13.02.2010
I arrived in San Paolo at about 7am with the expectation that I could
arrange a cab to my hotel and spend the day looking around town, what I
did not realise however, is that Rio De Janeiro is over a 10hr drive
from San Paolo. I learnt this from the lady working behind the taxi desk
when I showed her the address that I wanted to be taken to. She typed
the address into her computer system and showed me the price of the trip
in Real, which equated to more than £350. I then went to the bus
booking center at the airport to enquire about catching a bus into Rio,
but no one there could speak a word of English. I showed the lady the
address that I was trying to get to, and I managed to understand from
her that I would need to catch a bus from the airport to another
location when I could then arrange a bus to Rio. Had I not been
traveling alone with more gear than I could reasonably carry I may have
considered this option. But given that it was Carnival- Brazil’s busiest
time of the year, and that it is rare to find someone that can speak
English to help me with the bookings, I decided to arrange a flight if
there was one available. I could only find one flight booking center at
the airport, and it was for a specific airline, so I went into there and
with the help of goggle translate managed to get a flight booked for
that afternoon, costing about £340. There was a Brazilian guy in the
booking center when I was booking the flight, who turned out to be my
Knight in shining armor. His English was limited, but he understood most
of what I was saying if I spoke slowly. He managed to explain to me
that I would need to buy a bus ticket to another airport in order to
catch my plane, as no one flew from the airport that I was at into Rio.
He then helped me with my gear down stairs to the bus booking lounge and
not only helped me book the bus I needed, but when I could only hand
over a $R100 note, he actually gave the booking clerk some coins to help
with change, paying for part of my ticket. Following this he helped me
find my way to the bus bay, and waited with me until I was safely on the
bus. He was so lovely to me, I really wish that I had given him my
email address so that I could one day return the favor if he makes it to
Australia.
At the airport I had about a 2hour wait before I could check in, and
then the flight was delayed another hour, so I spent a lot of my day in
the airport. The flight was ok, I scored a window seat and was able to
get a fantastic view flying from San Paolo into Rio. It was great to be
able to appreciate the landscape from the air, we flew over a lot of
rivers and dense forrest, and then over the city, with a view of the
famous Christ Statue and Sugar Loaf Mountain. I was surprised at how
small the Christ Statue was compared to my expectations, I imagined it
to rival the tv towers on Mt. Dandenong- on a massive mountain towering
over Rio. I also thought that you had the option of hiking to the top of
the mountain or catching a cable cart, but you are driven to a point
where you can either get the elevator to the top or walk 220 steps to
the top.
My tour company advised me to prepay for a Taxi from inside the airport,
saying this was the safest way to get to the hotel and avoid being
ripped off. So after landing I collected my luggage and went to the taxi
desk. Here there was no problem speaking English, and they explained
that I could not pre-pay for a taxi as advised, but would need to just
get one from outside the airport. So I joined the que waiting for a
taxi, the address of the hotel in my hand. When I got to the front of
the que and the lady sorting people into taxis asked where I was going I
showed her and she gave my luggage to a driver and spoke to him in
Portugese. He was clearly not very happy at all by what she said, and
she showed him the address that I had in my hands. I get the impression
that it was swear words that followed, but since I have never even heard
Portugese before im not positive. Anyway, his body langue spoke volumes
of ‘NOT HAPPY JAN’, and I was a little unsure if I should actually get
in the cab with him. He put my pack in the boot and ushered me into the
cab, and then started driving.
The driving style in Brazil seems to be that of a mentality where
everyone thinks they are a race car driver, speeding off as quickly as
the car allows, and breaking for red lights at the very last possible
moment. It is not a smooth ride at all ! Anyway, turns out that the
taxi driver could speak English, so he explained that the area that he
was going to be driving me into was partially closed off due to street
parades, and it was difficult to get to. He then explained that he would
be taking back streets to get there. I made some small chit chat with
him, but mostly I was looking out the window at all the people passed
out on the streets, or walking round half naked trying to hail a cab.
The taxi driver locked the doors and im glad that he did, because every
time we stopped we would be approached by about 10 people wanting to get
inside the cab, until they finally noticed me in the back and he told
them he was occupied.
