Porto Seguro, Brazil

I've just arrived in Salvador, after a quick 2 night stop in Porto Seguro. I stopped there to break up the otherwise long trip from Vitória, and had also heard some good things about the beaches party atmosphere.

I stayed at Hotel Terra, which was recommended by Wikitravel for having a good breakfast … I’m gonna be honest and say that that was mainly what sold me on it. They had a lady there making tapioca and it was delicious, definitely a recipe to bring home!

I only had two full days here, so on the first day I spent some time walked around the beach and the famous Passarela do Alcool - pretty much a big street full of alcohol, food and souvenir stalls.

The highlight of my stop here being the day trip to Recife do Fora. We took a boat out to a reef that you can walk around during low tide, and we spent the next hour snorkelling around and appreciating the reef and sea life.

In the end, I learnt the hard way not to choose a hotel purely based on it’s breakfast - on Saturday night my room became infested with some sort of flying ant. After swatting about 100 ants with my thongs and still not getting them all, I was able to convince the hotel staff to change my room and got a decent night’s sleep.

And what was supposed to be a 12 hour bus from Porto Seguro to Salvador ended up being more like 15 hours, due to heavy traffic caused by the storms. Also, considering I was sat directly in front of a sick and crying baby all night, I did well to get a good sleep! The joys of travel...

Vitória, Brazil

Following my amazing yet exhausting time in Belo Horizonte, I needed a bit of downtime to recharge the batteries. This brought me to the city of Vitória in Espírito Santo, where the Australian Football (Soccer) Team's camp was based during the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

I only spent 3 nights here. Initially I felt like this place was too quiet, and grew frustrated trying to get any information on the city's bus routes. Luckily, on my second day here I was taken out with Marcio (a friend of Maria, who I stayed with in Belo Horizonte).  We drove up to the top of Parque da Fonte Grande, which provided a beautiful vantage point of this city, then stopped for some Arroz de Polvo (Octopus rice) at Kiosque do Alemão.

Yesterday I relaxed at Café Bamboo in Praia do Canto for a few hours over some fresh juice and coffee, then tried out the local Moqueca at Restaurante São Pedro. It was delicious.

Tonight I've got a long bus ride to Porto Seguro, where it's time for some more sun (hopefully) and relaxing before heading up to Salvador.

Belo Horizonte, Brazil

I recently decided to try out Couchsurfing properly for the first time, so when I was in Rio de Janeiro I began to look for someone in Belo Horizonte who would be willing to put up with me for a few nights. I ended up finding much more than that, and left this city not only staying much longer than I originally intended, but also making some great new friends. 

My bus from Rio was delayed by a couple of hours, so it was quite late when I arrived. I felt bad for my host Maria who had been waiting there for a while with two of her other Couchsurfing guests Dave and Gabby (who both happened to be Australian). She took us back to her place for dinner, then we went out to a party in town and hung out with some of her friends. 

Maria was fantastic in showing us around the city, and the weekend was packed with activities. We visited Inhotim, a massive open air museum in Brumadinho; got tickets to see the Atlético Mineiro vs Cruzeiro game (the local derby); and went to a few parties and nightclubs. We also walked around Mangabeiras Park, which has a beautiful panorama of the city:

We visited Pampulha, Praça da Liberdade and had lunch at the Museum of Arts and Crafts, and took a tour of the Estádio Mineirão - Cruzeiro's stadium that was used for the World Cup last year. 

On Thursday we drove to Ouro Preto, an old colonial town that was once the epicenter of a huge gold rush. A tour guide took us through a few old gold mines, then we visited an old church and finished off with some coffee and cake.

For our last bit of sightseeing Maria took me to Gruta Rei do Mato, a cave located about 1 hours drive from Belo Horizonte. The rest of the weekend was spent eating lots of great food, partying and hanging out with our new friends.

And then the time comes to an end, and you have to say goodbye to the great people you've spent almost every minute with for the past week and a bit. What I've come to realise on this trip is the continual disappointment you feel when you have to move on from the amazing people you meet. It's one of the only downsides of travelling around the world, but you hope one day you will cross paths with these people again. It was however a great experience with great people, and although I might not find a Couchsurfing host quite as generous as Maria and her family, I'm definitely keen to try it again.

