Thanksgiving Abroad and Finding Jesus

As a traveler, one must always be wary of the advice of other travelers. Especially when it comes to cities, because you are often given conflicting advice. Such was the case with Rio de Janiero. Some people told us to stay away because it was so expensive and just a big city. Others told us that Rio was great and we could stay there for weeks and love it to death. Alas, we decided to listen to the former group and spend less time in Rio and more time in the colonial town of Paraty. And really Paraty was great, but now we are in Rio and we love it as well. Sadly, we are really only here for 4 days and we have met a cool group of people and I want to stay longer, god dammit!!! We heard about a group called couchsurfing where you can stay with people in the respective city you are in and hang out with them and get to know them. So our first couch surfing venture was yesterday. We are staying with a Brazilian guy named Daniel and he has been such a great host.

Of course yesterday was Thanksgiving and Annette and I were a bit sad at not having a proper Thanksgiving, but our gracious host gave us full use of his kitchen and Annette put together a fantastic meal. We had roasted chicken, which apparently you can cook in a microwave (which is right up my alley), green beans, sweet potatoes, and the greatest stuffing! It was definitely a feast. So we ate with Daniel and his friend Ana, who are both such cool people. We all fell into a comfortable rhythm and ate and drank and laughed. It was quite lovely. As much as I missed Thanksgiving back home, this was the next best thing.


Annette, our couch surfing host Daniel, his (and our new) friend Ana, and me (note how my shirt is wet...I am pretty much always a mess) after Thanksgiving dinner.
The amazing food Annette cooked...stuffing, deviled eggs, green beans, and of course there is my empty wine glass.


So this morning was our 1st full day in Rio. I did not have such a great start, seeing as how my face is peeling like a banana, although not as smoothly. I look like a multi-toned monster. I am sure kids were staring at my face and crying. Nightmares are to be had. Secondly, being the scatter brain that I am, I left my Nalgene bottle in a sewing shop. Back in the states I probably lose a Nalgene bottle a month, but here there is no REI to replace it with, so I was upset. Luckily, we went back and it was there. Anyhow, after the rough start, we decided we were going to go see Christ the Redeemer, which is one of the new 7 wonders of the world, and then we were going to walk up Sugarloaf, a huge mountain with a captivating view of the city.

So we took the bus to where we were suposed to catch the train to go up to see the Christ. But we got detoured by a man who offered to take us in his taxi for only 2 dollars more and we agreed, figuring we would see more on the way up. And we would have, if not for the dense fog that decided to come along. In the Lonely Planet book we were advised to go to the statue on a clear day, and as we curved our way up the hill, I could see why. First we got to a lookout point, but all we could see was the heavy misty fog, with some buildings peeking through. Needless to say, we did not get the grandiose view of the city that was promised in our guidebook.

So we ventured to the top of the hill to get a view of the Christ statue. Now, I know finding Jesus is not supposed to be easy, but man oh man, was it hard!!! This statue is gargantuan...over 120 feet tall. But the fog was so dense (and it started raining) that it was almost impossible to make it out. Every once in a while, we would get a brief outline, but we never saw his face. Thus, my attempt at finding Jesus was once again thwarted and I am still the sinful heathen that I have always been. I thought maybe that the rain was holy and was God´s way of cleansing my sins away, but I think if it was, I would have gotten my skin seared. Instead I just got wet and got a brief glimpse of one of the 7 wonders of the world.

So after all that, we decided to save Sugarloaf for another day. We met a girl who introduced us to a fruit that grows in the Amazon, called acay, and we had it as a smoothie. It is my new favorite drink. It has all these nutritional benefits, antioxidants and all that, but I especially loved the taste. The thing is this: I looked it up online because I was curious about it and 3 ounces has over 500 calories, 32 grams of fats, and like 80 grams of carbs. Now I had a huge 16 ounce cup, which equals about 2500 calories, 160 grams of fat, and 400 grams of varbs. Then to top it off, I had another 16 ounce cup later in the evening. So just drinking acay, I had 5000 calories, 320 grams of fat, and 800 grams of carbs. AND I also ate 3 meals. So I basically had the same caloric intake that Michael Phelps has while training, but I exerted pretty much no energy throughout the day. But it is sooooo good! And I will have one (or 2) everyday until I leave Brazil. Yum!!!



This is what we saw of the statue. This is my clearest shot, but you can see all the surrounding fog. It is a bit ethereal though, ins´t it?


This is a picture I took of a postcard that is what you are actually supposed to see. Quite a contrast.

