Gualeguaychu Carnaval!!!!!

Phew! What a weekend! It's Sunday afternoon and I'm ready for bed. This is the long version of what happened, for a quicker version - just check the new photos in the Gualeguaychu gallery under Argentina....

We woke up on Saturday morning and it was suggested by two Israeli guys in our hostel (not sure of their names) that we all go to a Carnaval in a town called Gualeguaychu they'd vaguely heard about from some other Israeli they met once. We also started to chatting to a English chap named John who said he was also going, so told our resident aussie mate (Dee) that she was coming too and we all set off on a journey to a town that at the time we didn't even know how to spell let alone pronounce - just that it was a funny sounding name.

Armed with nothing but a wallet and the clothes on our backs we arrived at the Central bus station around 2pm and were told by the first few bus companies that they were sold out of tickets to Gualeguaychu (as we figured out finally was our destination). After a great deal of umm-ing and ahh-ing and plenty of badly spoken Spanish we managed to purchase the six tickets to Gualeguaychu - departing at 6pm and returning at 9am the next morning. The plan - start partying on arrival to Gualeguaychu (how or where we didn't know) and continue until 9am, then sleep on the 3 hour bus ride home. So we managed to kill the four hours before departure with some concerningly poorly organised wandering around the city we were supposed to know quite well by now. A good sleep on the bus and we arrived somewhere in Argentina (3 hours in some direction - still don´t know which direction) named Gualeguaychu (we hoped)....

After figuring out from some locals that the Carnaval was at a place named the Corsodromo we jumped into the two taxis and sped there. Of course the taxis went in different directions and we had a few moments of concern as we rummaged through the crowds for our other adventurers. We finally found the rest of the team and purchased some tickets to get in. After entering the Corsodromo and walking around for 20 minutes we realised that we should have bought another ticket for a seat, the first ticket is only entry. However there was a stand at the very end that was for the general entry paupers like us. This was where the night began to build....

Beer was being poured down our throats by the local venders walking around and we only realised about 2 hours into the show that we were freezing. I was only wearing a singlet so I went down and purchased a nice white Carnaval t-shirt. The beer continued to flow and the dance feet started to take control as they sometimes like to do, I also found myself making friends (or so I thought) with just about anyone who cared to lend me an ear. After enough aggravation of being so far away from the action the Israelis and I decided it was time to get into the VIP area and make a move onto the parade area. After seeing plenty of people jump the fence and get kicked out we timed out leap perfectly and were immediately in the thick of the action with everyone seeming to have a friend or a relative in Australia. After little encouragement I leapt the barriers with a willing accomplice and had a bit of a dance with the dancers - unfortunately Lucas was mid-fence leap and didn't have the camera on the ready. It wasn't an uncommon event and the dancers are always willing to dance with intruders and get a photo with them until security guards quietly usher you back over the barriers. And when I did go back over to the seating I was told to jump over again, this time everyone jumped over and we all bought up the rear of the parade dancing along to samba music.

That was about 4am - 5 hours until bus ride home.

We'd been told that a nightclub called Bikini was the place to go after the Carnaval. After lining up and jostling for a while we found out that it was a big queue to get into a queue to look at people in a queue, or something equally as pointless to be standing in the line for. So we went back a block and setup camp in a bar. After a few drinks there we moved down to a cafe and had some breakfast, where I for some reason decided to start dancing with the 50 year old waitress. Shortly after leaving the cafe Lucas and I found ourselves separated from the others and clambering over a 5 meter drop down to the river bank, which we negotiated unscathed. Then we decided it was probably about time to start walking back to the bus station.....

On the way we were walking past on old bomb of a car and noticed a) the windows were down and b) the key was in the ignition.......... yes we went for a drive. In fact I think I handled the old thing quite well given everything was on the other side than I am used to and it was in a fairly tight parking spot. We returned the vehicle to within 30 metres of its original parking spot and then continued walking wondering what we had just done and debating whether we should go back and drive ourselves to the bus station or better yet, back to Buenos Aires. Thankfully our brains started working again and we decided to look for a better car if we were going to drive back BA. For some reason no BMW's were left unlocked with keys in the ignition, so we continued back to the bus station and I fell over into a big puddle of mud. excellent.

