CanWay

Hola!

From our last stop, Colonia del Sacramento, we were only a short bus ride away from our next destination, the capital of Uruguay; Montevideo.

Uruguay is a country different to most of the other South American nations. Abortion was legalized in 2007, same-sex civil unions in 2008 and education is free. Truly unique in a part of the world were Catholicism is such a big part of everyday life. It really feels very different from countries like Colombia or Venezuela. That being said, we saw our fair share of horse and carts cruising down the street along with SUVs and motor bikes.
We arrived here the day before St.Patrick’s day, and realized that if there was going to be any sight-seeing it had to be done now.

Old City Gate

Fishermen on the dock

The beach. After being spoiled with the beautiful beaches, and weather, of Brazil we had no desire to go in.

After getting a good nights’ sleep we headed into town to try and track down some green beer. Surprisingly this didn’t take very long.

At the local Irish bar

More green lunch-beer

Jason’s birthday is on the 18th of March, and he usually combines this celebration with the one for St. Patrick.

St. Patrick's Jameson shots

Street Meat Time

Needless to say, we had a tough morning on Jason’s 29th. We eventually got up at lunch time.

The birthday boy at lunch

We were almost feeling like ourselves again by dinner time, which was fortunate as we had reservations at one of Montevideo’s best restaurants.

Dinner at Tandory

The best dessert ever! Seriously .

The food was absolutely delicious, especially the dessert which we somehow managed to push down. Now, our days in Uruguay were numbered, it was time to cross the river and get back to Argentina. Next stop, Cordoba!

Hola!

From big and hectic Buenos Aires we made our way across Rio de la Plata to the quiet small town of Colonia del Sacramento in Uruguay.

Welcome to Uruguay!

We spent a couple of days here just wandering the cobbled streets, relaxing and taking in the scenery.

Street Corner

Enjoying a drink at the hostel

Colonia was founded by the Portuguese in 1680 to smuggle goods across the river to Buenos Aires. The Spanish captured it in 1762, and held it until tax reforms finally permitted foreign goods to be shipped directly to Buenos Aires in 1777.

Across the river from B.A

There is no denying it, Colonia is fairly touristy. Still, it is definitely worth a visit. Luckily we were here out of season, and therefore avoided the really big crowds.

Colonia Sunset

After a having recharged our batteries, we headed towards Montevideo to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and Jason’s birthday

Hola!

At our last stop, Puerto Iguazu, we made the decision to book a luxury bus for the 20 hour bus ride to Buenos Aires with our Norwegian roommates. It was way out of our budget, but at least we got a good night’s sleep

Bus Champagne

Finally in B.A the hostel hunt started. After knocking on about 20 doors we started to get worried. Yes, it was Friday, but Buenos Aires is a big city, we should be able to find four beds.

As it was nearing lunch time we sat down at a café and eventually found a hostel online. After another ten block trek with all our gear we were ready for a shower and a snooze. Needless to say we were not very pleased when the girl at reception announced that they were overbooked. However, after much back and forth, they eventually managed to find a room for us, only eight hours after our arrival.

On the plus side we ran into some friends from Rio, and decided to go on a pub crawl with them the following night. Buenos Aires is famous for its night life, and it would just be wrong not to check it out.

We started out at the hostel with free pizza and beer for an hour. The pizza was average at best, but the beer was good

The Crew

We hit a few bars in the area around the hostel before getting onboard the party bus.

The Party Bus

After a short drive we arrived at a MASSIVE club. Our pub crawl host told us its maximum capacity was 5000 people! Being part of an arranged pub crawl we got to skip the line-up, and entered the belly of the beast. It was packed. Hot and sweaty doesn’t even begin to describe it. After a while I checked my watch and realized that it was 7 a.m., although that didn’t seem to put a damper on the party. It was starting to get late for us northern hemisphereans, and we caught a taxi home. At this point I still had plans of hitting the Sunday antique market at noon.

We didn’t get up to much the next day, even though I did make it to the market We were almost functioning normally by dinner time.

Our last day in B.A we did the obligatory sightseeing.

The presidential Palace

The balcony from which Evita Peron sang to the people

As some of you might have caught on to by now, Jason is not a city person, and Buenos Aires was starting to get on his nerves. It was time to get out, and in a unprecedented chaos of traffic and bad planning we miraculously made it onboard a ferry to Uruguay, more accurately Colonia del Sacramento. Pictures will be up later!

Hola!

From the beautiful beaches around Rio it was time to move inland again, towards the Iguazu falls and Argentina. We had found a cheap flight from Rio to Foz de Iguazu, and saved ourselves a 24 hour bus ride

The big attraction in Foz de Iguazu is the Iguazu falls. The falls are definitely a must see stretching almost 3 km long and 70 m high. The falls are divided between Brazil and Argentina, and you really need to see it from both side to get an accurate impression of how massive it really is.
On our first full day in Foz we jumped on the bus to go see the falls.

