Argentina - Buenos Aires 09/29/2006

More apartments .... finally I met my friend Donna's friend Reina who lives in Buenos Aires. She has helped me quite a bit already with all kinds of information. She showed me an apartment in Recoleta / Palermo, which was quite nice but unfortunately was in a very busy street. We had coffee and then she had to run back home to take care of her triplets.

I went back to the hotel, did my homework and then went to school. After school I updated my blog a little, wrote some emails and the went to eat at "Plaza Asturias" again. I had mussels as an appetizer and then a seafood casserole ..... yummy. I was really embarrassed when I wanted to pay and they did not accept credit cards. I barely had enough money for the bill and felt really bad when I was not able to tip adequately ....

Argentina - Buenos Aires 09/28/2006

The search for an apartment is really getting a little tiring and consumes way too much time. Today I visited a family for a potential home stay. I had this idea that I would really learn Spanish much faster if I would stay with Spanish speakers. .... somehow they had forgotten to mention three crazy little dogs .... nope that you.

After class I went to the Turkish bath at the Hotel Castellar again. No I have to disappoint you guys, not another massage, no playing the pan flute .... I guess I must have expected such overwhelming feedback and decided not to do it again. In the sauna I had a conversation with an Argentinian of French descent with the name "Wilhelm" .... I thought that was really funny .... surprisingly my French was not that bad and we could actually have a meaningful conversation .... at least I thought so.

Now I am all confused with English, German, French and Spanish .... dios mios. For dinner I went to the "Club Espagnol" on Avenida de 9 Julio. The food was very good, the place itself very nice, in an old building with very high ceilings, big crystal lights ...if they would only dim the light a little the atmosphere would be much warmer and a really good place for dinner.

Argentina - Buenos Aires 09/27/2006

Today there was no class, my teacher had to take her mother to the hospital, but she gave me plenty of homework to make up for it. In the morning the usual procedure, checking emails after breakfast, writing in my journal and updating my blog. I also looked at several apartments, one in Recoleta a wonderful area of Baires, but a little chi chi and also very expensive. All the designer stores you can think of can be found here. Well, to my disappointment the apartment was already rented. We walked over to Palermo, another currently hip area of Baires. The apartment was OK, but the traffic in the area was really bad, I did not like that. (Well, now with hindsight it was much quieter than were I am now.) I went back to the hotel and from there straight to see the next apartment at Plaza San Martin. It was a really cool one bedroom, on the 5th floor. I walked back to the hotel and had dinner at "Plaza Mayor" again.

Argentina - Buenos Aires 09/26/2006

I slept wonderful and was looking forward to a beautiful day. It was warm (about 20 degrees Celsius) and sunny again. I walked by another school to check it out, wrote some more in my blog and searched for apartments. After lunch I did my homework and then went to school. The class was exhausting me. We learned past tense and about 50 new verbs with their conjugations. After school I went to the Turkish Bath at the Hotel Castelar and had a 60 minute massage. The massage was OK, but compared to the best massage therapist of San Francisco (Trisha) it was much more like a hard rubbing. Nevertheless I enjoyed it, even the part when the masseur took out a flute and played it while massaging my head. The bath must have been built around the turn of the century to the 1900s. Later I went to dinner at "Palacio Asturia" I had "bife the chorizo" or rump steak. It was huge, cooked to perfection. It cost only $ 4 (no typo!!!). With beer, wine, salad and port wine I paid $ 13 total. Unbelievable.

Argentina - Buenos Aires 09/25/2006

The night at the hotel was terrible, I could not sleep at all. At about 10:30 pm the heating went on with a loud roar. I am not kidding. It felt like I am sitting right in the heater itself. It kept blowing hot dry air in my room and I was not able to turn it off or lower the temperature. Even opening the window did not help. When I was almost asleep the phone rang and a friend from the US was on the line. I actually was really happy about the call and we chatted for an hour. Now I am up to date about what's going on in SF again. The rest of the night I tried really hard to fall asleep, but it was close to impossible. It was simple to noisy, too hot, too dry and I just hate to be in drafty rooms. I woke up exhausted and tired at 5:30 am, not a good start into my first day at school.

