Journey through South America. Brazil
Brazil
This story is about our biggest and grandest trip to South America, which confidently took first place in our rating.
Dasha and I congratulate Olya Boyko on her victory in the contest for the chosen country!
A year ago, we planned something big for this fall, one of the options was Brazil. And one spring evening, I decided to sort out promotional tickets, and then I just stumbled upon a promotion, until the end of which there were only a couple of days left. The price was relatively high, and even six months before departure, when we started to google the price history, we realized that it was considered very cheap for such a destination. Inside, everything began to fight and resist, at first we firmly decided that the next time, what if the war and borders were closed, or conscription, or inflation was even stronger, but anything could happen in six months. Let's go for a walk in the park at night and then I say "Hare, let's just enter the card number on the site and we won't discuss anything : )" Then it sounded like a joke. But when all the details were entered, there was a terrible struggle inside, resistance and a lot of doubts. I remember how I looked at the screen with bated breath, just one click... And we made a very right choice. 147 days before departure... 90 days... 35 days... nothing foreshadowed complications... About 20 days before departure and a lot really changes in career life, at the interview it was funny to explain that in two weeks I need to take a vacation for three weeks, but the tickets are already were on hand and it's good!!!
So, two lightweight backpacks - hand luggage and Welcome on the board Lufthansa!! ! We flew a lot and for a long time. First 2.5 hours, then 6 hours transfer and another 11.5 hours. Lufthansa made our flight really comfortable. In addition to touch screens with films on board, various liqueurs, sparkling wines, delicious German beer were served all the time, they were deliciously fed, and in order to sleep better at night, everyone was poured Baileys or cognac to choose from. In general, the best holiday started with the plane. “9:00 to distanation” shone on the screens. After the Baileys, I slept soundly and sweetly, and although it could be a Campari cocktail, or even a double portion of sparkling wine and this cozy warm blanket and pillow that we were given... Outside the window, the stars are not of our hemisphere, or maybe ours, I don’t see the bucket for some reason... but, this is probably because I’m looking into the turbine...
"Will you have breakfast? "
"It's possible : )"
Outside the porthole, somewhere below, there were still clouds in the moonlight, and on the screen it shone that there was a little more than an hour before arrival. Nehily so almost 12-hour flight whiled away. Breakfast included even cheese with white mold. And now our double-decker Boeing lands in the most criminal city in the world.
Rio de Janeiro
Sunset from a Sugar Loaf
Temperature 40oC
Height 0 m
Flights behind: 2
We started our vacation with the crystal dream of comrade Ostap Bender - the heart of Brazil. Wearing white pants, we began to explore the most beautiful city in South America. The country began to surprise us immediately, on the route to the hotel there was a park in which many unknown animals ran. Dasha's knowledge of zoology turned out to be strong and the capybaras were exposed. At this exotic moment, our wondrous discoveries on the mainland began. Having entered the hotel, we decided to agree with the manager that we would pay later. Here it turns out that every self-respecting Carioca not only does not know English, but also completely refuses to understand sign language. Almost always to the question “How match? ” or gesture showing money, we received the answer “Si si! ”.
In white pants
But our language trash on the trip began with this note) Two weeks later, upon returning to Brazil, when I urgently needed to exchange money with some drug lord, the maximum that I achieved was a bus drawn on paper. In general, knowing English in Brazil is an extra burden that we carried with us. Fortunately, our Chinese friend was also traveling with us, who knew Portuguese very well in places where there was Wi-Fi. While searching for a hotel, we were half very lucky. The luck was that a grandmother who knew the city and English well was sitting on the next bus, but the second half of the bad luck was that the bus left so quickly that we managed to hear “Ah, I know your hotel is... ” and the bus disappeared on the highway with his grandmother.
We noted that the breakfast at the hotel was quite poor - sausages in sauce and watermelon with tea, but as it turned out later, this was our most luxurious hotel breakfast of the entire trip, and we had it included in all hotels.
We began, of course, with the statue of Christ the Redeemer. There was such a long queue for the tram going to the mountain that our tickets were only for the flight in 2.5 hours. Great, we'll have time to see the Laguna.
Laguna
The lagoon, fortunately, was very close, just a bus ride through a tunnel in the mountain. On the way around the lagoon, we met people on morning runs, helicopter tours flew over the lake, juicy-looking fruits grew on the trees, and in my head there was lightness and a song from the movie "12 chairs" with the words "Oh Rio Rio, the joy of the tide... " Yeah, I walk around the main beauties of Rio de Janeiro in white pants. 2 hours on the lagoon flew by completely unnoticed, on our first day of travel, our toes began to burn and our neck began to fry a little, and it was only 11:00 in the morning. But on the way back, we were a little less lucky, at first there was no bus for a very long time, and then for some reason it didn’t go directly into the tunnel, but decided to go around the neighborhood and a piece of the lagoon. Time was running out so much that I already imagined how I would negotiate in pure Portuguese for changing the date with the past number of tickets to the mountain. When the situation already seemed hopeless, the bus abruptly stopped traveling around the neighborhood and turned uphill. Clearly in 2 minutes arrived at the destination.
