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There’s Something In The Kitchen
There’s flies in the kitchen I can hear them buzzin’ And I ain’t done nothin’ Since I woke up today Lyrics from “Angel From Montgomery” by John Prine It arrives precisely on time. All the weather apps had said that the tropical storm would hit around 9am and, sure enough, rain starts to clatter the roof at 8:55 and five minutes later thunder is crashing and we have to raise our voices to be heard above the sound of the rain. Three hours later it’s still hammering down and we are mopping sections of the floor at various points: this is when you discover that these quaint old houses aren’t…
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Shock News: Brazil Is Really Big
Saturday night in Puerto Iguazu is properly rocking, busier than every previous evening with queues outside several restaurants and music from numerous bars clashing mid street in a melee of bass lines and choruses which succeed only in drowning each other out. Bon Jovi, Men At Work and Gnarls Barkley merge into a disturbing melange which threatens to confuse and confound the ears. Whether it’s like this every Saturday, or whether it’s especially busy because it’s Easter, we’ll never know. Our last night in Argentina And so after our brief 5-day glimpse of Argentina, we head back across the bridge and cast one last look at the pale blue skies…
- Argentina, Brazil, Independent travel, Photography, South America, Travel Blog, Wildlife, World food
Across The Border: A Glimpse Of Argentina
I have always been fond of making the point that flora and fauna, and therefore consequently the cuisine which is invariably traditionally based on what is available locally, don’t know where international borders lie. In other words, just because mankind placed a dividing line in a certain place doesn’t mean that one cuisine stops and a different one begins the moment you cross the line. Or that because you’ve travelled five miles everything on your plate, and in the countryside, will have changed, just because some bloke some time decided that’s where the line is. I may however have to shift that opinion slightly having made the short, hassle free…
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Boats, Bugs, Booze And Not Doing Things By Halves: Days in Paraty
Just as we’re fearing a stifling night without AC, the lights come back on and we can hear the sound of cheering from neighbouring houses – this has been the second lengthy power outage in our first few days here, brought on this time by the afternoon thunderstorm and lasting until bedtime. It’s been handy then that the Caborê Brewery is only just down the road: brewery means generator which means cold beer and a restaurant which is open, saving us a walk through the rain to those areas unaffected by the outage. This local beer at Caborê isn’t at all bad, either: more pricey than the ubiquitous Brahma but…
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Time To Go
When the plane touches down in São Paulo on Friday morning it will be precisely four weeks since we made our way to Rio airport for our hastily organised and unexpected journey home, and frankly there hasn’t been much to shout about in those four weeks. Unless you are given to shouting about rain. One of the anticipated joys back when we were first planning long term travel was to escape the English winter. That word – winter – conveys, in many parts of the world, images of pristine white snow, frozen lakes and icicles hung from the eaves of roofs. It’s not like that in England, oh no. Winter…
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Returning To Brazil
It’s been a strange start to 2024. We can’t quite recall now why we decided to delay the start of our travels until February and give ourselves the whole of dull January at home in England. Had we had an inkling of what February would bring, we may have made different plans – but of course an event such as a family bereavement is not a predictable one. Our long journey through Brazil and into the USA was meant to last from the first week of February till the last week of May, but of course was cut short by the unfortunate news and we headed back home on Day…
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Concluding Rio: Sugarloaf, Rocinha And Tijuca
Sugarloaf Mountain is, like Copacabana, Ipanema and Christ The Redeemer, an icon of this famous city. Reached by cable car from the neighbourhood of Urca, the double summit of Morro de Urca and then Sugarloaf itself provide yet more fabulous, panoramic views of the city, viewed from the opposite perspective to that of Corcovado. Thankfully a bit less crowded than the platform at Christ’s feet was, the peaks here also feature a number of paved trails through the surrounding hillside forest where vultures circle overhead, birds squawk in the trees and patterned lizards dart away from human footfall. Just like up at The Redeemer, it’s a joy to simply linger…
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Rio Carnival: Pageants, Parties….And Pickpockets
I am so angry with myself for letting it happen. We came to Rio knowing everything about its high rate of petty crime, knowing it’s a centre of the theft universe, came here knowing we had to take extra precautions, be doubly careful, and yet we only reach Day 4 and it’s happened to us. As you will see. But first, the Maracana….. There’s still around 90 minutes till kick-off as we enter the stadium, plenty of time to watch both sets of supporters fill their respective ends and make a start on creating an electric atmosphere. They do just that, and they do it in style – the whole…
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Captain Fiendish & The Whirlwind Of Rio: The First 48
In my mind’s eye there is a British Airways employee, let’s call him Captain Fiendish, whose job it is to sneak behind a curtain just after all the passengers are settled in, and twist the AC control until it reaches the setting with an igloo logo as a temperature guide. As a result of his actions, the cabin quickly descends to unbelievably freezing and has every last passenger reaching for a combination of sweatshirt, hoodie and BA standard issue blanket, or, in some cases, all three. We understand the need for the comfort of AC but why oh why is it necessary to make it this bloody cold? Captain Fiendish…
