The LAST Bus Ride

Oh Rio....I'm going to like you!!!

After the craziness of Carnaval, Larry and I found ourselves on another endless bus ride, this time headed to Rio de Janeiro. I don’t even know how many hours this bus ride was… 28 hours…..32 hours……….37 hours…who knows. I was really starting to feel like all of my time in South America was being spent on a bus. Somewhere on this endless ride, Larry and I started to discuss what we wanted to do next. Our original plan was to bus in to Peru to hike up to Machu Picchu. The thought of logging more bus hours heading to yet another overly populated tourist destination made me want to throw myself out the window of the bus and splat myself on the Brazilian highway. We thought about our finances and decided that flying wasn’t really an option. Until the instant people teleporter machine was invented, the bus was our only option.

I started to think about everything I had wanted to do on this trip. The two most important things for me were Antarctica and Carnaval. I had already done both of those. I also really wanted to lay on the famous beaches of Brazil, bike down the World’s Most Dangerous Road, see the Amazon Jungle and see the salt flats in Bolivia. I also wanted to see Machu Picchu. The more I thought about it, the more I decided that I wouldn’t be sad if I didn’t make it to Machu Picchu this time. Part of the reason I wanted to go was that it was such a big tourist attraction…I mean how could you go to South America and not go to the famed Machu Picchu, right? Well for the amount of things I had already crossed off my bucket list, I wasn’t going to be sad to have to come back to South America another time. Machu Picchu could wait. I could not survive another bus ride.

When I explained this to Larry, she was relieved, but as always, the supportive friend who wanted to make sure I was really ok with skipping Peru. I told her I would go on a murderous rampage if I had to endure another multi day bus journey.  We left it at that, but I knew we were not bussing it to Peru.

When we finally arrived in Rio, we got to our hostel only to find that they didn’t have enough beds for us. The hostel people were great, and we got a private room for the price of a dorm. We were more than grateful for the room, as the crowded buses and the crowds of Carnival had me nearly at my limit with crowds and people. In our little room, Larry and I searched flights and destinations until we came up with a plan. Randomly, on a whim, because it was cheap to get there, because it was tropical and because I hadn’t yet seen the Caribbean Sea,  we booked flights to Belize. We were going to spend a month on its picturesque turquoise water beaches, then head back to Canada. This was a plan I could jump on!

Copacabana Boardwalk

I was ecstatic and overwhelmed with relief…it was true, NO MORE BUSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!  A single thought had never made me so happy!!

NOT where we stayed...notice giant Christ at the top left

We had a week in Rio and were determined to fit in as much as we could before we departed South America. Early the next day we headed down to Copacabana Beach. The whole way there, I had Barry Manilow’s song lyrics in my head. “At the Copa….Copacabana…..they fell in love”. Little did I know that these words would nearly ring true in the very near future. I was missing a bunch of lyrics in the middle, but all I could think of all day everyday we were in Rio was “at the Copa…Copacabana…” It was a broken record in my head that Larry and I were constantly belting it out at random intervals.

At the Copa...Copacabana....

We lazed on the beach, ate fresh prawns from a man selling them on the beach and gazed at the Christ the Redeemer statue from afar.

YUM!!!!!

 When we had enough of the beach we hit the streets and window shopped our way to Ipanema beach. It was a lovely day, and already I was loving Rio! We had big plans for the week, including a football game, a tour of the favelas and more beach. Knowing I was not going to be suffering through another bus journey had lifted my spirits and I wanted to soak up all of Rio de Janeiro.

Copacabana Beach

Up next, a Brazilian football game, a ghetto tour and helping some boys find an ATM.

Join me as I TRAVEL MY LIFE AWAY!!!

BRAZIL'S CARNAVAL 2011...I WAS THERE!!

The streets of Salvador

The crowd is pulsing with energy. A semi truck is blasting music from a band on its roof top. Twelve people are touching you all at once. You are dripping sweat. Your clothes are soaked through with a combination of your sweat, other peoples sweat and spilled beer. Confetti rains down from the sky. You dance your heart out to the unfamiliar beat. You sing at the top of your lungs even though you don’t understand the Spanish lyrics. The energy is intense, electrifying and contagious. Welcome to Carnaval!


After narrowly surviving the 52 hour bus ride, we finally had made it to Salvador. Boredom, anticipation and too many stops plagued us the entire way.  We arrived late at night, and were exhausted (I still don’t understand why sitting on a bus for an endless amount of hours makes you tired, but it does).  We decided just to go to bed so we could fully experience Carnaval the next day.


I had no idea what to expect in regard to Carnaval. All I knew was that it was a huge and crazy party. But that was enough to make it a “must do“ sometime in my life. The Carnaval in Salvador is actually listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s biggest street party. More than 2 million people are drinking and dancing in the streets every night for a week straight. Carnaval began hundreds of years ago as a festival leading up to Ash Wednesday. It quickly evolved into a celebration of indulgence; one last party filled with food, music, booze and sex, before the 40 days of abstinence and fasting until Easter. Today Brazil’s Carnaval is known all over the world. I was so excited to be a part of this world renown party!!

