** Places I visited in Brazil that I've talked about already:
Salvador (& Boipeba), Rio, Niteroi, Paraty, Ilha Grande, & Foz do Iguaçu.
** Places visited in Brazil on the second part of the trip:
"Bonito" (where I swam with dorado fish and snorkled in a river where the water was soooo clear), and the "Pantanal" (the famous Brazilian wetland, visited in the dry season. I saw caymans and capibaras, slept in hammocks, photographed the milky way, and did some light-painting with fire-sticks around camp fires). After the visit to the Pantanal, I, and the friends from the adventure tour that I had joined, crossed the border into Bolivia.
** Places I visited in Bolivia:
The city of Santa Cruz, the city of Sucre, the town of Potosi, the town of Uyuni, and, one of the most interesting excursions of my life: a three-day excursion into the Salar de Uyuni (first day) and the surrounding region of the Salar de Uyuni (days 2 and 3). The amazing scenery kept changing every half an hour as we drove throughout the three days. The colours and the geological formations were incredible. I haven't been this much in awe in front of a natural place since visiting "Torres del Paine" park in southern Chile at the end of 2010. At the end of the excursion, we made our way into Lapaz.
After all this, on the night between August 21 and August 22, my plane landed home, after 64 days spent in South America (Brazil and Bolivia). It's good to be travelling, but it's also good to be home =o).
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
Sunday, August 5, 2012
Brazil trip, the first 48 days
I am in the lobby of a hotel in the city of Foz do Iguaçu, close to the Brazil/Argentina/Paraguay triple-border.
It's Sunday August 05, my 48th day in Brazil.
My trip has been eventful so far:
First, I spent 3 weeks in Salvador da Bahia, a city in the North-East of Brazil. In Salvador, I saw the famous festivities of the Festa de São João, took intensive portuguese classes (agora falo melhor), lived with a host family (grand-mother, mother, daughter, and female dog), regularly played percussion on the streets of Pelourinho, visited the small and rustic island of Boipeba, visited a couple of historic monuments, and did two day-tours with a French tourim agency where I met "F", a nice French guy, 7 years older than I am.
Then, I took the plane from Salvador to Rio. I spent a day visiting some touristy places in Rio, then spent the next 4 days at the house of a friend of my dad. My dad's friend lives in Niteroi, a suburb of Rio. I meant to work on my scientific paper during these four days, but didn't get much done.
Then I spent a week volunteering in favela Rocinha in Rio, one of the largest favelas in Latin America. I volunteered at a daycare center run by a group of women. The kids were not orphans, the parents came to pick them up at 5 PM. The center was clean, and the kids ADORABLE. I got to dress them, feed them, and play with them. The other volunteers and I slept inside the favela, in a clean house next to the daycare center. The streets of the favela were very dirty and stank. The view of the favela, from inside the favela, illuminated at night was amazing. I returned to Niteroi for the weekend.
I was going to do a second week of volunteering, but then I cancelled it to go be with "F" and his son on Ilha Grande, a beautiful big island where no cars are allowed, near Rio. I spent 8 fantastic days there. It was real vacation. The three of us woke up every morning at 8 AM, and decided which little hike to do or which beach to visit. We only had to make sure that we were back on the main part of the island at 5:30 PM, sunset time in the winter on the Brazilian coast. We played mimes and word games, wrote a mini musical, and took crazy pictures.
A few days ago I left "Ilha Grande" because I had booked (back in February 15) a G-adventures tour that starts near Rio and ends in Bolivia. And "F" and his son went back to France. I made my way west, slowly, with the G-adventures group. After "Ilha Grande", we visited "Paraty", then we visited "Foz do Iguaçu" (where I am right now), and tonight we leave on a night bus to visit "Bonito".
To be continued!
It's Sunday August 05, my 48th day in Brazil.
My trip has been eventful so far:
First, I spent 3 weeks in Salvador da Bahia, a city in the North-East of Brazil. In Salvador, I saw the famous festivities of the Festa de São João, took intensive portuguese classes (agora falo melhor), lived with a host family (grand-mother, mother, daughter, and female dog), regularly played percussion on the streets of Pelourinho, visited the small and rustic island of Boipeba, visited a couple of historic monuments, and did two day-tours with a French tourim agency where I met "F", a nice French guy, 7 years older than I am.
Then, I took the plane from Salvador to Rio. I spent a day visiting some touristy places in Rio, then spent the next 4 days at the house of a friend of my dad. My dad's friend lives in Niteroi, a suburb of Rio. I meant to work on my scientific paper during these four days, but didn't get much done.
Then I spent a week volunteering in favela Rocinha in Rio, one of the largest favelas in Latin America. I volunteered at a daycare center run by a group of women. The kids were not orphans, the parents came to pick them up at 5 PM. The center was clean, and the kids ADORABLE. I got to dress them, feed them, and play with them. The other volunteers and I slept inside the favela, in a clean house next to the daycare center. The streets of the favela were very dirty and stank. The view of the favela, from inside the favela, illuminated at night was amazing. I returned to Niteroi for the weekend.
I was going to do a second week of volunteering, but then I cancelled it to go be with "F" and his son on Ilha Grande, a beautiful big island where no cars are allowed, near Rio. I spent 8 fantastic days there. It was real vacation. The three of us woke up every morning at 8 AM, and decided which little hike to do or which beach to visit. We only had to make sure that we were back on the main part of the island at 5:30 PM, sunset time in the winter on the Brazilian coast. We played mimes and word games, wrote a mini musical, and took crazy pictures.
A few days ago I left "Ilha Grande" because I had booked (back in February 15) a G-adventures tour that starts near Rio and ends in Bolivia. And "F" and his son went back to France. I made my way west, slowly, with the G-adventures group. After "Ilha Grande", we visited "Paraty", then we visited "Foz do Iguaçu" (where I am right now), and tonight we leave on a night bus to visit "Bonito".
To be continued!
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