I found the school easily and filled out my entry test ... well I tried ..... it has been too many years since my last Spanish class. Then my mood got much worse. We had a discussion about the cab driver who picked me up at the airport wanting more money. Of course he had to wait since my flight was delayed, but I really felt that it was not my problem. It was over prized already and with the additional money he asked for I would pay more than double the regular fair. I finally paid since it was not worth wasting any more time on this .... Well, when they gave me the result of my test they told me that they actually did not have ANY classes starting this week. I could only join classes that started the week before .... not a good idea in my opinion. I am sure you understand that my mood reached boiling temperature .....

In the end I decided to take individual lessons, simply because I had no other options. I felt tricked into signing up with this school. They knew quite well that their would be no class and I think intentionally forgot to mention that. However, Roxanna is an excellent teacher and I will probably learn much more one-on-one than in class. Anyways ....

I left the school, got a hair cut (sorry Andrea), worked on my blog and had lunch. When I went back to school I was in a much better mood. Oh, of course I changed my room again. I am back to a room with a small bed again, but at least the room is quite.

After class I went to an Irish Pub, had one Kilkenny and paid as much as for the dinner and two beers I had thereafter at the restaurant next door.

Argentina - Buenos Aires 9/24/2006

The breakfast in the hotel was good, but sparse, just croissants (small ones called "medialunes") and coffee. Afterwards I tried to change my room and was assured that I could change later in the day. I explored the city and walked to the "Plaza de Mayo", one of the main squares of the city. Here you find the presidential palace, the palace in which the push for independence in 1810 was planned, a monument to honor the heroes of the fight for independence, a small museum and several churches, very nice.

On my way back to the hotel I checked my emails quickly and then moved into my new room. Well, it wasn't better than the first one, but at least it had a larger bed. After lunch at a nearby restaurant I walked to the "Plaza del Congresso" and looked at the parliament. From there I continued my exploration towards the "Plaza de la Republica" to admire the Obelisk. Then I was having coffee at the "Confideria Aideal", a very old (style) coffee house and Tango place. My guide mentioned that "the waiters are so old that you are not sure if they survive the meal you are having there", it was no exaggeration .... ha ha ha. Although the place seemed a little faded and falling apart, you could still feel the splendor it once possessed, high ceilings, marble colons, stucco, luxurious decor .... it could have easily been in Vienna. I had a cafe con leite and wrote a little in my journal, then went upstairs to check out the Milonga (), the ball room for Tango. Going upstairs I heard music and then entered a big ball room. There were lots of people, however I would guess that I was by far the youngest, except the girl at the ticket office.

The music stopped and then everybody went back to their respective seats and tables. Everybody was seated nicely around the dance floor, the tables in a square. Once the music started again individuals, men and women alike ventured out to find a dancing partner. A kiss to the cheek and the dance began .... nice.

However, I have to admit that I could not stop feeling that it was a meeting point for elderly singles .....

Next I explored the Av. de Floria, the main shopping street in Buenos Aires.It is for pedestrians only and also most of the cross streets are closed off for traffic as well. Shop after shop line the street, some fairly expensive and exclusive, others a little cheaper. In the middle there are lots of street vendors, artists theatre groups .... and of course some rogues who try to simply get some money from you. It was fun to walk through though. Next I went to the "Galeria Pacifico" - THE shopping mall in Buenos Aires. It is catering more towards the wealthy and rich or high end customers. There were three levels with shops, cafes and restaurants, a big cultural center and cinema. In the cultural center was an exhibition of works by "Frida Khahlo"

Afterwards I had dinner at a cafe close to the Hotel "Cafe 36", they had live music. The band played a wide range of different music styles from jazz, to tango, samba, blues and even some folk. They were really good ....

Brazil - Manaus & The Amazon 9/21/2006

At 4:45 am the night was over. I had packed already the night before and wanted to get up to watch the sun rise over the Rio Negro. It was just awesome! At first the sky turned slowly red and orange and then the same came up .... it seemed as if it was rising out of the water .... like a ball of fire .... cool.

