Category Archives: _South America_

Iguazú – Brazilian Side

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In the afternoon we got closer to Iguazú Falls, with the heliport being the first stop. Those ones, who were eager to spend 60 USD for a 10 minute heli ride got up into the air, me being one of them 🙂 It was my first ride in a helicopter – – and the views were amazing.

After the heli ride we went over to the bird park on the other side of the street – to see those birds in cages, we were about to see in nature in the Pantanal anyhow… – I personally would not go there again.

From the bird park we continued to the Cataratas do Iguaçu National Park, i.e. the Brazilian side of the waterfalls.

Itaipu

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We arrived at Foz de Iguazu in the early morning (around 07:00) on an overnight bus. We got transferred to our hotel, where we had one room for the whole group to store the luggage during the day; also breakfast was on offer (for a mere 7 Reals). Some time later we met again for an excursion to the Itaipu hydroelectric Dam.

Itaipu is massive, built on the border between Paraguay and Brazil, producing 90% of the energy consumed in Paraguay and (additionally) 25% of the energy consumed in Brazil. From a power production perspective Itaipu will remain the biggest dam in the world, even after the completion of Three Gorges Dam – however the latter one has also other goals, at Itaipu there are no ship locks…

Curitiba

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After arriving back to Curitiba and spent the rest of the day walking around and exploring town – at 20:30 we were back to the hotel to meet with the others to head for the bus terminal to catch an overnight bus to Foz de Iguazu.

Catching the Serra Verde Express

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We made it into Curitiba in the late evening of the 20th – with today starting off somewhat strangely. Plan was to catch the Serra Verde Express from Curitiba to Morretes; the train was scheduled to leave at 08:15. David and myself got up at around 06:45, went down for breakfast – no one else there, ordered a taxi to the train station – still no one else from the group around. We boarded our taxi around 07:30, still being the only ones. On arrival at the station we got our tickets, boarded the train – and off we went… In the evening, when we got back to the hotel, we heard from the others that they have been told the train would not go, so they stayed in bed and had a day around Curitiba itself.

The train ride itself was amazing (at least for me; however I guess one must be at least a bit a train enthusiast). It started with the rather flat surrounding of Curitiba, then into the jungle and down the mountains from 900 meters above to near sea level – over narrow bridges and through tunnels.

Once we got into Morretes we quickly discovered that there was not too much to do and see in this small town. We walked around town and left Morretes after about one hour by bus and made our way back to Curitiba.

Around Avenida Paulista

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Today was a very late morning – what else to expect after a Saturday night in Sao Paulo ?

Of course we had been out; some of us decided to head for the Liquid Lounge as the place to go. So we ordered a taxi and headed off for Vila Olimpia, Sao Paulo’s party district. It turned out that the taxi was no good choice, the driver did not even know the way to the quarter, had to ask many times – after about an hour we finally arrived at the club.

We now (around 01:15) had to queue in to get into the club, rain was pouring down. After another 20 minutes we made our way to the cash point – just to discover that no one there did speak English to explain us how everything worked… They finally found someone to explain to us that the normal entry was 20 reals (roughly 8 Euros), but that we could get a drink special for an additional 10 reals giving us hourly free drinks specials. So it was from beer (until 2am) to Tequila (from 2am until 3am). We certainly got that special and had our first beers 2 minutes later. When the bar with the special drinks closed, we went down to the dance floor – and left the place around 04:30, got back to the hotel at about 05:00.

I was sharing with David this night – and  ultimately managed to be ready for check-out at exactly 12:00 (the latest check-out time) – we now took the metro to Avenida Paulista – which is seen as one of the city’s symbols. We got back to the hotel at 14:30, as we had to catch a bus to Curitiba shortly afterwards.

On the Caminho de Ouro

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After we got back to the hotel, David and myself decided that there was still enough time to check out the Caminho do Ouro (Gold Trail), so we got on a public bus to Penha (about half an hour ride), where we started a short hike along a portion of the caminho. We got back in time to catch the bus back to Paraty.

Diving “Batismo”

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The group split on our second day in Paraty; the majority went to visit some waterfalls in the jungle, as well as a Cachaça distillery; Leo, John, David and myself opted for diving. As neither John nor myself did have a diving certificate we had to take the Discovery Dive option (aka. “batismo”); however John already had some experience in diving, for me it was something completely new. During the first dive I was more busy with myself, in getting used to this new situation – however it worked out during the second dive – and it found it all really enjoyable 🙂

Paraty Island Cruise

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The option of choice for our first complete day in Paraty was a boat trip around some of the islands around Paraty – including lunch, several stops for snorkelling, swimming and having fun in the water.

From Rio to Paraty

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The first real day of the trip, mostly spent on a bus from Rio to Paraty – however a good opportunity to get to know each other (Amir – Kathleen’s real profession is not being a call girl…). After arrival Leo (our tour leader) gave us an orientation walk around town.