Wanted to go to El Chalten, which would make my trip from Puerto Madryn a total of 30 hours. When I arrived in a mid point, and asked for a bus ticket to El Chalten, the agent asked me if I'll go to Puerto Natales later on, I said yes, and he said that El Chalten is the same as Puerto Natales, but smaller, so there is no really a point of going there. I didn't argue to much about it, since I just saved 6 hours of bus rides :) instead I went to El Calafate which supposed to have the most amazing glacier ever. In El Calafate, most of the houses are made out of wood, and the hostel that I stayed in, was huge, and entirely made out of tree logs. The main street is filled with souvenir shops, and the chocolates that cost in Bariloche 100 pesos/kg, cost here 160!! I’ll let you guess if that stopped me from buying them :))
The cheapest "excursion" to the glacier cost 120 pesos, which just consists of a bus ride there that picks you up in the hostel. It went up to 150 pesos! At the end, what I do most of the time anyway, I went to the bus terminal and got a ticket on a regular public bus for 100.
The glacier - Perito Moreno, is one of the most beautiful natural things I've ever seen. It's so huge and blue and it glows !! It's 32 km long, 5 km wide, and 72 meters tall. I felt like I was watching some animal, you never know what it's going to do next, it's like it was alive. It advances about 2 meters a day, and because of it, it constantly breaks. The little chunks of ice make such an unbelievable sound, like a thunder. First it hits the water, and only afterwards you hear the splash, which doesn't sound like a splash at all. It was like a meditation watching it, I had no thoughts of the present, no feelings, no sense of time.
Every picture I've seen of it, was completely different, and unrecognizable, since it changes its shape almost daily.
Since it advances 2 meters a day, one part of it, hits the ground, and has nowhere to go, so the ice goes up and the water on both sides wants to flow and so the tunnel is produced. And about every 4-5 years, this tunnel collapses, which is supposed to be the most amazing thing ever. Well, I can imagine, if a little chunk produces so much noise, how much noise will that make!! There is a video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLazY-5zxFQ, too bad it's without a sound :(
Arrived in Chile in Puerto Natales in the afternoon. Puerto Natales is a gateway to the most important national park in South America "Torres del Paine". The next day I wanted to go to the park, but I met 2 nice people in the hostel, and they convinced me to stay in town for the Christmas eve. Ok, I stayed. The owner made a very nice dinner, and everybody else pitched in somehow. In the eve everybody went out, except me ... I went to sleep :) Got up for the breakfast, quickly run out of energy, wanted to lie down for a bit, but instead slept till 3pm, a total of 15 hours! All I've been doing this last time is sleep and eat, but apparently, I'm not the only one :)
Merry Christmas everybody !! :)) That day went with the girl to do a warm up hike to a nearby hill. After half an hour, we discovered that we went in the wrong direction, and that's after asking people if we're going in the right direction :S We were walking all the way back with our thumb up hoping to hitchhike, and about 20 cars later, somebody did stop :)) We said that we want to go to the hill "hill name", but instead he took us to the "hill name" town. We gave him a confused look saying we wanted to go to the hill, and not town. So he was very nice and drove us back, which was a 20 minute round trip. After huffing and puffing for an hour to the top, we almost got blown away, I haven't felt those kind of winds in my life. The view wasn't impressive, and at some time I couldn't breathe due to the wind speed, and we headed down right away. While there was no view, it was very nice to get out of the hostel and do some exercise.
The next day I headed to the national park. I only took with me 10 buns, salami, peanut butter, 4 bananas as my breakfast/lunch for 3 days. This was my first hike by myself, and it wasn't bad at all. I got to go with my speed, and actually didn't hate it that much this time. The views were nice, and there wasn't too much uphill. The weather predicted 40-60 km/hr winds, but only the first day it was very very windy, at times I had to sit down and hold on to a big rock. A part of the trail on the first day went by a lake, and the wind picked up some water and went like a sand storm towards me. The first time, I got pretty splashed, the second time I learned, and hid behind a tree. Good that the trail was on a flat ground because at times I would want to put my foot forward, and it ended up across the other foot on the other side :) Got to the refuge 6 hours later, had nice dinner, debated for a while if I want a $20 tent or a $40 bed, looked outside, and decided not to count my money :) Went to the bed, closed my eyes, and the next thing I've heard was an alarm clock. That was the first time in any hike that I've done when I slept for 12 hours :)) The next 2 days the weather was absolutely amazing, not a drop of rain, not wind to throw me off a cliff :) Arrived in the next refuge at 3pm, and met a very nice modern day Indian couple, who have a travel bug, and travel for 3 months each year :) They said it comes off their salary, but they don't care :) I asked if they had an arranged marriage, no they didn't. But they told me that about 50 years ago, there was only 1 person chosen for them, and they had to marry him/her. But now, there are about 5-6, you see each one of them for a few days, then decide, and then do regular dating for a few months before getting married. Which seems like a much better option. But they said that since divorce is still frowned upon in some villages, the couple actually makes a bigger effort to have the relationship work out.
2.5 hours from the refuge there was a lookout place with mountains which are supposed to glow red in the sunrise, so me and the couple got up at 3am to make it up to the top in time for the sunrise. Well, what do you know? A minute after we got out of the hostel, there was a river crossing, and I didn't see one rock very well, stepped on its side, twisted my ankle and fell into the river. All wet, dirty, and in pain :( A few minutes later, I checked if the foot moves, yes it did, so I gathered myself up, and continued limping till the top of the mountain. On the hardest part we split because the couple was walking slower, and I ran up to the top not to miss the sunrise. I've seen it somewhere 4/5 up, but that was a good place to see it from. It lasted less than 5 minutes, and then the colors turned regular. At the top, there were about 30 people, I stayed for 20 minutes, started to get cold, and headed back. 2.5 hours back to the refuge, and another 2 to the bus, I was finally there :) Back in town my foot hurt more and more, it was cracking as I was walking, and then it cracked again, and hurt less, I think it readjusted itself. I went to the hospital anyway. The doctor said that I stretched the "suhojilie" (sinew - if that's the word, I just translated it), prescribed me anti inflammatory pills and some sock which should make my foot move less.
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/ElCalafateTorresDelPaine#
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Puerto Madryn
Puerto Madryn is a city in the middle of nowhere and there is nothing to see there except a million of penguins and southern right whales, which is kinda of a compromise :)
I guess I got tired of a night bus, and was just sleeping everywhere. Was the first one to go to sleep in the dorm, and when other 7 people got in, I never heard them. Slept in the car to the tours both back and forth, something I was never been able to do before. I went to the tours with a more private and cheaper company. First we stopped at the beach with elephant seals. They just peacefully lie there, producing these weird sounds. The guide said is to get the salt out. We got pretty close to them, and I thought I could run away (just in case), that's until the guide started throwing stones at them. And the peaceful seals started growling, with sharp and fast movements towards us, their eyes got blood red, and opening their mouths as wide as they can. I don't think I could run away from that. The seals are about 4 meters long, and the way they move (like a wave), they could cover a distance of 3 meters with one move. That was very scary ! And he's like, come on, get a bit closer, I'll take a picture. Slowly, I got closer, smiled and got the hell out :)) Also, you can't stand between them and the sea, because it's their emergency exit, and they get upset, and when you get close, you can't stand up, since then you'll be taller then them, and they'll perceive it as a challenge. Then it was funny, the 2 males would fight for space, stand beside each other, growl, show their teeth, and half a minute later lie beside each other ... friends again :)
Next we drove the penguins. As soon as we got into the national park, we saw a penguin, and that was 3 kilometers from the ocean, I guess they like to walk. They're everywhere, and now all the penguins have babies, so the whole park was full of crying babies asking for food. These penguins dig holes, and just sit there, wait for their partners to come with some food. Some penguins were curious, so I played with them, gave them my hand which they pocked; sat beside one, and he was biting at my jeans (of course I let him :); One was turning his head (clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, counterclockwise) X 10 :) Then a lot were coming from the sea to feed their babies. I saw one feed, since it was sitting 1 meter from the path. The baby got so deep into the parent's throat that it almost disappeared :) Then another one was sun-tanning, and I sat beside him. He was good for a minute, until he got his wings up, head forward, and started to attack me ... ok, ok there penguin, I get your point.
Next day went to a whale trip. It's name is southern right whale because it lives in the "southern" hemisphere and is a "right" whale to kill. It's right because of its slow speed, its curiosity, it gets to the boat by itself, has a lot of fat, and floats when killed. Did I mention they are endangered?
The season has ended 2 days before I got there, but I still took my chances, and yep, there were still whales :) In the guidebook it said that the boat has to be with its engine off within a 100 meter radius from the whale and is not allowed to follow it, well I guess it's only guidebooks guidelines. They were close, but still a bit too far to clearly see. It was fun to see how they show their tail, but it means that they go deep, and off we went in search of another whale.
There were 3 people from the company on the boat. I was wondering why. I understood it when 2 whales, a mother and a baby approached really really close. A whale on the left side of the boat, MAXIMUM PROXIMITY! EVERYBODY KEEP YOUR SEATS, DO NOT MOVE TO ANOTHER SIDE OF THE BOAT!! Now I understood why, those people were running around, keeping everybody in their place, otherwise the boat would flip. The baby got about 1 meter away from where I was sitting, I was so concentrated about taking pictures, and looking through the camera, that I almost forgot to look at the actual thing, of course then I just got a few pictures of the sky and water, but at least I got a closer look :)) Then the 5.5 meter long, 5 tons heavy, and a 3 months old baby that demands 100 liters of milk a day, went right under the boat to another side where the mother appeared. ooooh, I wish I could be on the other side of the boat too !!!!!!!! :)))
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/PuertoMadryn
I guess I got tired of a night bus, and was just sleeping everywhere. Was the first one to go to sleep in the dorm, and when other 7 people got in, I never heard them. Slept in the car to the tours both back and forth, something I was never been able to do before. I went to the tours with a more private and cheaper company. First we stopped at the beach with elephant seals. They just peacefully lie there, producing these weird sounds. The guide said is to get the salt out. We got pretty close to them, and I thought I could run away (just in case), that's until the guide started throwing stones at them. And the peaceful seals started growling, with sharp and fast movements towards us, their eyes got blood red, and opening their mouths as wide as they can. I don't think I could run away from that. The seals are about 4 meters long, and the way they move (like a wave), they could cover a distance of 3 meters with one move. That was very scary ! And he's like, come on, get a bit closer, I'll take a picture. Slowly, I got closer, smiled and got the hell out :)) Also, you can't stand between them and the sea, because it's their emergency exit, and they get upset, and when you get close, you can't stand up, since then you'll be taller then them, and they'll perceive it as a challenge. Then it was funny, the 2 males would fight for space, stand beside each other, growl, show their teeth, and half a minute later lie beside each other ... friends again :)
Next we drove the penguins. As soon as we got into the national park, we saw a penguin, and that was 3 kilometers from the ocean, I guess they like to walk. They're everywhere, and now all the penguins have babies, so the whole park was full of crying babies asking for food. These penguins dig holes, and just sit there, wait for their partners to come with some food. Some penguins were curious, so I played with them, gave them my hand which they pocked; sat beside one, and he was biting at my jeans (of course I let him :); One was turning his head (clockwise, counterclockwise, clockwise, counterclockwise) X 10 :) Then a lot were coming from the sea to feed their babies. I saw one feed, since it was sitting 1 meter from the path. The baby got so deep into the parent's throat that it almost disappeared :) Then another one was sun-tanning, and I sat beside him. He was good for a minute, until he got his wings up, head forward, and started to attack me ... ok, ok there penguin, I get your point.
Next day went to a whale trip. It's name is southern right whale because it lives in the "southern" hemisphere and is a "right" whale to kill. It's right because of its slow speed, its curiosity, it gets to the boat by itself, has a lot of fat, and floats when killed. Did I mention they are endangered?
The season has ended 2 days before I got there, but I still took my chances, and yep, there were still whales :) In the guidebook it said that the boat has to be with its engine off within a 100 meter radius from the whale and is not allowed to follow it, well I guess it's only guidebooks guidelines. They were close, but still a bit too far to clearly see. It was fun to see how they show their tail, but it means that they go deep, and off we went in search of another whale.
There were 3 people from the company on the boat. I was wondering why. I understood it when 2 whales, a mother and a baby approached really really close. A whale on the left side of the boat, MAXIMUM PROXIMITY! EVERYBODY KEEP YOUR SEATS, DO NOT MOVE TO ANOTHER SIDE OF THE BOAT!! Now I understood why, those people were running around, keeping everybody in their place, otherwise the boat would flip. The baby got about 1 meter away from where I was sitting, I was so concentrated about taking pictures, and looking through the camera, that I almost forgot to look at the actual thing, of course then I just got a few pictures of the sky and water, but at least I got a closer look :)) Then the 5.5 meter long, 5 tons heavy, and a 3 months old baby that demands 100 liters of milk a day, went right under the boat to another side where the mother appeared. ooooh, I wish I could be on the other side of the boat too !!!!!!!! :)))
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/PuertoMadryn
Friday, December 17, 2010
Bariloche
Arrived in Bariloche very tired.
The city is beautiful, it sits on the lake, surrounded by snow covered mountains and has a lot of houses looking like chalets, and a bunch of chocolates and ice cream stores on every corner. They are so good !!! Much better than the world knows Swiss chocolate!!! It's a place where there are 4 seasons in 1 day. It could go from rain to sun to snow to sun from freezing to hot in a matter of minutes! Back in Mendoza it was really very hot, and after an overnight bus to the south, it suddenly became cold, so I'm back into my double sweaters, wool hat and scarf. It makes me think of how small the world is, how such a little inclination of the earth can cause such dramatic temperature changes!
Next day wanted to visit some cave, but the hostel people said it was not interesting, so I had a day to do nothing. After a trip to the chocolate store, I couldn't finish all of my chocolates because my tooth was hurting, so instead of going to the cave, I headed for a dentist with a hope that it will be a little tiny cavity. The dentist looked everywhere, and said that he can't find anything, and that my teeth are fine. We debated and debated, yes they're fine, no they're not, and so on and so on. He blew air into it, did some more sadistic stuff, and nothing. Finally I asked him to give me some chocolate :) He found one, and I could barely feel it, that was strange, but then I felt a little sensation at the back. He looked and said that there is no cavity, but some other thing, where the sweet goes inside under the tooth which causes pain. I asked how to fix it, he said that it can't be fixed, and he would actually recommend to remove the tooth .... WHHHHHAAAAATTTT?????? Here I am coming to the doctor thinking of a small cavity and ending up with a removal????
D - I suggest to remove it
Y - remove it, as in take it out?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!
D - you don't need this tooth, it doesn't serve any purpose
Y - aga, I get it, but can't it just be there
D - it's hard to clean, food can be stuck in between this tooth and the important tooth, and cause a cavity
Y - yes, it makes perfect sense, but no no no NO !!
D - come on!
at this point, I'm in a mild panicking state, can't imagine how it turned out to be that way. I think I have nightmares of the dentists since Russia. He tried to convince me for 10 minutes that it should be removed, while I asked every possible question on earth about it! Good thing dentists charge per visit, and not per time :)
Finally I agreed, and asked for a sedative. Mind you that a month ago I had lasik, and I was not even 10% as freaked out, as I was on that chair. I tried to close my ears, but I still heard cracking. Half a minute later, it was removed and I didn't feel a thing! All that was done without any assistant, the shshshshshshsh machine, no napkin on the chest. I got out of the chair all wet (from exhaustive sweating), toothless and happy :)) In the evening to compensate for it, I signed up for a 1.5 hour massage :)
Went for a trip to the thunder mountain and the black glacier. It was ok, but not worth the money. Well, I guess that I've been to enough snow covered mountains, and seen so much beauty that it just doesn't cut it for me anymore. When we got out to walk, the guide said to be back in the van at 5 to 4 and not to go where there are signs that the road is closed. I understood it as quarter to five, went one way, and then crossed to some road. There was nothing much to do, so I walked and sat beside a waterfall, waiting for the time to return. When I casually returned back, there were no people and only a guide waiting, that looked weird. Where is everybody? ... We're waiting for you for 20 minutes already. That was the first ooops. Then he said that I was not allowed to go where I went, there is a sign ... and the 2nd oooops !! I got on the road after the sign, so I missed it :S
The next 2 days it was raining and snowing, and all the beautiful view has disappeared. We all got stuck in the hostel, and there was no point going anywhere nearby because in all of Patagonia there was a bad weather. By the time the weather got cleared up, I met enough people in the hostel to rent a car, and make a much cheaper trip through the 7 lakes region. So an Israeli guy (Omar) my age, and 3 girls around 20 set off. It was so beautiful, I think the most beautiful ride I ever took, and it wasn't like in chunks, pretty here, and not pretty there, it was amazingly beautiful everywhere ! On the way back we went on a very poorly maintained road while Omar was driving. The girls at the back didn't let him live, every second they had a comment about how he drives. At one point the whole right side was with pot holes, while the left side of the road was ok, and there were no cars as far as you could see. The girls started yelling, "I'd prefer you not to drive at all, but since you do, stay on the right side of the road!" and on and on and on, they really ganged up on him! Poor guy!
Since the weather was bad, and I didn't want to sit at hostel and do nothing, I got in touch with some couch surfers. We went to a nice house party, where there was home cooking and singing. Everybody knows how to play some sort on instrument, and knows how to have fun, and nobody's shy, but really gives it all :) What I discovered later is that it's a group of friends, and they get together almost every day and do something. And while in Canada at 10 pm is usually some tv time followed by bed time, in here at 10 they still decide what will they be making for dinner (note that shopping has still not been done).
The next day was a full sports day. First I climbed on top of the hill from where there was a 360 degree view of the surrounding, and now I'm happy that it snowed because all the mountains where white, which made it look so beautiful! This was one of my favorite hikes. First of all, it was only half an hour, and second those kinds of views. Plus there were hawks, and they would fly around, and above, and kinda float in the air just 2 meters above us. If every hike was like that, I might even consider getting back in shape :)
Afterwards I rented a bike, and did a 4 hour circle tour. Of course I was walking my bike every time there was a hill, so I returned very tired, but it was so worth it, the whole trip was accompanied by wow, WOW, wow, WOW, wooooooowwwww !!!!
The next day we went up to a refuge in the mountain, but I didn't like it too much because the hike up was always up, and very steep, and we were walking way too fast, and the views were the same. Actually I liked the views better from the smaller hill because it was much more close and personal.
At the end, I ended up staying over a week in Bariloche because of bad weather, and I'm so glad it was bad, since it got me more time to appreciate the beauty of the city and the nature around it. Overall, I think it's my favorite city in South America so far (beauty wise).
Another night bus away, I ended up in some sort of desert ... lets see what it's all about ...
