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Apr. 26, 2005 I arrived in Buenos Aires the first time around December 10, 2004, and I remained five months. Most of my stay coincided with the glorious Argentine summer, which lasts from December 21 to March 21. I got my original three-month visa renewed by sailing El Río de la Plata to Montevideo, Uruguay, and returning through customs. On expiry of that visa, though I could possibly have gotten a third one, I decided, since I knew it would be getting cold in Buenos Aires, to move to Asunción, Paraguay instead, where winter temperatures are higher. I stayed in downtown Asunción for three months, poring over textbooks and dictionaries of the Portuguese language for my envisioned trip to Brazil. Last August, then, I took a bus from Asunción to Rio de Janeiro, passing through Foz de Iguaçu, near the famous Iguaçu Falls. I was a little taken aback by the difference in prices between Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. At a rough guess, I’d say that an economy traveler like myself will have to spend about twice as much in Rio as in BA. In Rio, Internet is scarce, bookstores few, telephone shops unknown. The subway costs 4 times as much and isn’t half as extensive. I was paying more for an inferior room. So I decided to proceed to Belém, a major city on the equator at the mouth of the Amazon River, 1750 miles north of Rio, 55 hours by bus. Belém is a wonderful place for people who love summer. The high and low temperatures are around 90 and 75 every day of the year. I don’t think it ever gets down even to 70, much less below 70. Compare this with Honolulu, which sometimes gets temperatures in the 50’s at night in the winter. I stayed in Belém 5 months, with a very nice room on a peaceful street for $13 a day, including a full breakfast. Of course, Belém doesn’t have a subway, but the streets are full of buses. I don’t think I ever waited more than one minute for a bus. At the beginning of January, I sailed 800 miles up the Amazon River from Belém to Manaus, a city in north central Brazil, the only major city in the Brazilian jungle. Regrettably, I had time for only a week or so in Manaus. I was hoping to find an overland route from Manaus back to southern Brazil, but there are only three ways out of Manaus: Take a ship back to Belém, take a bus north to Caracas, Venezuela, or fly. The ship takes 5 days, and my time was running out. Besides I would be going along a route I had already covered, so I flew to Sao Paulo, the colossus of South America. After a one-week visit in Sao Paulo, a city which, like Rio de Janeiro, is more expensive than I would have liked, I boarded another bus for the 1000-mile ride back to Montevideo, Uruguay, passing through the noteworthy city of Florianópolis in south Brazil. I spent just a few days in Uruguay, and then got on a ship to sail across El Rio de la Plata again. Having arrived in Buenos Aires for a second visit on February 1 of this year, my three-month visa will expire on May 1, but I have not applied for another. I’ve decided to repeat the whole procedure, by going back to Asuncíon, Paraguay for three more months, and then back to Belém, Brazil for another six. So I have my visa for Paraguay, a bus ticket to Asunción, and if all goes well, Saturday morning I’ll be off. Sunday at midday I’ll be back in the Paraguayan capital. After my second visit to Brazil, I may go to India, if I can manage to get a visa. But that is nine months off, if I do it at all, so I’ll worry about that later. Incidentally, a year ago a US dollar was worth 6300 Paraguayan guaranties. This year it is worth only 5700. At that rate, by the end of the 21st century, a dollar will be worth 1 guaraní. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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