Mount Corcovado
An old tram lifted us higher and higher through the jungle, impressive views of Rio soon began to open up, but the main thing is ahead! The statue of Jesus is amazing, as are the views. This is the feeling when you take a picture, and all the time it seems that you need to take more pictures. It is not easy to take a picture against the background of the statue, both because of its size and because of the number of people. But Dasha found the best angle for a photo from a tablet.
Professional Photographer
What can you do for priceless photos. “And Vasya, let’s take a picture there again. ” Even in Rio, Russians got caught, it seems that there is no place on this planet to be away from “compatriots”, but you really want remoteness while traveling. Well, never mind, let's see if they can climb deep into the mainland))) I still remember our first abroad - Egypt, when the taste of foreignness was cut, not only by the fact that even the Arabs spoke Russian, but the inscriptions on the stores were in Russian. But on the other hand, when in Hong Kong everything was in Chinese and even English speakers could not be found, it was also hard. Let's look for the golden mean.
And you can’t look enough, but it all seems that something is missing for complete beauty. It starts to specifically want to eat, but there really is no time, exactly on the seventeenth day you need to return to Rio, and the list of what else you need to see is simply incompatible with the trip. An English-speaking girl turned up at the tram departure point, who knew well the bus numbers and the names of the districts around the sights. Our aforementioned Chinese friend immediately wrote down lists of bus numbers and area names in Portuguese, and then we communicated with the locals in “professional Portuguese”.
National Park
We did not find out exactly what it was called, but it is located on the road from Corcovado, to the Urca area, about 5 minutes drive after the lagoon, on the right side. In the park, hunger attacked so much that I had to fork out for an eighth of the pie and a small plate of salad, and the salad was in the truest sense of the word - just lettuce. For two, of course, you won’t get enough of this at all. Such a “dish” cost us 25 rials (125 UAH). The park at the very first minutes entered the nomination of the best parks we saw, and after 10 minutes it completely broke all records for beauty.
He was so beautiful that no camera in the world can capture this. A lake with islands, lush palm trees on one, a convex wooden bridge leads to the other, tall exotic plants grow in dense heaps around the lake, the roots of some trees break out of the ground and grow stalagmites upwards. Ancient compositions of stone boulders, overgrown with plants. Fluffy monkeys frolic in the trees.
A stream flows along shady paths, and exotic flowers are processed by hummingbirds. Far away on the mountain was a statue of Christ the Redeemer. In addition to the beauty in the park, one of my worst fears in the world also happened. When we were going up the stairs, I noticed an unusually spotted cat basking in the sun. When I said, "Dasha, look at the kitty, " I heard Dasha's heartbreaking cry. At that moment, just a huge stream of thoughts flashed through my head, for a moment I thought that this cat was the most dangerous predator, then I remembered how I met a black slippery snake in similar thickets in Sri Lanka. I now remember how at that moment feelings began to leave me and consciousness, as it were, moved away from me, it all happened for a second. But it was not an anaconda and not even a cougar, Dasha just exclaimed from the joy she saw near the hummingbird. I experienced a terrible shock.
Everything in the park was so beautiful that we left with great force, along the landscape alley of giant trees. Next on the plan was Mount Sugarloaf.
I approached a young Brazilian and said in a beautiful national language “Onibus Urca! ” For readers who do not know Portuguese, I will translate into Russian: “Hello, kindest person! Please tell the lost tourists where the bus stop is next to the Urca area to visit the Sugar Loaf. The young man, having heard such a pure and beautiful speech, happily put us on the bus we needed. A year ago, I was translating an English book by ear, where the final action took place in the cable car leading to the top of the Sugar Loaf, to be honest, I didn’t know then how soon I would be there. It was getting late in the evening, but it was not possible to eat, then there are no cafes near the sights, that is, one, but quite mega-cosmic.
Sugarloaf
During the transfer on the cable car, one tourist yelled wildly, and we saw a raccoon running away with a pack of biscuits in his mouth.
I don’t know by what miracle we were lucky, but at the foot of the mountain it was still quite daylight, and when we got up we were 10 minutes from the golden moment - the view of the sunset from the sugar loaf (on the very first photo). I saw such a gorgeous and reddest sunset only in my childhood once, when I was three years old. I remember this moment for the rest of my life, as I stood in Starokonstantinovsky Park and I came to realize the beauty in nature. And again, as if at the age of three, I stood spellbound. It was impossible to watch silently, my emotions were overflowing, I screamed with joy, even though there were a lot of people around. No wonder Rio is considered the most beautiful city on the mainland, I wanted this sunset to last forever. For visitors to Rio, a sugarloaf sunset should be a must.
