Escadaria Selaron - Rio de Janeiro

Although the weather isn't that great here in Rio de Janeiro, yesterday we went ou to Lapa and Santa Teresa....

Between this 2 places there is a stairway "Escadaria Selaron"that is totally covered by little tiles from all over the world. Dutch, portuguese, brazilian, irish, really from everywhere!

The artist is Jorge Selaron a Chilean artist who is a bit crazy.

He also makes art, paintings, and they all have the same image of a pregnant women but with his head on top :-)

Just see some photo's we took of the stairs.

We walked up the stairs in direction to Santa Teresa. We have been there already in September, but it is a nice place to be. We then took the "Bondinho, or tram" down to Lapa. It is an incredible ride as it drives on top of a sort of aqueduct. That was nice :)

In the afternoon, we went back to Ipanema. Another crazy and long bus ride...

We then decided to walk to the "Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas", an extensive lagoon located in the heart of the Ipanema and Leblon - see more info here.

The full loop is 7500 m, which we have walked in about 1:15h. Good exercise and preparation for the evening huge dinner.

Today we are flying home :( We are already checked in and got nice seats in the plane and from tomorrow morning 8am local Lisboa time we are home again....

Last week in Brazil!

There we are, on the 6th of December we flew from Cuzco to Salvador, this was quite a long trip.
The first flight was from Cuzco to Lima at 7 am with LAN Peru, only 1 hr and no problems.

In Lima we had a 2 and a half hour wait and took the next flight to Sao Paulo with TAM it was almost a 5 hr flight, but the service was good and we got a lot of nice food (my first real meal after my food poisioning ;-)) When we arrived to Sao Paulo, (which is an enormous airport) we had to change our ticket and we got some food while waiting for the last flight of that day to Salvador de Bahia. This flight took 2 hrs and by midnight (time difference included) we arrived to our hostel in Salvador....

Sunday after a nice sleep and brazilian breakfast with lots of fruit and juice...hmmmm, we went to the beach, the weather was great, warm and sunny!!!! In the afternoon we went to Barra shopping, the biggest shopping in Salvador to buy some Xmas gifts :)

Unfortunately the days after the weather changed completely and the always so sunny Salvador changed into the wettest city... so no more beach, and more shopping..... :(
On tuesday we visited the Pelourinho (centre of Salvador) with the colourful houses and the beautiful church, which has so many golden elements...incredible....

Because the weather was so bad we decided to leave earlier for Rio de Janeiro, we booked a flight with TAM (which is almost impossible and a real challenge to keep your patience) for thursday..

On thursday we flew to Rio, with a delay we arrived around 6pm to Rio... also in Rio it was raining and our idea of getting quickly to the hostel ("Margarida's Pousada" really nice, clean and friendly staff) didn't work because of all the traffic jams ;(
Around 19,30 we finally arrived to the hostel and went straight for dinner to Frontera, a buffet restaurant where for 28,99 reais you can eat as much as you want (sushi, meat, vegetables, salads,carpaccio,etc..)

Friday and Saturday the weather didn't change to much and we did more Xmas shopping and went a bit to the beach when it was not raining.... It is incredible but the image of Brazil without rain is for sure not true and they know a lot of rain as well ;(

Cuzco and Machu Picchu

After Puno we continued our way to Cuzco and the Sacred Valley.... We took a bus which was stopping at some of the little villages in the Sacred Valley.

Unfortunately I (Stefien) got food poisoining in Puno, and didn't feel well for almost 5 days, without eating and staying for the most time inside the hotel.

Carlos enjoyed the bus trip and got to see a Inca village and some beautiful church. Around 5pm last monday we arrived to Cuzco. We were booked into hotel "Los Ninos" which is a 2 star hotel in Cuzco owned by a dutch lady and all the money is used to help the street children (have a look at the website) On our last day we took a tour in and around the hotel/foundation and it is incredible what she does for the Peruvian community!

We had a quick walk at Plaza das Armas and then I went straight to bed because I felt worse and worse. Tuesday wasn't any better and wednesday morning the doctor came and did some tests to exclude that I had anything major. He also subscribed me some medicines. All this time I had spent in our room (which was luckely private and very nice)

Carlos during this time, took very good care of me and did some sightseeing in Cuzco.

For Thursday we had booked a tour by train to Machu Picchu, we were picked up at 6,30 am to go to the trainstation and at 6,50 the train was leaving. It was taking nearly 4 hrs to get to Aguas Calientes (village before Machu Picchu where the train stops) but the views were amazing.

