Category Archives: Brazil

From Quito to Buenos Aires in 3 months: My trip in numbers

Caipirinhas, sushi and fajitas: Fabulous food in Florianópolis

From Curitiba, I took another bus and, as is tradition in South America, arrived two hours later than advertised. This meant that it was dark when I arrived, so I sensibly took a taxi instead of the bus as planned. The city of Florianópolis is half on the mainland and half on the Ilha de Santa Catarina, and all the good beaches are a bit of a drive away from the centre. Not that it was really beach weather when I was there in South American winter. My hostel, Backpackers’ Sunset, was on a hill above Praia Mole and looking down over the Lagoa da Conceição. Great view, friendly staff, lots of excursions… but best of all you got a free caipirinha every night! What more could you ask for?

The caipirinha also proved a great conversation starter as I met a friendly Brazilian/Australian couple and another Australian guy, and together we went out for dinner to the sushi restaurant across the road. Best. Sushi. Ever. Apparently Brazil has the second highest population of Japanese after Japan (though the owner of this particular sushi restaurant was a local, and the archetype of my ideal man). We went for the all-you-can-eat option where we could order again and again and again from the menu. The only rule was that you had to pay for any sushi that was left over at the end. The fish was so incredibly fresh, it melted in my mouth. Then there was a Brazilian invention: hot philadelphia rolls. Yummy for my tummy. And you got a free shot of sake if you liked the Facebook page. (I’m reminded of my chocolate ball in La Paz…) I came back for more the next day with the Australian guy (who had turned out to be a Zionist South African). Our appetites were only slightly reduced second time round.

The next day was gorgeously sunny and, on the hostel’s recommendation, I took a boat to Costa da Lagoa, where I was told there were good restaurants and short hikes to see the nearby waterfall. People were getting off at different stops along the way and I had no idea if I should join them. I asked the girl sitting next to me and, not speaking Spanish and struggling to find the words in English, she finally managed: “Come with us!” and so I was adopted for the day by three Brazilian girls visiting for a long weekend. Our communication was limited to big arm gestures and some key words. One was ‘camaraõ’, close enough to the Spanish ‘camarónes’ for me to agree to a shared platter of what turned out to be scampi, grilled prawns, and battered fish with a huge side order of fries. After lunch we went in search of the waterfall, ‘cachoeira’, but the search was unsuccessful and we eventually returned to the dock to await the next boat.

In the morning, I had discovered a Havaiana shop in town; after the excursion, I returned to buy two pairs. I’ve never really ‘got’ Havaianas, especially since they’re so expensive in Europe, but on entering the shop I found I wanted to buy them all. Maybe it’s the Brazil effect? And the cheap price played a part as well…

The next day, I woke up to a thunderstorm, the windows banging in the wind and the rain belting down on the roof. I spent the day shivering in my dress, waiting for my laundry to be ready; only to find, when picking it up, that it hadn’t been washed. So I had been freezing all day for no reason, and now had no clean clothes. Hum. I ended the day, and my stay in Florianópolis, with another dinner with my dad’s colleague and another part of his family. This time, we went to the most amazing Mexican restaurant, with tequila men and women walking around giving out shots, and a mariachi band playing both Mexican and Brazilian classics. Dessert was churros with dulce de leche. YUM.

Five days in Brazil and I ate Italian, Agentinian, Japanese x2, and Mexican. Oops.

Walking along the Lagoa da Conceição

The little town where I took the boat

The Costa da Lagoa

Sitting on the dock of the bay

Pretty shoes!

German fairytales and pretty pink trees: Popping into southern Brazil

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So where were we? Ah yes, the bus station in Foz do Iguaçu and the existential question: to Río or not to Río? Unfortunately after some quick calculations I realized that going to Río, however tempting it might have been, would have meant a lot of long bus journeys in a rush back down to Buenos Aires for my flight back to Europe. Alas, it was not to be this time. But I did get a small taste of Brazil, a taste that left me wanting much more, so I’ll be back soon baby!

