Summer extension in Ibiza

I was very lucky to find an affordable place to rent for one month, so now I am living in the Yoga Studio 8 in Santa Eularia, that is, in a kitchen with a bed attached to the studio. It is nice and quiet, I can walk to the beach and unlike most places in Ibiza Santa Eularia is well connected by public transport.

                                                                                                         Santa Eularia

For 10 days I rented a scooter of a friend and religiously went on an explorative excursion every late afternoon after work, so I got to see quite a bit of the island - but there is still much more to go. Now my back is very sore (I suspect it has something to do with the suspension or the lack of it) and I am without the scooter for a while.

Apart from that I have been to 2 (!) parties in total, you would not believe. They were both impressive for different reasons - one was in the biggest club of the world, Privilege, however, that party itself was rather small, so half of the club was closed. Still the sound system and the visuals didn't fail to impress.

The other one was in the famous Pikes Hotel near San Antonio (I also took the opportunity to visit infamous San An in the early evening - but too late for the Café del Mar sunset). Legendary surprise guest DJ at the Ibiza Rocks party in the Pikes Hotel was the only surviving member of the Ramones - Marky Ramone. It was the better party of the 2 I have to say.

Some more impressions of Ibiza so far here:

Photo Album Ibiza

Carnival in Rio de Janeiro & São Paulo

Finally I could find out what the famous Carnival in Brazil is all about - and realized that I had quite a few misconceptions. Nevertheless, Carnival is crazy, hot, crowded, fun and tiring at the same time, and probably something to do only once in a lifetime (unless you are Brasilian...).

Misconception 1: Carnival trucks and sexy Samba dancers all over the place
Reality: there is a purpose-built parade area, the Sambodromo, where samba schools parade for about 10 days competitively in front of a jury. In order to see this, you need to buy tickets priced from around 40 to several hundred Euros, depending on the sector. Of course, you are expected to remain in your sector.

I did not go to Sambodromo but enjoyed Carnvial on the streets. Even though people do dress up, I only saw ONE glamorous Samba dancer during all of carnival:

Misconception 2: Carnival is party all through the night.
Reality: "Blocos" (carnival events from outdoor concerts to moving parades) take place during the day, often starting as early as 8 am. At night it all becomes a bit seedy, lots of drunks on the streets and generally not too safe to stay around.

Misconception 3: You'll just find a great party around every corner.
Reality: There are hundreds of blocos all over town for several days, but you actually need to know when and where they take place (especially tricky with moving blocos). Some websites provide help, but it's best to ask a local for the really good blocos.

I spent one day of the carnival in São Paulo and got taken to a David Bowie tribute bloco by some friends I made. It was a nice finish of my trip (and it took me days to recover...).

Here's more pics:

Carnival - Rio de Janeiro & São Paulo

The Beaches

Next stops were beaches going south to north:

Camburi: lovely beach 3hrs from Sao Paulo, not really on the backpackers´route but recommendable. Check into the only hostel (ETM Hostel), Lucas and Denise will welcome you like family!

Ilhabela: worth exploring if you like bugs. They have a monster mosquito called borrachudo, nasty bites. Apart from that nice beaches, nice waterfalls.

Paraty: Colonial cobble-stone historic center, beaches are just a boat-ride away. I was not too lucky with the weather, though.

Arraial do Cabo: 3 hours north of Rio de Janeiro, carribean-like beaches with surprisingly cold water. Apparently great for diving. Pretty crowded during holiday season.

Saquarema: my great favorite - enormous beach, great surf, well-kept hostel run by a lovely old couple (Itauna Hostel), not crowded. Spent all my time out in the waves, they were just perfect!

Beaches - Brazil

Beautiful Bonito

I took a 25 hr bus trip to Mato Grosso, a province bordering to Bolivia, to visit Bonito. This place is famous for its crystal-clear rivers full of fish and vegetation, and snorkelling feels like swimming in a giant aquarium. Visibility is up to 70 m due to limestone which releases calcium carbonate into the water that eliminates all impurities.

Apart from that there are caves and waterfalls to visit, but the real highlight is the Rio da Prata with a snorkel tour that lasts 3 hrs. Unfortunately the tours are quite expensive, even by our standards. At least the town promotes itself as eco-tourism town and everything is exceptionally well organised (for the walk down the Gruta Azul, which is basically ~70 easy steps down, I had to provide my blood group and a home emergency contact number :)

More fish pics:

Bonito

São Paulo Cityscapes

Arriving in São Paulo on Jan 16th, the middle of Brazilian summer, it was surprisingly cold. I didn´t know the place has an altitude of 760 m. Luckily I just missed a period of heavy rain and could enjoy a smog-free, blue-skied Sunday in a really quiet city center.

On Sundays they also hand out free bikes on Av. Paulista, the main, modern shopping street, and everybody is out biking and skating down the 6-lane road.

The weekdays I spent getting lost, trying to figure out the bus system (there are over 1000 city bus lines because the metro is not able to cover the city by far) and walking, walking, walking.

On my return I am only going to stay in Vila Madalena, the hipster area of São Paulo, with art galeries, restaurants, boutiques, bars and more bars, and even a Berlin-style "Imbiss" that serves ridiculously expensive sausages and beer. It´s going to be the main day of Carneval and apparently the whole quarter is turning into one big, long party - but that´s 2 weeks away from now.

São Paulo