driving in south america

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Rio I think I love you

September 8, 2009 in Brazil by kels | 5 comments

Rio is intoxicating. The vibrancy of the city, the diversity of the people and the laid-back feeling have created a delicious energy that sinks into your veins making you crave more. Its addictive quality has me seriously thinking about how we can spend more time there again… soon.

John and Nina, of the fabulous Rio Dolphin Inn, made us feel at home in their cozy bed and breakfast. Not only do they run a great inn but they are both passionate about Rio and have tonnes of tips and ideas on what to do when you visit.

We took 5 days to explore some of what the city has to offer…really you could spend at least a month, perhaps a lifetime exploring Rio but here are a few of our highlights:

Hanging with the beautiful people on Ipanema
Ipanema is where it is at for sun-worshippers.

Break out your umbrella, grab a coconut water, your itty bittiest bikini (or teeny weeny shorts for the men) and settle in for some serious people watching (my fave activity anywhere). Or, for the more active, jog along the boardwalk, play beach volleyball or surf. This is winter in Rio… it’s a rough life.

Visiting a Samba School
Carnaval is months away but for those involved behind the scenes it actually starts about 8 months earlier. One of the first things that a samba school needs to do is choose a song for the upcoming Carnaval. Songwriters have a chance to submit original works of music to their school. The songs are then performed and a long process of choosing “the” song begins. We went down to one of the biggest samba schools in Rio for their first night of song selection. Being typical westerners we arrived around 11pm but the party didn’t really begin until 1am. Insanely loud music, sassy samba dancers competing like preening peacocks and loads of drinking kept that party going all night long.

Samba school gets ready for Carnaval from Kels M on Vimeo.

Checking out the madness at Selaron’s steps
“The Great Madness”, 215 ever-changing tiled steps, is Chilean artist Selaron’s life’s work. Starting in 1990, he began to tile the steps in Brazil’s national colours as a tribute to the country’s people. He kept on even when he couldn’t pay rent or utilities and now, 20 years since he started, numerous photoshoots, magazine interviews and thousands of tiles later Selaron is still working on his masterpiece. Tiles have been sent from all over the world and you can find one from just about every country. We stopped by for a look and found Selaron hanging out on his steps, not much of a talker he did agree to have a photo taken with us. He has said, “This crazy and unique dream will only end on the day of my death” and so he can usually be found working most days exchanging old tiles for new.

Partying with the locals in Lapa
On Friday nights the place to party is the Lapa district, close to the Rio’s old aqueducts. Our taxi left us there around 10:30pm and the streets were packed with hundreds of people, all waiting for the night to begin. After buying $2 caipirinhas from a street vendor we heard the seductive pounding beat of drums and headed over to investigate.

A full bateria (the drum section, the beat behind the samba) was playing on the street, and they had everyone moving to the groove, before long the group turned and marched into a club with the lively crowd following. Not wanting to miss out we joined them and busted some dance moves of our own though we were definitely put to shame by the Brazilians who seem born with an innate ability to move well. We finished the evening off with maracuja (passionfruit) caipirinhas at a small club listening to sultry bossa nova .

Partying in Lapa from Kels M on Vimeo.

Seeing the classic “Rio” view from the Sugar Loaf
High at the top of the Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf) you can enjoy a drink and check out the view of Rio de Janeiro and the Christ statue. Built in 1912 and rebuilt in the early 70s the cable car takes visitors high above the city. The awesome view is so iconic it is definitely a must-see.

Bless you and your little car too!

August 12, 2009 in Bolivia by kels | 11 comments

On the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca, in the town of Copacabana (nope not that one), resides La Virgen de Copacabana who provides blessing and protection to vehicles. If your car is in need of blessing this is the place to get it done.

The Benedicion de Movilidades (Blessing of vehicles) takes places twice everyday, once in the morning and again in the afternoon. Thinking that it would be crazy to pass up the opportunity to have Marlin blessed by a priest of the church of the Virgen who protects cars, we rolled up on a Saturday morning eager to take part.

How to get your car blessed:

Pull up in front of the church, park where the attendant tells you to.
Hire car washer. Cost: 10 Bolivianos ($1.50 USD)
Buy your blessing ticket in the church. Cost: 10 Bolivianos ($1.50 USD)
Head to the stalls in front of the church to purchase the decorations for your car. You can mix and match but a completa (a complete set which includes an arrangement of fresh flowers for the front of the car, two bouquets for the side mirrors, and a garland). Cost: 20 Bolivianos (under $3USD)
Don’t forget to buy a bag of flower petals and fireworks and some drinks for after the blessing. Cost: 15 Bolivianos ($2.25 USD)
Wait for the priest.
Once the priest has blessed your car, the village women to come around and give the car a second blessing this time to the pagan gods. Cost: 10 Bolivianos ($1.50)
Light the fireworks, throw some petals and have a drink.

