This is going to be a picture heavy report. Just a heads up, I like taking pictures and have no issue throwing them in here.
Details: Left May 28th and returned June 22nd.
Schedule:
Montevideo: 2 nights
Colonia, Uruguay: 1 night
Buenos Aires: 6 nights
Asuncion, Paraguay: 2 nights
Iguazu Falls, Argentina: 3 nights
Sao Paulo: 2 nights
Parati, Brazil: 3 nights
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil: 3 nights
Flights: I booked it using AA miles (20k there, 30k back. If you book in May, it will only be 20k for those interested in using miles). Considering it was miles, I went AUS-DFW (8 hr layover) - MIA - MVD. Long day, but it was a free flight. Who am I to complain? For those of you curious, MVD has no visa fees for Americans. Also, you can get to Buenos Aires in 5 hours from MVD. If you cross into Argentina by land or boat, you do not pay the visa fees. If you fly into BA, you get hit with a 140 fee....so the 3 days in Uruguay were more or less free for me as I did not pay the Argentinean fee.
I arrived in Montevideo at around 9 AM. First impression of the country - it is clean and organized. Not many people spoke English, so I got stuck using my "broken" Spanish immediately. I quickly figured out the bus system and caught it to the Cuidad Vieja. Montevideo is a summer destination, and I am in winter. I knew this already, but I had and opportunity, so I took it. Cuidad Vieja (old town for the non-Spanish speakers) is the historical center of Montevideo. It is quite small (as is the city) but is a nice place for two nights. Anymore, you will be looking for things to do. If you go during summer, I would stay in another part of town near the beach as opposed to Cuidad Vieja, but in winter, it seemed like this was the better option. I more or less saw the whole downtown area in a day. The weather was perfect (highs in the low 70s and lows in the 50s). The prices were similar to that in the US - meals ran me less than 10 bucks for good food, beers were a couple of bucks but for liter bottles. I like walking, so I just began to walk. My first stop (thanks to watching No Reservations on the Travel Channel) was the Mercado del Puerto. Meat is what you order. And it is good. Very good. I ended up just asking the guy to get me his favorite cut and ended up with ribs. They were good.
I then wandered to the coastal road in Montevideo. Not that scenic on a cloudy day, but what could I do...
Not too far off was the Plaza Independencia.
I returned to the hostel after my initial walk around town. Not much was happening so I had a couple of beers with two german girls and two American guys. The American guys were from Miami and it just so happened that the Miami/Dallas NBA finals game was on that night. We decided to go out to the local bar street and watch the game. There were not many places, probably 5 or 6 bars open on this street during the week. We found one and enjoyed some beers and the game. By the time we left, it was 4 AM. I seemed to have a lot of those nights this trip.
The next day, I had blue skies and decided to get some more pictures. The first is just a small plaza near the hostel.
Montevideo has a pedestrian street going through the center of it. It seems to be the liveliest in the town.
And back to Plaza Independencia
The legislative Palace
And another plaza near my hostel
That more or less covered my two days in Montevideo. I went to the bus station and got a 3 and a half hour bus to Colonia. To my surprise, the cheap bus had free WiFi on it, so I facetimed my parents and called the wife.
Colonia
Colonia is a town that is across the "river" from Buenos Aires but still in Uruguay. The ferry from there takes about an hour to get to BA. You can tell from the name that it is a Colonial town. I arrived, and found my hostel. It is a small town, so I got out walking. A lot of cobble stone streets, tree lined, and colonial buildings. It is on a peninsula and is quite peaceful. There is not much I can say about it but just throw a bunch of pictures, that more or less explains it. I only had one night here, which was more than enough for me. My hostel was relatively empty, I was the only person in a 4 person room. I cant complain, i slept well. This town is apparently a big weekend tourist destination from BA.
Random dancing on the street
I caught the 4 or so PM ferry to BA. It is more of a small cruise ship with a bar and decent seats. Apparently, some futbol match between an Argentinean and Uruguayan team was taking place that night. When I showed up at the ferry dock, there were riot police. I knew it would be an interesting ride. The whole ride, they were signing and jumping up and down. I arrived in BA only to come into more riot police. They herded them all into buses going directly to the stadium (FWIW, the Uruguayan team won that night).
