Part 8: Buenos Aires – Sightseeing (Part 2 of 2)

Things to see in Buenos Aires:

Casa Rosada at Plaza de Mayo

Casa Rosada or Pink house is the Presendential Place where Eva Peron famously addressed her adoring supporters from the balcony. Other presidents, soccer star Diego Maradona and public figures have all used the famous balcony to stir national passions.

Piramide at Plaza de Mayo which commemorates the Revolucion de Mayo 1810

Congreso de la Nacion

Teatro Colon

La Boca was a barrio (neighborhood) that is famous for its colorful zinc shacks and its football team, Boca Juniors. El Caminito (Little Lane) is a short pedestrianized street famouse for its currogated zine walls and roofs painted in vivid colours. The polychromatic practice was decided by the Genoese immigrants who scrounged pots of paint from where they could to brighten up their otherwise dismal slum dwellings. Now, it’s very touristy with restaurants, souvenir shops & galleries. La Boca together with San Telmo neighbourhoods are also said to be to cradle of tango, tango was originated as a lower class dance.

Colourful houses at Lo Boca

El Caminito street in La Boca

Recoleta Cemerery is one of the largest and most beautiful cemeteries in the world. To call it a cemetery is quite misleading. I would describe it as a necropolis with narrow lanes of extravagant mausoleums of the rich and famous. Eva Peron’s family mausoleum is also located here.

Recoleta cemetary

Each mausoleum is built like a mini church or ornate temple which usually contain 2 layers of elaborately decorated wooden coffins on the ground level.

Recoleta cemetary

Jeepers creepers! I had a bit of a shock when I heard movement in one of the mausoleums, it turned out to be a man painting the inside of the mausoleum. He motioned to us to take a look inside and below the street level, there a deep basement that can fit another 5 layers of coffins. This one was large and had 4 row and could fit 20 just in the basement.

Below street level, there are another 5 levels of coffins

Other famous but not so interesting monuments:

Floralis generica

Obelisco at Plaza de la Republica

A beautiful shopping mall with familiar brands like Zara.

Galerias Pacifico

I chanced upon the most beautiful book stores I have ever seen while shop browsing on Ave Santa Fe! A book store that now is now housed in what was once the Teatro Gran Splendid. I was enthralled the moment I stepped in, where once audiences sat is now occupied by books, the stage where once performers dance and sang is now a cafe with a view and the coveted balcony seats now cozy reading corners.

El Ateneo book store & cafe

Dog walkers that walk the pooches during the weekday while their owners are at work.

Dog walkers

My first impression of Buenos Aires is that it is a beautiful city. With affluent neighbourhoods like Palermo, neighbourhoods with lots of character like San Telmo, Recoleta, Puerto Madero, La Boca and then the historic part like Centro.

However, there are also nuisances like fake currency, black market exchanges. The first briefing from our tour guide when we arrived at the hotel in Buenos Aires was on how to discern fake and genuine currency. There are a lot of fake notes circulating so just be weary and check your notes. Men standing along the pavement in centro chant “cambio, cambio, cambio” which are the black market currency exchanges. I assume they wash money through these black market exchanges from their money laundering activities which can get you up to 1.5 times the official rate for the US Dollar but exchange at your own peril.

That said, it has definitely piqued my interest to come back to explore the rest of Argentina. I would like to come back one day to see the rest of Argentina and in particular Patagonia and the Pampas, maybe some wine country and also fit in a trip to Chile.

Part 8: Buenos Aires – A taste of Argentina (Part 1 of 2)

Map of Argentina

Buenos Aires is the capital of Argentina and is synonymous with beef and tango. So eat and tango we must!

Steak in Buenos Aires

I am slightly embarrassed to admit this but the ultimate highlight of arriving in Buenos Aires was actually the steak and a good malbec. I am a firm believer that the food tells you a lot about the country, its people and its culture.

El Desnivel parrilla

We headed to El Desnivel in San Telmo, one of the best parrillas and is a classic neighbourhood steakhouse. Parilla means grill and is also used interchangeably to mean steakhouse.