In Aguas Calientes we had to take a bus to get up the mountain, which took another half an hour. I was still not feeling great, but as we travelled all the way to see this I didn't want to miss it.

Machu Picchu (Quechua: Machu Pikchu, "Old Peak"; ) is a pre-Columbian Inca site located 2,400 meters (7,875 ft) above sea level. It is situated on a mountain ridge above the Urubamba Valley in Peru, which is 80 km (50 mi) northwest of Cuzco and through which the Urubamba River flows. The river is a partially navigable headwater of the Amazon River. Often referred to as "The Lost City of the Incas", Machu Picchu is one of the most familiar symbols of the Inca Empire.

Once we got inside the view of this "world wonder" (which was only revealed to the world in 1911 by Hiram Bingham) was amazing, imagining that this was build so many years ago without todays technologies, and it survived quit some earthquakes!! We had a guided tour of 2 hrs included which Carlos completed, but I was to tired and just enjoyed the amazing views (and feel sick :-)) Once Carlos finished the tour we returned to Aguas Calientes and took the train back to Cuzco.

The last day in Cuzco was Carlos birthday, finally I felt a bit better and we went for a walk in the centre. Which is beautiful, the architecture of some churches is amazing. In the afternoon we just stayed around the hostel as we left the next day early to fly back to Brazil, Salvador de Bahia, where we are at the moment.

Ah, please don´t confuse the flag on the picture on the left :) It is simply the Inca´s flag which represents the rainbow, sacrate for them, nothing else. Don´t be bad ;)

The trip and with that the posts are almost coming to an end, but we hope you enjoyed following our adventures through the blog?

Ate ja :-)

First impressions of Peru

We got to Peru from Chile. We took a bus last monday from S. Pedro de Atacama in direction to Arica, which is in the north of Chile. Our plan was to stay one day in Arica, but as we arrived very early (around 7am) and the first impression of the place was not impressive, and also, because Arica is a beach place and we are going to the north east of Brazil next week, we decided to continue our journey in direction to Peru. We bought our ticket in Arica to Arequipa, Peru. As part of the ticket, we crossed the borders in a taxi. The taxi driver took us to Tacna, Peru, where we got our bus to Arequipa. We arrived to the city of Arequipa aprox 6 hours after.

It was a long journey since S. Pedro de Atacama, so when we arrived last tuesday to Arequipa, we went to our hostel and we spent the rest of the day exploring the beautiful colonial city.

Our first impression of Peru was good.

The day after, we have visited the "Museo de la Universidad Catolica de Santa Maria" museum, where "Juanita", the frozen body of an Inca litle girl is placed. The all history behind this finding in one of the local volcanos (Ampato) is very interesting - check it out in this wikipedia entry: Momia Juanita .

On thursday, we did a tour to the Colca canyon which is the second deepest canyon in the world. The first deepest canyon is also in the same region. We had to wake up at 2am for this tour. It was a full day tour and as the place was aprox. 3 hours from Arequipa, we needed to leave the hostel at that time.

We arrived to Chivay, a town inside the Colca Valley, at around 5:30am and had breakfast there. Our group was of 7 persons. We then left in direction to "Cruz de los Condores" where we could see the Andean Condors. On the way there, we stopped in some view points to appreciate the landscape. Amazing, how people can live in the high plateau. Our tour guide explained us how the agriculture fields were built in the montains in a way that the water could easily be distributed.

In the place for viewing the Condors, we stopped there for about 1 hour. Unfortunately, we just saw 2 condors flying aroung, but they were very high, so it was difficult to appreciate their splendor. The Andean Condor can be more than 2 meters wide. In this same place, we could appreciate the Colca Canyon deapness from the top. Incredible.

We did a small trek that accessed different view points, for a better view of the canyon.

We then went back to Chivay, where we had lunch.

On the way there, we have stoped in some local traditional villages.

It's impressive the way Peruvians work on the turism. They are too agressive and sometimes anoying, when they try to sell something. This Colca tour, even though it was very interesting for the different sceneries and history, is too turisty. In the view points, there are allways local people trying to sell their handcrafts and local products. It is all made up for the tourist. People are very friendly, though.

After lunch, we went back to Arequipa, another 3 hours. We have seen nice fauna and flora and also observed the imponent "Misti" vulcano.

We then rested for the next day's bus trip to Puno.

