Ihla Grande

For the last stretch of our trip we decided to take the easy route and we booked a van transfer service to take us from Paraty to Ihla Grande and then Ihla Grande to Rio de Janeiro.

From Paraty we drove 2 hours to the small town of Angra dos Reis to catch a boat over to Ihla Grande. The sky was still overcast so we were crossing our fingers the next day it would clear up! Once on the island we checked into our hostel, El Misti, which was a block away from the beach and main shops. The main town on Ihla Grande is Abraão which is basically only two streets long! It's a really lovely town though with a gorgeous white sand beach, boardwalk and view of other smaller islands across the water. After a quick grocery shop we made dinner, chatted with our new roommates and made plans for the evening. Our hostel offered a free caipirinha at check in, Brazils national drink. You can't turn down a free drink - but we wish we had! Caipirinha's are very strong, they are just ice, limes, sugar and cashaça (sugar cane alcohol) mixed together in a large glass. Very similar to a tequila shot you are forced to drink slowly through a straw! Afterwards we had a few drinks on the beach and then went to a party at another hostel.

The next morning we awoke to bright sunshine and blue skies. Yay! We set off early on a hike to Lopez Mendez, the famous beach on Ihla Grande. The hike was extremely hot but was well worth it. Before we got to the main beach we came across four smaller beaches that we stopped to take a dip in. The water was refreshingly cool. When we got to Lopez Mendez 2 hours later we were both amazed by what we saw - an amazing white sand beach fringed by palm trees straight out of the pages of a travel magazine. The sand was so fine it squeaked beneath your toes when you walked on it. There were quite a few people surfing which was fun to watch. We spent the afternoon playing in the surf and soaking up some sun.

The next morning we walked a short loop trail near the town that took us to some nice beaches and to an elaborate archway aqueduct. We didn't check the sign closest before we started a side trail to a waterfall and what we thought would be 20 minutes was actually a three hour round trip. Thankfully the view along the way from a ridge up on the island was definitely worth it! That afternoon when we got back we went shopping for a while and had the lovely surprise of running into our friend Hannah who we didn't know would be on the island! For dinner we went with her to a really nice buffet and then called it an early night.

Our ferry the next day left at noon so we spent our last morning soaking up the sun on a beach close to our hostel but away from the boats. There is nothing more relaxing than floating in the ocean looking up at a blue sky! We were both very sad to leave, but very excited to get to Rio de Janeiro!

-Lisa

Home :)

December 19th

Our flights home from Rio (first to São Paulo then Washington then Chicago then Vancouver) went fairly smoothly. We made all our connections in the nick of time so we didn't end up waiting around at all! We even managed to make it back with all our bags in one piece.

Stepping outside the airport in Vancouver to the snow and ice brought mixed feelings - happy to be back home but sad that our amazing adventure was over. It was an incredible trip with many new friends, experiences and great memories. Can't wait for the next adventure!


Thanks for reading our blog :)

Rio de Janeiro

December 13th
We didn't get much of a glimpse of Rio de Janeiro as we drove into the city from Ihla Grande due to the thunderstorm that rolled in and let loose just as we stepped out of the van outside of our hostel! We were soaked walking to the front door. Our hostel, the Mango Tree, is conveniently located a block away from Ipanema beach. We unpacked our bags in our rooms, made a quick dinner and then headed out to meet our friends Marcela and Ana who we met in Bolivia. We ended up catching the city bus in the wrong direction of the loop so instead of a half hour ride it took about an hour, but they were still at the restaurant waiting for us! We had a drink and some pizza and a nice visit with them and some of their friends. It was so nice to have local people to show us around so we could see some of the un-touristy places as well. On the way home we caught the bus the right way this time so only had a short ride back.

