Grand Escapades
Travel Photography & Travel Experiences of Africa, South America, the Middle-East & Asia
The Nasca Lines: the Spider – A UNESCO World Heritage, Nazca, Peru
Flying in a tiny Cessna across the Nasca Lines is why people from all over the world come to this small city in the desert. The lines only were discovered once commercial airplanes started flying over the area in the 1930s, but tourism only started to pick up in the 80s, when flying became affordable. Continue Reading →
The Pao de Acucar seen from Morro de Corcovado … Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
We spent one month in Brazil: we crossed the border from Venezuela and started in Manaus. Then we headed for the coast: Recife & Olinda, Salvador de Bahia & Morro de Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and last but not least Sao Paulo. Continue Reading →
A 7 hours bus ride took us from Lima to Nasca across the desert along the cost of Peru …
The 7 hour long bus trip from Lima to Nasca made us familiar with long distance bus travel in Peru. Most tourists choose to travel with the “Cruzero” service of Cruz del Sur, a company that runs more than 130 state-of-art busses. For those who still worry about security on Peruvian busses, read on … It is basically like travelling on a plane. You check in your luggage, receipt is attached to your ticket. You then go through a metal detector and when boarding the bus the passengers are videotaped. The busses are equipped with GPS and headquarters permanently control where the busses are and how fast they are driving. Continue Reading →
Miraflores, Lima, Peru
Arriving in Lima turned out to be quite a shock… Winter here on the Pacific Coast really means winter, not like in Rio de Janeiro where temperatures climb up to 32 decrees Celcius during the day. Here at night temperatures fall far below 10 degrees and during the day hardly get over 15. On top of that, it is damp, which makes it so much worse AND the sky is always grey. We are basically wearing all the warm clothes we have brought… Continue Reading →
Santa Teresa Tramway (Bondinho), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America
Brazil is definitely no longer a budget destination. This made us actually shorten our stay here and with lots of guilty feelings we decided to skip certain destinations such as the Chapada Diamantina National Parc or the whole Minais Gerais region to spend more time in cheaper countries such as Peru or Bolivia. Continue Reading →
Rocinha, home to 180.000 people, is the biggest favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
After visiting fancy Leblon & Ipanema, bohemian Santa Teresa, the busy Centro and other nice neighbourhoods in Zone Sul, we decided to see how the less fortunate inhabitants of Rio live. There are currently 500 favelas in Rio, all perched on mountain slopes, often very, very close to the most expensive neighbourhoods. Continue Reading →
View of Sao Paulo from the top of the highest building, the Edicifío Italia, on the 42nd floor … Unbelievable!
The cheapest flights in Brazil leave at unholy hours, so again we left the very cosy Trip Hostel in Santa Teresa in Rio de Janeiro at 04:00 am and we finally hit our pillows precisely 24 hours later in Lima at 02:00 am local time. This budget journey included a 12 hour stop-over in Sao Paulo. Any stopover in a city of 17 millions has to be superficial and unrewarding, but truly there is not much to see no matter how hard the Lonely Planet and the Tourist Office try to promote the historic center. Continue Reading →
The world famous Cristo Redentor, a 38 meters high statue that definitely is one of Rio´s landmarks! Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
We arrived on a Saturday, just in time to join in some of the typical weekend activities. One we learned of by chance, was eating Feijoda on a Saturday, a black bean stew with a variety of meats, like tongue and pork cut-offs. It is served with rice, fried manioc flour, a green vegetable called kale and pieces of oranges. Gilles simply loved it – hey, it was lots of meat! Heidi would prefer a vegetarian version.
The cable car going up the Pao de Acucar at sunset … Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Going to Rio for the first time is simply exciting: will the city live up to its reputation and our expectations? After a few conversations with fellow travellers, we found out that flying in Brazil can be cheaper than taking a long distance bus. This is especially true on routes starting & going to Rio de Janeiro. So instead of spending 27 hours on a bus from Salvador, it took us 1 hour and 50 minutes and we actually even saved 12 Reals per person flying!!! Continue Reading →
Beach Number 4, Morro de Sao Paulo, near Salador de Bahia
One of the things we did not want to miss while visiting Brazil was its beautiful, postcard-like beaches. We followed the recommendation of several fellow travellers and decided to head for Morro de Sao Paulo, an island two hours from Salvador by boat. Continue Reading →