The first one

Get to the bus and double check with every Gringo around that they are going to Santa Cruz on the same bus company as us. Yes they are, and they are standing beside the worse long distance bus I have seen in a while. It has dents and no air con, it is the wrong side of 20 years old.

Oh well, there was 13 gringos from various parts of the world. Two Icelandic girls, 3 Austrians, 2 English girls, 3 Japanese guys, 1 Uruguayan, 1 Norwegian and 1 NZer , it makes it handy when crossing borders the locals don’t have as many problems as they use identity cards. The more the merrier I say.

It takes us 2 hours to get out of get out of Ascuncion , as we stop for someone to do grocery shopping and the rest of the time I am not entirely sure why. As we had no air con, sitting still was quite hot, when the bus gets going its lovely. Also no closed windows are good for taking pictures. Dinner was carried onto the bus! It was Fried Chicken and rice which was good. We weren’t totally expecting to get food so that was handy.

Just behind me is a family of four dressed a little differently from the rest of South Americans and speaking a language that sounds a bit hybrid. The tall blond and blue eyed father is wearing what looks like denim overalls, the two sons are wearing the same and look like him. The mother is wearing a dress that you would associate with traditional Mormans in Utah, with her hair done in a very certain way. They look kind of Germanic wearing which I think we were influenced into thinking as she is wearing socks and sandals. So the Gringos had many discussions about them in the next 27 hours. What could they be?

Get to sleep, at 3am we are woken up by lights for border control. We stamp out of Paraguay, me only having been there 2 days. In my experience border bathrooms are generally the worst, not this one you have to pay which I didn’t have any cash for.

We wait an hour for everyone to be stamped out and the bus to cool down. We assume we are at the border and maybe it will take 18 hours to get to Santa Cruz. I am thinking the Bolivian border can’t be too far away so stay awake for a bit.
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I don’t mind saying that I was a little scared of the driving of the bus driver he was flying along the not fantastic roads at night. Said my prayers along the way, and tried not to freak out too much.

Nine hours after exiting Paraguay, we enter Bolivia. We are marked off the bus sheet, given a form to fill out. I take it to the stamp man, who shouts at me to write it in Spanish or Caps! With a hint of nerves I line up again and wonder if I would have to go back to Paraguay where I don’t have a multie entry visa. The guy doesn’t care this time around.

So finally we are in Bolivia, and 10 hours after arriving in Bolivia we arrive into Santa Cruz. As we can’t be bothered going into town we cross the road to a hotel that costs us $6 a night!

Get to the bus and double check with every Gringo around that they are going to Santa Cruz on the same bus company as us. Yes they are, and they are standing beside the worse long distance bus I have seen in a while. It has dents and no air con, it is the wrong side of 20 years old.

Oh well, there was 13 gringos from various parts of the world. Two Icelandic girls, 3 Austrians, 2 English girls, 3 Japanese guys, 1 Uruguayan, 1 Norwegian and 1 NZer , it makes it handy when crossing borders the locals don’t have as many problems as they use identity cards. The more the merrier I say.

It takes us 2 hours to get out of get out of Ascuncion , as we stop for someone to do grocery shopping and the rest of the time I am not entirely sure why. As we had no air con, sitting still was quite hot, when the bus gets going its lovely. Also no closed windows are good for taking pictures. Dinner was carried onto the bus! It was fried Chicken and rice which was good. We weren’t totally expecting to get food so that was handy.

Just behind me is a family of four dressed a little differently from the rest of South Americans and speaking a language that sounds a bit hybrid. The tall blond and blue eyed father is wearing what looks like denim overalls, the two sons are wearing the same and look like him. The mother is wearing a dress that you would associate with traditional Mormans in Utah, with her hair done in a very certain way. They look kind of Germanic wearing which I think we were influenced into thinking as she is wearing socks and sandals. So the Gringos had many discussions about them in the next 27 hours. What could they be?

Get to sleep, at 3am we are woken up by lights for border control. We stamp out of Paraguay, me only having been there 2 days. In my experience border bathrooms are generally the worst, not this one you have to pay which I didn’t have any cash for.

We wait an hour for everyone to be stamped out and the bus to cool down. We assume we are at the border and maybe it will take 18 hours to get to Santa Cruz. I am thinking the Bolivian border can’t be too far away so stay awake for a bit.

