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British Mensa Travel Special Interest Group |
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Dangerous,
desirable Brazil is an amazing destination, but of the 51 countries I have visited so far it is probably the most dangerous. While travelling for 12 months we heard stories of scams in South East Asia and various robbery methods in other parts of South America but Brazil is the only country where we heard travellers' tales of robberies at gun or knifepoint. We narrowly missed an armed robbery ourselves - luckily we missed the bus that was attacked by 5 minutes or so. Some people we had been chatting to the night before were not so lucky and were robbed of everything of value they were carrying. Despite the risks, we thoroughly enjoyed our time in Brazil, which offers stunning scenery, fabulous wildlife and great nightlife. What better way to start our tour than to visit one of the new Seven Wonders of the World - the statue of Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer), perched on top of the Corcovado mountain peak overlooking the city of Rio de Janeiro. We opted to travel up on the scenic train through the forest rather than taking a taxi. We were surprised to find a lift and a series of escalators to take us from the upper station to the statue itself. The view from the statue over Rio itself is probably the best city view I have ever seen - better even than Sydney, London or New York - Rio spreads out all around you with volcanically formed hills, a large lagoon and beautiful beaches. It is impossible to describe just how stunning the view is - you have to see it for yourself. Stewart tried to teach the statue the YMCA, but it just wasn't budging! It's a busy spot here, so you have to be patient to get your photo. Next up was a stroll along the beaches, watching the locals enjoying their Sunday sun. We wandered past Leblon, Ipanema, Arpoader, Diabo and Copacabana beaches taking in the sights of sea, surf, beach volleyball, hawkers and bronzed Brazilians. Our favourite was Ipanema, though Arpoader and Diabo had great surf for body boarding or surfing. We went back the next day to enjoy the quiet Monday beaches, renting deckchairs and an umbrella and each getting pounded by the surf at some point; all part of the fun. We rounded off our day with a trip up the Sugar Loaf mountain. This is accessed by cable car - one to Urca and another from there to the summit of the Sugar Loaf. Again the view was fabulous and we were treated to a beautiful sunset over Rio with Cristo Redentor outlined nicely, then the street lights gradually twinkling all over the city. Our next location was Manaus, from which we hoped to do a trip in the Brazilian jungle. The bus and boat option takes 6/7 days to get from Rio to Manaus, so guess what - we flew instead. From here we arranged a five day tour of the Amazon. Unfortunately this ended up being the worst experience of our entire 12 month Round the World trip - though of course what would a world tour be without a little adventure along the way? It turned out that the tour company we had carefully researched "sold" us on to a man who can only be described as a crook. The tour started out reasonably well and our first stop was to see the "Meeting of the Waters", where the dark tea coloured Rio Negro and the café au lait coloured Rio Solimoes rivers meet. Instead of merging, the two rivers run side by side with a curvy dividing line. Both rivers have different properties - acidity, plant life, fish, colour, dissolved plant material and temperature. We got the chance to sit on the side of the boat and dip our legs in the water to feel the different temperatures of the two rivers. We also saw a couple of pink dolphins here too and then moved on to a tourist trap where we could see the famous huge Amazonian lily pads. We then took a tour in a smaller motorised boat along narrower parts of the river and some flooded forest. We saw lots of birds including fish hawks and our favourites, jacana. These are commonly known as Jesus birds for their seeming ability to walk on water. They are very colourful, especially in flight when you can see the colour under their wings. We found it very beautiful but strange to be boating through partially submerged forest. We stopped and did some piranha fishing, using bloody meat for bait and making lots of noise and splashing to attract them! Only the boatman and the guides caught any piranha - Stewart did catch a fish, but it wasn't a piranha. The next day the boat chugged its way about 100 km from Manaus. There we were taken ashore in a canoe and the guy who lived there took us on a walk through his family's land - open rainforest. We saw rosewood trees, rubber trees (which are amazing to see being sapped), milk trees (locals feed the milky sap to their kids) and fire trees (the sap can be set on fire and then burn safely for ages). We tried various forest fruits and nuts, saw the biggest ants in the Amazon and a huge tarantula. The trek lasted about 3 hours, then we were canoed back to the boat and went for