Pics of Ilha Grande

Had to get this pics in because we're heading from Puerto Iguazu/Cataratas (Iguazu Falls) to Buenos Aires today and we have great great awesome pics from here. So if I don't do this now it's just going to be overshadowed by the pics of the waterfalls- which we did by land, water and air!!

We were going to write "Let's Get to Work" but opted for Ilha Grande. Yes, mandatory cheesy beach picture - check

We had sooo much fun snorkeling and seeing cute kissing fishies and turtles

Gorgeous snorkeling views from our booze cruise

Don't know why anyone would ever let us that close to a ship's steering wheel

Friends enjoying Mega Bombas and strong Caipirinhas (unseen participants = mosquitoes)

Apparently Rio pics won't be loaded til we get to Buenos Aires something about internal uploading errors. Oh well. Till next time...

The end of Brazil...onto Argentina!

After getting a computer virus (damn you anti Norton and your ineffective scans) and not having wifi in Ilha Grande - this is another big update...

Attack of the Mosquitos Part 1.

Location: Ilha Grande, an island of the coast of Rio
Setting: Beautiful waters, Green and Blue Lagoons, Sandy Beaches
Characters: Me, Yuko, Jan, other friends and the Mosquitos
Honourable Mentions: Bugs and other biting things.
Result = Numerous new bites and scars

There were so many wonderful things about Ilha Grande and unfortunately, most of it was overshadowed by the fact that the mosquitos had a free for all frenzy on us. Yuko has like the main course, but I, well, I was the all you can eat dessert buffet. I'm like chocolate...so, as wonderful as it was, I'm in sooo much pain. Today, I'm rocking the look of 50 bites of my left shoulder and my new perfume is now Citronella. If that doesn't work I'll be playing chemist with natural oils...I'll discover the next best Off. I'll keep you posted.

Awesome things we did on the Island:
* Booze cruise - I know it's a bit of a cliche but it was really quite awesome. The boat takes you to 3 different snorkeling spots, all you can drink Caipirinhas, a barbeque and one of the 3 local bands (we saw all 3, 3 times) played live music on the boat.
* Snorkelling - I've still got my snorkelling mojo. Yuko saw beautiful yellow fish and I saw 2 turtles kissing and different types of fish I've never seen. One of my faves was an unasumming brown fish but then it spread it's wing like fins it was a vibrant blue that reminds you to never underestimate the hidden beauty in what look like drab simple things. The Lagoa Verde and Azul were beautiful. Didn't get out for a dive but the waters were clear and beautiful.
* Hiking - Ok, I hiked and Yuko went surfing. The island makes you work hard for everything! It takes about 2-3 hours to get anywhere but the great thing is that there is always an amazing payoff at the end of it!
- Dios Rios - Once you finished climbing the mountain, you get to this beautifully secluded beach that is surrounded by 2 rivers that hug either side of the ocean. You have the option of swimming in salt or doce (sweet) water. It's absolutely amazing.
- Cachoeira - The waterfall wasn't nearly as impressive as climbing (yup again) through a secret trail that brought you to the top of the falls which leads to hidden natural slides. Thanks Cris.
- Lopez Mendez - This one Yuko got to know pretty well since she went surfing a couple of times. After our first 2.5 hour hike, it was decided that we take taxi boats to get there...weightloss in Ihla Grande 2.5 lbs. ;)

After getting attacked way too much, we needed some healing time and went to Rio!

Rio De Janiero:

Initially we weren't feeling the big city. After spending so much time in quiet beach towns, the massive scale of Rio seemed daunting. We stayed a couple of nights in Copacabana and then a few more in Ipanema. It was sweltering but it was a fun vibrant city. We ended up staying at this cute hostel called Bonita - famed for the guy who wrote the Girl from Ipanema - that song was the running soundtrack in my head for about a week.

HL -
* Sugarloaf - watching the sunset and seeing the lights of Rio at night was beautiful. The city is massive and hugged by gorgeous beaches everywhere.
* Biking along the beach. We rented bikes and saw every single beach that lines Copacabana and Ipanema. The beach is divided in 12 areas - each one attracting different crowds depending on your interest. It's like the ultimate seawall. I ran there a couple of times so I got to know it. Can't miss the gay one with it's flags, that's number 8. The shiny beautiful people were on 9. The jocks and volleyball peeps were on 10. It's like highschool but segrated along the beach.
* Football at the Maracana. Not that Yuko and I are football/soccer fans by any means, it was completely worth it to go and watch a live match. The stadium wasn't full to it's 100,000 capacity but the energy was thunderous. Thankfully we sat on the winning teams side, Vasco, so it was easy to get swept up in the whole thing.
* Favella Funk Party - Favellas are meant to be the most dangerous areas in Rio, of course, now they've made tours. Don't worry, we went on an organized tour in one of the biggest favellas in Rio that isn't run by druglords, rather by military or ex-cops. It was an interesting experience. Essentially it was clubbing in a massive warehouse with about a 1000 people and a bad DJ. It was all experience all in all.
* Lapa street party - we headed out to the famed area where most of the good times happen. It's the dancing area of town where all the samba bars are. There's people partying in the streets and you can go into the clubs to watch live bands playing. It was a particularly great night of dancing for Yuko.

