Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires - the city of tango, mate tea and all night partying was definitely a memorable one. Yes the architecture and greenery of the city is beautiful and very European, but really makes BA a must-see city is the culture of non-stop, all hours drinking, eating, socialising and dancing. We really don't know how they manage to eat and party so late and then function at work the following day!

We stayed in an apartment style B&B in the Palermo district which was a little like the Surry Hills equivilant - leafy streets, endless cafes and restaurants and boutique shopping. It was there that we enjoyed late breakfasts chatting with our roomies and the staff. You know you're on holidays when you need to set your alarm for 10.45 to make breakfast which ends at 11 : )

Some pics from our day at the Japanese Gardens & Zoo

Cafe Tortoni - BA's most famous cafe, serving up caffeine hits since 1858

Brightly coloured buildings in the La Boca district

Elise lapping up the antiques at the San Telmo Sunday market

 

Day at Tigre - riverside town where the locals spend their weekends to get away from the city

Buenos Aires is famous for two of it's football teams - Boca Juniors and River Plate, which have some of the most loyal and crazy fans in the world. We were lucky enough to see River Plate play against Velez one night, buying some tickets from a scalper who tried to screw us over on the price. This is where our Spanish comes in handy. Conversation went a little like this:

E&B: How much for 2?

Scalper: $200 pesos

E&B: No way, $100

Scalper: OK

Price halved within 2 seconds.

 

The game was AMAZING! Never have we seen such die-hard football fans before. They are so passionate that security needs to completely segregate both teams - providing different, secured entrances, barbed wire fences around the opposition and an entire section between the two teams empty so that nothing can be thrown at each other. It was quite hilarious for a regular season game!

It was also interesting to take in some tango in a milonga (tango salon) where we saw some amateurs and professionals dance while we enjoyed wine and empanadas with a Canadian/Australian couple from our B&B.

It's not often that a cemetery is a 'must-see' on our list, but after rave reviews online and from our friends in the B&B we decided to take a look. The cemetery is 'home' to some of the most important people in Argentina including Evita and it is so huge and elaborate that there are even street names and a map!

The one thing that made our stay so memorable was our friends in BA. Elise's friend from home, Kerry, made a surprise earlier than expected visit with her fiance while we were having breakfast and we enjoyed having some nights out drinking and eating with familiar faces! We also came to become friends with the staff and other guests where we were staying.

Our friend Juan (who we met in Mexico) and his circle of friends were unbelievably hospitable and went out of their way to make our stay as enjoyable and authentic as possible, showing us some out of the way sites and inviting us into their homes. We particularly loved a night with Juan and his semi-girlfriend Manuela (the Argentinians have turbulent relationships) to see a modern rock-style tango band play. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yUEQ5qREt0.

Ben enjoyed having some nights out with the boys and managed to get 6 hours sleep within a 48 hour period before we headed off for Ushuaia.

Rio (Part 2)

Part 2, onto the incredible part.

We partied with the locals at the Sambadrome during a rehearsal of 2 of the Samba schools…

But NOTHING could prepare us for the spectacle that is the world’s biggest and most extravagant parade. We’ll let the photos do most of the talking but words and photos can’t describe the energy that was in that Sambadrome. The Brazilians take Samba very seriously and support one of the competing schools during the event, singing the school song and dancing all night long. 

The costumes and floats were stunning. It’s amazing how much work and energy goes into the preparations – millions of dollars, an entire year of practice, hours and hours of hand sewing all of those sequins. WOW.

This event is ALL night long i.e. we arrived at 5pm and the last school finished parading at 7am the next morning!!!!! After leaving the event, we staggered into our hotel just in time for buffet breakfast : )

Now for the photos... Ben did an AMAZING job as the night's photographer considering where we were sitting and only using a pocket camera!

 Rocking out in our mini pimp hats

Special guest appearances from Ronaldinho & Gisele!

Holding up OK 14 hours later as the sun came up...

Rio (Part 1)

We spent 2 weeks in Rio and have a fair amount to write... forgive us for the long post!

