12is12 Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 Foz do Iguaco: • As previously posted, IMOH – simply a must. • If you do come, it's worth going the extra mile and seeing both sides: Brazilian and Argentinian. • If you can splurge and stay at a hotel inside the NP, for immediate access to the falls, the Sheraton on the Argentinian side is better and less expensive than Das Cataratas on the Brazilian side. • For taking a boat ride to get up close and personal with the falls (including a soaking shower), the Brazilian one is better and less expensive. Curitiba: •The train from Curitiba to Paranagua is proclaimed as a great ride through jungle covered peaks with sweeping views and down steep heights. The jungle and the heights are true; the view is not. 98% of the time, all that can be seen are the thick trees 40 cm from the windows. There are only very rare and short peeks at the wonderful canyons beyond them. One of my two disappointments in the trip. Rio: • The second is Christ the Redeemer. He was shrouded by clouds and fog most of the six days I spent in Rio. I ended up visiting him when his head was hardly visible, and nothing to see of the great view of the city below. Be prepared for such an eventuality. (BTW, there's a similar though less acute problem with the Sugar Loaf Mountain. I spent about three hours on the mid-way stop waiting (reading; I came prepared) for the fog to clear up. • If you go to the carnival, DO NOT buy the ticket from abroad through the internet or agencies. Find some way for a local to make the purchase. The overseas/online price is at least 3 times the local one! • Unless you intend to hit the beaches daily, there's no reason to stay at a hotel in that area. The area from Flamengo to Cinelandia is much more interesting/authentic and less expensive. • The metro is very efficient, clean and safe. Regarding safety in general, I neither experienced nor saw anything disconcerting, though I was walking alone most of the time, including at night. • Lonely Planet includes a great walking tour from Cinelandia metro through highlights north and west. I recommend taking an additional walk from the same metro, going south along the park overlooking the beach all the way to Flamengo. Of course it can be walked also in the opposite direction (north), but if you walk south you have constant view of Sugar Loaf Mountain. • Visiting the Catedral Metropolitana, spend some time viewing its reflection in the glass skyscraper on the opposite side of the avenue. Since the glass façade isn't smooth/even, the reflection changes as you move. Brasilia: • Again, as I've posted before, this place should also be a must, if only for its sheer exceptionalism. • The best place to stay is in Hotel Sector South, and within walking distance to the Fonte Luminosa (which by itself is reason enough to visit the city). Salvador: • Afriano, the nice-looking taxi driver and garoto, who offers airport rides for 60 instead of 90-100 $R: (71) 3212-2593; 8804-4706; 8793-3510. If you contact him, just for laughs mention the guy who hopped with him from check-in to a motel. I think/hope he'll remember me. • A tour guide named Anderson, whose English is the best I've heard in Brazil. I have no reason to think he's gay, and I didn't talk sex/sauna with him. Very engaging fellow. (71) 3321-3597; flextourbahia@yahoo.com.br • For buying local art, the stores up in Cidade Alta are significantly more expensive than in the Mercado Modelo five minutes with the Elevador Lacerda below. I had a great shopping experience and a bargain price at the Galeria de Art – Jorge Kanalan in the Mercado (either first or second turn on the right). • If you visit only one museum, make it the Museu Afro-Brasileiro. It looks rather shabby, until you reach the last room: person-size wooden panels depicting orixas (Afro-Brazilian deities). Make sure to take English speaking explanations from the receptionist as you enter the museum.It also help to understand the next two experiences recommended below. • Go see the internationally renown Balle Folclorico: an hour of great Brazilian dance & music, including half naked masculine dancers. • For the utmost cultural experience, attend a Candomble ceremony. It's a familial-clanish authentic nontouristic-commercial religious ceremony (you still pay the guide who takes you there and explains stuff): two-three hours of drumming and dancing and costumes and trance and fainting. Foreign guests do not participate and only watch, but you can't help getting into the spirit. Another MUST. Quote
TotallyOz Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 Thanks so much for this list. You listed many things that I have never considered and will be making some different plans for future trips! Quote
Members axiom2001 Posted March 26, 2011 Members Posted March 26, 2011 Wow thanks. Keep us posted! I SENT you a private message at one of the other sites! I thank you publicly here! ...salient advice all around, and you posted it at the other site in an ok space; it did NOT have to be sexually related! Quote
