Common Knowledge

Hardly news that Sao Conardo is full of s***.  Always avoided that beach.
It's raining very heavily here though...that doesn't boad well for anywhere.

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/apr/30/polluted-rio-de-janeiro-beach-ruled-out-for-pro-surfing-competition

Back to Rio and Saquarema

After leaving Valparasio we spent our last day in Santiago.  Having done most of the city before, we saw the modern district where they have just completed Latin America's tallest building.  Underneath there is also a huge shopping centre called the Costanera Centre.  We passed an afternoon here, before heading back to the Peruvian restaurant for dinner.  We found that in general the best food in Chile was actually Peruvian.  Although Chile doesn't have good beers.  I also bumped into a guy a had been surfing with in England a few times which was quite strange.  He agreed that the surf around Valparasio was quite s*** and was telling me about Pichelemu.  Maybe next time.

We had one last morning in Chile before our flight back which was taken up by visiting the National Zoo.  As expected it was not quite like a zoo in the UK.  Although not cruel, I would not say conditions where great, especially for the elephants who looked pretty sad.  The highlight were meercats who were pretty cheerful and friendly.

We had a smooth flight back on TAM again with decent emergency exit seats.

Back in Rio the following day- it started off with heavy rain.  However once the weather improved I was able to persuade Maria to come down to Arpoador while I surfed.  For one it was not crowded, although there were still plenty of drop ins.

We had pretty interesting sunset with the clouds and the light water giving special effects as below.

Saquarema:

The next day I got up pretty early (just before 5:00) and headed to the bus station in Rio to get a bus to Saquarema exactly as I did in December 2013.  Also stayed in the same hostel which lets say is pretty basic but a least it was cheap and near the beach.

The main reason to come here is waves.  And they have been really good.  A massive difference in power compared to Rio.  Although it is a bit s*** scary when they slam down on the sand.  The surf is very much like Hossegor.  Contrary to what the locals say I found the water to be pretty warm and was too hot in wetsuit so switched to boardies.

The night was pretty boring as the town is absolutely dead- couldnt even find a place to get a proper dinner.  Nevertheless a fun little trip was good to surf some waves in a different class to the city breaks.  I won't miss the mosquitos here which have eaten me despite repellent.

Chile- Valparaiso.

The return bus journey was less smooth than the outward journey.  The bus was stopped multiple times by the Argentinian Military Police, while customs into Chile also took ages.  Unfortunately on both bus journeys being night time we did not see much of the Andes.  However being more awake on the way back we could see the stars pretty clearly (almost at eye level) and experience the feel of 180 bends in the road.

We arrived early in the morning and were able to check in to the Ibis where we were staying.  It was the most modern building in Valparasio by a long way.  After looking at places up the hill which were more expensive this had proved to be the best value and we had a decent room.

For lunch I was keen to taste the local specialty dish 'Chorillana'.  Despite the beer being good the food was terrible.  As put by an Aussie we met later on- 'if that was my local dish I would be pretty embarrassed'.  Spot on.  The meat- a combo of beef, chicken cuts and cheap sausage was s*** and after Mendoza it was impossible to stomach bad meat.

In Valparasio one of the 'things to do' and also get up the hills is to take an elevator which is basically a rickety funicular railway.  Up the hill a few blocks are quite arty with many little cafes and painted streets.  Despite this the whole place felt very quiet.

After wandering around the bit of town on the hill, which to be honest is the only scenic bit of town we saw we went for drinks with a view of the sunset.  We chatted with some Aussies, who recommended a pretty decent restaurant called Cafe Tourri.  It was a relief to have something light in the form of salmon and salad.

Having checked out Valparasio which did not take too long, we used our second to check out the coast.  We headed to Concon, past Vina del Mar where waves small.  Nevertheless I hired the 'worst surfboard in the world' and had a quick surf in the small close outs- complete with a view of a nearby oil refinery.

We continued back past Renaca, which did not have any hire places.  But to be honest I don't think much was missed given that it was mainly close outs (below).

From our hotel we were able to observe the workings of the port including the comings and goings of ships like this.  We opted for dinner again at Cafe Tourri.  I opted to try Congor Eel, a Chilean dish, which was great.

Argentina- Mendoza 100 Posts

100 Posts since I started this blog

We arrived at Mendoza in the early hours and it was quite straightforward to get a taxi to the hotel.  We were able to check in early and catch up on sleep.  However the bus journey had not been too bad.  Our ‘luxury seats’ on Andesmar were not quite that, but comfortable enough to sleep most the journey and not notice the fact we were climbing the world’s second tallest mountain range.  Even Argentinian customs was pretty straightforward.

Later we headed out to Maipu by bus where we hired bikes and went around wineries.  However it ended up being more bike and less wine, albeit in sunshine and good temperature.  Despite this we went to two wineries and the wine was not that great except for maybe the Malbec at the second.  Although the tours where shortish we got a little insight into the production process including explanations about French vs American oak.  Bizarrely I even bumped into an ex-colleague who had left my last organisation before me on leaving a winery- which was quite strange. 