I got to the hotel and checked in without any dramas, got my bags up
into my room and relaxed for a few hours before venturing out to get
some water and food. The water was not too much of a problem, but when I
went to order some food everything was written in Spanish- and it all
felt like too much effort at that point in time. I then went back to the
hotel and ordered some room service- which was not expensive when
compared to food back home- but more than it was worth locally. It did
the trick, and I had a fairly early night, being in bed by about 8.30pm.
All throughout the night street parades passed outside the bedroom
window- loud music, dancing and lots of cheering at appropriate times
with the songs. If I had of had more energy I would have dressed and
gone down to street level to watch the action, but as it was I struggled
to stay awake for 5mins at the bedroom window looking down at the
street.
14.02.2010
Eilish, my room/ tent mate, arrived at about 10.30am today. She is from
northern London, and has quite a thick accent. Its not a problem to
understand her, but some of the terms she uses I am not familiar with,
i.e. Gimel / snicket to refer to an alleyway.
Although Eilish had just got off a flight, she was happy to venture
outside the hotel with me and have a good wander around town. The hotel
where we were staying was in Lapa- which is really not the best part of
town, according to a number of web sites that I had read prior to the
trip. It was good to get outside- but the temperature was a shock after
being in London for the last 11 weeks. It was hot- not a cloud in the
sky, and a little more humid than I am used to. We stumbled across a
street parade while out and about- and decided to watch it from the
second floor of McDonald, as that was the best place to stay out of the
crowd and fully appreciate the costumes that people were wearing. There
were a number of men dressed as female characters- like little red
ridding hood, and a number of people in elaborate feathered hats. My
favorite costume from this parade however, was a guy in his 20s wearing
nothing but a sign front and back saying ‘censored’.... it made me
laugh.
I bought some McDonald for lunch- hoping to get some chicken nuggets,.
But they don’t seem to do them in South America, so a burger and fries
it was. Its funny what you will eat overseas but not at home, I never
choose to eat McDonald back home when there is another option at hand.
After getting back from our walk we spent some time up at the pool and
meet some other people booked with Oasis, both finishing and beginning
their trip. Then it was time to get ready for an all nighter for the
‘Sambadrome’, which is the biggest carnival parade in South America- one
might say ‘The Parade’. This is because over two nights the best Samba
schools in the country put the show they have been working on for the
past year- which includes dancing, elaborate costumes and floats, all to
a specific theme. Each school spends a phenomenal amount of money in
both float and costume construction, all for their 1hr performance down
the sambadrome strip.
We all meet in the lobby to head off to sambadrom at 6pm, with people
both finishing and beginning their Oasis trip in the group. In total
there would have been 50+ people altogether. Along the way we passed
people selling cushions to sit on, and I should have bought one- as our
seats were nothing more than a concrete stand. We got there at about
6.30pm, and the first parade did not start until after 9pm. Due to the
location of our seats, being right near the finish of the parade, and
quite set back in the stand, we had to wait 45mins of a performance
before we saw our first performer, and then had about 15mins of viewing
as they slowly made their way to the end. If I am ever in Rio again for
Carnival I will spend the money on better tickets. From our seats we
could see that there were people in costume in the parade but we could
not appreciate the detail of the costume- and that is one thing that I
am disappointed about.
The parade went until 6am, with 6 dance schools preforming. I stayed for
the first 4 dance schools, with the 1st and 3rd being the best- with
the 3rd being my hands down favorite. Im not sure the name of the dance
school, but their theme was magic. Each float was carefully planned- the
first being a magic act where the dancers changed their dresses 4 times
during different illusions, it was so quickly done that it just looked
amazing. They also had a float with Michael Jackson appearing out of an
alien pod- doing a dance and then returning to his alien craft- it was
very cleaver and funny. I have photos of a few of these floats, and this
dance troop was the overall winner of all the schools preforming. It
was about 4.30am by the time we got back to the hotel, and I was well
and truly falling asleep.
16.02.2010
Today I booked onto some local tours- covering the statue of Christ,
Sugar Loaf Mountain, the Cathedral and going inside one of the Favellas
(slums). The statue of Christ was much smaller than I expected, and I
was also under the impression that there was a hike to get to the base
of it. Instead you get dropped off at a point where you need to buy your
ticket, and then another car takes you up to the base of 220 steps that
lead to the statue. When you get to the base it is absolutely packed
with tourists, in fact I don’t think it would ever be possible to get a
photo of just you and the statue alone. I think that I prefer my idea of
what the statue would be like to the reality of what we saw.