December 14th
This morning we caught the metro to the downtown center of Rio with three other girls sharing our room with us. We got caught in another rainstorm but luckily it didn't last long.From the center we walked through the Lapa arches to the Lapa steps. They are a staircase that is an project of an artisit that is covered in different tiles collected from all over the world. We found three Canadian tiles. They were really neat to look at so we took our time climbing up them and taking pictures. At the top we walked a few streets over to the Santa Theresa neighborhood and had lunch in a nice little restaurant on a hill overlooking the city. After lunch we visited an art shop where we both bought a painting (Court bought 3!) to bring home. To get back to the subway we walked down a very windy road through the Gloria neighborhood and saw some cute little monkeys playing in the trees lining the sidewalk. Back in Ipanema we got a quick starbucks and did some shopping around our hotel before getting groceries for making dinner. After dinner we caught a cab back downtown to the Lapa neighborhood where we met Ana and Marcela again, this time at a popular club that their company had rented out for a staff Christmas party. We had so much fun dancing with them to the Brazilian Funk music! Afterwards we met up with our three roommates again to explore the Lapa Street Party. It is a huge street party with three or four blocks blocked off that happens every Friday and Saturday. There was an authentic Samba drumming group we listened to for a long time as well as some other local bands that were just as good! Everywhere you look there was more people and more drinks! Also lots of street vendors selling every type of food imaginable. It was a very fun night and by the end of the night we were pretty tired!

December 15th
This morning we walked along Ipanema beach and to Copacabana beach (they are on adjacent bays). The stories about the Brazilian bathing suits (or lack of...) are definitely true! We also explored the main street of Copacabana a bit which has some nice shops. From here we caught a bus to a huge shopping mall for a quick trip to satisfy some of our shopping needs since we no longer have to haul our backpacks around! We had to be back for a tour at 2 so we left the mall with time to have a delicious sushi lunch close to our hostel first. At 2 we got picked up for our favela tour. Favela's are not quite as bad as slums, which is what we were sort of picturing when we decided we wanted to go see one, but they are lower income housing. It's a saying that Rio is the only city where the poor live higher up on the mountains than the rich the land here is unstable and therefore undesirable to live on! On our tour we went into two different favela's and walked around, a very large one and a smaller one to see the contrast. It was a really neat experience to see. Back at our hostel we made a quick dinner once again. After dinner we caught a cab back to Lapa with our roommates. Rio is such a beautiful city at night, especially with all of the Christmas lights up. There is a large saltwater lake located behind Ipanema that has a three story Christmas tree in the middle of it that changes colors. Once in Lapa we had a quick drink at an outdoor restaurant and then headed into Rio Scenarium. If anyone is going to Rio we really recommend you check out Rio Scenarium. It is the coolest bar/club/restaurant I've ever been to! The building is a really old house with three floors and the decor inside is all really old and interesting historic pieces - everything from colonial clothing to a horse drawn carriage to a 10m tall man and woman doll set! The top floor has a restaurant (with excellent brownies and ice cream), the second floor is seating and a separate dance club, then the first floor has a stage with a live band and dance floor. We had a great night dancing away!

December 16th
This morning we checked out the "hippie market" that comes to the main square in Ipanema every Sunday. There was a lot of artwork and crafts to browse but we didn't end up buying anything. The weather appeared as if it was going to stay clear so we jumped on a bus to head to the Sugar Loaf cable cars. From on top of Sugar Loaf we had a wonderful 360-degree view of Rio, which looks much larger once you are looking down on it! Thankfully the sun stayed out so we were able to see lots and get some really cool pictures. Sightseeing took up most of the afternoon and when we got back to the hostel we just had for a quick nap and then off to our Churassco dinner. Churassco means barbeque in spanish. We should have not eaten all day to be prepared for it! Their was a wonderful buffet with everything imaginable you could want to eat, as well as appetizers brought to our table and a very large jug of sangria. Then the waiters came around with their large skewers of different kinds of meat. At your place setting there is a small card with a green side for "yes please I'll take some of that" and a red side for "I'm much too full"! It was a delicious meal and we were absolutely stuffed afterwards! But we had to hurry back to get ready for the Favela Funk Party we bought tickets to. We got picked up in a van from our hostel with some of our new friends and drove to one of the larger favela's where there was a concert inside a large warehouse. Brazilian Funk music is a very different style from what we have in North America. It's very abrupt and therefore hard to dance to but it was a really fun night regardless!

December 17th
We got up at 7 this morning and headed down to Ipanema beach for our surf lesson. Our instructor only spoke portuguese it turned out, which made it a bit more difficult but we managed just fine! We had one practice run in the sand of how to spring up onto your board and then headed straight to the water. Both of us caught lots of waves and had a great time. We were sad we couldn't have brought a camera with us so were glad when there was an opportunity to buy pictures afterwards! After a quick breakfast we caught a bus to go see Christ the Redeemer - or big Jesus as we liked to call him. The weather held out again and there were stunning views from the top of the mountain. The statue of Jesus is huge! It was really neat to actually be at such a famous landmark of the city. We made our way back to Ipanema slowly and spent the afternoon on the beach playing in the waves and relaxing in the sun. That night we met up with our friend Hannah again to say goodbye for the last time sadly as she will be going back to England.