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Bariloche#
The city is beautiful, it sits on the lake, surrounded by snow covered mountains and has a lot of houses looking like chalets, and a bunch of chocolates and ice cream stores on every corner. They are so good !!! Much better than the world knows Swiss chocolate!!! It's a place where there are 4 seasons in 1 day. It could go from rain to sun to snow to sun from freezing to hot in a matter of minutes! Back in Mendoza it was really very hot, and after an overnight bus to the south, it suddenly became cold, so I'm back into my double sweaters, wool hat and scarf. It makes me think of how small the world is, how such a little inclination of the earth can cause such dramatic temperature changes!
Next day wanted to visit some cave, but the hostel people said it was not interesting, so I had a day to do nothing. After a trip to the chocolate store, I couldn't finish all of my chocolates because my tooth was hurting, so instead of going to the cave, I headed for a dentist with a hope that it will be a little tiny cavity. The dentist looked everywhere, and said that he can't find anything, and that my teeth are fine. We debated and debated, yes they're fine, no they're not, and so on and so on. He blew air into it, did some more sadistic stuff, and nothing. Finally I asked him to give me some chocolate :) He found one, and I could barely feel it, that was strange, but then I felt a little sensation at the back. He looked and said that there is no cavity, but some other thing, where the sweet goes inside under the tooth which causes pain. I asked how to fix it, he said that it can't be fixed, and he would actually recommend to remove the tooth .... WHHHHHAAAAATTTT?????? Here I am coming to the doctor thinking of a small cavity and ending up with a removal????
D - I suggest to remove it
Y - remove it, as in take it out?? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!
D - you don't need this tooth, it doesn't serve any purpose
Y - aga, I get it, but can't it just be there
D - it's hard to clean, food can be stuck in between this tooth and the important tooth, and cause a cavity
Y - yes, it makes perfect sense, but no no no NO !!
D - come on!
at this point, I'm in a mild panicking state, can't imagine how it turned out to be that way. I think I have nightmares of the dentists since Russia. He tried to convince me for 10 minutes that it should be removed, while I asked every possible question on earth about it! Good thing dentists charge per visit, and not per time :)
Finally I agreed, and asked for a sedative. Mind you that a month ago I had lasik, and I was not even 10% as freaked out, as I was on that chair. I tried to close my ears, but I still heard cracking. Half a minute later, it was removed and I didn't feel a thing! All that was done without any assistant, the shshshshshshsh machine, no napkin on the chest. I got out of the chair all wet (from exhaustive sweating), toothless and happy :)) In the evening to compensate for it, I signed up for a 1.5 hour massage :)
Went for a trip to the thunder mountain and the black glacier. It was ok, but not worth the money. Well, I guess that I've been to enough snow covered mountains, and seen so much beauty that it just doesn't cut it for me anymore. When we got out to walk, the guide said to be back in the van at 5 to 4 and not to go where there are signs that the road is closed. I understood it as quarter to five, went one way, and then crossed to some road. There was nothing much to do, so I walked and sat beside a waterfall, waiting for the time to return. When I casually returned back, there were no people and only a guide waiting, that looked weird. Where is everybody? ... We're waiting for you for 20 minutes already. That was the first ooops. Then he said that I was not allowed to go where I went, there is a sign ... and the 2nd oooops !! I got on the road after the sign, so I missed it :S
The next 2 days it was raining and snowing, and all the beautiful view has disappeared. We all got stuck in the hostel, and there was no point going anywhere nearby because in all of Patagonia there was a bad weather. By the time the weather got cleared up, I met enough people in the hostel to rent a car, and make a much cheaper trip through the 7 lakes region. So an Israeli guy (Omar) my age, and 3 girls around 20 set off. It was so beautiful, I think the most beautiful ride I ever took, and it wasn't like in chunks, pretty here, and not pretty there, it was amazingly beautiful everywhere ! On the way back we went on a very poorly maintained road while Omar was driving. The girls at the back didn't let him live, every second they had a comment about how he drives. At one point the whole right side was with pot holes, while the left side of the road was ok, and there were no cars as far as you could see. The girls started yelling, "I'd prefer you not to drive at all, but since you do, stay on the right side of the road!" and on and on and on, they really ganged up on him! Poor guy!
Since the weather was bad, and I didn't want to sit at hostel and do nothing, I got in touch with some couch surfers. We went to a nice house party, where there was home cooking and singing. Everybody knows how to play some sort on instrument, and knows how to have fun, and nobody's shy, but really gives it all :) What I discovered later is that it's a group of friends, and they get together almost every day and do something. And while in Canada at 10 pm is usually some tv time followed by bed time, in here at 10 they still decide what will they be making for dinner (note that shopping has still not been done).
The next day was a full sports day. First I climbed on top of the hill from where there was a 360 degree view of the surrounding, and now I'm happy that it snowed because all the mountains where white, which made it look so beautiful! This was one of my favorite hikes. First of all, it was only half an hour, and second those kinds of views. Plus there were hawks, and they would fly around, and above, and kinda float in the air just 2 meters above us. If every hike was like that, I might even consider getting back in shape :)
Afterwards I rented a bike, and did a 4 hour circle tour. Of course I was walking my bike every time there was a hill, so I returned very tired, but it was so worth it, the whole trip was accompanied by wow, WOW, wow, WOW, wooooooowwwww !!!!
The next day we went up to a refuge in the mountain, but I didn't like it too much because the hike up was always up, and very steep, and we were walking way too fast, and the views were the same. Actually I liked the views better from the smaller hill because it was much more close and personal.
At the end, I ended up staying over a week in Bariloche because of bad weather, and I'm so glad it was bad, since it got me more time to appreciate the beauty of the city and the nature around it. Overall, I think it's my favorite city in South America so far (beauty wise).
Another night bus away, I ended up in some sort of desert ... lets see what it's all about ...
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Bariloche#
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Mendoza
So you know how when you get into the taxi and they start chatting with you ... like "where are you from?", "how many days will you be here?", "do you like Argentina?", "is this your first time in the city?" ... how does that sound like? If this sounds normal to you, well get ready to be fooled, cause this last question is not innocent at all ! If you say "yes", the taxi will drive you round and round, and you'll end up paying double than you were supposed to. I discovered it in Cordoba, when the regular price was 10 pesos, and I paid 15. Although it's only a dollar or so more, from now on my answer will be "sure, I know this city as the palm of my hand".
Arrived in Mendoza in the wine city of Argentina. Since it was 9pm, I chose a hostel close to the bus station, so I won't have to walk far in the dark, well the girl in the tourist information, sent me the wrong way, and instead of 3 blocks, I ended up walking 10. The hostel had great reviews on the internet, especially how friendly the stuff is ... no they're not! They're the most unfriendly people (well expect one hostel in Bolivia) I've ever seen, so the first thing in the morning, I was out of there.
Mendoza is so hot! We went to walk in a park, and at 8pm, I was still sweating, next day I didn't get out of the hostel until 7pm. The city is in the middle of a desert, but there was one genius who planted so many trees everywhere that makes living in Mendoza a little bit more bareble.
I met a guy (Jacob) and a girl (Zabu) in the hostel from France and Germany, and both of them live in Belgium right now, and we went to a wine tour together. All the tour agencies charge 70 pesos to go to a town half an hour away, and rent a bicycle, but we took a public bus which cost 4 pesos both ways, and rented a bicycle on the location, which was another 20 pesos. These tour agencies!!
There are approximately 14 wineries accessed by the bicycle, but in the 4 hours, we only had enough time for 4. One of the vineries produces 13 million litters of wine per year. I can't even imagine this kind of number! So the point of these vineries is to visit them, the owners will give a short explanation, and then give you to try their wine either for free or for a small charge. One was a chocolate factory. The owners weren't friendly, but for $4, we ate bread with various olive/pepper/eggplant dips, had 2 shots of licor each, different jams, and chocolates. Then we ended up in one very modern vinery, where we had lunch.
In the evening me and Jacob went to a salsa congress. In this city of 100,000 people, there were truely professional dancers, I was very surprised. Then a show started. A few couples were really very bad. Then another couple came in, the girl walked on the stage, then turned around, and she had this ballet skirt on (the one that goes horizontaly out), and a j-string. My eyes got popped out!! Then another couple danced bachata, and in the middle of the dance, the guy took off the girls dress, so she ended up in a bra and underware, by that time, my jaw had dropped :))I danced the night away with some locals, they dance so good that at 1am I already wanted to go back to the hostel, and I stayed there till 4am.
When me and Jacob got out, it turned out that he was drunk. He pulled me closed to him for a kiss ... what the hell? where did that come from?
note: all of the below was pretty much whined and not said
J - come on I want a kiss
Y - no
J - but why not?
Y - can we just go
J - why won't you kiss me, I thought you liked me
Y - 'thinking' - when did you get this thought from. everytime you tried to touch me, I took a step back, you didn't pay for any drinks or food, and I was dancing the whole night with other people
J - why did you invite me to go salsa with you then?
Y - 'thinking' ... no I didn't. I said that I'm going salsa, and you invited yourself over ... come on lets go
J - oh come on, kiss me kiss me kiss me
Y - .... dragging him out of the club, and starting walking very very fast
J - why are you running?
Y - thinking ... gee, I wonder why??
J - but why why why why why why whhhhhyyyyyyyyyyy????
J - for 20 minutes, he was jumping in front of me begging for a kiss ... talking about playing hard to get!!
I was thinking if I should kiss him, just to get rid of him, but then thought, what kind of behaviour is that? At 4:30am, I couldn't walk to the hostel by myself, and didn't really want to take a taxi either, so he was my only choice to get to the hostel safe. OMG! why was this club half an hour walking distance from the hostel, the walk never seemed to end!
Conclusion ... how can a guy in his 30s act that way??? And what's up with all this selfishness? "I want to kiss you" ... well kissing involves 2 people, and why am I supposed to feel uncomfortable with that kind of persistance?? Then I remembered a few of those moments, as in "I like you", "I'd like to kiss you", "I love kissing you" ??? What's wrong with men these days?? Since when is it a 1 person wish??? And on top of that all, they usually lean forward with a kiss, not giving a girl any change to back out. How about a test? Touch the hand or the waist to see how the girl reacts, take it slowly and make sure that she wants it too, instead of fullfilling his own wishes, and creating and uncomfortable situation? And then I have to explain myself? And he would usually feel upset and rejected? Well, look beyond your nose buddy!
Thank god next day I was checking out, I don't know what I would've done if I stayed in the hostel for more days, probably will fill my days up so I wouldn't show up there, but then again, why did it become my problem?
Anywho ... the next day, I went to the bus station to buy a ticket to another town, well all the buses were full, and the next bus was in 7 hours. I didn't want to wait, so I looked at the map, and there was an interesting spot 3 hours to the east, I bought a ticket there, and when I got there, it was saturday, everything was closed, and the tourist agencies only opened on monday. There was absolutely nothing to do at that place, so 3 hours later, 2 bus tickets, 2 taxies, and half an amount of the hostel, I went back to Mendoza. That was a fun day.
I arrived back at midnight, found a police station in the terminal, and asked the police to walk me to the hostel, since the way out of the terminal passes through tunnels, and no way I'm walking by myself in the dark in the tunnel.
Next day, I woke up sick :( took a shower, which took all of my energy away, and went back to sleep. woke up at 3pm. What to do, where to go? I was thinking to stay in Mendoza until I get better, but I was already tired of the city, and figured out that since I need to lay down and do nothing anyway, it's a perfect way to take a night bus to a new place, so I bought a ticket to Bariloche.
Buses are getting better and better. The hosts walk you to your sit, there is wifi, and in this one we were playing bingo.
The bus was full, and my seat didn't really work, at first it didn't decline at all, and then it didn't keep it's position, it's just my luck an 18 hour trip with a broken seat :( but then the person who was supposed to sit beside me didn't show up, and I was the only one on the bus with 2 seats ... yep, it is my luck !! :)) But in the middle of the night, one of the tires exploded, and then there was a road block, so we arrived 2 hours later, I could barely sit anymore, that was a long drive!
If I knew how the north of Argentina was, I would've skipped everything and came straight to Mendoza, or better yet, Bariloche.
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Mendoza#
Arrived in Mendoza in the wine city of Argentina. Since it was 9pm, I chose a hostel close to the bus station, so I won't have to walk far in the dark, well the girl in the tourist information, sent me the wrong way, and instead of 3 blocks, I ended up walking 10. The hostel had great reviews on the internet, especially how friendly the stuff is ... no they're not! They're the most unfriendly people (well expect one hostel in Bolivia) I've ever seen, so the first thing in the morning, I was out of there.
Mendoza is so hot! We went to walk in a park, and at 8pm, I was still sweating, next day I didn't get out of the hostel until 7pm. The city is in the middle of a desert, but there was one genius who planted so many trees everywhere that makes living in Mendoza a little bit more bareble.
I met a guy (Jacob) and a girl (Zabu) in the hostel from France and Germany, and both of them live in Belgium right now, and we went to a wine tour together. All the tour agencies charge 70 pesos to go to a town half an hour away, and rent a bicycle, but we took a public bus which cost 4 pesos both ways, and rented a bicycle on the location, which was another 20 pesos. These tour agencies!!
There are approximately 14 wineries accessed by the bicycle, but in the 4 hours, we only had enough time for 4. One of the vineries produces 13 million litters of wine per year. I can't even imagine this kind of number! So the point of these vineries is to visit them, the owners will give a short explanation, and then give you to try their wine either for free or for a small charge. One was a chocolate factory. The owners weren't friendly, but for $4, we ate bread with various olive/pepper/eggplant dips, had 2 shots of licor each, different jams, and chocolates. Then we ended up in one very modern vinery, where we had lunch.
In the evening me and Jacob went to a salsa congress. In this city of 100,000 people, there were truely professional dancers, I was very surprised. Then a show started. A few couples were really very bad. Then another couple came in, the girl walked on the stage, then turned around, and she had this ballet skirt on (the one that goes horizontaly out), and a j-string. My eyes got popped out!! Then another couple danced bachata, and in the middle of the dance, the guy took off the girls dress, so she ended up in a bra and underware, by that time, my jaw had dropped :))I danced the night away with some locals, they dance so good that at 1am I already wanted to go back to the hostel, and I stayed there till 4am.
When me and Jacob got out, it turned out that he was drunk. He pulled me closed to him for a kiss ... what the hell? where did that come from?
note: all of the below was pretty much whined and not said
J - come on I want a kiss
Y - no
J - but why not?
Y - can we just go
J - why won't you kiss me, I thought you liked me
Y - 'thinking' - when did you get this thought from. everytime you tried to touch me, I took a step back, you didn't pay for any drinks or food, and I was dancing the whole night with other people
J - why did you invite me to go salsa with you then?
Y - 'thinking' ... no I didn't. I said that I'm going salsa, and you invited yourself over ... come on lets go
J - oh come on, kiss me kiss me kiss me
Y - .... dragging him out of the club, and starting walking very very fast
J - why are you running?
Y - thinking ... gee, I wonder why??
J - but why why why why why why whhhhhyyyyyyyyyyy????
J - for 20 minutes, he was jumping in front of me begging for a kiss ... talking about playing hard to get!!
I was thinking if I should kiss him, just to get rid of him, but then thought, what kind of behaviour is that? At 4:30am, I couldn't walk to the hostel by myself, and didn't really want to take a taxi either, so he was my only choice to get to the hostel safe. OMG! why was this club half an hour walking distance from the hostel, the walk never seemed to end!
Conclusion ... how can a guy in his 30s act that way??? And what's up with all this selfishness? "I want to kiss you" ... well kissing involves 2 people, and why am I supposed to feel uncomfortable with that kind of persistance?? Then I remembered a few of those moments, as in "I like you", "I'd like to kiss you", "I love kissing you" ??? What's wrong with men these days?? Since when is it a 1 person wish??? And on top of that all, they usually lean forward with a kiss, not giving a girl any change to back out. How about a test? Touch the hand or the waist to see how the girl reacts, take it slowly and make sure that she wants it too, instead of fullfilling his own wishes, and creating and uncomfortable situation? And then I have to explain myself? And he would usually feel upset and rejected? Well, look beyond your nose buddy!
Thank god next day I was checking out, I don't know what I would've done if I stayed in the hostel for more days, probably will fill my days up so I wouldn't show up there, but then again, why did it become my problem?
Anywho ... the next day, I went to the bus station to buy a ticket to another town, well all the buses were full, and the next bus was in 7 hours. I didn't want to wait, so I looked at the map, and there was an interesting spot 3 hours to the east, I bought a ticket there, and when I got there, it was saturday, everything was closed, and the tourist agencies only opened on monday. There was absolutely nothing to do at that place, so 3 hours later, 2 bus tickets, 2 taxies, and half an amount of the hostel, I went back to Mendoza. That was a fun day.
I arrived back at midnight, found a police station in the terminal, and asked the police to walk me to the hostel, since the way out of the terminal passes through tunnels, and no way I'm walking by myself in the dark in the tunnel.
Next day, I woke up sick :( took a shower, which took all of my energy away, and went back to sleep. woke up at 3pm. What to do, where to go? I was thinking to stay in Mendoza until I get better, but I was already tired of the city, and figured out that since I need to lay down and do nothing anyway, it's a perfect way to take a night bus to a new place, so I bought a ticket to Bariloche.
Buses are getting better and better. The hosts walk you to your sit, there is wifi, and in this one we were playing bingo.
The bus was full, and my seat didn't really work, at first it didn't decline at all, and then it didn't keep it's position, it's just my luck an 18 hour trip with a broken seat :( but then the person who was supposed to sit beside me didn't show up, and I was the only one on the bus with 2 seats ... yep, it is my luck !! :)) But in the middle of the night, one of the tires exploded, and then there was a road block, so we arrived 2 hours later, I could barely sit anymore, that was a long drive!
If I knew how the north of Argentina was, I would've skipped everything and came straight to Mendoza, or better yet, Bariloche.
http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/Mendoza#
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Buenos Aires
The city of Buenos Aires is beautiful. It's so clean, European like, very green, cars don't honk :) We stayed in the hotel right in the center of the action. The owner of the hotel is Russian, so we made her learn Russian again :) We had a stupid moment in the hotel. The electricity in the room works from a card. You put the card into some reader, and the electricity gets turned on. We put it in, and only the light in the bathroom works, so we asked for a technician. He came in the morning, all dressed up. Then he pushed the card more firmly into the reader, and tada! All the light is on ... we stood there .... uuuu... thank you. A little bit embarrassing :)) But what? It's not completely our fault, how come in the bathroom the light worked!!?? ;)
We walked around, and there is nothing but cafes cafes and more cafes!! All the stores sell cakes and chocolates, and somehow everybody in Buenos Aires is slim and not even chubby! There are so many tango shows in the city, and of course we have to go!! On the street a bunch of people are selling tickets, so we went to ask in one of the agencies. Not only we got the show for $40 cheaper, they also included a free city tour with it.
