Welcome back to "A
Vida Gringo" everyone. Apologies for taking another long break since
my last post, to make up for it, I will be doing a double header this
weekend. This post will cover the trips I did in December, while the 2nd
post for this weekend will cover some cultural observations I've had since my
last post.
Now, based on my title,
some of you may already know one of the locations. Many of us in the US
have heard of or been to Niagara Falls, and I have had a lot of friends who
have been to Victoria Falls in Africa, but the one that trumps them all (or at
least Niagara)? Iguazu Falls, which is shared between Brazil and
Argentina.
Foz do Iguacu:
There isn't any history
to discuss here, so I will just jump right into the trip itself. Foz do
Iguacu is the name of the town located in the state of Parana, on the border
with Argentina and Paraguay. Foz is also the base for people to visit the
Brazilian side of the Iguazu Falls.
There is a small airport
(code IGU) that is about 20-30 minutes from downtown Foz. The easiest way
to get there is by flying into Brazil's major airports, as that will yield
better flight times. There is a direct connection from Lima though.
For myself, I flew from Porto Alegre, which is normally a direct flight, but if
you want to save money, you can add a few connections, just be careful not to
lose your credit card on a plane, like I did.
So, there isn't much to
say about the town itself, it's a smaller city (at least compared to Porto
Alegre), but it does have a lot of tourist infrastructure. You can find a
lot of hostels scattered through the town, and as per the norm in Brazil, most
of them are only 15 USD a night at the most. I stayed at one called Che
Legarto, which is a chain of South American hostels. Outside of the
falls, there are a lot of religious temples including Christian churches,
Muslim mosques and a Buddhist temple. There is also a small zoo, but I
didn't have time to visit, so I don't know anything about it. As far as
food goes, you can find the standard fare of Southern Brazil. Most
importantly, you can find churrascaria, which if you didn't know, is Brazilian
barbecue and it is something you should try if you are in the region. The
town is small enough to walk around downtown, but you won't find many Ubers
here. You can find plenty of taxi waiting areas around the city.
Foz is a very safe place to visit, so there aren't any worries to taking a taxi
off the street. If you are feeling unsafe, you can ask your hotel/hostel
to call one for you.
If you have already
visited the falls or for some reason don't want to visit them (hey, you do you,
you rebel), there are some other sites to check out. One such site is the
Itaipu Dam, which was initiative sponsored by the governments of Brazil and Paraguay.
The dam is located in Brazil, but it supplies a decent amount of power for
Paraguay, but Brazil keeps a small portion of the power as payment. It is
considered as a modern world wonder, so any engineering fans should check it
out. Also, if you work in the automotive industry, some of the big OEM's
(GM, FCA, Ford, etc.) use the dam to research new batteries for their cars.
There is a minor site in
Foz where you can see all three countries (Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay) from
the spot. The other non-waterfall site you can visit is Ciudad del
Este. The city is located in Paraguay and is considered one of the best
places for electronics shopping. To get there, you can either drive, take
a bus or walk across the Friendship Bridge. Supposedly there aren't any
immigration/passport control checkpoints so you can visit for a day without any
issues. However, you do need a tourist visa to remain in Paraguay, so be
aware of that if you plan on going outside Ciudad del Este.
Now onto the
waterfalls. There are two parks; one on the Brazilian side and one on the
Argentinian side. The normal way that most people visit is that they
devote one day to Argentina, and a half day for Brazil. If you are short
on time, it is possible to visit both sides in a day, but it's going to make
for a very long day, and if you visit during the summer season, it can get
extremely hot, so take precautions. Due to my lack of time, I only had 1
day to visit the falls, so I booked a tour starting in Foz do Iguacu. It
is important to note that you really should visit both sides. Each one
offers a very different perspective and has its own attractions in the parks.
Iguazu Falls
(Argentina):
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Entrance
to the Argentinian park
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Due to the fact that the
Argentinian park opens earlier, and the Brazilian park closes later, my tour
started at the park in Argentina. Getting across the border is easy,
since Americans don't need a tourist visa to get into the country. However,
there can be a long line on either side of the border for private vehicles, so
if you are driving, you need to allow extra time. My tour arrived at the
park about an hour before it opened and we were the first ones there.
There is a fee to get into the park, but if you need Argentinian pesos, there
is an ATM from one of the national banks next to the ticket office. I
believe that the cost to enter the park is around 500 pesos. Inside the
park, you can use USD, Brazilian reais, and pesos to pay for things (they will
have signs with the conversions posted). Once you enter the park, you
have to take a short train ride to the main area of the park.
