Iguazú! Mighty, watery beast of the jungle!
Iguazú comes from the Guarani words y (meaning water) and ûazú (meaning big). We visited the falls over two days in May, and it was a mind-blowing amount of Big Water.
The falls straddle the border between Brazil and Argentina, with the Garganta del Diablo or Devil’s Throat Falls marking the boundary. Two thirds of the falls, er, fall on the Argentina side, but there is much to recommend on both sides.
I’ve been working as a freelance web developer for about two months now. I had no idea what I was letting myself in for and it’s been a hell of a ride.
In an attempt to make sense of it all, I humbly present to you everything I’ve learned in the last 9 weeks about four of the biggest aspects of being a digital nomad.
Ahh, yes. Freedom. ‘Tis a glorious thing. The freedom to work when you want. The freedom to work where you want. The freedom to make Skype calls and talk business whilst drinking Pina Coladas dressed in nothing but your underwear (but for the love of God, DON’T HIT THE VIDEO BUTTON).
Everyone told us that Ipanema was the place to stay in Rio de Janeiro: the beach was long and beautiful, and it was much safer that the infamous Copacabana beach. But this wealthy area of soulless high rises just didn’t seem like our kind of place, and we prefer our beaches wild and deserted anyway.
When I heard about the historic, hilltop area of Santa Teresa, home to artists and beatniks, I knew that this was the place for us.
Ipanema is the easy option in Rio, but Santa Teresa is a bit trickier. There’s no airport bus so we had a nightmare getting there by taxi on a rainy night. But as soon as we headed out along the windy cobblestone streets to the picturesque European-style square of Largo das Neves we knew we’d made the right choice.
The Bonde (cable car) in Santa Teresa, Rio getting stuck on the narrow cobbled streets. If you ride on the outside of the car you don’t have to pay – now we see why! See more Brazil photos.
When we were told that the tickets to see two of Rio’s biggest teams go head to head at the world famous Maracanã Stadium were only R$40 (approximately £14 or $22) and that it wasn’t just a football game, it was a Life Experience, how could we refuse?
At some point on the subway ride to the stadium a huge storm had erupted. We arrived to howling winds and torrential rain that managed to pull some signs in the open air mezzanine off of their bolted down stands – one of them clocking some poor guy in the back of the head in the process.