Now I am sitting on the boat to Manaus. I skipped the tour to the place "where the 2 rivers meet" because I just did not want to pay another $ 50. Instead I teamed up with an Italian couple and Rene (whom I all met at the Ariau Hotel) to do a quick tour of Manaus. We went to see the local market halls, which were designed by Gustav Eiffel ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustave_Eiffel) and checked out the goods on sale. I have to say that for the size of the city it was quite small, e.g. compared to the one in Arequipa/Peru. Maybe because there was construction going on and we could not enter all the halls? There was a large selection of local fish, fruit and vegetables. Especially they were cooking some plant to produce a yellow liquid (unfortunately I forgot how it was called) that is used for cooking, e.g. fish and chicken. It smelled really good ....

We also went to the "harbor" quickly. Well if you thin harbor as in Hamburg or Rotterdam this was quite different and I am not sure if I should call it harbor, since the water changes dramatically during rainy season. There were many floating pontoons which were used as the "quay" and many ships (primarily passenger ferries) were moored there. Trucks had been driven all the way down to the river bank onto the beach and were loaded and unloaded on the spot, delivering or receiving goods.... it all had a hectic but improvised flair to it.

Next we went to the Opera house - magnificent.... an absolute gem. We did do a quick tour and admired the air condition system, interior design and wooden floors. Unfortunately there was very little historical information provided in English, very little or no information was found about Walter Schumann (?) who actually was the mastermind and financier behind the construction project (according to my guide at the Hotel Ariau Christopher).

Then a strong Thunderstorm moved in and we went to the airport, because sight seeing in the rain is not much fun. The airport was very busy. I had a quick lunch with the Italian couple and exchanged email addresses. We left 30 minutes late to Sao Paolo. Once arrived their I took a taxi to the home of my friends .... well, it was hard to related what all the talk about risk and security was all about, it went really smooth, but I guess when all goes well you never think about being robbed at gun point. The taxi ride was quite expensive, $ 50.

More info on the Manaus Opera house:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Theatre

Kitsch 1 .... Sunset over the jungle.

Kitsch 2 .... Sun rise over the Rio Negro.

The Market Hall in Manaus, build after plans of the French engineer Eiffel.

The "harbor" of Manaus.

The Opera of Manaus.

The battery was dying .... the last shot of the opera. The roof consists of 36,000 colored tiles, the rotunda contains the air condition unit. This was the first public building with an air condition.

Brazil - Manaus & The Amazon 9/20/2006

After breakfast we took off by boat again to visit a local village. After a 30 minutes ride we reached the village. It was founded 20 years ago by a woman and now inhabits 13 families. It has a school (build by some organization) with 45 children. Some of them have to get up at 4:00 am to make it to class on time. They all reach the school by boat, either with the "school bus" boat or by themselves.

The village was nothing really special, a collection of primitive houses, except the lecture about the latex and rubber production was really interesting. We got a demonstration how they cut the bark of the tree to collect the sap or milk. It takes 25 trees to produce 1 liter of milk, which can be used to produce 200 grey of rubber. Once they are done collecting the milk they pour it over a big stick that they rotate over a fire to vulcanize the rubber. This way, by pouring layer after layer on the stick, they create big rubber "balls" of up to 50 kg.

At one time Brazil produced 42,000 tons of rubber per year, almost 90% of the world production. In 1890 a British botanist smuggled 2 nuts of the rubber tree (containing approx.. 70 seeds each) out of the country. In Malaysia they created plantations with it and soon Brazil was displaced as the top producer. Due to the soil conditions in the Amazon (the top soil is only about 5 cm) it was not possible to create plantations here. All labor was manual, they assumed that 300,000 workers (primarily collectors) were needed. The milk has to be vulcanized immediately. If it dries up it becomes useless.

More on latex or rubber:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_rubber

On our way home we stopped at a beautiful beach. We swam in the river and then played soccer. Argentina / Chile and Germany versus Italy / Chile ..... we won 4:1 .... it was fun!

After lunch we went to swim with the pink dolphins. I have to admit I lack the words to describer the experience. It was absolutely awesome. At first we fed them and then we went into the river to actually swim amongst them. They come so close, you can touch them .... they swim all around you .... suddenly you touch one with your feet, then one breaks through the surface right next to you, blowing and breathing and then diving again .... It was a blast!