In the evening we went to a restaurant, and every time we go to a restaurant we order nothing but beef! And I have no idea why, they don't do anything with the beef except grill it, but for the whole 2 weeks that I've been to BA it has never tasted the same. And every time I took a bite ... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm O.M.G.!!!! I must be in heaven!!! It is soooo good !! The slices are thick, juicy, and easily sliceable with a spreading knife! You know how in cooking shows, they cook something, then try it at the end, and do the mmmmm sound? Well, I tell you, they're lying, they haven't tried the Argentinian stake !! :)) In the restaurant, there was a saxophone musician, playing saxophone to a popular music. It was so beautiful, that we had to order a desert just to stay there longer :))
Guess what?? Bon Jovi is coming to Buenos Aires !!! This is one of my favorite singers !! And last time he was in BA was 15 years ago... this MUST be fate :)) We went to the ticket master kind of office, and there are almost no tickets left, 2 good seats on the side of the stadium, and everything else in the front rows, we got the side seats. The tickets themselves where $125, and the ticketmaster fee was $40 !!! YYYYEEAAHHHH !! We're going to Bon Jovi !!! super exciting !!! :)))
The main street in BA is 140 meters wide, and is the widest street in the world. There are 4 lights to cross it, and good luck crossing it in 1 time. Only once we crossed it in 1 try, when it was cold outside, and we didn't want to wait :) There are 2 roads going 1 way. 3 lanes on one road, and 9 lanes in the other road!
Next day we went to the city tour. It was so boring, that I couldn't wait to get back. I can't believe people would pay for $17 for it !! BA is famous for street protests, and the day we took the tour of course one had to happen. The bus was going in all the zigzags that it could to avoid the traffic, but pretty much during the whole tour we were stuck in it. We stopped in Plaza de Mayo which is where the pink house is (similar to the white house in USA). We were given 10 minutes to run around the house, then we visited the famous soccer stadium with a coca cola commercials. The colors of coca cola are blue and red, which are the colors of the enemy team, so the coca cola signs were changed to black and white :) Then we stopped at caminito which is an Italian neighborhood of colorful houses, and finally came back. In the morning we went for our own city tour. It's so beautiful. All the buildings are restored, and there is a very interesting mixture of old and new. There is one amazing old church with new glass windows in it, another big old house, with a new tall house growing right in the middle of it.
This day we moved hotels. In our previous hotel they charged $40/night which was a good price, but then in 2 days, the price jumped to $100. In the evening we went to the tango show. We all had a tango class with a funny teacher who was weeping and giving high 5s to everybody, we learned 3 combinations, and then combined them. For 1 hour beginners class it was good, but the thing is, it's not right, you don't learn tango by combinations, the guy is supposed to lead the girl. Then we had dinner and watched the show. The show was very nicely done with dances, humour, singing, folk singing and dancing. One singer was singing "don't cry for me Argentina" in Spanish of course, with so much power and passion that I had tears in my eyes :)
We also went on a very relaxing boat tour in a near by town of Tigre, to the government house tour, and a flee market.
Going to the Bon Jovi concert !!!!! Whooohoooo !!! The tickets were for 5pm. We were waiting for the bus, and it just wasn't coming. So we took a taxi, got there, and the stadium is only maybe 10% full. We were wondering what had happened, and why in the ticket office they told us that there are almost no seats available. Waiting and waiting, and still no people, 3 hours later some band started playing, nobody's paying attention to them, people are still coming. 4 hours later it finally started. But I tell you. This 4 hours wait, was much easier than a 4 hour opera in Rio :) All the stadium was full !! Not one seat empty. We were doing waves and waving, or singing. Any time he would smile, and the whole stadium would go crazy :)) Nobody understands English, cause when he talked, there wasn't much reaction, but everybody knew all the words to all his songs :) and then they would leave and come back, and leave and come back. He has such a good and strong voice. There was this one song, where he let the public sing, and he's like louder, louder, and we just can't. The whole stadium in singing and it's so quiet. And then he started, with all his strength, I really don't know how it's possible ... so loud !! Our places were relatively close to the stage, but still we were looking at the big screens, and I thought since I barely go to the concerts anyway, so next time, front row!! On the way back, the taxi said, there are no buses so they charge 100 pesos. No thank you, I'd rather take the one for 30 pesos.
There is this one very famous cafe, it's in all the books, everybody knows about it, and I think it's the oldest cafe in BA. We went there, and there is a huge line to get in only to drink coffee or tea. We got the tickets to the tango show, and it was so boring! I didn't like the singers voice, there was no room on the stage for dancers, and I got bored after 5 minutes. I would've left at intermission, but decided to be bored 40 minutes more :)
Mom already learned Spanish, and gets along in the restaurants pretty well. She asks is this bbeeee eeeeee eee? He answers, no, it's oink oink. Very well understood :)))
Went to a tango practice, because everybody dances in there, so I figured that there will be less couples and I'll dance more than in a club. This turned out to be true, except that most of the people dancing tango are 60+. One grandpa asked me to dance, seriously, I don't know how he's still standing. We danced, and he asked me if I'd like him to take me back to my seat, and all the seats are around a dance floor which is 5 meters in diameter, and my seat is like 2 meters away, I have no idea what to answer and at the same time I don't want to make him feel uncomfortable or stupid, but I kinda got stuck with my reply :) Then I danced with actually someone who's 50- , and when he left, there was this 77 year old officer kind of grandpa. Usually I danced on a distance, and he's like, that's not how you dance tango, and pulled me up very very close. It was actually much easier to dance :) He was so strict though. Why did you move left, don't you feel the lead? I didn't move you left !!! YES SIR !!! But then during the break, he took care of me, brought me water :) Then he danced around the circle of the dance floor, and was bragging to everybody, look at her, it's only her 3rd time, she's from Canada! Look how she dances ! :)) I'm not going tango anymore! It's not fun walking back and forth, and yeah .. maybe I'll start dancing it again when I turn 50 :)
I met a really nice guy from Israel in the hostel. He made a short 20 minute film which won awards and now is shown around the world, and Israeli consulate pays for his plane tickets to go to the premier of his movie! Pretty cool !!
After a week, I got tired of Buenos Aires, people are way too rude in there. So all I did was sit in the hostel and caught up on my blogs.
Going to Toronto for 1 month+ !
I flew through JFK. The plane was so huge, I think it's the largest plane I've been on. It had 9 seats per row, and 50 rows. We had pretty good dinner and lots and lots of movies, but the seats didn't recline at all, and I couldn't really fall asleep. In JFK there was a huge lineup for passport control for about an hour, so I got out my book and started reading. 1 hour passed by, and I have my flight in an hour. I called the lady who stood there, and told her that I have a connection in an hour, and if it's possible to move to the front of the line. She told me that she was already going around, calling connection, connection. I said that I'm sorry, I didn't hear her. She said, well of course not, you are reading the book ! OMG ! That is so rude ! What am I supposed to do for an hour, stand and count flies?? They don't even fly in here !!
In Toronto, it took 10 minutes to get from a plane into the terminal. Super fast ! In the waiting area all the people were all by themselves. It was so strange to see that.
Overall impression on Toronto: people are stressed out, rude and gray with no life in their eyes, in a constant hurry, and too much by the book. The good thing is that none of my things got stolen yet :))) And fall colours are incredibly beautiful :)
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/BuenosAires#
We walked around, and there is nothing but cafes cafes and more cafes!! All the stores sell cakes and chocolates, and somehow everybody in Buenos Aires is slim and not even chubby! There are so many tango shows in the city, and of course we have to go!! On the street a bunch of people are selling tickets, so we went to ask in one of the agencies. Not only we got the show for $40 cheaper, they also included a free city tour with it.
In the evening we went to a restaurant, and every time we go to a restaurant we order nothing but beef! And I have no idea why, they don't do anything with the beef except grill it, but for the whole 2 weeks that I've been to BA it has never tasted the same. And every time I took a bite ... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm O.M.G.!!!! I must be in heaven!!! It is soooo good !! The slices are thick, juicy, and easily sliceable with a spreading knife! You know how in cooking shows, they cook something, then try it at the end, and do the mmmmm sound? Well, I tell you, they're lying, they haven't tried the Argentinian stake !! :)) In the restaurant, there was a saxophone musician, playing saxophone to a popular music. It was so beautiful, that we had to order a desert just to stay there longer :))
Guess what?? Bon Jovi is coming to Buenos Aires !!! This is one of my favorite singers !! And last time he was in BA was 15 years ago... this MUST be fate :)) We went to the ticket master kind of office, and there are almost no tickets left, 2 good seats on the side of the stadium, and everything else in the front rows, we got the side seats. The tickets themselves where $125, and the ticketmaster fee was $40 !!! YYYYEEAAHHHH !! We're going to Bon Jovi !!! super exciting !!! :)))
The main street in BA is 140 meters wide, and is the widest street in the world. There are 4 lights to cross it, and good luck crossing it in 1 time. Only once we crossed it in 1 try, when it was cold outside, and we didn't want to wait :) There are 2 roads going 1 way. 3 lanes on one road, and 9 lanes in the other road!
Next day we went to the city tour. It was so boring, that I couldn't wait to get back. I can't believe people would pay for $17 for it !! BA is famous for street protests, and the day we took the tour of course one had to happen. The bus was going in all the zigzags that it could to avoid the traffic, but pretty much during the whole tour we were stuck in it. We stopped in Plaza de Mayo which is where the pink house is (similar to the white house in USA). We were given 10 minutes to run around the house, then we visited the famous soccer stadium with a coca cola commercials. The colors of coca cola are blue and red, which are the colors of the enemy team, so the coca cola signs were changed to black and white :) Then we stopped at caminito which is an Italian neighborhood of colorful houses, and finally came back. In the morning we went for our own city tour. It's so beautiful. All the buildings are restored, and there is a very interesting mixture of old and new. There is one amazing old church with new glass windows in it, another big old house, with a new tall house growing right in the middle of it.
This day we moved hotels. In our previous hotel they charged $40/night which was a good price, but then in 2 days, the price jumped to $100. In the evening we went to the tango show. We all had a tango class with a funny teacher who was weeping and giving high 5s to everybody, we learned 3 combinations, and then combined them. For 1 hour beginners class it was good, but the thing is, it's not right, you don't learn tango by combinations, the guy is supposed to lead the girl. Then we had dinner and watched the show. The show was very nicely done with dances, humour, singing, folk singing and dancing. One singer was singing "don't cry for me Argentina" in Spanish of course, with so much power and passion that I had tears in my eyes :)
We also went on a very relaxing boat tour in a near by town of Tigre, to the government house tour, and a flee market.
Going to the Bon Jovi concert !!!!! Whooohoooo !!! The tickets were for 5pm. We were waiting for the bus, and it just wasn't coming. So we took a taxi, got there, and the stadium is only maybe 10% full. We were wondering what had happened, and why in the ticket office they told us that there are almost no seats available. Waiting and waiting, and still no people, 3 hours later some band started playing, nobody's paying attention to them, people are still coming. 4 hours later it finally started. But I tell you. This 4 hours wait, was much easier than a 4 hour opera in Rio :) All the stadium was full !! Not one seat empty. We were doing waves and waving, or singing. Any time he would smile, and the whole stadium would go crazy :)) Nobody understands English, cause when he talked, there wasn't much reaction, but everybody knew all the words to all his songs :) and then they would leave and come back, and leave and come back. He has such a good and strong voice. There was this one song, where he let the public sing, and he's like louder, louder, and we just can't. The whole stadium in singing and it's so quiet. And then he started, with all his strength, I really don't know how it's possible ... so loud !! Our places were relatively close to the stage, but still we were looking at the big screens, and I thought since I barely go to the concerts anyway, so next time, front row!! On the way back, the taxi said, there are no buses so they charge 100 pesos. No thank you, I'd rather take the one for 30 pesos.
There is this one very famous cafe, it's in all the books, everybody knows about it, and I think it's the oldest cafe in BA. We went there, and there is a huge line to get in only to drink coffee or tea. We got the tickets to the tango show, and it was so boring! I didn't like the singers voice, there was no room on the stage for dancers, and I got bored after 5 minutes. I would've left at intermission, but decided to be bored 40 minutes more :)
Mom already learned Spanish, and gets along in the restaurants pretty well. She asks is this bbeeee eeeeee eee? He answers, no, it's oink oink. Very well understood :)))
Went to a tango practice, because everybody dances in there, so I figured that there will be less couples and I'll dance more than in a club. This turned out to be true, except that most of the people dancing tango are 60+. One grandpa asked me to dance, seriously, I don't know how he's still standing. We danced, and he asked me if I'd like him to take me back to my seat, and all the seats are around a dance floor which is 5 meters in diameter, and my seat is like 2 meters away, I have no idea what to answer and at the same time I don't want to make him feel uncomfortable or stupid, but I kinda got stuck with my reply :) Then I danced with actually someone who's 50- , and when he left, there was this 77 year old officer kind of grandpa. Usually I danced on a distance, and he's like, that's not how you dance tango, and pulled me up very very close. It was actually much easier to dance :) He was so strict though. Why did you move left, don't you feel the lead? I didn't move you left !!! YES SIR !!! But then during the break, he took care of me, brought me water :) Then he danced around the circle of the dance floor, and was bragging to everybody, look at her, it's only her 3rd time, she's from Canada! Look how she dances ! :)) I'm not going tango anymore! It's not fun walking back and forth, and yeah .. maybe I'll start dancing it again when I turn 50 :)
I met a really nice guy from Israel in the hostel. He made a short 20 minute film which won awards and now is shown around the world, and Israeli consulate pays for his plane tickets to go to the premier of his movie! Pretty cool !!
After a week, I got tired of Buenos Aires, people are way too rude in there. So all I did was sit in the hostel and caught up on my blogs.
Going to Toronto for 1 month+ !
I flew through JFK. The plane was so huge, I think it's the largest plane I've been on. It had 9 seats per row, and 50 rows. We had pretty good dinner and lots and lots of movies, but the seats didn't recline at all, and I couldn't really fall asleep. In JFK there was a huge lineup for passport control for about an hour, so I got out my book and started reading. 1 hour passed by, and I have my flight in an hour. I called the lady who stood there, and told her that I have a connection in an hour, and if it's possible to move to the front of the line. She told me that she was already going around, calling connection, connection. I said that I'm sorry, I didn't hear her. She said, well of course not, you are reading the book ! OMG ! That is so rude ! What am I supposed to do for an hour, stand and count flies?? They don't even fly in here !!
In Toronto, it took 10 minutes to get from a plane into the terminal. Super fast ! In the waiting area all the people were all by themselves. It was so strange to see that.
Overall impression on Toronto: people are stressed out, rude and gray with no life in their eyes, in a constant hurry, and too much by the book. The good thing is that none of my things got stolen yet :))) And fall colours are incredibly beautiful :)
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/BuenosAires#
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Ilha Grande and Iguassu
The bus to the town from where the boat leaves to Ilha Grande was going through a beautiful jungle left and right and up and down. I was ok, enjoying the views, and mom from lack of experience got a bit sick. With work deadlines, and too much moving I actually learned to work on buses, and on boats, and on planes :) Mom was getting worried a bit that we didn't book anything on the island. Mom, we don't need to book anything. How can we go and not know where to stay? It's ok, we'll figure something out. We got there, and as always boys where running around "posada, posada", and we got a beautiful posada 1 minute from the harbor for an excellent price... And that's how you get a posada. mom - unbelievable !! ;)
In the morning got a tour around the island. Went to a place with lots of fish, but after red sea, Bermuda and Galapagos, it wasn't super exciting. And there were too many people in the water. So I went to swim away from them. I would kick a few times, and swim far far away, I thought to myself, I must be getting better at swimming ... um .. NO! that's no the case, it's just the current. On the way back I would try to swim hard but wouldn’t move at all, and when I stopped paddling, I would actually go back ... Oh oh. That's gonna be one hell of a workout! We then went to another beach, and another beach. But to enjoy it fully, I wished I had my own boat :))
Next day we wanted to go to a very popular beach, people said that it would take from 1 hour to 3 hours to get there. While walking in town in that direction, we got offered a boat to get there. No thank you, we're walking. We asked a few people for directions, they all pretty much pointed, but some people said that it's 3 hours, and we have to go over that mountain to get there. What? It's over a mountain, it's not along the shore, in this heat ... thank you ... boat, BOAT ... WAIT FOR US !!! :))
The beach was pretty, but for me it was a chance to catch up with my sleep, so I slept through most of our stay there :)
The way back was a bit tricky because we didn't know at which time to catch the boat back. The bus leaves the terminal from the town at 12 pm. There is a fast and more expensive catamaran at 8, or a slow boat at 10, which I don't know how long will take to arrive at town (approximately 2 hours). But I figured that the bus company is not stupid, and the bus won't leave before the boat comes, because the capacity of the boat is like 300 people. And yes, I was right, it arrived there just in time to comfortably take a taxi, order a ticket and still have enough time to eat something. But just to make sure, I asked the stuff which door will open on the arrival, and was the first time to get out, the first one to get a taxi, and the first one in line to buy a ticket, before everybody else shows up and we'll be left without a seat. 8 hour bus to Sao Paulo, and in there we find out that the bus to the airport costs R$32!! What kind of prices are these???? It should be normal city bus prices of like $R2, ok, a special bus for maybe 5. So we got a taxi for 70 instead. In the airport we were so tired, we went to an expensive restaurant and sat there until the plane, can't wait until it arrived !! The time finally came, we went on a plane which is 1:20 hours flight. 50 minutes later, I barely understand in Portuguese something that sounds like that the plane is going back to Sao Paulo. There is no reaction from anybody, so I thought I misunderstood it. Everything is absolutely normal, when I asked the stewardess what was said, and he told me that the weather is too cloudy, planes can't see the runway, so the plane returns back to Sao Paulo. I could not believe it, people like were smiley, continued to smile. We almost arrived, and now we have to go all the way back :( When we got back, we received a message that please stay in your seats until they make a decision ... half an hour later, they finally let us out, 300 people and the order and silence is unbelievable !! We all got a hotel voucher for the night, and a rebooked flight for the next day. Finally finally finally we arrived at the hotel at 4am! I thought this day would never end !! The hotel was the best hotel I've almost ever stayed in, I would give it 5 stars :) Too bad we only stayed there for 5 hours :))
When we arrived exhausted to Iguassu at 4 pm the next day, I really had to finish working that day. So I went to sleep for 2 hours, got up, and with a "fresh" head finished the work !! Yahooo !! :))
In the morning we went to Iguassu falls, which are the most beautiful and powerful waterfalls in the world, and are one of the 7 wonders of the world. The trail to and through the falls goes through a park which is filled with birds, butterflies, raccoon like things and spiders! :S The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometers of the Iguazu River, with a flow of 400,000 galons per second. Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States' First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!" The waterfalls were amazing, and very very powerful. I liked the waterfalls, but the driving there and back from hostel to falls, in the falls themselves was exhausting. After the falls we went to a bird park nearby. In the evening we went to Argentina side. In the border, they just opened a car window, the guy looked at us, and stamped the passport. I think all the border crossings should be that way :) The hostel in Argentina was so good! The room was huge, also with a kitchen and a table.
