A Hot Start to Summer

July 18, 2015July 21, 2015 / Maria / Leave a comment

Summer has been off to a great start this year! I think I’ve alluded to how much I love spring in BC and this year summer has been just as much of a treat for me. Temperatures have been in the high 20’s since the end of May and it always amazes me to realize that I’ll actually get to enjoy three full months of summer!

Our warm and dry winter led us into an even warmer and dryer summer. The grass that was beautiful and green all winter has turned golden brown in the summer heat. I can only recall two days when it has rained since the beginning of June. I love the sun, but the heat has definitely required a little bit of an adjustment from what I’m used to. At any given time it’ll be between 27 and 30 degrees in our house and I’ve taken to leaving all the windows open and sleeping without blankets and the fan pointed right at my face. Unfortunately, the dry heat and lack of rain hasn’t been great for the wildfires across the province and the air quality has been pretty bad in recent weeks.

But I won’t complain because I absolutely love the sunny weather! I’ve been planning my summer activities with abandon, not worrying about how the forecast might turn out. We’ve already crammed in a ton of summer activities and knocked a few more items off my bucket list.

The fun started right after my return from Brazil with a visit from my wonderful parents! They came to stay with us for the May long weekend and we took advantage of the holiday to travel down to Washington State for the weekend. It was Mom and Dad’s first trip to Seattle and we did a little exploring around famous Pike Place Market and then cheered on the Boston Red Sox at a baseball game at Safeco Field (I think it was my first time not cheering for the home team). We didn’t spend too long in Seattle though and opted instead to spend the weekend exploring enormous Olympic National Park.

The Park is located south of Seattle along the west coast, just below Vancouver Island. It was quite a bit larger than we thought, so we spent two days driving around the park trying to fit in as many of its diverse attractions as we could. We had a picnic lunch at a waterfall in Elwha, hiked through the forest near Crescent Lake, went tidepooling at Rialto Beach, and took in the amazing views along Hurricane Ridge. It’s a beautiful park and I wish we’d had a bit more time to spend there. We tried to fit in a few small hikes so we could see a bit of everything, but we did have to spend large portions of our time driving.

Olympic National Park is also home to another setting you might be familiar with, Twilight. The area serves as the setting for Stephanie Meyers popular franchise and we passed through many of the towns from her book. Rialto Beach is located just across the river from La Push and we had a good laugh when we drove through Forks on our way there. They’ve definitely capitilized on ‘Twilight Fever’ and we saw a lot of references to the books around the town. The sun came out for us though, so we didn’t see any vampires around!

Towards the end of May, Seth and I bought bikes as a new way to explore the city. Steph joined us for a bike ride around the Stanley Park seawall at the end of May, but otherwise we’ve mostly been biking around New West. We discovered one of the outdoor public pools within biking distance is free, so that’s been a great way to cool down on hot days. New West is very hilly though, so I really need to work on my leg muscles for biking!

In June we kicked off our camping and hiking season. Our first camping trip was out to Chilliwack Lake Provincial Park. Karen and Grant joined us and we had a fun drive out, stopping for a pretty memorable meal at one of the local bars called Tractorgrease. We spent the weekend BBQing, lounging by the lake, working on our frisbee skills, and making s’mores over a campfire. We ended the trip with a short hike up to Lindeman Lake, one of Chilliwack’s many mountain lakes.

We also made a trip out to Golden Ears Provincial Park in early June with some of my colleagues and went on a nice hike out to Viewpoint Beach, nestled in the mountains along one of the freezing, snow-melt rivers. The river would numb your toes, but we went for a swim in gorgeous Alouette Lake at the end of the hike, one of my favourite places from last summer.

One of the biggests excitements of the month was the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which I’m sure you know was hosted in Canada this year! I bought a set of tickets to several games in June of last year and I couldn’t wait to finally see the women play. We had tickets to two games from the group round (Cameroon vs. Ecuador and Japan vs. Switzerland), two games in the round of 16 (Canada vs. Switzerland and Japan vs. Netherlands), and the quarterfinals (Canada vs. England). It was so incredible to cheer on Canada twice at sold out games with more than 50,000 people in attendance! We finished off the tournament with tickets to the final; it was a bit of a disappointing game since we decided to cheer for Japan, but still an incredible event to witness! Most of all, I was happy to support women’s sports and I hope that Canada came to appreciate their awesome female atheletes a little bit more.