Sugar Loaf mountain was beautiful, again very touristy though. You catch
a cable cart across three different rocks to the end point, and it
provides you with an excellent view of the bay and surrounding
mountains.
The journey into the Favella was intense, as I had to get onto the back
of a motor bike for a 15min ride uphill. I don’t feel comfortable on the
back of a bike since nearly having an accident when I was on the back
on my uncles bike in Perth a number of years ago. Fortunately, I was
able to just hang on, grit my teeth and bare it. I think if I had known
it was required previously I would have reconsidered doing the activity.
My driver undertook trucks going around sharp bends, and drove on the
wrong side of the road going around blind corners, it was very scarey,
scariest thing that I have done in a very long time in fact. The tour
itself
13.02.2010
I arrived in San Paolo at about 7am with the expectation that I could
arrange a cab to my hotel and spend the day looking around town, what I
did not realise however, is that Rio De Janeiro is over a 10hr drive
from San Paolo. I learnt this from the lady working behind the taxi desk
when I showed her the address that I wanted to be taken to. She typed
the address into her computer system and showed me the price of the trip
in Real, which equated to more than £350. I then went to the bus
booking center at the airport to enquire about catching a bus into Rio,
but no one there could speak a word of English. I showed the lady the
address that I was trying to get to, and I managed to understand from
her that I would need to catch a bus from the airport to another
location when I could then arrange a bus to Rio. Had I not been
traveling alone with more gear than I could reasonably carry I may have
considered this option. But given that it was Carnival- Brazil’s busiest
time of the year, and that it is rare to find someone that can speak
English to help me with the bookings, I decided to arrange a flight if
there was one available. I could only find one flight booking center at
the airport, and it was for a specific airline, so I went into there and
with the help of goggle translate managed to get a flight booked for
that afternoon, costing about £340. There was a Brazilian guy in the
booking center when I was booking the flight, who turned out to be my
knight in shining armor. His English was limited, but he understood most
of what I was saying if I spoke slowly. He managed to explain to me
that I would need to buy a bus ticket to another airport in order to
catch my plane, as no one flew from the airport that I was at into Rio.
He then helped me with my gear down stairs to the bus booking lounge and
not only helped me book the bus I needed, but when I could only hand
over a $R100 note, he actually gave the booking clerk some coins to help
with change, paying for part of my ticket. Following this he helped me
find my way to the bus bay, and waited with me until I was safely on the
bus. He was so lovely to me, I really wish that I had given him my
email address so that I could one day return the favor if he makes it to
Australia.
At the airport I had about a 2hour wait before I could check in, and
then the flight was delayed another hour, so I spent a lot of my day in
the airport. The flight was ok, I scored a window seat and was able to
get a fantastic view flying from San Paolo into Rio. It was great to be
able to appreciate the landscape from the air, we flew over a lot of
rivers and dense forrest, and then over the city, with a view of the
famous Christ Statue and Sugar Loaf Mountain. I was surprised at how
small the Christ Statue was compared to my expectations, I imagined it
to rival the tv towers on Mt. Dandenong- on a massive mountain towering
over Rio. I also thought that you had the option of hiking to the top of
the mountain or catching a cable cart, but you are driven to a point
where you can either get the elevator to the top or walk 220 steps to
the top.
My tour company advised me to prepay for a Taxi from inside the airport,
saying this was the safest way to get to the hotel and avoid being
ripped off. So after landing I collected my luggage and went to the taxi
desk. Here there was no problem speaking English, and they explained
that I could not pre-pay for a taxi as advised, but would need to just
get one from outside the airport. So I joined the que waiting for a
taxi, the address of the hotel in my hand. When I got to the front of
the que and the lady sorting people into taxis asked where I was going I
showed her and she gave my luggage to a driver and spoke to him in
Portugese. He was clearly not very happy at all by what she said, and
she showed him the address that I had in my hands. I get the impression
that it was swear words that followed, but since I have never even heard
portugese before im not positive. Anyway, his body langue spoke volumes
of ‘NOT HAPPY JAN’, and I was a little unsure if I should actually get
in the cab with him. He put my pack in the boot and ushered me into the
cab, and then started driving.
