Paraty

So it's 24 hours and two buses later and we have arrived at the coastal town of Paraty (Pear-a-chee). It's a short stay...two nights and a full day. The agenda is a full day of activities with a very local outfit that is to show us all of the highlights on the outskirts of their town.

A little background...Paraty was founded in the 1600s as a result of the discover of gold in the mountains in the region. Paraty was the coastal town that marked where the gold was transported on to Rio de Janeiro and on to Portugal. Paraty was a frequent target of pirates and so they built the town with curved roads so that any invaders would quickly get confused and lost if they needed a quick escape back to the port.



Our small group started early in the day and we were taken to the local surfers' beach with so pretty high breaking waves...high enough to wisely not go out too deep the water and the rip currents. We then traveled on my foot for about a mile along the beach and the rocky outcroppings to an enclosed cove hemmed in my some huge volcanic boulders. It was a great spot for some snorkeling.





Our next stop was a real treat. The local black community was putting on a dinner for their association with some very, very authentic Brazilian food and live samba music. There were about 150 people there in the afternoon outdoor pavilion setting and our small group were the ONLY tourist there.



For about $10, we got a good meal of fish (cooked with plantains without the skin or even the bones removed from the fish), rice, pork sausage and black beans. Just check out the picture as I can't describe everything on the plate. It was very delicious meal and we were treated to the music and dancers afterward.





(pictured from left to right seated...Wendy (NYC), Seamus (Australia), Enzo (France) and Jasper (Holland))

Our trip wasn't over as we then went to the local swimming hole. I wish I could post the videos here (go to my Facebook page if you want to see) but there was a rock "slide" with water running down it, much like what you can find in some spots in the North Carolina mountains. This is in the rainforest instead. The locals were daring and had perfected their slide so well that they would take off on the rocks after a full sprint and glide down the slide nearly a hundred yards on their feet...not their butt like you would expect to slide...but on their FEET! We did it the convention way.

I'll eventually post the video on Facebook of the "sliders"...they were doing it all the way down the face of this rock...



And finally they took us to a local distillery, not much bigger than someone's backyard moonshine still. I'm not sure exactly what the drink was they were producing, but it
have differed too much from rum, as it was made from fermenting sugar cane.

Much of the Atlantic rainforest in Brazil along the coast has been destroyed for crop cultivation, but there are still a few strands remaining and it was nice to spend part
of the day there.

It's Monday morning now...we have finished up with Paraty and are on a local bus and then ferry on our way to the very secluded island between Paraty and Rio de Janeiro called Ilha
Grande.



(pictured...Bhavisha (London), Enzo & Wendy from front to back)

Paraguay

We are still in Foz do Iguacu today and had a couple of optional tours to take, in which I elected to do both. Our first excursion was to the super massive Itaicu Dam just outside of town and on the Brazil/Parguay border. The dam project was started in 1975 and the final generator wasn't in place until 2007. It is the largest dam in the world in power generation and second only to the Three Gorges Dam in China in overall capacity.
The Itaicu dam is so massive that it supposed 25% of Brazil's power needs and 90% of Paraguay's. Think about that for a second...that is massive!

I'll post a couple pics. I don't have a wide screen camera close to large enough to show the entire dam's width. Just know the top of it stretched well over a mile.

Our second excursion was a little shopping tour just across the border into Paraguay. Many, many Brazilians and Argentinians line up daily to cross the border by car, motorcycle and on foot to illegally buy up electronic goods, alcohol and cigarettes
duty-free in Paraguay. The border is mayhem. It felt a whole lot what I envision some madness I envision in some SE Asia city. I'm not sure that's a fair comparison based upon what some of my tripmates tell me.



My main purpose for this tour was just to mark Paraguay off my map. I admit it. There's really no other good reason to go there. The country is one of the poorest in the world. It has an ongoing Yellow Fever epidemic. The interior of void of much of anything. At one point, I saw a couple of individuals sprinting across the bridge and the border and heave a taped up box over the side onto the first spotting of land on the Brazilian side. Who knows what was in that box (drugs?). We were only there for about two hours, but
I had had my share in probably one.