Sao Paolo and Paraty, Brazil

Well, it has been 5 days since we have been in the largest country in South America, and we will see so little of this garagantuan country. Brazil is the Hulk Hogan of South America and we are just 2 tiny beads of sweat on his body, moving along, but not getting to all the good places. But just a bit on what we have seen.

So our jaunt in Sao Paolo was short, but we had a taste, actually a nibble, of city life. We walked to Japantown, which was quite neat. There were a bunch of little Asian restaurants and shops. Although it is technically called Japantown, a lot of different Asian cultures have shops in the neighborhood. We got to buy red bean mochi and pot stickers for dinner. Yum! I was quite excited to have the pot stickers because it reminded me of dim sum, which is uber ymuuy.

Right before Japantown, we stopped at some massively important church in Sao Paolo. I don't really care much about churches, but when you are a tourist things you don't normally care or even think about in your real life somehow hold greater weight. So we went in because it was in our lonely planet book. And it was fine. At least as far as churches go. I don't really know how to evaluate churches. Mostly I am agahast at the gaudiness and frivolity, which i just don't get. It seems as if churches (and any other place of worship) should spend a lot less on interior decorating and more on giving that money to feed, clothe, and house the people begging right outside. But then again, I have never understood the politics or the grandeur of religion.

Moving on...the next day in Sao Paolo was a bit more mellow. We started off having plans to explore, but then we had to return to the hostel for something or other and then it started raining buckets so we ended up staying there for a couple of hours. Once the rain let up, we really only had a couple of hours left to sightsee until our evening plans. So really that only left us with enough time to buy our bus tickets for the next day to go to our next town. But we had a lovey night out with a couple of people we met in Sao Paolo. First there was this guy Luis who we met at the hostel. Annette and I went with him to a pub and gorged ourselves on french fries and beer. Somewhere along the way Annette got me to switch to smirnoff ice, which i still can't understand, and then the night becomes more of a blur. After a while Luis left (he turned out to be kind of a jerk) and then this girl Barbara, who we met at an internet cafe, and her girlfriend showed up and we had some drinks with them. After which, they took us to a gay dance club and i was so excited!!!! I love dancing at gay clubs!!! All the cheesy music was so great, as is being surrounded by lots of shirtless sweaty men. So much fun!!! I love that it is universal that gay men all over the world take off their shirts and rub their sweaty chests all over one another. Oh to be a gay man!!! We danced to Shania Twain, Britney Spears, and the Back Street Boys, just to name a few.



Going out with people we meet is a crap shoot. We went out with Luis, thinking he was cool, and he turned out to be a bit of a creep. But right after, we hung out with Barabara (who we met at an internet cafe) and her girlfriend. And we had a blast, even though they spoke no English, and we speak no Portuguese. But what an adventure!!!

As with any great fun night out, we paid for it the next day. For some reason it seems that every night that Annette and i have a big night out, we have to travel the next day. T his time was no exception. We had to check out of our hostel by 10 am the next day, which was no easy feat, considering that we went to sleep at 5 am. Then we were on a 6 hour bus ride to Paraty, which was a Portugues colonial town, where the Portuguese came on holiday way back when. The magical thing about Paraty is that it has over 300 beaches and 70 islands around it, so of course we were looking forward to having some relaxing beach time and bronzing our skin. And we are still looking forward to this time because as soon as the bus pulled in, it was raining. That was yesterday. We heard that the mornings were clearer and the rain comes mostly in the afternoon, so this morning we took a bus about 40 minutes away to the town of Trindade which is supposed to have one of the most incredible beaches in the area. We got there and it was beautiful, but alas, the sun did not want to visit the town today. We sat on the beach for about an hour before we had to give up on getting any sun. So we walked around the small town of Trindade for a bit and decided to come back to Paraty. Walking around Paraty is so beautiful, with its cobblestone streets and colorful buildings. You can definitely see the colonial influences in town. And we had a lovely 15 minute stroll before the rain decided to grace us with its presence again. So we hung out in a cafe with a lovely Irish girl we met on our journey. It is destined to rain for the rest of our time here, but maybe we will get at least 15 minues of sun. But there is something about being trapped in the rain in another country. It is way more excitng than being trapped in the rain at home. Funny how that works.

This is our beach day. Although we did not imagine this would be how we would get wet, we did get a cooling bath from the rain.
There are cute little boats all around Paraty to take tourists to the surrounding islands and beaches.