Once you are inside the
park, there are three main trails; the Devil's Throat, Upper Falls and Lower
Falls trails. Since the Devil's Throat is one of the most iconic
locations, it is a good idea to see this one first. The walk doesn't take
long, and along the trail you can see some of the old walkways and paths that
were used before the river washed them away. As you get closer, you can
start hearing the thunderous sound of the falls and see the mist that rises
from the falls. If you don't want to get wet, you should bring a poncho,
and be sure to keep your electronics somewhere dry!
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The
Devil's Throat
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After visiting the Throat, my tour
went over to the Upper Trail. This takes you along the tops of some of
the more well-known falls. This is a longer trail, but it isn't difficult
at all, so you can do it at your leisure.
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Now before I show some photos of the
Lower Trail, there is an option to do a boat ride that takes you up close to
one of the bigger falls. It costs around 60 bucks and they will provide a
bag or dry place to store electronics. I think it’s supposed to take
between 1-2 hours for the boat ride. There is small ferry near the bottom
of the Lower Trail that can take you to the large island in front of the falls,
but due to some environmental problems, this was closed when I was there (the
ferry, not the main boat ride).
Now the Lower Trail will take you
along the bottom of the falls, and let you get a view of some of the smaller
falls. If you plan to visit, there is a difference between the dry season
(summer) and the wet season (Winter). If you go during the dry season,
the falls won’t be as powerful, and the smaller falls will not be as
present. If you go during the wet season, it’s possible that the larger
falls will combine into one giant waterfall.
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One
of the falls that you can get close up to on the Lower Trail
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Iguazu Falls (Brazil):
After visiting the main bulk of the
falls in Argentina, my tour left the park and went towards the park in
Brazil. On the way back, before you get to the border, you have to pay a
small tax of the equivalent of a few bucks, so make sure that you keep some
small bills with you. Also, if you are going from Puerto Iguazu to the
Brazilian side, make sure that you have a valid visa to get into Brazil.
If you have questions about getting a visa, I have a post on this blog
describing the process for a few kinds of visas.
The reason that you only need around
half a day for this side is because Brazil only owns around 25 percent of the
falls. However, this doesn't mean that it isn't worth visiting. It
is, and has a lot of views, including a view into the Devil's Throat that you
won't find in Argentina.
Once you get to the park, there is
another entrance fee that you have to pay, but there are kiosks that take
credit cards if you don't have reais. To get into the park there are only
two options: the park will provide a bus ride to the start of the trail
or if you are on a tour and they are certified, they will take your tour
vehicle to the start. It is not allowed to drive a personal vehicle into
the park. This is due to the park trying to protect the local animal
populations.
There is really only one trail on
this side, and these are some of the views that you'll get:
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| View of the inside of the Devil's Throat |
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Just like the trails on the
Argentina side, the Brazil trail isn't difficult, so you can take it at your
leisure.
Overall, if you are in Brazil and
have the chance to visit Iguazu Falls, you need to do it. You are not
allowed to skip it.
Costs:
-Flight:
190 USD (Azul Airlines)
-Transportation: around 40 USD total
-Waterfall Tour: 137 USD (this
includes everything; transportation, entrance fees, etc.)
-Food: around 40 USD
-Hostel: around 30 USD for 2 nights
(Che Legarto)
-Shopping: 0 USD
Now I've explained the waterfall
portion of the title, but what about the "black gold" part?
Well, spoilers, I didn't find any oil and become rich or anything. Black
Gold is the English name for an amazing colonial town in Brazil: Ouro Preto.
Ouro Preto:
For New Year's, I decided to travel
to this hidden gem in the mountains of Minas Gerais state. The nearest
airport is all the way over in Belo Horizonte (the state capital).
I flew into the Confins airport
(CNF), which is the main international airport in Belo Horizonte, and it is an
hour outside of the city. To get to Ouro Preto, you need to go to the
main bus terminal of BH (Belo Horizonte as I will use from now on), which is
called the Rodoviaria. There are ticket stands for the buses just outside
the check-in area at the airport. The ticket is about 13 reais and the
ride lasts around one hour. If you can get a flight into the other BH
airport, Pampulha (PLU or BHZ), the trip will be shorter.
