These last three months have led us on an incredible journey, sweeping through jungles, deserts, praries, snow capped mountain ranges and beautiful coastlines to mention a few. We were enriched by the cultures and people that we met, as well as by each other. It was a great time for the two of us to be together and we are thankful to God for His provision as well as guidance. The memories are seemingly endless, but we thought that we would summarize quickly with a bit of a count up from our trip.
Days spent in South America - 91
Different places we have slept - 42
Number of Buses,Combis, Colectivos (excluding all city transit) - 50
Hours spent on the bus - 235
Sum of 3 longest bus rides - 62hrs.
Night buses - 13
Modes of transportation - 13 (bus, taxi, boat, train, Gondola, trolly, Subway, Ecovia, Canoe, Raft, Tram, Combi, Colectivo)
Border Crossings - 12
Countries - 7
Protests - 6
Ferry´s - 5
Trains - 4
Memories - Priceless
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Rio
Well here we are on our last night in South America. The last couple of days have been nice here in Rio. It is an interesting city and we have enjoyed exploring some of it. We began yesterday by attempting to be touristy, hopped on a bus and headed up to Corcovado(the hill with the Jesus statue). We got there only to find a thick fog hanging over the mountain. A little disheartened we set off on foot back the way we had come and with the help of our map explored some of Rio´s coast. Later in the afternoon we made our way on the metro to Copacabana beach. Despite the thick clouds and chilly wind we sat on the beach and watched the waves. We headed back before the dark clouds let loose torrential rains and grabbed some supper as well as one of the many varieties of tropical fruit drinks here.
Today we woke up to bright blue skies and excited by the potential of sun set off quickly to catch a clear view from Corcovado. We jumped on trusty bus number 180 to Rua Cosmo Vehlo where we took the Cog train up. Wow, what a statue. It is incredible to see it in person as well as the great cityscape below. After this we headed back to Copacabana to enjoy some much needed rays. It was a perfect day on the beach. We wandered around abit, did some shopping, and after supper came back to pack up our bags for tomorrow. Everything looks like it should be in order for tomorrow. So if everything goes well tomorrow we will hop the metro to the beach for the morning and then head out after lunch to the airport to begin our final journey home. We are looking forward to seeing everyone.
Today we woke up to bright blue skies and excited by the potential of sun set off quickly to catch a clear view from Corcovado. We jumped on trusty bus number 180 to Rua Cosmo Vehlo where we took the Cog train up. Wow, what a statue. It is incredible to see it in person as well as the great cityscape below. After this we headed back to Copacabana to enjoy some much needed rays. It was a perfect day on the beach. We wandered around abit, did some shopping, and after supper came back to pack up our bags for tomorrow. Everything looks like it should be in order for tomorrow. So if everything goes well tomorrow we will hop the metro to the beach for the morning and then head out after lunch to the airport to begin our final journey home. We are looking forward to seeing everyone.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Brazil and Beaches
Its crazy how time flies, it seems like not that long ago we were walking the streets in Lethbridge dreaming about a grand 3 month trip, and now here we are with under a week left. I guess we should back up just a few days to our time in Iguassu, Brazil. The Brazil side of the falls were incredible. Although they lacked the close up view of the Argentine side they made up for it with an incredible panoramic view, and some great rainbows as well. Mix that in with the incredible jungle backdrop and you have got a great photo. It was loads of fun and a nice tranquil time before we headed off on one hectic adventure to get to Paraty.
Our first leg to get to Paraty was to head to Sao Paulo, about 16 hours or so from foz do Iguassu. We hopped on a bus just before 7pm and began our journey. The bus was interesting, more of a bolivia type bus than a Brazil bus, there was no food, movies, or leg room and we settled in for an adventure. We had just started to get sleepy when the bus stopped at a random hotel. A couple people got off and quickly lugged off a bunch of luggage, and no sooner than it had started they were back on the bus again. We thought not too much of it as we had not seen our luggage being pulled off and soon began to doze off again. Things were cool untill just after midnight. We finally came to and realized that the bus was stopped and chaos was ensuing below. There was luggage everywhere beside the bus and police. It turns out that our bus was on route from Paraguay, the land of cheap things. However you are only allowed to bring back a certain amount per person. Well lets just say that we left alot of boxes behind that were confiscated. This gave us a bit of a jolt to say the least, and finally after about an hour or so we managed to begin to doze again, only to be woken by another pit stop. It was a long night, with even more stops to fix the bus. We pulled in to Sao Paulo at around 12:30 (missing our initial connecting bus) but managed to catch one for later in the afternoon. We arrived into Paraty at about 9pm to a completely different feel. Even though it was dark out you could tell it was a laid back quiet beach town with surf crashing in the background. We found our hostel quickly and went straight to bed.
Our time here in Paraty has been great. It is a beautiful tropical setting with georgous mountains, and ocean dotted with little islands. The town itself is quite picturesque with cobblestone streets, and brightly colored little shops lining them. The first day we explored some caves, an old fort, and checked out the town as well as enjoying a coconut juice(from the cocunut with a straw) from a street vendor along the harbour. We were lucky to have no rain although the dark clouds held the sun at bay. Today we had high hopes for the day but they were thwarted with a heavy downpour most of the morning. It didnt stop us from taking a swim in the atlantic as we were soaking already. After lunch things cleared off and we rented a canoe to tour around some of the islands and the mangroves. As the sky looks menacing once again we will head back into town and take care of a few errands before catching a bite to eat and relaxing on one of these few fleeting evenings we have left in South America.
Our first leg to get to Paraty was to head to Sao Paulo, about 16 hours or so from foz do Iguassu. We hopped on a bus just before 7pm and began our journey. The bus was interesting, more of a bolivia type bus than a Brazil bus, there was no food, movies, or leg room and we settled in for an adventure. We had just started to get sleepy when the bus stopped at a random hotel. A couple people got off and quickly lugged off a bunch of luggage, and no sooner than it had started they were back on the bus again. We thought not too much of it as we had not seen our luggage being pulled off and soon began to doze off again. Things were cool untill just after midnight. We finally came to and realized that the bus was stopped and chaos was ensuing below. There was luggage everywhere beside the bus and police. It turns out that our bus was on route from Paraguay, the land of cheap things. However you are only allowed to bring back a certain amount per person. Well lets just say that we left alot of boxes behind that were confiscated. This gave us a bit of a jolt to say the least, and finally after about an hour or so we managed to begin to doze again, only to be woken by another pit stop. It was a long night, with even more stops to fix the bus. We pulled in to Sao Paulo at around 12:30 (missing our initial connecting bus) but managed to catch one for later in the afternoon. We arrived into Paraty at about 9pm to a completely different feel. Even though it was dark out you could tell it was a laid back quiet beach town with surf crashing in the background. We found our hostel quickly and went straight to bed.
Our time here in Paraty has been great. It is a beautiful tropical setting with georgous mountains, and ocean dotted with little islands. The town itself is quite picturesque with cobblestone streets, and brightly colored little shops lining them. The first day we explored some caves, an old fort, and checked out the town as well as enjoying a coconut juice(from the cocunut with a straw) from a street vendor along the harbour. We were lucky to have no rain although the dark clouds held the sun at bay. Today we had high hopes for the day but they were thwarted with a heavy downpour most of the morning. It didnt stop us from taking a swim in the atlantic as we were soaking already. After lunch things cleared off and we rented a canoe to tour around some of the islands and the mangroves. As the sky looks menacing once again we will head back into town and take care of a few errands before catching a bite to eat and relaxing on one of these few fleeting evenings we have left in South America.
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