Rio!

Dear all
We finally arrived in Rio De Janeiro with its soaring mountains, powder white beaches not to mention an abundance of samba sounds and the odd cappirinha!
We arrived quite early at the hostel, but still managed to miss most of the Royal wedding being  dragged out by BBC World & therefore only saw the edited highlights. Kate looked lovely & all that and I felt very patriotic and proud to be British, but I am really glad we missed the wedding fever in the UK & the media's second by second microscopic coverage  it all looked too much!
Much refreshed & in order to appreciate the full range of what Rio has to offer I spent the first afternoon on Marcelo Armstrong's Favla tour. There is no way to sugar coat Rio, despite its party name tag, it has a reputation for crime & violent, but as I saw on the tour it is generally  between the police & the drug lords running the larger favelas.  The fact that Brazil has managed to pay off its IMF debt and has seen some double digit growth in the last eight years has also served to temper the crime rate as more and more economic migrants move away to the north of Brazil rather than into the overcrowded city. Even the favelas have prospered in this time with most hovels now being refurbished into reasonable albeit basic brick abodes, with metred electricity, schools and in Rocinha  (the largest Favela with 250,000+ residents) there is a new hospital.

Day two saw us going on a city tour so we could appreciate the sights without taking the wrong street! Rio is surrounded on two sides by powder white beaches with turquoise waters and flanked by mountains covered in rainforest. We had a short walk in the Tijuca national park and then visited the chinese temple nearby which is supposed to have spectacular views of the city and Christ the Redeemer (voted one of the new worlds seven wonders in 2007). Alas the cloud base covered it all so we could only see a bit of Ipanema Beach. So I was a bit disappointed as we actually approached the Corcovado to see the iconic statue up close and personal, fully expecting to only see his feet.  But as you can see the cloud mysterously disappeared right at the top so you had a perfectly clear  view of him! Yippee.

Our Final part of the tour was around Lapa and the very picturesque Santa Teresa, which is set on a small hill overlooking the city. It is very olde worlde with cobbled streets and an old trolley car that rumbles up and down the hill. Our final stop was one of the most eccentric. A famous set of 215 steps whihc have been decorated over the last 20 years by a Chilean artist, who is a permaent fixture constantly tweaking the tiles and persuading you into his shop. He is quite a character and the tiles have been send from all over the world so its great fun trying to find ones form your own country!

I spent the next couple of days at the beach, and enjoying the hippie market, bought some Havainas, tried the local restaurants (including a a fantastic all you could eat Parilla!) and really got into passionfruit cappirinha's! There was also teh release of the new dreamworks movie Rio that was caputring everyones imagination (see right!)  On our last full day I walked from our hostel about halfway down Ipanema to Ponta do Aroador that seperates Ipanema from the famous Copacabana beach, then walked the whole length of Copa (4.5km) down to Brazils iconic Sugar Loaf mountain  and managed to get up the cable car just as dusk was falling. The view from the top was magical and will stay with me forever.

Rio is definately on my revisit list. Quite frankly 4 days is just not enough time to do this town justice and although I would actually visit Brazil at carnival time I think I would give Rio a swerve and see it in Salavador then come back to Rio to party! Girls you had better hope I win the lottery soon. Unfortunately our time here is done and tomorrow we take a flight to Iguassu  - onwards and upwards!

The train to Morretes

Dear all

I think I'm going to really like our short excursion into Brazil. We have spent the last two days in Curitiba. Most people have never even heard of this place let alone added it too their travel, but its one of Brazil's urban success stories

This city has slums: some of the same shantytown 'favelas' that dominate most South American cities, have sprouted on the edge of town as the population has rocketed. But even they are different, & hopeful in palpable ways. They are clean, for instance, under a city program, a slum-dweller who collects a sack of garbage gets a sack of food from the city in return. And Curitiba is the classic example of decent lives helping produce a decent environment. Because it has a great public transport system, and because its inhabitants are attracted toward the city center instead of repelled out to a sprawl of suburbs, Curitibans use 25 percent less fuel per capita than other Brazilians, even though they are actually more likely to own cars.

Anyway I digress as this isn't a moralising blog its all about our adventures and the main reason we came to Curitiba was to catch a train out of it!  There are very few trains left in South America & those that are still running are usually just scenic journeys kept open by tourists and this was just such one. The Serra Verde Express journey decends 900m through the lush temerate Serra do Mar to Morretes (Except on Sundays when it goes all the way through to the port of Paranagua). We had a Portuguese guide who spoke very little English, but the views pretty much spoke for themselves. Our journey was made even better by the fact that it was just after the Easter holidays & the train was virtually empty! Once in Morettes we had a wander round the very sweet town and then took the bus back up to town.

Day two in Curitiba saw me taking the city double decker Linha Turismo bus. Its a great way to see the sights even on your own. It takes a set route and you can hop off and then on at four of the 23 attractiosn on route. Quite a few of the stops were within the city centre so I chose four of the more remote interesting places. First stop was the Botanical gardens with its eye catching palm house. Its pleasant enough to stroll around for an hour, but not really a patch on Kew or Wisley! The second stop was a Germanic park with a Hansel & Gretle story theme and a fantastic view over the city.

