Done.

Finished the book I stole from the hostel on my street in Rio.

Easy read. Kinda funny. 

Altitude Map/List

 

I won't be low till Peru.... How comforting!

Altitude Sickness

It's scary. Like really scary. You cry a lil. You shake. You can't sleep, you toss and turn, your lungs feel like their getting squeezed together. You can feel the atmospheric pressure pushing down on your miserable body. You get gassy: you burp, you fart, you can hear the bubbles traveling and caught inside.

You get up to pee 100 times. You're constantly thirsty and even have the fear of drinking too much and draining out your own sodium and dying.

You chew leaves. At the beginning you were putting 4-7 in your mouth, now you just jam a handful in. You drink the tea. You drink Gatorade. 

You walk around with your arms above your head doing various variations of breathing exercises you've done in yoga classes. You watch a sky full of stars. You walk back to your bed.

You can't sleep, so you google. And there's only two possibilities: either you are on the road to adapting and it's rough or you can't adapt- yup, like Darwin says, if you can't adapt you die.

If I go down, when I come back will I have to face these conditions again? Will they be worse?

You don't know. "Am I waiting to get better or worse?" 

It's not just physical, it fucks with your emotional. You even wonder if you're already going crazy/delirious from the lack of oxygen. Like, is it too late? Can I even get myself on a bus back to a lower altitude? 

How do people go so high? How do people live in places so high?

I took living at zero meters of altitude and breathing for granted. And my body. I hate my body. My genetic composition. My shitty physical conditions. 

Yup. Where are my red blood cell thingies now?? Did I donate them all when I gave blood? 

Body, please adapt. Don't be my barrier.

This place is beautiful! I want to wander. I want to enjoy. 

I can't figure out if this is mind over matter/body. I can't tell if tolerating it will be worth it, but I am hanging on to the faith that not many people feel better within 1-2 days and maybe I need a week to ride it out. 

Going down 500m to Tilcara!

I admit it, I wasn't acclimatized enough to handle Humahuaca.

I didn't sleep well. I puked. I had the shakes. I felt like my brain was swelling into the walls of my skull, my chest about to explode and there was just not enough oxygen. 

I downloaded an App and it showed that I was at 2965m 

Yup, almost 3000-

I decided to come down to Tilcara. 

2494m feels a lil better. 

When the bus stopped here on the way to Humahuaca, I liked it. 18pesos later, and an AWESOME drive through the Quebrada de Humahuaca, 

which I will make a video of), and I arrive here in Tilcara again. I chose a cheap hostel off of booking.com, which I don't generally enjoy using, but it's been the most practical. At $8/night in a 4 person room, it ain't bad. It's just up a hill though.

Anyway, I walked around Tilcara and I really like it. You can see the Andes all around.

I fall in love with this place more and more. I genuinely wish I could be biking or driving through, it is amazing scenery! 

Humahuaca, Jujuy, Argentina

I worked up the courage to leave Salta, and go to Humahuaca, which is a little over the double in altitude, yay!

The ride north turned out to be the coolest drive of this trip so far. The ticket lady at the bus station mentioned that she gave me a great seat, but I shrugged it off because I was busy suffering about the fact that I'm going to he higher, classic Natalia.

Turns out I got the top front corner seat with front and side windows... Hells yeah!

I got the best views of the Andes and I fell completely in love, wow! 

This is where I wish I could've either been hiking this road, or biking it, or even driving a rental... Cuz it was just amazing! The colors and the different peaks were breathtaking!

I also realized the type of territory I was in. I was so used to a tropical climate and beach-like territory and this was totally different! The river banks are dry, dust everywhere, cactuses, the occasional wild horse and llama. Secluded towns. It's probably the first time I've ever been in such desert like conditions. Ignoring my headache, I continued snapping nomerous pictures of the horizon. 

Here in Humahuaca, it's real quiet... You can see and hear the wind. It also picks up a ton of dust! The sun is bright and hot because of the altitude. Yet, when you're not in it, you freeze! 

I took a stroll and nothing was open, except some souvenir stores. 

(Main square, where the monument is!)

So here I will stay, for a few days to acclimatize myself, and hopefully my pulse will go down and it won't feel like I'm breathing like I ran a marathon even though I've been sitting all day.

