Thankfully, leaving the very depressing La Paz, it took three different flights over twelve hours to finally arrive in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Staying in a hotel along the Copacabana strip, it was a relief to unpack the backpack for a few days, catch up on the laundry and enjoy all the generous oxygen available at sea level. Rio ... what a contrast to Bolivia. While La Paz was varying shades of browns, Argentina was green upon green, warm and very humid. I certainly wasn’t disappointed with Rio but, take away the unusual mountains around the city and the attractions they boast (including a 70m high statue of JC himself), and it reminded me of the Queensland Gold Coast; only everyone spoke Portuguese. Just as I was getting proficient at Spanish (well, I could at least
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