Still, nil desperandum et dum spiro spero.
Friday 29 January 2010
I'm a fool as well as a sap
I've got sunburn on my head. Sigh. I was fine in Brazil and I didn't always put cream on, and I was fine here yesterday but something was different today. I was going to get a haircut tomorrow but if it still hurts then I'll have to leave it.
Still no joy with Easter Island
I tried booking a different hotel for the original dates with hoteltravel.com, no, that's full too. I've just whacked in yet another request with them for a different hotel, so we can go through this again. I was going to leave it since it's 6pm on Friday now, but then I figure their staff are probably in the US and the hotel itself is even further west, so just maybe I'll get an answer one way or another before the weekend proper starts.
If that doesn't work, I'll just have to start digging around a bit more. There's one hotel on hoteltravel.com I haven't tried booking via them, but I think it's full because the sites which do on-line reservations don't show it as having any vacancies. tripadvisor.com has 20-odd Easter Island hotels listed, so I guess there are other options to consider. Now that I'm assured by a friend who has looked into it that there's nothing worse than black widows among the island's spider population (they might be poisonous, but they're not enormous, which is what counts) I am prepared to take a gamble on potentially more primitive accommodation if need be.
Didn't do anything this afternoon after lunch, it was already 5pm when I left the bar. I bought another book from the guy in the street - he wanted CLP3000 but since I genuinely only had CLP2000, he sold it me for that - and took some cash out then popped back here to drop my camera and most of the cash off. I plan to go out and have a couple (yes, just a couple) of beers at some local place, then come back here and go out again later about 9pm to see what it's like here on a Friday night.
If that doesn't work, I'll just have to start digging around a bit more. There's one hotel on hoteltravel.com I haven't tried booking via them, but I think it's full because the sites which do on-line reservations don't show it as having any vacancies. tripadvisor.com has 20-odd Easter Island hotels listed, so I guess there are other options to consider. Now that I'm assured by a friend who has looked into it that there's nothing worse than black widows among the island's spider population (they might be poisonous, but they're not enormous, which is what counts) I am prepared to take a gamble on potentially more primitive accommodation if need be.
Didn't do anything this afternoon after lunch, it was already 5pm when I left the bar. I bought another book from the guy in the street - he wanted CLP3000 but since I genuinely only had CLP2000, he sold it me for that - and took some cash out then popped back here to drop my camera and most of the cash off. I plan to go out and have a couple (yes, just a couple) of beers at some local place, then come back here and go out again later about 9pm to see what it's like here on a Friday night.
I'm a sap
"It made them feel that they were doing an educated sort of thing to travel through a country whose commonest advertisements were in idiomatic French" - H G Wells, Miss Winchelsea's Heart
Didn't go to bed until about 3:30am and despite not drinking anything at all yesterday I woke up feeling crap about midday. I dozed fitfully until woken (as yesterday) by the cleaner sounding the buzzer about 1pm. I never have a clue what she's saying - it can't help talking to her through the door either - but I managed to put her off. She wanted to change something, although I don't know what.
After a hasty look at the guide book I thought I'd go over to Cerro Santa Lucia, a largish park in the centre (and a short walk from the hotel, as it turned out) which was supposed to have good views over the city. And it did, once I found my way in and up to the lookout tower. Half the gates are locked which makes getting in and out a bit tricky, and both entrances I saw had guys there asking you to write down your name and country before they'd let you in. I have no idea why, they didn't want to see any ID so you could put anything down. Maybe it's just statistics, but then why ask for your name? I alternate between being from Skegness and London in these circumstances, depending on my mood. I sometimes think Skegness sounds more exotic. :-)
While trying to get up to the lookout tower I was handed a flyer by a woman who then started talking to me. I got the impression she was advertising some sort of cultural event. She was very friendly and said nice things about my Spanish. Shortly afterwards we were joined by another two women and they claimed to be students at the university. They were very helpful and scribbled a number of interesting places to visit on the back of some more flyers. One of them was flirting with me, which should have put me on my guard, but I was feeling a bit overwhelmed to be honest. In the end it turned out they were asking for money (allegedly) to fund their studies. After talking to them for so long I felt compelled to unbelt. I was going to give them a couple of thousand pesos but unfortunately I pulled out a (blue) CLP10,000 note and one of them said 'can't we have the blue one?' For some dumb reason I gave it to her. It then transpired they were collecting individually and the others wanted
something too, but my fiscal sense finally kicked in and I told them they'd have to split it. I walked off in a daze feeling a bit of a moron. Oh well, it's only about £13 and they say experience is cheap at any price. I'm not sure exactly what I've learned though.
The view from the lookout tower was quite good and I've now definitely seen the Andes, although since there are two different mountain ranges either side of the city and I didn't know way I was looking, I couldn't tell which was which.
I went to the Casa Colorada afterwards, which was OK if a bit dull to be honest. It's CLP500 to get it but it turns out if you're that desperate to save money nothing at all stops you walking in through the back entrance.
I've just had a late lunch at a cheap cafe-type place near the Plaza de Armas and am having a post-prandial beer at a bar round the back of the Casa Colorada. I have no idea what I'm going to do this afternoon but I guess I'll go to some other museum kind of place if I can find one.
It's too hot for me today, but at least it isn't raining.
Shaver plugs
I just re-discovered - for some reason the fact never sticks in my head - that the shaver plugs we use in the UK are not in fact an international standard. I know our normal plugs are unique, but for some reason I always think the shaver plugs are standardised so you can plug your shaver in anywhere in the world. And you can't.
It doesn't matter, my UK plug adapters can take UK shaver plugs as well as regular UK plugs. But how many times am I going to find this rather dull fact surprising?
It doesn't matter, my UK plug adapters can take UK shaver plugs as well as regular UK plugs. But how many times am I going to find this rather dull fact surprising?
First full day in Santiago
OK, here's the "what I did on my holidays" stuff.
I picked up a map of the area round the hotel from a cafe yesterday and I took that out with me when I left in a rush. So I went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Parque Forestal, which is a small but fairly pleasant park. It was quite interesting and free, despite the sign outside saying it cost CLP600 to get in. I wanted to go to the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo next door, but it appeared to be shut.
After that I picked the Museo de Santiago - Casa Colorada somewhat at random off the list of museums at the bottom of the map and walked over there. That took me into the Plaza de Armas, so I ended up nipping into the cathedral. Although the recorded chants they were playing gave it quite a solemn air, I couldn't help thinking it had a touch of the stately home about the architecture, it didn't look as classically 'cathedrally' as I'd expected.
On a slightly strange whim I went into the post office next door and it turned out they have a fairly interesting free museum, so I had a look round there. I rounded off with the Museo Historico Nacional, also on Plaza de Armas, which was the only one I had to pay to get in, and it was only CLP600, or less than a quid. I was feeling a bit tired by this point and there was a certain element of forcing myself to be out seeing stuff, and although it had its points I didn't find myself getting that interested. I am not sure I saw everything in there, although I didn't obviously miss anything except one room where there were clearly exhibits but where I was met with some incomprehensible explanation from a member of staff when I tried to go in. I think they may have been closing, because it was about 5pm and it said outside they were only open til 5:30pm. Partly because of that I was also looking round a bit superficially towards the end.
So I never actually went to the Casa Colorada place. Maybe some other day.
After that I went to get something to eat and then came back here to book the Punta Arenas flights. I ended up going to a restuarant called El Txoko Alavés near the Bellas Artes metro station. I didn't actually like it very much, I broke my usual rule of not eating anywhere where I can't see the menu in advance (either in the window or, in a bar, by sitting down and just having a drink first) because the vague descriptions outside looked promising. When i got the menu, it turned out that there were no descriptions of any of the dishes, just their names. I hate it when restaurants do that. How the hell do I know what "beef a la Hoxton" (I made that up, of course) is? I'm sure it would have been better if I'd known more of the Spanish, but that was my major gripe. (Yeah, in theory I could ask the waiter, but even in English I'd feel an idiot running down the entire menu doing that.)
I compromised by ordering the beef with green salad without the salad. Yes, really. (I had french fries with it instead.) I have no complaints about the food itself, the steak was about an inch thick and excellent. I ordered it medium (partly because I always do given the choice, and partly because I don't have a clue how to say 'rare' or 'well done' in Spanish) and it was rarer than I'd have expected, but that's probably just me. It was fine anyway.
I seem to have resisted the temptation to go out tonight anyway. In fact, I'm amazed how late it is already when there's so much stuff I want to or could do tonight. It doesn't get dark here until well after 9pm which I am finding distinctly odd. It may be something to do with the relative position of the city in its time zone, because I don't remember noticing the same in Rio or Sao Paulo.
I popped across the road earlier to get some diet coke and bought a couple three-litre bottles at the minimarket across the road, so I should be supplied for the next day or two at least. Oddly enough, to me at least, it's one of those 'old-fashioned' shops where everything is behind the counter and you ask for it. A bit like "Open All Hours". I got by with the language but the guy serving me realised I was a foreigner and it turned out he spoke some English, which I suppose was nice. I need to practice sometimes though.
I think I can generally make myself understood, although I don't always have the right phrases to do it neatly (it's those little everyday bits of the language that seem to be some of the hardest to get the hang of), where I struggle is when people start gabbling at me. I hope that will improve with practice, and I guess I should probably make some sort of effort to listen to the radio or watch the news while I'm over here, my Spanish teacher says that sort of thing is good practice.
Oh, I bought a cheap secondhand book from a stall in the street this morning, just something to read and then maybe leave lying around for someone else. It's a teenage kind of novel from 1978 called "The Pistachio Prescription" by Paula Danziger. I've already read the whole thing and it's actually quite good in an undemanding sort of way. But some absolute bastard has ripped the last page out. It's not quite as bad as in a detective story or something and I doubt there's any definitive resolution to the plot, such as it is, but still. The guy at the stall did actually have two copies, one paperback and one hardback, and since he wanted the same for both I naturally chose the hardback, even though the paperback would have been more convenient, just because it felt like better value. :-) If he's there tomorrow (and I can find the place) I may go and buy the other one, although it feels like a massive con. (I'd try to return it, but it was only CLP1000, or about £1.50, and I stupidly wrote some bookcrossing.com details in the front of the book, so he'd probably argue I've defaced it.)
P.S. Problem solved. I used the "search inside" option on amazon.com (the book is still in print, it must be something of a classic) to look for a distinctive phrase on the last page in my copy, and I've just been able to read the missing two sides on there. Sorted. Respect due.
I picked up a map of the area round the hotel from a cafe yesterday and I took that out with me when I left in a rush. So I went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes in Parque Forestal, which is a small but fairly pleasant park. It was quite interesting and free, despite the sign outside saying it cost CLP600 to get in. I wanted to go to the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo next door, but it appeared to be shut.
After that I picked the Museo de Santiago - Casa Colorada somewhat at random off the list of museums at the bottom of the map and walked over there. That took me into the Plaza de Armas, so I ended up nipping into the cathedral. Although the recorded chants they were playing gave it quite a solemn air, I couldn't help thinking it had a touch of the stately home about the architecture, it didn't look as classically 'cathedrally' as I'd expected.
On a slightly strange whim I went into the post office next door and it turned out they have a fairly interesting free museum, so I had a look round there. I rounded off with the Museo Historico Nacional, also on Plaza de Armas, which was the only one I had to pay to get in, and it was only CLP600, or less than a quid. I was feeling a bit tired by this point and there was a certain element of forcing myself to be out seeing stuff, and although it had its points I didn't find myself getting that interested. I am not sure I saw everything in there, although I didn't obviously miss anything except one room where there were clearly exhibits but where I was met with some incomprehensible explanation from a member of staff when I tried to go in. I think they may have been closing, because it was about 5pm and it said outside they were only open til 5:30pm. Partly because of that I was also looking round a bit superficially towards the end.
So I never actually went to the Casa Colorada place. Maybe some other day.
After that I went to get something to eat and then came back here to book the Punta Arenas flights. I ended up going to a restuarant called El Txoko Alavés near the Bellas Artes metro station. I didn't actually like it very much, I broke my usual rule of not eating anywhere where I can't see the menu in advance (either in the window or, in a bar, by sitting down and just having a drink first) because the vague descriptions outside looked promising. When i got the menu, it turned out that there were no descriptions of any of the dishes, just their names. I hate it when restaurants do that. How the hell do I know what "beef a la Hoxton" (I made that up, of course) is? I'm sure it would have been better if I'd known more of the Spanish, but that was my major gripe. (Yeah, in theory I could ask the waiter, but even in English I'd feel an idiot running down the entire menu doing that.)
I compromised by ordering the beef with green salad without the salad. Yes, really. (I had french fries with it instead.) I have no complaints about the food itself, the steak was about an inch thick and excellent. I ordered it medium (partly because I always do given the choice, and partly because I don't have a clue how to say 'rare' or 'well done' in Spanish) and it was rarer than I'd have expected, but that's probably just me. It was fine anyway.
I seem to have resisted the temptation to go out tonight anyway. In fact, I'm amazed how late it is already when there's so much stuff I want to or could do tonight. It doesn't get dark here until well after 9pm which I am finding distinctly odd. It may be something to do with the relative position of the city in its time zone, because I don't remember noticing the same in Rio or Sao Paulo.
I popped across the road earlier to get some diet coke and bought a couple three-litre bottles at the minimarket across the road, so I should be supplied for the next day or two at least. Oddly enough, to me at least, it's one of those 'old-fashioned' shops where everything is behind the counter and you ask for it. A bit like "Open All Hours". I got by with the language but the guy serving me realised I was a foreigner and it turned out he spoke some English, which I suppose was nice. I need to practice sometimes though.
I think I can generally make myself understood, although I don't always have the right phrases to do it neatly (it's those little everyday bits of the language that seem to be some of the hardest to get the hang of), where I struggle is when people start gabbling at me. I hope that will improve with practice, and I guess I should probably make some sort of effort to listen to the radio or watch the news while I'm over here, my Spanish teacher says that sort of thing is good practice.
Oh, I bought a cheap secondhand book from a stall in the street this morning, just something to read and then maybe leave lying around for someone else. It's a teenage kind of novel from 1978 called "The Pistachio Prescription" by Paula Danziger. I've already read the whole thing and it's actually quite good in an undemanding sort of way. But some absolute bastard has ripped the last page out. It's not quite as bad as in a detective story or something and I doubt there's any definitive resolution to the plot, such as it is, but still. The guy at the stall did actually have two copies, one paperback and one hardback, and since he wanted the same for both I naturally chose the hardback, even though the paperback would have been more convenient, just because it felt like better value. :-) If he's there tomorrow (and I can find the place) I may go and buy the other one, although it feels like a massive con. (I'd try to return it, but it was only CLP1000, or about £1.50, and I stupidly wrote some bookcrossing.com details in the front of the book, so he'd probably argue I've defaced it.)
P.S. Problem solved. I used the "search inside" option on amazon.com (the book is still in print, it must be something of a classic) to look for a distinctive phrase on the last page in my copy, and I've just been able to read the missing two sides on there. Sorted. Respect due.
Easter Island
OK, I have submitted another request at hoteltravel.com for a different hotel (the O'Tai) on the original planned dates for Easter Island (end of March). hoteltravel.com doesn't seem to do online reservations, at least for any of the Easter Island hotels, instead they get in touch manually, so I won't know if the booking has gone through until tomorrow. I am not overly optimistic they will have a room but WTF, it's worth a try.
(I did a fresh check on expedia.co.uk to see that flights were still available at a reasonable price, rather than trust the saved itinerary, after what happened earlier with the Santiago-Punta Arenas flights. They are. I assume they won't soar madly in the next 24 hours.)
(I did a fresh check on expedia.co.uk to see that flights were still available at a reasonable price, rather than trust the saved itinerary, after what happened earlier with the Santiago-Punta Arenas flights. They are. I assume they won't soar madly in the next 24 hours.)
I'm not sure I trust these sites any more
I just figured I'd try a pretend booking well in advance and agoda.co.uk is telling me there are no available hotel rooms in Easter Island for 10-13 August 2010. Can this really be true or is there something weird about the search? I mean, yes, people will book ahead, but I would really have expected something to be available that far in advance.
A quiet night in
I've decided to be good and have a quiet night in tonight. It seems a bit of a waste, but I guess I can't go out every night and it's the weekend tomorrow night so I will want to be out then.
I don't know why, but it just hit me as I was posting the wafflings from the Sao Paulo Marriott that I was in Sao Paulo yesterday morning. Somehow I find that hard to be believe, it seems much longer ago.
It probably goes without saying that it seems like I've been on the trip for a lot more than the two weeks it has really been.
I keep thinking about just how much this is costing me. I'm sure it'll be OK but a few hundred quid on flights here and a few hotels at the £60/70 level there (as is unavoidable in some places, e.g. Punta Arenas, unless you go really budget and stay in a hostel or something) adds up. Oh well. I read that you're supposed to get more pleasure out of spending money on experiences than things, which I suppose justifies me. And of course the actual expenses of the trip pale into insignificance compared with the lost earnings from not actually working.
Been having a quick fiddle to see if I can find a way to go to Easter Island after all. The problem is that I expedia.co.uk only seems to have one hotel listed there, and although I thought I had a website which listed five or so of the big ones, I can't remember what it was. It might have been agoda.co.uk, but I just tried them and they said (for some dates I was trying) 'we have no hotels available in Easter Island for these dates', whereas I'm sure before I could see all the different hotels listed even if they had no availability.
I don't know why, but it just hit me as I was posting the wafflings from the Sao Paulo Marriott that I was in Sao Paulo yesterday morning. Somehow I find that hard to be believe, it seems much longer ago.
It probably goes without saying that it seems like I've been on the trip for a lot more than the two weeks it has really been.
I keep thinking about just how much this is costing me. I'm sure it'll be OK but a few hundred quid on flights here and a few hotels at the £60/70 level there (as is unavoidable in some places, e.g. Punta Arenas, unless you go really budget and stay in a hostel or something) adds up. Oh well. I read that you're supposed to get more pleasure out of spending money on experiences than things, which I suppose justifies me. And of course the actual expenses of the trip pale into insignificance compared with the lost earnings from not actually working.
