Brasil was all about Carnival. That was the main reason for me to go there in February. And to see Rio and the mighty Amazon of course. And that's where my tour started.
The border to Colombia was just a little road block, so I walked over from Leticia in Colombia to Tabatinga in Brasil to get my passport stamped and to find a boat going down the Amazon to Manaus. I ran into a friendly old man who drove me around with his little motor bike. He showed me the harbour, bought the ticket with me, got my bags from Colombia into Brasil, showed me around town, where the best restaurants are and next morning he drove me to the boat at 5am in the morning.
The actual boat ride down to Manaus for 1100km was boring but the Amazon itself is not. I saw some special places with Piranhas and the typical jungle animals, the meeting of a black and a white river stream that doesn't mix into each other because of temperature, speed and density. The rivers flow for a few kilometers side by side which is a weird phenomenon. After this looong time on the boat I got to this surprisingly huge city in the middle of the jungle, Manaus. Could enjoy the pre-Carnival celebrations in the streets and got an idea of what awaits me in Salvador.
Apart from that Manaus is not very nice, only the trips to the little side streams are very interesting.
I flew from there via Brasilia to Salvador where the big party should start. I met Gavin (Australia, met in Utila) who booked the hostel and all his Australian friends and then we got prepared for an extraordinary event. The first night out already turned into an 8h dancing and drinking marathon and the next days would continue like that. Well we visited as well the old town and a few beaches out of town for a change what was nice. The Carnival in Salvador had three circuits, each had "bloccos" that consists of trucks with loud music and people moving/dancing down the street and every circuit had different music styles. We saw the traditional show in the old town one night, the rest we spent at the beach circuit following the trucks with the best music. For Tuesday we got shirts to actually be part of the parade and to walk with one of the "bloccos". It was another 8h party pack. It was just incredible and so much fun! After four days of dancing my shoes gave up, I glued them so they kept going till I was back from the 6th night and then they were done. What an experience!
From there I went to Rio, next big highlight. The famous Rio de Janeiro with Christ overlooking everything. It was impressive, too. Saw the beautiful people at the Copacabana beach, went up the Corcovado to say hello to Mr. Christ and to enjoy the incredible views, visited the sugar loaf, followed the artists in Santa Theresa, had drinks at Ipanema beach and bicycled around the lagoon. If there wasn't that heat, it would be a nice place to live.
After party and sugar loaf I continued traveling with my new big brothers Gavin and Rodney (Aus) to the Iguazu falls. On the Brasilian side we got a nice overview of how massive the falls are and planned the next day to check it out closer on the Argentinian side.
But before I left expensive Brasil, we went shopping across the border in Paraguay. Cheap electronics paradise. Shopped for a bit and then looked forward to a nice steak and red wine in Argentina!
The border to Colombia was just a little road block, so I walked over from Leticia in Colombia to Tabatinga in Brasil to get my passport stamped and to find a boat going down the Amazon to Manaus. I ran into a friendly old man who drove me around with his little motor bike. He showed me the harbour, bought the ticket with me, got my bags from Colombia into Brasil, showed me around town, where the best restaurants are and next morning he drove me to the boat at 5am in the morning.The actual boat ride down to Manaus for 1100km was boring but the Amazon itself is not. I saw some special places with Piranhas and the typical jungle animals, the meeting of a black and a white river stream that doesn't mix into each other because of temperature, speed and density. The rivers flow for a few kilometers side by side which is a weird phenomenon. After this looong time on the boat I got to this surprisingly huge city in the middle of the jungle, Manaus. Could enjoy the pre-Carnival celebrations in the streets and got an idea of what awaits me in Salvador.
Apart from that Manaus is not very nice, only the trips to the little side streams are very interesting.
I flew from there via Brasilia to Salvador where the big party should start. I met Gavin (Australia, met in Utila) who booked the hostel and all his Australian friends and then we got prepared for an extraordinary event. The first night out already turned into an 8h dancing and drinking marathon and the next days would continue like that. Well we visited as well the old town and a few beaches out of town for a change what was nice. The Carnival in Salvador had three circuits, each had "bloccos" that consists of trucks with loud music and people moving/dancing down the street and every circuit had different music styles. We saw the traditional show in the old town one night, the rest we spent at the beach circuit following the trucks with the best music. For Tuesday we got shirts to actually be part of the parade and to walk with one of the "bloccos". It was another 8h party pack. It was just incredible and so much fun! After four days of dancing my shoes gave up, I glued them so they kept going till I was back from the 6th night and then they were done. What an experience!
From there I went to Rio, next big highlight. The famous Rio de Janeiro with Christ overlooking everything. It was impressive, too. Saw the beautiful people at the Copacabana beach, went up the Corcovado to say hello to Mr. Christ and to enjoy the incredible views, visited the sugar loaf, followed the artists in Santa Theresa, had drinks at Ipanema beach and bicycled around the lagoon. If there wasn't that heat, it would be a nice place to live.
After party and sugar loaf I continued traveling with my new big brothers Gavin and Rodney (Aus) to the Iguazu falls. On the Brasilian side we got a nice overview of how massive the falls are and planned the next day to check it out closer on the Argentinian side.
But before I left expensive Brasil, we went shopping across the border in Paraguay. Cheap electronics paradise. Shopped for a bit and then looked forward to a nice steak and red wine in Argentina!
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