| 22 - 27 JULY 2009 - THE JOURNEY BACK TO OUR FRONT DOOR |
| Written by Phoebe Sampson |
| Monday, 27 July 2009 08:56 |
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So, looking back on it now, the plane ride wasn't THAT bad, but at the time we thought how rubbish B.A was. Fortunately a nice fella swapped seats with Angelo so we could sit together after their balls-up with check-in. For some reason, we were fed at 1am Brazil time (that's 5am UK time...what meal is that?!), and our vegetarian option was chicken... to be fair, the cabin crew were really apologetic and did us proud with replacement food! It seemed the food saga would continue right until we touched down in sunny England! Sunny it wasn't. We'd planned our trip to arrive back in the summer...London was grey and overcast as we came into land. It was exciting to be home, but also an incredibly depressing arrival! Sadly, Phoebe's sister Viola had swine flu so couldn't meet us at the airport, so we scooted down onto the London underground (oh yeah, not before Angelo cornered terrified passers-by to take an 'arrival' photograph) to meet with Steve and Laura in Fulham. Steve picked us up from the train station - fantastic to see an old friend! And took us back to their home - now fully decorated and homely since our last visit a couple of days before we left. After a few hours of nattering and a most delicious cup of English tea (with real milk!) we set out again across London to brave the swine flu and stay with Viola as planned. Pah! Swine flu, shwine flu... we could fight off anything (and had probably already caught it on the 'plane). Our first big journey in the car wasn't south though, we headed a couple of hours north west to Phoebe's niece's christening. Phoebe perhaps doesn't see her brother and his family more often than every 9 months anyway, but it was great to see them all! And a happy occasion - both nieces looking so gorgeous, and (as kids do) changed a lot in those few months. The morning we left Gloucestershire, we popped in to see Phoebe's mates Sophie and Sarah, who had BOTH had beautiful babies since we'd been away - great to see the happy mums. Then, finally (and we couldn't quite believe it!) we headed southwest to Cornwall. But not without a brief stop at Ikea to check out sofas and tables that we'd now need (nightmare!). After buying a couple of things we had no intention of buying when we walked in - as is compulsory when you visit that store, we headed on down the motorway. How bizarre, nothing much changed as we drove into our local area... we did a super-quick pop in 'hello!' to Julius, Carli and the boys in Hayle on the way through, and headed on to our village of St Erth. We arrived before Angelo's family who were bringing the keys, so Angelo helped Phoebe climb over the gate to break in to the garden... my how it had grown! We sat in the garden, looking at the house in quiet contemplation. Then, hooray! Angelo's mum, sister and grandma arrived, and we unlocked our home before going out for a celebratory dinner. To our relief as we wandered around our home, the tenants had left it in immaculate condition; clean and no damage, in fact, it was like we'd never been away... |
| 17 - 21 JULY 2009 RAINY RIO |
| Written by Phoebe Sampson |
| Tuesday, 21 July 2009 11:01 |
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Feeling both sad and happy to arrive at our final destination in South America, we splashed out on a taxi to Ipanema because we were tired. Being still around 8am, the rush hour traffic was still in full swing (and our bus had been over an hour delayed getting to the bus station). Our fleeting taxi ride through town showed Rio to be a busy, colourful city - an exciting place to explore. We'd heard of an area in Ipanema where a few hostels were clustered together, so got dropped off there. The first place we tried was full - we were disappointed - both the hostel and the woman running it were lovely. She recommended us next door, Harmonia Hostel, who had a dorm room for one night, and then an apartment for the following two nights - the apartment sounded great (if, again, a little over budget) but we weren't keen on the dorm... A trek around Ipanema with backpacks later, we found ourselves back at Harmonia after another hostel we tried was full. Justifying the expensive two nights in the apartment by the dorm room averaging the 3 night total to 'OK' we dumped our bags in a room with two nearly-naked stinky young men (but very british public school boys!) getting up at 11am after a heavy night partying. To some people, this might have sounded heaven. Phoebe kept her mind firmly focussed on the 'apartment in Ipanema' idea. Peter, a super friendly and helpful American / Chinese fella running the hostel that day offered us breakfast and we happily took him up on it - fruit, bread and good old Dulce Leche. We showered and generally got ourselves together before venturing out for a walk alongside Ipanema beach. It was a sunny but windy day in Rio, and