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Okay so my last entry was before I left La Paz in Bolivia. The next month(ish) went a little something like this:
We headed first to Santa Cruz in NW Bolivia, which meant 17 long hours on a bus. This was quite a comfortable bus by Bolivian standards, of course there was no working toilet so it was more bladder control practice, but it was more spacious than normal. Our spirits dampened somwhat however when a family of four got on the two seats behind us and some little s**t started tapping my head when i was trying to sleep at 5am. Santa Cruz itself was different to the rest of Bolivia, more Tropical being at such a lower altitude, and pretty chilled out so we obliged by lying around for two days doing nothing but eating ice cream.
Next we flew to Rio. Matt found this haul relatively painless as the recruitment of Brazilian flight attendants was shamelessly aesthetically based! As for Rio, it was pricey to say the least: about the same as England for the basics, a bit cheaper for clothes but 3 times the price for suncream which posed a few issues for me considering the next 2 weeks were spent on beaches. Anyway, we only spent two days here but in a really cool hostel (who apologetically supplied us with loads free alcohol just because our air con dripped a bit) and managed to cram in plenty: Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, statue of Christ, and a massive street party in Lapa (a region of Rio).
From here it was time to relax properly on Brazil´s Emerald Coast- three days on Ihle Grande. The beaches were ridiculously pituresque and we finally got tanned/slightly off white colour. The relaxation was only hampered slightly by a cleaner that insisted on leaving our door and windows open everyday once she had finished- literally just unlock and open everything and walk off. Constant flashbacks of that ad campaign in England ´dont advertise your home to criminals´ran through my head as i had visions of her inviting men with black and white stripey t-shirts into our room for a viewing. When we mentioned this to the dread-locked rasta hostel keepers they just told us not to worry....too chilled out for there own good! Another headache were the ridiculous inflated tourist prices - the first night we ate in a `price per kilo` restaurant which seemed reasonably priced until their scales claimed that we had eaten a mere 12kg between us! Still, the beaches were paradise (Lopes Mendes being 3 miles of white sand, shady palms trees and a gradual sloping beach into crystal blue waters and rolling waves), all beer no matter what brand size or container cost one pound and we left the island with all our stuff!
After a night in Agra Dos Reis spent wondering around looking for hostels that didnt exist anymore with a self appointed Brazilian tour guide called Douglas who loved all things English and loved talking about Oxfordshire despite never having been, we got to Sao Paulo and promptly missed our connection to Iguazu due to the bus being late after a series of unecessary lengthly stops. However, despite the horror stories of Sao Paulo we found it pretty good. The food was excellent (I was actually asked to leave the Breakfast buffet after eating fruit for about 2 hours) and Matt finally found some Havianas (flip flops) in his size in the largest Haviana shop you´ll ever see. Matt even got to practice his rugby skills trying to get us to the bus station on the jammed packed metro with our backpacks when he (accidentally) floored the guy in front of him on the 1st tube. However, we soon gave up with the second train after holding it up for 3/4 minutes because we couldnt get my bag in the door.
Anyway, we eventually made it to the bus station and onto a bus to Iguazu where we spent the textbook three days here- Brazilian side of falls day one, Argentinian day 2, relax by the pool at our hotel day 3. I think the 400 photos tell this story better than me, the best part being dunked under the Devil´s Throat (see before and after photos)!
Next stop was Buenos Aires and boy did we get there in style....a bus that cost far less than any in Brazil provided us each with an arm chair turn bed which we chilled out in and watched films on the plasma screen TV whilst being served hot meals, unlimited beer, truffles and even champagne! After a most enjoyable journey and with much regret we got off the bus the following morning to find that there wasn´t a single hostel free in Buenos Aires for 3 nights. So after 2 hours in an internet cafe and Matt struggling through a couple of Spanish telephone conversations, we manged to aquire ourselves an appartment for a week in Palermo (the nicest area of the city) at a very good deal (cheaper than the average hostel) and with a sun facing balcony, cable TV and air con! The next week was spent enjoying these luxuries, cooking steak, drinking red wine and generally taking in the atmosphere of the city. This of course included Tango.....Tango lessons (hilarious but resulted in very sore toes), street Tango in La Boca (the poorest area of BA but the known as the heart of the Tango) and a very impressive Tango show (see video at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb-SI_pp028). We also visited Evita Peron´s grave in the unique Recoletta Cemetary and even did something cultural by taking a look at her museum, pushing our Spanish to the limits. This morning we sadly had to vacate our appartment and are even sadder to have to leave this incredible city. However, we will enjoy one last steak this afternoon before jumping on bus to Mendoza, I´m sure you wine conissuers will know this as the number one wine region of Argentina. Don´t think we´ll ever be able to have too much of the stuff!
Until next time xxxxx
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