Ciao, South America

We are back in the good ol’ USA just in time for Labor Day. The overnight flight in economy followed by a delayed connection in Houston wasn’t the most fun way to come home but we’re happy to be back nonetheless!

Our last two days in Rio were really defined by the weather: we had the continued gloom of overcast skies and scattered rain on Saturday but a beautiful sunny day on Sunday. We’d saved the two big remaining sightseeing trips for these days so we were (obviously) hoping for great weather; unfortunately Mother Nature did not cooperate...

We visited Christ the Redeemer on Saturday. We’d been hoping all day that the clouds would clear up a little bit, but by late afternoon we’d accepted the fact that we weren’t going to get much of a view. As we were boarding the train up the mountain the conductors even warned us that we couldn’t see anything but we were out of time - either we could go up now with limited visibility or skip it.

Well they weren’t kidding. We literally ascended into a cloud - looking out onto Rio was as impressive as looking at a grey wall.

“I think I see something! Oh wait, nope.”

It cleared enough for us to get a shot of “the man,” but only briefly.

Despite the clouds it was still a very impressive sight - the statue is HUGE!

With no sign of the clouds clearing and this Wonder of the World crossed off our bucket list, we didn’t linger for too long in Tijuca Forest National Park (where the statue is located). Many of the other tourists up there had the same idea though - the wait for the train took over an hour. By the time we finally got down to street-level we were cold, tired and ready for a warm dinner. We’d been saving Porcao for our last meal in Rio so the timing worked out perfectly.

Porcao is a fixed-price, all-you-can-eat steakhouse that is known for its variety, quantity and quality of meats served during dinner. There is a salad bar that you can visit as often as you’d like but the main attraction is all the waiters coming by with different meats on skewers to slice them directly onto your plate. Needless to say, we ate a lot!

Filet, chicken, sausage and lamb - definitely not vegetarian friendly!

We woke up early Sunday to wonderfully clear skies and decided to go for an early walk on Ipanema beach to watch the sunrise. In addition to the great views we were also entertained by some ladies who hadn’t finished partying from Saturday night - let’s just say the Jersey Shore isn’t the only place you can find drunk idiots!

Looking out at the ocean from Ipanema.

The famous Dois Irmaos (Two Brothers) peaks.

We almost had the whole beach to ourselves.

We ended our walk at Starbucks (Sarah learned how to say iced coffee in Portuguese!) before going back to our hotel to pack up. Once we were ready to go we left our bags with Pedro, the host at Casa Cool Beans, and headed over to Sugarloaf Mountain. In my opinion, this looks less like a mountain than a series of huge, cliff-like rocks sticking out of the water - but that didn’t anyone from building a cable car to get to the top (cable car rides were first available in 1912!)

We’d heard some of the best views of the city can be seen from the top so we were really glad the weather finally cooperated. When we got to the top (there are two “levels” - one cable car takes you half way there, the second takes you all the way up) we were treated to probably our best view of the entire two months in South America. If you are ever in Rio, this is a must-do on a clear day!

View of the beach, the bay and one of Rio's airports from Morro da Urca (the first stop in the cable car).

Another beach and a lot of sail boats.

The second cable car up to the top.

The reward for making the trip all the way up: a breathtaking view of Rio!

Proof that Sarah wasn’t too scared to ride the cable car!

Looking across the bay at Icari.

We lingered at Sugarloaf for a couple hours then took a leisurely walk back to Ipanema by way of Copacabana. Not a bad way to spend a beautiful afternoon.

Rio has been an amazing stop on our trip and is definitely worth the hassle of getting a Brazilian visa. We’ll be getting settled in the US for a few days before embarking on our two-month road trip across the country - we’re both looking forward to kicking it off properly with two weddings this weekend!

A Tale of Two Cities

The past two days in Rio have been cloudy with intermittent rain so we put our outdoor plans (Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf) on hold as the weather is supposed to clear up on Saturday and Sunday. Fingers crossed!

