San Blas Sailing
Went to the Caribbean side of Panama to catch our boat, the Delfin Solo. It's owned by a Turkish couple, Regnin and Tarson (the captain). Four other people were on the boat with us: Gorjiana and Edward (Aussies), Elan (Canadian), and Skye (NY). It was a fun group, and we all got along very well. We spent 4 days in paradise, island hopping in San Blas - laying on the boat, snorkeling, swimming, or visiting small islands. It was perfect! Then it was time to make our way to Columbia. This was the not so fun part of the trip. 42 hours in the open ocean without stopping. I took Dramamine, but I still felt very sick. I slept almost the whole time, and when I wasn't sleeping I thought I was going to be sick. The seas weren't even that rough. I just happen to get sea sick very easily. Kai was perfectly fine....I was so jealous! :) We ran out of food on the last day, but I didn't care so much because I couldn't eat much anyways. Also, the captain's stupid cat, Gatito, pissed and shit in our bed downstairs, so I slept on the deck the last couple of nights. I wanted to throw that cat overboard.
We finally arrived in Cartegena at 3am, but we had to wait on the boat until we could go to immigration in the morning. So nice to be on land again. :)
Columbia
Cartegena was a surprisingly nice city and relatively clean. There were cute little cobblestone streets and nice buildings. Within the first hour we were there, someone had already approached Kai to see if he wanted to buy any "white stuff, green stuff, or anything else that he wanted". I guess that's what we expected. :) After the boat trip, I was just extremely excited for a nice shower and huge salad full of nice veggies.
The next day we had lunch with the gang from the boat at a nice restaurant in town. Kai and I shared a fish plate and a chicken plate, and they were both delicious! In the afternoon, we went to a mud volcano near the city. You just climb up a small flight of stairs to the top of the volcano and jump into a pool of mud. You just floated at the surface and moving around was a very slow process. It was such a weird (but somehow relaxing) feeling!
We went out with Gorjiana, Edward, Elan, and Skye that night to a local pub. The music was loud, and there were some strange characters in there (we're pretty sure some were prostitutes).
Venezuela
Took a very long 20 hour bus to Caracas. The bus was freezing too....14 degrees! Why?!
Arrived cold and tired. It was only then that we made the horrible discovery of the varying exchange rates in Venezuela. The official rate that you get at banks is 2 Bolivars for 1 US Dollar. However, if you already have USD, you can exchange it on the black market at a rate of 5:1 or sometimes even 6:1. That meant that our "budget" hotel was actually 80 USD per night! I was so irritated at the corrupt government and money situation that I wanted to leave immediately. The people were rude and unfriendly as well, which just made the situation worse. We booked our bus to Brasil for the very next day.
In the meanime, we walked around the city trying to enjoy it, but we were not very impressed.
It took us 36 hours from Caracas to Manaus, Brasil. Again the stupid bus was like a meat locker...10 degrees or less this time! People were wrapped up like mummies in winter clothes, beanies, gloves, and blankets. Absolutely ridiculous. I couldn't have been happier to leave Venezuela.
Brasil
In Manaus we organised our trip to the Amazon. It's a nice city, very big actually with about 2 million people living there. We saw the opera house and fish market, but there's not too much to do there. Mostly people just come because it's easiest to get to the jungle from there.
We spent 3 days in the Amazon. It was such a unique experience! We went piranha fishing with wooden poles one afternoon. We caught loads of them! When we pulled them into the boat, Ruben (our guide) bit their heads to kill them. It made a sickening crunching sound. His motto was "bite them before they bite you". :)
Some of the other adventures in the Amazon: caiman (a type of crocodile) spotting, jungle walk (where we saw a huge torantula), kayaking in the small canals, spear fishing, visiting a local village, and cuddling a sloth (after Ruben climbed up the tree to "rescue" it)!
Flew to Sao Paulo. Just another big city really....kind of dirty but the food was good. It had been a while since we had been in a place with decent food (and by that I mean more veggie options than just beans and rice). We went to a soccer match to see the Corinthians (the team Ronaldo plays with) vs. Atletico. It was so much fun! The crowd is like nothing I've ever seen. They are singing, chanting, and dancing for the entire 90 minutes. It doesn't really matter what is happening on the field. Their enthusiasm is contagious...We couldn't help but to sing along...Well, with the few words that we could actually make out. :)
Next we went to the Iguazu Falls. It was really spectacular! The Brasilian side gives you a great panoramic view of the massive waterfalls. The next day we crossed over to see the Argentinian side. This time we were up close, right next to the waterfalls. We were wearing our rain gear, but still got a bit wet. It was great though....unbelievably beautiful!
Rio de Janeiro. We stayed at Copacabana beach. Unfortunately it rained for the first 2 days. When it finally let up, we went to another soccer match at the Maracana to see Flamengo vs. Sao Paulo. We had so much fun again! Then we went to see the Salgueiro samba school. They were performing and choosing which song to play for the Carnaval. The dancers were dressed up in full costume as well. It was a great performance!
We walked along our beach and down to Impanema. The beaches are beautiful! It sort of reminded me of South Beach somehow with the huge sand beach and a big sidewalk next to it. Most people here are way too comfortable with their bodies. They were wearing skimpy bikinis (men and women) that had no business even thinking about it. :) But the weather is definitely not a good as it is in Florida. Of course, we also went to see the Christ statue. It took all day, though, because it happened to be a religious holiday, and they were having a celebration there. It was really beautiful, though, and the view of the city was spectacular!
The next day was overcast again so we decided to walk around the city. There were some nice parks and markets, but nothing too exciting. It started to rain again that night, so we were happy to be on our way to Peru.
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A typical conversation at a restaurant in Central/South America (and the reason for my beans and rice diet):
Kai: is this plate vegetarian?
Waiter: yes, vegetarian.
Kai: only vegetables?
Waiter: yes, only vegetables....and chicken/fish
Kai: so it's not vegetarian?
Waiter: yes, vegetarian. no "carne".
Apparently, meat does not ever mean fish or chicken. :)
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New photos are here:
http://dulceandkai.blogspot.com/