the surf didn't look all that inviting - despite our walk along to the headland and looking around the corner to Copacobana area. The beach was PACKED! I mean, completely packed - not a square metre to spare crowded. OK, so there were a few spaces where the tide had just gone out, but the fellas renting out beach chairs and umbrellas were moving in quick to claim their patches. As expected, there was plenty of flesh on show - both immaculate men and women (yep, playing volley ball!) and all sorts of shapes letting it all hang out... good old Brazil. Not letting that spoil our appetite, we found an uninteresting place for lunch near the beach and planned our afternoon's sunbathing. By the time we got down there with books, sarongs and sunglasses it was mid afternoon, but the sun still warm. After walking for a fair while, we eventually found a small patch of sand big enough to accommodate the two of us and both jumped in the sea (at separate times - no good leaving your stuff on the beach here). It was an hour (tops) before the sun slipped behind the sky scrapers and behind some clouds. We quite enjoyed it (very British!) as the beach began to empty, and ordered a beer off the guy Angelo had hired a chair off. So, no sun, but still on the beach sipping beer in still-wet swim suits. Just like home?! Right next door to our hostel was a great little restaurant 'New Natural'. It wasn't vegetarian, but the buffet-style food had loads of vegetarian options - that evening we piled our plates high, and then embarrassingly had them weighed. Still a bargain, and mighty tasty we tucked in. The choice in this restaurant was so huge, we ended up eating most of our meals over the next few days there - with only a couple of disappointing adventures to other restaurants nearby. That night, keen to find some of the famous Rio live music, we wandered around Ipanema with no joy, finally ending up in a 'gay friendly' bar just around the corner for a drink before bed. Perhaps we should have had a few more drinks. It turned out when our two partying room-mates returned one of them snored like a trooper. Not any old gentle growling, but proper rattling the windows style. Angelo managed to cover his head with a pillow and sleep a bit, Phoebe meditated on the idea of a peaceful apartment for the following night. Perhaps the experience would make us appreciate our space even more. Angelo woke up bright and early the next morning to take part in a photo walk competition. This is a global event happening on that day in cities around the world, where photographers meet for a walk, take photos, and the best photo of the city is submitted to a global competition. Angelo had arranged to meet the group of 35 at 9am at a skate park by the lake just North of Ipanema. Sadly, despite being there early, there were no photographers to be seen - not an easy bunch to miss, so Angelo continued the walk by himself taking some beautiful photographs of the lake and its fishermen and birds, overlooked by the huge Christ the Redeemer statue dominating the city. Having reached the end of the planned walk at the Botanical Gardens he gave up and returned to the hostel 3 hours later, disappointed with missing the group - perhaps it had been lost in translation, perhaps they forgot to tell him of a change of rendezvous. Angelo emailed the leader a couple of hours later who strangely said they were there, and despite Angelo not finding the group, he was still able to submit his photos - great! Phoebe, however, had a lazy morning chatting to people at the hostel, wandering through Ipanema to a music shop to buy a Bossa Nova CD and checking the surf - it was a sunny day, but the wind still onshore making the waves rubbish. We moved into apartment just before lunch (yeeehah!) it wasn't flash, but it was ours for two nights - a good sized attic room with tiled floor and its own bathroom. Perfect. That afternoon we hired a knackered old surfboard, and wandered to the sea in desperation. The weather had changed dramatically, and huge dark grey clouds rolled in from the mountains overlooking the city. Phoebe went in the sea with the board. It couldn't be called a surf... howling onshore, and waves that were small but incredibly powerful breaking onto a shallow sandbank. It was good to have got in and 'rolled the shoulders', but no more. Walking back along the beach in the gales, covered in sand, freezing cold, and Phoebe doing her best not to whack the remaining beach-goers with the surfboard as it was whipped by the wind, this was not quite how we'd imagined Rio beach life. It was Saturday night in Rio de Janeiro, we were keen to party. The other people staying at our hostel were too, but their idea of fun was nightclubs... we figured we could get them in England, so gave them a miss. Still keen to see some live music, we asked our hostel host for some advice - she told us there was a place just around the corner that had live music most nights. Excitedly, we got our glad rags on and went on the search. After a