Next day it was supposed to be raining, so we didn't go to the falls, but it wasn't raining, so we just hung out in the town. The town is very pretty, it's small and extremely green. Now here's a difference between Bolivia and Argentina. In Bolivia: how long does it take to get there? ... Oh ... you'll never make it, it's like 5 minutes away, you must take a taxi !!! In Argentina: how long does it take to get there? ... Oh ... it's really close, it's 1 hour that way :)) We went to a 3 borders landmark. There a river crosses Brazil and Paraguay. Pretty cool.
In the morning we packed our bags, left them at the bus terminal and went to the falls on the Argentina side. I loved the Argentina side so much more than Brazilian. There is a 1.5 km bridge that goes over the river towards the falls, and then it stops right above the "devil's throat". You can't believe the power of that thing. You just look at it, and can't believe that it's real. There are also lower and upper routes which we walked through. The panorama is beautiful, the day was cloudy though, so the pictures are kinda gray :( There was a boat that goes beside the falls, but we didn't want to go, and then we debated debated and went there last minute. The boat went beside some waterfalls so we could take pictures, and then we hid everything in dry bags, and went right beside it, it felt like all over the sudden a strong strong rain began. We just sat with our eyes closed and screamed :)) And it did it 3 times !!! :)) We came out all drenched and happy :) And then I wondered why if we go voluntarily on the boat to the waterfall and pay for it, we get out happy, and when we walk on the street and it starts raining, we start cursing the weather and run away?
Guess what? Again we were late for our bus, we got there 5 minutes before it leaves, and we still have to change from all the wet cloths ... it's ok, they waited for us :) The bus was going to Buenos Aires for 18 hours. It was a nice bed bus. We were given pillows, blankets, candies and champagne. The movies where playing non stop. We got served a 3 course tasty dinner, went to sleep, and by the time I woke up, it was already 10 am. After breakfast and another movie we arrived in Buenos Aires.
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/IlhaGrandeAndIguassu#
In the morning got a tour around the island. Went to a place with lots of fish, but after red sea, Bermuda and Galapagos, it wasn't super exciting. And there were too many people in the water. So I went to swim away from them. I would kick a few times, and swim far far away, I thought to myself, I must be getting better at swimming ... um .. NO! that's no the case, it's just the current. On the way back I would try to swim hard but wouldn’t move at all, and when I stopped paddling, I would actually go back ... Oh oh. That's gonna be one hell of a workout! We then went to another beach, and another beach. But to enjoy it fully, I wished I had my own boat :))
Next day we wanted to go to a very popular beach, people said that it would take from 1 hour to 3 hours to get there. While walking in town in that direction, we got offered a boat to get there. No thank you, we're walking. We asked a few people for directions, they all pretty much pointed, but some people said that it's 3 hours, and we have to go over that mountain to get there. What? It's over a mountain, it's not along the shore, in this heat ... thank you ... boat, BOAT ... WAIT FOR US !!! :))
The beach was pretty, but for me it was a chance to catch up with my sleep, so I slept through most of our stay there :)
The way back was a bit tricky because we didn't know at which time to catch the boat back. The bus leaves the terminal from the town at 12 pm. There is a fast and more expensive catamaran at 8, or a slow boat at 10, which I don't know how long will take to arrive at town (approximately 2 hours). But I figured that the bus company is not stupid, and the bus won't leave before the boat comes, because the capacity of the boat is like 300 people. And yes, I was right, it arrived there just in time to comfortably take a taxi, order a ticket and still have enough time to eat something. But just to make sure, I asked the stuff which door will open on the arrival, and was the first time to get out, the first one to get a taxi, and the first one in line to buy a ticket, before everybody else shows up and we'll be left without a seat. 8 hour bus to Sao Paulo, and in there we find out that the bus to the airport costs R$32!! What kind of prices are these???? It should be normal city bus prices of like $R2, ok, a special bus for maybe 5. So we got a taxi for 70 instead. In the airport we were so tired, we went to an expensive restaurant and sat there until the plane, can't wait until it arrived !! The time finally came, we went on a plane which is 1:20 hours flight. 50 minutes later, I barely understand in Portuguese something that sounds like that the plane is going back to Sao Paulo. There is no reaction from anybody, so I thought I misunderstood it. Everything is absolutely normal, when I asked the stewardess what was said, and he told me that the weather is too cloudy, planes can't see the runway, so the plane returns back to Sao Paulo. I could not believe it, people like were smiley, continued to smile. We almost arrived, and now we have to go all the way back :( When we got back, we received a message that please stay in your seats until they make a decision ... half an hour later, they finally let us out, 300 people and the order and silence is unbelievable !! We all got a hotel voucher for the night, and a rebooked flight for the next day. Finally finally finally we arrived at the hotel at 4am! I thought this day would never end !! The hotel was the best hotel I've almost ever stayed in, I would give it 5 stars :) Too bad we only stayed there for 5 hours :))
When we arrived exhausted to Iguassu at 4 pm the next day, I really had to finish working that day. So I went to sleep for 2 hours, got up, and with a "fresh" head finished the work !! Yahooo !! :))
In the morning we went to Iguassu falls, which are the most beautiful and powerful waterfalls in the world, and are one of the 7 wonders of the world. The trail to and through the falls goes through a park which is filled with birds, butterflies, raccoon like things and spiders! :S The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometers of the Iguazu River, with a flow of 400,000 galons per second. Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States' First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!" The waterfalls were amazing, and very very powerful. I liked the waterfalls, but the driving there and back from hostel to falls, in the falls themselves was exhausting. After the falls we went to a bird park nearby. In the evening we went to Argentina side. In the border, they just opened a car window, the guy looked at us, and stamped the passport. I think all the border crossings should be that way :) The hostel in Argentina was so good! The room was huge, also with a kitchen and a table.
Next day it was supposed to be raining, so we didn't go to the falls, but it wasn't raining, so we just hung out in the town. The town is very pretty, it's small and extremely green. Now here's a difference between Bolivia and Argentina. In Bolivia: how long does it take to get there? ... Oh ... you'll never make it, it's like 5 minutes away, you must take a taxi !!! In Argentina: how long does it take to get there? ... Oh ... it's really close, it's 1 hour that way :)) We went to a 3 borders landmark. There a river crosses Brazil and Paraguay. Pretty cool.
In the morning we packed our bags, left them at the bus terminal and went to the falls on the Argentina side. I loved the Argentina side so much more than Brazilian. There is a 1.5 km bridge that goes over the river towards the falls, and then it stops right above the "devil's throat". You can't believe the power of that thing. You just look at it, and can't believe that it's real. There are also lower and upper routes which we walked through. The panorama is beautiful, the day was cloudy though, so the pictures are kinda gray :( There was a boat that goes beside the falls, but we didn't want to go, and then we debated debated and went there last minute. The boat went beside some waterfalls so we could take pictures, and then we hid everything in dry bags, and went right beside it, it felt like all over the sudden a strong strong rain began. We just sat with our eyes closed and screamed :)) And it did it 3 times !!! :)) We came out all drenched and happy :) And then I wondered why if we go voluntarily on the boat to the waterfall and pay for it, we get out happy, and when we walk on the street and it starts raining, we start cursing the weather and run away?
Guess what? Again we were late for our bus, we got there 5 minutes before it leaves, and we still have to change from all the wet cloths ... it's ok, they waited for us :) The bus was going to Buenos Aires for 18 hours. It was a nice bed bus. We were given pillows, blankets, candies and champagne. The movies where playing non stop. We got served a 3 course tasty dinner, went to sleep, and by the time I woke up, it was already 10 am. After breakfast and another movie we arrived in Buenos Aires.
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/IlhaGrandeAndIguassu#
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Rio and Ouro Preto
We had a print out from the hostel saying that the taxi to it costs R$30, but anywhere we asked we got as high at 75 and as low as 50. I said that it's written 30, I'm not going for any higher than 30. Drivers were talking, negotiating between themselves, and we were already going to take the bus, somebody agreed to go for 30. When we got to the hostel, the owner said that almost nobody does :))
In the morning went to walk in the forest which is right in the city. Walked through a few waterfalls and river crossings, went up some hill to enjoy the views over Rio, and on the way back decided to take a shortcut without any signs, and thank god we didn't get lost :) Somewhere in the middle of the forest, went to eat in the restaurant, and we were so tired, it was getting colder and darker, and had no energy to take all this road to the exit, so instead we caught a ride :) The guy was funny, he was only speaking Portuguese and we barely connected the meaning of what we said. He started playing with his phone, and then called somebody, in the middle of conversation he gave me the phone and said "talk".
um ... hello???
- who are you?
I don't know, I'm just sitting in your friends car. & Who are you??
so we were having a 3 way conversation, where his friend would translate from Portuguese to Spanish and back :) Instead of letting us off at the entrance, he kept on driving and driving, asked where we live, but couldn't understand where it is. Then he got into a garage, and both me and mom started to get a bit nervous. Where are we? Where are we going? ... I live here. hm ... then we got to an elevator, it opened, I said that I'm not going in. But as it turned out, it was an elevator to a street, not a condo, and he basically walked us to the subway station :) And waited until we got on a train :)
The location of the hostel is not very comfortable. It's located in some artsy neighborhood on a hill where no taxi wants to go because they think they'll get lost. Instead there is a little tram that goes from the hill down. But the thing is that this tram is touristic, so it goes super slow, with the driver stopping and explaining what's around. 1st time it was fun, but 2nd, 3rd, and 4th ... I think we need to change hostels!
Next day we went to beautiful botanical gardens. The gardens are huge with a view to the mountain with the Christ on it. Then walked around another beautiful lake with almost everybody doing some sort of sports, and went to another gardens where we saw an armadillo :))
Next day we went to walk in the city center. It's not what mom expected, so she wasn't too happy. Where is all the beauty she wondered? Walked through some modern church, a street market, a park with kind of big squirrels but without tails, then saw some cool library, and more buildings, buildings, buildings. It was Monday, so all the museums were closed, but mom didn't really mind that :)
Went to some crazy expensive buffet. First I thought that I don't understand Portuguese. Regular price buffet is from R$10 - 20/kg. Over 20 is expensive. So I asked how much it is, and she said 67.
What?
-67
67??
-yes, 67. 6.70 for 100 gr.
Holly *&^* !! But then I thought that if it's so expensive, it must be good. So we went :) And it was really good!! So many things that I haven't eaten for the longest time now like white asparagus, brie cheese, calamari, little cabbages, sushi !! yammi yammi :))
In the hostel they said that they're all booked for the next day, so we thought that if we had to pack anyways, it's a good time to go to Ouro Preto, which is a colonial town 6 hours from Rio. Ordered a taxi to the terminal and the driver charged us extra R$1.5 for each suitcase. What??? I told him that in a year of travel nobody charged that not even once. And he said that it's each drivers choice. I would've got out of the taxi, but we were already late. Like really late.
Ouro Preto is nice, it's a little town in the middle of the mountains, and since we were on the hill, we had a full window view on the whole town. so so pretty :) Everything was good, except that I got sick. And to get sick in a hilly town is not a good idea. I would take 5 steps, and sit for 5 minutes relax. And since our hotel was on the very top of the hill, every way up would be a real work out! 1 day in Ouro Preto is more than enough, so next day we went for a little walk in a neighboring town which is less hilly :) There we went to a gold mine, but that wasn't interesting, and it was hot, and we were hungry, and most of the restaurants close at 4, so good luck finding something until dinner time. Trying to get to the bus terminal. There are no taxis going in our area, so we asked the reception to call it. 20 minutes later, there is still no taxi, and our bus leaves in 5 minutes. We're getting very very VERY anxious !! but no choice but wait ... it finally arrived ! As it turns out, this bus terminal is like a minute away from us, just down the hill, although I'm still not sure how we would've gotten down that road with a suitcase.
Back in Rio ... our hotel is steps away from the very famous staircase. The whole steps are decorated in some colorful tiles. Then we went to a very beautiful church. Some ship captain got in a storm, and almost lost his life, and he promised to build a church if he gets home alive. He did, and built one of the most beautiful churches that I've seen. And it's not all religious, it has a lot of paintings from his journey, not only bloody Christ from all angles. Then we went to a super cool free navy museum. It had ships and helicopters, and the coolest of all a submarine!! Not only I've never seen a submarine ever, we got in it too !! :))) I think mom got a bit claustrophobic :)) In the evening went to a very beautiful cafe in some antique style. It was surrounded by huge mirrors and 1800 decor.
Matteus is in Rio !!! so we arranged to meet and go out to Lapa which is a crazy party places. Turns out, our hotel right in the middle of Lapa, you literally get out of the door, and you're already out :)) This place is crazy ! It's a bit scary during the day with all the homeless, and crazy/fun/safe during the night. We didn't want to go to any nightclub, cause they charge entrance fee, and then we'll just get stuck in there. So we danced beside the club :)) We ordered a caipirinya, and I ordered strong one, and the woman didn't even charge anything extra for it! I got drunk from 1/6 of the cup :) In one of the places I wanted to go to the washroom, as always there was a huge lineup to women's washroom, so I stood, and somebody came and asked if I want to dance. I said that I can't dance because I'll lose my place in the lineup. So we danced in the lineup to the washroom :)))
Next day we went up to the mountain with the Christ. It was all right. I've already seen these views, and of course they charge like crazy to go see it. And the whole city was in smog the whole time we've been there. Need to get better pictures from internet :) Above it, I felt very bad on the top, and I didn't have any pain killers with me, and there are no pharmacies on the top. So I asked some workers in the stores, apparently to get pills is not that difficult, lucky me! :)
In the evening went to a Romeo and Juliet opera in a beautiful opera house, for only $12! The play was ok, but it was looooooooooong 4 hours !! And we sat in a place from where we couldn't see about 1/4 of the stage. I liked 2 acts only where she's debating whether to take the poison or not, and when he took it, and she came back alive. But I don't think I'll be going to opera again. This is not something I'm willing to try 2nd time just to make sure :))
Things are changing slowly but surely. When I started traveling, I hand washed everything, I thought to myself, what am I crazy to pay $3 for a wash, I'd rather hand wash. Now, our hotel is in not a touristic area, and there is no per kilo wash, only some expensive wash by load. So now I'm thinking, what am I crazy to hand wash, I'd rather pay $15 for a normal laundry :)
Next day we walked on the beach, and nope, still didn't see hot Brazilian guys or girls. Maybe it's all hidden under the cloths, and it wasn't really a swimming weather :)
Next day we were leaving, but decided to go up the sugar loaf mountain. I think I got used to the views already ... why, is it supposed to look any different than that? :) We were in the hurry again to catch the boat from a town which is 2 hours away, so we got a taxi there, a taxi back, and a taxi to the terminal, it was an expensive day! When we got to the terminal the total was R$33, and the driver said, just give me 30. Really? That coming from a taxi driver??!! I must be dreaming !! :)
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/RioAndOuroPreto#
In the morning went to walk in the forest which is right in the city. Walked through a few waterfalls and river crossings, went up some hill to enjoy the views over Rio, and on the way back decided to take a shortcut without any signs, and thank god we didn't get lost :) Somewhere in the middle of the forest, went to eat in the restaurant, and we were so tired, it was getting colder and darker, and had no energy to take all this road to the exit, so instead we caught a ride :) The guy was funny, he was only speaking Portuguese and we barely connected the meaning of what we said. He started playing with his phone, and then called somebody, in the middle of conversation he gave me the phone and said "talk".
um ... hello???
- who are you?
I don't know, I'm just sitting in your friends car. & Who are you??
so we were having a 3 way conversation, where his friend would translate from Portuguese to Spanish and back :) Instead of letting us off at the entrance, he kept on driving and driving, asked where we live, but couldn't understand where it is. Then he got into a garage, and both me and mom started to get a bit nervous. Where are we? Where are we going? ... I live here. hm ... then we got to an elevator, it opened, I said that I'm not going in. But as it turned out, it was an elevator to a street, not a condo, and he basically walked us to the subway station :) And waited until we got on a train :)
The location of the hostel is not very comfortable. It's located in some artsy neighborhood on a hill where no taxi wants to go because they think they'll get lost. Instead there is a little tram that goes from the hill down. But the thing is that this tram is touristic, so it goes super slow, with the driver stopping and explaining what's around. 1st time it was fun, but 2nd, 3rd, and 4th ... I think we need to change hostels!
Next day we went to beautiful botanical gardens. The gardens are huge with a view to the mountain with the Christ on it. Then walked around another beautiful lake with almost everybody doing some sort of sports, and went to another gardens where we saw an armadillo :))
Next day we went to walk in the city center. It's not what mom expected, so she wasn't too happy. Where is all the beauty she wondered? Walked through some modern church, a street market, a park with kind of big squirrels but without tails, then saw some cool library, and more buildings, buildings, buildings. It was Monday, so all the museums were closed, but mom didn't really mind that :)
Went to some crazy expensive buffet. First I thought that I don't understand Portuguese. Regular price buffet is from R$10 - 20/kg. Over 20 is expensive. So I asked how much it is, and she said 67.
What?
-67
67??
-yes, 67. 6.70 for 100 gr.
Holly *&^* !! But then I thought that if it's so expensive, it must be good. So we went :) And it was really good!! So many things that I haven't eaten for the longest time now like white asparagus, brie cheese, calamari, little cabbages, sushi !! yammi yammi :))
In the hostel they said that they're all booked for the next day, so we thought that if we had to pack anyways, it's a good time to go to Ouro Preto, which is a colonial town 6 hours from Rio. Ordered a taxi to the terminal and the driver charged us extra R$1.5 for each suitcase. What??? I told him that in a year of travel nobody charged that not even once. And he said that it's each drivers choice. I would've got out of the taxi, but we were already late. Like really late.
Ouro Preto is nice, it's a little town in the middle of the mountains, and since we were on the hill, we had a full window view on the whole town. so so pretty :) Everything was good, except that I got sick. And to get sick in a hilly town is not a good idea. I would take 5 steps, and sit for 5 minutes relax. And since our hotel was on the very top of the hill, every way up would be a real work out! 1 day in Ouro Preto is more than enough, so next day we went for a little walk in a neighboring town which is less hilly :) There we went to a gold mine, but that wasn't interesting, and it was hot, and we were hungry, and most of the restaurants close at 4, so good luck finding something until dinner time. Trying to get to the bus terminal. There are no taxis going in our area, so we asked the reception to call it. 20 minutes later, there is still no taxi, and our bus leaves in 5 minutes. We're getting very very VERY anxious !! but no choice but wait ... it finally arrived ! As it turns out, this bus terminal is like a minute away from us, just down the hill, although I'm still not sure how we would've gotten down that road with a suitcase.