Leaving Argentina: Last Stop Iguazu Falls

a butterfly landed on me at the falls!!! it was so cool because it stayed on me for at least 5 minutes!

a brief glimpse of our resorty hostel in puerto iguazu

We are no longer in Argentina, we have now ventured into Brazil. Our final stop was Iguazu Falls in the northwest of Argentina, about 30 minutes away from the Brazilian border. Puerto Iguazu is the small town where we stayed; its most important attraction being the falls. We stayed at the nicest hostel that I have ever stayed in . It had a huge pool and felt more like a nice resort. Only downside was that the average age was 19 (although we may have raised it to 21) and it felt very fratty.

The 1st night we were there Annette and I both fell asleep at 6 pm (we´re old), thinking we would wake up in an hour, but ended up sleeping until 9 pm, eating almonds and crackers (instead of making the salad we had planned) and then going back to sleep (we´re old). Although I did have a hard time falling back asleep, I made no effort to get up and join the world of the living, to which I presumed included lots of beer bongs and chug fests (I actually did hear a group of british boys shouting chug!chug!) (i´m old). So instead I laid in bed, listened to This American Life (the best show ever!) and read until 3 a.m. I was finally able to fall asleep, only to be awakened by 2 girls coming into the hostel and another girl who was already asleep yelling at them to turn out the light. Hostel drama! Finally I was able to fall back alseep, only to be awakened, covered in drool, by Annette at 7:45 to go to the falls.

So, the falls. From other South America travelers, I heard so much about these falls and how gloriously amazing they were, so i was definitely looking forward to seeing them. Our Lonely Planet book said something about how the negative ions from the falls led to giddiness and laughter. Who wouldn´t want that? So I lumbered along waiting for the the grand beauty that was to be bestowed upon me. Now I know that I am setting this up as to seem as if the falls weren´t beautiful, but they were. Although, I was a bit disappointed upon arrival for the following reasons:

1. We had to wait in a long line to get in, which wouldn´t be so bad, if not for the fact that there was a group of German tourists all up in our personal space.

2. I had the idea that we would be hiking along through the jungle to get to these falls and was expecting a nice day in nature. Instead, I was distraught to discover that we were at an equivalent of a theme park with huge paved roads and little gift shops and food places all about. We also had to stand in line that wrapped around like roller coaster rides do. Annette brought up the point that this existed so all people could have access to such a marvelous part of nature. And I am not so cold-hearted that I would not want people of all ages and abilities to see these falls, but the grandeur to which the park was designed left me bereft. There are ways that paths and handicapped accessible ramps could have been placed in the park without going so overboard. It was just a little bit too much.

Regardless, after my initial wallowing in the way that man is destroying almost everything that nature has to offer, i opened my heart and mind to the negative ions, which I hoped would cancel out the negativity that I was feeling...and they did, kind of. I definitely did not join the land of the giddy, but i was mesmerized by the awesome beauty of the falls. There were just so many and they were so massive. The biggest one was called la garganta del diablo (the devil`s throat) and the rushing speed took my breath away, literally. I got splashed so forcefully that it was hard for me to breathe. So we had a lovely day walking around, seeing and snapping pictures of the falls, and overall that was nice. We were going to visit the falls the next day from the brazilian side, but we decided just to go straight through to Sao Paolo. People say it is cool to see the falls from both sides of the border, but the fact is that you can see more from the Argentine side and I really had no desire to go and stare at them again from another side, with the same tourists, on the same paved roads. It would have been a completely different thing if it was a nice hike, but I preferred choosing to avoid the circus of tourists.

The devil´s throat waterfall

More waterfalls...they really were pretty incredible

So we ended up taking a 16 hour bus ride from Puerto Iguazu to Sao Paolo. We got here this morning at 6 am and took a cab to our hostel. Of course we were tired and out of sorts, so of course the cab driver got lost and we had to pay an exorbinant amount of money to be lost with him. Finally, we found the hostel, only to discover that they had one space left. The way I was feeling, I almost took that one space, and sent Annette off packing. But then reality got the better of me and I realized if I did this, not only would I be a hroorible friend, but also I would have no one to prepare my meals. So we ended up taking the subway with our massive packs (even more massive due to the fact that the day before we had to spend our Argentinian pesos so we decided to buy all our groceries for the week, which added another 10 pounds to each of our packs) and then took another taxi to the next hostel, which did in fact have room. Annette and I are in a tiny room and we are cuddle buddies in a large bed. As soon as we got there, it was night-night for us both. We had planned to wake up at 1030 am to start the day, but after the morning´s blunders, we slept until 230 in the afternoon. We had a bit of a walk around the neighborhood, had some follies with the language at the internet cafe, and will return to our hostel to have a nice meal of pasta and then head off to bed. There is not too much to do here today because it is a national holiday, black consciousness, which Iassume is similar to black history celebration in the US. We will be here for a couple of days then we will book it on out to Paraty and spend some time on the beach (yay!!!).