December 18th
For our last day in Rio, and sadly in South America we got up early and went to the beach for a few hours before we had to start packing. Once we got back to the hostel to start our packing however we had a change of plans and made a snap decision to go hang gliding. Instead of spending all afternoon packing our bags we did it in only 45 minutes! It was a great decision because hang gliding over Rio was one of the coolest things ever and definitely the perfect way to end an amazing trip. We drove through Ipanema and Leblon to Sao Conrado beach then drove the very windy mountain up Pedro Bonito. At the top is a sloping platform. Court got harnessed up first and after a practice run (not attached to the glider) and a hang test to make sure all straps were secure she was running off the edge of the platform into the bright blue sky. I waited a half hour afterwards to start my flight. The flight lasted about 15 minutes for both of us and was almost a surreal experience of flying gently through the air, looking at the most beautiful rainforest and beaches imaginable. During the flight we could see both Sugar Loaf and Christ the Redeemer in the distance. After the exhilaration of the flight was over and we had bought our pictures we had to hustle it back to our hostel so we had time to get to our flight. An hour taxi ride later and we were at the airport, and our amazing trip was very sadly at an end. 

 Lapa Stairs

 Favela

 Ipanema Beach

 View from cable car goig up Sugar Loaf

 Churassco dinner

 Sugar loaf

 Churassco dinner

 Christ the Redeemer

 View from Christ the Redeemer

 Getting ready for take off

 

The mountain we took off of for hang gliding

Paraty

So we had driven out of the Pantanal, then bussed back to Campo Grande, then bussed overnight to São Paulo where we were assured buses left every hour to Paraty. We arrived to the São Paulo bus terminal around noon and navigated two subways to the correct terminal (Sao Paulo has a population of about nineteen million so their bus station is as big as most airports!) only to find we had to wait until 4pm for our next bus. By the time we arrived to our hostel in Paraty at 11 pm we were desperate for the shower, a burger, laundry service, and finally bed.


We woke up feeling much better, but unfortunately it was a cloudy day. We enjoyed a great breakfast at the hostel where we heard some people talking about going kayaking so we decided to join in on that! It was so nice to be out on the water, and it was probably best we weren't baking in the sun. We first kayaked to a little island where we stopped for a swim on a quiet beach, and to enjoy the amazing scenery. The greenery is so beautiful in brazil! Next we went through a mangrove which was neat looking and had little tree crabs everywhere!! Unfortunately it was also a great place for mosquitoes and flies and I am now paying for it in itchiness. We continued on for a while, Lisa and I were quite in unison paddling (3 months side by side have made us so in sync everyone has begun asking if we are sisters!!) so it was easy, and so nice and peaceful. We stopped for a nice lunch and then our guide told us it was time to go for a mud bath! We were surprised that as we walked along the beach all the sudden the sand just stopped and clay started! We waded into the clay, it felt so odd at first! A bit slimy and like sinking mud, but once you got sitting in it it was awesome! It felt really cool to be submerged in, and it was fun to roll around and try and swim in, you couldn't help but giggle at the feeling and at how silly we all looked! After we rinsed ourselves off (mostly) we got back in the kayaks and paddled back home. A great way to spend a rainy day :) That evening we went out for dinner with some hostelmates and had an interesting dinner. Pretty hard to order at an Arabic restaurant with a Portuguese menu! Haha, it was a decent meal though and nice company.


Next day we got up and did a wander through the small city to see the historic centre. It is very colonial and pretty, and the stone streets were neat, though hard to walk on they're so uneven. Close to the water thousands of crabs have holes between the stones in the road, they're so cute! We left Paraty after lunch to head to the tropical island Ilha Grande!