Back in Rio ... our hotel is steps away from the very famous staircase. The whole steps are decorated in some colorful tiles. Then we went to a very beautiful church. Some ship captain got in a storm, and almost lost his life, and he promised to build a church if he gets home alive. He did, and built one of the most beautiful churches that I've seen. And it's not all religious, it has a lot of paintings from his journey, not only bloody Christ from all angles. Then we went to a super cool free navy museum. It had ships and helicopters, and the coolest of all a submarine!! Not only I've never seen a submarine ever, we got in it too !! :))) I think mom got a bit claustrophobic :)) In the evening went to a very beautiful cafe in some antique style. It was surrounded by huge mirrors and 1800 decor.
Matteus is in Rio !!! so we arranged to meet and go out to Lapa which is a crazy party places. Turns out, our hotel right in the middle of Lapa, you literally get out of the door, and you're already out :)) This place is crazy ! It's a bit scary during the day with all the homeless, and crazy/fun/safe during the night. We didn't want to go to any nightclub, cause they charge entrance fee, and then we'll just get stuck in there. So we danced beside the club :)) We ordered a caipirinya, and I ordered strong one, and the woman didn't even charge anything extra for it! I got drunk from 1/6 of the cup :) In one of the places I wanted to go to the washroom, as always there was a huge lineup to women's washroom, so I stood, and somebody came and asked if I want to dance. I said that I can't dance because I'll lose my place in the lineup. So we danced in the lineup to the washroom :)))
Next day we went up to the mountain with the Christ. It was all right. I've already seen these views, and of course they charge like crazy to go see it. And the whole city was in smog the whole time we've been there. Need to get better pictures from internet :) Above it, I felt very bad on the top, and I didn't have any pain killers with me, and there are no pharmacies on the top. So I asked some workers in the stores, apparently to get pills is not that difficult, lucky me! :)
In the evening went to a Romeo and Juliet opera in a beautiful opera house, for only $12! The play was ok, but it was looooooooooong 4 hours !! And we sat in a place from where we couldn't see about 1/4 of the stage. I liked 2 acts only where she's debating whether to take the poison or not, and when he took it, and she came back alive. But I don't think I'll be going to opera again. This is not something I'm willing to try 2nd time just to make sure :))
Things are changing slowly but surely. When I started traveling, I hand washed everything, I thought to myself, what am I crazy to pay $3 for a wash, I'd rather hand wash. Now, our hotel is in not a touristic area, and there is no per kilo wash, only some expensive wash by load. So now I'm thinking, what am I crazy to hand wash, I'd rather pay $15 for a normal laundry :)
Next day we walked on the beach, and nope, still didn't see hot Brazilian guys or girls. Maybe it's all hidden under the cloths, and it wasn't really a swimming weather :)
Next day we were leaving, but decided to go up the sugar loaf mountain. I think I got used to the views already ... why, is it supposed to look any different than that? :) We were in the hurry again to catch the boat from a town which is 2 hours away, so we got a taxi there, a taxi back, and a taxi to the terminal, it was an expensive day! When we got to the terminal the total was R$33, and the driver said, just give me 30. Really? That coming from a taxi driver??!! I must be dreaming !! :)
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/RioAndOuroPreto#
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Olina, Salvador, Lencois & Morro de Sao Paulo
Oh linda Olinda ... Oh beautiful Olinda. That's apparently what the Spanish said when first saw this town. I got to the hostel, and while I was checking in, Neto walked into the lobby ... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA !!!!! I was jumping up and down !!! He changed his plans and decided to travel for a bit too, because he got a bit bored of Jeri ... well figures ... I left :)) kidding :))
In the evening we went to some party which was right on the street. Olinda is considered to be the happiest city in Brazil. There is music everywhere, and everybody's dancing. They have parties for no occasion at all, and I think the best carnival in all of Brazil as well. There were capoera circles, some schools of drummers, and a non stop latino African fusion with strange dances, like tapping the feet on the floor a lot. I learned it quite quickly and was dancing all evening long :) Here there is a popular food of tapioca. It's potato starch, and they cook it on a pan, and then stuff it with anything you want. So it's basically like a pita, but more chewy :)There was not much to do in Olinda, so I finished a lot of my work :) Me and Neto walked around 1 day, visited a bunch of churches. In one of the churches (the most famous one, and my least favorite), one guy started talking and following us. No thank you, we don't need a guide. He still walked and walked. And 5 minutes later, after not so much of useful information, he asked for R$5 from each. I basically thought screw you, I don't even understand Portuguese, but Neto still gave him the money. Olinda is pretty green, and in one place we saw little cute monkeys, and there were so many of them! I've never seen monkeys right in the city center! Amazing ! :))While I was working, Neto prepared shrimps with pineapple, onions and curry, oh so good :) home made food :) And then we went to a restaurant and had the worst service combined with even worst food.
Neto told me that I hope I don't think that he's stoking me. I said of course not, I'm so happy that I see him again! And he said good, because he bought a ticket on the same flight as I did to Salvador, and on a neighboring seat :)
Our flight was supposed to be at 1:45 pm. And in a nearby city there is a "do not miss" garden. Ok, we calculated the time that we need to get there, be there, and get to the airport. Thank god we included a 1 hour buffer. The traffic was crazy, and distances much larger than we expected. The gardens were amazing though ! It was huge, with hundreds if not thousands of weird statues, paintings, fountains, and beautiful lawns. Anywhere you go, there are these statues popping out of somewhere. The taxi driver waited for us while we were walking around the gardens, and drove us to a bus station. There we got a bus that got stuck in a traffic, and it was already 1pm. We got out of the bus, took a taxi to the hostel where our bags were, and drove to the airport. We were so hungry, we didn't eat the whole day. There is no time at all, but otherwise we would only eat not before 6 for sure. We found subway, I ordered quickly, and Neto is standing there choosing his toppings and then waiting for something ... Neeeetoooo !!! We got to go!! ... Oh wait wait, I asked for it toasted :)))) Anyway, 10 minutes before the plane leaves, we just got to the 1st security check. Running to the plane, we got on it, and there were still like 5 people in the lineup ... oh ! we got here too early, lets go do some more shopping :))
On the plane, I'm wasting no time, so I installed SQL Server database on my laptop :)
When we got to Salvador, on the bus station somebody told us that we probably need to go in some direction towards the center, and while walking there, somebody else stopped us and told us that we probably need to go that way. People are so friendly :) But it was scary walking to the hostel. This city is full of homeless people, and is considered to be very dangerous. It's the only city for which the guidebook recommends to dress down. It was freaky! And these homeless, they don't just sit there, they walk, and they come to you, and aggressively ask for money, you say you have none, and they start checking your pockets!... GET AWAY !! It's seriously scary, and ok in the center there are a lot of people, but just a bit outside the center, get a taxi and lock the doors! ... Oh oh ... my mommy will not like it here ...
Some crazy English guys came to the hostel, they drink and party and pretty much nothing else. I haven't seen anybody drink as much as they do. We walked around, saw some people sitting outside with live music playing, went there, sat right in the middle of everybody, as it turns out to be later, they're one group of Uruguayan tourists having a party :) ... What?? We want to party too :))
Next day Hans came !! Yeaiii ... the best people Neto and Hans! :)
That day I went to learn some capoera. The teacher was telling me to do the chinga for like 15 minutes (which is just a step from side to side to prepare for the real moves) ... ok ... I'm done with the chinga, teach me something else !! He was slow, so I just started repeating the moves the other group of people did. A turn with a fan kick, or getting away from the kick, or double fan kick. The teacher saw that I can do it, and started teaching me something useful ! What a great work out, 1 hour of non stop up and down, but at the end of an hour all the skin of my big toes on my feet has disappeared, I didn't even feel it :S
At night all of us went to some reggae party ... I really don't like raggae, well I had to try it again, just to make sure :) I wanted to go back to the hostel pretty quick, but it was Hans' last night in town, so I stayed longer. On the way back, we got out, and I didn't want to walk in dark, while we were debating, some guy came out of the club, who is actually the owner, and he gave us ride back. When he stopped at some intersection, a bunch of crazy homeless started running towards the car, I screamed so hard go go go !! meanwhile trying in panic to check if the doors are locked. When we got close to the hostel (the cars are not allowed to go there), there was some kid who joined to walk with us. Thank you, we don't need your help, and he said that with him we are safer... well ... ok.
Next day I could barely walk at all... I was limping and walking like a bear on the sides of my feet to somehow not to touch the toes. Woke up early in the morning to meet mom at the bus stop. When we were walking back to the hostel, Neto came to the stop to help us with the luggage ... the longer I know Neto, the sweeter and sweeter he becomes :)) Mom didn't like Salvador at all, called it a garbage dump, and the hostel OMG where am I?? Yep, I was right about her not liking it. But some time later got used to it :) We walked around the city, saw nothing that special, in the evening went to a folkloric dance show, that was good. The dancers were all black, and 1 white guy who was the only one who didn't know how to dance :) but they had so much energy, and you could see all and every muscle move. To the show came a large group of Russian tourists ... oh no ... not Russians again! None of them smiled of course, all had serious, bumbed out faces. Talked for a bit to some man, who I don't know where he's from. He asked if I know, I said no, he said "lady, did you learn any geography in school?" GRRRRR!!! I should've asked him about all the places I've been to, and if he knows exactly where they are! Seriously !!
Next day we went to another Bonfin church. "No more churches" my mom said ... we have to go, it's a very important church. We went there with Neto and Delia. I'm not sure why the church is famous, but everywhere there are colorful ribbons, they're sold everywhere, tied to everything, everybody has them on their wrists, and the stores are full of bonfin bags, and shirts, and dresses. Oh, yes I do know why it's famous. There were some miracles in there of people getting healed. And right now there is some room with human body parts made out of wax in need of a miracle which are hanging from a ceiling.
After, we walked to some fort and then to a restaurant where we bombarded Neto with 100s of questions of what's this and that and the other. Poor Neto, he got a bit stressed out :)
We were supposed to leave that night, but I didn't finish everything with work, so we had to stay another day, because the next place on the list doesn't have internet. We already checked out of the hostel, and when we came back the only double room was already taken, so my mom actually stayed in a 10 bed dorm ... very heroic !! :)
The next day I was working while mom went to the beach with Delia. At night we took a 6 hour bus to Lencois which is a national park to the west of Salvador. After sleepless night, we went for a hike with a Brazilian girl and Matteus from Austria. The hike was nice. We had to go down some wall to get to the waterfall, and it was a pretty vertical 90 degree 10 meter descent, mom started crying from fear, but got down with guide's assistance just fine :) Then we walked through beautiful pink canyons and rocks, river with natural pools and waterfalls between them, and then a "lake" with a natural 50 meter long slide. That was scary ! It was so funny hearing everybody scream and make funny sounds while going down it :) When I returned super tired to the hostel, I went to bed only to be waken up by Matteus, lets go out for capirinia (local drink of lime and sugar cane kind of vodka). Got back around 1, and woke up next morning for another 10 hour trip. We went to some waterfalls, jumped off cliffs, climbed a mountain where I took jumping pictures where my mom almost got a heart attack :) When mom was getting down there were 3 men offering her their help, all giving her hands for support, she got a bit overwhelmed saying that she feels bad that she doesn't have 3 hands :)) Then we went to some lake, which for me was a waste of time, not only it wasn't pretty, it cost additional R$10 to get in, because it's on a private property. But at least they had the best buffet. Me and Matteus swam so far away that we missed the time for another cool cave which supposed to have deep blue transparent waters. By the time we got there, there was already no sun, and thus no blue. After we drove to a large cave with stalactites and stalagmites. It was cool, all dark, with different shapes of the figures.
After a long day, we got on a night bus back. I think from this moment on, I was sleep deprived for the whole month to come. In the morning, we took a catamaran to Morro de Sao Paulo island. When we arrived, a bunch of shoeless locals with wheelbarrows came in running and yelling taxi taxi. They took our suitcases and brought it to the first economic posada. Mom couldn't believe that that's how you get a hotel. What, do you mean you don't have to book it a month in advance? :)
Morro de Sao Paulo is nice, it's streets are of sand, and because it rained, they turned to streets of mud :) The weather wasn't that great, so we hid in a restaurant and made up for it with amazing seafood lunch :) The water was grey and muddy, but still, it's a very beautiful island with a long beach and jungly surrounding. Went to a lighthouse to enjoy the view, and then to an expensive restaurant just for a juice to watch a sunset, but oh well, it was too cloudy and no sunset :( at least the juice was good :))
Next day we went for a walk, but all I wanted to do is sleep. The tide was so strong that on the way there we walked along the beach, and passed some palm trees, and on the way back the palms became an island, and on the beach you had to swim to get through, of course we didn't, I'm just saying :) When we were going to the catamaran, I decided that I don't want to pay for the luggage, so we walked, and somebody grabbed us, catamaran, catamaran. Great, he carried our luggage, so we saved on the "taxi" :)
Got a catamaran back, I slept all the way :)
In the morning got on a flight to Rio.
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/OlinaSalvadorLencoisMorroDeSaoPaulo#
In the evening we went to some party which was right on the street. Olinda is considered to be the happiest city in Brazil. There is music everywhere, and everybody's dancing. They have parties for no occasion at all, and I think the best carnival in all of Brazil as well. There were capoera circles, some schools of drummers, and a non stop latino African fusion with strange dances, like tapping the feet on the floor a lot. I learned it quite quickly and was dancing all evening long :) Here there is a popular food of tapioca. It's potato starch, and they cook it on a pan, and then stuff it with anything you want. So it's basically like a pita, but more chewy :)There was not much to do in Olinda, so I finished a lot of my work :) Me and Neto walked around 1 day, visited a bunch of churches. In one of the churches (the most famous one, and my least favorite), one guy started talking and following us. No thank you, we don't need a guide. He still walked and walked. And 5 minutes later, after not so much of useful information, he asked for R$5 from each. I basically thought screw you, I don't even understand Portuguese, but Neto still gave him the money. Olinda is pretty green, and in one place we saw little cute monkeys, and there were so many of them! I've never seen monkeys right in the city center! Amazing ! :))While I was working, Neto prepared shrimps with pineapple, onions and curry, oh so good :) home made food :) And then we went to a restaurant and had the worst service combined with even worst food.
Neto told me that I hope I don't think that he's stoking me. I said of course not, I'm so happy that I see him again! And he said good, because he bought a ticket on the same flight as I did to Salvador, and on a neighboring seat :)
Our flight was supposed to be at 1:45 pm. And in a nearby city there is a "do not miss" garden. Ok, we calculated the time that we need to get there, be there, and get to the airport. Thank god we included a 1 hour buffer. The traffic was crazy, and distances much larger than we expected. The gardens were amazing though ! It was huge, with hundreds if not thousands of weird statues, paintings, fountains, and beautiful lawns. Anywhere you go, there are these statues popping out of somewhere. The taxi driver waited for us while we were walking around the gardens, and drove us to a bus station. There we got a bus that got stuck in a traffic, and it was already 1pm. We got out of the bus, took a taxi to the hostel where our bags were, and drove to the airport. We were so hungry, we didn't eat the whole day. There is no time at all, but otherwise we would only eat not before 6 for sure. We found subway, I ordered quickly, and Neto is standing there choosing his toppings and then waiting for something ... Neeeetoooo !!! We got to go!! ... Oh wait wait, I asked for it toasted :)))) Anyway, 10 minutes before the plane leaves, we just got to the 1st security check. Running to the plane, we got on it, and there were still like 5 people in the lineup ... oh ! we got here too early, lets go do some more shopping :))
On the plane, I'm wasting no time, so I installed SQL Server database on my laptop :)
When we got to Salvador, on the bus station somebody told us that we probably need to go in some direction towards the center, and while walking there, somebody else stopped us and told us that we probably need to go that way. People are so friendly :) But it was scary walking to the hostel. This city is full of homeless people, and is considered to be very dangerous. It's the only city for which the guidebook recommends to dress down. It was freaky! And these homeless, they don't just sit there, they walk, and they come to you, and aggressively ask for money, you say you have none, and they start checking your pockets!... GET AWAY !! It's seriously scary, and ok in the center there are a lot of people, but just a bit outside the center, get a taxi and lock the doors! ... Oh oh ... my mommy will not like it here ...
Some crazy English guys came to the hostel, they drink and party and pretty much nothing else. I haven't seen anybody drink as much as they do. We walked around, saw some people sitting outside with live music playing, went there, sat right in the middle of everybody, as it turns out to be later, they're one group of Uruguayan tourists having a party :) ... What?? We want to party too :))
Next day Hans came !! Yeaiii ... the best people Neto and Hans! :)
That day I went to learn some capoera. The teacher was telling me to do the chinga for like 15 minutes (which is just a step from side to side to prepare for the real moves) ... ok ... I'm done with the chinga, teach me something else !! He was slow, so I just started repeating the moves the other group of people did. A turn with a fan kick, or getting away from the kick, or double fan kick. The teacher saw that I can do it, and started teaching me something useful ! What a great work out, 1 hour of non stop up and down, but at the end of an hour all the skin of my big toes on my feet has disappeared, I didn't even feel it :S
At night all of us went to some reggae party ... I really don't like raggae, well I had to try it again, just to make sure :) I wanted to go back to the hostel pretty quick, but it was Hans' last night in town, so I stayed longer. On the way back, we got out, and I didn't want to walk in dark, while we were debating, some guy came out of the club, who is actually the owner, and he gave us ride back. When he stopped at some intersection, a bunch of crazy homeless started running towards the car, I screamed so hard go go go !! meanwhile trying in panic to check if the doors are locked. When we got close to the hostel (the cars are not allowed to go there), there was some kid who joined to walk with us. Thank you, we don't need your help, and he said that with him we are safer... well ... ok.
Next day I could barely walk at all... I was limping and walking like a bear on the sides of my feet to somehow not to touch the toes. Woke up early in the morning to meet mom at the bus stop. When we were walking back to the hostel, Neto came to the stop to help us with the luggage ... the longer I know Neto, the sweeter and sweeter he becomes :)) Mom didn't like Salvador at all, called it a garbage dump, and the hostel OMG where am I?? Yep, I was right about her not liking it. But some time later got used to it :) We walked around the city, saw nothing that special, in the evening went to a folkloric dance show, that was good. The dancers were all black, and 1 white guy who was the only one who didn't know how to dance :) but they had so much energy, and you could see all and every muscle move. To the show came a large group of Russian tourists ... oh no ... not Russians again! None of them smiled of course, all had serious, bumbed out faces. Talked for a bit to some man, who I don't know where he's from. He asked if I know, I said no, he said "lady, did you learn any geography in school?" GRRRRR!!! I should've asked him about all the places I've been to, and if he knows exactly where they are! Seriously !!
Next day we went to another Bonfin church. "No more churches" my mom said ... we have to go, it's a very important church. We went there with Neto and Delia. I'm not sure why the church is famous, but everywhere there are colorful ribbons, they're sold everywhere, tied to everything, everybody has them on their wrists, and the stores are full of bonfin bags, and shirts, and dresses. Oh, yes I do know why it's famous. There were some miracles in there of people getting healed. And right now there is some room with human body parts made out of wax in need of a miracle which are hanging from a ceiling.
