Water, Water Everywhere

We flew from Rio on an internal Brazilian flight to Foz de Iguaçu, close to the border with Paraguay and Argentina.  The objective of the visit was to see Iguazu Falls, one of the natural wonders of the world.  The Falls are the widest set of waterfalls in the world and has one of the longest drops.  Í haven't been to Niagara but apparenty Iguazu makes it look like a leaking roof.

Our hotel was on the Argentinian side but having landed on the Brazilian side on a beautiful day we took a spur of the moment decision to visit the Brazilian national park that afternoon - a great decision because at the same time the next day there was a massive downpour.  The panoramic views get better and better as you go around and it is possible to get very close to one of the biggest falls on a precarious loking walkway, although you get pretty wet in the process.  It was a truly memorable afternoon.

We joined the same tour group again this morning and visited the Argentinian side.  Predictably the rivalry over who has the best national park is a bit like that between the national football teams.  We called it a draw - Argentina has 80% of the falls area but Brazil has the best views.  The things that Argentina does best is the walkways which take you right out under and over the main falls and the boat ride which we did in the afternoon. 

The ride is called "the Great Adventure" and we went out on a motor launch with around 30 other people towards the face of the two main falls.  They give you an opportunity to take photos from the boat really close to the water before they warn you to put your cameras away before they go closer.  And they get really close.  We had been warned that we would get wet and from our place near the back it was clear that those at the front would get really soaked as the launch approached the wall of falling water.  However just to make sure that we all benefitted from the experience the captain kindly turned the boat around and reversed into the waterfall.  It was a great experience and absolutely hilarious being in the spray of a huge waterfall only a few feet from where the water was falling - trying to admire this majestic sight from close up while water comes at you as if out of a fire hose.

It is a long way to go to get here but really worth it.  It has also been nice to get over the border and be able to hold a conversation with the locals, for now we are in Spanish-speaking Argentina, home of the gauchos, the best beef in the world, tango and of course the legendary Diego Maradona.

Churrascaría and Caipirinhas

Before leaving Rio we wanted to sample the most typical local food and drink. So on our last night we visited the Carretao churrascaría in Ipanema, another of the famous beach suburbs of the south zone of Rio where the better off part of the population live.

As a culinary experience this was unique.  We were recomended to this type of restaurant by our Brazilian friends Kevin (who lives just round the corner from us in Spain) and Isabela (from pwc in London) and we were not disappointed by either the quality or quantity of food.

What happens is basically this: there are no menus and a guy comes over to seat you, take your drinks order and tell you that the "salad bar" is self-service.  The salad bar is groaning with all kinds of salad but also paella, fish and varios other hot dishes which are presumably there on the off chance that someone turns up who doesn't want meat.

We sat down with a plate of salads and started to eat. Within minutes the first of the skewers of meat arrived and the waiter carved it at the table. Then came another and another and another and another. We had flank, rib, brisket, sirloin and several other lots of beef barbecued on skewers in different ways.  We are not talking about kebabs here but whole joints of meat that have been roasted on a spit.  Then there was the chicken, the pork, prawns, a couple of types of sausage and even wild boar.

Neither of us have ever eaten so much.  The turnover of tables is incredible and the restaurant, which must sit well over 200, was full. The vast quantity of meat comes out at a bewildering pace and when we checked the bill at the end it told us we had been there for all of 57 minutes!  Getting up to go to the toilet (or salad bar, but that was unlikely to be happening given the volume of meat on offer) meant risking running into squads of waiters bearing hot meat on sword-sized skewers!

In order to recover we walked back to Copacabana and spent another hour or so sampling that other great Brazilian institution - the cocktail Caipirinha which is made mostly of lime, ice and of course a local spirit.

We sat at a simple bar within metres of the waves lapping on the beach watching a couple of families go out into the sea with fishing nets to catch some fish to eat. Having finished our drinks we left them to cook the fish on a fire in the sand.  A fine way to say goodbye to Rio.

Copacabana

So here we are in South America for the first time and a whole new continent to explore. What better place to begin than our hotel overlooking the Copacabana beach - probably, as Su put it, the most famous beach in the world.

View from our hotel

The word Copacabana conjures up many images such as beach volleyball, very small bikinis, Ronnie Biggs and of course the locals practising their reknowned football skills. However, for me, it mainly means I can't get that damned Copacabana song by Barry Manilow out of my head! You know the one - "Her name was Lola, she was a show-girl etc..."

Anyway Copacabana (her name was Lola...) is probably not the nicest beach in the world and we have been a little unlucky with the weather.  It is often sunny on the beach but the famous views from Sugarloaf mountain and Christ the Redeemer statue have been almost non-existent due to low cloud.  That rather limited the value of the city tour.  The natural beauty of the place is beyond dispute but the buildings aren't much to write home about, so we won't.

One of the clearer moments at Christ the Redeemer

However in the three days here the place has really grown on us and it is clearly a nice place to live as long as you can cope with the potential for crime and live with the inequality.  Perhaps in those respects it is just more extreme than London.  The big plus points are the outdoor lifestyle and the huge potential of a vast and growing country that you can feel in the buzz of the nightlife especially.

We had a marvellous meal last night in a brazilian-japanese-french fusion restaurant (their description!) where our host really made us feel welcome and the food was superb. For once we were pleased to find someone who spoke English.  I suppose we have got used to speaking English or Spanish wherever we are and didn't expect Portuguese to be so alien.  It sounds like Russian to us and our attempts to respond in Spanglish have failed completely.  I don't know what can have happened.  Did the Portuguese meet some Russians in the 13th century and think they sounded cool and if they copied them everyone would stop mistaking them for Spaniards?

Anyway shortly we are off to Argentina so we should have more chance although from what we have heard of the other South American guests at our hotel that might be misplaced optimism.  At least I can understand Barry Manilow!  Her name was Lola, she was a show-girl.....

The Great Escape

When we decided to travel via London to get to South America we had no idea how complicated it would be.  A combination of heavy snow in the UK, a strike by Spanish air traffic control and an impressive electrical storm here in Rio meant we were very lucky to complete our journey with a delay of only about 3 hours and no delay at all on the trip to London.  It could have been an awful lot worse.

When we booked 2 months ago to go to London we chose Stansted instead of Gatwick. That was the first piece of good fortune as Gatwick was closed by snow on the thursday that we travelled.
We got out just in time because the strike started on friday and stopped most planes to and from Spain.

Luckily by saturday night the snow had stopped in London and the Spanish government had forced the air traffic controllers back to work by declaring a state of emergency and effectively putting them under military control.  As a way of making things happen (or happen faster) in Spain this seems to open up endless possibilities. We might be able to get the car ownership documents we have been waiting for for 6 months, the certificate of house completion (nearly 5 years) or even get served a pina colada in Zensa beach bar in less than an hour.

As for landing at Rio we narrowly avoided being diverted to Sao Paulo but by the time we landed many streets had turned into rivers and there was traffic chaos. Nevertheless we got here and now the South America trip begins.