It's off to the coast now as we go into the final week of the tour. It's a 24-hour bus riding cycle overnight and most of the next day from the border region to the coast, via Sao Paulo. The coastal region should have some spectacular pictures and beachlife.

Brazilian Food

Iguacu Falls

Iguacu Falls...the second largest waterfall in the world by volume. It is absolutely spectacular! We have been here on the Argentina and Brazil borders for the last two days observing the falls, the first day from the Brazilian side and the second from Argentina.

We spent Tuesday in the Uruguayan border, going to a hot springs and each having cheap massages...both relazing and nice.

Tuesday night, we took the overnight bus from Uruguay, back into Argentina, and to the border city of Foz do Iguacu.

Iguacu Falls has over 250 falls spread over a 1.7 mile area, each dropping approximately 230 feet. The falls were "up" on our visit so the views and walks were amazing.

We took panoramic shots. We did catwalks above the falls. We took a jungle float through the rain forest and finally we took the riverboat below the falls right up to the foot of the spray (just like the Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls).

Iguacu is definitely the highlight of the trip and in my top 3 experiences ever.

Oh..and it's HOT here. Try about 95 degrees the last two days with heat indices probably around 105...and sunny skies. Air conditioning is only marginally functional too. Tomorrow we have a couple of activities planned and then over 20 hours of bus connections to our next destination.







Below: our approach by boat. I had the put the camera up in a dry bag at this point because there wasn't a stitch of dry clothing on me after we made our first pass.





A coati ...member of the raccoon family.

Montevideo, Uruguay

Just finished up an entire weekend in Uruguay's capital city. It's not the most exciting country. It's been a good weekend, but nearly two days here is far too long. Montevideo is huge...well over a million people, but it doesn't have the wealth or feel of a city of comparable size, in say, the US. It also houses over half of the country's population, so Montevideo is very important to Uruguay.

The few happening things in Uruguay:
- the "meat market" down by the piers...there are many parrillas (open grill restaurants) set up inside the market. The food is all meat (steaks, chicken, chicken hearts! and sausages) and all delicious. I've been down there twice.

- there was a huge political gathering in the main square. There were over 1000 people there with several hundred large country flags waving and many, many samba drums playing. Uruguayans are quite a passionate people. It's even more amazing watching people get excited over a political party/candidate. I can think of one I would have gotten this excited about.

Montevideo in pitures - I took a three hour bus tour this morning that was helpful pulling these together...

Uruguay countryside...land of the gaucho (South American cowboy)



Uruguayans favorite drink, mate, made from a local crush holly leave plant and drank like coffee through a metal straw that has a filter...EVERYBODY has them





Any takers on this one?



My favorite building in Montevideo...right in their Independence Plaza

Colonia, Uruguay

It is finally time to get out of Buenos Aires in what is probably the longest I've ever spent in one city on one visit, besides probably Washington DC. We left BA this morning, taking the fast boat ferry across the Rio de la Platta over to Uruguay. Our first stop, of several, is to be the old Portuguese port city of Colonia. Colonia was founded when the Portuguese needed a city close enough to BA to be their base port for illict trade into Argentina. The Spanish countered by later building Montevideo.

Colonia is small, only about 22,000 people. The old town is still intact with many buildings and streets looking the part of 1700. Our group took a taxi from the port for a short ride over to our hotel. It was one of the few minutes we were sharing rooms in a hostel-like environment, five of us guys to a single room. We quickly had lunch and were then free to explore the city on our own. I rented a mountain bike, great for the semi-hilly and cobblestoned streets.

Uruguay is the third wealthiest country in South America, so I'm not moving into the developing world with the next serious of stops. Uruguay has just enough poverty though to keep things interestng at times. The people are supposedly very friendly and proud of their small nation (only 3 million people) squeezed between larger Argentina and Brazil.

A large thunderstorm hit late in the afternoon, ending the bike ride a little early. It rained for a couple hours and then got very windy for the rest of the evening and overnight. Our group had a more intimate dinner that night at an in-house restaurant in the old city at a couple's house. The menu was exclusively in Spanish and was difficult and confusing to read, but I ended up with the salmon on a sweet citrus orange sauce (yum) with a side of thick-sliced homemade potato chips that were only slightly crisp. I wanted juice for my beverage but couldn't understand the waitress when she was taking orders and went with the safe bet of apple juice, since "manzana" was the only recognizable word I could gather from her verbal list. I thought she said "banana" at one point and jumped for the banana juice only to get a good laugh and jibbing from her to think I could have a banana beverage...lol. I tried. :/

We only briefly stay in Colonia and move on to Montevideo in the morning...the capital city that houses half of the entire country's population.