Buenos Aires
I will start off by saying that I love that city. I would move there in a heartbeat. It is very European and cheap. The people are nice, its chaotic but organized. It has history and it shows.
I got to the dock and got a taxi to my hostel. I, of course, got over charged for the ride but I had no idea what it should be. I get to my hostel on one of the main strips in the center of town. The hostel was in a 6 story building, the hostel owned the 2nd floor, 5th and 6th floors as well....and the rooftop terrace. I check into my room and had two NZ girls and an Irish guy. They told me that the hostel was hosting a BBQ on the roof that night for around $10. I figured I had nothing else to do so I joined them. I ended up meeting a lot of people and had a great time. It was all you could eat meat (chirizo, ribs, steak, etc). I went into a meat coma with my Quilmes. I ended up staying up and drinking on the rooftop bar until 6 AM without even realizing it. It wasnt even about getting drunk, you just lost track of time so easily as the bar at the hostel didnt close and you are talking with interesting people.
My wife arrived the next morning at 10 AM. So I got about 2 hours of sleep before I went and picked her up. She didnt get much sleep either, which I was relieved about, and we took a nap when she got to the hostel (we changed into a two person room for her comfort). Her bag also didnt arrive, but they said they would deliver it the next day (which they did) so it worked out.
We got out of the hostel to go wander for a bit at around 4 PM. This is the Argentinean congress which was two blocks from the hostel.
A communist rally nearby
We then went back to the hostel and enjoyed some time on the patio.
We ended up eating at a local place next door to the hostel for dinner. Nothing too special but was cheap. Empanadas and local pizza. We ended up being up, again, until 4 AM with people at the hostel. This is a non-stop thing that, again, was just sitting around drinking.
I had a little to drink so I started messing with my camera on the roof.
The next morning, we wandered to La Boca. The "artsy" district of BA with a lot of touristy Tango restaurants. It is also the home to the Boca Juniors futbol team (one of the two main teams in BA).
Me sitting in La Boca
We had a nice Argentinean BBQ for lunch. $20 for the two of us. A lot of meat...and some questionable cuts.
We continued to La Recoleta Cemetery. It is a historic cemetery where Evita was buried. It also has a Saturday market going around it.
A remodeled port in Buenos Aires with some nicer restaurants and shops (called Puerta Madera)
I forgot the name of this square, but we wandered by it. I believe the pink building is called La Casa Rosa.
Sunday: We started off by going to the San Telmo market which closes off a long street for street vendors on Sunday. It was crowded and filled with souvenirs. The most humorous stand was one we walked by and someone said "I know you want hot sauce" and I turned around and its two US guys in their 20s. They apparently went to BA as an exchange program for their university and did not want to leave. They decided to try and make money by making their own hot sauce.
That night, we headed to the River Plate futbol game. River Plate is the main rival of the Boca Juniors. I have to say, it was a lot of fun. For the record, three games after this, the team was apparently regulated and it caused massive riots after the game which turned to an almost war zone (rubber bullets, water canons, riot police, ambulances, stadium fires, etc). I was slightly sad I missed it (my wife was quite content with not going to that one).
The opposing teams section
After the game...
The next day...just a couple of shots.
I knew an Argentinean guy who went to HS with me in BA, so I met up with him one night and we had a good time on the town. He had work the next day so he headed out. As he was walking out, 3 American guys were walking in and I started talking with them. They were pilots for United and were stuck there due to the BA airport being closed (due to the volcano in Chile). They were drinking heavily that night. They invited me along and bought my drinks. After that night, I believe the reputation that American pilots have....
We rested for most of the day but the next night, we went out to a nice meal at a steakhouse. It cost us $40. We got 2 ribeys, a large grilled provolone cheese topped with bacon, a bottle of good wine and a side of potatoes. It was f'n good.
