Hola from Rurrenabaque, Bolivia.
After spending the last several days in La Paz, we are now in the jungle. The flight from 11,000 feet in La Paz down to near sea level in Rurrenabaque (we can´t pronounce it, either) was spectacular. Flying over the Andes in a 20-seat puddle jumper is quite an experience - you are so close to the mountains you can almost reach out and touch them. Melanie asked if there was an airport where we were landing when she looked out the front window (no pilot´s door on this plane) and saw the dirt strip we were about to land at. There was an airport - it is just very small and hidden in the trees.
All this so we can take a tour of the savannah located outside of the city - with promises of seeing aligators, snakes, birds, pink dolphins, and most importantly, monkeys. We will have pictures to post when we get back in three days (and some from La Paz, too).
Chau!
Saturday, May 27, 2006
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Sucre
Hola, ¿que tal? from Sucre, Bolivia.
Here´s a picture from our first stop in Bolivia - Tupiza. This is the Puerto del Diablo, or the Devil´s Gate, which is a vertical wall of sandstone jutting up off the floor of the desert with an opening in the middle:
And a shot looking out over the vineyards outside of Tarija - it is the beginning of winter, so everything is brown:
We flew into Sucre early last week after spending six days in Tarija because of the bus strike. The long-distance bus companies do not want to have to pay taxes for the highways, so they aren´t going. Judging from the state of the roads here, either the bus companies are justified in not wanting to support such a transportation system, or on the other hand, they need to start paying up in a bad way.
We are in the former capitol of Bolivia, which is nestled on the side of a (relatively) small mountain range in the middle of the country. Most of the government functions have since moved to La Paz, but the supreme court of the country convenes here. There is also a university here giving the city an energetic vibe.
Sucre has a great market - one of the things that Melanie and I love to do is walk around each city´s market. For anyone who hasn´t wandered around a Latin American market before, they are an assault on the senses. There is the pleasant smell and bright colors of vegetables and herbs, and the earthy, almost rotten smell and gory sight of meat (from complete carcasses to guts) hanging on hooks, and also the smells and sounds of people cooking up meals from ingredients fresh from the neighboring stalls. The kids rushing up to you trying to sell you trinkets and the vendors yelling at you to have a look at their oranges completes the experience.
In Bolivia, you can get just about any type of potato you could ever imagine:
Here´s a picture from our first stop in Bolivia - Tupiza. This is the Puerto del Diablo, or the Devil´s Gate, which is a vertical wall of sandstone jutting up off the floor of the desert with an opening in the middle:
And a shot looking out over the vineyards outside of Tarija - it is the beginning of winter, so everything is brown:
We flew into Sucre early last week after spending six days in Tarija because of the bus strike. The long-distance bus companies do not want to have to pay taxes for the highways, so they aren´t going. Judging from the state of the roads here, either the bus companies are justified in not wanting to support such a transportation system, or on the other hand, they need to start paying up in a bad way.
We are in the former capitol of Bolivia, which is nestled on the side of a (relatively) small mountain range in the middle of the country. Most of the government functions have since moved to La Paz, but the supreme court of the country convenes here. There is also a university here giving the city an energetic vibe.
Sucre has a great market - one of the things that Melanie and I love to do is walk around each city´s market. For anyone who hasn´t wandered around a Latin American market before, they are an assault on the senses. There is the pleasant smell and bright colors of vegetables and herbs, and the earthy, almost rotten smell and gory sight of meat (from complete carcasses to guts) hanging on hooks, and also the smells and sounds of people cooking up meals from ingredients fresh from the neighboring stalls. The kids rushing up to you trying to sell you trinkets and the vendors yelling at you to have a look at their oranges completes the experience.
In Bolivia, you can get just about any type of potato you could ever imagine:
And the women (they are almost exclusively women) selling herbs are members of the local indigenous tribe:
One of the handcrafts that the local indigenous people have been making for centuries is woven tapestries and cloths. You can tell one tribe from another by the different style and colors of the woven clothing they wear. There is a museum in Sucre dedicated to preserving these arts and employs locals to weave on the premesis:
Outside of Sucre is the world´s largest site of dinosaur tracks in the world, which are located in a limestone quarry:
This picture shows the side of a cliff that is about 250 feet high. Here´s me for scale on some of the tracks:
Maybe the tracks were made by this creature:
(Why didn´t we have sweet slides like this when I was growing up???)
Some of the colonial architecture in Sucre:
A two and a half hour cab ride from Sucre is the mining town of Potosi. This used to be the richest city in South America because of the silver found in the surrounding hills. The mountain on whose base the city sits looks like it has been shaved by the miners:
Some of the churches also have very ornate carving around their entrances, probably paid for with silver money:
And, last but not least, some things just don´t translate:
Friday, May 12, 2006
Tarija
Buen dia from Tarija, Bolivia.
We have made it into Bolivia! We are in the southern city of Tarija, which is in the main wine producing region of the country (it seems like we visit a lot of those types of places). We came to this place from Tupiza, which is the jumping off point for tourists heading north into Bolivia from Argentina. The main attraction for Tupiza is the surrounding scenery and a town nearby where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met their demise. We enjoyed the scenery, but didn´t make it to the famous town where the bank-robbers careers ended.
We wanted to get to Tupiza on the train that heads north, but the mob of people milling about at the train station told us we probably wouldn´t get the ticket. A nice gentleman told us that in order to have a chance to get one, he had arrived at 6 AM in the morning - for a 3:30 PM departure. So we decided to take the bus.
