Staying in the City Centre

We thought it would be nice to see a different aspect to living in BA and moved hostels a few times to experience different suburbs. Immediately after Palermo we moved into the town centre in week two and stayed at millhouse ave. A hip hostel that came recommended from a few friends along the way. Whilst the lay out of this place was grand, clean interior, large common areas and nightly events, the place lacked the warmth of tango backpackers in Palermo. It did not help that when we first moved into the room which was a 6 bed dorm, the top bunks that we had been assigned was detached from the wall. I did not fancy myself staying safely horizontal after a night on the piss so we decided to invest in a private room instead. I think this was a good decision as it was an amazing room and we did not have to contend with noisy twenteens. Speaking of noisy, we did manage to satisfy our curiosity of attending the hostels self promoted Monday night jam sessions. Whilst this displayed the singing prowess of fellow travelers we quickly realised we felt far more at home at a hostel that appreciated full bodied Malbecs over Heinekens.

Apart from checking out the hostel Jam Session we also attended one of BA's Monday night institutions. Konex, an outdoor venue that was filled with travelers and local students whom were entranced to the pulsating percussion rhythms of drum group lo Bomba. We bumped into friends we had met in Palermo, Dejan a Serbian born Swiss resident and his friend Milan whom we refer to as "The chef" as we had once seen him cook up a storm on the hostel rooftop BBQ. These two were also trying out some basic Spanish whilst in Ba and thoroughly recommended "Native tuition" to the both us. We had been meaning to try Spanish classes all trip and whilst the final week of our trip seemed an odd time to start we could not resist having on our CV -Studied Spanish in Argentina.

Spanish Lessons

So on the Tuesday Morning after checking out of Milhouse we made our way to Moreno street and were greeted by a tall sultry, long haired Latin beauty, Julia who introduce herself in espanol. I was quickly beginning to realise why the Chef and Dejan had thoroughly recommended this school. " Miss I did not do my homework I deserve to be spanked". Ok let me stop day dreaming and tell you more about our lessons. We were lead up by Julia to room 1c where we were introduced to Mariella the school's owner, who was going to be our teacher-Damn I thought to my self "we don’t get Julia- Faked out again. Jokes aside Mariella was great, spoke fluent English and was really patient with our poor command of the Spanish dialect and our initial penny crunching hard ball negotiation tactics to get a two for one deal. In week two of BA with attended about five classes totally twelve hours. We still struggle to speak with any confidence but we have definitely become more confident understanding the numbers and basic verbs. The great thing about our package is we secured 30 hours which the remaining hours are to be completed via Skype on-line when we get back to Oz with the online specialist teacher Noelia.

San Telmo

As mentioned before we wanted to try out a few different locations whilst in BA. Immediately after Milhouse we decided to give San Telmo, the inner city suburb famous for it strong Tango roots. We stayed at the hostel Inn which was affiliated with Tango Backpackers in Palermo and was more our chilled out style than Millhouse. We were lucky to be placed into an unoccupied four bed dorm for three of our four nights we stayed here. This meant we basically got a private room for the price of dorm. San Telmo as I said was famous for its Tango and also its Antique market which we missed last Sunday. To be honest we expected to walk down to the town square and be bombarded with Tango dancers but the town was pretty dead during the weekdays and even nights. I think it was due to low season. This was a bit disappointing at first but the hostel was in a good spot to commute to our Spanish lessons and explore the city centre during the day. We did manage to see the place liven up when we attended the Sunday craft market though. This was good but hey we are in BA where is the Tango? I here you say.

Tango

We did manage to attend two very different Tango experiences when we stayed at San telmo; a non tourist underground tango venue and a tasteful but upscale show.

The non touristy show was very low key, only a handful of couples and a four piece orchestra. We were told in now uncertain terms by the Local bar owner that this place had know one like us and it was where the portenos went to enjoy tango. What the place lacked in quantity it made up for in quality as we saw some amazing exponents of the dance of love here whilst we sipped on a Malbec and hammered a pizza. After seeing this no frills venue we were ready to see a more elaborate tango experience and got this the next night at a venue called Complejo tango.

This was not in San Telmo but we were picked up from our hotel and taken to a place about 5 minutes from Congresso station. The evening started with a 45 minute tango lesson for the group of 8. We learnt some basic steps and were unexpectedly granted a certificate at the end of the session when we were escorted to the dinner venue upstairs. Much to our liking the place was very intimate each table was close to the stage much like a cabaret venue. We were treated to amazing Malbec Wine all night and the meal included entre, Main and dessert. To our surprise the food was extremely tasty, fish for Shetty and the old faithful steak for me. At exactly 10pm the show began just as our white chocolate mousse and warm chocolate cake was being served. Talk about intimate, the dancers and singers performed literally on our laps. After two bottles of Malbec even my usually reserved self could not help jumping out of my seat and attempting to tame the lead female tango dancer, Shetty not to be outdone followed suit and was eager to put into practice her recently acquired "ocho's" with the handsome male lead. The entire show was spectacular, from the pick up and lessons to the meals, choreography and offcourse the never ending bottles of Malbec.

Whilst in San Telmo we also managed visit nearby La Boca famous for its coloured art houses, street markets and Soccer team Boca juniors.

La Boca

We made it to La Boca twice and were met with a very touristy vibe packed with touts trying to pull us in to their restaurants which had mediocre tango displays. The touts were well versed in the clientele’s culture and referred to us as Shuruk and Kajol when we approached. Despite the usual tourist trappings the place did have a festive atmosphere and was filled with a good vibe and great souvenirs. We even finally managed to purchase the "Buenos Fu$king Aires" top that had alluded us the whole trip. Unfortunately we chose the wrong restaurant due to an attractive tango display and got the worst meal of our stay at BA and maybe even SA. A salt infested smoked deer, who the touts stressed was in the sheep family when harsh expressed she did not eat beef.

