Trelew
Travel Location: Parity,Brazil
We made it to Trelew and travelled by local bus to Gaiman where we were staying. We checked into the Gwesty Tywi and headed straight out for a ´Welsh tea´ or Te Cymreig. We found a small place aptly called Ty Cymraeg (The Welsh Tea House) and headed in. Nobody spoke Welsh there but i think the aim of the place was to see how many cakes real welsh people can eat as the waitress proceeded to bring out 10 slices of different cakes along with bread and jam and a gallon of tea. We hadn´t had a…snack like this for a while and we really enjoyed it until we started to feel abit sick. We spent a few days at the lovely guest house and visited the musuem dedicated to the Welsh settlers, the Taberncl and we even managed to have a few conversations with the locals in Welsh-they even understood some of my welsh, or maybe they were just being polite.
We moved on from Gaiman to the capital city of Beunos Aires. It was a long trip and we were lucky to have a really good hostel right in the centre of the city. We headed out and walked throught the old areas of the city and watched the street performers doing everything from the tango to contortionism. Over the next few days we travelled around the city taking in the sites like Eva perons grave, the water front (and the odd Irish bar).
“…ac eraill mewn gwisgoedd bach pitw – caeodd John ddim ei lygaid drwyr nos!”
Our next stop was Puerto Iguazu, home to the Iguazu Falls. They are supposedly 5 times bigger than Niagra Falls, and on inspection they were very impressive. We got completely soaked whilst walking along the viewing platforms due to the spray from the falls, but also it started to rain so hard that when we got back to our hostel we found that it was flooding! So we decided that we would head to Rio de Janiero as soon as possible and catch the last day of the Carnival.
It was a gruelling 22hr bus journey to Rio but it was worth it. We got in early and were pretty tired. We decided to get a cab with a guy named Fergus who was staying at the same place as us. The cab ride woke us up to say the least, this was due not only to the cab driver´s disrespect for other vehicles, pedestrians, dogs etc, but also because we got our first view of the statue of Christ the Redeemer overlooking the stunning city, its a sight we will never forget. We spent the rest of the day walking around trying to get to Copacabana beach (unsucessfully), then we headed back to get dressed and went in search of the Carnival. We went to a couple of street parties and drunk and danced as much as possible, then at about 12midnight we decided to try and get into the Sambadroma, the huge arena that the Carnival parade goes through. We managed to get in with tickets we bought from a tout who swore they were genuine and spent the next 4 hours watching the samba parade with its thousands of people in different costumes and huge floats. We made friends with some Brasilians who allowed us into their gang only after we attempted the Samba, i thought they were gonna die laughing when i did it! We drunk and danced with them all night, one of them turned out to be a 7ft dutch guy in drag but nobody cared as it was carnival. We flagged at 4ish in the morning and got the tube back with people still in costume to our digs. We got to bed around 5…WHAT A FANTASTIC DAY!
During the next couple of days we went too see Jesus on the hill and took in the heat and the views of Rio. We also went down to Copacabbana, Ipenama and Santa Teresa for a look around. We went to watch a football match in the massive Maracan Stadium, Juninho turned out for Flemenco and they won 3-1. The crowd went mad when Flemenco nearly scored in the frist couple of minutes, but when they scored it was fireworks, flares and huge shirts all over the place! What an atmosphere!
We were completed tired out when we left Rio for the coast, our next stop was Paraty between Rio and Sao Paulo. Its a very beautiful place and we have just lazed around recovering and getting a bit of a tan for the last few days – its been very hard i”m sure you can all imagine!
We are heading on to Salta in Argentina and then into Bolivia and Peru.
I hope your all well and the weather as well as the 6 Nations isn`t getting you down too much.
See you all soon
.
FERSIWN CYMRAEG
Ar ol El Calafate, teithio dros nos ar fws moethus i Drelew ym Mhatagonia. Doedden ni ddim yn gwbod beth i ddisgwyl, ond reodd y profiad o fod yn y Wladfa yn un pleserus dros ben. Arhoson ni yn Gaiman, mewn gwely a brecwast or enw Gwesty Tywi gyda Brenda a Diego. Roedd hi´n 4 y brynhawn erbyn hyn a´r ddau ohonyn ni´n llwgu, felly mynd am de traddiodiadol i´r Ty Cymreig fel tourists da! Dwi erioed yn cofio cael te fel yma gatre – 10 cacen, bara, jam, caws, scons a´r pot mwyaf o de dwi eriod ´di gweld – ron i haner disgwyl i rhywun arall i ddod i eistedd gyda ni! Do`n i ddim moyn codi cywilydd ar Gymru, felly fe drion ni fwyta´r cwbl (yn ofer) ond nethon ni ddim bwyta eto tan amser cinio y dwirnod ar ol ´ny! Roedd Gaiman yn hyfryd o dawel a braf iawn oedd gallu gofyn am swper neu cyfarwyddiadau yng Nghymraeg, ond dwin credu ein bod ni wedi bod yn lwcus dros ben gyda faint o Gymraeg y llwyddon ni siarad.
