Réinitialiser la recherche
Lisa Williams
Lisa Williams

Lisa Williams

s’est rendu dans 5 pays. En savoir plus
S’abonnerMessageStatistiques
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Shopping and Sugarloaf

    28 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Our last full Rio day. Temp has dipped to low 20s but it is grey and very cloudy and we had a little rain. After a wander down the hill we took our first ride on the Rio subway. It was impressive - clean, cheap, efficient, safe and has a women only carriage during rush hour. We did some last minute gift and clothes shopping.

    Next up we decided to take the two-legged cable car ride up to the iconic Sugarloaf mountain. We weren't sure we would actually see anything due to the low cloud but thankfully we could. Brazilians are generally lovely, lively, expressive people. Put sixty Brazilians in a cable car up a steep mountain and it gets very loud and lively! Our ears were ringing.

    Views were still great. Christ came in and out of sight. We went into the museum of the cable car and learned some engineery stuff. There were capuchin monkeys, vultures and parrots in the forest - some of which you could walk through, but it was very steep.

    Later we walked around the bay to Urca for the sunset, which was pants because we couldn't actually see the sun. But hey you have to try these things when in Rio!    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Santa Teresa

    27 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    We're back in Rio and in the funky neighbourhood of Santa Teresa. Steep cobbled streets, lovely local bars & shops, great street art (Stik from Hackney has clearly been here & making his mark - I (Clare) feels quite at home!).

    We took a ride into centro on the Bonde, recently refurbished tram that only recently reopened. At one ppint we crossed a very high aqueduct which was a bit terrifying. After shopping in the huge flea market (think 100s of Brazilian Poundlands plus underwear shops) we headed back up the hill to Santa Teresa. We found ourselves in a local restaurant where a band just started up, musicians arriving and joining in part way through. Most folk in the bar seemed to be local and all know each other, their children were feral and ran around us. It felt like we'd landed in someone's family party but more fun!    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Last island evening

    26 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    We are getting ready to head back soon. Three nights left!!!! Thus our early evening was spent trying to choose our new broadband and TV package for when we get back. We know how to rock!

    After that excitement we headed out for our last Ilha Grande meal and obligatory caipirinhas.En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Boat, beaches, big waves and monkeys

    26 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    After a lovely long sleep we went for a day trip to a top ten beach - three of them actually. Thankfully it's a bit cooler today although rain is on its way this week apparently.

    A 45 minute boat ride took us to a pier and beach from which we hiked 25 mins through dense jungle to San Antonio beach. For the final part we had to walk across a muddy bottom river without being able to see where our feet were disappearing - tricky.

    We made it and were rewarded by sweeping golden sand, clear blue/green surf and only about 10 other people. After lunch we hiked back out and onto the star attraction- Lopes Mendes. No muddy river but teeny tiny Capuchin monkeys on the way and big big waves. We got knocked over a few times but it was a lot of fun. Clare's bikini bottoms kept disappearing and Lisa was put on 'decency' watch to avoid any accidental post-wave flashing. A fine way to spend our last full island day.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Volta a Ilha

    25 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ 🌧 16 °C

    Lovely boat trip all around the island today, stopping off for swimming and snorkling at various bays and beaches along the way, some inaccessible by land. Great snorkling. We saw a turtle pootling along, a huge eel, a puffer fish, a white sea cucumber, two squid, starfish, lots of pretty stripey fish & coral. Happy girls. Watched the moon rise over the bay after dinner and saw this fabulous frog hanging out near our veranda, pretending to be made of stone.En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Lazy day

    24 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ☀️ 15 °C

    Poor Clare woke up with a headache accompanied by an unusual dose of grumpy. After breakfast it felt too hot to do anything so we lazed around in hammocks and tried to Skype Beth for her birthday.
    Then we retreated to our air conditioning and put on a DVD from their library. Unfortunately it was a pirated one, we could actually see the edge of the cinema screen and the seats in front. It was also in Portuguese and of course had no subtitles so we gave up.

