Buenos Aires - Visit 1

Wednesday 9th December: The weather was very hot upon arrival, so after checking into the Hostel (Carlos Gardel) in the Santa Telmo district we went exploring the immediate & surrounding areas. The Santa Telmo district is the city's historic heart and is all about Tango, flea markets and the Flaneur! Its a beautiful area filled with cobbled streets and aging mansions. From here we walked into Central, where the main wide and spacious strips show off many 19th century European-style buildings; there is also the main shopping area, Avenue Florida which offers many shops and cafes but also the chance of being attacked by 10 year old street kids as David found out! The Av. 9 de Julio is the main road through the city and boasts many of the main theatres alongside a very large obelisk, and proves to be a very lively interesting area.

Next on route was Puerto Madero, BA's equivalent of Canary Wharf; a swanky dockland development showcasing new office and apartment buildings with a dock front littered by bars and restaurants.

We were warned that in Argentina the locals do not go out for food until late at night and so we did well to hold off going for dinner until 9.30pm, and being in BA we opted for steak at one of the local recommendations in the San Telmo area. After placing the order, we realised our first mistake; everyone else ordered one steak to share whilst we had one each with side orders!! Still we agreed to show them we knew what we were doing and demolished the whole lot to the surprise of the waiter and the shock of our stomachs! Needless to say there was no tango for us later on, just a few more drinks in some of the local bars.

Thursday: Being our last day in BA during our first visit to the city, we decided to do more exploring and took the Subte to Recoleta, the area inhabited by the rich of BA and where the buildings are very reminiscent of Paris; there is a pleasant area of greenery to relax and watch some old residents tango in the park whilst enjoying a Cortado (double espresso with hot milk) in the many bars/cafes that litter the streets. Next to these bars and park lies the Recoleta cemetery where BA's great and good are buried in striking tombs. This is a remarkable place, the likes of which we've never seen before and most notably contains the tomb of Evita Perón in the Duarte family mausoleum: We can't imagine she gets very much peace with the groups of tourists snapping away!

The evening was spent back in the Puerto Madero district enjoying a stroll down the dock front before sampling a local Chinese restaurant (there will be plenty of time for more steaks in our future visits to this city!).

Friday: We took the BuqueBus (Large Seacat) from Puerto Madero to Colonia del Sacremento where we connected with the bus to Montevideo to arrive at the flat we have rented for 4 weeks whilst we study Spanish at the Academia Uruguay. The apartment is an open plan loft style apartment situated in Ciudad Vieja (the old historic quarter). With only a little of the day left, we headed out to explore the immediate area where we enjoyed a choppe (beer) and steak sandwich before finding a supermarket and enjoying our first home cooked meal for a few days!!

Mate: We would also like to highlight a strange phenomenon in Argentina & Uruguay, that being the drinking and general obsession with the drink Mate!! We noticed in this initially in Iguazu , where we saw most people in the park were carrying a large Thermos alongside a kind of cup with a metal straw from which they continually sip their favourite drink, Mate – a type of herbal tea. It puzzles us how much the population can like one drink in order to carry round a thermos and separate cup with them everywhere they go. In Buenos Aires it was less evident, but within only a few hours, it appears that 75% of the Uruguayan population always have Mate at the ready! We will report more on this drink once we have sampled it ourselves!

Iguazu Falls

Saturday: Arriving into the Brazilian town of Foz de Iguazu, we decided to cross the border and stay on the Argentinian side after being convinced it was cheaper and the park offered more for tourists. The border crossing was easy enough and by lunchtime we had checked into the hostel (Hostel Sweet Hostel) and had brunch. The Argentinian town is called Puerto Iguazu and was very relaxing and safe to stay in; it reminded us both of a ski resort (with the exception of the snow and salopettes - the place is baking hot!!). The remainder of the day was spent chilling by the pool side.