Ond y peth rhyfedda i ddigwydd yn y Wladfa – cwrdd fyny a Catrin Morris, cyn athrawes cerddoriaeth Rhydfelen! Weird neu be??
Ar ol ymlacio yno am rhai diwrnodau a mynd am ddiwrnod i Puerto Madryn, lle glaniodd y Cymro cyntaf, teithio dros nos eto i Buenos Aires. I fod yn onest, reodden ni ychydig yn siomedig gydar ddinas ar y cyfan. Reodd gweld y fynwent gyda beth Eva Peron yn ddiddorol dros ben, a gweld y dawnsio tango ar gorneli styd, ond roedd y ddinas ei hun yn eitha brwnt a lot gormod o draffig, felly mlaen a ni!
Wedyn i Puerto Iguazu i weld y rheadrau enwog. Roedd rhain yn anhygoel, ac yn ymestyn am 2.5 km. Y diwrnod hyny, fe wnaeth hi dywallt i lawr a glaw, ond doedd dim ots gan fod y niwl or rheadrau yn ein gwlychu ni tabeth. Erbyn i ni gyrraedd nol ir hostel, roedd y stryd fel rheadr ar hostel o dan 3 modfedd o ddwr. Dwin credu eu bod nhw wedi arfer, gan mai rhoir panhigion allan yn y pwdeli wnaeth y staff.
Croesir border wedyn i mewn i Brazil a mynd ar y bws cyflymaf i Rio er mwyn dal diwedd y Carnifal. Reodden ni wedi penderfynnu ei bod hi yn rhy ddrud i ni fynd Rio amser yma`r flwyddyn gan fod prisiau llety wedi mynd i fyny 500%, ond dyma nin pendefynnu funud olaf i fynd, tabeth oedd y gost. Dyma un or penderfyniadau gore i ni wneud gan fod y Carnifal yn brofiad gwych. Miloedd ar filoedd o bobl wedi gwisgo mewn gwisgoedd mawr dros ben llestri, ac eraill mewn gwisgoedd bach pitw – caeodd John ddim ei lygaid drwyr nos! Fe wnaethon ni ffrindiau a chriw o San Paulo oedd wedi dod i weld y Carnifal, a gethon ni llwyth o sbort gyda nhw – wrth gwrs reodd ein Sbaeneg ni o ddim help i ni, gan mae Portugese reodden nhw`n siarad. Ond reodd hi`n haws cyfleu pethau ar ol dawnsio ag yfed, fel arfer!
Mae Rio ei hun, heb os, yn un or dinasoedd pertaf dwi erioed wedi bod iddi, ac o ben y Sugar Loaf, roedd yr olygfa o Corcodova (Iesu ar ben mynydd) ar favelas (ardaloedd tlawd) yn dringo fyny ochr y mynyddoedd yn hyfryd, ac wrth gwrs, y traethau bedigedig. Gethon ni sawl diwrnod yn crwydro`r Copacobana a Impanema a doedden ni ddim yn teimlo o dan fygythiad o gwbl. Roedd naws hyfryd a chyfeillgar yn y ddinas, a hyd yn oed pan es i mewn i`r Favelas, doeddwn i dal ddim yn teimlo allan o le. Wrth gwrs, mae dal porblem cyffuriau yno, ond ar ol bod yno a gweld mae pobl `normal` yn mynd wrth ei busnes yw 99% or bobl, dwi`n edrych ar y lle o dan olau newydd.
Fuon ni hefyd i weld gem pel droed mewn Stadiwm gwych. Reodd y gem ei hun yn iawn (dal ddim yn deall beth sy`n mynd ymlaen) ond pan roedd Flamengo yn scorio (neu bron a sgorio) roedd y lle yn mynd yn wyllt – roedd y naws yn anhygoel ac unwaith eto, yn gyfeillgar. Wnaethon nhw ddim stopio canu a dawnsio drwy gydol y gem! Wn i ddim pe bai pethau wedi bod yn wahanol pe bai nhw wedi colli?
Felly ar ol 4 dydd a 4 noson fawr yn Rio (a twll mwy yn ein poced) dyma ni´n anelu am dawelwch y traeth mewn pentref bach or enw Paraty, lle hyryd a hamddenol a henafol ar lan y mor. Fuon ni´n aros mewn Posada gwych a deodden ni ddim moyn gadael, ond dyma ni wedi ein llusgo ein hun oddi yno ac yng nghanol ein taith 3 dydd yn ol i Arianyn er mwyn mynd i Salta yn y gogledd. O fan yno, y gobaith ydy mynd i anialwch yr Atacama yng ngogledd Chile ac yna i mewn i Bolivia.
Mae´n Ddydd Gwyl Dewi heddiw, ond does dim cenyn pedr na het hen fenwy fach Cidwli mewn golwg (dim Steddfod chwaith, diolch byth) ond gobeithio eich bod chi gyd yn mwynhau nol yng Nghymru fach.
Hwyl am y tro
John a Ffionxx