I was excited like a little boy and would have loved to do it again to be a little less nervous and being able to enjoy more. Yes it is quite unsettling although you know that they don´t do any harm.

There was a film team of the travel channel to produce a "1000 places you have to see before you die" series with a young couple. They filmed me , but I did not want to do an interview and kept myself a little hidden to "escape" .... well I guess I never will be a movie star, that could have been my two minutes of fame :-)

We got back to the hotel just in time for the Piranha fishing. Or should I say feeding? They ate all the meat I put on the hook of my fishing rod and I could feel them bite an d nibble, but they only surgically removed all the meat, I could never catch one. Some in our boat caught 4 of them .... that´s not fair :-( ... I guess I will never be a good angler either. After dinner I had drinks with Monika and Rhonda and then went to bed early since I wanted to see the sun rise the next day.

The village we visited. 13 families live herwith theirir children.

The cutting of the tree bark, part of the process of harvesting the latex or milk of the rubber tree.

Slowly the milk is being collected in a can.

The vulcanization process begins with pouring the milk slowly over a stick.

This stick is then being held over the fire of a certain local nut (it producs less or less painful smoke).

Termites .... just a little example how this species destroys the trees completely. By the way this used to be a Palm tree which was completely eaten up until only a small piece of the trunk is left over. The locals use these nests for various purposes, e.g. while hunting (so they have no smell) and against mosquitos.

Before we swam with the Dolphins we were feeding them .... I guess so that we could get used to them. THe guard attracted them and suddenly they appeared from the "black" water, grabbed the fish and disappeared again. It all happened so fast, but I think I got a nice shot.

This Dolphin was grey, not pink.

.... and another pink one.

Brazil - Manaus & The Amazon 09/19/2006

I woke up at 6:00 am and went to breakfast after a cold shower. It seems that going to bed early and getting up up early becomes a habit. They offered made to order omelets for breakfast .... yummy. We met at 8:00 am to take the boat upriver for a hike in the jungle. We hiked, or better walked around for about 2 hours while Christopher (our guide) explained various plants and the problems caused by logging and burning of the forest. We saw many different plants, too many to remember everything. There were plants used as poison for fishing. Actually when you pour their sap into the river, it takes the oxygen out of the surrounding water by means of a chemical reaction. The fish can not breath anymore and die, they are not poisoned. To restore the oxygen level in the water the fisher has to pee into the water at the same location. There was a plant which contains lots of Chinin and which is used against Malaria, a rosewood tree, a tree which sap is used as burning fuel and as glue, another tree which sap was used for natural chewing gum, different forms of termites, and ... and ... and .... was really interesting, but without a notebook it was hard to remember everything.

After lunch I simply walked around the complex for almost 2 hours. There is a huge heliport (I guess the idea was that reach folks would come by their own means of transportation), many now abandoned buildings and pathways, but also nice huts with hammocks to relax.

I also passed the construction site of a new hotel tower made of concrete which was stopped. Later Christopher told me that hotel management wanted to build a five star section of their resort, but later had to stop the construction due to lack of funds .... and probably potential clients. The trail continued for another 1/2 mile and led to a pool and a small house at a beautiful beach. From there you could continue further to a fishing house, but the pathway narrowed and was kind of shaky so that I passed on this one. I worked my way back to take the next excursion, a visit to a local family.On the boat I met a German couple Michael (who works in Sao Paolo) and Daniela, very nice folks. We reached the house after a 45 minutes ride. The family primarily lives from fishing and manioc production. We were shown how they peel the Manioc, grind it or squeeze the juice out of it to make flour (the juice is put in vessels and the flour basically sediments at the bottom, the poisonous remaining liquid stays on top. They made a kind of Pizza for us to taste, not too bad. Other than that the visit was not very eventful .... oh except that the family had 15 kids (ages 3 to 30) and it seemed that the mother was expecting number 16. The ride back was even more bumpy, the waves were quite high and several times the boat almost capsized. Well, our "driver" Alex was very good and we made it back wet but safely. On this trip I also met Monika (from Germany) and her partner Rhonda (from Florida).

After dinner I checked my email quickly and had a beer with Michael and Daniela and an Italian couple before heading to bed early.

