Author archive
31 August 2019
The Auckland winter ends tonight officially and the weather hasn’t been too wet or windy lately. It isn’t really that cold by many standards in four-season countries. However, I know that the wet and windy misery can stretch on till November (or December) so hence I have another escape from Auckland … even if it’s […]
4 August 2019
Our flight to Auckland with ETA of 0030 on Saturday 03 August, closed up 20 minutes ahead of schedule but couldn’t push back till a few minutes ahead of scheduled time. Another aircraft next door beat us to the pushback and took up the available space. I was lucky to have received my paid upgrade […]
2 August 2019
Final exploration We we say goodbye to Brazil and fly out of Rio to Buenos Aires, to connect to our flight back to New Zealand. We didn’t want to fit too much into the morning and had decided we’d just go to the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Sebastian. But first up, I went to the […]
1 August 2019
Despite a bit tired, I forced myself to go to the hotel gym for a light workout before a small breakfast at McDonald’s nearby. We had a free walking tour of the historic centre and Lapa. Three Spanish-speaking people turned up and the both of us were the only English-speaking ones. So, our English-speaking guide […]
31 July 2019
Some exercise, finally The Windsor Asturias Hotel is equipped with a gym and pool on the rooftop. I woke before 0700 and checked it out. Both proved to be tiny. The gym had three treadmills, a bench and some free weights. After not having done any proper exercise, this was better than nothing and I […]
30 July 2019
Bus ride to Rio de Janeiro Today we have a 4h40 bus ride from Paraty to Rio de Janeiro. With a departure time of 0920, we had to wake a little earlier than usual. It’s terrible that we had come from Europe and adapted too quickly to local time and sleeping in, when I had […]
29 July 2019
Today we take a day cruise around the bays and islands near Paraty. We had asked around and prices varied between BRL40 to BRL50 for a trip departing 1100 and returning 1600, having 4 stops. Boats vary in size from 120 to 160 pax capacity. We settled for the cheapest and smallest. We made our […]
28 July 2019
Our free walking tour in Paraty at 1030 was led by an Argentine of English ancestry. That explained his very good English with a posh accent. The English group was small but the one led by his Portuguese-speaking counterpart was much bigger. He gave a good history of the city, explaining how it grew because […]
27 July 2019
I tried not to over-eat at the awesome breakfast buffet at the hotel. We had some time to Pakill before checking out at 1045 to make our way by Uber to Sao Paulo’s Tiete bus station for our 1215 bus to Paraty. We got to the station an hour before departure, in case the station […]
26 July 2019
For a small hotel the Calstar put on an awesome breakfast with hot and cold options, including plenty of fruit and different juices and shakes. We timed ourselves well to get into the small breakfast room without waiting. We have a free walking tour to join at 1130 but reviewing the information last night, I […]