Nordeste Tour Part VII - Salvador

Nordeste Tour Part VI - Recife & Olinda

That evening we arrived in Recife after dark so we decided to take a cab to the twin city of Olinda, only a few minutes away. Recife is one of the five largest cities in Brazil and mostly modern, but neighboring Olinda has still preserved its colonial charme, and even though it looked somewhat run-down, many of the colonial buildings are nicely restored. It also has lots of baroque churches and beautiful plazas, so we decided to spend the night there. Although our hostel was a bit noisy it had a nice garden with a pool and some redes (hammocks). We met an English couple who said "We're on a trip around the world" in a funny British accent, and we laughed about it many times on the trip. They recommended a music festival that was supposed to be going on in town wo we went to explore the place, yet still a bit weary.
Downtown we found a cozy square in front of a baroque church that was crowded with local kids, loud music and food and drink stands, but very peaceful. We sat down and watched the scene for a while, surprised to be the only tourists and had dinner at a nice restaurant at the same place.
The next morning we bought our bus ticket from Recife to Salvador for the same evening. Unfortunately, the last two seats next to each other were in the last row, next to the bathroom, but we decided not to sit alone, which later proved fatal.
We then strolled around in town and took pictures of the many coloful houses and churches.

Me in Olinda

Olinda Beach
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After that we took a cab and metro to the Recife bus station and left our lugagge there, before exploring Recife. Barry wanted to see the synagogue, which is the first one in the Americas, but we found it closed. Recife has some nice old buildings bad is in very bad state. We walked through the port area, which was particularly dirty and visited a Dutch fort, Forte do Brum, as the whole region was occuppied by the Dutch for some time in the 17th century.
On our way back we passed by a square with some European-looking buildings and took some pictures of local kids jumping and diving into the sea. A few hundred meters away there was a sculpture park on an island in the harbor, but we didn't have enough time to visit it any more.



Thus, we made our way to the bus station, took a shower in a doubtful washroom and waited for the bus. This took some time, as a lady had about 200kgs of excess luggage and refused to pay extra. Although the bus was quite nice, we had bad luck as there was a problem with the toilet, which stank terribly. Luckily, I was still a bit ill, so didn't smell it to bad. After a frightening police control around midnight and one or two hours delay we arrived to Salvador, rather weary and tired.

Nordeste Tour Part V - Pipa and Natal

Pipa

Nordeste Tour Part IV - Fortaleza & Beach Park

At around five a.m. that morning I met with Barry at the Fortaleza rodoviária (bus terminal). We had previously agreed that we wanted to spend the day there and take another night bus the same evening to Natal, so we left our luggage at a guarda-volumes (checkroom). Both of us were pretty tired after the long bus trip and didn't really know much about the city and what to do, so we took a taxi to the famous beach of Praia Iracema. However, when we arrived there at about 6:30 or so there was not much going on yet, and the famous barracas were still closed. Yet, after a while, they started to open up and we ordered some egg, coffee and the compulsory suco de abacaxi (pineapple juice; I think we had it every single day of our trip - it's just delicious) for breakfast, when a guy selling freshly-caught delicious shrimp for 2$ or so, a welcome complement.
After hanging out and walking the beach for some time we decided to visit Beach Park, one of Brazil's largest water fun parks. Although it was somewhat tricky to get there, we arrived just upon opening and were not amused about the price ($35, a lot of money in Brazil), but once we were in it was great fun.
Among others, they have the supposedly highest water slide in the world (42m), and unlike Barry I dared to go down a couple of times, which was quite fun.

AS our bus didn't leave before 10 p.m. or so we strolled around Fortaleza downtown in the evening. It really doesn't have very much to offer. We saw its modern cathedral, a famous theater and some shopping streets around the main square in the center. A group of young actors performed a play against AIDS on the main square, so we watched them an chatted with them and some funny little girls selling chewing gum, before having dinner and then leaving the city for Natal.