Back at Palermo and enjoying the asado's

After our stint in the Centro and San telmo we were ready to end our trip in the Place we most liked in BA, Palermo. So we lugged the backpacks for one last time through the subway and checked back into Tango Backpackers. It felt like home seeing dejan, The Chef and our non stop talking French friend Igor in the reception. We even managed to get our old room back.

These final four days were spent simply doing the things we loved and wanted to do in BA. This included attended more Spanish classes, visiting the recolleta cemetery and offcourse enjoying the nightlife and eating till we burst.

The cemetery had to be seen to be believed, BA's elite from artists to filthy rich and famous politicians were laid to rest here in marble and granted monuments as large as mini chapels. The highlight was seeing Eva Peron(evita's grave) judging by the loads of bouquets and well wishes in front of grave it seemed the whole of Argentina had avoided advice and definitely cried for her. Okay enough of the morbid setting back to some more lively action.

I have to mention one night spent going out with Harsh and Dejan our Serbian friend. Dejan invited us to girl’s place that he had met on couch surfing for some drinks with friends, thinking it would be a mixed crowd we attended. Much to mine and Dejan delight and Harsh's dismay we were greeted at the posh apartment by no fewer than 13 Argentine female college students. As Arnie would say "Imagine the pleasure"

Speaking of Pleasure we just had to revisit La Cabrera our favourite steakhouse again and gauge on the amazing grilled meats, Bife de Ojo for me and Juicy pork for shetty. Offcourse washed done with our favorite drop and an encore performance of the warm chocolate lava cake. This time shetty was quick to pounce on the cream. As our British friend faizal would say in his eloquent accent "it was absolutely beautiful".

We also got to try BA's all you can eat venues tenedor libre like the one we experienced in Mendoza. We had two very deferent experiences. The First was a very cheap $8aud PP venue which was tasteless and not worth another line. The second one we were in gastronomical heaven. A herd of succulent cattle erected alongside each other on a coal filled asado, a separate cooking station for the following; Ocean catches, wok fried Asian specialties, authentic pasta and wood fire pizza, freshly prepared sushi, made to order French Crepes, along with a buffet of salads and Desserts. All these for only $18AUD PP, luckily we had to walk about 7 blocks back to the hostel to get us back to a more normal digestive state. The feeling of bloatedness did not prevent us from trying this place on our last night here again, the juicy lamb, pork and beef was just too hard to resist. Damn we have to go back to OZ tomorrow and would have to pay about $75Aud for an equivalent buffet in Melbourne

Our final day here in BA is fittingly pouring with rain; I guess it will put us in readiness for Cold Melbourne. We spent it doing some last minute shopping, sipping on yet another beautifully presented layered cappuccino. Then making a rushed run to the international terminal.

As I write this both of us have mixed feelings of sadness and excitement. Three life changing months and it has finally come to and end, Good Bye South America. Next stop Melbourne. Can’t wait for a chicken curry at Browns Rd.

Buenos fu#k#ng Aires remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Anyway we had not booked accomodation so it was hostel hunting again from the airport. We knew where we wanted to go though. We just had to decide which part of the city we wanted to go to as Palermo and San Telmo were our two choices and in two different directions.We made our way to Tango backpackers in Palermo. The reception and the common area looked pretty cool. The private room had bunk beds and was double the price of the dorm so we obviously chose the 4 bed dorm. There was another couple there before us and had captured both top beds so Anthony and I happily settled in the bottom beds. Unlike Mendoza this time Anthony was going to give a show to the people on the top. Lol !!

From the second day in Palermo we again got into a routine of late mornings, visiting a couple of sites, a bite and then a massive dinner. And oh did I mention lots of nice wine.. and offcourse clubbing.
If I write about every place we have been to and eaten at, I will never finish. Each place has been great but I am writing down the ones worth a mention.

SIGHT SEEING

B. A. is such a big city and just like other countries in S.A full of plazas and avenues in the centre. Gosh and the subways are so far spread. Thinking of 4 stop city loop in melbourne as subway is a joke.

To get anywhere around the city we had to come to Plaza Italia which is a very between Ave Santa Fe and Jorge L Borges. This is a very busy commercial area which has a lot of public transport available in the form of bus, rail and subways and joins Sociedad Rural, the Zoo and the Botanical Garden through its square. Loads of shops too...

The things strongly suggessted by the locals was to visit the zoo, the Botanical Gardens and walk around the parks apart from trying the argentinian steaks. Anyway so we made our way to the zoo, the entrance fees was about 15 Pesos per person so we decided to go to the Botanical gardens first as it was free. This garden, located in Palermo, near Santa fe and was designed by French landscaper Carlos Thays and was inaugurated in 1908. It has numerous statues, fountains, and thousands of species of plants and trees from all over the world (a lot of which we took notice had boards saying they were from OZ ). Inside the garden there is a museum, a library, a greenhouse and a gardening school. But after visiting the Melbourne´s botanical garden and Peradinia Gardens in Kandy this garden in B.A. was like cchiicckkeen burger!! So we got out of there and made our to the parks. They do have a lot of Parks here. I think the parks looked better than the Botanical garden. There was a massive Rose garden in one of the parks which was a highlight for me. It was pretty relaxing in the parks, on our way out we saw some Kushmakundi going on behind a tree.

We visited Plaza de Mayo is the country´s political centre and one of the important plazas.

Florida Street -This street is one of the most famous pedestrian streets of the city
It is also a part of the longest street of shops which scatter around the city centre. Imagine the bourke street mall but much much bigger and spread out in 10 directions. (literally) !!

Av Correintes- It is an important commercial area which is full of Cambio´s (money exchange offices) and all most every bank´s branch of Argentina.