Been having a quick fiddle to see if I can find a way to go to Easter Island after all. The problem is that I expedia.co.uk only seems to have one hotel listed there, and although I thought I had a website which listed five or so of the big ones, I can't remember what it was. It might have been agoda.co.uk, but I just tried them and they said (for some dates I was trying) 'we have no hotels available in Easter Island for these dates', whereas I'm sure before I could see all the different hotels listed even if they had no availability.
Wafflings from the Marriott in Sao Paulo
I wrote this while hanging around at the Marriott near Guarulhos airport on Tuesday night with no internet connection and figured I might as well stick it on now.
This is mostly just waffle because I'm stuck in the hotel at Sao Paulo airport with nothing really to do. The executive summary is that I'm here and I have to be up early tomorrow morning (7am at the latest, ideally 6am) to get my flight on to Santiago.
It's about half past six on Tuesday 26th January. I just arrived at the Marriott at Sao Paulo airport. It's very nice, although extremely expensive and obviously because it's a business hotel they can't give you free wi-fi, you can pay BRL20 (about 6 or 7 quid) for 24 hours' wired access. (They do helpfully provide a cable, at least.) I may crack later, but to be honest I'm inclined to do without. The only possible 'urgent' thing I need to sort out is confirming that the payments went through for the flights and the hotel in Puerto Williams, and I think they can wait until tomorrow, when I will either have access in the Santiago hotel or if push comes to shove can go to an internet cafe there. As I say, I may crack and pay up, but I have to be out of here pretty early tomorrow, so I may be better without the distraction. (I did check my e-mail this morning at about 11am and there was nothing urgent.)
The flight to Santiago leaves at 10:25 tomorrow and I assume I need to be there about three hours early to check in. The hotel is very near to but not at the airport and the free transfer bus only runs every twenty minutes. It would also be good to have breakfast (partly to try to extract the maximum possible value from my $199 room ;-) ) if possible. So I'm looking at getting up at 7am at the very latest if I don't have breakfast, or 6:30am if I do. Actually, 15-30 minutes earlier would be better, if I really do plan to be at the terminal with three hours to go.
The flight over here from Rio worked out OK in the end but it was delayed by an hour or so due to bad weather in Sao Paulo. It could have been worse, while we were waiting on the plane they said some flights were being diverted to Campinas, which IIRC (I am not going to dredge the guide book out right now and check) is about 90km from Sao Paulo. I assume they'd have put us on a bus from there to Sao Paulo and at least I had the sense not to try to connect here on the same day with flights booked independently, so I would have probably made it OK, but still.
The weather is pretty miserable here right now, it's very overcast and still raining a bit. But as long as the flight tomorrow is OK I don't really care very much, there is nothing here so I doubt I will leave the hotel between now and tomorrow morning anyway.
Hmm, I just turned the TV on and there are the pictures of cars driving through flooded streets in Sao Paulo. The subtitle says "Urgente: Novo temporal alaga Sao Paulo", which I would be interested to have a translation of. (Re-reading that, I suspect the 'alaga' bit is mangled, but maybe not.) Oh well, fingers crossed. The window doesn't open very much here but as far as I can tell it's not actually raining that badly here right now, and we did manage to land after all.
OK, I just checked my e-mail on my phone. Amazingly Google Mail works on it even though it's so old, at least as far as showing the list of subject lines in the inbox. I know that worked as I could see some e-mails I hadn't seen before, just nothing urgent. I suspect that cost less than paying for the net access here. There's no e-mail from the hotel or airline re Puerto Williams, so I can assume things are going OK, and also perhaps not too surprisingly the hotel in Punta Arenas still hasn't responded to my questions submitted via their web form on Sunday night. I will check the credit card statements online tomorrow and chase up the Punta Arenas hotel then as well, although that isn't too urgent as there are alternatives in Punta Arenas, whereas the Puerto Williams stuff is all 'one possible supplier only' because it's such a small place. (Well, OK, there are hostel-y type places in Puerto Williams, but I don't think I'm up to that. The hotel I've booked there is the only proper-ish hotel, as far as I know.)
If I can get the Punta Arenas hotel booked it might be a good place to get my guide book forwarded to. I ordered it from amazon.co.uk to be delivered to a friend (hi JR!) at work at the last minute and due to lost text messages I never got to pick it up, so he's offered to post it to me. Until now I haven't really had anything fixed far enough in advance - well, to be fair, I suppose the hotel in Rio was fixed with nearly two weeks to go. But the Punta Arenas hotel will potentially be fixed nearly three weeks in advance, if they get back to me tomorrow and I can actually book. I have no idea how long international post takes but the more time the better I guess.
Further waffle at 10pm. I'm passing a somewhat self-consciously relaxed night here. I popped out earlier for a quick look around, just on the forecourt of the hotel. It's quite a pleasant night, a little cool but absolutely fine with a jacket on and I don't think that was really necessary. I may nip out again later and take a couple of photos for the hell of it. I think I saw a flash of lightning in the distance though.
Extreme cheapskatery follows. I am unapologetic though.
There's a coffee percolator thing (not sure exactly what they're called, the ones where you put water in and they heat it and drip it through a filter cone into a glass jug) in the room and a couple of plastic packets with combined filter-and-ground-coffee things in. I can't see a price anywhere for them so I was half tempted to use them, regarding them as the equivalent of the free teabag and sugar sachet you get in less upmarket places, but the entire place seems so oriented to extracting money that I decided not to chance it. I remembered I had those instant latte sachets which I've dragged all the way from Skegness (a last minute 'you might as well take these, they might be useful at the hotel in London' addition from my Mum) and which contributed to my awkwardness at Brazilian customs two weeks ago, so I've used the percolator thing to heat some water and had a couple of those.
(I will observe in passing that a small can of Skol is BRL6.50 from the minibar here. It was only BRL3 at the Hotel Regina in Rio, which - to be fair - is about what you paid at a little kiosk in the street. Good job I'm not thirsty. :-) )
To add to the 'camping out' feel, apart from a ham and cheese sandwich on the plane all I've eaten today are a couple of packets of biscuits I bought this morning in Rio. (I didn't get up early enough for breakfast, I just pushed it ridiculously late as always and although I wasn't exactly rushed, by the time I'd gone to the internet cafe to print out the Santiago hotel reservation and bought the biscuits, I only checked out about 20 minutes before the midday deadline.) It's OK though, I don't feel hungry and I still have half a packet of chocolate chip cookies here. A day of crap food won't hurt. Although I've mostly been subsisting on steaks (varying in size from moderate to enormous) with chips, rice and/or eggs, intermingled with the odd pizza, I suspect my diet is actually better here than in London. I'm probably drinking at least slightly less too, although it's hard to be sure as I'm used to measuring my intake in pints.
I've had a much better time in Brazil than I expected, although that in itself isn't saying much. But I am glad I came, despite my enormous misgivings around Christmas. It was oddly cool to be in Sao Paulo and the classic tourist stuff in Rio was definitely worth seeing. It is an attractive city (although I must note, presumably due to the heat rather than general lack of cleanliness, it wasn't rare to get that distinctive dustbin smell while wandering around near Rua do Catete). It will still be good to get to Santiago though, I feel my tourist IQ will soar from around 50 to maybe as high as 75 once I land.
As a completely pointless bit of trivia, the hotel got me an unmetered taxi to the airport in Rio and it cost me BRL50, which is better than I expected. I didn't tip the driver, just because I sort of forgot - I'm not quite that much of a cheapskate. (In fact, I've probably been tipping more than necessary as a rule. Quite often there's a service charge on the bill - usually 10% - and while in London I never tip if they put a service charge on, I've often left a small amount extra here. Not sure why, but I have.) As it is I think I've probably got about BRL100 cash left on me, maybe even BRL150, which I will probably end up holding onto uselessly forever, unless I manage to find a convenient bureau de change somewhere. Maybe I can spend it on a sandwich at the airport tomorrow. :-)
I'm not much loooking forward to tomorrow morning but I know I can get up if I know I have to. Apart from the risk of oversleeping, the biggest potential hitch is the immigration card they give you when you arrive in the country. I don't know if it's still true, but I read in my guide book that if you lose it you have to pay a USD75 fine and - this is the awkward bit - you can only do it at one bank in the city centre. I have my card, but it is a touch mangled after being in my pocket on the way to the hotel the day I first got here. If they cut up rough about it I could well miss the flight, but I should think it will be OK. The whole thing seems stupid anyway, if you don't have it then presumably you're effectively an illegal immigrant of sorts and you'd think they'd be keen to get you out of the country ASAP. I suppose it's a source of additional revenue though.
Wow, 1800 words! I can't think of anything else so I should probably be making a move out for a couple of photos and then to bed.
This is mostly just waffle because I'm stuck in the hotel at Sao Paulo airport with nothing really to do. The executive summary is that I'm here and I have to be up early tomorrow morning (7am at the latest, ideally 6am) to get my flight on to Santiago.
It's about half past six on Tuesday 26th January. I just arrived at the Marriott at Sao Paulo airport. It's very nice, although extremely expensive and obviously because it's a business hotel they can't give you free wi-fi, you can pay BRL20 (about 6 or 7 quid) for 24 hours' wired access. (They do helpfully provide a cable, at least.) I may crack later, but to be honest I'm inclined to do without. The only possible 'urgent' thing I need to sort out is confirming that the payments went through for the flights and the hotel in Puerto Williams, and I think they can wait until tomorrow, when I will either have access in the Santiago hotel or if push comes to shove can go to an internet cafe there. As I say, I may crack and pay up, but I have to be out of here pretty early tomorrow, so I may be better without the distraction. (I did check my e-mail this morning at about 11am and there was nothing urgent.)
The flight to Santiago leaves at 10:25 tomorrow and I assume I need to be there about three hours early to check in. The hotel is very near to but not at the airport and the free transfer bus only runs every twenty minutes. It would also be good to have breakfast (partly to try to extract the maximum possible value from my $199 room ;-) ) if possible. So I'm looking at getting up at 7am at the very latest if I don't have breakfast, or 6:30am if I do. Actually, 15-30 minutes earlier would be better, if I really do plan to be at the terminal with three hours to go.
The flight over here from Rio worked out OK in the end but it was delayed by an hour or so due to bad weather in Sao Paulo. It could have been worse, while we were waiting on the plane they said some flights were being diverted to Campinas, which IIRC (I am not going to dredge the guide book out right now and check) is about 90km from Sao Paulo. I assume they'd have put us on a bus from there to Sao Paulo and at least I had the sense not to try to connect here on the same day with flights booked independently, so I would have probably made it OK, but still.
The weather is pretty miserable here right now, it's very overcast and still raining a bit. But as long as the flight tomorrow is OK I don't really care very much, there is nothing here so I doubt I will leave the hotel between now and tomorrow morning anyway.
Hmm, I just turned the TV on and there are the pictures of cars driving through flooded streets in Sao Paulo. The subtitle says "Urgente: Novo temporal alaga Sao Paulo", which I would be interested to have a translation of. (Re-reading that, I suspect the 'alaga' bit is mangled, but maybe not.) Oh well, fingers crossed. The window doesn't open very much here but as far as I can tell it's not actually raining that badly here right now, and we did manage to land after all.
OK, I just checked my e-mail on my phone. Amazingly Google Mail works on it even though it's so old, at least as far as showing the list of subject lines in the inbox. I know that worked as I could see some e-mails I hadn't seen before, just nothing urgent. I suspect that cost less than paying for the net access here. There's no e-mail from the hotel or airline re Puerto Williams, so I can assume things are going OK, and also perhaps not too surprisingly the hotel in Punta Arenas still hasn't responded to my questions submitted via their web form on Sunday night. I will check the credit card statements online tomorrow and chase up the Punta Arenas hotel then as well, although that isn't too urgent as there are alternatives in Punta Arenas, whereas the Puerto Williams stuff is all 'one possible supplier only' because it's such a small place. (Well, OK, there are hostel-y type places in Puerto Williams, but I don't think I'm up to that. The hotel I've booked there is the only proper-ish hotel, as far as I know.)
If I can get the Punta Arenas hotel booked it might be a good place to get my guide book forwarded to. I ordered it from amazon.co.uk to be delivered to a friend (hi JR!) at work at the last minute and due to lost text messages I never got to pick it up, so he's offered to post it to me. Until now I haven't really had anything fixed far enough in advance - well, to be fair, I suppose the hotel in Rio was fixed with nearly two weeks to go. But the Punta Arenas hotel will potentially be fixed nearly three weeks in advance, if they get back to me tomorrow and I can actually book. I have no idea how long international post takes but the more time the better I guess.
Further waffle at 10pm. I'm passing a somewhat self-consciously relaxed night here. I popped out earlier for a quick look around, just on the forecourt of the hotel. It's quite a pleasant night, a little cool but absolutely fine with a jacket on and I don't think that was really necessary. I may nip out again later and take a couple of photos for the hell of it. I think I saw a flash of lightning in the distance though.
Extreme cheapskatery follows. I am unapologetic though.
There's a coffee percolator thing (not sure exactly what they're called, the ones where you put water in and they heat it and drip it through a filter cone into a glass jug) in the room and a couple of plastic packets with combined filter-and-ground-coffee things in. I can't see a price anywhere for them so I was half tempted to use them, regarding them as the equivalent of the free teabag and sugar sachet you get in less upmarket places, but the entire place seems so oriented to extracting money that I decided not to chance it. I remembered I had those instant latte sachets which I've dragged all the way from Skegness (a last minute 'you might as well take these, they might be useful at the hotel in London' addition from my Mum) and which contributed to my awkwardness at Brazilian customs two weeks ago, so I've used the percolator thing to heat some water and had a couple of those.
(I will observe in passing that a small can of Skol is BRL6.50 from the minibar here. It was only BRL3 at the Hotel Regina in Rio, which - to be fair - is about what you paid at a little kiosk in the street. Good job I'm not thirsty. :-) )
To add to the 'camping out' feel, apart from a ham and cheese sandwich on the plane all I've eaten today are a couple of packets of biscuits I bought this morning in Rio. (I didn't get up early enough for breakfast, I just pushed it ridiculously late as always and although I wasn't exactly rushed, by the time I'd gone to the internet cafe to print out the Santiago hotel reservation and bought the biscuits, I only checked out about 20 minutes before the midday deadline.) It's OK though, I don't feel hungry and I still have half a packet of chocolate chip cookies here. A day of crap food won't hurt. Although I've mostly been subsisting on steaks (varying in size from moderate to enormous) with chips, rice and/or eggs, intermingled with the odd pizza, I suspect my diet is actually better here than in London. I'm probably drinking at least slightly less too, although it's hard to be sure as I'm used to measuring my intake in pints.
I've had a much better time in Brazil than I expected, although that in itself isn't saying much. But I am glad I came, despite my enormous misgivings around Christmas. It was oddly cool to be in Sao Paulo and the classic tourist stuff in Rio was definitely worth seeing. It is an attractive city (although I must note, presumably due to the heat rather than general lack of cleanliness, it wasn't rare to get that distinctive dustbin smell while wandering around near Rua do Catete). It will still be good to get to Santiago though, I feel my tourist IQ will soar from around 50 to maybe as high as 75 once I land.
As a completely pointless bit of trivia, the hotel got me an unmetered taxi to the airport in Rio and it cost me BRL50, which is better than I expected. I didn't tip the driver, just because I sort of forgot - I'm not quite that much of a cheapskate. (In fact, I've probably been tipping more than necessary as a rule. Quite often there's a service charge on the bill - usually 10% - and while in London I never tip if they put a service charge on, I've often left a small amount extra here. Not sure why, but I have.) As it is I think I've probably got about BRL100 cash left on me, maybe even BRL150, which I will probably end up holding onto uselessly forever, unless I manage to find a convenient bureau de change somewhere. Maybe I can spend it on a sandwich at the airport tomorrow. :-)
I'm not much loooking forward to tomorrow morning but I know I can get up if I know I have to. Apart from the risk of oversleeping, the biggest potential hitch is the immigration card they give you when you arrive in the country. I don't know if it's still true, but I read in my guide book that if you lose it you have to pay a USD75 fine and - this is the awkward bit - you can only do it at one bank in the city centre. I have my card, but it is a touch mangled after being in my pocket on the way to the hotel the day I first got here. If they cut up rough about it I could well miss the flight, but I should think it will be OK. The whole thing seems stupid anyway, if you don't have it then presumably you're effectively an illegal immigrant of sorts and you'd think they'd be keen to get you out of the country ASAP. I suppose it's a source of additional revenue though.
Wow, 1800 words! I can't think of anything else so I should probably be making a move out for a couple of photos and then to bed.
Thursday 28 January 2010
Flights booked to Punta Arenas
I just booked the flights from Santiago to Punta Arenas and back. Helpfully, your saved trips on expedia.co.uk don't appear to be properly dynamic. They do show price changes, but I was just allowed to go right through the booking process for my saved trip (credit card details entered, the lot) and then it told me the Santiago-Punta Arenas flight was no longer available.
I assume it's full. Maybe if I'd booked yesterday it would have been OK, but then I can't possibly know that, since the saved itinerary didn't show the problem today. It's not the end of the world, I've just picked a different flight on the same day. Most of the flights are at stupid times like 2:30am. The flight I wanted left Santiago about midday and got to Punta Arenas about 4-5pm. As it is, I've had to settle for one leaving Santiago at about 5pm and getting there about 9pm, which is a bit crap but not the end of the world. I fly down there next Tuesday and back two weeks later.
I assume it's full. Maybe if I'd booked yesterday it would have been OK, but then I can't possibly know that, since the saved itinerary didn't show the problem today. It's not the end of the world, I've just picked a different flight on the same day. Most of the flights are at stupid times like 2:30am. The flight I wanted left Santiago about midday and got to Punta Arenas about 4-5pm. As it is, I've had to settle for one leaving Santiago at about 5pm and getting there about 9pm, which is a bit crap but not the end of the world. I fly down there next Tuesday and back two weeks later.
Punta Arenas
OK, I just booked the hotel in Punta Arenas for two nights either side of the Puerto Williams trip - they replied to my e-mail saying they will store a suitcase for me while I'm away and that the late check in when I return is no problem.