Steak (Bife de chorizo) and chips

The top 3 choice for steak cuts on the menu were:

• Bife de lomo – is what we know as tenderloin. It’s a lean cut, if that floats your boat but not enough marbling for me.
• Bife de chorizo – is what we know as sirloin. More marbling and fat which makes it really flavourful and juicy. Just the cut for me (see pic above)! Don’t confuse this with the chorizo with the spicy paprika sausage from Spain.
• Bife de chorizo mariposa – butterfly sirloin, which just means 2 slices of bife de chorizo

Bodega Norton Malbec

We managed to order a special bottle of Malbec that wasn’t on the menu but from a good vineyard in Mendoza (one of their best wine growing regions). I love malbec with steak, they are a match made in heaven and usually very affordable too.

We ended up ordering the butterfly bife de chorizo and splitting it into 2, was just more economical to do it that way.

So tender, cutting the steak with spoons!

Steak and chips at Desnivel – photo bombed by Ben

I had my steak medium rare and it was perfectly cooked. The steak here is extremely succulent and tender but not as flavourful as I had hoped it to be. Steak here is also served with chimichurri sauce, an oil based sauce with mixed herbs which include oregano, garlic, red peppers, etc. Delicious!

Provoleta – a burger patty size disc of provolone cheese, grilled and topped with red peppers was superb too! I was a bit skeptical at first but it had me at first bite! Sorry, didn’t take a pic!

Since Ben who is Argentinian is in the picture, he ordered sweetbreads (thymus gland, the mildest and least offensive of all offal) which is not usually my cup of tea but was perfectly cooked and delicious!

Empanadas are little pastries filled with a variety of fillings like minced beef, spicy minced beef, ham and cheese, chicken and mushroom, minced beef with olives, etc. Usually deep fried but sometimes baked. Each shop does it slightly differently but the fried ones are similar to the curry puffs we get in Malaysia and the baked ones to pasties in the UK but thinner pastry.

Assortment of Empanadas at Gourmet Empanadas

Pasta is extremely popular here and in South America. Pasta, pizza and Italian food in general is found in most restaurants. Italians are one of the top immigrants to this region and hence brought their food culture along with them.

Excellent ravioli in mushroom sauce

The other dish to try was Pulpo a la Gallega, octopus in oil with hot red pepper that is served with Galician style potatoes a Spanish import.

Pulpo a la gallega at Rodi Bar

Dulce de Leche is similar to toffee, made by caramelising condensed milk and is super popular here. They have it neat (i.e. like dipping a spoon in the jar and eating it), spread on bread, inside desserts like flan (like creme caramel/ baked custard topped with caramel) or on a Caminito!

Dulce de leche

The Caminito was my ultimate dessert here. I had the flan quite a few times in Uruguay but the Caminito was a pimped up version of the flan. It was the flan, topped with a dollop of dulce de leche, then a dollop of whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate! OMG! So GOOD! Sorry, no photos of this either. It was one of those things, you forget everything (including your camera) and just want to dig in!

Churros – fried dough sticks that are usually dipped in a thick chocolate sauce. Churros are like a crispier doughnut or a more doughy, fluffy yau char kwey.

Churros and hot chocolate at Cafe Tortoni

I had to try the churros and hot chocolate at Cafe Tortoni. The Argentinian hot chocolate is called the  submarino is proper hot chocolate chocolate, chunks melted in hot milk. The churros dipping chocolate here isn’t as thick as it is in Spain, at Cafe Tortoni it came with a small jug more of chocolate and an equal size jug of milk to dilute the submarino so you can drink it post churros dipping.

Cafe Tortoni

Historic and beautiful Cafe Tortoni which also has Tango shows in the evening as it is beside the national Tango Academy.

Photo bombed by waiter at Cafe Tortoni

Two other snacks that were recommended by our Argentinian friends were:

Bon-o-bon – It’s kind of like a distant relative of the ferrero rocher. It’s core is peanut butter, encased in a thin wafer and coated in chocolate. The concept is really good but the ingredients were kinda cheap so the peanut butter was chalky and the chocolate wasn’t that nice.