Once you get to the Rodoviaria, you
need to go upstairs to the departure area. As far as I know, the only
company that runs between BH to Ouro Preto is Passaro Verde. The ticket
costs around 30 reais each way and the bus leaves once an hour. The trip
itself lasts around 2 hours and is fairly pleasant. Both the airport and
Passaro Verde bus are more like charter buses, with AC, decent legroom and
luggage storage under them. These buses are very safe, and you shouldn't
have any issues.
The bus arrives to the Ouro Preto
bus station, which is about 10 minutes from the downtown area. You can
either walk or take a taxi. Now, Ouro Preto is extremely hilly and some
of the street can have steep inclines, so you need to be in decent shape.
Before I get into those details though; take a seat and let Old Man Evan give
you a history lesson.
Ouro Preto History:
Ouro Preto was found towards the
start of the 18th century under the name "Vila Rica". Due to
the abundance of natural resources, including gold, Vila Rica became one of the
most important settlements in the colony and at the peak of its power, had over
100,000 citizens (which is twice the size of New York City at the time).
The city served as the capital of Minas Gerais from 1720 until the 1890's when
the capital was moved to the city of Belo Horizonte.
Ouro Preto is the site of the first
independence movement in Brazil. In 1789, a group of local elites, led by
a local dentist, nicknamed Tiradentes, began meeting in secret to design their
plans. Inspired by the American Revolution along with other Enlightenment
era philosophies. The goal of the movement was to make the state of Minas
Gerais its own independent country from Portugal. The "Inconfidencia
Mineira", as the movement was called, was ultimately unsuccessful due to
the betrayal of a few of the conspirators before the revolt occurred.
This resulted in the trial and execution of the other members of the
movement. While the movement itself was crushed, it allowed Tiradentes to
become a symbol of other separatist movements that came after it.
Today, you can see the legacy of the
Inconfidencia at a museum that sits in the Tiradentes Square of Ouro Preto.
Ouro Preto, The City:
I was able to spend around a day and
a half in the city, and while the city is an amazing example of Portuguese
colonial architecture, there is not a lot to do. It’s a great place to
visit if you are already in Brazil, but I would not make it the main
destination of your trip.
When I turned the corner at the bus
station, I was immediately greeted by the sight of winding cobblestone streets
with small one and two-story colonial buildings winding with streets and large
white, yellow accented, baroque churches decorating the skyline.
The main spot for anyone to start
their journey through this gem of a city is at the Tiradentes Square.
Like I said above, you can find the Inconfidencia Museum here, along with a
number of shops and cafes. Across from the Inconfidencia Museum, you can
see the main university of Ouro Preto, which also has a mineralogy museum
attached to it.
One of my favorite things about the
city is that they have a lot more signs and explanations in English than I have
seen in other parts of Brazil. Outside most of the major churches, you
can find a sign that explains the history of the church in both Portuguese and
English. The Inconfidencia Museum also has English on all of the exhibits
except for a few works of art. So, if you don't speak a lot of
Portuguese, this a great place to visit.
I spent the morning of my first day
exploring some of the local churches. Unfortunately, none of the churches
allowed photos inside, but when you talk about something being baroque or
rococo (which is essentially just the late period of baroque) it is usually
characterized by its use of ornamentation and light colors. Most of the
churches are white on the inside, with large wooden panel murals on ceilings
depicting different events from the Bible. One of the most notable
churches in the cities is Sao Francisco de Assis, which also has a nice market
in front of it. Most of the churches in the city had most of the
sculpture work completed by a local artist known as Aleijandinho. Sao
Francisco is the best place to see these sculpture, as most of his other works
are now in the second floor of the Inconfidencia Museum.
The second church that you have to
see is called Basilica Nossa Senhora do Pilar. This is one of the most
gilded churches in Brazil. When you walk inside, you are greeted to one
of the largest collections of gold inside of a church anywhere in Brazil
(apparently the largest is in Salvador). I wish I could have taken photos
inside, but you'll have to go see it for yourself.
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| Sao Francisco de Assis |
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| Basilica Nossa Senhora do Pilar |
The rest of my time, I spent
exploring the various streets of the city, trying to find as many new views and
perspectives as I could. I'm not any kind of athlete, so it was difficult
spending the day hiking up and down the streets, but so worth it.
Ouro Preto Shopping:
Ouro Preto has a fairly unique
shopping scene when it comes to souvenirs. One of the cheapest and best
places to shop is the Soapstone Market outside the Sao Francisco church.