Evening Rio
The realm of the night descended on the criminal city, everything was on fire, such high mountains right in the middle of the districts. After descending to the ground, we went to the Copacabana area. The neighborhood sounds like it's supposed to have great food. Riding on the bus, we tried to figure out where to get off, but Dominos Pizza quickly put a firm end to this difficult issue. Oh, and the prices. Sitting in a pizzeria in Brazil, you understand that Cyprus was like going to the spring Crimea. I went to the cashier, it turned out that today there was some kind of promotion and I was charged 30 percent of the price. The pizza was different from ours, but I can't pinpoint exactly which one tastes better. Went to get acquainted with the night Atlantic Ocean. To be honest, the ocean was not very happy to see us at night, the evening heat was blown away instantly, winds and grains of sand flew everywhere. Okay, back to this issue in the morning. We also had a planned visit to the night show Platforma, but given the six-hour time shift, and the fact that we were heroically on our feet from 5 in the morning without a break, and woke up even earlier, we decided not to commit suicide and took the metro to the hotel. When we found out that nothing had been stolen in the room, it was a great relief. The first day was full, we slept like the dead.
Park with capybaras
Right next to the hotel, capybaras were waiting for us in the park, it was so funny to watch them run around in herds. We got right for breakfast, what cuties they are and the ducks came running to feed. A local resident bathed in a nearby lake. People began to wake up on the benches - it was morning in the city. The bus carried us at high speed through the sunny regions of Rio.
Copacabana
Atlantic Ocean
In the morning the Atlantic Ocean accepted us with very beautiful water. The size of the beach line was really impressive, and even more impressive was the size, the size of those very famous asses of Brazilian girls. They are not just big, they are so indecently huge that I'm not even afraid to use the word asshole! Not every grandmother who takes one and a half seats in a minibus will be able to compete with carioca! And most of them have tattoos in the form of butterflies all over their bodies.
Big waves
In the afternoon we just wandered around the area, it is very cozy and green, drinking juice from some painted peppers, but while writing the post, I found out that it was cashews. In one cafe we ate very, very tasty ice cream, it is like frozen juice, but from some kind of caramel. Saying goodbye is always sad, but we must move on. It was so beautiful and cool in Rio that there was a feeling that nothing would be better or more beautiful. We still at first thought to visit the favelas - the poor quarters, but decided not to pull off such a trick at the beginning of the trip. But at the end of the trip they did it without expecting it themselves.
"Leaders in South American air travel, GOL welcomes you aboard, enjoy your flight. " Transportation leaders, but will not feed. How long we had to fly remained a mystery, there was some incompatible nonsense on the tickets. We had just set out to take a nap, when an hour later the plane began landing. One of our scheduled companies was blacklisted for flights over European territory due to the unreliability of the aircraft. Which of the three airlines I didn't remember, but when GOL started landing, everything fell into place, for the first time I needed a seat belt. I don’t know if the plane has a stop valve, but it felt like the driver mixed up the brake with the handbrake. The plane just touched the ground at such a speed that it slowed down, which didn’t seem enough. I never thought that the plane could stop so urgently. A three-hour transfer in Curitiba was just right to eat national cuisine. Have you eaten? Fly further! We are never particularly eager to get on board first, and usually already in half an hour the queue is lined up. This time was no exception, and we were the last to go quietly. A girl with a sleeping child was already sitting in our place, and a man with the same ticket. We kind of didn’t have enough seats on the plane, although our nominal seats were on the ticket. I don't know about the rest, but without us, this plane will definitely not fly, the airline did not even suspect how much its flight was in danger of failure. But, fortunately for everyone, they found two places for us on board.
Foz do Iguazu
Mango Tree
Temperature 40oC
Height 0 m
Flights behind: 4
As soon as I got off the plane, the pleasant tropical moist air enveloped my entire body. Night in Iguazu is especially pleasant. Now it is necessary that airport taxi drivers do not throw. We chose a taxi driver, a girl who took us to the hotel, she drove very uncertainly, and eventually brings us to another hotel. Inside, everything is already tense, that there will be a debriefing. A woman came out of the hotel, looked at our booking, smiled good-naturedly and said that the address of her daughter's hotel was on the booking, and we could stay with her for the same price. All this could seem like a very big scam on the topic of intercepting clients, BUT the woman was so pleasant, kind and hospitable that she immediately won over, and her main trump card is pure English, oh how we missed it. Instead of a hostel, they put us in a really good hotel. She said she would call her daughter and sort everything out.