We ended up meeting the rest of the team back at the bus station, all very smelly, tired, hungover (or still inebriated). Have been fighting off the urge to pass out asleep all afternoon.....eyes feeling heavy.....good night.

Activities around Buenos Aires

Apart from doing the 'must see' tourist attractions on Buenos Aires (The Recoleta cemetery, La Boca, Plaza de Mayo and surrounding monuments) the main activities seem to be shopping (so cheap - the girls are delirious about the prices - I even managed a 5 hour stint walking around the shops with Lucas yesterday - that's a personal best), eating (pastries and huge grills), and sleeping (bed time is 3am if you don't go out, and breakfast is about midday).

I've had a very lazy few days with cable TV and free internet, and while Lucas has been doing his spanish course this week I've just ben hanging out with some other backpackers in the hostel who have been in BA for ages and are waiting to go home. The last couple of nights have involved wandering down to the local bar for a few games of pool. We switched venues last night and found ourselves in a bar where every woman was a brazillian prostitute. We recalled hearing about a bar nearby that was full of 'women and crazy men' and figured this must be the place - but it was actually a very relaxed atmosphere - and airconditioned, which kept us there a bit longer.

Catching a bus to some town tonight for an Argentinian version of Carnaval, will be interesting to see the difference between Brazillian and Argentinian carnavals.

I'm looking forward to getting out of big cities for a while and enjoying Patagonia. We leave on Tuesday night for Puerto Madryn (about 19 hour bus ride that takes us half way to our destination in Patagonia). I'm also trying to cut back on my passive smoking to two packs a day.

A few more photos have gone up in the Argentina gallery and a couple of final ones in the Brazil gallery.

New photos....

There are some new photos of BA in the PABS (and Buenos Aires) album of Argentina.

Some observations of Buenos Aires...

1. Road rules (ie. traffic lights and line markings) are just a suggestion. Drivers decide how many cars can fit in two lanes (generally 3 or 4). Indicating is pointless as ´lane´ changes are spontaneous. But as we´ve been told, there are very few crashes in Argentina compared to Australia, because if you crash in Argentina you invariably die. Being assertive is the key, there´s no fear and the skills are amazing, something most Australian drivers lack.

2. Every second shop (near our hostel anyway) is a corner store/cafe with $1 peso an hour internet.

3. A bottle of vodka is cheaper than a bottle of water.

4. Everyone lives with their family until they marry and move out.

5. Argentinians are very well educated. Christian - Pablo´s friend just finished a Masters in National Defence and Foreign Policy in Argentina - isn´t that your field of expertise?

6. As with most non-Australians we´ve met, Argentinians are fiercely patriotic (quoting stats on how good their country is). I wonder whether most Australians are too, but either don´t memorise the statistics or don´t feel the need to advertise how good Australia is (maybe both) - maybe it springs from these countries getting a bad wrap on the news, whereas Australia rarely does (so far as we know - I´m told our human rights policies are frowned upon by the EU at least).

7. Not that I know anything about architecture but walking down the Avenida de Mayo this morning I could have been in a classic part of Paris, thats how elegant most of the buildings in central BA are.

8. As in Rio, almost every apartment has air conditioning, which drips the condensation onto the footpaths. Walking along the footpaths requires some attention to the little puddles so that you don´t contantly get dripped on - usually hits you in the middle of the forehead.

9. There are people who walk dogs for a job - quite often you´ll see 8 or 9 dogs tied to a lamp post while the walker is inside a cafe watching the soccer.

Don't cry for me Argentina

I`ve been told and have read that Argentina is the place to go, and after one day in Buenos Aires I concur. Buenos Aires is a cross between Brisbane and Melbourne (add 13 million people) with the history of a European city AND is about one quarter the price of Australia - at the most. Very different to Rio. Rio was a very intense city - everyone walking down the streets sizing each other up to either steal from them or kiss them. Buenos Aires is cooler and less humid and far more western, every corner could quite easily be somewhere in Melbourne. I think I prefer Rio, although I need to learn some Portuguese before I go back to Brazil. We watched a film on a our last night in Rio called ´The City of God´ which is based in the slums of Rio - I recommend everyone see it, quite graphic, but an excellent film (has subtitles - is in Portuguese).

