Buenos Aires

I had lots of complaints about lack of barely dressed carnaval females... so here you go.

Buenos Aires is a fantastic city, very civilised, very cultured, feels very European apart from being HUGE! We are having great fun strolling through the streets and parks, admiring fashionistas and tango dancers and lots of very beautiful people with massive designer sunglasses.

And, most importantly, the fantastic food! Craig thinks he died and went to heaven because he can have steak every night, BBQ´d to perfection and very cheap indeed. It´s amazing. We have these elaborate dinners with tons of top quality meat, vegetables, salads and one or two bottles of brilliant vino and still do not manage to spend over 10 Pounds. GREAT! we might well settle down here! The City of Evita, Tango and Steak!

I have been identified as an Evita look-alike which was hilarious. The woman actually wanted a picture with me! Hee hee! Very flattering...

On Thursday we are off to Patagonia, El Calafate and El Chalten to explore the National Parks around los Glaciares and Torres del Paine. Very exciting!! We are going on two treks, one for 5 days to see the glaciers and if we like it and the weather permits we will do a 10 day one in Torres del Paine to see the famous Mount Fitzroy peaks. There is some great pictures on www.patagonia.com.ar if you want to have a look.

I might not be able to do any updates for the next two weeks as in gaucho no-mans-land but will get in touch once we travel back up north towards Bariloche.

Carnaval in Pelorinho

One dancing group followed by dozens of drummers after the next were making their way through the tiny streets in the historic part of town. You cannot help but join in!

Unfortunately I did not have a camera on me when the more naked girls went past... and was too busy holding on to Craig!!!

The girls at the Brazilian Carnaval!!!

as promised... the young stars of the Brazilian Carnaval!

Le le le le.... cantare!!!

Salvador de Bahia

This is the altar of the famous Sao Franciscoe Cathedral in Salvador - amazing creation of giant wood carvings covered in gold. I know what you really want to see is pictures of Carnaval beauties but we are cultured people....

CARNAVAL!

These are the lovely ladies in Salvador - the entire town is a massive party and we are bang in the middle of it with big grins on our faces and feeling.... very pale???
We actually had people take pictures of us - two white faces in an all black flock of party people! Great! Everybody is very interested in my golden hair...

The famous parades start every day at about 2 in the afternoon and do not finish until 6 am the next morning. It is madness and thousands of people dance in the street - you cannot help but join in. It is so hot in the crowds that you can see your Caipirinha steaming!! And any beer can that is standing on a surface is bouncing around in the vibrations from the giant speakers - very entertaining to watch after a few Caipirinhas! Honest! I think so anyway ;-)

Thankfully, there is a lot of military police around and the pickpocketing has gone down a bit but still you notice hands in your pockets from time to time. Best not have anything at all on you! Hence the lack of proper bloco pics.

We are having a fantastic time playing popcorn in the crowds and hopping and screaming with the rest of them. We tend to give up after 7 hours but hopefully by Tuesday will be trained up enough to last all night? The constant drumming puts you in some kind of hype, you cannot help bouncing.... Actually, I find sitting in front of the computer quite tricky!! Must go and samba!

Olinda

We spent a lovely few days in Olinda and Recife, exploring the beautiful old towns and admiring the restoration works by UNESCO ;-)

most buildings still need more than a lick of paint but it is easy to imagine what grand cities they once were.

Also went diving one day on some ship wrecks an hour off the coast (God - was I seasick!! But the fish must have enjoyed it?). The wrecks were amazing. Lots of coral and loads of colourful tropical fish and two massive sting rays. They looked so elegant as they floated past - really close. Eek! Could have touched them if I would not have remembered that story of Steve Irwin (the crocodile hunter who died after being stung by a sting ray). Fantastic experience.

Riacho Doce - wonderful break on the beach

We spent a wonderfully relaxing few days in a lovely Pousade on Riacho Doce Beach, just north of Maceio (between Recife and Salvador). The coast is stunning with miles and miles of white sands and palmtrees right to the water. Really beautiful - like a postcard.
Our Pousade (Brazil version of B&B) was right on the beach and we could hear the crashing of the waves all night. The picture is a view from our bedroom window... We spent all day sitting under palmtrees and relax. The only worry was wondering when exactly all those coconuts would decide to fall down...
What bliss.
I feel like a new me and am very proud of my freckles.

Foz Iguazu!

This is a picture of the falls on the Argentinian side. You can see a jetboat at the bottom of the fall to give you an idea of dimension. We were able to walk up really close to all these falls on walkways - close enough to have a shower!

On the second day at the falls we got caught in a tropical rainstorm which was great fun. Got soaked to the skin, thankfully had our cameras in plastic bags anyway. Great fun walking peacefully through the park in torrential downpours! But we saw Toucans! And Caimans! and some other deer like animals we do not know the name of. And yes, hordes of tourists! mostly very fetchingly dressed in bin liners!

We also went to Itaipu, the biggest hydroelectric power plant in the world with 14,000 Megawatt and an 8 km long dam. Craig was very very excited (guy´s stuff!). I will spare you the 3 dozen pictures he took unless....

We are now off to Recife and Olinda in the far North East of Brazil to enj0y some quiet beach time and scuba diving before the Carnaval madness starts. Todo bem!

The biggest waterfalls in the world!

We had an amazing few days in Foz Iguazu and admired the enormous waterfalls from both the Brazilian and the Argentinian side. Very impressive and you can hear the thunder from miles away. The spray completely soaks you if you get closer, very welcome in these temperatures.
Unfortunately, the National Park surrounding Las Cataratas is getting more and more like a Disney resort, especially on the Brazilian side with ice cream everywhere and a special entry fee for every other walkway you want to take to explore. But they are worth it and are really stunning in spite of all the expectations. I also loved the armies of butterflies everywhere - will not bore you with pictures but they are so beautiful!