Just me and my coca tea, a few pants and sweaters and Carine's French book which I'm a lot further than I ever expected to get. 

San Bernardo Hill

Hey.

 I went for lunch at the market and got four chicken empanadas. Walked around looking for Sorochi, the best stuff for altitude sickness everyone recommends; but I can't find! I'm still chewing the leaves...

I dropped off laundry and decide to take the city's gondola, to get a nice view.

The city is a lot bigger than I had imagined, it's pretty much surrounded by the Andes.

On top of the hill there's a restaurant, there's a bunch of fountains, you see people working out and couples romantically hanging out. 

I thought this tree was cool.

Salta at night is very alive. Concerts in the main square, reggeaton blasting out of every car.

The streets are busiest around 11:30am, when people go for lunch, and at 7pm. 

I bought my ticket for Humahuaca, now I gotta stock up on coca leaves and water.

It's funny how most travelers I meet are coming down from Peru... It's great for advice though! :)

Mummy and Dizziness in Salta

I woke up feeling somewhat refreshed. No headache, no dizziness. 

I ate the hostel's shitty breakfast and went for a walk. 

It's a nice and sunny day. I check out the main strip that has some souvenir shops and make my way to the MAAM museum infront of the town's main park: Plaza Principal 9th of July (which is being reconstructed)!

The museum costs ARG$40 and it's worth it. They give you a brief intro to the Inca culture. It spikes you curiosity and doesn't go on and on about it. It's concise. 

In the museum, which I think is due to the shitty lighting, I begin to get a nasty headache again. Like, I even begin debating wether I need glasses. 

At the end of the first floor you can see one out of three best preserved mummies from the Inca empire!! They are the frozen children found at 6000 in Llullaillaco!

They change Inca child every 8 months.

Whilst I was there I saw the boy. 

They are small, and preserved they way they were found.

It was fascinating to see! 

I then left walk around, and as I strolled, I realized that all of Salta seems to be shut down. Hah! It was then that I learned that they close from 12-5! Wow... So there's nothing to do.

Now I'm fighting off altitude sickness and the worse part is that I'M NOT EVEN THAT HIGH!! So it's giving me anxiety about not being able to climb higher (go north) if I can't handle 1190m.

The headache and dizziness is extremely frustrating. :(

Into Argentina.

I left Asuncion, Paraguay in the morning.  After more than 7 hours in the shittiest bus, getting my out and in stamps in my passport at the easiest border ever, I arrive in Resistencia. An awkward terminal that seems to connect every place on the planet. In Asuncion time, I had 4 hours to wait till I get my bus to Salta. 

I was sitting on a bench, people watching, when I hear the old couple behind me confirm that the time was one hour ahead, nice!! 

FlechaBus arrives around 10pm and damnnnnnn, their seats are black leather lazy boys! Every airline and bus company needs to up their game, cuz this Argentinian bus company is kicking their ass! The whole bus ride they only played wedding themed movies... Awkward!

They served dinner and breakfast... And I wish I were hungry, but I encountered "height sickness". Symptomes: headache from hell, dizziness, nausea.

But I woke up to the Andees and it was beautiful! 

And I see llamas and cactuses and a dry dusty place. A few minutes away from Salta and they blast on the popular Latino music videos... The bus is filled with backpackers.

I walk to my hostel, shower and lie down. 

Curitiba, Paraná

Curitiba wasn't on my itinerary. After I spoke to some people, they all encouraged me to go check it out, it's on the way! 

I contacted Mima, a friend I made in Rio, who stayed at our place there, that lives in Curitiba. I wanted the scope on the best place to stay and things to do. Without hesitation, she welcomed me into her home!  

From the pick up, which has to be done at a specific location at the bus station, I noticed right off the bat that Curitiba really is different!

Curitiba is modern. As Seamus from São Paulo said; it doesn't feel like Brazil...

It's clean, it's organized, it's the safest place I've ever been to in the past 1.5 years and I give them the award of nicest people in Brazil. If you ask someone for directions, they practically walk you to your destination! They're super polite and friendly! 

They have "tubes" for buses.