We have been reading and hearing nightmare stories about the bus system in Bolivia, and our brief experience with it has confirmed the stories. First of all, the roads (at least in this part of the country) are not paved, so the busses require four wheel drive tires and stiff (read: bumpy as hell) suspensions. Then there are the crazy semi drivers that the bus driver must avoid - not a good thing to experience while sitting in the front seat where you can see everything about to happen. The previously mentioned unpaved roads are usually situated along a cliff, the edge of which is inches away from the bus tires. It didn´t make it any better that the night we took a trip along one of these topography-rich roads was nearly a full moon. If that weren`t enough, the long distance bus drivers are striking now.
We do have options, though - ride in the back of a truck that may or may not arrive to your destination, or fly. So, while the adventurer in me would say to take the trucks, the practical side of me (and my wife) says fly. Flying is relatively cheap, too. So we will be flying from Tarija to Sucre on Tuesday, from where we will be able to hop over to a couple more places. And hopefully the bus strike will end before we have to fly again.
Here are some of our impressions of Bolivia so far. The Bolivian people are extremely friendly - that is, when you break the ice and say ´Good afternoon´ or some other greeting. I am always surprised at the huge smile that breaks out of the typical ´stare at the tourist´ look when you make the effor to make contact. The kids, who have none of their adult counterparts´ reservations are always waving hi and saying ´Hola´ (or ´Hello´ if they have learned any English). When we are playing games to pass the time, people come up to us and look at us playing and ask what the game is.
The natural beauty of Bolivia is amazing - and we have seen only a small portion so far. Here in the south, it is arid and the mountains are steep, so the landscape is very striking. There are also not too many people around (at least in the country-side), so it seems like a wilderness. We are looking forward to seeing the central part of the country.
And, finally, they seem to have picked up one thing that I like a lot - the American breakfast. After spending time in Argentina, where the breakfast is - at best - a couple pieces of toast or some stale croissants, coffee, and fake juice, the breakfast here with eggs, bacon, real fruit juice, fruit salad and coffee is great! I guess that will have to be the trade-off for great Argentinian dinners (huge, cheap steaks) - the standard main dish here is a wierd concoction of ground meat and sliced hot dogs served atop a mound of french fries.
Pictures next time!
Chau!
We have made it into Bolivia! We are in the southern city of Tarija, which is in the main wine producing region of the country (it seems like we visit a lot of those types of places). We came to this place from Tupiza, which is the jumping off point for tourists heading north into Bolivia from Argentina. The main attraction for Tupiza is the surrounding scenery and a town nearby where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid met their demise. We enjoyed the scenery, but didn´t make it to the famous town where the bank-robbers careers ended.
We wanted to get to Tupiza on the train that heads north, but the mob of people milling about at the train station told us we probably wouldn´t get the ticket. A nice gentleman told us that in order to have a chance to get one, he had arrived at 6 AM in the morning - for a 3:30 PM departure. So we decided to take the bus.
We have been reading and hearing nightmare stories about the bus system in Bolivia, and our brief experience with it has confirmed the stories. First of all, the roads (at least in this part of the country) are not paved, so the busses require four wheel drive tires and stiff (read: bumpy as hell) suspensions. Then there are the crazy semi drivers that the bus driver must avoid - not a good thing to experience while sitting in the front seat where you can see everything about to happen. The previously mentioned unpaved roads are usually situated along a cliff, the edge of which is inches away from the bus tires. It didn´t make it any better that the night we took a trip along one of these topography-rich roads was nearly a full moon. If that weren`t enough, the long distance bus drivers are striking now.
We do have options, though - ride in the back of a truck that may or may not arrive to your destination, or fly. So, while the adventurer in me would say to take the trucks, the practical side of me (and my wife) says fly. Flying is relatively cheap, too. So we will be flying from Tarija to Sucre on Tuesday, from where we will be able to hop over to a couple more places. And hopefully the bus strike will end before we have to fly again.
Here are some of our impressions of Bolivia so far. The Bolivian people are extremely friendly - that is, when you break the ice and say ´Good afternoon´ or some other greeting. I am always surprised at the huge smile that breaks out of the typical ´stare at the tourist´ look when you make the effor to make contact. The kids, who have none of their adult counterparts´ reservations are always waving hi and saying ´Hola´ (or ´Hello´ if they have learned any English). When we are playing games to pass the time, people come up to us and look at us playing and ask what the game is.
The natural beauty of Bolivia is amazing - and we have seen only a small portion so far. Here in the south, it is arid and the mountains are steep, so the landscape is very striking. There are also not too many people around (at least in the country-side), so it seems like a wilderness. We are looking forward to seeing the central part of the country.
And, finally, they seem to have picked up one thing that I like a lot - the American breakfast. After spending time in Argentina, where the breakfast is - at best - a couple pieces of toast or some stale croissants, coffee, and fake juice, the breakfast here with eggs, bacon, real fruit juice, fruit salad and coffee is great! I guess that will have to be the trade-off for great Argentinian dinners (huge, cheap steaks) - the standard main dish here is a wierd concoction of ground meat and sliced hot dogs served atop a mound of french fries.
Pictures next time!
Chau!
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Salta
Buen dia from Salta (again).
