Rio & The Iguazu Falls

Rio is completely amazing, we had heard so many negative things prior to coming- how dangerous it is, how expensive it is- so we were a little apprehensive and not sure what to expect but we have found it to be a very friendly, relatively inexpensive place. We did go to dinner one night and after carefully scrutinizing the menu we decided to split a dish that we thought had some meat, beans and plantains. However, when our waiter came over he told us they were out of that dish- we panicked as we didn’t have a backup plan and ordered what the table in front of us had. We ended up with a giant plate of sizzling meat, fried plantain chips, rice and what appeared to be a bowl full of breadcrumbs. It came with a Gorgonzola sauce and a chimichurri sauce that were both amazing. It was also one of the most expensive items on the menu at BR$70. However, it was a ton of food, very filling, very typical of Brazilian food and still cost way less than what we would have paid in the US for a plate of food as big as we ended up with. For the most part though we spent less than $20 on dinners and about $10 for lunch, beer was not too bad either at about a dollar each.

The people we encountered were all incredibly friendly as well. Apparently, this is not always the case. Remember how I said that they hate Argentina so much that they were able to look past a 7-1 beating by Germany and go for Germany in the World Cup final? Well, our German friend who lives in Brasilia said that he had to go watch the Germany/Brazil game at the German Embassy because it was the only safe place for him! But, we were not football rivals and found everyone to be very friendly!

The weather is also perfect. Sunny and 70, but it gets cool in the evenings. Their winter is exactly what summer should be. We had perfect weather for the World Cup (standing on the beach with a billion other people just seems like the perfect place for overheating, but it was very nice). It was perfect for journeys into town and going to the beach. The day after the World Cup final we went back into Rio to see the city, to explore a little more, and try some of the infamous Rio snack foods.

We chatted with the Germans for a few minutes before we left for Rio and they mentioned that the theater in Rio was having its 105th Birthday and was letting people in for free to see shows. We thought that sounded like fun and thought if we had time we would stop by the theater.

 

 

We wandered all over Rio. We went to a very old, artsy neighborhood with an old aqueduct running through it and then we saw the Selaron Staircase. The Selaron Staircase is an old neighborhood staircase that a Chilean artist started tiling in his spare time but it eventually became the work he was best known for. It is an incredible sight, completely tiled over with tiles from all over the world (we saw “Ski Utah” and even a “Don’t Mess with Texas” tile in the shape of Texas.). Really beautiful and a completely unexpected surprise that is tucked away around an unassuming corner in a residential area.

 

 

 

 

We also waited in line for about 45 minutes at Copacabana to get into the FIFA fan store and once we did we were disappointed to find it was mostly knicknacks with that weird creature that may be an armadillo on them. We were also bummed when we saw another FIFA fan store in the airport without a line. We enjoyed a multitude of snacks including popcorn with bacon in it and popcorn with dulce de leche, an amazing cheese bread called pao de queijo and these wonderful things called tapiocas- essentially it seems to be dry, ground tapioca sprinkled onto a hot pan and allowed to cook there for a minute or so while the toppings are added (we had cheese and sausage) then flipped in half, quesadilla style. Soo delicious! Eventually we decided to venture to the Theater. We had seen it earlier, we could tell we were in the right place by the giant birthday cake out front. We got in line to go see the theater but we were turned away for being inappropriately dressed- Nick was wearing shorts and flip-flops and I was in flip-flops as well. We told our German neighbor about this unfortunate situation the next day at breakfast and he said he had almost been turned away as he was in shorts as well. However, he speaks Portuguese and was able to explain that he really wanted to see the show and sweet talked them into getting him a pair of loaner pants so he could go see the theater! And, bonus, he got to keep them! When he went to change out of the pants and back into his shorts in order to return the borrowed pants he was told that they would rather he keep them so that no one in the theater ever saw him in shorts.

That morning we sat and chatted with our neighbors for most of the morning and then decided to head down to the beach for one last beach hurrah! The B&B we stayed at had bikes that we could use, so our last morning we rode down to Itiapu beach with our German neighbors, it was a little nerve wracking as the Brazilians are crazy drivers, but a beautiful day and tons of fun.

We took a cab to the airport that afternoon. One thing that is eating up an unexpected amount of our budget is transportation to and from the airport. We decided the cab was our best option after hearing that the hour long cab ride to the airport took many hours on the bus- our hosts told us that they had one couple stay with them who left on the bus at one to catch a 9pm flight and barely made it. So, we opted for the cab. Security at the airport was way more relaxed for domestics flights than it is in the US. As we got up to the X-ray machine we realized we had a full bottle of water and started chugging like crazy, the security guard laughed at us and told us we only had to do that for international flights. So we walked right on through, shoes on, computers in our bags and water in our water bottle. We noticed that security was relaxed in El Salvador as well. We saw many people going through security by their gates and thought maybe we would have to do that as well, but we were informed that was only for flights to the US.

And now here we are in Puerto Iguazo, Argentina. Our fourth country! We went to see the areas most famous sight, the Iguazo Falls. They border Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina and are utterly astounding. I will let the pictures do the talking.