I was going to book the flights down there now but - not too unreasonably, it's 1pm here - the maid wants to come in and clean the room, so I'm getting ready to go out in a hurry. Fingers crossed the price doesn't go up again before I come back later today and book. Sigh, I could have done with a shower but it serves me right for dithering around. I'll have one later.
I was going to book the flights down there now but - not too unreasonably, it's 1pm here - the maid wants to come in and clean the room, so I'm getting ready to go out in a hurry. Fingers crossed the price doesn't go up again before I come back later today and book. Sigh, I could have done with a shower but it serves me right for dithering around. I'll have one later.
It gets weirder
So I'm now sat inside this bar and it turns out my waiter has a French parent, I can't remember what the other was, and he grew up in Australia and is essentially a native English speaker. I don't know why I bothered leaving London. :-)
Postscript
Oh, and as I ordered the Stella, the bar sound system was playing Oasis. I might as well just have gone into suspended animation for a few months and spent a summer in London. :-)
I guess I have to keep telling myself that here English-language music is rather exotic. I doubt it's true, but if I keep telling myself that I may believe it.
It's a strange, globalised world
I left the last bar feeling pleasantly mellow and they were kind of shutting. It all worked nicely. Just down the road I saw another bar with loads of people outside and, being a weak-willed git, after about two seconds' debate with myself I decided to have another beer there.
I ordered a Brahma but (I gather, I am not perfect on the language yet, but I have four months' practice ahead) it wasn't cold. So I accepted the alternative they offered. I vaguely thought it was 'Estrella' but it turns out I've just bought a large glass of Stella Artois. A very acceptable lager, but wot larks! I travel 5000-odd miles and end up drinking wifebeater. :-)
Unfair comparisons
I went back to the hotel for a bit and came out again about 9. Vaguely following the advice of my Chile guide book, I walked over to Providencia. The area around Banquero (that's not the right name, but it's nearly right) metro seemed dead and it was dead for a good 5-10 mins walk past there, but out past Manuel Montt metro station I found a few bars and I'm having a few beers outside a nice little bar (Candil) on a fairly major road.
The road is busy but not unpleasantly so, the traffic noise is that kind of 'whooshy' noise of cars going past which fades into the background, it's not all buses rumbling and motorbikes making that distinctively annoying motorbike noise which I can't think of a good adjective for right now. (I'm sure some people love that sound, but it always sets my teeth on edge.)
I'm just wearing a T-shirt and it's pleasantly cool. It's only a first impression, and apart from that there are lots of things (notably the language and the fact that the guide books scared me shitless about Brazil) which make the comparison unfair, but I feel pretty good here. Rio had fantastic scenery around the edges with the looming mountain/hill things all green and stuff (there's nothing visible like that here, but the mountains - they may be big hills, but I'm inclined to think not - I can see from the hotel here are quite imposing but unattractively rocky and brown) and the bay and everything, but this just seems to suit me better. I hate to use the word, but I'm so tempted to describe what little I've seen of Santiago as elegant without being pretentious.
The weather must help. It was technically gorgeous in Rio during the day but muggy as hell by my standards. Same here today as far as I could tell. But at night Rio (and probably Sao Paulo to a lesser extent, though I think it was more pleasant than Rio) was generally wet and still muggy. Here it feels like a really good summer night in London, except maybe slightly warmer.
So yeah, enough of that semi-poetic bilge. No doubt I'll get mugged on the way home as a lesson not to judge too soon. :-)
I would say that while I might have been predisposed to like it more here, the customs experience (even though the people themselves were OK, as they were at the generally nicer Brazilian customs check) and the crap finding the hotel really riled me up, so the fact that I'm liking it now may suggest the place just does suit me better.
I fully expect to be hating it tomorrow now I've said all this.
When I first left the hotel after checking in I met a woman, who probably lives in the building as a proper resident, by the lift. We said hello - it's hardly a wild exchange, but to a Brit it's a bit odd - and she realised I was English and spoke to me a bit in English. It was a bit awkward as she wasn't totally intelligible, but she did warn me to be careful at night. I asked if she meant everywhere in the city or specifically round the hotel but she didn't seem to pick up on it. I was tempted to clarify in Spanish but I figured that would be a bit insulting. Besides, the last thing I need is someone putting the wind up me about this place as well.
Wednesday 27 January 2010
Booking flights to Punta Arenas
I saved the flights from Santiago to Punta Arenas and back on expedia.co.uk. They've gone up sixty quid in the last couple of days, I should have booked already. Oh well. Just trying to convince myself to go ahead and book them now. There are hotels free in that area all the time, so I guess there's no reason not to, and of course I have to go down there at some point for the Puerto Williams trip.
I went out onto the balcony while pacing around thinking about it. You can actually see some mountains, which is better than I realised, it's not just the city. I looked down and suffered from a mixture of:
- vertigo
- the thought that nothing stops me jumping over
- worry that my knackered old glasses would fall off and I'd lose them.
I went out onto the balcony while pacing around thinking about it. You can actually see some mountains, which is better than I realised, it's not just the city. I looked down and suffered from a mixture of:
- vertigo
- the thought that nothing stops me jumping over
- worry that my knackered old glasses would fall off and I'd lose them.
Oh yes, Brazil screwed my Spanish up good
I just came to a bar and tried to order a beer. After struggling to say the Portuguese 'cerveja' properly for two weeks, I can no longer say it in Spanish (cerveza). That was about the one word I had down almost from the word go.
Santiago - just arrived
OK, I made it. Right now I think things are pretty good. The 'hotel' is (as I sort of knew) basically serviced apartments in a residential block. My apartment is nothing ultra fancy but it's pretty nice, especially for the money, and I have a fridge so I can go on a diet coke binge without upsetting anyone. :-) There's even a kitchen, not that I'm likely to use it.
I'm on the 18th floor so the view is fairly good, although only because I like that kind of thing and it's a bit of a novelty. I will take some photos later.
I just got the internet access working here; it's a wired connection to a cable modem. For ages it wasn't working and I have no idea why, but it seems OK now. The supplied ethernet cable looks like it's seen better days, so maybe bending the cable while I fiddled helped. Anyway. I did manage to get a wifi connection via some random network (one advantage of being up so high, I suppose :-) ) which was just about usable for e-mail, but painfully slow even for that. Still, it's good to have a backup.
The flight over was OK. From the airport to here was a mixed bag.
Customs here is very odd, unless I've forgotten a similar experience elsewhere. Unlike the Brazilian form, the form you fill in on the plane here seems logical and sensible and defines what you need to declare. My remaining coffee, chocolate and Polos didn't seem to need declaring, so I didn't. When I got to customs, it turns out that regardless of your answers (none of this 'something to declare/nothing to declare' channel system as in the UK, and in Brazil too) you are expected to put your own bags on some sort of X-ray-looking machine, then (although I didn't know this) you hand your form to someone at the output end of the machine. While hanging around trying to figure out WTF was going on, I spotted a customs official, showed him my coffee and asked if I had to declare it and he said yes. So I filled in a new form, put my stuff through the X-ray machine and showed my coffee, chocolate and Polos to the customs officer on the far side, who seemed a bit amused but let me go.
The knowledge is no use to me know, but I guess the lesson is that here in Chile you might as well err on the side of caution as it causes no extra hassle.
After being thrown off balance by that, I withdrew some cash (it was a struggle to remember the exchange rate, but my memory came through in the end - at CLP800 to the pound, approximately, I expect to improve my knowledge of large numbers in Spanish while I'm here) and fought my way through a throng of taxi drivers to try to get the bus into town. I actually found it OK, although there was a bit of confusion as there are two different buses and they share the same bus stop. Still, I got on and it cost less than two quid into the centre of town, then less than a quid for a short trip on the metro to where the hotel is.
The metro seems OK but they seem a bit short on maps. The directions of the trains are indicated, as I guess is common in most places, by the names of the end stations. This would be fine except when the only maps you can see only show the centre of the network, so you don't know what the end station is called. I managed OK, but it did piss me off.
Oh, and THERE ARE NO ESCALATORS AND THEY HAVE STEPS ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE. Not much fun with a suitcase.
I knew roughly where the hotel was relative to the metro station but naturally I got lost, I felt like an idiot/obvious victim lugging my suitcase around and it was damn hot. But I found it and it all seems OK now. I am going to go out and get something to eat, I am going to take it fairly casually tonight and not worry about finding somewhere 'good' to go, I'll just see what happens.
Oh, there is a safe in the room for valuables, but it's very small. Fortunately, my netbook *just* fits through the door, although there's a bit of a knack to it. (Once you get it inside, it will even stand on its edge at the far end, so there's plenty of space for other stuff, not that I need it.) I don't think anything normal-sized, no matter how thin it might be, would fit in there.
Final note - not doing fantastically with the language, but I do feel slightly less helpless than in Brazil. However, I keep ending conversations with "obrigado" instead of "gracias". At least it broke the ice a little bit with the 'hotel' reception staff. I guess I need a bit of time to get back into the swing of things and stop trying to use Portuguese.
I'm on the 18th floor so the view is fairly good, although only because I like that kind of thing and it's a bit of a novelty. I will take some photos later.
I just got the internet access working here; it's a wired connection to a cable modem. For ages it wasn't working and I have no idea why, but it seems OK now. The supplied ethernet cable looks like it's seen better days, so maybe bending the cable while I fiddled helped. Anyway. I did manage to get a wifi connection via some random network (one advantage of being up so high, I suppose :-) ) which was just about usable for e-mail, but painfully slow even for that. Still, it's good to have a backup.
The flight over was OK. From the airport to here was a mixed bag.
Customs here is very odd, unless I've forgotten a similar experience elsewhere. Unlike the Brazilian form, the form you fill in on the plane here seems logical and sensible and defines what you need to declare. My remaining coffee, chocolate and Polos didn't seem to need declaring, so I didn't. When I got to customs, it turns out that regardless of your answers (none of this 'something to declare/nothing to declare' channel system as in the UK, and in Brazil too) you are expected to put your own bags on some sort of X-ray-looking machine, then (although I didn't know this) you hand your form to someone at the output end of the machine. While hanging around trying to figure out WTF was going on, I spotted a customs official, showed him my coffee and asked if I had to declare it and he said yes. So I filled in a new form, put my stuff through the X-ray machine and showed my coffee, chocolate and Polos to the customs officer on the far side, who seemed a bit amused but let me go.
The knowledge is no use to me know, but I guess the lesson is that here in Chile you might as well err on the side of caution as it causes no extra hassle.
After being thrown off balance by that, I withdrew some cash (it was a struggle to remember the exchange rate, but my memory came through in the end - at CLP800 to the pound, approximately, I expect to improve my knowledge of large numbers in Spanish while I'm here) and fought my way through a throng of taxi drivers to try to get the bus into town. I actually found it OK, although there was a bit of confusion as there are two different buses and they share the same bus stop. Still, I got on and it cost less than two quid into the centre of town, then less than a quid for a short trip on the metro to where the hotel is.
The metro seems OK but they seem a bit short on maps. The directions of the trains are indicated, as I guess is common in most places, by the names of the end stations. This would be fine except when the only maps you can see only show the centre of the network, so you don't know what the end station is called. I managed OK, but it did piss me off.
Oh, and THERE ARE NO ESCALATORS AND THEY HAVE STEPS ABSOLUTELY EVERYWHERE. Not much fun with a suitcase.
I knew roughly where the hotel was relative to the metro station but naturally I got lost, I felt like an idiot/obvious victim lugging my suitcase around and it was damn hot. But I found it and it all seems OK now. I am going to go out and get something to eat, I am going to take it fairly casually tonight and not worry about finding somewhere 'good' to go, I'll just see what happens.
Oh, there is a safe in the room for valuables, but it's very small. Fortunately, my netbook *just* fits through the door, although there's a bit of a knack to it. (Once you get it inside, it will even stand on its edge at the far end, so there's plenty of space for other stuff, not that I need it.) I don't think anything normal-sized, no matter how thin it might be, would fit in there.
Final note - not doing fantastically with the language, but I do feel slightly less helpless than in Brazil. However, I keep ending conversations with "obrigado" instead of "gracias". At least it broke the ice a little bit with the 'hotel' reception staff. I guess I need a bit of time to get back into the swing of things and stop trying to use Portuguese.
Wafflings from Guarulhos
Got though check-in, security and passport control no problem, as I hoped they didn't fuss about my crumpled and slightly ripped immigration card. Having a beer near the gate now, it's an hour and a half 'til nominal boarding time (a complete fiction, I expect) and two and a half til the flight goes.
I was wandering around trying to find a shop for last-minute souvenirs and as I passed some completely innocuous-looking point a guy waved me back. He said something to me, probably in Portuguese, which I didn't understand although I thought I heard the word 'fecha', which is Spanish and probably Portuguese for 'date' if memory serves. But that would make no sense, so I probably didn't or it doesn't.
Oh well, I can live without last-minute souvenirs. I bought a pencil at the modern art museum in Parque Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, which will suffice for me, and everyone else is out of luck.
I just hope by coming to this bar I haven't accidentally exited the controlled area. (I did that at Mexico City airport a couple of years ago, it's incredibly confusing there. I went through the same security checkpoint twice as a result.)
The beer here is a brand I haven't seen before (Eisenbahn). I had and have no complaints about Brazilian beer in general, but now I drink this I note it seems to have more taste than I'm used to. So it ought to at BRL13 for a large glass.
I have no idea what I'm paying to send these e-mails from my phone, but my pre-pay balance seems to be relatively stable so it doesn't seem excessive. And I know these 'live on the scene' posts add so much dynamism to the blog.
Getting up too early
This will be out of sequence as I wrote some stuff on my laptop last night but couldn't post it (no net access) while I'm writing this on my phone in a fit of expensive boredom. Executive summary is that I spent a quiet night at the Marriott near Guarulhos after flying back from Rio and am due to fly out to Santiago today.
I went to bed about half past midnight but took ages to drop off. The alarms started going off at 6 and I dragged myself out of bed by about quarter past. I woke to a confused idea that I had just bought a car and had to sort out parking for it as well as pay the hotel. It was a relief when reality reasserted itself.
I gulped down a hurried breakfast and it was only when I was at reception checking out at 7 that I realised the flight is at 11 not 10:25. The flight *out* of Santiago leaves at 10:25. I have no idea how I got confused yesterday. Oh well, I am running slightly behind my original schedule anyway (the 7am airport transfer bus appears to have been nonexistent) and it's only half an hour extra at the airport instead of in bed.
Tuesday 26 January 2010
A few random observations
Bar Getulio was shut when I ventured out, I don't know if because of the rain or because it's Monday. I went to Paraiso do Chopp and had quite a few beers (seven, to be precise, although they are fairly small). I don't feel particularly drunk, so it's an improvement on Sao Paulo. :-)
I wanted to make a few minor random observations, hence this post.
The toilet paper in the hotel has indentations which form the outlines of cute cartoon rabbits and hearts. I noticed this on my first day here but it escaped my notice again until now. I fully suspect this kind of thing exists in the UK, so I don't regard this as an observation except on human nature, but in a general way that sort of thing always strikes me as misplaced cuteness. I may be slightly misanthropic and I might eat meat, but I don't really want to wipe my bum with cute cartoon rabbits, given a choice. It reminds me unpleasantly of a comedy sketch (on Absolutely, maybe) where a guy pretended to wipe his arse on an Andrex-style puppy.
Also, when I wanted to pay on leaving the bar, I signalled a waiter about 5m away, so language issues were irrelevant. He held up a finger, clearly signalling "another beer?" and I waved my hands horizontally in a kind of "no" gesture then made the "scribble in the air" sign which, to misquote something from that Reeves & Mortimer comedy quiz show with Ulrika Jonsson that I can't remember the name of right now (oh yes, "Shooting Stars", wasn't it?), signifies "I want to pay" in the international language of the gesture. And it all went swimmingly. It amazes me that these things really do seem to work internationally. Admittedly the culture here is fairly Western, but still. I genuinely wonder if these things would work in India or China, for example. I would be impressed but not totally astonished to find they do.
I was re-reading Orwell's "Road to Wigan Pier" in the bar and it reminded me (I am not drawing any parallels, it just reminded me) of something else. When I did that Turismetro tour in Sao Paulo, the young woman (probably a university student) who was acting as assistant guide and my personal translator would intermittently call me "sir". At the end of the tour they gave us a "how was the tour?" form to fill in, and at the time I was vaguely tempted to say something (in person, not on the form) to her about how it wasn't necessary to call me "sir". But I resisted, I don't like to correct someone's language and it occurred to me that maybe an American would not find anything odd in that. (I don't mean anything offensive by that, I just have this idea that in some ways American English can be more formal than British, while being less formal in others.)
Then again, I know I do the same thing when I'm speaking a foreign language. Here especially I am continually calling people "senhor" (or however it's spelled) in an attempt to reduce the rudeness of my half-spoken-half-gesture Portuguese, and I do the same thing in Spanish, calling waitresses "senora" even if they're obviously half my age (although I think that may actually be subtly offensive, but you can't win really), and using the "usted" form with everyone as far as I can manage. I hope to pluck up courage not to do this so much once I start speaking Spanish to people again, but I'm always keen to avoid giving offense. But she spoke pretty good English so she had no need to do this, if there's ever any need in the first place.
Anyway, I must get to bed. Vague plans are to be up early for breakfast, nip out to the internet cafe round the corner to see if I can print the Santiago hotel confirmation, then pay the hotel and get over to the airport with far too much time to spare.
It annoys me that these blog posts are always marked with UK time, but I can't find any way to change that. It's nearly half past midnight here, for what it's worth, so I shouldn't be in bed too late.
I wanted to make a few minor random observations, hence this post.
The toilet paper in the hotel has indentations which form the outlines of cute cartoon rabbits and hearts. I noticed this on my first day here but it escaped my notice again until now. I fully suspect this kind of thing exists in the UK, so I don't regard this as an observation except on human nature, but in a general way that sort of thing always strikes me as misplaced cuteness. I may be slightly misanthropic and I might eat meat, but I don't really want to wipe my bum with cute cartoon rabbits, given a choice. It reminds me unpleasantly of a comedy sketch (on Absolutely, maybe) where a guy pretended to wipe his arse on an Andrex-style puppy.
