Update

Just a quick post to anyone who is still out here watching us in the blogosphere.

We have done a lot over the past two months, although the blog doesn¨t exactly reflect that. As we have now gone our seperate ways for about a month - Thida with the eco-art project and Jack with WindAid - we are going to spend any free time we get updating the bits we´ve left out. So watch this space.

In the mean time, if you are interested. I (Jack) am going to attempt a daily blog during WindAid where I will be helping to build a windturbine/turbines, cool eh? It can be found here:

http://www.justalotofhotair.blogspot.com/ 
(Couldn't resist the pretencious title).

Trindade

The next stop was a more secluded coastal town named Trindade, about an hour from Paraty by local bus. The trip there was another opportunity to pass through the Atlantic rainforest covered hills, and gave us our first taste of the winding mountain roads that we're sure we'll become accustomed to - although we doubt we will ever get used to the speeds with which the bus driver took the blind bends.



Once we got down to the coast we could see a horseshoe shaped line of coast about 3km long, split into a series of beaches and bays, and shadowed by a line of tree covered mountains. The town itself followed the contour of the longest beach, and consisted of a straight stretch of road lined with restaurants, pousadas and bars, as well as a few strets branching off in both directions.



We noticed that there were a number of oddly dressed people walking around the town and thought that it might be some kind of colonial era museum of something, however on arriving at the hostel we found out that there was a film being made on the Beach! Over the course of the week we found out that the film was based the book Rouge Brésil written by Jean-Christophe Rufin, about a failed french attempt to conquer Brazil (Did they ever really have a chance?).


The distraction of the film provided a buzz of excitement, with a number of locals and tourists taking the opportunity to get some extra work in the production - which mainly entailed standing around wearing lots of hot leather clothes in the heat of the day, not something we fancied! When we got bored of sitting around on the beach watching the director swear at the cast and crew, we did a little more exploring and went to some good rock pools at the end of the bay, as well as taking a hike up (and over) through the jungle to a beach hidden from most tourists and beach-side vendors.

By far the best thing about our stay was the hostel, and the people
there. The owners were a couple of Argentinian guys not much older than us, and their extremely casual approach to running the place made it feel more like staying at a friends house than a hostel. As well as giving us a lot of advice for our trip based on their extensive travels around the continent, they also invited everyone staying at the hostel to join in with a lot of their activities. These included watching the Brazil Vs Argentina game with them and a group of their friends who owned local hostels, and having a Argentine-style barbeque when one of the owners' family came to stay - basically a constant supply of meats from 10pm til midnight, hopefully a taste of what we can come to expect when we get there.

We were going to write a little about going out to the bars on the beach at the weekend, but after trying a drink called Gabriella (about 4 measures of Cachaca spiked with honey and cinnamon, served from what looked like an old bottle of turps) we can't really remember...

Buenos Aires (Part 1)

We said farewell to the wonderful Iguazu falls and caught a bus straight to Buenos Aires, not knowing what to expect from a city we´ve heard so much about. Unfortunately the sight seeing had to be delayed as I got sick on our last day in Iguazu (the shower under the falls might have had something to do with it!) We therefore "upgraded" to a hotel in central Buenos Aires near the Argentine Congresso National. After a full recover we moved over to a Hostel in the neighborhood of San Telmo.

San Telmo is characterized for being the oldest neighborhood of Buenos Aires and the birthplace of the tango. We often walked around the cobblestone streets to admire its bohemian charm through the colonial buildings, churches, cafes, tango parlors, bookstores and antique shops. We had the fortunate oppurtinity to watch a tango show on the main square while enjoying a couple of beers in the Buenos Aires sunshine. We also really enjoyed the Sunday market where artisans, musicians, performers and antique vendors share their talents and goods on the streets. From gramaphones players to antique passport holders, soda siphons to silverware from the early 1900´s, we were thoroughly pleased with the treasures San Telmo had to offer!