Bon-o-bon

Alfajores is a dry spongey biscuit sandwich which is coated in chocolate. There are a variety of fillings including dulce de leche, peanut butter, etc. I tried the dulce de leche filling, it was alright. The premier brand of Alfajores is Havanna and available at the top tourist attractions.

Alfajores

Here’s a description of tango from Wikipedia. So we headed for a tango lessons and then a tango show

Tango lesson certificate

Tango show at Complejo Tango

Part 7: Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

Colonia del Sacramento is a sleepy coastal Uruguayan town founded by the Portuguese to rival the success of then Spanish colony, Buenos Aires. It has both Spanish and Portuguese influences which include cobble stoned streets, leafy plazas and colonial houses in Barrio Historico and was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Across the river, Rio de la Plata is Buenos Aires.

Colonia

Colonial sleepy coastal town

I think this painting captures the charm of Colonia really well, it is somewhat similar to Paraty in Brazil.

Basilica Del Santisimo Sacramento

Calle d los Suspiros – with original cobblestones

Colourful houses

Lighthouse

View of the city from the lighthouse

City gate

There wasn’t much to see at the beach or new part of the city. You can take a golf cart or walk along the beach to the bull ring.

Dilapidated bull ring

Only 1 hour away from the next destination, Buenos Aires.

Ferry from Colonia to Buenos Aires

Part 6: Montevideo, Uruguay

I didn’t know much about Uruguay before coming on this trip, it was just a bonus on the tour itinerary. It wasn’t easy to find a guidebook on Uruguay. Lonely planet doesn’t have a guide book for Uruguay, it is included in their Argentina guidebook and Tripadvisor doesn’t even have a city guide for Montevideo on its mobile app.

Map of Uruguay

Montevideo is the capital of Uruguay which is situated between Brazil and Argentina so the culture is loosely similar, e.g. good beef, crazy amounts of mate tea consumed (people here carry their mate cups like most here carry their mobile phones, walking on the street, sitting in the park, driving a car, just about everywhere they sip their mate through metal straws), passion for soccer.

Montevideo has suffered though some tough economic times and has been described as “elegantly shabby”, the city retains remnants of its wonderful colonial architecture, all mixed in with a growing collection of art galleries, stylish cafes and shops.

Port Market

Port Market Grill

The Port Market is located in the old city (Ciudad Vieja) and was previously a train station which now houses grill bars which makes it a good stop for lunch.

Ciudad Vieja, the old city is the most charming part of Montevideo. Plaza Independencia is the main square

Plaza Independencia

Plaza Independencia

It has beautiful colonial buildings but many of the buildings are boarded up and abandoned now.  Also, you have to ALWAYS watch your step on the pavement as there is dog poo all over this city, even on pavements here in the old city.

Pretty building boarded up

Fruit & veg shop in ciudad vieja

Charming bookshop

We left the old city to explore other parts of the city including:

Palacio Legislativo

The tallest building in the city is Antel Tower, they allow visitors to visit one of the top floors for a panoramic view of the city for free!

View of the port from Antel Tower

This city has definitely seen better days, it has remnants of a beautiful past but currently in disrepair or economic difficulty. An example is this beautiful old central train station which is now in disrepair, boarded up and a lot of homeless people live beside it.

Old Central Train Station

The main beach isn’t much to write home about. This picture makes it look better than it was, there are no cafes or nice shops here. Just apartment blocks that look like low cost flats or council housing line the beachfront.

Beach on Rambla Republic Del Peru

Trucks of market vendors near Punta Carretas

Trucks

How the other half live

Rubbish collection by horse

I wasn’t terribly impressed with Montevideo. Maybe it was just our experience there, maybe it’s an unfair comparison since the last capital we were at was Rio de Janeiro. It just seemed very dreary, unclean (lots and lots of dog poo), not really safe (just an impression) and some parts were falling apart. It just doesn’t seem to have the flair or energy of Rio or Buenos Aires.

