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Bon Dia!
I survived the Rio carnaval and finally have time to update you on my travel adventures! I left you in Buenos Aires where we saw a football match between Boca Juniors and Racing Club. As you may know, ´fútbol´ is a religion in Argentina and they say you haven´t truly experienced Argentina if you haven´t been to a match. I´ve never seen such passionate people in my life. Men, women, children, every person in the stadium just went crazy for about three hours. Singing their club anthems to each other and competing who could sing the loudest. Both fan clubs brought entire brass bands into the stadium. At one point I was even wondering if people were actually watching the game! I am not a great fan of football but this was definitly worth seeing.
After our Spanish classes finished we unfortunately just had 2 days left in Buenos Aires. We went to the markets in San Telmo, Recoleta and Palermo and enjoyed some more ´bife de lomo´ before flying to Sao Paulo. In total, I have about 14 flights on this trip so I was waiting for something to go wrong. We were supposed to fly out of BA at 11 in the morning, from (what we thought was) the international airport. I organised the airport transfer for 7.20 in the morning so we would be in time. When we got to the airport our flight was not on the board, there wasn´t any flight actually even going close to Sao Paulo. For a second I thought we got the days mixed up, but when we got to the information desk she told us that our international flight was departing from the domestic airport! Panic! We had to take a taxi through the morning rush hour to hopefully reach the other airport in time. Ofcourse, ´normally speaking´ this trip would take 45 mins but that day the traffic was terrible and it cost us 1,5hrs. We arrived at the airport 55 mins before I flight was scheduled to depart. In the end we were in time, but I´m sure it took a few years of my life...When we arrived in Sao Paulo we got stuck in the evening rush hour and it took us 3 hrs to travel 35kms, this was not our day! Luckily we were staying with a friend we met in New Zealand, Bruno. We were staying with his family for two nights. When we arrived dinner was ready and already on our first night in Brazil we were treated to a great Brazilian meal with rice and beans (arroz & feijoa). Bruno showed us around town local style and we went to a market where I saw so many different fruits which don´t even have English names! From Sao Paulo we took the bus to Rio de Janeiro. This was so exciting for me as we were going to meet up with Marianna (one of my best friends from my Master course) and her boyfriend Pieter. We were going to stay with her family and friends during the carnaval. The first two days we went to Copacabana beach, probably one of the worlds most famous beaches! And the weekend before carnaval we all went to Ilha Grande, to relax before the big 5 day party started. Ilha Grande is a paradise just of the coast of Rio. We went together with Livia, Bianca and Leo, Mari´s best friends from home. We all stayed in a ´poussada´, which is similar to a bed and breakfast. We stayed in this paradise for 2 days. The day we arrived we took a taxiboat to one of the beaches and soaked up the 40 degree sun. Food is a big thing here in Brazil and no meal goes by without rice and beans. The steaks here are just as good, if not even better than the ones in Argentina. Eating steak in Europe will be boring from now on! To balance all the eating we did a boat trip to different beaches around the island to go to different snorkelling and swimming spots. After all this rest and relaxation I was definitly ready for the carnaval. When we got back from Ilha Grande, Joel (who I met in Australia) flew in from Chile to join us for the carnaval. After some sightseeing in Rio it was time to make our outfits. Bianca is a designer and organised all the materials to put the outfits together. We ended up sowing untill 2am and finishing things off in the mornings. It was so much fun and so worth it, I can definitly say we had some of the best outfits compared to what I´ve seen! The carnaval is basically made up of different ´bloco´s´, or street parties. Everyday there are different parties and different places to go to. Most of the times there is a band playing or a truck with music that everyone follows. There are street vendors all over selling beers, caipirnha´s and food. From fridaynight the 4th of March till Wednesday the 9th it was just one big marathon from bloco to bloco, finished by participating in the sambaparade in the sambadrome. I can definitly say this has to be one of the best things I´ve done on my trip! Livia organised for us to join a samba school which was scheduled to parade in the sambadrome on Tuesday night. For just 15 euros each we got to follow the truck in amazing costumes we even got to keep in the end! The only thing was that our slot was only at 4am so we had to wait all night, but it was so worth it! It was the best final the carnaval could´ve had.
Now the carnaval is finished and it´s back to ´normal´, after more than 2 weeks in Rio. I´m sad it´s over as I had to leave everyone again and it was one of the big things of my trip to look forward to! Rio is such a great city and the carnaval here is something I think you can´t experience anywhere else in the world. Anyway, now I have wonderful memories to think back to. It was so nice to see familiar faces again and be in a homely environment for a while! However, the adventure isn´t over yet and the great `South American Crossing` has only just begun. I´m in Paraty now, which is a colonial seaside town dating from the 16th century and was founded by the Portuguese. I´m looking forward to some good seafood tonight before going on another boat trip tomorrow to see the white beaches this area is known for! From here I´ll have to face a 21hr bus journey to see the Iguaçu Falls, but I´m sure it´s worth it!! I promise I´ll share my experiences soon.
Muito Beijos do Brazil
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