Here are a couple of pictures from Salta. An elaborate colonial church - one of the more elaborate we`ve seen (the curtains in the doorways are plaster):
And a carved wooden door on the convent, dating from 1760:
From Salta, we rented a car and drove into the Valle Calchaquí to the city of Cafayate. This is a very diverse area in terms of landscapes. At first you drive through fertile farmland, then you cross the moisture line into arid sandstone mountains that reminded us of Utah or Arizona:
After passing through these formations, you reach Cafayate, which is in the middle of the wine producing area of northern Argentina. We stayed for two nights here and, of course, sampled the local products - not just wine, some goat cheese, as well. in Cafayate, we continued our tradition of attracting all the local dogs. They must be able to tell we are dog people.
From Cafayate, it is a short drive to Quilmes, some of the largest ruins in Argentina:
The ruins are not as impressive when viewed from ground level, but when you climb the hill, the intricacy of the city is apparent.
From Cafayate, we headed along a dirt road through sandstone razorbacks and small indigenous settlements to Cachi - one of the larger of these settlements in the valley. We thought this town was one of our better stops in northern Argentina - the people are extremely friendly and the scenery was spectacular. We got the feeling that the people want to preserve their culture while allowing tourists to see it - a very hard thing to do.
The main agrigultural crop in the area is peppers, which are dried on the sides of hills all throughout the valley:
And there are ruins from the local pre-hispanic population:
Los Cardones - cacti that are similar to the saguaro are abundant:
There are even some foxes left:
The route back to Salta took us over a pass through the Parque Nacional de los Cardones and back onto the wet side of the mountains. The scenery would have been spectacular . . . but being on the wet side also means fog and lots of it. Oh, well, we`ll get pictures next time.
Here are a couple of pictures from Salta. An elaborate colonial church - one of the more elaborate we`ve seen (the curtains in the doorways are plaster):
And a carved wooden door on the convent, dating from 1760:
From Salta, we rented a car and drove into the Valle Calchaquí to the city of Cafayate. This is a very diverse area in terms of landscapes. At first you drive through fertile farmland, then you cross the moisture line into arid sandstone mountains that reminded us of Utah or Arizona:
After passing through these formations, you reach Cafayate, which is in the middle of the wine producing area of northern Argentina. We stayed for two nights here and, of course, sampled the local products - not just wine, some goat cheese, as well. in Cafayate, we continued our tradition of attracting all the local dogs. They must be able to tell we are dog people.
From Cafayate, it is a short drive to Quilmes, some of the largest ruins in Argentina:
The ruins are not as impressive when viewed from ground level, but when you climb the hill, the intricacy of the city is apparent.
From Cafayate, we headed along a dirt road through sandstone razorbacks and small indigenous settlements to Cachi - one of the larger of these settlements in the valley. We thought this town was one of our better stops in northern Argentina - the people are extremely friendly and the scenery was spectacular. We got the feeling that the people want to preserve their culture while allowing tourists to see it - a very hard thing to do.
The main agrigultural crop in the area is peppers, which are dried on the sides of hills all throughout the valley:
And there are ruins from the local pre-hispanic population:
Los Cardones - cacti that are similar to the saguaro are abundant:
There are even some foxes left:
The route back to Salta took us over a pass through the Parque Nacional de los Cardones and back onto the wet side of the mountains. The scenery would have been spectacular . . . but being on the wet side also means fog and lots of it. Oh, well, we`ll get pictures next time.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Salta
Buen dia from Salta, Argentina.
Just a quick post to let everyone know we´re still here. We are in Salta now, which is a pretty city nestled in the foothills of the Andes in northern Argentina. This area was the southern limit of the Incan empire - they used the high Andes as a place to bury their sacrifices to the god´s. This city and the surrounding area has a much larger population of indigenous people as compared to the southern parts of Argentina. The city also has some nice colonial architecture, from when the Spanish conquered the area.
From here we will rent a car and explore the surrounding area for several days. We are planning on heading south of Salta to a city called Cafayate. It is in the wine producing area of the state of Salta, and also has some impressive ruins. The ruins are called Quilmes and are from a group that were contemporaries of the Incas. Then we will head north through sandstone formations that form the hills around Cafayate and into a notional park that is famous for its cacti - ´cadrones´ cacti are similar to saguaro cacti. We will have some pictures to post after this side trip.
That will do it for Argentina - we head north by bus into Bolivia from here. Hopefully the stories we´ve heard about the Bolivian bus system won´t be true. Maybe we´ll take the train.
Just a quick post to let everyone know we´re still here. We are in Salta now, which is a pretty city nestled in the foothills of the Andes in northern Argentina. This area was the southern limit of the Incan empire - they used the high Andes as a place to bury their sacrifices to the god´s. This city and the surrounding area has a much larger population of indigenous people as compared to the southern parts of Argentina. The city also has some nice colonial architecture, from when the Spanish conquered the area.
From here we will rent a car and explore the surrounding area for several days. We are planning on heading south of Salta to a city called Cafayate. It is in the wine producing area of the state of Salta, and also has some impressive ruins. The ruins are called Quilmes and are from a group that were contemporaries of the Incas. Then we will head north through sandstone formations that form the hills around Cafayate and into a notional park that is famous for its cacti - ´cadrones´ cacti are similar to saguaro cacti. We will have some pictures to post after this side trip.
That will do it for Argentina - we head north by bus into Bolivia from here. Hopefully the stories we´ve heard about the Bolivian bus system won´t be true. Maybe we´ll take the train.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Buenos Aires
I have been thinking about how to start this post -
Buenos Aires, the city that doesn´t let go . . .
