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Published: March 21st 2009
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Caipirinha
Garrys first of many Been a while since our last entry. We had a great 3 weeks in Brazil.
We started off in Foz de Iguazu to see the falls. The falls are outstanding, they border 3 countries - Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay (which isn´t that relevant but interesting anyway)
Our first day was spent looking at it from the Argentinan side which allows you an up close view. Part of this was to take a boat trip out into the falls where we got completely soaked - we were pretty much under the falls. The next day we checked out the falls from the Brazilian side which gives a more panoramic view. From the photos you might be able to see for yourself how big this thing is.
We forgot to pack our professional photographer however, so we did our best!
We also had our first Brazilian churrassco all you can eat meal in Foz which cost something like AU$8. It was so good here we ended up going back nearly every night! Unfortunately we also had our first McDonalds of the trip here too - pretty much the same as home except for the very odd liquid cheese on the burgers,
Iguazu Falls
Argentinian side semi panoramic shot won´t be trying that again!
Foz is pretty close to the border of Paraguay so we decided to check it out for the day. It was the most bizarre border crossing we've ever come across - no passport checks, no officials, the only thing that was checked was the quantity of alcohol coming back into Brazil -
one guy got dragged off the bus for having one bottle too many! The shopping wasnt as good as we had been told - there were however plenty of guns for sale but we just ended up coming back with a jar of peanut butter and a $2 hip flask.
From here we bussed and ferried to Ilha Grande, a paradise island not too far from Rio. We spent 5 nights here in a very nice and very cheap little home stay. It was the cheapest place on the island and probably the nicest accommodation we've had on the trip so far. For the first 2 days it rained pretty heavy which meant there was nothing much to do except drink at the pub - poor us! Check out the size of the shots in the pics!! When the weather got
better we took a boat trip out to a fabulous beach called Lopes Mendes (Sinead and Shivy, things have changed since you were last there, no such thing as having the beach to yourselves). It was a bit of a slippery trek to get there but it was well worth it. We managed to get some surfing in too. We also rented a kayak for a day and paddled to a deserted beach or two but happened to pick the hottest day to do this, even Garry got burnt!
After this we packed up and headed to Rio for 9 nights. We had a few days to rest before Carnaval started. We were joined in Rio by Carols sister Michelle and her 3 friends Bridget, Laura and Rachel and this random drunken irishman, Cathal you know who you are, and no the gold mask and the colourful floral necklace don´t make you look gay! Before Carnaval started we decided to get some sightseeing out of the way so we took the Cable car up Sugar Loaf mountain and took a trip up to the top of Corcavado mountain to see Christ the Redeemer. It was pretty amazing, Jesus!! and
no, for once that is not blasphemy. The photos pretty much say it all, the harbour in Rio could nearly rival Sydneys (nearly).
As for Carnaval, its pretty much a hazy memory - 5 days of street parties and litre bottles of cachaca for AU$2 says it all! (the sugar cane alcohol that makes caipirinhas) Our first night of Carnaval was a bit of a disaster - we ended up splitting into 2 groups for the taxi ride and ended up at different parts in some strange suburb in Rio. We were lucky enough to be let out in the good side of town but the others ended up at some dark cemetery. We all ended up meeting back at the apartment after totally missing the street party that we were supposed to be at so by night 2, we were rearing to go. We ended up at a party next to the Sambodrome (the big grandstands where the samba schools parade with all their costumes). The party was full of locals who were more than happy to give us gringos a few well needed dance lessons! After a big night here, we decided to stay local and take
it easy, which ended up being a 6am finish after drinking on Copacabana beach. At this point we figured it was time to check out the Sambadrome - after an hours worth of negotiations we managed to get some tickets for AU$30 which was a pretty good deal considering some were paying AU$200! Although we werent sure if it was such a good deal when Garry was dragged down some dark alley on his own to pay for all our tickets. Sambadrome was amazing, they put on a very colourful and crazy show until the wee hours of the morning. For our last Carnaval night we decided to try and find the elusive blocos ( basically a giant street party stationary or moving, with a massive group of people drinking and dancing) - we had been chasing them for days and couldnt find them so was great to finally see what it was all about on our last night.
The best part of it was seeing everyone of all ages dancing away to samba music on the street for hours on end, up to and including peoples grandparents.
So after a well earned night off from partying, we flew
Iguazu falls
Brazilian side to New York. We did a bit more shopping than we would have liked - we're hoping we didnt blow the budget for the year! It was pretty cold there after being in Brazil - minus 10 degrees. I managed to get Garry to come to a musical with me after a lot of whinging (and no it didn´t turn him gay as he said it might), we checked out the empire state building, the visitor centre for the world trade centre site, time square, central park and the statue of liberty.
From there we took a couple of flights to Mexico, Puerto Vallarta which is where we are now. Its nice to be back in summer clothes, wearing thongs (the feet kind) and drinking 50c coronas by the beach.
Don´t know how we are ever going to work again (Drouyn I feel your pain)
Salud
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daly
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cheers!
thanks for the lovely description and even better pictures- dont think i will ever be able to go back to oz now!!! hope ur enjoying mexico, im gonna finally upload my carneval pictures now- i promise!!