Some other highlights from June included going on a tour of UBC and Wreck Beach with Amy, seeing Ed Sheeran in concert, and celebrating my 25th birthday. I didn’t manage to get tickets to see Ed Sheeran in the first sale, so I had to pay a lot more to get tickets from a third-party, but it was so worth it! Ed is such a fantastic performer – it’s just him, his guitar, and a loop station on stage. Steph and I had such a blast watching him, we decided if he ever comes back we’ll be shelling out for floor seats! I also had a great birthday. I’m pretty sure we gathered up all the Newfoundlanders we could find in the city and had a nice BBQ at the house; although sadly, I forgot to take any pictures.

Our most recent exploit was a Canada Day hike in Garibaldi National Park. I’d heard a lot of good things about Garibaldi from people at work, so we wanted to check it out. We did the 18km hike with one of my colleagues and it was just as impressive as everyone raved it was! The hike itself is a bit of a slog – you start with about 6km of steady uphill through the trees before you really get to any scenery. We stopped for a snack at the 6km mark and encountered one of our favourite birds, Gray Jays (or as they’re known in BC, Whiskey Jacks), which don’t need much enticing to eat straight out of your hand!

The scenery improves a little after that and we hiked through some peaceful meadows before finally reaching gorgeous Garibaldi Lake. It’s a glacial lake and has some of the clearest, blue-green water I’ve ever seen. It’s surrounded by snow capped mountains with the Sphinx and Sentinel Glaciers on the far side of the lake. My colleague was doing a dry run with his big pack for a weeklong hike he’s doing in August, so he had his bag filled with every sort of sandwich fixin’ imaginable and we had a delicious meal on the shore of the lake. After lunch, we all went for a swim in the freezing, crystal clear water to cool down before the hike back. We ended the day with the New West fireworks show, which truly made for a perfect day!

That’s my summer thus far in a nutshell. I’m looking forward to lots more camping in July and I’ll be home for a full two weeks in early August. Sending lots of love and sun back to Newfoundland!

Maria

Hiking around Ilha Grande

May 11, 2015 / Maria / 1 Comment

Sadly our trip to Brazil is over now. We spent the last part of our vacation on Ilha Grande, an island a few hours outside of Rio. We feared the trip to the island might be a bust because of a bad weather forecast, but it still turned out pretty good.

We took a transfer from Rio early in the morning and arrived on the island just after lunch. It rained our whole way to the island, so we weren’t feeling up for beaches, but we decided to go on a little 3km hike that somehow turned into 8+ kilometers. Our intention was to hike up to an old aqueduct that still transports water down to the main city of Abraao, but the rain cleared up a bit, so we decided to continue on another few kilometers to Feiticeira Waterfall. It looked pretty small compared to what we saw in Iguazu, but it was still quite nice. Our hiking boots have definitely seen better days though! The whole trail was covered in red clay, which got incredible sticky thanks to all the rain and got caked all over our boots and legs.

Feiticeira Waterfall

The sun was trying to poke out the following morning, so we rose early to complete a 7km hike out to Ilha Grande’s best beach, Lopes Mendes. We seemed to be the first ones out on the trail and even though it was mostly uphill, we enjoyed the first few kilometres of the trail. There’s a lot of dogs on the island, mostly strays unfortunately, and we picked up two doggy friends at the start of our hike. At first we tried to shake them off because I’m usually pretty weary of animals in other countries, but they were very sweet and hiked most of the way to Lopes Mendes with us! There was a little brown one that was always taking off into the woods and a bigger white dog that would run ahead after the smaller dog and then wait for us to catch up (he was sweet and I really liked him). They disappeared after about an hour and we weren’t sure what happened to them, but they eventually caught up with us later on with another group of hikers.

Made some new friends

I read before we came here that Lopes Mendes was ranked as one of the best beaches in the world and it did not disappoint! It’s definitely near the top of my list! It was just miles of the finest, cleanest sand I’ve ever seen. It was so soft and we spent a lot of time just hanging out in the shallows. At first when we saw the waves at Lopes Mendes we were a little disappointed because they looked really large and we had gotten pummeled by the large waves at Copacabana, but they ended up being perfect. The slope of the beach is very small, so the waves would break really far out and were great for jumping around in. Everyone in Rio told us the water would be too cold for swimming because it was almost winter, but unsurprisingly, we didn’t find it cold at all and thought it was the perfect temperature!

Beautiful Lopes Mendes

On our second day in Ilha Grande we decided to explore the island by boat. Tourism definitely plays a large role for most of the locals living on the island and there were dozens of little agencies offering a number of excursions around the island. We decided to do a snorkeling tour of the north half of the island. We spent the day on a nice high speed motor boat with a dozen other tourists and visited several different beaches.