That night, we met some people at the hostel. We went out with 3 irish girls, an irish guy, an American guy and a Miami guy (specifically left him separate for a reason). We left the hostel at around 1 AM just looking for a local bar to have some drinks out and nothing too crazy. The Miami guy tagged along at the last minute. We didnt realize how drunk he was. He had a different idea of where to go which was a club and none of us wanted that. He was quite persistant, so we decided to walk by the club just to annoy him and continue on. Anyways, he was saying that he had a flight at 8 AM and he had to be back to the hostel by 3:30 to get an hour of sleep. We already knew it was bad news for him but it wasnt our problem. We found some bar that had free beers for girls and $3 beers for guys. The Miami guy left out of frustration of no club. Either way, we had a good night with the locals at the bar. The next day, we wake up and go get breakfast and Miami guy is upstairs frantically typing away. He apparently missed his flight and was desperately trying to figure it out. (he was only going to Rio, so he ended up getting a bus). Jumping forward about two weeks, I get a message from the other American guy that was there saying Miami guy was in his hostel in Rio. Apparently he had missed his next flight to Lima as well due to going out too late.
Last day in BA - my wife flew out to Sao Paulo that morning for a charity trip and I had half a day in BA to tour. So I went to the Japanese garden.
I had a 17 hour night bus booked to Paraguay that night. I paid 70 bucks for it, but it was for "cama" seats (or first class). It was 15 bucks more than the normal ones. It was worth it....business class style seats, 2nd floor of the bus right behind the front window. I had a stewardess (who apparently wanted to give me whiskey instead of coke when I ordered that) and 3 meals. I slept damn well.
Paraguay
The sole reason I went to Paraguay was to say I went to Paraguay. No one seems to go there, so I went there. I had no idea what to expect from it, so I showed up with no idea. My bus got into town at around noon. I met some peace corp guy on the bus who was going downtown on the local bus, so I just tagged along. I was in the only hostel in the town and it was decent. Nothing special. But there was literally not much happening in the town. I walked around a bit and got the pictures. The hostel gave me a map of the town, and I noticed that it had a "do not go here" part, so it naturally enticed me to go there. There literally was a favela right behind all of the governmental buildings and presidential palace. I did not venture further.
Arriving in town
Paraguay just celebrated their 200th anniversary, so they had their flags everywhere.
The favelas behind the governmental buildings
The presidential palace.
I ended up meeting a Brit and Aussie guy and we decided to go out that night. It was interesting to say the least. We went and started the night by buying a $3 bottle of vodka. It was decent surprisingly. Next, we asked a French girl (who more or less lived at the hostel) where to go. She gave us some recommendations....and they were packed. The first club was called La Mexicana. I know where it got its name....The next was another club that was decent. Both had cheap beer (one had 3 2/3rd liter beers for $4). I had a good night and was back at around 3 AM.
The next day, I was slightly bored. I found a street market that was interesting but didnt do much.
The day after, I caught a bus to Cuidad del Este. It was a 6 hour bus ride but was on the Paraguayan side of Iguazu falls. It also has the largest black market in the world - guns, drugs, electronics, etc were available. I was there at night and was told not to go there as it is straight up dangerous. So I avoided it. I met 3 Swiss people on the bus and we caught a taxi to the Argentinean side (you have to cross into Brazil and then into Argentina, but still is only about 10 KM total).
Puerto Iguazu, Argentina
The town is a tourist town obviously. I had a hostel right across the street from the bus station that was actually quite nice. I went out to dinner that night and ran into the same Swiss people and they were going to a steak place, who am I to say no to a $9 steak? I passed out early for once.
The next day, I caught the bus to Iguazu Falls. I will let the pictures do the talking.
Allergies hit hard in this town. I went home after a full day out and just wanted to sleep. It worked out, I got up well rested in the morning. I caught a direct bus from the Argentinean side to the Brazilian side of the falls.
Foz do Iguacu, Brazil
Now...these animals were everywhere. They were actually nice and would walk up. Some even let you pet them. But, they are evil evil things. If you left anything on your table, these f'ers would steal them. It was quite fun watching tourists lose their overpriced food to these things....
I got back to Puerto Iguazu and didnt do much that night either. I had a flight to Sao Paulo the next day at 1 PM from the Brazilian side. I inquired about a taxi and it would have set me back 40 bucks. I asked about public transport, but it would be cheap and take 3 buses and a couple hours. I realized that the 15 buck tourist bus I took yesterday went right by the airport and was direct. I talked the driver into dropping me off on the airport road and just walking the 5 blocks or so. It worked out for the better.
