Happy New Year, everyone! We arrived in Rio de Janeiro, the second biggest city in Brazil after a couple hours of layover in São Paulo (another crazy town) several days ago. Unfortunately we didn't see any Rio landmark our first night due to our late arrival. We went directly to our hostel in Botafogo neighborhood, which located only twenty minutes walking from Copacabana and Ipanema beach, sitting next to the Corcovado with the Cristo Redentor statue on top. Eating fruits in Botafogo, visiting favela (Rio's famous slums), riding cable car to the top of the Sugarloaf Mountain, swimming [View Full Entry]

---

---

Ciudad del Este in Paraguay is within a half an hour bus ride from Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, where we spent the night. From what I've read, the city supposed to be a chaotic little town, lively with many markets and duty free goods, which are big here in South America. On top of that, Ciudad del Este is famous to be the most corrupt city in the continent. Many Brazilians and Argentines go to Ciudad del Este to find some goodies, which considered very cheap compared to its counterparts in Foz or Puerto Iguazú. That is very nice and generous [View Full Entry]

---

---

Getting up this morning in Puerto Iguazú, Argentina, we proceed our journey to Foz do Iguaçu in Brazil, with the intention of staying there for the night. Immigration wasn't a problem, and the next thing we knew, we are in Brazil. Foz is so much bigger than its Argentine counterpart of Puerto Iguazú, and a lot more things going on. It feels like a real city, not just a hungry town of tourist's money. Several tall buildings that serve as hotels are spotted, and streets are wide and nicer. Foz is a very diverse city; not just latino/a faces; from what [View Full Entry]

---

---

Starting off from Buenos Aires this morning at 5:30 am, we did the check out, hailed a taxi, and the next thing we knew was that we were at the Aeropuerto Jorge Newbery, a thirty minute ride from our hostel. Surprisingly, there were tons of people that early to catch early flights. Our 7:30 flight with Aerolineas Argentinas went smoothly, and two hours later, we touched down in the heart of the continent, in the Iguazu region that borders Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. Puerto Iguazú in the Argentine side of the falls is a sleepy little town, with only 20,000 residents, [View Full Entry]

---

---

Starting this morning in Montevideo, Uruguay, we walked around the city to find out that the city is alive and kicking. Locals go to work, cars are zooming all around us, and shops are open. We managed to purchase some souvenirs from Uruguay, including from a flea market at Plaza Constitution. Montevideo doesn´t have much to offer tourists, so we decided to leave the city earlier than scheduled by successfully changing the tickets to the one o´clock Buquebus. Things went smoothly except for a little incident on my Argentine visa (surprise, surprise), but it got sorted out after a [View Full Entry]

---

---

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! Montevideo is pretty quiet today. We aren´t sure whether Montevideo never get crowded in general, or because it is Christmas that everybody is staying home with their families. Either way, the city is very enjoyable and surprisingly have a lot of pretty structures, although there are many trash everywhere and some of the ornate buildings seem to have seen their better days. We had to do our best of not stepping on dogs poo, which were visible ranging from the fresh warm ones to days old ones, dried off under the Uruguayan summer sun. From what [View Full Entry]

---

---

¡Hola! We left BsAs this morning straight to the ferrylineas station without our big bags. The objective was to get to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay as soon as possible. I thought they had services at least once an hour, but it turned out we *just* missed the 9 o´clock Aquebus service. The next ferry to Colonia after the 9 o´clock was 11:15 am, so we managed to get two tickets before the line got crowded with Argentines and tourists visiting Uruguay for the day. Immigration is on the Argentine side, and it went smoothly. After securing our spots on the ferry [View Full Entry]

---

---

Gotta love the keyboard here in the Spanish speaking country, man. Everything is laid down for you, including the upside down keys (such as ¿ and ¡) and unusual letters ç and ñ. Good morning, Argentina! I couldn't get back asleep this morning, and got up around 6:30 in the morning, so I decided to walk around the neighborhood of the hostel. BsAs in the morning gives an intimate feeling of being a friendly city, with not so many cars and people around me. I managed to do some errands, checking out places (Palacio del Congreso, Obelisco, and Teatro Colón) a [View Full Entry]

---

---

¡Hola! Finally we arrived in Buenos Aires after a 9.5 hr pretty painful flight from Atlanta. The flight was overbooked, and for some odd reason, there were many kids on the flight. Kids could be cute and all, and they always spread around in the aircraft strategically that almost in every single rows and aisles, there was at least one kid. If one started to cry, it was loud, and of course the crying is contagious, therefore, almost throughout the whole flight, we heard different kid crying at different time. Not a good restful atmosphere, which oddly enough makes me really [View Full Entry]

---

---

Finally, after 6+ months of planning and organizing, we’re about to embark our backpacking journey to South America. The fun part of trip planning is over, replaced by the fact that it is time to do it all, as said and planned. Tomorrow, my roommate Ryan and I will be going abroad again. Waiting for my Argentina visa was nerve wrecking, but after three months of anticipation, finally my Argentine visa is approved at the last minute. So the good news is that I am in possession of three visas (Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil), and an approved one to be picked [View Full Entry]

---

---