The machine used to grind the Manioc before further processing can occur.

The matriach of the family is preparing a kind of pizza made from the flour of the manioc plant. It actually tasted quite nice. What a nice Paella you could could in this giant pan.


On our way back we passed this swimming store and bar. This way the local women can easily persuade their husbands to go shopping. The women shop and the guys have a drink.

The school bus .... no kiddin´.... the kids take this boat to the village that we will visit the next day.

A beautiful Parrot. Could not resist.

Brazil - Manaus & The Amazon 09/18/2006

I had to get up at 5:30 am to catch my 9:00 am flight to Manaus. I did not sleep well. There was a really bad thunderstorm in the middle of the night, which created lots of noise. The result of the storm was that several major highways were closed due to flooding. Later I found out that it was actually the tunnels that were flooded because two homeless guys stole all the cables from the pumps, so they did not start when it began to rain. No pumps no way of getting the water out of the tunnels. The police checked the video tapes of the surveillance cameras and caught the guys in no time. Well, would you not think some body would watch those pictures from the cameras all the time? Anyways .... The traffic was really, really bad and only thanks to our local driver who knows all the secret short cuts did we make it to the airport by 8:30 am. The lines were really long, so I had to approach the first airline representative in uniform and to my surprise found myself in front of the counter and checked-in in no time. The flight to Manaus was smooth, I found the hotel pick-up quickly and we were taken by bus to the Hotel Tropical to wait for our boat to leave for the hotel. Ooops .... almost missed the boat to the lodge. I found the business office in the hotel and checked my emails quickly to see if there was any feedback from the Spanish schools I had contacted in Buenos Aires. Somehow I lost track of time and when I showed up at the meeting point 5 minutes late nobody was there. At first I thought, well , this is South America nobody will be on time, but when still nobody else had showed up a couple minutes later I checked with the front desk. They said there was a problem and that they would be back. Well, I found out I was the problem. Thank god I bumped into our tour guide while looking around and she led me to the boat so that we could take off. The boat was actually a really big river boat that could probably carry around 100 people and cargo, not just a little put-put that I was expecting. The ride was about 2 hours and it was quite stunning. The river is so bark, almost black and that is why it is called Rio Negro (The black river). At times it was so wide I would guess over 1 kilometer, lots of little beaches, lush green shores, almost no other ships. Slowly we moved on towards the sunset ..... awesome!!! Later I found out that close to our hotel the river is actually 18 km wide (low water level) and during the rainy season it is almost 24 km wide with an average depth of 30 m. Finally we arrived at the hotel and were received almost "Hawaiian style", a guy in Indian clothes playing the drums while a girl in a hula greeted every new arriving guest with a necklace. The rooms were very basic, a little dark and tight but everything was clean. Overall the hotel complex is quite amazing. They must have miles and miles of elevated walkways connecting the buildings and towers. Everything seems a little run down and past its prime, but in this climate it is probably not easy to keep up with the maintenance. My tour guide was assigned to me and to my surprise he was actually from Germany, Christopher from the Chiemsee, but he has lived in South America for over 22 years. He actually lived in Peru for a while, in Arequipa and he new about Volker and his orphanage. He gave me a brief introduction about the hotel and the activities that were planned for us. He mentioned that he had worked in several different hotels along the Amazon and that the Ariau Towers was the best of its kind .... whatever that means. After dinner we left in little boats to look for Caymans. We had several attempts to catch one, but initially they all failed. It seems there was a little between the spotter and catcher in the front and the canoe driver in the back. He seemed not to have his best day and had several problems steering and controlling the boat properly. I enjoyed the ride up the Ariau river (which actually connects the Rio Negro with the Río Amazonas (or Solimões). The night was beautiful, warm, the mosquitoes stopped bugging me and the stars were so bright, no artificial light around..... gorgeous.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_River for more info.

Finally after more than 90 minutes we caught a small female caiman and Christopher explained the differences to other species such as crocodiles and alligators. It was really interesting to learn how big the caimans can get, especially given our small example (the Black Caiman can get up to 6 m or 18 feet long), how they control the sex of the babies with the temperature of the nest etc.

