Brazil + Argentina + Peru
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
After finally convincing my good friend Brazilian1 to quit his job in Portugal and go traveling with me in South America, he moved back to Rio and I joined him there. We'd planned to plan epic adventures together!
...Only his girlfriend (who'd been waiting for him for two years while he was in Portugal) got upset when he let on that he'd be leaving again, with me. I advised him to tell her I'm a lesbian. Misha (he was there a few days before the con) advised him to find a picture of an ugly girl and tell her that's who he was traveling with. In the end Brazilian1 told her the truth and she threatened to call it quits if he went with me. No longer the cheating bastard I once knew, Brazilian1 decided to stay. Moral of the story: you should never tell your significant other the truth.
But at least I got to hang out with him in Rio, which is beautiful, especially at night.
Requisite Giant Jesus picture. There's one of these in Lisbon too but not nearly as impressive.
Climbing trees on the Sugar Loaf! There were little monkeys on these trees and I tossed peanuts at them.
Another friend, Brazilian2 from São Paulo, also came to visit. I took him to the SPN con briefly to show him the hordes of fangirls. I must say, the screaming at that con was the loudest I have ever heard at an SPN con. Brazilian2 was very impressed. We even managed to meet Jared when he finally arrived (we'd all been waiting for him for like two hours after the opening ceremony/panel, terrible organization). He tried to shake my hand but I'd been eating with it so he gave me a hug instead. \o/
Anyway, Copacabana beach!
And the cool sandcastles on it.
Lots of concerts on the beaches in Rio.
Also I managed to see the Avengers in IMAX 3D. Fucking amazing. Except for the part where Brazilian1's girlfriend threw some kind of fit and made everything uncomfortable for everyone, but that happened pretty much every time I saw her. Whatever.
Arraial do Cabo, Brazil
More beaches! This time with boats too.
And sandboarding in the dunes. (That's Brazilian1.)
Brazilian1's girlfriend didn't get upset and start crying until the very end, so all in all it was a good weekend. :P
Ilha Grande, Brazil
After leaving Brazilian1 to deal with his various domestic issues by himself, I headed for Ilha Grande, which translates to Big Island. In Brazil they are very fond of glass shower doors. I managed to shatter one while trying to get out of the shower, cut up my hands, and bleed all over the hotel's bathroom and towels. Naturally, I immediately proceeded to watch SPN 'cause Cas was on. He was very pretty.
Ilha Grande was very pretty too.
Spent most of my time there with two Brits and a Finn, all from my room at the hostel. The Finnish guy and I went for a long hike one day, at the end of which a purple dog awaited us.
Actually there are a ton of dogs on that island. And bonus crab too!
The hostel's cat liked to nap on me.
Feiticeira beach. Went kayaking for a couple of hours around this beach and saw some cool birds but didn't have my camera with me, alas.
Lopes Mendes beach. Apparently this beach is famous and is frequently mentioned in "top beaches of the world" lists. It was indeed very nice! And big.
Paraty, Brazil
I'd intended to spend more time on Ilha Grande and skip Paraty, but the Brits and Finn were all going to Paraty and convinced me to join them. Excellent decision, Paraty was also beautiful and even more secluded.
There were orange trees free for the picking and cute monkeys that we fed bananas to.
São Paulo, Brazil
I only came here to visit Brazilian2; I wasn't terribly excited about the city itself. But we did have amazing food at a Brazilian rodizio and some hilarious conversations.
Brazilian2: You're from Detroit, right?
Me: The suburbs, yes.
Brazilian2: Do you have any good sports teams other than the Redwings?
Me: The Pistons do alright I guess.
Brazilian2: Oh! The Detroit Pistons are from Detroit?
Me: ...
Iguazu Falls, Argentina
Just thinking about Iguazu makes me itch. I got over 50 bug bites there. For some reason everybody keeps comparing Iguazu falls to Niagara and saying how much better Iguazu is which makes me irrationally defensive about Niagara, but I must admit Iguazu is cool too.
And they do have cooler wildlife there.
Including coatis!
Had fun playing with the effects on my camera.
Ushuaia, Argentina
Ushuaia is known as the southernmost city in the world, and the national park there, Tierra del Fuego, is the "end of the world". Met a guy from Berkeley there and discovered we had a mutual friend. Small world!
Patagonia in general is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. Expensive to get there but worth every penny. Also I had fun rolling around in the snow, as I do.