long while wandering in the night time drizzle, we eventually found the place, and after queuing for a little while we eventually discovered there was a band doing Beatle covers...unbelievable! We gave it a miss, and ended up drinking Caparhinias in the gay bar again. We were happy not to have a late night and be hung over for our day exploring Rio the next day, but when we woke up it was pouring with rain so we had a lie-in anyway. After a lazy Sunday morning breakfast, the rain cleared a little bit and we walked to a great market selling heaps of lovely arty stuff - all sorts we wanted, and great for presents to take home! Unfortunately, we hadn't passed a cash-point on the way, so had no money on us... a poor excuse, but that's the way it happened! Desperate for some live music (there must be some somewhere in this town?!) we splashed out on a taxi to a Jazz cafe for Sunday lunch. It was ridiculously expensive in there, and there was only canned jazz... still, we stayed for a bowl of soup and a glass of Chardonnay in one of the most expensive parts of town. Despite the drizzle, we thought we'd brave it to the Botanical gardens and wandered around the beautiful grounds for an hour or so until they closed. Then, just as it was getting dark, we retraced Angelo's steps from the day before and wandered back to the hostel past the lake - buying corn on the cobs to nibble as we strolled, stopping at a small photography exhibition on the banks of the lake, and stopping for a while to watch and take photos of some skaters in a bowl. It was a pleasant walk, but after about 4 hours of walking around town we were exhausted when we got back to our apartment. Phoebe had picked up a flyer for a live music recording at the CD shop the day before. When we walked to it, we found people sitting on plastic chairs on the pavement in the rain... we didn't feel that keen, and Phoebe had read and heard about a little Jazz place called Bip Bip in the neighbouring neighbourhood of Copacobana. We jumped in a taxi (where the guy didn't know where he was going, and over charged us) and walked the final bit to the club. Again, it wasn't at all what either of us expected - Bip Bip was essentially a shop front with a large table in it, around which a group of about 15 musicians played Samba, while us onlookers piled on the street underneath a small shop awning. The music, however, was fantastic, and the atmosphere amazing. Phoebe shyly walked past the table to the bar at the back of the shop, grabbed a couple of drinks and we watched from the pavement with a large group of others as everyone joined in the singing and music making. A very special moment. We decided to walk the half hour back to Ipanema, following the coast around most of the way. We were pestered a bit by a young lad begging (frustratedly) for money, but generally the walk was peaceful until we made it to Ipanema beach where the wind howled through the palm trees and whipped up the sea... very dramatic. Having failed miserably (we blame it partly on the weather) to see any of Rio by ourselves (except for our immediate surroundings!) we booked ourselves on a cheesy one-day tour of the city. We were picked up by a minibus with tinted windows and joined 6 other backpackers for the day. Our guide was Brazilian, but had lived in New York for a number of years - he had that great accent that says 'cwarffee'. After driving through a couple of neighbourhoods where luxury high-rise apartments are 100m away from slums ('Favelas'), we wound our way up into the forest - the largest in the world within city limits. It was a beautiful place, which made us realise how much Rio has to offer - beaches, mountains, forests, diving, sailing, music... a really diverse place. Stopping momentarily on a bridge edging its way around the mountainside, we took in the view of the part of Rio we were staying in, and looked out to sea. It was a grey day, but our guide was optimistic it would clear. What better to see in the rain than a waterfall? We stopped again for photos, getting soaked in the rain and water from the falls. We learned about how this whole region was cwarffee plantations until the emperor of Portugal ordered them to close due to a lack of water for inhabitants below. The emperor then ordered the forest to be planted in its place - it was no more than 150 years old. Despite the rain and cloud, our guide decided it was time to visit the famous Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the entire city. Arriving at the base of the hill, we waited in the rain at a large disused hotel and watched the monkeys scrambling through the trees and along the roof tops of the dilapidated building. Then into another minibus to be taken nearly to Jesus' feet. It was still rainy and cloudy when we reached the top. In fact, there were moments standing right at the base of the huge statue when the whole thing would disappear. Needless to say, we couldn't see much of the city of Rio, but windows in between the clouds briefly appeared