South America Archives - Wandering North

Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025 Paraguay

Asunción: Second Time’s the Charm

This was my second time to try to visit Paraguay. The first time was a failure. I wrote about it in a previous post. I was trying to fly from Brazil, and they would not let me board because I didn’t have the paper copy of my yellow fever certificate. Lesson learned. This time, flying from Uruguay, I made sure I had my yellow fever card in hand. Of course, no one asked me to see it. Anyway, I felt quite a sense of satisfaction to actually be on the plane headed to this country that had previously eluded me.

There is not a lot said about Paraguay as a tourist destination. It is a little under the radar and a little less appealing than its neighbours. Decades of war, corruption, and instability haven’t helped. And there are not a lot of big-ticket sites to see in Paraguay. Sure, you can cross the border from Iguazu Falls and technically enter the country, but beyond that, there are not a lot of very famous or appealing sites to visit. No problem, I wasn’t going for famous; I was just going to check out the capital: Asunción.

I landed and took a taxi from the airport to the city. No visas at all required and no hassles presented themselves. I arrived very early in the morning, but my hotel let me check in. I was staying at the Asunción Palace Hotel. A nice and moderately priced hotel in the city centre that I picked for its location and the fact that each room seemed to have its own balcony. It was nice but not fancy. My favourite thing was that when I left the key with the front desk every time I went out and came to pick it back up, they wouldn’t give it to me until I correctly said my room number in Spanish. I appreciated the push as I was being quite lazy with my language efforts.

I immediately set out to explore. Asunción Is not a particularly beautiful city. It has some beautiful things in it, and it has some pockets that are interesting, but the city centre itself is not the best. I enjoyed visiting it, but it had certain shortcomings. The main problem was that it was blisteringly hot when I was there. It was at least 40°C and most of the streets seemed to lack any tree cover. It was so hot that at one point I felt like I was going blind. Aside from that though, there are a lot of once beautiful buildings that have fallen into ruin. My favourite, but it meant that there were a lot of empty streets and not a lot going on in certain areas. Also, in a majority of the areas downtown the streets were quite broken and in poor repair with lots of garbage. It just didn’t feel like a super functional city. But then out of nowhere, I would be confronted with an incredibly well maintained and stunningly beautiful building. Surprising. There was beauty to be found but you had to look for it. There weren’t rows of interesting or cute little shops or cafes, and the market, when I went, was mostly empty, but there with some decent street art and the all the people I encountered seemed very friendly.

And this is where it should be said again that Paraguay has had a bit of a rough go. It got its independence from Spain in 1811 but following that it had a series of dictatorships and military rule, followed by a war in the 1800s that left more than half of its population dead. In the 20th century, the instability continued. The first 54 years of the 20^th century saw Paraguay have more than 30 presidents, most of whom were removed through coups or violence. In 1954 they got a new leader, Alfredo Stroessner, who lasted until 1989, however he was a dictator, apparently good for the economy, but bad for human rights. Violent oppression, torture, et cetera. After he was overthrown in 1989, things moved in a more democratic, though conservative direction. So, Paraguay had a lot going on for a long time and tourism wasn’t really the focus.

Notwithstanding that I was kind of underwhelmed by the centre of Asunción, there were some delightful things. I found at least one good cafe that was pleasant and had vegetarian things for me to eat.

At night, there were lots of little bars and restaurants that appeared seemingly out of nowhere on more quiet side streets and I found them all quite appealing. Of course, the question arose: was it even safe to be walking around Asunción at night? All the information that I had suggested that it wasn’t really that safe to be walking around late at night, but I wasn’t going to stay in my hotel. So on that first night, which just so happened to be Valentine’s Day, I went for a walk and tried to stick to the slightly busier streets, but on an otherwise desolate side street I came across a cute little bar and restaurant that was all decorated for Valentine’s Day and had good music and I decided to have a cigar and a bite to eat there. They were not happy about giving me a table given that I was there by myself, but I was not to be deterred. My sense is that it’s not really that dangerous to walk around the centre at night if you stick to the streets where businesses are open, but I would probably avoid the streets where it’s dark and everything is closed. I guess this is a situation is of ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

Another thing I liked about downtown Paraguay was an area called Loma San Geronimo. It was a little neighbourhood just a short walk from the centre of the city and is notable for its colourful buildings and public art. It seemed to be primarily residential, but tucked in here and there was the odd little restaurant, perhaps operating out of someone’s house, a church, and possibly a few other little small businesses, though none of them were open when I was there. It was delightful. The buildings were all painted bright colours and there were narrow walkways with tiled stairs and plenty of murals. Cobblestone streets and flowering bushes made it even prettier. Aside from one police officer and one guy on a motorcycle, I didn’t see anyone as I was walking through the neighbourhood, which was a little bit strange but all the better for taking selfies. The walk there was a bit odd as it led me down many streets with derelict buildings and dilapidated storefronts, but it was well worth it.

I didn’t stay only in the centre of Asunción; there were a few things that I wanted to see that were in different areas. One of those things was a chair museum. I don’t know why there’s a chair museum or why it would be interesting, but I wanted to go to it. Unfortunately, when I got there it was closed.

I also wanted to visit the Museo del Barrio. It is a museum with Paraguayan and South American artifacts as well as contemporary art. From the outside, it looks like it is going to be very small, but inside it had a multi-layered almost catacomb feel and I was surprised by how much it contained. It is a really good museum. The items they had were so unique and interesting and a lot of the art was legitimately creepy, which I really enjoyed. There was no admission fee (or I accidentally walked in without paying anything) and very few other visitors when I was there. It was a bit of an Uber or bus ride from the centre, but once in that neighbourhood there were more modern malls, hotels, and restaurants and I ended up on a rooftop of a hotel having lunch and a cigar.