The driving style in Brazil seems to be that of a mentality where
everyone thinks they are a race car driver, speeding off as quickly as
the car allows, and breaking for red lights at the very last possible
moment. It is not a smooth ride at all ! Anyway, turns out that the
taxi driver could speak English, so he explained that the area that he
was going to be driving me into was partially closed off due to street
parades, and it was difficult to get to. He then explained that he would
be taking back streets to get there. I made some small chit chat with
him, but mostly I was looking out the window at all the people passed
out on the streets, or walking round half naked trying to hail a cab.
The taxi driver locked the doors and im glad that he did, because every
time we stopped we would be approached by about 10 people wanting to get
inside the cab, until they finally noticed me in the back and he told
them he was occupied.
I got to the hotel and checked in without any dramas, got my bags up
into my room and relaxed for a few hours before venturing out to get
some water and food. The water was not too much of a problem, but when I
went to order some food everything was written in Portugese- and it all
felt like too much effort at that point in time. I then went back to
the hotel and ordered some room service- which was not expensive when
compared to food back home- but more than it was worth locally. It did
the trick, and I had a fairly early night, being in bed by about 8.30pm.
All throughout the night street parades passed outside the bedroom
window- loud music, dancing and lots of cheering at appropriate times
with the songs. If I had of had more energy I would have dressed and
gone down to street level to watch the action, but as it was I struggled
to stay awake for 5mins at the bedroom window looking down at the
street.
14.02.2010
Eilish, my room/ tent mate, arrived at about 10.30am today. She is from
northern London, and has quite a thick accent. Its not a problem to
understand her, but some of the terms she uses I am not familiar with,
i.e. Gimel / snicket to refer to an alleyway.
Although Eilish had just got off a flight, she was happy to venture
outside the hotel with me and have a good wander around town. The hotel
where we were staying was in Lapa- which is really not the best part of
town, according to a number of web sites that I had read prior to the
trip. It was good to get outside- but the temperature was a shock after
being in London for the last 11 weeks. It was hot- not a cloud in the
sky, and a little more humid than I am used to. We stumbled across a
street parade while out and about- and decided to watch it from the
second floor of McDonald, as that was the best place to stay out of the
crowd and fully appreciate the costumes that people were wearing. There
were a number of men dressed as female characters- like little red
ridding hood, and a number of people in elaborate feathered hats. My
favorite costume from this parade however, was a guy in his 20s wearing
nothing but a sign front and back saying ‘censored’.... it made me
laugh.
I bought some McDonald for lunch- hoping to get some chicken nuggets,
but they don’t seem to do them in South America, so a burger and fries
it was. Its funny what you will eat overseas but not at home, I never
choose to eat McDonald back home when there is another option at hand.
After getting back from our walk we spent some time up at the pool and
meet some other people booked with Oasis, both finishing and beginning
their trip. Then it was time to get ready for an all nighter for the
‘Sambadrome’, which is the biggest carnival parade in South America- one
might say ‘The Parade’. This is because over two nights the best Samba
schools in the country put the show they have been working on for the
past year- which includes dancing, elaborate costumes and floats, all to
a specific theme. Each school spends a phenomenal amount of money in
both float and costume construction, all for their 1hr performance down
the sambadrome strip.
We all meet in the loby to head off to sambadrom at 6pm, with people
both finishing and beginning their Oasis trip in the group. In total
there would have been 50+ people altogether. Along the way we passed
people selling cushions to sit on, and I should have bought one- as our
seats were nothig more than a concerete stand. We got there at about
6.30pm, and the first parade did not start until after 9pm. Due to the
location of our seats, being right near the finish of the parade, and
quite set back in the stand, we had to wait 45mins of a preformance
before we saw our first performer, and then had about 15mins of viewing
as they slowly made their way to the end. If I am ever in Rio again for
Carnival I will spend the money on better tickets. From our seats we
could see that there were people in costume in the parade but we could
not appreciate the detail of the costume- and that is one thing that I
am disappointed about.
