The Northern Carolina Transportation Museum

I made the first important stop at this museum located in Spencer, NC. It is housed inside an old steam locomotives repair shop and has trains, cars, planes and boats on display. There is also a short train ride (only around 2km inside the museum area). I paid extra for a cab ride (the first one in life!)

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The Suriname railways

Today there are no railways in operation in Suriname, but I learned from my father about the old railway that has been abandoned shortly after the independence. As the motorcycle was already at the cargo terminal, I had to take a bus to get to the village where the locals told me the trains should be. Finding the trains was not easy, because of the vegetation that had invaded everything. I found two steam locos, two self propelled passenger units, some passenger and some freight cars.

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The street car

Once covering many areas of Rio, the street car nowadays runs on only two lines: the departure is common, in the financial district. The line crosses the Lapa district on top of an old aqueduct converted to a bridge and then begins ascending while following crooked, cobblestone covered streets. At some point, near an old commercial zone, the lines split. Either way, the route will continue by coquette villas, parks and, occasionally, observation points. The roads are so narrow that some times other vehicles have to reverse in order to allow the tram to pass. The shorter line ends in a roundabout next to a church while the longer one continues through the forest towards the Corcovado Mountain and the station of the train to Christ the Redeemer. However, the last portion of that line is abandoned, being damaged by a mudslide.

In the last picture you can see Laura shouting me a pole was coming while I was hanging outside of the street car to take better pictures 🙂

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Christ the Redeemer

The statue of “Christ the Redeemer” is situated on top of the Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro. Even better than the statue itself is the view one can get from the observation point in front of it.

But the process of getting there brings back memories from Machu Picchu. The train is not working. There is no sign to tell about the alternatives, but at least ten people are waiting near the train station to invite you to the private vans that do the service. The distance is 8km, but the van will only drive you for 4km. There you have to buy another ticket, from the park service, and switch vans. The park service itself looks less like a business and more like a welfare system, being overstaffed: there is a ticket vendor, a guy arranging people to form a waiting line, another one who opens the van door and invites people inside. The van will take you to the top station, where another person is paid to open the van door (there is another one opening doors for people who want to leave as well). Continue towards the entrance, where you will find a person that takes the ticket from your hand and inserts it into the subway-like machine. Proceed towards the elevators, where a person will push the button to call the elevator for you. There are three elevators, with two stops each. Therefore, two buttons in each elevator, but there is another person hired to push those two buttons. Once at the top stop, another person invites you to step outside the elevator.

We path then continues with an automatic stairway where, surprisingly, there is nobody to invite us to advance 🙂 Finally we got to the observation deck. The effort is well worth it!

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The Iguazu falls

The Iguazu falls was our last Argentinian objective. The waterfall itself is big, and the park surrounding it is even bigger. Therefore, there is a narrow gauge train that connects the parking lot with the remote areas. From the stations, there are hiking paths through the jungle and, as you get closer, elevated walkways that bring tourists right on top of the waterfall, assuring breathtaking views. The Argentinian side brings people closer and takes around 4 hours to complete (including walking some 3-4km) while the Brazilian side offers wider views. There are some boat tours as well, but considering that we’ve been on many watercrafts lately, we decided to skip.

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