Also, when I wanted to pay on leaving the bar, I signalled a waiter about 5m away, so language issues were irrelevant. He held up a finger, clearly signalling "another beer?" and I waved my hands horizontally in a kind of "no" gesture then made the "scribble in the air" sign which, to misquote something from that Reeves & Mortimer comedy quiz show with Ulrika Jonsson that I can't remember the name of right now (oh yes, "Shooting Stars", wasn't it?), signifies "I want to pay" in the international language of the gesture. And it all went swimmingly. It amazes me that these things really do seem to work internationally. Admittedly the culture here is fairly Western, but still. I genuinely wonder if these things would work in India or China, for example. I would be impressed but not totally astonished to find they do.
I was re-reading Orwell's "Road to Wigan Pier" in the bar and it reminded me (I am not drawing any parallels, it just reminded me) of something else. When I did that Turismetro tour in Sao Paulo, the young woman (probably a university student) who was acting as assistant guide and my personal translator would intermittently call me "sir". At the end of the tour they gave us a "how was the tour?" form to fill in, and at the time I was vaguely tempted to say something (in person, not on the form) to her about how it wasn't necessary to call me "sir". But I resisted, I don't like to correct someone's language and it occurred to me that maybe an American would not find anything odd in that. (I don't mean anything offensive by that, I just have this idea that in some ways American English can be more formal than British, while being less formal in others.)
Then again, I know I do the same thing when I'm speaking a foreign language. Here especially I am continually calling people "senhor" (or however it's spelled) in an attempt to reduce the rudeness of my half-spoken-half-gesture Portuguese, and I do the same thing in Spanish, calling waitresses "senora" even if they're obviously half my age (although I think that may actually be subtly offensive, but you can't win really), and using the "usted" form with everyone as far as I can manage. I hope to pluck up courage not to do this so much once I start speaking Spanish to people again, but I'm always keen to avoid giving offense. But she spoke pretty good English so she had no need to do this, if there's ever any need in the first place.
Anyway, I must get to bed. Vague plans are to be up early for breakfast, nip out to the internet cafe round the corner to see if I can print the Santiago hotel confirmation, then pay the hotel and get over to the airport with far too much time to spare.
It annoys me that these blog posts are always marked with UK time, but I can't find any way to change that. It's nearly half past midnight here, for what it's worth, so I shouldn't be in bed too late.
Monday 25 January 2010
Hotel in Puerto Williams sorted
New photos are still here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45804996@N03/
Just got an e-mail back from the manager there, so that was pretty quick. He says it's all OK, I will be happier when I've seen it on my electronic credit card statement but still. Just the flight payment to sort out and I almost home free with regard to Puerto Williams.
Just got an e-mail back from the manager there, so that was pretty quick. He says it's all OK, I will be happier when I've seen it on my electronic credit card statement but still. Just the flight payment to sort out and I almost home free with regard to Puerto Williams.
Last day in Rio
More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45804996@N03/
I got up a bit late but I got the metro from Catete to Cinelandia and after wandering around mapless for a bit, managed to find the tram station for the tram up to Santa Teresa.
The tram is extremely quaint and old-fashioned. Viewed less romantically, the line was built in 1975 according to the plaque at Estacao Carioca station and the trams still look like it. The amount of noise (a sort of loud groaning squeak) the trams make while running is amazing. The trams are single carriage vehicles with a pair of slightly too small looking wheels in the centre, giving the impression the thing might tip over if too many people stand at one end. There are no doors and some people do actually just stand on the footplate at the side and hang on with one hand.
But it was quite good fun, I'm just pointing out all these little curiosities. It's amazingly cheap as well - BRL0.60, compared to BRL2.80 for a single ticket on the metro and (judging from signs I've seen) a similar price on buses. I really don't know if anyone seriously uses it or it it's just for tourists, but maybe they do. I got off at the terminus (it turns out there are two different ones, but I didn't know and wouldn't have cared much if I had) and walked back, following the tram tracks. I had a large pizza at a restaurant on the way and found my way back to (probably) Curvelo station.
Partly out of laziness and partly as I had some recollection the metro ran over a narrow archway near the centre which I doubted I'd be allowed to walk along, I decided to get the tram back the rest of the way to the centre. There were quite a few other people waiting by the time it turned up, and they weren't obviously all tourists. (I guess most visitors will just do a complete round trip on the tram.) Three trams turned up, I couldn't get on the first two and I missed the chance to get on the third one, so I had to wait ages for another one to come along (I honestly think it was about 45 minutes or an hour, judging from the timestamps on my photos), and there were always a few (very few) people waiting to get on. So maybe some people do use it as a real means of transport. If they do, they must really hate the tourists for packing the thing out all the time. :-)
I had a quick couple of beers in the centre of Rio and then got the metro back to the hotel. It's started thundering and I suspect it is or will be pissing it down soon. I will hopefully be able to go out for a few beers at Bar Getulio later on. I can't really pack now anyway as most of the packing is taking my valuables out of the safe, and it seems stupid to do that then go out and leave them in my luggage.
There follow some miscellaneous observations which I should probably have scattered over my earlier posts, but WTF. I had time to marshal my thoughts today while waiting for the tram. :-)
I seem to have noticed quite a few women here with tattoos on their legs. I won't say it's exactly common, but it seems a lot more prevalent than I'm used to in London. I must admit I find it a bit naff, but anyway.
The taxis here don't seem to follow the obvious system of turning their 'taxi' light off when they're occupied, instead they (as far as I can tell; it's very hard to see, which is kind of the point of my objection) have a card in the window which says 'free' or 'occupied'.
The metro (based on admittedly only two journeys between two stations) here isn't as nice as in Sao Paulo, though it seems OK. The two stations I've seen are not all that obvious, there are markings above ground but they seem relatively discrete compared to tube stations in London. Maybe it's just because I'm not attuned to the local indicators.
In Sao Paulo, when you buy a single ticket for the metro, they give you a little rectangular card ticket which you put in the gate to enter, then it swallows it. You don't need to have any proof of purchase on the journey or to get out at the other end. Here in Rio it's similar, but (confusingly at first; I had to be helped by someone the first time I tried it today) when you buy a single, they give you a plastic card about the size of a credit card. There is a special slot on the machine which accepts it and swallows it, much like the paper tickets are in Sao Paulo. I think that's quite a clever system, the plastic cards can probably be re-used endlessly and they are probably harder to lose than paper tickets.
(As far as I'm aware there are pre-purchase and/or frequent use schemes for both metro systems, but I didn't need that here and although I just might have benefited in Sao Paulo where I used the metro nearly every day, I didn't want to get involved with anything that complex while I was struggling with the language.)
The hotel and airline for Puerto Williams still haven't got back to me to confirm my payments have gone through OK. Nor has the hotel in Punta Arenas replied to my submission on their web page asking about looking after my suitcase or about the late check in. (With those web page forms, I always suspect the message has got lost completely, but I don't think they gave an e-mail address and I guess you have to use the form if that's what they prefer.) Why is it so hard to give these people money?
I got up a bit late but I got the metro from Catete to Cinelandia and after wandering around mapless for a bit, managed to find the tram station for the tram up to Santa Teresa.
The tram is extremely quaint and old-fashioned. Viewed less romantically, the line was built in 1975 according to the plaque at Estacao Carioca station and the trams still look like it. The amount of noise (a sort of loud groaning squeak) the trams make while running is amazing. The trams are single carriage vehicles with a pair of slightly too small looking wheels in the centre, giving the impression the thing might tip over if too many people stand at one end. There are no doors and some people do actually just stand on the footplate at the side and hang on with one hand.
But it was quite good fun, I'm just pointing out all these little curiosities. It's amazingly cheap as well - BRL0.60, compared to BRL2.80 for a single ticket on the metro and (judging from signs I've seen) a similar price on buses. I really don't know if anyone seriously uses it or it it's just for tourists, but maybe they do. I got off at the terminus (it turns out there are two different ones, but I didn't know and wouldn't have cared much if I had) and walked back, following the tram tracks. I had a large pizza at a restaurant on the way and found my way back to (probably) Curvelo station.
Partly out of laziness and partly as I had some recollection the metro ran over a narrow archway near the centre which I doubted I'd be allowed to walk along, I decided to get the tram back the rest of the way to the centre. There were quite a few other people waiting by the time it turned up, and they weren't obviously all tourists. (I guess most visitors will just do a complete round trip on the tram.) Three trams turned up, I couldn't get on the first two and I missed the chance to get on the third one, so I had to wait ages for another one to come along (I honestly think it was about 45 minutes or an hour, judging from the timestamps on my photos), and there were always a few (very few) people waiting to get on. So maybe some people do use it as a real means of transport. If they do, they must really hate the tourists for packing the thing out all the time. :-)
I had a quick couple of beers in the centre of Rio and then got the metro back to the hotel. It's started thundering and I suspect it is or will be pissing it down soon. I will hopefully be able to go out for a few beers at Bar Getulio later on. I can't really pack now anyway as most of the packing is taking my valuables out of the safe, and it seems stupid to do that then go out and leave them in my luggage.
There follow some miscellaneous observations which I should probably have scattered over my earlier posts, but WTF. I had time to marshal my thoughts today while waiting for the tram. :-)
I seem to have noticed quite a few women here with tattoos on their legs. I won't say it's exactly common, but it seems a lot more prevalent than I'm used to in London. I must admit I find it a bit naff, but anyway.
The taxis here don't seem to follow the obvious system of turning their 'taxi' light off when they're occupied, instead they (as far as I can tell; it's very hard to see, which is kind of the point of my objection) have a card in the window which says 'free' or 'occupied'.
The metro (based on admittedly only two journeys between two stations) here isn't as nice as in Sao Paulo, though it seems OK. The two stations I've seen are not all that obvious, there are markings above ground but they seem relatively discrete compared to tube stations in London. Maybe it's just because I'm not attuned to the local indicators.
In Sao Paulo, when you buy a single ticket for the metro, they give you a little rectangular card ticket which you put in the gate to enter, then it swallows it. You don't need to have any proof of purchase on the journey or to get out at the other end. Here in Rio it's similar, but (confusingly at first; I had to be helped by someone the first time I tried it today) when you buy a single, they give you a plastic card about the size of a credit card. There is a special slot on the machine which accepts it and swallows it, much like the paper tickets are in Sao Paulo. I think that's quite a clever system, the plastic cards can probably be re-used endlessly and they are probably harder to lose than paper tickets.
(As far as I'm aware there are pre-purchase and/or frequent use schemes for both metro systems, but I didn't need that here and although I just might have benefited in Sao Paulo where I used the metro nearly every day, I didn't want to get involved with anything that complex while I was struggling with the language.)
The hotel and airline for Puerto Williams still haven't got back to me to confirm my payments have gone through OK. Nor has the hotel in Punta Arenas replied to my submission on their web page asking about looking after my suitcase or about the late check in. (With those web page forms, I always suspect the message has got lost completely, but I don't think they gave an e-mail address and I guess you have to use the form if that's what they prefer.) Why is it so hard to give these people money?
Mostly about the future
More photos here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45804996@N03/
I got up insanely late (about 1pm) and decided not to go to Santa Teresa; the guide book implied it's slightly safer in the area around the tram stop to go up there during the week, and although I am starting to get a bit sick of that kind of advice, I couldn't see any pressing reason to go today instead of tomorrow.
Instead I went for a walk along the beach in Flamengo, i.e. a couple of minutes from the hotel. This is where I went on my first day here but this time I took a camera, it didn't start raining and I walked a considerable distance, all the way along the beach to the end, then back and continued round towards Marina da Gloria, then retracted my steps back to the hotel.
Pretty nice views, the inevitable SLM featuring prominently in the view from the beach as you can see from the new photos.
Afterwards I had something to eat and a single beer at Bar Getulio, then it started to spit and they insisted on my paying up. I could have stayed, but I'd already said I needed to have a quiet night in and try to sort out more of the rest of the trip.
Torres del Paine was the big piece of the puzzle to try to fit in. And, yet again, having tried to investigate it further, it just seems impossibly complex. I found one hotel which was on-line bookable for precisely two days when I could vaguely have been there (something like the first Monday and Tuesday in February, although - note to self - if I decide to come back to this, don't take those dates as correct), even if it cost getting on for £200/night and apparently isn't that nice.
But I then fell at the hurdle of getting to the hotel. As noted before, the park is enormous (242,242 hectares) and I doubt it's well supplied with taxis. The various web sites that describe the park seem to consider a dynamite travel tip to be something like "fly to Punta Arenas, then take a bus". Getting to the park in the general sense is not rocket science, there are a number of buses from Puerto Natales which get there in 2-3 hours. But how to get from any of the places the bus would go to to the hotel is a mystery. My 2005-era Chile guide book which, to be honest, I rather distrust (I bought it a few months ago, it just happens to be that old) says there is a minibus from the administration centre of the park to the overpriced hotel I could have got a room at. But they give no contact details and I can find not a single shred of evidence online or in my other guide book that this minibus also exists.
So to be honest, this just seems too far off the beaten track. The whole place seems so oriented towards camping and hiking types that unless I have a very clear idea as to how to get to the hotel, I could visualise myself being stranded at the park entrance with no camping gear, no way to get to my hotel and no way to get back to the relative civilisation of Puerto Natales. I'm sure someone would help me out somehow, but really, this is pushing things a bit too far. Unless I have a major change of heart, I'll probably go to Puerto Natales and do a bus tour of 'the more easily accessible parts', as the Chile guide rather sneeringly puts it. (Neither guide is nominally aimed at hiking/camping types, so why they concentrate so exclusively on that aspect of the thing I don't know. It's clearly possible to stay in the park without actually camping, if only you knew how to get there.)
If I could drive then I think hiring a car would be the idea solution, but I can't, so it's not.
I have found a possible hotel in Punta Arenas, but because I want to check that they will look after my suitcase while I'm away in Puerto Williams and because I will be checking in very late when I return, I've had to e-mail them first rather than just booking. I hope they will get back to me tomorrow. If not, the only consolation is that there doesn't appear to be an enormous rush on hotel rooms in Punta Arenas at the time I want to go.
After much thought I am going to stay in Santiago for six nights and I've booked what looks like an extremely good deal at about £31/night. I'm not exactly running out of money but I do need to economise a bit where possible. In any case, while I'm not exactly pretending to be a backpacker, the plan was also not to stay in luxury hotels all the time either. Judging from reviews on places like tripadvisor.com the place I've booked is actually fairly nice. It's supposed to have free wi-fi too, which is always valuable. I am not certain, but I think it may be a very high-rise building right in the centre of Santiago, so maybe I will get some good views.
The plan after that is to fly down to Punta Arenas (£480-ish for a return, it's daylight robbery for a 4h-ish flight) and flit between there and Puerto Natales (for the Torres del Paine park tour) prior to getting the flight out to Puerto Williams. I half feel I may end up not spending as much 'quality' time (i.e. time when I haven't just arrived and/or have to leave the next day) as I would like in either Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales, but on the other hand what with the Puerto Williams trip and so on, I will have spent almost exactly two weeks in various parts of (extremely) southern Chile by the time I return to Santiago, and it seems silly to 'waste' more time down there when I only have 9 weeks for the whole country, and ideally bits of Peru and Bolivia as well.
I should have said this the day I went, but I was too hacked off so I'll waffle now. The statue of Christ the Redeemer is fairly impressive. I have to say it looked rather small when I saw it from the plane flying in, but in hindsight the mere fact that you can clearly see it from the ground miles away and the plane suggests just how big it really is, for a statue. Standing at the base of the thing and tilting my head right back to see the top gave me a slight feeling of vertigo, the sort of thing I've had before when standing on the deck of a sailing ship and looking up at the crow's nest. But I think the views from the top of Corcovado are the real highlight, the statue is just a bit of a bonus.
I am up insanely late and I was hoping to be up for breakfast tomorrow, or failing that by about 10am, so I'd better clear off now.
I got up insanely late (about 1pm) and decided not to go to Santa Teresa; the guide book implied it's slightly safer in the area around the tram stop to go up there during the week, and although I am starting to get a bit sick of that kind of advice, I couldn't see any pressing reason to go today instead of tomorrow.
Instead I went for a walk along the beach in Flamengo, i.e. a couple of minutes from the hotel. This is where I went on my first day here but this time I took a camera, it didn't start raining and I walked a considerable distance, all the way along the beach to the end, then back and continued round towards Marina da Gloria, then retracted my steps back to the hotel.
Pretty nice views, the inevitable SLM featuring prominently in the view from the beach as you can see from the new photos.
Afterwards I had something to eat and a single beer at Bar Getulio, then it started to spit and they insisted on my paying up. I could have stayed, but I'd already said I needed to have a quiet night in and try to sort out more of the rest of the trip.
Torres del Paine was the big piece of the puzzle to try to fit in. And, yet again, having tried to investigate it further, it just seems impossibly complex. I found one hotel which was on-line bookable for precisely two days when I could vaguely have been there (something like the first Monday and Tuesday in February, although - note to self - if I decide to come back to this, don't take those dates as correct), even if it cost getting on for £200/night and apparently isn't that nice.
But I then fell at the hurdle of getting to the hotel. As noted before, the park is enormous (242,242 hectares) and I doubt it's well supplied with taxis. The various web sites that describe the park seem to consider a dynamite travel tip to be something like "fly to Punta Arenas, then take a bus". Getting to the park in the general sense is not rocket science, there are a number of buses from Puerto Natales which get there in 2-3 hours. But how to get from any of the places the bus would go to to the hotel is a mystery. My 2005-era Chile guide book which, to be honest, I rather distrust (I bought it a few months ago, it just happens to be that old) says there is a minibus from the administration centre of the park to the overpriced hotel I could have got a room at. But they give no contact details and I can find not a single shred of evidence online or in my other guide book that this minibus also exists.