This is turning into the Argentina show . . .
We should have just spent our five months in Buenos Aires . . .
As you might have guessed, we are back in Buenos Aires. It is the city that we cannot escape, both for its appeal and its location and transportation services. We decided to come back here because of the difficulty of travelling overland across Brasil and into Bolivia. It will be much easier to go back north through Argentina. We will miss the jungles of Brasil, but the trip will be less logistically challenging (we hope).
We flew back here from Salvador, Brasil, last night on a plane full of football (soccer) hooligans who yelled their cheers the entire flight (the team from Argentina won, so we feel a bit vindicated). The border control agents asked Melanie if she was on the flight with these jokers and then gave her a break for not having completed her entry form.
Some of our last days in Brasil were spent on an island of the coast of Salvador. The town we stayed in, Morro de Sao Paulo, was passed back and forth between the Dutch and the Portuguese in the 1600´s as a stepping stone to either protect (the Portuguese) or invade (the Dutch) Salvador. The Dutch built this fort -
Buenos Aires, the city that doesn´t let go . . .
This is turning into the Argentina show . . .
We should have just spent our five months in Buenos Aires . . .
As you might have guessed, we are back in Buenos Aires. It is the city that we cannot escape, both for its appeal and its location and transportation services. We decided to come back here because of the difficulty of travelling overland across Brasil and into Bolivia. It will be much easier to go back north through Argentina. We will miss the jungles of Brasil, but the trip will be less logistically challenging (we hope).
We flew back here from Salvador, Brasil, last night on a plane full of football (soccer) hooligans who yelled their cheers the entire flight (the team from Argentina won, so we feel a bit vindicated). The border control agents asked Melanie if she was on the flight with these jokers and then gave her a break for not having completed her entry form.
Some of our last days in Brasil were spent on an island of the coast of Salvador. The town we stayed in, Morro de Sao Paulo, was passed back and forth between the Dutch and the Portuguese in the 1600´s as a stepping stone to either protect (the Portuguese) or invade (the Dutch) Salvador. The Dutch built this fort -
which you are still able to explore in its original unrestored shape. A shot from the fort looking out across to the mainland -
This was the view from our balcony (the parrot is wooden) -
We didn't have a beach view, but this was one of the most relaxing places we have been to. A tiny four room pousada run by an Italian woman for dollars a day . . . you can't beat it. The setting in the jungle, along with the very laid back Brasilian lifestyle made it a highlight from our trip.
From Morro de Sao Paulo, we headed back to Salavdor for a day. This time we took the small boat back, which was a mistake because the weather decided to storm on the way back. Being on a small bouncy boat with a bunch of people who had probably spent the night drinking fruity cocktails on the beach was not too fun. But we made it in one piece.
Here is a view of the harbor (obviously not the day we came in, because it is sunny). The old center of Salvador is up on a hill and they built an elevator in the 1870's to take people up and down so they wouldn't have to climb the hill. Definitely worth the 3 cents -
And a picture of the harbor (once again because I like boats) -
After being on the beach for too long, we headed inland to a town called Lencois. The town is next to a national park and you go there pretty much to do one thing - hiking. The town is nestled in lush hills and was founded by gem miners in the 17th and 18th century. As in a lot of places in Brasil, you can´t go ten feet without someone offering a service - in this case, they were offering to guide you around the local trails. We took the advice of our pousada owner and went without guides for the first day. The trails around the town lead up the local river to waterfalls -
And some nice views -
The next day we hired a guide and took a hike into the park and up the canyon in the picture above to another waterfall. We hiked up the canyon along the river, hopping between boulders and across the stream to get to the ´Tranquility´ waterfall. I think this is because of the lack of people there, not the lack of noise (waterfalls are loud). I had a fun time jumping off the sandstone cliffs -
And to end today´s post, a picture of some of the local flora. Or, a pretty picture of a flower. Enjoy!
(note - will update map soon, if anyone is paying attention)
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Salvador
Bom dia from Salvador!
We are in Slavador now, which is a beautiful, hot, and laid back city about in the middle of the coast of Brasil. It is chock full of colonial architecture, and there is plenty of steamy music to go along with the weather.
A little bit about the rest of our stay in Rio - we stayed for the first two nights in a region called Catete - which is the ´budget´ option for travellers. It is close to what they call the ´bohemian´ night scene. After seeing this, I can only describe it as thousands upon thousands of people out in the streets having a good time. Every place was packed to capacity, and even the gas stations were set up as make-shift night clubs. By looking at some of the people on the street, we should have been frightened, but we never felt threatened.
After Catete, we moved to Ipanema, which is in the south of Rio. If you remember the song ´Girl from Ipanema´, this is the beach that the song is about. We hit the beach there and enjoyed cool coconuts and the grilled cheese on a stick (a very popular snack option in Brasil) on the beach and watching the throng of people massed on the beach.
From Rio, we headed north to a small beach town call Arrial d´Ajuda, which is a short ferry ride from the larger city of Porto Seguro. We stayed in a nice hostel there, and the owner led us on a hike one afternoon to see the forest surrounding the town and then to an overlook of the beach which many people don´t get to see. We didn´t see any monkeys on the hike (Melanie was dissappointed about this), but we saw plenty of lizards, razor sharp grasses, and wierd looking fruits.