It was more than I could have ever imagined. More people, more music, more sweat and more fun. It is impossible to describe the energy created by more than 2 million drinking and dancing people. It was also overwhelming. If you had enough of the people, the booze and the heat, there was no escape. One night Laurie and I tried to leave early and we spent 2 full hours pushing, fighting and being tossed around, just trying to get out. God forbid you got sick or hurt in the middle…you would never survive.

We had gotten into the routine of heading down to the beach in the late afternoon with our hostel mates and hitting the streets for Carnaval right after that. We went to Barra Beach, famous for its sunsets, and sat on lounge chairs soaking up the sun and sipping the famous Brazilian cocktails, caprihianas.  A caprihina is a delicious concoction made with cachaca (sugarcane alcohol), sugar, and fresh limes. You can also get them flavoured with fresh fruit such as pineapple, mango, kiwi, strawberry or passion fruit.

Me and a pineapple caprihina

As the food vendors roamed the beach (and by vendor I mean guy walking by with a tupperwear container) we feasted on an array of Brazilian street foods. Most things I don’t even know the name of, but we ate deep fried pastry filled with meat, dough shaped pears filled with cheese and chicken, fresh grilled prawns, and my favourite, roasted cheese on a stick. A guy would walk by carrying a plastic container filled with a soft cheese on a stick and a pot filled with hot coals. When you wanted a cheese stick, he would take one out, cover it in herbs and roast it over his hot coals right there, and hand you a wonderfully hot, gooey, delicious hunk of cheese on a stick. Yum!

Meat filled pastry

Sitting on Barra beach one of those days, I experienced a moment that will stay with me forever. The sun was setting over the ocean, casting a warm glow all around. I had an ice cold pineapple caprihiana in one hand and  freshly roasted cheese on a stick in the other. I was surrounded by a great group of travellers from all over the world, who had quickly become my friends. I was getting a $5 dollar foot massage. I was in Brazil. At Carnaval. I had achieved another check mark on my life’s to do list. This is what pure and utter happiness (or too many caprihianas!)  feels like. It was one of the moments when I look around and think, my life is amazing!!! Nothing could have made that moment better.

Me and Larry as the sun sets

Me and Larry, a few cocktails in

Every evening after the sun had set and we had a few cocktails in us, we headed up to a little rooftop bar which was situated where Carnaval began. We would drink a bit more as we watched the party gear up. When it was crazy in the streets we went in and joined the massive party. We drank more, danced to music we didn’t know, listened to music we had never heard before and just revelled in the atmosphere of people.

And it starts...

A big part of Salvador’s Carnaval are the blocos. A bloco is a giant truck that has been refitted with a band or dj on top, a bar inside and is sectioned off from the street crowd with a square of rope going all around it. The drive through the streets extremely slowly, giving the streets a constant parade of different music. Party goers can pay a few hundred dollars to participate in the bloco and walk with it, in the confines of the rope. It is a little safer and not as crazy as the streets in the confines of a bloco. I am never the type to pay just for safety, so we just hit the streets and got lost in the crowd.

Our hostel mates

To escape the crowds, we would sometimes hit the beach, which followed parallel to the party in the streets. You can watch the chaos, but feel the ocean breeze, go for a swim and get away from the crazy crowds. One night on the beach we met some local Brazilians. Although I could not understand a word they said, I somehow ended up dancing with them on the beach. That was another highlight of my Carnaval experience; trying (and failing miserably) to stomp and shake and feel the music with some locals.

Every night we would escape Carnaval in the wee hours of the morning and sit at a stand serving “agua coco”, translation - coconut water. A fresh green coconut would be hacked open and a straw thrown in, so we could rehydrate on the deliciousness of fresh, cold coconut water. They were supposed to help with the hangovers too!!!

On the last night of Carnaval, David Guetta was going to be on a bloco. Laurie and I were so excited! We had our typical day of beach sunset caprihianas and then headed to the rooftop bar, where we could see his bloco getting prepared. As soon as David Guetta was on the move, so were we. We followed that truck all the way through Carnaval, singing, dancing and having a great time. It was a fantastic way to end a week long celebration.

Yup, David Guetta is up there!!

With the end of Carnaval, I completed another mission on my life’s to do list. With that, I had another mission that needed to be accomplished immediately. Liver detox. Mine was hurting. Next, we were bussing to Rio de Janeiro to relax on the famous beach of Copacabana, this time without a cocktail in hand!

Up next, at the Copa…Copacabana….

Join me as I TRAVEL MY LIFE AWAY!!!!

