Hey all…
I will get to the title at the end of my post. Its a silly one, but I have so much to say in this one that I couldn’t isolate one thing and thought I would chuck it in there. I would also quickly like to apologise for the lack of photo’s again. Its hard to find an Internet cafe that lets me post them. I owe you all about 30, so hopefully they will come soon.
Anyway, since I last posted we have done a fair bit. Been to Rio unscathed (except for the issues of visas. It almost feels like we have been robbed in a way), checkeded out the best beach in Brasil, eaten food, met some great people and experienced the Pantanal Wetlands.
Let me elaborate…
So, we left Iguazu falls on another long bus ride (24 hours) and it was the most uncomfortable yet. The aircon was passable but being seated at the back wasn’t. The toilet directly behind us was stifling hot and the heat was coming through the whole time. The temperature would have been mid 30’s outside so it was the last thing we needed. We got there in the end, but we were almost wishing we didn’t have to get off the bus as it was pushing 40 when we got out. All in all Rio was great.
The sights we saw included:-
Sugarloaf Mountain, the hill you may have seen in the background where you can see a nice panoramic view of the city.
Cristo Redemptor (Christ the Redeemer), the massive statue of Jesus that over looks the whole city. This was pretty amazing as its about 20 metres high sitting atop a mountain that’s 700 metres or so. The views from there were 360 degrees of the whole city as well but from the different perspective than Sugarloaf offered.
We were lucky enough to catch a football (soccer, its caught me off a few times) in the Maracana stadium. We are told that it has the highest capacity in the world, close to 200 thousand. Anyway, the game was between Flamengo and ASA (thats for you only Adsy) and it was quite exciting. The whole stadium was cheering for Flamengo so we felt we should too (mainly for safety reasons, ASA were black and white so would have been my first choice) and they ended up winning. They did really outplay ASA (who had 2 red cards in the space of 10 minutes just into the second have) but they wasted a few good opurtunites in the second half. The score was 2 - 1 in the end but could have easily been 5 - 1. It was such a different game to watch than what we have ever been to.
Ilsa Grande, this was quite possible the best beach I have ever been to. It was the whitest sand and the clearest water all rolled into a tropical like beach. To top it of (some may say the opposite), to reach it, you had to do a 3 hour walk through the jungle. This in itself was unique. We spent the afternoon at the beach itself but that’s where my story turns ill. On the walk back, I started to feel a little queasy. By the time we made it back, it was much worse. From that point on for the next two days, I couldn’t eat or be further than 20 metres from a toilet. Fortunately, it slowly got better and by the time we left Rio I was 90% OK. Robyn did a good job taking care of me the whole time so that was great.
One thing I need to add before we change subject is that Brazil is a great country on most parts, but our experience with Visas has dampened our experience somewhat. We were supposed to be able to get 90 days in total. We applied with all the right forms and requirements and the nice consulate in Buenos Aires gave us a nice 15 days. Needing around 65 all up to be able to fly to London, we found out (after a bitter conversation) that we could extend it once we entered the country. Our first attempt you might remember ended in being rained on in Foz Du Iguazu. Our second attempt was even less successful. We got the extension (you might be asking how that is a failure), but to our bitter disappointment, but only for 15 more days. When we asked the lady why she responded first with…. i don’t know. Then after much deliberation with superiors she told us that we are young, we have many years to travel. Thanks Brazil. We will put you on top of places to go for next time, not…
Ah yes, I mentioned food. It hasn’t all been good, but the one place that does stick out was this little pasta joint in Rio. You were presented with about 10 different pasta varieties and then given the choice of 30 or so ingredients that you could use to tailor make your sauce. It was great. Some one should think of doing that back home. Apart from that there was a buffet like “Food per kilo”. You basically load up your plate and then weigh it before paying. Some of it was really nice, but I think the sushi was the cause of my sickness.
So our most recent adventure was to the Pantanal Wetlands in Central Western Brazil. We are told that this is easily the highest concentration of wildlife in Brazil and probably South America. It was really, really cool. Our three days included:-
A jungle walk, this allowed us to see some animal and birds really close up.
Phiranna Fishing, Robyn 2 - Glen 1… Damn…
Swimming, we swam in the same water that we just fished in. I know you might be home saying bulls$#t, but its true. There were also caimen (small alligators), and quite possible anaconda in the water too.
A horse ride, at time through water that reached our knees.
A boat ride, this included more swimming with the aforementioned wildlife.
And lastly a quick bit of spot lighting, where we got to cane around on the back of a jeep with a big massive torch.
All the activities allowed us to see wildlife and they were all really cool. We even got to eat the Phiranna we caught. They were quite tasty. Probably from all the humans they have eaten in the past. :)
On the tour we met some cool people. A Scottish couple in particular that have even invited us to crash at their place and maybe show us some of Glasgow when we reach the UK and if we make it to Scotland. They helped make the Pantanal an even more enjoyable experience.
Now if your still wondering what McGuyver was right about, its this, a pocketknife really can be used to do just about anything. I have so far used it to fix countless items that have broken on our journey, cut nails, pick teeth, you name it. Make sure you take one with you if you travel. You will use it.
That’s all for now. Pity I could have pictures up, but they will be there soon I hope. Bolivia is up next so i’m not holding my breath that the PCs and Internet will be any better there.
Till next time,
Glen and Robyn
Archived comments
Comments from the original blog; new comments are closed.
Finally putting that Victorinox White Huntsman to good use then.
Jay - Tuesday, Mar 14, 2006 11:02:22
Yes… Most useful present in recent memory… :)
glentan - Wednesday, Mar 15, 2006 06:26:26
C’mon, its killing me not to have photos…!!!
Sarah - Wednesday, Mar 15, 2006 14:57:35