After, we walked to some fort and then to a restaurant where we bombarded Neto with 100s of questions of what's this and that and the other. Poor Neto, he got a bit stressed out :)
We were supposed to leave that night, but I didn't finish everything with work, so we had to stay another day, because the next place on the list doesn't have internet. We already checked out of the hostel, and when we came back the only double room was already taken, so my mom actually stayed in a 10 bed dorm ... very heroic !! :)
The next day I was working while mom went to the beach with Delia. At night we took a 6 hour bus to Lencois which is a national park to the west of Salvador. After sleepless night, we went for a hike with a Brazilian girl and Matteus from Austria. The hike was nice. We had to go down some wall to get to the waterfall, and it was a pretty vertical 90 degree 10 meter descent, mom started crying from fear, but got down with guide's assistance just fine :) Then we walked through beautiful pink canyons and rocks, river with natural pools and waterfalls between them, and then a "lake" with a natural 50 meter long slide. That was scary ! It was so funny hearing everybody scream and make funny sounds while going down it :) When I returned super tired to the hostel, I went to bed only to be waken up by Matteus, lets go out for capirinia (local drink of lime and sugar cane kind of vodka). Got back around 1, and woke up next morning for another 10 hour trip. We went to some waterfalls, jumped off cliffs, climbed a mountain where I took jumping pictures where my mom almost got a heart attack :) When mom was getting down there were 3 men offering her their help, all giving her hands for support, she got a bit overwhelmed saying that she feels bad that she doesn't have 3 hands :)) Then we went to some lake, which for me was a waste of time, not only it wasn't pretty, it cost additional R$10 to get in, because it's on a private property. But at least they had the best buffet. Me and Matteus swam so far away that we missed the time for another cool cave which supposed to have deep blue transparent waters. By the time we got there, there was already no sun, and thus no blue. After we drove to a large cave with stalactites and stalagmites. It was cool, all dark, with different shapes of the figures.
After a long day, we got on a night bus back. I think from this moment on, I was sleep deprived for the whole month to come. In the morning, we took a catamaran to Morro de Sao Paulo island. When we arrived, a bunch of shoeless locals with wheelbarrows came in running and yelling taxi taxi. They took our suitcases and brought it to the first economic posada. Mom couldn't believe that that's how you get a hotel. What, do you mean you don't have to book it a month in advance? :)
Morro de Sao Paulo is nice, it's streets are of sand, and because it rained, they turned to streets of mud :) The weather wasn't that great, so we hid in a restaurant and made up for it with amazing seafood lunch :) The water was grey and muddy, but still, it's a very beautiful island with a long beach and jungly surrounding. Went to a lighthouse to enjoy the view, and then to an expensive restaurant just for a juice to watch a sunset, but oh well, it was too cloudy and no sunset :( at least the juice was good :))
Next day we went for a walk, but all I wanted to do is sleep. The tide was so strong that on the way there we walked along the beach, and passed some palm trees, and on the way back the palms became an island, and on the beach you had to swim to get through, of course we didn't, I'm just saying :) When we were going to the catamaran, I decided that I don't want to pay for the luggage, so we walked, and somebody grabbed us, catamaran, catamaran. Great, he carried our luggage, so we saved on the "taxi" :)
Got a catamaran back, I slept all the way :)
In the morning got on a flight to Rio.
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/OlinaSalvadorLencoisMorroDeSaoPaulo#
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Life's a beach .. Jeri and Pipa
In Sao Luis woke up at 4:30am to go to the park Lencois Maranhenses. Drove there for 2.5 hours, and then got on another hour of very uncomfortable truck which goes on the sand to the sand dunes. The dunes were nice, everything is white with blue lakes in the middle of almost every dune. We had a 3 hour trip, where we walked and swam, and since it was my first sun in a long long time, of course I got burnt right away. I've seen this kind of landscape before, in a desert in Colombia and Huacachina in Peru, so it wasn't super exciting for me. And another hour back to the town, where the agency got me a taxi to get back to Sao Luis because I was taking a night bus. I asked the driver if he got paid already, he said no, I thought to myself, crap, now I have to pay for the taxi too. We drove back, got stuck in a huge traffic only because 2 roundabouts, last minute trip again. Got to the terminal barely on time. I couldn't understand the driver at all, and he couldn't understand me, but he helped me with the bags, and to get the bus (I think he thought it was my first day in Brazil :) ), and although we didn't get a word from each other, we couldn't help but hug each other at the end :) I also gave him R$40 for the taxi, and he said that the agency already paid him! In Bolivia that would NEVER happen, they would just take the money!! I had to take the bus right away. Again I didn't eat the whole day :( The bus went to Parnaiba, and got there instead of 6am, at 4am. Everything was closed ... obviously, so I went to sleep on the bench. I felt so comfortable and safe ... generally I feel very safe in Brazil. Slept until 6:30, and got another 2 hour bus to Camocim, and from there a 2 hour 4X4 to the village Jericoacoara. It was so funny, there was the driver who spoke Portuguese, and I couldn't understand a word he was saying, so I asked another Portuguese speaking person to repeat what he said, and understood everything :) Drove in the truck with again very rude French people. It doesn't get any better!!
Jericoacoara, named for simplicity - Jeri, is a very cute village in the middle of nowhere, situated on the longest beach ever. The 2 hour truck we took to get there, just drove along the beach all the time. The streets are of sand, and besides hostels/hotels and restaurants (each with live music), there is not much else. I didn't wear shoes for the whole week that I've been there :)) Met people right away, the super friendly Brazilian girl Tanya in the dorm, took me with her and people she met to the restaurant that night. There was another Brazilian guy Neto, and one guy from Singapore. I was supposed to meet Hans at the sunset dune, but I was late because of some very talkative dude in the hostel (Eugenio), who just couldn't shut up. But while we had dinner, I saw Hans passing by, so I grabbed him, and introduced him to everybody who I was with.
The next day we agreed with Hans to go to some rock with a hole in the middle at 9am. I woke up from somebody shaking me ... hey, there is a guy waiting for you in the lobby. Shit ... the alarm clock didn't ring !! Sorry sorry sorry, I got ready right away, ate breakfast with a super fast speed, but then the hostel had a tour to paradise lake, which was cheaper than to go there with an agency, so we went there instead. There is nice, but not super paradisy :) It has a beach with hummocks in the water, a restaurant, and that's it. The good thing about it, is that I got a massage :))) It wasn't a muscle massage, but just relaxing one ... but who cares, as long as it's not a massus from Cusco, a massage is still a massage, no matter which kind :))
In the evening, we agreed with everyone to go out, and to meet at the bar zone (which are fresh fruit cocktails on the beach) at 10pm. I thought that I need to get some sleep, and slept till the morning :S GGRRRRR, I have to buy a new alarm clock! This one is broken! As it turned out to be later, the alarm clock is not broken, it's just because I didn't sleep for 2 nights, I completely didn't hear it ! That was the first time in my life when I didn't hear the alarm clock, and it was right beside my ear !!
So that's the life in Jeri ... there is nobody on the streets in the morning or afternoon, then people appear all over the sudden to go to the sunset dune, and along the people come all the vendors of popcorns and drinks, some horses make their way there too :)) If the sky is clear, and the sun goes right into the ocean, everybody starts to clap :))) Then some people walk back, or jump/run down the dune into the ocean below :)) Guess which choice did I choose :)) After that there is Capoera performance on the beach. Capoera is a "dance" invented by slaves to practice martial arts, they made it look in a dance form so that the owners won't notice it, but all the moves are based on martial arts. There is a circle around the dancers, some musicians playing and singing some life songs, which could be absolutely anything. They repeat it twice, so that on the 2nd time everybody could sing along. The musicians determine the pace of the dance. The dancers usually "perekrishautsa" before getting in, because although there is no physical contact during the dance, the kicks can come really very close. After capoera, everybody either goes for a short nap, or to restaurants, and the later, the more people come, so 10pm, is the best time to have dinner. After dinner, everybody goes to the bar area on the beach. My favorite drink was kiwi with vodka :)) oh soo good ... and only for $2!! :)) After that there is a bon fire on the beach, and when the fire finishes (which is at 2am), the first night club opens !! I went once to that nightclub, and it sucks !! First of all, the music was bad, then, nobody dances, and nobody asks nobody to dance. You come with your group, and you stay with your group ! That is very strange, it's the first time I saw it ... tourists !! Also there is a bakery which is only opened from 2-6 am ! :)) Anyway ... I'm not going to these parties ever again, it's much better to sleep :))Tanya, and Singaporean guy have left the next day, Hans left in 3 days, and I was left with Neto and Euginio, who is the annoying Brazilian guy. We got along with Neto right away. Went to the rock with a hole in the middle. I don't know why, I started to get excited from absolutely everything! This is so great !! and this and this, look at that donkey, and at that hole !! :)) I was smiling and laughing, like I was on drugs or something :)) The rock was cool, and only in July and August you could see the sunset through the hole. The walk there was beautiful, and we got there just in time to take peopleless pictures, since after 10 minutes, so many people came, there was no order, and impossible to get normal pictures.
Also went surfing. Of course, the fist minute I got in, the wave took me up and down, and I landed on a sharp rock, and cut my foot pretty bad, with 3 deep cuts :(( Anyway... that didn't stop me from enjoying surfing :)) I tried it myself, but I could never catch enough speed to get on the wave, so I was pretty much just lying around :) Then one instructor asked me if I need help, well yeah, of course I do, so he pushed me to the waves, and I got up every time !! Yeeiiii ... 3rd time is the charm :))
In the evening, saw a free outdoor Brothers Bloom movie, which I thought was very interesting.
A week has passed by :(( It's time to leave :((( Everybody discusses their plans where to go, so I said that I'm going to Pipa (another beach), and Eugenio said that he wants to go there too. I went to get a ticket with Neto, and told him not to tell Eugenio when I'm going, but back luck, he got a ticket to the same bus as I did :S GRRR !!
Took an 18 hour bus to Pipa ... couldn't sleep again :(
Wanted to go to a hostel, but while walking on the streets, a buggy stopped with an owner of a posada (which is kind of bed & breakfast) and said that they have a room for a price cheaper than a hostel. Eugenio said that if it's ok to get a double room because it will be cheaper ... fine ! The pousada was the cutest little posada I've ever been too :)) And out of all the 100s of posadas that exist in Pipa, I met 2 Argentinian girls in there with whom I've been in the same room in in Jeri. Well, the town of Jeri is better, but the beaches of Pipa are unbelievable!!!! Not only they are ones of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to, there are dolphins in the water !! The beach is long, about 2 hours one way, sometimes with beautiful rock formations, sometimes with cleanest sand, and it ends with a 40 meter high pink cliff! At the end of the beach that cliff is not that steep, and a whole jungle grows on it! I couldn't stop walking on that beach, it is mesmerizing !!
Got in the water right away, and then a heard splash!! Eugenio is with his mouth open points on something, I turn around, and right beside me there is a big white circle, there was a dolphin who jumped like 2 meters behind me !!!! I can't believe I missed it !!!!! I saw another dolphin jump, but that was much much further away. Dolphin watching is fun! It's like a game, they resurface every 5 seconds, and you no idea where. Sometimes they come in your direction, and I started to panic a bit, after all they're animals, I have no clue what they're gonna do. They hang around there to catch the fish. It would be fun, cause they would torpid to the beach, not paying attention to any people, then splashing all over the place, fish is jumping out of the water, and everything goes back to normal.
While walking on the beach, I encountered a crab, of course I couldn't just pass by :) So I tried to pick it up, and it's not running away, like they usually do, it's just chilling on the beach. It tried to get me with its claws, so I squeaked and dropped it. And then when I tried to pick it up again, it would attack me!!! It would raise it's claws up, and run towards my direction!! That crab has some *&*$!!! :)) ... I won of course :))
In Pipa there was an ice cream heaven :)) So many different flavors of ice cream, and you could scoop them up yourself! A choice of like 6 containers, about 15 toppings, and then you weigh it ... OMG !!!! :)))
Got across the problem with travelling after 3 days in Pipa. sooooo ... dolphins are nice, but I want to swim with whales now :)
Now ... I don't usually do it, but a section about Euginio is obligatory :)
Basically everybody got tired of him the 2nd day. And I've spend full 3 days with him, plus an 18 hour bus ! Thank god I had to work. For these 3 days, I've heard nothing about how hot and sexy he is. How everyone wants him. He has a condo on the beach, and every week he goes there with different girls; he sits in a restaurant, looks down, then sees some shoes, a girl is asking him if she can sit with him, he looks around and all the seats are empty in the restaurant; his mother tells him everyday how beautiful he is; sometimes he can't walk on the beach, he feels like some exotic animal; (he is 40 btw), and how many 16 year old girl friends he has, but he only chats with them, and nothing else, and tells them to call him when they're 18, otherwise they're jail for him now.
Then he was dating some girl ( the only girlfriend he had ) for 2.5 years, and apparently he broke up with her, because she got to close to him. He said that he locked his heart, and threw all the keys to the ocean, and she started finding some of these keys. Some people said that he's selfish, and he said that it's his heart, and his decision if he wants to share it or not. Anyway, they broke up, and a while later he wrote to some other girl of his whom he dated for like 2 months and she's with a normal bf right now, so he wrote her that he wants her back as his wife!! What kind of bull***** is that???
on and on and on I've heard that constantly !
Oh, and on top of that, he told everybody in the posada that I'm his wife, without my knowledge. He said the reason was that they leave me alone, cause I had to work!
He tried to get closer and closer, bought me ice creams, soups while I worked, some "1 year travelling" present. I got to the room, and he's on my bed. "What are you doing on my bed?" -"Oh, it's more comfortable here" ... anyway, I turned off the light, lied on the edge away from him, said goodnight, and fell asleep. He moved to his bed in the middle of the night :)
Next day we went to swim with the dolphins again ... of course !!! They came so close that I stayed in the water longer, I saw him on the beach walking back and forth, figured he was looking for me ... Euginio, dolphins, Eugenio, dolphins, I mean, why am I even debating :) When I got out of the water, he wasn't there anymore. I bumped into him in the town on my way back to the hotel with all his bags on. He said he was leaving. I said ok, and went on. When I got to the hotel, he left a note that he paid for it, and left his facebook contact, I threw it to the garbage!
How do these people get born??
On Aug 25th it was my 1 year travelling anniversary !! :))
What I've learned after 1 year on the road:
Be more patient and understanding
Be more tolerant to difficult situations (being hot/cold/hungry/tired)
Learning to appreciate people/friendships more
Having more trust in people, they'd go out of their way to help you if you're in trouble
Being more assertive
Doing less of what I have to do, and more of what I want to do
Get out of the matrix, and actually live life
Understanding that nothing is impossible
Not being afraid
Learn to be more open
Overcoming shyness
Plan for the future, but don't stress out about it
Knowing that everything turns out to be fine, all the time
Not being scared of the endings, new exciting beginnings are just around the corner
Living up to the phrase "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened"
Learning not to be lonely when being alone
Enjoying life's simple things
Finding beauty in anything
And so, with a better attitude, a new spark and a few more scars the journey continues ...
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/JeriAndPipa#
Jericoacoara, named for simplicity - Jeri, is a very cute village in the middle of nowhere, situated on the longest beach ever. The 2 hour truck we took to get there, just drove along the beach all the time. The streets are of sand, and besides hostels/hotels and restaurants (each with live music), there is not much else. I didn't wear shoes for the whole week that I've been there :)) Met people right away, the super friendly Brazilian girl Tanya in the dorm, took me with her and people she met to the restaurant that night. There was another Brazilian guy Neto, and one guy from Singapore. I was supposed to meet Hans at the sunset dune, but I was late because of some very talkative dude in the hostel (Eugenio), who just couldn't shut up. But while we had dinner, I saw Hans passing by, so I grabbed him, and introduced him to everybody who I was with.
The next day we agreed with Hans to go to some rock with a hole in the middle at 9am. I woke up from somebody shaking me ... hey, there is a guy waiting for you in the lobby. Shit ... the alarm clock didn't ring !! Sorry sorry sorry, I got ready right away, ate breakfast with a super fast speed, but then the hostel had a tour to paradise lake, which was cheaper than to go there with an agency, so we went there instead. There is nice, but not super paradisy :) It has a beach with hummocks in the water, a restaurant, and that's it. The good thing about it, is that I got a massage :))) It wasn't a muscle massage, but just relaxing one ... but who cares, as long as it's not a massus from Cusco, a massage is still a massage, no matter which kind :))
In the evening, we agreed with everyone to go out, and to meet at the bar zone (which are fresh fruit cocktails on the beach) at 10pm. I thought that I need to get some sleep, and slept till the morning :S GGRRRRR, I have to buy a new alarm clock! This one is broken! As it turned out to be later, the alarm clock is not broken, it's just because I didn't sleep for 2 nights, I completely didn't hear it ! That was the first time in my life when I didn't hear the alarm clock, and it was right beside my ear !!
So that's the life in Jeri ... there is nobody on the streets in the morning or afternoon, then people appear all over the sudden to go to the sunset dune, and along the people come all the vendors of popcorns and drinks, some horses make their way there too :)) If the sky is clear, and the sun goes right into the ocean, everybody starts to clap :))) Then some people walk back, or jump/run down the dune into the ocean below :)) Guess which choice did I choose :)) After that there is Capoera performance on the beach. Capoera is a "dance" invented by slaves to practice martial arts, they made it look in a dance form so that the owners won't notice it, but all the moves are based on martial arts. There is a circle around the dancers, some musicians playing and singing some life songs, which could be absolutely anything. They repeat it twice, so that on the 2nd time everybody could sing along. The musicians determine the pace of the dance. The dancers usually "perekrishautsa" before getting in, because although there is no physical contact during the dance, the kicks can come really very close. After capoera, everybody either goes for a short nap, or to restaurants, and the later, the more people come, so 10pm, is the best time to have dinner. After dinner, everybody goes to the bar area on the beach. My favorite drink was kiwi with vodka :)) oh soo good ... and only for $2!! :)) After that there is a bon fire on the beach, and when the fire finishes (which is at 2am), the first night club opens !! I went once to that nightclub, and it sucks !! First of all, the music was bad, then, nobody dances, and nobody asks nobody to dance. You come with your group, and you stay with your group ! That is very strange, it's the first time I saw it ... tourists !! Also there is a bakery which is only opened from 2-6 am ! :)) Anyway ... I'm not going to these parties ever again, it's much better to sleep :))Tanya, and Singaporean guy have left the next day, Hans left in 3 days, and I was left with Neto and Euginio, who is the annoying Brazilian guy. We got along with Neto right away. Went to the rock with a hole in the middle. I don't know why, I started to get excited from absolutely everything! This is so great !! and this and this, look at that donkey, and at that hole !! :)) I was smiling and laughing, like I was on drugs or something :)) The rock was cool, and only in July and August you could see the sunset through the hole. The walk there was beautiful, and we got there just in time to take peopleless pictures, since after 10 minutes, so many people came, there was no order, and impossible to get normal pictures.