Sao Paulo
I arrived in town and eventually found my hostel. Sao Paulo is huge. I got in at around 5 PM or so. I wasnt in the mode to move much and the hostel was have a capirihinia night, so I just went with it. Was up until midnight drinking them, but stayed in.
The next morning, I met the wife with her group for breakfast. She had things in the afternoon, so I headed out and "saw" the town. There isnt much touristy options in Sao Paulo, so these are my two pictures.
That night, I contacted a Brazilian girl that I went to HS with and was good friends with. She is doing an internship there while attending grad school at UCLA. She invited me out with her parents and family to a popular pizza place (Pizza Graz). I must say, it was damn good. But also expensive. Beyond belief expensive. Between the 8 of us, we finished 100+ beers, and had 4 pizzas. Our bill came to about $750 US. After the restaurant, her cousin and her decided to take me out to some bars. They thought it would be humorous to take me to a "Brazilian Country" bar. It was quite entertaining. It even had live portugese country music. Anyways, we left at about 4 AM and got lost. She had only been in town for 2 days by this point and her cousin was uselessly drunk. She (her cousin) ended up catching a taxi home and we decided to grab some more beers. The closest place was a gas station were we ended up just drinking beers inside the gas station until 8AM at some tables. More or less catching up on old times.
They kept track of our beers by the number of coasters we had
The country bar
I realized at about 8 AM that I had to go meet the wife and collect her, so I rushed to the hostel, collected my stuff and met up with her. She, I might add, may not have been that impressed with me that morning. Either way, we caught our bus onto Parati, Brazil.
Parati, Brazil
Parati is about 6 hours from Sao Paulo by bus. It is a coastal town that is a colonial village. We had a B&B about a mile+ from town on the beach.
Parati is....expensive. Hotels and beer are cheap, but food is ridiculous. We got into town, and found a place to eat. It was 20 bucks a plate at a cheap looking place. We paid it but thought we were getting ripped off. I later found out that every place was like that...
The monkeys at breakfast at the B&B
The view from our patio
Our beach
We decided to go to the town Trinidade which was 45 min away by public bus to the nicer beaches. This is the entrance to the beach
For dinner, we went to a local beach bar that had some decent overpriced BBQ, but a good moon rise view.
The view of Parati
Some colonial streets
The next day, we went to a local waterfall/rapids. It was a 20 min bus ride from town. Locals here are known for "rock surfing"....more or less run and slide down a large rock on your feet. They do jumps and land them all while sliding down.
The Brazilian country side
Now for pictures of Parati itself. While we were there, they were hosting a Bourbon Street Music Festival (with Jazz and Soul music). There were a couple of stages and some bands playing randomly. Apparently, the town somewhat floods at high tide as well.
Enjoying a beach bar
Sunrise
We caught a bus that day to Rio. Rio was about a 4 hour bus ride. We arrived and checked into our hostel 2 blocks from Ipanema beach. We wandered a bit and cooked some food in the hostel kitchen to save some money. We just wandered our area.
Our first full day, we headed to Sugar Loaf mountain.
You may notice a haze in the sky. Apparently, Rio is usually clear but it was caused by the volcano eruption in Chile.
We then wandered over to Copacabana Beach.
And then to Ipanema Beach
The next morning, we headed to Christ the Redeemer statue. We werent originally going to go here as you are supposed to get a good view from Sugar loaf. But due to the haze, we ended up going (glad we did). It ended up being a 5 hour trip (1 hour by bus to get there, an 1.5 hour wait and then train ride up. 30 min up there, and another hour+ to get down).
The train ride up
Christ
And the view from the top
We then went over to Santa Teresa area to find the "famous" steps. They also have a very touristy street car that runs the streets. It is an "ex-favela" that has turned it around and is now quite nice.
The steps
And the last picture from my trip...in the centro of Rio.
We flew out the next day at 9 PM. We more or less just walked our are and went to the beach. We were told that the airport was only an hour out at the time we wanted to leave - but apparently were lied to. We almost missed our flight due to this mistake. We got there and were able to check in with just a little over an hour before our flight.
