Brotas Hike

The first day we were in Brotas, Kate and I doubled up on outdoor adventures. We went on a hike near a dam in Brotas. The dam had gone underutilized over the years, but a new focus on all things energy independence has started new focus on the dam and we saw how water funneled from the dam was creating hydroelectric power for Brotas and some other towns in the area.

Our hike involved walking along the river bank taking in the flora (very little fauna apart from mosquitos and a few frogs), but we did make 3 stops in the river where there were waterfalls. The waterfalls were all at least 30-50 meters wide with varying heights. We took some pictures, and of course went swimming at the bottom of the falls to cool off.

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

A friend of mine suggested I check out this Brazilian musician and here is the first clip I found on youtube. Perhaps you can listen in the background. I arrived by myself in Rio De Janeiro on tuesday afternoon. The vibe is much different from Sao Paulo.

The taxi driver took me directly to Augustos Copacabana on Rua Bolivar in Copacabana. This was about a 35 minute drive in mid-afternoon. We didn't drive through the famous flavelas but you could see them from the highways. The first things you notice are these large rounded mounds or hills jutting up from the landscape and the houses built right into the hillside. Once you get a little closer to Copacabana you can see the Cristo Redentor which is Rio's iconic landmark and one of the new seven wonders of the world. This labeling puts it on par with Beijing's Great Wall, Agra's Taj Mahal and The Coliseum in Rome.

Rio is a large city set in what can only be described as one of the idyllic geographic settings on earth. From Arpoador Beach you look one direction and you see the white sandy beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema. Look another direction and you see the beautiful hills of Tijuca National Forest, Corcovado and Sugarloaf Mountain (captured spectacularly well in this link from the in the film Moonraker).

There is so much to write about RDJ that I plan to write several posts on it this is because of so much to see and do there. It truly is a Marvelous City.

Maracana

OK, I don't know why the post card is a mirror image, but it is a picture of what was once the largest stadium in the world. The Maracana is the stadium in Rio De Janiero that once hosted 184,000 for two separate concerts in 1988. One was for Tina Turner the other was Paul McCartney. Supposedly there were 210,000 fans in attendance for a soccer match in 1950 between Brazil and Uruguay.

Things are different now, the bleachers are now seats which reduces the number of fans that can squeeze into The Maracana. The actual capacity is now "just" 90,000. The stadium hosts mainly football matches now, but also the occasional concert if it is someone big.

On Wednesday the 11th of March, I went to see a match (arranged through my hotel due to safety concerns). The teams were Fluminense (one of Rio's famous teams) and a smaller team named Volta Redonda. Flumninse is like the NY Yankees in Rio. They have a huge following and a storied history. They are sponsored by Unimed which is a Brazilian Health insurance provider. Three other teams besides Fluminense use the stadium, and you must choose a side, Flamengo, Botafogo or Vasco da Gama. Their strips (uniforms) can be seen throughout the city, taxi drivers have ornaments representing the team that they support, and the flags of the teams wave high along the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema.

I purchased a $45 ticket through my hotel. This price included a personal driver to take me to and from the stadium and some of the best seats in the house. I was told to be careful on numerous occasions on going to football matches in RDJ and SP. There was not an issue on this night as the match was not well attended. This particular match was between one of Rio's big teams and one of its smaller teams, Fluminense won a well deserved 2-1. There were probably only 15,000 people (if that) in the entire place.

There is a football museum there, which unfortunately I did not get a chance to visit because of other adventures. It houses the pictures of the World Cup teams and you can tour the locker rooms supposedly. Seeing a soccer match was quite an exciting experience.

Brotas Obstacle Course

After bone chilling temperatures in NY (I had moments this week when I was walking to school and I thought my face was going to fall off…), I’m anxiously awaiting Brazil’s warm weather. So much that I wore my flip flops to the airport. While for many people getting to the airport is not a major ideal (and therefore wearing flip flops is not a big deal..), for cash-strapped Bronxvillians it’s an adventure. Our trip to JFK required a calling a car to get to the train station to get us to midtown so we could hop on a bus to JFK. Total travel time = 2 hours 20 mins.



Our third and last day in Brotas involved an aerial obstacle course with Alaya outfitters. It involved each of us having a carabiner, pulleys, 30 meters of heights and zip lines. It was quite a work out as you can see and it seemed like we were on some sort of "Reality Fear Factor Rules" show. I will let the pictures speak for themselves and I have also included a video of our guide, Daniel, doing the all challenges in under 4 minutes. It is important to note, he could probably do it a lot faster, but of course he was following all the appropriate safety precautions. He reminds me of Spiderman going through these challenges. Catch the video here.
Graeme is much better at recording our travel memories than me (note: one of my only China/Thailand blog entries focused on massages, not one of the many worldly sights we saw…)

Brotas Day 2 - "You will be educated!"

