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South America, Over & Out

1/10/2011 Saturday

Well this is it folks my last post from South America.

I arrived here in Santiago 2 days ago from Rio and I have literally done nothing but chill out, sleep and organise the next leg of my journey.

I'm sitting here and I am genuinely struggling to find the words to sum up the last three months. Yes, its hard to believe but its been three months since I left home and started this amazing adventure.

I just had a quick flick though some of my previous posts and wow I really have had a serious amount of adventures and escapades, each one a unique and wonderful experience.

So thanks to everyone who has made this trip the incredible journey that is was. I wish all my travel buddies Iv meet along the way the best in their own adventures.

Id also like to say thanks to my Mam and Dad who I know have worried about me every day while Iv been over here. They are the best xx

Right I'm off to catch a flight to cheer on the boys in green in NZ & catch up with two beautiful ladies :)

Until next time,
Que te cuides & ciao!!!

South America by numbers

I thought this would be a bit of fun......

* 27,986 - The number of km's I have travelled since I left Dublin

*3240 -The number of photos I have taken

*136 - The number of hours I have spent on buses

*26 - my new age

*13 - the number of buses I have been on

*7 - The number of countries I have visited

*7 - the number of times I have been on a plane

*4 - the number of times I have dared to go to the toilet on a night bus

*1 - The number of Vaseline tins I have finished (I have never achieved this before!)

*countless - the number of new friends I have made

Rio De Janeiro

Oh man I could not wait to get to Rio.... for a number of reasons.

1. I was meeting up with my really cool Ozzie friends I travelled Colombia with, Michelle and Sam

2. I had scored a golden ticket to Rock In Rio

3. I would get to visit the massive Jesus that is famous worldwide

4. It was time for the beach again!

But oh wait... after 3 months of trying my best to learn Spanish and finally mastering the basics I arrive here and they speak bloody Portuguese!!!! It’s an insane language that has no rhythm or rhyme to it that you can listen and try and pick up words. It’s mental and I give up!

22/9 Thu

After a 22 hour bus I was well and truly wrecked and was delighted when I got to my hostel. All the prices of accommodation in Rio tripled this week because of Rock In Rio so this was going to be an extremely expensive week for me but feck it I’m on holidays right? And I can just eat noodles and tuna for the week!

So I was sitting having a beer in the hostel and who do I bump into but Rachel a really cool English chick I had chatted to briefly in Iguazu! She was off to a couch surfing meeting on the beech later so I sure why not Id join her. After getting myself sorted I met Rachel to head off, she said she was just waiting for an Ozzie girl in her room and then we would make a move. Who's the Ozzie that walks out of the room, only Michelle!!!! She had arrived a day early. Ah I was delighted to see her! So after a few hugs and sequels we set off for the beach.

This was my first look at the famous Copacabana beach but it was dark so it didn’t count. For those of you that don’t know about couch surfing Il explain a little. Couch surfing is a concept where travelers let other travellers passing through town stay in their house. It’s a pretty cool concept. Each week couch surfers all over the world have a gathering and this is what we went to, Rios couch surfers meeting... on the beach. Everyone wears a name tag stating their name and where they are form. Its a great social outing and a fun way of meeting new people. I am now a member of couch surfers!

23/9 Fri

This morning myself and Michelle were moving to another hostel. Like I said as Rock In Rio was on everything had gotten expensive and most places were booked out. We had secured a private room in a hostel (its all we could get) for the three of us. It was 50€ a night which broke my heart but it was working out cheaper than a 6 bed dorm room in the hostels... this shows just how crazy the prices got!!

After moving our things in it was time to hit the beach! Sam would be arriving later that day so we said we may as well be productive until her arrival. On the way to the beach we stopped at the supermarket and got tuna and tomatoes, this along with the robbed bread roles and butter from breakfast in the hostel made for a lovely lunch on the beach.

We walked the full length of Cocapbana beach and on over to the next beach which is called Impenma before we settled down on the sand. Ah it was good to be lying on the beach in the sun again. It was an extremely chilled out day which involved a lot of catching up.

We headed back to the hostel as the sun started to set. We weren’t long back when Sam arrived and so the trio were back together again! There was an all you can eat BBQ in the hostel that night so we took full advantage. Rachel who had moved from the hostel into a friends apt came and joined us. As it was Friday night and we were in Rio it would be rude not to go out so we decided on going to Lapa.

 Lapa is an area of Rio that on Friday and Saturday nights shuts off the streets to cars and turns the streets into one big party! When we got there the place was packed! There were hundreds of people partying and dancing to the live Samba bands dotted around the place. The atmosphere was great and the huge Caprinas (the famous Brazilian drinks) were also pretty good! With the Caprinians and music flowing we soon got into the mix of things and gave Samba a shot. It was brilliant. A few locals thought us the basic steps and we gave it socks! We ended up right beside the samba band and so at that point I decided I didn’t want to dance to the music anymore I want to play the music. I was given a massive drum to beat and so there I was in the middle of the biggest Samba party in Rio on a Friday night playing with the samba band!!!!!

