Rio - Better than the lyrics suggest

If you can't remember the song about Rio by Peter Allen then you are blessed. Suffice to say the city itself is much better.

Mind you our visit to what is often reported as a potentially dangerous city did get off to a slightly unnerving start when, on checking in for our flight to Rio, they wanted to know the name and phone number of my next of kin. We were also offered a secure wrapping service for our luggage, but declined. I am pleased to report that now just hours from our (very) early morning departure to Lima there has been no cause to contact my next of kin or rue any lost luggage.

No prizes for guessing what this is...

But what of our stay in Rio? Well the weather has been consistent - the showers they have consistently forecast each day have consistently failed to eventuate - so we have had to make do with just occasional cloud to take some of the heat out of the days. On our first afternoon we ticked off one of the first "must dos" by catching the cog railway up to the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue, which sits atop the 710m high peak of Corcavado. You certainly get a reasonable view of Rio, from the beaches at Ipanema and Copacabana to the south around to the city center to the north east. You also get to watch hundreds of people trying to get their photo taken standing with their arms outstretched and the statue in the background. By the time we caught a cog train back down the hill the sun had set so we called an end to day one of our Rio explorations.

The Redeemer in cloud

Day two started with a trip into the city centre to buy a digital watch with an alarm to replace the watch I had dropped and broken at the airport in Foz yesterday. We managed to find a basic but suitable replacement for AU$20 and have a look at some of the old Portuguese style architecture in the process. From there it was a metro ride and a somewhat circuitous walk (including past a not altogether savoury looking fish market!) to find our way to the cable car up to the 396m high Pao de Acucar. It is actually a combination of two cable car rides to get to the top with excellent views on offer from the half way point (Morro da Urca @ 215m) as well as the summit. On this occasion the view included the Christ Redeemer statue half hidden in cloud.

Ipanema  Beach

Another combination of bus, metro and walk took us to the famous Copacabana Beach - which at this time of the late afternoon at least did not sport the number of g-strings one might have expected. However the combination of sand, sea and scenery meant they were not needed to appreciate an iconic location. After walking over half the length of the beach we continued on to the new hot spot - Ipanema Beach and walked a good part of that as well. For sunset we returned to the rocky headland at the start of Ipanema to watch the sun fade and the lights come on along the beach and in the favela (shanty town) perched on the steep slopes past the other end. On the return trip to our lodgings we found a supermarket where we were able to buy sufficient ingredients (we passed on the pigs trotters!) to cook our own dinner at the hostel.

The flea markets in the city

For our final day in Rio we started out by climbing the famous staircase Escadaria de Selaron, a set of steps covered with over 2,000 tiles from 120 countries in a mosaic style. We had no sooner reached the top than we decided to go back down and walk to the Saturday flea markets in the city centre. Still no lizards found but we stumbled across a stall selling little adaptor plugs that enable my European plug to connect to the new style Brazilian wall socket. Since it was now approaching the deadline of 2pm, when we had been advised it was not safe to wander in the city centre on weekends, we caught the metro back to Gloria to repeat our climb of the Escadaria de Selaron and this time continue on uphill to Santa Teresa. We took the short detour to view the magnificent (and free!) panorama of Rio from the Chacara do Ceu Museum. From the main street of bohemian style Santa Teresa we stopped at a delightful coffee shop to treat ourselves to a combination of late lunch and afternoon tea. It was all very pleasant.

From there is was an enjoyable walk back down the hill to our hostel for a lazy evening to relax and repack for our next flight to the other side of the continent - departing from the international airport  at the ungodly hour of 5:50AM!

Iguazu Falls

A view of central falls from Brazil

After seeing Iguazu Falls Eleanor Roosevelt is famously reported to have said "Poor Niagara". And with apologies to a friend who is from Buffalo NY I have to agree that Eleanor's comment pretty much sums it up. With over 270 separate waterfalls spread over 1.7 kilometres and the highest average flow rate of any waterfall in the world Iguazu is simply awesome.

Part of The Devil's Throat

Overall we spent two days exploring the Iguazu National Park from both the Argentinian side and the Brazilian side. Monday afternoon and all of Tuesday on the Argentine side and Wednesday afternoon (after crossing the border) on the Brazilian side.

The Argentinian side has more extensive access to the falls including to San Martin Island which is more or less in the middle of them. Luckily we went to the Island on the first afternoon because for the next two days the river level was too high for the little boats to ferry people across. A definite highlight was taking the 1.1 km long catwalk across the river which takes you right to the edge of The Devil's Throat, which is the most spectacular part of the falls. It was truly breathtaking to be so close to such a magnificent display of nature. We also ventured along a 3km nature walk (technically closed!) through the rain forest to one of the lesser falls. We saw a number of birds but never a Toucan - we are inclined to believe they are a marketing ploy!

There is much less access to the falls from the Brazilian side but you do get a more holistic "front on" view of the scale of the falls. There is a riverside walk of a bit over one kilometre long, including a catwalk that takes you out in front of one of the falls, for which our rain capes came in handy. The experience of the falls from the two sides is different but complimentary and together they give a complete experience.