Lavalle Street - This street has a large number of movie theaters as well as restaurants and cafes. Its a shame that the subway service shuts down at 10.30pm or this would be great place to eat and walk around.

Palermo Sunday market

This market was one of the 3 popular markets in B.A. The things offered in this market were mainly clothing, leather, lots of accessories and more accessories. This market is a great place for any age group. I really had to remind myself that I had to keep a budget so all I did here mainly was window shopping. I think I bought two things from here, Anthony was very proud of me for not blowing cash as he was very anxious about me walking around in the market by myself. I think what helped was this Argentinian guy who was chasing me for about 20minutes and I had to run back to the hostel.. Lol !!

Recolota Sunday market-
This was like the hippie market in Ipanema. There is a park surrounding the Recoleta cemetery which has hundreds of stalls lined up all around the park. The market offers a lots of paintings and real life portraits, sculptures, hand made jewellery, winter wear , and tonnes of different soveinger options. The quality of the things looked good, so things were expensive. I was in heaven as it was still cheaper than the market in Ipanema so that meant I could afford to buy a couple of things, Anthony had to stop me from going crazy and buy everything possible. It was funny that we were thinking about tango and we got to see some street Tango while walking around. They werent the best Tango dancers but it was the first time we had actually seen someone dance Tango so it was pretty exciting.
While we were in the market we also were able to visit a church and the cultural centre.

Recoleta cultural centre - We visited this centre when we went to the Sunday market in Recolota. The building was built in 1732 and exhibits sculptures, paintings, and photographs with 25 auditoriums.

The Evita Museum-
We went to visit The Evita Museum dedicated to a remarkable woman (popularly known as Eva Peron) in Argetinian history. The museum was inaugurated in 2002 which was the 50th anniversary of Eva´s death and is located in a petit hotel which was built in the first decade of 20th century. The museum exhibits the life of Evita from her childhood, her youth as an actress, her life as the First Lady next to Argentinian president Juan Peron, her struggle for outlaying laws for women´s civil rights, rights of the aged and workers rights in Argentina and finally a procession after her death. It was wierd that no where in the museum did they mention the reason of her death. It was cancer said one of the salesperson in the soveigner shop. After a great experience in the museum we went to the restaurant of the hotel. It was so cute and petit, just like the rest of the place. We had an amazing crepe and coffee. It was late afternoon so we only got a cafe menu but had seen that there was a seperate lunch menu and we could not stop thinking about it.
This cafe/ restaurant I think was one one of the cutest places we ate at in Buenos Aires. After the first visit we could not stop thinking of the lunch menu which had even a bigger variety of savoury and dessert crepes. So we went back and I had the best mushroom crepe ever and Anthony had a good old salmon crepe. It was ssoooooooo good and offcourse the best capuchino with the 3 layers. I reckon we have had the best coffees in Argentina as the presentation adds so much to the experience.

DINING

On our first night in B.A we had dinner at this Parrilla ( grilled / barabeques ) close to the hostel suggessted by the guy at the reception. After a decent meal we went to check this place out which was about 6 blocks down from our hostel which was supposed to have lots restaurants and stuff around. There was a good cluster different eateries, pubs and retaurants in this plaza. It looked pretty impressive almost every place was packed for dinner at 12.30 am. Like Mendoza even here people eat pretty late. We had a craving for a choclate mousse but didnt really find it, as we had already eaten we walked backed. On our way back we stumbled onto this really cute restaurant. OMG the place was so cute and inviting we almost got hungry again. Before we leave we will definitely eat here atleast once. I must say this area of Palermo definitely has some cute restaurants and amazing wine lists. Len and Them will definitely love this place. I will be definitely drinking a lot of Malbec while I am here (Ok mum not a lot may be a little) .

La Cabrera
We made our way back to the hostel just before dark and were pretty hungry so left for dinner. We wanted to go to this place called La Cabrera a Parrilla ( grilled / barabeques )which was highly recommended by everyone we had spoken to, about Bunes Aires and also the Lonely Planet had a great review of it. So we got there and there was a 45 mins wait. We were like great, it looked pretty happening as the restaurant was absolutely packed and there were about 25 people waiting. So we made reservations and then went for a walk looking around at different places to eat, not for the night but for later, we had to kill time anyway. When we got back we saw free wine and champagne was being served for the people waiting, we were like F&"·&%$. We were so bummed that we missed out on the free drinks. But it wasnt too bad, we got our table as we got there. So offcourse the first order was a bottle of Malbec. I didnt really have too much of a choice apart from 1/4 chicken and something else which was a chicken dish. Anthony on the other hand was in paradise. He had so much choice but he went with the waiter´s recommendation which I think was smart or else he would have taken atleast an hour with his spanish and decision making. He got a massive steak ( De Chorizo) with 13 sides which was amazing. He was very happy.Will upload a pic. After a great meal and bottle of wine, we so were full. Then the waiter brings the dessert menu with two glasses of dessert champagne. We werent really sure if was free so we were hesistant to drink at first, but once tasted it we skulled it. We didnt care. They didnt have a choclate mousse and nothing else really caught our eye so we asked for the bill but the waiter was there to save us from missing out one of the best cakes we were about to have. He suggessted to have this warm choclate cake with cream, strawberry and ice cream. Anthony could not resist the offer and ordered it. To our surprise their was a serve the best blue berries I have ever had accompanying the above mentioned goodies. We had already finished the amazing champagne, I just asked what was it called as I really liked it. The waiter not only told me the name but brought out the bottle to show me and poured another glass and was like dont worry "its on me." SO we were like ok go on and instead of half a glass champers like the first time he poured a full glass for me. VERY HAPPY !! Amazing experience. I must say the food could have been tastier by itself but what made it a great experience was a great spot,great ambience, good food, a great waiter and his service, great wine and great dessert. Offcourse a great massive bill in the end. We blew the daily budget with authority, I think we wont eat for the next 3 days. But it was so worth it. All in all a great night and I think Anthony was really happy that he hammered a steak in the place he looking forward to go to.

