Aug 2009

Photo by the Jor(ge) - This is the view from our hostel.

What an adorable mid-sized city with a view! Teresopolis is surrounded by huge green mountains with a river passing through it, the days are warm and the people are friendly. We had planned to go hiking at the national park, but a non-morning attitude combined with very cloudy days and sold-out permits put our plan to rest. However, because of this, we found the most wonderful café that served hot chocolate in a way we had never had it before. Apparently it’s known as European style hot chocolate and basically it is thick, but drinkable, melted chocolate (very similar to the cup of melted chocolate you get with churros in Spain). It was delicious and we made sure we returned two more times to enjoy it. We admit it. We actually stayed in this city longer than planned so that we could enjoy this cup of heaven more than once.

Our hostel was large, quite nice, had all amenities, and was a 10 minute walk up a curvy steep hill (mountain). Only three Belgian backpackers and the two of us were guests. This meant we were able to enjoy some peace and quiet there. However, it was cold! Only two and a half hours bus ride into the mountains and away from Rio de Janeiro’s lovely hot weather and we were experiencing warm days and very cool nights. As “expected”, the hostels in this part of Brazil have no heat and are all open-air concept.

We were able to make use of the kitchen and the incredible huge produce store to make dinner most nights. This store looked like a big grocery store, but it sold only produce! We loved having fresh passion fruit in cream (with sugar) for dessert a couple times plus beef “stroganoff” (a typical Brazilian dish… yes, we’re serious).

This is a picture of what our legs resembled (in some shape or form) after being feasted on by mosquitoes and something resembling sandflies. These are Jorge’s legs. He didn’t use any insect repellent because, (a) K hogged it all to herself because, (b) Jorge is not bothered in any way by the bugs or the bites.

This is a picture of Jorge’s water-retaining feet, post-trek. Yuk.

This is a picture of the utensils used to open and remove the sac of larvae from Jorge’s big toe that the Arraial do Cabo beach parasite (worm) decided to lay after burrowing in his foot (unfelt). It was disgusting and quite traumatizing. Oh the joys of South America.

And just 'cause this one is cute... here's a picture of Jorge & Rooster that K took:

• We have finally gotten around to writing posts about the other cities we have visited and will be putting them up soon. Better late than never!