The sun was out when we left and fortunately it stuck around for most of the day. Our first two stops on the boat were the snorkeling locations, Lagoa Azul and Lagoa Verde, which translates to blue and green lake. Lagoa Azul had better reefs, with lots of bright fish and some coral, but I ended up having more fun at Lagoa Verde. Our boat driver had some fish food that he threw in the water while I was snorkeling near the boat and I got a great view of all the fish as they swarmed around. He gave me some to feed them as well – they’re these little pellets that you hold in the water and all the fish bite at them. I was surprised at how aggressive they were and they quickly devoured all the food! A few of them gave me little bites on the arm and I realized there was another kind of fish swarming around my feet when they bit me on the legs too! It was all fun though, everyone else seemed a bit reluctant to be in the middle of all the fish, but I enjoyed it.

Boat trip around the island

In the afternoon we stopped to a different beach for lunch and then toured another few beaches on the way back to Abraao. The tide had come in by then, so unfortunately the beaches had shrunk quite significantly, but it was still nice to get a tour of the island. Emily and I both agreed though that Lopes Mendes was the best beach and that overall, the boat tour and snorkeling we’re probably a little overrated. We were glad to support the livelihoods of those living on the island, but our preference probably would have been to do some more beach hopping by hiking rather than boat. But it’s a very beautiful island!

On our last night in Rio we decided to go all out and go on a pub crawl with the group that organized our walking tour when we arrived. The pub crawl goes all around Lapa, which has the best night life in Rio and we had a blast! Emily has a friend from Rio, so he joined us for the evening and we all had a great time sampling some of Rio’s best bars and clubs.

We started at a Cachacaria. Cachaca is the key ingredient in Brazil’s favourite cocktail, the caipirinha, so we visited a small bar called Cana Kriok that makes its own cachaca and got a lesson in how to make the perfect caipirinha. The other ingredients include just lime, sugar, and ice; I picked up a bottle of cachaca to take home, so I’ll have to try them out myself! The caipirinhas at Cana Kriok were easily the best ones I had the whole trip. Apparently they’re best made individually and the large batches of caipirinhas they sell on the beach just can’t compare.

Our second stop was to a “typical Brazilian bar”, Antonio’s, which Emily and I had unknowingly visited earlier in the trip. The last two clubs we visited we’re where we finally sampled some samba! The first club was Sacrilegio, which is a very old club that is known as the birthplace of samba. There was a live band and we had a great time attempting to learn some samba moves! We were so bad at it, you have to move your feet so quickly, but we had fun nonetheless.

Emily, Arthur, and I at Antonio’s

The last stop was Rio Scenarium, the most famous club in Brazil and ranked one of the top 10 clubs in the world by The Guardian. It had three floors and was enormous! The main floor had more Brazilian music and samba and the second floor had electronica. Brazil just hosted it’s first Tomorrowland festival in São Paulo last week, so the second floor was packed. We spent some time on both floors and were more then happy to spend the remainder of our night at the Scenarium!

Our flights didn’t leave until after 9pm on our last day, so we took it easy and spent the day walking along the beaches again. We did a little hike up to a small fort located near the beach to finish off the trip with one last view of Rio. It was definitely a rewarding view and hike. We met lots of little marmosets on the way up and we had a great view of all Rio’s famous attractions, the Sugarloaf, Christo Redentor, and Copacobana Beach. It was a pretty satisfying way to end the trip.

One last view of Rio

As with most trips, I’m sad to leave but happy to be home. I don’t have too much of a break though as my parents are coming for a visit in just 3 short days!! I hope you enjoyed the blogs about Brazil, I really enjoyed writing them. Check my Facebook for pictures soon!

Otherwise, I’m sure I’ll have lots of fun summer adventures to share with you soon!

Maria

A Tour of Rio’s Top Attractions

May 5, 2015 / Maria / Leave a comment

On our second visit to Rio we stayed in Zona Sul, home to Copacabana and Ipanema beach. We immediately preferred it to Lapa. Our hostel was located just 4 blocks from Copacabana beach and the atmosphere was immensely different. Copacabana stretches for 5 kilometers in an arc across south Rio until it reaches the Copacabana fort and Arpoador, where it continues into Ipanema and Leblon beach for another several kilometers. The weather cooperated great and we headed straight for the beach upon our arrival.

We arrived on a Saturday, so the beach was packed with locals and tourists alike. We found a nice place to lay our towels and settled in for the afternoon. The waves along the beach are enormous, but it’s so hot and humid it doesn’t stop anyone from cooling off in the water. We had to be so vigilant with sunscreen while at the beach, but managed to avoid getting burnt (except for the tops of our feet).