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Staying at one of - No, THE worst hostel I’ve ever stayed at in my life - somehow still didn’t spoil a memorable time in Rio de Janeiro.

I had booked a 5 night stay at the Rio Nature Hostel with Daniela, a girl I met in Porto Alegre (I first talked about her during my stay in Curitiba here). From the pictures on Booking.com, it looked like a pleasant hostel perched high up a giant rock face in Botafogo.

Long story short - it was horrible. The toilet was constantly blocked, the bathroom rarely cleaned, the water was always cold and they didn’t have any towels to rent. The staff were rarely present and if they were, very unhelpful. But I won’t go on any more about the hostel. Daniela and I had an amazing time over the Easter long weekend, and sampled some of Rio’s best coffee, food and sights.

We both arrived Thursday evening, and took a walk to the Humaitá district to have dinner at Pizza Park. The food was alright, however the location was quite nice - sitting down in a packed gastronomic area outside, we had a nice view of Christ the Redeemer perched atop Corcovado mountain.

On Saturday we ventured into Centro and stopped at the famous Confeitaria Colombo for some coffee and cake. At night, we had some drinks looking across Ipanema beach, then had an amazing dinner at Giuseppe’s Grill. This place came highly recommended from a local and we weren’t disappointed.

A weekend in Rio wouldn’t be right without a day at the beach, so on Sunday morning we sat under an umbrella at Copacabana beach and took in the beautiful weather - and got burned. In the afternoon we picked up some chocolate for Easter and watched a movie (Rio - how fitting!) at the hostel.

On Monday we went for breakfast at Terzetto Café. Somehow it was my first experience eating a papaya and it was amazing. We stopped at Shopping Leblon for some lunch, then had another superb dinner at Tragga in Botafogo.

Unfortunately, the weekend had come to an end and I had to say goodbye to Dani. On top of that, the weather was horrible and we had to run to the bank to get some money to pay for our stay at the hostel.  We got out of there as quickly as we could, then had a nice breakfast a few blocks away at Le Dépanneur.

The last thing on my to-do list in Rio was to take a tour of the Maracanã, then take a trek up Pedra Bonita for this view of Rio de Janeiro:

It was truly breathtaking, and a great way to spend my last afternoon in Rio.

Bragança, Brazil

My ticket to see Lollapalooza in Brazil took my travels to a town just outside of São Paulo called Bragança. When I was in Brazil with my best friend for the World Cup I was introduced to Vanessa, who took us out for dinner and drinks one night in São Paulo. We have been in contact ever since then and she very kindly offered to have me stay at her house.

Van picked me up from the airport with her Mum and friend on Thursday and it didn’t take long for me to experience their kindness and generosity. Not long after putting my bags down at their house I was being fed a home cooked meal and my clothes were being washed!

The weekend was spent at the Autodromo de Interlagos for Lollapalooza. I was here to see Jack White again who was headlining the festival on Saturday. I went with Van’s friend Marina, her cousin and his fiancée, who again were amazingly nice people. We grabbed a few beers (called 'chopp' in Brasil) and sat down to see Kasabian, then went and picked a good spot for Robert Plant and Jack White. Needless to say Jack’s performance was again amazing, and I really enjoyed seeing his show at a festival, which did had a lot more atmosphere to it than the smaller side shows. At night we needed a place nearby to stay, so we settled on a cheap motel. It did the job, but I spent most of the night sweating and swatting mosquitos.

Sunday we met up with more of Vanessa’s friends and saw a bunch of great bands - Interpol, The Kooks, Foster The People, Calvin Harris and The Smashing Pumpkins. One of the cool things about Lollapalooza was the “Chef Stage” they had, where famous chefs from around Brazil had stalls selling interesting food - I tried a Donut Hamburger and some Tapioca cubes, both of which were really tasty. It was an absolute nightmare to get home that night - we waited for over an hour in the rain to get a taxi back to Marina’s, then Vanessa picked me up at about 1AM to take us back to her place.