    We went to lunch and then walked the Abraão circuit which is a shady 2 km trek through beach, river and jungle. After that we needed a swim. The water is a really decent temperature but has lovely refreshing cold currents that appear.

    When we got home Clare sat on the bed - no leaping - and it broke! Quite dramatic but very funny. They are trying to fix it now.

    We've booked a full day circuit of the island boat tour tomorrow. Beaches, snorkelling and factor 50!    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Island life

    23 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Now we are off for our mini-break to Ilha Grande - a tropical island 2.5 hours drive and a 20 min boat from downtown Rio. But first a morning run (for Lisa) on Copacabana beach followed by a lovely breakfast including coconut water still in the coconut! Perfect rehydration.

    The drive to the port was a bit hairy because A) the roads are still being dug up for the Olympics, B) it's a holiday weekend in Brazil and C) Rio drivers are crazy. We arrived in tact and were pointed to a boat. After being able to do fine in Spanish we are really struggling with Portuguese, leading to some hilarious sign language, 'Spanguluese' attempts to communicate.

    We dragged our bags along the beach and up a cobbled hill to Aratinga Inn, our home for four nights. Room is lovely, has AC and a fan - it's still boiling hot. Went for lunch on the beach. Our chairs, tables and feet were in the water each time a wave came in. Fresh seafood at last so Clare v happy.

    Think we may be about to restore any weight we may have lost. They do afternoon tea here (lovely Aussie woman owner who is friends with our Rio boys) with many types of cake and dessert. Very yum.

    Went out for dinner and strolled around while fireworks went off from the pier. We could see the fireworks and a bright moon at the same time which was cool. It's very busy here but many will leave tomorrow as it's Sunday.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Bikes, beaches and botanical gardens

    22 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    We rented two bikes and set out to ride the entire length of Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon beaches, then up around the lagoon to the botanical gardens where we figured there would be shady trees - it's 35C and this is autumn.

    Four hours and 20 km later we have the bikes back and enjoyed sunset on Copacabana. When we got back our hosts invited us to join them in caipirinhas and canapés as they had three friends coming over. We had a lovely evening swapping travel stories, gaining insight into Brazilian culture, politics and trying to explain British customs.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Cristo Redentor

    22 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Up and out early to go to one of Rio's main tourist attractions - 'Christ' as he's known around here. Hair-rising van ride up seemingly vertical streets. Already blazing hot and full of people by 9 AM. Some folk were lying on the floor to take their photos so you have to step over them.

    Views were fantastic. Rio is huge and buildings spread across almost every undulating surface. We also were extremely lucky to have a relatively clear day. Could only tolerate about half an hour of the people though and headed back to Copacabana for a coffee.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Hello Rio!

    21 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ 🌙 27 °C

    Flight was good. Taxi to our AirBnB was a bit stressful but arrival to our hosts who had a freshly made caipirinha in our hands in 10 mins was great! They went to bed but we ventured the three blocks to the beach. We could smell the ocean before we could see it (albeit from the floodlights as it was nearly 11PM).En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Itaipú Dam

    21 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ⛅ 28 °C

    All these big waters mean hydroelectric potential. So we swapped one of nature's wonders of the world for an engineering one. It's very big and produces the most power thanks to the Paraná river. Bit hard to take interesting photos of!

    Back to the pool for more swimming and news of shock celebrity deaths - yesterday it was Victoria Wood, today it was Prince.

    Tonight we fly to Rio and we are both very excited.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Parque Das Aves

    20 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C

    Across the road from the entrance to the falls park is a fab bird park/sanctuary where we spent a lovely couple of hours. Some birds are rescued from illegal hunters, maltreatment etc and many are in huge enclosures that you get to walk through. They fly or walk right past you.