We also spent a lot of time in the barrio of Recoleta. We got lost in the cemetario de la Recoleta, the resting place of Argentina´s past presidents, national heroes, and famous personalities (one of the most famous being Eva Peron, a.k.a Evita). Later we visited Argentina´s largest art Museum, Museo Nationale de Bellas Artes. The museum offered a impressive collection of Pre-Columbian to 20th Century Argentine Art as well as an international exhibition of collections from Middle Age to 20th Century. Afterwards we walked passed the famous Flor de Metal statue (which open and closes with the sun via hydrolic machinery) unroute to the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA). We were most impressed by Carlos Cruz-Diez: Colour in Space and Time exhibition which included the Venezulan´s silk screen prints and room sized light instalations of his experimental works with colour and movement. With our feet sore from walking through Roceleta and the Palermo neighborhood, we ended our day with a short rest at the Jardin Japones.

As we reached our first week in Argentina, we thought we´d take a break from home-made pasta to try out more traditional cuisine...meaning STEAK STEAK STEAK! We quickly made a reservation for a table at a steakhouse along the Puerto Madero waterfront. We took a few minutes to compose ourselves after eating the best steak we´ve ever had, and walked along the waterfront past the beautifully lit Puente de la Mujer (Woman´s Bridge) and managed to get all the way back to our hostel in San Telmo by foot.

On one of our last days we went to visit La Boca, a neighborhood made famous by its Artists, Tango, Boca Juniours Football team, and iconic mutli-coloured houses. Unfortunately the neighborhood is notoriously unsafe for tourist (we were warned not to stray off the touristy route), so just walked around the famous Caminito street. Though very touristy, we really enjoyed the colours of Caminito (attributed to one of Argentina´s most famous artist Benito Quinquela Martine, born in La Boca). We later settled down for a couple of beer at a tango parlor to watch another brilliant live show.
There was so much of Buenos Aires that we enjoyed, and spent many moments imagining living there owning a bookstore while renting a colonial apparment in San Telmo... one can dream hey? We were not too sad to leave as we knew that we would be back in four months time to fly to Sydney. So more time to see all the sights we missed! We bought our train tickets to Bahia Blanca, near the coast to start our journey through Patagonia. On our dark and rickety old train filled with locals chatting away, we managed to drift to sleep, anxious for more Argentian treasures to come...

Check out more pictures from Buenos Aires from my Facebook Album:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.549723549673.39786.223200117&type=1&l=f70264f70a

Iguazu

After the comfort and luxury of Curitiba we decided to ease ourselves back into the travelling lifestyle by visiting one of the 7 natural wonders of the world*, as you do.

After pitching the tent in the garden of a hostel in Foz do Iguacu, we jumped on a bus to the Brazilian side. There isn't really much point trying to describe it, as we'd never be able to do it the justice it deserves (hopefully the pictures will), but things that struck us the most were the sheer scale of the falls, as well as the sound, which you hear long before you get through the trees to see it.

After the falls everything else seems to pale in comparison, but the bird park just outside the visitors centre is still pretty impressive. It's, as you might expect, full of all sorts of exotic birds, including macaws, toucans and flamingos - as well as plenty of lizards and even a boa constrictor.


The next day, before moving into Argentina an the neighbouring city of puerto iguazu, we took a trip to see the Itaipiu dam - incidentally one of the 7 modern wonders of the world**. The dam utilises the power of the mighty Parana river to provide 90% of Paraguay's power and 20% of Brazil's, which makes it the single largest producer of power in the world, even more than the Three Gorges Dam in China (take that Hayley). And unlike the Three Gorges (massively sweeping statement about China here) the designers endeverd to minimise the effect on the environment and community though various sustainability projects and creating jobs, although its probably all just propaganda and they actually killed-off a few dozen endangered species.




Then we waved good bye to Brazil and said hello to Argentina. As we rode the bus to between the two border posts, you can really feel that you are changing countries, the smells, the sounds, the people and the landscape all are different and all contrive to give you a real sense of new adventures and endless beginnings - Nah, only joking, its exactly the same . They are just two different sides of a river, what do you expect I guess?

After spending a few days on the Argentinian side of the falls we certainly did notice some differences though. On this side you don´t get the all encompassing views offered in Brazil, but what you get in return is a closer look at some sections, and from others dramatic views from the top where the world seems to be falling away over the edge. As a way to round off the whole experience we took a boat trip to get an even closer view, it was basically the most expensive shower you have ever had, but we enjoyed it.

*actually it's not official yet, apparently we all have to vote to make it happen...
**apparently this one is official.

