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Curitiba, capital of Brazil’s Paraná state, was our New Years Eve
destination! Chosen solely for its lack of coastal location (and therefore
cheap accommodation prices!), the town is barely even a dot on the map, and we
arrived expecting nothing more than a couple of shops, a few business
buildings, and a maybe a couple of restaurants if we were lucky – you know,
just like a small town in Australia. However, arriving late at night into the
city it turns out small dots on the Brazilian map are considerably larger than
small dots on the Australian map, and with a population of over 3.2 million
people, the city was almost the size of Sydney!
With only one full day in the city, we occupied our time exploring
the picturesque city centre, the beautiful mosaicked pedestrian malls and
parklands, and Curitiba’s apparent drawcard (it wasn’t so good!), the botanic
gardens. Having booked the cheapest dorm, in the cheapest hostel, in the
cheapest town, we was pleasantly surprised to have the room to ourselves, and
while the hostel put on a great dinner and set off firecrackers at midnight,
not even their enthusiasm was enough to keep me up past 11:30pm, and I enjoyed
NYE from the comfort of my bed! I did at least stay awake til midnight, which
is more than my mother can say!
Up early the next morning, the bus ‘situation’ continued, with our
early morning service cancelled (why schedule a bus for 8am New Years Day???),
and a three-hour wait at the bus station did little to improve our opinion of
Brazil’s public transport. Finally getting a bus at 11:30, the supposed
four-hour journey only took us seven, and we arrived very tired, irritable and
cranky at our next destination, Ilha de
Santa Caterina.
With white beaches, sand dunes, great weather and a range of
towns, cities, and small fishing villages, Ilha de Santa Caterina was named the
New York Times ‘Party Destination of
the Year’ in 2009, and we arrived with great expectations, and plans for a busy
couple of days! Having booked our first two nights in the islands main city, Florianopolis, mum was very relieved to
have a private room, ensuite, air conditioning and hot water (she just expects
so much!), and we quite quickly settled ourselves onto our beds and glued
ourselves to the T.V. – a rare luxury when backpacking!
Unfortunately, the New Years Day was NOT a good time to visit
Florianopolis, and with absolutely nothing open (I couldn’t even buy a bottle
of water!), there was not much to do. Unable to hire a car, we booked ourselves
onto a Portuguese language tour of the island (seemed like a good idea at the
time!), which happened to be unfortunately difficult to understand, however did
at least show us some of the island’s famous (and ridiculously crowded)
beaches, towns and ultra-touristy shops where we were forced to while away the
time. Luckily I had booked our third night on the island in Praia do Campeche, a much less crowded, smaller beach town
located on the east coast, and although we didn’t have long to enjoy the much
nicer surroundings, we did managed to fit in a walk along the beach!
Heading back to the mainland, our next stop
was Porto Alegre, where CouchSurfing
host Glaucia, and her daughter Isadora had kindly invited us to come and stay.
Once again assuming the dot size of Porto Alegre on a map meant it could only
be a small town, we arrived by bus to discover a slightly different story! With
a metropolitan population of 4.4 million, the city is far from small, however
Glaucia’s house is in the city’s leafy suburbs, and once I had settled myself
in one of her hammocks, I completely forgot anyone else even existed!
Sharing an amazing guesthouse with two Italian
backpackers, Selina and Walter, we spent our first afternoon lazing around in
the beautiful backyard, admiring Glaucia’s many quirky and unusual pieces of
art and bathroom fixtures, before an Italian Gnocci dinner courtesy of Walter,
who it turns out was ever so conveniently a travelling chef!
Venturing into the city center the next day,
we spent the morning strolling through the city’s central market, and many
market stalls, gardens and squares – and somehow even managed to buy three
pairs of shoes! Why else would you go to Brazil? Checking out the contemporary
art museum and waterfront in the afternoon, we were soon heading back to the
central markets, for mum to do what she does best (grocery shopping that is!),
as we’d been set the challenge of cooking dinner for Glaucia and Isadora, and a
group of friends.
With no idea what to offer as an example of
‘Australian Cuisine’, we ended up whipping up an impressive salad and pavlova
(take note, I did most of the mixing, without the help of an electric mixer!), and
had a great night getting to know Isadora’s friends, helping her catch up on
her slightly unfortunate grasp of the English language, and learning about
work, life and study in Brazil.
Up early the next morning, it was time to say
goodbye to Glaucia, and after a spending the morning at the city’s impressive
handicrafts market, we were yet again on a bus (this time we picked a
winner!!!), on our way to Chui/Chuy, Brazil/Uruguay!
A confusing (and ultimately costly!) set-up,
Chui/Chuy sits in no man’s land, between the borders of Brazil and Uruguay, and
we stopped for a night to check out the ritzy Duty Free shops, before making
our way on what was soon to become the worst bus ride of the trip, on our way
to the ‘idyllic’ Uruguayan fishing village of Cabo Polonio.
Talked up as an idyllic, secluded beach
hideaway, Cabo Polonio is a coastal town in northern Uruguay, 7km off the
sealed road, and accessed only by 4WD. Having booked this expensive
accommodation weeks in advance, this was set to be the absolute highlight of
our time in Uruguay, and I was pretty excited! Warned about the primitive infrastructure
of the town (no water and electricity), and no shops, we were well prepared for
our three night stay, stocked up on 2-minute noodles and tinned fruit, and
ready to do absolutely nothing but laze in a hammock, walk on the deserted
sands of the beach, and ponder all of life’s mysteries and wonders. That was
until we arrived.