Waterfalls
To visit South America, but not to visit the famous waterfalls is a crime. Apparently, many thought the same, since we stood in probably the longest line in our experience at the entrance to the park. The tour bus picked us up and took us to the beginning of the route. On the way out, we were immediately besieged by flocks of exotic butterflies. We started our route. At first, the waterfalls were quite far away and they did not evoke any special feelings. But raccoons noses immediately aroused tenderness in everyone, there were a lot of raccoons and the closer we approached the cafe, the more there were. You want to eat something, but pies cost 6 rials (UAH 40) a piece. I had to deal with the prices. I also drank a small cola for 20 UAH) Then the waterfalls got closer and bigger, and there was a feeling “What if it’s not so beautiful further, we need to take a picture here”, but further it became more and more beautiful, and meanwhile we were approaching the main terrace. From the sharply increased number of wet people and a pile of wet raincoats lying near the entrance to the terrace, we determined that it was desirable to protect ourselves from the water. We took one raincoat from the pile, hid Dasha, our Chinese friend, in a bag, and went to the terrace.
If before that the waterfalls could be described as “well, cool”, then here it is “drop dead”. Crashing streams of water form a dense freezing water mist, which, under pressure, tries to demolish the bridge along with the entire site. I went on purpose without a cloak in order to feel the beauty of the waterfall. It was impossible not to take pictures here. Although everything around is in the water and a lot of noise, I heroically photographed and even filmed a video. For old age, the camera went through a general washing, probably, of all its parts, and, oddly enough, survived. And Vidy, here were the coolest, since the site was in the middle of one of the waterfalls, and directly hung over the beginning of the next cascade. Waterfalls were everywhere.
Our Chinese tablet friend asked to take at least one photo for VKontakte, but it’s still small, it’s too early to climb into the waterfalls. The mood was at its best, the charge was full of pep. In this heat, I dried out quite quickly. From somewhere far away came a hysterically enthusiastic chorus of people squealing, somewhere from the Argentine coast. When we went upstairs to the tourist bus stop, I went to see what the waterfall looks like from the other side, that is, to see what the sailors of the ships see before the fatal meeting. In general, I will say this, if you are sailing on a boat, a haze is visible in the distance and noise is heard, then it is advisable to turn ashore. In films, I have seen more than once how they survive in waterfalls, but looking at this power, I will tell you that this is impossible. A monitor lizard ran out into the territory of one cafe, and started chasing towards the tourists, the tourists were squealing, and I decided to take advantage of this and ran to take a picture of it. Varan turned out to be not a fool either and changed the trajectory from tourists to me, I did not expect such a turn of history and screamed even louder than the international choir of tourists.
Mr. Varan
The main thing is that in the end it was funny to everyone and everyone remained intact. The double-decker bus was hovering back at speed. On the second floor, the tropical air pleasantly tousled the hair.
Bird Sanctuary
Further on the plan was the famous bird sanctuary of the area. There was an enclosure with flamingos at the entrance and the thought slipped through that we ended up in a classic zoo, to be honest, after the Thai tiger zoo, we got a little colder to the rest of the zoos. In general, in many zoos we have noticed that everything starts with flamingos. But soon the boring enclosures ended, and the path led us to large fenced areas where the birds lived their lives. A toucan immediately flew in to meet us. I accepted the sign of friendship and began to lean towards his beak for a photo, when I stopped approaching, the toucan with its beak ajar began to stretch its head higher, but at the same time looking into my eyes. I noticed some grouping in his movements. I didn’t want to fight with Toukan at all, and we parted on a peaceful basis.
Meeting with beaks!
In another open enclosure, not-so-attractive-looking butterflies were flying, but their wings emitted the sound of a massive electric charge in the air. Another memorable was the aviary with flocks of parrots, where we found many friends. At the exit from the park there was a fountain in which children frolicked and a large wooden crocodile got wet, in any case, we hope it did not look much like a wooden one.
Our friends
We wanted to drink all the time, we tried to find drinking fountains everywhere. Although the water in such fountains was with a terrible aftertaste. Given the prices, during our entire stay in Brazil, we probably saved ourselves money for a small trip to Egypt, thanks to the fountains. During these three days, the budget of the trip suffered a total blow. Brazil was the most expensive country on our itinerary and in our travel history in general. Having agreed with the hostess that in a couple of weeks we would return to her for the night, we went to the bus.
Fortunately, there was an English-speaking tourist on the bus who was able to translate the Portuguese assistant driver for us. For us, this was more important than ever, because the bus crossed the border, and we had to successfully go through all the formalities and receive exit and entry stamps. Since the bus was the last one, it stopped at the border to wait for us. Some herd of young people unloaded with us, who received stamps, returned to the bus, having learned something from the driver, having heard the answer, frightenedly fled again to the border. The driver's assistant returned and without waiting for those guys, the bus rushed off to Argentina. See you Brazil, see you in two weeks!!!