I don’t mind saying that I was a little scared of the driving of the bus driver he was flying along the not fantastic roads at night. Said my prayers along the way, and tried not to freak out too much.

Nine hours after exiting Paraguay, we enter Bolivia. We are marked off the bus sheet, given a form to fill out. I take it to the stamp man, who shouts at me to write it in Spanish or Caps! With a hint of nerves I line up again and wonder if I would have to go back to Paraguay where I don’t have a multie entry visa. The guy doesn’t care this time around.

So finally we are in Bolivia, and 10 hours after arriving in Bolivia we arrive into Santa Cruz. As we can’t be bothered going into town we cross the road to a hotel that costs us $6 a night!

Decided to stay in Rio an extra day, as I still hadn’t been to see Christ Redeemper. Caught a local bus to the bottom of the hill, I might have missed the turn off to get the train up the hill. Apparently there are long queues, so I walked up the hill. It took a little while as it was bloody hot! Saw the ticket line and the line for the bus up the hill so decide to walk up the last bit too. Met people who had got an apartment for $200 a night, so they paid $50 each! That is what I am doing next time!

So many people up there vying to get their photo in front of the Christ, it was quite funny! Getting down the hill also had a line, so walked down to the bus stop! Saw cute monkeys who played hide and seek with me!
Next stop was Iguazu Falls, the options to get there was a standard bus for 24 hours or a Cama half way which was more expensive but worth it!

The Brazilian side doesn’t have quite the view as the Argentina side but when you haven’t seen the other side it was pretty good. Also went to the bird Sanctuary which was awesome.

A friend recommended a Brazilian BBQ in Iguazu, which had 14 types of meat including chicken hearts! It was tremendous.
Left Brazil after 2 weeks and over spending my budget considerably. Spent the whole day at the falls, went with a couple of nature lovers so walked a trail to see wildlife! We saw very big ants, some local things which I can’t remember the name of! Just as we left the trail we saw monkeys.

We saw most of the park during the rain and the waterfall spray; I looked like a drowned rat by the end of the day. I was blown away by seeing the falls. Heard about it for so long and finally I was there, I didn’t realise there were so many waterfalls and over so a large area.
Things on a Sunday are very quiet in Argentina, wanted to catch a bus to Paraguay but it was too crazy going via one border crossing so jumped on a bus up to another part of Argentina where I met a lovely American lady called Janet who kept me entertained for most of the journey- she left before I got off the bus.

Had a funny border crossing, everyone got off the bus and jostled to get through the many custom people. The bus doesn’t wait that long for people; I of course was at the end and got pushed passed. The bus did wait. The next stop was the Paraguay side and only two of us got off and he ran so I ran!

Found a cheap and cheerful hotel by the bus station. Didn’t feel quite right about going out by myself, Paraguay had a funny feeling to it. A dutch girl was staying there who helped me get a room as there was no English spoken. We went to the Jesuit missions, which were ruins, as didn’t feel like walking around them – well paying for them. They weren’t worth it, so we wandered the outside of it! Checked out the village, which was pretty cool. A little pecking into people’s lives.

Bussed to Asuncion and met two 19 year old gap year English girls who said come to Bolivia with us. I thought why not, as there is something I didn’t like about Paraguay. So we tried to get on a bus that night! But had to stay the night as the buses were full.

We hung out in the hostel as the Asuncion didn’t really appeal except to buy food for the 18 hour bus trip. Made the girls go out for a quick walk.

So my two days in Paraguay was brief but totally enough. Next post is the crossing….

Sorry the previous post was so long!

Paraty is another town with a lovely old town a couple of hours from Rio. After a couple of days on buses walking around the town seemed like a good idea after doing a spot of hand washing- my favorite chore.

The town was great for taking photos. In the late afternoon I sat down in the square checking out the scene, a piece of red fabric was dangling down from a tree with people attaching themselves to it. Picked up the camera and started snapping away from a bit of a distance at the pair of street performers – one of them trying it for the first time. Oh, I do love using my new camera.

I showed the pictures to Alex who was trying it out for the first time. Bless him, he asked if I was a professional photographer! I went over and joined them, Carolina who was the teacher to Alex and Bob Lemon who is a very famous clown! They were touring around performing in the tourist towns. Walking around the town in evening they had stiff competition of other street performers.