It is crazy to think that we have only 10 more days in south america, then we are off to our next continents...Northern Africa, then Europe. I am excited because my friend Alyson will be meeting us in Morocco and then we will meet up with Jenny in Egypt. Yay friends!!! Speaking of which, I hope this blog finds all of you doing well and enjoying the precariousness of life. xoxo

buenos aires...the city of massive steaks and summer in november!

            about to rip into one of the largest steaks that has ever crossed my path...
some of the most delicious sides that accompanied the yummy steak at the restaurant La Cabrera
the anti-bush sentiment has been pretty rampant all over south america, but this is one of my favorite graffiti pieces...
bartolomeo mitre, who was one of argentina's presidents, is buried in this tomb...isn't it massive?
this is the tomb where evita and juan peron are buried...most people come to see evita...she was only 33 years old when she died!
this is a "street" with tombs/graves all down it...the recoleta cemetery was massive...

it is hot here...super duper hot...and our godforsaken hostel does not have any windows so all night i toss and turn and marinate in my own sweat...yum...but that is my only complaint. when outside, i love the weather...when i am inside i want to scream...

buenos aires is a beautiful big city...we have been able to see a lot, but also relax a lot...yesterday we spènt the entire day in 2 cafes in the neighborhood of palermo soho (seriously that is what it is called and it is the chic, boutiquey neighborhood of BA) and worked on Annette´s ipod...it was nice to just sit and be reminded of the comforts of home...then afterwards we had a super nice dinner (despite our grungy attire) where we were served some amazing food, including the most ginormous steak ever in the history of the world...it reminded me of the scene from the movie Great Outdoors where John Candy has to eat a 96 ounce steak...i felt like it was really that massive...but it was unbelievably delicious. maybe the best steak i have ever had in my life. it also came with all these sauces that were to die for and sides...warm apple sauce, mashed potatoes, tomatoes stewed, roasted garlic, marinated onions...i am drooling just thinking about it. sadly, i cannot button my shorts today, but it was definitely worth it...

the day before we went to the recoleta cemetery where all the rich and important people of BA are buried and we saw Eva Peron´s grave. i was a bit astounded by the massive nature of the graves. in fact, they weren´t graves, they were tombs...entire families of 60 to 200 people could potentially be buried there. some of these tombs were bigger than my apartment in NY. it was pretty creepy being around all these tombs and being able to look in and see the coffins, knowing that there were dead bodies right inside them...my morbid curiosity wanted to open some of the coffins (of the tombs that were broken into) and open them... but better sense and annette's threats stopped me... the crazy thing was that some of the tombs had been broken into and some of the older tombs that had been around since the late 1800s were now being used as storage spaces. seriously, i saw that one of the tombs contained cleaning supplies, a cat litter box, and paint in it. that was a bit disrespectful, i thought, even though i am sure the dead for over a hundred year bodies didn´t mind so much.

whales, penguins, and hostel friends

we went whale watching in a small town called puerto piramides, on the peninsula valdez... this peninsula is a UNESCO protected sight and is a great place to see all kinds of animals, including penguins, elephant seals, right whales, sea lions, ostriches, llamas, jack rabbits, and even orca whales.  december through april orca whales beach themselves at punt norte in an attempt to feed on elephant seals.  sadly, we did not see any orcas, but they do come...apparently punta norte is one of 2 places in the world (the other being madagascar) where orca whales come to beach themselves)
on the boat with a whale coming quite close... there were even points when the whales went underneath our boat to come through the other sides...the sounds they made were quite haunting (in a good way)...

next to a penguin at punta tombo, which is a place on the peninsula valdez, where penguins are protected.  you can get right next to the penguins, which is so cool...the penguins are waiting for eggs to hatch so we saw a lot of them laying on their eggs...any day now the eggs will hatch...we missed seeing the baby penguins by days...

here are 2 super cute (and a bit chunky) penguins laying down, protecting their eggs...watching them waddle was so cute...it is crazy how trusting they are... but i guess that is what happens when animals are so protected... they become quite socialized...

a penguin strutting his stuff...