-Court

The Pantanal - December 4-7

After leaving the Brazillian Iguazu Falls we navigated two city busses successfully to get us to the bus terminal. This is quite a feat considering we don't know a word of Portuguese- it makes us realize we actually knew a decent bit of Spanish now that we can't use it! We got to the bus terminal and were disappointed to find there was no ATM nor money exchange- since we had crossed the border that morning we had searched desperately for a way to get Brazilian Reals, but between my daily limit, Lisa's non working debit card, and no exchanges, we were stuck with only 150 Reals between us. So we hopped on our bus heading to 'Dourados,' a town we had never heard of and one that is not in our lonely planet guide book, with the plan to get a bus there to Bonito. We arrived to Dourados at 3am to find again, no source of money, and nothing to do but wait on a bench for the ticket office to open. Of course once it did, the tickets to Bonito were cash only, and not a soul around at 6am spoke English to help us find funds so we had to change our plans. Tickets to Campo Grande accepted credit card, so we had to make the decision to skip Bonito (and unfortunately miss out on snorkeling and cave diving), and head straight to Campo Grande instead. Another restless bus ride and we made it to Campo Grande and managed to arrange a hostel that even came and picked us up from the terminal. We were thankful to get there, have a room to ourselves, and some time to get organized. We spent the day (with the help of the kind Rodrigo at the hostel) trying to figure out Lisa's non working debit, then our tour of the Pantanal, and then we managed to book pretty much the rest of our trip so as to avoid more stress like the past couple days had caused. We may not be the best figure-it-out-as-you-go type backpackers, yet :P

On a brighter note, we had a relaxing evening and a good night sleep so things were great again as we headed off in the morning for our three day tour of the Brazilian Pantanal! The Pantanal is a massive jungle/wetland area with tons of wildlife. We drove in a van for a few hours, and then piled into the box of a truck and went another couple hours. As we got further and further down the bumpy dirt road the scenery got more and more amazing. It was similar to the jungle, extremely green and lush, but quite flat and much more tropical than we have seen so far. We appreciated the wind whipping past us as the Brazilian sun was beating down quite strong as we drove along. We rushed past palm trees, and greeny blue lagoons which, once we slowed down, we realized were full of caymans (small alligators), exotic birds, capybaras, deer and lizards! It was a very exciting drive in! Finally we arrived at the river, Rio Paraguay, where we took a small ferry across and reached our lodge. A nice big house where we had an air conditioned dorm (yay) with the 5 others on the tour, and awesome scenery, lounge area, pool table etc. Our guide Carlos met us and showed us around and assured us the river was safe to swim in, so we all changed and went for a dunk before dinner.

After dinner was our first activity, a night time boat ride. We piled in a little tin boat with a bunch of flashlights. There were so many stars out! Caymen eyes glow red when hit by the flashlight. We spotted our first one about 5m from where we were swimming earlier, which is when Carlos told us that there are caymen and piranhas throughout the entire river, yet still claimed its perfectly safe to swim in! We drove up the river for about a half hour and saw hundreds of caymens on the bank and swimming beside the boat. Very eerie to spot just the red eyes watching you in the pitch black! They are very slinky when they slide under the water hidden from sight. We also saw some jumping fish but none actually jumped in the boat.

The next morning we got up at 6 for a quick breakfast before heading out on our anaconda hunt! We boated up the Rio Paraguay a ways, stopping to take pictures of caymen and birds, then went up the Rio Negra a ways before stopping the boat. We waded through a small swamp (which is scary when you can't see the bottom and you know you're in anaconda territory!) and got to a beautiful lake with horses grazing around it and thousands of birds. The colors in the pantanal are so vibrant, the lime green grass rippling in the wind as far as you can see and the bright blue sky are stunning. We hunted for about an hour around the lake but couldn't scare up any anacondas (which Court was okay with). The scenery was well worth the walk anyways!

Back at the lodge we had an afternoon siesta where everyone napped in our room for an hour. The hot sun really tires you out quickly! After lunch it was time for piranha fishing. Our rods were long bamboo poles with fishing line and a hook attached. For bait we had raw chicken skin. Apparently Canadians know how to fish because we both pulled out three piranhas right away while the boys struggled to catch their first one. Piranhas really do have sharp teeth! We each helped Carlos descale and clean the piranhas. They have very fine scales and are not slimy at all but almost smooth. A little less scary looking than we were expecting until you open their jaws! They definitely have big teeth!

Back at the lodge we grabbed a cold beer and jumped in the river to cool off (yes, the pirranha infested river). The water is so warm though its almost a bathtub! We killed time until dinner when we ate our piranhas. There is not a lot of meat on them! The small amount we did have was good- white meat. That night we grabbed some beers from a nearby store and we enjoyed some pool and chatted with our group.

