Rio!

After a 26 hour bus we arrived in Rio feeling disgusting but excited to start exploring. We hadn't booked ahead for a hostel so this was our first challenge. Our hostel of choice wasn't available but luckily after hitting the pavement we found another hostel on our first try (although we did have to change rooms 3 times).  Our last minute hostel was just one block away from the famous Ipanema  Beach and a 15 minute walk from Copacabana Beach. Being this close we vowed to make the most of it and worked a lounge at the beach in the morning into our routine.

Ipanema Beach - Remember, this was what it looked like in Winter

A view of the two brothers from Ipanema Beach at night

Caipirinhas on Copacabana - the local drink that really packs a punch

Sometimes it was hard to believe it was actually winter. Sometimes it was a bit cloudy and overcast but mostly it was still shorts and t-shirt weather. I maybe wore a jumper once. I can't imagine how hot and sticky it must be in the summer. 

We set about trying to see those Classic Rio sights and try a few local foods. 

Favelas

Favelas are informal neighbourhoods that residents built themselves because they had no where else to go. Some of the best views in Rio are from Favelas. They have a bad reputation as being slums and full of crime but the government has worked at cleaning them up for the 2014 World Cup and continues to work on it for the upcoming Olympics. We went on a favela tour that drove us around a few different neighbourhoods and walked us through two favelas. One seemed similar to many neighbourhoods we had seen throughout our travels in Latin America but the other was crazy maze  of winding narrow pathways full of houses, churches, barbers and bars.

Buildings on Top of Buildings 

Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf Mountain)

It's as big of a player as Cristo on Rio's skyline, pretty much a big rock sticking up out above the landscape. To get there you take a cable car to Morro da Urca (Urca's Mountain) which offers you some nice views and has a restaurant. Then you take another cable car up to Sugar Loaf to get great views of the city. We went up to watch the sun set over Rio. I was picturing a tranquil evening, sitting down, having a drink and enjoying the view. But of course it is rammed with people up there so you have to hope you get a good view of sunset.

View of Sugar Loaf from Below

The Police enjoying the same view

The View of Sugar Loaf from Morro da Urca. The cable cars here were some of the first in the world (they have been updated since they first opened though!)

We also found these crazy little monkeys up there that we would end up seeing all over Rio. These guys were having a fight in a tree trunk.

Even though there's signs everywhere saying not to feed the animals people can't help themselves. 

Despite the people Alex still managed to get this time lapse of the sunset.

Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer)

When you think of Rio you probably think of this guy gazing over the city with arms stretched wide. Christo is the largest art deco statue in the world at 30 m tall and 28 m wide. He stands a top Corcovado Mountain which offers amazing views of the city. You can climb up here but I'm pretty sure you are just walking along the road - there are no walking tracks. I would suggest taking the bus all the way up to the top like we did. 

On our way to Cristo we took the underground system where we discovered on weekdays they have specific carriages just for Women. This didn't make me feel overly safe. 

This is the picture you always see

But this is what it's really like - fighting the crowds to get a photo and see the view

View from Corcovado. We enjoyed being able to recognise different parts of the city

Maracana Stadium (Fluminense v Vasco da Gama)

Alex here. Shockingly it was my idea to go to the football. The Maracana is possibly the most famous stadium in the world and the stage for two World Cup finals. We went along to a kind-of derby (there's almost one a fortnight).

Through the hostel there was a group you could call to take you to and from the game with other travellers. Our mini bus had about 12 people and took us through the city to the stadium. We were dropped off at a petrol station nearby, where we found another 50ish travellers ready for the game. I went inside for a beer as the group waited to depart when there was a sudden commotion...

Water bottles were flying across the forecourt and there was a mad rush of gringos to get inside. Locals started bawling outside, advancing and retreating. A group of riot police (with shields for protection) crossed the court until a couple of concrete blocks went whizzing by! The police backed out, it was too much to handle.

After that died down (with no more flying concrete) we crossed to the stadium. Apparently Ronaldinho was presented to the crowd as he had just signed for Fluminense the week prior. Wished we got to see him but y'know, flying concrete and everything.

The crowd was wild but died down as Fluminense fell behind. One defender in particular was abused as he would batter the ball away anytime he was near it. Brazilians have high football standards!

The game ended 1-2 with Vasco winning. I didn't really care as the goals were great, as was the atmosphere. We were able to get back to Ipanema with no real problems. There were a lot more people than the game we went to in Colombia but it felt a lot safer than that madness.