Sunday: We headed into the Iguazu National Park and embarked on the “Grand Tour” which started with a 4WD excursion through the jungle on the Yacaratia trail; this wasn't so impressive to a couple who had stayed in the amazon recently, but was a nice way to relax. The jeep dropped us off at a small port (Puerto Macuco) where we boarded a speedboat that would take us to the falls via the Rio de Iguazu....this was definitely worth the money as it provided us with fantastic views on the approach (via some rapids) and allowed us to experience the true power, size and sheer noise of the falls. After allowing for a few photos the boat took us very very close to 2 sets of the falls where we got completely soaked from the spray only; to think that this volume of water has been falling at this rate for thousands of years is truly mind blowing. The largest and most impressive of the falls is the semicircular Garganta del Diablo, no boat can approach these and the closest we got by water was 600m away. However the park offers excellent views of this via a 1km walkway across the water to its edge on the upper level of the falls (also including walkways along all of the other falls).

We walked every path available to us in the park, including the lesser walked route 'The Sendero Macuco'; a 2.5 hour round trip through dense jungle where we were treated to a lot of wildlife including, squirrel monkeys, (very) large lizards, racoons and a large type of guinea pig (can't remember its name). The path eventually led to the base of a hidden waterfall (~25m high) where it was possible to bath in the fresh water pool at the bottom; David obviously took the opportunity to take the plunge in his speedos to the embarrasssment of Lynne and the amusement of the few other visitors who watched from the sidelines!
The evening was spent resting tired legs with a couple of bottles of wine (priced ~£1/bottle in Argentina...brilliant!).

Monday: The day was spent relaxing by the pool side.

Tuesday: We boarded the overnight bus to Buenos Aires in the early afternoon, opting for the first class option (on the advice of every traveller we have met who has been through Argentina) called 'Camo-Suite' for approximately an extra £12 each, you have fully reclining seats/beds, covers, pillows, english films, meals (dinner and breakfast) and drinks (including champagne – well some sort of sparkling wine). It was definitely worth the money as we arrived in Buenos Aires rested and ready to hit the city that doesn't sleep!

Rio de Janeiro, Paraty & Sau Paulo

Monday: We arrive on time and successfully find the cheap airport transfer bus to Ipanema with no Brazilian only very broken Spanish.

We stayed at Bonita Ipanema (to the left of the picture), a slightly more expensive alternative but one we don't regret. A chilled place with cool staff, bar & pool area. We decide to have a wander to the beach (2 blocks away) and in the surrounding streets of Ipanema and Leblon; and are thrilled to find them filled with a huge variety of eating & drinking establishments, no more rice & beans for a week anyway! The place reminds us of Miami and we prepared ourselves for a week of luxury (forgetting about the expense!). That evening, after relaxing on the beach into the early evening, we head to several local bars and enjoy one too many Caipirinhas.

Tuesday: The morning was spent on the beach, the afternoon spent walking around the lagoon behind Ipanema and another trek into Leblon. This area is definitely high class, and we enjoyed the shops and cafes, and made an important purchase of a pair of speedos for David....always one to want to to fit in with the locals!

Wednesday: We enquired on the way to breakfast whether there would be any chance of hanggliding today...unfortunately we received a prompt answer of...”you'll be picked up in 20mins”...yikes! No time to back out now. We were picked up on time and met the other Europeans / Americans who had signed up for the day. Before being taken to the top of the Tijuca National Park (~1.5k ft high) we were asked to sign a form basically indemnifying our instructors against any negligence on their behalf....the colour in Lynne's cheeks vanished!! We then met our instructors who drove us up to the park, and we were shocked to see that there would be a very quick turnaround before it was our turn to take the plunge. There wasn't much in the way of a runway and after one practice run with the instructor Lynne found herself next in line. The key message everyone is told is “...you must keep running until you are off the platform, failure to do so could event in us falling!” This seemed to be enough to make most people obey, however, due to the sheer fear, Lynne stopped running after 1.5 steps and to David's initial shock & then amusement (when he realised she would be safe) her feet were dragged off the runway by her instructor...regrettably there is no video of this moment! David fared much better with a proper run-off although Lynne was not there to witness so she is not entirely convinced. Anyhow, both successfully landed on the beach, having had a great experience. David's thanks go to all those at BDO who bought him the great experience. The afternoon was spent recovering and working on the speedo lines on Copacobana beach.

