Reset search
Brazil & a bite of Argentina
  • Virág Barabás
  • Virág Barabás

Brazil & a bite of Argentina

A 24-day adventure by Virág Read more
FollowInsightsInsightsCalendarCalendarPhotosPhotosShareShareBucket list
InsightsCalendarPhotos
  • Trip start
    October 31, 2024
    Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Amsterdam-Rio, here we go 🇧🇷

    October 31, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    Last year November I planted a little seed in Kim’s mind: why not make Brazil our next destination? Now this little seed grew into a girls’ trip of 3 weeks across the country with a very ambitious plan combining city, nightlife, nature, adventure. So here we go again! 🤩 Following a long trip to Rio, especially for me as I spent 13 hours sitting upright as my seat wasn’t working properly (I got some refund, yay 🥳), we couldn’t resist and jumped right into the nightlife of Rio. After dinner we found ourselves in an old factory building with hundreds of Brazilians enjoying samba, to the surprise of none of you, I even learned how to dance samba! 💃 Samba is the pure representation of something with call örömzenélés in Hungarian, basically coming together and bringing what you have, guitar, drum, singing, but first and foremosf your love for each other. It was a beautiful experience - live music in Rio definitely didn’t disappoint. 💟Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Rio, our first day in the city of god

    November 1, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ 🌬 26 °C

    I woke up quite early in the morning cuz of the time difference and since the girls were still asleep, I decided to head out and check out the famous Ipanema beach… Villő can confirm the beauties, my god! What a scenery, just like in the movies. 🏝️⛱️ Once the girls were up and running, we passed by a street market with the most delicious produce and most welcoming sellers - we were offered tasters at almost every stall. 🤩 Once we finished our brunch at a spot with organic and local food, we were just on time to catch a free walking tour which is a must every time I go to a new city. Our guide was great, we spent 3 hours exploring Rio and learning about history finishing with taking some cute pictures at Escadaria Selarón. 🧚‍♀️ We finished the night in an amazing restaurant with outstanding food and cocktails, yummm, and a little bit of dancing in Lapa. First day perfectly closed! 🥳Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler
    2

    Rio, from favela to Leblon

    November 2, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Another day, another must-do in Rio! ✅ Today we visited one of the favelas so that we can get to see both sides of Rio, not only the sunshine and beach. We got a contact from our guide from the walking tour and Gabriela ended up being our guide through the biggest and safest favela in Rio called Rocinha. Gabriela was amazing, she’s 22, she’s from Rocinha, and she showed us the favela inside and out. We first hopped on some mototaxis to ride up to the top of the hill with a great view over Rio and walked back down through the favela. Our first stop was a capoeira performance by a local community which is one of the many social projects aiming at improving life in Rocinha. Sadly, none of these projects are funded by the government, it’s solely locals who do everything in their power to provide a better future for their children. 🥹 The favelas were origianally established by former slaves in 1800s and they spread when workers arrived from mostly the North-East around 1960. The conditions of the favela (at least this one) is actually much better than the townships in Cape Town, I was happy to see that - poverty and safety are still huge issues. Gabriela explained us the Rocinha is so safe because they made rules/unwritten laws with the faction (basically the mobsters “guarding” the favela) such as no photos in certain areas where they deal drugs and so on. On the way down we stopped at a local restaurant for lunch and had the most amazing BBQ ever. 🤤 Once we got back to the hostel, we crashed, slept the big walk and experience out, and went for dinner in Leblon, which turned out to be the fanciest and richest neighbourhood of Rio. Seeing the massive gap between Rocinha and Leblon was very confronting, it was a lot to take in just in one day. We called it a night after dinner, a big walk, and an icecream - we’re making the most of Rio. 🤗Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Rio, visiting the famous guy

    November 3, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    Today we checked off another can’t miss, Christ, the Redeemer, overlooking Rio. He is a pretty cool guy, fairly photogenic. 🤓 Later we checked out the biggest street and food market of Rio, in Gloria, and then headed to Copacabana, as they close the beachwalks on Sundays and pedestrians, bikers, scooters take over. The weather was a bit cloudy but still warm, perfect for a little stroll. 😇 The beach wasn’t as busy as we expected probably because the Flamingos were playing, the team of Rio, so people were either in the stadium, at home or in bars. We found a spot that showed the game and they won! 🥳 After dinner we visited bar Bip Bip that is famous for its live music and cosy athmosphere which proved to be exactly the case, give the video a listen. 🌞 We didn’t stay out late as tomorrow we are moving on to our next destination, Paraty. 🧚‍♀️Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Rio-Paraty, a bit of time travel

    November 4, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ 🌧 25 °C

    Today it was time to leave Rio (for now 😇) and head toward our next destination, Paraty, a fishertown on the cost, 4 hours drive from Rio. This time we were a bit less fortunate with the weather as it was raining when we arrived but this didn’t stop us from exploring the town a little bit. ☔️ For dinner we had moqueca which a local dish, kind of a coconut curry, we ordered the one with seafood and with plantain, yummm, best dish we had so far with out a doubt. 🤤 What was even better that the waiter gave us a tip for a live samba event in one of the beach bars which ended up being so fun that we have no proof of it, sorry! 🙈 The weather is promised to be better tommorow, cross your fingers for us, please. 🙏Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Paraty, a day of history and adventure

