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So Leaving Bolivia behind, having spent far too little time there but under pressure to get to rio in time for carnaval, we skipped the boarder into Argentina where we made our way to Salta for a brief stopover before catching a 24 hour bus all the way to Iguacu Falls on the Argentinian side. This provided us with amazing close up views of this spectacular natural phenomenom. In baking heat, we were blessed with the picture perfect day to take in the might of these falls and their jaw-dropping power and beauty! Having had a day to remember we chilled out by the pool of our hostel catching a few rays and drinking a few cervazas, before getting up early the next day to what we hoped would be a chance to catch the falls from the more panoramic view of the Brazilian side. Unfortunately as we woke, we were hit by what i can only describe as a monsoon, making it pointless to go. With bad weather predicted for the next few days and with us under a lot of time pressure, we got on another 20+ hour bus to Paraty, a small beach town on the Atalantic coast of brazil, just two hours from Rio. Here we met up with claire and her friend Asha, and we spent the next week together, celebrating Claire's birthday in Paraty, Trinidade and then Ilha Grande. Paraty did not have a great deal to offer, although was a pretty town, we spent the day on a gorgeous beach in trinidade and three days in Ilha Grande, which offers 100+ beaches for you to chill out in the baking heat as long as you are prepared to trek through the jungle to get there. With most of these treks taking over 3 hours, we opted for the more trodden sands which didn't take long to walk too. We did though see some natural pools which we slid down some rocks into and a pretty cool aquaduct running through the jungle before getting to the beach. Unfortunately, the weather was not that great and we only really had one nice day. On our last day, we took a boat trip around the island but as a storm hit, we could not see anything so opted to drink them dry instead. Leaving Ilha Grande, I also parted with Claire and Asha, who went up North to olinda for carnaval. Mark and I instead headed to Sao Paulo for 3 days, where there really was nothing much to do. We did though witness Sao Paulo Vs Corinthians at Estadio Morumbi which ended 1-1 with three sendings off. Apart from that the biggest city on South America offered little else except panoramic views from the top of its tallest building.
Leaving Sao paulo we were on our way to Rio, where we were to spend the next nine days drinking, eating and dancing, celebrating the most famous carnaval in the world! Rio is the most beautiful city i have ever been to. It's back drop of jungle, mountains and grossly over crowded favelas, topped off with high rise building and miles of white sandy beaches makes you never want to leave the place. During our time in Rio, we did take a break from the drinking occassionaly (between the hours of waking up and eating breakfast!) and were able to see the iconic sights that make Rio so special. We took a trip up to Cristo Redentor, who over looks the city, took a tour of Estadio Maracana, where Pele played his last ever game, visited the very modern looking and high cathedral, took a stroll around the hip and funky district of Lapa, and took the cable car up to the top of Sugar loaf mountain where we watched the sun set. Not only did we do all this but we saw Flamengo on the wrong end of a shock 3-1 defeat to Rezende at the Maracana (allbeit with the help of some shocking refereeing decisions) and my personal favourite and memorable moment, taking a tour of Rocinha Favela. We were able to feel what life in the Favela is like as we took a motorbike ride to the top and descended on foot, gathering a unique insight into the vibrant spirit of the people, especially the kids, and learning pretty quickly not to look at the guys holding machine guns for too long.
Obviously as the evening approached, the drinking increased and the partying got harder, and further into the night. We did go to the Sambadrome on one evening, and were able to see the flambouant processions and wild samba dancing, as the drums banged and and the crowd cheered. It was a truely great experience, and was so much fun. We met some great people and made lots of new friends.
Now we had a 40 hour direct bus to Buenos Aires to catch, which gave us just enough time to detox in time for my birthday...
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