The parade went until 6am, with 6 dance schools preforming. I stayed for
the first 4 dance schools, with the 1st and 3rd being the best- with
the 3rd being my hands down favoutite. Im not sure the name of the dance
school, but their theme was magic. Each float was carefully planned-
the first being a magic act where the dancers changed their dresses 4
times during different illusions, it was so quickly done that it just
looked amazing. They also had a flot with Michael Jackson appearing out
of an alien pod- doing a dance and then returning to his alien craft- it
was very cleaver and funny. I have photos of a few of these floats, and
this dance troop was the overall winner of all the schools preforming.
It was about 4.30am by the time we got back to the hotel, and I was well
and truly falling asleep.
16th Feb 2010
Today was a tourist day for tourist things. I booked two activities for
the day. The first was a Favella Tour- which is basically a tour of a
slum. If you have seen the movie 'City of God', that gives a very good
impression of what it is like- since it was filmed within a Rio favella.
Our guide picked us up from the hotel at 9am, and then after collecting
a dozen or so others we made out way to the base of the largest Favella
in all of South America (or so the guide said, I think he may have just
meant in all of Rio)- known as Rocinha and controlled by the 'The
Friends of Friends' drug lords.
The quickest way to get to the top of the Favella is on motorbike, and I
really wish someone had told me that I would need to sit on the back of
a bike before we left. I have quite a fear of being on the back of a
bike after almost causing my uncle to crash when he gave me a ride
around Perth. I have a complete inability to lean into corners, and end
up upsetting the drivers balance. Anyway- so when it came to my turn I
jumped on and held onto the driver around the waist- possibly a bit to
close from his point of view given how hot it was and the fact that he
had no doubt been running trips up and down the mountain for the last
4hours in full sun.
The next 10mins or so were the scariest of my life for a very long time,
not only was I paranoid that I would make us come off around a corner,
but I had a kamikaze driver who decided it would be fine to undertake
trucks around hair pin turns, overtake cars around blind corners into
oncoming buses, and generally drive to fast for my sense of well being.
When I got to the top and jumped off the bike, the others in the group
were all discussing their own brushes with death as we waited for the
guide to come up on the last bike.
We were briefed that we can not take photos willynilly in case we
capture the wrong person and to stay in a single file when walking
through the passages as there is only room for two people shoulder width
and we need to able to let the locals pass us.
Our first stop was the roof of a 3 floor home to get a view of the
Favella from the top, which was absolutely amazing- so many houses all
crammed ontop of one another, in such a steep area. See the photos I
took overlooking the area. The guide said that a number of people are
killed each year due to mud slides and building collapse, but they have
no where else to go or build, so they just keep rebuilding in the same
places, or trying even more unstable ground.
The next stop was a gallery with some local art, which was great, but
too expensive for my backpacking budget. This was then followed by a
bakery, where I bought a piece of passion fruit cake- dry but nice, and a
long walk back to the entrance point on the street below where we first
got on the bikes.
The order within the Favella is maintained by the dominant drug dealers,
and there is next to no daily crime due to their rules. There were
police cars stationed near the entrance when we arrived, but this looks
like a standard daily practice, and im told they try to catch people
with drugs outside the favella based on information they receive from
informants. Our guide told us that for the police to go inside, which
happens every 3months or so, they arrive in head to toe bullet proof
attire, bullet proof helicopter flying overtop, in no less than 6000
strong. Apparently 5 drug lords were shot dead in the last raid and a
HUGE amount of dope was confiscated.
Kites were once used within the favella to signal different things (I
was at the back of the group and missed exactly what he said about
them), and fire works are set off to signal the arrival of the police.
In all if you come to Rio I would defiantly recommend doing this tour,
its very interesting, and provides some income to the poorest of poor in
Rio.
The second tour was the city tour- covering the statue of Christ, Sugar
Loaf Mountain, and the Cathedral. The statue of Christ was much
smaller than I expected, and I was also under the impression that there
was a hike to get to the base of it. Instead you get dropped off at a
point where you need to buy your ticket, and then another car takes you
up to the base of 220 steps that lead to the statue. When you get to the
base it is absolutely packed with tourists, in fact I don’t think it
would ever be possible to get a photo of just you and the statue alone. I
think that I prefer my idea of what the statue would be like to the
reality of what we saw.