LL:
* Talk about the heat! Weather site says 32 - feels like 50! The humidity clung in the air and stiffled you.
* Missing the Christ the Redeemer statue. The whole thing was covered in scaffolding. That's what we get for being a non practicing Catholic and a Buddhist. So, now photo ops with one of the most famous statues in the world. Just seemed like a waste of time to go and see metal. I guess they clean it once every 20 years and since it's right before Easter...
* Rio is really expensive! Everything there pretty much costs double than anywhere else we've been too.
* We felt like we had a good taste of Rio but there was so much else we could have seen...

After close to 2 months, we're finally heading to the Foz de Iguazu. In fact, this entry is being written on the tail end of a long 23 hour straight bus ride that takes us to the Argentinian side of the Falls. So we bid Brazil Ciao and Hello Argentina!

Natural Wonders of Lencois

OMG this is high...it's ok Mom, I'm safe.

Life in Lencois.

The sunset after a long day of great excursions!

Hello from the natural pools in Lencois ;)

Yuko going down a natural water slide. Yes, we have bruises on our butts.

This is not a "light to moderate" excursion

Up the mountain

That's a real waterfall

You can do it Yuko! Trivia: Is Yuko afraid of heights?

Reward Number 1 for hiking. So breathtaking beautiful.

That's right...into the jungle...ok, a swamp aka mini pantanal

What? Month 1 done already?

Month 1 done and done already! Insanity - considering we initially thought that we would just be in Brazil for 3 weeks, we‘ve got at least 4 more weeks left before we head out to Argentina…we think! I can’t believe it’s already been a month. So far so great. We’re still friends and getting along beautifully - although we probably know each other way too well by now!

We’ve made it to our 5th city in our 5th week (we are obviously taking our time and just enjoying all that Brazil has to offer - not to mention that it seems to take anywhere between 15-24 hours to get anywhere). We traveled inland to a national park called Lencois. It’s known for it’s great excursions and wonderful outdoor activities. In the last 3 days, we went:

• Swimming in the Poco do Diabo Waterfall (unfortunate reason for why it’s called the Devil’s waterfall and it’s rather sad slave driven past)
• Climbed a mountain, Morro do Pai Inacio, to see the views of the region
• Swam in the 3rd clearest water in the world, Pratinha
• Saw stalagmites and stalactites in a gigantic cave, Gruta Lapa Doce
• Trekked through the mid-day heat to go down natural water slides!
• Canoed across a mini-pantanal
• Bushwhacked through a mountain
• Lazed in natural pools

Lesson’s learned: Yuko is afraid of caves, we still haven’t acclimatized, and the definition of “light to moderate” for an excursion is not the same in North America. We have a different description for that. Cause when you start climbing trails that resemble the Grouse Grind, there is nothing easy about that! Ah, just another day in Brazil! It’s a different pace inland, definitely a different feel from the beach towns but it’s a great break from finding sand everywhere and in everything that you own!

Oh, we also have a new section we are calling…Dumblights:

• Spot the Asian game: Unlike Vancouver, we are a complete anomaly here. So we’ve created - see who can spot the most Asians. You get a point for each one you see…I think we’re tied at 4 all - there’s only been about 8.
• Guess our ethnicity conversation: For Yuko we get Chinese and occasionally Japanese. For me, I’ve had Puerto Rican, Argentinean, Brazilian and um, Black! Apparently, the tanning is coming along nicely…
• Most ridiculous airport security award goes to Refice. They made us leave the secured zone and reenter only to end up at exactly the same gate we came from. Ugh.

After 5 airports, 5 buses and 5 cities - here are our Verdict to Date:

Salvador - Definitely more on the Afro culture. Beautiful with it’s historic center, awesomely crazy for Carnival but if you actually want to see something - go a different time. People - so/so looking. Party - definitely. Sites - Didn’t see all but pretty darn interesting once we actually found the UNESCO heritage site.