So to be honest, this just seems too far off the beaten track. The whole place seems so oriented towards camping and hiking types that unless I have a very clear idea as to how to get to the hotel, I could visualise myself being stranded at the park entrance with no camping gear, no way to get to my hotel and no way to get back to the relative civilisation of Puerto Natales. I'm sure someone would help me out somehow, but really, this is pushing things a bit too far. Unless I have a major change of heart, I'll probably go to Puerto Natales and do a bus tour of 'the more easily accessible parts', as the Chile guide rather sneeringly puts it. (Neither guide is nominally aimed at hiking/camping types, so why they concentrate so exclusively on that aspect of the thing I don't know. It's clearly possible to stay in the park without actually camping, if only you knew how to get there.)
If I could drive then I think hiring a car would be the idea solution, but I can't, so it's not.
I have found a possible hotel in Punta Arenas, but because I want to check that they will look after my suitcase while I'm away in Puerto Williams and because I will be checking in very late when I return, I've had to e-mail them first rather than just booking. I hope they will get back to me tomorrow. If not, the only consolation is that there doesn't appear to be an enormous rush on hotel rooms in Punta Arenas at the time I want to go.
After much thought I am going to stay in Santiago for six nights and I've booked what looks like an extremely good deal at about £31/night. I'm not exactly running out of money but I do need to economise a bit where possible. In any case, while I'm not exactly pretending to be a backpacker, the plan was also not to stay in luxury hotels all the time either. Judging from reviews on places like tripadvisor.com the place I've booked is actually fairly nice. It's supposed to have free wi-fi too, which is always valuable. I am not certain, but I think it may be a very high-rise building right in the centre of Santiago, so maybe I will get some good views.
The plan after that is to fly down to Punta Arenas (£480-ish for a return, it's daylight robbery for a 4h-ish flight) and flit between there and Puerto Natales (for the Torres del Paine park tour) prior to getting the flight out to Puerto Williams. I half feel I may end up not spending as much 'quality' time (i.e. time when I haven't just arrived and/or have to leave the next day) as I would like in either Punta Arenas or Puerto Natales, but on the other hand what with the Puerto Williams trip and so on, I will have spent almost exactly two weeks in various parts of (extremely) southern Chile by the time I return to Santiago, and it seems silly to 'waste' more time down there when I only have 9 weeks for the whole country, and ideally bits of Peru and Bolivia as well.
I should have said this the day I went, but I was too hacked off so I'll waffle now. The statue of Christ the Redeemer is fairly impressive. I have to say it looked rather small when I saw it from the plane flying in, but in hindsight the mere fact that you can clearly see it from the ground miles away and the plane suggests just how big it really is, for a statue. Standing at the base of the thing and tilting my head right back to see the top gave me a slight feeling of vertigo, the sort of thing I've had before when standing on the deck of a sailing ship and looking up at the crow's nest. But I think the views from the top of Corcovado are the real highlight, the statue is just a bit of a bonus.
I am up insanely late and I was hoping to be up for breakfast tomorrow, or failing that by about 10am, so I'd better clear off now.
Sunday 24 January 2010
Ho hum
By sheer luck I stumbled across the street where Garota de Ipanema was shortly after leaving the restaurant, so I had a couple of beers there. I only wanted one, but just as I finished the first and was waiting to pay, they brought me another one. I'd like to say this was a blatant rip-off, but I did read somewhere that this is how some Brazilian bars work. (Not all of them though, by any means.) I made sure to ask to pay before I finished the second one. It wasn't exactly fantastic there but it was OK, and at least I can say I've been there if I should ever feel the desire to do so.
Afterwards, I sat on some sort of concrete cylinder, presumably intended as a seat, at the edge of the Ipanema beach walkway to watch the sunset. There wasn't much of one, it was clouded over rather badly and in fact there were intermittent flashes of lightning, although the downpour I therefore anticipated doesn't seem to have occurred yet. Still, it was quite cool to be sat there watching it get darker, and there was something vaguely hypnotic about the waves crashing onto the beach.
I was tempted to go back to the hotel before going on anywhere else, but I figured if it was going to rain (it didn't, but I figured it would) I'd be better off going straight on. I got a cab after a certain amount of wandering around and asked the driver to take me to some bar vaguely in the centre of the city which I'd seen mentioned in the guide book (Clan Cafe in Rua Cosme Velho, for the record). The first taxi driver I asked didn't know the street, even after I showed it him written down in case my pronunciation sucked (highly likely), but the second one did. When we got there (nearly ten quid later) the place seemed to be shut, in fact I am not even sure it exists any more. I must admit I didn't get out of the cab and check, but I told the driver the number and he looked out of the window and, as cynical as I can be, I can't see how he gained by telling me it was shut when it wasn't. The whole street looked pretty dead. (I did at least see a street sign and we were on the right street, so he definitely wasn't completely lying. :-) )
I asked him (this is simplifying, the linguistic difficulties were enormous of course) to take me to somewhere else he recommended. I think he wanted to take me back to Ipanema, where he'd picked me up, but I was determined not to go there. (I fear my "No!" in English when he said "Ipanema" was a touch harsh, but still.) I had a sort of recommendation for Melt in that area from a friend, but it would probably have been too early and to be quite honest I've decided the 'proper' nightlife here can get stuffed. Also, I knew Rua Cosme Velho was vaguely near my hotel, whereas Ipanema is (as I knew from going out there) nearly ten quid's worth of cab ride away, and the last thing I wanted to do was pay double that for a round trip to go to some pretentious shithole. If I'd wanted to go out for the night in Ipanema, I would have just stayed around there in the first place instead of trying to go somewhere else.
The cab driver took me to "Mamma Rosas" instead, which on arrival turned out to be essentially a restaurant and not a terribly fun or interesting place to sit in drinking on my own. I had a single beer there and got a cab back to the area where the hotel is, where (naturally) I went to my 'local', Bar Getulio. They seemed willing to serve me tonight and I passed a pleasant if not exceptional night there. I popped back into the hotel to pick up my copy of "The Music of Chance" so I could sit there reading a book instead of peering at my phone reading a book on there and looking like a total weirdo.
As I say, I've decided to give up on the nightlife here. I'm not that into clubs - call me an old fart, I think I've always been an old fart - and especially not in a country where I struggle badly with the language. I went to a sort of club in Cuernavaca, Mexico, back in 2007, when I probably spoke better Spanish than I do now, and it wasn't pleasant yelling over the din when trying to sort out settling the bill with the waiter. It may suck in a UK nightclub but at least you pay as you go and you know you can just walk out any time it suits you.
Yeah, there's more to nightlife than clubs. But the city is too large and even ignoring any safety aspects, it doesn't seem easy to find a good area to go to a decent bar in and listen to some music. I tried tonight and failed, and maybe I'll have another go on Monday, but I'm not optimistic. Maybe I won't even try on Monday, I haven't checked - I am being almost stupidly lax about keeping track of these things - but I think I am flying back to Sao Paulo on Tuesday, so the last thing I want is to be out late-ish miles from the hotel the night before. It's bad enough that I'll probably get accidentally drunk near the hotel, as happened last time.
I also badly need to sort out the next bit of the trip. Even if you take the Puerto Williams trip as sorted (and it isn't, due to payment glitches), I still don't have a hotel booked for Santiago when I arrive there on Wednesday, and in an only slightly less pressing sense I don't have anything sorted out except the Puerto Williams trip which isn't until mid-February, so there's a big gaping hole in my plans right there. Torres del Paine national park is vaguely insisting on shoving itself in there somewhere, but as previously waffled about at length, that just makes things more complicated since it's such an out of the way place to get to.
Given that I've already largely ditched any plans to have a great time in the evening here and that tomorrow's Sunday so it's probably fairly dead anyway, I am currently planning to try to get up at a reasonable hour tomorrow, do some tourist stuff during the day (maybe go to Santa Teresa, although it sounds a bit dodgy) and then spend the evening back at the hotel making plans for the next bit. I can imagine that losing out to my feeling that I ought to at least go and have a few beers tomorrow night, even if just round here, but maybe I'll be strong and resist. Most likely I will make a half-baked compromise, have a few beers and come back early-ish but slightly drunk and see what I can do. That's what happened in Sao Paulo, although I must admit things seem a bit more pressing now.
Still, all the Ipanema beach stuff etc today was fairly cool, so although I wish I knew exactly what I was going to do for the next few weeks and I still suspect I'm not having as great a time here as I ought to be, it's not going too badly.
Oh, I was going to stop, but I just have to repeat myself. I am so sick of being the dumb tourist who speaks only a few stock phrases of the language. Even at the 'local' tonight, the second time I ordered a beer, the staff seemed to ask all sorts of odd questions and I had no idea what was going on. In the end after a few gestures and broken phrases they just stopped asking me and served me anyway. I feel like a right moron. I can't wait to be the slightly less dumb tourist who can't speak the language properly but can at least have a go.
Afterwards, I sat on some sort of concrete cylinder, presumably intended as a seat, at the edge of the Ipanema beach walkway to watch the sunset. There wasn't much of one, it was clouded over rather badly and in fact there were intermittent flashes of lightning, although the downpour I therefore anticipated doesn't seem to have occurred yet. Still, it was quite cool to be sat there watching it get darker, and there was something vaguely hypnotic about the waves crashing onto the beach.
I was tempted to go back to the hotel before going on anywhere else, but I figured if it was going to rain (it didn't, but I figured it would) I'd be better off going straight on. I got a cab after a certain amount of wandering around and asked the driver to take me to some bar vaguely in the centre of the city which I'd seen mentioned in the guide book (Clan Cafe in Rua Cosme Velho, for the record). The first taxi driver I asked didn't know the street, even after I showed it him written down in case my pronunciation sucked (highly likely), but the second one did. When we got there (nearly ten quid later) the place seemed to be shut, in fact I am not even sure it exists any more. I must admit I didn't get out of the cab and check, but I told the driver the number and he looked out of the window and, as cynical as I can be, I can't see how he gained by telling me it was shut when it wasn't. The whole street looked pretty dead. (I did at least see a street sign and we were on the right street, so he definitely wasn't completely lying. :-) )
I asked him (this is simplifying, the linguistic difficulties were enormous of course) to take me to somewhere else he recommended. I think he wanted to take me back to Ipanema, where he'd picked me up, but I was determined not to go there. (I fear my "No!" in English when he said "Ipanema" was a touch harsh, but still.) I had a sort of recommendation for Melt in that area from a friend, but it would probably have been too early and to be quite honest I've decided the 'proper' nightlife here can get stuffed. Also, I knew Rua Cosme Velho was vaguely near my hotel, whereas Ipanema is (as I knew from going out there) nearly ten quid's worth of cab ride away, and the last thing I wanted to do was pay double that for a round trip to go to some pretentious shithole. If I'd wanted to go out for the night in Ipanema, I would have just stayed around there in the first place instead of trying to go somewhere else.
The cab driver took me to "Mamma Rosas" instead, which on arrival turned out to be essentially a restaurant and not a terribly fun or interesting place to sit in drinking on my own. I had a single beer there and got a cab back to the area where the hotel is, where (naturally) I went to my 'local', Bar Getulio. They seemed willing to serve me tonight and I passed a pleasant if not exceptional night there. I popped back into the hotel to pick up my copy of "The Music of Chance" so I could sit there reading a book instead of peering at my phone reading a book on there and looking like a total weirdo.
As I say, I've decided to give up on the nightlife here. I'm not that into clubs - call me an old fart, I think I've always been an old fart - and especially not in a country where I struggle badly with the language. I went to a sort of club in Cuernavaca, Mexico, back in 2007, when I probably spoke better Spanish than I do now, and it wasn't pleasant yelling over the din when trying to sort out settling the bill with the waiter. It may suck in a UK nightclub but at least you pay as you go and you know you can just walk out any time it suits you.
Yeah, there's more to nightlife than clubs. But the city is too large and even ignoring any safety aspects, it doesn't seem easy to find a good area to go to a decent bar in and listen to some music. I tried tonight and failed, and maybe I'll have another go on Monday, but I'm not optimistic. Maybe I won't even try on Monday, I haven't checked - I am being almost stupidly lax about keeping track of these things - but I think I am flying back to Sao Paulo on Tuesday, so the last thing I want is to be out late-ish miles from the hotel the night before. It's bad enough that I'll probably get accidentally drunk near the hotel, as happened last time.
I also badly need to sort out the next bit of the trip. Even if you take the Puerto Williams trip as sorted (and it isn't, due to payment glitches), I still don't have a hotel booked for Santiago when I arrive there on Wednesday, and in an only slightly less pressing sense I don't have anything sorted out except the Puerto Williams trip which isn't until mid-February, so there's a big gaping hole in my plans right there. Torres del Paine national park is vaguely insisting on shoving itself in there somewhere, but as previously waffled about at length, that just makes things more complicated since it's such an out of the way place to get to.
Given that I've already largely ditched any plans to have a great time in the evening here and that tomorrow's Sunday so it's probably fairly dead anyway, I am currently planning to try to get up at a reasonable hour tomorrow, do some tourist stuff during the day (maybe go to Santa Teresa, although it sounds a bit dodgy) and then spend the evening back at the hotel making plans for the next bit. I can imagine that losing out to my feeling that I ought to at least go and have a few beers tomorrow night, even if just round here, but maybe I'll be strong and resist. Most likely I will make a half-baked compromise, have a few beers and come back early-ish but slightly drunk and see what I can do. That's what happened in Sao Paulo, although I must admit things seem a bit more pressing now.
Still, all the Ipanema beach stuff etc today was fairly cool, so although I wish I knew exactly what I was going to do for the next few weeks and I still suspect I'm not having as great a time here as I ought to be, it's not going too badly.
Oh, I was going to stop, but I just have to repeat myself. I am so sick of being the dumb tourist who speaks only a few stock phrases of the language. Even at the 'local' tonight, the second time I ordered a beer, the staff seemed to ask all sorts of odd questions and I had no idea what was going on. In the end after a few gestures and broken phrases they just stopped asking me and served me anyway. I feel like a right moron. I can't wait to be the slightly less dumb tourist who can't speak the language properly but can at least have a go.
Saturday 23 January 2010
This is more like it
I feel I am pursuing a more traditional tourist itinerary at last. I got up very late and didn't leave the hotel until about 3, in part due to a small glitch in payment for the flight to Puerto Williams which I am sure I shall resolve imminently.
I then got a cab - about ten quid, mind - down to Mirante do Leblon, at the west end of Ipanema beach. Splendid views, many dull photographs taken, and I then walked the length of the beach along the - apparently - famously patterned beach-front path. Word has clearly got round about me and no one even attempted to molest me.
I am now stopping off for a late lunch at an apparently decent restaurant a couple of streets away from the beach. If I can find it, which I currently doubt, I may then go and allow myself to be ripped off by having a drink at Garota de Ipanema.
Whether that turns out to be possible or not, if my patience holds out I may stick around to watch the sunset - one of the 'must do' items in my guide book, plus I'm not sure I've ever actually watched a sunset before, so the operation has novelty value regardless of location.
I then got a cab - about ten quid, mind - down to Mirante do Leblon, at the west end of Ipanema beach. Splendid views, many dull photographs taken, and I then walked the length of the beach along the - apparently - famously patterned beach-front path. Word has clearly got round about me and no one even attempted to molest me.
I am now stopping off for a late lunch at an apparently decent restaurant a couple of streets away from the beach. If I can find it, which I currently doubt, I may then go and allow myself to be ripped off by having a drink at Garota de Ipanema.
Whether that turns out to be possible or not, if my patience holds out I may stick around to watch the sunset - one of the 'must do' items in my guide book, plus I'm not sure I've ever actually watched a sunset before, so the operation has novelty value regardless of location.
Rio photos uploaded
If you're gagging to see an amateur version of every photo of Rio you've already seen, I have a treat in store for you: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45804996@N03/sets/72157623140545025/
Esta bom
My cup of joy runneth over.
There were only two attempted muggings on the way back to the hotel, but I gave the guys a cold hard stare and they backed down, as Johnny Foreigner always does when confronted with the British Bulldog spirit.
If my luck holds out (for three more days, to be precise), then in a few years I shall be sat safely in a pub in London telling tales of how I wandered through the favelas and floored the local drug baron's minions with a swift uppercut when challenged. :-)
There were only two attempted muggings on the way back to the hotel, but I gave the guys a cold hard stare and they backed down, as Johnny Foreigner always does when confronted with the British Bulldog spirit.
If my luck holds out (for three more days, to be precise), then in a few years I shall be sat safely in a pub in London telling tales of how I wandered through the favelas and floored the local drug baron's minions with a swift uppercut when challenged. :-)
Serendipity to the rescue
I feel a lot better. Feeling a slight alcoholic mist rising and observing the bar was if anything busier than before, I ordered - with the aid of a helpful chap I take to be the manager, who spoke English - a very decent medium-rare steak with french fries and enough rice to feed a family for a week. I am now so stupefied with food and, I must admit, alcohol, that the admittedly unresolved Easter Island situation has receded into the hazy distance of tomorrow (or maybe even the day after that), and while I may not be partaking of the Rio nightlife as advertised, it's quite cool to be in this obscure locale at this time on a Friday night after all.
Clearly it was a good thing my 'local' was unreceptive, otherwise I would merely have had a few surly beers and gone to bed.
I will have to make an effort to indulge in the more conventional debaucheries offered by Copacabana and/or Ipanema tomorrow, but sufficient unto the day...
I doubt I will make it up in time for breakfast tomorrow, but since I doubt I will want to eat any more for at least a week, that is hardly a problem.
Maybe having a better time, maybe not
I figured I'd pop out of the hotel about 10pm (mostly because I'd probably have burst with suppressed irritation if I stayed there) and it was only spitting really. I sat at a table at what I can only call my local here and, despite an apparently promising interchange of hand gestures with a waiter when I got there, was politely ignored for five minutes, so I wandered off.
Currently in Paraiso do Chopp, or something like that. My naive Portuguese makes that out to be something like 'draught beer paradise', although I wouldn't put money on it. I only got here about 10:30 and it looked like it was shutting soon-ish, so I drank English-style by force of habit and am currently on my fourth small-ish beer. But people seem to keep wandering in, and there is a group of - I assume - rather drunk Brazilians singing at the table behind me, so maybe it isn't shutting that soon after all.
