GAP Adventure Review

I wanted to throw together a quick review of GAP Adventures- the tour company we used for our Southern Highlights tour of Brazil & Argentina so other travelers could read some feedback.

All in all, I was very happy with them. There were 14 travelers in our group with an awesome tour guide. The prices were overall very reasonable, and therefore the cost of the trip itself was very affordable. We chose to lavish on all the extra activities and eat (and drink!) at very nice restaurants along the way. Most of the accommodations are minimal & very basic. Much more like hotel rooms in Europe. This was considered a "comfort" tour, which means nicer than their even more basic tours. Almost all of the other guests on the tour had been on multiple GAP tours and generally were very happy with GAP.

Buenos Aires- The Waldorf Hotel was probably the worst hotel we stayed at during our trip. The rooms were tiny & very "European"- sparse and minimal. They provided a light breakfast and everything was functional for the most part. See my pictures here. There was nothing officially offered by GAP in BA, but our guide provided some information that allowed us to take our trip to Colonia, Uruguay.

Iguazu Falls- This is the part of the trip where GAP really paid off. Our guide did an awesome job of getting our group to the airport, on a plane, on a shuttle, over the border and into another shuttle in Brazil. I got the impression that border crossings between Brazil/Argentina can be a PITA if you aren't prepared. The Rafain Hotel was really pretty nice with a handy bar and pool. Great A/C, good shower! They have pay-per-use Internet with 3 computers & a few restaurants in walking distance. The GAP tour in Iguazu included a few hour walking tour on the Brazil side (where we could take an optional helicopter ride) and an additional ($$) tour on the Argentina side the following day with a train ride and the boat ride. Our guide also then directed and hiked with us over all the amazing catwalks so we would miss any of the views. This was probably the most helpful part of the trip to have a guide. He also arranged our dinner at the Samba Show house, which was fun!

Paraty- We flew from Iguassu Falls to Sao Paulo and then drove for a few hours on the above bus to Paraty. Our flights were late, but the bus was nicer than normal and we watched videos. The hotel in Paraty was a cute little boutique hotel called Laguna Blue. It was about a 30 minute (dusty) walk to downtown Paraty, but taxis were available for about $15. Free Internet (just had to share with others), great breakfast, awesome pool, nice rooms. There were no specific things from our tour to do in Paraty, but our guide told us how to charter a boat and how to take a tour.

Rio de Janeiro- Included with our tour was a half-day city tour of Rio, which was a great overview and hit the highlights Christ the Redeemer, the Sambodrome, Sugar Loaf Mountain and the National Cathedral. The hotel Atlantico Copacabana was located in a bustling part of Copacabana- near lots of restaurants, a few block from the beach and near the subways. No Internet, but a pretty decent breakfast and a rooftop pool with great views. Our guide once again helped us out by arranging Favela tours or a football/soccer game. He also took us out on his night off after the official end of the trip.

All in all, our guide was totally awesome. It was so great to talk to a local and native. He knew so many people everywhere and just made things happen. He answered all of our questions and
solved all of our problems. We enjoyed our trip to much more because of him & really do think this tour was an excellent way to see lots of big sights in a little bit of time in Brazil & Argentina.

Our only complaints were fairly minor. Although GAP arranges for arrival transfer to your hotel, we were never able to find our ride and just ended up taking a taxi. It was a slight hassle and a few extra $$, but not a huge deal. The other thing was that the itinerary changed slightly and nobody was told. We ended up staying an extra day in Buenos Aires and one less day in Rio. Although DH was bummed about less Rio time, we made the most of it and headed to Uruguay. The company's attitude about the whole thing was sort of crappy and that it was *our* responsibility to monitor the itinerary for changes??? It didn't really effect us too much , but there were some others on our trip who it caused more problems for their plans.

If you are reading this and are considering this trip with GAP or any of the places we visited, feel free to leave me a comment with any questions you may have and I will try to help.

My Time Obsession

Not only do I have an obsession with time in real life, I have a clock obsession too. I can't even fathom a world where people didn't have their own personal writst watch and showed up for things whenever they felt like it. I also think clocks are fascinating from a mechanical history perspective & how clock towers were often a historical centerpiece of a town.

There was no shortage of diversity of clocks and clock towers for me to photograph in Brazil & Argentina.

All of the ones above were in Buenos Aires.

