To put it mildly, 2020 is not the most fortunate year. We feel a bit guilty complaining about our luck, because the coronavirus epidemic has taken other people’s jobs, good health, or even lives. In our case, it just ruined our plans. We said goodbye to family, friends and “normality” in general, without a specific return date, and we definitely did not expect to be heading back home after only a few months.
During our two months in Paraguay, few things amazed us, but there was a lot that surprised. This was the first non-European country where we had to spend so much time, so a great opportunity to get aquainted with the local reality (of course, as far as possible given the pandemic).
Brazil is the 42nd country where we tried hitchhiking. Three weeks is definitely not enough to see such a huge, diverse country, so we limited ourselves to the states of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Paraná. The report from our hitchhiking experiences applies only to this area.
We usually don’t pass by a country without stopping for even a short visit. Everething indicated that Paraguay would not be on the list of the most interesting places we visited, but we ignored it. And you know what? Although in fact nothing specific impressed us here, we don’t regret coming. At least we saw it with our own eyes.
Do you like waterfalls? We certainly do! The Iguazu National Park takes this concept to a whole new level. Thanks to the variety of marked routes, you can watch these wonders of nature from several different perspectives, so surprisingly, staring at water becomes an attraction for a whole day.
It is a pity that we got to Curitiba at the very beginning of the journey. We would certainly appreciate the undeniable “European” nature of the city if we were more homesick. We just didn’t have the need to feel like on the Old Continent!
The largest city of Brazil and all of South America. Over 20 million inhabitants - sounds overwhelming. The term “concrete jungle” fits São Paulo perfectly. We liked getting lost in its thicket much more than we expected at the beginning.
Lots of people dream to visit Rio de Janeiro during the carnival. We already have this amazing experience behind us, so we can share several first-hand thoughts and tips!
From the start, we planned to fly to South America in February, so Rio immediately topped the list of places to visit. You can’t miss the opportunity to experience the biggest carnival in the world!
While preparing for the trip, we read tons of practical articles on packing for a long journey. Every one of them presented a different idea of what a properly packed backback should look like. Our list of things to take takes into account the specifics of the trip - hitchhiking, frequent sleeping in a tent, running a blog on the go, and no specific return date.