Park Slope would be an interesting place to do a social experiment. It's populated by a strange combination of hippies, yuppies, and washed-up writers, but it somehow kind of works. In the daytime, the streets are filled with mothers, baby sitters and $800 strollers, and there's plenty to do. You could spend some time at one of the many coffee shops (http://cupofnyc.com/shops/park-slope for a listing), the best of which is probably Gorilla Coffee on 5th Ave.
If you get bored of coffee and it's nice out, Prospect Park is definitely worth a look. During the summer it's filled with people playing Frisbee and sunbathing.
New York has a lot to offer, especially if you like exploring diverse neighborhoods and ethnic foods. There's a Greek section in Astoria, great Thai food in Woodside, Middle Eastern in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and Russian in Brighton Beach.
Absolutely amazing! Iguazú falls is one of the most spectacular natural wonders I have ever seen. It's worth spending the day here and seeing the falls from both the Argentine and Brazilian sides, but if you're short on time, the Argentine side is nicer and offers a better view.
If you're traveling on an American passport, you won't have to pay the US $100 visa fee to cross over to the Brazilian side of the falls for the day.
From Buenos Aires I flew to to Ushuaia, at the bottom of the island of Tierra del Fuego, which is between the Straights of Magellan and the meeting of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It's a really small town and not at all impressive, nor is the 1 runway plus shack "airport," but the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego is quite cool.
Friday I went to the park with a German and a Canadian I met at the hostel, and we got the 1/2 price Argentinian entrance fee because we kept our mouths shut while the bus driver paid and asked for the tickets. We got to some sort of dirt road and walked about 5 km to the end of RN-3, where there's a sign that reads something to the effect of END OF THE WORLD. YOU HAVE REACHED THE END OF RN-3. BUENOS AIRES 3,033 km ALASKA 17,981km. Some silly pictures were taken. End-of-the-world jokes were made. End-of-the-world jokes were beaten into the ground. We eventually got sick of said end-of-the-world jokes.
The next day I walked around town, took a bunch of pictures, and saw the sun rise over the Beagle Channel, which was really nice but kind of creepy in a way,because the mountains encircle the city, and because of the contrast between them and the sun, and because it takes the sun a lot longer down there to rise than it does as you go further north towards winter (correct my physics if I am wrong, but that seems to be the case), there was basically a black space with a jagged top, and the sun made this eerie orange glow over it, while above it the sky was still fairly dark. I think I have a picture of this—it's sort of hard to explain properly.
The original plan was to go to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, and then make my way up to Bariloche. But, that's not how it wound up because naturally this country is way more enormous that I thought, and the roads in southern Patagonia, well, suck. To reach the glacier at El Calafate would have been minimum 15hrs by bus, and then another 30+ hrs by bus from there to Bariloche, not including the layover time. Of course I could have flown to Bariloche, but that would have also involved an overnight stop in El Calafate and almost 1,000 pesos. Or, I could fly to Bariloche via Buenos Aires. So I just took a plane back to Buenos Aires and took the bus, which I think was probably the best thing to do given that what I've heard about Calafate is that the glacier is pretty cool but the town is a dump and it's probably not worth all that effort of getting there and away to see it.
BH is a cool, modern city with very friendly people. The Savassi district is good for fancier shopping and dining, and the nightlife is rumored to be very good.
A nice place to go, especially if you're into wine. Mendoza has dozens of wineries that are open to the public and offer tours of the production process.
Mendoza is also a good place to set out for horseback riding in the Andes, hiking, and touring around.
Mendoza doesn't seem that much different from the rest of the Andean towns I've been to, but the ride through the Andes was absolutely amazing. You go up and up and up and up, the weather is shitty and cloudy and gray, you start seeing snow on top of the mountains as you and a zillion other trucks and buses zigzag up a really curvy road with numbered curves (at least 20 on the way up) until you go through this tunnel that is sorta long, I think. When you come out on the other side and pass Centro Migraciones Cristo el Redentor, you are evidently on the other side of the continental divide (the streams are going the other way) and in the distance you see the clouds opening up as the mountains diminish. I.e., as soon as you cross the border into Argentina, the weather stops sucking and becomes beautiful within 5 minutes of travel from the border. I find this hilarious. The mountains block all the crappy weather from being blown over from the Pacific and keep them in Chile. Then you go down and down (the descent into Argentina is way less steep) and the vegetation on the mountains gets more and more dense as you drop in altitude, and you see little 2 foot wide streams get wider and wider and eventually become really blue lakes. Then civilization starts to appear, ever so vaguely, and then you are in Mendoza.
