For our hundredth day abroad, we made a list of a hundred things we have seen so far in South America that you don’t find back home. Continue reading
Category: Brazil
It’s the Journey, not the Destination…Right? (Brazil to Bolivia)
Previously we had done lots of research on how to get from Brazil to Bolivia and came to the conclusion that other than flying – which was very expensive and involved long layover times – there was no easy way to get to our next destination. To bus the whole way would take days. We considered choosing some towns in between to stop at but nothing popped out at us. We checked for flights daily and one day caught a sale from Rio de Janeiro to Campo Grande which is just over half way to the Brazilian/Bolivian border (it seems like only domestic flights are cheap in South America). Continue reading
Rio Carnaval
Carnaval, celebrated for 5 days before the start of Lent, is one of the many things Rio de Janeiro is famous for. This spectacular event draws hundreds of thousands of people to Rio and millions flock the to the streets. The street parties, or “blocos” are held throughout the day and night with hundreds of different blocos held simultaneously around the city. Continue reading
World Wonders of Rio de Janeiro
Keeping to our theme of seeing all of the world wonders, we headed to Christ the Redemeer, or “Cristo Redentor”, in Rio de Janeiro. Constructed in the 1920’s, it is the newest of the New7 Wonders of the World. The statue is made from reinforced concrete with small triangles of soapstone coating the outside. It is 30 meters tall and weights 635 metric tons. Continue reading
Itaipu Dam
In Foz do Iguacu we also visited Itaipu Dam. Voted one of the seven “Modern Wonders of the World” by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Being the geeky engineers that we are, when we heard that we could visit the world’s second largest hydro-electric dam in the world, we made it a priority to go. Continue reading
Iguazu Falls: Visiting the Argentinian and Brazilian Side
Iguazu Falls – Cataratas del Iguazú (Spanish) or Cataratas do Iguaçu (Portugese) – is actually 275 waterfalls making up one of the most spectacular sights I’ve ever seen. We visited them from both the Argentinian and Brazilian side.