Of course, I was very curious to check out the local cigar scene in Asunción. As best as I could tell, there was only one cigar lounge, which was a La Casa Del Habano in the fanciest neighbourhood of town, called Villa Morra. I decided to walk there but got halfway and realized it was much farther than I thought and so I called an Uber. Yes, there were lots of buses, but I didn’t feel like at that point like waiting around in the heat for one. I just wanted air conditioning and speedy transportation.

It’s hard to believe the Villa Mora is even in the same city as central Asunción. It feels like South Florida or Los Angeles. It’s very fancy and everything is new and well-manicured and there is a lot of security. It’s not particularly appealing, especially as a pedestrian, but if you want to sit down and have a fancy meal or a cigar this is the place to go. Upon arriving, I was surprised because there is no La Casa Del Habano anymore; it is now simply called “Cigar Shop.” I went there on both of my days in Asunción. They had a decent selection of cigars, mostly non-Cuban and reasonable prices and then they had a couple of lounge areas; one for regular people like me and then one for VIPs in the back. It was busy both times I went in. It had excellent air conditioning cold water and strong coffee. I was quite content. The first time I went everybody in there was speaking Spanish and I sat there trying to understand their conversations with my limited knowledge of the language. The next time I went in I ended up chatting with an American guy who lives there. He was astonished that I had come there voluntarily. He told me his story, which was that he was from Los Angeles but met a girl from Paraguay and fell in love, so he came down to spend time with her and then the pandemic hit and he couldn’t leave. And then she got pregnant and they got married and now he lives there. He hates it. I mean he loves his family, but he really hates living there and leaves as much as he can. His disdain for the city was amusing to me. There was also a group of American guys that were there going on a fishing expedition, and I talked with them a bit as well. So, I wasn’t the only tourist in the city. As usual, cigar lounges saving the day and giving me a bit of respite and camaraderie.

I left Asunción after two and a half days and was satisfied with the time that I spent there. I have no doubt that if I spent more time I would have explored deeper and found more interesting and hidden places, but I was happy to carry on. It was time to return home via a long flight through Sao Paulo and Montreal to Vancouver. Every time I go to South America I am astonished by how far away it is.

And so ended my trip to Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Asunción. My next trip would keep me a little closer to home. 10 days in Belize.

Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025 Uruguay

The Quiet Charm of Montevideo

I had arrived in Montevideo by boat from Buenos Aires. I covered that journey in the previous post. From the boat I walked just a few minutes and found myself in the heart of the city. Montevideo was a place that I was visiting because it was there, not so much because I had a particular interest in visiting it. Montevideo is one of those places that one probably doesn’t know very much about and isn’t likely to end up unless you’re either collecting countries or just fancy a boat ride from Buenos Aires. I’ve always had good luck with trips to places that I didn’t have a burning desire to visit. Maybe it’s because I entered those places with low expectations. How can I possibly be disappointed when there is nothing in particular that I want to accomplish? Montevideo was one of those places. I really enjoyed it and I enjoyed two perfectly pleasant days there.

Like its capital, Uruguay is a place that I didn’t know a whole lot about, aside from the fact that it was the first country in the world to legalize cannabis. (I’m not a cannabis user but I did spend years working on cannabis legalization files as lawyer in Canada and so this is just one of the facts that seeped into my consciousness.) Aside from that, Uruguay is pretty progressive. It was one of the first countries in the world to legalize homosexuality, it has one of the most stable democratic governments in South America, it relies completely on renewable energy and has institutionalized secularism, which in South America is kind of a big deal. It is also the second smallest country in South America so it’s easily overlooked.

So what does the capital city if such am unusually progressive country look like? It is pleasant and chill. It doesn’t feel like a rich city, but it’s quite pretty. Lots of well-maintained colonial buildings and some newer buildings as well. Big squares with statues and palm trees, small pedestrian streets, and parks with cafés and markets. The whole place has kind of a relaxed vibe that I enjoyed.

It is also fairly touristy, as cruise ships dock there as they are making their way down the East Coast of South America. There were certain streets that during the day were simply flooded with cruise ship visitors, but they all seemed to disappear at night.

As far as attractions, Montevideo didn’t have much that I was interested in, so I simply wandered the city. There were lots of pleasant murals and I visited the National Museum of Visual Arts. I made the decision to walk to the art gallery from the centre of the city, which turned out to be a little bit far, but it was nice to walk through both the commercial districts and residential ones before arriving in a park. And if I hadn’t walked, I wouldn’t have seen this spectacular mural of four film directors: Federico Fellini, Alfred Hitchcock, Luis Buñuel, and Lucrecia Martel.

The art gallery itself was pretty nice, but they were doing work on the floors so I could was only able to visit a very small part of it. Fortunately, there was a nice café outside where I took refuge from the heat. I wanted to avoid the walk back I took the bus which turned out to be relatively simple provided you have the cash to pay for it.

I was staying at the Hotel Palacio, which wasn’t anything special except that the price was right and it was centrally located. It was a nice hotel with friendly staff but it didn’t have any particular charm.