We had an early dinner last night (9:30pm - early for Argentineans) at a very fancy grill, the meal consisted of liver, blood sausage, steak, chicken, sausage and some fatty thing that surrounds the heart apparently. Met up with Pablo - Argentinean mate from Canberra - who was a legend and gave a detailed guided tour of Buenos Aires by night and wrote down a detailed itinerary for us for today, which includes a traditional Argentinean BBQ with his family tonight. Although given my current need to be within cartwheeling distance of a bathroom we haven`t done any of it yet, but the BBQ tonight should be fun.

Buenos Aires is also an absolute bargain, when we arrived yesterday I had $4.50 Pesos in my pocket at the airport to get into the hostel, after catching a 2 hour bus ride and the metro to the hostel I had a burger and a beer at one of the monuments and I still had $0.40 pesos in my pocket!!

Itauna beach - Saquarema

After a couple of nights in Buzios and not really liking the place all that much we decided to head to Saquarema (as recommended by the Aussie lass, Kylie) first thing the next morning. A quick bank account check revealed $1,300 had been stolen from my account, which wasn´t too pleasing given the rate at which money has been flowing so far. Apparently I should be able to claim up to a thousand back on insurance though.

The trip to Saquarema (sakwarayma) first required a bus to Cabo Frio, a 23 seater minibus that had about 50 people in it (plus our packs) - so that was a cosy leg of the trip. This was followed by a 4 hour wait in Cabo Frio (Lucas went to a barber and came back a different man - see photos). Finally we got the bus to Saquarema and by pure chance our Israeli and Dutch friends had arrived at almost exactly the same time. We were overjoyed by the hostel that greeted us - not only the cheapest one yet, but it was beachfront (great beach) with the best rooms and breakfasts we´ve had yet, was more idyllic than Fiji even.

Funnily enough one of the guys (Phil) staying at the hostel went to school with me in Townsville. The last time we saw each other was 10 years ago and we both weighed about 40kg at 5´2.

Will be catching a bus back to Rio tomorrow for two nights and then fly down to Buenos Aires.

New photos in the Brazil Gallery!

Thanks for the words of encouragement Bobs - I´ll keep them in mind.

Rio -> Buzios -> Saquarema

The Brazillians have a word describing a feeling they get when they leave Rio de Janeiro, translates literally as ´the longing´ - After only a day and half out of Rio I definitely think ´the longing´ is starting to emerge. I can´t describe how much of a great city it is. Despite the maniacal bus and taxi drivers hooning along four lane streets with no marked lines (everyone just makes up their own lane) and the relaxed attitude to pretty much everything, the place is cleaner and safer and more organised than it gets credit for.

Our second last night in Rio involved a night out in Ipanema in a place called the Irish Bar with our two Israeli friends (Moran and Nogah - www.moranogah.com) a new Aussie mate (Kylie) and a Dutch mate (Edwin). As per usual the night started around midnight and finished around 5am - which is so close to sunrise that Lucas and I decided to have a sunrise surf (which turned out to be the best waves I have ever body surfed in). On our way back to the hostel a group of transvestites started making suggestive actions towards us, when we tried ignoring them they hissed and started pulling their clothes off - so we hightailed it back to the hostel. The last night was at a big nightclub (previously an ancient old cinema) with four levels all looking down at a central stage with the big screen behind it - plus a roof top bar with a more relaxed atmosphere.

Yesterday we woke up early and decided to check out Buzios - a coastal town that Brazillians head to to party and escape Rio. After sleeping for three hours on the bus and waking up at we were going through a town we hoped was Buzios we leapt out still half asleep and wandered around in the rain in a main street that we started to think may not be Buzios. Luckily we found our target - the Buzios Hostel and checked in and pretty much went straight to sleep - woke up early this morning and had a swim and did some exercise on the beach. Heading to Saquarema tomorrow morning - which is a coastal town closer to Rio that has laws protecting its environment - is supposed to be quite stunning.

New photos will go up later in the week as the Brazil adventure comes to a close (for now. I´ll definitely be back!!)

Botafogo X V. Redondo

Photos are up!! Fiji and Transit gallery and some pics from Rio so far. Am also keen to see any pictures from home that you can send through.