The coolest way to get to Buenos Aires, or Bs.As., is Buquebus, the fast ferry to Buenos Aires. Half of the bottom deck is a (naturally) overpriced duty-free store, and the ride was very nice. The Río de la Plata is huge and when you're in the middle you cannot see either side of the river. As the sun begins to set, it reflects really intensely on the river, and you can barely see anything because of all the glare. It looks kind of silvery, which is supposedly why they call it Río de la Plata (the silver river). Towards the end of the three hour trip, you begin to see the silhouette of the Buenos Aires skyline appear, and it slowly gets bigger and bigger and bigger until all of a sudden you are docked right in the middle of it.
I chose a hostel from the list in the Lonely Planet, told a cab driver to take me there, and obviously there was never a hostel at this address—it was a shoe store or something, so he took me to this other hostel where I stayed.
As for Buenos Aires itself, it it really nice. Really really really really really nice. I could definitely stay there for a few months. The people are really nice, and the place is not ghetto like most big cities in Brazil. There are tons of trendy cafés, stores, restaurants, and all kinds of other cool modern establishments and architecturally interesting buildings blended right in with old colonial style buildings and monuments. For example, here you go into a bathroom and you have both hot and cold water available to you without fiddling with some sort of incendiary device or worrying that you will be electrocuted (most showers in Brazil outside of Rio/Sao Paulo have wires dangling out of the shower head and running down to a plug right near where the water comes out, which heats up the water.Quite possibly the most idiotic invention ever).
Cabs are plentiful and cheap, and the subway goes everywhere and costs about a quarter per ride. One of the lines even has these really old 1920s style cars that feel like those pictures of the NYC subway from that era. They are made out of wood and they creek at every turn, and you open the doors by hand to exit. The rest of the lines have more modern cars,which are nice too but nowhere nearly as cool.
There is this long shopping pedestrian mall called Florida, where you can find all sorts of leather goods, cheap suits, other clothes and all kinds of other stuff, usually at decent prices. So far I've seen a local rock show in Plaza de Mayo (pronounced "mashow" in porteño), and a couple of random tango performances in the street.
People go to dinner around 10:30 on average, and the other day I had a really tasty bife de lomo steak for about four bucks. Mmmm. The beef is really delicious here, and super cheap.
Nightlife starts at 12am, which is crazy, but fun. I think it's safe to say that I'm having a great time here, and I and going to extend my trip a couple of weeks longer so I can both stay in Buenos for a while as well as travel to the Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, all the way at the end of the world...
Manaus is an interesting place to visit if you like chaotic urban areas.
I arrived in Manaus, Amazonas after a five and a half day boat trip sleeping in a hammock. It's not as comfortable as it sounds, trust me. In order to make the most money, the boat company sells as many places as they have life vests, which is a lot. On the bottom deck of my boat, in what I have deemed steerage, there must have been around 200 people, hanging side by side with little or no space between hammocks, while on the top deck (where I was, hilariously called first class) each person got to hang his hammock on a numbered hook, ensuring each person had precisely 1.5 feet of space in which to hang the hammock. There is a mens' side and a womens' side, and in the middle, couples can hang their hammocks. Not joint hammocks, mind you, but they can hang individually next to one another. One American couple I met bought a 2-person hammock and was prohibited from using it.
Unless you're passing through, there isn't really much of a point of coming to Montevideo, but if you're already in the area, it's definitely worth checking out.
I arrived at about 7am on the overnight bus from Porto Alegre, so the only thing open was a cafe. I was chatting with the owner while having a coffee, and eventually one of his friends came and offered to take me around the city. Normally I would advise against, but something told me that the guy was ok. Uruguayans are also famous for being really friendly and helpful. So I took my pack and the guy took me on a tour of the city, pointing out the important landmarks. Then we went up on the hills for some panoramic views, and then back down along the coastal road until his "country" house (maybe 10 min outside the city). It was a great way to get to know the locals and see what I wouldn't have been able to see in just 1 day and public transit.
Talk about chaotic. São Paulo is nuts! Try jamming 20 million people into not the biggest space, and then give them all cars and motorbikes and see what happens. Go!
São Paulo, or Sampa, as they call it, does have a lot to offer for almost anyone, though. From teeming slums to high class restaurants and hotels and museums, there's easily enough to do to fill a few days.
Although it's a sleepy city on the Amazon, it's pretty big, and is quite conveniently located close to Alter do Chao, which is totally worth visiting -- it's the nicest non-ocean beach I have ever visited!
