Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildlife

[bPeteb]

After what seems like a year of planning we're finally off to Brasil tomorrow for a couple of weeks. This was booked well before our unexpected trip to the Ross Sea at the start of this year.

The plan -

• QF BNE-SYD-SCL
• JJ (LA?) SCL-GRU Sao Paulo
• JJ CGH Sao Paulo to Cuiaba where we head out into the Pantanal for a four day three night wildlife safari then back to Cuiaba for a night
• JJ Cuiaba to Brasilia where we've booked a one day architecture tour (flight changed by two hours, only realised Friday)
• JJ Brasilia to Sao Luis. Direct flight cancelled, we also found this out last Friday. Now flying via Fortaleza, three hours longer. Lost pre-booked personal guided city tour but tour company is hoping to reschedule to the day we fly back to Sao Paulo. We are going on four night tour of Sao Luis and the Lencois Maranheses
• JJ Sao Luis back to GRU for a night at the airport Mercure
• JJ GRU -SCL
• QF SCL-SYD-BNE

QF flights were booked Y+ with upgrades requested. Upgrade for the flight to SCL came through today, as did Bid Now for BNE-SYD. Selected 1 A/C for BNE-SYD (only pair available) and allocated 3 J/K for SYD-SCL. We could have sat upstairs, on opposite sides of the plane, in aisle seats. No thanks

JJ all Y
QF anytime upgrade to J on final leg

The language barrier will be interesting but there's actually very little time that we aren't with guides of some kind. Sao Paulo for the first three full days is the only time.

The bags are kind of packed.

 

[love_the_life]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

Sounds fun, can't wait to read along with you

 

[casanovawa]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

Yes interesting itinerary, assume you have done Brazil/Brasil before and Iguassu Falls etc??

 

[Major]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

Boarding pass issued

 

[tgh]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

following…
Portuguese is similar to Spanish they say..
I was hugely embarrassed to be coughping on to a lovely Brazilian couple in Patagonia blissfully ignorant that their primary language was Portuguese, not Spanish
They were completely at a loss to explain or understand the bribery and corruption.
They said it was endemic from top to bottom and saw no solution.

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

Yes interesting itinerary, assume you have done Brazil/Brasil before and Iguassu Falls etc??

We visited Iguassu (both sides) last year. Spent a few days in Rio at the end of a cruise from Europe where we also called in to Salvador and Recife.

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

following…
Portuguese is similar to Spanish they say..
I was hugely embarrassed to be coughping on to a lovely Brazilian couple in Patagonia blissfully ignorant that their primary language was Portuguese, not Spanish
They were completely at a loss to explain or understand the bribery and corruption.
They said it was endemic from top to bottom and saw no solution.

We'll be relying on offline google translate quite a bit me thinks

 

[RoMambai]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

I'm tuned in. Will be doing a similar trip next March but much shorter: 2 days in SCL and 4 days in GIG. Latam in J there, back with EK in F.

Bom sorte!

 

[Boca68]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

You will enjoy Sao Luis. One of my favourite places. Has an incredible history. Parts of the old town are quite beautiful, well, I think.

The Lencois (pronounced Len-soy-s) is incredible. If the rainy season has been good and from what I hear , it has been, its amazing. (but bring the aerogard, ok.) Oh! and bring your bathers, nothing like a swim in one of the pools.

Enjoy it Pete. I'm definitely subscribing.

 

[LadyC]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

Sounds like fun! I look forward to reading more.

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

I've had no time to put up a decent post but here we are in the very nice VIP lounge at Brasilia airport on our way to São Luis via Fortaleza. Fantastic trip so far. Much wildlife. Much architecture. Loving it. We'll see how our connection goes today...

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

Connection went perfectly. Of course the LATAM flight to Sao Luis was way late and Fortaleza airport is very ordinary, especially after the beautiful airport at Brasilia, so sitting there for nearly four hours was no fun except for the people watching. Our hotel in the old town was quite amazing. We've now arrived at Barreirinhas for two nights and three days in the Lencois Maranhenses.

