Brasil, my final destination in South America. Just as I thought I was understanding and
speaking better Spanish, I am once again lost with the local language. Portuguese is beautifully frustrating. The pronunciation is killing me as I butcher
my few known words with a strong Spanish-English accent. I start by finding an English-Brasilian
Portuguese dictionary, get some lessons from the guys working at my hostel and
hope for the best. The best has yet to
come as I get by with Spanish, English,
very little Portuguese and a lot of gesturing. As a friend put it, say everything as if you
are complaining and get lazy about pronunciation. I usually just smile and respond with sim
(yes)!
My first stop is Iguassu Falls, a massive sheet of falls
bordering Argentina and Brasil. It is
absolutely amazing. I spent one day on
the Argentina side (stamp in the passport…check) touring with a retired couple
from Spain. Great Spanish practice and
good company as we wander the park all day.
The following day was the Brasilian side with a German couple and a bath
of heavy mist from the falls. I make
good friends with a few of the local guys who work at the hostel. It’s low season so the place is quieter but that
means I have a built in friend at the bar every night for Portuguese practice
and capirinia lessons (the famous Brasilian cocktail). The following day I am
coerced into visiting the Itapu Dam bordering and shared by Paraguay and
Brasil. Massive concrete dam…that about
sums it up. The entire time I thought
about how I could have spent those 50 reais better. None the less, I say good-bye to all my
friends and head to airport for my flight up north to Salvador.
I have plans to meet a friend in a hostel when I arrive and
we will travel to the nearby island of Morro do Sao Paulo. He is a someone I met briefly while traveling
Europe, but travel friendships are not necessarily gauged by the length of time
you spend together and more so the good times you spent exploring new places, a
mutual love of travel and facebook updates help a bit as well. We catch a 3 hour ride to the island on a small boat that
caught every bump in every wave. I spent most of this time on the side of the
boat convincing myself I would survive and arrive with all my stomach’s
contents. We both vowed to not speak of the hell ride again. We loosely plan to spend three days here. On
day five, we have become so comfortable and lazy that walking to the beach
three minutes away seems like a gigantic task sometimes too hard to
tackle.
This place is perfect. Plenty of sun, white beaches, cheap
drinks delivered as you lay on the sand and we are living here for about $25
per day. We understand the seriousness
of our situation. If we do not move soon, we may never leave. We drag ourselves onto a boat early in the
morning with two more travel partners joining our crew- Yan from Czech Republic
and Patrick from Switzerland. I am the
solo female traveling with three guys.
Conversation has quickly turned from travel experience and life goals to
hot women, bodily functions and smagma.
So the journey continues…
We catch a series of boats and buses and arrive later that
night in the town on Lencois surrounded by a natural playground of eroded stones,
natural waterfalls and slides, mountains and more. We find a cheap spot to crash, which is
really someone’s home with a few extra rooms, but with a great breakfast and
even better hosts we are content. Once
again, we may have to be pried away from this location. A morning hike into the unknown takes us
through a desolate landscape starving for water and opens up into a natural
pool surrounded by eroded rocks. We
spend the day swimming, sliding down and exploring the rocks, watching locals
surf the wet rocks and the boys are entertained for way too long with small
fish eating the dead skin off their feet.
We eat pizza, meet more locals and drink, drink, drink. Tomorrow we will be departing for the
ultimate destination, Capao – a hidden hippie town in the mountains. Dreadlocked Yan is in heaven as we settle in
to our dirty, cavelike hostel. By the
time we leave, we walk down the dirt road and wave to all our local
friends. We saw a small fraction of the
must-see nature spots in this area alone but we are extremely proud of
ourselves that we hiked two days of the five we were there. An overnight bus back to Salvador and we will
be catching a plane to Rio de Janiero.
The world famous city of Rio, known for its parties and
beautiful people, is a bit intimidating. Didn’t expect to say this, but I am
tired of drinking. I would rather get a good night’s sleep and wander a city
than stay out all night and feel like death all day. And then I discovered the first street party
and cheap caipirinias. Sobriety and more
than a few hours of sleep are unseen the entire time. My favorite day in Rio was spent in the
largest favela there – Rocinha where we volunteered at a children’s daycare
then walked all the way up the hill for the most amazing view of Rio and ended
with a sunset on the beach. Favelas take
up around 70% of Rio’s population and are known for being dangerous but that is
a major part of the city and I was so happy to be able to experience that. Of course I saw the famous Cristo
overlooking the city, some steps, some arches, a church, a park and beaches.
Good-bye Rio as I venture to my final destination of Sao Paulo!
Well Sao Paulo has a reputation, and not usually a good
one. It is the biggest city in the
country and one of the biggest in South America as well. Crime, kidnappings and bulletproof cars are
the extent of my knowledge here. Turns
out I didn’t get robbed, kidnapped or shot at but I was able to see some very
interesting things through a lot of walking good and bad streets all around the
city. I met up with my travel partner on
the island and stayed at his place while I saw a few sights and prepped for the
big trip across the pond to Africa. I am
trying to live in the moment and enjoy where I am, but the only thing on my
mind now is those awesome kids in Uganda that I am a week away from hugging.
I made some great
friends and met many locals so I have a place to stay WHEN I return for the
World Cup in 2014! So many great memories and so much more to explore from this
big, beautiful country. See you soon
Brasil!!
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