The rest of my time here was spent hanging out with Vanessa, her brother Gustavo and their parents. My search for the best coffee in each city continued, so this time I dragged Vanessa to a place called The Coffee Lab in the Pinheiros district of São Paulo. I splurged on a coffee tasting ritual which involved 3 different types of pour over coffee from around Brazil. They were all superb coffees. We tried a Japanese restaurant in Liberdade (a big Japanese district) for dinner, and although the menu was confusing, we had a nice meal.

I had such a great time in Bragança, and Vanessa and her family really made it feel like a home away from home for me. I never once felt hungry in my whole time at their place - I was constantly being fed amazing Brazilian food and going back for more. Unfortunately it was time to leave but I’ll never forget this place, the friends I made and the memories that were shared.

My 8 Must Have Items for Overseas Travel

So after a month into my 1 year trip around South and Central America, I thought  about writing a blog post that could actually provide some use to people reading it. I feel like I've now had enough time to get a good feel for how well (and how poorly) I planned and packed for this trip, so I'd like to share my advice and experience with fellow travellers. 

Below are the 8 most useful things I've brought with me (in no particular order), and would highly recommend to anyone considering extended overseas travel. I've linked to each products' original website, but you can generally find them all on Amazon or eBay for cheaper.

Platypus SoftBottle - When I first saw one of these, I thought it was one of those "solution to a non existent problem" items. But it's probably the one thing I use the most on my travels. This has not only saved me lots of money buying bottles of water every where I go, but it also collapses down when empty and takes up almost zero space. Take it with you whenever you're out and about and fill it up anywhere you find a water fountain.

NYC Subway Map Mighty Wallet - I really like this one. I originally bought it back home for something different to my usual wallets, but it's actually come in really handy while travelling. It looks just like a map (technically it is!) so you're less likely to have your wallet stolen. It's also slim, water and rip proof, and I surprisingly get a lot of people making comments when I take it out to buy something.

Pack-It Specter™ Compression Cube Set - Since deciding I would make every effort to travel as light as I can on this trip (see my first blog post), I thought I would give these a shot. Whilst the compression feature is pretty handy, the main benefit I get out of these is having my bulkier clothes (e.g. jeans) that I don't use as much tucked away, so I don't have to constantly repack these clothes when I'm foraging through my bag.

Icebreaker Tech T Lite Short Sleeve - I'd like to say these are worth their weight in gold, but they practically weigh nothing. I bought 2 of these before I left and now I kind of wish I bought more. I wear these all the time. You could probably get a week of heavy use out of one, but I usually wash it after a couple of days in the shower, then it's dry by the morning. I brought a couple of cotton t-shirts with me which I haven't touched since I left, and I pretty much consider them a waste of space seeing as though they get dirty quickly and take longer to clean.

Olivers All Over Short - I found out about these on another travel blog and thought I'd try them out. They are just as good as the Icebreaker shirts I mentioned above - after heavy wear they rarely smell at all. They are also splash proof, durable and light yet still quite fashionable. They are also easily cleaned and dried. I also wear these shorts almost every day.

Dr. Bronner's Pure Castile Soap - A highly concentrated, natural, organic soap that claims to have over 18 uses including shampoo, toothpaste, body wash, deodorant, household cleaner, and more. A couple of drops per use does the job, so one bottle will go a long way on your travels.

Pocket 15L Packaway Backpack - I've linked to the particular one I bought from Kathmandu, but I don't think the brand would really matter in this case. Having a compressible day pack to take out on short notice, without having to empty your other backpack is really handy. I think any brand of a similar item would do the same job.

Anker 2nd Gen Astro E5 16000mAh External Battery - Not having to constantly watch my device's battery percentage when I'm out for long periods of time is great. I went for the slightly larger size to get more charges out of it (it can do a full charge of an iPhone 5S over 7 times), but I think a smaller one would be just as useful if you're looking to save room. It takes about 8 hours to fully charge overnight, and you can charge it from anything that has a USB port.

