Feliz Año Nuevo

---

Hello Our Dear Friends and Family,
Happy New Year! Hope all is well with you and that you had a warm holiday season. I am here in Brazil with my sister. We just got here a couple of days ago so you will see that all of our pictures are from Buenos Aires.
Had a great Christmas with some other travelers at my hostel. On Christmas eve, we all went out to dinner at a fancy Argentine restaurant and ate a ton of grilled meats (liver, kidney, intestine and some normalish pieces of animal too!). On Christmas day we all walked around the city, sat at little cafes and watched the locals celebrate with their families. We all cooked a big dinner that night at the hostel which was really special and fun. There were about a dozen of us and I was the only American. Luckily English was the common language so we were all able to communicate and have a great time.
Rose came in the day after Christmas and we have been having a ball ever since (haven´t slept much!). It has been a nice change to have a travel buddy. We love Buenos Aires. The people and culture are so beautiful and there is always a ton of stuff to do. For new years eve, we caught up with my friend Josie that I met in Ecuador and we went to the Paul van Dyk concert. It was a blast because it was so warm, the concert was outdoors and everyone was so into the music that it was just as much fun to watch people as it was to dance.
We left BA on the 2nd and arrived in Iguasu Falls the same day. The falls are situated in between Brazil and Argentina so we went to the Brazilian side on the first day and woke up super early to check out the Argentinian side before we caught our flight in the afternoon. The falls were literally breath taking. Just listening to them gives you a bit of a rush. The pictures don´t do them justice, but you can get the idea.
Arrived here in Rio de Janeiro on the night of the 3rd. I seriously haven´t been this hot in my entire life! BA was pretty warm, but nothing compared to Iguasu and here. All of my skirts are knee length which is about 2 feet too much fabric! Rose and I went out and bought some shorts our first day here and have been out to the beach every day. Our hostel is 3 blocks from the Ipanema beach and it is beautiful.
Every image that you have of brazilian women is pretty much right on. Everyone is gorgeous and the bathing suits really are tiny! All of them! And, all of the women look amazing in these small pieces of fabric parading around the beach.
Well, off to do some exploring as we only have a few days left here in Rio before we meet up with our friends Stacey and Angelo in Sao Paulo.

Happy New Year. Missing you all. Thanks for all of your emails and life updates.

Love Cassandra and Rose

---

Photos

La Boca
La Boca is a neighborhood in Buenos Aires famous for it´s brightly colored houses and tango culture.

Regoleta Cemetary
This famous cemetary in Buenos Aires is where a lot of old wealthy families are baried. It is a huge tourist attraction not only because there are thousands of individual graves with completely different archetecture that resemble ittle houses, but also because Evita and her family are baried here.

Evita Family Grave
Couldn´t get a good shot because there were so many people standing in front of the grave.

We didn´t get robbed
Rose with strawberry yogurt all over her. There was a robbing scam in full operation in Buenos Aires. Someone would be standing on their second story balcony waiting for an innocent tourist looking person to walk by. As soon as they are directly under them, they drop a substance (in our case yogurt, but others got salad dressing) on them. In the chaos, someone comes up from behind and robs you accompanied by other fellow robbers who pour out of the building. Luckily Rose and I already knew about this scam so right when it happened we were very alert. Also, we both saw a man walking uncomfortably close behind us so our senses were fully aware. As soon as the yogurt fell, we both turned and yelled at the man behind us who was now basically walking on top of us. We made a huge scene which deterred the robbery. Whew!

Happy New Year
Having a toast in the hostel before a night on the town. We met up with another friend and went to the Paul van Dyk concert. It was at a huge outdoor venue and we danced until the sun came up.

Comments

[Dorrie Huntington]

Happy New Year
Sounds like you gals are having a blast! Your photos are awesome. Keep them coming. Stay safe and enjoy all your adventures. Dorrie

[Madelene English]

Happy New Year
Hello Cassandra and Rose, I am so happy that Rose can travel with you for a few weeks. That is so great. The pictures are wonderful and keep them coming. YOu have seen so much and still more to see. Jim and I are hoping that we will get to Brazil someday and visit our friends that stayed with us and would love to hear from you and will put you both up and I am sure would show you a great time. They also have 2 daughters about your age. If you need for me to send you their phone number and address again I will be glad to. We have been having lots of rain and on Jan. 4th we had strong gusty winds and heavy rain and alot of fences have blown down and ours is one of them. We are so glad to have power. Lots of home are without power in the Sacramento area and Davis. Both you and Rose look like you are having such a wonderful time. Both are so beautiful. I am calling your dad today and check in and see how he is doing. I try to call him every other week and have a chat. Got a sweet card from him yesterday. We are both fine and planning for our next 2 trips. March we go to India/Nepal/Bhutan and then after that we are flying to Thailand for 1 week. We will go to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Then in May we are going to Romania on a Humanitarian trip with the Friendship Force and we will be taking computers to a school for the blind. Wishing both of you a wonderful 2008 and just continue having a fabulous trip and enjoy each day to the fullest. Love you loads, Madelene and JIm

[joe]

yo
holy crap, that strawberry yogurt scam is ridiculous. (the smoldering look you have in that pic though i must say is hot hot hot.) glad though that you city gals were alert to all that bs. was pvd amazing? i saw him on nye once in LA. he played pearl jam's 'better man' at the stroke of midnight. it was intrusive, something i'll never forget. all your pics are amazing, the falls and the forest, recolata is both beautiful and eerie at once, i hope i can visit one day where you now are. it's been pouring rain, raining in sheets in san francisco, the worst storm they say in two years. but it cleans the streets and leaves them shiny and brand new looking. it's worth it though just to walk slowly up and down the gleaming street, black umbrella in hand, jacket collar up, steaming coffee warming the palm. we all miss you rose. happy new years. have a great vacation, you guys. keep up the blog and the pics.