Details: Left May 28th and returned June 22nd.
Schedule:
Montevideo: 2 nights
Colonia, Uruguay: 1 night
Buenos Aires: 6 nights
Asuncion, Paraguay: 2 nights
Iguazu Falls, Argentina: 3 nights
Sao Paulo: 2 nights
Parati, Brazil: 3 nights
Rio De Janeiro, Brazil: 3 nights
Flights: I booked it using AA miles (20k there, 30k back. If you book in May, it will only be 20k for those interested in using miles). Considering it was miles, I went AUS-DFW (8 hr layover) - MIA - MVD. Long day, but it was a free flight. Who am I to complain? For those of you curious, MVD has no visa fees for Americans. Also, you can get to Buenos Aires in 5 hours from MVD. If you cross into Argentina by land or boat, you do not pay the visa fees. If you fly into BA, you get hit with a 140 fee....so the 3 days in Uruguay were more or less free for me as I did not pay the Argentinean fee.
I arrived in Montevideo at around 9 AM. First impression of the country - it is clean and organized. Not many people spoke English, so I got stuck using my "broken" Spanish immediately. I quickly figured out the bus system and caught it to the Cuidad Vieja. Montevideo is a summer destination, and I am in winter. I knew this already, but I had and opportunity, so I took it. Cuidad Vieja (old town for the non-Spanish speakers) is the historical center of Montevideo. It is quite small (as is the city) but is a nice place for two nights. Anymore, you will be looking for things to do. If you go during summer, I would stay in another part of town near the beach as opposed to Cuidad Vieja, but in winter, it seemed like this was the better option. I more or less saw the whole downtown area in a day. The weather was perfect (highs in the low 70s and lows in the 50s). The prices were similar to that in the US - meals ran me less than 10 bucks for good food, beers were a couple of bucks but for liter bottles. I like walking, so I just began to walk. My first stop (thanks to watching No Reservations on the Travel Channel) was the Mercado del Puerto. Meat is what you order. And it is good. Very good. I ended up just asking the guy to get me his favorite cut and ended up with ribs. They were good.
I then wandered to the coastal road in Montevideo. Not that scenic on a cloudy day, but what could I do...
Not too far off was the Plaza Independencia.
I returned to the hostel after my initial walk around town. Not much was happening so I had a couple of beers with two german girls and two American guys. The American guys were from Miami and it just so happened that the Miami/Dallas NBA finals game was on that night. We decided to go out to the local bar street and watch the game. There were not many places, probably 5 or 6 bars open on this street during the week. We found one and enjoyed some beers and the game. By the time we left, it was 4 AM. I seemed to have a lot of those nights this trip.
The next day, I had blue skies and decided to get some more pictures. The first is just a small plaza near the hostel.
Montevideo has a pedestrian street going through the center of it. It seems to be the liveliest in the town.
And back to Plaza Independencia
The legislative Palace
And another plaza near my hostel
That more or less covered my two days in Montevideo. I went to the bus station and got a 3 and a half hour bus to Colonia. To my surprise, the cheap bus had free WiFi on it, so I facetimed my parents and called the wife.
Colonia
Colonia is a town that is across the "river" from Buenos Aires but still in Uruguay. The ferry from there takes about an hour to get to BA. You can tell from the name that it is a Colonial town. I arrived, and found my hostel. It is a small town, so I got out walking. A lot of cobble stone streets, tree lined, and colonial buildings. It is on a peninsula and is quite peaceful. There is not much I can say about it but just throw a bunch of pictures, that more or less explains it. I only had one night here, which was more than enough for me. My hostel was relatively empty, I was the only person in a 4 person room. I cant complain, i slept well. This town is apparently a big weekend tourist destination from BA.
Random dancing on the street
I caught the 4 or so PM ferry to BA. It is more of a small cruise ship with a bar and decent seats. Apparently, some futbol match between an Argentinean and Uruguayan team was taking place that night. When I showed up at the ferry dock, there were riot police. I knew it would be an interesting ride. The whole ride, they were signing and jumping up and down. I arrived in BA only to come into more riot police. They herded them all into buses going directly to the stadium (FWIW, the Uruguayan team won that night).