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

home just over a week and here I am sat in a hotel room in Melbourne for another exciting week of work...

Brisbane to Sao Paulo
Nice easy check-in at BNE domestic via premium entry check-in counter. Super lovely Qantas staff. It seems crazy flying out of Sydney but it has always been a nice easy process when we've done this. This time flying from Syd was so that we could get the Qantas flights to Santiago instead of the LATAM flights via Auckland.

Boarding passes issued for all three flights to Sao Paulo and bags checked through - away we go. Fingers crossed they arrive with us! Brisbane flight left on time. Flew business to Sydney on a bid now upgrade - 3000 points plus $75 each.

Can't remember what either of these snacks were described as



Nice views of Sydney Harbour coming in to land.



Our friend who owns the apartment on The World used to have a house just down beside there...

Al gets the bomb detection test at Brisbane and Pete snickers as it's just the usual story for Al - almost every time. Payback for Pete - trifecta at Sydney Airport:
1. The automated immigration check didn't like Pete's photo so he had to go to a counter for manual processing.
2. Pete gets the full body scan.
3. Pete gets the bomb detection test.

The Qantas International Business Lounge is a mess. Way too small for the number of people using it. Scores of tables covered in dirty glasses and plates. Maybe we should have gone and found the Amex lounge that we also could also use.

SYD to SCL flight was late boarding. At least they boarded business and status passengers first. Points upgrade to premium economy came through lunchtime the day before.



We’re sat in the small cabin right up in the front of the plane in 3 J/K. It’s fantastic!



We sat waiting for some passengers who didn’t make it (fell somewhere in the terminal and broke foot) and who’s bags had to be offloaded. We pushed back we and didn’t move again for a while then taxied towards the runway and stopped again. Then they announced we were going back to a gate because an indicator light has come on and they need an engineer to check out. There’s stuff on the tarmac around the gate that had to be moved due to proximity to the engines. The engineer was onboard for about five minutes. As the captain said, safety before schedule.

After a 2hr delay leaving we get another safety drill and finally we were up up and away. Luckily for us our original LATAM flight with a 1hr connection had been cancelled months before and we had close to 5hrs before our connecting flight to Sao Paulo.

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

This was our third Qantas international business flight, all points upgrades from premium economy. We flew two flights from New York - LA and LA - Brisbane two years ago. Last year we flew with Air New Zealand to and from Buenos Aires and paid for business for the return flight. Qantas is good but both of us think Air NZ is better.

The QF crew were excellent. They couldn't do enough for us. If the crew was as cough as the plane there's just no way we'd bother with QF.

The flight to Santiago was on a very tired 747. The Hervey Bay (I think). Everything from the carpet to the toilets (especially the toilets) looked old. Not sure if they were SkyBed MkII but they drooped when made up as a bed. Compared to the Air NZ seat with the memory foam mattress and big fluffy pillows, well, we can't, because to both of us they don’t.

We’d pre-ordered our lunch meals and they were good but getting an ice cream sandwich still in its wrapper, as a business desert, is pretty rubbish. I’m sure they’re still using the same crockery, especially the cups and miniature glasses, that they’ve been using for 20 years. The wine was nice, there was plenty offered and accepted.

Menus

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

Dinner and breakfast continued...







I watched a movie on a screen that you had to have at exactly the right angle to see the screen. Qantas really needs to look at the opposition. They’ve caught up and gone flying past.

I slept pretty well for a few hours but Al didn’t sleep as well. Breakfast was served less than two hours out from Santiago.

I remember the Air NZ brekkie and it was amazing. Like dinner, each course was served individually. On Qantas it was served on a tray like in economy. I sound like I’m whinging and I suppose I am. We paid plenty for our premium economy fares and burnt a lot of points for the upgrade. If we’d paid full price I’d be questioning my continuing Qantas loyalty.