Centro and Lapa

We had a day out seeing the sights in some of the other neighbourhoods of Rio.

You wouldn't know it if there wasn't a huge cross next to it but this is a Cathedral. 

It's a bit more obvious on the inside

Arches of Lapa

Escalaria Selaron - these famous steps are an art project of a local artist who continuously adds more tiles that people from all over the world send them. They're featured in  this Snoop Dog video clip along with many other Rio landmarks. 

When you think Rio you don't usually think of buildings like this

Acai Smoothies 

These are in pretty much every juice bar which are on nearly every corner. They're made from those super food berries are thick and delicious.

Feijoada

This is Brazil's national dish, which we didn't realise until someone in our hostel mentioned it to us towards the end of the stay. This meant this ended up being our last meal in Brazil. It was a tasty but heavy meal.

There were also orange slices on the side. We weren't really sure how they fit into the meal or when we were supposed to eat them.  

Brazil was our last destination in Latin America. I couldn't believe that was over even when we were waiting for the bus to the airport (which turned out to be a stressfully stuck-in-traffic bus). We had about 9 months in Latin America in the end, a lot more than we originally planned,  but I'm glad we did it. It felt like we really got to know another part of the world, although we could have learnt more Spanish. I really hope to visit this part of the world again. It always feels like there's more to see.

Last moments in Brazil and Latin America

Water Water and More Water - Iguazu Falls

Iguazu Falls, voted a new 7 Natural Wonder of the World, did not disappoint. It's an epic waterfall at the border point between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. Once we knew for sure we would be visiting Iguazu we didn't really bother going out of our way to see any other waterfalls because we new they would all fail in comparison.

Brazilian Side

Straight after our 17 hour bus ride to get to Puerto Iguazu (the town on the Argentinian side) we were convinced by one of the hostel workers to pop over to the Brazilian side of the falls for the afternoon as it was easier to get to from Argentina than Brazil. So we ended up spending our afternoon in Brazil, getting a taster of Portuguese. 

It's preferable, if you can, to see the falls first from the Brazilian side as this gives you a great Panoramic view.

This time of year is the wet season so there was a lot of extra water rushing through but this also meant the water was brown and we didn't get much sun to set off all those rainbows you usually see photos of. 

It was bigger than I thought it was going to be. It felt like it just kept going.

There's a walkway into the Devils Through where you can get close up to the action. This really put our raincoats to the test (they failed miserably) 

Close up to the falls

Panorama of the Devil's Throat

The Argentinian Side

You can spend a whole day on the Argentinian side. We splashed out on a boat ride that took us right up close to the falls so we could really appreciate their power. The Brazilian side has coatis but they aren't as scary as the Argentinian ones. Those guys rule the food court on the Argentinian side along with some monkeys.

Hot water for your mate. It was crazy the amount of families we saw walking around the park with their mate kit (that means mate, thermos, yerba and sugar). 

This is how we started our day off:

Coatis taking over. We think they have a sugar addiction. They really go for those sauce packets. 

There were so many monkeys hanging about. Of course people were still trying to feed them, despite the sign it's sitting on showing a messed up hand after a monkey/coati attack. 

This one creeped me out - look at it's face

On the Argentinian Side you get to walk above the falls

Panorama of the Devil's Throat

These guys roped off the best spot for photos and made you pay to get in there to have your photo taken . And people actually did it. Ridiculous. 

The spray back was amazing. It rose so far above the falls. We were told that the falls are so mesmerising that there is this weird thing going on where foreign women and local women take turns to jump into the falls (ending their lives). 

Buenos Aires - An Escape to Europe

We got off our 15 hour bus from Mendoza about 8 am and found our way into the city. Using the underground system this was a relatively easy task. We found the hostel easily and settled in to wait until we were able to check into our room. The hostel we had booked turned out to be a bit more of a hotel than a hostel with 4 bed dorm maximums with en-suits, an elevator and a key card system. Day One in the city all we achieved was a much needed shower, changing some money and washing our clothes. An early night meant we were keen to dive into it tomorrow.

Our home for a week

We stayed in the neighbourhood of San Telmo, the oldest neighbourhood in Buenos Aires. It was a nice, slightly dodgy in parts, area full of cafes, tango and antiques.

People from Buenos Aires are known as Portenos because of the city's port

Our hostel organised many different walking tours which led to me doing three consecutive days of walking tours. After 11 months on the road, it was a relief to just look at the board and see what I should do that day instead of having to plan.