From Foz, therefore, I took a night bus to Curitiba. Very nice bus, with the biggest pillow of all the night buses I’d been on, but I still didn’t sleep very well. I woke up just before 6am when we were supposed to arrive, but we didn’t arrive for another two hours. (I’ve found that long-distance buses in South America will almost without exception take two hours longer than advertised; but I still continued in the naive belief that we would arrive on time.) I had found a great hostel, located right in the pedestrian area of the historical part of town. It took the taxi driver half an hour to find it, but he didn’t charge me for the extra time, and he made up for it by complementing me on my Portuguese. (Ha!)

On a friend’s recommendation, I committed the ultimate act of tourism: I took the open-air sightseeing bus round town. But if ever you’re to take one of these buses, do it in Curitiba: there are all sorts of sights to visit – an architectural museum, the theatre, various memorials and parks – all distributed too far apart to be able to see them all by foot. Linha Turismo makes 25 stops; you get five ticket stubs, allowing you to get off and back on again at four different locations. It kept me busy all day!

In the evening, I was taken out to dinner at a gorgeous Argentinian restaurant by one of my dad’s former colleagues. Together with his family, we had the most amazing meat (I had the biggest pork ribs you’ve ever seen), a delicious salad (what did they put in it?!), and fabulous wine, all rounded off with a portion of pancakes with dulce de leche (yum) and a shot of Licor 43 (double yum – apparently the name comes from its 43 ingredients, including citrus juice, vanilla, and various spices).

My first stop: The Botanical Garden

The view from the greenhouse

I love these trees!

‘The Eye’, designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer

Entering the Bosque Alemão, the German wood

The view across to town

The Hansel and Gretl (João y Maria) trail takes you through the classic fairytale

In Santa Felicidade, a colony started by Italian immigrants in 1878, the buildings have been “preserved for historical, architectural or merely sentimental reasons”

Salud!

Lots of pretty buildings in the setor histórico

With its modern public transportation system, Curitiba is considered one of the best examples of urban planning in the world

Packing list for three months in South America: what to bring and what not to bring

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The time has come to share my two cents on how to pack for a trip to South America. I was 100% happy with my packing: I used almost everything, and didn’t miss anything. Of course it was annoying to carry around lots of medication and first aid kits that I (thankfully) didn’t use; and I wish I could have worn my pretty clothes more often instead of spending day in and day out in my basic backpacker gear; but overall I didn’t have any regrets.

I used a couple of great sites for inspiration as I planned the trip, the most useful being Travel Independent and Worldly Nomads. Of course, although the basics will stay the same for everyone, the rest will depend on which countries you’re going to and at what time of year, and if you’re a solo traveller or travelling with someone so that you can share some things like toiletries… I was alone so I needed to bring absolutely everything in my own luggage, while I was expecting hot weather in the beginning and then heading into South American winter so I needed quite a range of clothes.

But first, my take on some of the most controversial discussions raging on the topic of packing for this kind of trip:

Size of the backpack: Every cool travel blogger recommends travelling with a small bag of a maximum of 40 litres, while making sure that you have space left over for things that you’ll buy along the way. This sounds great, and I did buy a small backpack – a beautiful teal one – and tried to fit everything in… but it was close to exploding, even with the use of vacuum packs to save space. In the end, I returned the small one and took my big old backpack, with lots of spare room as I left, and a weight of 13kg as I boarded the plane.

Backpack vs. suitcase: Beyond the size of the backpack, the next question is whether you should have a backpack at all. It’s called backpacking for a reason, you may say, and indeed you lose a bit of street cred if you arrive at a hostel with a trolley bag. BUT I’m leaning towards taking a suitcase on my next trip – I simply can’t see the benefit of having a backpack, except maybe as you climb the stairs to the upper floors of a hostel. Otherwise, a suitcase on wheels will be much more practical as you walk to the bus or to your accommodation, and will avoid the sore shoulders that I was left with after three months of lugging my big bag around. I’m 30 and I can do what I want.

Sleeping bag: I didn’t bring one – you don’t need it when you’re staying in hostels or hotels, and for things like the Inca Trail and the Salar de Uyuni tour you can rent a good one cheaply.

