Traveler or Tourist?

We arrived home Tuesday morning after the red-eye from Sao Paulo. It is strange that three and a half weeks have gone by already, but it is great to have the comforts of the USA.

Our trip to South America was such an experience! Doreen, Stephanie and I maneuvered our way through each country better than I ever expected. It was easy to find our way and make new friends when so many people were willing to go out of their ways to help us. My favorite thing about South America was the local people- even with the language barrier, we were never taken advantage of by the locals.

Things about South America that make me want to book a trip back:

· the stares from people on the street when they see my blond hair (I liked the attention..)

· struggling with Spanish and loving it

· fruit stands

· everything looks like a postcard

· meeting locals

Things I will NOT miss about traveling South America:

· the stares from people on the street when they see my blond hair (it got annoying)

· dog poop on the street

· throwing away toilet paper instead of flushing it

· flip-flops in the shower

· being cold

Pictures of the whole trip (except for some that were lost…) can be found at the following links:

PERU: http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa296/carlygralak/Peru/
CHILE: http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa296/carlygralak/Chile/
ARGENTINA: http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa296/carlygralak/Argentina/
BRAZIL: http://s201.photobucket.com/albums/aa296/carlygralak/Brasil/
*To view each album, follow the link and click on "view as slideshow"

the last supper

Our last night in Rio we went to dinner at the restaurant in Ipanema where the song “girl from Ipenema” was written. The man wrote it about a pretty girl who walked by each day on the way to the beach. Apparently she is an old woman now, but still walks past to the beach. It was a cute restaurant with awesome food.

We ended the evening at a favela party. The party was held in a huge warehouse located within one of the local favelas. It was not as scary as we expected, but as usual the men were all over Stephanie and my blond hair. We stayed upstairs where the beers were only one reai (50 cents) and danced to the blaring music. The party ended at four, so we were especially tired our final day in Rio.

We spent our last day in South America walking the beach and admiring the courage of the Brazilians to wear such skimpy swimming suits. Everyone here walks the streets in their suits and many of the women wear thongs and the men speedos!

GOL!

Two nights ago we learned to Samba in a club in Lapa. Lapa is a part of town not too far from Copacabana. There are many arches that are lit up at night and the streets are filled with vendors selling drinks and food for only 2 reais (that is about 1 U.S. dollar). Some kids from Sao Paulo taught us to Samba and we danced until the morning- we didn´t get home until 4 a.m.

Yesterday we had our last breakfast at the hotel and we moved into our hostel. The Copa Hostel is clean and it is an Internet CAfe during the day and pub at night! Steph and I sat on the beach for a while during the afternoon. Everyone was trying to sell us things, but we didn´t have any money so we just looked. The water was warm and I played in the waves for a while.

Our next stop was Maracana Stadium. It is the largest stadium of its kind in the world. The match we saw was two local Brazilian teams: Flamengo versus Sport. People were yelling cheers as we entered the stadium and continued throughout the game. People had drums, flares, flags and trumpets. The aisles were completely full of people- I could not get down to the bathroom and they did not clear until the end of the game. The game was tied- 1 to 1.

In Copa- Copacabana!

Yesterday was such a long day. We started it off early by jumping in a bus towards Rio de Janeiro. We started up the coast, then country side, then Rio. The tall buildings of the city lie right next to the beach and back up into the steep hills. The first day was foggy and everyone was so anxious to see Christ the Redeemer on the mountaintop. Our hotel, the Atlantico Copacabana is in the beach town of Copacabana and the first thing we did was walk to the beach. Oh- after buying a pair of Havianas (my tevas are dead). Havianas are flip flops made in Brasil. They are comfy and were really cheap.

At the beach we ordered coconut water and the guy (literally) threw the coconut up in the air, chopped his knife a few times and stuck a straw in the green nut. All three of us laughed. Steph and I got churros from a street vendor and Doreen and I got acai. Acai is a local fruit that is served like a smoothie. It is really dark and we ate it with granola. We had dinner at a churrascaria last night. The restaurant was all you can eat and we did just that. There was a salad bar with sushi and then they bring out big hunks of meat and cut off pieces onto your plate. Everything was sooooo good.

We woke up full this morning so we walked to the top of our building (15 flights) to see if we could see the Christo. We couldn’t see him, because there was a whole lot of fog. I spotted it as soon as we climbed in the tour van for our city tour. We went to visit him first and on the way up we spotted some monkeys. The driver asked if anyone had a banana and I did, so we fed it to the monkeys so they would stick around long enough for us all to take pictures. The views from there were great and then we went up into the fog. The Christo was awesome, but it was so foggy at times we could not even see it. We got some good pictures and then headed out. We stopped to take pictures of a favella on the way down. A favella is Rio´s shanty towns. I think there are 3 and this one- well, let´s just say: If you must live in the slums, this one has the best view.

Unfortunately the futbol stadium was closed so we moved on to where they hold the Carnival in Rio each year. All the women tried on mock costumes and danced around while the men took pictures. We visited the ´new´ Cathedral (there must be and old one). It was circular with four huge stained glass windows. I can not even explain it, you all will have to see the pictures. We drove through Ipanema and the group ate lunch in Copacabana. Since we had brought snacks, we walked down to the fort that sits on a peninsula between Copacabana and Ipanema. Last stop was the Sugar Loaf or Pao de Acucar. The views were phenomenal since the sky had cleared. To end the day trip, Doreen donated some money to a metallic street performer. She gave Doreen a kiss on the hand and a little ring for a souvenir.