In the morning after packing up our bags we took the speedboat across the river to where the truck was waiting. We drove about an hour to our first stop which was a nature walk through the forest. We saw some black howler monkeys, macaws and lots of termite nests! Our next stop was lunch where we had an hour to kill lying in some hammocks while lunch was made. Then we just went to the "bus stop" where we waited a very long time in the hot sun for our van to take us back to Campo Grande. We got to the bus terminal at 8pm which left us just enough time to 'freshen up' with wet wipes before getting on our 8:30 overnight bus to São Paulo.

-Court and Lisa

Iguazu Falls

December 2nd
Well we had a lovely bus ride from Buenos Aires to Puerto Iguazu (the Argentina side of the falls)! We decided to upgrade to the nicer seats for the long ride which were nice and big and reclined 160 degrees! We got served a snack, beverage, dinner and wine, tea with cookies, and even champagne at 11:00 pm! That's a lot nicer than most flights you get!

We got to Puerto Iguazu in the morning and after a quick stop at the tourist information booth we set off to find a hostel since we hadn't booked ahead. 10 meters down the road we were dripping with sweat. It was SO humid! Once we finally found a hostel, we couldn't check in yet so instead of showering we had a quick jump in the pool, and immediately headed off to see the the Argentinian Iguazu Falls! We caught a bus to the park, where you just pay your entrance fee and then explore on your own. Fueled up with some empanadas and then we started by hopping on the train that drops you off to walk down a big bridge over the river, which was about a km long and had really cool scenery. The river was shallow here so it looked a lot like wetlands. The bridge brings you to a lookout of the 'Garganta del Diablo' fall (the Devils Throat). It's the biggest one, and it was totally breathtaking. Unfortunately, the sky opened up and a thunderstorm started as soon as we started taking pictures! Ah well, we were wet from sweat anyways, it was almost nice to cool off haha. We headed back on the train and then started the 'lower circuit' trail. It was a nice hike through the jungle, with a bit of wildlife along the way, like coati, monkeys, lizards, iguanas and even a tucan! The trail brought us past two more beautiful waterfalls, Lanusse and Alvar Nunez. They were gorgeous but we hurried along and made it in the nick of time to get the boat across to San Martin Island. The island had a nice beach and we hiked up to all the different lookouts on it, it's cool to see falls you were just standing beside, from the other angle. A quick boat ride back and we finished the lower circuit off. We then got a little turned around in attempts to get to the upper trail, but that's okay, saw more of the park that way like the lighthouse and hotel. We eventually got onto the 'upper circuit' trail. Again, more hiking through the forest, and then six or seven more lookouts of falls, these lookouts were up almost on top of the falls looking down, a whole different vantage point than the lower circuit. Some of the falls on this trail were: Dos Hermanos, Chico, Bossetti, Adan y Eva, Gpeque Bernabe Mendez, and Mbigua. After the lower circuit, we had pretty much covered it all, and in about 4 hours only! We got on the bus back exhausted from the long night of bussing and then the long day of waking, grabbed some dinner on the way back to the hostel, had a quick swim and went to bed excited to see more the next day!

December 3rd
This morning was a little hectic running around trying to book tickets and hostels for the next leg of our journey, and figuring out how to get across the Argentina-Brazil border properly. But we managed to do both and by 10:30 we were off for Brazil! It was another very humid day. Once at the falls we stored our backpacks in a locker at the entrance and figured out how to get to the bus terminal in Brazil at the end of the day. To get closer to the falls we took a 15 minute bus and then started the "Path to the Falls" trail. From even a few feet down the trail we could tell it was going to be amazing views! It was really cool to see the same waterfalls as yesterday but this time from a distance. It was much easier to appreciate just how big they are! We stopped a lot along the trail to take pictures and admire the view. The real highlight was at the end of the trail where a boardwalk takes you right out to the edge of a waterfall liking straight into the Devils Throat. It was more than 180 degree view of the immense falls. Definitely breath taking! After admiring them for quite some time we took an elevator up to a viewpoint of the falls. After that it was back to collect our bags. We successfully navigated two city buses to get us to the bus terminal with plenty of time to spare. Off to our next destination - the Pantanal!

-Lisa and Court

Pictures
1-Brazil
2-Argentina
3-Argentina
4-Brazil
5-Argentina
6-Brazil
7-Brazil