Check out this badass bird.
Glacier! Saw people snowboarding here. Was very very envious.
El Calafate, Argentina
Also in Patagonia, also beautiful. The thing to do here is to see the Perito Moreno glacier, so I did. Even the drive to the glacier was cool, doesn't it look like the mountains are just kind of hovering in the sky?
Tons of glacier pics:
What's cool is you can hear the ice constantly cracking, and huge chunks of it frequently fall into the water. I even got to go trekking on it. With crampons!
View from on the glacier:
Cusco, Peru
After leaving Patagonia I went straight to Peru to meet up with lallipoo. We decided to take a bus from the airport in Cusco to the city center and everyone thought we were insane to a) attempt it at all, and b) attempt it with our big backpacks and things. When we saw the bus, which is actually a little shuttle thing with so many people crammed into it there are some hanging out the doors, we discovered why. But we managed to get on anyway and survived the ride. \o/
City center:
Ollantaytambo, Peru
Some ruins close to Cusco.
Call me a creep but I thought they were cute.
Machu Picchu, Peru
Obviously we went to Machu Picchu.
And saw Cas!llama! I met him again later on in the day and got to pet him. He was very soft.
They only let 400 people climb Huayna Picchu each day and we didn't have the foresight to book weeks and weeks in advance, so we ended up climbing Machu Picchu mountain, which opened only recently and is about twice as high as Huayna Picchu.
There are strange flowers on it.
Two hours later, the view from the top:
The coolest part about getting to the top was meeting a ninja there! There was also a buddha.
And taking pictures of some guy's Inca Kola, lol.
Kay last Machu Picchu pic:
Pisaq, Peru
More ruins!
And... Ayahuasca ceremony. Some people meet God, others hear the trees whispering secrets to them, still others drink this stuff and have epiphanies about their lives. None of these things happened to me. I sat there and chewed on my hands and hair for three hours. There's dignity for you.
Lake Titicaca, Peru
We'd heard that the Andean Explorer train from Cusco to Puno is one of the great rail journeys of the world, so we took it. And I slept for most of it. *facepalm* Still, the parts I was awake for were really cool.
Went out onto Lake Titicaca the next day.
There are floating islands made of reeds and cool boats:
Imagine living in one of these...
Bathroom. :P
This is on Isla Taquile.
Amazon Rainforest, Peru
This is the part of the trip I was most excited about. :D We stayed at Muyuna Lodge for five days, in this little bungalow. IT HAD HAMMOCKS. \o/
The very first day we went fishing for piranhas. Later we went swimming in piranha-infested waters and survived. There were pink dolphins around (unfortunately they were impossible to photograph), perhaps they saved us and we didn't even know it. :P
Sloth!
Giant terminator frog!
Neighboring village:
Gorgeous sunset:
Giant water lilies:
Ayahuasca ceremony #2. God stood me up again, but at least I didn't chew on myself this time.
Monkey!
We saw tons of other flora and fauna too, but my favorite part of the entire Amazon experience was our guide, Moises.
Moises knows everything about everything in the Amazons and can spot a baby caiman swimming in the water from across the river at night, while it's raining, and go snatch it out of the water with his bare hands.
When someone asks him a stupid question, Moises will either ignore it completely or reply with a very curt, two-word answer. He showed us a cool nocturnal bird and I asked him how it sees in the dark. His reply was, "It's nocturnal." Probably not hilarious now that I've put it in writing, but hilarious at the time 'cause he was so gruff about it, haha.
Moises saved us when we got our canoe stuck in the jungle. He loves his machete and is amazing at spear-fishing.
Actually he is amazing at everything. When lallipoo and I returned to civilization we discovered someone had once made a documentary with/about him (The Rainforest Wisdom of Moises Chavez) which we giggled and swooned the entire way through.
OKAY, end inappropriate gushing over our guide who was our fathers' age. *cough*
Lima, Peru
We were actually here twice, in between flights, and managed to get out and see the city a bit each time. But mostly we stayed on the coast.
We went to this restaurant for lunch and later a friend of mine from Peru told us it's one of the best restaurants in Lima. Had delicious ceviche there.
Sunset over Lima, from the plane:
I'm thinking Florida and Haiti will have to be a separate post later. In the meantime, I've been convinced to join Pinterest. Made a pinboard of some of the cool places I've been to, mostly with pictures from photographers much better than myself. If nothing else you may enjoy looking at all the pretty!