I probably won't stay that long anyway, it's nowhere I haven't been in the day but it's just far enough from the hotel (a good three minutes' walk, maybe even five) that it makes me a bit nervous after dark. What with Rio being such an INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS PLACE and all. I'll go to Afghanistan for my next holiday, it's probably safer.
Still not exactly what I anticipated my nights here being like but then life is full of surprises.
Friday 22 January 2010
I thought I was having fun, but now I'm not so sure
I was all set to write a pretty positive entry. The tour was generally OK, it ticked off most of the 'must see' boxes and the views from (and trip up/down) the Sugar Loaf Mountain and the mountain with the statue of Christ the Redeemer at the top, whatever it's called, probably deserve to be called fantastic.
It wasn't quite such a rip off as I suspected either, what with lunch and the trips up/down the above two, it was more like BRL100 for the convenience of being taken around by bus and having the guide, which is not cheap but not too bad I guess. Plus it did mean I saw the cathedral (which from the outside looked pretty much how I'd always imagined the Ministry of Love in 1984, to be quite honest) and the outside of Maracana football stadium, the latter of which I would never normally have bothered with. But yes, it is very very big, as far as I'm any judge of stadiums.
I took a load of pictures but some obscure problem is preventing me from easily uploading stuff to flickr. I have painfully uploaded the last lot of Sao Paulo photos and you can see them here if you are particularly bored: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45804996@N03
I got back to the hotel after the tour about 6pm and had to go through all the usual rigmarole to get cash before I could do anything else, since the tour today just about wiped me out. It started to rain while I was out and just the last couple of minutes before I got back to the hotel it really started to piss down and I got soaked.
I checked my e-mail when I got back with the case. I had an e-mail from the hotel booking place re Easter Island - no rooms available. And I've now had a look on the web at places which have the wit to offer immediate confirmation and no hotel at all seems to have any rooms at the time that it suited me so conveniently to go. So I either start e-mailing the more dodgy looking options in my guide book on the off-chance, or I have to somehow fit it in some other time, or just decide I can't be bothered with the place. I was so chuffed that I thought I had it sorted and could just not worry about that bit of the trip any more.
I think that's what's really got on my nerves. The rain and the fact that it's Friday night (night 3 of 6 here, too) and I have no idea what to do is just an added irritation. If the Easter Island crap hadn't come up I'd probably have shrugged off the Friday night stuff and the rain. I mean, if I hadn't done the tour I would have found somewhere to go tonight much earlier, but I decided to do the tour and it was probably the best option, even if it did mess me about for tonight.
The tour guide today suggested the Lapa area would be a good place to go tonight. I suppose he must know what he's talking about, but every reference I find to it on the web implies it's a bit dodgy. I had hoped to go during the last bit of daylight, but (although it would have been pushing it anyway) the rain stopped any chance of that. Even if I decide to trust what the guide told me today, I don't much fancy walking around the area in the rain not knowing where I'm going. I can see myself ending up at the same crappy local bar I've been to the last two nights. Party on, dude. :-)
You know, I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't feel that I was supposed to be having a much better time than this. I just don't seem to be very good at it.
I'm starting to think ignorance really is bliss. If everything I read didn't keep harping on about how bloody dangerous everything is here I'm sure I'd just go out and be absolutely fine.
None of it makes sense anyway. You're not supposed to go into the centre at the weekend as it's deserted because the locals aren't around. That is at least superficially plausible. But then, they say the same about Copacabana - so clearly the locals don't go there at the weekend. So when do they go? During their lunch breaks? If they never go at all, why is the weekend any different from during the week?
But Ipanema, literally just down the road from Copacabana, is apparently *the* place to be seen on Sunday if you're part of the smart set and no one says not to go there at the weekend.
I can't help but think a lot of these people are making it up as they go along.
So, yeah, anyway. Having a great time, weather's fantastic, much better than London! Wish you were here!
It wasn't quite such a rip off as I suspected either, what with lunch and the trips up/down the above two, it was more like BRL100 for the convenience of being taken around by bus and having the guide, which is not cheap but not too bad I guess. Plus it did mean I saw the cathedral (which from the outside looked pretty much how I'd always imagined the Ministry of Love in 1984, to be quite honest) and the outside of Maracana football stadium, the latter of which I would never normally have bothered with. But yes, it is very very big, as far as I'm any judge of stadiums.
I took a load of pictures but some obscure problem is preventing me from easily uploading stuff to flickr. I have painfully uploaded the last lot of Sao Paulo photos and you can see them here if you are particularly bored: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45804996@N03
I got back to the hotel after the tour about 6pm and had to go through all the usual rigmarole to get cash before I could do anything else, since the tour today just about wiped me out. It started to rain while I was out and just the last couple of minutes before I got back to the hotel it really started to piss down and I got soaked.
I checked my e-mail when I got back with the case. I had an e-mail from the hotel booking place re Easter Island - no rooms available. And I've now had a look on the web at places which have the wit to offer immediate confirmation and no hotel at all seems to have any rooms at the time that it suited me so conveniently to go. So I either start e-mailing the more dodgy looking options in my guide book on the off-chance, or I have to somehow fit it in some other time, or just decide I can't be bothered with the place. I was so chuffed that I thought I had it sorted and could just not worry about that bit of the trip any more.
I think that's what's really got on my nerves. The rain and the fact that it's Friday night (night 3 of 6 here, too) and I have no idea what to do is just an added irritation. If the Easter Island crap hadn't come up I'd probably have shrugged off the Friday night stuff and the rain. I mean, if I hadn't done the tour I would have found somewhere to go tonight much earlier, but I decided to do the tour and it was probably the best option, even if it did mess me about for tonight.
The tour guide today suggested the Lapa area would be a good place to go tonight. I suppose he must know what he's talking about, but every reference I find to it on the web implies it's a bit dodgy. I had hoped to go during the last bit of daylight, but (although it would have been pushing it anyway) the rain stopped any chance of that. Even if I decide to trust what the guide told me today, I don't much fancy walking around the area in the rain not knowing where I'm going. I can see myself ending up at the same crappy local bar I've been to the last two nights. Party on, dude. :-)
You know, I wouldn't mind so much if I didn't feel that I was supposed to be having a much better time than this. I just don't seem to be very good at it.
I'm starting to think ignorance really is bliss. If everything I read didn't keep harping on about how bloody dangerous everything is here I'm sure I'd just go out and be absolutely fine.
None of it makes sense anyway. You're not supposed to go into the centre at the weekend as it's deserted because the locals aren't around. That is at least superficially plausible. But then, they say the same about Copacabana - so clearly the locals don't go there at the weekend. So when do they go? During their lunch breaks? If they never go at all, why is the weekend any different from during the week?
But Ipanema, literally just down the road from Copacabana, is apparently *the* place to be seen on Sunday if you're part of the smart set and no one says not to go there at the weekend.
I can't help but think a lot of these people are making it up as they go along.
So, yeah, anyway. Having a great time, weather's fantastic, much better than London! Wish you were here!
Last day in Sao Paulo, for the sake of completeness
I was going to post some pictures, but they don't seem to be uploading OK. I suspect something odd about the internet service here. I will stick them on later, nothing particularly exciting.
I went to the MASP (Museo do Arte de Sao Paulo, or something like that) on the last day I was there. By a stroke of luck it was free to get in. As an additional bonus, I was able to observe the mandatory farce of obtaining a ticket for free from the fully-staffed ticket office and having it checked by the lift attendant before being allowed into the building. Ah, bureaucracy.
The museum was quite interesting, on the ground floor they had a number of exhibitions which I can only describe as 'emulated urban decay and graffiti', which were nowhere near as wankily pretentious as I might be making them sound. No photos allowed, for better or worse.
And after that I packed, then went and got accidentally and stupidly drunk (given I was checking out the next day) at a local bar, as I believe I already mentioned.
I went to the MASP (Museo do Arte de Sao Paulo, or something like that) on the last day I was there. By a stroke of luck it was free to get in. As an additional bonus, I was able to observe the mandatory farce of obtaining a ticket for free from the fully-staffed ticket office and having it checked by the lift attendant before being allowed into the building. Ah, bureaucracy.
The museum was quite interesting, on the ground floor they had a number of exhibitions which I can only describe as 'emulated urban decay and graffiti', which were nowhere near as wankily pretentious as I might be making them sound. No photos allowed, for better or worse.
And after that I packed, then went and got accidentally and stupidly drunk (given I was checking out the next day) at a local bar, as I believe I already mentioned.
An exciting night in Rio
I got internet access at the hotel, eventually. I've living la vida now all right...
Extremely nitpicky whinging follows.
As planned, tonight I just went for a few beers at the bar I went to last night, round the corner from the hotel. I now realise it's apparently named after the Brazilian president who shot himself, which is vaguely appropriate as it's right opposite the palace where he did it.
I just can't seem to relax here. Early on some bugger dumped about 5 peanuts on the table on a tiny square of paper, and did the same to everyone else. Obviously, this is some sort of scam where he comes back later and tries to get money off you on the grounds that either he gave you a present, or that you didn't refuse them and ought to pay. (Being the seasoned traveller and world-class worrier that I am, I recognise the trick from Seville cathedral, where they do it with flowers.) So I sat there half waiting for him to come back round and expecting an argument which I was bound to lose since he speaks the language and I don't. Happily, I stumbled across the Portuguese for "I am allergic to peanuts" in my phrasebook (although it omitted the ideal addition "are you trying to kill me, you murdering bastard?"). He must have decided I looked like a tightarsed git as he never came back to me, although I think I saw him speaking to some other people. The peanuts are probably still sat on the table now.
Then the little slip of paper they leave on the table which keeps track of what drinks you've had blew away. I explained to the waiter with much gesturing and although he seemed a bit hacked off he gave me a replacement and (I think) told me to look after it. So I had to keep putting it in my pocket and dredging it out every time I wanted another drink.
Then after I'd asked to pay and handed the replacement paper to one waiter, another came over and clearly misinterpreted my gestures. I defy anyone to explain "I have already asked the other guy if I can pay, I don't want another drink" in gestures. I think even Lionel Blair or Una Stubbs would struggle. So I ended up with another beer which I didn't want, although to be fair I didn't particularly mind, and a bill for one less beer than I'd been served with. Being an honest sort of chap - and also not wanting to have to avoid that bar for the rest of my time here - I felt I should indicate this. It took me ages to get the attention of a waiter and explain, although to give us both some credit, I explained tolerably well this time and he seemed to understand me.
I know these are just the minor niggles you get all the time and I should surf right over them and enjoy myself, but most of the time I was sat there it felt like I was just waiting for the next problem to occur.
I've signed up for the full day tour tomorrow, it starts at 8:15 at the hotel (joy). The receptionist guy was quite helpful about it up until the point when I asked if I had to register for it and he said yes, and that he would be at the desk until 11pm but after that would be gone. So I asked if I could register there and then. And he didn't seem happy about it, although after I asked about three times he reluctantly went ahead and did it.
The tour costs BRL210, which is about £70. That seems vaguely extortionate, although it may include lunch and all necessary tickets - I hope so, as I only have a few quid more than the cost of the tour on me - but you can't put a price on the peace of mind of getting all the obligatory tourist stuff out of the way.
Yeah, yeah, I'm a whinging git and I should be counting myself lucky to have the opportunity to be here, etc etc.
Extremely nitpicky whinging follows.
As planned, tonight I just went for a few beers at the bar I went to last night, round the corner from the hotel. I now realise it's apparently named after the Brazilian president who shot himself, which is vaguely appropriate as it's right opposite the palace where he did it.
I just can't seem to relax here. Early on some bugger dumped about 5 peanuts on the table on a tiny square of paper, and did the same to everyone else. Obviously, this is some sort of scam where he comes back later and tries to get money off you on the grounds that either he gave you a present, or that you didn't refuse them and ought to pay. (Being the seasoned traveller and world-class worrier that I am, I recognise the trick from Seville cathedral, where they do it with flowers.) So I sat there half waiting for him to come back round and expecting an argument which I was bound to lose since he speaks the language and I don't. Happily, I stumbled across the Portuguese for "I am allergic to peanuts" in my phrasebook (although it omitted the ideal addition "are you trying to kill me, you murdering bastard?"). He must have decided I looked like a tightarsed git as he never came back to me, although I think I saw him speaking to some other people. The peanuts are probably still sat on the table now.
Then the little slip of paper they leave on the table which keeps track of what drinks you've had blew away. I explained to the waiter with much gesturing and although he seemed a bit hacked off he gave me a replacement and (I think) told me to look after it. So I had to keep putting it in my pocket and dredging it out every time I wanted another drink.
Then after I'd asked to pay and handed the replacement paper to one waiter, another came over and clearly misinterpreted my gestures. I defy anyone to explain "I have already asked the other guy if I can pay, I don't want another drink" in gestures. I think even Lionel Blair or Una Stubbs would struggle. So I ended up with another beer which I didn't want, although to be fair I didn't particularly mind, and a bill for one less beer than I'd been served with. Being an honest sort of chap - and also not wanting to have to avoid that bar for the rest of my time here - I felt I should indicate this. It took me ages to get the attention of a waiter and explain, although to give us both some credit, I explained tolerably well this time and he seemed to understand me.
I know these are just the minor niggles you get all the time and I should surf right over them and enjoy myself, but most of the time I was sat there it felt like I was just waiting for the next problem to occur.
I've signed up for the full day tour tomorrow, it starts at 8:15 at the hotel (joy). The receptionist guy was quite helpful about it up until the point when I asked if I had to register for it and he said yes, and that he would be at the desk until 11pm but after that would be gone. So I asked if I could register there and then. And he didn't seem happy about it, although after I asked about three times he reluctantly went ahead and did it.
The tour costs BRL210, which is about £70. That seems vaguely extortionate, although it may include lunch and all necessary tickets - I hope so, as I only have a few quid more than the cost of the tour on me - but you can't put a price on the peace of mind of getting all the obligatory tourist stuff out of the way.
Yeah, yeah, I'm a whinging git and I should be counting myself lucky to have the opportunity to be here, etc etc.
First full day in Rio
Well, still no internet access in the hotel. It's raining so I've come back to the hotel and figured I might as well write something even if I can't send it. Maybe that's even better than writing something and sending it. ;-) It's Thursday 21st January at about 5pm.
Didn't take my camera out with me today and rather wish I had. Still, I sometimes think - and I'm aware it's far from an original thought - that having a camera with you makes you look at stuff as 'things to be photographed' rather than 'things to see here and now'. So perhaps it was for the best after all.
I just looked in the guide book to check the places I went today and I notice that Santos Dumont airport is not on an island, at most it's on a peninsula and that might be stretching it. Not that important, but true.
It seems much hotter here than Sao Paulo, although I may be imagining it. It still rains though, as I've now discovered. I wandered around the small Parque do Catete after leaving the internet cafe this morning. Actually, that's skipping exciting stuff. I went back to the hotel to drop my credit card off and pick up my cash card, then spent half an hour or more walking around trying to find a bank that would accept it, then went back to the hotel to drop off the card and most of the cash, then went to Parque do Catete. And if that's sounds tedious, just imagine doing it. But I have to be careful of course. It says so in the guide book.
Anyway, the park was fairly pleasant if insanely hot. There is a small temporary-looking steel-and-net building in the park where an 'insects in Brazilian culture' exhibition is taking place. There were butterflies flapping around inside, I don't know how they stop them coming out when someone opens the door. I didn't go in as I suspect the organisers may have stretched themselves a little bit and included some spiders. :-)
I went into the Museo da Republica in the Palacio do Catete, which overlooks the park. It was apparently Brazil's presidential palace until 1954, which is surprising given how relatively small it seems. (Don't get me wrong, compared to, say, my old flat in London it was very large indeed. But by presidential palace standards, just a tiny bit cramped.) As promised in the guide book, on the top floor is the room, preserved as it was at the time, in which President Gertulio Vargas committed suicide. In a nicely ghoulish touch, they even have a glass case with the pajama top he was wearing at the time and the revolver he used. It wasn't totally clear but there appeared to be a hole in the pajama pocket. I couldn't resist wandering round to the back to see if I could see a corresponding exit hole, but I couldn't find it if it was there.
I also went into the Museo Folclorico Edson Carneiro next door, which to quote the guide book "displays Brazilian folk art with an emphasis on Bahian artists". That was a lot more interesting than it sounds, and I even go to go in twice, since I walked into the exit by mistake at first, wandered around the final exhibits and then got redirected by the security guard when I tried to go upstairs. That meant I got to be told it was free twice and sign the guest book twice. That has to be even better than simply being free.
I had the largest pizza on the menu and a diet Pepsi (got to watch my weight) for lunch then figured I ought to have a look at Flamengo beach. And I must admit it was pretty nice, with a good view of the Sugar Loaf Moutain (definitely the real one this time, as it had a cable car running up to the peak, and no one would bother doing that for an imitation) and the various islands and stuff which stop the view being just boring sea on the horizon.
From a slightly geekier pespective, Santos Dumont airport is just up at the north end of this beach and although I only saw one plane after it had already taken off, I imagine it's quite impressive watching things take off and land if you get up towards that end a bit more.
This is possibly the first non-UK beach I've ever seen from ground level. I won't say 'been on', since I didn't actually set foot on the sand. (I know full well if I had, I'd still be shaking sand out of my shoes this time next year.) And while the view was nice and all, I was slightly disappointed at just how, well, sand-like the sand was. It wouldn't have been out of place on a beach in the UK. None of this brilliant dazzling yellowness I had seen from the air and which you always seem to see in pictures. The sky was half overcast to be fair, although until it started to rain it was quite pleasant so I'm not sure that's any excuse. Similarly, the sea, while admittedly not looking grey and therefore beating the UK beaches I remember hands down, was a fairly unspectacular dark blue colour.
I will definitely go back there since I want to take some photos of the view and it's only a few minutes' walk from the hotel, so it will get a second chance to impress me with its dazzling colours.