You can’t spend very long at the beach without noticing how many people make their livelihoods from it. There are locals roaming the beach all day selling every kind of product imaginable. The first people you notice are those renting beach chairs. It seems each person manages a different area of the beach and as soon as you enter their section, they try and get you to rent a chair or umbrella from them. Then there are the people selling beach goods, from towels and cover-ups, to sunscreen, bikinis, sunglasses, hats, beach buckets, and even inflatable children’s pools. Finally, there’s the people selling food and drinks. They’re my favourite, you could easily spend the whole day on the beach without having to go in search of food. There are guys selling sandwiches, mozzarella sticks, prawn skewers, chips, ice cream, and our favourite, acai! The second day we went to the beach Emily flagged the acai guy down from halfway up the beach! The last are those selling drinks. I still find it very strange that drinking alcohol in public is legal in Brazil, so there are tons of guys roaming the beach all day with coolers of beer and trays of caipirinhas.

Sunset over Ipanema Beach

On our first day, we decided to walk up Copacabana Beach to the Arpoador in Ipanema to watch the sunset. The Arpoador is a huge rock that juts out into the ocean between Copacabana and Ipanema. It has a great view of the sunset over the mountains and was packed with people on every inch of the rock on Saturday evening! We found a spot and enjoyed watching surfers ride the waves as the sun dipped behind Ipanema.

It was calling for a cloudless day on Sunday, so we decided to attempt to see Sugarloaf and Christo Redentor in one day. We visited Sugarloaf first; it was pretty early so we had a quick ride to the top without any wait. The cable car first takes you up to Morro da Urca, the smaller of the two mountains, and then a second cable car takes you to the top of the iconic Sugarloaf mountain. The view from the top gives you an amazing 360 degree view of Rio. We could see straight out to the Christ the Redeemer statue, with the beaches on one side and Lapa and Centro on the other. After we snapped a few photos, we discovered a little path going down the back of the mountain that it seems most tourists ignore. You couldn’t see the view there, but you could enjoy the jungle on the back of the mountain instead. We saw some interesting bugs hanging around and watched a group of marmosets jumping from tree to tree.

View from Sugarloaf

We messed up the bus stop location after we left Sugarloaf and spent a fair bit of time wondering around, somehow ending up at Botafogo Bay, but we found it eventually and hopped on a bus to Corcovado. We were impressed with our quick ascent up the Sugarloaf, but we paid for it at Corcovado. The later in the day you wait, the longer the lines get. In order to go up to the Christ the Redeemer statue, you have to take an old tram through Tijuca National Park, up the side of the Corcovado, so only so many people can go up at once. Fortunately we didn’t have to wait too long to get tickets, but our tram ticket was for about an hour and a half after when we purchased it. Things could have been a lot worse though and we just used the extra time to go in search of lunch.

It was a nice ride up to the statue, but I have to admit the tram was a bit dated. It’s a narrow ride up to the top, so there’s only one track and you have to stop 3 or 4 times on the way up at wider sections to wait for the tram coming down to pass. It took about 30 minutes, but we were dying at the end from the heat in the un-air conditioned carriage. The view from the top was worth it though!

Christo Redentor

If we had to pick, we both agree that the view from the Corcovado was better than the view from the Sugarloaf. However, the crowd was not. It’s a very narrow platform at the top with a lot of people crammed in taking pictures of both the statue and the view. It made me almost thankful for the bottleneck at the bottom, which at least slowed down the flow of people. We stayed for a little while to take our pictures and admire the view, but it was a bit too crowded for us. You can’t help but admire the statue though!

View of Sugarloaf from the Corcovado

Up until now, our schedule has been pretty packed with activities, so on Monday we finally had a nice relaxing day at the beach. We slept in and then made our way down to Copacabana Beach. Our strategy was to spend an hour or so in one spot and then pack up and move a little further down the beach, eventually making our way to the end of Ipanema Beach. It was extremely hot, so we spent a fair bit of time cooling down in the waves. It was definitely a nice relaxing day and was less crowded since it was a week day. We finished off with some shopping in Ipanema and took a break from Brazilian food and shared a huge plate of nachos on the beach for supper.

A great day at the beach!

We’re in Ilha Grande now for the last leg of our vacation. It looks like our good luck with weather has finally run out and it’s calling for rain the next few days. But we’re going to try and make the best of it and hopefully we’ll still get to enjoy Ilha Grande’s premier beaches!

Maria