Brazil travel report march 2000

Brazil

In march we went to Brazil.
There's no better place in the world for carnaval than Brazil and in Brazil Rio is supposed to be the carnival capital of Brazil.
So that's where we went in the first year of the new millennium.

Rio

Oh yes, the most beautiful city in the world. Forget Sydney and San Francisco, this is cidade maravilhosa, Carioca city.
Samba, beer and beaches that's basically what we did here.
We stayed in a hotel in Copacabana, two blocks from the famous beach.

Life in Rio during carnaval goes something like this :
- Wake up in the afternoon
- See some city highlights
- Prepare for the night
- Party all night long

  

The highlights:

• Pão de Açúcar. Went up with the cablecar twice, day and evening. One of the most spectacular views you can get in the world. When its dark the view is equally impressive.
  
  
• Corcovado. The big mountain with the famous Jesus statue on top. Incredible views over the city. A picture perfect view on Pão de Açúcar. We even saw some monkeys here. The trainride up the mountain is a must.
  
  
• Copacabana/Ipanema. Very nice to sip a beer at one of the many stalls and watch the people doing their things on the beach, combined with the perfect weather and beautiful scenery… There are worse places on earth.
  
  
• Sambadrome. This is where the carnaval parades are. We went by ourselves and that turned out to be a very cheap option. We had regular seats just like all the other Brazilians. Nice to see everybody dancing and screaming when the Samba schools do their parade (they actually prepare to whole year for their 10 minutes of stardom).
  
  
• Nightlife. At night we went to the clubs, especially the Help in Copacabana and partied until we couldn't stand up anymore. Conversation with Brazilians is almost impossible as they speak no English and refuse to speak Spanish.

A bad thing about Rio and the rest of Brazil is the food. Brazilian food sucks.
A good example is those por quilo restaurants. It's a buffet and you pay for the weight of the food. Usually its meat without spices and some old vegetables.

Ilha Grande

This is where we went after Rio. A small island close to Rio.
When we arrived there it rained and that went on until the next morning.
We went on a trail around the island the next day and saw some beautiful beaches and scenery.
In the evening we drank a few beers (750ml bottles are the standard here) with an Austrian and exchanged travel stories.
Nice island but with little atmosphere, especially during carnaval you would expect more.

Parati

From Ilha Grande to Parati was a 4 hour bus drive. We had to stand almost all the way because the bus was full so we were pretty tired when we arrived here.
But it was worth it. Parati is great. Situated by the ocean and a charming colonial center with lots of old buildings.
We walked around to see the town and the historic sites around the town.
At night very lively with live music on the central marketsquare and very good nightlife.
We met lots of other backpackers here (especially Australians).

Curitaba and surroundings

12 hours from Parati to Curitaba by bus via Sao Paulo. We skipped a night and really started to hate the bus now.
The historic trainride from Curitaba to the coast is a must see according to the lonely planet.
Well, its nice but nothing more than that. Besides that its an enormous tourist trap, so hardly worth the trouble.
For the night we ended up in a small village somewhere between the coast and Curitaba where we went down the river in a tube.
In the hotel we ate a Brazilian specialty dish which was horrible. I had to shit 3 times the next day.

Iguacu

Another long bus ride took us here. We stayed in a small hostel and arranged a tour to the Argentinian side of the falls the next day.
So we crossed the border and went into Argentina to see the falls.
A formidable spectacle. Impossible to describe. This is something you have to see to believe.
We walked around the whole day and were amazed by the size and height of the falls.
Beautiful, one of the best sights in the world.
The next day we went to see the Brazilian site of the falls. Less spectacular but still incredibly beautiful. The Brazilian site is more suitable for taking pictures.
Of course we also went into Paraguay. We walked into the country and stayed for maybe 1 hour. Lots of smugglers here and cheap electronics, the usual border town stuff.
We also went to see the Itaipu dam, one of the biggest dams in the world. Besides its size not very interesting.
Foz do Iguacu, the city near the falls is unattractive and boring with no attractions.

  

Salvador

We took a flight because we were sick of bus travelling.
And travelling by bus from Iguacu to Salvador takes almost 2 days.
Salvador is a historic city with lots of colonial buildings and the city 'feels' like an old European city.
The city is very lively (even more than Rio) with lots of thing to do and see on the streets.
Personally I think this is a better destination than Rio to celebrate carnaval.
We stayed in a hotel in Pelourinho, the old colonial city center.
Narrow streets dotted with bars and live music everywhere inside and on the streets.
The city is very touristic and at night its is hard to walk around because the narrow streets are filled with people. Everybody seems to have a good time here, Brazilians and Tourists.
The last day here we stayed in Barra close to the beach to relax a bit from all the partying in Pelourinho.