The third stop was at the Wire opera house, which is a huge steel & glass contruction and looks very beautiful. The final stop was to a park that has been generated from an old quarry and has zones for different uses.  Our next stoptakes us to Rio ............... its party time........ til then..............xx

Florianopolis

Dear all

I hope you are having a great Easter break. We landed in Florianopolis gateway to to Ilha de Santa Catarina on Friday for the long weekend. We were staying at the very picturesque Barra Da Logoa right on the warm Atlantic waters - it really was! On the bus out to the village we bumped into Charlotte & Jonny, who we travelled down to the Chilean Lake district with.  The room in our hostel was not the best but the view from the rooftop made up for that. We met and spent most of our time with a lovely Irish couple Neil & Aileen.
 The weather for an Easter weekend behaved and we spent most of our time on the various little beaches and bays that were a few minutes walk from our place. The evenings were spent drinking caipirinhas in the bar - which go down far too easily! I can honestly say it was one of the best easters I have ever had & not a chocolate egg in sight!
Our next stop is Curitiba - one of Brazils most modern cities

Night all

Montevideo @ Easter

Dear all
Lonely Planet paints a beautiful picture of Montevideo - small enought to walk around, but big enough to have some great architecture and happening nightlife. So armed with this vision and loads of encouragement by fellow travellers & Uruguayans we have met we arrived for the long Easter weekend.






As we reached the bus terminal we were shocked at the number of people there & even more surprised when we realised that they were all leaving town for the Easter break! Undetered we arrived at our hostel and set out on a little explore of the city. It was 6.00pm and the whole city seemed closed apart from a couple of cafes and one supermarket. Thinking that maybe it was half day closing or something we decided to spend the next day exploring the whole place and visiting all the sights mentioned in LP. The next day was even worse. All the businesses and most of the shops were closed and the only people on the streets appeared to be a small number of tourists and elderly locals. I am not going to say much more, but to say our timing probably didn't help and (I have already mentioned before we are not really city lovers), but Montevideo to us was very disappointing. The architecture was to me not that special & the 'marie celeste' feel was a little un-nerving  Within 24 hours we had planned our early escape route and despite not being able to get a direct bus to Florianopolis due to the changes we were still determined to get out as soon as possible. I am sorry if I offend anyone by my comments it is not intended. Whilst we make our way across the South of Brazil I will leave you with some tasty bits.............

Nite all

Colonia del Sacramento

When we first planned this trip, we left our route as decidedly vague when it came to getting from Argentina to Brazil as we had received some very mixed reports about Uruguay. Fortunately for us we had been luck enought to meet a number of travellers who had been and a number of Uruguayans who persuded us that we should travel across the coast into the south of Brazil. The ferry across to Colonia Del Sacramento took no time at all . Once we had secured a room and some lunch we took full advantage of the small historical area of the city which is located on a peninsula at the eastern end of the city. Originally built by the Portuguese in 1680 to smuggle goods across the Rio de la Plata to Buenos Aires.
 Nowadays the affluent houses have been restored and vintage cars rest on cobbled side streets. It was great fun to stroll around after being in the contstantly busy BA and virtually deserted once the day trippers had returned across the river. tranquil and pretty - you can guess how many images made their way onto my SD card! Here are a few to whet your appetite should you ever visit & make you jealous if your not!

Tomorrow we have to leave to get to Montevideo before the start of the Easter closedown.