Sugar Loaf mountain was beautiful, again very touristy though. You catch
a cable cart across three different rocks to the end point, and it
provides you with an excellent view of the bay and surrounding
mountains.
17th Feb
Today I went to Copacabanna and ipanemia beach- both fairly busy. I was
dressed in my bathers but really did not intent to go for a swim,
however it was quite warm and one of the girls talked me into a quick
dip. The water at copacabanna was greenish and not that clear, in fact
there was a bit of trash floating on the top. Ignoring this, the water
was very cold, and there was a lot of power behind the surf. I did enjoy
the swim, it was nice to cool down. On the beach you can rent beach
umbrellas, seats and various other things. I bought a sarong with the
Brazilian flag as its print to sit on under one of the umbrellas. We
left the beach to go for a wander through the shopping district, and
then stopped for lunch at a buffet- where you pay for you food by the
weight of the plate. Its an interesting idea, the more you eat the more
you pay- i guess it works well for light eaters.
At about 4pm after wandering around with Eilish, we were headed back to
the hotel, no more than a block away, when I noticed a young guy seated
with his mates, stand up and walk across the street towards us. He put
his hand up under his t-shirt and started to walk and then run across to
us. He then proceeded to put on his best ‘mean mugger face’ and demand
our money and bags. I think he was about 14 yrs old, but Eilish thinks
12, anyway, as Eilish puts it, I countered the situation with some
‘ginger rage’. I took about 3 steeps forward and screamed at the top of
my lungs to ‘f**k off and try it on someone else’, and also gave my best
impression of a ‘im going to f**k you up if you get in my way for a
moment longer’ body stance. Well- my reaction did the trick, cas this
kid jumped a mile, and then ran off back to his mates, who were all
wetting themselves laughing. I think I took Eilish a bit by surprise at
the time too, as she was dead quite until we got to the next
intersection.
The evening was taken up with a Soccer game, which was an amazing
experience. It was a semi final, with the champion team for the last 3
years playing another club. I have never felt that sort of atmosphere
before, it was electric. Fans had HUGE flags, larger than the size of a
mini van, that they had on huge pieces of bamboo- flying high over their
heads. There was also a number of flares released each time a goal was
scored. Unfortunately the winning team for the last few years lost the
match, and there were tears all around us and fans clearly heart broken.
Im really glad that I got to experience it.
18th Feb join the OASIS trip
Today we got our gear loaded on the truck, its similar but different to
the African truck. The largest difference is that there is not a ‘beach’
at the front of the truck to lie down on and fall asleep on during the
long drive days. I was a big fan of the beach in Africa- and managed to
get a lot of sleep up there when we had 5am starts. It was also a great
place to sit to get photos and to play games. This truck, known as
‘Felicity Love handles’, has a lot more quirks. The windows at the front
are tinted- which means that if you have the window open, to see
outside next to you you have to really turn your neck- its very
uncomfortable. There is also a broken seat at the back of the truck-
which causes you to sink a little further into the storage area under
the cover.
This first day was a drive to a place called Paraty, and our first night
camping. The tents are exactly the same as in Africa- but they have to
be rolled differently to fit inside the locker in the truck. It appears
that there is a lot less storage space on this truck compared to the
African truck.
Paraty is a cute little tourist town, cobble stone streets, lots of
tourist shops with brightly colored merchandise in the windows. The town
is only a brief walk from where we camp, with the camp grounds
themselves overlooking the ocean.
19.02.2010
Boat ride today- to see all the different beaches around Paraty. Went
swimming with the fish, saw a turtle, and had a very nice lunch of fish
off the boat. The weather turned cold and the rain moved in after our
second stop, we only ended up visiting 4 of the 5 beach stops but this
was enough given the weather.
20 - 21 Feb
Two nights bush camping on the way to the Pantanal. We stopped at Servo
stations, which was great because they had showers and toilet
facilities. Its bizarre here, you don’t flush your toilet paper anywhere
in South America, instead you place it in the bin next to the toilet.
Apparently the sewerage system just can not handle it.
At the first camp there was a tree with over a 1000 birds in it, I
actually thought there was running water somewhere because they were so
loud. It was amazing, I have never seen anything like it. They were the
size of a finch, and every so often would swarm into the sky and then
back onto the tree.