CG

Quest for Brazil, with a little waterfalls on the way

                                                               The cruise ended and we were back in Buenos Aires. We had spent a few days here before the cruise, and I would have loved to spend a few more days here, but we needed to make it up to Salvador for Carnaval (the biggest street party in the world), just a few days away. We had heard horror stories from other travellers about trying to get Brazilian visas after already leaving your home country. I had heard it could take from a week to ten days, time we did not have. I also heard that you must have proof of your onward travel, accommodation booked for your whole stay, proof of funds to sustain you there, a contact in Brazil, and that the visa could cost up to $250. Of course we didn't have onward travel booked, as we change our minds often, had only booked the hostel for Carnaval, had no bank statements printed out, knew no one in Brazil, and need our visas the day after we got there if we were going to make it on time for Carnaval.

Our trusty guide book suggested that the easiest and fastest place to have Brazilian visas processed was in Puerto Iguazu, Argentina. I wanted to see the world famous waterfalls anyway, so we crossed our fingers and jumped on a bus bound for Iguazu. The bus ride was surprisingly uneventful and went by quickly.

We arrived in Puerto Iguazu without a hostel booked. It was a small town and we thought we could easily find somewhere to stay. Well, turns out every gringo in Argentina had the same idea as us and was hoping for a quick visa to Brazil. We wandered for quite some time before we found a place that was cheap enough and had beds for us. We dumped our bags and made a dash for the Brazilian consulate to see exactly what we needed to get our visas.

Turns out it wasn't too difficult to complete the application process. We needed to fill out a form online, print it, pay 276 pesos (about $70) in EXACT change and give them a passport sized photo. As long as we got this all in before 11 am, we would receive our visas by lunch time the next day. It was only 9:30 now, so we got to work. We went to an internet cafe so we could easily print the applications when we were done. Other travellers were there trying to get their visas in as well. And then the problems started.

First, I could not open the website where the application form was. I tried 32 different ways but nothing worked. Laurie was able to get to the application form and spent 20 minutes filling out all the minute details. When it came time to hit send, and put the application through the internet cut out. Just to tease us, it would cut back in and allow her to fill out the form again but always stop when she needed to send it. This went on for 45 minutes. Now it was 10:15...we had less than 45 minutes to complete the application process if we wanted to leave tomorrow. We went back to the hostel and used their wireless connection to get the application forms in, but had no way of printing the forms we needed. We tried to take the computer to the consulate with our reference numbers for our applications, but they refused and said it must be printed out. We went back to the internet cafe to try and print them out there. While Laurie tried to get the applications printed, I went on a mission for the exact change we needed to pay for the visas. In Canada, change is not a problem. In Argentina, change is a precious commodity. No one willingly hands out change, and often a shop will refuse to sell you something if you only have a big bill.

With 10 minutes to the deadline, Laurie was struggling at the internet cafe because the program that her computer used to save our applications was not compatible with whatever South American shit the internet cafe was using. So close, but so far, we were nearly pulling our hair out. The internet came back on in the cafe and the lady was able to go online and retrieve our applications on her computer. She got one printed out before it cut out again. Miraculously I had managed to return with the proper change. It was 11:10, ten minutes after the deadline that we finally had both pages printed. We ran down to the consulate anyway, hoping maybe he would give us a break and let us submit our applications a few minutes late.

It was 11:17 by the time we arrived there. No deal. The only thing to ever run on time in all of South America seems to be the application deadline at the Brazilian consulate.

It was not the end of the world; one more day meant we could spend an entire day at the waterfalls. The next day we were up early to make sure our applications were in with plenty of time to spare and then headed to the falls.

Iguazu falls was beautiful! We started at the bottom and worked our way up. The bottom circuit provided a close up view of the falls and the certainty of getting wet. The upper circuit gave a spectacular view from the top of the falls, encompassing much of the surrounding landscape. Devil’s Throat was an amazing show of how powerful the waterfalls actually are, with water spraying everywhere and the deafening thunder of crashing water. We had a great day at the park and were exhausted when the day was through.

Too many tourists on the lower circut

We awoke early the next morning and checked out of the hostel. We had to wait until lunch time to pick up our Brazilian visas and we were crossing our fingers that they went through ok. In the meantime we went to the bus station to find out how we could get to Salvador. None of the bus companies seemed to go direct to Salvador, so we were looking for tickets to Rio where we figured we could get another bus to Salvador. After 4 bus companies told us that buses to Rio were sold out for the next 3 days, my heart sank in my chest. We were already going to be missing the first day of Carnaval, something that has been on my life’s to do list ever since I had a list, I did not want to arrive for only 1 night of the giant party. We searched a little more and eventually found a company that offered non stop service to Salvador. The good news was there was a bus leaving that afternoon. The bad news was that it was not a luxury bus, it was going to take 52 hours, and it was ridiculously expensive.

We picked up our visas without a problem, made some sandwiches for the bus journey and later that afternoon set out on what was sure to be another adventure.

Up next…Carnaval Salvador Style…Partying in the streets with 2 million people.