Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Iguazu

Well, I´m off on bus for the next fifty-odd hours, all the way to the end of the inhabited world, so I wanted to throw down some thoughts on Iguazu falls.
Iguazu falls are close to 100 feet taller and four times higher than Niagara falls, its closest comparison. Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly said upon first seeing them, ¨Poor Niagara Falls...¨ Still, none of this really makes sense until you first approach the Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s Throat) outlook. You first notice the brown water accelerate and rush towards a common point, and then you turn a corner and see the full spectacle, tons and tons of water plunging headlong off of cliffs hundreds of feet high in a giant horseshoe formation. It´s hard to put together that much movement in your head and the effect is kind of mesmerizing, particularly as you just watch the water cascading and sending up clouds of mist from far below. I´ve certainly never seen something like it...
After Garganta del Diablo you can take several smaller trails to see the dozens of other waterfalls that make up the entire Iguazu Falls. Some of these vistas are as or more spectacular than the Garganta, simply because mist isn´t obscuring the bottom. All around you is a panoply of jungle life and you need to take care not to step on a lizard or bump into a coati (one of these- link to follow). And yes, Dan, I do want one... not sure whether it or Mitzi would win a snaggle-tooth competition. There also are hundreds of different types of butterflies, covering the entire color spectrum, including some sweet little numbers with markings that look like the number 88 on their wings. All-in-all, it was a sick afternoon and if I don´t come down with yellow fever, one of the absolute highlights of the last couple of years...

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Rio

Well, I´m in Argentina now, just having crossed the border this afternoon. Rio was excellent, one of three cities I would most like to live in at some point along with Barcelona and Miami. Unfortunately, two of them suffer from oppressive heat, so it looks like Barcelona will always stay ahead.
I will have to get back to Rio at some point, though, if only to relax on its beaches and get some photos. My camera batteries (freshly changed) crapped out at the top of Sugar Loaf, the iconic ridge with the James Bond cable cars. The only known use for Panasonic batteries is putting them in a sock and beating a Panasonic executive about the face with it. I´ll just have to get some generic online ones and throw them up to let y´all know what the view was like... because it was spectacular. The green mountains pretty much just tumble into the ocean, with a few peaks masquerading as islands further out. Rio is built up and around these hundreds of peaks, which is why the favelas (super-ghettos) are in such close proximity to the nicer areas. Favelas are built up the mountain sides and the businesses and nicer residences are built in the flat parts surrounding them, ironically giving the poor the better view, perhaps the only place in the world that can say that.
Where the mountains meet the ocean there is invariably a beach, including the famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches along with dozens of others. Across the harbor Niteroi could be clearly seen, and most famous of all the giant Chris statue on Corvocado peak stretches its arms over the entire city. It was quite a view and bears much more exploring, which I¨ll hopefully have time for in the future...

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Brasil!

Well, time for some quick travel blogging. I will get pics up there later, but for now just some description on what I am up to at the moment. I flew into Sâo Paulo early this morning and explored it for awhile before deciding on heading to Rio a night early.
Sao Paulo is a massive city of around 18 million inhabitants, and it looks it. There is not a whole lot there for the tourist, but it does offer a look at the staggering disparity between the rich and poor in Brazil. There are homeless people in literally every doorway and arch in the center of town, in numbers that I had never seen the like of. I thought that Lima was fairly impoverished, but it holds no candles to the staggering amount of homelessness in just the small part I saw of Sao Paulo. I also had a fun episode with a dude high on something who came up to me and tried to see how close to my face he could swing without actually hitting me. After three haymakers he discovered that he was not going to get any reaction out of me except for a blank stare and wandered off in search of god knows what...
After my charming first encounter with Sao Paulo, I decided not to waste any more time there and took a day bus to Rio de Janeiro, arriving in the evening. I went down to the famous Copacabana beach and watched the sun sink beneath the waves. Since I am not capable of doing everything right at once, I of course forgot to change out my camera batteries and will not be having pictures of that, although I will do more beach wandering and get up to the famous Sugar Loaf mountain tomorrow before heading to Iguazu falls. I will put up more Rio commentary the next time I post, but suffice it to say that it is a beautiful city and one that I should have probably planned more time with. I will not miss the staggering heat, though, so I probably planned just right...