a swim. It was odd to be swimming in the flooded forest where you can see and feel bushes and trees beneath you - we just hoped there were no piranha, but none of us were nibbled. After lunch we headed further up river to the Amazon Lilies camp. The camp was basically a hut in a small village which has a bar with a pool table. The company pays the locals to keep the camp clean and cater for guests when they stay there. There was supposed to be a working toilet for us but it was broken, with so many creepy crawlies inside the bowl that none of us would risk using it - remember, this was the Amazon, where even the caterpillars are scary looking. So we had to make do with squatting behind the bushes, even though this was a village rather than the middle of nowhere. It turned out later that there was a squat toilet we could have used, but no, we were told to go behind the bushes, hiding from the local kids playing football. This was the point where things started to deteriorate. The boat that was to pick us up had broken down and despite many promises neither it nor a replacement arrived, nor did promised food and fuel. We ended up stuck in this camp for the next few days, never getting to explore the jungle beyond. To add insult to injury we had to pay our own fares to get back to Manaus, were verbally abused on the journey back by our drunken guide and spent most of our next few days trying to get some of our money back. We never got a fair refund but had to settle for what we could get. So this was our Brazilian jungle adventure - getting ripped off, bored in a village encampment and then insulted continuously by our drunken guide on the return journey. Still, we had to expect some kind of adventure on a trip lasting a whole year, I suppose. When we got back to Manaus we did get to see the amazing opera house, Teatro Amazonas. This is incredibly lavish, with Italian marble, Brazilian wood, English cast iron stairs, fabulous frescoes and beautiful fabrics. We also went to an opera, though sadly not in the opera house itself. The opera was a modern one sung in Portuguese and was apparently the retelling of the creation myth of a local tribe. After the interval the entire cast came on stage in tribal garb, which meant that they were all topless, women included. So, having seen nobody topless on any of Rio's beaches, there we were, watching topless opera in a town in the middle of the jungle. Bizarre! We also visited Palacio Rio Negro, a fabulous old mansion built for a German rubber baron. I ended up being interviewed for a Brazilian TV programme here, as they were on location filming for a cultural programme. I was later interviewed by a Peruvian radio reporter when we were in Lima - both times they ignored Stewart and interviewed me (because I am tall and blonde, Stewart thinks). Thankful to leave scruffy smelly Manaus behind us, we flew on to Cuiaba. Here we spent a day touring and hiking around the beautiful Chapada Dos Guimaraes National Park, where we marvelled at magnificent red coloured cliffs (The Devil's Gate) and a beautiful waterfall (Veu Do Noiva / Bridal Veil Falls) set in a spectacular canyon (Miranta De Geodesia). After lunch at a restaurant with a magnificent view over another valley floor (Morro Dos Ventos/Mountain of the Winds) we went to see a "stone city" which looked man made, with joints like bricks. We thought that was it, but it wasn't. We walked further on and came to the canyon rim and...wow! We could see all sorts of beautiful red rocks and mountains, with a tree covered valley far below which stretched as far as the eye could see. We walked around the rim getting different views of the rocks, which became even more beautiful as the setting sun brought out all the shades of colour in the rocks. At one stage we found an echo point - and it was the most perfect echo we have ever heard. You could stand 10m away from the person shouting and a few seconds later you would hear a very clear echo which sounded like it came from the other side of you. Next it was
on to Campo Grande by bus (10 hour journey for c. €20). We had decided
to visit the world's largest wetland, the Pantanal, from here rather than
from Cuiaba - as it is half the price and not nearly as hot. It took a
full day's journey to reach our camp - we were determined to go somewhere
remote as we had not managed to do so in the jungle. Even on the way to
the camp we saw plenty of wildlife (alligators, a jubaru stork, herons,
a capybara which is the world's largest rodent, wild deer, parrots, toucans
and even a giant anteater bounding off in the distance). We were also
treated to a stunning sunset - a terrific yellow and orange band beneath