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

As the flight was coming in over Santiago the Andes looked spectacular - covered in snow and contrasting to the plateau where Santiago sits at 520m above sea level in the central valley.



Finding the elusive LATAM lounge in SCL was good exercise as we circled around several times and asked many people how to get to the next level (the few lifts we found didn't go up). Another man joined us in the search telling us he'd given up looking last time he was at the airport. With three brains we finally found the way up. Nice lounge and smiling staff but not many seats available at first but it soon cleared out as flights departed. It ended up fairly empty.

The flight to Sao Paulo



was about 1hr late leaving – we sat at the gate and did nothing, got pushed back then went nowhere again. Then we sat on the taxiway at the end of the runway and did nothing for maybe 15 minutes then we finally took off. Nice flight with good seats (763 row 16) for a day flight – no-one behind but less recline. We needed to stay awake to help with the time transition. Watched movies with sub-title and then the weirdest tv show I've ever not been able to understand...



Service was really good. Meal wasn’t too bad and wine was offered multiple times.





We arrived at Sao Paulo airport about 40 minutes late and expected it to be busy but it was very, very quiet. Our bags both came out amongst the first few. No queues (at all) for immigration, not checked at customs - everything was very easy. We took a pre-paid Taxi – BRL150. Busy roads but no Friday night traffic jam (apparently the worst traffic jam in the world) and got to the hotel in about 40 minutes.

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

The easy continued at our hotel Mercure Sao Paulo Jardins - Book your hotel online with really lovely welcoming receptionist.

Very nice room.







Not quite ready for sleep so some beer, pringles and Brasilian TV to induce sleep.

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

Saturday 3th June, Sao Paulo
Both awake at various stages through the night then Al wanted to get up at 5:30. Absolutely nothing happening outside and still very dark until who knows. 6:30?

Seemed to get light very quickly and then I fell into a deep sleep (with plenty of snoring). Finally, with some prompting, I joined the land of the living at maybe 9:30.

View from the room


Restaurant for a very good breakfast. Great staff at this hotel. All super friendly, like every Brasilian we met pretty much



Al had chosen a visit to Iberapuera Park Parque Ibirapuera Conservação because it was
1. home to a number of museums/galleries that were open
2. ‘just’ a walk away

We have very different ways of navigating. Al is all about using north and working directions from there. I’m about checking a map and knowing which way is the ‘right’ way. We have a 50% average each. This time all I’ll say is we got there without taking a wrong turn, just, and it was certainly not just a walk away. It was a long bloody walk, just saying.

A humungous statue across from the entry to the park


It is a big park, dissected by big wide paths filled, on a Saturday morning, by thousands of Paulistana/os of varying degrees of fitness running, walking and riding around it. There are a lot of very, very good looking Paulistanas who are very proud of their bodies and are quite happy to share their good fortune with the rest of us. Some very fit and attractive Paulistanos as well but each to their own…

The park was a collaboration between agronomist Otávio Agusto de Teixeira Mendes and Brasil’s most famous architect Oscar Neimeyer. Right through the centre of the park is a huge (600m +) long concrete ‘awning’ called the Marquise Senador José Ermirio de Moraes, or the verandah.

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

We got a bit lost in the park looking for the galleries/museums we came to see. Al was convinced they were in one direction but the park came to an end. We’d actually walked straight past all of them and we’ve now realised that we missed the biggest one of all.

So much amazing street art in Sao Paulo






We were buggered in any case so maybe that was for the best.

We started at MAM - Museu de Arte Moderna where we were surprised to find it was free but would only have been BRL6 if it hadn’t been.

Straight into a gallery of Renoirs


and then how they were linked to the history of art in Brasil.

 

[bPeteb]

Re: Race around Brasil - two mad weeks in search of good food, architecture and wildl

After we finished there we walked over to Pav Lucas Nogueira Garcez – OCA that looks like a giant version of Canberra’s Academy of Science building. Free again. The collection here was amazing but the building spectacular. A humungous unsupported concrete dome with one level below ground, one on and two above. Just wow!!

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