After our band antics we headed to a local samba dance club. It wasn’t much to look at but once you got inside there was an open air courtyard with people dancing everywhere! We stayed there until the wee hours (6am) and then decided it was time to go to bed. I can honestly say it was once of the most fun nights I’ve ever had. SAMBA!

24/9 Sat

Wahooo today was Rock In Rio day! 

Rock in Rio is a huge event that last took place ten years ago. Its basically seven days of concerts with HUGE names headlining each night. Tickets for it could only be bought in Brazil and 700,000 tickets sold out in an impressive 15 hours! Through a friend of a friend we managed to get tickets to see The Red Hot Chilie Peppers supported by Snow Patrol.

The whole day started at 2pm however RHCP weren’t on stage till 1am which is nuts but that’s SA for ya. We were lucky that we didn’t have to be there till late in the evening as we were all pretty tired from out very late night previous!

We didn’t get out of bed till 2 and then went to find food. After that it was time to get ready and head off to the concert. 100,000 people a day to this thing requires a massive set up and massive it was as well as being very impressive. Snow Patrol obviously brought the Irish weather with them (or else I did) because it started to rain when we arrived. Ah well it didn’t matter we were well prepared and had out rain jackets with us. We got there early enough to have a few beers and mill around the place before we picked a spot to stay out in.

"Hello Rio, we are Snow Patrol & we are from Ireland" Well I only went absolutely apeshit!!! They were amazing, it was just a pity that they weren’t that well known there. I was going crazy singing all the songs and everyone around me was like wtf is this and wtf is she?!!!

Then it was tie to bring out the big boys.... RHCP, 50 years of age and still rocking it! Ah they were AMAZING. I was a bit worried that they would only play their new album which I’m not really a fan of but that wasn’t the case. We sang and partied the night away. The concert didn’t end till crazy O clock and by the time we got home it was 6am.... again!

25/9 Sun

So it was 2pm yesterday and 4pm today by the time we moved out of bed! Again the objective of the day was to find food. We went to an amazing Italian and had creamy pasta which cured us all. Other than this we did nada for the rest off the day which I was quite happy about.

26/9 Mon

Ok so Iv been three days in Rio and all Iv done is party and sit on the beach. It was time to get my ass in gear and do the tourist stuff!

We had to change hostels again today back to the original one we stayed at. After we had sorted this we decided to take a city tour with the hostel.

Our first stop was the famous Christ The Redeemer, one of the 7 man made wonders of the world (my second of the trip, Machu Picchu being the first). The big Jesus as we called him was very impressive indeed. He was built to celebrate an anniversary of Brazilian independence over the Portuguese. The site was packed with people so it was impossible to get a pic without anyone else in it but we still managed to get the usual tourist pic with him, arms out in front of the the big J.

Next stop on our tour was The Cathedral, a cathedral with a 20,000 person capacity. We just hung around here long enough to get some pics of the beautiful stained glass windows.

After this we went to a coll neighbourhood called Santa Treasa. This is an arty neighbourhood and was one the home of the rich and famous of Rio. The Rio tram usually runs here. However a month before I arrived in Rio there was a tragic accident where the tram brakes failed and a number of locals and tourists were killed. Because of this the tram line is no closed for at least 2 years while the whole system is updated. There is a famous graffiti wall in this area that is updates every 4 years for the world cup. Its pretty cool!

We then went to Lapa the area where we had been for the street party a few nights ago. Here there is the famous Lapa stairs. The stairs were once dilapidated until an artist who live by them decided to renovate them using coloured tiles from all over the world! Now the steps look amazing, full of colour with tiles there from ever part of the world including Ireland.

The final part of today's tour was to the  famous Sugar Loaf mountain to watch the sunset. We got cable cars up to the very top and watched the sunset over Rio city. It was some view looking down on Rio's famous beaches and looking straight across to Christ The Redeemer. 

We went out for a gorgeous dinner tonight in a Lebanese restaurant. It was delicious and we all stuffed ourselves as usual!!!

27/Sept Tuesday

Aw my last day in Rio.... this trip is flying by me!! Today we were going to head on a tour of Rios Favelas. Basically Favelas are what Brazilians and a lot of south Americans call slums. They are the areas that the poorest of the poor live in. They can be quite controversial as essentially you are doing a tour of where real people who struggle to get by every day live. We choose the tour that we did because they give 30% of the money you pay to projects in the Favela.