one of the great things about traveling and staying at dumpy hostels is all the cool people you get to meet... we met these 2 guys, kareem and ryan, from canada in el calafate.  they are the male versions of annette and me.  ryan is a riot... he has an obscene amount of energy and absolutely no inhibitions...he can talk to anyone about anything, even though he does not speak a word of spanish... he was the energy (annette) part of the duo.  then there was kareem, who was a bit more subdued, but funny as well... he loved to laugh at all of ryan's antics... his mellow, yet fun-loving, nature reminded me more of myself... they were quite fun to hang out with...

here is canadian ryan again... probably the funniest guy that i have ever met and definitely my favorite person that i have met on this trip... we got to spend more time with him, because his pal kareem went to antarctica  (wow!), but ryan took the 20 hour bus ride with us to puerto madryn where he explored the peninsula with us (we rented a car for 2 days, so we had a bit more freedom than being on a structured tour)...i laughed almost the entire time...when we weren't laughing we were playing name that tune, of which he is the champion... this was definitely the height of my hostel friends experience... sometimes you meet people that you can hang out with for a night, but you never think about again... but other times you meet someone who is just so great, that you know you will see them again... and he is definitely one of those guys...yay!!!

fudge...it´s cold!!! (ushuaia and glacier perito moreno)

on glacier perito moreno...i look like a snowman, wearing many layers, and a harness (which was quite snug), as well as the godforsaken cramp-ons. these are just some of the beautiful images i got to take in while walking on the glacier. on some parts of the glacier, there were little lakes that formed when the ice melted. the water was so blue because of the reflection of the sky, enhanced by the air bubbles being trapped and compressed underneath the ice. it was a blue that was quite shocking.

this is the glacier that we walked on from a distance...i still can´t get over that i actually walked on a glacier!!!

so after the whole losing annette mishap, we began our adventures in ushuaia. it is so far south in argentina, so it was quite cold. i am not a lover of the cold, but the beauty was enough to keep me happy. so, first, ushuaia...as i mentioned in a previous posting, ushuaia is the southern most city in the world. it is right at the tip of argentina. we were going to bus it down, but it would have taken us something like 60 something hours, so we flew down, which was about a 4 hour flight.

ushuaia is a quaint little town, that definitely caters to older tourists who stop here on their way to antartica...those who are spending about 12, 000 USD to go on a boat to Antartica...a little bit outside my budget...But it was beautiful. We stayed at a hostel that had heated floors, which was my favorite little luxury. While we were there, we hiked up to Glacier Martial, which is a wee little glacier, but I had never seen a glacier before and the hike was beautiful. There was a running river on one side and we were in a little forest, so it was lush and green. The crazy thing about Patagonia is that they say you can go through all 4 seasons in one hour and we definitely experienced that on our hike. when we started in ushuaia it was sunny and a little windy (spring). then as we started hiking, it got colder and windier and began to rain a bit (fall)...then as we got to the top of the glacier, it started snowing (winter) and then as we came down into ushuaia it was warm and sunny (summer)...there was a section on the way up to glacier martial where i had to walk on snow, which is not pretty. for some reason i am terrified of walking on snowy or icy surfaces, especially at an incline. so as i was walking up, i was bent over and crouching low to the ground, trying to grasp on for dear life, even though there was nothing to grasp on to. i looked like a beaten down waddling duck, but i made it.

after spending a few relaxing days in ushuaia, we flew to el calafate, which is a town in central patagonia, known for the most stable glacier in the world, Glacier Perito Moreno. It is ginormous!!! We had a chance to walk on it (despite my incessant fears) for about 3 hours. I felt as if I was in an another world, almost like I was in a sci-fi movie with all the jagged peaks and the whites and crystal blues. i loved the scenery, but i really hated walking on the glacier. we had to put on cramp-ons so we wouldn´t slip on the ice and i swear i thought that every step would be my death. an unrealistic fear, but a fear nonetheless. as we were walking on the glacier, there were times you could see through the ice and i was sure that the ice would crack and that would be it, despite the fact that the glacier is frozen to over 1000 meters deep. plus walking on cramp ons is pretty hard because every step you take, your feet go into the ice to grasp and you have to pull them back out. i just felt very unstable and looked pretty ridiculous. i think i would have been much more appreciative if the walk was a bit shorter because i was just so tired and scared that i kind of stopped paying attentioin to the captivating beauty and just focused on staring at the ground and imagining the end. towards ther end i actually put on my ipod so i could power through and just finish.

my quads have been sore for a few days, but i know that in a week when i look back on this experience, i will think it was pretty damn amazing.