Whenever I ask people to list their favourite cities, San Francisco is often listed. I had a week off between jobs which coincided with my friend going to SF for work so I decided to tag along.

My stay there also coincided with Pride. The SF pride parade was surprisingly small compared to Toronto’s and felt much more grassroots.

Toronto pride has become very corporate and the messaging has been somewhat lost amongst the many different logos on each float. Sadly, there were also a lot of protestors at SF pride.

San Francisco is chilly and each area has its own micro-climate. It rained a lot while I was there. We saw a comedy show at the Punch Line with John Mulaney headlining and he joked that the emblem of the city should be a man going back to his house to retrieve a jacket.

After checking out the pride parade, we rented bikes at the pier and did the popular route of crossing the Golden Gate Bridge into the city of Sausalito. It was interesting how much the climate changed just crossing the bridge. SF was chilly but Sausalito was hot, so hot my friend got burned.

San Francisco is famous for being a place for great cuisine, but we had a mix of good and bad food. We ate an informal Chinese restaurant whose name escapes me. We went to the Stinking Rose where all the food is stuffed with garlic. I had high hopes for the restaurant after it being recommended to me by a friend, but I found the food was perfunctorily done and assembly-lined. Our food was served to us within 10 minutes of sitting, meaning all the food was mass-produced. (Later, a friend from SF joked that it was a huge tourist trap). We went to House, an Italian-Chinese fusion restaurant which was tasty. We went to In-N-Out where the burgers are delicious but the fries are gross. And tried the more upscale Super Burger which had the tastiest garlic fries I had ever tried. YUM!

Unfortunately, because of Pride, all tours to Alcatraz were booked but there was still plenty to see. I saw the amazing Picasso exhibit at the De Young museum. (A kind man offered me a free ticket when his friend didn’t show up). Golden Gate Park, while seemingly sketchy on the side of Haight street was lovely in front of the museum. The Cartoon Art Museum was small but had original cels from The Simpsons and some original Calvin and Hobbes strips. Japantown was cute and the local mall had some great stores that reminded me of the 100yen shops I visited in Japan.

We ventured to the West side, Point Lobos, to check out the Camera Obscura which was neat (and really like a 5 minute stop – it took us an hour to get there!) but the beach was also nice and there were some pleasant walks in the area.

Lastly, we visited Musee Mecanique by the pier which was great! It features the largest privately owned collection of arcades (which ranged from antique to new) and musical instruments. It was fun to see fortune-tellers a la Big and see what the early 1900s idea of pornography was.

I also ventured out to Mountain View to check out the Google campus, where my friend works, and this was quite interesting. The campus is so huge and they make it so you never have to leave. Free meals, on-site laundry, a store where they sell clothes, showers, nap rooms etc. We also went to Palo Alto for a party which is where Stanford University is located. The city feels upper-class and reminded me a bit of Niagara on the Lake. There were Christmas lights wrapped around the trees on the main street.

So in all, San Francisco was great! And I can see why everyone raves about it. The houses are quaint, there is a lively culture and lots to do. But it also felt very image-conscious and divided. Still, it would be a place to potentially consider living in, if the rent wasn’t so damn high!

I’ve created a YouTube playlist of some of my favourite Bossa Nova songs on the site.

1. Gal Costa – Wave

This is a great rendition of Antonio Carlo Jobim’s Wave. Gal Costa’s voice is both polished and expressive yet sensitive.

2. Ella Fitzgerald – Dindi
   Ella Fitzgerald is cute as molasses and this version is an interesting contrast to the Astrud Gilberto rendition which is exceptionally sad and heartbreaking. Ella comes off as stronger and less fragile. The melody is slightly off from its original, but it’s still pretty good nonetheless.

3. Charlie Byrd – Corcovado
   I was blown away this beautiful instrumental rendition of Corcovado. Charlie Byrd is a virtuoso and hits every note with a single instrument. Simply amazing.

4. Stan Getz/Astrud Gilberto – Corcovado
   This is a dreamier, walk on the beach at midnight version of Corcovado. I prefer the version on the classic album Getz/Gilberto, but this one is still good.

5. Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto with Astrud – Girl from Ipanema
   This is the classic (and best) version of this beautiful song. I love Joao’s voice; he introduced this style of nasal and flat singing.

6. Astrud Gilberto – Goodbye Sadnezz/Tristeza

Amazing how Astrud’s voice can be so uplifting and sad at the same time.

7. Chico Barque and Antonio Carlos Jobim – Sabia

This sounds like an anthem for Brazil. The version on the album is more polished but this one sounds more invigorating, nationalistic and anthemic.

8. Antonio Carlos Jobim – One Note Samba

I wish I could have seen him live.

9. Antonio Carlos Jobim – Andorinho

This song breaks my heart and makes me joyfully sad.

10. Frank Sinatra – Wave

I’m admittedly not the greatest Sinatra fan, but I think this is a fantastic version of Wave. His ability to hit such low notes is amazing.

11. Stan Getz – One Note Samba

Maybe my favourite version and frequently used on NPR’s This American Life.

12. Elis Regina and Tom Jobim – Aguas de Marco

Apparently, the two didn’t get along, but you would never know it by this fun rendition.

Brazil was much more expensive than I ever imagined it’d be. I got a hint of what I was going to encounter by the prices of hotels in Rio, but I didn’t imagine that the prices would be nearly on par with Canadian ones.

Brazil’s economy is the world’s sixth largest economy and growing at a phenomenal rate. While their currency, the real, is considered to be overvalued and inflation is not completely check, a slowdown is not expected, especially as Brazil prepares for the FIFA world cup and the Olympics.

And while the economic growth is starting to create a middle-class in a country notorious for its wealthy divide, there is still lots of poverty as evidenced by the numerous favelas in the country.

Because of its rising prices and growing upper class, Gadline has named Brazil a luxury destination for 2012.

The New York Times has named Paraty as one of its places to go in 2012. They have a slideshow here.

Despite having a lot of experience travelling independently, I decided to do a group tour for part of my vacation to Argentina and Brazil, for many reasons. First, my travel partner had never been outside of North America (and had never backpacked either) so I thought a group tour would make him more comfortable. Second, we only had 2 weeks, so it seemed easier to have a company arrange all our transportation and hotels (and less potential disagreements about what to do). And third, we spoke no Portuguese. In order to have some independent time, we booked a shorter tour and explored Buenos Aires and some of Rio de Janeiro on our own.

We chose Gap Adventures, now known as G Adventures, because of their reputation and because I had travelled with them to Peru in 2007 (and had a positive experience).

I think some people (especially experienced travellers) hear “group tour” and automatically think lame. But there are pros and cons to them.

The biggest pro is the organization and time savings. Transportation from one place to another is a breeze since you often get private transportation from door to door. Another is having a local tour guide who is experienced with the culture and knowledgeable about the destinations and can impart a lot of history and stories that you wouldn’t get travelling independently.

The biggest cons are the cost and the lack of control over itinerary. If we did it on our own we woud have spent more time in Buenos Aires and Ihla Grande and less time in Rio. Another con is the lack of consistentcy with hotel quality. We had filthy hotels in Paraty, Buenos Aires and Rio but excellent hotels in Ihla Grande and Iguazu.

So it’s ultimately up to you if you want to do a group tour. I would recommend it for some destinations and not for others, but I would definitely be up for doing a group tour again in the future.