The first day, it took me a bit to get going, but when I did I went to the Botanical Gardens, which is known for the glass greenhouse.

The park is gorgeous, clean and easy to get around.

After reading and watching couples pose for either engagement pictures or baby photos, I took a bus to downtown to check out their main pedestrian street: 15November ou Rota das Flores.

I strolled, had some juice and eventually headed home around 7pm.

Thanks to my iPhone, I got home!

I met Mima's mom and then we went to Cris' apartment 2 buildings over. We ordered pizza and a chocolate pizza! 

(Yes, I'm serious!)

We chatted and laughed and went to bed, because everyone wakes up at 6am.

Day two in Curitiba. I woke up late and began making reservations for Foz do Iguacu. Their maid made me lunch, we ate together and I left to go find Oscar Niemeyer's Eye Museum!

The museum is awesome. Once again, it had 5 awesome exposés.

The most interesting one was on Frida's collection of photos that tell her life. 

Leaving São Paulo!

Waking up on a check out date always sucks... But it's even worse hung over. 

My plan was to eat quickly and go up to pack. But I did the mistake of sitting at the Brazilian's table! As we had seen each other over the days, we got to the stage where they told me about their personal lives... Which quite frankly, I had no time for. 

Without trying to be rude, I managed to cut them off as they begun loading photos on Facebook in order for me to understand better! 

Upstairs, most of the room was in check out mode also. Whilst we rolled up our clothes, we joked about last night's occurances. We all packed so well that there was room left at the top of the backpack, yet we all know that's not a good sign, it probably means we left stuff behind!

-my left over stuff was on my bed.

Once all was finally inside a bag and zipped up, dressed like a real gringa for a winter day at the park in São Paulo: flip flops, shorts and a tshirt, I check out and go hang out at Praca da Republica. 

I got there and because it's Sunday there was market. Typical stuff bought in China market crap. I wasn't there for that thought. I was there because my father had lived there in the 70s and I was curious. I walk around the entire park and try to picture it as it might've been before. I'm also looking for a jewelry store, cuz that's what he said it was on top of. 

Without luck, I go to a bench and sit. Then I realized there's a well dressed old man beside me, so I ask him if he knows the park well and he says he does. He's known it for 50 years! He continues to tell me all about the park and the changes it's gone thru, about São Paulo, about his love for Recife, about his two children and 5 grandchildren, about fruits he loves, about the amazon, about NYC and so on. I had to cut him off to go back to the hostel to pick my bags to go to the bus station. I was glad I spoke to him, he was happy!

I get my stuff and go to Tiete, the bus terminal, it's really confusing because it's huge! I print out my ticket, and go wait... Till I realize there are no bathrooms in the downstairs floor and I got like 15 minutes to catch my bus. 

Lucky I was to rush up make it in time, because in Brazil things are rarely on time!

So goodbye São Paulo. The people were nice. There was a lot of concrete. I felt safer than in Rio, but it will never compare!

I get in the "Cometa" bus which is spacious, but you slide down the huge seat that it's uncomfortable and I manage to fall asleep as we exit SP. 

Only to wake up at the slowest speed ever and notice I am somewhere with a lot of trees and jungle.

Oh Brazil, you are so beautiful and it's so refreshing to be out of Sampa!

Ibirapuera

Ibirapuera is big. Really big. I managed to just see a part of it. I caght a bus from Brigadeiro metro that passed by it. As it was Saturday afternoon, there was a lot of people in the bus going there too.

I got in by gate two. 

The first thing I asked for was where the information desk is located and a map. As per usual, no one that worked there could help me. No one knew where anything was. (Classic Brazilian moment!)

I strolled around and saw all types of people. It kind brought into focus how important having a park nearby is for physical and mental health! It also made me want to own a dog!! 

The park itself has many paths, a lake and museums! I made it to the Museu Afro-Brasil. 

Because it's free, I figured maybe the expo would be small, but it was huge! Three floors of insane Brazilian collections! It was very impressive!  Some of my favorite pieces were these...

After I was done with the park, I caught bus 5300 to Mercado Municipal! I had worked up and appetite and was ready for their famous mortadella and cheese sandwich! 

I got there and yes, it's huge, but not that impressive... I ate the sandwich at Mané, and strolled around for digestion. 