Nordeste Tour Part III - Hell Ride and Teresina

...comments coming soon!

Nordeste Tour Part II - Lençois Maranhaenses

On the next day we left Sao Luis at 5 pm on a bus we had previously booked. Our next destination was Barreirinhas, a small town at the doorway of the famous Lençois Maranhaenses Dunes National Park, four hours from Sao Luis. I slept most of the time but Barry told me the landscapes resembled a "tropical paradise", whatever that is. The bus left us at a recommended pousada called Brisa do Mar (Breeze of the Sea), where we booked a tour to the dunes for the same afternoon and checked out the town and surroundings.

Market scene in Barreirinhas

One of the many mango trees with some locals

Barreirinhas has a main street and a few dirt roads, a river called Río Preguiças (Laziness River) and lots of mango trees (see above). Barry reckoned the people looked like Indians, but that was a mere exaggeration.
Our pousada was located right on the river so we tried to use one of their boats but overturned it instantly, so we decided to swim across the river. On the other side we found a ship wreck.
Then we had lunch and walked around a little bit on the market and bought a watermelon to take it with us to the dunes.

Butcher's shop "Super Cheap"

Fishmongers

behind our pousada

Río Preguiças

At 2 p.m. we were picked up by a "Toyota", a term which in that part of the country seemed to be used for any kind of truck or van, although our vehicle was indeed a Toyota. Besides us there was a couple from Sao Paulo, another Brazilian family, including an elderly man with a huge belly and a shirt saying: "I am fat but I can lose weight. Worse is you, ugly!", a young hippie guy we came to call "just-live", a driver and a guide.
To get to the dunes, we had to cross the river, and the only means to do this is a raft:

On the raft

However, after crossing the river, the ground started to become sandy and apparently our Toyota was not the best one around, so we got stuck pretty soon. After a couple of
luckless tries to pull it out, our driver decided to change the truck for a better one so we were left behind in a tiny village ind the middle of nowhere, under the hot equator sun. Besides a few shacks, the only things around were zillions of cashew trees. You guys have probably never seen one and are not aware of what a cashew fruit looks like, but they are pretty yellow, orange or red very juicy fruits, with the actual cashew nut at the rear. On the pic below you can see a cashew tree with lots of red fruits on it.

Cashew tree (zoom in!)

However, while you can eat the fruit right from the tree, the nut needs to be roasted, as it's poisonous when eaten raw.

Enjoying some cajú

Cashew ....

... and more cashew!

After an hour and a half ou so, the new truck arrived and this one indeed took the sandy road without major problems. It was already late so we had to hurry to make it to the dunes before dark. The following ride through the park took about one hour and shook us from top to bottom. The car crossed several creeks and drove through narrow curvy paths in the middle of the bush (Caatinga).

This video may give an impression of the ride through the Lencois!

Then we arrived at the bottom of the dunes and had to climb the first one to see the overwhelming panorama. The Lencois are huge dunes of almost white sand as far as you can see. In the valleys between them, pools of crystal clear water form, and reflect a deep color blue from the sky. There is no vegetation at all, though somehow a species of tiny little fish lives in the lakes. Their eggs survive the dry period and the baby fish come back every year.
The landscape was amazing, like something from another world. We walked barefoot and swam in several of the lakes, and stayed for the sunset, which looked majestic over the dunes.

Swimming in the dune lakes

beautiful sunset in the dunes

On our way back we stopped in a small settlement at the beginning of the dunes, had our watermelon and bought a big pack of tasty cashew nuts from the people who grow them there in the middle of the park. After that, yet another shaky ride, this time in darkness and without major incidents.