Curitiba, Churrascarias, and Capybaras

Thida here, up early to tell you all about our wonderful time in Curitiba. Our stay there was particularly special as we stayed with my Uncle Bruce and Aunt Raeann, both working at the international school of Curitiba. Another comfortable 8 hour bus ride, we arrived at the Curtiba bus station at about 6 in the morning. As we didnt want to be knocking on our hosts door too early, we decided to walk to their appartment to kill some time. This ended up taking us 3 hours over many hills (we had assumed curitiba to be flat for some reason), good practice atleast for when we do our trekking in Patagonia.

We had arrived at the appartment, nick named the 20th floor nest, greeted by Raeann, Bruce, and an incredible view over the city. Bruce and Raeann took us to a wonderful Japanese buffet that night (like Soa Paulo, Curitiba is home for a signficant number of Japanese Brazilians). It was a nice change from our new staple diet of rice beans and chips. The next morning we walked through Barigui park not far from the appartment and encountered our first group of Capybaras. Giant hamsters, 140 pound rat, furry sheep, however you want to imagine it, Capybaras are the largest rodents in the world, with its closest relative being the guinea pig. They swim too!

Curitiba is recognised for its sustainable urban planning. What we had heard most about was the city's innovative and highly organised transport system (consisting entirely of buses). We were fortunate enough to be very close to a "tubo station" on one of the BRT lines that have lanes dedicated to buses. For some reason however, we managed to get ourselves very lost in central Curitiba the first couple of days. Fortunately for us, Curitiba has an excellent tourist bus line (and were are double deckard with an open roof, we were warned to to get hit by traffic lights!) Having no shame in looking very touristy, we had visited the wonderful Oscar Neiymer Art Museum (also known as the Eye Musuem due to its shape, designed by the famous Brazilian architect himself).

We later visited and passed by spots dedicated to the cultures of various immigrants of Curitiba such as German Wood Park, The Polish memorial in Pope´s Woods, The Ukranian memorial in Tingui park (also dedicated to the native indians that used to live there) , the Italian neighborhood of Santa Felicidade, and the Arab memorial in central Curitiba. We had also visited the city´s beautiful botanical gardens, wire opera house, and its historical center. We were also treated to an amazing churrascaria by Raeann (A Brazilian steakhouse where various meats from sirlion steaks to chicken hearts are brought to your table every minute until you say stop!)

Due to unfortunate and unpredictable weather in southern Brazil, we had spent a few days longer in Curitiba until it was clear enough for Iguazu falls (who could complain with clean sheets and free internet on the 20th floor!) During our wait, we did a day trip to the river town of Morrettes taking a wonderful panorama train with fantastic views of the mountains of Serra do Mar. Such a wonderful time in Curitiba seeing the sights with the opportunity to catch up with family and see their life in Brazil, it was sad to say goodbye! Thank you Bruce and Raeann for a wonderful time!

Sao Paulo - Friends, Football and Modern Art

All Jack's Picture this time...

 After living a quiet life on the beach for nearly 3 weeks it was a welcome change to get back to the hustle and bustle of a city, and where better than one of the biggest cities on the planet. According to a 2009 UN report*, Sao Paulo is the 3rd largest urban agglomeration in the world, housing over 20 million people, dwarfed only by Delhi and Tokyo. I think it would have been to big to handle if it wasn't for the fact we had our very own local tour guide in the form of Junior (well he's from Campinas, Sao Paulo state which was good enough for us!).

 Junior, a friend Jack and his friends met on holiday in Madrid in 2010, met us at our hostel, which was (on his recommendation) in a good location for the local subway system. Like all good tours we started at the football museum, housed in the Estadio do Pacaembu, which was built in 1940 and hosted several games during the 1950 world cup (although Brazilians don't have fond memories of that tournament). The museum itself was really good, it has a good history of the beginnings of football in Brazil, a library of footage from memorable moments throughout football history, and of course, Pele.

Thida wanted more pictures of her on the blog.

 Next we took a bus to the main street in downtown Sao Paulo, Av. Paulista - no mean feat in itself, and I don't think we'd have managed it without Juniors help -  a wide avenue lined with skyscrapers stretching out for over a kilometer. Here we stopped into MASP, the Sao PAulo museum of art, downstairs was a modern excebition (above and left) and upstairs there was a selection of older paintings and sculptures, from Monet and Van Gough to Constable and Turner.