I think by the end of the trip, my husband just rolls his eyes.

It's kinda of like a game to find one, and I get all excited to spot a very unusual or unique clock.

So fun just to see all the history and architecture surround each amazing piece of machinery that ticks off time and measures our days.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Zoe gets her stitches out today.

Everything Else South America

I needed one last blog post to tie up all the fun things that didn't really fit anywhere else. I got the above great photo flying out of Buenos Aires. I didn't have my camera out and ready, but I managed to snag a few shots.

I'm so glad we flew over 9 de Julio Avenue. It cuts an impressive swath through the middle of an otherwise super-crowded town.

This bus on the Argentina / Brazil border cracked me up. I've seen double-decker buses and tour buses, but not a double-decker tour bus! There were tons of tour buses around Igauzu Falls brining tourists from all over both countries.

Much like the chessey rib shot in Uruguay, H was showing off his authentic Brazillian beer while were were dining in this *klassy* restaurant in the middle of Igauzu Falls park in Argentina. Though fairly nice inside, all the tourists were hot, sweat and generally in swim-gear.

I saw several of these awesome trees on Copacabana Beach boardwalk. They had litterally covered the sidewalks and restaurants with hundreds of flowers.

Can't pass up an opportunity to check out all the places on Google Earth. Colonia is above, and you can see it's totally surrounded by water. This picture isn't big enough, but you can really see how the trees line EVERY street when you zoom in to GE.

And of course you can see Redentor from the space as well, probably even better than we actually saw it when we were there! :(

Finally, Iguazu Falls from space is pretty freaking impressive. The Devil's Throat is the huge air that is totally obsured by the white mist. You can really see how all the falls flow around to the Argentina side on the left.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: I'm done with South America trip blogs!

Lantern Fascination

The other absolutly fun photographic thing about Colonia was the lanterns every where in town. Above is the old historic wall, looking out on to the water front.

Even better- trees & lanterns!

I loved capturing the mix of buildings and cultures (see the sushi above?).

There were also very cool tile street names on the cornder of each intersection.

And even sometimes on the brick walls.

We didn't stay until dark, so I'm not sure if they are functional. I'm sure they would be beautiful all lit up at night.

After a while, it became a game for me to find more lanterns. Yes, I'm a total dork like that!

Also, many of them had simple, but elegant lamp posts. Takes me back to a better place and time.....

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Last day of classes! Then study on my own for a month.....bleh!

Tree Paradise

I've got a few more posts about some fun things on our trip, especially since I've been too busy working, studying, traveling and nursing Zoe to do anything else blog-worthy. One of the things that was so awesome about Colonia was the amazing trees. Literally tress EVERYWHERE. It added to my total state of relaxation while we strolled around the historic town.

From the top of the lighthouse, you could see you were surrounded by trees. The towers of the church just peeked above the tops of the trees.

A few decades back, the town must have set upon an ambitious project to plant trees. There were trees planted every 8'-10' along almost EVERY street. Every street was tree-lined and so peaceful.

Trees lined the historic town square and some of the older streets.

With the old cobblestone streets, doesn't this look like a place out of paradise? It was so romantic and relaxing.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Zoe is perking up quite well and acting normal, even though the scars and stitches themselves are still really nasty.

Rooftop View

On our very last day in Rio, we hung out on the beach for a while and then hung out at the pool on top of our roof. Sadly, I didn't take any picture of the actual pool, I was more excited about the great views.

I found it interesting to see all the buildings stacked up on top of each other, with Ipanema Beach in the background.

And of course, we could see Christ the Redeemer from our rooftop.

Each neighborhood was separated by a mini-mountain, so there were lots of tunnels throughout the city.

With only about 3 blocks between us and Copacabana Beach, we watched throngs of people flock to the beach for a Sunday afternoon.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: OMGosh...Zoe is home, but so pitiful & with HUGE stitches :((((

Bar Hopping in Rio

After the official end of our GAP tour, our guide was super-awesome and took us out to go clubbing in Rio. I was sort of expecting some over the top MTV-techno, bumping club. Boy- was I in for a surprise! We hopped into a cab for the ride across town to Lapa.

The area also reminded me of a street in New Orleans, with open air restaurants mixing with clubs and live-music bars. Our final destination was Rio Scenarium, where we waited 30 minutes outside to pay a $25 cover charge. It was an awesome experience- 3 levels of unique Brazilian.