Thursday was really raining so we needed an alternative to our usual plan of walking around and exploring. Thankfully our host, Pedro - fluent in both unaccented English and perfectly accented Portuguese, making it impossible to know where he's from - provided us with some indoor suggestions in the Centro area. Centro is generally considered the center of the city and is home to many of Rio's financial, government and cultural buildings. We spent some time checking out the CCBB, the Centro Cultural do Banco Brasil, which was currently displaying a Salvador Dali exhibit. I was excited to put some of my (albeit limited) art history knowledge to use as we checked out some of his famous clock paintings, but unfortunately none of them were a part of the exhibit! While the work was interesting, we couldn't help but feel like the more famous paintings were somewhere else...

We also tried to check out the Theatro Municipal, but apparently many other tourists had the same idea for a rainy day because all of the tours were sold out! As the rain continued, we decided to call it quits and headed back to Ipanema for a very late lunch at Azteka around 4pm. The Mexican food was delicious and just what we needed on a gloomy day. Alex headed back to the hotel for a siesta while I walked around to do a little shopping. Afterward we headed across the street for a late, casual dinner before calling it a night (gloomy days make us kind of tired, apparently!)

Friday morning we set off on a guided favela tour. It's the first time on our trip that we've essentially taken a "tour" through the poorest neighborhood possible. We were recommended the experience by almost everyone we spoke to about Rio, but still felt highly uncomfortable during most of the tour. With about 12 other people (and a guide), we headed to Favela Rocinha, the largest favela in South America and home to approximately 200,000 people.

View of the favela. It's hard to call this a beautiful sight, but it was really incredible.

While we paid for our tour (and were told that half of the cost went to supporting the favela residents, which we hope is true), we still stopped at numerous stalls / stores where our guide tried to persuade us to buy local goods and watch children perform. While it felt somewhat annoying and touristy at first, it was a stark reminder of the living situation for the inhabitants of the surrounding neighborhood. Having said that, we were shocked to learn that "houses" with better views could often be sold for nearly US$40,000! Another crazy realization was how most of the homes received electricity - through gerry-rigged contraptions and wires stealing it from the electric companies. We'd never seen so many live wires strung in such a haphazard fashion, often next to or under the water pipes.

Really amazing to think about all of the people who call this area home.

Another view of the brightly colored buildings.

Contrasting view of the favela blending in with Rio's more developed landscape.

Given that many tours go through the favelas each day, most of the residents seemed nonplussed by our presence. That said, the scariest part of the day (and probably our trip!) happened as we were wrapping up the tour: we encountered an intimidating guy waving a machine gun at us, we walked through a deep crowd of children yelling "Money" / trying to grab my sunglasses and group of men aggressively cat calling me. It didn't help that the machine gun guy followed us for a bit, joining in on the "Money" chorus. We were "expecting the unexpected" on this tour, but I've never been more scared!

Trying to relax while taking in the scene.

Ending our tour at the "entrance" to the favela.

After a fairly heart-racing morning, we needed to relax with an adult beverage and some lunch. Many of our friends had suggested exploring the bohemian Santa Teresa neighborhood at some point, so we headed straight to Espirito Santa to eat and then explore the area. We lucked out with a delicious, traditional Amazonian meal (definitely recommend!) and then started to walk around and take in the scenery - the neighborhood is on the top of a hill and has great views of Rio.

Even on a cloudy day, the views were pretty impressive.

View of Centro Rio from Santa Teresa.

Pedro was a little cautious about the area in general and after our favela experience, we were pretty on edge during our walk around the neighborhood (even in broad daylight, there are a lot of quiet, winding roads and one can quickly wander into a nearby favela if not careful). While it was a little unnerving to be the only ones walking down an unfamiliar street, we quickly found other tourists also in search of the Selaron Steps.

Taking a break to check out all of the different tiles.

The tiles are from all over the world so it was fun to check each one out. Obviously we found the NYC one!

I seized a rare moment when the steps were free and a kind lady quickly snapped our picture.

Between Santa Teresa and Favela Rocinha, we definitely explored a grittier side of Rio today but I'm glad we were able to gain a little perspective. Tomorrow we head to Christ the Redeemer so here's hoping to better weather!

