Cam & Tan´s Adventures

Summer Daze in Rio

cambo — Fri, 7 Jul 2006 07:02:00 GMT

After hearing numerous stories about people getting mugged, shot or kidnapped in Rio de Janeiro, to say we were a little apprehensive upon arrival is a bit of an understatement. But just to get it out of the way up front, we were absolutely fine, had no trouble walking around at all times of the day and night, and the only bad thing that happened was getting more than a little ripped off on Copacabana beach. The city itself is a sprawling urban jungle of half decrepit buildings right next to sparkling new ones, which are themselves just over the road from the omnipresent slums. There are people everywhere, from a dozen different ethnic backgrounds, making it diffibult to describe the typical Brazilian look. The only constant stereotype we could see were the micro bikinis on all the beaches but that´s another story. The jungle covered hills surounding the city and the beaches at their feet are beautiful, and the water (at Ipanema at least) warm and reasonably clean.

We stayed in an LP recommended hotel just off Copacabana beach, but apparently "updated in 1998" means just a notch above dump to some authors... But the staff were great and Tan made friends with all the breakfast waiters she spent so much time there, se we were happy. Next time and for those thinking of coming, Ipanema is a much better option and we ended up spending most of our time there. The weather couldn't have been better with a sunny 25 degrees each day making it perfect for those shorts and thongs and plenty of beach time.

The first day was a rough one however as i caught the same mysterious "Peru" bug that Tan had and spent the day in bed. Thank god they have about 100 channels on TV over here.(FYI - American Chopper in Portugese is hilarious). Tan wandered around the local area by herself (again proving the saftey i guess) shopping her heart out with everything pretty much half price compared to Aus.

The next few days we spent on the beautiful Ipanema beach. This was everything and more that we´d heard about. Girls wearing dental floss bikinis and guys wearing almost shameful budgie smuggler shorts, all surrounded by hawkers of every kind selling food, drinks, clothes, jewelry, and pretty much anything else you can imagine. It'd be funny if you didn´t get hassled so much, but you get used to saying "piss off" in a nice way. Unless you're Tan of course and buy everything you see... We spent hours there resting from our busy schedule to buy food and drinks or go shopping in the streets for a while. We lucked out on the timing a bit as it was the World Cup semi finals on the Sat afternoon when Brazil played France. The whole city came to an absolute standstill. We almost couldn't believe that even busses stopped and stood in the sidewalk cafes looking at a TV. There was literally no one around. We found a seat in an overcrowded but traditional cafe which had some big screens. The scene was set for a big night of partying and dancing in the streets, but then something unexpected happened and bloody Brazil lost. The only way to describe mood afterwards was depressed. Everybody went home, there was no dancing and so Tan and I went to a bar and got pissed.

We went into the town centre on one day which was ok, if a little dirty. We were still in our freak out mode a bit and the centre of town was where we'd heard about some not so good stories so we didn´t hang around long. On the way to back however i managed to trip over the dodgy sidewalk and badly sprain my foot. There goes the excercise routine... It still hurts a bit now, and slowed me down quite a lot for Rio unfortunately. We did all the touristy stuff like the tram up Santa Teresa, Corcovado (the big Christ) and Sugarloaf mountain. All were great, especially sugarloaf as we went at dusk and the view was spectacular. We also went on a tour up to the north of Rio to a quite seaside town that i´ve completely forgotten the name of, where we caught a boat and sailed around the islands. It was a beautiful day and we had a bit of a swin in the open (and clean) ocean. We also heard many other pretty scary stories from a Brazilian on the tour (like traffic being stopped both ways on the freeway to the airport by armed gunmen who then robed everyone in cars, or the story about the two tourists who got accidently shot the day before by bullets that ricocheted off a car in which a robber who´d just shot two cops was sitting. Lovely, but again we didn´t see any of this.) Anyway the day trip was great regardless.

We also spent plenty of time shopping and bought far too much probably. The food here was a bit of a mixed bag. We weren´t too adveturous after both of us having just recovered from spending a day with gut wrenching pain, but there were a few highlights. We had sushi one night in the ritzyer part of town which was great. We also tried a couple of traditional Brazilian BBQ places that were good (i had ostrich.... yum). Tan found her favourite custard donut place, and all up we´ve managed to beef up quite nicely.

On the last weekend we went to an old Samba dancehall, which sold $2 longnecks and had a live band. We were way over-dressed as it turned out, and the building looked like it was about to fall over, but the band was fantastic and the people danced like it was 1999. There were more moving hips than th eye could easily follow, and Tan even managed to get me up for a dance - bung foot and all.... It was great fun.

So a fantastic and safe trip as it turned out and the place comes highly recommended. We´re off to Argentina next. Look out for the tango!

Gallery: Sth America

cambo — Tue, 4 Jul 2006 07:54:00 GMT

Sth America

Cusco is way high

cambo — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 07:25:00 GMT

We made it to Peru! After more flight follies at Santiago and Lima airports, we got into Cusco in the mid afternoon. At 3400 mtrs it´s the highest we´ve ever been and boy did we notice it! The walk from the plane to the baggage counter was like a 5 km run, not that i´m that fit right now... Cusco is in a beautiful but sparsely vegitated valley in the Andes. The town itself has been here for hundreds of years and most of it shows. It´s the middle of winter and very high up and so we were expecting snow and a bit of cold. However it was decidedly balmy - so much so that we spent most of our time in t-shirts during the day.

