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Published: December 31st 2011
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We landed in Rio late at night because our layover had being delayed in Buenos Aires. Thank god the taxi driver had a sat nav. Also, we copped straight away, that we although we struggled with communication in all the other countries, we could get by with the bit we knew. Here was not going to be so easy. Portuguese is completely different. We found the hostel with no hassle and checked in. we were greeted by the view of Christ the Redeemer, up on the hill, surrounded by lights, giving the illusion that he was floating. It had being along day in airports so we were well fit for bed. Hostels, along with everything else are very expensive so we had to resort back to dorm rooms, for the first time in quite a while. It was great tho as there was no one else in our room for the first 2 nights. Next morning we were in for a shock. In South America, the norm for breakfast is a stale roll and coffee with more tar than the M50. Here, we got everything from cereals, to boiled eggs, fresh juices (that weren’t watered down) fresh fruit, fresh breads and rolls and loads of tea & coffee. After eating as much as we could, it was 1pm so time for the beach. Off to Ipanema beach. We spent the rest of the day there relaxing, getting the last bit of heat while watching all the locals work out playing beach volleyball, beach tennis and beach soccer, while we drank a beer..!! So relaxing... It was then we realised that we were on the home stretch of our trip and so it was time to put the feet up abit. As it was Saturday night, it was time to hit Lapa, the club zone of Rio, full of clubs from samba to soul to rock. What a spot. Next day, after along breaky again, we were off to the one & only, Copacabana beach. This time, we knew lunch was pricey, so we made rolls in the hostel at breakfast time with all the free food. Same as yesterday, lie on the beach & do nothing. We were so lucky that we had a class hostel with cool people in it; one thing we noticed throughout our travels was that it is very important where you stay; it really changes your opinion of a place. Except, in our dorm on the last 2 nights, we had two nomads, people who live off the land. These girls don’t believe in shaving either, which wasn’t too bad for one girl as she was pretty and had really fair hair. Even tho when she yawned, her armpits were quiet disgusting. But the other girl had jet black hair, and had a ronnie that any fella would be proud off. That, along with her armpits and legs, made her look like an ape. Nobody could look at them, let alone make eye contact. And they had the funniest story, how the horses they own ran off one day with their bags but when they found them, their bags had being lost. Along with their passports! So they had come to Rio to try getting new ones and go busking to make money. But her violin had being broken, so she would have to sell off her horse to fix her violin. When I asked would she not be better selling the saddle and keeping the horse, she said that was a silly idea. Like a saddle is any use without a horse… This is from the same girl who wants to hitch back to New York from Rio… So anyways, next day, we were supposed to leave but none of us could make the decision. & it was really cloudy up at the statue, (Christ the Redeemer) so we said we’d stay another day. So we stayed one more day, ‘just’ for the statue, even tho we could see it every day from our breakfast table. Finally, we made it up to see the big guy, but when we got there it was really cloudy. It did break for 10 seconds so everyone could get a photo, then it was all covered again. Rio is such a class chilled out city. On the beaches there is definitely a macho thing going on with all the men showing off.
So after Rio, it was off to Ihla Grande, about 2 hours south of Rio. When we got there, the hostel was fully booked but they cleared out the spare room for us, with two bunk beds. So we took the bottom beds. After coming back from the beach, a 20 stone fella was lying in one of the beds. He was really apologetic but said for his and our safety, would we mind if he had one of the bottom bunks, as he’d need a push up to the top bunk and then it would probably collapse down on top of us. No problem we said. He ended up sleeping on the couch as he said he had a cough and was afraid he keep us awake all night. It was a nice place but unfortunately we didn’t get great weather, so after 2 nights, we were ready to move on, and ready for the 20 hour trip to Florianopolis, further south along the coast.
We checked into our hostel, Backpackers Sunset. A really cool hostel with a pool, movies & a PlayStation 2 with soccer games. They had bus seats in the tv room so you lie back while watching tv. It was also only 3 minutes’ walk from Praia mole beach. Unfortunately tho when we got there, it was lashing rain. We chilled out for a while, then decided to go for a walk down to the local shop and restaurant. The next day was marvellous so we headed off to the beach. That was the itinerary for the week, eat, beach, sleep, eat, relax & more sleep. The next 6 days were spent doing just that. 2 Irish lads had landed in our hostel, Kevin & Dylan, from Dublin. Kevin was just on a 3 week holiday while Dylan was just starting on a year round the world trip. Considering there dubs, we had the best craic with them, and was nice to meet some normal Irish people. We were heading in the same direction, so we left Backpackers sunset, to the bus terminal & on to Foz do Iguacu, Brazilian side of the Iguazu falls. The Iguazu Falls are in north east Argentina, where the Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay borders all meet. There were loads of buses heading so we were sure of getting a seat, but it turned out that they were all booked up. So we bought our tickets for the following day, hopped in a taxi and back to the hostel, where we were welcomed with a massive cheer from everyone there. But we did manage to leave the next day unfortunately, and were off to the falls. We were very lucky when we got to the bus terminal, a taxi brought us through the 2 border crossings & straight to our hostel, the Hostel Inn. That saved us a lot of hassle. Everyone stays on the Argentinian side because it is a lot cheaper than the Brazilian side and there is more of the falls to see that side.
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