See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alligatoridae for more information on caimans, very interesting.

It was a long day and I was really tired, so I just had a quick beer and went to bed

The boat we took to get to the hotel

The arrival area of the hotel.

The tower in which I had my room facing the Rio Negro.

A view of the main area of the hotel, with the reception hall, restaurants etc.

Yes, yes I know .... it is very hard to see, but I wanted to show you the little caiman that we caught (and of course release later).

Brazil - Foz do Iguazu Sao Paolo 09/14/2006

A typical travel day, not much exciting to report. I started the day with a very long and relaxing breakfast of almost 90 minutes while writing in my journal. Then I was trying to catch up on my blog and made some good progress. At noon I took a cab to the airport and flew back to Sao Paolo. The driver picked me up and drove me to my friends house.

Brazil - Foz do Iguazu Bird Park 09/13/2006

The final stop of the day was the bird park. A truly amazing collection of tropical birds and wild life, African birds, eagles, vultures and even caymans and snakes (Anaconda and Boa Constrictor). They also had a section of tropical butterflies, however we did not see that many. There was a special bird cage (with primarily Parrots) in which you were able to go in and "experience" the birds at close range. Before we left we took photos with a Parrot on our arm.

At 6:00 pm I arrived back at the hotel exhausted. Later on we went for an excellent, though a little expensive dinner at a Spanish restaurant called "Zaragossa" and then said our goodbyes ...

Emus at the park .... they were huge.

A big lizard crossed our path. It was about 50 cm long.

Flamingo .... no idea why they had mirrors behind the area where the Flamingos hung out, so I took a shot of a single one running around.

One of the many Tucan birds in the park ....

Of course everybody took photos with these tame parrots. Thank god it did not bite .....

Brazil - Iguazu Falls II Brazilian side of the falls 09/13/2006

Next we took the bus back to Foz do Iguazu and then to the Brazilian side of the falls. The Brazilian National Park offered a complete different view of the "Devil's Throat", much more from the front and down below. It did not have the same electrifying effect as the day before, but still it was amazing. On our hike we saw these monkeys (or whatever they were). They reminded me a lot of raccoons, especially when we saw them opening up the trash cans or stealing food from the tables at the restaurant. One couple got "robbed" of their food and drinks by one of these raccoons (thanks to all of you for pointing out that these are not monkeys) and fled the table....

The view of the St. Martin falls.

raccoons on the trail.

A different view of "Devil's Throat".

... and another view of "Devil's Throat".

... of course me and the falls in the background.

Raccoon searching the trash bin for food.

Brazil - Itaipu Dam 09/13/2006

I met with Fabian, the Belgium guy from yesterdays trip to catch the bus to the Itaipu Dam. After a 30 minute ride through the city we reached the visitors center just in time for the introductory movie. Well, it almost felt like a propaganda movie. Next we boarded a bus to view the facilities and the dam. Our tour guide was 3rd generation German and I believe her ancestors came from Schlesien, based on her accent/dialect and choice of words.The dam is a great technological achievement. The 20 turbines generating 700 MegaWatts each, produce enough electricity to supply 85 % of Paraguay's and 25 % of Brazil's demand.The speed with which the dam was build is quite amazing (caveat it took over 20 years from initial discussions to the first turbine providing electricity), it was the equivalent of a 20 story building per day. They used as much steal in the construction as it would take to build 380 Eiffel Towers and concrete enough to build 210 stadiums such as Maracana in Rio.Two tubes feeding water to the turbines (there are 20 in total, one each for every turbine) have the same water throughput as the Iguazu Falls...... more facts at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itaipu

Of course there was the same problem as at the falls - no water. So no excess water gushing down the spillway. The maximum flow of the Itaipu's spillway is 62.2 thousand cubic metres per second, it is equivalent to 40 times the average flow of the Iguazu Falls.

Another interesting fact is that they had to make the concrete with ice (I would guess ice water), so that with the extreme heat in the summer of 45 degrees Celsius they were still able to pour continuously without the concrete drying up. They actually had 2 ice factories on site.

After touring the dam we went to the ecological museum, a cute little exhibition of local history, flora and fauna and of course the dam.

