South America

Campo Formoso Week Three: Brazilian Bureaucracy

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The two weeks since my return from Salvador turned out to be the busiest and craziest so far. When I arrived in Campo Formoso we had half an hour before the shops closed, and Aline offered to take me to the phone shop to try and get a mobile internet modem to take to the farm. After a short chat with the shop assistant, it transpired that, contrary to her previous advice, it might not be possible to get one without a CPF number, the Brazilian ID card system. She recommended that I go to a nearby town, Senhora de Bomfim, the following day and speak to someone there. So the next morning I dragged myself out of bed bright and early to catch the 7:30am bus. When I arrived I met Natalia, one of the students who has been helping me, and we proceeded to spend over 2 hours in the phone shop, mostly waiting, to get a modem. Natalia was kind enough to use her ID to get the modem, and eventually we were successful. I was extremely relieved to know that I would not be completely isolated in the farm house for the next two months.

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A Birthday Weekend in Salvador

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Since this year I am away for my birthday, I wanted to try and get away from work for a few days to celebrate. Because of the way my work has turned out, it happened that it was better logistically to go a little early, however, so I headed to Salvador 8 days before my birthday, to spend a long weekend in the famous capital of Bahia. A had a great hostel in the center of the historic Cidade Alta recommended by a friend, and on Thursday morning (a day earlier than planned because my host in Campo Formoso came down with flu) I packed my bags and took the 7 hour bus ride across Bahia.

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Campo Formoso Week Two: Taxis and Troubles

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At the end of my first full week of field work, one of the students I had been staying with invited me to visit her in the nearby, and slightly larger, town – Senhora de Bomfim. Aline seemed keen to get me out of her hair, so I slightly reluctantly, agreed to go. My reluctance might seem a little strange but Cleia and I had barely exchanged two words during the preceeding week, probably mostly due to the language barrier, but I felt a little awkward spending 2 full days with her. When I arrived, my concerns were initially confirmed by the uncomfortable walk back to her place and an afternoon of difficult communication which left me with the distinct impression that she was laughing with her friends, in my presence, at my lack of Portuguese.

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Campo Formoso Week One: Rice and Beans

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Ah, rice and beans, the staple of the Brazilian diet, how I’ve missed you….

My journey to Campo Formoso, Bahia, began at 8am, sleepily boarding a bus to Salvador. Thankfully I had my lovely friend Fernanda to help me to get my luggage there and sort out the formalities, I don’t know how I would have coped without her! As was the case in Argentina, the long-distance buses in Brazil are really quite good – very comfortable seats which recline most of the way back, and regular stops to get food (or smoke a cigarette!), although they do insist upon over-air-conditioning to the point where I was actually far too cold most of the way. The other less comfortable aspect was the on board video. After about half an hour of traveling, they put on Legally blonde 2, badly dubbed into Portuguese. I was so tired that I didn’t mind too much because I was able to sleep through it, but when it finished, they let the title soundtrack play on repeat for about 10 minutes before finally pressing play, and making us watch it again. If this is their idea of entertainment, frankly I’d rather be bored!

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A few days in Aracaju

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After my wonderful 16 days of holiday, I headed up to Aracaju in the north east of Brazil to begin my fieldwork. I had a rather interesting journey up, as I took a flight from Rio but had to change in Salvador. I was expecting to have to pay excess baggage since I have such a ridiculous amount of luggage, but at Rio they didn’t charge me. I thought myself rather lucky, and didn’t question it too much. But when I arrived at Salvador they made me collect my bags and check them in again (*sigh*) and when I got to the counter the man told me than one of my bags would need to be retagged because it had increased in weight by 20kg since Rio! I told him I hadn’t touched the bag other than to carry it from the baggage claim, and so I couldn’t see it had gained all this weight?! Clearly the woman in Rio had cheated the system for me so that she didn’t have to charge me excess, but I was surprised at how unperturbed the man at the check-in desk was about this miraculous increase in weight! It wasn’t too expensive though so I paid the fee and got on my final flight.