The only thing worth noting is the mixed grill at a restaurant in Centro near our hotel called El Fogon. We ordered the mix grill which came with beef ribs, beef steak, sausages, pamplona (grilled stuffed meat) and offal (not a fan of offal). We also ordered a side of fries and a salad with a glass of local wine tannat which was quite delicious. We also had a choice of desserts, my favourite was the flan (a creme caramel type dessert) and a small glass of a local bubbly called Castelar (if I remember correctly) and a cup of excellent coffee on the house. To top that all of, it was cheap and very friendly service even though the waiter didn’t speak english. So good we went there 2 days in a row.

El Fogon mixed grill

Part 5: Estancia near Fray Bentos, Uruguay

Fray Bentos

We took the overnight bus from Brazil into Uruguay via Argentina. Yes, you heard me right, OVERNIGHT BUS! I swore to myself when I was a student, that I would never, ever, EVER take an overnight bus again. It was a trip that is still etched into my memory! The wailing baby with amazing lung capacity, the uncomfortable seats, the never ending journey, oh dear! The South American overnight bus was alright! It was modern double decker buses, the seats were large, comfy and reclined and were somewhat similar to premium economy!

Fray Bentos is the capital of Rio Negro in Western Uruguay but better known in the UK because of the Fray Bentos tinned pies (sounds revolting to me so I have never bought one). Here are some pics I collated from google in case you have never seen it before:

Fray Bentos  Pie

Err…synonymous with junk like pot noodles! But it does reflect the fact that meat processing is the main economy in Fray Bentos.

Anyway, I digress. We spent a couple of days here at an estancia (ranch) to experience the gaucho lifestyle. Yup, city girl living in a ranch in the middle of no where! No wifi for days, activities include horse riding, milking cows, sheep herding and sheering, bon fire nights. I was quite keen since is so far from what I would have ever chosen to do on my regular vacation.

View from the hill

Beautiful horses

Group at the race track

Remains of an unidentified animal

Sunset on the ranch

The gaucho cooking our BBQ dinner in the fireplace

Dining room

It was an all inclusive (except drinks) and the food was simple, rustic and yummy.

Trimming the fringe so the sheep can see again

Horse/ pony riding

Part 4: Iguazu Falls, Brazil & Argentina

The Iguazu falls are shared between Brazil and Argentina, the falls are surrounded by 2 nature preserves of Brazil’s Parque Nacional do Iguacu & Argentina’s Parque Nacional Iguazu. It contains one of the largest surviving tracts of the Atlantic forest in South America. The falls are formed by a succession of 275 interlinking cataracts that stretches for 3km making it one of the widest waterfalls in the world.

It is a UNESCO World Heritage site, the subtropical forest provides the setting for one of the worlds’s greatest wonders. There was much more water than usual when we visited which made the falls even more impressive and magnificent when you see and hear the roar of the enormous volume of water cascading down the falls.

In fact, a few days after we left they closed the park on both sides due to flooding. It really made me think about how powerful & unpredictable nature is. To think I was slightly dissapointed I didn’t get blue skies on both days of my visit and then to hear that just a couple of days after we left all the walk paths had been flooded and some parts washed away, so thank God! The guide also told us a few years ago they had a drought and the water dried up and there was no falls.

We spent the first day at the Brazil side of the falls, then the next day at the Argentinian side and one free morning which I opted to visit the bird park, Parque des Aves on the Brazilian side.

Day 1: Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls Majority of the cataracts are located on the Argentinian side so a visit to the Brazil side is the best place for panoramic views of the falls.

Iguazu Falls at sunset

Brazilian side view of the falls

Some of the tour group

Day 2: Argentinian side of Iguazu Falls Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s throat) at 80m high is the biggest and most spectacular of the cataracts. Powerboat trips that skim the rapids to the very foot of the falls

Iguazu where the boat docks

Salto San Martin from Argentinian side

Walkway that allows you to peer into the depths of the magnificent devil’s throat

Adventura boat

On the speedboat

More of the falls

Coati, raccoon like animal

Woodpecker

Capucin monkey

Day 3: Parque des Aves

There were a few optional activities which included visiting the bird park, itaipu dam or visiting Paraguay’s market. Majority of the tour group opted to get another country’s stamp on their passport and visited Paraguay’s market which I hear was a major disappointment. I opted to go to the bird park because I had seen a few toucans from a distance but wanted to see one up close.

