When my baby smiles at me I got to Rio.......de Janeiro......

Summary

• Ever wondered where all the budgie-smugglers went? Go to Rio!
• Can't escape Carnival in Rio - we had an amazing ride on the tram from Santa Teresa
• Christ the Redeemer was covered by clouds most of the time but we did get to see it

Copacobana and Ipanema
Of course the first thing to do in Rio is go to the beach. After hiring a couple of chairs and an umbrella we claimed a piece of Copacobana beach. It was beautiful and full of people, mostly tanning and exercising but it was great to see.
If you ever wondered where all the budgie smugglers went, just head to a beach in Rio. The disturbing thing being that they are worn by young and old.......the women's swimmers were equally skimpy but that was as expected. We were a little disturbed to see pre-teens in g-strings......anyways, each to their own. I was, of course, the most covered up person on the beach on account of my sun protection obsession and milk bottle skin......

Santa Teresa
The tram to Santa Teresa is the best 60 cents you'll spend in Rio. Sata Teresa is a beautiful old part of the city high on the hill above the city. It's so pretty and notorious for the artists and intellectuals of the city. We had a lovely lunch at a funky little cafe where our sandwiches were served on plates made from melted wine bottles - very cool.
The tram down the hill was hilarious. We heard the tram coming before we saw it on account of the mass of people on the tram singing and chanting. Evidently they had been at Carnival all night and at the after party which was passed on the way to the tram in the morning. Mark and I grabbed what space we could - me standing in between two Brazilian women who were lovely and Mark hanging onto the side of the tram. The group chanted and sang all the way back down to the terminal - crazy.

Christ the Redeemer
The most famous site in Rio is, of course, Christ the Redeemer. Unfortuantely, it was so cloudy most of the time we were in Rio that we couldn't really see Christo Redento. Luckily, the day we went up sugar loaf mountain (the vantage point from which  most pics are taken) as well as the day we went up Corvocado to see the monument, the cloud cleared and we were able to see Him and get a few shots. Just like all the pictures (although slightly smaller than I imagined).

Other
I have to mention that I finally did some shopping in Rio which resulted in 4 new pairs of Havaianna's........sounds completely crazy when you think it'll be winter when we get home. Oh well!!!

Brazil - Curitiba and Sao Paulo

Summary

• Took the jungle train in Curitiba - very cool
• Mark got stung by a bee
• Explored Sao Paulo's "little Japan"

Curitiba
Our next destination after Foz do Iguacu was Curitiba which is the capital of the same state (Parana). This was a short stop mainly to take the Serra Verde Jungle train but included the "bee sting" incident. For anyone not on facebook, Mark was stung by a bee and suffered a sore (and very swollen) ear.
The jungle train line is Curitiba-Morretes. Morretes is a tiny town which relies heavily on the tourism from the jungle train.

The bee sting incident
We took a walk around the town once we arrived as we had time to kill before the train ride back to Curitiba. After looking through a lovely little old church we were walking down a street when mark was 'attacked' by a bee. Not sure quite what happened but he was not happy and we got out of there pronto! Unfortunately, another guy was also stung (also on the ear?!?) a few minutes after Mark was. I swear if I wasn't so worried about him it would have been pretty funny. Mark being attacked by something I couldn't see and running away up the street. I'm happy to report that his ear is now ok but the swelling stayed for a good 4-5 days!

The jungle train was pretty cool but you had to practically hang out the window to get nice pictures. I'm not good with heights at the best of times so I left Mark to it.