En route to the falls

First view of the falls

Legend has it that the falls were created by a jealous forest god. The god was planning to marry a beautiful woman, but she managed to escape down the river with her mortal lover. Enraged, the god caused the riverbed to collapse in front of the lovers , producing the falls. The woman fell over the falls, and at their base was turned into a rock. The warrior lover survived as a tree overlooking his dead lover.

After a day at the falls we finally made it to a churrasqueria, a Brazilian all-you-can-eat barbeque restaurant. The waiters keep bringing different cuts of meat straight from the grill to your table. Jason was in heaven.

Jason's idea of heaven

The following day we went Ciudad del Este which is just across the border of Paraguay, to check out some cheap electronics. I was in need of a new camera. Jason had done a substantial amount of research on the different cameras we were interested in before we left, in an attempt not to get ripped off. It is not uncommon for shops to sell refurbished and stolen cameras, which of course we were trying to avoid.
After a hectic day in Paraguay I had a new camera, and we headed out to dinner to check off yet another Brazilian specialty; moqueca.

Moqueca is a Bahian dish, a stew flavoured with dende oil and coconut milk usually made with seafood.

On our last day in Brazil, we got on a bus back into Paraguay to see the Itaipu dam, the second biggest dam in the world.

To be honest, we found the tour a little disappointing, but we'll put up some pictures anyway.

If this dam breaks, the water is going to make it all the way to Buenos Aires!

The electricity produced at the dam is split 50-50 between Brazil and Paraguay, as the river that feeds the reservoir runs through both countries. Paraguay sells 90% of their share back to Brazil.

After spending a few hours at Itaipu, we picked up our backpacks at the hostel, and headed for the Argentinian border.

This was the easiest border crossing on this trip, just a formality. At the Argentinian immigration office we met two Norwegian guys which we ended up sharing an apartment with once we reached Puerto Iguazu.

The air-con situation causing us to wake up to a flooded living room.

Well rested and equipped with a new camera we made our way back to the falls. The Argentinian part of Iguazu is significantly bigger than the Brazilian part and people spend two days seeing all of it. We decided we could probably manage in one day and headed out early.

These little guys were everywhere

There are two trails and one look out point reached by a small train on the Argentinian side of the falls. Since we got there early we started out with the two trails, saving the view of Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat) for last.

Probably the best view of the falls on the lower trail.

I'm so small compared to these falls!

So much water!!

For the grand finale we hopped on the train to take us to the top of the falls and Garganta del Diablo (Devil's Throat).

Some butterflies we met on the way up

Pictures does not do this justice. First of all its impossible to fit the entire fall in one photo (Jason took lots and stitched them together after). Furthermore you cannot hear the incredible roar this enormous amount of water makes when it drops 70 m, and you're missing the spray of cool water coming off the falls.

From Puerto Iguazu we got on a 20 hour bus with our new-found Norwegian friends. Pics will be up later

Bom dia!!

After a week of celebrating carnival in Rio de Janeiro, we needed to find a place to relax for a couple of days. We considered several beach towns in the Rio area and finally decided on Buzios and Arrail do Cabo. Buzios is a two hour bus ride north of Rio and is known a fairly touristy, resort-like place. Still there are a few hostels around, so it doesn’t necessarily have to be too expensive.

The best sunset in Buzios could be enjoyed on the pier right outside our hostel

Jason still wasn’t feeling very well, his hangover was turning into an actual cold. Therefore we didn’t do much but hang out at the beach.
Buzios has 27 different beaches, we didn’t make it to all of them, but tried checking out a new one every day

After four days in Buzios we decided to head for the more low-key Arrail do Cabo, which is supposed to have even more beautiful beaches than Buzios.

Our first day here we hit two beaches; Prainha and Praia Grande.

Prainha

Acai cart!

We spent most of the day here at Prainha, but headed for Praia Grande in the late afternoon as it is supposed to be the best spot for watching the sunset in Arrail do Cabo.

Praia Grande

Waiting for the sunset with a the Brazilian version of wine...

Sunset at Praia Grande

On our second day we signed up for a boat trip to which would take us to a couple of beaches in the Arrail do Cabo area. Some of the most beautiful beaches are only accessible by boat as they are on an island just off the coast.

I'm on a boat

We visited three beaches on the trip, the first one being Praia do Farol. It is considered one of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil.

From Praia do Farol we headed to yet another beautiful beach. We were the only gringos on the trip, and all the information was given in Portuguese, so we don’t really have much info about the places we saw. However, there were endless caipirinhas and beautiful beaches so we weren’t complaining

You could rent sandboards at this beach Jason in action.

I'm more of a tobogganer myself...

Our last stop was a beach on the mainland, Praia do Forno. It was, like the other beaches, absolutely gorgeous.

Luch on a stick

Praia do Forno

Unfortunately this was our last day in Arrail do Cabo, I could easily have spent a week here. However, it was time to leave the coast for a while; we needed to get to Argentina. Next stop Foz and Iguazu falls!