Super cute toucan

*chuckle* I am such a sucker for cute things and is he a darling! I had seen a couple of toucans in the wild and they are so shy and illusive but these fellas in the bird park have such character, are curious creatures and happy to strut for you. Which reminds me of Rafael from Rio…

Rafael from Rio

Another cute Toucan

Their beaks look unreal in real life too!

Another toucan, cute bib

Parrots

Blue Macaws

Scruffy looking toucan

I love the toucans but obviously they had all sorts of other birds and animals at the bird park too. Tips: I decided to use the public bus (less than BRL 6 for return) as opposed to the private transfer (BRL 50 for return). The bus is the same one that goes to the airport and the Iguazu national park so easy to use. The parrot enclosure is closed for feeding between 13:00-14:00, Thank God for the lovely Swedish-English guy who told me that and showed me the quickest route that was not on the map to get to the enclosure.

Brazilian BBQ dinner at Churrascaria do Gaucho, non-stop supply of roast beef and other meat. The star of the show was the cinnamon dusted roasted pineapple. Sooo good! I have already started searching for a recipe to recreate it here…

Churrascaria do gaucho

Part 3: Paraty, Brazil

Paraty is one of the most photographed colonial towns on the Brazilian coast. Paraty is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is charming little place with a nice, friendly and laid back vibe. Paraty apparently means river of fish and used to have a gold mine which was shipped back to Portugal before the railway was built back in the day.

Paraty Old Town

Where the boat for the boat trips are

Store front with cute dog. Dogs seem to roam around here freely (all friendly)

The other important fact is that it is the home of CACHACA! There’s a special variety here called Gabriela and is a golden coloured cachaca that is infused with spices like clove, cinnamon and a few more I can’t identify and sweetened with honey.

Me and my Jorge Amado

Jorge Arado is a local cocktail with Gabriela Cachaca and passion fruit, lime and soda. It is delish and you MUST try it! Oh Jorge Amado is a famous Brazilian novelist and the cocktail was named in his honour.

A lazy day on the beach

I opted to pass on the boat trip and have a lazy day on the beach. You could also opt to do a jeep tour to see the gold trail, a few waterfalls and a cachaca distillery.

Bossa nova at Paraty 33

Shops and bars only come alive again after siesta at about 4pm. The nice thing about Paraty is that it has a really nice and friendly atmosphere about it. Wish we had a few more days in Paraty and maybe a little less at Ilha Grande (although beaches there were better)

P/S: Most restaurants and bars in the old town charge a small cover charge for the live music in the evenings.

Part 2: Ilha Grande, Brazil

Map of Ilha Grande

Ilha Grande is Portuguese for Big Island, although that’s misleading because it isn’t really all that big. It’s meant to be the most romantic and pretty of south eastern Brazil’s many islands which remains unspoilts by development and tourism. There aren’t any vehicles on the island. We get there by a schooner (a ferry) and we stayed in Abraao, the largest village on the island. The schooner was also used by the locals to bring in their produce.

Schooner with produce

Me & 2 others from the tour

Beach where we docked

We had 4 days & 3 nights here. Once we checked in, we did a mini tour of Abraa0 (seriously though, the village is tiny and pretty much is only a 4 streets that form a rectangle) and caters only to tourist. It has 2 bars and a church on its main square. The rest of the village is made up of restaurants, tourist souvenir shops, restaurants and pousada (bed and breakfast type hotels). The main activities on this island are hiking trails. You can hike to Lopes Mendes beach (one of the top 10 beaches in Brazil), hike to an old abandoned prison,  hike to the peak of the island (called Parrots peak because it is similar to the shape of the parrot’s beak, the most challenging hike here), take a schooner almost to Lopes Mendes (a 15 min hike instead of 3 hours without the boat), Kayaking, etc. Our tour guide advised against the boat trips and snorkeling because there isn’t much to see when snorkeling (no reefs, just a few types of fish which isn’t impressive if you’re from Asia or Australia) and save the boat trip for our next destination where it is cheaper and apparently better.

