The Pulse of Rio

Tourism is very relative.  What people from Germany love, the French might dislike. The Aussies have a different choice when in Bali, that of only drinking and the Americans may do some actual sightseeing with the drinking.

Brazil and India are members of BRICS, which stands for, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. I think within this union, Brazil and India have more close relations in terms of people than the communist China and Russia. Brazil and India . Rio and Mumbai!

Sunny beaches with tropical weather(India without the women),  friendly people  or the multiethnic culture that the two have are a few from the many similarities that we share. This might be the reason that, I as an Indian traveler didn’t find Brazil and especially the city of Rio de Janeiro too different to explore. The past three years of coming to South America and the equation with Brazil has gone to 5 nights in 2010 to only one night in 2014.

As in India we say, Mumbai has not much sightseeing to do like its counterpart New Delhi(yes I personally hate our capital), but a pulse to feel. Only few do feel it and the once who do, want to come back or stay longer.

Christ the Redeemer is the solo-pulling factor to a lot of Indians that travel to South America. That’s the only reason I need to keep Rio in the tour to South America. Well that is what I thought until yesterday.

Last night I asked the Doorman in broken Spornish(Spanish Portuguese) at the hotel in Rio, “Donde es muito bom lugar para comer”, Which might have sounded to him like “where good place to eat is”. To which he said something in his native tongue and pointed me to a direction, “-----dos quadras, derecha----”, I only got two blocks to the right and that was enough from the many words he spoke. It was drizzling a bit and from a distance I could see the words, ‘boitego informao’, which literally meant drinking informally and that’s what I did for the next 2 hrs.

I don’t know whether it was the Caprinha, the local cocktail with vodka/rum cane sugar, soda and lime, or whether it was the two old ladies that were hitting on me, or the three young ones who chose to say ‘I don’t speak English or Spanish’ or the waiter who kept on talking to me about my trip in South America, but that night I felt something in that informal atmosphere.

As the sound of the rain out, mixed with the voices of locals in the bar, I suddenly felt it, I felt the pulse of Rio. The famous Copa Cabana with all those chiseled bodies, the top tourist attractions together didn’t make up for the night in Boitega Infarmao!

 When I walked back to the hotel, (actually it was more of a run), I knew I would stay longer the next time when I come back. For the first time I fell in love with Rio, Brazil!



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Patagonia - al sur del Americas

The Andes are beautiful. They run almost through the entire American South, making a natural border between Argentina and Chile. To the South of South America is Patagonia. A magical region encompassing the majestic Andes, where the foot hills are full of pastures to the North and Glaciers cover most of the south. I have heard stories about Patagonia, have touched only the Northern and Southern extremes of this region. The more the Patagonian air goes into my lungs, the more my mind wanders in its interiors.

I have seen the Glaciers in Antarctica and I have walked the green pastures in the foothills of the Himalayas. Somehow I feel Patagonia is an amalgamation of the two. I have eaten with people in Buenos Aires and had a drink or two with my guide in Santiago. But, somehow I feel the Southern Region of Chile and Argentina doesn’t belong to any country. It is just Patagonia!

Every time I travel to this continent I see the extremes it has to be felt. I love the feel of cold on my skin more than sweat and I am waiting for Patagonia to grow on me.

There are no people to be seen for kilometers together they say. No sound to be heard, other than the river making its way to either side of the Andes, to the Pacific in Chile or the Atlantic in Argentina. The odd ranch with horses running wild or the Alpaca sheep feeding on the grass bed which looks like its been moved over just yesterday. These scenes I can only imagine and as I do the feeling only grows. The feeling to get lost and stay that way for some time, till maybe I get found by a cracking glacier. Do you know the noise that it makes ?

On a day trip in the Northern Patagonia in Argentina, my guide told the people to get down from the coach and stay calm for a moment. To feel the nature she said. They all got down with a camera! I saw a soul however drifting in the distance, and I knew he felt it. Sometimes I feel happy when my people understand what I mean to show. It is beautiful when that moment comes, the moment of connection.

It is distant and you know it exists, but you cant work it out. To connect with nature comes naturally and sometimes there is no guarantee that it comes at all. 

The only thing that I can do is spend good amount of time in it.

In my last 20 days of travel in South America I only remember 2 -3 distinct moments. I remember a lot of scenes, but moments only few. Sometimes a whole tour goes by and the moment never comes. I know it wont happen in Patagonia though.

I hope finally when I do walk in Patagonia’s vast interiors, I will have few scenes to remember but more moments to feel!

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The Peruvian Amazon

In 2010 when I was planning my first trip to the South American continent, the Amazon,  I knew had to be shown to the people. So like all tour organizers, I landed in Manaus, Brazil on one 38 deg C afternoon. From air, 15 mins before landing all I could see was the vast green land. ‘The Amazon jungle is here’, I heard one of my tourists exclaim. However the last 10 minutes before landing got into picture a different kind of a jungle. The Concrete Jungle.

The next day our guide took us from the port of Manaus on the Amazon river to see the confluence of the white and the black Amazon river and that’s all I can remember from that first trip. No Jungle!

When I reached home I struggled to understand when people from around the world spoke about the Amazon, what exactly did they mean?

It took me one more trip to figure out the difference between the Amazon River and the Amazon Jungle. The river only passes through Brazil while the jungle is spread out between Peru, Bolivia, and Columbia and off course Brazil.

If not Manaus in Brazil, then what was the question? Peru had by then already become my favourite country in the continent and I wanted my people to experience the jungle there. 

As I write today waking up to the sounds of the morning birds and to faint voices from the adjacent cabins of people saying, ‘what a beautiful place’. I look back and thank Manaus for being so ugly. It was only due to the absolute and complete hatred of Manaus, was I able to search for Puerto Maldonado and the river Madre de Dios (mother of god). The river is the largest tributary of the Amazon from Peru, and the jungle is much easily accessed and lower in latitude than the Brazilian Amazon which is right on the equator.

The Inkaterra Amazonica 

Our stay for two nights in the Inkaterra Amazonica, in the Peruvian Amazon is the closest I could get my people to living in the Amazon. The lodge has a touch of luxury, which essentially means catering to the vegetarian meal requests, more hours of electricity and 2 guides for my group, which has more +60 yr olds. The cabins are very neat and have the skeleton of wood and the skin of a mesh to protect from mosquitoes.

The afternoons are hot and humid and that’s the only time you wish for some city comforts. Last year it rained during my stay here and although the activities were held back, it felt pleasant to just watch the rain from the comforts of the viewing deck. This time around the weather was perfect for the activities. By activities if one thinks of the Amazon as a place to watch Animals then it’s not about that. Birds and reptiles maybe, yes, but more than anything it is about the feeling. To experience the walks in the rain forest where only 5% of sunlight reaches the ground. The boating in the night under the clear sky with a million stars. The crossing of one tree to another, on a canopy, at a height of 30 mtrs above ground and stopping in between, the swaying bridge to take a moment and look around you.

The Canopy 50 mtrs above ground

The activities happen during the day and till 7 pm, but it is the experience of sleeping to the sounds of the jungle that I love only second to be woken up by the   sounds of the dawn. The sleep is not continuous and somewhere in the night you realize that you need to go under the sheet not due to the mosquitoes but the sudden chill in the air. The wake up call is early with a 100 birds clearing their throats with the first rays of sun.

Today I check out of the Inkaterra Amazonica but I woke up with the same smile as I had last morning. I don’t have to wait for a year to get back to the Peruvian Amazon.

October would be different than the two April’s that I have experienced here.


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