Buenos Aires
I will start off by saying that I love that city. I would move there in a heartbeat. It is very European and cheap. The people are nice, its chaotic but organized. It has history and it shows.
I got to the dock and got a taxi to my hostel. I, of course, got over charged for the ride but I had no idea what it should be. I get to my hostel on one of the main strips in the center of town. The hostel was in a 6 story building, the hostel owned the 2nd floor, 5th and 6th floors as well....and the rooftop terrace. I check into my room and had two NZ girls and an Irish guy. They told me that the hostel was hosting a BBQ on the roof that night for around $10. I figured I had nothing else to do so I joined them. I ended up meeting a lot of people and had a great time. It was all you could eat meat (chirizo, ribs, steak, etc). I went into a meat coma with my Quilmes. I ended up staying up and drinking on the rooftop bar until 6 AM without even realizing it. It wasnt even about getting drunk, you just lost track of time so easily as the bar at the hostel didnt close and you are talking with interesting people.
My wife arrived the next morning at 10 AM. So I got about 2 hours of sleep before I went and picked her up. She didnt get much sleep either, which I was relieved about, and we took a nap when she got to the hostel (we changed into a two person room for her comfort). Her bag also didnt arrive, but they said they would deliver it the next day (which they did) so it worked out.
We got out of the hostel to go wander for a bit at around 4 PM. This is the Argentinean congress which was two blocks from the hostel.
A communist rally nearby
We then went back to the hostel and enjoyed some time on the patio.
We ended up eating at a local place next door to the hostel for dinner. Nothing too special but was cheap. Empanadas and local pizza. We ended up being up, again, until 4 AM with people at the hostel. This is a non-stop thing that, again, was just sitting around drinking.
I had a little to drink so I started messing with my camera on the roof.
The next morning, we wandered to La Boca. The "artsy" district of BA with a lot of touristy Tango restaurants. It is also the home to the Boca Juniors futbol team (one of the two main teams in BA).
Me sitting in La Boca
We had a nice Argentinean BBQ for lunch. $20 for the two of us. A lot of meat...and some questionable cuts.
We continued to La Recoleta Cemetery. It is a historic cemetery where Evita was buried. It also has a Saturday market going around it.
A remodeled port in Buenos Aires with some nicer restaurants and shops (called Puerta Madera)
I forgot the name of this square, but we wandered by it. I believe the pink building is called La Casa Rosa.
Sunday: We started off by going to the San Telmo market which closes off a long street for street vendors on Sunday. It was crowded and filled with souvenirs. The most humorous stand was one we walked by and someone said "I know you want hot sauce" and I turned around and its two US guys in their 20s. They apparently went to BA as an exchange program for their university and did not want to leave. They decided to try and make money by making their own hot sauce.
That night, we headed to the River Plate futbol game. River Plate is the main rival of the Boca Juniors. I have to say, it was a lot of fun. For the record, three games after this, the team was apparently regulated and it caused massive riots after the game which turned to an almost war zone (rubber bullets, water canons, riot police, ambulances, stadium fires, etc). I was slightly sad I missed it (my wife was quite content with not going to that one).
The opposing teams section
After the game...
The next day...just a couple of shots.
I knew an Argentinean guy who went to HS with me in BA, so I met up with him one night and we had a good time on the town. He had work the next day so he headed out. As he was walking out, 3 American guys were walking in and I started talking with them. They were pilots for United and were stuck there due to the BA airport being closed (due to the volcano in Chile). They were drinking heavily that night. They invited me along and bought my drinks. After that night, I believe the reputation that American pilots have....
We rested for most of the day but the next night, we went out to a nice meal at a steakhouse. It cost us $40. We got 2 ribeys, a large grilled provolone cheese topped with bacon, a bottle of good wine and a side of potatoes. It was f'n good.
