Santa Marta favela, Rio de Janeiro

Wow, the favelas are amazing. They are shanty towns, slums, which began when people needed to go to work in the city, but could not afford accommodation. There are hundreds of favelas in Rio, on the hills surrounding the city. We went to Santa Marta today. It has been made somewhat famous by Michael Jackson's visit to make his video Don't Care About Us, or something like that. Anyway, I was a bit wary and fearful of guns, drugs, crime, and robbery...but it was fine. You are not supposed to go in there without a guide, so we did that. Now i have to say, walking around the favela, it is filthy, dog shit everywhere, garbage, rotting wood, dodgy concrete steps, scary scaffolding. However peeking into some people's 'homes', they had sparkling white tile floors, and tidy, neat, just lovely homes. There were barber shops, hair salons, sandwich bars, grocery shops, drinks shops, a children's soccer school, churches, martial arts clubs....just like a real city. The people we ran into were lovely. I said hello, a lot, and smiled, and got friendly responses. Just goes to show you, just because people are poor and have nothing, they are still PEOPLE. Loved it. Of course, Rio has been on a campaign to clean up the city and its favelas, ready for the onslaught of the upcoming World Cup and Olympics. And good on them. There is a fairly noticeable police presence, and although I would not wander about there at night, it was a great experience.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Well. First can I say that we were a bit amazed with Buenos Aires, so Rio seemed like a little disappointing. What is missing....the vibe? the excitement? the awesome architecture? I can't really pinpoint it. We did have a great sightseeing day, the Christ the Redeemer statue is quite amazing and beautiful. The zillion tourists swarming all over was not that great. The weather was a bit cloudy and rainy, so I don't think we saw the beach 'at its best' shall we say...however the beaches are clean, and the promenades are well done, and i LOVE the biking track beside the beach. Lots of people out and about: running, rollerblading, walking, biking, skateboarding. Copacabana Beach is fun: lots of kiosks selling drinks and food, people doing sand sculptures, buskers making money by doing amazing acrobatic capoeira stuff ( i love watching that), muscle boys strutting in their tiny shorts, doing dips and chin-ups on the fitness stations dotted here and there.

I do love the amount of beach volleyball nets, soccer goalposts, drag queens doing dreadlocks for people, and such an array of skin colours, white to black and everything in between. I feel safe enough here, but wary. Walking around with as little as possible is really great and there's lots to look at.

Tonight we watched someone park their car in a seemingly-impossible spot between 2 other cars. He did like 25 manoeuvres, crunching into the car in front and behind more than once. But..in the end, he did it! I was told that most people leave their parking brakes off in their cars for that very reason. I would have never believed it until I saw it with my own eyes.

The food here is fabulous. Yesterday we had lunch and a churrascaria. You have a plate. You get salad, rice, and heaps of other food and then sit down and there is an onslaught of MEAT brought to the table on giant skewers. You get tiny tongs, and hold a bit of meat when they slice it with a huge knife (think machete) onto your place. so much meat and so delicious. We have also eaten at a weigh-your-plate place. You help yourself to whatever, then they weigh your plate, and you pay per 100g. Lunch today for both of us, plus 2 Cokes, was less than $16. Love it.

Traffic is absolute chaos. There are lines painted on the road...but i have no idea why. No-one follows in their lanes, they change without indicating, and they tend to drive wherever they like. I have had my eyes closed on more than one car ride!

Sugarloaf Mountain.....cable car....again, heaps of tourists but fantastic views. Halfway up the mountain you change cable cars and there are restaurants and even a disco on that level. People were partying hard in there at only 2pm!

People here are fairly friendly but not a lot of English spoken, so be warned! learn a bit of Portugese before you visit. They are getting ready for the Olympics and the World Cup, I have no idea how people will get around then, they are just crazy about football (soccer) here. 

Travel Babbling 2.0 - tips!

So when I went to Kenya and Tanzania, I tried out a new method of packing. I left my suitcases at home, and just took one carry-on size backpack, and a daypack. It was amazingly FREE and unencumbered. Plus, not waiting for luggage at the carrousel.

Of course, things have changed since then. Now you can't have liquids over 100ml in carry-on bags. Now i travel with a large bag with a million pockets, and I check a backpack. When I went to Morocco I met an annoying woman with a daypack, a large backpack, another large bag and....yes, a YOGA MAT. I am not kidding. she could not possibly carry all that herself so was endlessly needing porters and people to help her. How many clothes do you really need?

I think I am travelling with too much stuff. Still. But I have discovered merino wool, what an amazing fabric. Cool in the hot weather, warm in cold weather, is very light and easy to pack, dries quickly when you wash it in your tiny hotel sink at the end of each day...and seriously, I could wear one merino t-shirt for a week before I washed it, the fabric isn't like synthetics which retain um, sweaty smells shall we say? On this trip, being in the tropics and then in Antarctica, I have 3 merino tshirts, one pair of lightweight shorts with zipoff legs, 2 long sleeve merino shirts, 3 prs of merino undies, and a couple pairs of socks, plus a fleecy jumper, a merino jumper, and a gore-tex jacket. Done.

As for washing clothes...when i jump in the shower at the end of the day, I take whatever needs washing and do it in the shower usually. Hotel laundries: expensive. Local laundries: RISKY! i used to have a gorgeous white travel shirt...it is now a pale shade of blue (thanks, Morocco) after handing my stuff over the some locals.

Unfortunately I am into technology...this requires universal adaptors, card readers, external drive, netbook, iPhone, cameras+chargers etc etc....This is all heavy AND it takes up a whole lot of space. Of course, the reason for a holiday is to get away from it all, but I prefer to have some contact with home and family, check my banking statements online, and check weather conditions or things to do in different places.

