This past January I was lucky enough to accompany a university travel course trip to Brazil and Argentina. Our first stop was Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Then off to Iguazu Falls on the border of Brazil and Argentina and finally ending up in Buenos Aires. For those of you with bad geography, here is a map. South America – it’s that large continent that hangs down below Panama. It was interesting to note that the airplane ride from Buenos Aires back to America took considerably more time – because it’s all up hill.
This was my first view of Brazil from the plane. This is the sub-tropics and everything was green. We were there during their summer. Here are a few views of the ever changing landscape.
Copacabana Beach is one of the most beautiful and clean beaches I have visited. The sand it great and the water temperature was perfect. It is true that speedos and thongs are the norm here and the women really know how to wear their thongs. Check it out.
Copacabana Beach on the right and Ipanema Beach on the left.
Looking like a duffy tourist with his coconut drink.
Sugar Loaf is one of the main attractions in Rio. It rises 1,300 feet above the bay and is said to
refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. We took two cable cars to the top for a panoramic view of Rio and the surrounding area. This is also the cable car ride that James Bond in Moonraker fought the evil henchman Jaws. Check out the video clip.
Arial photos stolen from the web.
Video of the surrounding area.
See James Bond fight Jaws on the cable car.
Moonraker
From the bus.
First stop.
Main station.
On the way up.
Looking at the main station.
One section of RIo.
Another view of the harbor.
Towards Copoacabana Beach.
Another direction.
More directions.
Towards Corvado. I don’t know what is better, Jesus with his arms out or the transmission trowers.
We had just checked in to our hotel and made the first walk into Rio. On the very first street, this was the restaurant that was across the street. What the —?
Can I get a moose burger por favor? Hold the secret sauce.
Went to a great Samba show while in Rio. This show had over fifty people in the cast and told the history of the Carnival in music and dance. The costumes were amazing and the music a lot of fun. All of the dancers were gorgeous and could really wear the Rio thong thing.
Rio de Janeiro is the third largest city in South America with a population of 7,000,000 people. It is a bustling city that is constantly on the move. It is a fairly dangerous city and we were warned to avoid certain areas and dark places and to always stay in groups. The city is also dirty but the beaches are pristine. How ironic since life here centers around the beach and the level of your tan.
Corcovado, meaning “hunchback” in Portuguese, is a mountain in central Rio de Janeiro. The 2,330 ft granite peak is located in the Tijuca Forest, a national park. Corcovado hill lies just west of the city center but is wholly within the city limits and visible from great distances. It is known worldwide for the 125 ft statue of Jesus atop its peak, entitled Cristo Redentor or “Christ the Redeemer”.
Overlooking Rio and Sugar Loaf. (stolen from the web).
More theft from the web.
I took this one.
I also took this one.
It’s me and Jesus. It don’t get no more better than that!
Graffiti is a new art form in Rio. Apparently, graffiti artists have been commissioned to paint many of the walls in the city to avoid gang markings. When this cool looking art appears, gang symbols don’t deface it. This type of art on public spaces adds a lot to the ambience of the city. Check it out.
Vultures were always circling somewhere in the Rio area. Over the city, near the Jesus statue, over Sugar Loaf, they circled waiting to find something dead. That could have been an omen in Rio. I caught these snack monsters by the side of the road gorging on probably a dead body that was dumped the night before. Okay I made that up.
We took an island hopping trip on a small scow outside Rio. These islands were tranquil and very relaxing. The water was great and the beaches beautiful.
A three hour tour?
Leaving port.
Hoping for pirates.
Island hopping.
Let’s swim here.
Who knows. I just took the photo.
The love shack.
Gina (another faculty member) with her usual “What the hell is wrong with you” look.
While we were island hopping we came across the secret hideout where the movie “Boys from Brazil” was based. This is the jungle lair where the initial experiments to clone Hitler were conducted. No one would ever visit this island by accident. Okay, I’m making this shit up. But it does look like the spot from the movie.
Rio is an old poorly maintained city that is slowly rusting away. Infrastructure and the need to fix it are not a concern. Just walk away from the problem and it goes away. Here are a few views of some of this funk.
Close a train station? Just walk away and leave the trains to rust.
This was a weird scene I saw while strolling through Rio. This is an appliance store and these gentlemen are four of probably ten salesmen who work at this store. This store is not that large and there were more salesmen then customers in the store when I passed by. I thought of it as kind of a gauntlet you had to pass if you were interested in anything in this store. You were going to be accosted by one of these salesmen before you ever entered the store.
The little city of Iguazu had a cheesy casino. It was about the size of a large convenience store with a couple rows of slot machines, a roulette and craps table, and a bar. I got busted for having this photo take of me and almost tossed out of the place.
Our next stop was Iguazu Falls on the border of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina. Over the years these countries have had many conflicts and have not worked together for mutual ends. Thus, there are three airports to the falls area within 20 minutes of each other. One in each country.
Iguazu is a quaint little South American town right out of Central Casting. Good food, many shops, local entertainment, and relatively quiet. With the exchange rate of 3.45 pesos to a dollar, Americans were rich in this town.
The highlight of the trip was the boat ride into the Iguazu Falls. We ventured upriver and visited both sides of the falls. Each time the boat took us up to the falls and then would backup and power INTO the falls. It was totally crazy.
Iguazu Falls is rates as one of the natural wonders of the world. It met all expectations. The falls were one of the most amazing natural events I have seen. I have been to Niagara Falls, and they pale to Iguazu Falls. Iguazu Falls are over a mile wide with lookout points in Brazil and Argentina. We hikes all around the falls from top to bottom and took a boat ride up to and into the falls.