Rio here I come! Left the cute town of Paraty without finding a crepe place that someone recommended for the life of me. The bus was full of Gringos going to Carnival! We followed the coast and came into a very large city. Had to keep reminding myself I was in Rio de Janeiro!

Arrived into the bus station all the wealthy backpackers jumped into taxi’s. I strolled to bus area and proceeded to find the bus I needed and met a couple of English speaking people. Asked them where they were going, found out they had not hostel booking leading up to Carnival. Was amazed, and said they wouldn’t find anywhere but suggested they com e to my hostel just in case.

A couple of hours later we arrived at the hostel, (it only took 30 mins going back to the bus station) after people weren’t too happy to find 2 people with two big bags and me with a smaller bag.

This trip had a first for me, people I knew being in the same place and time as me which was pretty exciting. On my first night in Rio I went to see how wealthy tourists live! Raj who I used to work with at Ericsson was staying at Copacabana beach in a fairly basic room that had two single beds and the price during Carinval… $500 a night! Take it from me, the room wasn’t that impressive! But according to the owners of hotels in Rio after Carnival, Rio becomes very quiet that they have to increase the price 3 fold. I was recommended a hostel not too far from the city for the privilege of staying there I paid $75 per night in a 9 bed dorm! In normal times it goes back down to approximately $17 per night!

We went up to the rooftop bar, which had great views of the beach and out to Christ the Redeemer; I have confess that I thought that having a massive statue of Christ over a city was a bit weird. But when you see it as the handy landmark and very impressive. Just behind the hotel also with amazing views is a favela. The builders of houses in Favelas are impressive as they build on very steep slopes; with I am guessing very little technical knowledge.

The boys decided to go in search of an Ant-Eater at the Zoo, sadly it was an old school zoo where the animals have small cages. No anteater or Amarillo to be seen. Haven’t been to a zoo in years.

Day before Carnival, I went to Ipanema beach for a spot of shopping- it was sale time. My favourite time of year. Got a little dress that would become my Carnival costume - by accident. Took some photos of the beach, but they didn’t work so well as I left the memory card back the hostel!

Went to my first block party, which is where 100s or 1000s of people turn up to a street that has beer sellers, food sellers, can collectors, and portable loos. This one had many teenagers that were very drunk. Everyone just walks around which got a bit boring so we jumped into a cab after a while to Lapa. Lapa used to be a dodgey area, but it has lost a little bit dodge. We hung out there for a bit, had a spot of dinner and people of watching.

Around the city there are many, many parties around the city that occur around the city in places in Copacabana, Ipanema, Lapa or on any little street corner. People turn up in normal clothes with hints of costumes or full on costumes. From cute bumble bees on children, plastic flowers on a dog, or groups of boys in matching simple drag outfits. Each time you stepped onto the street, technically you should have a costume on!

On the Saturday which was the first day of the carnival, where apparently approximately 2.5million people turned up. Eight of us went along to check it out. We did pretty well to stick together. The can collectors were very busy keeping the streets clean. I did wonder how long it took them to get their cans to the depot to collect the cash before they can get back on the streets to collect more.

After walking around the streets with many people in a tight spaces, we decided to go home. Just moments later we seemed to lose the group. Three of us went in search of a metro station, which was easier said than done. People were pushing passed us on mass in the opposite direction to us. Families with children and grandparents in the groups were a force to be reckoned with.

It got a little scary in parts; we nearly saw a fight between a larger lady with considerable height and a lady who was shorter than me not far from the portable loos. We found a subway station but it only took pre-paid tickets, back to the hunt of the station that came our way. The rest of the group got back ages before us.

A little nap before the Parade was required. The other part of Carnival is the Samba schools competing in a parade, if you weren’t 100% sure what Carnival was all about. Found out that my research of Carnival wasn’t good as I thought. The night I had tickets to was beginner’s night, but it was still good.

The parade started at 9pm and finished at 7am, we didn’t get there on time. My ticket was in the bottom section. In my section I was the first to arrive, next was a Russian couple, they lasted until 1am. An older Japanese couple turned up around 12ish they came between Samba schools so had a nap for 20mins, watched the parade for 30 minutes and they decided to go home. The last person in my pod left at 2.30am. As people in front me left, I moved down. Left at 6.10am.

Couldn’t sleep much of the day- which surprised me.

Another long post sorry.

Oops I have been slack.