Nordeste Tour Part I - Sao Luis

Here we go at last!
After my laptop miraculously fixed itself, I can now finally report on my trip to Northeastern Brazil. My decision to do this trip was rather last-minute, as I decided to join fellow exchange student Barry from NY, who had already booked his flights, only two days in advance (You find the link to his blog on the toolbar on the right).
Hence, on September 28th, we met at 7 a.m. at MASP station to go to the airport and then fly to Sao Luis, in the Northern state of Maranhao, with a short stopover in Brasília, the capital. The flight was slightly more than four hours, which gives an idea of the size of this country! From the plain we could observe many fires in the bush, where apparently people were burning the woods in order to reclaim land.

Therefore we arrived not long before dusk, looked for a cheap pousada (hostel/inn) and checked out the city.
Sao Luis is a colonial city, founded by the French in 1612, and in the aftermath it was controlled by the Dutch and the Portuguese. Unfortunately today, it is in very bad states, and many of the colonial buildings are very scruffy, as you can see in the picture.

Barry and a colonial ruin in Sao Luis

However, some of them are nicely restored as the historic center was declared a World Heritage in 1989. Due to the city's scenic setting between a river and the see, it has a cozy atmosphere and a relatively pleasant climate, despite being only 2° south of the equator. The people look quite different from Paulistas, most of them being mixed with white, African and Indian.
A funny thing we still experienced many times on this trip was that although we stuck out as strangers, everybody would believe it if we said we were from Sao Paulo.

Me with a delicious agua de coco

Sao Luis townhall

Sign of life from the Northeast

After almost a week of adventure tours in the Northeast, we are currently in a small fishermen's village near Natal called Praia da Pipa enjoying the sun, beach and nice Brazilian people. The last days were quite diverse, we saw dunes, national parks, and spent hours and hours on buses, trucks, jeeps and other means of transport, totalling some 2,000 km from São Luis via Lençóis Maranhãenses, Parnaiba, Teresina, Fortaleza and now Natal.
I'll tell you more once I'm back to São Paulo, on October 14th.
Até mais!

Quick Update

Dear all,
it's been a while since the last update and I admit that I have been somewhat lazy, but I had lots of other things to do and to see, so this is going to be short.
There are a few things I have to let you know, though:

First, I am going to the Northeast of Brazil tomorrow, which means that I will almost certainly not be able to post before two weeks from now. Our plan is to fly to Sao Luiz do Maranhao and then go backpacking all the way down to Salvador da Bahia, from where we scheduled our flight back. Therefore - no pics now, a whole lot afterwards.

Second, I seriously escaped from death yesterday by a hairs breadth. In was walking in my street with my German buddy Justin at about 7.40 pm, when suddenly a huge tree of some 20m of height was falling right towards us - and there was not even any rain or wind! We started running immediately and no more than one second behind us the tree crashed across the street, blocking it completely, crushing a car and tearing down the steel fence of the building in front! I think I was never so close to die. We were REALLY lucky!

Third, there are elections here next Sunday for the president, State Governor and Federal and State Parliaments. However, it's very likely that Lula wins again, so the atmosphere is a little strange. I wish I could write more, but I have to prepare the trip for tomorrow, so all I am posting today is a pic from my rooms window at night and one pic of the tree that almost killed us!

SP Climate

The weather here is so crazy! Last week it was like 6°C, then more than 30° and sunny a couple of days ago and now cold and rainy again. Seems to be typical.

Bloody Wednesday

Yesterday I tried to give blood for the first time *lol* - it was a desaster.
There was a campaign at GV so people convinced me to participate, but after pounding the needle into my venes three times without much success we gave up. Now I look like a heroine junkie and can't even pretend I did something useful haha. Nevermind - good intentions are solaces in misfortune. The best thing was actually the previous questionnaire - they seem to be paranoid of STDs!

Formatura da Alê

What Sao Paulo looks like

View out of my room's window

at sunset

Sao Paulo downtown

Uni

This week has suddenly been quite stressful at school, and particulary with very little sleep. I hadn't studied much before, so this week there were two tests and two group works to hand in, which was even more painful after only three hours rest on Sunday morning and class starting on Monday at 7 a.m.! But okay, we finished everything on time and quite alright, thank god I'm an exchange students and people don't expect the same commitment (yet).