As a lover of hanging out in charming cafés, I was delighted to find that Montevideo has (at least) two wonderful historical ones. Café Brasilero is the oldest café in Montevideo, having been open since 1877 and has a history of being popular with artists and intellectuals, like all the best cafés. There is also La Farmacia Café was a former pharmacy from 1980 in a historical art nouveau building. It is so charming, maintaining a lot of its historic features and pharmacological items. Also, they take their coffee seriously and it is excellent.

Probably the one thing that I was most excited to visit in Montevideo was the museum dedicated to the crash of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571. Probably well known to most, this plane crashed in the Andes in 1972. On board were 45 people including twelve members of the Uruguay and rugby team and their friends and families. Many people died on impact but not all. Some survived the crash but succumbed to their injuries not long after. The rest of the survivors remained in the snowy Andes waiting for help or trying to find it for over two months. Famously, they succumbed to cannibalism of the dead bodies of some of the passengers before being rescued – They were not found per se, rather, they went looking for help and found help. The museum is a small one that tells the story of the crash the aftermath and their survival and includes artifacts from the event. Nothing is said of the cannibalism in the museum. It’s not meant to be sensationalistic. I, being a bit of a ghoul, wanted to hear about the cannibalism, but I didn’t really care that it wasn’t included because the museum was so inspiring. One of the stories they told in the museum was that the survivors had a radio that worked for a while and at some point, they heard on the radio that efforts to rescue them had been called off. At that point, one of the survivors said to his son that it was great news because now they got to rescue themselves. That’s a kind of positivity that I aspire to. And they did rescue themselves. That’s too long talking about a museum, but it is really worth going into.

Apart from the museum and the gallery and cafés and generally walking around the city. I didn’t do much in my two days in Montevideo. I enjoyed a few cigars. (there were no cigar stores or lounges in Montevideo. Previously there had been a La Casa del Habano and I found it but it was boarded up and closed.) I drank coffee and chatted with anyone who would talk to me.

I marveled it the ubiquity of yerba mate in Montevideo. It’s like the national drink or something. It is a tea that I had never had before going to Montevideo and having already gone there I can tell you it’s still a tea that I haven’t tried. I couldn’t find it for sale in any of the cafés that I went to. It seems that it’s something that people largely make it home for themselves and then drink throughout the day. And they don’t just drink it throughout the day; they transport it with them in specially designed bags. Everywhere I saw men and women walking around with these leather bags specifically designed to hold both a thermos of the tea and a specific little gourd with a metal straw that they drink it out of. I saw people in the city selling these bags and devices, but nowhere did I find anyone selling the drink itself. I probably could have tried harder. I have a feeling that it is not something that I would have enjoyed but I am still curious to try it.

Just as I had met up with someone from Vancouver when I was in Buenos Aires, I also met up with someone from Vancouver while I was in Montevideo. A casual friend from a travel group that I belong to in Vancouver happened to be in the city at the same time as I. He was doing a driving trip down the length of Argentina to the bottom to scatter the ashes of a friend who had died. We met up for dinner and drinks. It was a terrific evening of swapping travel stories and also a bit of a moving one, hearing about his deceased friend, and their history together, and the tale of a trip that they never completed. It was a good reminder of the importance of friendship and the fact that all of this will end, which for me means it better make the most of it. Between that and the visit to the plan crash museum, Montevideo left me inspired and full of self-reflection. Not bad for a country I didn’t know much about.

In the spirit of making the most of things, the next morning, after my two days in Montevideo, which was exactly the right amount of time, I caught a flight to a new city in a new-to me country: Asunción, Paraguay.

Argentina Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025 Uruguay

From Buenos Aires to Montevideo

From Buenos Aires, Argentina, I was heading to Montevideo, Uruguay. Flying was an option, but I decided to go by ferry. The two capital cities are separated by a large estuary called the Río de la Plata. Flights are only about 50 minutes but factoring in the hassle of going to and from airports against the relative pleasure of riding a boat, it was an easy decision.

There are lots of ferry options between the two cities, many of them were slow ferries, stopping along the way, taking up to 7 hours. The express ferry takes 2.5 hours and is direct. That was the one that I decided to take, operated by Buquebus. I booked in advance, which based on the crowds on the ferry, I think was a good idea.

I booked the earliest ferry I could find online (departing at 7:15am and arriving 9:45am), and on the morning of my departure I walked from my hostel in Buenos Aires to the ferry terminal. Part of the reason I had picked the hostel I did was because it was walking distance to the ferry terminal. I arrived early and there was a large crowd waiting to pick up their tickets. Even though I had booked online and had no luggage to check, I still had to pick up a paper ticket. The ferry terminal is new and modern and has a cafe and Wi-Fi, so it wasn’t a bad place to pass the time.

I picked up my ticket and boarded the ferry.

There are four classes of ticket for walk on passengers and they range from about $80 to $150 US. Normally I would get the cheapest, but in this case, I decided to get the first-class ticket. In hindsight that was a good decision. I think at the time it was the only class that offered free Wi-Fi, which was part of the reason that I selected it. It allows priority check in and boarding, but it also meant that I got to exit the boat first which was a huge time saver or given how busy the ship was and how slow it appeared people were disembarking. I had access to a lounge with free drinks and snacks prior to departure.

On board, there the first-class seating was comfortable and on the top of the ship. It had kind of a weird 60s décor, but the seats were very comfortable and there was free Wi-Fi and charging ports and some complimentary beverages. Most importantly it was very calm. The other cabins when I walked through them as I was leaving were absolutely packed and full of lots of noisy families and they just didn’t seem as appealing. I found the journey incredibly tranquil.