    November 5, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    We started the morning with an excellent breakfast at the hotel we booked to get some energy for the walking tour, as per usual. 🤓 Paraty was originally an area where the Guyanese lived until colonizers arrived and established a port as this was the closest beach on the golden route to transport the gold from Minais Gerais to Rio then to Portugal. The Portugese initially promised to protect the natives but when they found out thag Guyanese are “cannibals” (they ate the heart of enemy to gain strength), they executed them. Paraty has a very special mix of races as slaves worked on the golden route, natives were here originally, all combined with Portuguese. Paraty was booming for a long time but this ended with the introduction trains as it was a much faster and cheaper way of transportation. Many locals then sold their property and only later was Paraty recognized as a cultural heritage. Our tour guide was great, she handled my trillion questions pretty well. 🙈 In the afternoon we hopped into a taxi and visited a cachaca distillery, cachaca is basically fermented sugarcane juice, best in caipirinhas, if you ask me 😎, and walked up to a waterfall where Kim & Rojda were brave enough to slide down - I stayed on the safe side and served as a camerawoman instead. 😜 Another eventful day I’d say!Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Paraty-Iguazu, the travel day

    November 6, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C

    In the morning we still had time for a morning stroll with some cute pictures and a last coffee at our favorite coffeeshop, Montanita before we jumped into our taxi to Rio airport to catch our flight to Iguazu Falls. Despite the long day of travel, leaving at noon and arriving at midnight, the mood was high as always. 🧚‍♀️ The last bit of a the flight however turned out to be extremely memorable… we flew through a storm and I saw something flashing far away… thunderstorm maybe? I couldn’t be sure until the moment that a thunder flashed right next to us, it was magical and frightening at the same time, I couldn’t believe my eyes. 🌩️⚡️No need to worry, we landed safe and sound! 🤗Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Iguazu Falls, the first look from Brazil

    November 7, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Today is finally the day to visit one of the world wonders, the Iguazu Falls. 🤩 It’s the world’s largest waterfall system made of 275 waterfalls, borders with three countries - Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay, it’s almost 3 km wide that is twice the Niagara. 🤯 Today we visited the Brazilian side which is more lf a paved path with lookouts to the waterfalls, tomorrow we will go to Argentina and have a more immersive experience - at least according to the promises. 🧚‍♀️Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Iguazu Falls, immersed in Argentina

    November 8, 2024 in Argentina ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Today we hopped in our transport to reach the other side of the falls, and the views were even more breathtaking than in Brazil! 🤯 The park this time was packed with tourists, still barely any international visitors just like in the rest of Brazil except one Hungarian group that ended up sitting next to us in a tiny train taking us to the falls haha. After the train and the closest look at the Devil’s Throat we walked the two more trails full of lookouts, it was outstanding. And we even saw some animals, first I spotted one monkey which turned out to be a group of 20-30 or even more, later we saw the voulters from close up and even a toucan, so cute 🥹 We closed the day with a nice restaurant on a patio, and tomorrow we’re just gonna relaxxx then take our nightbus to the jungle. 🧚‍♀️Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Bonito, the first impressions

    November 10, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 34 °C

    We arrived to Bonito around 1 pm, first a nightbus of 14 hours to Campo Grande, then another bus of 4 hours to Bonito, the ride was long but the seats were comfortable so we all basically slept through the majority of it. 😇 Bonito is a super cute place, very neat, a bit American vibes combined with South America, and seems pretty wealthy which is due to the massive ecotourism - according to chatgpt, no drugs involved this time. 😅 We took are ranch-looking accomodation, booked our activities for the upcoming days, had lunch, chilled by the pool, and in the evening enjoyed some live music cuz Brazil is not Brazil without live music every night. 🧚‍♀️Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Bonito, the perfect day

    November 11, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Today, as expected from proper ecotourists, we went to an ecological park for some adventure - we did some rafting on tubes then relaxed in the park for the rest of the day. Everyone read their books, listened to their podcasts, or just reflected on life, it was just perfect. 🧚‍♀️ For dinner we had some pizzas for a change and played some Quixx while waiting for them to arrive, the first time that we inteded to play something during our trip and to noone’s surprise, we never finished the game, maybe next time 🙈Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Bonito, even more adventures

    November 12, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    Ecotourism day 2 started with a cave with beautiful blue water where I became best friends with a little girl named Luisa and her family, she learns English in school so we even had a little chat, she was the cutest with big brown eyes. 🥰 After lunch we went to another place to snorkel with fish in the Sucuri river with crystal clear water, even the weather couldn’t stop us, it was supposed to be 30+ degrees and it dropped below 20, we were freezing already before we jumped in the water. 🙈 But it was totally worth it!!! We saw thousands of fish of different size and shape, an otter, above and below water, and we even swam with a 5m long anaconda chilling in the water after eating a capybara 3 days ago - if you don’t believe me, check the video, it was for real. 🤯🤯🤯🐍 We closed the day with an amazing dinner in a middle eastern restaurant and some icecream, Brazil keeps on getting better by the day! 🧚‍♀️Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Pantanal, deep in nature

