Yes!!! Finally time to go back home. Caught a cab to the airport. Flight to Buenos Aires was delayed by two hours. Found out that we didnt need to pay departure tax as it was already included in our ticket so went crazy shopping duty free =)) Finally get on the the plane - arrive at Buenos Aries for a 6 hr transit and flight is delayed again by an 1hr or 2. Arrive in Auckland safe and sound and glad to back. Then I get stuck with Customs being interogated by NZ Customs for 2 - 3 hrs for trying to bring in Coco matte tea leafs (which I declared), that was a ordeal in itself and I thought I was dead meat when they started reading me my rights. Customs found nothing else so ... read more

So after a lovely sleep we are feeling refreshed and have a good breakfast. Today we want to see Christ Redeemer/Cristo Redentor. After looking at the map we need to find a train station on Rua Cosmo Velho that will take us to the Christ Remeemer statue. ___________________________________________________________________________________ Christ the Redeemer (Portuguese: Cristo Redentor), is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The statue stands 39.6 metres (130 feet) tall, weighs 700 tons, and is located at the peak of the 700m Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. A symbol of Christianity, the statue has become an icon of Rio and Brazil. ____________________________________________________________________________________ At the time we had no idea what a hard task that was going to be. Having travelled through Peru, Boliv... read more

Today we decide we have had quite an adventure and wonder if we can change our tickets to fly out a few days earlier than originally planned. We find the offices for Aerolinas Argentinas are in Cenro and decide to head there. After some lenghty discussion we discover that is not a possility without extra costs being incurred and decide to stay and enjoy the last few days in Rio. As we are already in Centro, we decide to explore it and soon find ourselves in Praca 15 de Novembro - awesome imposing large colonial buildings all around. Centro (or Downtown) is the historic centre of the city, as well as its financial centre. Sites of interest include the Paço Imperial, built during colonial times to serve as a residence for the Portuguese governors of Brazil; ... read more

Today the plan is to catch a cab and cross the border. After a leisurely breakfast, shower and change of clothes, we pack up and ask the front desk to organise a cab for us. 30mins later no cab had arrived!! The lady at the front desk tells us that her husband is crossing the border for business and will drop us off at our hostel. We finally get into the car and cross the last border to brazil, we are dropped off at our hostel, there is some dispute over the price of the ride, we negitiate and pay him what we think the right price should be. We head of to town to find some lunch - shwama's for lunch (hmmmmm, very delicious), spend the rest of the day exploring the town. So much ... read more

Today we leave Buenos Aries at 3pm for Puerto Iguazu. Spend the morning doing last minute shopping for friends and family. Then there is the mission of unpacking and re packing everything a few times to make sure everything fits - by this time our bags are bulging from all the excellent stuff we've bought from Peru, Bolivia & Argentina as well as the winter gear we are carrying around (jackets, jerseys, thermals woolen sockts etc). We finally manage to get in sorted - damn the bags are heavy =) We catch a cab to the bus stop and wait patiently. The journey is uneventful. The countryside and scenery is spectacular. We talk and laugh about the dreadful fight we had one day in BA. Travelling together is a real maker and breaker of relationships of ... read more