    Our favourites were the toucans - they are so cute! The macaws were colourful and very loud. The harpy eagles were huge, most unusual looking and more than a bit scary.

    Lovely afternoon topped off by lying by our pool, going to the gym and drinking beer on our bar stools in the pool. Fabulous day!    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsBrazilVoyageur

    Another view of the falls

    20 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    Wow. What a breakfast buffet. There must have been ten different fresh juices and even more types of breads plus hot stuff, cheese, ham, fruit. Did we at we are enjoying our hotel?

    Trip to the falls was once again breathtaking and we got to see the panoramic views of Argentina you can't see from Argentina - makes sense when you think about it.

    Lots of almost circular rainbows too. You are much closer in fact the amount of spray and vapour makes you feel like you are in it. Clare has a million photos.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsMisiones and CorrientesVoyageur
    1

    Farewell Argentina we loved you

    19 avril 2016, Brésil ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    We both felt sad that today we left Argentina and we are moving on to the last stage of the trip - Brazil.

    After breakfast we had the joy of driving back up the track and finding our mechanic Hector in El Sorbebio. He did not know we were coming as the lodge had not managed to speak to him (there is very rarely a phone signal here). I was dreading it but actually he was lovely and stopped working on all his other cars to help two strangers. We did a test drive then he put the car in the workshop and went under it. He started banging with a wrench I think, a lot.

    He solved it too. Seems the Iberá mud had set like concrete on the wheels and the car wash had been a superficial one. He reckoned that water might not have worked anyway. One hour later we were on our way - at 110 kph - to Iguazú.

    As we drove through the national park a toucan flew right in front of us. Very exciting!

    After some last minute shopping to use up our pesos we felt the relief of giving the car back and got in the taxi transfer to the Brazil side. Crossing this border was so much easier and faster than any other this trip. Next challenge was to take Brazilian Reais out of a cash machine - Clare passed with flying colours. Then we arrived at our huge and quite fancy hotel with a huge pool, swim up bar and a gym. They also gave us a free upgrade so we already loved the place.

    We enjoyed stable wifi, air conditioning, the gym, pool, swim up bar in that order. I (Lisa) was very pleased to be able to run 5k without stopping or dying because I hadn't been able to run since Mendoza.

    Tomorrow we are off to the Brazilian side of the falls.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsMisiones and CorrientesVoyageur

    Moconá Waterfalls

    18 avril 2016, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Last thing we wanted to do today was drive - especially back out on that dirt road. Thankfully our tour to the main attraction here - the Moconá waterfalls - included our guide also being the driver. He came in a new Ford Focus so it was very tricky driving on the track.

    It's quite low season here now so we were the only visitors to the park and had a tour and boat ride to ourselves. There were thousands of butterflies everywhere, like in Iguazú. We were lucky as there is only water flowing 70/365 days a year due to a dam upstream which controls the flow. These falls are different than most others because they are a continuous 3 km long and run parallel to the river not across it. The Uruguay river is also the natural border between Argentina and Brazil here.

    After our trip we returned to Yucuma but to save the car we did the canoe crossing rather than drive the track. The canoe had a massive spider in it but we survived. Our tour guy was from the agency which rented our car so he had a look too but couldn't fix it. Instead we have the joy of a trip to a mechanic in the next town tomorrow to check it and see if its safe to drive back to Iguazú.

    It was so hot this afternoon we could barely move. At one point we sat with sweat dripping from our chins. No AC and the fans just move warm air. We went to the pool but being under the jungle canopy it filled up with bugs, leaves and twigs faster than we could scoop them out. Plus the mosquitos were having a party there. We went and laid down til our very lovely dinner.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsMisiones and CorrientesVoyageur

    From wetlands to jungle

    17 avril 2016, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    Adventurous drive out of Iberá on even worse road conditions than getting there. In total we spent 9 hours driving and 1 hour trying to sort out problems with the car.