Jeans: A lot of sites tell you not to bring jeans. Qué?! I don’t understand this one at all. Well, if you’re only going to countries that are hot both during the day and at night then maybe this makes sense, but for the rest of us, jeans are indispensable in the cool evenings and, during winter, in the daytime as well. In fact, I wish I’d brought two pairs, as I ended up wearing the same ones every day for the last few weeks.

SLR vs point-and-shoot: I was very tempted to bring my SLR – I’m by no means a professional photographer, but even set to automatic the SLR gives me much better photos, in particular close-ups. But the fact remains that it is huge, and it is a complete magnet for thieves (I would have felt very self-conscious every time I brought it out; and carrying it around in a big Nikon case would not have been a good idea either…). My Nikon Coolpix has a 14x optical zoom which is great for wide shots, and the close-ups and portraits aint too bad either. If you’re an average Joe traveller, a point-and-shoot will be just fine; and if you want professional shots of the blue-footed booby on the Galapagos you can find them via Mr Google…

So without further ado, here is my list in all its glory:

Bags:
1 x big backpack (I don’t know how big it is, I can’t find it anywhere on the bag! Maybe 60l?)
1 x small backpack
1 x small handbag
6 x mesh bags to compartmentalise my clothes, including 1 for laundry

Shoes:
1 x flip-flops (for beach and hostel showers)
1 x hiking shoes
1 x comfortable sandals
1 x old ballerinas
1 x nice sandals for evenings*
(5 pairs?! I know! But most of them were slim and took up little space)

Trousers and shorts:
1 x pair of jeans
1 x cargo pants
1 x tracksuit bottoms
1 x denim shorts
1 x short white leggings
1 x long grey leggings**

Tops:
6 x vest tops
1 x short-sleeved t-shirt
1 x long-sleeved t-shirt**
1 x nice top for evenings

Dresses and skirts:
1 x casual short dress
1 x nice short dress for evenings
1 x maxi dress
1 x casual short skirt

Underwear and swimwear:
8 x pairs of knickers***
3 x bras – 1 strapless, 1 normal, 1 nice
3 x pairs of socks, including 1 for hiking
1 x bikini, with bag to put it in when wet

Jumpers and cardigans:
2 x cardigans
1 x merino wool jumper

Outerwear:
1 x light down jacket (I bought a great lightweight one that stuffed into nothing, from Uniqlo)
1 x light windbreaker (also tiny and from Uniqlo)
1 x warm pashmina
1 x light scarf
1 x cheap sunglasses

Additional clothes bought on the trip:
1 x alpaca jumper (I only wore this when my merino one was in the wash)
1 x pair of gloves
1 x woolly hat
1 x pair of warm socks
1 x rain poncho
1 x sun hat
1 x panama hat

For sleeping:
1 x sleeping bag liner
1 x pyjama vest top and shorts
1 x inflatable pillow, eye mask and earplugs

Toiletries:
Small bottles of shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, face wash, face cream, body lotion
Cleansing wipes
Deodorant, perfume
Razor
Nail travel kit including scissors, nail file and tweezers
Nail polish
Cotton buds
Toothbrush, toothpaste, floss
Lip salve with SPF, Vaseline
Sun cream, for face and body
Hand cream
Make-up for nights out – waterproof mascara, eyeliner, concealer, powder, blusher, lip gloss
Anti-bacterial hand gel
Wet-wipes
Tampons
Tissues
Hairbrush, hairgrips and elastics
Foldable wash bag with a hook to hang in the bathroom

Medication:
Insect repellent, after-bite cream
Malaria tablets, antibiotics, water purification tablets, Imodium, rehydration tablets
Motion sickness tablets and wristbands
EchinaceaFirst aid kit
Sterile needle kit
Migraine spray****

Electronics:
iPhone, iPad (some websites are still built in flash and don’t work on iOS, boo, hiss!)
Earphones
Kindle
Chargers and adapters*****
Nikon Coolpix camera

Admin:
Passport and ID
Photocopies of passport
VISA credit and debit card
Vaccination certificate
Printed flight bookings
Small wallet
Cheap wristwatch

Security:
Padlocks, for the big backpack and hostel lockers, including one with a cable
Money belt to wear under my clothes

Other bits and bobs:
Travel towel
Head lamp
Swiss army knife******
Lonely Planet’s South America on a Shoestring
Lonely Planet’s Latin American Spanish phrasebook
Spanish language book
Notebook and pens
Travel detergent and washing line*******
Toilet paper********
Pack of cards

So what do you think? Anything missing that you couldn’t live without? Anything I’ve included that you think is completely unnecessary? It seems like a ridiculously long list and, hey, if you can travel with less, good for you! But I like to have a choice of what to wear each day, I like to be comfortable, and I like to be dressed right for the weather; and I was very happy with my packing thank you very much!

