitoes and a broken fan that looked like it could fall on our head at any moment, we were lucky to get a couple of hours' sleep that night between us. Corumba did not offer much and we waisted no time moving on to our next destination - Bonito.

Bonito was a hidden jewel in the far North West corner of Brazil. It provided the relaxed and idyillic feel we were looking for. We found a nice comfortable place to stay, rented a couple of bikes and cycled the 5 or 6km out to Bonito´s 'public pool' which turned out to be a natural lagoon/waterhole that immersed us into the middle of an abundance of the many and varied underwater life that this place has to offer...twas some ´public pool´ and the snorkelling here was magic.

 Aurelie taking a dip surrounded by some of the local underwater Amigos

The next day, we jumped back on the bikes and took on the 22km cycle to the Mato Grosso do Sol (Blue Lake Grotto), a World Heritage Listed  cave with calcium formation stalectites that encapsulates a vivid blue lake deep inside the cave. Astonishing place!

Mato Grosso do Sol - shimmering Blue Lake submerged at base of a cave in Bonito

After surviving the long ride back, on dusty, bumpy roads in the 30 odd degree heat, we spent another afternoon at the ´public pool´. By now we´ve developed a good flair for digging out the best deals and when it came time to finding a restaurant for dinner, we were fortunate enough that this occassion was no exception. We found a small local restaurant off the main street where we enjoyed a delicious Churrascaria Brazilian feast and drinks that cost about the same as a couple of coffees back home...brilliant!

It was then time to make our way down to the Iguazu falls which meant another long bus ride but it was certainly worth the trip. Iguazu Falls, in the Iguazu River is one of the world's largest waterfalls and it simply dwarfs Niagara Falls.

Chilling out in front of the Iguazu Falls (Brazilian side)

Surrounded by the subtropical rainforests and sitting on the border between Brazil and Argentina, the place definitely provided some ´wow factor´! We spent two days trekking around both the Brazilian and Argentinian side of the falls and even spotted raccoons, cheeky monkeys, a massive Iguana and a 2 1/2m solitary black snake (Shane spent at least 1/2 hr trying to get a decent photo, but all efforts were in vain!) slithering it´s way across our path.

Magic spot but it´s time to move on! Shane´s just brought a pair of the darkest possible tinted sunnies (not sure why!) as our next stop is Rio de Janeiro...exciting times!