    Although we didn't get stuck this time when we finally came to the paved road the car vibrated in a bone-shaking way whenever we went beyond 70 kph. As we were not too far from the city of Posadas we went to Hertz in the airport but it was deserted. I tried to call but they'd given me a wrong number and I used all my credit.
    Eventually as we drove away a woman chased us in her car and flagged us down. She was from Hertz and came to help. She said it was probably mud in the wheels causing the issue and instructed us on where to go to get it professionally cleaned.

    We thought we'd solved it but didn't get to go fast again for another hour or so and we still had more than a hundred km to go. Decided to limp there at slow speed. Scenery over the Uruguay river to Brazil was stunning. The last part was another track (10km) but it was still light and very pretty.

    Arrived at Yucuma Lodge to find we were the only guests (again) so dinner was a very intimate affair, with very good food. It's made up of rustic wooden buildings set in thick jungle alongside a river. Smells a bit damp - think it's still drying out from being completely submerged in floods two years ago.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsMisiones and CorrientesVoyageur

    Iberá first evening

    15 avril 2016, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Once we'd finally arrived at the right lodge & settled in, went for an dusk walk through the forest and on a boardwalk over the marshes. The Iberá wetlands are 1.3million hectares of pristine freshwater marshes. In the forest we saw howler monkeys, giant snails & hoof prints of wild pigs. On the boardwalk we saw more fabulous capybaras just chilling & sunning themselves in the pools. As it had been recently raining here were swarms of dragonflies and in the floating island were little caiman.En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsMisiones and CorrientesVoyageur

    (Mis)adventurous drive

    14 avril 2016, Argentine ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Thursday started out fine - as in no more rain and thunderstorms. We were on the road before 9 for a long drive to what we thought was going to be three days all inclusive in a lodge in the Iberá wetlands. We picked up a policeman hitchhiker at one of the checkpoints and had an interesting chat with him about usual Argentine topics - football and politics - but also guns, drug smuggling, crime and Scotland (he wants to visit).

    Unfortunately due to a big communication error between us & the travel agency, we drove to the wrong lodge. And not just a little bit wrong, 170km on unpaved mud roads wrong. We got lost on the way (before realising we were in the wrong place), eventually found the 'lodge' in the middle of nowhere - only to find it padlocked shut. It had closed 2 weeks before we were told by a local farmer. We only realised the mistake by hunting through the paperwork and finding the hotel voucher. On the way back to the main road our 4x4 got stuck in the mud. Completely.

    We tried various methods to extricate it for about an hour. Eventually we gave up and walked back to ask the same local woman at her farm for help. She roped in her daughter, Rosa and walked back with us barefoot through the mud, cow and sheep poo.

    Bless their kind hearts, these two phenomenal women & a couple of farm guys, helped us push and shovel the car out. At one point the wheels span, completely covering them in mud & cow poo, to our mortification. Clare got off with only a light splattering. We were justifiably in awe of those fabulous women who had the brains & did most of the work to get us out. Muchas gracias to them. Lisa dug out several hundred pesos of gratitude to give them and they were so muddy that the señora gestured to tuck it into her bra!

    The sun was beginning to set and we only had a 1/4 tank of diesel by this point so we had to drive to the nearest town (70km) back along the mud road. All made more tricky by having filthy windows as we had run out of water in our windscreen reservoir.

    Five police checkpoints later we found petrol & a pretty dingy hotel to stay the night. When we went to find somewhere to eat TripAdvisor failed us so we had to keep walking around. Then when we got back to the hotel the room key snapped in the door - just to top off the day.

    This morning we were on the road before 8 and drove the 2 & a half hours down the correct mud road to the right lodge. All is well in the world now, but we were both pretty alarmed at points yesterday when we realised we were stuck in the wrong place in remote Argentinean farm country, running out of petrol as we'd had to drive so much further than expected when we got lost. But thanks to kind folk we are fine. And thanks to Clare's mum, having given us many packets of wet wipes which we have been carrying around for 2 months, we survived a cow poo mud splashing. The car however is now more brown than silver.