The dam viewed from the main vista point.

The spillway, unfortunately no water.

The dam from above showing the tubes leading to the turbines.

The channel that has been carved into the rock of the original river bed.

Brazil - Foz do Iguazu Argentinian side of the falls 09/12/2006

At 9:30 am we left the hotel in a little mini bus for our day trip to the Argentinian side of the Iguazu Falls. From the hotel there was a small group of 4 (Matt from Britain and Josh and his friend from Holland), but on our way we picked up 8 more people from Belgium, Spain and England .... quite international .... Crossing the border to Argentina was really easy. Since we only "visited" for the day we did not have to get our passports stamped. Nobody had to even leave the bus. Our driver simply took the passports to an office. Not sure how they matched the passports to the people ... it seemed just a formality, filling out a transit form. Our first stop was the site where the 3 countries Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil meet at the Iguazu river. Well, it could have been at the Mosel, Rhine or Danube .... except the temperature of 32 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) that we already reached this early in the morning. We only stopped for about 10 minutes to take pictures and then we were off again.

After another 30 to 45 minutes we reached the visitor center of the Argentinian National Park, paid our entrance fee (A$ 30) and started walking towards this "roaring noise" in the distance. We had been told by several people that there would not be a lot of water, but we soon had to realize that this was an understatement. The entire park is line with elevated walkways and on these we passed many totally dry river beds. The first couple of smaller falls were either dried out completely or down to a small trickle of water. It was still quite an amazing sight, don't get me wrong, but we kept thinking how impressive and spectacular it must look like with more water.

By mid day we slowly reached the waterfall called "Salto San Martin" - very nice. We climbed all the way down to the river,some took a boat to get closer to the falls and I took a boat over to the island "San Martin" to get a closer look. It was spectacular. After a quick lunch we took the train towards "Garganta del Diablo", the "Devil's Throat". The walkway leads about 2 miles through the "staging area", were usually the water is plentiful and about 2 m deep. The roar of the waterfall became louder and louder and finally we saw a first glimpse of the falls. We rushed to get closer and enjoy this amazing view. Water or o water ... it was spectacular.The water reaches the fall which is circular and then gushes down I would guess at least 20 m. I just could not get enough of this sight. We hiked back to the train station, took the train back and then still had to hike another 2 miles to reach the park exist and our bus. At around 7:00 pm we finally reached the hotel, exhausted and thirsty .... We met at the pool to swim and drink a couple of beers before we headed to an Argentinian restaurant around the corner for dinner.

The "Salto San Martin" (St. Martin's Falls)

The "Garganta del Diablo" (The "Devil's Throat")

A different view of the "Salto San Martin".

The "Garganta del Diablo" from the the Argentinian side.

Me and the falls in the background.

The "Devil's Throat" from a different view point.

The "Devil's Throat" with a rainbow created by the mist.

Brazil - Foz do Iguazu 09/11/2006

I had to get up early to catch my flight to Iguazu. The airport was very busy, but thanks to a very helpful attendant I found myself in a short line and made my flight without any problems. Well, not quite right. I almost missed the flight because the gate was changed in the very last moment and the announcement was only in Portuguese. I recognized somebody who had checked in for the same flight walking to a different gate and just followed him and was just fine. The landing in Curitiba was a little rough, bt well ... we made it. It was strange. I basically had to "leave" the airport completely and go back through security again, no way to stay inside for my connecting flight. At 2:00 pm we landed in Foz do Iguazu .... it was really hot there (32 degrees, over 90 Fahrenheit) ... my driver was there to pick me up and bring me to the hotel. The hotel was quite good (especially considering the rate of $ 25). My room was a little moist and moldy, but I was able to change it the next morning and then everything was fine. The staff was very helpful.

After I had settled into the room I went to explore the city, just to find out that there was really not much to explore. It is a very modern and clean city, but nothing was really appealing. The oldest buildings were from the 60's. I went to dinner to a churascaria called "Bufola Branco" which was highly recommended in my travel guide. I have to admit that I was a little disappointed by the quality of the meat. Since it was not very busy the did not have a great selection of fresh meat coming, but cooked a small quantity until it was bone dry .... later when the place got more busy the meat quality improved, so it is hard to tell how good the place actually is. Afterwards I updated my blog and then watched a little CNN. They had a big 9/11 memorial broadcast going. They also broadcasted the speech of Georg Bush ... or should I say the "reading"? This guy has no compassion. His speech was all about terrorism, making big historical comparisons with World War II (Hiroshima) and other examples were the US "prevailed" (his favorite word) against all odds. No mentioning of peace, of reaching out ..... only fight, fight, fight.