Of course there are other great things that I've brought with me, but I feel like these are the most beneficial for their price. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line!

The Ticket Hunt

A while ago I had the opportunity to come back to Porto Alegre and see Jack White, one of my favourite artists of all time, live in concert. It was too good an opportunity to miss, so I booked my accommodation and a flight back to where my journey began. That was the easy part!

Once  I had my mind set on it, I HAD to get that ticket. Back in Australia, I tried a number of times to buy from the official ticketing website with no luck. I thought it was due to not being a Brazilian citizen, so I asked one of my Brazilian friends at work to try - no luck either. Turns out you need to actually purchase the ticket with a Brazilian credit card! I asked some of my friends in Brazil to buy the ticket for me, but by this time the tickets were sold out. Unfazed, I started looking for other means of getting a ticket.

Next option was a third-party ticket reseller. I had some luck last year with viagogo, even though they are fairly expensive. I took the plunge and purchased the premium section ticket I was after, and forked out AUD $300. I was so determined to be at this concert that the price didn't faze me for one second.

A few weeks into my trip I received an email from Viagogo saying they were unable to secure my ticket, so they refunded my money. I immediately logged back on to their website and tried to buy again from another seller. This time it was a littler over $300 and again I didn't think twice about purchasing. I was going to be there!

A couple of days later, the same response from Viagogo. At this point I did start to panic a little. Sitting in the hostel in Curitiba, my mind was racing trying to think just what other ways I could get a ticket. I searched on Facebook for an event listing, and eventually found the official event. I clicked attending, still not a doubt in my mind I'd make it there.

Over the next couple of days I scoured the posts on my phone, constantly switching between the Facebook app and the Google Translate app, to figure out what everyone was saying. I decided to put my own post up there, translated in to Portuguese, asking if anyone was selling a premium ticket. Now to wait...

A few days later, I received a friend request and a private message from a girl in Brazil. Success! She couldn't make the concert and was willing to sell me her ticket for face value. Bonus: it was an e-ticket so she could just email it to me. The final hurdle (or so I thought) was getting the money transferred to her. She wouldn't accept PayPal or Western Union, and my bank wouldn't allow me to transfer her the money (plus it would've cost considerably more than the actual amount she was selling it for). So I had one last option - ask a HUGE favour of my friend Vanessa in São Paulo to pay this girl the money, then I would have to pay her back in cash when we meet up in São Paulo. She immediately agreed (I kinda sold it to her as a big deal) and transferred the money - it made me so happy and thankful to have friends like this around the world that would help me have these amazing experiences. 

Fast forward to a couple of days ago, and I arrived in Porto Alegre from Florianópolis. As soon as I checked in to the hostel, I set out on the city to find somewhere to print my ticket. Easy I thought! If only they spoke English (or I guess, me being able to speak Portuguese is more reasonable). It took an hour or so to find some sort of printing shop, only to be told in finger wagging and basic charades that they would only photocopy. The man pointed me across the road to a shop that would print documents for me.

I printed the tickets (and one spare!) at the shop across the road, folded them tightly in my pocket and headed straight back to the hostel. After all this, I even put the tickets away in my locker to make sure nobody nicked them!

Finally, the day of the concert arrived and I was all set. I got to the arena a couple of hours early and sat down in line to make sure I'd get a spot on the rails. The doors opened at around 8:30PM and after briefly panicking over the possibility of my ticket being rejected at the door, I was finally let in. Jack and his band came on just after 10, and It was absolutely AMAZING - everything I imagined it would be and more! The band was on fire and the Brazilian crowd were loving it.

He played until midnight, and straight straight after the show I darted to the merchandise stall and bought a concert poster to mark the occasion (and to add to my collection back home of shows attended). Then it was a sprint across the road to the airport to get the last bus of the night back to my hostel. Back and feet aching, I held the poster above my head all the way home on the crowded bus to make sure it wouldn't get wrecked.

I slumped in to bed at around 1AM - hungry, dehydrated, ears ringing and body cramped, and it felt amazing.