The business class seating looked pretty nice too, but they didn’t offer the free Wi-Fi.

As they had checked my passport when I was boarding the ship, when I exited, I just walked into Montevideo and was steps away from the city centre. There was none of the hassle of airports and taxis. It was maybe 1 of the easiest non-European border crossings I’ve ever had.

And just like that, I was in a new country and ready to explore Montevideo, Uruguay.

Argentina Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay trip 2025

What’s New, Buenos Aires?

The first international trip of 2025 (not counting my trip to Miami the month prior). Buenos Aires, Argentina. I had decided it was time to return to South America, or rather world events decided it was time for me to return to South America. I had another trip booked entirely but due to some political violence and flight cancellations I decided to change my plans and fly to Buenos Aires. More specifically I decided to fly to Buenos Aires and then also visit Montevideo and Asuncion at the same time. But my trip would start in Argentina.

Buenos Aires is a city that I’ve heard nothing but good things about and yet, somehow, I managed to not feel particularly excited about going. I had no doubt that it would be nice, but I just wasn’t enthusiastic. And maybe that reflected itself on my experience of the trip, because while I had a very good time in Buenos Aires I didn’t love it.

And here is where I am going to describe all the great things in Buenos Aires that I enjoyed, while still not loving it.

Arrival and Blunders

I spent three days in Buenos Aires, which for me was enough time in the city. I booked myself a little hostel (V&S Hostel Boutique), which was more like a shared Airbnb and was walking distance to many things that I wanted to see. It was nice and welcoming after such a long flight.

The trip got off to a bit of a weird start when on my first morning I walked out of my room barefoot in my pyjamas to make a cup of coffee in the shared kitchen and didn’t realize that my door was self-locking. I locked myself out of my room. There is no reception and I didn’t see any other guests. I didn’t even have my cell phone with me, so while I had coffee, I had no other way to contact anyone. Fortunately, I knew that the woman was coming to collect my money in about two hours, so I just had to bide my time and wait for her to come rescue me, though I hoped that someone would notice me on the security cameras doing weird things like dancing or doing bicep curls with the end table and send someone more immediately. Lesson learned, never leave your room without your key and cell phone in hand.

Setting Out

Dressed and organized, I set out exploring the city. Buenos Aires is beautiful. It has beautiful buildings and lovely tree-lined streets. There are oodles of bookstores and cute little vintage shops and wonderful cafes. If you like meat and wine, which I don’t really, there is an endless array of restaurants to seduce you. It feels like a city that I could happily live in, but as I visited it, while I was enjoying myself, I wasn’t falling in love with it. And, yet, I enjoyed many things.

There is an extraordinary bookstore in an old theatre: El Ateneo Grand Splendid, which was opened in about 1919 as a theatre and turned into a bookstore (with a café) in the 2000s. It was dubbed the most beautiful bookstore in the world by National Geographic. In my mind it was doing battle with the incredible bookstore that I had just seen a couple months earlier in Bucharest. They’re both equally grand and I have not decided who the victor is, but it’s certainly worth visiting both of them.

Smoking Cigars in Buenos Aires

I was also delighted by the cigar culture in Buenos Aires. There are so many cigar lounges, including two La Casa del Habano stores/lounges where I enjoyed talking with the staff. I visited the Oak Bar at the Palacio Duhau – Park Hyatt. It struck the right balance between fancy and cozy, and I sat there with a cigar, a cocktail, and a book and it was perfect. Right by the Oak Bar was a little cigar store/lounge called Prado y Neptuno that was full of local guys and had a friendly vibe. The prices were OK and the lounges were great, but even better than the lounges was the fact that every patio that I sat at had no issue with me smoking, and most of them brought me a proper a cigar ashtray. No one gave me a dirty look and there were other people smoking cigars, so I felt like I was in good company. How civilized.

Art

I also visited some art galleries and museums: the MACBA – Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Buenos Aires, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, and the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), each of which was excellent.

Death and Showtunes

I went to La Recoleta Cemetery, which was high on my list of places to visit because that is where Eva Peron is buried, but also it is just a beautiful cemetery with very ornate and imposing markers and mausoleums. Tourists pay a fee to get in but it is worth it. I opted not to take a tour and just wander on my own. I always love walking cemeteries. It was interesting seeing Eva Peron’s family crypt. It’s not that I am a scholar in Argentinian history, but I am a musical theatre fan and I have seen the musical Evita more than 25 times. I don’t even really like the musical Evita all that much but I had a special friend in the cast so saw it see it repeatedly, so I have this sort of superficial interest in Eva Peron. And so not only did I go to see her grave site, but I walked the streets of Buenos Aires listening to the cast recording Evita on repeat and I found that to be exhilarating. Even at times on desolate streets singing along to “High Flying Adored” or, obviously, “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”.

I also really enjoyed the public transportation, which when the distances were too long to walk, the subway was convenient, as was Uber. Generally, though, it was a good city for walking, the one downside being that it was just blisteringly hot when I was there. On the day that I went to the cemetery it was 38°C and without any tree cover it was rather unpleasant.

