Brazil and Argentina

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We ended up staying in Rio for some time as it's not half bad- some of the other stuff we did was:

Shopping- we spent half our time going from one air conditioned shop to the next, seems a bit wrong, looking back. Got a nice hat though.

Lua Nova- I've spent the last two years quivering like a lost puppy waiting to see my Robert Pattinson again after the epic Twilight movie. Thankfully Emma let me go and watch New Moon (Lua Nova), even though we had to hang round for 4 hours until the 1am showing in order to get a ticket. Turns out I fell asleep. Emma quite liked it- can't beat Twilight though.

Capoeira- traditional Brazilian dance mixing martial arts with drums and stringed things. The hostel put on a show and they got people to join in at the end and 'fight' the dancers. While Emma sensibly ran out of the room to avoid it, a 6 year old boy really got the better of me and I dislocated a toe. Capoeira is tough.

Acai- find this and eat it with Banana- apparently there is somewhere in London you can get it.

Democraticos- went to this club on recommendation of one of Em's friends- everyone dances amazingly well to the Forro music. The club's full of such a mix of people, and anyone will just go up to anyone for an intimate and intricate dance, then walk off at the end as if nothing happened. Loved this place. My toe was still not in good condition, which is simply the only reason i danced terribly.

Tram to Santa Theresa -we got the 20p tram up the hill to the historic part of the town on our last day. Jumped off half way through and went to a derelict former mansion - strange oasis in an otherwise pretty run-down area. Amazing views of the city without the people- perfect apart from the sound of gun-shots in the distance from the favelas,

Leblon- to be honest, the Copacabana is filthy and packed with sweaty bodies. So on the last day we also went further up past Ipanema beach to a quiet little area called Leblon where the waves are about 15ft high and there are no people. We sat just out of the shadow of the big mountain looming over the beach and drank orange fanta- good way to end Rio.

After Rio we went to Sao Paulo to visit Emma's friend Chad and his good lady, Elisa (and of course Nanook the giant Samoyed, and the poodles). Here we endured a gruelling regime of waking up at 11 and eating at the surprisingly nice buffet restaurants where you pay by the weight of your meal, before heading to bars where they serve huge beers in champagne buckets and will never let you run out before pouring more. Chad and Elisa gave us a guided tour of everything Sao Paulo has to offer and taught us about local culture. My favourite bit had to be learning about the soap opera which changes characters and global location every 6 months so Brazil's poor can travel the world without leaving their communal tv sets. Such a good idea, come 9pm everyone who's anyone is watching that programme, even in the restaurants. It was set in India when we were there so one of the poodles was sporting a bindy spot- love it. Sad to leave Sao Paulo.

Next up was the trip to Foz Du Iguazu. Went to the Brazilian side on the first day which gave a real panoramic view of the huge stretch of about 90 waterfalls. Walking along the track it was like going through a butterfly park- huge, beautifully coloured butterflies everywhere just floating in the breeze and landing on us for a rest as we walked...was my interpretation. Emma's was something more like that they were pretty much flying bloodsuckers trying to maim us as we passed through their territory- not a fan of butterflies. Went to the Argentinian side the next day which is now one of my favourite places on Earth. Amazing views of the individual falls, and we stood pretty much underneath a huge fall and got soaked- good in the scorching December heat.

An 18hr bus journey to Buenos Aires followed, and we've now been here for 4 nights. Roughed it in a nice hotel for the first two nights and had a film day with just us and Tom Hanks- Apollo 13 is v good. Now we've moved 2 doors down into a hostel. We've done yet more shopping, done the sightseeing, and booked our tango show for tomorrow night. Just booked our hostel in Patagonia which is pretty chilly apparently- proper weather.

We still have no plans for xmas and it could be a sadly quiet affair, so we thought that as we can't be there in the UK maybe everyone could come to us? Let us know.

Frank

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Comments

[Anneliese]

Ha! Frank - are you sure that your poorly foot was the ONLY reason for your terrible dancing?? Sounds good guys! Aww Nanouk!! Cute!! xxxx