Wednesday night was a repeat of Monday night, hitting the local nightlife.

Thursday: Today was spent visiting the Botanical Gardens, which were really impressive (no Kew though). There was also a run (second of the week) along the beach front in the evening; the city is very health & body conscious, with running / cycling tracks and outdoor gyms littering the beach front.

Friday: We did some exploring of the Copacobana, Centro & Lapa districts. In the evening, we headed into Lapa with a bunch from the hostel to experience true Rio Samba nightlife. The place was heaving, a huge street party (happens every weekend) with beer venders on the streets amongst the many many bars & nightclubs. We ended up in the 'Estrella de Lapa' (The Star of Lapa) which is a large gig venue where we watched Jorge Ben Jor was playing a live gig for MTV Brazil. We're sure you are all aware of this guys biggest hit, 'Mas Que Nada' used for huge amounts of football coverage ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCM_VWzSiMo ). It was a great night, an absolutely crazy place. After several very strong Caipiroskas we left and in true British style, found another venue to grab one more beer and some chips before a cab home. It would have been nice to show those of you who haven't visited some photos of the area at night, but it is advised not to take any cameras, watches, wallets etc to be on the safe side (kind of like being on Bridge Street, Warrington on a Friday night).

Saturday: As one would expect by now, we spent today on the beach recovering with some of the other tired & sore heads from the hostel. Being the weekend, there were more locals on the beach, and the people watching was very enjoyable, for David especially! We initially planned to have a quiet Saturday night....however, being Saturday in Rio, this was never going to happen! We instead signed up with others from the hostel to be taken to a Samba school evening in the Mangueira Favela. We were dropped off in a street party outside the school for an opportunity to soak up the atmosphere before getting into the club around midnight. On stage in the club there was a live singer, band and percussion. The music was FANTASTIC and the dancing displays were even more impressive...it gave us just a glimpse of how crazy the Carnival must be!! David was quite enamoured with one of the leading ladies, (Lynne was later to discover this on Sunday morning whilst reviewing the photos!!) and Lynne received a lesson in Samba from a lady of 50+ years but who moved like a 20 year old. A brilliant night overall!

Sunday & Monday: Relaxed on the beach of course!!! Not much to report.

Tuesday: We did the tourist trail as part of an organised tour, visiting Sugar Loaf Mountain, Christ The Redeemer, Lapa Steps & Santa Teresa (where we had a great Brazilian style barbeque lunch). The views from Sugar Loaf & Christ TR were as impressive as expected, we think a tour is the best way to cover these sights as they are far apart and mobbed by tourists.

We took the 8 o'clock bus from Rio to Paraty (4 hrs down the coast) and checked into the Blue Jungle Hostel, our home for the next 2 nights.

Wednesday: Paraty is a very beautiful colonial town, characterised by cobbled streets and artisan shops. We used it as a nice relaxing stop off but there are in fact many activities & restaurants to check out. As it is a popular tourist location, eating out can be quite pricey, so when you have a good kitchen (& good cook...not David) and a host doling out free (& strong) Caipirinhas, there's no need to go out! We enjoyed an evening in the hostel chatting with the other guests.

Thursday: We spent most of the day on the bus to Sau Paulo, at Sau Paulo Bus Station and trying to find our hostel. After finally locating Olah Hostel, we were picked up by Cez (David's University friend) who took us for dinner in town. We went to a very upmarket end of town and had Sushi in a very smart restaurant. It was awesome. We were intrigued by the other diners, including a whole entourage of young female models with their agents; interesting people watching!

Friday: We had a stroll round Sau Paulo before embarking on an overnight bus to Puerto Igauzu.