La Boca

I took the bus down to La Boca; the area of Buenos Aires where there are all of the colourful buildings. You’ll see them a lot in social media posts about the city. La Boca is filled with colourful buildings and street art and cute restaurants and it is very photogenic, however it is also extremely touristy and has some kind of soccer/football connection so there are lots of stores selling football memorabilia and people taking pictures with these very tacky mannequins dressed in sports jerseys. I really hated that part of it, but overall, I liked exploring the neighbourhood. I wandered around and I sat and I had an incredibly expensive and bland vegetarian burger and watch the people mill about. It’s definitely worth it to go to the neighbourhood to look around, but it is touristy and tacky, and I wish it wasn’t.

A Friend from Home

Maybe the best thing that happened to me in Buenos Aires was that coincidentally a friend and actress from Vancouver was there filming a commercial. Our days overlapped by one and so we met up and went out for dinner and drinks. She had been there for a couple of weeks at that point and really knew her way around and found a restaurant with delicious vegan pasta dishes. That was really fun. I enjoyed having someone to chat with for an evening and it was neat seeing someone from home in a completely different environment. I think I especially appreciated it given that the entire time that I was staying my accommodations I didn’t see another living soul except when they collected my money, so I was maybe desiring a bit of human contact. But it was great.

Final Thoughts

I know it sounds a bit contradictory to say that I had a great time in Buenos Aires but also that I was underwhelmed, but that’s kind of how I felt. I have nothing bad to say about Buenos Aires and I enjoyed everything that I did but nothing about it excited me. It would be weird, I think, if I loved everywhere I visited. Perhaps not every trip has to be exciting; maybe some can just be interesting or pleasant.

I am very glad to have finally visited Buenos Aires. Clearly, I need to visit somewhere in southern Argentina or even outside of the city, but this was not the trip for that. The morning after my final day in Buenos Aires I was taking a ferry to Uruguay.

Brazil South America

Lapa Land: Rio Day 2

I awakened my second full day in Rio with a bit of a plan: I wanted to get up early enough to go to see the Lapa Stairs. It’s not that the stairs disappear after morning, but I had heard that they very quickly get overrun with tourists and tour groups later in the day, so I thought I needed to get early to have them to myself. I had breakfast at the hotel (Hotel OK). True to brand, the breakfast was ok. It was packed with people – mostly Portuguese speaking people. I didn’t find any other English-speaking people that I could chat with (I am useless with any Portuguese phrases), but I kept myself busy eating all the delicious fruits. From my hotel I walked towards the Lapa Stairs. I was staying right in between the Centro and Lapa districts, so it wasn’t very far to walk to the stairs, and I loved the journey.

Walking in Lapa

From what I’ve seen of Rio, Lapa is my favourite district. It’s gritty; covered in graffiti with beautiful old buildings, lots of restaurants, cafes, and music venues. It’s definitely the bohemian, arty part of the city. Unfortunately, it’s dangerous at night. As I said in my previous post, I’m not generally concerned about violence, but people who are like me and locals to the area have told me pretty awful stories about going out in Lapa after dark and it even told me that Uber drivers won’t drive there. I question whether that’s true, or if it is as bad as I was told, but that’s what I hear. So, all my experiences in Lapa were during the day, but I definitely enjoyed it. (Before I get corrected; the Santa Teresa neighbourhood is also excellent; I’m just not clear where the dividing line is between Lapa and Santa Teresa, so I am referencing only Lapa because that is where i mostly seemed to be.)

pretty buildings

Lapa has two famous sites one of which is the stairs, will get to in a moment, and the other are Arcos de Lapa is which was an aqueduct system built in 1723. It’s hard to miss them; this gleaming white wall of double arches that diagonally cuts through the neighbourhood. Quite picturesque. The area around the arches had a lot of people sleeping in the street and clearly down on their luck. It didn’t feel unsafe, but it was something to be aware of. On to the stairs.

The Escadaria Selarón

I wasn’t actually that excited about seeing the Escadaria Selarón (aka the Lapa Stairs, aka the Escadaria da Lapa), I just heard that it was a thing that you’re supposed to see and I thought it would give me an excuse to walk through the neighbourhood and see what else there is, and I was already enjoying my walk, so had the stairs been disappointing it wouldn’t have been a problem for me, but when I arrived at the stairs, I found them delightful.

Colourful and artistic. Definitely photogenic. But the thing that I liked about them is just that it was such a whimsical, unnecessary thing. The story behind it is there was a Chilean artist, Jorge Selarón, who lived there, one day was repairing the few stairs leading up to his home and he decided to use a bunch of brightly coloured tiles to repair them. But he didn’t stop. His obsession grew and grew and he started covering all of the stairs with the tiles and mirrors and bits of pottery until it covered the entire staircase and it sort of crept like a beautiful fungus onto the apartment buildings that line the stairs and beyond. It’s just delightful. The fact that lots of people want to go there and take their pictures… well, you can’t even be upset about it, because it’s great. And of course, I couldn’t resist some selfies myself.

A triptych of selfies

A not so fun fact that I discovered was that the artist appears to have committed suicide in 2013 by pouring paint thinner on his head and setting himself on fire on the very stairs where we now take cute selfies and film music videos. A sad end, but his legacy is undeniably positive and popular. (I say “appears to have” because there is a small chance that he was murdered, but that theory seems to have less weight. There is a detailed account of his demise here.)

near the stairs

Cigar Time

After visiting the stairs, I walked to the Centro district to the Velha Habana, an excellent and brand new café / cigar store / cigar lounge. I saw it on my first day of wandering, but it was closed on Sunday. It was so new that they were still hanging art on the walls. It is really nice. I had a coffee and tried one of the locally grown and rolled cigars.