I passed through Mossoró in the middle of the night as part of a layover on a bus trip from Natal to Fortaleza. The bus terminal is pretty dumpy, and at 2am of course there is nothing to do. However, on the trip over, there were absolutely no clouds in the sky, or any light pollution, and I saw some of the most beautiful stars that I have ever seen.
Keep in mind, though that you can probably only get this kind of experience on a conventional bus (no A/C), because they're the only ones on which you can open a window. Worth it if it's a cool night.
Bariloche is a gorgeous mountain town with a lot to do. I visited in the summer, so it was clear and great for hiking in the surrounding area. It's pretty easy to catch a bus to some of the outlying areas, and the hikes are challenging and offer striking mountaintop views, I highly recommend it.
If you're planning a trip to the 7 Lakes region, this is a good starting point. Rent a car and you can drive up to San Martin de los Andes and then over to Chile.
Also, if you visit in the summer, Bariloche will likely be flooded with Israelis. I swear that I heard and spoke more Hebrew there than Spanish, which was pretty funny :-)
Ouro Preto is a beautiful city with lots of historic architecture. Don't miss the famous church at the top of the hill, though I have to say, it looks nicer from outside on top of the hill than from the inside.
The city is just about an hour and a half bus ride from Belo Horizonte's central bus station, and buses leave about once an hour.
Salta is a cool small city. While there isn't really all that much to do in the city proper, it's a good starting point for exploring the rest of Salta province, which is full of interesting desert landscapes, colorful layered rock formations, and interesting hikes.
Though a bit of a tourist trap, the Tren a las Nubes is still a worthwhile excursion. It used to be a real train, but was closed years ago because of its deteriorating condition. Now vans and 4x4 vehicles follow roughly the same route.
Algeciras is not a safe place to be, especially after dark. When I arrived at the port at 9pm, the bus driver warned me not to leave the port area, so it was even unsafe to go to the train station.
After a week of crazy Carnaval in Salvador, Natal was a great place to calm down and chill for a few days by the beach before heading further up north.
One of the most fun things to do here is rent a dune buggy and take a trip up the sand dunes by the coast. If you ask the buggy driver, or bugeiro, to drive "com emoção," he'll do it with even more drama. Definitely one of the most fun rides I've taken, and along the way you stop at various amusements, like sand surfing and zip lines that cross inlets & lakes.
The first time I passed through Porto Alegre, I thought it was a run down, slummy place. But to be fair, I just stopped briefly at the bus terminal on my way to Uruguay, so maybe you can't judge.
Porto Alegre is a pretty interesting city, though. I spent a few days hanging out with a friend at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul dorms, so it was a lot of fun. Somehow the Brazilian idea of a college party is a lot of fun. We even had a churrasco on the roof!
There's also a very nice central park near the University.
I really liked San Francisco. I was there for about a week, and it rained most of the week, but the few days of sunshine were quite nice. If you like taking photos, Nob Hill is a great place to get views of the entire city and get some cool shots of the Bay Bridge through the buildings from the tops of the hills.
Also, if you like coffee, San Francisco is almost as good as Seattle. Be sure to check out Blue Bottle coffee while you're there. Their espressos and machiattos are incredible!
avishai reviewed Park Slope
Park Slope would be an interesting place to do a social experiment. It's populated by a strange combination of hippies, yuppies, and washed-up writers, but it somehow kind of works. In the daytime, the streets are filled with mothers, baby sitters and $800 strollers, and there's plenty to do. You could spend some time at one of the many coffee shops (http://cupofnyc.com/shops/park-slope for a listing), the best of which is probably Gorilla Coffee on 5th Ave.
If you get bored of coffee and it's nice out, Prospect Park is definitely worth a look. During the summer it's filled with people playing Frisbee and sunbathing.
Replyavishai reviewed Ramat Aviv
Kind of a boring suburb of Tel Aviv, but it has a lot of chic shops and is overall a pretty nice neighborhood.
Replyavishai reviewed New York City
New York has a lot to offer, especially if you like exploring diverse neighborhoods and ethnic foods. There's a Greek section in Astoria, great Thai food in Woodside, Middle Eastern in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and Russian in Brighton Beach.
Replyavishai reviewed Cataratas del Iguazú
Absolutely amazing! Iguazú falls is one of the most spectacular natural wonders I have ever seen. It's worth spending the day here and seeing the falls from both the Argentine and Brazilian sides, but if you're short on time, the Argentine side is nicer and offers a better view.
