Watch this space!
I'm currently writing up the adventure from my notebooks, and you can follow the story in the posts below. More of the trip is added everyday, along with some of my thousands of photos. Would you like to know when it's the whole account is finished? Email foodadventureblogupdated@gastropod.co.uk
My time in South America is now an incredible set of memories, which I will treasure for the rest of my life. Everything - good and bad - happened in extremes. On the plus side were 1000s of caiparinas, wonderful rich fish dishes and fried piranhas (caught by us) in the Amazon. These joys were offset by a violent mugging, illness and visa problems - the perfect adventure cocktail!
The most incredible 'costella' - massive beef ribs cooked for hours over a fire. Mouthwatering. Regrettably, I only managed 4 helpings of the tender meat and crispy, salty, melting fat. Mmmm!
Me (2nd to left) and Biddy (right), with the completely lovely guys that ran our favourite cocktail stand, in Porto Seguro.
Here's a taster from my notes...
20/04/08, Iguacu Falls:
"I am stunned that it is only a week since I left Europe. Days of travelling and waiting about and limited computer access have meant a rather neglected blog. Nevermind.
I am finally enjoying chilling out in the sun, and write this from a youth hostel´s poolside, near the Iguacu Falls. We´ve been to some real backwaters, where tourists are unheard of, as well as some horrible, filthy, crowded, threatening towns. We´ve been cold, dirty, hot, sticky and dusty, as well as contented, delighted, hungry and stuffed. It has all been fascinating, but tiring, so it is a wonderful treat to be clean, by a pool and in tropical countryside. My only set of warm clothes - which I wore solidly all last week - are at the cleaners, and tomorrow I am off to see the falls from the Argentinian side, as well as white water rafting under and around them."
The Iguacu Falls, the next day - A-MAZ-ING!
"Today I got my first bit of sunning in, ate a clementine straight from the tree, saw bananas growing, and watched a tiny hummingbird!
Right gotta go. I´ve seen and tasted a lot more than this but will have to update the blog another time, because I´ve got some urgent caiparinas to attend to.
P.S. so far, pizza, pizza everywhere, with bready bases and the cheese only lightly melted. It´s often hard to find other local foods among the pizza joints."
...but the food became increasingly delicious as we got further north. To give you an idea of the distance we covered and of where I'm currently up to in my blog, below, our itinery was roughly:
Argentina - Buenos Aires =>
Uruguay - Colonia, Montevideo, Punta de Este, Treinta Y Tres, Melo =>
Brazil - Bagé, Porto Alegré, Foz d'Iguaçu & Iguaçu Falls, Sao Paulo, Belo Horizante, Ouro Preto, Rio de Janeiro, Ilha Grande, back to Rio, Porto Seguro, Itacaré, Salvador, Morro de Sao Paulo, Manaus & The Amazon, then finally back to Morro de Sao Paulo and Itacaré. We were so sad to leave! :'(
