buenos aires, wine, and alf

i arrived in buenos aires yesterday afternoon. the weather is much colder than it was in rio de janeiro last week. the forecast is for daytime high temperatures ranging from 7-15C. i have rented an apartment in buenos aires centro. my apartment in buenos aires is far superior to the one i rented in rio (and half the price). the landlord of the building is an interesting character. he speaks no english, and his spanish is so slurred and quick that i cant even understand him when he says my name. everything i could need is within two blocks of my apartment which is handy.

after grocery shopping last night, i settled in for the night and watched some television. throughout south america, i have found it quite common for old american tv shows to be hugely popular. alf and who´s the boss are among the more popular shows. while at the grocery store, i bought a bottle of wine (Cdn$3/bottle). it was an odd feeling to stare at the bottle of wine with the cork floating (my cork screw got confiscated in peru by security, had to punch the cork into the bottle using a wooden spoon), coffee cup full of wine, listening to the buzz of vehicles/people below on the street, and watching alf (with spanish subtitles). odd scenario that i didn´t anticipate having in south america.

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hand gliding in rio

when i arrived in rio, never did the thought of hand gliding enter my mind. i was sitting at a cafe drinking a beer with some friends from Holland I meet along the way when it became the topic of conversation. no one around the table had ever done it before so we decided to look into it. a few hours later we were being picked up and taken up the mountains in sao condaro (a barrio of rio). from the top of the mountain you had an amazing view of the city and all of the barrios. we didnt get much time to enjoy the view as the flying company started to put the gear on us. In no time, we were prepared to jump off the mountain. five minutes later we literally running off the mountain. for thirty minutes i was gliding over the mountains and beaches. i had spectular views of the main beaches at copacabana and ipanema. the gliding route also toured above the tijuanca national rainforest park.

to think, this all started because of a casual beer at copacabana beach! there are a couple of photos from the hang gliding experience posted on my photoshare site.

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new photos from chile and rio posted

after much delay i have posted new photos from santiago, chile and rio de janeiro, brazil. i have accumulated a large number of photos from my travels. i exceeded the 1,000 mark the other day. feel free to check them out at www.flickr.com/photos/rfgibson.

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life in rio

over the past couple of days i have been taking in rio de janeiro. trust me ... there is a lot to take in this city scattered throughout the mountains. i am staying just blocks from the historic copacabana beach. i have made a few trips to the beach to enjoy the afternoon sun (temperatures have been 25-34 so far). i quickly learned that by 5 pm the beach clears out. it is almost as if someone blew an airhorn (just you cant hear it). the beach is pretty much evacuated by sundown. crime in the beach area (as well as every other area of rio) is very high at night. rio is the first place i have visited in south america so far where i have been concerned about my safety. besides the beach, streets, malls, and restaurants all become very quiet by 6 pm. i am taking pre-cautions that i didnt cross my mind in peru or chile. even local people openly talk about the crime and the measures they take to prevent it.

over the past couple of days i have been hiking and exploring the city. never really have a true plan, but seem to find things to keep me busy. unlike peru, i have mastered public transportation in rio. the buses and metro do not have that chaotic feel as they did in lima. i have been hiking at pau de acucar and throughout botafogo (barrio in rio). my plan for sunday is to take a local soccer game at the massive maracana stadium (maximum capacity is 200,000 people) with some backpackers i met in chile.

my apartment buiding overlooks a community centre and there is lots of traffic in and out of the centre (which is great considering the high crime rates). i am now re-thinking how great the community centre is! every night the community centres host an evening activity. on thursday and friday it was bingo. from 7 - 10 pm, i was blessed with listening to a bingo caller and people screaming ´bingo´ all night. i didnt think it could worse until this evening, when after bingo a community dance began. when i left my apartment all i could hear was old-polka like music coming from the centre. as i said, i am starting to re-think being close to the community centre.

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