    The lodge is lovely. It is situated on the edge of the wetlands. There are lots of birds. We are also the only guests! We saw deer, herons, road runners & capybara on the way, which look like massive, Labrador-sized guinea pigs, or small hippos, very calmly trundling across the road. There were also several herds of cows being herded along by gauchos on horseback. All very atmospheric.

    Now we are going to lie by our exclusive pool after our first three course meal of the trip and our first proper lunch in four days.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsMisiones and CorrientesVoyageur
    1

    Rain and ruins

    13 avril 2016, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We picked up our honking great 4x4 this morning and cruised down Ruta 12 on day one of our road trip. After about 90 mins the heavens opened snd we have seen probably as much water (rain, rivers and reservoirs) as we did yesterday! It has poured.

    We had to stop at one point (see Clare reclining photo) because the visibility was so bad and Clare had numb bum. We stopped at one of the best preserved Jesuit missions - San Ignacio Miní. Difficult to take photos during the thunderstorm but we took some in a moment of respite. The tree is a strangling fig which has completely enveloped one of the supporting columns.

    Now we are at an airport hotel in Posadas - first in the restaurant for dinner again. Big 6-7 hour drive to Iberá wetlands tomorrow, partially on dirt roads, hence the need for the 4x4.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsMisiones and CorrientesVoyageur

    Iguazu falls

    12 avril 2016, Argentine ⋅ 🌙 24 °C

    We arrived last night in Puerto Iguazú, set in the steamy subtropical Atlantic rainforest (although we are 700KM from the ocean) in Argentina's second smallest province, Misisones. It may have only 1% of the land but is the most bio diverse. It is home to 30% of the nation's species of flora and fauna.

    Today we did a full day tour of the Argentine side of the falls. It was spectacular and truly merits its status as one of the seven natural wonders of the world - wow. Clare's mouth was agape quite often and we have a million photos of waterfalls, butterflies and rainbows.

    In brief the highlights were:
    -Getting to the Devil's Throat on the first train and being fairly uncrowded on the viewing platform
    -Watching the dusky grey swifts murmurate from the vertical cliffs and the spray high into the sky
    -Fabulous weather
    -Butterflies everywhere, of all colours and sizes in their thousands, some choosing to land on our hands, legs, clothing
    -More and more waterfalls
    -Crazy mad cap boat ride including full on 'showers' as it went beneath two waterfalls
    -Sensory overload - sound, sights, smells, colours and raw power of nature

    The photos will struggle to do justice.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsSalta and NW ArgentinaVoyageur

    Cerrillos

    10 avril 2016, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    Last few days in NW Argentina before we move to NE Argentina and finally Brazil. We drove back yesterday from Cachi to Cerrillos, a small town 15 km south of Salta. They grow tobacco here mainly for export, plus fruit, veg and some vineyards.

    The B&B we are staying at has lovely gardens and a big pool. It rained all night and is brightening up so might have a dip later. It is run by a British-Argentine couple Nick & Alicia. Clare and I both had a Spanish lesson with Alicia, then I (Lisa) watched my beloved Spurs thrash Nick's Man U. Happy days.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • Lisa WilliamsSalta and NW ArgentinaVoyageur

    Cachi

    8 avril 2016, Argentine ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    After a mammoth 11 hour bus ride from Atacama we arrived in Salta again and headed out the next morning to the upper part of the Calchaquí Valley to Cachi. We had a lovely drive through lush green mountains over a 4000m pass and the Cardones (type of cactus) National Park.
    Its a very pretty white washed adobe village with a lovely square, where today they had a community aerobics class. Why not!    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction

Obtenez votre propre profil de voyageur

Gratuit

QR code

FindPenguins pour iOSFindPenguins pour Android