Wrapping up in Rio

It was at this point that I decided that I had pretty much seen many of the things that I wanted to do in Rio. I had plans to go to see the Christ the Redeemer statue and the Sugarloaf Mountain, but I was saving that for the day that I would fly back through Rio at the end of my trip, so I found myself needing something to do. So I decided that I would go on a favela tour. I’ve written about that in a separate post (here) because I took a lot of photos and I think it sort of deserves its own commentary, but that’s what I did with my afternoon.

After the favela tour, I ended up back in Leblon and i went for a cigar again at the excellent Esch Café and had a wonderful dinner at a middle eastern restaurant. As a vegetarian, the food in Brazil was kind of awful. Obviously, Rio is a major city and international food is available, but in terms of Brazilian food, it’s not super vegetarian friendly and certainly not vegan friendly, so I was happy to have a meal that was to my liking. After dinner I took the subway back to my hotel and had a good night sleep.

I liked my second day in Rio a lot more. The beach neighbourhoods I visited on day one just were not my thing, I found the Centro area a little bit boring, but I really liked Lapa (and Santa Teresa? I’m not sue where one area becomes the next) and I did enjoy the favela tour. The next day I would fly north to Salvador, which was the the place I most wanted to see in Brazil.

Peru South America

Final Day in Iquitos

The day we left Peru we did not fly out until the evening, so there was still one final day to enjoy. After luxuriating in our wonderful hotel room and breakfast buffet, i set out to the Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm and animal rescue. To get there i took a 4 Sole tuk tuk ride from the hotel to Bella Vista-Nanay, a nearby town along a tributary of the Amazon. It had started to rain, so when i was dropped off at the muddy market along the river, i waited out the rain at a floating cafe and watched the boats depart.

I then found a boat heading to Padre Cocha, the village where my destination was located. I had been told that a boat would cost 20-30 Soles, but the going rate seemed to be 3, which suited me just fine. I got on a simple boat with a thatched roof and run by a rickety motor. I was the only tourist on the boat which was mostly filled with locals and items going to or from market. The trip wasn’t very long, but suddenly seemed to take forever when water began entering the boat and a couple of people had to pitch in, bailing water with buckets. This made me nervous, but we were always swimming distance from shore and i just tried to put giant Amazonian fish out of my mind. No one else seemed too concerned.

We arrived and i landed in the village. There were no signs, but the place wasn’t very big, so i just started walking, figuring that i would find a sign at some point. I walked past the simple houses, which were not on stilts, due to the village being elevated somewhat from the river. It was a pretty, sleepy little place and the few people i asked about the butterfly farm seemed to have no idea what i walk talking about, despite my passable Spanish and excellent butterfly charades.

Finally, i saw a sign, or rather, a series of signs, leading me along an increasingly tropical and beautiful jungle path.

I headed back by boat to Bella Vista-Nanay (this time suffering not a near sinking but an engine that regularly cut out and left us adrift), where i spent sometime at the market, ogling the giant grubs being grilled up for snacks (and being thankful of my vegetarianism).

We flew out that night, from Iquitos to Lima, Lima to Los Angeles, and Los Angeles to Vancouver. We even got upgraded to business class on one leg of the trip. The business class seats were entirely unbooked i guess and in some weird, racist airline policy, the only white people on the flight got bumped up. One couple, with a white woman and her Mexican partner, found that only she was offered an upgrade. I can’t support the policy, but i did not decline the upgrade. I’d never pay for first or business class, but it really is better.
I wish i didn’t know that.

And that was it for Peru. I am happy with the trip. I did everything I wanted to do and didn’t feel rushed. There is always more to see, but i am happy with our choices. I think I am done with South America for a while, but this was a great trip. Home now and time to start daydreaming about the next destination.

Peru South America

The Belen Market, Iquitos

I never do this, but i am writing this post from Vancouver. I wrote my last post on the Peru trip in Peru the day before we went into the internet-free Amazon and then i was so sick the one day we had back in civilization before heading back that i didn’t feel like writing anything. So as i write this i am am nestled in a leather chair, with a cigar, back in Vancouver. But for now…back to Peru…

The morning before we went from Iquitos back into the jungle i went to the Belen market. I had tried to go the previous day but by the time i got there it was packing up. The next morning however i had no such problems. Belen is an area in Iquitos, partly made up of a floating village and partly made up of the sprawling market. It is unquestionably a poor neighbourhood and much of what i had read about the market before leaving for Peru was that it was too dangerous to visit alone. Of course i have heard that before and i know enough not to listen to such advice (which is usually just borne out of irrational fears and racism).

The market (a short walk from the main part of the river boardwalk) was intimidating on first arrival, only because the entrance is thresholded by a large pile of garbage and ankle deep mud. Oh well, i wasn’t clean anyway. Once inside, the market is a sensory experience, with all of the sights, smells and sounds of a jungle market (including raw meat and fish sitting for hours in the hot sun). Sure, there are the usual fruits and vegetables, plus those of the tropical variety. Then there are sacks of peppers, spices, grains, and flours. Women sit at booths and on the drier parts of the ground, selling their wares while wrangling their children.

Then there were fish – so many varieties and many so large, fresh from the amazon – being sold raw and being grilled over barrels for eating.

There were tables of outdoor, makeshift eateries, mostly with rice, fish, chicken and eggs. Then there was the butchery section, where the ground was slippery with blood and water and i was almost hit in the head with a half a dead hog being carried down a narrow aisle. I wanted to and did take pictures, but so as to not appear like a judgmental douche-bag, i smiled at all of the women and tried out my Spanish on them, identifying various body parts and smiling with approval before snapping pictures. I did see some large alligators getting butchered, but didn’t feel right taking a picture.