If you're traveling on an American passport, you won't have to pay the US $100 visa fee to cross over to the Brazilian side of the falls for the day.
Replyavishai reviewed Ushuaia
From Buenos Aires I flew to to Ushuaia, at the bottom of the island of Tierra del Fuego, which is between the Straights of Magellan and the meeting of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It's a really small town and not at all impressive, nor is the 1 runway plus shack "airport," but the Parque Nacional Tierra del Fuego is quite cool.
Friday I went to the park with a German and a Canadian I met at the hostel, and we got the 1/2 price Argentinian entrance fee because we kept our mouths shut while the bus driver paid and asked for the tickets. We got to some sort of dirt road and walked about 5 km to the end of RN-3, where there's a sign that reads something to the effect of END OF THE WORLD. YOU HAVE REACHED THE END OF RN-3. BUENOS AIRES 3,033 km ALASKA 17,981km. Some silly pictures were taken. End-of-the-world jokes were made. End-of-the-world jokes were beaten into the ground. We eventually got sick of said end-of-the-world jokes.
The next day I walked around town, took a bunch of pictures, and saw the sun rise over the Beagle Channel, which was really nice but kind of creepy in a way,because the mountains encircle the city, and because of the contrast between them and the sun, and because it takes the sun a lot longer down there to rise than it does as you go further north towards winter (correct my physics if I am wrong, but that seems to be the case), there was basically a black space with a jagged top, and the sun made this eerie orange glow over it, while above it the sky was still fairly dark. I think I have a picture of this—it's sort of hard to explain properly.
The original plan was to go to Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, and then make my way up to Bariloche. But, that's not how it wound up because naturally this country is way more enormous that I thought, and the roads in southern Patagonia, well, suck. To reach the glacier at El Calafate would have been minimum 15hrs by bus, and then another 30+ hrs by bus from there to Bariloche, not including the layover time. Of course I could have flown to Bariloche, but that would have also involved an overnight stop in El Calafate and almost 1,000 pesos. Or, I could fly to Bariloche via Buenos Aires. So I just took a plane back to Buenos Aires and took the bus, which I think was probably the best thing to do given that what I've heard about Calafate is that the glacier is pretty cool but the town is a dump and it's probably not worth all that effort of getting there and away to see it.
Replyavishai reviewed Belo Horizonte
BH is a cool, modern city with very friendly people. The Savassi district is good for fancier shopping and dining, and the nightlife is rumored to be very good.
Replyavishai reviewed Mendoza
A nice place to go, especially if you're into wine. Mendoza has dozens of wineries that are open to the public and offer tours of the production process.
Mendoza is also a good place to set out for horseback riding in the Andes, hiking, and touring around.
Mendoza doesn't seem that much different from the rest of the Andean towns I've been to, but the ride through the Andes was absolutely amazing. You go up and up and up and up, the weather is shitty and cloudy and gray, you start seeing snow on top of the mountains as you and a zillion other trucks and buses zigzag up a really curvy road with numbered curves (at least 20 on the way up) until you go through this tunnel that is sorta long, I think. When you come out on the other side and pass Centro Migraciones Cristo el Redentor, you are evidently on the other side of the continental divide (the streams are going the other way) and in the distance you see the clouds opening up as the mountains diminish. I.e., as soon as you cross the border into Argentina, the weather stops sucking and becomes beautiful within 5 minutes of travel from the border. I find this hilarious. The mountains block all the crappy weather from being blown over from the Pacific and keep them in Chile. Then you go down and down (the descent into Argentina is way less steep) and the vegetation on the mountains gets more and more dense as you drop in altitude, and you see little 2 foot wide streams get wider and wider and eventually become really blue lakes. Then civilization starts to appear, ever so vaguely, and then you are in Mendoza.
Replyavishai reviewed Villarrica
Just around the lake bend from Pucon, Villarrica is a also a good starting point for climbing the eponymous volcano.
Replyavishai reviewed Buenos Aires
The coolest way to get to Buenos Aires, or Bs.As., is Buquebus, the fast ferry to Buenos Aires. Half of the bottom deck is a (naturally) overpriced duty-free store, and the ride was very nice. The Río de la Plata is huge and when you're in the middle you cannot see either side of the river. As the sun begins to set, it reflects really intensely on the river, and you can barely see anything because of all the glare. It looks kind of silvery, which is supposedly why they call it Río de la Plata (the silver river). Towards the end of the three hour trip, you begin to see the silhouette of the Buenos Aires skyline appear, and it slowly gets bigger and bigger and bigger until all of a sudden you are docked right in the middle of it.