CLUBBING
Just like its fine dining and amazing wine B.A. is also famous for its night life. In melbourne we would go out and the clubs are packed by midnight. Here people are still thinking where to go at 1 am and apparently most clubs start getting crowd at 2am in the morning.

CLUB NICETO
We went to this place called Club Niceto, got in at about 3.00 am and it was absolutely jam packed. The dance floor could hold about 500 people and still there was no way we were able to even step our foot on the dance floor. Electronic music seems to be very popular here. Its not our kinda music so I think after the first few tracks we had had it but we still stayed as the place was a buzz. There was a balcony on the second level which gave a pretty awesome view of the floor. We couldnt really bear the music anymore and Anthony was falling asleep so I think we left just before 5 am and while we were leaving we could see there were atleast a 100 people trying to get in. And the floor looked even more packed than before. And all of this on a Wednesday night. I can only imagine the place during the weekend.

COMMUNITY TANGO

Our friend Faisal suggessted of a place he had been which was like a community hall where the Locals came to show off their Tango techniques, learn tango or just simply have fun. Ha had already told us not to expect any younger crowd as the place was more appealing to people over 40. Apparently its the younger crowd here think that only nerds like Tango. We thoght we had not really seen the Tango dancing as such, we were going to go to a Tango show but that would be professionals, but this place would be good as it had only locals. And so after dinner 3 of us headed to the hall. Faisal was right, no tourists in sight apart from us. There was a Tango lesson which was in Spanish. Anthony and I tried but with his balance and my inability to let him lead, all we ended up doing was step on eachother´s foot and get frustrated and move away. But then Faisal could see that we both wanted to give it a shot. He had done a couple of Tango classes so he tried to teach the steps but it didnt help much. In the end when the music started we just ended up doing our own thing. We could not believe how bad we were as normally its not the case at all. But it was great fun, watching the other couples dance, they made it look so easy. They had such an elegance and flawles control of step and they seem to know the steps on every track. I reckon Tango dancers are like a good wine the older they get the better. Like every other dance I hope Uncle knows how to Tango so I can practice with him when I get back.
Like I said before people go out and stay out really late. We got back to the hostel at 3.30am and people looked at us as we were some sort of losers. As they were still thinking where to go. Next morning, offcourse we got up late. I think I went to he bathroom at about 12 in the afternoon and I saw 3 girls strugling to make their way to the bathroom in their going gear from last night. They said they went to this place which was open till 10am in the morning and they had just got back. I think Anthony and even me are a bit too old for nightouts like these.

ZOUK CLUB
Sunday night we went to a Zouk club, never heard of it in OZ. The music was pretty cool. It also had 3 guys (one of them reminded me of CHADWICK) performed on some zouk music,i think. For the first time I have seen a all boy group perform in club so it was different. I think people who cant get their command on one style of dance have created this dancing. It looks like bits of so many different dance styles like slow samba, tango, a bit of J.LO´s version of Salsa, had a touch of the caribbean. It is pretty good, much better than electronic or trance music for us.

So this was our first week in Palermo. We are going to a different hostel tommorrow in the city called the Millhouse (famously known as the party hostel) and then off to San Telmo (one of the older suburbs) of B.A. Hopefully they treat us well like Palermo. I think we will definitely would love to finish our trip in Palermo. This is has definitely been one of the places where we got really comforatble like Cuzco and Ipanema..

Buenos Aires week 1 remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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One day we were approached by walter a local tout pushing the various tours and activities in Rio. We declined most of them as we had virtually been there done that, however one of them was on the back of both of mind for the entire trip. Finance and Fear were the only obsticals in our way todate, well actually I think it was mainly the latter. Despite the sound reasoning we both had on our second last day in Rio we decided to take the plunge literally. So we tentatively called up Walter who had left us his calling card and booked ourselves a date in the clouds.

The couple of hours before the event was spent anxiously killing time on the sands of Ipanema and having a light snack and drink. Then 3.30 Pm approached and we were picked up by Marcello our Hip-Hop Loving taxi driver and dropped off at the Praia(Beach) where would be touching down. Our certified instructor´s Marcio and Popo greeted us here where we signed off our disclaimer and then swiftly drove us up the Tujuca forest to the take off point. During this trip we were briefed in safety procedures for take off and landing by the aid of a portable DVD. With the music in the background the production depicted a smooth flight and our nerves were slightly calmed.

When we reached the take off pad, which was in excess of 560 meters above the ground those same calm nerves started to increase, it did not help that Rio´s usually clear skies had started to fog up rapidly by the time we reached the top. There was a line of about 15 Tandoms already in front of us nervously waiting to depart the solid wooden base of the platform but due to the lack of visabilty had been waiting for over 2hours. This was all we needed more anxious moments of uncertainty to add to the drama. Our Instuctors explained to us that the skies usually cleared quickly and we had to be ready to jump and any time. However in the same breath they mentioned if it was not clear by 5.45pm we would have to attempt take off the next day. We did not know what was worse plunging into the unknown abyss or waiting for another 24hours in Limbo.

The platform was crowded with atleast 80-100 people which included participants,instructors, bystanders and alot of local experts it seemed. The platform was caotic, especially when the weather seemed to clear momentarily and the place became like wall street at the close of business. The experts would yell PRAIA! PRAIA ! PRAIA! PRAIA ! at the remote sign of the beach. The Instructor and participant first in Line would get set then pull out as the visability would change in an instant. We had not seen anything like it. Adrellin seemed to be pumping through everyone yet no one had seen a jump in hours.