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Relaxing in Rio

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For the final part of my holiday, I took a short flight from Iguacu over to Rio de Janeiro for a few days relaxing in the sun. After all my traveling I was quite tired and so I decided to take it fairly easy here and not try to do too much. The first day I arrived, I settled into my hotel in Copacabana and in the late afternoon I headed out for a stroll along the beach. I walked along the famous Copacabana beach all the way to Ipanema, where many of the wealthier Cariocas (locals) now live. I arrived here just in time to watch the sun set over the beach, which was very beautiful. My initial concerns about safety in Rio were quickly overcome by how beautiful the beaches were and how lovely the sunset was. That evening I went out for dinner in Ipanema and then headed back to my hotel for an early night.

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Iguazu: Waterfalls and Wildlife

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After a lovely few days amidst the dramatic scenery of Calafate, I headed north east to the border between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, where the stunning Iguazu falls can be found. I arrived early evening at the Hotel Los Troncos, in the small town of Puerto Iguazu, and was immediately met with a warm welcome. The hotel was beautiful; fairly basic but charming and made almost entirely out of wood. I had my welcome drink – my first caipirinha of the trip.

The following morning I got up as early as I could drag myself out of bed, and took the 30 minute bus ride to the National Park where the waterfalls can be found. I began exploring the 15 km of trails in the Iguazu national park with the lower trail, which brings you down the hill side to view the Adam, Eve and Bossetti waterfalls from below. The views of the falls were absolutely stunning, surrounding the Rio Iguazu there are waterfalls cascading down almost every cliff, with thick forest peeping out in between.

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Patagonia Part Two: El Calafate

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After an exhausting day of travel, I arrived in Calafate – the most southerly point on my Argentina adventure. On the airport transfer I met two dutch girls, Suzanne and Marloes, who were staying at the same hotel as me, and when we arrived we immediately made plans to go for dinner together. It was so nice to have other people to have dinner and conversation with!

We had dinner at a small pizzeria in town, where I ordered a ham and pineapple (probably the best I have ever tasted!) and the dutch girls opted for a spinach pizza humerously entitled “Green, I love you green”. After dinner we headed straight back to the hotel – we had a very early start the next morning for our glacier tour.

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Patagonia Part One: Puerto Madryn

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Having settled into my hotel and had a much needed shower, I headed out to explore the town. My first afternoon in Puerto Madryn was free so I headed along the beach up towards the nearest peninsula, where I had been informed there were beautiful views, and a much anticipated nature museum, the Ecocenter. The views, were as promised, and the weather was lovely, so I really enjoyed my stroll up to the top of the peninsula. However, upon arriving at the Ecocenter I found that it was only open Thursday to Sunday, and then only from 3pm to 7pm. With opening times like that, it seems hardly worth bothering. Sadly for me, it was Monday, and I was leaving early on Thursday morning. So, I sat and enjoyed the views for a while, and, wandering around the perimeter of the museum I found I was still able to catch a glimpse of the skeleton of the famous Orca – Mel who used to rescue lost sea lion pups (usually a tasty snack for an Orca).

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Hola Buenos Aires!

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My adventure began with one of the most hectic days of my life. Having returned to Leeds with just 4 days to prepare and pack for my trip, everything was considerably more last minute than I would have liked. The day of my flight began with some last minute packing, followed by a trip to Halfords on a wild-goose chase for some crocodile clips for my fieldwork. In the end, packing came down to the wire, and I just about managed to get everything together in time to catch my train to the station at 2pm.

My journey to the airport allowed me to discover what is my upper limit of luggage. Unfortunately, it was slightly less than the amount of luggage I had. With a full size backpack, suitcase, padded case full of radio tracking equipment and hand luggage, I only just made it to the check in desk. Thankfully my bags were now checked in all the way to Buenos Aires.

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