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Published: September 3rd 2011
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The last bit of our tour.
Day 43 (continued):-
In the evening we decided to split from the group, with Craig and Claire, to splurge (rather than face more all-you-can-eat meat and carb fare again). Had a great meal with a couple of bottles of wine followed by a few beers in a bar. Most enjoyable.
Day 44:-
We traveled a few hours to a port where we hopped on a boat to Ilha Grande. Claire was feeling a tad ropey from the night before, which wasn’t surprising as she had the lions share of Craig’s wine.
Spent the afternoon lazing on the beach with Ailsa, rather than tackle the trek up to a waterfall (we figured that it wasn’t gonna beat Iguazu anyway!). We only managed an hour’s sunbathing at most before the beach was in the shade and the tide came in, so went back and chilled out.
We had a paella in the evening to share (it could have fed at least 4), which was lovely. Followed by cakes from a street vendor.
Day 45:-
We woke early and had breakfast before starting a 2-3 hour trek across the island to Lopez Mendez
beach. It was lovely not to have to contend with the altitude! We went over the top of the island and saw some majestic views, as well as passing a number of other beaches on the way. After 2 hours we arrived at Lopez Mendez beach and it was well worth the hike. Blue sky, beautiful white sand (no driftwood), clear warm waters, hardly a person in sight and loads of little monkeys in the trees – bliss!
In the afternoon it became overcast, so there was nothing else to do but challenge the Brazilian locals to a game of beach football. The Great British team surprisingly won 4-2, even with a Scot and a Welshman in the team 😉
Went out for food followed by a party at a hostel in the evening where the Caipirinha flowed.
Day 46:-
The last full day of the tour started with a trip back to the mainland and then on to Rio. Alison and John made the boat by the narrowest margin. We arrived in Rio at lunch and were meant to go hang-gliding, but unfortunately it was too windy to go. We spent the afternoon on Cococapabana beach
instead, drinking coco-water, which took us full circle back to the start of our hols.
In the evening we went for a BBQ and said “adios” to the group, other than those that ventured to Lapa with us to partake in the Samba/Salsa street party. Fantastic fun, but unfortunately we had to leave early to catch our plane – it doesn’t really get going til 1-2am.
Day 47:-
Flew to Buenos Aires and arrived at our hotel in Palermo. It was fantastic to be back in luxury. Had a quick bite to eat for lunch, a tasty salad non-the-less, before getting picked up by the bus to go to the Boca Juniors v San Lorenzo game.
The game was amazing. The quality of the football was good, but had nothing to do with it. It was all about the atmosphere. Not a minute of the game was spent without both sides of the crowd singing and jumping up and down – unbelievable fun, even Becky loved it! It ended 1-1.
Day 48:-
Hopped on the tour bus the next morning, which was probably a mistake. Good to get a commentary of the city, bus didn’t see
much from on board. Disembarked for lunch and then had a lazy afternoon strolling through the botanical gardens (so many cats!!).
Day 49:-
Decided to walk around the city following on from yesterday’s experience. Went to Recoleta cemetery to see among others, the grave of Evita. It was an incredible place and massively exceeded my expectations.
We then had a tour around Teatro Colon, one of the worlds best theatres apparently. The place is so majestic and puts the interior of the Sydney Opera House to shame. It’s a pity there wasn’t a show on while we were there.
In the evening we went to have tango lessons, which were at a local place so were entirely in Spanish. We blame our poor Spanish as the reason that we were rubbish and not that we can’t dance. After 2 hours of lessons we nipped out for food at La Carbera and had a quality steak and sides, complimented with some lovely Malbec. After dinner we went back to the dance hall to partake in a Milonga, which is where the locals gather to dance tango. The locals definitely put us to shame, although we did get on
the dance floor to strut our stuff too (must have been the wine).
Day 50:-
Up early and to the airport to head back to Sydney and so ended a wonderful trip and honeymoon.
Here’s to next years 3-month holiday (I wish!).
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