The time ticked over to a few minutes past 5pm and we had pretty much circumed to the fact we would have to shut up shop and repeat the preparation tommorrow. All of sudden the wind experts yelled out PRAIA once again even though to the naked eye there was no sign of sand and water anywhere. The tentative next jumper in line who had been waiting for over three hours had no time to think as his instructor whisked both and him off the mountain into the unknown abyss beneath them after about a five step run up. The onlookers which included our previous roomates Danny and Adam who co-incidently happened to be plunging that day also looked in disbelief as the unpowered device with the passenger and instructor suspended beneath it dramatically sunk into the thick clouds. The preparation DVD we had seen in the trip up the mountain depicted a fairly small decent followed by rapid ascent, however all we saw on this inaugaral flight of the afternoon was plummiting. This did not do much for the nerves and we were hoping our instructor would call it a day.

For another 25 minutes it was yet another gridlock with no one taking off after that first guinea pig whom no one knew what happened to. However as Marcio had advised before the wheather was unpredicatable here and all of a sudden we were blessed with a bit of sunshine. Once again the wall street buzz was back in the mountain. Tandoms took off rapidly one by one like the airtraffic at Heathrow. Marcio and Popo quickly took harsh and myself through a training run through and strapped us into our harness. Marcio unfortunately advised Harsh she could not take her personal camera with her and promoted his on board cam which came at an additional cost. Popo on the other hand let me zip up my cam into the chest pocket of the harness. Oh there is slight bit of incorrect info there it was not my camera it was Mum´s. We were just about to take off when nature called for me, Popo was not happy at all when I asked politely like kindergarden kid ´may i go to the toilet´. I did not really take to well to his tone and went anyway. It did not help that there was a queue for the toilet, Popo in my absence was grilling Harsh about what was taking me so long. I had to make a quick decision should I wait for this queue, go back and plunge on a full bladder or use the natural toilet. I correctly opted for door no 3. Then rushed back to Popo who by now had a smile on his face and told me he was abrupt because he was worried the weather would not hold. By now Harsh was first in line, I tried to take a few take off shots of her but Popo was signalling me to get in line to test my harness, which took only about 10 secs. A quick clip on then a test dangle a foot off the ground. Apparently that was all that was needed to ensure we would not plummet away from the instructor when we were half a kilometer up in the air.

Well no time to think about it anymore as quick as the safety test was we were whisked on to the launch pad, which was a ten meter by ten meter wooden platform on a slight decline. The instructions were to simply hold on to the are respective intructors and just run, Dont stop!! Dont! Jump!! and try and run in sync. Easier said than done when you are running off a perfectly safe mountain for no apparent reason. Our minds began to fill with anticipation,anxiousness,excitement and uncertainty. The heart pounded rapidly, and the body was filled with butterflies as if we were just about to step on stage. Firstly Harsh began here 10 step run up followed by myself a minute after. Both of us put our trust in Marcio and Popo and simply ran straight as directed. The initial leap was amazing, just like the video quick drop of about 2 seconds then a instant ascent when the wind caught the hanglider, like a paper plane you throw downwards which picks up flight immediately. Both of us looked at our intructor´s straight after the take off and felt like louise lane when she asked superman ´You have got me, but who has got you?´. The feeling was none other than we have experienced, total freedom Like a bird, carefree and exhilarating.

Harsh looked like a natural Legs slightly crossed even before Marcio had to instruct her, myself on the other hand took a little long to get comfortable but once the wind picked up it felt quite safe and secure. Rio was an excellent backdrop to do your maiden voyage. The beautiful view of the beach, with the back drop of the forest. The favela´s in the distance, unfortanetly Cristo was not visible due to the weather today but you could see Corcovoda Mountain. All the hours of waiting was worth it. Both Popo and Marceo made us feel safe whislt they navigated the device with precision,sometimes toying with us and pretending to flying head first in to the mountains.

Harsh who usually loves a photo opportunity was so engrossed in the AWE of the scenery that even she forgot Marcio was remotely taking photo´s whilst fyling, resulting in only a couple of camera facing photo´s. Myself on the other hand was aware of Popo´s camera, however got caught up in trying to take Mum´s camera out during the flight. This was a bit harder than expected as only my right hand was able to reach the pocket. This meant I had to unzipp the chest pocket and remove the camera and strap the camera on to my wrist with my non preferred hand. There was a few anxious moments where I felt Mums cam would end up floating off the coast of Rio.

The Flight itself took between 8-10 Minutes I think. It would have gone for a bit longer if there was more wind. But despite being a bit shorter in duration than anticipated it felt enough. We got to fly over the forest and then hover over the beach. I never though when we were laying on the beach last week looking at those bird like creatures that we would be those creatures one day. Well this day we were.

The landing was smooth both instuctors seemlessly unstrapped our legs about 200 meters before the beach and we descended rapidly yet safely just like a bird of prey approached it´s captive. The mixed feelings of relief, happiness and ´Ohh I did not want this to end´ crossed our minds as set foot on the sand. Harsh reached first and was eagerly waiting my arrival. It was a good opportnity for her to capture my landing, it was not hard to spot which glider was me. No it was not the buldging biceps that gave it a way or Popo´s name on the glider, it was those unmistakable Sri Lankan Ankles.

Wooww what a trip I think we have done Rio Justice. It was very hard to say good bye to Ipanema our home for the last 2 and a half weeks.
Next stop Buenos F&cking Aires!!!!

Birds Eye View of Rio remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We have been lucky enough to have been staying at the Garota De Ipanema Hostel´s Annex as Harsh mentioned before for the first week. It has been a god send, sometimes despite the fact it was a four bedroom apartment we were the only ones staying in it. We then moved to Collinas Residencia near by for the second week as the hostel had to give up the Annex due to a wild party that took place before we got there. Collinas was equally as nice but was a little further from the action.