A curious Coatimundi...

A butterfly friend

On both sides of the falls there are numerous coatimundi, whole troops of which constantly cased the seating areas around food outlets ready to grab anything that unwary visitors didn't keep a firm hold on. There were also hundreds of butterflies, some of which took a liking to settling on us.

As for other aspects of our stay in Puerto Iguazu (Argentina) and Foz de Iguassu (Brazil). Our digs in the former were really nice with a sumptuous buffet breakfast thrown in. Pity about the nearby dogs and roosters that tended to vie for attention during the wee hours of the morning. We also dined at a restaurant that served steaks large enough for us to share one that just melted in our mouths. The B&B in Brazil was not quite as homely and we didn't get to enjoy the full extent of the breakfast as our taxi to the airport was waiting. A pity the flight turned out to be delayed by an hour!

Buenos Aires on foot

Cute dog watching the traffic from balcony

After a fairly good night's sleep for one of us, while the other struggled with the street sounds of a Saturday night in Buenos Aires which our fourth floor window did little to abate, we arose for a fairly late breakfast.

However we made up for the late start with a fairly full day of exploring the city on foot. First stop (of course) was the famous Antique Markets which stretches out over a number of blocks. We also explored the redeveloped dock area and had a quick look at the "Rose Palace", from the balcony of which Eva Peron gave one of her famous speeches. We stumbled across an Italian Cultural Festival shortly afterwards which fortuitously has some very nice pasta vending stalls in operation.

Continuing our ramblings we had a look at The Obelisk en route to the "Hippy Markets" which are located near the Recoleta Cemetery. The latter are like no cemetery I have ever seen with elaborate mausoleums wall to wall. As the guide book suggested, you only had to follow the crowd for a short time to find your way to the memorial to Eva Peron.

Couple dancing at the markets

With our explorer legs not yet spent we walked on to the Japanese Gardens, with enough time to explore before they closed at 6:00pm. However with only so much we could expect of our jet lagged legs on day one we opted against a lengthy walk back to our lodgings and walked to a metro station instead. The metro was a little crowded given it was now Sunday evening, but since it cost about 25 cents each for 12 stops back to our hostel we weren't worry. A nice meal at a nearby restaurant, followed by viewing of an impromptu drum and dance group who samba-ed by, and we were done for day one.

We Have Arrived!

After touching down safely in Buenos Aires @ 7:05pm Saturday we were unloaded, through immigration, re-united with our luggage and through customs in less than 45 minutes. Due to our evening arrival time, and in anticipation of being sleep deprived, we had treated ourselves to a pre-booked hostel transfer. So for the first time ever there was someone waiting in an airport arrivals hall holding a sheet of paper with our name on it!

Thus, in spite of the distance of the airport from the city we were checked in fairly quickly. And it didn't take much longer for Laura to find a nice little bakery/pastry shop just up the street for a tasty snack before bed time!

Now for some sleep....

We have been warned...

Yesterday evening Laura was given some stern warnings by our Doctor about our schedule which involves flying from about sea level (Lima) direct to 3,400m (Cusco) - instead of going up to no more than 2,500m first and then ascending no more than another 500m per day. Well, perhaps we should have planned it better, and certainly not compounded the problem by flying down to the Amazon Basin and back up in the middle of our time-at-altitude, but too late to change plans now. We will just have to be sure we take it easy and hope that our anti-altitude-sickness medication does its job with no side effects.

The Countdown has begun...

In less than five days time Laura and I will be in the air on our 14h:25m direct flight to beautiful downtown Buenos Aires in Argentina. It has apparently been described as "The Paris of South America" but to be honest the only reason we are going there at all is because when we decided to go to South America, Aerolineas Argentinas were having a great special on direct flights from Sydney. Otherwise we would probably have left Argentina to a separate trip because we have a lot to get through in five weeks as it is.
We are basically doing a big anti-clockwise circuit that goes Buenos Aires - Iguazu Falls - Rio de Janeiro - Lima - Cusco - Machu Picchu - Puerto Maldonado (Amazon Basin) - Lake Titicaca - La Paz - Solar de Uyuni - San Pedro de Atacama - Valparaiso - Santiago - Buenos Aires. For a little over two weeks of that time we will be above 2,500 metres where altitude sickness can be a problem, as well as facing the possibility of "Montezuma's Revenge". However, with appropriate precautions we hope to keep both at bay.
This will not be a (boring) daily diary like Gullible's last blogging effort. This is partly because the daily diary became a real effort last time, so I figured I'd try for a less demanding episodic approach. The other consideration is that although most of the accommodation we have booked boasts of free WiFi, online reviews suggest that this is often more a case of wishful thinking than reliable actuality - which just seems to be the harsh reality of the region. So I'll just go with the flow and update this blog when I have the enthusiasm and the means to do so.
Stand by...