Chapter IV - Picturesque views

Araxá - Rio de Janeiro - Curitiba - Ilha do Mel - Curitiba - Foz do Iguaçu

Up first, pictures from Araxá:

Meeting some of Sanni's friends after six long years!
Andim, Fred, Wilker, Poliana, Arison (and later
Hugo and Rogerio too), foi bom ver vcs!

Visiting Barreiro with Sanni's brazilian mum Eliene,
who let us stay in her home for the week.

SWEET PIZZA and salami, thanks Diego!

Oops, rebellionism. Two piercings in different
ears weren't the best idea, after more than a
week they still hurt when laying in bed :<

We went to see small waterfalls near Araxá.

Behind you can see some of the falls. In front
Anneli almost falling off of a cliff. On the same
trip we got a proof that brazilians drive reclessly
 - though the car didn't break, the front tire
wasn't as lucky.

Everyone we told about us being homesick and in some way wanting to go back home just said, wait and see how you will feel in a couple of weeks. We were waiting forward to the feeling of excitement and wanted to really start our trip. Thankfully we guessed correctly and Araxá was the thing to pull us out of our culture shock. After a week of relaxing and doing fun stuff with Sanni's friends, we headed to Rio. Sanni had been there 3 times before, so she wasn't as excited as I was. The song Copacabana had been stuck in my head for days before going there (and was the whole time we spent in Rio). We arrived in Rio early in the morning and had to find out something to do for the hours before check in. We of course went to the beach and ended up falling asleep and burning ourselves partially. Sanni now has a (hopefully) permanent hippo'ish' looking creature on her right thigh and very brown feet.

Everybody wants to go by bus!

Sanni's now probably permanent hippo friend, who was
at some point infested by a rash and sun allergy. (Note to
Sanni's mum, she put Bepathen on it many times a day.)

There is so much to see in Rio that we were wondering how we could see it all the easiest and cheapest way. Originally we didn't want to do the 'tourist thing' and do an expensive tour where you go see everything with a guide. But in the end, we did it anyway and it was a good choice. We could see all of the biggest attractions in one day and met a couple of really nice people on the way. From our guide we heard a secret tip that you can actually hike up half of the way to Pão de Açucar (the Sugar Loaf) and get a free ride up to the actual mountain with the locals after 7pm. Because we love being stingy, we always take the chance to not pay for something. Two other people from our group decided to do it with us. According to our guide the hike was supposed to be easy and even her small son could walk it. It ended up being 30 minutes of natural 'stairs' made of tree roots and rocks. But we made it and the feeling was great! Then it turned out that her information was outdated and we couldn't get all the way up. It didn't matter though because the sunset and the view were just as great from the lower landing.

Jesus was touched by Anneli. Or the other
way around. Can you see the Holy Light
emitting from the touch? (Sanni does
not approve of this joke.)

The way up to Pão de Açúcar. Easy, right?

Desperation?

Sunset in Rio

After Rio we took a night bus to Curitiba. It was the best so far! We sat in the first row of a double-decker so we could lean our feet against the window and sleep properly. Sitting next to us there were two very nice grannies, one of them had just turned  100 years old. From Curitiba we were planning to travel to Ilha do Mel (the Honey Island). This time we were smart and found out in advance if there was a room for us. When we arrived to the beautiful island that has no cars and proper roads, just sand everywhere, we found out that our hostel keeper would find a room for us somewhere on the island, not in his hostel. Because he also rents tents, we decided to stay in one, paying only a half of what we would have paid for a room. A decision at least I grew to regret. The first night it was hot like hell and the second it rained and stormed like I had never experienced before. I was sure the tree covering the campsite would fall on us. Well it didn't and everything turned out just great. The island was absolutely beautiful and the water warm like 'birds milk' as the Finns say.

Ilha do Mel

Anneli trying to cool off in the breeze and also
 trying to take a cool pic. Sanni admitted of timing
the picture taking the way that only 1/8 pictures
does not have a bum showing. You are welcome world!

Now we are in Foz do Iguaçu trying to plan our next move. We just don't feel like leaving this hostel and its comfortable beds.  We have already been here for one night more than planned and seen the falls from the Brazilian and the Argentinian side. We know we don't have so much time to lose, but then again...comfortable beds (and good breakfast and nice atmosphere and people). We know we will go to Paraguay next, most likely to Encarnación to experience their twist on carnival.

Brazilian side with our new Irish friends

View from the Brazilian side of the falls

Unbelievably cute, fluffy and rabies-carrying mammal.
We thought it could be Marsupilami but apparently
it's some sort of raccoon or aardvark (maasika).

Devil's Throat, Garganta del Diablo - the first
and biggest of the falls.

We told you before that we are going to write about the feelings we have had about Brazilians and some of the cultural differences that have effected us the most. Now that we are leaving Brazil it feels like the best moment to tell you about them (not that we haven't been negative before. Heh. Heh.). After the first days in Salvador, we wrote a short text about our feelings. We didn't post it online, because we wanted to see if our feelings would stay the same after the initial shock. We do still feel shocked about the way people treat this unique and beautiful country they have, filling it with litter, cans and plastic bags. Seriously, they give one plastic bag for each item when you go grocery shopping.  To us it seems people don't see the effect of their actions. We have been laughing about how Brazilians must feel if they go to Finland and nobody packs their groceries, not to talk about the huge bags we have (bad customer service anyone?). The government tries to remind people not to litter by putting signs and billboards by the roads, but people learn to not care since childhood. I saw a 3-year-old eating a candy and just throwing the paper on the ground, just like the older lady next to him. Again, we have to say there are exeptions like D'Aventura, the firm we told you about. Brazilians are also very proud of their recycling system, something we haven't seen in action, but what hopefully works.

We took a shower under these waterfalls.
No one stayed dry on that boat ride.

In the text we also wondered about the attitude towards other people. We are not sure if we have just gotten used to it or do we just see things more positive, but people just don't seem so bad anymore. Somehow we have felt and still feel like many people would have a 'me first' -attitude to things. We don't know where this feeling comes from and also don't feel comfortable talking about it, because the subject is a nation that consists of groups with hugely different economical status. How people show caring and worry for the lesser, if they do it, is a riddle to us and in that sense also hard to understand for well-cared students from Finland. Respect towards other people and how it's shown is a very complicated concept and it defines a culture greatly. It's impossible for us to know if we can see respect in any other way than our own. We have talked with Brazilians about our feelings and some of them do agree with us, so maybe we are not totally off in our views.

View of the falls from the Argentinian side

After this labor-like try to get our feelings and my over-analytical head in order, we have to say that Brazil has been a joy and a puzzle. I'm sure it won't change in other South-American countries, but it has given us a good start to this trip that is turning into a load of deep hows and whys. In the last post Sanni was giving me compliments about being a good sport among all this portuguese, so now it's my turn. Poor Sanni has to listen to me analyze my head, her head and the head of every person that walks past. That's really not easy.

Oh and if you wonder about us not listing good and bad things about each other, we decided that it's none of your business. We still talk about all of them (mostly because I have to and make everyone else talk about everything), we just don't have the need to tell you about Sanni warming the water bottle with her hands and me screwing the cap unnecessarily tight. All you need to know is that we are having loads of fun, eating a lot of meat and inspite of our disagreements we still love eatch other (Sanni read it and made a throw-up-face).

We went to eat in a churrascaria, where
different types of delicious meats are
served to tables in swords. This picture
says more than a thousand words.