Brazil and Latin America

June - July 2022
Brazil is the biggest piece of the trip but there will be stops in many other countries too
  • 29footprints
  • 8countries
  • 29days
  • 382photos
  • 35videos
  • 26.2kkilometers
  • 21.7kkilometers
  • Day 11

    Cabo Frio

    July 9, 2022 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Started with a quick walk to the Buzios centro beach to see it in the daytime. Then drove to Arraial do cabo and joined an all afternoon boat tour of a nearby island and some different beaches. Striking colors of water everywhere. And gorgeous isolated beaches but certainly not isolated from other boat tours. Wow, there had to be 50 different tours going on at the same time. Felt like a mux of greece and the carribbean.

    Enjoyed relaxing at a few of those beaches and eventually back to the port and then drove further down the coast to Cabo Frio. Arrived just before sundown in time to grab a snack and beer by the waterfront while a hotel search was finalized. Pretty sweet way to cap the exploring.

    After visiting a canal, had a crazy cheesy shrimp and brazillian cheese meal, followed by drinks at a trojan themed bar and then an old rock n roll place. I frequently have to remind myself i am in brazil. I'm not sure what i expected but its such a lively and diverse culture and environment. Very chill place to be once beyond the big cities. The language is the biggest challenge for me. Portuguese is very similar to spanish but also quite different in non intuitive ways :) i learned a few small phrases and otherwise lean heavily on them recognizing my spanish words, which has been a wonderful strategy so far haha. My Spanish is considerably better than a year ago but not really conversational yet.
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  • Day 12

    Foz do Iguacu

    July 10, 2022 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    Mostly a travel day. After a quick peak at the cabo frio beach, drove 2.5 hours back to the Rio airport, dropped off the car and boarded a flight to Foz do Iguacu, home of arguably the world's best waterfalls. To be continued.

    By the time i got out of the airport and to my hotel, it was after 4pm. No time to do anything touristy. But i did notice there was a beer garden near my hotel. Unfortunately there were no craft beers, so i stayed for one drink and left

    I walked towards a tap room a few blocks further and passed by multiple huge restaurants that were packed and loud with dj's and full of energy. Paid a couple dollars to get seated in one of them... had an amazing stew type meal with cut up steak absolutely drowning in gargonzola sauce. Ridiculously rich and savoury. But perhaps 10,000 calories too haha. I had no idea what i ordered at the time but it worked out.

    Eventually got to the tap room and they had an awesome craft beer list, so i got cozy in there for a while. Met Fernanda who is a doctor, and works just across the border in paraguay 🇵🇾. She couldn't stay long as she had a 36 hour shift the next morning. Thats not a typo. Wow.. canada labour code would not agree on that shift length at all. She said she has a shift like that once a month.

    Then wandered over to another spot with a live band and people dancing. I have never seen a sunday night like this anywhere. Last night in brazil, so i decided to enjoy the ambiance while it lasted despite needing to be up early for a big day. Why not, its a vacation.
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  • Day 13

    Iguazu / Ciudad del Este

    July 11, 2022 in Paraguay ⋅ ☁️ 28 °C

    Big day today. Anxious to visit world famous iguazu falls. I saw them from the Argentinian side in January and am excited to revisit and see what the brazillian view is like. Have heard its very different. Some say better.

    I hired an uber driver and he told me the falls are closed on mondays. 😥 i talked to my hotel guy and he said the same thing. Oh no, this is a big reason i flew here and today is the only day i could visit the falls because i have an itinerary with more flights. My hotel called to be sure, and its open! Phew!! That would have been fairly devastating

    Arrived at the park and had to board a park bus to get through the jungle to the waterfall trail. Once off the bus, coati were everywhere and almost pet-able. I was pretty impressed by being able to view more of the falls than from the Argentina side but also much futher away. In Argentina you are practically in the falls. Brazil has the panorama and argentina has the up close experience. Both awesome.

    I don't know how to describe the falls. I will let the pictures do the talking. But i will add that the falls stretch over several kilometers. Sooooo maaaaany waterfalls. Otherwordly situation of waterfalls. Speechless and awe struck. I can only attach 2 vids per blog entry so here's my two favorites.

    After i left iguazu i got back to my hotel, grabbed my bags and got an uber to the bridge to paraguay. Started walking across the bridge, got my brazil exit stamp (so sad) and eventually my paraguay entry stamp. Surprisingly both these things were optional. No joking i could have walked past both offices and right into paraguay without talking to anyone except thr people trying to sell stuff to me. I was literally asking people where the migration office was to make sure i entered legally and got the passport stamp. Weird. So different than back home.

