Fred's world tour week 4 - Rio to Paraguay

Fred's world tour

Week 4 – Rio de Janeiro to Paraguay

20^th until 26^th of October 2012

In brief:

1. Run and workout one last time at the beach gym overlooking the Sugar loaf mountain.
2. Go to a real Samba school and see a carnival demonstration and party with them after.
3. Bump into Alistair Brownlee Team GB's 2012 Olympic gold triathlon champion on my run around the Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Ipanema.
4. Sip Caipirinhas on Ipanema beach on a gloriously sunny day with a great group of friends.
5. See the enormous waterfalls of Iguazu.
6. Walk through the second biggest hydroelectric damn in the world.
7. Wonder through the ruins of Jesuit missions in Paraguay.

Time flies when you are having fun and I can't believe I’ve only got two more days left in Rio. With the late, caipirinha-fulled Friday night with Jose and some other friends it took time for us to get going. It was overcast so beach was not really on the cards. I took the opportunity to go for another run along the beach and use the outdoor gym. Its really hard to resist this amazingly scenic place to do sport. 

Then that evening we sampled the delights of a restaurant that you pay per kilo of food you put on your plate. Its set out like a buffet with a variety of traditional food and then at the end your plate is weighed. You are given a receipt, you take it to the till at the end of your meal. Its very common to find these here and they are great because you can try lots of different foods and only pay for what you want to eat. To start the night we headed to Tijuca samba school to the north of the centre where they were having demonstrations from their best samba dancers in typical outfits as a 'warm up' to carnival I suppose. It also works as a fund-raiser for the school because you pay to get in. There's food, drink and a great party atmosphere not to mention the traditional Brazilian spectacle. With no other foreigner in sight its moments like this when its amazing to have a local who can show you round some places not in the guidebooks. Very cool! This was Saturday night so as the samba demonstrations finished Jose suggested we go to Lapa and get some caipirinahs (can you see a trend developing here on a Rio night out? :-). Who was I do decline going to the best street party spot in Rio for the second time!

On Sunday Jose had to go to work for the morning so I decided to go sightsee the only other place on my Rio to do list. That included going to visit Leblon, Ipanema and the 'Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas' behind Ipanema. What better way to see it than to jog around it. So although is seems strange I took the tube to Ipanema and then ran from there. Three quarter’s of the way round I came across Alistair Brownlee, the Olympic triathlon gold champion for team GB. He has such a distinct run and after cheering him on at the Olympics its hard to forget his face. It was only yesterday that I read an article online saying that he has had his appendix out recently and to recover has gone to Brazil! This was such an amazing coincidence. He was just doing a leisurely run in the opposite direction. I'm not sure if I was too 'star struck' or too determined to continue run in the other direction but I didn't stop and chat to him. Maybe its for the best, he might have thought I was very lame. In hindsight though, I should have spoken to him seeing as he is a bit of a hero now. However hindsight is a wonderful thing! To finish my running tour I ran barefoot along Ipanema beach amazing to be running in such a spectacular setting. It was even more blissful later to go the beach and sip caipirinhas on a sun-lounger, swimming in the sea and chatting to some friends until sunset. Little did we expect torrential rain around 9pm but hey, Rio can be like that in spring apparently .

Monday saw me fly out to Foz Iguacu the Brazilian side of the famous waterfalls of Iguazu (notice the different spelling). The next day I wondered to the falls and got to admire the huge power of hundreds of waterfalls that convene in this area. The geology explains the falls by a change in rock density at that particular spot but the legend tells a completely different reason. According to the legend there once was a god who's relationship with a woman was frowned upon by the other gods. One day as the couple were taking a boat down the river Iguazu another god caused the earth to open below them. The women perished into the abyss and turned to stone while the god turned into an overhanging tree watching over his fallen lover, a tree that still stand there today.... Personally I prefer the legend better.

Later that day I went for a tour inside the second biggest hydroelectric dam of 'Itaipu Binacional'. This joint project between Brazil and Paraguay went on to decimate wildlife, obstruct a migratory fish route and cost billions. All this in the search of 'clean' energy for both countries. The damn has 20 turbines. Two turbines can meet all of Paraguay's energy demands! The other 8 that Paraguay owns is used to sell energy to Brazil and interestingly enough none of the electricity generated is used locally and is sent out directly to San Paolo state for distribution.

The next day I took an organised tour to the Argentinian side of the falls. It is said that the Brazilian side is for the panorama and the Argentinian side is for the immersed experience. They weren't wrong! Via a series of wooden walkways you are able to get right up close to the falls to awe at their power and intensity. Not only that but the walk led us to see some small monkeys, a marsupial-type animal, toucans, lizards and very big iguanas. To finish the day off we went on the waterfall boat ride. We got right up close, got very wet and really got the 'immersed' experience everyone has been talking about. From there we went to the 'Three points' on the Argentinian side where you can see the other two countries all separated by rivers. This is where I left the tour group and Lucy, a very cool traveller whom I spent most of the day with. The tour group went back to Brazil side and I stayed in Argentina so that the following day I could take bus to Posadas and then to Paraguay.

The trip was long but I made it across to Encarnacion at the south east part of Paraguay. Did you know that Paraguay in it's greed for more hydroelectric energy flooded half the city of Encarnacion for yet another damn!? It means a whole renovation of the river front from slums to a quaint river-side walkway and artificial beach so I suppose that's nice. Paraguay is not really on many traveller’s itinerary and they tend to go round Paraguay on the Argentinian side. I think its mainly because of the lack of tourism infrastructure to the different sights. If something is very hard or complicated to visit less people do it. It didn't deter me, the eerie pristine jesuit missions of 'Trinidad' and 'Jesus' where worth the effort and hitch-hiking made for some interesting conversation with locals.

I also sampled the local delicacy, 'chipa', a type of bread made with manioc flour, eggs and cheese. Very filling. From Encarnacion there was a 6 hour bus to Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, and what better way to start my stay in Asuncion than with a night out with some guys from the hostel. One of them was a doctor, qualified 2 years ago and is about to apply for specialist training in anaesthetics. He is in the exact same career position as me! How random! I could probably afford to stay in a nicer hotel than a £7 per night hostel but I love when these sort of encounters happen not to mention the other great Argentinians, French, Germans and Uruguyans that were also staying at the same place.

That winds up week 4. The next plan is to stay in Asuncion a few days and then head north into Menonite  and Chaco territory of northern Paraguay on the way to Bolivia.

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