Day 694 (21.02.09) Wanting to experience one of South Americas biggest passions, we joined a group from our hostel and our norwegian mates hostel to go out to the Maracana stadium (once famed to have the biggest capacity of any stadium in the world when it was all standing) to watch Flamengo play. As we arrived at the stadium we joined the steady flow of the crowd and stopped for a quick piccie at the sign announcing that the stadium will be used for the 2014 world cup final. We found some seats in and amongst the most passionate fans we [View Full Entry]

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Day 693 (20.02.09) Carnaval, billed as the biggest party in the world, occurs at the same time all across Brazil with Rio being the most famous place to fiesta. Today was the official start to the proceedings and we decided we needed some colourful and crazy things to wear. With Drew, Nick and Mark from our dorm we got the metro out to Centro and the area outside Uruguiana station which we'd heard was great for the sort of thing we required. It turned out to perfect as we joined throngs of others gearing up for carnaval. The market and surrounding [View Full Entry]

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Day 691 (18.02.09) Why is it that when you need a bus to arrive on time it rarely does? On the way to Rio from Florianopolis we had to change buses in Sao Paulo and when we booked the tickets we were due to arrive at 7.30am giving us plenty of time for the transfer. However, after a big struggle though the craziness of Sao Paulo rush hour, we finally pulled into the bus station at around 8.55am. This left us with approximately 5 minutes before our bus to Rio was to leave. "Oh well" we thought, buses from the same [View Full Entry]

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Day 687 (14.02.09) After our delays on the night bus from Foz we arrived late into Florianopolis bus station and, after sorting out our onward bus tickets for Rio, we caught two local buses to where we were planning to stay. Florianopolis is the gateway to Santa Catarina Island and we´d heard that the south of the island was the quietest and most relaxed section which fit our plans exactly. Before the craziness of five days and nights of partying in Rio for carnaval we wanted to spend a few days chilling out to ready ourselves! After an hour or so [View Full Entry]

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Day 685 (12.02.09) So we´d made a bit of a hiccup in leaving our Lonely Planet book in our hostel in Argentina. We don´t actually use it that much but it´s useful for maps and stuff and also contains loads of notes that we´ve gleaned from other travellers about places we´re going to. Thinking that we´d have to head back over the border, Mark managed to team up with the guy who ran the hostel in organising for a driver, who was already doing a run back to Puerto Iguazu, to pick it up for us and drop it off later [View Full Entry]

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Day 686 (13.02.09) We had a bus booked for later in the evening, but still had most of the day to enjoy ourselves. Having chatted to our fellow hostel goers we heard that the Bird Park was well worth a gander and made our way out there in the late morning after packing up. At first the the park was a little disapointing with a row of smallish enclosures for the birds. Admittedly they contained stunningly colourful native birds but they were all behind bars. This was soon to change, as after a short distance this opened up to open areas [View Full Entry]

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Day 682 (09.02.09) After finishing up our bus trip we arrived in Puerto Iguazu into noticably more tropical environs - lush greenery and a hot and humid climate. Had a little trouble finding a place to stay but ended up with a nice place conveniently sporting a pool for us to wile away a few hours before the weather turned from blue sky to torrential downpour. We hadnt even left the hostel and with the rain literally coming down in sheets of water from the sky, we already had a mini waterfall coming off our roof! Getting a break in the [View Full Entry]

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Day 679 (06.02.09) Today we were headed from Buenos Aires to Rosario, a few hours to the north. We´d planned a day or so in Rosario to break up the long journey to Iguazu where we´d cross over to Brazil in our journey over to Rio for carnaval in a couple of weeks time. All the way through South America we´d wondered about the size of the bus station in BA, imagining it to be of epic proportions as in every town we´d been to so far, in every country, it seemed that you could catch a bus to Argentina´s capital [View Full Entry]

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Day 673 (31.01.09) After our almost sleepless night on the bus we arrived in BA in the early afternoon and opted for the easy taxi option to find our way to our hostel. After having a bit of a chat with the fella behind the desk we chucked our stuff in the room and went straight out to Recoleta, one of the areas of the city famous for, amongst other things, it's weekend market. After stopping off to get some lunch we spent an annoying time trying to get some coinage for the bus machine (everywhere else you try and get [View Full Entry]

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Day 663 (21.01.09) What a way to spend a birthday, 14 hours on a bus! Sadly for Mark that's exactly what he had to endure for his big day. Luckily the buses here are comfortable. Although we'd realised there would be a ferry journey as we crossed from mainland South America to Isla Grande, the southernmost section of the continent shared between Chile and Argentina, we weren't prepared for how good it would be. As we left the bus to walk onto the ferry we could see some movement in the water around the boat and before long we realised that [View Full Entry]

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