    November 13, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    And we’re moving on again, got no time to waste. 😇 After a taster of the nature in Bonito, we now headed to Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland full of birds and wildlife, also a UNESCO world heritage. We chose to visit Pantanal instead of the Amazon as it’s just too far to reach. We were promised to see jaguars, so we’re good either way. 🤩 We got here in the afternoon and kicked right off our stay with some piranha fishing - Rojda caught a piranha and Mo caught a massive beast with scary teeth. 💀 Only the small small piranhas are dangerious and only when it’s many of them, so no need to panic. 😀 Later we went for a sunset boat ride with beautiful lights and many birds and kaymans. No sight of the jaguar yet, maybe tomorrow! 🐆🤞Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Pantanal, on the hunt for giant otters

    November 14, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Day 2 in Pantanal started with an early morning boat ride crossing off even more animals from our imaginary bingo cards: kayman, capybara, lizard chilling on the top of a tree, and eventually a big family of giant otters. 🤩 In the video you can hear how they talk with each other, the little one is asking its mummy for food. 🥹 We skipped the afternoon activity which was floating in the river - somehow swimming with kaymans and piranhas in a muddy water didn’t appeal to us. 😂 After dinner a frog decided to join us for some caipirinhas, we tried to kiss it into a prince, no luck unfortunately. 😀Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Pantanal-SP, bush walk & travel

    November 15, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☀️ 38 °C

    One more activity fit into our schedule before we started making our way back to Rio, a jeep tour combined with a bush walk together with ten million mosquitos. 💀 We saw some more birdies, the toucan became our best friend by now, we saw a tapir hanging out by the road. No sighting of the jaguar, we gotta come back to Brazil to cross that off the list next time. 🧚‍♀️ Later in the day we hopped into a taxi and drove to Campo Grande to take our flight to Sao Paolo so that the morning after we can fly back to Rio. Sadly we didn’t have time to explore Sao Paolo, just got a few hours of sleep and headed back to the airport. Next time! 🤗Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Sao Paolo-Rio, back in town

    November 16, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ 🌧 23 °C

    We caught our flight back to Rio in the morning for three extra nights to do what we couldn’t do the first time we were here. This time we booked a hostel in Lapa, not at the beach, preferring to socialize a bit more and staying closer to the nightlife. We spent the day eating and sleeping for most, the battery is running out slowly by slowly haha and we needed energy for the Saturday night. 🤓 There was a party at the rooftop of our hostel where we made some new friends, trainees and their friends mostly from SP, and hung out with them for the rest of the night enjoying some more caipirinhas, samba and brazilian funk. 🧚‍♀️Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Rio, exploring Santa Teresa

    November 17, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    Sunday is the best possible day to stroll around Santa Teresa, a bit more artsy neighbourhood of Rio - how lucky that it’s exactly a Sunday today! 😇 Santa Teresa was first established by nuns, then became the home of the elite of Rio, and now it’s full of bars, samba, and great food. On the way down we came across a vinyl store that also serves as an event venue, the place was a whole experience. We had to take off our shoes and the owner was an expert of all his records and managed to recommend Kim & Rojda some records that were exactly matching their taste. We took this day slow overall, after the night out and intense travels, it was super nice to just take the city in. 🌅Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Rio, Sugarloof & Dois Irmaos

    November 18, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 27 °C

    After so long in Brazil and especially in Rio with many peaks to climbed we still haven’t had the time for some hiking so we made sure that today is the day to make up for that. First, we took the cable car up to the Sugarloof Mountain to look at the landscape and Christo from yet again a different angle, and in the afternoon we did an afternoon hike with a beautiful sunset. 🧚‍♀️Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Rio-Ilha Grande, our last stop

    November 19, 2024 in Brazil ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    The countdown has started, it’s only 3 days left before our return to the now snowy, soon rainy and soggy Amsterdam. 🥹 Apparently I somehow have the tendency to spend the last nights of my travels on an island for true relaxation (and usually some parties 🥸), so we decided to continue this tradition. We stayed in a jungle lodge with it’s own little beach 30 min walk through the jungle and some parts in the sea or via a shuttle boat. We were fairly lucky with the weather, it was just perfect for some beach time. The night ended up being as long that we walked home together with the sun rise despite being a Tuesday - days of the week don’t matter on an island, gotta love that. 😇😀Read more

  • Virág BarabásBrazil & a bite of ArgentinaTraveler

    Ilha Grande-Rio-Amsterdam, tchau! 🇧🇷

    Nov 22–23, 2024 in the Netherlands ⋅ 🌧 6 °C

    That’s all folks, another travel story arrived to its end, and I must say Brazil is a great great place, but what made this trip truly special is my amazing girlfriends and the friendships that we deepend even further during the past weeks. 🥰 We left Mo behind to enjoy another month of sun in Mexico, but the reunion is already scheduled for Dec 20. 🥳 Boa noite a todos! 🌙Read more

    Trip end
    November 23, 2024
  • 2026© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Help Center
  • Legal notice