Aussie David is traveling with his newleywed wife, Eleanore, and is enjoying the chloresterol-bomb, chivito sandwich, shown here (steak sandwich with cheese, ham, egg, bacon, etc)





Empanadas - a South American favorite. They come with just about anything on the inside (but typically a meat and veggie mix)



Our cramped van transport from the ferry port. Shown - Eleanore from Australia, Anzo from France, back of Mathias from Denmark and Emilee (Anzo's newleywed wife). Some of them had multiweek trips prior to this GAP trip (Peru and Bolivia are popular stops...Bolivia sounds like a "hoot")

Day 5 - Buenos Aires

It's my last day here in Argentina's capital. Reflecting back, my original opinion on BA wasn't a good one. This truly is a magnificent capital city and I have enjoyed my time here. In fact, I might even agree to an extent on it's designation as the "Paris of the Love". It was really by design to. There was wide sweeping boulevards in many areas of the city, many of them tree lined.
There is a cafe culture here as well. Another Paris comparison, the couples here are quite amiable. There is kissing everywhere. And one last Paris comparison, they have Paris' trash problems as well. There are trash cans on every street but the locals have no idea what to use them for. I've seen many people just tear the wraps or lids off of their food and dispose of the garbage right on the street. It's
a shame too, because they don't realize what a beautiful city they are trashing. And the trash is VERY noticeable. Thankfully, it's mostly just plastic and paper and none of the stinking, rotting food you'll find
in many cities.



The itinerary has been a little slower the last two days. I finally got to meet up with my touring group yesterday. For those of you that don't know, I'm doing most of this trip with a company called GAP Adventures(Great Adventure People). I have not done a trip with a touring company since I was in DC in middle school. This won't be you're typical guided tour. Our leader makes clear that he is exactly that, a group leader and not a tour guide. Much of this trip, we are on our own. They just set the city-to-city itinerary together for us, arrange the public transportation, suggest entertainment options and help when any predicaments come up.
It's exactly what I'm looking for really, as my sole purpose to using a touring company is to be a little more social on this solo trips of mine.

Last night, we had a group meeting. There are 16 of us in all, but not everyone showed last night. OUr group consists of people from Denmark, the UK, the Netherlands, Ireland, Aussies (of course), France, Germany and one other American,
who just happens to live in NYC but grew up in Franklin, TN. Many of them have traveled elsewhere, so I hope to pick their brains throughout the trip. Many of them have been to Cuba, so I'm interested in hearing about their experices
there as well.

We left our group meeting and had a group dinner. Zema, our Brazilian leader, as for suggestions...and I'm the first to buzz in. I was so disappointed with my steak dinner for two days prior that I requested red meat. I got my wish.
Not only that, he took us to a place that had a wait and a line out the door, which is something I've not seen all week. I ate a parrilla earlier in the week, but the one last night was an all-you-can eat affair. I forgot my camera,
which is a true shame because you should have seen the hunks of meat that were served. You took your plate to the grill and just pointed at the meat selection that you were interested in. There was chicken, pork, steak, ribs, sausage
and organ meet for the true carnivore. Top that off with a free dessert and also a full liter to drink (wine, beer or soft drink). You got all of that for the price equivalent of $15 (tip included). Wow!

Argentina is cheap for Americans. There's not too many places left in the world where that can be said with the currently devalued US$. Argentina has had major economic woes for a decade now. Their government default on their foreign
debt back in 2001. Part of the arrangement for a $10B IMF loan was the condition that they could no longer peg their currency with the US$, but it instead had to float on the open market. Considering their economic conditions at the time,
this was a very bad thing for Argentina and the peso and a very good thing for incoming world travelers, as Argentina instantly became a bargain overnight. The situation has improved considerably, but Argentina was hit hard again during the
current recession.

So how cheap is Argentina right now?

