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A Long Overdue Conclusion to Part II...
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Seth Familian
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Jan 29, 2002 03:18 PST
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Wow. Yet again, quite some time has passed since my last note! Though
much has happened since I last wrote nearly a month ago, I’m a bit
embarrassed to say that for the past week I’ve done nothing but lounge
around in Los Angeles (or La la land, as I lovingly call it), relaxing
and catching up on a bit of (well, much needed) rest and downtime
following my three non-stop weeks in Brazil. But enough about
post-travel la la land antics, let’s get to those weeks in Brazil!
From Santiago (the leaving-off point of my last note), I flew to Rio to
meet a few friends and celebrate the new year. In only the first few
days of my stay in Rio, I quickly came to realize why it is a city
adored and embraced by so many. It’s tough to put into words, but
there’s something about Rio, a ‘beat’ or ‘pulse’ similar to that found
in the most cosmopolitan and thriving of metropolises like London, New
York and Paris, that pervades every street, every shop, every person and
every event. As you walk down the streets of Copacabana, for instance,
you become almost overwhelmed by the sheer number of sucos bars
squeezing fresh juice on demand or paodarias serving freshly baked
epadas filled with cheese, shrimp, or chicken. The (impossibly and
barely controlled) traffic, replete with racing busses that could only
rival those in Santiago, screams down the wide avenues, making easy prey
out of pedestrians audacious enough to cross without (or sometimes even
with!) the appropriate ‘walk’ sign. And at the end of your Eastward
journey down the boulevard, you find yourself at Copacabana, one of the
most famous beaches in the world, a 4km stretch of white sand packed
with sunbathers and vendors of every sort, bordered on one side by the
giant Avenida Atlantica lined with snack bars that boast fresh coconut
milk served right out of a just-hacked coconut and on the other by the
crashing, turquoise blue waves of the Caribbean-warmed Atlantic. Yes,
that’s Rio. In fact, that’s just one slice of a giant city whose
neighborhoods, often connected by tunnel, nestle themselves within a
dramatic range of beachside mountains and so create a stunning cityscape
that’s tough to rival.
And as if that weren’t enough, Rio really shines during its two big
holidays: New Years and Carnival. Though I didn’t have the time to
stick around for Carnival (a four-day long festival that Brazilians
usually turn into a month of debauchery taken to the streets), I was
around for New Years, which was nothing short of a spectacle, to say the
least. Clad in white linen (as is the custom for New Years in Rio, as
wearing white is supposed to bring you good luck), my friends and I
stumbled (well, we did have to join in on the festivities, Brazilian
style…) down to that famous Copacabana Beach, which to our awe and
amazement was filled with more than 2 million (yes, million!!) people
crowding around four giant stages set up along the beach. Giant cruise
ships set aglow by their lights lined the bay as live dancers and
musicians performed on the stages in the hours and minutes preceding
midnight. Then, as the clock approached 2002, almost all of those two
million partygoers made their way to the shore to swim through the first
seven waves of the new year--another Rio tradition. When the proverbial
ball dropped, literally MILLIONS of people jumped into the crashing
waves of the Atlantic as a 20-minute-long fireworks show blazed
overhead. And so, dripping in our white linen, we danced away until
dawn, experiencing enjoying a New Years party like none other I’ve ever
seen.
While the diving-through-the-waves part of New Years was pretty
remarkable, I must admit that the highlight of my night came at about
2:30 in the morning, as one of my friends urged me to come with her as
she tried to sneak into a party in one of the giant apartment buildings
lining Copacabana Beach. Though our first attempt to get past grim
bouncers was utterly unsuccessful, we did manage to finagle our way past
the doorman and into the apartment next door. After very reluctantly
climbing 10 flights of stairs (I was pretty doubtful that we’d find
anything in this building, whose bottom nine floors were unlit and
unwelcoming), we were surprised with an open door on the top floor. My
friend led the way as we sauntered inside, clearly crashing the mellow
party being thrown by the apartment owner. But we couldn’t help
ourselves, as the windows facing the door offered a giant panoramic view
of the entire Copacabana Beach, still jumping at 2:30am. The apartment
owner approached us--those backpacker party-crashers who stood in silent
awe at the view--and in broken Spanish (Portugese is the language of
Brazil) revealed not only his benevolence (he offered us a beer rather
than the gruff mandate that we get lost), but also that he was the owner
of the whole building. Then, realizing how much we enjoyed the view, he
led us out to his terrace--the only one in the whole building--where we
got an even more incredible view of the beach scene. Stunned and
amazed, we stood out on that terrace for almost an hour, talking to the
apartment owner, toasting the new year, and soaking up remarkable Rio at
one of its highpoints.
Though New Years day was pretty brutal for all, we still managed to make
our way out of Rio and to the incredibly beautiful (and still somewhat
undiscovered) island paradise of Ilha Grande. Just a two hour bus ride
and an hour ferry ride from Rio, Ilha Grande is host to backpackers and
Brazilian billionaires alike, who happily coexist on pristine white sand
beaches so soft and fine that the sand actually squeaks under your feet.
The island, which opened to tourism just six years ago, is still fairly
undeveloped, making its best beaches accessible only by boat and/or
trail--which certainly enhances the experience.