The beaches in Arrial are set up so that you would go sit at a table at a restaurant on the beach and order stuff - they were all about the same, so we chose ours based on our favorite crazy waiter named Carlos. He was truly a character. We had a favorite restaurant, too, where we had a favorite waitress who recognized us and treated us well.
Here are some pictures that we have been meaning to post for a while:
Melanie and our friend Anne on the hike to the beach in Florianopolis:
We are in Slavador now, which is a beautiful, hot, and laid back city about in the middle of the coast of Brasil. It is chock full of colonial architecture, and there is plenty of steamy music to go along with the weather.
A little bit about the rest of our stay in Rio - we stayed for the first two nights in a region called Catete - which is the ´budget´ option for travellers. It is close to what they call the ´bohemian´ night scene. After seeing this, I can only describe it as thousands upon thousands of people out in the streets having a good time. Every place was packed to capacity, and even the gas stations were set up as make-shift night clubs. By looking at some of the people on the street, we should have been frightened, but we never felt threatened.
After Catete, we moved to Ipanema, which is in the south of Rio. If you remember the song ´Girl from Ipanema´, this is the beach that the song is about. We hit the beach there and enjoyed cool coconuts and the grilled cheese on a stick (a very popular snack option in Brasil) on the beach and watching the throng of people massed on the beach.
From Rio, we headed north to a small beach town call Arrial d´Ajuda, which is a short ferry ride from the larger city of Porto Seguro. We stayed in a nice hostel there, and the owner led us on a hike one afternoon to see the forest surrounding the town and then to an overlook of the beach which many people don´t get to see. We didn´t see any monkeys on the hike (Melanie was dissappointed about this), but we saw plenty of lizards, razor sharp grasses, and wierd looking fruits.
The beaches in Arrial are set up so that you would go sit at a table at a restaurant on the beach and order stuff - they were all about the same, so we chose ours based on our favorite crazy waiter named Carlos. He was truly a character. We had a favorite restaurant, too, where we had a favorite waitress who recognized us and treated us well.
Here are some pictures that we have been meaning to post for a while:
Melanie and our friend Anne on the hike to the beach in Florianopolis:
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Our host family and Anne in Florianopolis:.0.jpg)
Melanie at the waterfall in Penedo:.jpg)
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Recognize this? It´s the fruit from which chocolate is derived (cacau). It makes an excellent juice, too:
They were getting ready for Easter in the German-founded city of Bluemenau:
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Overlooking the beach in Arrial d´Ajuda:
Friday, April 07, 2006
Rio de Janeiro
Bom dia from Rio.
We´re in Rio! No, we haven´t seen anyone with fruit in their hat . . . yet.
Back to some things that I was going to write about before my time ran out at the last place. They say if you like humidity and beer, head for the city of Blumenau (the city where my German came in handy). I think you know that I like beer, and as a person who grew up in Houston, the humidity didn´t bother me too much. So, we enjoyed the beer and the German-style breakfasts. After having travelled for a while in Argentina, anything more than toast and butter is more than welcome.
After Blumenau, we headed for the little city of Penedo, which is in the state of Sao Paulo. This is another community founded by immigrants to Brasil - Penedo was founded by Scandinavians, mostly Finnish and Swedish. We stayed at a pousada the was owned by an older gentleman who came to Brasil from Austria when he was one year old. This place was one of those places you hear about - an old house with an amazing verdant garden on the edge of an alpline-looking stream in the middle (well, the edge) of the rain forest. One of the better places we´ve stayed.
Penedo is on the edge of a national park that preserves some of the last remaining Atlantic rain forest, so this sounded like a place we would like to visit. We might even get to see some monkeys, we thought. Reality is a bit harder to deal with, though. Things are set up for people who have cars around this city (and many other places in Brasil), so we didn´t make it to the national park. We did get to hike up a very large hill close to the city and got a great view of the valley with the city, as well as some bumble bees that were the size of my thumb. We hiked to several waterfalls outside of the town.
On to Rio. Melanie asked me what pre-conceived visions I had in my head about Brasil. I told her that I didn´t have too many - mine were mostly about rainforests and mosquitoes. One thing that I really didn´t expect to find was - get ready for this - popcorn with bacon. That´s right, popcorn with pieces of bacon in it that you can get practically anywhere on the street. This is my kind of place.
Seriously, though we haven´t seen too much of it yet, Rio promises to be interesting - good interesting and bad interesting. On the one hand, you can feel the energy of this place when you are walking down the street, on the other hand you are walking down the street with multitudes of poor and indigent people. The buildings are beautiful, but almost every vertical surface has some sort of grafitti on it. We will be exploring today and I will write more about Rio in the next post. And, yes, we will be careful.
Tchau!
We´re in Rio! No, we haven´t seen anyone with fruit in their hat . . . yet.
Back to some things that I was going to write about before my time ran out at the last place. They say if you like humidity and beer, head for the city of Blumenau (the city where my German came in handy). I think you know that I like beer, and as a person who grew up in Houston, the humidity didn´t bother me too much. So, we enjoyed the beer and the German-style breakfasts. After having travelled for a while in Argentina, anything more than toast and butter is more than welcome.
After Blumenau, we headed for the little city of Penedo, which is in the state of Sao Paulo. This is another community founded by immigrants to Brasil - Penedo was founded by Scandinavians, mostly Finnish and Swedish. We stayed at a pousada the was owned by an older gentleman who came to Brasil from Austria when he was one year old. This place was one of those places you hear about - an old house with an amazing verdant garden on the edge of an alpline-looking stream in the middle (well, the edge) of the rain forest. One of the better places we´ve stayed.