    A guy on the other side bought my remaining brazillian real for paraguay... pesos? I dunno yet haha. But they come in big quantities! 5000 to 1 Canadian dollar

    After checking into the really nice howard johnson downtown i chatted with alexa and then ubered to another waterfall in the city. Gorgrous and up close. Ciudad del este is not a nice city so i decided to hang out at the waterfalls all day as they had a nice bar setup over the falls. And beer was 2 dollars. Wrote my blog and almost solved world hunger. Hopefully i have more time next visit :)

    Ubered to an awesome craft beer place playing 80s music all night with great beer selections. Was going to switch locations but a big storm hit and powered out the city. So just relaxed on the dark with my beer and music. Back on now... but interesting scenario. Best 80s compilation of music ever with great ipa beers. I was the only customer all night but it was too good to desert :) shout out to my nice bartender vanessa who patiently answered all my questions.
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  • Day 14

    Asuncion - Day 1

    July 12, 2022 in Paraguay ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Got up early and made my way to the bus station and got comfy for a 6 hour ride to the capital, Asuncion. Honestly not much scenery on the ride but these double decker coach buses are incredibly comfortable with seats that almost go vertical, a leg rest and wifi. For 5 dollars more, i could have had a bed but the beds were sold-out. Oh well, certainly not suffering.

    Checked into my super swanky hotel.. probably the nicest hotel i have ever been in. Got changed and got an uber right away to a micro brewery not far away. Had a beer there, then noticed there was another brewery across the street. I was the only person at either but an older couple walked in and i cheered them and we ended up chatting for a few hours. Klaus and Carla from Sweden. Carla used to work at the swedish embassy in ottawa as a cook! Small world.

    Switched locations for some food. Chatted with paraguayan Yanini for a while who was sitting nearby. And then at a nearby pub, met Chilean Geraldo who is a diplomat at the Chile embassy here in Asuncion. He had some really interesting stories that I'm assuming were a bit more classified than he treated them haha. And back to the hotel. One last detail.. when you order a bottle of beer in this city, you get an ice bucket to keep it on ice all the time. Nice touch.
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  • Day 15

    Asuncion - Day 2

    July 13, 2022 in Paraguay ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    The people i talked to the night before had mixed opinions about downtown asuncion. Some said it had nice places and others said to not go because it is ugly. I caught an uber there to form my own opinion and i gotta agree with the ugly remark. I walked around for an hour and only found a couple of nice buildings. Everything else looked almost abandoned and in great decline, but lots of people going about their business in the streets.

    I couldn't find a decent restaurant either so i got an uber to the very popular and restaurant heavy area of carmelitas. But strangely, not a single place was open until 5 or 6pm. So I made my way back to my hotel and found an American eatery in the next door shopping mall. It feels like i am the only tourist in this country.

    My friend Abdel travels to Paraguay a few times a year for work and he gave me his co-worker's contact info. Simon met me at a micro brewery in carmelitas and we bounced around to few different places. Also met a paraguayan katherina at one of the places and she tagged along with us. Not much to do in this city during the day, but very fun at night.
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  • Day 16

    Montevideo

    July 14, 2022 in Uruguay ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    My flight to Ecuador incldes a 16 hour layover in Montevideo, Uruguay, which is fine by me. I get to explore a new city.

    Landed around 3pm and got through customs and baggage claim and into a taxi in about 15 minutes total. Crazy. Got to my hotel in centro and walked to old town. There's a number of nice old buildings but mostly a mix. Found a mercado by the port that has several restaurants under one roof. It was closing soon so i kept going.

    Went to another mercado close to my hotel and ubered to a 3rd mercado that Simon recommended. It was pretty quiet everywhere. Maybe i was too early but it was cold and rainy too. Shame about the weather because there are beautiful beaches everywhere here but its their winter.

    Then walked to the Simon-recommended Montevideo beer company, which was a mansion turned into a brewery/club. Super nice and fun. Walked more to another beer place but it was closed and so i sat down at a busy place across the street for some food finally.

    I chatted with the guy sitting next to me until his friends showed up. And just as i was about to ask for my bill to go somewhere else, another beer got placed in front of me. And the guys invited me over to try some of their food.

    Decided to order the same dish for myself, and the chef came out to explain something. I didn't really understand but agreed to whatever he was saying. Later the chef came back out to make sure I enjoyed the meal haha. When does that ever happen? Talked to the owner quite a bit too. Super friendly place.

    Slowly making my way towards my hotel, found one more brewery. Made it my last stop after chatting with the bartender and off to bed.
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  • Day 17

    Salinas

    July 15, 2022 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Got up at 4:45am to catch a 7am five hour flight to Lima, with a 4 hour layover and eventually land in Ecuador. And then a 2 hour drive to the beach town of Salinas. On both flights the airlines made me wear 2 masks on top of eachother. Ugh.. Very long day. Thats 13 hours in transit with awful start time. I think the rest of my flights are more reasonable and a lot shorter legs.