First Two Days in Ipanema

Sarah and I spent the last two days exploring Ipanema - both the beach and the surrounding neighborhood. Yesterday we had perfect weather so we relaxed for most of the day on the beach. Today it was more overcast so we walked around the neighborhood. Rio is definitely more pricey than other destinations on our trip so far but it's also one of the nicest places we've been to!

Ipanema beach is huge. Fortunately our host at Casa Cool Beans (yes, that's the name of our hotel) was able to point us in the right direction - crowds of like-minded people tend to congregate at different points along the beach (i.e., the locals section, the surfer section, the gay section, the Playboy section, etc.) We ended up in pretty neutral territory.

Even though it's technically winter down here, it still got up to the 80s yesterday and we had a great beach day. Hopefully we get some more of this kind of weather while we're here!

The view form our beach chairs - not a bad Tuesday!

Ipanema beach.

One other point on the beach. We were expecting the typical bathing suit here to be more "aggressively" cut, if you will, than what we're used to in the US but we were surprised just how conservative our suits were in comparison! It was a rarity to see a bikini that wasn't paired with a thong bottom and almost all the men had speedos or a short-shorts equivalent. We've definitely stood out as Americans many times on the trip so far but never as American prudes!

After a long day in the sun we were ready for a hearty dinner. Buffets are relatively popular down here so we figured we'd check one out. Fazendola turned out to be great - I was expecting something like the low-quality buffets we tolerated in college but this was much better than that (there was even a freshly prepared Japanese station with really good sushi). Worth trying if you want something different.

Today we woke up to overcast skies - no beach for us today. We wanted to start the day with a walk around the Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon which is not far from our hotel. Even though it was a cloudy day, it was still a great way to see some of the surrounding area.

Rodrigo de Freitas Lagoon.

Looking back at Ipanema.

It's 4 and a half miles all the way around so we were hungry for lunch when we got back to Ipanema. We went to Nectar on the recommendation of our host and it did not disappoint - really big, hearty sandwiches at a good price. There was a lot of confusion with my allergy cards (I think our server thought I was giving her a business card because she just pocketed it and walked away!) but my meal did come pesto-free so I can't complain!

We had a bit of a siesta in the afternoon then walked over to Academia de Cachaca to learn more about / sample some cachaca. Sarah and I agree that it's similar (and superior to) rum. After the tasting we headed to Via Sete for some delicious burgers - we'd definitely recommend this place if you're looking for a casual meal in Ipanema. We still have four days here and there's a high chance we'll be back!

Top Takeaways - #6

Sarah and I are wrapping up our time in Argentina this morning. Our flight to Brazil is delayed but that gave me the perfect opportunity to share our top takeaways while we wait.

Argentina's National Congress building (and fountain).

1. If you ever travel to Argentina you should bring US Dollars ($100s if possible) and exchange them on Florida Street. Yes, it is sketchy - I ended up locked in a room-sized safe negotiating the rate - but the guys were very nice and as professional as they could be, given the situation. We got 12.5 / 1 when the official rate was around 8.5 / 1. Psych yourself up and do it! Tourists do it every day and it makes your money go a lot further.

2. La Boca is safe. We'd read so many cautionary tales about this neighborhood that we were practically expecting a war zone when we arrived. It is no worse than any heavily populated area in NYC. That said, all the people catering to tourists made it feel more like Times Square than we were expecting - it's worth seeing if you are ever here but it wasn't a highlight for us.

3. Argentina is cheap (based on our New York standards). We were surprised how cheaply we could get high quality food and drinks - even our "splurge" meal at La Cabrera only cost us around $100.

4. Malbec is great and we've under-appreciated it so far. The wine tastings in Mendoza really opened our eyes to how good Malbec can be - next time you're having a steak consider a Malbec (or Malbec-Cabernet Sauvignon blend) instead of a Pinot Noir. You won't regret it.