After finally convincing my good friend Brazilian1 to quit his job in Portugal and go traveling with me in South America, he moved back to Rio and I joined him there. We'd planned to plan epic adventures together!
...Only his girlfriend (who'd been waiting for him for two years while he was in Portugal) got upset when he let on that he'd be leaving again, with me. I advised him to tell her I'm a lesbian. Misha (he was there a few days before the con) advised him to find a picture of an ugly girl and tell her that's who he was traveling with. In the end Brazilian1 told her the truth and she threatened to call it quits if he went with me. No longer the cheating bastard I once knew, Brazilian1 decided to stay. Moral of the story: you should never tell your significant other the truth.
But at least I got to hang out with him in Rio, which is beautiful, especially at night.
Requisite Giant Jesus picture. There's one of these in Lisbon too but not nearly as impressive.
Climbing trees on the Sugar Loaf! There were little monkeys on these trees and I tossed peanuts at them.
Another friend, Brazilian2 from São Paulo, also came to visit. I took him to the SPN con briefly to show him the hordes of fangirls. I must say, the screaming at that con was the loudest I have ever heard at an SPN con. Brazilian2 was very impressed. We even managed to meet Jared when he finally arrived (we'd all been waiting for him for like two hours after the opening ceremony/panel, terrible organization). He tried to shake my hand but I'd been eating with it so he gave me a hug instead. \o/
Anyway, Copacabana beach!
And the cool sandcastles on it.
Lots of concerts on the beaches in Rio.
Also I managed to see the Avengers in IMAX 3D. Fucking amazing. Except for the part where Brazilian1's girlfriend threw some kind of fit and made everything uncomfortable for everyone, but that happened pretty much every time I saw her. Whatever.
Arraial do Cabo, Brazil
More beaches! This time with boats too.
And sandboarding in the dunes. (That's Brazilian1.)
Brazilian1's girlfriend didn't get upset and start crying until the very end, so all in all it was a good weekend. :P
Ilha Grande, Brazil
After leaving Brazilian1 to deal with his various domestic issues by himself, I headed for Ilha Grande, which translates to Big Island. In Brazil they are very fond of glass shower doors. I managed to shatter one while trying to get out of the shower, cut up my hands, and bleed all over the hotel's bathroom and towels. Naturally, I immediately proceeded to watch SPN 'cause Cas was on. He was very pretty.
Ilha Grande was very pretty too.
Spent most of my time there with two Brits and a Finn, all from my room at the hostel. The Finnish guy and I went for a long hike one day, at the end of which a purple dog awaited us.
Actually there are a ton of dogs on that island. And bonus crab too!
The hostel's cat liked to nap on me.
Feiticeira beach. Went kayaking for a couple of hours around this beach and saw some cool birds but didn't have my camera with me, alas.
Lopes Mendes beach. Apparently this beach is famous and is frequently mentioned in "top beaches of the world" lists. It was indeed very nice! And big.
Paraty, Brazil
I'd intended to spend more time on Ilha Grande and skip Paraty, but the Brits and Finn were all going to Paraty and convinced me to join them. Excellent decision, Paraty was also beautiful and even more secluded.
There were orange trees free for the picking and cute monkeys that we fed bananas to.
São Paulo, Brazil
I only came here to visit Brazilian2; I wasn't terribly excited about the city itself. But we did have amazing food at a Brazilian rodizio and some hilarious conversations.
Brazilian2: You're from Detroit, right?
Me: The suburbs, yes.
Brazilian2: Do you have any good sports teams other than the Redwings?
Me: The Pistons do alright I guess.
Brazilian2: Oh! The Detroit Pistons are from Detroit?
Me: ...
Iguazu Falls, Argentina
Just thinking about Iguazu makes me itch. I got over 50 bug bites there. For some reason everybody keeps comparing Iguazu falls to Niagara and saying how much better Iguazu is which makes me irrationally defensive about Niagara, but I must admit Iguazu is cool too.
And they do have cooler wildlife there.
Including coatis!
Had fun playing with the effects on my camera.
Ushuaia, Argentina
Ushuaia is known as the southernmost city in the world, and the national park there, Tierra del Fuego, is the "end of the world". Met a guy from Berkeley there and discovered we had a mutual friend. Small world!
Patagonia in general is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been to. Expensive to get there but worth every penny. Also I had fun rolling around in the snow, as I do.
Check out this badass bird.