It has been great getting all the tourist sights out of the way and simply embracing the Carioca lifestyle, it has allowed us to get into a lovely routine here. Waking up around 10ish walking to the open air Gym, sipping on a coconut on the way back. Then eating breaky at our favourite little cafe Beach sucos or grab a yogurt at yogoberry whilst people watching, in the afternoon we usually hit the beach, post 9 where all the beautiful people hangout, off course we fit in well, atleast Harsh does. Later on we grab a late lunch at a Per kilo buffet. We then grab a late nap ready for the night. Eat dinner at beach sucos or an more upmarket BBQ depending on the days expenditure. Finally,hang out at the Corner cafe,with the locals and gringos, enjoying a few Brahma´s and caipirinha´s depending on the mood. After Midnight hit one of Rio´s abundunt night spots( Samba,Hip-Hop,Baila funk depending on the night). Sometimes we would alter the afternoon activity slighty and catch the action of the futbol finals outside popeye bar or stroll through the Markets in Ipanema or Copa. You can safely say it is hard to stay Ripped here with all that Drinking and Eating and breaking rest. Hey you are only young once. In the next few paragraphs I will eloborate on a few of those few activities.

Beach Sucos

This little cafe got a mention last time we were here but gets another this time as we ate here every day without fail. Usually we would grab a chicken sandwich for brunch with a mango juice but After about a week into our stay we finally discovered how to order scrambled eggs(Doje Ovo then we would hand gesture ¨Scrambled¨). Toast was bit harder as our first attemt yeilded us a bread roll instead. Eventually they got it right though when we found a photo in the menu. This place had it all, crepes,executive lunch,juice the works. It even had the best Acai-a Purple slurpy looking mixture of and amazonian fruit that all the buffed guys walked around with. I had a bad experience with my first one back in feb but was totally converted when I bought one here. My only beef with this guys pardon the Pun, was they would always run out of Pichanha at lunch time.

Yogo Berry
If we wanted something lite we would simply stop off here to order some lovely natural yogurt with three delicious fresh toppings. It was very fashionable to walk around with a yogo berry. Especially if you were one of those fit woman walking around in 3/4 tights and long white socks. Damn I forgot to buy harsh a pair.

Posto 9

Well about 50 meters to the right of the gay section of the beach was posto 9. It was famous for beautiful Garota´s and Buffed guys. I believe when the famous song was written ´Garota de Ipanema¨the writers were in a bar close by speaking of the girls from this section of the beach. To be honest though most parts of Ipanema beach housed beautiful people. We would stroll there often, grab an umbrella,a Beve and sit and gawk at the hot bods. The beach was far less packed this time, however it was still a buzz as we were there during the holiday period. It was much better this time, gone was the loads of tourist, you could just enjoy the decent size waves and appreciate the skills of the beach volleyball,futvolley and futball players. Off course there was an abundance of wonderfully curvacious woman but Two guys have to get a mention, we refer to them simply as Arse1 and 2. Think of the poster in a doctors surgery displaying the muscular skeletal system of a human. All the different parts, defined to the smallest muscle group. These guys must have posed for it. And they had an Arse that even I had to take a second and third look at. Ok may be more. The other character that´s gets a special mention is the beach Vendor that sold ACAI you know the fruit I ate at beach sucos. This guy would walk up to unsuspecting people with a loud speaker like the captain in Police Academy and shout "ACAI " then turn around and smile at the other people on the beach and then whisper acaiiii softly. If you hear both of us greet you with ACAI instead of Hello it is because of this guy. I think you had to be there as it does not sound that funny writing it. It was great to witness all these characters who seemed to be in the same spot each day,I dont think anyone works here. It was also good to walk to the beach peacefully in 3 minutes unlike the 20 minutes it took in Carnaval avading the loads of people.

Churrascaria
Although we at many different restaurents in the evening in Ipanema the main ones included our favourite per kilo place mentioned in our previous visit here and a new churrascaria which we just over induldged at. This BBQ was amazing all you can eat salads, sushi,seafood and Meat Meat and more meat. I am salvating just thinking of the Picanha as I write this. The concept was similar to the Copacabanna restaurent in Melbourne only these guys had much more variaty of meat and a great range of salads and was far cheaper. We went here on two seperate occasions as once was just not enough. If this place was a per kilo we would be broke as I consumed atleast half a cow and harsh had a farm full of chicken and lamb.

BBQ at the corner cafe
During our second week at Ipanema we noticed that at the corner cafe near our hostel there was always a gathering of locals and foreigners around a small BBQ. One day when we walked by the locals kept on gesturing to us to join in and grab a bite of freshly cooked meat and sausages. I did not know quite how to respond and was not aware if this was free or was I going to get a bill at the end after I ate. However, I soon found out that this guy who went by the nickname of King had being having his own little BBQ on this corner for the last 17 years to bring the people together. Apparently this corner was quite a rough place a while back but due to Kings hostpitality the locals and foreiners got together and shared a few yarns over a Barbie and Cervejas and brought harmony to the place. Apparently even the local business owners and supermarkets assisted king in providing this service a few times weekly and during large public holidays. Each patron chipped in few reals aswell to assist in the finances. It was a great meeting point before we went out and was even more lively when Kings mates which included a guy we referred to as the fisherman (as we saw him there in a wet suit and a rod once) rolled up in their vehicles with a trunk full of baile funk-Creauuuuuuuuuuu. Whilst for the most part the corner had a friendly atmosphere going it did change quickly once when an retired old Aussie Bloke insulted one of the local ladies by questioning her sexuality. This girl who had a bigger set of guns than my legs did not take to well to this remark and responded by demanding some "Fu#king RESPECT" and smashing a bottle like Ohara in enter the dragon was ready to glass this guy. Even the usually calm King and the fisherman were offended and exclaimed that if this bloke was any younger he would have been sliced with the same set of blades that was used to carve this friendly meal.