Nite all

Buenos Aires

Buenos Dias  We have just spent the last few days in one of the nicest cities I think I have ever visited. Buenos Aires has charming and elegant european architecture, buzzing streets & neighbourhoods, never-ending nightlife! People from BA tend to rise late and eat and party till well into the early hours, so this was a bit of a culture shock to us as we are usually fed, watered and in bed by 11.00!
The main areas we wanted to visit were located in downtown and its neighbouring area's Recoleta, Palermo & Retiro, to the North, We stayed just to the South in San Telmo next to the infamous La Boca.
Our first 24 hours was just spent wandering the streets of downtown and San Telmo with its cobbled streets and mansions no longer fashionable. We ended our tour at Casa Rosada, the pink presidential palace, where Evita inspired the adoring crowds from the balcony. As it was Friday night we decided to check out the Irish bars in the microcentre, which were packed with locals ready to party.  As it was a bit of a walk back we bar hopped our way down Av 9 de Julio, past the Obelisco to our hostel and were surprised to find it was 3.00am when we fell through the door as everything was still going strong.  Saturday was Dad's birthday so we skyped home after a long lie in and then took the Metro to Palermo to saunter around the market. It is known for its artisan jewellery & leatherwork. We realised by about 6.00pm we were starving, so ambled up a couple of blocks to La Cabbrera a Parilla that had been recommended to us by a number of people. It wasn't open when we arrived so we settled in at a bar next door and started chatting. The next thing we knew there were people everywhere  and by the time had finished our drinks and made our way to the restaurant, it was 8.30 and there was a two hour waiting time....... oops.
 Well we put our name down and trundled back next door to await our summons! 10.30 came and went & so did 11.00pm. We eventually got seated around 11.40 for our dinner. Was it worth it I hear you say..................... well yes it was we had some sublime steaks with the most amazing accompaniments & there were still couples and groups waiting to be seated when we left at 1.50 and staggered into out taxi home.
 Given our late dining the previous night we rose late again and decided to just stroll down the main road in San Telmo, which is closed on Sundays to host its weekly antiques market. There are also stalls selling tourist souvenirs from tat to some really nice stuff. Every so often there were small groups/couples demonstrating the tango on the streets. on the whole a really facinating way to spend the morning.
 Once we reached to end of Defensa, we crossed over into La Boca to try and get some tickets for the afternoon game at the Bombonera. We walked around the side streets near to the gound trying to find places to buy tickets but apart from touts it was nigh on impossible. Worried by reports that most of the tout tickets were fakes we decided to carry on to nearby Caminito, an area within La Boca renound for its colourful houses and beautiful tango dancers and memorabilia. Just as we arrived we met a tour group on their way to the game and managed to pursuade the guide to ring her office and secure another two tickets for us - at 5 times face value!! Game on!! We just had enough time to quickly have a look around and then we were off ! The game was against Tigre a club just north of BA so the ground was packed and we had to hurry to get under the stand as we had the opposition fans above us firing all sorts of unmentionables onto those exposed below!!  The fans here have a passion I have never seen anywhere else in the world and they will climb on every available space to hand a flag or tie one of the huge banners which run over the three tiers of the home end
. Once the game started the band (& I mean band as they must have had 50-60 drummers, trumpets, trombones, tubas & other random instruments) and the fans played and sang for the whole game - non stop. The football itself was barely at league standard, but the score ended up being 3-3 so we did get to see lots of celebrating but we would have preferred to see a Boca win. We consoled ourself on the way home home with a meal at El Desnival a place we had heard mixed things abou, but I thought it had a very down to earth, verging on late night dingy drinking hole feel with amazingly good value food for the price. Just the finish for a day like ours!

Our final day was at the other extreme as we spent the afternoon walking around Recoleta, the Knightsbridge of BA. The streets were pretty and we had a beautiful lunch in a small, but perfectly formed cafe across from the Cementario de la Recoleta. You might have thought it a little macabre, but the cemetry is one of the most excentic places I have ever been. Within the high walls lies a mini city of ornate and towering sarcophagi. It is facinating and eventually you reach Evita's grave covered in fresh flowers even now - then you have to try and find your way out!!

Our time in BA seems to gone in a flash and although neither of us profess to be city people I think we will always carry fond memories of the place. I may have to just pencil a tick in my 'bucket' list for now as I am going to find a way back here sometime!

Tomorrow we depart on the ferry across the River Plate to Uruguay
Nite all

Patagonian Lake District

Well at the end of our very bumpy trip up Ruta 40 we were delighted to end up at one of the nicest hostels we have stayed at to date - Hostel Achalay. Pablo the owner waited up until 1.30am to receive us and was so helpful in the morning when we finally woke up. The hostel was only a couple of minutes walk from the main streets so we spent the rest of the day wandering around the town. Bariloche is something out of an alpine postcard, with chalet style buildings and its location right next to Nahuel Huapi lake. There are cholcolate shops everywhere & I did manage to avail myself of some Fra-nui (fresh raspberries enrobed in first white chololate and then a sumptuous milk chocolate - Super yummy!) from the famous Rapa Nui shop.
 We also tried out the local Parrilla - El Boliche de Alberto with the most amazing steaks for not very much. Yes I know I can't normally eat steak, but this was sooooo nice & I took loads of antihistamine! It must have been good because I didn't get a single hive. Near to Bariloche is the very chocolate box Villa la Angostura, which I went to visit one day when Dean fancied a lazy day! Unfortunately the buses were all full for the return trip so I was ablout to turn around and leave when I bumped into two guys we had met on Ruta 40 Jeff & Azim! They followed me back to check out out our place & decided to stay. We had a wonder around the town and treated ourselves to a cup of the very lush hot chocolate in the cafe in Rapa Nui.
We also managed to sample some more chocolates - well its rude not to try when offered isn't it! We then had a walk down to Cerro Viejo where we took the ski lift up for some stunning views of the town and the lake. Azim & I took a luge back down, but Jeff had to take the lift back down due to a knee injury from the "w" trek he had recently completed. That night we did a little micro brewery ale sampling & then went to La Fonda del Tio a local restauant with enormous portions.
We had to share a milanase between two of us and I still had to leave half of mine! On our final day we did manage to escape the town and took a bus and then a ski lift up Cerro Campanario. The 360 degree view from the top was placed in National Geographics top ten and it is so easy to see why. Despite the bitter wind tugging at our cameras we managed to fill our SD cards with dozens of breathtaking shots and had it not been a for our afternoon bus to BA I'm sure we would have stayed longer. Albeit in the warmth of the Cafe!


Got a trip to Argentina coming up - make sure this place is on your list!