Bye Bye Brazil

We made it to Argentina. It was quite the journey though. Let me back up a bit. After we left Rio, we initially had wanted to go to a colonial town called Ouro Preto but plans changed because of crappy bus schedules and decided to head down to Sao Paulo. After being there for about 2 hours, we understood why the guidebook doesnt really suggest a visit. We once again found ourselves in a mini-cockroach infested hotel room wondering what we were going to do to kill two days there. There wasnt much but museums (which we´re not too keen on) but there was sushi. So our two dinners there were spent in the asian neighborhood (again, Brett´s heaven). The first day there we did the "walking tour," thanks to Lonely Planet, and luckily for us, there was student protesting in front of the dept. of education building. There were paint cans thrown all over the steps of the building along with policemen in their full on riot gear...that didnt exactly give a safe feeling. We got out of that area as soon as we could. On the second day, while waiting for a local bus, we were again in the middle of protests and two cop cars turned into about 10 before we knew it. (this is Brett) It was a classic south american big city. I went running in the morning at the only park I could find in the middle of the central area and I saw a bunch of street kids huffing glue out of water bottles. Then we were walking around during the day and Ruby got stopped by a bum asking for a drink of her water (common). We also came across some religious fanatics thumping their bibles and screaming at people in the street. Then during our walk we went through another park filled with bums doing their laundry in a fountain and groups of kids and teenagers sniffing more glue. On the way back home we almost got in the middle of another fight before the cops arrived. One of the guys involved pretended to walk away and instead went a grabbed a brick from a pile of junk on the side of the road and was about to beat the other guy as the cops arrived. All in all, it was a bit of a rough town. But they did have really good sandwiches, and juice...and sushi.
The next day we hopped on a bus to the university area where they had a snake farm. Almost all the snakes and iguanas were showboating so it was worth our $2.50. Got our gear from the hotel then headed to the bus station via the good ol metro. It still amazes me the stares we get when we´re walking around with our packs. Everyone looks at us like we´re freaks. Yes, we get it. We´re tourists. Get over it.
Next stop: Foz do Iguaçu. After a lovely 15 hour overnight bus ride where we had no leg room, we arrived at our destination...right in time for Brett´s birthday. He turned the big 25 on friday. Asked the cabbie to take us to a hotel but immediately started pushing for another one; obviously one of his buddies´places. We were hesistant but decided to give it a try. Definitely made the right choice. They place was brand new and since they weren´t established yet, they were open to some bargaining and the service was great. For the first time on our trip, we had real beds. They had a box spring and a real mattress. Everything else has been basically foam pads. It was heaven. The town was crap but it did have the world´s largest hydroelectrical plant, Itaipu Dam, and for brett´s birthday, that was perfect. He loves stuff like that. Cant say I´m quite as fascinated with things of that nature myself but it was pretty impressive. The thing is 8km from end to end and it alone produces 25% of all the power used in Brazil and 95% in Paraguay. We also got to take a tour of a biological refuge where we saw a jaguar, the world´s largest rodent (can´t remember the name), an opossum with a missing foot, anteaters, monkeys, and other such animals. It was great. Next day, we went to the Parque Nacional and saw the Iguacu falls...275 consecutive falls. Crossing the border today was a major pain. We took a bus to the brazilian exit point where we had to get exit stamps. Instead of waiting for the next bus, the travelers we were with decided it would be a brilliant idea to walk the "short" distance to the Argentina border. Big mistake. Of course today was the first day the sun´s been out in a couple of days and it was back to the blazing 95 degrees. The walk was not short and by the time we got there, we were drenched in sweat. Nasty.
Well, that pretty much brings you up to date. Today we left Brazil after spending over two months there, and we´re very excited to be in a new country. No more portuguese! I can actually practice a language that I can use when i get home. Tomorrow we´re going to the National park to see the falls from the Argentina side. Ill try and put up pictures soon.

Some Bahia action

Ok, so month 2 has come and gone. We've been here in Rio de Janeiro since wednesday, the 15th. We really like this city..much more than Salvador. The thing with Salvador was that it could've been done in about a day and we had set aside 5. So we hopped on a boat and headed out to Morro de Sao Paulo..a beach town about 2 hours south of Salvador. The place was beautiful. The water was clear and warm and the town was fun to walk around in. After the boat trips to and from the island, I came to the conclusion that i am now susceptible to motion sickness. The boat rides were miserable and i was green by the time they were over. In Recife, we met some family friends who invited us to stay in their other apartment in Rio. We were all for it and hoped that it wasn't drunken Carnaval talk. When we saw them later on, the offer was made again so it seemed to be a sure thing. After lots of dropped calls on the horrible pay phones down here, we got the address to their place and took a cab from the airport. The set up couldn't be any better. Not only is the apartment 3 blocks from the Copacabana beach but the whole family was scheduled to go back to Recife for a wedding the whole time we're here! So now we have a nice apartment on the top floor of the building to ourselves! It really is nice. We don't have to worry about other people's schedules or feel uncomfortable for being someone's guest. It's a very fortunate thing because our trusty ol' Lonely Planet guide doesnt list any budget accommodations besides gross hostels. So here are just a few pictures of Salvador and Morro de Sao Paulo. I'll put up Rio pictures later this week. SALVADOR

We went to this large market where the basement was once used for keeping slaves.


I told brett not to take a picture of me. This was also the location where a huge cockroach crawled across my ankle. I was not a happy camper.


Brazilians have some tough times translating. These "cookies" were actually little stuffed fried balls...and "charque" is a kind of meat.


See steph, I'm learning some law too. I got a kick out of the name of this place.