The next servo stop had a hotel next to it, and so a number of couples
from the truck upgraded themselves into a bed for the evening.
22-24 Feb
The Pantanal is like a giant river system with small bits of land
dispersed within it. It is full of wildlife, and utilized for farming by
the locals in the higher areas. We stayed on a farm and went horse
ridding, piranha fishing, tubing, boat wildlife watching, and for a
wildlife walk/ night drive.
It was a really lovely farm and I really enjoyed our time there. The
mozzies were crazy, and lots of people were eaten alive, especially the
people that got stupid drunk and passed out on the grass overnight.
26th Feb.... Bonito
I booked onto the snorkeling trip and it was absolutely amazing!! It
was a natural river system filled with 1000's of fish. We were provided
with wet suits and told that we could not wear sun screen or insect
repellant as it would pollute the river. It was not a very sunny day
fortunately, but I still wore cotton pants over the wet suit to protect
my legs from the sun.
The fish were not afraid of us, and the smaller ones kept nibbling on my
lips. It was very off putting having them that close to my face, and I
did not like how it felt having them nibble on me. It was amazing to see
the variety of fish in the river, small to massive. The water was just
so clear, and there were fresh water geysers coming up from the river
bed causing strange bubbling’s in the sand.
At one point the guide stopped us, and we watched as a camen (like a
croc) sit on the edge of the river bank, no more than 2 meters from us,
trying to catch a monkey playing in the trees above. It was a surreal
experience, and I really wish that I had an underwater camera to capture
the beauty of what I experienced.
27.02.2010
Today has been somewhat of a disappointing day, with nothing going
right. First there was my laptop, which I knew was low in battery and
got out to charge, only for me to turn it on and it to read ‘fatal
system error......reload windows’. As I did not have a windows cd with
me (my notebook does not even have a dvd drive), I had to reset it to
factory settings to get it working.
Now this did not concern me too much as 3 days prior- I had backed up
all my photos and data on my WD passport external hard drive.
Unfortunately, for what ever reason, the photos from South America and
all the video footage I have to date has not backed up- meaning the only
evidence I have of seeing the things I have seen, and doing the things I
have done in the past 2 weeks, is in reduced quality on facebook- or
lost forever.
The second thing from today is the 72m absail into a cave with
snorkeling in the river at the bottom, that was booked but did not
eventuate. It had been a massive drama the evening before just to get a
space on the tour, with Dan and I waiting over 2hours at the training
venue to find out if we could do the pre trip assessment. Finally, after
a few other people were told that they could not do the trip after
failing the assessment, Dan and I got the opportunity to try out, and we
both passed. We then had to sign some forms, and were told that we
would be collected from the hostel at 10.50am. Dan and I waited outside
reception for 25mins before we decided to ask the hostel to call them
and find out where they were. The hostel then told us that there was no
car coming for us, but for $R100 we could get a cab there and back, and
we would be going through the cave system after the groups. This is not
what Dan had in mind when he booked, so he said that he was no longer
going to go, and he thought the taxi was too expensive when we should
have been picked up with the group for $R20. Since I could not afford
the taxi fair alone, I told reception I would have to cancel- to which
they said we would have to pay anyway due to the waiting list. This I
was not happy about, especially since I was one of the names on the
waiting list and no one else on that list had waited 2hrs at the
pre-assessment point to find out if they could go. After much discussion
to and fro the hostel reception cancelled the tour with no cost to us,
and we walked away at least with our cash.
The rest of the group was meant to be out snorkeling, but due to heavy
rains the night before it was cancelled. So instead of wasting the day
they rebooked onto a tour of the local waterfalls. I was one of the few
that did not do this, instead went into town alone to find the post
office and look around the shops. The downfall of the group im traveling
with is that there are only 4 independent travelers (myself included)
out of 23 people. This means that people make plans with their partners
and go off and do things independently- meaning that basically im left
to do things on my own- which is exactly why I wanted to book on a group
tour in the first place, so I WOULD have someone to do these things
with.
1st March.. Foz
Igazu Falls & a Dance Show
2nd
March
The Hydro Dam & Paraguay for electrical shopping