Glacier! Saw people snowboarding here. Was very very envious.
El Calafate, Argentina
Also in Patagonia, also beautiful. The thing to do here is to see the Perito Moreno glacier, so I did. Even the drive to the glacier was cool, doesn't it look like the mountains are just kind of hovering in the sky?
Tons of glacier pics:
What's cool is you can hear the ice constantly cracking, and huge chunks of it frequently fall into the water. I even got to go trekking on it. With crampons!
View from on the glacier:
Cusco, Peru
After leaving Patagonia I went straight to Peru to meet up with lallipoo. We decided to take a bus from the airport in Cusco to the city center and everyone thought we were insane to a) attempt it at all, and b) attempt it with our big backpacks and things. When we saw the bus, which is actually a little shuttle thing with so many people crammed into it there are some hanging out the doors, we discovered why. But we managed to get on anyway and survived the ride. \o/
City center:
Ollantaytambo, Peru
Some ruins close to Cusco.
Call me a creep but I thought they were cute.
Machu Picchu, Peru
Obviously we went to Machu Picchu.
And saw Cas!llama! I met him again later on in the day and got to pet him. He was very soft.
They only let 400 people climb Huayna Picchu each day and we didn't have the foresight to book weeks and weeks in advance, so we ended up climbing Machu Picchu mountain, which opened only recently and is about twice as high as Huayna Picchu.
There are strange flowers on it.
Two hours later, the view from the top:
The coolest part about getting to the top was meeting a ninja there! There was also a buddha.
And taking pictures of some guy's Inca Kola, lol.
Kay last Machu Picchu pic:
Pisaq, Peru
More ruins!
And... Ayahuasca ceremony. Some people meet God, others hear the trees whispering secrets to them, still others drink this stuff and have epiphanies about their lives. None of these things happened to me. I sat there and chewed on my hands and hair for three hours. There's dignity for you.
Lake Titicaca, Peru
We'd heard that the Andean Explorer train from Cusco to Puno is one of the great rail journeys of the world, so we took it. And I slept for most of it. *facepalm* Still, the parts I was awake for were really cool.
Went out onto Lake Titicaca the next day.
There are floating islands made of reeds and cool boats:
Imagine living in one of these...
Bathroom. :P
This is on Isla Taquile.
Amazon Rainforest, Peru
This is the part of the trip I was most excited about. :D We stayed at Muyuna Lodge for five days, in this little bungalow. IT HAD HAMMOCKS. \o/
The very first day we went fishing for piranhas. Later we went swimming in piranha-infested waters and survived. There were pink dolphins around (unfortunately they were impossible to photograph), perhaps they saved us and we didn't even know it. :P
Sloth!
Giant terminator frog!
Neighboring village:
Gorgeous sunset:
Giant water lilies:
Ayahuasca ceremony #2. God stood me up again, but at least I didn't chew on myself this time.
Monkey!
We saw tons of other flora and fauna too, but my favorite part of the entire Amazon experience was our guide, Moises.
Moises knows everything about everything in the Amazons and can spot a baby caiman swimming in the water from across the river at night, while it's raining, and go snatch it out of the water with his bare hands.
When someone asks him a stupid question, Moises will either ignore it completely or reply with a very curt, two-word answer. He showed us a cool nocturnal bird and I asked him how it sees in the dark. His reply was, "It's nocturnal." Probably not hilarious now that I've put it in writing, but hilarious at the time 'cause he was so gruff about it, haha.
Moises saved us when we got our canoe stuck in the jungle. He loves his machete and is amazing at spear-fishing.
Actually he is amazing at everything. When lallipoo and I returned to civilization we discovered someone had once made a documentary with/about him (The Rainforest Wisdom of Moises Chavez) which we giggled and swooned the entire way through.
OKAY, end inappropriate gushing over our guide who was our fathers' age. *cough*
Lima, Peru
We were actually here twice, in between flights, and managed to get out and see the city a bit each time. But mostly we stayed on the coast.
We went to this restaurant for lunch and later a friend of mine from Peru told us it's one of the best restaurants in Lima. Had delicious ceviche there.
Sunset over Lima, from the plane:
I'm thinking Florida and Haiti will have to be a separate post later. In the meantime, I've been convinced to join Pinterest. Made a pinboard of some of the cool places I've been to, mostly with pictures from photographers much better than myself. If nothing else you may enjoy looking at all the pretty!