Walking Tour #1 - San Telmo and La Boca

We wandered around San Telmo to learn more about the area we were staying in. It used to be full of the city's elite but as more immigrants made their way to Buenos Aires and moved into San Telmo the rich left to other areas. This lead to a few mansions being abandoned. The one we visited was turned into a hotel for immigrants.

Abandonded Mansion turned hotel for immigrants turned antique shop turned movie set for Focus

La Boca is a real working class neighbourhood famous for the colourful street of Caminito where you can buy some art or watch some street tango. Outside of this colourful area La Boca is actually a bit dangerous, so this part of our walking tour didn't take long. It's also home to the Boca Juniors Stadium (a local soccer team). To Alex's disappointment we didn't make it to a game here.

The three figures represent Buenos Aires's main Passions - Football (Maaidona), Politics (Evita) and Tango (Carlos Gardel)

The port of La Boca is actually the birth place of Tango as it came from the working class originally and over time has been reinvented with a new image

Buenos Aires is known for Tango so a must do is to go to a Tango Show. People say the kind of dancing you see in these shows isn't really real Tango, you find real Tango on the street. But it was damn impressive. I had no idea it was possible to move your legs that way.

Apologies for the potato photo, they moved so fast.

Walking Tour #2 - City Centre

Alex was sick this day so I was on my own. This was a tour of mainly government buildings and a lesson in Argentinian history. It ended with a free beer in a cafe and more Tango. 

This is the government house. There are two theories as to why it's pink. No. 1 - during a civil war the two different groups were each represented by white or red. When the war came to an end as a sign of peace they painted the building pink - a mix of white and red. No. 2 - they used to paint buildings with lime and cow's blood. Apparently cow's blood is good for weather proofing. 

Argentinian Coat of Arms

We also visited Evita's old office, learnt a bit about her story and had the pleasure of hearing from someone who had actually met her and was in Buenos Aires when she died speak about his experiences. This man, 85, became quite emotional during his story. It was a bit intense but interesting. You could really feel the effect she had had on people. If you're interested here is a link to Evita's wiki page. I think it's worth a read.

That night there was a free Tango lesson in the hostel. Conveniently Alex was still too sick to join in.

The teacher showing me how it's done

We were all pretty terrible but it didn't stop us having fun

Walking Tour #3 - Recoleta

Recoleta is one of the richer neigbourhoods of Buenos Aires. Here you can really feel the European influences. Sometimes it's hard to believe you're still in South America. This area is also home to the famous Recoleta Cemetery that is now home to Evita's body, which is a bit of a controversy as this cemetery is full of the rich meaning she now rests surrounded by her enemies. There is usually a group of people surrounding her grave (which in my opinion was a pretty average one). Sometimes you actually have to queue to get a look at it. Our tour group was one isle away from her grave and people were constantly coming up to the group and standing around until our guide told them that the grave was on the other side.

An example of the architecture 

San Martin's wife - this is before people got carried away, building themselves mini mansions for the after life

A group of people hanging around outside Evita's grave

Outside the Cemetery was quite a nice area

Apparently this building was used as inspiration for Buckingham Palace

That night we intended to go out for all you can eat BBQ and go on a pub crawl. Neither of these things came to fruition. Instead we cooked up a big meal of steak and veggies (you really have to consciously make an effort to eat vegetables in South America). As the time for the pub crawl drew near we realised it wasn't actually starting from the hostel as we had thought so we had missed it. We made our own pub crawl instead which ended up being a casual night in Palermo until 5 am when we got kicked out. Only in Argentina have I had such a casual late night. The pubs still serve food until 3 am!

Epic home cooked meal - you can still have good food in hostels

After our casual night out the group we had formed left us for Mendoza. Alex and I explored a bit more of the city by ourselves in the next few days and finally made it to the all you can eat BBQ.

El Ateneo Grand Splendid - the most beautiful bookshop I've ever been to (The Guardian ranked it as the second most beautiful bookshop in the world). As you can probably tell it's a converted theater. This photo doesn't do it justice. 

Finally got my meat fill

On our last morning we visited the Antiques Market in San Telmo which is held every Sunday. It was an eclectic mix of different goods as well as more Tango, some magic and even a puppeteer. 

Even after almost a week we were pretty sad to leave Buenos Aires. It has been one of the few big cities we have visited that we felt we could definitely come back to.