The live band and all the dancers added a great atmosphere, as well as the unique report-card system they used to keep your tab. The funky and unusual decor was like being in some unusual cultural museum, while kicking back drinks.

Great way to end our trip in Rio! I've got a few more posts of pictures, but that covers the major story line.

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Zoe's surgery went well & I'll be home tonight to see her.

Football in Rio

No trip to Rio would be complete without a futbol (or football or soccer) game! Luckily, there was a fairly big play-off game between Botafogo, the largest of the 4 clubs in Rio, and Fluminense at Maracana Stadium. We had visited the outside of the stadium on our city tour, but attending a huge rivalry game was a highlight on our whole trip. The stadium originally seated nearly 200,000 people!! I can't even imagine what that would be like, but recent safety and comfort remodeling has reduced the capacity down to under 100,000.

Fluminense Torcida is known as the Tri-color. Obviously all the fans sit in the cheap upper seats. They had their own chants and flags and banners and band, but NOTHING compared to our side!

We sat in the crazy flag waving section, and regularly had to watch the game around the half-naked men and furiously waving banners.

I guess similar to a fan club here, they have large social groups of football fans. We sat among Torcida Jovem do Botafogo, who were loud, rowdy and ready to win the game. During the chants or after a goal, the crowd went NUTS. They all sang together, had their gear on and watched the game with amazing intensity.

And don't forget the flashing sparklers that were passed throughout the crowd and made the sidelines appear like a paparazzi show. Oh, let the beer flow with fire!

And then they had this GIGANTIC banner that would periodically come rushing down from the stands behind you, wave around until people became too upset about not seeing the game and then suddenly be rolled back up into the upper-decks.

The video above is just a regular chant session. Note there were at least 3 separate groups of fans, each with their own flags, band and style of cheering. Occasionally they would all synchronize and chant together.

The video above is totally worth watching- it was after a GOOOOOAAAAALLLLLL and the fans went NUTS! Luckily, our side won the game and the crowd was loud and rowdy a LONG time after the end of the game. It took us about an HOUR to just get out of the stadium. Fans still chanting and beer still flowing. It was an AWESOME night!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Despite the 2 hours sitting in traffic to get to the stadium, it was an experience of a lifetime.

Rio's Beaches

Instead of doing a Favela Tour, H wanted to hit up the beaches. He's a beach boy at heart and just radiates happiness with the sand under his feet and the waves crashing nearby. Our hotel was about 4 blocks from Copacabana beach, but we passed by this awesome little park. Every day, no matter what time, there were always these cute little old me (and occasionally a woman) out playing cards or chess or domino's. How awesome is that?

The beaches in Rio are just as awesome as everybody says they are. We walked all the way down Copacabana and over to Ipanema to check it out. The white sand it wide, and gets pretty full by mid-afternoon. Chair and umbrella rentals are cheap, and the waves are pretty wicked looking.

This was definitely the highlight of the trip for my husband. He was so excited to be here. There is a fantastic boardwalk all along Ipanema and Copacabana, with lots of small food stands and vendors. The neat thing is the characteristic mosaic tile that lines the entire boardwalk and many adjoining streets in the neighborhoods. Ipanema has one pattern and Copacabana has the pattern above.

You don't need to take much to the beach- there are literally hundreds of vendors selling EVERYTHING. They are fairly nice, and not pushy or rude like beach vendors in Mexico. We could generally look around at any given minute and could at least 10 vendors in eyesight. From what I can remember, they were selling: beer, bread, sandwiches, soda, shrimp on a stick, heated/melted cheese on a stick, sunglasses, swimsuits, jewelry, ice cream and others things I can't remember now.

Our main beach day was Saturday, but apparently Sunday is the big day for all the locals to head out to the beach. The actually make the main road Atlantico 1 way, and open up all the eastbound lanes for pedestrian traffic. There is normally a bike and jog lane beside the boardwalk, but on Sundays it gets a little bigger.

Cariocas NEVER sit still on the beach. They are constantly busy playing games or playing with kids or reading books or doing something. We didn't see many people just sleeping, but saw lots of soccer and volleyball games going on, especially on Sunday.

Nothing like a good game of volleyball with old men in speedos!

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Off to Jackson, Mississippi today.