Iguaçu waterfalls

On 16th of February we flew from Rio de Janeiro to Foz do Iguaçu, a small town next to Iguaçu waterfalls. The town has lots of hotels, as people who visit the Iguaçu falls from the Brazilian side usually arrive and stay there. Next day we took a public bus to the Iguaçu National Park and arrived there after half an hour. After buying the tickets for the park entrance we got on a double decker bus that took us to the waterfalls. On the way to several viewpoints of the waterfalls, there were stops with different tours like kayaking, boat tour, jungle tour or climbing tour. Of course none of those tours were included in the park entrance fee. After a half hour ride into the jungle, we got out of the bus to take a walk to the first viewpoint. Surprisingly the first attraction in the Iguaçu National Park was not the waterfalls, but the animals, which look like little bears, have long noses and long striped tails. They are called South American Coatis and they are everywhere, especially there where they smell food. Although they look very cute, they can bite and therefor it is forbidden to feed them. The Coatis are very smart animals and if they find an unattended bag they try to open it in hope to find some food.

Our plan was to visit the Iguaçu waterfalls on the first day from the Brazilian side and on the second day from the Argentinian side. We were so fascinated by the view from the Brazilian side that we decided to make a boat trip and see the waterfalls from up-close instead of making the Argentinian tour the next day. So we skipped the Argentinian side, which means that we did not experience the Iguaçu falls from the top, but instead we took a shower under one of the waterfalls. 

The day we would have visited Argentina’s part of the Iguaçu falls we decided to make a short trip to Paraguay. We took a public bus to Ciudad del Este, Paraguay’s second biggest city. Ciudad del Este is separated by a bridge from Foz do Iguaçu and was just four kilometers away from where we stayed. When we entered the bus we asked the bus driver to leave us at the border to do the immigration procedures. He looked at us and said don’t worry you do not need this if you will go back to Brazil. So we took the drivers advise and went in and out without anyone noticing that we entered. Ciudad del Este is well known for its shopping malls, cheap prices and low taxes. The whole city is actually a big market. We hopped off the bus walked a bit around, did not see anything interesting, apart from people trying to sell us something. So after 20 minutes we left the city by foot. We walked very fast over the friendship bridge to Brazil.

Three days in Rio

We were supposed to arrive in Rio on 14th of February late at night. We arrived at Salvador airport earlier that day and luckily we could change our flight with Brazilian airline TAM to a five hours earlier flight for free. That was great, as we did not have to spend five more hours at the airport and could enjoy Rio on the first day by daylight. We took a taxi to the city center of Rio. The taxi driver explained to us, that he has to drive from the other side of the city, as it is carnival time and many streets are closed. We were happy, that we had already negotiated the price for the ride, as we would have paid probably a lot more with the taximeter. On the other hand going back from the city center to the airport we found out, that the real price for taxi without traffic was only half the price we had negotiated going from airport. The conclusion in this case for us was to trust the taximeter and not to ask for the taxi price in advance, as the taxi drivers usually try to earn more money from tourists, who have no clue about the prices. From our taxi experience in Brazil it is also best to take the official white taxis, which appear to be the most trustful.

On the first day in Rio we enjoyed the atmosphere a lot, because the streets were full of dressed up and relaxed people. At the carnival in Rio men traditionally dress up like women, so we saw a lot of men in tutus, skirts, bikinis and with wigs. Next day we started our sightseeing tour at eight o’clock in the morning. We were surprised to see so many dressed up people and we were wondering if they stayed up the whole night or if they got up early in the morning, got dressed up once again and went on the streets to celebrate carnival. During the carnival time in Rio different streets are closed and people are going by buses and metro from one city area to another to party and meet friends.

If you are in Rio, of course you have to visit the Jesus Statue at the Peak of the Corcovado Mountain and the Sugar Loaf Mountain. To visit both places we took metro, omnibus and also walked some kilometres in the hot sun. The huge advantage of big cities is Metro, which makes the traveling easy, cheap and fast. The Jesus Statue was quite impressive, but the view from the mountain was far more impressive. Unfortunately we had to wait some time to enjoy the view, as huge clouds surrounded the Corcovado Mountain.

Our highlight in Rio was the Carnival at Sambódromo. More than ten Samba schools compete against each other during two days. We bought tickets for the event on Sunday. The event started pretty late and strong rain started just before it. Our mood was very low and we discussed if we should go at all. We decided to go anyway, but after half an hour we were completely soaked in rain. Surprisingly the Sambódromo was crowded and people celebrated the samba schools as if there was no rain. We could feel that the event is really important for Brazilians and it was awesome to celebrate with them. We would highly recommend going to Rio Carnival to everyone.

Cooking with locals in Salvador

Our second guided tour in Salvador was a cooking experience with locals. We met with our tour guide Elmir at our hotel. He took us to Sao Joaquim market to buy fresh ingredients. The plan was to cook Moqueca de peixe a traditional Bahian seafood stew. Elmir gave us the ingredients list, explained what all the ingredients on the list mean and taught us how to ask for the price in Portuguese. People on the market were all very nice and communicative. Everyone was smiling and making jokes. We have to say that people in Brazil in general are very kind to each other and take a lot of their time for everyone. With the help of Elmir we bought all the ingredients and spent 17 Real (around six Euro) for tomatoes, onions, peppers, coconut milk, fresh ground coconut, palm oil, coriander and Acerola. Acerola are red berries from which we later made a sweet and sour juice. After the shopping at Sao Joaquim market we went to a fishermen community, where we were invited to cook with the fishermen’s wife in her house, which is in a favela close to the harbour. To get there we had to walk under a highway bridge and without knowing the way, it would be impossible to find it. The view from the favela is incredible, most of the houses have a direct view to the bay of “Todos os Santos”. The favela we visited is a modern favela as it has electricity and its own water supply. The house, we have been invited to, was directly next to the sea and we could have taken a bath by just going down a few steps. Our guide showed us a skyscraper just a few hundred meters away from the fishermen community and told us that apartments there with sea view cost around 1 Million Real. So the fishermen have chosen a really good spot for their place. The cooking went pretty fast and the result was delicious. The view from the balcony, where we had our lunch was priceless.