*Considering the winter season in which I was travelling, I would have been better off with a nice pair of trainers, as I spent most of the cold days and nights in my hiking shoes.
**I only wore my leggings and long-sleeved top once, for sleeping on the coldest night camping on the Inca Trail
***I wish I had brought more underwear! It takes up no space at all so really there is no reason not to stuff your bag full. Each time I was forced to do my laundry it was because of my underwear, not because of dirty tops or trousers.
****I only brought two migraine sprays as I thought that I would be migraine-free on my holiday! I had several, though, at the start of the trip, so I would recommend that you bring plenty of any special medication that you need and that you won’t easily be able to get hold of while travelling.
*****I brought a ridiculous amount of chargers and adapters, didn’t use most of them, and still had to buy specific ones in Chile and in Argentina.
******As is the case for most people, I never used the Swiss army knife.
*******I didn’t use the washing line once, as I always handed my laundry into the ‘lavandería’ in the hostel or in a nearby launderette, and on the rare occasion that I washed my underwear in the sink, I just hung it up to dry in the bathroom.
********I bought special compact travel paper but it was so stuck together it was hard to open. Normal rolls are fine!!

Toucans and Technical Wonders: The Parque das Aves and Itaipú Dam

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On leaving Puerto Iguazú in Argentina, I didn’t go very far: just across the border to Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil. Although I had already seen the Iguazú Falls from this side, there were other sights of potential interest.

First, I headed to the Parque das Aves, the bird park that ironically turned out to be just a short walk from the waterfalls, so that it would have been much more efficient to combine the visits in one day. It was also the weekend, so local families were lining up at the ticket office when I arrived.

I’m not keen on going to see animals in cages – since my safari experience of seeing the animals in the wild in Africa, I no longer enjoy going to zoos (a small enclosure in Sweden is not a natural habitat for lions) – but I really wanted to see a toucan, having failed to spot a single one in the national park. In fact, the Parque is more of a bird sanctuary. They take in birds that have been rescued from poachers and illegal traders, and release them back into the wild when the birds are ready to survive on their own. And I spent much longer there than I had intended!

The next excursion in Foz was to Itaipú Dam, voted as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers. (The others that I’ve visited: the Golden Gate Bridge, the Empire State Building and the Channel Tunnel; and those that I haven’t: the CN Tower in Toronto, the Delta Works in the Netherlands and the Panama Canal.) Unfortunately, the construction of the dam left 10,000 local families without a home, and flooded the Guaíra Falls, which had been a significant tourist attraction, as the largest falls in the world in terms of volume of water. Although the dam is no longer the biggest in the world – Three Gorges in China took that title when completed in 2012 – they say it is “the world’s largest generator of renewable energy“. Half of the electricity generated powers 75% of Paraguay’s energy (all of which is hydroelectric), while half powers 25% of Brazil’s energy. They are also building a university, which will house 10,000 students.

At the bus terminal in Foz, I had an existential crisis as to where I should go next: to Río or not to Río? That was the question. I hadn’t intended to go to Brazil on all this trip – it’s a big country that warrants a whole separate trip, with a whole other language to learn – but I was sooooo close to Saõ Paolo, which is sooooo close to Río. What to do, what do do…?

Iguazú Falls: One of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World

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The Iguazú Falls are located between Argentina and Brazil. (In fact, at the junction where the Iguazú River merges with the Paraná River, the water forms a natural border between three countries: Argentina’s Puerto Iguazú, Brazil’s Foz do Iguaçu, and Paraguay’s Ciudad del Este.) The name Iguazú means ‘big water’ in the Guarani and Tupi languages, and indeed the falls are the widest in the world, although divided into anything from 150 to 300 individual falls (depending on the season and the amount of water), making the Victoria Falls the widest uninterrupted sheet of water in the world (at high flow).