That night, we met some people at the hostel. We went out with 3 irish girls, an irish guy, an American guy and a Miami guy (specifically left him separate for a reason). We left the hostel at around 1 AM just looking for a local bar to have some drinks out and nothing too crazy. The Miami guy tagged along at the last minute. We didnt realize how drunk he was. He had a different idea of where to go which was a club and none of us wanted that. He was quite persistant, so we decided to walk by the club just to annoy him and continue on. Anyways, he was saying that he had a flight at 8 AM and he had to be back to the hostel by 3:30 to get an hour of sleep. We already knew it was bad news for him but it wasnt our problem. We found some bar that had free beers for girls and $3 beers for guys. The Miami guy left out of frustration of no club. Either way, we had a good night with the locals at the bar. The next day, we wake up and go get breakfast and Miami guy is upstairs frantically typing away. He apparently missed his flight and was desperately trying to figure it out. (he was only going to Rio, so he ended up getting a bus). Jumping forward about two weeks, I get a message from the other American guy that was there saying Miami guy was in his hostel in Rio. Apparently he had missed his next flight to Lima as well due to going out too late.
Last day in BA - my wife flew out to Sao Paulo that morning for a charity trip and I had half a day in BA to tour. So I went to the Japanese garden.
I had a 17 hour night bus booked to Paraguay that night. I paid 70 bucks for it, but it was for "cama" seats (or first class). It was 15 bucks more than the normal ones. It was worth it....business class style seats, 2nd floor of the bus right behind the front window. I had a stewardess (who apparently wanted to give me whiskey instead of coke when I ordered that) and 3 meals. I slept damn well.
Paraguay
The sole reason I went to Paraguay was to say I went to Paraguay. No one seems to go there, so I went there. I had no idea what to expect from it, so I showed up with no idea. My bus got into town at around noon. I met some peace corp guy on the bus who was going downtown on the local bus, so I just tagged along. I was in the only hostel in the town and it was decent. Nothing special. But there was literally not much happening in the town. I walked around a bit and got the pictures. The hostel gave me a map of the town, and I noticed that it had a "do not go here" part, so it naturally enticed me to go there. There literally was a favela right behind all of the governmental buildings and presidential palace. I did not venture further.
Arriving in town
Paraguay just celebrated their 200th anniversary, so they had their flags everywhere.
The favelas behind the governmental buildings
The presidential palace.
I ended up meeting a Brit and Aussie guy and we decided to go out that night. It was interesting to say the least. We went and started the night by buying a $3 bottle of vodka. It was decent surprisingly. Next, we asked a French girl (who more or less lived at the hostel) where to go. She gave us some recommendations....and they were packed. The first club was called La Mexicana. I know where it got its name....The next was another club that was decent. Both had cheap beer (one had 3 2/3rd liter beers for $4). I had a good night and was back at around 3 AM.
The next day, I was slightly bored. I found a street market that was interesting but didnt do much.
The day after, I caught a bus to Cuidad del Este. It was a 6 hour bus ride but was on the Paraguayan side of Iguazu falls. It also has the largest black market in the world - guns, drugs, electronics, etc were available. I was there at night and was told not to go there as it is straight up dangerous. So I avoided it. I met 3 Swiss people on the bus and we caught a taxi to the Argentinean side (you have to cross into Brazil and then into Argentina, but still is only about 10 KM total).
Puerto Iguazu, Argentina
The town is a tourist town obviously. I had a hostel right across the street from the bus station that was actually quite nice. I went out to dinner that night and ran into the same Swiss people and they were going to a steak place, who am I to say no to a $9 steak? I passed out early for once.
The next day, I caught the bus to Iguazu Falls. I will let the pictures do the talking.
Allergies hit hard in this town. I went home after a full day out and just wanted to sleep. It worked out, I got up well rested in the morning. I caught a direct bus from the Argentinean side to the Brazilian side of the falls.
Foz do Iguacu, Brazil
Now...these animals were everywhere. They were actually nice and would walk up. Some even let you pet them. But, they are evil evil things. If you left anything on your table, these f'ers would steal them. It was quite fun watching tourists lose their overpriced food to these things....
I got back to Puerto Iguazu and didnt do much that night either. I had a flight to Sao Paulo the next day at 1 PM from the Brazilian side. I inquired about a taxi and it would have set me back 40 bucks. I asked about public transport, but it would be cheap and take 3 buses and a couple hours. I realized that the 15 buck tourist bus I took yesterday went right by the airport and was direct. I talked the driver into dropping me off on the airport road and just walking the 5 blocks or so. It worked out for the better.