I need to find out what time that all-day tour starts at and where it goes from, so I can try to get over there tomorrow morning. Lacking internet access (did I mention that already?), I will ask at reception and see if they know, since they did give me the leaflet. If I can find that out, I want/need to be up early-ish tomorrow, so the plan for tonight is to wait until it stops raining and just go have a few quiet beers round here then get an early-ish night.
Didn't take my camera out with me today and rather wish I had. Still, I sometimes think - and I'm aware it's far from an original thought - that having a camera with you makes you look at stuff as 'things to be photographed' rather than 'things to see here and now'. So perhaps it was for the best after all.
I just looked in the guide book to check the places I went today and I notice that Santos Dumont airport is not on an island, at most it's on a peninsula and that might be stretching it. Not that important, but true.
It seems much hotter here than Sao Paulo, although I may be imagining it. It still rains though, as I've now discovered. I wandered around the small Parque do Catete after leaving the internet cafe this morning. Actually, that's skipping exciting stuff. I went back to the hotel to drop my credit card off and pick up my cash card, then spent half an hour or more walking around trying to find a bank that would accept it, then went back to the hotel to drop off the card and most of the cash, then went to Parque do Catete. And if that's sounds tedious, just imagine doing it. But I have to be careful of course. It says so in the guide book.
Anyway, the park was fairly pleasant if insanely hot. There is a small temporary-looking steel-and-net building in the park where an 'insects in Brazilian culture' exhibition is taking place. There were butterflies flapping around inside, I don't know how they stop them coming out when someone opens the door. I didn't go in as I suspect the organisers may have stretched themselves a little bit and included some spiders. :-)
I went into the Museo da Republica in the Palacio do Catete, which overlooks the park. It was apparently Brazil's presidential palace until 1954, which is surprising given how relatively small it seems. (Don't get me wrong, compared to, say, my old flat in London it was very large indeed. But by presidential palace standards, just a tiny bit cramped.) As promised in the guide book, on the top floor is the room, preserved as it was at the time, in which President Gertulio Vargas committed suicide. In a nicely ghoulish touch, they even have a glass case with the pajama top he was wearing at the time and the revolver he used. It wasn't totally clear but there appeared to be a hole in the pajama pocket. I couldn't resist wandering round to the back to see if I could see a corresponding exit hole, but I couldn't find it if it was there.
I also went into the Museo Folclorico Edson Carneiro next door, which to quote the guide book "displays Brazilian folk art with an emphasis on Bahian artists". That was a lot more interesting than it sounds, and I even go to go in twice, since I walked into the exit by mistake at first, wandered around the final exhibits and then got redirected by the security guard when I tried to go upstairs. That meant I got to be told it was free twice and sign the guest book twice. That has to be even better than simply being free.
I had the largest pizza on the menu and a diet Pepsi (got to watch my weight) for lunch then figured I ought to have a look at Flamengo beach. And I must admit it was pretty nice, with a good view of the Sugar Loaf Moutain (definitely the real one this time, as it had a cable car running up to the peak, and no one would bother doing that for an imitation) and the various islands and stuff which stop the view being just boring sea on the horizon.
From a slightly geekier pespective, Santos Dumont airport is just up at the north end of this beach and although I only saw one plane after it had already taken off, I imagine it's quite impressive watching things take off and land if you get up towards that end a bit more.
This is possibly the first non-UK beach I've ever seen from ground level. I won't say 'been on', since I didn't actually set foot on the sand. (I know full well if I had, I'd still be shaking sand out of my shoes this time next year.) And while the view was nice and all, I was slightly disappointed at just how, well, sand-like the sand was. It wouldn't have been out of place on a beach in the UK. None of this brilliant dazzling yellowness I had seen from the air and which you always seem to see in pictures. The sky was half overcast to be fair, although until it started to rain it was quite pleasant so I'm not sure that's any excuse. Similarly, the sea, while admittedly not looking grey and therefore beating the UK beaches I remember hands down, was a fairly unspectacular dark blue colour.
I will definitely go back there since I want to take some photos of the view and it's only a few minutes' walk from the hotel, so it will get a second chance to impress me with its dazzling colours.
I need to find out what time that all-day tour starts at and where it goes from, so I can try to get over there tomorrow morning. Lacking internet access (did I mention that already?), I will ask at reception and see if they know, since they did give me the leaflet. If I can find that out, I want/need to be up early-ish tomorrow, so the plan for tonight is to wait until it stops raining and just go have a few quiet beers round here then get an early-ish night.
Thursday 21 January 2010
First day in Rio
I got here OK, no problems at all apart from the flight being cancelled and since I got put on an earlier one that was no problem there.
I saw the statue of Christ and Sugar Loaf Mountain as we were flying in. In fact I saw about four Sugar Loaf Mountains, maybe I'm just no expert but there doesn't really seem to be a shortage of 'lumpy' mountains around here.
The beaches were impressive from the air, I didn't realise just how bright they would appear. It was as if someone had outlined the coast with strip lights.
The landing at Santos Dumont was quite cool, the airport is on an island in the bay and it looks as though you're going to touch down on the water, then the runway appears under the plane just at the last second. I may have imagined it, but the deceleration on landing seemed sharper than usual, so maybe the runway is fairly short as well.
I asked at the tourist information desk about how to get to the hotel and the woman told me to go speak to the guy in the red shirt 'over there'. On my way over a guy in a yellow shirt tried to supply my taxi requirements, but fortunately my colour vision skills came to the rescue and I brusquely waved him off. The guy in red was indeed able to help me, although it took an impromptu conference of three guys in red before they could come to this conclusion.
Only BRL25 for the cab at each end of the flight, which wasn't too bad at all; I guess this is an advantage of using the smaller, more central airports for this flight.
The hotel is pretty nice, actually a bit too nice by my standards. I prefer cheap and cheerful. (Howeer, as blogged about at length earlier, the cheap and cheerful hotel I wanted to stay in - which is very near the one I'm actually staying in - kept replying to my e-mails by asking for the details I kept supplying in my e-mails, so I had to give up on them.) For probably the first time in my life I had a guy carry the bags to the room, even though I didn't want him to, so obviously I had to tip him, which I did very awkwardly. The room is air-conditioned, which is a plus, but on the downside you are explicitly prohibited from storing your own items in the room fridge (maybe wanting to do that makes me a cheapskate bastard, if so, then so be it) and the free internet access doesn't work, so I am writing this in an internet cafe. Apparently the whole hotel has no internet access, but I suspect it will never work for me due to the nature of the errors I get when I try. However, time will tell.
I think I have the flight out from Punta Arenas to Puerto Williams sorted, although I have not determined how to pay for it yet. Ditto for the hotel out there and the return trip on the ferry, except that I know how to pay for the ferry. So that little bit is actually nearly sorted.
I just submited a booking request for the hotel in Easter Island, if that goes through OK I will book the flight on expedia and that's another little bit sorted. The most pressing thing is actually booking a hotel for a week's time when I arrive in Santiago, and deciding what I will do between arriving and going down to Punta Arenas. But I will worry about that in a day or two.
I haven't done much here yet; I was knackered yesterday what with going to bed so late and geting up relatively early, plus the flights. I went out and got something to eat, had a few beers and went to bed about 8pm. That did mean I got up in time for breakfast, although what I most wanted was a cold drink and by the time I got down there most of the cold drinks had gone and the cheapskates hadn't refilled the jugs. There was plenty of cashew juice, which is a surprise - normally that's one of the more popular beverages... I didn't try it, I wanted my thirst quenched, not an adventure.
I had to come down here to the internet cafe today, primarily to update my blog because I'm such a narcissistic individual - I mean, because I had to check on the replies to e-mails I'd sent about the Puerto Williams flight and hotel.
The hotel gave me a leaflet for a local tour company who do a full day tour of Rio which covers all the main sights - primarily the statue of Christ and Sugar Loaf Mountain. So I think I will probably try to do that tomorrow or Saturday, that way I get all that must-do stuff out of the way and can start to enjoy myself. :-) It'll probably also be safer with a tour group, I may even decide to risk taking my camera with me.
Given that I will probably just stay in the area near the hotel today. There are a few museums according to the guide book and a small park, plus I may wander down to the beach near the hotel and at least take a look.
I saw the statue of Christ and Sugar Loaf Mountain as we were flying in. In fact I saw about four Sugar Loaf Mountains, maybe I'm just no expert but there doesn't really seem to be a shortage of 'lumpy' mountains around here.
The beaches were impressive from the air, I didn't realise just how bright they would appear. It was as if someone had outlined the coast with strip lights.
The landing at Santos Dumont was quite cool, the airport is on an island in the bay and it looks as though you're going to touch down on the water, then the runway appears under the plane just at the last second. I may have imagined it, but the deceleration on landing seemed sharper than usual, so maybe the runway is fairly short as well.
I asked at the tourist information desk about how to get to the hotel and the woman told me to go speak to the guy in the red shirt 'over there'. On my way over a guy in a yellow shirt tried to supply my taxi requirements, but fortunately my colour vision skills came to the rescue and I brusquely waved him off. The guy in red was indeed able to help me, although it took an impromptu conference of three guys in red before they could come to this conclusion.
Only BRL25 for the cab at each end of the flight, which wasn't too bad at all; I guess this is an advantage of using the smaller, more central airports for this flight.
The hotel is pretty nice, actually a bit too nice by my standards. I prefer cheap and cheerful. (Howeer, as blogged about at length earlier, the cheap and cheerful hotel I wanted to stay in - which is very near the one I'm actually staying in - kept replying to my e-mails by asking for the details I kept supplying in my e-mails, so I had to give up on them.) For probably the first time in my life I had a guy carry the bags to the room, even though I didn't want him to, so obviously I had to tip him, which I did very awkwardly. The room is air-conditioned, which is a plus, but on the downside you are explicitly prohibited from storing your own items in the room fridge (maybe wanting to do that makes me a cheapskate bastard, if so, then so be it) and the free internet access doesn't work, so I am writing this in an internet cafe. Apparently the whole hotel has no internet access, but I suspect it will never work for me due to the nature of the errors I get when I try. However, time will tell.
I think I have the flight out from Punta Arenas to Puerto Williams sorted, although I have not determined how to pay for it yet. Ditto for the hotel out there and the return trip on the ferry, except that I know how to pay for the ferry. So that little bit is actually nearly sorted.
I just submited a booking request for the hotel in Easter Island, if that goes through OK I will book the flight on expedia and that's another little bit sorted. The most pressing thing is actually booking a hotel for a week's time when I arrive in Santiago, and deciding what I will do between arriving and going down to Punta Arenas. But I will worry about that in a day or two.
I haven't done much here yet; I was knackered yesterday what with going to bed so late and geting up relatively early, plus the flights. I went out and got something to eat, had a few beers and went to bed about 8pm. That did mean I got up in time for breakfast, although what I most wanted was a cold drink and by the time I got down there most of the cold drinks had gone and the cheapskates hadn't refilled the jugs. There was plenty of cashew juice, which is a surprise - normally that's one of the more popular beverages... I didn't try it, I wanted my thirst quenched, not an adventure.
I had to come down here to the internet cafe today, primarily to update my blog because I'm such a narcissistic individual - I mean, because I had to check on the replies to e-mails I'd sent about the Puerto Williams flight and hotel.
The hotel gave me a leaflet for a local tour company who do a full day tour of Rio which covers all the main sights - primarily the statue of Christ and Sugar Loaf Mountain. So I think I will probably try to do that tomorrow or Saturday, that way I get all that must-do stuff out of the way and can start to enjoy myself. :-) It'll probably also be safer with a tour group, I may even decide to risk taking my camera with me.
Given that I will probably just stay in the area near the hotel today. There are a few museums according to the guide book and a small park, plus I may wander down to the beach near the hotel and at least take a look.
Wednesday 20 January 2010
A misplaced sense of the melodramatic
I'm at Congonhas airport. My flight was cancelled but they are putting me on an earlier flight instead. I texted my parents just to keep them informed. As I pointlessly typed in the flight number I suddenly imagined the text being read out in an ominous voiceover on some TV programme about air disasters. There's something scarily 'precise' about flight numbers.
It was only while talking to the taxi driver on the way over here that I realised Rio is actually pronounced something like Hio. This is a bit of a shock somehow.
Trying to be romantic about Rio
OK, it's ridiculously late and I hope I won't be up too late for the flight. But I stayed up to recover from my earlier slight drunkenness and I'm feeling pretty sober now, although I've been watching cheesy music videos on youtube to pass the time (as I have done on the odd occasion in London) and while it's kind of fun it's probably not as good as being in bed.
My memory dug up Mike Nesmith's song "Rio", which I recorded off the radio when I was about twelve for some reason. I didn't even know it was a Mike Nesmith song until I looked it up just now on youtube.
I think I should be feeling all starstruck about going to Rio. I must admit, thinking back to being twelve or whatever, if you'd told me I'd be here I'd have been surprised. But then, I'd have been surprised by just about everything about my life now, it's not as if you have much perspective on life when you're twelve, especially if you grow up in a boring seaside town. ("Starter for 10", Rab? :-) )
We'll see how Rio is, but I get the impression it was cool about 50 years ago and now a) everyone goes there and b) it ain't what it was. WTF. I really don't wish I'd been born 50 years ago. In some ways I think the past was a cool place, but I'm far too much of a geek to want to give up on the technology we have now, let alone what we might get. I mean, when I was twelve, there was *no way*, literally no way, I could have found out that it was Mike Nesmith who sang "Rio", it was just a song I happened to catch on the radio. And now I can sit in a cheap hotel room 5000 miles away from where I was born and find out who sang it and actually listen to the song on the spur of the moment. And, unlike some 50s sci-fi novel, it doesn't cost me 20 credits to talk to the central computer either. I'm just old enough to remember life before the internet and just how hard information was to come by and I wouldn't go back for a big clock.
My memory dug up Mike Nesmith's song "Rio", which I recorded off the radio when I was about twelve for some reason. I didn't even know it was a Mike Nesmith song until I looked it up just now on youtube.
I think I should be feeling all starstruck about going to Rio. I must admit, thinking back to being twelve or whatever, if you'd told me I'd be here I'd have been surprised. But then, I'd have been surprised by just about everything about my life now, it's not as if you have much perspective on life when you're twelve, especially if you grow up in a boring seaside town. ("Starter for 10", Rab? :-) )
We'll see how Rio is, but I get the impression it was cool about 50 years ago and now a) everyone goes there and b) it ain't what it was. WTF. I really don't wish I'd been born 50 years ago. In some ways I think the past was a cool place, but I'm far too much of a geek to want to give up on the technology we have now, let alone what we might get. I mean, when I was twelve, there was *no way*, literally no way, I could have found out that it was Mike Nesmith who sang "Rio", it was just a song I happened to catch on the radio. And now I can sit in a cheap hotel room 5000 miles away from where I was born and find out who sang it and actually listen to the song on the spur of the moment. And, unlike some 50s sci-fi novel, it doesn't cost me 20 credits to talk to the central computer either. I'm just old enough to remember life before the internet and just how hard information was to come by and I wouldn't go back for a big clock.
Sigh, I was drunk
OK, I have to fly to Rio tomorrow (well today now). I have been watching random youtube videos to sober up and I feel pretty OK now, but earlier I felt a bit wasted. Oh well. I went to the same bar I went to on my first night here (on the corner of Nobrega and Santos, for the record), and I didn't deliberately overdo it, but when I left I realised I had.
I e-mailed the hotel in Puerto Williams this morning and amazingly they got straight back to me. So if I can sort the flight out there out I am sorted. I e-mailed the airline earlier but no response yet. I e-mailed the hotel tonight, tapping out a key at a time as I felt a bit pissed. In hindsight the e-mail I sent was fine but it has a couple of sentences at the end which repeat what I'd already said. Oh well, it's not like I expressed my undying love for the receptionist, so it could have been worse.
I have a few not particularly interesting photos to upload but right now I just want to listen to a few more cheesy tracks on youtube and then go to bed. If I make it from the airport in Rio to the hotel I will upload the photos tomorrow.
I still haven't got my passport back, I spoke to the manager on the phone earlier and he was apologetic and says he will be around tomorrow morning before I leave for Rio. I'm sure he will but this does make me wonder about the advisability of putting my passport in the safe in future. Maybe I should just keep it on me.
I e-mailed the hotel in Puerto Williams this morning and amazingly they got straight back to me. So if I can sort the flight out there out I am sorted. I e-mailed the airline earlier but no response yet. I e-mailed the hotel tonight, tapping out a key at a time as I felt a bit pissed. In hindsight the e-mail I sent was fine but it has a couple of sentences at the end which repeat what I'd already said. Oh well, it's not like I expressed my undying love for the receptionist, so it could have been worse.
I have a few not particularly interesting photos to upload but right now I just want to listen to a few more cheesy tracks on youtube and then go to bed. If I make it from the airport in Rio to the hotel I will upload the photos tomorrow.
I still haven't got my passport back, I spoke to the manager on the phone earlier and he was apologetic and says he will be around tomorrow morning before I leave for Rio. I'm sure he will but this does make me wonder about the advisability of putting my passport in the safe in future. Maybe I should just keep it on me.
Tuesday 19 January 2010
Disabled access to the metro
We interrupt the whining of the previous post for this brief observation...
I did see something interesting on the metro today. In fact, I saw the same thing the other day but forgot to mention it. Both times, a disabled guy in a wheelchair went down into the metro by reversing his wheelchair onto the escalator and sort of leaning back to take the front wheels off the ground, if that makes any sense. It may not say much about the accessibility, but I was rather impressed all the same. (Some stations do have lifts, based on my observations, but probably not all.) Today at least this was obviously done with co-operation from the staff, as the escalator was normally used to take people up but they deliberately blocked it off and turned it around to go down just so he could use it, then reverted it to upward use afterwards.
Both times it was a youngish, fairly fit looking chap, I have no idea if the same thing would happen with someone older or more infirm. But I thought it was freakily cool all the same.
