So the Frosty Top Tour is well underway and we are having a ball with our 9 fellow Kiwi FTs and our lovely Ecuadorian tour guide, Leni. So lucky to be with such a neat group of people, as we have tons in common with all of them and we’ve had such a laugh the whole way through. We’ve all travelled heaps, so have plenty of travel stories to tell. Out of 11 people, 6 of us have discovered we have a friend in common, which is pretty amazing, considering we are all from different parts of New Zealand.
I’m a bit behind with the blog but I’ll let the photos show where we’ve been in Rio – Corcovado and Christ the Redeemer statue, Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão do Açucar), the slums “favela” of Rocinha, the very colourful Selarón steps Escadaria Selarón, the venue of the great Rio Carnivale, a Samba show and a Churrascaria night (a bit like a barbecue with all sorts of different meats brought to your table on a large skewer and sliced directly onto your plate – carnivore heaven). Seeing all these sights in the flesh was a real thrill and we were incredibly lucky with the weather. Nice and warm in Rio, averaging 23-29 degrees, but quite humid.
The trip to the favelas was so interesting – 22% of Cariocas (residents of Rio de Janeiro) live in the favelas and there are 700 of them in Rio. Only 18% of favelas now have a constant police presence, enabling tourists to go there with a guide, who often originates from the favela which you visit, so you can learn about the why it is the way it is and how the favelas have evolved over the decades. A lot of favelas are still ruled by the drug lords but those which have a police presence have been “cleaned up” by the police. We had a hilarious guide for our trip called Alessandro, who spoke brilliant English and was really entertaining.
Having wondered how we would cope with being on our first ever tour, let alone a long one for a whole month, we are really enjoying it so far and it’s actually been really nice to have someone else to arrange everything for us for a change. All we have to do is turn up at the allotted time at the allotted place like wee sheep and have fun together. So far we’ve had plenty of free time and nights when dinners are not included so we can explore with some or all of the others or on our own. As well as four other New Zealand couples, there is one single guy from Auckland, Bill, who is really good fun and gets on with everyone, so he is never left out. On one of the nights we went to a Samba show – very touristy but also very colourful and well choreographed. We declined the offer to buy a plate with a photo on it of us posing with a Samba dancer :o)
Next we fly from Rio to Foz do Iguaçu (Iguazu Falls) and visit the Falls from the Brazilian side first, then cross into Argentina and see them from there too. Tomorrow will bring not only a change of country, but also a change of currency (Brazilian Reales to Argentine Pesos) and a change of language from Portuguese to Latin American Spanish. Have to watch what you say as a lot of Portuguese and Spanish words are the same but mean something totally different, e.g. “embarazada” in Portuguese means “embarrassed” but in Spanish it means “pregnant”. Awkward.
2 Frosty Tops Do South America 