I chose a hostel from the list in the Lonely Planet, told a cab driver to take me there, and obviously there was never a hostel at this address—it was a shoe store or something, so he took me to this other hostel where I stayed.
As for Buenos Aires itself, it it really nice. Really really really really really nice. I could definitely stay there for a few months. The people are really nice, and the place is not ghetto like most big cities in Brazil. There are tons of trendy cafés, stores, restaurants, and all kinds of other cool modern establishments and architecturally interesting buildings blended right in with old colonial style buildings and monuments. For example, here you go into a bathroom and you have both hot and cold water available to you without fiddling with some sort of incendiary device or worrying that you will be electrocuted (most showers in Brazil outside of Rio/Sao Paulo have wires dangling out of the shower head and running down to a plug right near where the water comes out, which heats up the water.Quite possibly the most idiotic invention ever).
Cabs are plentiful and cheap, and the subway goes everywhere and costs about a quarter per ride. One of the lines even has these really old 1920s style cars that feel like those pictures of the NYC subway from that era. They are made out of wood and they creek at every turn, and you open the doors by hand to exit. The rest of the lines have more modern cars,which are nice too but nowhere nearly as cool.
There is this long shopping pedestrian mall called Florida, where you can find all sorts of leather goods, cheap suits, other clothes and all kinds of other stuff, usually at decent prices. So far I've seen a local rock show in Plaza de Mayo (pronounced "mashow" in porteño), and a couple of random tango performances in the street.
People go to dinner around 10:30 on average, and the other day I had a really tasty bife de lomo steak for about four bucks. Mmmm. The beef is really delicious here, and super cheap.
Nightlife starts at 12am, which is crazy, but fun. I think it's safe to say that I'm having a great time here, and I and going to extend my trip a couple of weeks longer so I can both stay in Buenos for a while as well as travel to the Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, all the way at the end of the world...
Replyavishai reviewed Manaus
Manaus is an interesting place to visit if you like chaotic urban areas.
I arrived in Manaus, Amazonas after a five and a half day boat trip sleeping in a hammock. It's not as comfortable as it sounds, trust me. In order to make the most money, the boat company sells as many places as they have life vests, which is a lot. On the bottom deck of my boat, in what I have deemed steerage, there must have been around 200 people, hanging side by side with little or no space between hammocks, while on the top deck (where I was, hilariously called first class) each person got to hang his hammock on a numbered hook, ensuring each person had precisely 1.5 feet of space in which to hang the hammock. There is a mens' side and a womens' side, and in the middle, couples can hang their hammocks. Not joint hammocks, mind you, but they can hang individually next to one another. One American couple I met bought a 2-person hammock and was prohibited from using it.
Replyavishai reviewed Montevideo
Unless you're passing through, there isn't really much of a point of coming to Montevideo, but if you're already in the area, it's definitely worth checking out.
I arrived at about 7am on the overnight bus from Porto Alegre, so the only thing open was a cafe. I was chatting with the owner while having a coffee, and eventually one of his friends came and offered to take me around the city. Normally I would advise against, but something told me that the guy was ok. Uruguayans are also famous for being really friendly and helpful. So I took my pack and the guy took me on a tour of the city, pointing out the important landmarks. Then we went up on the hills for some panoramic views, and then back down along the coastal road until his "country" house (maybe 10 min outside the city). It was a great way to get to know the locals and see what I wouldn't have been able to see in just 1 day and public transit.
Replyavishai reviewed Puerto Iguazú
The tiny town on the Argentine side of the border doesn't really offer much besides convenient access to the falls.
Replyavishai reviewed Foz do Iguaçu
Foz do Iguaçu is also home to a very large Arab community -- you can hear it spoken in the streets and coming from TVs and radios in shops.
Replyavishai reviewed São Paulo
Talk about chaotic. São Paulo is nuts! Try jamming 20 million people into not the biggest space, and then give them all cars and motorbikes and see what happens. Go!
São Paulo, or Sampa, as they call it, does have a lot to offer for almost anyone, though. From teeming slums to high class restaurants and hotels and museums, there's easily enough to do to fill a few days.
Replyavishai reviewed Santarém
Although it's a sleepy city on the Amazon, it's pretty big, and is quite conveniently located close to Alter do Chao, which is totally worth visiting -- it's the nicest non-ocean beach I have ever visited!
Replyavishai reviewed Belém
It usually rains heavily for 15-20 minutes twice a day, around mid-morning and mid-afternoon. So be prepared.