5. Personal space courtesies / etiquette that we're used to in New York do not exist in the same way down here. It's much more "Every man for himself." For example: the plane has landed, the seatbelt sign is now off - time to let those seated in rows ahead of you get off, right? Wrong. Time to bum-rush the aisle and jockey for position to exit the aircraft. Sarah and I had to fight just to stand up (multiple times)!

6. B&Bs are a good way to save money on lodging (versus a hotel) but they really are hit-or-miss. We've had good ones and bad ones (but even the good ones have something I would change about them - usually cats roaming around, bothering my allergies). It's worked out fine, just be prepared to deal with some sort of incremental inconvenience at a B&B.

7. Iguazu Falls is awesome! Puerto Iguazu (the town on the Argentinian side) is not. The only industry is tourism and the town is just tolerable enough for tourists to visit the Falls for a few days and leave. Poverty is pretty bad too - homeless children asked us for money at every meal (even when seated inside). We had an incredible time at the Falls and definitely recommend it to others, but be prepared to be underwhelmed by the town itself.

8. Argentina has a very well developed long-haul bus system. It was fun to try it out, but next time we'd prefer to fly. The cost of the "suite" class bus ticket to Mendoza was only marginally cheaper than a flight. We did save the cost of a hotel night each way, but Sarah caught a cold on the bus there and we didn't feel well rested after either overnight trip. We're glad we tried it though!

9. Medialunas = delicious, sweetly glazed croissants. They were available at pretty much every coffee shop (including Starbucks), restaurant and hotel we stayed at. The traditional Argentinian order is "Café con lechce y tres medialunas" but who needs three sticky croissants with each cup of coffee? We usually settled for one to share and that was enough to satisfy our sweet tooths (teeth?).

10. Messi is everywhere. For those of you who don't know Lionel Messi, he is an Argentinian soccer player who plays for FC Barcelona but is also beloved at home for his role on the Argentinian national team. His image can be seen advertising chips, drinks, cell phone plans, clothing, etc. If you didn't know his face before you visit Argentina, you will know it when you leave!

Peak: The views of Iguazu Falls

Pit: Cold, cloudy weather in Buenos Aires (not every day, fortunately)

Next Stop: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

La Cabrera

We wanted to write a brief post dedicated to the meat-party-of-a-meal we had during our last night in Buenos Aires. After being told numerous times that we had to experience "the traditional Parrilla" meal while in Argentina, we saved our steak dinner until our last night, dining at La Cabrera, which was recommended to us by many of our friends.

I was expecting somewhat of a tourist trap, similar to Andres Carne De Res in Bogota, so was pleasantly surprised to arrive at a small, traditional-looking steakhouse with a homey interior.

After a brief review of the menu (sorry vegetarians - I seriously cannot recommend you visit this restaurant!) we decided to try a few traditional dishes: chorizo, provoleta (basically grilled cheese with meat) and bife de chorizo (steak fillet). Even though I read about this place ahead of time and knew that ordering side dishes was not necessary, it still felt like we over-ordered!

The "half" portion of the chorizo appetizer.

Provoleta: grilled provolone cheese, prosciutto and sundried tomatoes. Amazing!

Seriously, are those a million mini side dishes?

Our steak - delicious!

The meal was delicious - the meat was well prepared, the wine was great and our server was excellent. A few minor gripes though (should you find yourself in search of a meat-heavy meal in Buenos Aires):

1. The chorizo appetizer arrived literally one minute after we ordered it . Whether by design or coincidence, it felt like the first of several signals that we were being rushed out to accommodate the ever-growing line of would-be diners.

2. The steak had a thick layer of fat along the edges and I'm not used to that. We could easily cut off the inedible portion, but obviously this counted toward the steak's total weight - I just though it should have been more clear.

3. The "side dishes" (well really they're small sauce dishes) are mostly mayonnaise-based and not that great. Vegetables slathered in mayonnaise are not my preferred accoutrements for steak. The fries (not ordered) were great though!

Overall, we had a great meal and really enjoyed our parrilla experience at La Cabrera - we would definitely pass along the recommendation!