We started the day with quick breakfast at Pousada do Lago. We made the quick trip to the downtown area of Brotas and were received by the the receptionist at Alaya adventure outfiters. Kate's classmate, Diego, recommended Alaya as the most comprehensive and accessible outfitter in all of Brotas. Our first excursion was white water rafting. The guide Ana met us a at 9:00am and we took a bus about 20 minutes to the Jacaru Pepira river. I have been rafting on the New River in West Virginia and both the Nantahala and French Broad rivers in NC, but Kate has never been. Ana gave us some pointers on paddling and following her directions in both English and Portuguese! She had friends come along for the ride. Tourism season was winding down in Brotas (Carnaval, two weeks previous, the peak). Our 9am mid-week tour was just the one raft of five people, Kate and I were the only paying customers :-).

The trip was roughly 2.5 hours and at one point we got out of the boat and slid down rocks in our swim suits, and at another point we got out of the boat, climbed up the bank and rode a zip line back and forth across the river. Being four stories up and zipping across the rapids was a thrilling experience.
Towards the end of the route our guide told us to get ready because we had gotten a little complacent during some of the slow parts of the river. She said that the last section is fast and a little rough and we would need both need to pay attention to her cues. At one point she said, "If you have forgotten anything, you will be educated." I thought this was a great expression and laughed a little as we approached the frothy falls.

Alaya has this tourism thing down, they sent along a kayaker to take pictures and videos of the boat was we made our way down the river, some of them are posted here. Unfortunately, the kayaker was making sure we didn't crash on the zip lines so we have no photos of that. Neither of us fell out of the boat which was a great outcome for Kate's first whitewater rafting experience (and my first in a long time).

Updated with videos:

Brotas Day 1

Brotas is located approximately 200 Km or 3 hours northwest of the Center of Sao Paulo. As soon as we arrived at the airport we picked up the rental car (yikes! no GPS available!!!). The car is a Chevy hatchback and runs on either gasoline or ethanol. The ethanol prices are about half that of gasoline. After driving 30 minutes in the wrong direction, we got out the iphone and that helped us get back on track. We made good time when we knew the correct way and we got to Brotas in 4 hours. We included a stop at a Brazilian franchise restaurant called Frango Assado (Rotissirie Chicken). The meal was what we needed after a long overnight flight and the driving mishap. Not knowing any Portuguese, we pointed to items on the menu. We both received steak, salad and polenta. We made our way to Brotas which some consider to be the outdoor adventure capital of Sao Paulo state. We missed our reservation for Thursday afternoon, so we checked into our hotel called Posado Do Lago.

The hotel is very nice with a very friendly staff. They get very few English speakers that come here without a guide, so they considered us very "courageous". The owner, Fernando, and staff was so concerned that they sent his daughter to greet us. His daughter, Fernanda, had spent about 6 months in New Jersey as a foreign exchange student and spoke English very well. When we asked her what she missed most about the US she said Doritos (Cool Ranch) and pole vaulting at her high school.

We had dinner at Malagueta,which offered a self service buffet (pay by the weight) and an alacarte menu from which we ordered. We both had sandwiches (three mini hoagies). Brazil is two hours ahead of New York, so the jet lag is not as bad as Europe or Asia, but after dinner we turned in for the night satsifed that we had a arrived and knowing that we had an adventurous day ahead.

Brazil Itinerary

On Wednesday afternoon, Kate and I will leave for a 10 day trip to Brazil. The primary reason for this trip is Kate's coursework (how unfortunate).

Columbia Students are able to access some international trips for school credit as part of their coursework. Other countries/cities available to them include Shanghai, Dubai, India, and Tokyo. The Brazil trip seemed exciting so I thought I would tag a long.

We will be going down a bit early to have some time together and then I will go to Rio De Janiero on my own to do some exploring. Here is a rough itinerary:

March 4: Leave NYC JFK
March 5: Arrive Sao Paulo drive to Brotas
March 5-7: Brotas (hiking and rafting)
March 7: Drive to Sao Paulo
March 7-14: Kate in Sao Paulo
March 7-10: Graeme in Sao Paulo
March !0-14: Graeme in Rio
March 15: Both Arrive in NYC JFK

This trip was a lot less planned than the Beijing trip. Neither of us knows much Portuguese. We will have a rental car for the Sao Paulo portion. We hope to enjoy the sun, have some new experiences and maybe see a soccer match.