Rio by night
After a few Caipirinhas at the corner we would head off sometimes alone sometimes with fellow travellers to various areas of rio for some dancing.
Some of the notable spots we hit was;

Lapa-
A inner city suburb that was amazingly busy on weekends,packed with a cluster of clubs ranging from Samba,Hip-Hop to trance and funk. It seemed that every one in Rio was there on a friday. You did not even need to go into the clubs as there was music blaring from all corners as we got off the local bus. You could also purchase any type of alcohol and a meat skewer from the countless street vendors. We sampled a Hip-Hop,Baile funk and Samba club here. The Samba club called the Rio Scenarium was amazing, great band,atmosphere, three levels and played some of the carnival school themes and offcourse Mas Que nada(Oba Oba Oba)

Zero Zero-
This place was an upmarket club in Gavea. It was the in the Rio Planetarium. We went there with an english guy named Mickey who we met at Kings Corner BBQ. Even though we got there early at 11 there was a queue of 150 meters long. I dont think I have lined up for 1 and half hours since the warehouse and carousel but hey we were only in rio for a short time so we hung in there, sipping a few drinks from the vendors in the line. It was worth the wait, Pitty Mickey did not wait with us to enjoy the night as he had to find a husband on the beach the next day. The club was really pretty inside. A sitting area with a tree inside equipped with nice benches. Excellent music to go with the picturesque surroundings and reasonably priced drinks. The place also had its fair share of aggressive blokes, one who had the audacity to speak to me for 5 minutes then in the same breath turn around to Harsh and ask her whether she would like to kiss her first Brazillian guy(Okay we are one all from Sao Paulo Now).

Melt-
This place prounounced Melch by the locals and myself was in Posh Leblon. We went there after that eventful night at the corner. It had a good vibe inside, great baile funk but unlike the favela no shooting and some extremely beautiful model like fair skinned locals getting down like their darker countryman. Melch was also more reasonably priced than Barronotti in Ipanema were us blokes had to coff up 100reals minimum at the bar just to enter.

Markets-
There were two markets which we frequented whilst here. The Copa night Market and the Sunday Hippie fair in Ipanema. The Copamarket was wear we got the most value out of as its prices were considerably cheaper than neighbouring ipanema. We managed to pick up many bargain here including a Brazil Jersey for Prashu and Harsh even managed to find a prospective husband from the states, atleast thats what she will tell you. The truth is this extremely good looking hunk of man simply looked at her in passing and she already had the invitations prepared.
Jokes aside we also enjoyed strolling through the Ipanema Hippie fair which had more quality stuff on offer but was only on Sundays and was at a higher price. Infact one sunday we saw the same vendor later at copa who offered the same top to us for 10real cheaper due to the venue he was selling at.

The world game
As mentioned before on the weekends there was always a Futball game on. We were lucky enough to be here during the finals. Flamengo V Botafogo, two local teams. The area we were staying in had a large Flamengo following. Especially at this small non discript bar call Popeye. The locals would pack this place that had small flat screen and a few bites like fried sardines and empanadas. People even had T-shirts of this joint ala hard rock cafe. The atmosphere was great outside especially during a flamengo goooaaaaaaaaaal. It was great to see how Brazillians embraced soccer, we did not see this last time due to the euphoria of Carnaval. It is not hard to see why they are the world´s No.1 especially when you walk on the beaches at night and see the kids as little as 5 playing organsied games and immulating the greats.

So that has been our activity during the last two weeks, we have loved being in Ipanema and embracing the Carioca lifestyle. It will be sad to leave but I think we have pretty much done all that we could here. All accept one as you will see in the next blog.

Garota De Ipanema remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The guy at the information place in Sao Paulo was like the Lonely Planet book. Exact directions and information about the bus terminal, bus companies and tickets. It was wierd coming back to the Sao Paulo bus terminal, as the last time we were here, we were with our big GAP group.

The bus ride was pretty smooth, got to Rio at about 8.00pm. The decision of leaving to Rio was pretty quick so we had not booked any accomodation. So at 8.30 in the night we were calling all these hostels from the Lonely Planet. Called about 4 places, all full. Finally the wave hostel had 2 spots left in a dorm. It was the busy easter weekend so everything was full getting a double room was out of question. We arrived on the same street where we stayed the last time. It was difficult driving past the street as the place we stayed at was absolutely perfect. Anyway we arrive to this hostel. I realised that we had walked past this place a lot of times during our first visit. There was cluster of different hostels; CLUSTER Anthony was happy. Lol !!

Worse Than Favella like conditions (we have seen the favella its up market) -

On arrival a girl from a different place to what we had booked hostel called¨ The Girl from Ipanema¨ greeted us and asked us if wanted a room. We asked if they had a private room which we would prefer over the dorms. She said as it is a busy weekend all their regular doubles are full but they had a private room which she would do it for a cheap price for that night. The other room was going to be available the next day ie Easter Sunday. OMG the room was ssoooo SHOCKING!! I couldnt believe that we had to pay them money to stay in that room. It should have been the other way around.I have never seen over 20 socket holes drilled in not even a 10 by 10 room. It had 3 beds, one double and 2 singles.The beds looked like they were from the junkyard from the Favella or a donation from the Favella to the hostel. We told the girl that we will check our initially reserved place first and then tell her. So we walked next door to the Wave Hostel thinking we will defintely prefer to stay in the dorm instead of that shocking room.
This other place had a nice and clean social area, so we thought ah thats a good start. Walked into this dorm OOOOHH MY GOD ! it was the dirtiest room I have ever seen (Yes worse than our room. it just has clothes and ear-rings everywhere !!). The walls were painted marroon with cob webs nearly touching the top bunk bed. The room had no ventilation of any sort, so you would have to leave the main door open and a cieling fan (another donation from the Favella). We have stayed in a dorm in Mendoza for a night. So its not the only exposure to dorms but all of a sudden the Hole we saw before in the other hostel was like a 3* hotel. So we checked in there and tried to stay out for as long as we could. We were going to Christo the next day that excitment took over us and slept on the dodgey beds praying that we dont get bitten by the bed bugs.Hopefully the other room in the apartment that she was talking about be a better room or else we are calling Sonia getting in Ipanema Palace.