Watching Brazil vs. Japan game (Confederation cup) at the local bar

I was the only Asian face at the bar and all the Brazilian locals immediately assumed I was Japanese so when Japan loss I got a few consolatory kisses (on the cheek of course) from the local men.

Grilled seafood platter (photo bombed)

Dinner on Abraao beach front with free caipirinhas.

Acai for breakfast

Acai is a type of super food berry, it’s served here kinda like a sorbet topped with granola, banana and a dollop of condensed milk. I loved it and had it everyday in Ilha Grande but beware, according to our Rio tour guide that it is super packed with calories. There’s a fantastic bakery in Abraao (unfortunately I forgot to take down the name or a picture of the place), they made good breakfasts, breads, sandwiches, cakes, juices, coffees and pretty darn good burgers! We had all our breakfasts here and when we needed to pack lunches for the hikes, we got them here too! Was that good! However, there are also cute dogs trying to mooch some of your food.

Next day, we hiked 3 hours through the forest to Lopes Mendes beach.

View during the hike to Lopes Mendes

Marmosets

Spider

Unidentified mammal

We wore hiking shoes or trainers for the hike, here’s what some locals wore (but they did zip by):

Red speedos and havaianas for the hike

Puffer fish on one of the beaches en route to Lopes Mendes

Beach on Ilha Grande

Lopes Mendes

Lifeguards on Lopes Mendes

The waves were pretty strong when we were at Lopes Mendes, we saw the lifeguards in action when they tried to rescue a man who was pulled out by a rip and took almost 45 mins to bring him back to safety. They had him on a surfboard and needed to bring a jet ski round to rescue him (as no boats are allowed on Lopes Mendes).

Me at Lopes Mendes

We then headed back by schooner and onwards to a BBQ. The beef in Brazil is pretty damn good

Tour group at BBQ and Caipirinhas

We saw a pool of tadpoles while walking around and wondered why we had not seen or heard any frogs. Its because the frogs here live in trees and don’t croak. We heard some rustling in the trees during dinner and saw a frog jumping from one tree to another!

Tree frog

Kuat Guarana drink – kinda like red bull but much better. Even stocked in McDs.

Tips: Besides that bakery, my other tip is to bring your insect repellent, plenty of mosquitoes here.

Part 1: 3 Days in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Day 3)

Day 3: Centro & Museums

When we were first dropped off in Centro, it could easily be mistaken for a city in Europe. There is a strong influence of  French Architecture in the Municipal theatre (Theatro Municipal) and the Fine Arts Museum (Museu Nacional de Belas Artes). One can also find the Biblioteca National (Library), Cinelandia (Local Parliament) and Palacio Pedro Ernesto on this square.

Centro

Confiteria Colombo

Also located in a street in Centro, is Confiteria Colombo or Colombo Tearoom. It dates from 1894 and remains a wonderful mix of Art Nouveau and Belle Epoque. The queues during lunch to get a table are long, so I ended up buying some savoury snacks with the intention of coming back later to have tea here to soak up the ambiance.

The other historical sites includes:

Paco Imperial

Igreja da Candelaria

Palacio Tiradentes

To be honest, I wasn’t too impressed with Centro. It was a combination of things, Centro just seemed quite pale and an odd mish mash. There are beautiful old European buildings, then there are modern buildings but I live in Europe and grew up in Asia. The modern buildings seem really dated, reminiscence of dated building in smaller cities in Malaysia and the old, well lets just say it’s not quite Europe either.  The first 2 days in Rio were great, Centro just didn’t seem to have the character of the places we have seen in the past 2 days. It was a busy during the weekday, the nicest parts are covered here on the blog but there were also parts that looked like it could have used some major TLC and maintenance.

The plan was to explore centro, wander into shops, visit the Banco de Brazil Cultural Centre and then a museum (I had a few shortlisted including a UFO looking one a boat ride a way in Niteroi or National History Museum, Modern Art Museum, Fine Arts Museum). The weather was just too good to spend indoors, so after a couple of hours wandering about town, I left after the visit to the cultural centre (exhibits commentary were not in English) and decided to pass on the museums in favour of returning to the beach to soak up some sun.

