Guest post by Jonathan Baggs Escaping the Rain with our First Acai We arrived in Ouro Preto from Belo Horizonte in the mid afternoon heat. The Rodoviaria (bus station) was on the edge of town and we planned to go…
Two Days in Belo Horizonte
Frustrating Airbnb Waiting for the bus in Sao Joao del Rei after a taxi ride from Tiradentes, we messaged our airbnb host to get instructions for our apartment in Belo Horizonte. She informed us that the place we had booked…
Walking in the Rain & Waiting for the Train in Tirandentes
Tirandentes hadn’t made it onto our original itinerary. Not because it wasn’t worth visiting, but because we couldn’t determine a route that didn’t have us backtracking between Petropolis, Belo Horizonte (Brazil’s 3rd largest city), Tirandentes and Ouro Preto before making…
Petropolis: a Summer Retreat for Cariocas
After camping in Paraty, we were all excited to move in for three nights to a spacious three bedroom apartment in Petropolis. About two hours north of Rio, Petropolis has long been a summer escape for wealthier Cariocas (people from…
On the Road Again- Brazil
Sao Paulo After nearly three years, we were on the road, or rather, in the air. With flights from Vancouver grounded a few days before our flight due to the winter storms, which had now moved towards Montreal, Cheryl and…
Mexican Memories Part II-Guadalajara and Tequila
WELCOME TO THE BIG CITY: GUADALAJARA Arriving at the new bus station in Guadalajara after the laundry fiasco in Barra de Navidad, we jumped in a cab and headed to the fancy hostel I had stayed in when I spent…
Re-learning to Surf in Coffee Bay
From Durban, I got an early morning bus to Umtata, where I waited with some others who had arrived off the Baz Bus backpacker bus for the shuttle to arrive from the hostel I was staying in Coffee Bay. Coffee…
Back to South Africa: Johannesburg and Durban
After months of wearing the same three shirts and one pair of jeans, most of my clothes had either disintegrated (my hiking pants), gotten stitched up so many times they literally disappeared from the bus (my hiking boots) or were…
Mountains of Lushoto and an Epic Journey to Mafia Island
As we had booked a big bus taking us all the way to Tanga, Tanzania, from Diani beach, the border crossing from Kenya into Tanzania was pretty easy, with the bus staff helping us get in the right queues for…