Penedo is on the edge of a national park that preserves some of the last remaining Atlantic rain forest, so this sounded like a place we would like to visit. We might even get to see some monkeys, we thought. Reality is a bit harder to deal with, though. Things are set up for people who have cars around this city (and many other places in Brasil), so we didn´t make it to the national park. We did get to hike up a very large hill close to the city and got a great view of the valley with the city, as well as some bumble bees that were the size of my thumb. We hiked to several waterfalls outside of the town.
On to Rio. Melanie asked me what pre-conceived visions I had in my head about Brasil. I told her that I didn´t have too many - mine were mostly about rainforests and mosquitoes. One thing that I really didn´t expect to find was - get ready for this - popcorn with bacon. That´s right, popcorn with pieces of bacon in it that you can get practically anywhere on the street. This is my kind of place.
Seriously, though we haven´t seen too much of it yet, Rio promises to be interesting - good interesting and bad interesting. On the one hand, you can feel the energy of this place when you are walking down the street, on the other hand you are walking down the street with multitudes of poor and indigent people. The buildings are beautiful, but almost every vertical surface has some sort of grafitti on it. We will be exploring today and I will write more about Rio in the next post. And, yes, we will be careful.
Tchau!
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Penedo
Bom dia from Penedo, Brasil.
We finished up our week of Portuguese classes in Florianopolis (stay tuned for pictures next time we find a place that will let us post them), and we both speak more Portuguese than when we started. I will let you draw your own conclusions from that statement. Our week ended up on Saturday with a trip out to the end of the island and an hour and a half hike to one of the remoter beaches. It was spectacular! Just coming down the hill to see the crystal blue waves crashing on the beach was great - and there were no cars or anyone trying to sell you home-made jewelry.
While we´re on the subject of languages, I never thought that my German would come in handy while travelling in South America, but it did. The south of Brasil is full of immigrants from all corners of the world. After leaving Florianopolis after our week of language classes ended, we headed to the nearby town of Blumenau. Try to guess where the immigrants that founded this city were from - you guessed it - Germany! While we were hanging around in the bus station looking confused, a taxi driver came up to me and asked if I spoke German - I said a little, so we started talking away (with a little bit of difficulty on my part . . . ). I was shocked to see how easily it came back to me after years of not speaking it.
Prepaid internet time running out . . . will post more soon!
We finished up our week of Portuguese classes in Florianopolis (stay tuned for pictures next time we find a place that will let us post them), and we both speak more Portuguese than when we started. I will let you draw your own conclusions from that statement. Our week ended up on Saturday with a trip out to the end of the island and an hour and a half hike to one of the remoter beaches. It was spectacular! Just coming down the hill to see the crystal blue waves crashing on the beach was great - and there were no cars or anyone trying to sell you home-made jewelry.
While we´re on the subject of languages, I never thought that my German would come in handy while travelling in South America, but it did. The south of Brasil is full of immigrants from all corners of the world. After leaving Florianopolis after our week of language classes ended, we headed to the nearby town of Blumenau. Try to guess where the immigrants that founded this city were from - you guessed it - Germany! While we were hanging around in the bus station looking confused, a taxi driver came up to me and asked if I spoke German - I said a little, so we started talking away (with a little bit of difficulty on my part . . . ). I was shocked to see how easily it came back to me after years of not speaking it.
Prepaid internet time running out . . . will post more soon!
Wednesday, March 29, 2006
Florianopolis
Bom Dia from Florianopolis, Brasil.
We are here in Floripa, as they call it, taking a Portuguese class for a week. We are staying with a family as part of the class, with two other students. The family is great - they are very friendly and extremely patient with our sorry attempts at communicating in their native language. They make breakfast and cook a huge dinner for us every day, which is nice after eating at restaurants for so long. And they have a black and white cat.
Some of the things that we love about Brasil so far - tropical fruits, ubiquitous fruit juice stands, friendly people, and nice beaches. One other thing that we love, and that would make a killing in the US - ice cream buffets. Why didn´t they think of this when we were growing up? You get to pick as many flavors as you want with as many toppings as you want and they charge you by the kilo (not that we have bought a kilo . . . yet).
Sorry we don´t have any pictures to post now - taking the camera to the beach is not the best idea. We hope everyone is doing well!
Tchau!
We are here in Floripa, as they call it, taking a Portuguese class for a week. We are staying with a family as part of the class, with two other students. The family is great - they are very friendly and extremely patient with our sorry attempts at communicating in their native language. They make breakfast and cook a huge dinner for us every day, which is nice after eating at restaurants for so long. And they have a black and white cat.
Some of the things that we love about Brasil so far - tropical fruits, ubiquitous fruit juice stands, friendly people, and nice beaches. One other thing that we love, and that would make a killing in the US - ice cream buffets. Why didn´t they think of this when we were growing up? You get to pick as many flavors as you want with as many toppings as you want and they charge you by the kilo (not that we have bought a kilo . . . yet).
Sorry we don´t have any pictures to post now - taking the camera to the beach is not the best idea. We hope everyone is doing well!
Tchau!
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Torres
Bom Dia from Torres, Brasil.
We have been in this little beach town - little compared to other cities in Brasil, not compared to the last beach town we were in (Punta del Diablo, Uruguay) - for two days now. The tourist season has ended, so the hotels are cheap and the beaches are almost empty, but the weather is nice and sunny, and hot. Tommorow morning we head to Florianopolis to start our language course.
