After a surprisingly quiet night at the airport parking I got up early and headed towards the beach. Luckily there was barely any traffic and after a shockingly high toll I reached the coast. It was raining for the last week but the weather was now warm and sunny and I found a few nice places to camp and beautiful roads to drive.
Continue reading “Goodbye Brazil”We spent 4 weeks mainly to get ourselves prepared to head home. Updated resumes, job applications, and a bit of beach time in between. Not a lot to report from our time other than Ubatuba living up to its nickname – Ubachuva, because of all the chuva (rain).
Continue reading “Brazil IV – São Paulo II”There was nothing not to love about this waterfall north of the Copper Canyon – the surrounding landscape, the rainbow, a hike down to the base and the free camping.
Continue reading “Top 10 Waterfalls”There are so many cute towns in Latin America and we will miss exploring them when home. We encountered photogenic town plazas, colorful streets, scenic backgrounds, street food served by friendly locals and so much more. It was hard to just name 10 of our favorites, but each has a unique quality that stands out in our memory.
Continue reading “Top 10 Towns of Latin America”
Before we entered Brazil we waffled on whether or not to visit the most famous city here. It has a pretty bad reputation and has one of the world’s most famous slums… so would this be for us? We were drawn into the area by surrounding towns and mountains, so we made a quick stop and got just a touch of that Rio feeling.
Continue reading “Brazil 3 – Rio de Janeiro, City and State”A classic in the heart of Patagonia with perfect weather and fall colors. Endless views on the trail and a destination that leaves you speechless. Read more here.
Continue reading “Top 10 Hikes – Latin America”
After a long drive from São Paulo we arrived in Minas Gerais. The district is about 10x the size of Switzerland and full of hikes, big cities, cute towns, spelunking and more.
Continue reading “Brazil 2 – Minas Gerais”
No border crossing is without its headaches. There’s always an element of an unknown going in – and for Brazil, it was the customs office lunch break. We got checked out of Bolivia quickly, received passport stamps for Brazil within minutes and headed over to get the TIP (Temporary Import Permit) for the car. We missed them by less than 5 minutes and had to wait 2 hours. On the plus side, no problems or hassles from authorities on either side.
Continue reading “Brazil 1 – Pantanal, Bonito and Iguazu”
We spent a few days around Backpackers Central in Northern Chile. Tourist towns offer higher prices but often good foods we miss. The highlight of the town was the French bakery with amazing Pan au Chocolat and baguette. We visited a few spots near the town, mainly a couple viewpoints and flamingos. Pretty much all the spots you could wild camp at years ago are now only accessible if you book a tour from the city so it was overall a bit of a dud.
Continue reading “Bolivia”
First up: Argentinian wine country! We are more beer drinkers, but never turn down a chance to try the local specialties and expand our horizons. A fairly long drive brought us into Mendoza, our first big city in months. We spent two days checking out the city, running in the park… and not drinking any wine.
Continue reading “Argentina 3 – The Wild North”