The Favelas are built upwards into the mountain surrounding Rio. We got a bus to the bottom and then got motor taxies (on the back of a moped with a local) up to the top. We were warned before hand not to take out our camera unless we were instructed to do so. This is not because of theft but because the Favela is run by drug lords and they do not want their photos to be taken. At numerous points on the way up on the moped I saw men standing in doorways with machine guns.

From the top of the Favelas we walked down to the bottom. Stopping at numerous points along the way such as at a local bakery and jewellery stalls. The experience was shocking, it is a filthy place to have to live. Across the Favelas you can see one street that is painted in bright colours. This was a project done by the government in hope that people would start painting their houses and spread the colour throughout the Favelas!

After the tour we hit the beach and caught the last rays of sunshine before we went out for my last supper to an amazing sushi place.

28/ Sept Wed

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD, LOVE AND MISS YOU xxx

My last day in Rio, My flight to Santiago was at 4 so I was leaving for the airport at 1. I took a quick walk along the beach front with Michelle in the morning and then headed to the airport and to my last destination in SA.

Iguazu Falls

Waterfalls make you happy! It’s true, look it up!

Iguazu Falls is a massive water fall of which the borders of Argentina, Brazil & Paraguay surround. It can be viewed by tourists from both the Argentinian side and the Brazilian side. Our plan was to go to both starting with the Argentinian side then the Brazilian and then head on into Brazil.


Tuesday 20th Sept

Myself and Bryony arrived in Iguazu Falls at 9am this, both of us a little cranky after our night bus! We headed to our hostel which had been recommended to us by our Dutch roommates in BA, Ann and Tina. After check in and some food we went off to the bus station to catch a bus to the falls.

The falls are not far for the town of Iguazu and are located in a national park area. Once we got there we picked up a map and ponchos and headed off. There are a number of trails you can do here and we decided to head to the high trail that overlooks the falls first.

We caught a cute little train to our destination and walked a small way towards the lookout point. The views are incredible!!! There is basically a huge long walkway above the top of the falls where you can look down over them and also look across to Brazil! The walkway finished by overlooking 'Garganta del Diablo' or 'The Devils Throat' that is a U shaped water fall 82 meters hight, 150 meters wide and 700 meters long... it is spectacular! At this stage in the day the weather was a little cloudy which was disappointing.

After the high walkway it was time for some overpriced lunch which wild animals tried to steal. If they came near you, you had to pick up all your belongings or else they would run off with them! We then we hit our second walk, the low walkway and yay the sun had come out creating amazing rainbows and making for some stunning pictures (if I do say so myself!) 

This was the fun bit where we got to walk in the spray of the falls!! We donned our ponchos and off we went. Ah it was great fun. There were lots of parts on the walk where there was a small bit of spray but there was one bit in particular where we go soaked!! We were loving it and were like bloody kids running in and out of the water!

At this stage it was late in the day and it was time to head back to the hostel. As it was our last night in Argentina and our last night travelling together we decided to have a nice dinner out. I had my last Argentinian steak :( It was delicious, ll miss it!! It was an early enough night as we were both wrecked from our night bus and our action packed day. I slept like a baby.

Wednesday 21st Sept

Woke up lovely and refreshed today and ready to head to Brazil! We packed up our things, had food, did a bit of interneting (yes I know that’s a made up word!) and set off for the bus station. It was sad saying bye to Argentina, Id spent a great few weeks there but I was delighted to be saying hello to Brazil. It was an easy border crossing as the bus driver took our passports and did everything for us! This is the second border now where I have gotten stamped in or out without actually having to be there, the first was Colombia of all places! It’s amazing how some can be so so strict and other so laid back.

So hello Brazil! The plan today was to go to the falls, leave out bags in lockers there, see the falls and then head to the bus station and go our separate ways :(

The Brazilian side of the falls only takes a couple of hours to see. The big debate about the falls is which side to go to. After seeing them both I would say it is a must to go to both of them. The Brazilian side is more of an over view off the falls and a lookout point rather than actually being in the falls like the Argentinian side. 

Again there is a long walkway to view the falls which is a lovely walk but then you get to the good stuff. There is a huge long walkway right out into and over the falls. Time for ponchos again but ooops we didn’t think we would need then today so we left them behind at the hostel. Ha but we didn’t care, we ran out and got soaked and screamed like kids again! Bry has a water proof camera which was brilliant!

Wet and happy we headed off to find some food, we son dried off in the sun and after being fed and watered it was time to head to the bus station. Unfortunately it was time for myself and Bry to part ways, we had spent a great two weekend together so I was sad to see her go. She was off to the south while I was off to RIO!!!!!!! (It’s only a 22 hour bus journey … easy peasy!)