cloudless brilliant blue. We spent several days here, doing walks at various times of day to see the wonderful wildlife, sometimes coming back to camp to find there was no food left. The normal chef was on holiday and his replacement did not seem to be the best at working out how much food to order/cook. Luckily sometimes we were able to catch our own dinner, as when we went piranha fishing. This involved wading up to our waists into a small lake, baiting our hooks with strips of meat and being told by our guide to bop the small caiman on the nose with our rods if they came too close! Stewart turned out to be the best piranha fisherman on this occasion, catching six. The piranha proved to be surprisingly tasty, though with very little meat on them - they seemed to be nearly all jaws and teeth. We saw lots of amazing wildlife, including howler monkeys, yellow crested woodpeckers, coatimundi, toucans (which have an amazing flying action due to their heavy beaks), storks, hawks and blue and yellow and red macaws. Sometimes we had to wade through flooded tracks where the water came up to mid thigh, having to go barefoot so the mud did not suck our sandals off. Our favourites were the armadillos. The first one came right up to the Italian in our group, who was hiding behind a bush - then we got to see how fast an armadillo can move! At night there was a good atmosphere around the camp and Stewart developed a taste for the Brazilian caipirinha cocktails. When we left the camp we saw even more wildlife on the journey out, including a giant anteater (much closer this time), another armadillo, wild pigs, wild deer, lots of capybara, emus, jubaru storks, macaws, toucans and plenty of other types of birds. Once back at Campo Grande we caught a night bus to Foz Do Iguassu, leaving at 10.20pm and arriving at 4.30pm the next day. The morning after, we took a trip run by the hostel to the Argentine side of the famous falls. Our driver was as mad as a brush. On the way, he stopped to see a pony and donkey in a field. As he drove along the field they ran alongside the bus and got a small sweet at the end of the field. His football team had beaten an Argentinian team the night before and he was keen to let everyone know. His team colours were draped at the front of the bus and he honked his horn and shouted at everyone we saw to wind them up. We had an easy passage through Immigration, as he did everything for us and we did not even have to leave the bus. First we went to a viewpoint from where you can see Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, then onto the main attraction, the Iguassu Falls themselves. Stewart started with a 15 minute jungle walk then we shared a half-hour truck ride through the jungle before boarding inflatable speedboats for a 6km ride up the river, through grade three rapids. This was an amazing way to approach the falls. The speedboat zoomed around many of the basins to give us views of a large number of the approx. 275 individual falls, then took us really close to two of the falls, getting everyone on the boat thoroughly drenched. Those in the know were prepared and were wearing just swimsuits, with their clothes in plastic bags. We then headed over to Isla San Martin where we climbed up to two great viewpoints. We crossed back over to the mainland, climbed back to the top and took the "green train through the jungle" out to the famous Devil's Throat area (as seen in the current Indiana Jones movie). Here we walked across a couple of kilometres of boardwalk to get very close to the edge of the myriad falls that make up the Devil's Throat. This was just absolutely stunning - the awesome power of the thousands of gallons of water powering beneath your feet and plunging over the edge was just awesome. The following day was the turn of the Brazilian side of the falls. Seeing the Argentine side is like seeing the individual pieces of a jigsaw, while the Brazilian side displays the finished jigsaw. If you come here, do take the time to see the falls from both sides of the border, as they are completely different experiences. We took a free local bus to the main road (the one that was robbed at gunpoint later in the day), then another bus to the National Park. We then got an internal bus to the Falls area. We walked for about 1.5 km, stopping at all the various viewpoints along the route. Guess what - it was stunning. The way the sun was shining meant that there were rainbows everywhere. We spent a couple of hours just enjoying the amazing views here, then watched some playful coatimundis scrounging for food near the fast food outlets, managing to steal some chips from some people near us. We then visited a lovely bird park, which was much better than expected, with lots of weird and wonderful birds that looked as if a kid had been let loose on them with a paint set. Being in the aviary with the macaws at feeding time was actually quite unnerving. After Foz Do Iguassu we moved on to Curitiba, from where we took a scenic train ride, allegedly the most "exciting" train journey in Brazil. Curitiba itself was the nicest city we found in Brazil, being clean and friendly with quite a few nice older buildings and a particularly attractive historic quarter. All that was left of our time in Brazil was to make our way to São Paolo, stop briefly to explore the old centre of this huge city (population over 10 million) by guided tour and then fly onto Buenos Aires for the next leg of our South American adventure. First published in VISA 80A (Aug 2008) |