Jack White at Pepsi On Stage in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Photo courtesy of David James Swanson at http://jackwhiteiii.com.

Florianópolis, Brazil

It took a couple of buses to get to my first stop in Floripa - a small fishing village called Barra da Lagoa. The hostel was pretty basic, but the people there were nice and over the next couple of days I went with Marcos and Molly on some trips to Praia Brava and Praia Mole. The trek to Praia Mole in particular gave us a stunning panorama of parts of Florianópolis.

After a couple of nights, I'd had enough of the hostel and wanted to stay in a bit more lively area, so I moved to a hostel in Lagoa de Conceição. The streets here were buzzing with Brasileiros and foreigners on holiday.

On Friday I signed up to a group tour to a beach called Guarda do Embaú - one of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil we were told! I was a bit skeptical of the whole tour guide "sell", but it turned out to be beautiful. We played football on the beach, then took a small trek to the end of the beach which again provided some more amazing scenery. Unfortunately we got stuck in traffic on the way home for a couple of hours, but I made some good friends in Bruno and Ayelen who I hung out with for the next few days.

Bruno and I went on the trek to Lagoinha do Leste on Saturday - a popular 45 minute trek to one of the more isolated beaches here. The trek was a little tough, but was split up nicely by a fresh waterfall where we stopped for a drink.

For our last day Ayelen, Bruno and I took a bus to Santo Antônio de Lisboa - a Portuguese fishing village full of artisan restaurants, gift shops and cafes. We had a fresh seafood lunch then sat down for a coffee and took in the peaceful atmosphere. We then walked for a couple of hours around the neighbourhoods and into the farming area, then made our way back to the village via hitchhiking and buses. It was a nice change of pace from the trekking and beaches of previous days, and a great way to end our time in Floripa.


Curitiba, Brazil

I arrived in Curitiba on Monday morning after a surprisingly comfortable 13 hour bus ride from Porto Alegre. I thought it was just my bad luck that the weather was miserable here, but it turns out this place actually has no dry season. The locals (Curitibanos) are not even used to more than 4 or 5 days without rain!

I stayed at the Motter Home Hostel which was fairly nice and the staff were friendly. It was a little quiet and again with not a lot of foreigners staying there. I decided to give Couchsurfing a shot to hang out with some locals, and eventually got in touch with a guy named Ronaldo (shock!). He took me out to play for his indoor football team, then we went out for a Curitiban hotdog with his wife. They were extremely nice people and it was great to sit and chat with them about travelling and Brazil.

On Thursday I took the Serra Verde express to a little town called Morretes. The drive there had some stunning scenery. I picked a nice restaurant to sit down and try the local dish ‘Barreado’, a type of stew cooked meat with shrimp. After eating enough for 2 people I walked around the town and took the afternoon bus back to Curitiba.

My last few days I spent with Daniela, a friend whom I met in Porto Alegre. She was amazing and took me out to see the Opera de Arame and Unilivre, as well as a couple of bars and restaurants. On Sunday we went to the market and bought some traditional Brazilian food to cook for lunch. I say ‘we’, but she did all of the work. We had rice, beans, salad, meat and couscous and it was delicious, a great way to finish my time in Curitiba.


Porto Alegre, Brazil

My first stop was Porto Alegre, the capital and largest  city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Walking to the hostel, the thing that I noticed about this place was how fresh and green it is. Some of the streets are literally overflowing with trees and plants. 

This city, and the people I met at the hostel were so pleasant I ended up extending my stay a couple of nights. Although I think this is the first ever hostel I've been to where there hasn't been another Australian!

The first couple of days I spent recovering from jet lag, after that I took a couple of tour buses, walked around the historic city, played a game of football with the guys from the hostel, cooked a few dinners, and went to a Bloco (street party) nearby and had a few too many drinks.

Now, my bag is packed again and tonight I'll take a 13 hour bus to Curitiba ... where the weather looks horrible. But before that, I'll fuel up for the journey at a nearby Churrascaria I've had my eye on ever since I arrived!