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Published: August 9th 2007
Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro
The world famous Copacabana beach -- and no, this is not a postcard!Our long anticipated 11 hour flight to Rio de Janeiro was uneventful but we landed at night so we had to wait a little longer before experiencing the sights of this pulsating “sun and fun” capital of South America. Rio was one of Tyler’s "Top 5 Destinations," so he was particularly anxious. And none of us were disappointed when we woke up the next morning to a beautiful blue Brazilian sky. We set off on our tour of Rio and the Rio Harbor by first visiting the magnificent “Cristo Redentor” or Christ the Redeemer statue on the top of Corcovado Mountain, 2,400 feet above the city. To take advantage of the clear day, we next took the cable car up to Sugarloaf Mountain. From both locations, we had panoramic views of the famous beaches of Copacabana and Ipamena and of Guanabara Bay. The views were breathtaking and testament to why most people consider Rio to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world.onia
It was a very good thing we decided to see the city views that first day because the next two days the weather turned and it rained off and on both days. We did get to
Iguassu Falls, Brazil
tour the historical center of Rio and visit the Sambodromo, a giant permanent parade stand where the world famous “Carnival” parade is performed for the people and the judges. We actually learned quite a lot about Carnival from our guide, Sonia, and what a huge part of Rio’s culture and economy it is. The other thing we learned a lot about was the intense rivalry between Brazil and Argentina when it comes to the sport of football or soccer as we call it.
Next we flew to Iguassu to one of the most amazing experiences of our lives - our tour of Iguassu (as the Brazilians call it) or Iguazu (as the Argentinians call it) Falls, which consists of over 275 separate falls across a span of two and one-half miles. Once again, words do fail, but the thing that made this experience different from our visit of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe was that there are more ways to “interact” with Iguazu Falls. In fact, you almost feel as if you are in the falls for much of your visit, especially if you take advantage of the hike over the Iguazu River and the boat ride that
takes you right
Christ the Redeemer, Rio
up to the “water wall” of the falls. The title of our entry says how we feel about Iguazu Falls - we finally found the end of the rainbow!
Reluctantly we left Iguazu and flew to Buenos Aires where the weather had defnitely taken a turn for the worse - after all, they are less than 2 weeks away from winter here! It was chilly and foggy in Buenos Aires 90% of our time there, but we still enjoyed the time spent with our guide, Luciano. We toured the different parts of the city our first morning, had a drink and sweets at the famous Café Tortoni, and saw a fantastic tango show that evening. Getting back to the rivalry between Brazil and Argentina, at the bequest of Sonia, our Rio guide, we asked Luciano to remind us how many times Argentina has won the World Cup. Luciano was not amused. He emphatically replied that although Brazil has won the World Cup 5 times and Argentina only 2 times, it is not a matter of quantity, but quality! For example, he asked: has Brazil won the World Cup at home as Argentina has?
No. Or has Brazil won the Olympic
Iguazu Falls, Argentina
Gold Medal in Football as Argentina has? No. We decided that in the future, the Nelsons would steer clear of this rivalry!!
The fog continued to plague us on our departure from Buenos Aires 2 days later. Our flight was delayed 7 hours as the airport was a mess from 3 days of foggy conditions and cancelled flights galore. But we finally made it to Peru, which will be the subject of our next blog entry very soon!
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Melissa Chrystie
non-member comment
Rainbows
The pictures with the rainbows are my favorite! They are amazing. Miss you guys! Glad you're having a great time!