and swept across the view below us - and the glimpses we did see were beautiful. The statue itself was awesome as it appeared out of the clouds, and although it was crowded with people up there, it must have been a quiet day! After many photos, and poking our heads in the little chapel hiding underneath the statue, we made our way back down again to our minibus. Feeling sorry for his flock of tourists, our guide took us to another viewing place 200m lower with the hope of beating the clouds. The good idea failed though -this was low-down dirty-dog cloud, and although the immense bridge over the harbour came into view now and then, we could still only see very little! Our guide informed us of how the French were the first to invade this area, on the other side of the lagoon, but the Portuguese ousted them out after colonising the side the city of Rio now stands on. Eventually liberated slaves colonised the French side of the lagoon. Next stop a rubbish lunch (complete with hidden meat!) in Santa Teresa, after driving past a couple of Favelas - we learned that these crowded neighbourhoods are often run by drug lords, and police never enter them. From where we were, they looked like colourful collections of tightly stacked homes on the hillsides... we later heard stories that these places weren't as terrifying as they were made out - although definitely poor. Our final stop for the day was the Steps of Lapa - a tiled flight of steps decorated by a suitably bonkers artist, who began the project many years ago, and continues to add tiles from all over the world to his creation. For 'personal problem' reasons, he included a pregnant coloured woman in all the tiles he paints... Feeling like we'd seen a bit more of the city, but nowhere near enough, we were dropped back at our hostel with a couple of hours to spare before grabbing a taxi to the airport. We showered, ate (and told the early taxi driver to go away), and got ourselves together, not quite believing our trip was coming to an end. Our gas-fuelled taxi ride was crazy across town - even the taxi's proximity alarms were beeping as we sped along at around 50mph weaving our way through traffic. I'm not sure what language we were speaking with the driver (Spanish or Portuguese) but we had an interesting conversation about the corruptness of Brazilian Police and the problems of drugs in Rio... was it really all that bad? Arriving safely at the airport, there were long delays to check in, and when we finally made it to the counter it appears they didn't have us registered on that flight. They couldn't get us seats together, but at least we were booked in (with vegetarian food!) and the plane was delayed for an hour or so . . . it looked as though our trip back to reality was going to be a bumpy ride!! |
| 16 JULY 2009 - SAO PAULO |
| Written by Phoebe Sampson |
| Thursday, 16 July 2009 22:19 |
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This was when we really started to feel like we were running out of time! The overnight bus to Sao Paulo was pretty unremarkable, but we did arrive later than we'd hoped into town, making the possibility of continuing to a small place on the coast a bit tight. We decided to give Sao Paulo a few hours, and then continue on another overnight bus (back to back!) to Rio - allowing a bit more time to explore there. We stored our bags in bus station lockers and headed into town on the metro. First stop, lunch and breakfast all combined into one! We found an excellent veggie place right in the centre of town - self service, and huge portions - we ate far too much, but it was good healthy food. If we're honest, Sao Paulo didn't appear all that great to us - parks were stinky and filthy, and not too green, apart from the towering palm trees which were beautiful. The buildings were grubby and shabby too, and we ended up going round in circles desperately trying to find something to see and do. Eventually we found our way to the Santander bank building -one of the tallest skyscrapers in town, (which reminded us of the Empire State building) which we could go to the top of for a view of the city. It was a long wait to sign in and catch the lift up to the top, but it was worth the view - Sao Paulo has an incredibly dense amount of skyscrapers bristling the landscape. After wandering around a little longer, and popped into an impressive vaulted-arched cathedral, we got back on the tube for a stop and went to an art museum. There were some interesting works in there, particularly memorable was an enormous (taking up two rooms!) blue whale made out of blue denim, and a large carved totem pole. It was getting dark, and we'd heard several warnings about Sao Paulo at night, so scuttled back to the bus station to kill time before our next bus to Rio - the last overnight bus of the trip! Hooray! |
| 14-15 JULY 2009 - IGUAZU |
| Written by Phoebe Sampson |
| Wednesday, 15 July 2009 21:30 |