My first visit to the Falls was on the Argentinian side, where I joined a ‘safari’ tour through the jungle to hear about the Iguazú National Park, another UNESCO World Heritage Site. The area is rich in flora and fauna, though unfortunately for tourists we are unlikely to see many of the species on the paths that we take through just a small part of the 550km2 park. The largest mammals are jaguars, while others include pumas, ocelots, anteaters, coatis; the hundreds of different species of birds include toucans, eagles, and vultures; and insects are even more numerous – it was the first time in my life when I could say that there were ‘too many’ butterflies…

After the jungle tour, we transferred into a boat on the Iguazú River and headed towards the Falls themselves. After a short pause to take photos, the captain took us into and under the waterfalls first on one side then on the other. I wore the rain poncho that I had bought but never used on the Inca Trail, but it was pretty useless – water came up and under, leaving me pretty much soaked through. Any parts of my clothes that were still dry when we got out of the boat were drenched when I went down the walkway for a closer look (and feel). There are walkways on the upper and lower parts of the waterfalls, giving you different views of the different falls from different angles. Unfortunately the walkway of the Garganta del Diablo, the Devil’s Throat, had collapsed when the river flooded in June after an unusual amount of rain and so this was closed for most of the month of July. There was plenty to see, though, and by the end of the day I was out of battery from all the photos I took!

The safari tour through the jungle – I didn’t see a single animal, but we did get a nice introduction to the park

Fully equipped for the boat trip into the waterfalls (we were also given a waterproof sack for our bags and cameras)

Our ship

Getting closer

The rainbow was a highlight

…and it followed me everywhere I went – on the lower walkway

On first-name terms with the coatis

Looking out from the upper walkway

One of the many beautiful ‘mariposas’

You could walk all the way along the top of the falls on the Argentinian side

A pretty bird (but sadly not a toucan)

Bye bye Argentinian side!

The next day on the Brazilian side, I was quite unmoved at first sight. I had already seen the waterfalls from up close in Argentina, and the view from afar was initially not that impressive. As I approached, though, I once again became caught up in the beauty and sheer size of the full panorama that’s visible from this side, while the end of the walkway took me closer and deeper into the water… and I again ended up soaked. (This time, I hadn’t bothered to bring a poncho.)

The first glimpse from Brazil

Getting closer

There are rainbows in Brazil too

I’ll be down on that walkway soon

…getting a little bit wet

Bird’s eye view again after taking the lift up

And a final rainbow

In the film The Bucket List, Morgan Freeman wants to “witness something majestic”. He had in mind Mount Everest, but I’m pretty sure he would have been satisfied with the Iguazú Falls.

The practical bit

For the Argentinian side:
-There are buses with Rio Uruguay running every 20 minutes between Puerto Iguazú and the Argentinian side of the waterfalls ($60 for a return ticket)
-Entrance is $170 for foreigners
-The Iguazú Jungle company offers the following excursions: (1) Nautical Adventure – motorboat ride that takes you into and under the waterfalls. You get wet! (10mins, $180); (2) Great Adventure – safari ride on land, followed by boat trip down the river, and finishing with the Nautical Adventure (1.5h, $380); (3) Ecological Tour – a relaxing trip in a rowboat down the upper part of the river (30mins, $80). I recommend the first one, unless you’re pregnant, you have back problems, or you’re wearing non-waterproof mascara…
All prices are in Argentine pesos, as of July 2013.

For the Brazilian side:
-There are buses with Cruz del Norte running only every 2 hours between Puerto Iguazú and the Brazilian side, so make sure you check the time ($60 for a return ticket; note that you’ll need your passport, as you’re crossing the border – the bus will wait as you get your stamps)
-If you’re staying in Foz do Iguaçu, there are local buses that take you to the falls in about 45mins for a few reais, and these run regularly
-Everything on the Brazilian side, except the walk along the actual Falls, costs extra – there are boat rides, bicycle tours, hikes, helicopter rides… I didn’t look at these as I’d already done the activities in Argentina

annaselundberg

A Swede in South America