By far the best beach on the island (and perhaps the best beach I’ve
ever seen in my entire life), called Lopes Mendez, can only be reached
by either a 20 minute boat ride and a 15 minute walk or a 1.5 hour walk
from the main port town of the island. And though it sounds like a bit
of a pain to get there, trust me when I say it’s worth it!!! Not only
does Lopes Mendez have that bleach white squeaky-fine sand, but it is
bordered on one side by lush tropical rainforest and on the other by
astoundingly clear, soft, and turquoise blue/emerald green water with
waves so perfect for surfing that even I was inspired to take a lesson
and learn (and I did in just two hours!!).
As you’d probably figure from my already idyllic description of Ilha
Grande, the two days that I had intended to stay there inadvertently
(and happily) stretched into seven, and even then I was reluctant to hop
aboard the ferry and move on. But time was not on my side, and my
fast-approaching departure date from Rio back to the States prompted me
to kick it into high gear and visit two more destinations before heading
home.
The first was Foz do Iguacu, a city which sits on the border of Brazil,
Argentina and Paraguay and is host to THE most incredible set of
waterfalls I have EVER seen. When I was doing my research on South
America before heading down and asked friends who had visited Brazil
what not to miss, Foz was always on the top of their lists. Now I know
why.
Foz is on a scale that even photographs fall short of depicting, and
perhaps first-hand experience can only do justice. Imagine a
sub-tropical rainforest whose 30 rivers and tributaries converge to form
over 100 waterfalls, most of which are over 50 meters (170 feet) in
height. Add on top of that the fact that you can walk over, under, and
right up to these massive waterfalls (thanks to a set of well-designed,
low-impact catwalks installed especially extensively on the Argentinian
side) and even take boats right through them, and you’ve got yourself a
natural wonder that in my mind puts Niagra Falls to shame.
And the funniest part about it all is that by the end of your two day
tour of both sides (Brazilian and Argentinian) of the falls, an
absolutely giant and powerful waterfall that in any other setting would
seem like the most impressive thing in the world, appears on its own and
in light of the other even more massive falls around it in Foz to be,
well, almost unimpressive! Go figure; Foz is simply that big, that
incredible, that overwhelming. I guess that 24-hour bus ride from Rio
was worth it…
From Foz I hopped on an 18-hour bus to São Paulo, which was on the way
to Rio and home of a long lost cousin of mine who had emigrated to
Brazil from Britain over 27 years ago. Meeting him and his wife was an
especially surreal experience, as we discussed life in England and old
British relatives over Bahian delicacies and Sushi as only the giant
Japanese expatriate community of São Paulo could make it (well, except
in Japan, that is…), but it was nonetheless really enjoyable and quite a
treat to have at the end of my travels.
After just two days in São Paulo I hopped on a 6 hour bus back to Rio
for my day-and-a-half stint there before flying home. (Just as a quick
side note, these bus rides, though for the most part quite long in
duration, were nonetheless really comfortable, rivaling the Chilean
luxury liners on wheels and putting those "todo es posible, nada es
seguro" Bolivian busses to shame--but how hard can THAT really be? : )
Though I wasn’t expecting it to, my time in Rio really flew by, and
before I knew it I was sitting in the almost deserted Rio airport,
having my giant backpack, replete with smelly clothes and souvenirs,
being hand-searched according to the new security procedures. (I had no
problem with the new procedures; I just felt badly for the security
inspector who had to endure a bag of clothes, etc., that was on its way
back home after 3 months of travel in South America!) And then I was
off, and now back in Los Angeles, strangely apace with my friends and
family, not really culture-shocked or alienated at all.
It’s not very difficult for me to explain this easy adjustment to home,
etc.; I think it’s an outgrowth of that attitude I have about adjusting
to different time zones: you are where you are, and that’s that.
Admittedly I did experience a massive load of culture shock coming from
Bolivia into Chile, but because Brazil was so close to the first world
I’m used to in the States, coming home wasn’t really that big of a
transition for me--I just needed to get used to flushing toilet paper
once again!
And as for these next three weeks before I start my travels once more
(this time in Southeast Asia), I’m working on a comprehensive website of
my photos and writings that will hopefully be up and running in the
next week or so. After that I'm printing some of the over 1,000
photographs (edited down from what must have been more than 2,500) I
took on this past leg of my travels. The website is called
www.sethontheroad.com, and will be thankfully replacing the (recently
VERY unreliable) photopoint service that I have, until now, used to
share my photos with you all. (Just fyi, the photopoint site apparently
went belly-up in the middle of December, and its management for some
reason decided not to tell any of its members of the site’s closing, and
simply shut everything down. Frustrated but nonetheless unable to do
anything while abroad, I had to wait until returning home to find
another host for my site and get everything up online. So patience,
grasshopper, photos are on their way!!)
Well, that’s about it for now, but be sure to check out the site once I
e-mail you all to tell you it’s up, since it will contain both
photographs as well as some writings that I haven’t had time to send to
this list (which include a fairly in-depth piece I'm working on about
backpacker culture and the (often interesting and unexpected)
interactions between backpackers of different ethnicities and
nationalities that I’ve seen and experienced first-hand while on the
road). How's that for perspective?! :)
In any case, thanks once again for lending me your eyes, ears, patience
and imagination for these past three months, thank you for all the
tremendous replies and feedback, and stay tuned for the next
installment, coming your way sooner than you think!
love, hugs, and warm wishes from back home,
Seth
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