Friday, 8 am, we arrived by taxi to the bus terminal in Arequipa, which looks like an airport :)

We checked in our luggage, paid the "Terminal departure tax" and got in the "gate" to wait for our bus. The waiting room was the same kind as the lounge rooms in the airports. Nice confortable sofas, free internet, bar,...

We then proceed to our 6 hours bus trip to Puno.

Puno is a city, located in the margins of "Lago Titicaca" of "Titicaca Lake". This lake is the highest navigable lake in the world. It sits 3,812 m (12,500 ft) above sea level.

We stayed in a nice hostel. The owner gave us all the information we needed and lots of tips on what to do in the city and surroundings.

Saturday, we have done a tour in the Titicaca Lake. This tour included going to 2 different islands: "Islas Flotantes or Uros" and "Taquile". The first islands are artificial. The Uros use the totora plant to make boats (balsas mats) of bundled dried reeds as well as to make the islands themselves. Another place full of interesting history - check out the wikipedia entry for more info about Uros. Another good example on how the Peruvians are working hard on turism, which is giving a high contribution to the local economy.

The "Taquile" island is different. There are aprox. 800 inhabitants. They all dress with traditional local vests.

We just arrived to the island and there are plenty of little cute children. Everytime a tourist would take a picture the children come and join. Of course, after that they would ask for a contribution of normally 1 sole.

After visiting the island, we had a very nice lunch in a local restaurant. The local fish is the trout. We had it and loved it. Really tasty.

We then went back to Puno. The boat trip took another 3 hours aprox. Time to rest.

In the evening we went to a very nice dinner which included live local traditional music and dance.

Tomorrow, we'll be leaving to Cuzco where we will stay for a week.

Uyuni - Bolivia!!!!

Yes BOLIVIA!!!!!!! It was not in the plan but because of some recommendations of friends we decided we couldn't miss it.....

We booked a 4 day tour with Colque Tours, to Uyuni , Bolivia...

Last wednesday at 8 am we had to be at their office and we were brought by buses to the Bolivian border.... The first stop was the Chilean border, as the public functions were in strike we had to wait 1,5 hr to get our passport stamped.... Around 10.30 we finally arrived to the Bolivian border and got our stamp... for 30 days!!! Yes!

Here we change to our jeeps, we have a group of 6, Colm, Marie, Bernie, Sarah and us.... We drive off to our first stop, Laguna Branca.... here we have breakfast and take some nice pictures... The next stop is Laguna Verde (green lagoon) and it is really green and amazing...

Last stop before lunch is "aguas termales" hot water spring, we are allowed to take a bath, which is lovely about 35º degrees :-) The lunch is ok and we continue to see Laguna Colorada (red lagoon) there where hundreds of flamingo's and the scenery is just amazing....

After lunch, we went up to 4900 meters to see the geysers. Temperatures can rise to 180 degrees and people must be careful not to get to close.

We also see the Dali rock formation before arriving to Villa Mar where we spent the night... This village is really small, we saw a lot of Bolivian traditional dressed women...they look pretty with the colourful clothes..

Unfortunately Carlos felt really bad in the evening, probably combination of altitude sickness and warm weather and not enough fluids....

2nd day - 8.30 we left Villamar, Carlos feels a bit better so that's great news... Our first stop is "Ciudad Italiana" (italian city) It is a beautiful rock formation with amazing views... On the way we saw many many Lama's (they didn't spit at us :-)) and some other nice rocks... and a Cascada (waterfall) Sitting on top of the mountain looking down it is just wonderful....

For lunch we went to the town of our driver, Villa Alota, the lunch was ok, but Carlos got sick again trying to eat something... In the jeep Carlos tries to get some sleep which is difficult with the bumpy bad roads...

In the afternoon we mostly drive..... our last stop was a ghosttown, most people left and only 16 people live there currently!

We drive to our accomodation which is much better than the first day and even the food is lovely... Carlos goes to rest immediately to recover a bit...

Warm showers are hard to find in Bolivia and after 2 days we can take a shower, but cold :-)

3rd and last "real tour" day... This is the highlight we are going to the Salar de Uyuni (salt flats) Our first stop is to make some pictures, aren't we creative?????

We drove a bit untill we got to Ilha IncaHuasi (house of the inca's in Quechua) On this island which is in the middle of the salt flat they have many cactus, the oldest one is 1200 years and just died last december... We climbed up the hill for a view over the salar!!!

After this we took many more creative photo's (just have a look)

The next stop is the salt hotel, this is an illegal structure, but still standing, everything is made from salt... even the clock!