All three of us love Rio so far and are definitely excited about the weather. The weather in Rio is what we expected for the rest of the cities that we visited, so we finally get to wear something other than our jeans and jackets. We only have 2 days left, but we still have a lot planned. We are going out tonight to learn Samba (typical Brazilian dance). Tomorrow we are going to a futbol game and I want to pick up a Caipirinha. (A Caipirinha is a Brazilian mixed drink that is made with lime, sugar and a liquor made from cane sugar.)

where is the sun?

Paraty (pronounced par.ah.ch.ee. -remeber to roll your R) is awesome. There are mountains all around and the water is so clear. We woke up early to do laundry and use the Internet. Breakfast was good- my favorite was the strawberry tea.

Today we took a boat ride around the little cove of Paraty. There are bunches of little islands owned by rich Brazilians in this area. A few people from our group rode with us and we all enjoyed every bit. There was live music and the boat made 3 stops. We stopped at a beach first where Steph and I jumped in the water even though we were already cold. The water was warm and before we even had a chance to dry off we stopped at a place to snorkel. There weren´t any fish bigger than my fist, so we hung around the boat instead. Next we had a quick lunch and stopped at another beach. It started to rain and the deck boys opened the tarp. We walked through old town Paraty on the way home (very touristy) and I bought a very cute purse- I am so sick of carrying my little backpack! The streets are designed so that when the tide comes up it fills the streets with water and cleans them. It also looks neat.

Doreen, Steph and I made a trip to the grocery store and bought some beer and wine for tonight. Next stop was the sauna and then the best shower we have seen (or felt) yet. We ordered pizza and playing a few hands of cards. Now, I´m calling it a night. ´Night!´

buen dia

Yesterday was a very long day. We started by waiting for some of our group to fly in a helicopter over the falls and then we visited the Brazilian side of the falls. The views were just as pretty from that side. You can not get as close, but you look at a full landscape of waterfalls. The rainbows were awesome, but like Machu Picchu, there were lines and lines of people. After viewing we waited for our group to eat a snack.

~We are starting to see the differences between traveling in a group and on our own. The group is great. There are 15 of us all together including our leader, MEgan. We are the only group from the states and there is a mother/daughter, brother/sister couples, singles and friends. We all get along, but the group is pretty quiet. It is great having someone work out all the transportation and any problems that may arise, but traveling with the group means you don´t have many choices and there is a lot of waiting around.

So back to the story... we traveled so much after visting the falls. We didn´t get into bed last night until 1 a.m. First we took a bus to the airport and then plane to Sao Paulo. Although we did not see much of Sao Paulo, we saw some of the shanti towns in the surrounding areas. Sao Paulo is about 26 million people big, is mostly is business city and has lots of poverty. We took a bus from there to Paraty, which is about a 4 hour drive. We got a flat tire about 5 minutes before reaching our hotel and had to stand in the rain while they changed it. When we arrived at our hotel they were´t expecting us until tonight, so we walked across the street to another place. We are back at the first hotel for breakfast this morning. It is not sunny now, but we hope to head to the beach or take a boat ride today.

Update!

FRIDAY:
We went to Ricoletta in Buenos Aires to see the cemetary. There were a million really extravagant graves. Each little house had marble, granite and stained glass. Many of them had two and sometimes even three floors. The dead were really repected and I wish I could say our all of our hostels were that nice! Afterwards we went to the fashion show and watched a catwalk of men for the designer Hermanos Estebecorena. To tell you the truth, the guys looked like they were wearing clothes you could find in any boy´s closet... but it was still an experience. That night we cooked our own pizza (with fresh tomatoes and onions) in the hostel and it was muy rico.

SATURDAY:
Technically the first day of the guided tour with GAP Adventures, we checked into the Waldorf Hotel- not so impressive, but nicer than a hostel and a great location. One cool thing that I liked was that the key is connected to the lights, so if you are not in the room, the lights are off (great energy saving idea). Josh took us around town one more time and we saw the widest street in the world and visited Belgrano Plaza for the fair.

SUNDAY (goodbye Buenos Aires):
The nice thing about the hotels is that the breakfasts are great. We enjoyed some delicious yogurt and cereal!!! The plane ride to Igauzu was short, but was late. Coming into Iguazu was very cool. Even though it is winter, everything is so green and the trees looked like broccoli from the plane. We bought wine, cheese and fruit from the grocery for lunch/dinner and it was all delicious, not to mention cheap!

MONDAY:
I was wrong- we don´t get to go to Paraguay, but I saw it from a distance!

Anyway, although we are staying on the Brazilian side of the falls, we saw the Argentine side today. We wandered throughout the park and every viewing point is just awesome. Most of the group went on a boat ride below the falls, but we opted out and hiked the island in the middle instead (hey it was free). This morning was cold, but the sun came out this afternoon. We kept running into this group of young missionaries and they kept trying to take pictures of me and Stephaine because of our blond hair. We saw this a lot in Peru, but the people in Buenos Aires are much lighter and just really don´t care, so it had not been that bad lately. The whole park was really neat and we learned about crazy animals called Quachumundos and saw lots of birds.

Don´t have time for anything else, Doreen and Steph are starving. Chao!