Sao Paulo
I arrived in town and eventually found my hostel. Sao Paulo is huge. I got in at around 5 PM or so. I wasnt in the mode to move much and the hostel was have a capirihinia night, so I just went with it. Was up until midnight drinking them, but stayed in.
The next morning, I met the wife with her group for breakfast. She had things in the afternoon, so I headed out and "saw" the town. There isnt much touristy options in Sao Paulo, so these are my two pictures.
That night, I contacted a Brazilian girl that I went to HS with and was good friends with. She is doing an internship there while attending grad school at UCLA. She invited me out with her parents and family to a popular pizza place (Pizza Graz). I must say, it was damn good. But also expensive. Beyond belief expensive. Between the 8 of us, we finished 100+ beers, and had 4 pizzas. Our bill came to about $750 US. After the restaurant, her cousin and her decided to take me out to some bars. They thought it would be humorous to take me to a "Brazilian Country" bar. It was quite entertaining. It even had live portugese country music. Anyways, we left at about 4 AM and got lost. She had only been in town for 2 days by this point and her cousin was uselessly drunk. She (her cousin) ended up catching a taxi home and we decided to grab some more beers. The closest place was a gas station were we ended up just drinking beers inside the gas station until 8AM at some tables. More or less catching up on old times.
They kept track of our beers by the number of coasters we had
The country bar
I realized at about 8 AM that I had to go meet the wife and collect her, so I rushed to the hostel, collected my stuff and met up with her. She, I might add, may not have been that impressed with me that morning. Either way, we caught our bus onto Parati, Brazil.
Parati, Brazil
Parati is about 6 hours from Sao Paulo by bus. It is a coastal town that is a colonial village. We had a B&B about a mile+ from town on the beach.
Parati is....expensive. Hotels and beer are cheap, but food is ridiculous. We got into town, and found a place to eat. It was 20 bucks a plate at a cheap looking place. We paid it but thought we were getting ripped off. I later found out that every place was like that...
The monkeys at breakfast at the B&B
The view from our patio
Our beach
We decided to go to the town Trinidade which was 45 min away by public bus to the nicer beaches. This is the entrance to the beach
For dinner, we went to a local beach bar that had some decent overpriced BBQ, but a good moon rise view.
The view of Parati
Some colonial streets
The next day, we went to a local waterfall/rapids. It was a 20 min bus ride from town. Locals here are known for "rock surfing"....more or less run and slide down a large rock on your feet. They do jumps and land them all while sliding down.
The Brazilian country side
Now for pictures of Parati itself. While we were there, they were hosting a Bourbon Street Music Festival (with Jazz and Soul music). There were a couple of stages and some bands playing randomly. Apparently, the town somewhat floods at high tide as well.
Enjoying a beach bar
Sunrise
We caught a bus that day to Rio. Rio was about a 4 hour bus ride. We arrived and checked into our hostel 2 blocks from Ipanema beach. We wandered a bit and cooked some food in the hostel kitchen to save some money. We just wandered our area.
Our first full day, we headed to Sugar Loaf mountain.
You may notice a haze in the sky. Apparently, Rio is usually clear but it was caused by the volcano eruption in Chile.
We then wandered over to Copacabana Beach.
And then to Ipanema Beach
The next morning, we headed to Christ the Redeemer statue. We werent originally going to go here as you are supposed to get a good view from Sugar loaf. But due to the haze, we ended up going (glad we did). It ended up being a 5 hour trip (1 hour by bus to get there, an 1.5 hour wait and then train ride up. 30 min up there, and another hour+ to get down).
The train ride up
Christ
And the view from the top
We then went over to Santa Teresa area to find the "famous" steps. They also have a very touristy street car that runs the streets. It is an "ex-favela" that has turned it around and is now quite nice.
The steps
And the last picture from my trip...in the centro of Rio.
We flew out the next day at 9 PM. We more or less just walked our are and went to the beach. We were told that the airport was only an hour out at the time we wanted to leave - but apparently were lied to. We almost missed our flight due to this mistake. We got there and were able to check in with just a little over an hour before our flight.