We also saw the extraction of Salt, Bolivia only uses it for own consumption..... and doesn't export any of it, because it is not profitable.... The "real" tour ended in Uyuni... we got a lunch there which was not so amazing... and then we walked around town and had some drinks...

At 5pm we were leaving to go back to San Pedro... We drove for 2 hrs and had dinner in Villa Alota... and then another 1,5 hour to Villamar where we would spent the night.

The roads where so bad and it was so dark that it was a bit scary, at least we were 6 people + the driver... Finally at 10 pm we arrived to the accomodation.... we went straight to bed, because we would have a 3.30 am wake up call...... :-(

4th day, 4 o clock we are all in the jeep ready to go, even though we are tired... At 6.30 am we arrived to the breakfast point, some warm tea (temps were under zero!) and cereals.... Around 8 am we arrived to the bolivian border.... the exit stamp was quickly arranged... Within 1,5 hour we are in the bus to San Pedro de Atacama... there we have a nice hostel and a warm shower after 4 days!!!!

This was a really unexpected trip, but AMAZING, we saw beautiful things and the real South America, no hot water, light and electricity during certain hours, and bumpy roads....

It was all worth it because we saw some wonderful things that are high on our Highlight list!!!

The Desert of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Last week we arrived to Chile... It was a 10 hours bus ride from Argentina...

We came together with Marie and Colm (friends we met along our trip) and we had organized a hostel... We had a private room with bathroom which was lovely...

Sunday evening we booked a tour already for monday evening.... but we had to pay for that, during the weekend the cashmachine was empty, BUT on monday they would fill it... I (Stefien :) ) spent monday morning waiting at the only visa accepting cash machine...but no money, the same for tuesday and wednesday... Luckely we had friends that could help us out..

In the evening we have a lovely dinner... the "cuisine" in San Pedro is amazing, very high standards! At 9 pm our tour to see the stars started.

The guy who does the tours is french, and has a lot of knowledge... His house is just a bit out of town in the Atacama desert.... First we got a quick introduction and then we went outside to see the stars through the Telescopes... AMAZING!!!! We also saw the planets Jupiter and Venus...

At the end of the tour he explained some other things... and by midnight we were back in the hostel....

The next day we went to explore San Pedro, the market and the museum!! Very nice and interesting... After a quick lunch our second tour started... "Valle de la Luna" (valley of the moon) The first stop was Valle de la Muerte, we walked here for 1 hr and did some sandrunning which was very funny.... :-) The minivan picked us up and we continued to our next stop, a trek of 9 km through the desert and rocks, pretty amazing.... we climbed, had to get through a cave and above all saw a lot of nice scenery.

The last stop of the tour was the actual "Valle de la Luna", we went to see the sunset here on top of a rock... Around 20.15 the sunset was over and we returned to San Pedro for another lovely dinner :-)

Last stop in Argentina - Salta!

Thursday we arrived to Salta after a 16 hour bus drive from Mendoza!!!!

We went straight to the hostel Inti Huasi, very close to the bus station.... We got a nice room and took a shower before going for lunch in the city.

We walked to Plaza 9 de Julio and had a nice lunch there.... After lunch we had a quick walk in the centre and then returned to the hostel.

Friday we had a sightseeing day. We went up to "Circuito Cumbre del Cerro San Bernardo" where you have some nice views over Salta and surroundings..... we also visited two colourful and beautiful churches.. In the evening we received our rental car so we could leave early in the morning for our tour with Sarah and Bernie. also staying in our hostel.....

6 am wake up call, at 7 we are all ready and we leave, luckely we find the road easily.... The destination is Cachi, about 160 km from Salta... On the way there we drove through beautiful mountain landscapes, saw a lot of Cactus and also a small market with all kind of herbs, nuts etc... and also handcraft. It was very cheap so we bought some stuff to support the local communities :-) After 4,5 hour we arrived to Cachi, this is a small village, with a beautiful main square.

We ate lunch there and then drove up the hill to see the cemetery and a view over Cachi....

By the girl from the tourist information we were advised not to leave later than 3pm, we took her advise and left. On the way back we drove literally in the clouds as we where in a very high altitude (around 3438m). Because of this, the view was less than 1 meter so we could not drive harder than 10km per hour.... Luckely after 1 hour when we had a lower altitude it cleared up and it was easier to drive around..... By 7 pm we got back to Salta ....

As we are leaving Argentina tomorrow (Sunday 16/11) for Chile, San Pedro de Atacama, we will have our last BBQ (assado) tonight with the argentinian meat!!!! hmmmmmmmm