Iguazu & Brazil - water, hills, caipirinha, samba and football

A bus ride that felt like eternity through the plain and barren centre of Paraguay (by now I was grateful and happy we had not taken a bus into the country from Bolivia) and we found ourselves in Ciudad del Este on the border to both Brazil and Argentina, separated by the Rio Parana. While the city itself is a mere tax haven and (tech) shopping spot for Brazilians, a 20min taxi ride gets you across the border to (first) Brazil and then Argentina (the direct road to Argentina takes way longer and the drive through Brazil didn‘t require customs or passport control). Since we had missed the last bus to Argentina and it was already dark, we found a nice Argentinean couple to share the taxi with; unfortunately it was Saturday evening and there was a long queue at the Argentinean border, so we were glad we hadn‘t booked the Argentinean cooking class that same night (also one hour time difference between Paraguay and Brazil/Argentina didn‘t help) as we made it to the hotel in Puerto Iguazu only by 9pm.

Early the next morning we took the bus to the Iguazu falls on the Argentinean side, three different trails offer good views and perspective of the longest (not highest!) waterfalls (resp. series of falls) in the world; one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. The most impressive was the devils throat, a narrow round where the falls crush down on all sides. Apparently the volume of water flow is currently down by 1/3, as it didn‘t rain that much lately and the dams up river in Brazil (the closest one 300km away) have a major influence on the amount of water flowing. Nevertheless this was an impressive sight and we got a good shower under the falls during the boat ride that we took :) At least they announced so beforehand and provided waterproof bags for our stuff..

A (now really) last dinner in Argentina - what else than steak & Malbec could it be - and again some uncertainty with the (in)official exchange rate (at least by now Visa has decided to use the blue dollar as actual rate, so no Western Union hassle needed) before we took the bus to enter Brazil. While we went through customs with our bags the bus just left and we were told that we should just wait for the next one which would be an hour.. as Foz do Iguacu, the town on the Brazilian side is only 15mins away we opted for a taxi ride here and got our first experience with (Brazilian) Portuguese - I was completely lost after barely making it through all the Latin countries with my Spanish, very confusing for me and the language more of a singsong. But at least we could feel that Brazil, not only the major city, is much more modern and developed (= expensive) than most of the other countries we‘ve visited (maybe Uruguay and Chile are similar in that regard), refreshing!

We spent one day exploring the falls on the Brazilian side (much smaller area and only one path along the falls), which offers yet another perspective of the magnificent waterfalls. A bird parque close by the falls was on our way before taking a local collectivo back to town (full of Paraguayans who work in Brazil and commute to Paraguay each day), and then we ubered to the airport for our flight to Rio de Janeiro (we had originally intended to take a bus but 26h didn‘t feel overly appealing). 

Uber and card payments everywhere were such a treat for us, so much convenience that we had been lacking for long. Rio de Janeiro was super easy to navigate like that, and especially directly connecting us to all those amazing hills with a grand view. Starting with the most iconic landmark, the Christ statue, and then the Sugarloaf by cablecar as well as a day hike to Pedra da Gavea, all of these hills offer (totally different) stunning angles of this scenic city that Rio is: Iconic hills, amazing beaches, sunshine all over, street parties in Lapa, African colors and influence, samba and football among diverse neighborhoods and of course favelas - Rio is such an overflow of colors, sensations and impressions. The sunset at Ipanema slurping (watery) cocktails, a football match at the imposing Maracana stadium (after days figuring out how to get the tickets!) and of course the three hills made for nothing but highlights in Rio. The tour through South Americas biggest favela Rocinha added to the experience and understanding, but I believe a less commercialized and poorer favela would have been more interesting.

Everyone had been warning us how dangerous Rio (as well as Sao Paulo) is, we felt quite safe in most places, but of course many stories of muggings, petty theft or robbery left us with a lot of caution and being alert. Mostly using Uber, we found the public transportation especially the metro to be a reliable way to get around, another point for Brazil‘s stage of development. A lot of unnecessary paper and labour is being created often though, when you buy a ticket at one spot, print it out, only to then be checked at another spot 2m apart, or for picking up your order. The cuisine is meat heavy again, I tried two local dishes like churrasco and feijoara, Diana had the pleasant experience once again that (most) pastry or even cheese croissants (clearly written on the sign in the showcase) contain some kind of meat or ham; she wasn‘t particularly excited about it when she found out during out 6h bus ride to Sao Paulo.

If we were stunned by Rio, Sao Paulo had a totally different feel to it, let alone the climate which kinda prepared us for Dutch summer already (10° less than Rio & rain). The city is massive, we saw a lot of buildings, concrete and (much to a surprise in South America) street art; Sao Paulo bursts of history, businesses, famous (Brazilian) architecture and Japanese food: The biggest Japanese community outside of Japan - we had some very good Ramen and Sushi here! The African influence is visible to a much lesser extent than in Rio, the majority of people in the city center and business district of Paulista Avenue is very white; of course I cannot disregard the favelas and population in the suburbs but we haven‘t been there.

On our last day we went to the museo do futbol, where they have replicas of the world cup trophies and an interesting exhibition of all the world cups and put into context of the historic year of each tournament. My new haircut not only allowed for a hip photo with the trophy replica but also granted me a free individual and thorough search at airport security 😂

Sao Paulo is and was always supposed to be the last stop of this journey; though I preponed returning home by one month, I am very happy and grateful to have visited (a fraction of) Brazil and experienced especially Rio de Janeiro. There is much left to discover in such a vast country of course, but next time: Adeus and hasta luego Brazil & South America! The adventure comes to an end for now..