As promised, here are some pictures.
A sculpture-lined pedestrian street in Montivideo, Uruguay:
The waterfront of the Rio Plata in Montivideo - the fisherman was selling his catch on the sidewalk:
The cool place to be on Saturday afternoon in Montivideo is the old market, where you can eat as much grilled meat as you want (sorry, vegetarians). There are a couple of grilled vegetables, and grilled cheese. Yum.
The view from our cabaña in Punta del Diablo:
And the cabaña itself:
A view of the shoreline:
And the fishing fleet:
I mentioned the fruit in the last post, so here is an example - avacadoes that are almost as big as your head:
And, finally, the beach here in Torres - the cliffs in the pícture are part of a series of outcrops, one of which was made into a municipal park that you can hike around on (from which this picture was taken):
We have been in this little beach town - little compared to other cities in Brasil, not compared to the last beach town we were in (Punta del Diablo, Uruguay) - for two days now. The tourist season has ended, so the hotels are cheap and the beaches are almost empty, but the weather is nice and sunny, and hot. Tommorow morning we head to Florianopolis to start our language course.
As promised, here are some pictures.
A sculpture-lined pedestrian street in Montivideo, Uruguay:
The waterfront of the Rio Plata in Montivideo - the fisherman was selling his catch on the sidewalk:
The cool place to be on Saturday afternoon in Montivideo is the old market, where you can eat as much grilled meat as you want (sorry, vegetarians). There are a couple of grilled vegetables, and grilled cheese. Yum.
The view from our cabaña in Punta del Diablo:
And the cabaña itself:
A view of the shoreline:
And the fishing fleet:
I mentioned the fruit in the last post, so here is an example - avacadoes that are almost as big as your head:
And, finally, the beach here in Torres - the cliffs in the pícture are part of a series of outcrops, one of which was made into a municipal park that you can hike around on (from which this picture was taken):
Thursday, March 23, 2006
Porto Alegre
Aslkjls laksdjfn lkjasld asne gnaen gneosn aytgwqj alknfea alsn vçh0o sjhhnbg anshygenq asztqn alng al? Njeqyh ngloyqp alkjqngalk lkanonon lnm anqun. Aj qulkj qoiknm qneny nthyh qjuidl.
That is how we feel now that we have moved into Portuguese-speaking Brasil. I thought we would at least be able to pick out some of the words, but no, it´s not as easy as we (or at least I) thought it was going to be. It is actually getting a little better now that we are at least somewhat familiar with the way Portuguese sounds, but I am not as optomistic about picking it right up as I was before we came. We will be taking a week of language classes starting next week, so that will help.
Our stay in Punto del Diablo, Uruguay, was nice - it is a small beach town with (as one brochure described it) ecclectic architecture - read: thrown together - and a large fishing community. But the people were friendly, the beaches were great, and we were adopted by two dogs who sensed that we were missing our own at home. And our cabaña had a hammock on the porch from which we could sit and listen to the waves. We will post some pictures from the next place we can download from the camera.
Anyway, we are in Porto Alegre, a large city that is on the southeast coast of Brasil. I compared it to Houston, Texas, in the fact that it is a large, busy city and there is plenty to keep a tourist occupied, but there aren´t too many of them here. Oh, yeah, I think it is prettier than Houston (no offense to Houstonites). We´re headed to a smaller place on the coast, then to Florianopolis at the beginning of next week for our classes.
That is how we feel now that we have moved into Portuguese-speaking Brasil. I thought we would at least be able to pick out some of the words, but no, it´s not as easy as we (or at least I) thought it was going to be. It is actually getting a little better now that we are at least somewhat familiar with the way Portuguese sounds, but I am not as optomistic about picking it right up as I was before we came. We will be taking a week of language classes starting next week, so that will help.
Our stay in Punto del Diablo, Uruguay, was nice - it is a small beach town with (as one brochure described it) ecclectic architecture - read: thrown together - and a large fishing community. But the people were friendly, the beaches were great, and we were adopted by two dogs who sensed that we were missing our own at home. And our cabaña had a hammock on the porch from which we could sit and listen to the waves. We will post some pictures from the next place we can download from the camera.
Anyway, we are in Porto Alegre, a large city that is on the southeast coast of Brasil. I compared it to Houston, Texas, in the fact that it is a large, busy city and there is plenty to keep a tourist occupied, but there aren´t too many of them here. Oh, yeah, I think it is prettier than Houston (no offense to Houstonites). We´re headed to a smaller place on the coast, then to Florianopolis at the beginning of next week for our classes.
Sunday, March 19, 2006
Montivideo
Hola from Montivideo, Uruguay.
As a lot of people say, Montivideo is a nice place, but not really somewhere that makes you want to stay for a long time. The part of the city by the port, where we stayed for two nights, is the old part of town with once great architecture and is going through a restoration of sorts. This is still in progress, so there are still some dodgy parts. There are plenty of places to eat and hang out, but they don´t have the same lively fell as Buenos Aires.
Last night we wandered around town and saw a bunch of people filing into a building so we decided to follow them. This turned out to be a celebration of Mozart´s 250th anniversary in the Supreme Court building. The building was stunning, but we waited and waited and nothing happened, until we headed outside. There was a strange modern dance routine being done to a Mozart concerto. It was wierd - you don´t really think ´modern dance´ along with Mozart.