Barretos

Last weekend was a great trip again! Henrique, my German friend Paula's cousin, who lives in Sao Paulo, invited me to spend some days with his familiy in the countryside town of Barretos, about 400km north of SP. Oddly, he didn't want to go himself, but I agreed and so drove there with a lift he'd organized.
His family are some kind of wealthy farmers with several cattle ranches and sugar cane plantations in several states throughout Brazil. However, at this time, they only people who stayed there were on visit: Henrique's sister Adriana with husband and baby, his brother Antenor with girlfriend and a couple of other friends, besides about 5 permanent staff.
Barretos these days is setting to the largest rodeo festival either in Brazil or in the world, according to different sources ;) There is a huge park in the city with a 30,000-seat rodeo arena. Around it, there's some kind of carnival with lots of stands and attractions, besides numerous so-called ranchos which are privately-owned restaurants only accessible to members, where people eat, drink and talk. The whole thing is only busy during the two weeks of the festival, the rest of the year it's dead.
Henrique's family is member of one rancho, so that's where we spend most of the daytime. On evenings there were the competitions in the arena with several disciplines, such as bulldog (riding on a wild bull) or one that looks like playing judo with a 350kg-calf.
Most people were dressed like cowboys with boots, hat etc. so it's probably very similar to rodeo in the U.S. The competitors, besides Brazil, came from Mexico, the U.S., Canada and Australia.
On Friday and Saturday night of the closing week, there is a famous party in Barretos called Festa do Patrao. However, it has nothing to do with the rodeo, mainly rich people from Sao Paulo coming only for the party, as it cost about $110 for two days. I got it for less and went on Saturday with some friends and it was really good. I stayed until 9 a.m. By late afternoon on Sunday, I returned to SP.

Rodeo discipline called bulldog

The Rodeo arena


"Touro Mecânico"

The park

More pics from Iguassu

Iguazú, Argentinian side

On the next day we crossed the border to Argentina to see the other side of the falls. I was happy to get a reduced entrance fee as Brazilian resident ;) The other side is totally different to the Brazilian one. From Brazil you see the whole panoramic view of the falls, whereas from Argentina you can get very close to the falls themselves. And there it didn't matter anymore whether or not the falls were dry because even then it was a huge amount of water coming down. We just stood there for a long while, it was really impressive.
But before that we took a trail through the jungle for 3 km or so, it was a beautiful day and we saw some animals like a capivara (that's like a huge guinea pig that swims in the water), monkeys, alligators, colorful birds and lots of butterflies.

Later that day I returned to Brazil to catch my bus to Sao Paulo. It was full with smuggler who came back from Paraguay. Many of them do that several times a week and were there when the bus got robbed a week or so before! Although it was a long 17-hour ride I slept the whole time and got back to SP well around noon on Sunday.


Jungle

Crocodile

River near the falls

From far away they don't look that huge do they?