Last night we went to a soccer game (Botafogo x V. Redondo) with our Ecuadorian friend, Pablo. Caught the Metro (which is the cleanest and trendiest metro I have ever seen). The stadium holds 120,000 people, the crowd last night was only 23,000 but the stadium was still shuddering with the jumping and yelling and drumming and flag waving and flares - I'm suprised it doesn't fall over when Brazil play, it certainly was an amazing spectacle (the crowd more so than the soccer).

This morning involved a 9km hike up to the Christo Redento that overlooks the city. A cement road through thick rainforest with taxis and buses screaming up and down was our walking track - made it to the top had a quick look around and took a few photos and then turned around and walked the 9km back down again. It was actually very cool even though it was 30 degrees and 80 per cent humidity.

Thanks to everyone for the cricket updates - I haven't seen any news since I left (although tried watching some CNN and BBC World this morning but it was constant live feed from the UK with the Prince Charles rubbish.

Rio de Janeiro!!!

Phew! Finally made it to Rio after about 90 hours of airports and aeroplanes. First impressions of the city was the vast amount of slums that cascade down the hillsides (a very green and hilly city - which is a nice change to the concrete jungles of most metropolises). The interesting thing is that the slums appear to be actually very nice buildings that would have been lovely sloping suburbs had they been kept in some sort of working order - unfortunately they´re in total disrepair - although still attractive from a distance. Still no photos in the gallery yet - will keep looking for a decent internet cafe to upload them.

The bus drivers drive at a million miles an hour and we had a hair raising journey to our hostel that involved the bus reversing back up a narrow freeway exit onto the freeway as cars zipped through the narrow gap between bus and concrete pillars.

Copocobana is the busiest place I´ve ever seen - 4.5km of beach that is jam packed full of people - all playing soccer of various kinds of course - like volleyball with soccer rules (no hands).

Had our first night out last night - went to Terre Re (tereh raow) which was a fairly non-touristy party in a huge parking lot, had a couple of local soft drink with vodka and attempted to samba, with the assistance of afew friendly chaps who tried to show me the correct technique - which i failed miserably at repeating and and ended up creating my own ungainly dance move - again. Parties start at midnight (or 3am if you´re cool enough - we started at 2am) and finish after sunrise, which is followed by an acai (asahi) - natures version of red bull - also a cheeseeggburger (not a typo) for me and Lucas. Today will involve internet, laundry, food shopping and then the beach until sunset - and possibly a siesta - although I´m not sure if the locals ever sleep!

LA Airport.....

33 hours later and we are about to depart LA Airport - after spending 32 of those hours at the wrong terminal i thought i should double check our departing terminal again - only to find it was 300 mteres away - luckily our wrong terminal had all the shops and interesting people. You'd be suprised how any people doss down at one terminal overnight. Met another couple of aussies who recently did central america, and a rio de janeiro resident - who also happens to be a bouncer at Melba's on the Gold Coast! About to head off on a 4 legged journey to Rio, LA-Costa Rica - Lima, Peru - Buenos Aires - Rio, each with a 4-7 hour lay-over at each airport - so still plenty of sitting down and waiting - and probably my 15th cheeseburger. Hope everyone is going well and i'll get round to to emails soon as I've only got 2 minutes left on this computer. Enjoy your showers - i will have been through 6 countries over 4 days between showers - and the last one was just a swim at the beach. See you later!!

Nadi...Bula...Kava

Most lasting impression of Fiji will be that if Noah Nadruku drank 28 half-coconuts of Kava instead of 28 beers then he would have been as placid as a lamb, Fijian people are incredibly freindly and helpful (sometimes a bit over helpful if it means there is a commission in it for them). Our first night in Nadi was at a hostel in the main street - which we walked up and down for a while looking for something to do - not a tourist in sight and heaps of locals in little groups on every street corner. Turned out that the street corner gatherings are taxi drivers waiting for business or people outside of one of the two kava sellers. We ended up sharing a plastic tub of kava with a couple of old blokes before going to the pool room next door to hang out and drink more kava with the local lads, phillip, J, and a couple of others (photos to come when lucas gets a chance). Despite being 30 degrees and very humid the night was actually quite cool after a cold shower and decent fan. Today we are at another hostel on the coral coast called the Beach house - organised activities - great beach - internet - plenty of luxuries we'll probably be without in a few days...