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Our driver dropped us outside a couple of hostels in the uninteresting looking town of Puerto Iguazu, but all the rooms were full. Outside, a skinny fella with a wadge of fliers ran through a list of hostel options in town, and we chose the cheapest - all the others were double the price. Our skinny amigo escorted us to the hostel (ready for his commission from the owner) and we were shown into a rubbish room with 2 bunk beds and mouldy walls. Tired, we decided we could cope and booked in for two nights enabling a full day at Iguazu falls the following day. Not wishing to hang out in our musty cell, we headed out into town to explore. The main strip was a bit prettier, and we sat at a table on the pavement for a beer and a bowl of chips - life wasn't that bad eh. Fortunately, we decided to go then to book our bus out of town as the bus station was just around the corner - we discovered that buses were less frequent and more expensive than expected to Sao Paulo - we had to change plans and leave the following night. Back at the hostel, they refused to give our money back for the second night, despite us handing over the cash only a couple of hours previously. Arguing commenced with the receptionist, who eventually called the boss and Phoebe tried to have an angry conversation in Spanish - it didn't work, and he slammed the phone down on her. Finally, the hostel agreed to pay half back (something to do with paying commission to the skinny fella) making our disgusting room one of the most expensive nights in South America! Despite the principle, we worked out we were only arguing about a fiver... and moved on. It was a silly decision to cook at the hostel that evening - the most ill-equipped kitchen ever, with only one saucepan for the whole establishment... we were happy not to be staying here the second night - even if it cost us extra! We were in town to see the famous Iguazu falls, not for the hostel experience, so after happily checking out the following morning, we trudged to the bus station with our back packs and stored them in the office of the expensive bus company we were travelling with that night for Sao Paulo. Then onto a big yellow bus for the 20min ride to the falls National Park. It was teaming with people, despite being about 9am, and we queued for our expensive entrance tickets. Then another queue to get on a little tourist train - squished in to the tiny open-sided carriages for the journey to the main falls - The Devil's Throat. The little train wound its way through the lush jungle full of unusual birds and butterflies, we arrived about half an hour later and waited for the majority of people to rush off to the waterfalls before beginning our leisurely stroll along a board walk connecting small islands dotted across the wide fast flowing river - it was kind of difficult to keep space in between the large tour groups in order to find a little bit of peace! Neither of us were prepared for the magnificence of the falls. They were huge! Our little walk took us to the top of a crescent of thundering waterfalls - the amount of water moving was incredible and mesmerising. Despite having our raincoats on, we were getting soaked just standing near them, the wet didn't matter (although made photo taking difficult!) nor did the hoards of people all jostling for a view - once faced with the falls you could neither hear, feel or see them! We stayed for as long as we could before getting utterly drenched and freezing and walked back across the boardwalk pausing for a while to watch a flock of Jays. Back on the little train, we headed for the centre of the park and to the start of a series of walking trails leading to other waterfalls - the whole area was riddled with them! You could easily spend a few days walking the different tracks winding their way through jungle, we only had a few hours, so after a bit of lunch set off to explore as much as we could. It was a happy afternoon, and although raining some of the time, it didn't matter - we got soaked every time we got near a waterfall anyway! The jungle was beautiful too, buzzing with life -including some strange little mammals like racoons but with long snouts who were cheekily scavenging for food from the tourists and the bins - one even stood on its hind legs and rested on Phoebe's shoulder while she was eating an ice cream! It didn't get any. Angelo spotted a beautiful humming bird feeding on tropical flowers (unfortunately it hummed away before he could get his camera out!). The other waterfalls were also stunning - hundreds of cascades tumbled down the valley, paths led to the tops, to the bases and to viewpoints looking over the spectacle, a very special place. Then back into town on the crowded big yellow bus again, (via a bumpy muddy back road D-tour due to a road accident). Exhausted but happy, we climbed into a taxi for the half an hour journey to cross the border into Brazil to the bus station of Foz d'Iguazu in time for yet another overnight bus - this time to Sao Paulo. |
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