Iguassu Falls, Brazilian Side and Ciudad del Este, Paraguay

Last Wednesday, August 17th, I left Sao Paulo for a great trip to the Iguassu Falls! I was to meet my buddy Sebastian, from Cologne, there, who will be on exchange in Lima, Peru for the next five monthts, and who visited a mutual friend of ours in Buenos Aires. As Iguassu is about the same distance away from Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires we decided to meet there and check out the waterfalls.
Thursday morning I went to pick him up on the Argentinian side. However, his flight was delayed by two hours, so when he arrived around 2.30 pm there was not enough time left to see either side of the falls.
Therefore we decided to visit Ciudad del Este, Paraguay, which is just on the other side of the Paraná river from Foz do Iguaçú, Brazil. For all of you who don't know: it's a dirty shithole! Ciudad del Este is the biggest marketplace for smuggled goods and drugs of all of South America! It's probably the dirties place outside of Calcutta and you can buy everything you want, so it's packed with stores, shopping malls and thousands of street stands. Surprisingly, as Brazil and Paraguay are both parts of Mercosur, there are hardly any border controls and the bridge is incredibly busy with pedestrians and trucks crossing in either direction. Additionally, the bridge, which is some 50 meters above the river doesn't have but very low handrails, so it's kind of scary. If you want an immigration stamp you need to you to the office yourself and it looks like the perfect parody of what you imagine as a Banana republic. Some sinister-looking, cigar-smoking fat guy with moustache in a dark room behind a window asks questions about your stay in Paraguay.
On the whole, Sebastian, who had been in South America for only three days wanted to leave as soon as possible, so I just bought a (fake) shirt of FC Sao Paulo and then we returned to Brazil. Sebastian said he never imagined he'd feel releaved coming back to Brazil!
Anyway, as Paraguay wasn't an option and Puerto Iguazú, on the Argentinian side, turned out to be a soulless hicktown we decided to spend the night in Foz, a neat little town, basically for tourist.
After a weird experience with an annoying "hotel guide" we chose a nive hotel and the went to a excellent churrascaria (Brazilian steak house).

The next day was about visiting the Brazilian side of the waterfalls. Here you get a panoramic view on all the waterfalls, over a lenght of several kilometers. As people had kept telling us that the falls were extremely dry, only 20% of the normal amount of water, we were curious to find out.
Indeed, the first view was disappointing: as in the picture below, everything that had once been waterfalls were now only rocks! No more waterfalls. We followed the path and had several nice views over the valley and the rocks. Then in the end we could finally see the rear end of the valley, the "Garganta do Diabo" (Devil's Throat). Even now it was still a hell lot of water coming down, so we walked around and checked it out from different perspectives.
On our way back we saw some funny raccoon-like animals, called coati, that walked around the park.
When back to Foz, the day wasn't over yet, so we went to the Itaipu Dam, which retains the Paraná river and which, according to the tour, is the largest construction build by man in the 20th century. It's the most powerful hydroelectric plant in the world, even more than the Three Gorges Dam in China, and produces 90% of all electric energy consumed in Paraguay and 25% of all electricity of Brazil!

Street in Foz, Brazil

Dry part of the waterfalls

Sebastian and me on the Brazil side of the falls

Coati Raccoons

Border between Brazil and Paraguay

Itaipu Dam

Birthday

On Thursday night I invited all exchange students and Brazilian friends to a bar near school. It was so much fun that we stayed until 3:30 a.m.
Afterwards, two Brazilian friends (girls) were so drunk they had a car accident (drinking and driving in Brazil - another chapter I'll have to tell you guys about one day).

Elisa, Barry and David (U.S.)

Turma da Nina ;)

My roommates: Raphael (Farina/Princesa) and Thiago
My 'buddy' Jad!

Stadium

I have been twice to the Morumbi Stadium of São Paulo lately. Once for the semifinal of the Copa Libertadores (South America equivalent to our Champions League), where FC São Paulo beat Chivas from Mexico 3-0, and then for the first final game where São Paulo lost, unfortunately, against Internacional (Brazil).
Both times I went with a bunch of other exchange students from FGV and some of our Brazilian "buddies", who had organized everything. My "buddy", Jad, even invited my for the Second game.
For the final game, my friend Rodrigo, whom I knew from his exchange to Germany, came over from Florianopolis.
Even though the stadium "only" has space for about 70,000 fans, which is less than I thought, it's still a great atmosphere when 70,000 sing, scream, jump and light smoke bombs, especially when São Paulo scored some goals!
On our way to the semifinal game, something funny happened, too: Our cab suddenly ran out of gas because the driver had not checked before. He even didn't have any money to buy more so he had to borrow some from us and then walked away before he came back with some fuel in a plastic bag!

"...a tricolo-o-o-o-or!"

"???, me, Pent-Ji, Mafe, Jad"

Didu & me