I am going to post a few entries, sorry in advance for the multiple emails. Need to upload heaps of photos, my new camera and I take a few each day, but the internet takes it time to collect them. Loving my new camera; also love when you can steal photos when people have better lenses or go somewhere you have seen but didn’t take a camera to.

Uruguay was a fine place to pass through, or to relax. Colonia is a cute small town that has old Mexican colonial style buildings which is pleasant to walk around for a couple of hours in the heat.

From Colonia I decided to go to the seaside, found a nice looking hostel at La Paloma a couple of hours down from Montevideo. The day I was there was grey, so the town looked worse that it was- I hope. The hostel had many Brazilian students, so no one to chat to.

Next stop from La Paloma was Chui/Chuy is the border town between Brazil and Uruguay. Got on the wrong bus, glad I double checked or who knows where I would have ended up. After that I checked the bus a couple of times was the correct one!

The bus journey was really cool, it stopped at every seaside town, where I saw better places to stay then La Paloma but that is how it goes! The passengers on the bus changed completely a couple of times as they got off and more got on. The actual border line for Brazil and Uruguay is the main street of the town, but the border posts are 2-3 kms out of town on both sides which is a little unusual. The town is all about duty free shopping, and household tact on steroids. The good thing is you can use both currencies, if you are trying to use up one you can move onto the next one.

Before the trip I spent a bit of time breaking up my route to Rio rather than doing big days on the bus or one long trip to Rio. I tried to choose towns/cities that were interesting and about 7 hours apart by bus. The reality of distances on the bus can vary, first day in Brazil a nine hour bus ride brought me Porto Alegre, an old port town with lovely buildings.

My first glimpses of Brazil:

• More cosmopolitan than Uruguay – more different backgrounds of the people

• Positive body images (my guess is that 70% of the city was overweight- that isn’t an exaggeration)

• I am still quite tall!

• Obviously not speaking the language is hard, as I can’t communicate with people

• Average people live on 595 Reals per month in Porto (US$350)

• Brazil is more expensive than Uruguay that is for sure- budget has gone out the window!

In my hostel in Porto was a boutique Hostel! My room also had an en-suite and again for the last couple of nights I have had a room to myself. The room was posh, soap, sheets, towels with logos! Sadly there was no one to chat to again! Went to my first big supermarket on the trip, I don’t know but I love going to big supermarkets overseas, I can spend time there just wandering around. An added attraction of the hostel I stayed in, ladies of the night stood outside. These beautiful ladies weren’t born female and I am guessing that not many Gringos could tell the difference.

In Brazil exquisite things called Executive buses, which don’t stop as often as the cheaper options, you can get seats that go back to a lovely flat bed in “first class plane seats. As the bus pulled in I got a little excited to think that my lovely first class seat would be upstairs, great seat, great views. Jump on the bus, work out that I am downstairs. I am the only tourist which is to be expected, so what do people do when they have 14 hours on a bus- they sleep with the curtains pulled! As I was in the aisle seat I couldn’t see out, plus there was advertising over the bus so couldn’t see out anyway. Learnt a couple of lessons that day! Ask for a window!

I arrive into Curitba at 11.30 a couple of hours after we were supposed to arrive. But I did have the bus to myself for a couple of hours.
Glad I booked a hostel in advance, the hostel people helped me with my bus times to the next town so I have to be up early the next morning.

As a treat I booked myself a double bed in Paraty, in my naivety I assumed I can get a direct bus from Curitiba (a large city of 1 million people) to a tourist town of Paraty! I had to get a bus to Sao Paulo 6 hours away, change buses to Paraty. Carnival is close so the buses to seaside towns are busy the next seat available is 9am the next day. Which would mean my double bed won’t have me in it. Consult the guide book and tourist information and book a town called Ubatuba isn’t far from Paraty so jump on a bus to there. Ubatuba would have been nice to stop in, even just to pose in front of the tropic of Capricorn sign!

Arrive into the town around 9pm, try and chat to locals with who speak no English and I with very limited Portuguese. I decide to jump into a taxi to go to a cheap hotel in my guide book. We go passed the other bus station which has a local bus pulling out of the station going to… Paraty. Back in Sao Paulo wasn’t sure there would be a connecting bus to Paraty at that time of night.

Stop the taxi, and run. Not thinking how I will pay the taxi guy. Stop the bus, eventually find the cash to pay for the bus, that will take me to the double bed waiting for me! Yes I was excited about a double bed!