 After a hard days sightseeing we tucked into some Brazilian snacks (food post pending) and had a few beers in one of the many bars along Av Augusta - one of Paulista's many tributarys. The next day Junior took us down to one of the main parks in Sao Paulo, here we saw the independence monument, and our first Oscar Neimeyer building (Auditorium - Right), as well as the Obelisk of Sao Paulo. Then we headed to the central district to check out a massive indoor market, get some more (amazing) Brazilian food, and get a view of the city from the top of one of its many skyscrapers.

After another busy day, we headed to another bar on Augusta to settle down for the evening. Through out the night we were joined by a steady stream of Junior (and Bruno's) friends until there was a decent sized group of us to drink, chat (mainly about Colgy's drunken antics) and watch Sao Paulo FC play on the bar's big screen. All in all, the few days in Sao Paulo with Junior et al, were defiantly among the best of our time in Brazil so far, not least because we had a very knowledgeable guide and got to spend time with some friendly locals!

 During our last 2 days in the city we were alone, and decided to get to know some of the areas that we had touched upon a little better. We went back to the park and visited the modern art museum, there was some good stuff, mainly in the form of Damien Hurst (who doesn't enjoy his crystal skulls and various farm yard animals suspended in formaldehyde) and also some pretty dodgy stuff - I guess that's modern art for you. One thing we noticed during our wanders was the ubiquity of many painted rhinoceroses around

 the city, a part of a public exhibition called RhinoMania not unlike the CowParade phenomena which (a little research has informed me) has its origins in Zurich in 1998, although I remember it from Manchester, and Thida from the painted cow in her office in London. Our time in Sao Paulo reinforced the impression we have been given of Brazil as leading centre of art and architecture, as much as football and natural beauty - something which we hadn't realized when we planned our trip (although a little research would have shown us) and have been very pleasantly surprised by.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_urban_agglomerations_by_population_%28United_Nations%29

Jack, Junior, Junior's friend (I feel bad as I can't remember his name, but I know he is from the same place as Anderson!) & Bruno!

Paraty

After a week on Ilha Grande we moved 2 hours down the coast to an old colonial town located on the Coasta Verde (Green Coast) called Paraty, with the journey there proving to be a little eventful. As it wasn't too far away, we had the option of taking a local bus or a coach, where the local option would undoubtedly be cheaper. However as we had offered to show some people how to get there we felt bad roaming the streets in search of the local bus and led the way to the coach station, where we found out the price to be R$5 - not a bad price, or so we thought.

Sooner or later a bus arrived and we got on, and were informed that the ticket was in fact R$50! Not having enough money we got off the bus and went to collect our bags, only to be followed by the bus driver who seemed just as annoyed that we couldn't explain ourselves in Portuguese as he was that we had got off the bus after he had written out the tickets. After 5 minutes someone got off the bus and explained to us that the driver was liable to pay the ticket money as he had written out the tickets, we explained that we didn't have enough money to pay for them. The man then offered and insisted that he help us pay for our tickets. Coming from London, we were taken aback by this man's generous offer. Even more shocked when he refused the money we managed to take out once in Paraty and asked that we one day do the same for someone in need. We agreed.... but paid him back anyway!

Once we settled into our hostel, we went to explore the historical center of Paraty. Walking down the cobbled streets (with the only modes of transport being foot or a horse drawn carriage) passing beautiful colonial buildings, we stumbled across and huge tent with some photo exhibitions. We quickly learned that we had arrived just in time for Paraty em Foco- one of Brazil's largest photography festivals.

 

We watched an good open source documentary film about copyright infringement called "RIP: Remix Manifesto", and another which consisted of groups of amazingly colourful photos taken of native Amazonian tribes and their villages. The copyright documentary was particularly interesting as it used Brazil as an example of where ignoring copyrights can have very positive consequences, by far the biggest was the Brazilian government violating drug firm Roche's patent on the AIDS drug Nelfinavir in order to reduce it's cost by 40%.

Aside from the wandering around the photography festival, most of our time was spent walking around town taking pictures and sitting in some of the many restaurants and bars that littered the town. One day, and after a lot of rain, the historic town flooded giving rise to all sorts of reflections from the brightly painted windows and doorways - and you can imagine how all those photographers loved that!

Just some of the 1000's of pictures taken by Thida