It was really hard to watch the footing of 9/11 .... the attack, people jumping out the windows in their desperation, the towers coming down, people looking for missing relatives, .... horrible .... it brought back many sad memories..... Jeez and it was already 5 years ago.

Brazil - Paraty / Sao Paolo 09/10/2006

We spent the day pretty much traveling back. After breakfast we left Paraty for Sao Paolo. After a beautiful ride through the mountains (it reminded me of the Black Forrest and Southern France) we arrived in Sao Paolo. Catching up on my blog and eMail and soon the day was over. Volker and myself had dinner outside (yeah it was actually really warm) and shared an excellent bottle of Chilean Carmenere.

Brazil - Paraty The Gold Trail and Emerald Coast 09/9/2006

Paraty 9/9/2006

Well, the day did not begin too early after all the drinks the night before. Around 9:30 am we started our trip to the Gold Trail. The trail was leading all the way from Paraty to the gold mines of Minas Gerais over hundreds of kilometers. Early on it was only an old Indian path, only much later the trail was expanded and paved to a solid cobble stone road. Slaves were carrying the gold from the miles to the harbor, it was also used to distribute mail. Later when a new, much shorter trail was built to Rio, the now so called "Old Trail" lost its importance, but still was used to transport sugar cane, cachaca, coffee and also slaves. We were able to hike the original trail for a few miles. It almost felt a little like the Inca trail with the cobble stone pavement, but not quite the same. It was a great experience, with great views of the bay and harbor of Paraty, a very nice waterfall in which we took a quick bath and the exercises was also welcome. The only thing we wondered about was why they did not restore more of the trail. At the end of the cleared path the jungle started and the wide paved trail merged in to an overgrown single trail. We thought it would be actually quite cool to hike this trail all the way to Minas Gerais and camp along the way.

On our way back to Paraty we quickly decided to a beach close to Ubatuba that Volker had been to before. The drive was spectacular, great views. We had lunch there, but once the "burachudos" (really nasty biting flies) started attacking us we decided quickly to take off for the next beach in Trinidade. The village itself was packed with young people and tried really hard to be "hippie", but we did not like it too much..... too crowded anyways. Another beach close by was much more to our liking. The coast was very rocky here, huge boulders everywhere, a stream crossing the street and flowing into the bay. We climbed the rocks and just sat there watching the waves crushing in, spraying water meters high. There were quite a few surfers trying to make use of the waves, but the surf did not look too "surfable" for e and we actually did not see any body get up and on the board to ride a wave.
\n \nSoon it got dark and we went back to Paraty. A little writing in my journal while watching / listening a documentary about Osama Bin Laden on CNN ...... very unsettling!\n \nFor dinner we went again to "Punto di Vino". The place was absolutely packed, people actually waiting in line to get in. We got really lucky and got a table in no time. Delicious pizza with an awesome Chilean Camenere red wine. After a night cap at a little bar close to the hotel we went to bed early.


Soon it got dark and we went back to Paraty. A little writing in my journal while watching / listening a documentary about Osama Bin Laden on CNN ...... very unsettling!

For dinner we went again to "Punto di Vino". The place was absolutely packed, people actually waiting in line to get in. We got really lucky and got a table in no time. Delicious pizza with an awesome Chilean Camenere red wine. After a night cap at a little bar close to the hotel we went to bed early.

A view of the historic district of Paraty at night, taken from the waterfront.

Hiking up the Gold Trail .....


A stretch of the Gold Trail. Only in the early 18th century the trail was expanded and paved with cobble stone.

Action hero .... just kiddin' ......

The view of the bay and harbor of Paraty from the trail.

The emerald coast near Ubatuba.

More coastline ....

The beach close to Trinidade .... beautiful!