- my hostel for the first half of the week was $12/night. Typically I pay $20-25 or even $30-40 in Europe.
- I've had good street food for $1.50 (smoked sausage on a bun, ice cream, carton of OJ, etc). Most meals are 50-70% what you would pay back home.
- Subway fares are the rock-bottom single trip price of about 25 cents!!! I'm basically riding the subway for free. The taxi fare roundtrip last night was $6..for about three miles in the city, split three ways ($2 each)

The temps have started to warm. Today was around 83-84 with no clouds in the sky. It's been very nice all week.

Tomorrow starts another day and a new city and a new country. We take a ferry early in the morning for three hours across the Rio de la Plata to Colonia in Uruguay. Get your Google maps out, you'll need it for the rest of the trip.


An impromptu street band...



This skyscraper was built in the 1930s (around the same time as the Empire State Building and was the largest in Latin America at its time. It rises about 350 feet.



Monument to the dead of the 1982 Falkland Islands War between Britain and Argentina. Think the soldier's faces still appear bitter?



Puzzling Argentina questions...does cotton grow on trees?...the trees even "rain" here. It's happened a few times where it will be sprinkling under blue skies and it is spitting raindrops under the trees...weird stuff...answers hopefully to come...

Strike Out

Day 3 - Still in Buenos Aires

Big plans...I'm going to the most popular neighborhood in BA today...all the way across town. I'm headed to the subway station and...there's picketers, lots of them, wearing the national light blue and white. South America is infamous for strikes, but comeon...it's Day 3 of my vacation and they choose today to go on strike. If you know me, I plan out everything to a T and all of those plans for today just got thwarted.

But all is well in the land of sun and 70s. I still made a good day of it. I just got back from a hour ride along the Rio de la Plata (the giant river/harbor/ocean inlet separating Argentina from Uruguay). It was beautiful out there. I had a delicious steak dinner at a parrilla just prior. I've had dulce de leche and banana milkshakes too. Hopefully all of this biking and walking is burning that off.

So let's back up to yesterday. If you've seen the movie, "Evita", you might recognize the former First Lady of Argentina's gravesite that I visited. Eva Peron and her husband led Argentina in the 40's and 50's before she died tragically of cancer in 1953. The cemetery where she is buried is a giant "city of the dead"...and that's no joke. I've never seen a more decorated cemetery in my life. There were thousands of tombs just like the ones pictured. All of the tombs were monuments to the rich and famous in society and housed stained glass windows, monuments, etc.



I got my Yellow Fever vaccination this morning. I'm supposed to get it ten days before I enter mosquito territory, but I got mine just a week prior. Hopefully those three little days doesn't result in death or anything tragic like that. Yellow Fever is fairly rare, but if you get it you have about a 5% death rate with no cure. Nice huh? It's free here...$100 in Knoxville. It was a no-brainer to me. Thankfully, the clinic I went to was pretty much setup for the sole purpose of this vaccine. Otherwise, it's no telling what I would have gotten with my Spanish.

Speaking of my Spanish, I was still on my sugar kick this afternoon and stopped at a windowside cafe that was advertising hot and cold coffee and chocolate drinks. They had some listings for "dulce de leche" (caramel), which is always delicious stuff and is pretty common here in desserts. They advertised a frasco (translated...a small bottle) of the stuff for about $3. Yum...hot or cold dulce de leche for just $3...give me some of that. I order...paid...and she came literally with a jar of caramel sauce...lol. Um...let's just say that's not what I was expecting AT ALL. I guess I'll have something to go with those bland biscuits/rolls my hostel considers "breakfast" in the mornings. Those might actually turn out pretty well now.

Tomorrow I meet with my touring group in the evening. I don't think we have any plans tomorrow except just a change of residence. Hopefully, that goes smoothly. The fact the subway system is out doesn't make me happy about that tho.

I've been told by a couple of people that I need to be posting more pictures. Conforme!











The second to last picture is the Congress. The Capitol building was built in 1906 and modeled after the one in Washington.

And I swear, with this last picture, you might think I'm in DC, but I'm really not. They have a white obelisk here as well, surround by PLENTY of traffic.
So BA is starting to take shape as the "Paris of the South". Two more days here. I'll explain more once I've had the complete picture. Adios!