    Arrived in Salinas just after the sun went down. Got an awesome mixed seafood platter with grilled fish, squid, octopus, crab and mussels. Eventually found my hotel, had a couple of ipa's at the hotel bar, but my eyes were closing, so I was in bed a little after 10pm. Hopefully fresh as a daisy the next day.

    Short entry so i will throw in some closing observations on Uruguay. It was definitely the most expensive latin American country i have been to. Prices were pretty close to what i would pay in Canada. Maybe outside the capital, the prices are better. I was very impressed how much english there was. Every single person i spoke to knew some english. This has definitely not been the case anywhere else in latin America except belize where it is their official language.
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  • Day 18

    Montanita - Day 1

    July 16, 2022 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    After a quick breakfast found a taxi that would drive me 90 minutes to Montanita for $30. I can't even get to the ottawa airport for that price.

    Unfortunately I did not bring the Brazil weather with me. Very cloudy and coolish at the beach. But still, montanita is one of my favorite places to be. Small surf town with most structures built with bamboo and an incredibly laid back vibe. Lots of backpackers and Ecuadorians getting away from things. Endless restaurants/establishments. And at night, super lively.

    Spent the afternoon walking around the town, chatted with a few locals, and hanging out on the beach. Early afternoon it was low tide and no surfers. But late afternoon the tide returned and there were a ton of very talented surfers. I found my favorite beach bar with craft beer and watched the surfers battle the waves for a few hours. Incredibly enjoyable and relaxing.

    Back to town for ecuadorian ceviche, which is amazing everywhere in this country and unique in how they prepare it. Yum!! And then a quick nap before heading out to the crazy montanita Saturday nightlife.

    I found a live band bar that i was at 2.5 years ago and i found the same cat sleeping on the same bar. Hilarious! That cat is the most chill cat ever. This is an extremely loud music bar, like eardrum pounding, and the cat sleeps through all of it, surrounded by people getting their drinks.

    Bounced around between beach parties, and clubs and finished at a quiet place where I was told i could get craft beer. Challenging in montanita! But i think I have all the spots mapped now. Chatted with the owner, a young guy whose mother is from Quebec and an American father but has lived his whole life in Ecuador. Got back to my room late but all i could hear was pounding club music. I have a knack for choosing poor hotel locations it seems.
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  • Day 19

    Montanita - Day 2

    July 17, 2022 in Ecuador ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Started the day with a yummy ceviche by the beach. And then spent the afternoon on the beach sipping a few beers listening to my music and riding the boogie board i rented. I was very tempted to ride a surf board instead but wasn't feeling that ambitious today. And relaxed watching surfers in the waves. So enjoyable. Amazed to see many of the really good surfers were young kids.

    Again, lousy weather. No sun, not hot, and not cold but definitely not the montanita i had in mind when planning this trip. Instead of spending 4 days in montanita, i found a cheap flight the next day to get to cuenca instead. Which is also exciting... I love cuenca. It will be much cooler but more to do and see.

    As it got darker, i relocated to a restaurant in town where i ran into jeff (new orleans) and Valentina (Quito) again. I had already chatted with them a few times and our paths kept on crossing. Really nice, friendly couple.

    Most of the town was closed this day. Massive difference from Saturday night when it felt like the whole country was in montanita. Found another place to wind down and got to bed at a good hour. Another travel day tomorrow, so seemed wise. Unfortunately my hotel room was poorly situated as others clearly did not have the same desire to sleep and it was another night of loud music.
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  • Day 20

    Cuenca - Day 1

    July 18, 2022 in Ecuador ⋅ ⛅ 14 °C

    I was going to say I had a quick breakfast but this is montanita. Nothing is quick. Found the bus stop at 11am and luckily boarded a bus immediately. Unluckily, it was not a direct bus. Took me 2 buses and 4.5 hours to get to the guayaquil bus station. And despite the bus station being meters away from the airport, it took 30 minutes to get there. Ah latin America haha

    And when I tried to check in, the girl assisting me printed out my baggage tag and for some reason i looked at the airport codes on the tags (which i never do but will always do from now on) and could see it was wrong. My bag was going to go to quito first. I would have not received it in cuenca. I questioned it right away and they agreed it was wrong and that took another 30 minutes to sort out.

    Finally in quenca, checked into my old world posada and then walked around taking a few pictures of the gorgeous buildings here. Found a downtown brewery location and hung out at the bar where i met Gabriela who was just grabbing food to go but we chatted over an hour. Everything was closed on a Monday but found a tiny karaoke place and met 3 more locals, one who took more of a liking to me than i would ever reciprocate haha. Anyways, nice people.
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