Soapstone is a softer stone that is native to Ouro Preto, and the market
contains numerous figurines and other stone work objects. This is also the
best place to buy local artwork. For myself, I picked up a painting of a
local streetscape, and a set of soapstone coasters. I don't normally use
coasters, but I found a set that I impulse buy. The artwork was only 35
reais, while the coasters were R$45 for a set of 6 and the holder.
Now, forgive me for going on a nerd
rant, but there is something that I have to talk about here. For some of
the people that know me, know that I collect gemstones and minerals. When
I was a little kid, I read an article in a gem and mineral magazine that talked
about Minas Gerais. As it turns out, even though the gold has run out,
Minas Gerais is still a hotbed for gemstone production. One the best
minerals that the area produces is called tourmaline.
To best explain this, I need to do a
short description of gemstones. So, you have two main classifications:
primary, which are only diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and sapphires, and then you
have secondary gemstones, which are everything else. There are a lot of
subcategories inside each group, i.e. beryl (emeralds), corundum
(rubies/sapphires), and others that I won't get into. Probably the most
common secondary group that most people will know is quartz (which includes
gems like amethyst, citrine, rose quartz, etc.). Tourmaline is its own
class. It includes almost every color; red, blue, pink, black, clear,
etc. While you can refer to each of these as [insert color] tourmaline,
each color does have a specific name. Tourmaline is a unique gem though
because it is one of the only ones that can have multiple colors in the
stone. The most well know is "watermelon tourmaline", which is
usually a stone that contains green, white and red/pink. There are other
color combinations that go by just "bi-color" or
"tri-color". There are some gems though that can change color
based on the type of light they are in, so these can go from red indoors to
green or blue outside. These are incredibly hard to find
though.
I could go on, but I'm sure most of
you clicked off the post during that so I'll move on. So, after I read
that article, I have wanted to visit Minas Gerais and get a piece of
tourmaline. Once I decided that I was going to visit Ouro Preto, I knew I
needed to look into buying a piece or two. Now Ouro Preto is also know
for a gemstone called Topaz, specifically Imperial Topaz. This is an
extremely rare form that is either pink or orange and can go for around 500
dollars a carat (unit of measurement for cut gemstones). Tourmaline has a
wide range of prices, which all depends on the color and quality of what you
want. Greens and reds can go for 70 to a few hundred per carat.
Watermelon and other multi-colored stones have a similar price. Blue is
the most expensive. Good pieces can range from 300 (indigolite) to 10,000
(Paraiba variety).
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| Bi-color tourmaline |
I paid a visit to a place called Ita
Gemas. The two employees working at the time did not speak a lot of
English, but I used the little Portuguese to tell them what I was looking
for. The owner went to the back and got a few envelopes filled with
green, red/pink and blue tourmaline. After examining a few pieces, I
decided to buy a beautiful triangle cut piece called Indigolite. I also
managed to buy a few raw (uncut) specimens. Since these stones can get
expensive, I would only buy these if you know what you're looking for.
When buying tourmaline, the biggest thing to look for are the
imperfections. Tourmaline is almost impossible to find without errors
inside (called inclusions). While Ita Gemas is a well-respected place,
there is a scam at other stores (in and out of Brazil) where they sell you
glass instead of the stone. If you know Moh's Hardness Scale, then all
you need to test this is something weaker and harder than tourmaline.
Tourmaline has a hardness of 7-7.5, while glass has a hardness of 5. So,
if you have a piece of glass, it will NEVER be able to scratch or damage
tourmaline if it is real.
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| Raw watermelon tourmaline |
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| All of my gemstone purchases |
Overall, Ouro Preto has been one of
my favorite places I have been to in Brazil so far. One final piece of
advice I would give is to not travel in Minas Gerais during New Year's.
Everything in Ouro Preto closed early leading up to New Year's and when I was
in BH during New Year's Eve, EVERYTHING was closed (I was there at 3pm for
reference). The reason I won't be talking about BH itself is because I
didn't have a chance to really do or see anything.
Ouro Preto Costs:
-Flight: 328 USD (GOL Airlines), this
is because I had to book my ticket the day before, it's normally only 150-200
USD max.
-Transportation: 30 USD (this
includes all bus rides)
-Food: 50 USD
-Tours: 20 USD (museum/church
admissions)
-Hostel: around 30 USD for two
nights (Goiabada com Queijo hostel)
-Shopping: around 700 USD (I’m not
entirely proud of that)
I hope you all enjoyed this
article. There will be another tomorrow to discuss some aspects of
working culture here in Porto Alegre and other observations in general.
Stayed tuned and thanks for reading!
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