I did see something interesting on the metro today. In fact, I saw the same thing the other day but forgot to mention it. Both times, a disabled guy in a wheelchair went down into the metro by reversing his wheelchair onto the escalator and sort of leaning back to take the front wheels off the ground, if that makes any sense. It may not say much about the accessibility, but I was rather impressed all the same. (Some stations do have lifts, based on my observations, but probably not all.) Today at least this was obviously done with co-operation from the staff, as the escalator was normally used to take people up but they deliberately blocked it off and turned it around to go down just so he could use it, then reverted it to upward use afterwards.
Both times it was a youngish, fairly fit looking chap, I have no idea if the same thing would happen with someone older or more infirm. But I thought it was freakily cool all the same.
Monday in Sao Paulo
There's no executive summary for this, there's nothing that interesting. You could sum up my attitude right now as bored but OK. Main thing is that photos, as always, are here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45804996@N03/ There are no new ones yet, but I figure that I need to keep repeating the link so it's always handy to the casual reader. ;-)
I got up insanely late again, despite not being out late last night. I still didn't get to bed until about 3am because of dithering around and at about 7am I was woken up by what sounded like a helicopter hovering outside the window. Seriously. I have no idea what it actually was (I didn't get up and look outside), but it wasn't the ceiling fan as that was off. I went back to sleep to be woken up by a call from my ex-landlord at 9am. In the end I spent a fitful hour awake at around midday and got up about 1pm. I just can't drag myself out of bed.
I vaguely planned to go to those tall buildings I found out about yesterday today. I walked the whole length of Av. Paulista first, since wikitravel said it was a good thing to do and I figured it was cheap and easy and I hadn't yet seen the whole thing. I won't say it was a must-do in my opinion, but it was OK.
On the way I noticed Trianon park, so I went for a walk round there. Very lush, probably the closest I will ever get to being in a rainforest. :-)
I went over to the 3rd tallest building in the city afterwards, whose name I still can't remember, although it's near Sao Bento metro station. It's occupied by Santander by the looks of things, and although you only get five minutes on the open-air balcony at the top, I must say it's very decent of them to let the public up there for free given they seem to have three or four people employed full time to deal with the public as a result. It was quite interesting and a decent view, but perhaps because I'd already done the high altitude viewing thing and perhaps because it was a bit rushed once you got up there, it wasn't that brilliant. I took some photos but haven't put them on the web yet, they may show up eventually but to be honest it's nothing that different from the Edificio Italia pictures.
I tried to go up Edificio Martinelli nearby but after nerving myself to speak to the receptionist in a combination of basic Portuguese and gestures ("Eu gostaria vir <points up>"), she seemed to say something about a form and gave me a booklet in English which said there was a terrace on the 26th floor. However, since she also seemed to imply it wasn't possible to get up there - I mean, if it was, why not just point me through rather than giving me the booklet? - I decided I couldn't be bothered to wave the booklet in the face of the security guard and see what happened.
I was vaguely planning to go to a karaoke bar in the Japanese district (Liberdade) tonight - not to sing, just to see what it was like. I got the metro over there and it was a bit depressingly quiet all over the area and although I found the karaoke bar (and saw another place which claimed to do karaoke) I couldn't bring myself to go in. They didn't look that much fun, I'm easily intimidated by the linguistic difficulties here and neither of the places looked very 'open' to the street, which always puts me off. Honestly, once I get out of Brazil I will be so much more bold, really.
I walked up from there through the centre, past the cathedral, to a bar I've been to several times already. I know it's Monday night but walking through the centre it just seemed so dead. It's probably no different to the way parts of London always seem lifeless (the bit that springs to mind is the area southwest of Euston, several times I have wandered around there desperately looking for a pub and finding nothing but the odd rather bleak-looking restuarant), but I wasn't impressed. This was after all in the absolute centre of the city. I didn't want to go to the same old bar but I couldn't see any better alternative. I felt a bit of a stupid idiot for wandering around the fairly deserted centre, but there were a few, if not many, other people around and I got away with it so either I was brave and resourceful or a lucky fool. Either suits me.
It pissed down later, as is apparently usual here based on my experience so far, while I was at the bar so I spent the night looking out at the pseudo-tropical rain over a somewhat glum couple of pints. I suppose it's all experience.
I probably shouldn't hold it against the place, as I say it's Monday night and I probably just don't know where to go or have the nerve to go in if I did, but to be honest Sao Paulo seemed a bit of a joyless hole tonight. Overall I would still say it's been OK here, but although it's probably my fault for being overly cautious I wouldn't say it seems enormously fun. Various guides imply the club scene here is fantastic, and I fully admit to having made no effort to try it, although I'm not much of one for clubs anyway - a late drink at a bar is more my style, and there don't seem to be many bars which particularly appeal to me.
I am a bit scared about going to Rio on Wednesday but I'm sure it can't be much worse than here in terms of safety, if you're not completely naive (he said, naively). I don't know if it will be more fun, my gut feeling is that it will be more naffly touristy, which may or may not help given my peculiar prejudices and attitudes, but we'll see. To be honest, I am looking foward to getting into the Spanish-speaking parts where I will be able to have a stab at communicating with people and not keep avoiding places which aren't absolutely straightforward bars with tables on the street. On the other hand, once I leave Brazil I enter into an ill-defined maelstrom of vague travel plans, which will probably help to push me as much off balance as the language and safety concerns have here.
No response from the hotel booking website for Puerto Williams in Chile yet. I asked a friend to call the number on the hotel web site and apparently it doesn't work. Why is it so hard to give these people money?! I've therefore filled in the online booking form on the hotel's own web site, so based on my limited prior experience of Latin American hotels I guess they will start ignoring that almost immediately. It's good to know things are failing to progress in a new way, having someone different ignore me will be almost as good as getting an actual answer.
I'd like to think this blog post is a bit angsty in an interesting way, but I suspect it just comes across as whiny. WTF. ;-)
I got up insanely late again, despite not being out late last night. I still didn't get to bed until about 3am because of dithering around and at about 7am I was woken up by what sounded like a helicopter hovering outside the window. Seriously. I have no idea what it actually was (I didn't get up and look outside), but it wasn't the ceiling fan as that was off. I went back to sleep to be woken up by a call from my ex-landlord at 9am. In the end I spent a fitful hour awake at around midday and got up about 1pm. I just can't drag myself out of bed.
I vaguely planned to go to those tall buildings I found out about yesterday today. I walked the whole length of Av. Paulista first, since wikitravel said it was a good thing to do and I figured it was cheap and easy and I hadn't yet seen the whole thing. I won't say it was a must-do in my opinion, but it was OK.
On the way I noticed Trianon park, so I went for a walk round there. Very lush, probably the closest I will ever get to being in a rainforest. :-)
I went over to the 3rd tallest building in the city afterwards, whose name I still can't remember, although it's near Sao Bento metro station. It's occupied by Santander by the looks of things, and although you only get five minutes on the open-air balcony at the top, I must say it's very decent of them to let the public up there for free given they seem to have three or four people employed full time to deal with the public as a result. It was quite interesting and a decent view, but perhaps because I'd already done the high altitude viewing thing and perhaps because it was a bit rushed once you got up there, it wasn't that brilliant. I took some photos but haven't put them on the web yet, they may show up eventually but to be honest it's nothing that different from the Edificio Italia pictures.
I tried to go up Edificio Martinelli nearby but after nerving myself to speak to the receptionist in a combination of basic Portuguese and gestures ("Eu gostaria vir <points up>
I was vaguely planning to go to a karaoke bar in the Japanese district (Liberdade) tonight - not to sing, just to see what it was like. I got the metro over there and it was a bit depressingly quiet all over the area and although I found the karaoke bar (and saw another place which claimed to do karaoke) I couldn't bring myself to go in. They didn't look that much fun, I'm easily intimidated by the linguistic difficulties here and neither of the places looked very 'open' to the street, which always puts me off. Honestly, once I get out of Brazil I will be so much more bold, really.
I walked up from there through the centre, past the cathedral, to a bar I've been to several times already. I know it's Monday night but walking through the centre it just seemed so dead. It's probably no different to the way parts of London always seem lifeless (the bit that springs to mind is the area southwest of Euston, several times I have wandered around there desperately looking for a pub and finding nothing but the odd rather bleak-looking restuarant), but I wasn't impressed. This was after all in the absolute centre of the city. I didn't want to go to the same old bar but I couldn't see any better alternative. I felt a bit of a stupid idiot for wandering around the fairly deserted centre, but there were a few, if not many, other people around and I got away with it so either I was brave and resourceful or a lucky fool. Either suits me.
It pissed down later, as is apparently usual here based on my experience so far, while I was at the bar so I spent the night looking out at the pseudo-tropical rain over a somewhat glum couple of pints. I suppose it's all experience.
I probably shouldn't hold it against the place, as I say it's Monday night and I probably just don't know where to go or have the nerve to go in if I did, but to be honest Sao Paulo seemed a bit of a joyless hole tonight. Overall I would still say it's been OK here, but although it's probably my fault for being overly cautious I wouldn't say it seems enormously fun. Various guides imply the club scene here is fantastic, and I fully admit to having made no effort to try it, although I'm not much of one for clubs anyway - a late drink at a bar is more my style, and there don't seem to be many bars which particularly appeal to me.
I am a bit scared about going to Rio on Wednesday but I'm sure it can't be much worse than here in terms of safety, if you're not completely naive (he said, naively). I don't know if it will be more fun, my gut feeling is that it will be more naffly touristy, which may or may not help given my peculiar prejudices and attitudes, but we'll see. To be honest, I am looking foward to getting into the Spanish-speaking parts where I will be able to have a stab at communicating with people and not keep avoiding places which aren't absolutely straightforward bars with tables on the street. On the other hand, once I leave Brazil I enter into an ill-defined maelstrom of vague travel plans, which will probably help to push me as much off balance as the language and safety concerns have here.
No response from the hotel booking website for Puerto Williams in Chile yet. I asked a friend to call the number on the hotel web site and apparently it doesn't work. Why is it so hard to give these people money?! I've therefore filled in the online booking form on the hotel's own web site, so based on my limited prior experience of Latin American hotels I guess they will start ignoring that almost immediately. It's good to know things are failing to progress in a new way, having someone different ignore me will be almost as good as getting an actual answer.
I'd like to think this blog post is a bit angsty in an interesting way, but I suspect it just comes across as whiny. WTF. ;-)
Monday 18 January 2010
What I did on my holidays, part 37
Executive summary: I did the Turismetro tour of the Se district today. Photos here in the 'Central Sao Paulo' set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/45804996@N03/sets/
If you just want to see new pictures, it's probably easiest just to keep checking http://www.flickr.com/photos/45804996@N03/, which shows all my photos, most recent first.
Read on at your peril, insane amounts of waffling follow.
As always I struggled to get out of bed, but I knew I had to be at the Se metro station by 1:30pm to sign up for the Turismetro tour at 2pm. I made it OK, although it was a bit of a rush.
While I was hanging around waiting for the tour to start, I noticed that the metro station itself is quite interesting. It's on three levels, with the ticket hall kind of area at the top, then two levels underneath for the two metro lines that run through the station. And there's a big circular cut-out in each of the top two floors, so you can lean on the balcony and see the other floors. It's a bit like being in a life-size cutaway diagram. Photos in the Central Sao Paulo set, including one of the massive suntan lotion advert hanging in the cut-out for anyone who might find it entertaining. :-)
There were about 15 people on the tour and I was the only one who didn't speak Portuguese. Consequently, although both tour guides spoke English, the primary woman did the tour in Portuguese while the assistant/trainee guide acted as my personal translator/guide in English. So I can't complain at the level of attention I was shown (and the tour is free, as well!), although I felt a bit awkward some of the time as a result.
I really would have hoped there'd be a few (North) Americans around but apparently not. They're probably like buses, I expect loads will turn up all together soon. :-)
The tour was fairly interesting and informative, but we were walking for about four hours and I hadn't had time to eat anything before we started. (We did stop off at some old bank which has now been converted into some sort of cultural centre where I could have got a coffee, but I didn't.)
I found out that the area I wandered around yesterday near the Edificio Martinelli is apparently a big financial centre, with two of the biggest stock exchanges in Brazil. Perhaps more pertinently, I also found out that the Edificio Martinelli and another tall building nearby (that one being the third tallest in the city, apparently) are open to the public for viewing during the week, which explains why I didn't see how to get into the Edificio Martinelli on Saturday. Now I know it's possible and, even better, free, I will probably try to visit both before I leave. You apparently get only five minutes at the top of the third-tallest building before they throw you out, but WTF. Like I said yesterday, I'm a sucker for anything like that.
The guide told me that when the Edificio Martinelli was first built, it was such a novelty in the area that people were reluctant to live or work there as it was so high. Allegedly, the owner said he'd live there on his own and set himself up on the top floor, including a big hall where he'd host free parties. People started going to the parties and in the end they decided the building wasn't so scary. :-) I doubt this is true, somehow, but it's a nice story.
By the time the tour finished (at the cathedral, which I'd already seen but wandered around a bit anyway) my feet were killing me and I was starving. I had my heart set on steak and chips so I walked over to the bar/restaurant I'd been to yesterday. But, presumably because it was Sunday, it was shut and a load of homeless people were sleeping under the canopy. Everywhere else I passed seemed to be shut as well. I always seem to hit a point like this anywhere I go abroad, where I don't know where I can find something to eat. In the end I got the metro back to the area where my hotel is and went into a restaurant round there. They did have steak on the menu, but there were too many options and complications, so I compromised on a pizza. So at least it forced a little bit of variety into my diet.
As already waffled about, I had a relatively early night - a few beers after the pizza, then back to the hotel about 9pm where I paid for another 3 nights (I was only expecting to pay for two, but I'll keep the receipts handy and as long as they don't charge me for more than 6 in total I don't care how they divide it up) and had a look into the Easter Island part of the trip. I've also sent another e-mail chasing up the people about the hotel in Puerto Williams, fingers crossed they get back to me. If not I have asked a Spanish-speaking friend (hi Zuhamy!) if she will call the hotel direct for me and see if she can get anything out of them. I hope they will just get back to me in response to my e-mail though.
(Yeah, I should seize the opportunity to practice my Spanish. But it's incredibly difficult/expensive for me to make an international call while I'm away, plus my phone keeps quietly dropping bits of the conversation and that's enough of a problem when I'm speaking to a friend in English, never mind a hotel receptionist in Spanish. Excuses, excuses.)
If you just want to see new pictures, it's probably easiest just to keep checking http://www.flickr.com/photos/45804996@N03/, which shows all my photos, most recent first.
Read on at your peril, insane amounts of waffling follow.
As always I struggled to get out of bed, but I knew I had to be at the Se metro station by 1:30pm to sign up for the Turismetro tour at 2pm. I made it OK, although it was a bit of a rush.
While I was hanging around waiting for the tour to start, I noticed that the metro station itself is quite interesting. It's on three levels, with the ticket hall kind of area at the top, then two levels underneath for the two metro lines that run through the station. And there's a big circular cut-out in each of the top two floors, so you can lean on the balcony and see the other floors. It's a bit like being in a life-size cutaway diagram. Photos in the Central Sao Paulo set, including one of the massive suntan lotion advert hanging in the cut-out for anyone who might find it entertaining. :-)
There were about 15 people on the tour and I was the only one who didn't speak Portuguese. Consequently, although both tour guides spoke English, the primary woman did the tour in Portuguese while the assistant/trainee guide acted as my personal translator/guide in English. So I can't complain at the level of attention I was shown (and the tour is free, as well!), although I felt a bit awkward some of the time as a result.
I really would have hoped there'd be a few (North) Americans around but apparently not. They're probably like buses, I expect loads will turn up all together soon. :-)
The tour was fairly interesting and informative, but we were walking for about four hours and I hadn't had time to eat anything before we started. (We did stop off at some old bank which has now been converted into some sort of cultural centre where I could have got a coffee, but I didn't.)
I found out that the area I wandered around yesterday near the Edificio Martinelli is apparently a big financial centre, with two of the biggest stock exchanges in Brazil. Perhaps more pertinently, I also found out that the Edificio Martinelli and another tall building nearby (that one being the third tallest in the city, apparently) are open to the public for viewing during the week, which explains why I didn't see how to get into the Edificio Martinelli on Saturday. Now I know it's possible and, even better, free, I will probably try to visit both before I leave. You apparently get only five minutes at the top of the third-tallest building before they throw you out, but WTF. Like I said yesterday, I'm a sucker for anything like that.
The guide told me that when the Edificio Martinelli was first built, it was such a novelty in the area that people were reluctant to live or work there as it was so high. Allegedly, the owner said he'd live there on his own and set himself up on the top floor, including a big hall where he'd host free parties. People started going to the parties and in the end they decided the building wasn't so scary. :-) I doubt this is true, somehow, but it's a nice story.
By the time the tour finished (at the cathedral, which I'd already seen but wandered around a bit anyway) my feet were killing me and I was starving. I had my heart set on steak and chips so I walked over to the bar/restaurant I'd been to yesterday. But, presumably because it was Sunday, it was shut and a load of homeless people were sleeping under the canopy. Everywhere else I passed seemed to be shut as well. I always seem to hit a point like this anywhere I go abroad, where I don't know where I can find something to eat. In the end I got the metro back to the area where my hotel is and went into a restaurant round there. They did have steak on the menu, but there were too many options and complications, so I compromised on a pizza. So at least it forced a little bit of variety into my diet.
As already waffled about, I had a relatively early night - a few beers after the pizza, then back to the hotel about 9pm where I paid for another 3 nights (I was only expecting to pay for two, but I'll keep the receipts handy and as long as they don't charge me for more than 6 in total I don't care how they divide it up) and had a look into the Easter Island part of the trip. I've also sent another e-mail chasing up the people about the hotel in Puerto Williams, fingers crossed they get back to me. If not I have asked a Spanish-speaking friend (hi Zuhamy!) if she will call the hotel direct for me and see if she can get anything out of them. I hope they will just get back to me in response to my e-mail though.
(Yeah, I should seize the opportunity to practice my Spanish. But it's incredibly difficult/expensive for me to make an international call while I'm away, plus my phone keeps quietly dropping bits of the conversation and that's enough of a problem when I'm speaking to a friend in English, never mind a hotel receptionist in Spanish. Excuses, excuses.)
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