That night we headed out to 1884 Francis Malman, which is the ‘top’ restaurant in Mendoza.  The place was extremely up market and the service was really good.  So was the bread, Bife and deserts ect.  It made Gaucho in London look like a poor cousin.  In the end despite having been a high end experience the bill came to the equivalent of around £84, which for main, excellent deserts, continuous water and a bottle of Malbec.  Afterwards we were pretty stuffed.  Was it the best in Mendoza? – Well that will be covered later.

The next day we woke up later and were able to do a late check out.  Overall we were pretty impressed with the Hotel Internacional in Mendoza, since we were able to check in early, check out late and the staff were always pretty helpful.

Instead of leaving town we opted to wander around.  To be honest there is not a huge amount to see- it is more a place to experience.  As a town it is a decent size, mainly because it is quite spread out covering a large surface area.

The highlight of the day was the Don Mario steakhouse. I had been recommended by a taxi driver and also the internet.  It was very good.  Unlike 1884 it was quite quiet and local.  The waiter recommended a choice of three different steaks to share giving a variety of cuts.  This was a great choice, since they were all great ranging from tender to full of flavour.   We also did well on the wine.  The method of choosing the cheapest Malbec each time paid dividends, since this was definitely the best I had in Mendoza.  I ended up drinking most the wine and felt pretty drunk.

So much so that when getting an ice cream in town I crushed the cone and had to dive down to catch the falling ice cream.  The afternoon was filled with more wine at a wine tasting place and then a bar, before it was time to leave Mendoza.

Overall I was very sad to leave Argentina, which I had a very positive opinion of in the short time I spent there.

Chile- Santiago

We left on Sat evening.  The flight with LAN was quite good.  It was an extra bonus that Maria managed to get us seats in the emergency exit row that had loads of legroom.  Santiago airport was very 21^st Century (unlike Rio), and we got a cab quite easily.

When we arrived at our accommodation at 1:00am it turned out that our original room was gone.  The man took us to his other hotel where he had space.  He was talking for ages trying to be funny and chatting to us- which quite frankly dazed and half asleep the last think I wanted to do was chat to this guy.  In the end the hotel was quite nice (although our room was small).  When he said his other hotel at first I had imagined something resembling a brothel. 

The next day we ended up speaking to the guy.  He was quite eccentric and even sang to us which was slightly weird, but during the conversation we picked up tips to explore Santiago.

It doesn’t take more than a day to visit Santiago.  As it was Sunday there was relatively little traffic.  We walked through the park along the river, seeing the Museum of Bella Artes.  The city is certainly quite clean and civilised (compared to Rio at least).  We had some good luck going up to another park and unplanned ending up in a food festival, which was mainly local.  A further museum of Andes culture, pisco sours and a view from the ‘Virgin on the Hill’ which is Santiago’s answer to the Cristo in Rio.

Unfortunately our opinion of Chile was rather dismissed when a taxi driver screwed us other en route to the bus station, by switching notes.

Flat day Friday

Flat day Friday meant a visit to central Rio again, but this time for most the day.  Checked a few things I hadn’t seen in Rio before like the Central Station, Portuguese Library, and Flamengo War memorial.  It’s all quite compact and easier to walk around.

Met Maria for dinner in Santa Teresa at Bar Mienero and ate the usual copious portions

2 days of FLAT and 1.5 days of surf

Monday was FLAT.  So headed into town on the metro.  Got some coffee in Urgagui and had a wander around Centro. 

Tuesday was also FLAT, but opted to spend the day in Zona Sul which is quite easy to do.  This included playing beach football on Ipanema until the sun got the better of me and working out on the many pull up bars to get stronger (I hope).  For an alternative sunset I headed to Lagoa where they were clearing out dead fish (yum).  Sunset not too bad.

Wednesday waves.  All in the convenience of a wander over.  Sadly also crowded with Brazilians and not the best.  But got in 2 sessions of shortish rides.  Finished the day with a big feijoida.

Today (Thursday that is) there were waves again but much smaller and dying.  So opted for a bit of extra size and made  the close to 2 hour bus journey (each way down to recreio).  Got a few waves in- but the water was pretty gross (s*** and plastic).   By about lunch the wind picked right up and the swell was dropping.

Managed to get one of the exectuivo busses back (they are more expensive but well worth- unlike other public buses the seats are comfortable, you don’t feel like you are about to be killed by dodgy driving and you have personal space.  Paranoid about surfing in contacts in the filth I found myself taking them about on the bus journey home.  Fortunately when I arrived home Maria had made some pretty nice late lunch and I lazed the afternoon away doing nothing particularly useful.

More posts

Since I quit my job am back to travelling expect more posts in the next few months.

Rio

I arrived in Rio via Lisbon on TAP.  Flights were on time, but the entertainment system on the flight to Brazil might as well have been from the 1980s and food was a bit questionable.  Other than that staff were quite good, kept me in Sagres- although I struggled to get enough sleep.

Maria's flat is pretty sizey and in a good location near Ipanema and Arpoador.  The interior design is a bit French old person but it seems to work.

The board that Maria picked up is what I was after.  We tried to head towards Prainha but after continual failure by Brazilian busses we ended up in Barra.  Fun enough surf to try out the new stick in 2ft onshore until it really crapped out.  Followed by some Brazilian meat, rice and beans.  Nice to be out in 30 degrees and board shorts.

Sunset at Arpoador.  Time to catch up on sleep.