Chaska in South America

Sorry for not updating this blog in such a long time!  Brazil has turned to be a pretty exciting, intense place, and spending time in an internet cafe has been one of the last things on my mind.  I’ve really fallen in love with this country and can definitely say that it may be one of the most beautiful places I’ve been.  The culture and people are wonderful, and I’m having such an incredible time.  After leaving the south of Brazil Matt and I moved up to Florianopolis.  Florianopolis is actually an island but is very close to the mainland and is connected by a large bridge.  We met a group of other travellers at a hostel that we stayed in in the island center and ended up all going to a small beach on the island called Barro do Lagoa that was absolutely wonderful.  A tiny beach town with a really fun atmosphere.  The “thing to do” there was to rent an apartment or house with friends and hang out for as long as you wanted.  The town was full of young travellers from all over, with a huge Chilean representation.  There were a total of 7 of us that had met at the hostel and so we rented two apartments together and it worked out to be a lot cheaper than staying in a hostel and also a lot more comfortable.  The 6 days that we spent there were amazing.  We spent both all day and all night on the beach.  Aside from being in an absolutely beautiful location, the nightlife was really good there too.  There were small beach bars and music on the beach all night long, and just a lot of really cool people to hang out with.  I’ve mentioned before that we continually run into people who we met in other locations along our travels and it happened again here.  We ran into several people who were at the same hostel as us in Mendoza, Argentina.  I had mentioned in my last post that we had met a lot of really cool people there, so it was really nice to run back into these people.  Florianopolis has something like 42 beaches that are all supposed to be just amazing, but somehow we ended up staying at this one tiny beach area the entire time.  Actually just before leaving, we were able to go out to one other beach called Campeche, and it too was wonderful…a lot less crowded than Barro do Lagoa and more of a place where locals went.  

Rio was Matt and my next destination after Florianopolis…as it was for just about every other traveller there.  The Rolling Stones were giving a free concert on the beach in Copacabana on the 18th, and EVERYONE was headed up there for it.  Matt and I, along with our new English friend Andy, took the 15 hour bus ride from Florianopolis to Rio and then again met up with some other friends once we were there.  We stayed in a really cool hostel in Rio in an area called Santa Teresa, which is quite a ways away from the super touristy beach areas.  Santa Teresa is a huge hill with amazing views of the city and and located close to the kind of grungy, bohemian neighborhood of Lapa.  I loved that we stayed here rather than the typical touristy locations of Copacabana or Ipanema.  We went out several times in Lapa and had the best time drinking caparinhas in the street with all the locals and dancing the night away at the local samba clubs.  Rio is an incredible city with so much life.  I really was impressed by it and think it may be one of my favorite cities now.  You hear so much about how dangerous it is and stuff, but I didn’t ever feel particularly unsafe while there.  Of course we were ultra cautious while there and never took out anything that we weren’t willing to lose.  Sadly I have no pictures of Rio since I never took my camera out with me, but I never felt unsafe since I never had anything on me that was valuable.  Matt did have a little experience in which he was robbed by a group of little kids (no older than 12), but he only had 7 reals on him, and the whole experience turned out to be more funny than terrifying.  The Rolling Stones concert was a crazy, chaotic experience and so much fun.  There were over a million people on the beach and it was an all day event even though the Stones didn’t play until 10 at night.  We were really far away from the stage, but we were able to watch the huge screens and heard the whole concert perfectly. We spent 5 nights total in Rio, and I definitely didn’t get much sleep while there. Pre-Carnival festivities are just as crazy and intense as Carnaval itself I think! I really would have liked to stay for Carnaval, but the prices shoot up to 3 or 4 times the normal prices during Carnaval, and Matt and my bank accounts are not doing so well at this stage in the trip. The other huge destination in Brazil for Carnaval is up north in Salvador, where many of our friends were headed after Rio, but again too far and too expensive for Matt and I. 

So, because of our financial situation, we are now in a small town about 5 hours south of Rio called Paraty.  Paraty is a cute little colonial style town that is set in the most beautiful location.  There are tons of small islands and amazing beaches nearby too.  Our friend Andy came with us to Paraty to stay for just 3 days before he headed back to Rio for Carnaval.  The three of us rented a small apartment together, and now that Andy is gone, Matt and I have the apartment until Carnaval is finished.  We’re in day three of Carnaval now.  It started Friday and ends on Tuesday.  The Carnaval here is nothing compared to Rio or Salvador, but the town is all decorated and there are festivities every night until 3am.  The crowd here is definitely a lot calmer than Rio, mostly older people and families.  I really would have loved to experience Carnaval in Rio or Salvador, but we’re enjoying ourselves here and really can’t complain…I mean we could be at home in the States working!  We have just a few more days in Brazil.  I really can’t believe how quickly our time here has gone by.  We leave from Sao Paulo next Wednesday for Venezuela, where we will spend a little over a week.  Well, here are a few photos from our time in Brazil.  I wish I had more, but as I said I didn’t take any in Rio.

 Here we are after just arriving to Barro do Lagoa…the weather was cloudy and rainy, but it was still really pretty.  These are the people we rented the apartments with.  From the left: Andy (England), Yohav and Liad (Israel), Kate (Australia), Matt, and me.

 This is the town.  It was a really laid back beach town…I loved it. 

 

This is a small, secluded beach in a another part of the town.  Andy is on the left side of me, Kate is on the right.

Here is view of the ocean while on a short hike to another part of the island.  It was absolutely beautiful.

Here are the four of us that stayed in the same apartment on our last night in Barro do Lagoa.

 

Here are a couple beach scenes from Barro de Lagoa, Florianopolis…

 

 

Actually, I do have just a couple photos that I took one day in Rio.  I forgot that I had them.  They’re not too exciting, but here they are…

 

The steps of Santa Teresa…some really cool mosaic steps that are supposedly very famous.  Lots of models pose on them for Vogue and stuff I was told.

 The Arches of Lapa.  They are a viaduct, on which a trolly car that goes up the hill of Santa Teresa passes over. 

 

Here are a bunch of photos taken over the past few days of Paraty and several of the nearby beaches that we’ve taken day trips to…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that’s it for now I guess.  My next post will probably be after Venezuela.  We plan to spend as little time in Caracas as possible and head to a place called Merida, which is supposed to be a really cool backpackers destination…and much safer than Caracas.  Thank you Germain for all your tips on Venezuela…too bad you can’t be there!  As always, I hope you are all well, and I would love to hear from all of you! 

Tags: Travel

This entry was posted on Sunday, February 26th, 2006 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.