Also went surfing. Of course, the fist minute I got in, the wave took me up and down, and I landed on a sharp rock, and cut my foot pretty bad, with 3 deep cuts :(( Anyway... that didn't stop me from enjoying surfing :)) I tried it myself, but I could never catch enough speed to get on the wave, so I was pretty much just lying around :) Then one instructor asked me if I need help, well yeah, of course I do, so he pushed me to the waves, and I got up every time !! Yeeiiii ... 3rd time is the charm :))
In the evening, saw a free outdoor Brothers Bloom movie, which I thought was very interesting.
A week has passed by :(( It's time to leave :((( Everybody discusses their plans where to go, so I said that I'm going to Pipa (another beach), and Eugenio said that he wants to go there too. I went to get a ticket with Neto, and told him not to tell Eugenio when I'm going, but back luck, he got a ticket to the same bus as I did :S GRRR !!
Took an 18 hour bus to Pipa ... couldn't sleep again :(
Wanted to go to a hostel, but while walking on the streets, a buggy stopped with an owner of a posada (which is kind of bed & breakfast) and said that they have a room for a price cheaper than a hostel. Eugenio said that if it's ok to get a double room because it will be cheaper ... fine ! The pousada was the cutest little posada I've ever been too :)) And out of all the 100s of posadas that exist in Pipa, I met 2 Argentinian girls in there with whom I've been in the same room in in Jeri. Well, the town of Jeri is better, but the beaches of Pipa are unbelievable!!!! Not only they are ones of the most beautiful beaches I've ever been to, there are dolphins in the water !! The beach is long, about 2 hours one way, sometimes with beautiful rock formations, sometimes with cleanest sand, and it ends with a 40 meter high pink cliff! At the end of the beach that cliff is not that steep, and a whole jungle grows on it! I couldn't stop walking on that beach, it is mesmerizing !!
Got in the water right away, and then a heard splash!! Eugenio is with his mouth open points on something, I turn around, and right beside me there is a big white circle, there was a dolphin who jumped like 2 meters behind me !!!! I can't believe I missed it !!!!! I saw another dolphin jump, but that was much much further away. Dolphin watching is fun! It's like a game, they resurface every 5 seconds, and you no idea where. Sometimes they come in your direction, and I started to panic a bit, after all they're animals, I have no clue what they're gonna do. They hang around there to catch the fish. It would be fun, cause they would torpid to the beach, not paying attention to any people, then splashing all over the place, fish is jumping out of the water, and everything goes back to normal.
While walking on the beach, I encountered a crab, of course I couldn't just pass by :) So I tried to pick it up, and it's not running away, like they usually do, it's just chilling on the beach. It tried to get me with its claws, so I squeaked and dropped it. And then when I tried to pick it up again, it would attack me!!! It would raise it's claws up, and run towards my direction!! That crab has some *&*$!!! :)) ... I won of course :))
In Pipa there was an ice cream heaven :)) So many different flavors of ice cream, and you could scoop them up yourself! A choice of like 6 containers, about 15 toppings, and then you weigh it ... OMG !!!! :)))
Got across the problem with travelling after 3 days in Pipa. sooooo ... dolphins are nice, but I want to swim with whales now :)
Now ... I don't usually do it, but a section about Euginio is obligatory :)
Basically everybody got tired of him the 2nd day. And I've spend full 3 days with him, plus an 18 hour bus ! Thank god I had to work. For these 3 days, I've heard nothing about how hot and sexy he is. How everyone wants him. He has a condo on the beach, and every week he goes there with different girls; he sits in a restaurant, looks down, then sees some shoes, a girl is asking him if she can sit with him, he looks around and all the seats are empty in the restaurant; his mother tells him everyday how beautiful he is; sometimes he can't walk on the beach, he feels like some exotic animal; (he is 40 btw), and how many 16 year old girl friends he has, but he only chats with them, and nothing else, and tells them to call him when they're 18, otherwise they're jail for him now.
Then he was dating some girl ( the only girlfriend he had ) for 2.5 years, and apparently he broke up with her, because she got to close to him. He said that he locked his heart, and threw all the keys to the ocean, and she started finding some of these keys. Some people said that he's selfish, and he said that it's his heart, and his decision if he wants to share it or not. Anyway, they broke up, and a while later he wrote to some other girl of his whom he dated for like 2 months and she's with a normal bf right now, so he wrote her that he wants her back as his wife!! What kind of bull***** is that???
on and on and on I've heard that constantly !
Oh, and on top of that, he told everybody in the posada that I'm his wife, without my knowledge. He said the reason was that they leave me alone, cause I had to work!
He tried to get closer and closer, bought me ice creams, soups while I worked, some "1 year travelling" present. I got to the room, and he's on my bed. "What are you doing on my bed?" -"Oh, it's more comfortable here" ... anyway, I turned off the light, lied on the edge away from him, said goodnight, and fell asleep. He moved to his bed in the middle of the night :)
Next day we went to swim with the dolphins again ... of course !!! They came so close that I stayed in the water longer, I saw him on the beach walking back and forth, figured he was looking for me ... Euginio, dolphins, Eugenio, dolphins, I mean, why am I even debating :) When I got out of the water, he wasn't there anymore. I bumped into him in the town on my way back to the hotel with all his bags on. He said he was leaving. I said ok, and went on. When I got to the hotel, he left a note that he paid for it, and left his facebook contact, I threw it to the garbage!
How do these people get born??
On Aug 25th it was my 1 year travelling anniversary !! :))
What I've learned after 1 year on the road:
Be more patient and understanding
Be more tolerant to difficult situations (being hot/cold/hungry/tired)
Learning to appreciate people/friendships more
Having more trust in people, they'd go out of their way to help you if you're in trouble
Being more assertive
Doing less of what I have to do, and more of what I want to do
Get out of the matrix, and actually live life
Understanding that nothing is impossible
Not being afraid
Learn to be more open
Overcoming shyness
Plan for the future, but don't stress out about it
Knowing that everything turns out to be fine, all the time
Not being scared of the endings, new exciting beginnings are just around the corner
Living up to the phrase "Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened"
Learning not to be lonely when being alone
Enjoying life's simple things
Finding beauty in anything
And so, with a better attitude, a new spark and a few more scars the journey continues ...
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/JeriAndPipa#
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Belem and Sao Luis
Got a flight from Brasilia to Belem with is at the very North-East of Brazil. It's 35 hours by bus, and the flight is 2 hours, and only $40 more expensive. The plane was great! There is so much leg space that if people pass in front of you, you don't even need to move. They served food, and drinks throughout the whole flight. Got to the hostel at 3am, couldn't sleep at all, and for some reason woke up at 8 ... why?
I got in some "era 13" now.
Bus from La Paz to Cochabamba, seat #13
Hostel in Brazil, room #13
Plane seat #13
Belem hostel, room #13
Walked around Belem, what an ugly city !!! I didn't like anything in it. The only reason I came there was to go to Morojo island, and thought well, if I'm there already, might as well look around. If I knew it would be that way, for sure I would've went to the island right away. I sweated like a pig, and drank like a camel. I was buying any juice/water I saw on the streets, and kept drinking and drinking, and it was never enough. All the museums sucked! Good thing that it was Tuesday and all the museums were free, otherwise I would've demanded the money back! One museum had a strange room with a lot of cotton and rollerblades, so you'd rollerblade in the "clouds", with some naked chick rollerblading on a screen :) And then another room with blinds ... weird ! Oh, and I had to store my bag in a locker! Saw another fort, but the most beautiful thing was a church. I kinda got into the churches lately. Before my opinion was "seen 1, seen them all", but now I'm really enjoying their designs. That's not to say that I spent more than 3 minutes in them :)
Next morning got up at 5am to get on the boat that goes to the island. That island is cool because it has over 40,000 water buffalos. Buffalo steaks, buffalo milk/cheese/ice cream, and buffalo mounted police force :) What a beautiful island, and it's so peaceful. There are almost no roads, grass streets with a little thin line made by bicycles (the preferred method of transportation), big trees, water buffalos everywhere, and it's just so green and nice :) I was really tired from 2 sleepless nights but took a bicycle for rent, and rode around. At 7 I was back at the hostel, and crashed out.
Got up at 8 to get to a posada for a trip. Rented a bicycle for rent again, and drove 40 minutes to a posada. What a nice trip we had (I have to learn not to count money. This 2.5 hours trip was $50. In Bolivia, a 2.5 day trip would cost that much). We walked through the jungle where we saw a pack of "strikazlov" :) Then had a nice canoe ride through the Amazon river, with beautiful surrounding. We entered a region where the Atlantic mixes with the river, and it got very windy and very wavy. Felt a bit scary on this little unstable canoe. Then we walked through a gorgeous mangrove on a bamboo bridge, and for the big ending, rode the buffalo back to the posada. Everything was perfect, except for the guide who kept yelling at the buffalos to move faster. Then it started raining, and I rode my bike back 40 minutes back in the rain. But it was cool, cause the rain took the heat away. Back at the hostel, I packed quickly, and took the bus back to the boat terminal :( I could've stayed on that island another week easily. In Brazil I'm much less paranoid about people stealing things. The bus was packed, and people who sit, usually offer to hold whatever you have. So I gave my bag with laptop, camera to a complete stranger, while standing far away from him, and I wasn't scared at all. Everything was last minute on that day. Got that bus the last minute, then took a taxi to the terminal, and there was crazy traffic, and instead of 5 minutes, we stood like 40 minutes, and I barely made it for the night bus to Sao Luis. I didn't eat anything that day (and at 2pm the day before that), cause there was just no time.
When I got off the bus, there was a backpacker walking beside me. We started talking right away, his name is Hans, and he's from Germany. What a nice guy!
We stayed in a very good hostel, actually all the hostels in Brazil are excellent, well they do cost 5 times more than in Bolivia, so they should be! They're cozy, clean, spacious, with good breakfast. Sao Luis is a reggae capital. We went out that night, and all the streets were full of so many people, with live reggae music playing on every corner, if not more often. Nobody danced though, just drank.
In the morning did 1 hour museum round, again, nothing spectacular.
Man it's hot in there !!!
I dropped my camera :( And the zoom stopped working. Oh man, here goes camera #4! I walked around trying to look for a technician. I asked around, but didn't understand what the people were saying, so basically I asked everybody I could and adopted a finger pointing strategy :) What do you know, I found it :) It took him 5 minutes to fix it ... Yeeiiii ... and when I asked how much, he said, oh doesn't matter, just enough for a beer :) well, I gave him $5. That would be enough for 3 beers :)
From guidebook:
Every month or so, when the alignment of the sun and moon make tides their strongest, powerful waves can form at the mouth of certain rivers and barrel upstream with tremendous force. The waves can reach 4m high and speeds of 30km/hour, and can rip full sized trees off the bank with their force. The record for longest wave is 37 minutes, covering nearly 13 km. Every year there are surfing competitions in March, on the full moon nearest the spring equinox, when the wave is strongest.
The phenomenon is called Pororoca. You can google it, and see pix.
There is a tribe in the Amazon. When one of the members dies, the corpse is hung from the tree until it gets dry. At which point it is burnt, and the ashes are mixed with bananas and are eaten by family members to preserve the spirit.
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/BelemAndSaoLuis#
I got in some "era 13" now.
Bus from La Paz to Cochabamba, seat #13
Hostel in Brazil, room #13
Plane seat #13
Belem hostel, room #13
Walked around Belem, what an ugly city !!! I didn't like anything in it. The only reason I came there was to go to Morojo island, and thought well, if I'm there already, might as well look around. If I knew it would be that way, for sure I would've went to the island right away. I sweated like a pig, and drank like a camel. I was buying any juice/water I saw on the streets, and kept drinking and drinking, and it was never enough. All the museums sucked! Good thing that it was Tuesday and all the museums were free, otherwise I would've demanded the money back! One museum had a strange room with a lot of cotton and rollerblades, so you'd rollerblade in the "clouds", with some naked chick rollerblading on a screen :) And then another room with blinds ... weird ! Oh, and I had to store my bag in a locker! Saw another fort, but the most beautiful thing was a church. I kinda got into the churches lately. Before my opinion was "seen 1, seen them all", but now I'm really enjoying their designs. That's not to say that I spent more than 3 minutes in them :)
Next morning got up at 5am to get on the boat that goes to the island. That island is cool because it has over 40,000 water buffalos. Buffalo steaks, buffalo milk/cheese/ice cream, and buffalo mounted police force :) What a beautiful island, and it's so peaceful. There are almost no roads, grass streets with a little thin line made by bicycles (the preferred method of transportation), big trees, water buffalos everywhere, and it's just so green and nice :) I was really tired from 2 sleepless nights but took a bicycle for rent, and rode around. At 7 I was back at the hostel, and crashed out.
Got up at 8 to get to a posada for a trip. Rented a bicycle for rent again, and drove 40 minutes to a posada. What a nice trip we had (I have to learn not to count money. This 2.5 hours trip was $50. In Bolivia, a 2.5 day trip would cost that much). We walked through the jungle where we saw a pack of "strikazlov" :) Then had a nice canoe ride through the Amazon river, with beautiful surrounding. We entered a region where the Atlantic mixes with the river, and it got very windy and very wavy. Felt a bit scary on this little unstable canoe. Then we walked through a gorgeous mangrove on a bamboo bridge, and for the big ending, rode the buffalo back to the posada. Everything was perfect, except for the guide who kept yelling at the buffalos to move faster. Then it started raining, and I rode my bike back 40 minutes back in the rain. But it was cool, cause the rain took the heat away. Back at the hostel, I packed quickly, and took the bus back to the boat terminal :( I could've stayed on that island another week easily. In Brazil I'm much less paranoid about people stealing things. The bus was packed, and people who sit, usually offer to hold whatever you have. So I gave my bag with laptop, camera to a complete stranger, while standing far away from him, and I wasn't scared at all. Everything was last minute on that day. Got that bus the last minute, then took a taxi to the terminal, and there was crazy traffic, and instead of 5 minutes, we stood like 40 minutes, and I barely made it for the night bus to Sao Luis. I didn't eat anything that day (and at 2pm the day before that), cause there was just no time.
When I got off the bus, there was a backpacker walking beside me. We started talking right away, his name is Hans, and he's from Germany. What a nice guy!
We stayed in a very good hostel, actually all the hostels in Brazil are excellent, well they do cost 5 times more than in Bolivia, so they should be! They're cozy, clean, spacious, with good breakfast. Sao Luis is a reggae capital. We went out that night, and all the streets were full of so many people, with live reggae music playing on every corner, if not more often. Nobody danced though, just drank.
In the morning did 1 hour museum round, again, nothing spectacular.
Man it's hot in there !!!
I dropped my camera :( And the zoom stopped working. Oh man, here goes camera #4! I walked around trying to look for a technician. I asked around, but didn't understand what the people were saying, so basically I asked everybody I could and adopted a finger pointing strategy :) What do you know, I found it :) It took him 5 minutes to fix it ... Yeeiiii ... and when I asked how much, he said, oh doesn't matter, just enough for a beer :) well, I gave him $5. That would be enough for 3 beers :)
From guidebook:
Every month or so, when the alignment of the sun and moon make tides their strongest, powerful waves can form at the mouth of certain rivers and barrel upstream with tremendous force. The waves can reach 4m high and speeds of 30km/hour, and can rip full sized trees off the bank with their force. The record for longest wave is 37 minutes, covering nearly 13 km. Every year there are surfing competitions in March, on the full moon nearest the spring equinox, when the wave is strongest.
The phenomenon is called Pororoca. You can google it, and see pix.
There is a tribe in the Amazon. When one of the members dies, the corpse is hung from the tree until it gets dry. At which point it is burnt, and the ashes are mixed with bananas and are eaten by family members to preserve the spirit.
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/BelemAndSaoLuis#
Monday, August 23, 2010
Pantanal and Brasilia
Got to the first tour agency to go to Pantanal which is a wet land area full of wild life. It's less knows than the Amazon, but the animals can be seen better, because they don't have the trees to hide in. I knew the prices in advance, so I didn't have to look for multiple agencies (since you know, they're all crooks), I still got it down by $10. In half an hour which I had there before the bus, I booked the tour, booked a flight to Brasilia, got a new cell phone chip, and was ready to pay, but they didn't accept credit cards, so they drove me quick quick quick to a bank, which had a huge line up, so I missed the bus :( I had to go on a next bus which was in 2 hours. The bus went to the location where the lodge people picked me up. I could see so much already through the window, since the bus goes directly through Pantanal. From where the bus stopped, we drove for another hour until we got to the lodge. The activity of that day was piranha fishing, which I missed, but they still took me there, and I had half an hour to fish, and I actually caught 1 piranha !! Yeiii :)) When we caught them, because they can come off the hook quite easily, the guide would come running and kick it like a football ball further away from the shore :) Later on we sacrificed one piranha for sushi, and the rest were deep fried. They are such alive animals like wasps, nothing can kill them !!! Once we caught them, the guide made a deep cut into their brains, and they were out of the water, then he peeled them, and cut them to take the guts out, and they were still alive !!!! The guide took their hearts out, and they were still beating for a good 2 minutes all by themselves. Then he started calling "hey chicken chicken chicken, come here", and whistling meanwhile, and like 4 hawk came in flying, eating the fish remains. One girl took some and went to the river to feed the crocodiles, suddenly more and more kept coming, o well, there was food only for one. They said in the rain season, the water goes up right to the lodge, and there could be some crocodiles right in the kitchen ;S
The lodge was nice, it was fully open with nets instead of windows, and had like 60 hammocks in it. But the first night I was all alone there, because the rest decided to sleep in tents. It had hot showers, nice 3 day meals, a pool table, volleyball net, and was situated right on the river with crocodiles :)
Next day we got up at 7 to have breakfast and went to ride horses. It was nice, very relaxing, although the horses didn't listen to any instructions. It just followed the guide's horse. To make it run would require quite a lot of effort, or to separate it from the group. We didn't see that many animals, just a big hamster (that's what I call it), it's huge like a 1 meter long animal that looks like a hamster. We also saw jaguar footprints, but no jaguar. The guide said he sees it approximately once a year, but he makes presence approximately 2 nights a week in a farm where it kills some baby animal.
Later on we went to a jeep safari, we drove out for 1 hour, saw an armadillo, toucans in trees, of course a bunch of birds. Then we had 1 hour walk where we saw a deer, macaws (they're so loud, I thought they're going to attack us, but nope, they were just flying by), and some wild pigs. Then we stopped to see an amazing sunset. The sun was bright red and a full circle, so pretty. On the way back we drove in the dark with a huge projector. The caimans were cool, they would start moving once the light hit them, and when you take a picture, you can see a bunch of dots, which are their eyes. We spotted a deer and a baby feeding, another macaw, and a fox.