Super excited! The tour begins tomorrow!

Day 4: Shopping

With one spare day in Rio after the tour and before my flight back to London, I allocated it for shopping. My shopping list for Rio included:

1. Havaianas – These flip flops are available almost everywhere for half the price it is in London. E.g. basic pair is GBP25 but you could buy a pair for BRL30-ish (approx GBP10 at current exchange rate) depending on where and on model. Obviously you buy 2 pairs for the price of one pair in the UK!
2. Bikini – I only brought 1 pair with me planning to buy a couple while in Brazil. I wasn’t planning to get a dental floss bikini bottom but even the regular bottoms are much smaller than normal bikinis (the shape is cut inwards like a regular bikini & thong hybrid). I am a size zero and don’t really have any insecurities about my bum but where else besides Brazil would I be able to wear their teensy bottom bikinis without getting an odd stare.
3. Souvenirs – Check out the streets perpendicular to the Copacabana or Ipanema. E.g. Rue Santa Clara (#33 esp. is meant to house floor after floor of apparel but I never went in, the tip is to start from the top floor and work your way down) or Ipanema’s Hippie Fair on Sunday. I also checked out the Leblon shopping mall (which only opens after 3pm on Sundays) with high end shops.
4. Cachaca – Pronounced “ka-sha-sa”, is a local sugarcane based liquor that is used to make caipirinhas.

Part 1: 3 Days in Rio de Janiero, Brazil (Day 2)

Day 2: Beaches (Copacabana, Ipanema & Leblon) & Botanic gardens

On the second day, Olivia suggested that we check out the beaches, the lagoon and the botanic gardens by bicycle. We hired a bike one block away from Copacabana Palace Hotel and cycled along the beaches. Cycling is a wonderful way to see the beaches as there are cycle paths all along the beach front with plenty of places to dock your bike, it is also very flat and easy ride.

Copacabana Beach

Dental floss bikinis on Copacabana

Copacabana beach

Stopping for a coconut

Brazil must be the reason why coconut juice is so popular around the world now after a work out. Weekday or weekend, day or night, there are many people on the beach just exercising, both young and old, male and female. They run, cycle, surf, play beach volleyball, beach tennis, those exercise stations where you can do pull ups, etc. Then after that rehydrate with coconut juice from the ACTUAL coconut. Sadly, here in London, it’s exercise in a gym (most of the year) and buy an overpriced tetrapak of coconut water from the vending machine. Sigh!

That said, the coconuts I tried in Brazil are not nearly as yummy or fragrant as the ones from Thailand! That explains why Vitacoco (the most popular brand of coconut juice sold here but produced in Brazil) taste so bland and nothing like the real coconuts we are used to in Asia. I previously thought it was because of the processing it has been through like how long life orange juice tastes horrible compared to freshly squeezed orange juice but turns out it’s also the variety of the coconut grown here.

Drinks kiosks that line the beaches

Beach volleyball

Ipanema Beach

Ipanema from Aporador

Panoramic of Ipanema from Aporador

Leblon Beach

Leblon beach with dark clouds

Lagoon – Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas

Botanic gardens  – Jardim Botanico

Dinner on Copacabana

Fillet steak and risotto for Dinner at Manoel Juaqium on Copacabana.

Caipirinha, national cocktail of Brazil – the best one in my entire trip was here at Manoel Juaquim, Rio

Just a FYI that the food in Brazil is quite heavily influenced by the Portuguese or Spanish. The beef here is pretty good, which is whetting my appetite for Argentinian beef! They also eat rice quite a bit here.

I am loving Rio, its laid back but yet has such a good vibe and energy. It’s such a fantastic city, they have these amazing long beaches right in the city, great weather and such an interesting outlook on life. However, Rio is expensive and property here is really expensive. Hotels here are expensive by London and NY standards.  In Rio, not only the rich own beach front properties, there are favelas that spring up around the city in nice areas including those beach facing ones. Oh the other thing people complain about is that people here don’t really speak english. It’s possible to get around without speaking Portuguese but majority do not speak it.