We've crossed the border between Argentina and Brazil about a week ago, at the Iguazu Falls. Having visited some of the world largest waterfalls (Niagara in Canada / US, Victoria in Zambia / Zimbabwe, Selfoss in Iceland and now Iguazu), I can't really tell which one is the most impressive, but the setting of Iguazu and the surrounding wildlife definitely makes these falls worth the trip (our photos will be online soon).
We then took a plane from Iguazu Falls to Rio de Janeiro, where we spent 2 days. At the beginning, we were a little afraid to walk in the city by ourselves. All the travel books said that it is one of the most dangerous city in the world, and just before we got there, we shared a taxi with an Israelian couple who told us they got mugged on their first day in Rio, in the middle of the day.
The first day, we took it easy -- walk on the Copacabana beach, and in the evening we went to see a football (soccer) game at the world famous Macarana stadium. Even if only about half of the 90000 seat stadium was full (mostly due to the rain and the low importance of the game), the atmosphere was electric, making any American football or baseball game very dull (oh I know I am not going to make friends by writing that, but it is very true). Here football is like a religion. People are extremely passionate about it.
The day after, we decided to go and visit the infamous Rio favelas with a local guide -- a lady who started an association about 15 years ago, to allow tourists to visit the favelas and at the same time train local young people to the tourism industry and therefore create opportunities for those kids. The money we paid for the tour help finance to local school. She said that after so many years, she is starting to see some changes. Kids do not beg anymore for money; they call her to ask for work. It was quite an experience. We walked on some very narrow streets where young kids were carrying guns and machine guns. She told us to avoid looking at them and just keep walking, as they can be a little distrustful, thinking we could be undercover cops (!) or journalists. For those of you who have seen the really good, but shocking movie City of God, which was filmed about 1 hour from Rio, we were told that the movie depicts the life of the favelas very accurately.
After the visit, we decided to be adventurous and went handgliding. I was very anxious at first, yet very excited. It was the first time I did anything remotely like this (the other time was parasailing in Cyprus when I was 12...). Nick was more familiar with this type of stuff as he went skydiving a few years ago (ask him about it! It's a pretty funny story... Not sure he'll do it again though). We jumped from the Sao Conrado mountain on top of Rio, about 500 meters high and went up to 800 meters (thanks to the wind that was very good that day). It was an amazing experience to see the city that way (Copacabana, Ipanema, the Christ the Redeemer...)
After Rio, we took a bus to Angra dos Reis (3 hours) and then a boat to Ilha Grande (2 hours). We spent 2 days in the paradisiac island of Ilha Grande, where we did a bit of kayaking and a lot of sleeping!
We are not in the little fishing town to Parati, a preserved Portuguese colonial and Brazilian Imperial town, where we are enjoying the laid back atmosphere, the good food and the local drink (caipirinha), which actually made me pretty intoxicated last night...
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