Some late-night maracatu sessions in the streets.


MORRO DE SAO PAULO

Beaches 1 and 2. There were about five of them. Here's a zipline that ended near that cluster of rocks in the distance.


They told us we could let go as soon as we jumped off the little wooden platform but clearly I was holding on for dear life.


So was brett.


Sidenotes (little examples of Brett's fury): On a little sidewalk outside of a church in Salvador, we were reading this plaque that described its history. This older guy on crutches missing half of one of his legs comes by and says excuse me. To which brett responds sighing and says, "were we really in the way?" The old man sees his response and feebly says thank you as he heads down a cobblestone street.

Today we went to a botanical garden in Rio. Of course the pressing issue was getting to a Japanese garden before the place closed (brett loves everything asian). There were these little wooden planks over a tiny pond where there was a fountain that brett was interested in. This girl about 12 years old (slightly overweight) was going back and forth over the planks enjoying herself. Brett says, "Well if this fat cow would move, i could take a picture of it."

Hope all is well with all. Kelly, ill email you soon. Steph, what's your shoe size? No, i'm not buying you anything. I just like your feet.

False Alarm!

Ok, so I know what some of you might be thinking...why the hell are you blogging so much? Go out and enjoy your trip! Well, my emailing and blogging days are ending today...well, at least the frequency of them. Tonight we're taking an overnight bus to Salvador and saying bye bye to the land of nice people, free food, house, and internet. Oh, and we never had to take taxis. Laedson would just call his driver and have him take us out on our errands. I'm a bit nervous..being on the move again. We'll be spending 5 days there then flying to Rio de Janeiro. This freaking country is huge. It's getting down to the wire to be in Buenos Aires on time and flying is about as much as taking a bus. Except flying takes 2 hours and the bus ride would take 28.

In regards to the memory card, well it's working. So here are some pictures over the last week:

This is Olinda; Recife's artsy cultural counterpart where several artists have their studios. We went back there after Carnaval to see what it was like without a million people drinking and peeing in the streets. Thats Recife in the distance.


Not quite sure if this was Carnaval-inspired or this home's everyday look.


Here's that drink we mentioned



Recife's beach was also very nice but there was this little problem:

Those are the jangadas that would take people out to small reefs during low-tide

Snorkeling! This is when i was hyperventilating

Dory

I've got some good news and I've got some bad news

Ok first the good news: We have an apartment in Buenos Aires! We found it online, which may sound a bit sketchy, but we searched a lot of websites and ours seems highly reputable. We didnt have to pay anything online so that was a major plus. The downside is that we have to have the months rent and deposit all in cash the day we meet the realtor at our apartment. It's a lot of cash. Anyway, the apartment looks totally sweet in the pictures and we're very excited about it. We have the apartment from April 1st to May 3rd. Why the 3rd you ask? Well, i most certainly will not be traveling the day of or the day after my birthday of course! So, we have a sweet couch with someones name all over it. Want to visit us? Come on down! For those of you that are bored and have a bit of time, here's the link to see the place: http://www.bytargentina.com/re/propview.php?view=1616&bookit=&dia_ing=&mes_ing=&ano_ing=&dia_sal=&mes_sal=&ano_sal=. We've only heard positive things about Buenos Aires so we're very excited to get there. I picture it to be Barcelona-esque, or at least European with super cheap food, tango shows, etc.

So the bad news: Bretts memory card is messed up. When he tried to play back some pics, there was a black screen that said, Memory card Error. No images. So disappointing! We had a decent amount of pictures on there and the best ones were of this past weekend. We went to a beach town called Porto de Galinhas and i snorkeled for the first time! This guy takes you out on his jangada, which is basically a very small makeshift sailboat, during low-tide to some reefs where you can snorkel with some cute fish. At first, i was kindve hyperventilating because i couldnt reach the bottem, i had never snorkeled before, and my snorkel had a leak in it. So every now and then i'd breath too deeply, swallow water, and have to frantically doggy paddle while i cleared my snorkel. We moved on to another area where we walked over the reef a little to a natural pool where i could reach the bottom. I also switched snorkels with brett, whose snorkel didnt leak at all. It was so much better. The water was really clear and there were a lot of fish...not much of a variety but a definitely good place for a beginner. There was one cool fish and i dont remember the name but i do know that it was Dory from finding nemo. Our guide was super nice and took tons of pictures of us while we did all this. So anyway, we had tons of pictures of all that and now theyre all gone. We're going to have to buy a new memory card and thats going to cost us a bundle. Anything related to technology/electronics here is very expensive. For instance, we decided to look at portable cd players in case the one we brought crapped out on us and the cheapest ones were over $100 (on a side note, i saw a pair of Asics running shoes for $400 and they werent that great looking). Total bummer city.

Remember how i mentioned that my ATM card was copied so i had to cancel it? Well, I had my mom send me my new one and it finally came. I guess 2-3 day US time means over a week Brasil time. Actually im surprised it got here so quickly since it was over Carnaval when she mailed it. No one works during Carnaval so im guessing neither did the post office. Im just relieved it arrived. When i was studying in spain, i signed up for an ATM card too late so my mom had to send it to me. She sent it through DHL so we figured that was pretty reliable. Well weeks went by and i never got the card. It eventually ended up going back to my house in the states with stamps all over the envelope. It had gone all the way down to mexico and back. Stupid DHL. So since we have the card, we'll be leaving Recife very soon. We'll probably take an over night bus to Salvador tomorrow or Thursday.

Oh, and Alex, brett bought some white havaianas. He wants to be just like you.