I don´t know if we´ve told you about the fascination here (I mean the countries we´ve been to - Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay) with meat, pasta, pizza, and starchy foods in general, but you can´t walk ten feet in this place without running into someone selling or eating french fries or hot dogs. WE NEED VEGETABLES!!! Send some down if you have them.
We are leaving here today for a small beach town called Punto del Diablo on the northeast coast of Uruguay, close to the border with Brasil. Who knows what the internet situation will be like, so don´t worry if we don´t post for a while.
Chau, chicos.
As a lot of people say, Montivideo is a nice place, but not really somewhere that makes you want to stay for a long time. The part of the city by the port, where we stayed for two nights, is the old part of town with once great architecture and is going through a restoration of sorts. This is still in progress, so there are still some dodgy parts. There are plenty of places to eat and hang out, but they don´t have the same lively fell as Buenos Aires.
Last night we wandered around town and saw a bunch of people filing into a building so we decided to follow them. This turned out to be a celebration of Mozart´s 250th anniversary in the Supreme Court building. The building was stunning, but we waited and waited and nothing happened, until we headed outside. There was a strange modern dance routine being done to a Mozart concerto. It was wierd - you don´t really think ´modern dance´ along with Mozart.
I don´t know if we´ve told you about the fascination here (I mean the countries we´ve been to - Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay) with meat, pasta, pizza, and starchy foods in general, but you can´t walk ten feet in this place without running into someone selling or eating french fries or hot dogs. WE NEED VEGETABLES!!! Send some down if you have them.
We are leaving here today for a small beach town called Punto del Diablo on the northeast coast of Uruguay, close to the border with Brasil. Who knows what the internet situation will be like, so don´t worry if we don´t post for a while.
Chau, chicos.
Friday, March 17, 2006
Colonia
After two days in Buenos Aires running errands and getting laundry done, we headed across the Rio Plata to Colonia, Uruguay. The three hour ferry ride is pretty uneventful, but when we got to the city, it was like being in a different world. Coming from the busy city of Buenos Aires where you have to be constantly aware of your surroundings and watching out for things, Colonia was a big change. The cars even stop for you at cross-walks (if you try to cross the street in front of a car anywhere else in South America, you will quickly become a splat on the road).
Colonia was the first city founded by the Portugese in South America and has a long history of being passed back and forth between Portugal and Spain. The old fortress part of the city is a UNESCO world heritage site and is a beautiful old city with cobblestone streets and very old buildings. It was nice to wander around the streets imagining what life was like several hundred years ago.
Some of the trouble we got into included seeing the world´s largest collection of keychains and pencils. Who would have known that these reside 6 kilometers outside of Colonia, Uruguay?
After waiting out the rain for an hour (there´s only so long you can look at a collection of keychains . . . ), we headed to the local winery where they were busily processing this season´s harvest. It was the first one we have seen that was actually making wine.
One of the good things about having personal transportation is that you can go to the out of the way places the locals frequent. We had seen a sign for homemade pasta and turned off to go get some for our dinner. We saw an older gentleman swinging a wedding ring tied to a piece of a pregnant woman´s hair. Strange, we thought. I asked him what he was doing as we left, and this started a conversation that lasted several hours. (He said he could tell the sex of the baby by the way the ring moved.) The gentleman turned out to be an Italian - a pasta shop, remember - who had emmigrated to the U.S. and then to Uruguay before World War II. After showing us his house and introducing us to his family and showing us pictures of the rest of his family, he gave us sauce for our pasta and bread to go along with it and bid us good travels. Here´s a picture of him and Melanie on his deck overlooking the river:
Now we are in Montivideo, Uruguay, and it is still raining. Stay tuned for more pictures - we will post some from Buenos Aires that we never got around to. Happy St. Patrick´s Day!
Colonia was the first city founded by the Portugese in South America and has a long history of being passed back and forth between Portugal and Spain. The old fortress part of the city is a UNESCO world heritage site and is a beautiful old city with cobblestone streets and very old buildings. It was nice to wander around the streets imagining what life was like several hundred years ago.
It wouldn´t be South America without a dog or two around. This one happens to be guarding the city walls:
After wandering around the city, we decided to rent a motor scooter and see what kind of trouble we could get into.
Some of the trouble we got into included seeing the world´s largest collection of keychains and pencils. Who would have known that these reside 6 kilometers outside of Colonia, Uruguay?
After waiting out the rain for an hour (there´s only so long you can look at a collection of keychains . . . ), we headed to the local winery where they were busily processing this season´s harvest. It was the first one we have seen that was actually making wine.
One of the good things about having personal transportation is that you can go to the out of the way places the locals frequent. We had seen a sign for homemade pasta and turned off to go get some for our dinner. We saw an older gentleman swinging a wedding ring tied to a piece of a pregnant woman´s hair. Strange, we thought. I asked him what he was doing as we left, and this started a conversation that lasted several hours. (He said he could tell the sex of the baby by the way the ring moved.) The gentleman turned out to be an Italian - a pasta shop, remember - who had emmigrated to the U.S. and then to Uruguay before World War II. After showing us his house and introducing us to his family and showing us pictures of the rest of his family, he gave us sauce for our pasta and bread to go along with it and bid us good travels. Here´s a picture of him and Melanie on his deck overlooking the river:
Now we are in Montivideo, Uruguay, and it is still raining. Stay tuned for more pictures - we will post some from Buenos Aires that we never got around to. Happy St. Patrick´s Day!
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