It turns out Cabo Polinio is far from the
idyllic beach hideaway the tourism council’s website would have you believe,
and while I am sure there are plenty of accurate reviews in Spanish and
Portuguese of this ‘wonderful destination’, those of us who only read English
are at quite the disadvantage. Essentially, the village is everything the
reviews, website and internet says it is – it’s filled with small, quaint and
very picturesque wooden beach huts, hammocks hang from every available awning
or tree, and the beach does in fact have sand – albeit not as nice as beaches
in Adelaide. However, what these reviews fail to mention is that you’ll be
sharing these things – with thousands of other people! Long gone are the days
of Cabo Polinio being an undiscovered gem, this place has been well and truly
taken over by tourism, and I wouldn’t say for the better. Try-hard ‘hippies’,
self-confessed ‘alternative types’ and just plain freaks have taken over the
town in plague proportions, bringing with them their not-so-idyllic habits
(smoking, drinking, partying to all hours), and marking their territory with a
well-adopted ritual of discarding their cigarette butts, glass bottles, cans and
rubbish wherever they please. I mean, that festering pile of filth in the sand
dunes… surely that could be considered art?
We had not expected much from our
accommodation, and it well and truly lived up to our expectations. For $80 per
night, we had the absolute privilege of sharing a room the size of a typical
Australian pantry with two other people, with no space to move, nowhere to
store luggage, and no way to stop the flood waters coming in when it rained.
The ‘hostel’ did have a number of hammocks, which were very well placed if
you’re a particular fan of passive smoking, and the cold-water showers were
outside – not a particular issue in the heat of summer, but I’d hate to visit
in winter! As advertised, the place did have no electricity, which meant our
days were spent serenaded by the beautiful sounds and delectable smell of the
diesel generator (which was definitely required – how else would you play music
til 6am while people are trying to sleep?), and it is true you can only access
the town by 4WD… however, with the number of 4WD’s driving across the dunes
every day, the piles of discarded rubbish which cover the area, and the power
lines which hang overhead to power the lighthouse, they may as well give up the
act and just seal the road!
Cabo Polonio, Uruguay
As you may have picked up on, I wasn’t
particularly impressed with Cabo Polonio! While we went into the three-day trip
expecting primitive facilities, and were happy to ‘rough it’ for a few days,
what we ended up with was far from what we expected when we booked! The town
would have undoubtedly had great appeal when it was the small fishing village
it still pretends to be today, however tourism has taken over, and brought with
it all of its negative impacts. For a bunch of ‘peace and nature loving
hippies’, the people who visit this place have very little respect for the
environment, very little respect for those around them, and have managed to
destroy what would have been a truly remarkable destination. If this blog
reaches at least one English-speaking person thinking of going to Cabo Polonio,
and exposes this place for what it really is, my rant will be well worth it!
Rant over.
Leaving Cabo Polonio on the first 4WD of the
day (we couldn’t get out fast enough!), we managed to book our second
successful bus of the trip, making our way to Uruguay’s impressive capital
city, Montevideo. Originally settled by the Spanish in the late 16th
century to protect the area from invasion by the Portuguese, Montevideo is
today a big, clean, green and vibrant city – and a very welcome relief!
The old city – where I’d booked us a very
eccentric, quirky hotel – stretches across a small peninsular, and is a
vibrant, busy and beautiful area, filled with great little shops, markets,
squares and European architecture. Located next to the city’s main port, the
old city is also the first stop for thousands of cruise passengers who come
into the town during the day, and the streets are filled with street artists,
market stalls and food vendors – and of course, lots of Americans!
Arriving on time (this in itself was a
miracle), we set out for a gourmet lunch at dirty Macca’s, before spending the
afternoon wandering the streets and parks surrounding our hotel, and catching
up on some much needed sleep with a nice Spanish siesta. With four days to explore the city, it was no struggle to
fill time, and we spent our days wandering the city streets and markets,
museums and galleries, making regular, necessary coffee and ice-cream stops, and
enjoying the city’s beautiful weather. No doubt put off by our last couple of
days, we avoided the apparently impressive beaches the city has to offer, and instead
invested our time into important matters – like our daily afternoon siesta!
Heading west out of Montevideo, and following
the coast, we made our way to our last Uruguayan stop, in the picturesque old
town of Colonia del Sacramento – a
fairly small, heritage listed town facing Buenos Aires across the Rio de la Plata – where we spent two nights,
before making mum’s last journey of the trip, taking the ferry back to Buenos
Aires.
Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay
Spending our last night together at a fairly
impressive Tango show, mum was up early and off to the airport the next
morning, while I spent the day aimlessly wandering the city, before catching up
with friends Amanda and Richard for dinner and a drink (literally, one drink –
we shared it!). Heading out of town for my last day in Argentina, I spent the
day in the beautiful town of Tigre, which although it has now been swallowed by
Buenos Aires’ urban sprawl, still adamantly defends its separation, enjoying
one last day of beautiful weather, great market shopping, and lunch overlooking
the Tigre delta.
Up early the next day, I too was off to the
airport, as I made my way to Santiago, capital of Chile, and the final
international destination of my year abroad!
Sunset over Cabo Polonio Beach
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