I bough some nuts and dried mango  for tomorrow's bus trip and took the metro back to the hostel.

On my way back, I noticed I was passing by "Liberdade" station and decided to get off. It's little Japan! Really! It's interesting, there are lanterns along the street! Brazil has a huge and significant Japanese population!

Once I got back, Seamus stired up the idea to go out to Rua Augusta, it's the equivalent of Lapa... Kinda. 

We went to LAB, and it kinda sucked! I felt we were at a high school dance. 

I miss Rio's nightlife...

Sampa

My morning started great. I walked into the hostel shower and found a suitcase infront of each shower. Hah, typical Brazilian girls who have never stayed at a hostel. So the shower's heating is not regulated, and they're both under it bitching and complaining about how it's cold. Yeah I get it, so you gotta be strategic about it! Instead of getting your entire body wet, work your washing from the bottom up, so your head and back doesn't have to suffer till the end.

Once that is done, I head downstairs to eat breakfast. They have all sorts of specialty things like cake, fruit salad, other lil fried cakes, etc. I sit outside to drink my tea and meet Seamus, an Australian who currently lives in Tokyo!

We got along super well! We bonded over or experiences and ended spending the morning together! We took the metro and went to MASP! 

MASP, has it's glamour for being seen on television. (It also holds awesome art pieces!) I recognize the red pilars and front from many Brazilian soap operas when the scene takes place in São Paulo!

After the museum we walked along Av. Paulista. It was raining. We asked a guy from the newspaper for a place to eat and he showed us a decent R$per/kilo place. We ate and split up. I wanted to check out the Museum of Portuguese Language. It was an awesome museum. :)

Then I came back to the hostel and chatted with people here. It's easy to bond with hostel workers since we commonly dislike Brazilian guests... Hehehe, really they're the worse kind tho!

I also booked my ticket and I'm on my way to Curitiba on Sunday! :) 

São Paulo - Capital

Contrary to what I thought, São Paulo is not a scary!!

I mean sure, it's big - huge even! 

Yet I found it clean and what's up with those hills everywhere? Everyone forgot to mention that you almost need to be a hiker to get around!

I'm staying at Cafe Hostel and they are absolutely amazing! Very clean, organized, helpful staff and near the metro!

The best way to get around here really is the metro!

I have found Paulistas very helpful! This girl at the metro station was really doing all she could to help me find my hostel, she was very sweet! I wish her good karma!

Can't decide how long I should stay here, but there sure are many things to do! :)

Paraty & Trindade - RJ

At the surface, Paraty is a small touristy colonial town. It's incredibly miserable to walk around, the cobble stones force everyone to constantly look down as they walk. The town is cute because it's all white and it had colored windows. 

Paraty is known for it's festivals, it's what keeps the town alive! Outside the tourism office, there's a sign exposing the yearly festivals for those that want to come back. The town right now is in low seasons as "FLIP" festival just finished.

The town also lives from boat tours, the docks are filled other colorful boats ready to bring you to all kinds of places! 

Trindade. Wow. The town my hippie self would love to live at. In retrospect, I should've lived here for a year!

It has such a charming little beach. The streets are quiet and sleepy...

If you go there, AVOID Che Lagarto, I'm sick of their franchise bullshit, go to a regular hostel where you'll always get treated better!

At Che Lagarto they are always trying to sell you some tour and give you caipirinhas with an eight of a slice of a lime: just 300ml of cachaca and sugar! 

If you go to São Paulo during the day, "Reunidas" bus takes you (in a long ass trip because he stops twice for 30minutes!) along the RJ and SP coast which is beautiful! So take a seat on the left side of the bus for a view!

3 Days Late.

Three days late from my estimated dated of departure, like a true Brazilian, I am booking my hostel (Che Lagarto), packing my things, charging the electronics and waiting for laundry to dry before I take the bus (Costa Verde) to Paraty,  RJ!

My biggest challenge in leaving isin't just leaving Rio behind, but trying to pack smart.
On this journey, the climate will fluctuate ALOT. It is winter, going into spring... and the elevations are changing which can make it hot during the day, and freezing at night. 

First stop. Everyone says I'm going to love it. :)