Sao Paulo
From Curitiba we went to Sao Paulo which is the 3rd largest city in the world! It was huge! We spent a little bit of time in a suburb called Liberdade which is "little Japan". Sao Paulo has the largest Japanese community outside of Japan on account o fthe number of immigrants who initially came to Brazil for coffee farming after the abolishment of slavery in the late 1800s. There is a very interesting museum about the immigration of Japanese to Brazil. We were very very sad to learn about the earthquake and tsunami the day after we spent time in this area. :-(

Iguazu falls & Itaipu dam

Summary

• Iguazu falls - incredible!!!
• Itaipu dam - huge and very interesting. One of the seven wonders of the modern world

Iguazu falls
Okay so Iguazu falls seriously deserves a post all to itself........incredible! That's all I can say. I don't know where to start.....we visited the Argentine side first and spent a full day walking through the park. The first trail took us to an area called the Devil's throat. The volume of water falls through that area is huge and the spray back off the falls is like rain so we had to cover our cameras.
Taking the upper trail we were able to walk across the top of some of the less intense falls. Still, the volume of water is unbelievable. I won't bore with details but will let the pictures speak for themselves.
One thing we did which was great was a boat ride into the falls......literally into the falls. At one point the boat goes underneath the falls and you feel like Indiana Jones. It was insane!

Photos from Argentinian side


The devil's throat







On the bus in Puerto Iguassu going to Brazil

Photos from Brazilian side

The boat ride into the falls (see from Brazil)

Itaipu dam
From Foz do Iguacu we also visited Itaipu dam which is one of the largest hydroelectricity plants in the world and one of the seven wonders of the modern world. It is a owned and run jointly by Brazil and Paraguay and sits on the border of these countries.
After taking a local bus out to the dam we wanted to take the special tour. Unfortunately there were dress requirements and I didn't pass on account of my shorts.....I felt like I was being turned away from a nightclub! Luckily, I was able to buy leggings at the gift shop and take the tour.
The tour included the spillway (which, luckily for us, was open), the concrete dam (there are three dams - concrete, rock and earth) and the interal workings of the dam. It was quite facinating and quite a feat of engineering. We had no idea about it before we came here but it was defiantely worth a visit.

The spillway

The concrete dam

View from the top of the dam

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Uruguay and beyond....

Summary

• Finished Spanish school - yay!
• Visited Colonia and Montevideo in Uruguay (Love, love, love Colonia)
• Made it to Puerto Iguazu (via Rosario) and heading to the falls tomorrow (can't wait!)

Spanish School
So, I've finished Spanish school - yay! I got a certificate and everything so I am feeling very proud. Maybe I'll stash it with my other valued certificates (brownie membership, aquaswim cert and my degree...). Anyways, it's a shame that my spanish is still pretty poor but at least I tried.....
Mark decided to do some voluntary work instead of finishing Spanish school (very noble of him I think) so he spent a couple of days packing food parcels for poor neighbourhoods.

Estancia
On our final day in Buenos Aires we took a tour out to an Estancia to see the famous Argentinian cowboys - Gaucho. It was pretty cool and I even rode a horse......wel, it was more like a pony ride you take when you're five but I was sitting on a horse while it walked around so I call that horse-riding.....

Uruguay
We visited Colonia del Sacremento and Montevideo in Uruguay after leaving Buenos Aires. Taking the ferry across to Colonia from BsAs was fun and something different for us as we hadn't crossed borders by sea before. I loved Colonia!!! I think it's my fave place so far. A coastal town which was so laid back and very very pretty. Defiantely worth a visit for anyone who gets to BsAs.

Unfortunately we had bad weather in Montevideo and I was feeling a bit unwell one of the days so we didn't get to see/do much. One thing we did do is fix a lock on the lock fountain in the new part of town. According to the plaque this means we'll always be together :-) .......yes, I am that lame!!!

Argentina - final destinations
Back in Argentina we went to Rosario for a couple of days. This is the place where the Argentinian flag was first raised back in the 1500's. It's also the birthplace of Che Guevera! Cute little city but very quiet and all the main things to see can be done in a day. We left on our second day and have just arrived in Puerto Iguazu (after taking an overnight bus). I'm so excited to see the falls tomorrow!!!

Will post again soon. Miss you all!!