When we first arrived in Ipanema, we were completely surprised by how clean and safe the streets were. Walking around in most districts day or night was no problem at all.  The city is surrounded by gorgeous mountains and possesses a coastline of beautiful white sand beaches. Even the favelas which are visible throughout the city add to its character. This combination gives Rio a stunningly distinct look.

The entire city was buzzing leading up to Carnaval and we were happy to have arrived before all of the other gringos joined the party to get an idea of what Rio is really like. It was great to have some time to relax on the beach before the crazyness took over!

In the lead up and during Carnaval, hundreds of unofficial blocos (street parties) began, some of which attacted crowds of 100,000 people!! Despite the crowds, heat and free flowing alcohol, party-goers were strangly well behaved with no drunken brawls, smashing of public property etc. The most rowdy thing we saw was a guy using a public phone as a drum!

 

Selecting our Carnaval accessories

 Aside from partying, another thing the Brazilians do well is play football! We were truly lucky to be able to watch a final between Rio's most loved team (Flamengo) and Boa Vista. Flamengo won thanks to an incredible winning goal by newly signed Ronaldinho. The fanatical fans and attacking style of play made for a really entertaining match (which sure leaves our A-League for dead!)

 

A couple of days later, we visited the team's clubhouse for a press conference to see the new shirts being released. Ok, the truth is we didn't really care about the new shirts, but thought we might get a chance to see Ronaldinho! Although he was a no show, a few other players were there and it was interesting (at least for Ben).

 

 We visited the Rio must-dos on our trip (Christ the Redeemer statue, Sugarloaf Mountain and Santa Teresa district) but were plagued by terrible weather. We had to laugh at our fortunes when we finally made it to the top of the mountain to only be able to see Christ's feet. I guess it was punishment for not going to church in a very long time : )

One of the more interesting landmarks in Rio is a famous staircase (thanks to various music videos) in the suburb of Lapa which has been completely tiled by a crazy artist called Selaron. He has been working on his 'project' since 1990 and spends all day working on his art. We met the man himself while he was sitting on the steps (he is a complete nut, but a friendly one!) and he signed one of his paintings that we purchased.

 Rio is a city of contasts in many ways, there are SUPER rich Brazilians living in areas like Ipanema and Leblon in a little bubble with their fancy shopping centres, expensive gyms and restaurants. On the opposite end of the spectrum are people of the favelas (something like 20% of the population live in these areas) where it's like you're in a completely different city altogether. We were initially a little unsure about doing an organised Favela Tour but ended up finding one that promised not to treat the people who live there like some kind of spectacle so we decided to give it a go. It was interesting to see that the favelas are really improving in living standards with the government starting to flush out gangs across the city leading up to the Olympics and World Cup.

Ilha Grande & Paraty

Jeez, yeah OK we have been massive slackers with the blog posts. It's all seemed a little overwhelming because we have sooooooooo many photos to get through but hopefully we'll be up to date in the next week or so!

After a disastrous transfer from the airport which involved waiting over 4 hours for our pick-up, we literally just made the last ferry from the mainland to an island around 2 hours south of Rio, Ilha Grande. Although super touristy in many aspects, there were areas of the island that were just spectacular including Lopez Mendes Beach. A 1 hour boat trip and then 20 min hike from the main port, Lopez Mendes is that perfect beach you think of while you're sitting at your desk daydreaming about an escape from work! White sand, the clearest turquoise water, jungle surroundings, barely any people and nice waves too! Ben was able to put his new-found surfing skills into practice while Elise caught some sun (after throwing in the towel following many embarrassing missed waves).

After a few days on the island we headed for the mainland to a colonial, beachside town called Paraty. It was way too humid to do too much sightseeing in town so we opted to spend a day on a schooner boat island-hopping, swimming & dozing. Being a Monday, the boat was pretty empty so there was plenty of space to lie down and enjoy siestas in between the different stops. It was the most perfect day with warm, clear waters, blue sky, good food & company.