The next day we had a boat ride, which was another very very relaxing activity. Saw a bunch of birds, more hamsters, and that's pretty much it, but the setting was very beautiful. Back at the lodge in the kitchen, suddenly a toucan came flying in. He sat right on the table, like 1 meter away from me. The workers gave him food right away, so he stopped for good 5 minutes, I just kept taking and taking pictures. It's such a beautiful bird. Much more beautiful up close than on the trees, or on TV or on pictures. So colorful, it doesn't even look real, looks like a toy. I was super excited!!
On the way back we got some expensive van to go to a near by city. The driver was an ass. He told us 2 hours, and 5 hours later we were finally there. The seats were uncomfortable, and once we got to the terminal, he didn't even help us take out bags out. I went to the public washroom, which had toilet paper!!! It was sparkling clean, had soap and paper towels, and it was free! I must be in heaven!! :))
It was already late, and I was almost praying for there to be an overnight bus to Brasilia. Yei there was !! At 10:30 pm, a 15 hour bus. The buses are so expensive in here, it's incredible ! That 15 hour bus cost around $90, in Bolivia it would've been about $10. In the bus, it turns off all the lights, and everybody sleeps, well, not one guy. He started playing some music on his phone. I was so annoyed, how disrespectful. Nobody said a thing, and I don't understand why I was the only one who doesn't speak any Portuguese, had to tell him to stop playing the music. In Bolivia it would never happen! There are no these cool guys, with cool phones and cool cloths showing off. There is just first of all no opportunity to be that way, and they grew up differently. The life there consists of survival, and kids at 5 are already grown ups. A lot of them either help their parents, or sell something on the street to help their parents. In the early morning it stopped at some terminal, and told everybody to get out, and then the bus drove away. I asked where did it go? And people told me, that it went to a garage, and will be back in half an hour. Ok, I bought a snack, and sat where it let us off, and waited. Waited, waited, where is the bus? More than half an hour has passed. I walked around the terminal, and didn't see any people who were on the bus. I went to the agency, and tried to explain them that I'm still waiting for it. He said, the bus has already left !!! It's in the middle of nowhere, nobody speaks any English or Spanish, and they don't get it that when people don't understand what you're saying, you should speak slower and use simpler words, for me in was blah blah blah bus, blah blah blah ticket .... I couldn't understand anything !! First he was a bit mad at me, said something like, where did I go? Was I walking around the terminal and not paying attention, I said no, I was waiting where it let us off. And then I just started crying and crying. It's not that I missed the bus, it's just I'm all alone there, in a new country, I don't understand the language at all, and I can't even make it to a freaking bus !! I was trying to calm myself down, like it's not a problem, those things happen, I'll just take another bus, but they didn't stop. The agent was very nice with me after that, he tried to calm me down and said that he's gonna arrange everything. So he bought me a ticket on another bus company, for a 4 hour ride to another city, and they called my bus, and stopped it at that city. When I got there, the driver of my bus waited for me at the exit, and all the people were so happy to see me, I was soo happy to see them too!!! They all surrounded me, and talked and asked, and I had no idea what they were saying, just kept nodding and smiling :)) They weren't even upset with me that they had to wait until I got there. I don't know why, the bus was going very well, but we arrived in Brasilia after 20 hours, not 15.
Brasilia is the capital of Brazil, and it's a future city, and the first planned city and with addresses like SQS 704, and restaurants like ZUU a.Z.d.Z it definitely is. It's design is actually a plane, and everything has it's own location. Residential properties are on the wings, hotels are in the center, monuments and museums are on the actual plane, and the government offices in the cockpit. The addresses are impossible to understand, I got on a subway where I was supposed to be, and needed to go only a few more blocks till the hotel, well ... nobody knew where we are on the map, or where I need to be. I walked around for a bit, and didn't find anything, so I took a taxi, which was a fortune to get to some hostel way out of town. It's an international hostel, but nobody speaks any language except for Portuguese. All I have to say is thank god for Spanish, I could understand maybe 10% of what they're saying. Outside the hostel there is absolutely nothing, it's in the middle of a highway, so I didn't eat for a whole day. The only thing I had was 1 little snack where the bus has left. So a day and a half without food, I was quite drained. In the morning during the breakfast, for some reason, I didn't even have any appetite.
During lunch went on the bus to the terminal. I gave the money to the driver, and he pantomimed something, I tried to figure out what he was trying to show, and thought to myself, poor man, he's deaf. Then he pointed to the sign which says "do not talk to the driver". really??? that is way too beaurocratic for Brazil !
The nice thing about Brazil is that most restaurants have buffets for lunches, so I don't have to understand what they're saying, and just go and grab what looks good. A good size portion which I can barely finish costs around $3, so it's not too bad.
Bought fruits and vegetables in a store that has one price, which is 75 cents/kilo. This is cheap !!! Brazil is expensive, but some things are surprisingly cheap.
Took a tour of the city because the distances are huge, and the tour is supposed to cover all the important points. Saw national museum which looks like Saturn, saw the most amazing cathedral which I fell in love with. It's so bright and open, cause all of its walls are made out of stained glass. People who go there are normal, not some religious fanatics. They have happy music playing from a dvd, and they wave their arms from side to side. After went to a square that has all the statues, some palace; a building that has floating islands, a building from which there are waterfalls, some place where a president is buried, and a cool bridge which goes over an artificial lake. It's all nice, but we stopped to walk around only in 3 places, and I wasn't very satisfied. The next day I wanted to see more of the city, but got only to the national museum, and another incredible church. All the walls are made out of blue stained glass, and when I got in, I had to feeling back of when I was a child, and saw this huge Christmas tree on the main square. Something that's very very special. It was amazing :)
The Brazilian people are the nicest and friendliest people I've ever met in my life. They look normal, but wait until you ask them a question. They'll show you, tell you everything they know about it, give you other options, and are very patient if they see that I don't understand. I went to an office to get a hostel discount card. They didn't have it, and the receptionist gave me an address of another office (which is hell knows where). A girl was standing beside me, and when she saw that, she said that she could give me a ride there. In another office, I asked how to get to that church because it's impossible to find the addresses in here, so I just want to be sure, and she gave me a card with a phone number, and told me to call incase I get lost. Just absolutely every case was eye opening. Do these people actually exist!?!
From guidebook:
Brasilia is a result of an ambitious urban project which was set in motion by heroic President Juscelino Kubitschek, and orchestrated by architect Oscar Niemeyer. The whole thing was built in just 41 months. Dom Bosco, a Salesian priest living in Italy, prophesied a new civilization would emerge in Brazil, somewhere between the 15th and 20th parallels. That caught Brazil's attention and land was allocated in the 1891 for a new capital. Still, it wasn't until 1955 that Brasilia started to become a reality. The capital was officially moved from Rio to Brasilia on April 21, 1960.
Kubitschek made the building of Brasilia a symbol of the country's determination and ability to become a great economic power. He successfully appealed to all Brazilians to put aside their differences and rally to the cause. In doing so, he distracted attention from country's social and economic problems, gained enormous personal popularity, and borrowed heavily from the international banks.
Today, Kubitschek is heralded as a national hero. For some, the city represents the outstanding capabilities of this great and vast nation, a world model fur urban development, architecture and society. On the other hand, some consider the city a wasted opportunity, full of pretty buildings but lacking a soul.
The question remains: does it work? Brasiliense, as locals are referred to, regard the capital as a well-organized Brazilian utopia: roads are well maintained, grass is green, vehicles actually stop for pedestrians in crosswalks and there are no favelas in the city. Large trucks are forbidden from entering the city limits, keeping pollution in check, and there is a height limit to signs and billboards, ensuring the city's big, open skiers remain unobstructed. For Brazil, it's an impressive standard of living. On the other hand, most folks in the rest of the country see the city as a soulless bore, a sterile metropolis full of bureaucratic nonsense. Dig a little deeper and you'll find holes in the city's perfect plan, mostly concerning traffic. If a bus breaks down or there's an accident, it can be snarled for hours. With very few exit points on the city's roadways, a missed turn can be disastrous.
It remains the only city in the world constructed in the 20th century to achieve World Cultural Heritage designation by Unesco.
--------
Addresses for the logical mind.
Brasilias addresses are as futuristic as its architecture, a series of numbers and letters that look baffling at first but are easy to decipher once you know what all the acronyms mean.
For example, the address to Pansao de Zenilda is SQS 704, Bloco Q, Casa 29. That means it's in Super Quadrea South 704, building Q, house 29. The first digit of the address (7) shows the position east or west of the Eixo Rodoviario (the main north-south arterial road) - odd numbers to the west and even to the east, increasing as they move away from the center. The last two digits (04) show the distance north or south of the Eixo Monumental. So Pensao da Zenilda is four bocks to the south of the Eixo Monumental and four blocks east of the Eixo Rodoviario.
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/PantanalAndBrasilia#
The lodge was nice, it was fully open with nets instead of windows, and had like 60 hammocks in it. But the first night I was all alone there, because the rest decided to sleep in tents. It had hot showers, nice 3 day meals, a pool table, volleyball net, and was situated right on the river with crocodiles :)
Next day we got up at 7 to have breakfast and went to ride horses. It was nice, very relaxing, although the horses didn't listen to any instructions. It just followed the guide's horse. To make it run would require quite a lot of effort, or to separate it from the group. We didn't see that many animals, just a big hamster (that's what I call it), it's huge like a 1 meter long animal that looks like a hamster. We also saw jaguar footprints, but no jaguar. The guide said he sees it approximately once a year, but he makes presence approximately 2 nights a week in a farm where it kills some baby animal.
Later on we went to a jeep safari, we drove out for 1 hour, saw an armadillo, toucans in trees, of course a bunch of birds. Then we had 1 hour walk where we saw a deer, macaws (they're so loud, I thought they're going to attack us, but nope, they were just flying by), and some wild pigs. Then we stopped to see an amazing sunset. The sun was bright red and a full circle, so pretty. On the way back we drove in the dark with a huge projector. The caimans were cool, they would start moving once the light hit them, and when you take a picture, you can see a bunch of dots, which are their eyes. We spotted a deer and a baby feeding, another macaw, and a fox.
The next day we had a boat ride, which was another very very relaxing activity. Saw a bunch of birds, more hamsters, and that's pretty much it, but the setting was very beautiful. Back at the lodge in the kitchen, suddenly a toucan came flying in. He sat right on the table, like 1 meter away from me. The workers gave him food right away, so he stopped for good 5 minutes, I just kept taking and taking pictures. It's such a beautiful bird. Much more beautiful up close than on the trees, or on TV or on pictures. So colorful, it doesn't even look real, looks like a toy. I was super excited!!
On the way back we got some expensive van to go to a near by city. The driver was an ass. He told us 2 hours, and 5 hours later we were finally there. The seats were uncomfortable, and once we got to the terminal, he didn't even help us take out bags out. I went to the public washroom, which had toilet paper!!! It was sparkling clean, had soap and paper towels, and it was free! I must be in heaven!! :))
It was already late, and I was almost praying for there to be an overnight bus to Brasilia. Yei there was !! At 10:30 pm, a 15 hour bus. The buses are so expensive in here, it's incredible ! That 15 hour bus cost around $90, in Bolivia it would've been about $10. In the bus, it turns off all the lights, and everybody sleeps, well, not one guy. He started playing some music on his phone. I was so annoyed, how disrespectful. Nobody said a thing, and I don't understand why I was the only one who doesn't speak any Portuguese, had to tell him to stop playing the music. In Bolivia it would never happen! There are no these cool guys, with cool phones and cool cloths showing off. There is just first of all no opportunity to be that way, and they grew up differently. The life there consists of survival, and kids at 5 are already grown ups. A lot of them either help their parents, or sell something on the street to help their parents. In the early morning it stopped at some terminal, and told everybody to get out, and then the bus drove away. I asked where did it go? And people told me, that it went to a garage, and will be back in half an hour. Ok, I bought a snack, and sat where it let us off, and waited. Waited, waited, where is the bus? More than half an hour has passed. I walked around the terminal, and didn't see any people who were on the bus. I went to the agency, and tried to explain them that I'm still waiting for it. He said, the bus has already left !!! It's in the middle of nowhere, nobody speaks any English or Spanish, and they don't get it that when people don't understand what you're saying, you should speak slower and use simpler words, for me in was blah blah blah bus, blah blah blah ticket .... I couldn't understand anything !! First he was a bit mad at me, said something like, where did I go? Was I walking around the terminal and not paying attention, I said no, I was waiting where it let us off. And then I just started crying and crying. It's not that I missed the bus, it's just I'm all alone there, in a new country, I don't understand the language at all, and I can't even make it to a freaking bus !! I was trying to calm myself down, like it's not a problem, those things happen, I'll just take another bus, but they didn't stop. The agent was very nice with me after that, he tried to calm me down and said that he's gonna arrange everything. So he bought me a ticket on another bus company, for a 4 hour ride to another city, and they called my bus, and stopped it at that city. When I got there, the driver of my bus waited for me at the exit, and all the people were so happy to see me, I was soo happy to see them too!!! They all surrounded me, and talked and asked, and I had no idea what they were saying, just kept nodding and smiling :)) They weren't even upset with me that they had to wait until I got there. I don't know why, the bus was going very well, but we arrived in Brasilia after 20 hours, not 15.
Brasilia is the capital of Brazil, and it's a future city, and the first planned city and with addresses like SQS 704, and restaurants like ZUU a.Z.d.Z it definitely is. It's design is actually a plane, and everything has it's own location. Residential properties are on the wings, hotels are in the center, monuments and museums are on the actual plane, and the government offices in the cockpit. The addresses are impossible to understand, I got on a subway where I was supposed to be, and needed to go only a few more blocks till the hotel, well ... nobody knew where we are on the map, or where I need to be. I walked around for a bit, and didn't find anything, so I took a taxi, which was a fortune to get to some hostel way out of town. It's an international hostel, but nobody speaks any language except for Portuguese. All I have to say is thank god for Spanish, I could understand maybe 10% of what they're saying. Outside the hostel there is absolutely nothing, it's in the middle of a highway, so I didn't eat for a whole day. The only thing I had was 1 little snack where the bus has left. So a day and a half without food, I was quite drained. In the morning during the breakfast, for some reason, I didn't even have any appetite.
During lunch went on the bus to the terminal. I gave the money to the driver, and he pantomimed something, I tried to figure out what he was trying to show, and thought to myself, poor man, he's deaf. Then he pointed to the sign which says "do not talk to the driver". really??? that is way too beaurocratic for Brazil !
The nice thing about Brazil is that most restaurants have buffets for lunches, so I don't have to understand what they're saying, and just go and grab what looks good. A good size portion which I can barely finish costs around $3, so it's not too bad.
Bought fruits and vegetables in a store that has one price, which is 75 cents/kilo. This is cheap !!! Brazil is expensive, but some things are surprisingly cheap.
Took a tour of the city because the distances are huge, and the tour is supposed to cover all the important points. Saw national museum which looks like Saturn, saw the most amazing cathedral which I fell in love with. It's so bright and open, cause all of its walls are made out of stained glass. People who go there are normal, not some religious fanatics. They have happy music playing from a dvd, and they wave their arms from side to side. After went to a square that has all the statues, some palace; a building that has floating islands, a building from which there are waterfalls, some place where a president is buried, and a cool bridge which goes over an artificial lake. It's all nice, but we stopped to walk around only in 3 places, and I wasn't very satisfied. The next day I wanted to see more of the city, but got only to the national museum, and another incredible church. All the walls are made out of blue stained glass, and when I got in, I had to feeling back of when I was a child, and saw this huge Christmas tree on the main square. Something that's very very special. It was amazing :)
The Brazilian people are the nicest and friendliest people I've ever met in my life. They look normal, but wait until you ask them a question. They'll show you, tell you everything they know about it, give you other options, and are very patient if they see that I don't understand. I went to an office to get a hostel discount card. They didn't have it, and the receptionist gave me an address of another office (which is hell knows where). A girl was standing beside me, and when she saw that, she said that she could give me a ride there. In another office, I asked how to get to that church because it's impossible to find the addresses in here, so I just want to be sure, and she gave me a card with a phone number, and told me to call incase I get lost. Just absolutely every case was eye opening. Do these people actually exist!?!
From guidebook:
Brasilia is a result of an ambitious urban project which was set in motion by heroic President Juscelino Kubitschek, and orchestrated by architect Oscar Niemeyer. The whole thing was built in just 41 months. Dom Bosco, a Salesian priest living in Italy, prophesied a new civilization would emerge in Brazil, somewhere between the 15th and 20th parallels. That caught Brazil's attention and land was allocated in the 1891 for a new capital. Still, it wasn't until 1955 that Brasilia started to become a reality. The capital was officially moved from Rio to Brasilia on April 21, 1960.
Kubitschek made the building of Brasilia a symbol of the country's determination and ability to become a great economic power. He successfully appealed to all Brazilians to put aside their differences and rally to the cause. In doing so, he distracted attention from country's social and economic problems, gained enormous personal popularity, and borrowed heavily from the international banks.
Today, Kubitschek is heralded as a national hero. For some, the city represents the outstanding capabilities of this great and vast nation, a world model fur urban development, architecture and society. On the other hand, some consider the city a wasted opportunity, full of pretty buildings but lacking a soul.
The question remains: does it work? Brasiliense, as locals are referred to, regard the capital as a well-organized Brazilian utopia: roads are well maintained, grass is green, vehicles actually stop for pedestrians in crosswalks and there are no favelas in the city. Large trucks are forbidden from entering the city limits, keeping pollution in check, and there is a height limit to signs and billboards, ensuring the city's big, open skiers remain unobstructed. For Brazil, it's an impressive standard of living. On the other hand, most folks in the rest of the country see the city as a soulless bore, a sterile metropolis full of bureaucratic nonsense. Dig a little deeper and you'll find holes in the city's perfect plan, mostly concerning traffic. If a bus breaks down or there's an accident, it can be snarled for hours. With very few exit points on the city's roadways, a missed turn can be disastrous.
It remains the only city in the world constructed in the 20th century to achieve World Cultural Heritage designation by Unesco.
--------
Addresses for the logical mind.
Brasilias addresses are as futuristic as its architecture, a series of numbers and letters that look baffling at first but are easy to decipher once you know what all the acronyms mean.
For example, the address to Pansao de Zenilda is SQS 704, Bloco Q, Casa 29. That means it's in Super Quadrea South 704, building Q, house 29. The first digit of the address (7) shows the position east or west of the Eixo Rodoviario (the main north-south arterial road) - odd numbers to the west and even to the east, increasing as they move away from the center. The last two digits (04) show the distance north or south of the Eixo Monumental. So Pensao da Zenilda is four bocks to the south of the Eixo Monumental and four blocks east of the Eixo Rodoviario.
pix at http://picasaweb.google.com/evadikushin501/PantanalAndBrasilia#
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