Greetings from Sáo Paulo in Brazil. I've had quite an interesting few days.
Friday, two days ago, I was denied permission to board a flight to Bolivia as I didn't have an onward ticket. Immigration like to know you're going to leave their country at some point. They're funny like that. So yesterday I managed to jump through some hoops and succesfully bought a ticket to Peru in three months time, and this afternoon, fingers crossed, I should be able to fly to Bolivia.
It´s quite funny, really. I was delayed by two days to enter Brasil and now I´ve been delayed by two days to leave Brasil. It´s all swings and roundabouts.
So with some extra time to kill, I went south to the Formula 1 track they have here to see if I could get a glimpse of the circuit. There was nothing happening there so security let me inside the gates to take a few photos from the back straight, so I was pretty happy about that. Then they left me alone so I thought I'd go wandering. I managed to get right down next to the track and I was there for about ten minutes before a guard called me back. I had visions of walking up to the main grandstand and standing on the main straight. Anyway, I was grateful that I´d been able to see what I did.
Then I decided to do a lap of the circuit by walking around the outside of the fence perimeter of the track grounds. I thought I might be able to peek through some holes in the fence at differnet vantage points. Three quarters of the track is surrounded by middle class neighbourhoods but the last part, the part that would link me up to the train station to return to the city was a really dodgy neighbourhood. As I entered the area, I thought about turning around but that would mean a long walk back. I kept going but I didn´t know if it was even possible to get through this area to get where I was going, or for how long I would have to walk through it. The houses were run down and there were a lot of cars and bins burnt out. The people were predominantly black and I was a wee bit worried that I might attract attention with my large headphones and bulging pockets with my camera and mobile. I walked purposefully and confidently, and thankfully no one hassled me. The interesting thing was that a lot of young men in the neighbourhood were flying kites. I guess it´s something to do. Probably a signal system.
Fingers crossed, I get to Bolivia today.
Ciao for now.
* No I didn´t make it on to the flight. I was on stand-by and myself, and a few other passengers, didn´t get a seat. So fingers crossed now for Tuesday.
As I explained in an earlier post, my time in Iguazu Falls had been shortened due to unexpectedly having to organise a visa to enter Brasil. But I still had one full day which would be enough for me to see the falls from the Brasilian side. The falls lie right on the border between Brasil and Aregentina, and Paraguay isn't that far away either. I'd been lucky to be sitting on the right (correct) side of the plane when flying in to Foz as the plane flew over the falls upon our approach to landing and I was able ot get a good brids-eye view.
It was the 27th Dec when I went and so there were a lot of people. It was a very hot sunny day and the queues to get in were a mile long. It the searing heat, I queued for 1hr 20 mins to buy an entrance ticket. Then I queued 17 mins to enter the park, and then waited 15 mins for a bus to the falls and then it was a 15 min ride to the site of the falls. That's one of the problems of travelling solo is you don't have a partner to take it in turns to wait in line.
The falls were freakin' amazing. I went crazy and took 110 photos. From the Brasilian side you get a lot of opportunities to see an overview of the falls. There's scores of them and they're huge. The Argentinain side allows you to get up close and personal and even has boat rides that take you up to the falls where no one stays dry. The Brasil side ends with a boardwalk out over the river and close to the base of some of the large , loud falls. I stood for ages, just soaking up the atmosphere whilst listening to the haunting tune from the film-soundtrack of Requiem for a Dream on my mp3 player. I don't know them off hand but the stats about the falls are worth looking up eg the number of falls, the amount of water they dump per minute.
From Foz de Iguacu, I caught a bus to Rio de Jeniero that took 24 hours but got me there safely. Rio was going to be my location for New Year's Eve. I arrived the 29th and stayed until the 2nd. It rained continually whilst I was there but I was still able to enjoy many of the sights.
I stayed in a hostel in Copacabana. The neighbourhood has quite a lot of character but the hostel was, how can I put it? ... Shit. I stayed in a dorm room as prices for the New Year's celebrations were triple the nomal price. The hostel I stayed in used to be a fitness club and the common room had wall to wall mirrors. The dorm rooms had about 20 people in each and there was construction going on in the hostel at the time, So it wasn't my favorite place I've stayed but I was locked in as nowhere else available was cheaper and hotels had insisted on paying upfront so I'd already paid for the place.
First activity was to check out the beach. I went down to Copacabana Beach and saw the women, and the men, wearing skimpy swimwear. I went next door to Ipanema Beach and had a swim. For a night out, I went to one of the samba schools that takes part in carnival. There was a big party inside of a hall and people danced whilst up in the stands there were percuscionists going mental. It was quite an electrifying energy.
And of course, there was New Year.s Eve. The place to be was Copacabana beach where about 2 million people spent the night. On the beach, there were free concerts with large stages set up. David Guetta headlined on the main stage. The beach was rammed, especially around the main stage, and the queue for the toilets required some patience. People swam in the sea and others set up camps on the beach in good vantage points for the fireworks at midnight. There were bigscreens about the place with the countdown to midnight and the rain made an apperance again , as it had since I arrived three days earlier. It was good fun and something that I can now say I've experienced. It was unfortunate that I was by myself, but to keep myself entertained I made a 12 part documentary of the evening which I posted on youtube. Unfortunately, the audio quality is rather bad.
Whilst in Rio, I'd been very keen to see the Christ the Redeemer statue after seeing the one in Cochabamba daily for the previous three months. But because of the rain and cloud I didn't see it. That was until my last day in town when it was sunny. I woke early and managed the adventure of navigating public transport to the statue and got there before all the crowds. It was amazing to see the city in sunny weather and it was a fantastic view and the statue looked very similar to that in Cochabamba, about 330 odd metres high.
After Rio, I went to Sao Paulo and was able to naviagte the metro to my hotel. I arrived to discover my hotel, which I booked through the internet based on price, was in a great location (Republica): a net café next door, a cinema two blocks away, shopping, restaurants and bars and not too far from the city centre and the airport shuttle in the nearby square. My hotel room had a balcony and a great view of the streets below, nine floors up. This was better than the hotel I stayed in after I missed my flight back to Cochabamba. THe rooms were super cheap but were like prison cells. Each room was a long narrow room with just the bed and a toilet and everything was painted white. All the rooms were down the one corridor and the doors about two metres apart. However, I was also pleasantly surprised with Sao Paulo. It's quite a nice city.
However, I was glad to finally get my flight back to Bolivia on the third attempt.