The first afternoon we went for a brief stroll around the main square. We were a little freaked out about safety (particularly after hearing stories from people on the plane and reading the LP guide). However it was nowhere near bad as expected, and we didn´t have any trouble (other than getting ripped off buying dodgy souvenirs - but that was always going to happen). The altitude got to us the first couple of days, and combined with jetlag meant no appetite (strange for us) and a strong desire for sleep. The water wasn´t that great either as Tan found out the next day, which she spent feeling very crook. I got out in the afternoon and went on a small tour of the city and surrounds. Saw plenty of old rocks the guide convinced us were built by incas, and looked at plenty of examples of Spanish architecture in the form of a few churches in the main square (built conveniently right on top of the Incan equivalent). After Tan´s woes i just couldn´t bring myself to try the roast guinea pig which was the local delicacy, opting instead for the worst spaghetti ever. What was i thinking?

The next day we went on a tour to Macchu Picchu, which even after some pretty high expectations, managed to excel and be a truly breathtaking experience. We caught the train up which took a good 3.5 hours starting at 6am in sub-zero temperatures (worth a note in the guide btw) and enjoyed brilliant scenery along the way. The train ends at Aguas Calientes which is nestled in a forested valley and has a few hot springs around to soak away the trékers´ troubles. We didn´t get much time here, but if you come we recommend a night at least to check it out.

We were basically fireman-carried to the top of Macchu Picchu courtesy of a stream of highly organised transfer buses. The view to the top was spectacular and the fleeting glimpses of the ruins only added to the excitement. We had a guide to take us around the ruins who had passable english but was obviously very passionate about his Incan heritage and didn´t taking the odd swipe at the Spanish. We scored a very clear, warm day and the hike around the ruins was fantastic. Macchu Picchu itself is everything you would expect; impressive, specatcular, awe-inspiring and extremely photo-genic. It´s all that mainly because it was completely untouched by the Spanish who never found it. The place looks in parts like it it ould still be in use today.

My favourite story about Macchu Picchu concerns a recent attempt by a beer company in Peru to film a commercial on the site. Unfortunately, the camera boom dropped unexpectedly right on top of one of the main artefacts, chipping off a sizeable piece! How´s that for preservation.

The trip back to Cusco was just as long, but we were entertained by a fashion show (put on by the train attendants, highlighting all there is to alpaca based fashion) and by a traditional Incan dance as performed by the obviously highly qualified bellboy. Had us laughing for hours.

So conclued our sojourn in Peru. We probably could have had another couple of days - ah well just leaves more to see next time.

A chilly 6 hours in Chile

cambo — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 07:33:00 GMT

We´re here!! After 3 flights, 2 days and more bad food than you can throw at a Swedish muppet chef, we finally landed in a foggy and chilly Chile. (i wonder how many times that pun has been used...) We were pretty exhausted after the bumpy flight and terrible movies, but were happy to be in a new continent after so much time planning and waiting. We arrived early afternoon and a day late, so only had one evening to sample what Chile had to offer. A short time even by our usual standards, but at least it wasn´t our fault this time. While i´d love to say we spent a lovely 6 hours traipsing through the beautiful Chilean streets browsing avant garde boutiques, exploring modern art museums and sampling the wonders of another culture, the reality was a little different. Being so bushed, we crashed on the incredibly comfy hotel bed and passed out. Probably more in relief than anything else.

We didn´t rest too long and managed to drag ourselves out of the hotel and went for a brief walk around the nieghbourhood looking for a place to eat. (the one we wanted to go to in the LP guide was closed... damn). We ended up in a very Lygon-street-esque area, in a schizophrenic restaurant that served a dish from just about every county on earth. I had the fajitas (hard rock cafe style) and Tan had some salmon. We ate half, then went back to the hotel and passed out again... Jeexz what an exiting bunch.

Driving through the streets of Chile to and from the airport didn´t exactly show off everything the city had to offer, but what we did see prompted us to return one day at least and spend more than 6 hours here (and preferably awake). You could see the mountains capped with snow in the background of the city, there were brochures to all sorts of wineries in the region and Valpariaso looks like it would be cool in summer, so there seems to be a lot more to do than first anticpated. ´Seeming´ is about all we got around to this trip but we´ll be back....

Fog is a four letter word...

cambo — Sat, 24 Jun 2006 07:16:00 GMT

Most of our trips have been blessed with good fortune and auspicious starts. However the Sydney fog got the better of us this time, delaying all flights into the airport for 3 hours. After sitting on the tarmac for an hour in melbourne, then another leisurely 2 hours cirlcing Sydney at 5000 feet, we managed to land just in time to see our Lan Chile plane take off down the runway without us. Great feeling. Somewhat surprisingly perhaps, the Qantas staff were actually quite helpful; organising another flight via Auckland the next day and giving gave us a free room at the 6 star IBIS hotel (sic) just near the airport for the night with a minimum of fuss. With that organised, we treked into Sydney and caught up with my brother, Tan´s sister at her new pad, and then later good friends of ours for dinner. It wasn´t Sth America but hey we were on holidays!

The next morning, we were up early and mentally willing the skies to stay clear. They did, and we flew hassle free to Auckland. Once there, we were apprehensive about actually connecting with the Lan Chile flight, and the clueless Air New Zealand staff handing out the boarding passes didn~t exactly calm the nerves. We were first inline however after an energetic sprint down the terminal and managed to secure seats, while 18 others who also missed the flight the day before, but weren´t as quick on their feet, didn´t. I hope they enjoyed their night in Auckland...

We were on our way.... Sth America and the Samba here we come...