Simply Riodiculous

Sorry this post has taken so long however it has taken a while for me to get a decent internet connection and time to sit down to write my first post from South America. The trip to Rio ended up taking 52 hours due to the fact that I (and half of my plane) were forced to overnight in Santiago, Chile. The problem according to LAN was that a plane didn't leave Santiago on the Monday (Chile's Day of Independence) and hence there was a backlog on Tuesday forcing the flight crew to rest for 5 hours in Auckland in turn making the plane 6 hours late to Santiago.



A decent summary of the trip over

Although being delayed by 26 hours was far from ideal, there were a couple of unexpected bonuses. Firstly, it ensured that I visited Chile during my trip, I still may visit the Atacama Desert at some stage however now there is less pressure to do so. Secondly I got to spend a night in a nice hotel room (Crowne Plaza) and finally dinner and breakfast were included. I did however discover one annoying thing about travelling alone; that trying to eat a buffet breakfast is almost impossible as whenever I left the table to get another serve I would find that my table had been completely cleared.

Santiago Sunrise

I arrived in Rio at about 7pm and agreed to share a taxi with a couple from Melbourne who had been delayed the same as me. This was just as well because none of my ATM cards could get money out at the airport and they generously paid for me, I really don't know what I would have done without them, so thanks Sharon & Scott if you ever read this!
Upon arriving at the hostel I had a quick shower and headed straight to the bar (as I decided that this would be the best way to meet people). I ended up sharing a few drinks with Christian from Austria and Cesar from Chile. We went to a local bar with the bartender from the hostel and ended up back in the Hostel at about 3am (an early night compared to what was to come)

The next day I woke up early, grabbed breakfast and then spent the rest of the day inside as it rained all day...it also helped me get over my jet lag to some extent. Again I headed up to the hostel bar at around 10 and bumped into two English guys (Danny and James) and an aussie called Amy. It ended up being a big night in Ipanema, starting at an Irish bar where I experienced my first Brazilian F**k (unfortunately for you all it was an aniseed flavoured shot).

I awoke the next day to find that the weather had subsided and decided to do the city tour (a slight misjudgement to say the least). After picking up other tour attendees for approximately 2 hours we finally headed up to Christ the Redeemer

The man himself



I think we would all agree it's more impressive with me in the foreground

After that we went down to see  Lapa Steps  


Sitting next to the Opera House

Next was on to one of Rio's famous cathedrals

I can only imagine it is famous for being a serious eyesore

After that we were meant to head up Sugarloaf  Mountain however due to the weather the guide decided that it wouldn't be worth it (at least we got some of our money back)!!

Botafogo vs Corinthians (ended 2-2)

Rather than go step by step through the rest, as Lapa Steps were made famous by Snoop Dogg in his song "Beautiful" I thought it would be appropriate for me to include a quick tribute

I used to think Rio was the capital of Brazil

And not famous just because of the big statue on the hill

Yes I'm talking about Christ the Redeemer

And boy I wish you coulda been there

Look down from up above

Wishing he would guide me in love

Yes that's for you dad

I didn't find the girl so please don't get mad

I went out every night

And tried with all my might

I checked plenty of clubs and even the beach

But 'the girl from Ipanema' was never quite within reach

Rio I will be back

Next time please cut me some slack

Forget the rain, give me some sun

And together we can have even more fun

Brazilian Beach Art

 Until next time...

Tom

Pre-trip Planning

Introduction
I am a 22 year old Australian and tomorrow I'm flying to Rio de Janeiro from where I will embark on an adventure finishing in Los Angeles 180 days later. I hope to visit around 12 countries resulting in an average of 15 days per country. Some may argue that this is not enough time however I would rather visit more countries for a shorter period of time than fewer countries for longer. This post is designed to give a general overview of the route I plan to take (well as far as Columbia anyway), what I'm going to take and anything else that I thought might be of interest. I hope to contribute to this blog every few days, feel free to comment or message me along the way...

Basic Route Overview

 

Places I need to be

La Paz - 27 October (Meeting my dad for a few days before we do the Inca Trail together

Bogota - 05 December (Meeting a friend who I will travel with for the next 10 weeks

Miami - 19 February (Meeting a friend who I will spend 2 weeks with in the USA)

 

 

General Thoughts & Comments

I have told numerous people that I will be travelling through South America by myself to which the reply was along the lines of "Oh you're brave" or "Aren't you scared?". To be honest I am aware that it may be a dangerous place at times, but so is every other place that I could have chosen to visit. Travelling solo obviously has its downfalls such as no one being there to watch your bag or no one to be able to talk to all the time, but on the other hand it promotes independence and hopefully will provide me with greater opportunities to meet new people. On that note, I plan to stay in hostel dorm rooms throughout my trip as I figure this will be the easiest way to meet fellow travellers. I have learnt some Spanish over the past 5 months and hope to pick more up along the way...we'll see how that goes.

 

 

Included below is a list of everything I will be taking with me, which may be useful for some however I imagine for most people now would be a good time to stop reading!

 

Backpack & Accessories

Kathmandu 38L Litehaul v2 Backpack

Kathmandu Backpack Rain Cover (Medium)

Kathmandu Thermal Sleeping Liner

Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil Dry DayPack

Kathmandu Digital Alarm Clock

Solar Panel Hand Torch

Microfibre Towel

 

 

 

Clothes

Woollen Jumper x 1

Long Sleeve Collared Shirt x 1

T-Shirts x 3

Woollen Undershirt x 1

Shorts x 1

Boardies x 1

Underwear x 5

Socks x 2

Vans Canvas Shoes x 1

Thongs x 1

 

 

Toiletries

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

Dental Floss

Deodorant

Cologne

Lipbalm

Sunscreen

Soap

 

Electronics

Ipod

Iphone

Razor

Adaptor Plug

Memory Cards (2 x 8GB, 2 x 2GB)

Panasonic TZ30 Camera

Olympus Tough Range 8100 Camera

 

Medication 

 

Name	Problem
Norfloxacin	Diarrhoea
Soframycin	Eye/ear
Avomine	Hayfever/ nausea/ travel sickness
Paracetemol	General
Gastro-Stop	Diarrhoea
Simplotan	Guardia
Prochlorperazine	Nausea
Roxithromycin	Chest, sinus, skin infection
Sinus Pain Tablets	Sinus pain/ nasal congestion
Doxycycline	Malaria
Amoxycillin	General Antibiotic

 

First Aid

 

Kathmandu 1 Person First Aid Kit including:

3 x sterile gauze swab-2pcs (7.6cm x 7.6cm).

3 x alcohol wipes.

25 x plastic adhesive bandage (assorted sizes).

1 x roll of adhesive strapping (2.5m long). 2 x fist aid dressing (pad: 10cm x 10cm, bandage: 2.7m long).

1 x premium wound dressing (BCP No.14).

1 x conforming bandage (50mm x 1.5m).

1 x conforming bandage (75mm x 1.5m).

1 x triangular bandage.

5 x safety pins.

1 x scissors.

1 x spinter forceps.

1 x pencil.

1 x notepad.

3 x zip top plastic bag.

 

Until next time...

 

Tom