At the end of the day my backpack weighs around 13kgs, well below the usual 20 or 22kg weight limits for air travel.

So back to people watching. At night in Rio, we sit by our window, having a beer and watching the world go by. And i keep seeing this lovely old lady, walking slowly down the street, guiding her blind husband. They are adorable. AND adventurous! I wish I could speak with them and find out where they are from. They are just amazing.

Travel Babbling

So I have plenty of time while waiting for planes, waiting for queues, waiting for guide, and waiting in general to ponder the wonderful world of travel. And people-watch, of course.

I love to speculate about people I see - where are they going? who are they travelling with? I always talk to people wherever I go. I met the most lovely couple years ago in Arusha. They were in their 70s, kitted out in travel clothing and hiking boots. They had been trekking in Ethiopia and loved it. I had never known you could trek in Ethiopia, they have mountains!

Today I met a couple of young girls from Dominican Republic. They now live in New York and thought that Rio was going to offer them samba music, bright lights and excitement. They were quite disappointed in Rio, it fell short of their expectations. Also met 2 couples from England, travelling through Brazil and the Amazon. I get great travel ideas from people I meet randomly.

As for language...it's always fun and frustrating to try and communicate in another language. Luckily I have studied Spanish for years, and it's coming in handy in South America. Even though I'm not fluent, I can read and understand a lot, and I get by quite well. Being in Rio, however, is another story. Some of the words are similar to Spanish but mostly....not at all. Going to the supermarket is a challenge - i wanted to buy some yummy looking french style baguettes. I just waited until another guy filled up his bag from the basket, and weighed it on a scale, and off he went. I wondered...did he write down the weight? Did he remember what the price was? Anyway, I put my bag on the scale, and lo and behold, it spit out a sticky tag with the price on it. Nice one, as the cashier spoke not a word of English. She asked me a few questions and after I smiled and said, 'Obrigado' (thank you) she laughed out loud and we sorted things out quite nicely. In a restaurant they wrote the amount of the bill down for me instead of telling me the amount.

Even if you don't speak the language, you can smile, a LOT. And learn just a few words! I have said 'obrigado' about a hundred times now and each time it elicits a friendly smile. I certainly don't expect everyone to speak English. It frustrates me to hear travellers complaining that 'they don't even speak English'. Well of course not!!

Iguazu Falls, Puerto Iguazu: Argentina and Brazil

Wowza what a big waterfall, it is almost 3 kilometres wide and there are 2 sides, the first we saw was from the Brazil side. I can't believe how well done the walkways and trails are. In this pic you get quite wet from the spray walking to the end. it's a little chaotic with people clambering to take photos and video. We asked a guy to take our pic and he fiddled around for ages before he sorted it out...and yet, not a single pic of us on the Nikon Coolpix! haha i love travelling....... the next day we toured the Argentine side, much bigger area and lots of walking. Every vantage point imaginable. I think we have enough pics and video to last a lifetime, how many pics does one need of the same waterfall?? We also did a fun boat tour.....took us under the spray and totally soaked us, and then travelled downriver where we hopped on a jungle truck to go through the rainforest. I was not expecting to see wildlife but in fact there was giant catfish in the Iguazu River, monkeys in the trees, raccoons (coates) which have quite different faces than the North American raccoons I have seen, much more of an 'anteater' kind of snout. Since dumbass tourists feed them, they can be quite aggressive and annoying, not at all scared of people. What a great day, and luckily we had a private guide, who organised it so that we missed the huge crowds of tour buses with German and French tourists.

Graffitimundo/Bike Buenos Aires

So, i chose this combo tour because it was mainly about the amazing street art and artists of Buenos Aires - but also, it involved cycling around some of the BA suburbs as well, which we both love to do. Cycle, that is. We started off at the gates of the Botanical Gardens (pretty average gardens with biting buggy things) and hopped on blue bikes with baskets for our stuff and water bottles. Off we went with Cecilia from graffitimundo, cycling away from the busy traffic on tree-lined suburbs was just lovely. We ditched our helmets as most other people did, quite soon after starting our tour. The street art is really great, we started to recognise the style of different artists, some doing stencil work, some painting with paint, others with spray paint, others with chalk. Very relaxing and although my man was bored with learning about artists and art in general, i loved it! If we had more time i would love to do another bike tour as it was quite safe, well organised and there was always someone to stay with the bikes while we went off looking around.

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Driving through the outskirts of Buenos Aires, we notice lots of things: there must have been a lot of rain recently, all the outlying ares were flooded, but even so, random cars stop under trees, open up their car boots and have picnics. Everyone playing soccer! BA is huge, heaps of apartment blocks, some quite dodgy looking, all with clothes drying, hanging off balconies. We are staying in Centro, the CBD of BA. Narrow streets, gorgeous buildings, lots of garbage and the smell of garbage and pee. Mmmmmmm. But it's also so European, so French. Little street cafes and coffee shops, pizza restaurants and steak places. This morning we went out around 7am and they certainly don't get up early here.....waiters out on the street, hosing down the pavement, garbage collectors doing their thing. Nightclubs still booming their music! It's hard to differentiate 'ladies of the evening' with regular girls - short skirts, high high heels and lots of makeup. There's something about BA - fascinating, great artwork on buildings, murals, bright lights, tango shows. This afternoon we are off on a bicycle street art tour...can't wait! For breakfast we had medialunas (croissants) with dulce de leche (caramel sauce)......so much for paleo eating on this trip!