Total Cost: $9.75 USD for one heavenly blessed vehicle.

Car Blessing in Copacabana from Kels M on Vimeo.

Ironically enough we experienced our first car incident three hours later in La Paz. Nothing major just a minor scrape.
Cost: 20 Bolivianos ($3 USD).

Trekking to Machu Picchu

August 6, 2009 in Peru by kels | 2 comments

Dragging ourselves out the hotel door at 6am we clambered, sleepily, onto the van waiting to take us to the start of 3 day/4 night Lares trek. The Lares Trek is an alternative route to the famous and insanely crowded Inca Trail. Hearing good things from a couple we met in Quito we thought it sounded about our speed: between 3 to 6 hours of hiking a day, all meals included, the highest pass was 4400m above sea level and we only had to carry our daypacks. Wanting to do out best to promote sustainable and fair tourism we looked around at a few tour companies and settled on Qente, a long-standing tour operator in Cusco.

We weren’t disappointed.

Craggy hills and low-lying clouds marked our ascent into the Andean highlands. Our tour guide, Kari, introduced us to the native plants, explaining how the land is farmed as well as sharing an encyclopaedic knowledge of Inca history and mythology. Dedicated to her job and intuitively aware of the trek and it’s impact on the locals Kari encouraged us to buy a big bag of bread explaining that bread is like cake to the highland kids. Unused to sugar the bread is less harsh on their teeth than packaged treats, and with the lack of dental care, fresh bread is the best option. Personally I am still unsure about foreigners offering treats to the local kids as I think it encourages begging and the expectation that foreigners will always have something to give. However when little kids started popping out behind rocks bellowing “GRINGOS!” and running down hills to meet us along our hike it was pretty nice to have something suitable for them.

We spent two nights camping, our first site at 3800m above sea level and the other at 4200m. My god, was it ever cold. So cold that I think all of us had every imaginable layer of clothing on. So cold that were dreaming of hot showers, extra blankets and those long johns we didn’t buy. Bed was right after dinner as the sun had long since disappeared taking the heat with it. Curling up in our sleeping bags we waited, through bouts of icy sleep, for morning and the warm rays of the sun.

Lucky for us our last night was spent in a lux hotel in Aguas Calientes, complete with hot shower, before heading to Machu Picchu. We rose the last day at 4am to get in line for the bus by 4:45am with hopes of getting a fairly exclusive ticket to climb the mountain directly across from Machu Picchu. Only 400 people per day are allowed to climb Huayna Picchu, where you can see the ruins from a bird’s eye view. Stunned by the amount of tourists ahead of us we anxiously got on our bus and prepared ourselves to run to the ticket booth as soon as we got into the grounds. Tickets and passports checked we followed Kari as she expertly wound her way through the ruins to the ticket booth. Coming in at numbers 385 and 386 we made it by the skin of our teeth. Word to the wise, if you want to climb Huayna Picchu and if you are going to get up at 4am anyway you might as well get to the Machu Picchu bus line-up at 4:20am

Machu Picchu is truly amazing. However by about 1pm the ruins are swarming with tourists, taking away a little of the specialness and making clean photo ops few and far between. But it was quite a sight from Huayna Picchu and we were left uncertain about what this place really was… a city, a refuge, a place of chosen women? It’s secretive location and lack of definitive explanation makes Machu Picchu a very mysterious, albeit heavily touristed, locale indeed.

Actually it’s Ecuadorian…

July 16, 2009 in ecuador by kels | 3 comments

After the disappointingly flat coastline, Cuenca was a pleasant surprise and we settled in at Posada Todos Santos, home to South America’s best hot shower (according to Joydrive!).

We wandered the cute streets and came across more than a few Panama Hat shops. I know…isn’t the Panama Hat from Panama?

Actually, the Panama Hat is and has always been from Ecuador. Here it is known as a sombrero de paja toquilla to Ecuadorians. This rather large misnomer all started back in the 1800s when the Spanish realized the exceptional quality of these hats and started exporting them via Panama. Then, in the early 19th century the workers on the Panama Canal started to use the same hats as protection from the powerful sun and, lo and behold, the hat quickly became known as the “Panama Hat”.

The Panama Hat can take anywhere from a week to three months to make depending on the quality. Hats are graded into four categories depending on their weave: standard, superior, fino (fine) and superfino (superfine). You can buy a standard hat between $10 to $15USD but if you are in the market for a superfino expect to pay upwards of $400 USD. The best quality hats can hold water and be rolled up to fit through a man’s wedding ring, bouncing back to their original shape!

Even cooler, the locals get their hats cleaned and repaired at shops around the city and seeing walls of white hats, each with a name tag attached, it was easy to see how important the Panama Hat is to the Ecuadorian community.