Then there were the aisles selling Amazonian medical remedies for everything from diabetes to impotence, depression to cancer. The remedies themselves consisted of brown powders to incense to bottles of amber liquid filled with vegetable and animal parts. There were also skulls and bones and feathers for sale and various parts of endangered creatures. Fancy a jaguar pelt? You could buy one for $40. I didn’t buy anything like that, but i did pick up some small cigars, which were allegedly rolled of locally grown tobacco.

I could have wandered around there all day, but i had to be back at the hotel to get picked up to go into the jungle, so i slowly found my way out of the merchant maze and walked back down the boardwalk to the hotel. If i had more time i would have taken a canoe tour through the floating village, but the schedule did not allow it and the jungle awaited.

Peru South America

Iquitos

Our trip to Iquitos should have taken about five hours. A short flight from Cusco to Lima and then short flight from Lima to Iquitos. There are no direct flights from Cusco to Iquitos at this time. We arrived at the airport at 5:30 am for our 7am flight, but at just after 7:00 we were told the flight was cancelled. We had to pick up our bags and check in again for another flight. The problem was, so did everyone else. The line, had we stood in it, would have kept us queued up for 3 hours. Some fast talking (and a few lies) got us out of the queue and on to a 12:00 flight to Lima and a 3pm flight to Iquitos…but the 12:00 noon flight was delayed by an hour. We did make our 3pm flight but it involved running at top speed through the airport to make the connection, which we did. Miraculously, so did our bags.

We stepped off the plane in Iquitos onto the tarmac and were hit with a wonderful blast of thick, tropical air as well as the first drops of a fantastic downpour, complete with lightning. Thankfully, shortly after checking in to our hotel the rain had stopped.

We stayed in Iquitos at the Casa Morey. It is a historic building, built originally as a mansion residence for a rubber baron at the turn of the 20th century. Iquitos was founded in the 1500s as a Jesuit missionary, but in the mid 1800s it was transformed by the rubber boom and consequently the city is filled with faded and crumbly buildings which once were splendid but now are only dim reminders of a time long past. Casa Morey has however been lovingly restored. It is covered with beautiful ajuelos and the common areas are filled with period furniture, including the lobby, breakfast room and library. The rooms by the pool are a bit more simple in decor but they are massive. Our room, which opens onto the courtyard pool, is gigantic and has 20 foot ceilings.

After checking into the hotel, we walked – in the dark – along the streets, which seem quite dangerous. Iquitos is the largest city in the world not accessible by road, so there are very few cars, but the streets are electric with tuk tuks (called mototaxis here) and motorcycles, none of which stop for pedestrians. In this and other respects it feels more like a South East Asian city than a South American one. The streets, like the buildings, are in poor repair, so we stepped carefully.

There is a marvelous boardwalk along the Amazon however. It is wide and pedestrian and lined with a mix of restaurants and civic buildings. At night the side along the river was black. We could see nothing but an inky black void. By day however the river side was revealed as the verdant, river landscape that it is.

That first night we had dinner in the oppressive humidity along the river on the patio of a restaurant and went to bed, tired after our long day of travel.

The next day before breakfast i went for an early morning walk. I crossed a wooden pedestrian bridge high above the river below. On the river was a cluster of very poor looking floating houses of wood and corrugated metal. At this time of the day many children climbed the steep stairs out if the village and up to the bridge in their school uniforms, which were impossibly clean, considering the state of the houses that produced them.

I walked along a busy street to where i saw cluster of tuk tuks and people and found that a market of sorts had emerged. People cooking and selling food for breakfast (rice, fish, chicken and eggs for the most part). People unloading fish and chickens and thousands of bananas, still connected to the tree limbs for pickup or sale. Women sitting on street selling chilies, potatos and other vegetables. It was busy and delightful. I strolled along for a while, politely declining the numerous taxi offers and headed back for breakfast at the hotel. I didn’t take many photos, because i felt so conspicuous, but i took a few when someone gave me an ok.

We spent the day in Iquitos walking and looking at the buildings and streets. There really aren’t any sites per se, aside from one building designed by Gustav Eiffel and shipped over in pieces from Europe (a building which is, in all honesty, not particularly attractive). So we just walked past shops and squares, and along the riverfront. We went to the Mercado Central and to several huts selling handicrafts and souvenirs. And we stopped a lot of fresh juices, to help with the heat and humidity. Our hotel had AC but few other places seemed to. The city is definitely run down, but it is interesting and there are reminders of its glory days past.

We enjoyed the wonderfully colorful graffiti down by the boardwalk.

In the evening over dinner at Dawn on the Amazon, a popular restaurant on the boardwalk, we eaves-dropped on various conversations, most of which had to do with ayahuasca ceremonies. A lot of travelers come to Iquitos to partake in ayahuasca ceremonies overseen by shamans and they are keen to discuss their experiences and how it has opened their minds. (Just take any 1967 era conversation about LSD and substitute ayahuasca for LSD and you’ll get the idea.) A number of westerners seem to have given up their lives back home to move here and follow this way of life. Ayahuasca is such a big thing here that many restaurants have special menus to cater to people on the drug/following the lifestyle. Probably needless to say, we did not partake, but we enjoyed listening in.

Our first whole day in Iquitos really allowed us to see everything, but we still had a half day more before going to the jungle lodge. I’ll save it for a new post.