Replyavishai reviewed Mossoró
I passed through Mossoró in the middle of the night as part of a layover on a bus trip from Natal to Fortaleza. The bus terminal is pretty dumpy, and at 2am of course there is nothing to do. However, on the trip over, there were absolutely no clouds in the sky, or any light pollution, and I saw some of the most beautiful stars that I have ever seen.
Keep in mind, though that you can probably only get this kind of experience on a conventional bus (no A/C), because they're the only ones on which you can open a window. Worth it if it's a cool night.
Replyavishai reviewed San Carlos de Bariloche
Bariloche is a gorgeous mountain town with a lot to do. I visited in the summer, so it was clear and great for hiking in the surrounding area. It's pretty easy to catch a bus to some of the outlying areas, and the hikes are challenging and offer striking mountaintop views, I highly recommend it.
If you're planning a trip to the 7 Lakes region, this is a good starting point. Rent a car and you can drive up to San Martin de los Andes and then over to Chile.
Also, if you visit in the summer, Bariloche will likely be flooded with Israelis. I swear that I heard and spoke more Hebrew there than Spanish, which was pretty funny :-)
Replyavishai reviewed Newark
Newark's Ironbound district is a fun place to explore and eat good Brazilian and Portuguese food for very reasonable prices.
Replyavishai reviewed Oakland
Kind of a dumpy industrial city, but there are a lot of great eating options. Definitely worth checking out if you like Vietnamese Phô.
Replyavishai reviewed Ouro Preto
Ouro Preto is a beautiful city with lots of historic architecture. Don't miss the famous church at the top of the hill, though I have to say, it looks nicer from outside on top of the hill than from the inside.
The city is just about an hour and a half bus ride from Belo Horizonte's central bus station, and buses leave about once an hour.
Replyavishai reviewed Salta
Salta is a cool small city. While there isn't really all that much to do in the city proper, it's a good starting point for exploring the rest of Salta province, which is full of interesting desert landscapes, colorful layered rock formations, and interesting hikes.
Though a bit of a tourist trap, the Tren a las Nubes is still a worthwhile excursion. It used to be a real train, but was closed years ago because of its deteriorating condition. Now vans and 4x4 vehicles follow roughly the same route.
Replyavishai reviewed New York City
The greatest city in the world!
Replyavishai reviewed Algeciras
Algeciras is not a safe place to be, especially after dark. When I arrived at the port at 9pm, the bus driver warned me not to leave the port area, so it was even unsafe to go to the train station.
Replyavishai reviewed Tarifa
Tarifa is famous for kite surfing, but it's also the place to catch the ferry to Tangier, Morocco.
As the southernmost point in Spain, you can stand on the Isla de Tarifa and see the Atlantic Ocean on your right, with the Mediterranean on the left.
Replyavishai reviewed Natal
After a week of crazy Carnaval in Salvador, Natal was a great place to calm down and chill for a few days by the beach before heading further up north.
One of the most fun things to do here is rent a dune buggy and take a trip up the sand dunes by the coast. If you ask the buggy driver, or bugeiro, to drive "com emoção," he'll do it with even more drama. Definitely one of the most fun rides I've taken, and along the way you stop at various amusements, like sand surfing and zip lines that cross inlets & lakes.
Replyavishai reviewed Porto Alegre
The first time I passed through Porto Alegre, I thought it was a run down, slummy place. But to be fair, I just stopped briefly at the bus terminal on my way to Uruguay, so maybe you can't judge.
Porto Alegre is a pretty interesting city, though. I spent a few days hanging out with a friend at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul dorms, so it was a lot of fun. Somehow the Brazilian idea of a college party is a lot of fun. We even had a churrasco on the roof!
There's also a very nice central park near the University.
Replyavishai reviewed Seattle
For great fish and seafood, there's Ponte's Seafood Grill. I had the Alaskan Salmon, which was delicious :-)
Replyavishai reviewed Seattle
Seattle is arguable the best city for coffee in the United States. Be sure to visit Vivace roasters.
Replyavishai reviewed San Francisco
I really liked San Francisco. I was there for about a week, and it rained most of the week, but the few days of sunshine were quite nice. If you like taking photos, Nob Hill is a great place to get views of the entire city and get some cool shots of the Bay Bridge through the buildings from the tops of the hills.
Also, if you like coffee, San Francisco is almost as good as Seattle. Be sure to check out Blue Bottle coffee while you're there. Their espressos and machiattos are incredible!
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