Fortaleza - Much bigger than we thought. But if we actually had a Lonely Planet maybe we’d have known that it‘s the 4th largest city. Fantastic cause of the friends we made. This was our first foray into Backpacking. We learned 3 things - 1. Shell out the money for AC. 2. Always have your own Toilet Paper and Towel. 3. Make great friends early cause you’ll keep seeing them in different places ;)

Jericoacoara - Awesome cause it was our first beach town. Great for chilling, day adventures and kite surfing but it would have been better if there was an ATM that you could pull money out! An entrepreneur’s dream - You had 2 options if you ran out of money - Go to a town about 20 kms away (but their machine was broken and apparently it was going to take a month to fix it - WTF) or go to super Mercado where they charged 10% for debit and 15% for credit cards! Craziness - I‘m still not over it. Had our best nites out with the friends that we made!

Pipa - Great cause Yuko discovered that she’s a Surfing Pro! I take back all my comments about her lack of athletic abilities. I was good, but she was ridiculously awesome. I keep telling her it’s cause of her short legs - but really, she’s a natural. The beaches were nicer and there’s suppose to be tons of dolphins and sea turtles but we weren’t so lucky. I had to swim out to a boat to see 3 of them - I lost 2 lbs just trying to swim back to shore. Had the best time with the boys, we’re officially half Israeli now. Toda.

Lencois - Small towns always have a unique charm about them. It’s beautiful and topographically really interesting with it’s waterfalls, caves, mountains, canyons and the varied landscape. Imagine BC but about 20 degrees hotter and more exotic. We did't even scratch the surface of all the activities you can do.

*Pics to follow...

Attempt at Pics #8

I really don't know if I have the patience to deal with this uploader...Perhaps as the trip continues I will discover a newer zen place. Right now, it's just frustrating not to be able to share what we want to be able to.

The monkey's right outside our Pousada in Pipa

Yuko discovering that she's a natural! Look out, she'll be the new face of Billabong soon!

My first Acai ;)

Playing Matkot in the beach.

On our way to becoming half Israeli. Sababa

Pictures now that we have Wifi! ;)

I'd add more but man Blogger is annoying when it comes to uploading pictures (I hate you uploader!!) Still, my stubborn ways are kicking in...just wanted to give you all a taste of the great times we've been having...

Yuko's Birthday celebration

Out at Planeta Jeri

Yuko making new friends! ;)

Apparently, this will not show in any particular order. Ugh.

Getting into the swing of traveling

Random thoughts of the moment:

It’s amazing how doing absolutely nothing but sitting on a bus (or multiple ones) can make you so tired. Like why is it that you just want to sleep and then when you arrive sleep again? It’s not like we drove the 23 hours to get here (and if you‘re wondering why we decided to go to Pipa - well, it‘s time to be a pro surfer now).

An hour is enough to really connect with a person but it takes on average about 3 days to form a real bond. The whole reason, season and lifetime quote on why people come into your life is completely resonating with us right now.

HL: We’re getting to experience moments of sheer contentment which washes over us in waves:

• The first view of the ocean after walking in the heat for 5 minutes
• The thrill of hearing a song we love to dance to
• The blast of a cold air conditioned room after the sweltering sun
• Playing in the ocean as a wave hits us
• Having a profound conversation with someone about nothing at all
• Traveling with other people and expanding each other’s horizons
• Watching the stars and seeing the sun rise
• Catching the last bus of the evening
• Enjoying a Zen moment
• Fresh juices (Yuko is addicted to fresh manga juice)
• Israeli meals. Watching the cute young men cook for us!
• Checking out the ripped bodies of men doing capoera on the beach
• Yuko being athletic! She’s pulling out moves from grade 6 - Picture this: Yuko teaching Israeli boys how to dive and women how to Samba. She’s busted how some mad skills doing cart wheels, back dives and trying splits (and kinda hurt herself in the beach). Then things normalized when a friend tried to teach her how to surf…I can’t begin to tell you how funny it is to watch her just try to get on the board.

The Ugh Moments:

• What is it about traveling that makes you so prone to random bruises, cuts, scars and mosquito bites (why oh why is my blood so sweet) ?
• Saying bye to our new traveling friends
• Feeling a bit out of shape cause of all the ripped bodies in beach (read above)
• The men we meet keep getting younger and younger (this might be shifted to a pro rather than a con - we’ll keep you updated)
• Dancing doesn’t start here until 2-3ish (in the morning!! We have not seen these many sunrises in forever)
• Trying to rock the raccoon eye tan I’m getting (I have to wear shades when I’m out in the sun for the next 6 months cause of my eye surgery)
• Brazilian hostel Nazi - It was the Seinfield of hostels. They were crazy strict and weirdly cultish with their odd limericks and ridiculous rules (all 15 posted on the doors). “No hostel for you!” and Obnoxious Pousada Dude - We haven‘t left this one yet so no details but he is freaking annoying.
• Not yet acclimatizing - we're sweating. No amount of convincing about women "glowing" works when you drip doing absolutely nothing at all (however, this might get shifted to a Highlight if we keep losing weight)
• Missing our friends and family (yes, we do think about you guys...)