Peru South America

Market Day in Pisac

Our final day in Cusco was spent mostly in Pisac. Pisac is a town of about 900 people about 30 kilometers from Cusco. We took a taxi through the scenic countryside, past various Incan ruins. The sacred valley is dotted with such archeological sights that a person could spend days visiting and hiking them all.

We went to picturesque Pisac because it was supposed to be a pretty little town with a renowned crafts market. The market did not disappoint. Rows and rows of stalls selling textiles, knitted goods, jewelry, paintings, and other various odds and ends. Most were simple wooden and tarp stalls but there were also some regular shops and lots of eateries – mostly street side eateries – specializing in Peruvian cuisine. A couple of places had cute guinea pig huts were you could pick your preferred pig (cuy, in Spanish) and have it roasted to perfection for lunch.

We walked and browsed and bought some things – me, haggling for the best price; Betty-Lou paying precisely what was asked or rounding the price up where she felt the item was worth more. (I can’t explain it; it’s just her way.)

The market was crawling with adorable little girls carrying baby llamas in colourful blankets asking for their pictures to be taken for a few coins. Of course we couldn’t resist. Particularly adorable was watching the girls feed the baby llamas from bottles. The llamas were delighted and wagged their tails excitedly, falling over each other to get to the milk.

Pisac has become something of a new age mecca for people interested in yoga and crystals, and there are a number of hippies there (Peruvian and from abroad) selling beaded bracelets, books, and vegan treats.

In the food area of the market we had some empanadas and stuffed peppers at the tables temporarily erected next to outdoor grills. Everything was delicious.

As the market started to wind down we decided to head back to Cusco. We first boarded a bus, but realized quickly that we would have to stand the whole way, which, given the twistiness of the road seemed like a bad idea – even at 3 soles for the ride. We got off the bus and a man and a woman in a car called out “Cusco?” Betty-Lou and i looked at each other, shrugged and got into the car. We paid them 10 soles for the ride. The couple spoke no english, but we offered them chocolate and they offered us bread and all was well. We learned that she was a nurse and he a policeman. We listened to Peruvian music (curse those panpipes!) and clapped along to the peppier tunes. At one point they stopped and pulled the car over at a certain spot and the woman poured out a bottle of Inca Kola (the local soft drink) onto the ground for mother earth (or ‘Pachu Mama’).

They dropped us off at the Plaza de Armas, a few blocks from our hotel.

We went for dinner and packed up our bags, ready for our early morning flight to Iquitos and the next portion of our journey.

Peru South America

Aimless Wandering in Cusco

The day before yesterday in Cusco was our ‘extra’ day. The day when i have seen and done all i wish to see and do. The day when i have time for relaxing or just wandering aimlessly. We had a leisurely breakfast at our hotel and then went for a walk, nowhere in particular, but it took us through less touristy neighborhoods, down and then up again streets and stairs so steep that at times they gave us pause before we proceeded. We visited a crafts market on the San Blas square and generally saw people going about their ordinary lives.

It was a warm day and nice for being outside. The weather actually has been lovely on the whole trip so far. A couple of brief rain showers, but that was it. The evenings are quite cool here and one definitely needs a jacket, but it is very pleasant.

Anyway, we walked. We visited a church high over the city. We saw yet more llamas and followed them around with our camera.

We had lunch at, of all places, an Israeli restaurant; a cozy hole in the wall place busy with Hebrew speaking, young patrons. We had hummus and felafel and salad, which was a welcome change from the Peruvian cuisine.

Peruvian food is fine enough and there seems to be more here for vegetarians than in Ecuador or Colombia, but i am a bit tired of vegetable soup and avocados and spaghetti with only the faintest whisper of tomato sauce. We have had some nice pizzas. One thing i will say is that everywhere the food is very fresh. Every meal is prepared when you order it – like the wood oven pizza we had for which the dough and sauce were made fresh, the cheese grated and the vegetables sliced before our eyes, while someone else chopped wood for the fire.

After lunch we parted ways for a while and i went off in search of a book to read. I found two places with single racks of used English books – mostly an inexcusable collection of John Grisham and romance novels, but i did find a beat up copy of ” Gone Girl”‘ which i bought. I settled in at a cafe of a busy pedestrian street just off the main plaza for a cigar and some reading. I had an espresso and a fishbowl of fresh pineapple juice. It was difficult to get much reading done though when every couple of minutes a man or woman, boy or girl comes by to sell paintings, jewelry, dolls, etc, or offer shoe shines – the last of which i admittedly really needed, but even at the asking price of 1 sole (40 c) i couldn’t be bothered to be bothered to buy. Little urchiny looking children came by and sat down, eyeing my cigar with curiosity before taking sugar from the dish on the table and running off while emptying the packets into their mouths. It was a very nice place to sit, outside, in the beautiful weather and i stayed for an hour or more before starting the steep walk back to the hotel.

In the evening we had a great meal of Thai curry at an Australian-owned restaurant. Not very Peruvian but very delicious and inexpensive. We killed the evening doing crossword puzzles before bed. Overall, a very relaxing day in which nothing extraordinary happened, but it was perfect nonetheless.

Tag: South America

Arrival and Blunders

Setting Out

Smoking Cigars in Buenos Aires

Art

Death and Showtunes

La Boca

A Friend from Home

Final Thoughts

Walking in Lapa

The Escadaria Selarón

Cigar Time

Wrapping up in Rio