Resurrection at Christo

Next day we were up pretty early and took a 7.30 bus to get to Christo. We thought we had got there pretty early as we were there before the first train left but nnnoooooooo! There were about 100 people already there.What a noble idea - celebrate easter at Christo as if no one else thought of that. lol !
We had to wait ages to get a good shot. After about a good hour and a half I think we got the shot we wanted. Surprisingly, there was a Preist there this time blessing people who I think missed the morning mass. So that was special.Unlike in India this guy didnt ask me what religion I am nothing, just the language we spoke and where we were from and then blessed us in English. The day looked pretty cloudy on the way there but surprisingly it was very clear near Christo. I think this time around we could appreciate the statue even more. This time around I didnt get the magical feeling when I caught a glimpse of the statue from the stairs but I was still in an awe !! It is just a magnificent structure I think everyone should visit it once in the lifetime Christian or non Christian. It got really busy by now so we went ot have to breakfast at the same place as last time where I still think they serve the best Mango and strawberry mixed juice ever. After the breakfast we went back near the statue and enjoyed the views of the Rio. It was simply a divine moment celebrating easter sunday in this wonderfully spiritual site.

We left at about 12 from Corcovado mountain and made our way back anxious about this other room. As mentioned before we were staying in a shocker of a room in the Girl from Ipanema hostel on Holy saturday, I think Jesus´Tomb would have had more light and comfort. Luckily for us though, Sofia the owner had another double room for us a few houses down from the main hostel in a shared unit. We Jumped at the chance to move on sight. The apartment was clean, spacious. It brought back sanity to us after staying in a bad location in Sao Paulo and the shocker the night before. After taking nice warm shower and coming back to sanity we were ready to socialise with the people in the hostel so went to the reception and check what can be done.

Benny´s Favella Funkparty

The girl at the reception told us about this Favella Funk party as a popular thing to do for the night. The list of people going to this party looked pretty big as well. Anthony met this guy Faisal (not Oliver) who was also going and said that it was the place to be. All we could think about is Bené/Benny´s going away party from the movie The City of God. The receptionist also said that we would get access to the VIP level which is the upper level and you could see the dance floor(I could imagine the scene from the movie).So we got pretty hyped. We didnt really do too much during the day just relaxed and took a nap as we were told we will come back at 4.30 in the morning from the party. After dinner we met the rest of the group at 10 pm at the hostel reception where we going to be collected from to go to this Party. Anthony was speaking to Faisal, it was Faisal´s last night there he was going to B.A. the next day, he seems like a nice guy we will definitely catch up with him in B.A. I was a bit anxious as I didnt see any girl names on the list and I didnt want to be the only girl there. But luckily there were 3 more girls there and I kinda got friendly with Inquin and Karen. Inquin was with her B.f and it was there last night there aswell.

We left the hostel at about 10.30 pm and drove to this favella which was about 40-45 mins away from Ipanema. When we drove past the parking lot we saw atleast 350 people just in the parking lot. Everyone got really excited thinking of the number inside as it looked like a big concert like area. Just outside the entrance there was small vendor selling Caipirinhas for 2 Reals. We were told that drinks inside would be expensive so everyone decided to have some drinks outside and then go in. The scene outside was pretty happening. Everyone was dressed in this Favella Funk promotional T- Shirts with a Johnny Bravo print. I sooo wanted that T- Shirt (I so love Johnny bravo- Anthony doesnt know who he is and most of you wouldnt either). I must say people were a bit agressive with their advances; we had 2 Scottish guys who actually got scared of the 2 girls making advances and begged me and this other girl to stand with us so the girls would go away. But we had our own issues, one specific mention was this guy standing not even a meter away from us salvating and staring right at me. It wasnt very comfortable.

It was just before 1am and our tour guy who was Brsilian told us that we could get in. Everyone bought a drink and got ready to walk in. By now we couldnt see the people outside so we thought they have all gone in. We were about 15 people we walked in together and everyone single one of us had the same reaction. WHAT THE F$@K ?? Where are all the people?? This place inside did look like Benny´s party but instead of 1000 people in his party there were not even 50 people here (and the place could hold about 1000 people ). We just didnt understand where did the over 350 people go who were waiting outside. When we went to the toilets they all were flooded and the dance floor corner were full of piss. We couldnt contemplate that 50 people could do that.
The girl I was talking to Inquin was telling me how much fun these parties are as they had been to one before. It looked like it could be a great spot but where were all the people ? I must the say the music was great, cheap drinks, and we were on the upper level which was supposed to be the VIP level. The VIP level was totally empty apart from the 15 of us. After I finished my massive Caipirinha I didnt really care and I was getting it on with the Baila Funk music that was playing. Anthony was disappointed though as there was no crowd.
Everyone enjoyed but I think missed the crowd. There were dance comps with people being pulled out from the crowd, the moves were far more aggressively primal than any where else in south america. There also was also strippers both male and female picking people from the crowd and giving them massive shots of Casacha straight from the bottles and shaking there heads worse than a Indian massuer. If that was me I would have puked right on the stripper man.

We got out at about 3.30 am as I think, everyone wanted to leave but for some reason we stayed another hour outside. When we finally left our driver apolozised to us saying sorry about the empty place and told us that there was a shooting inside just about 30 minutes before we got there. Thats is why when we arrived everyone was outside or already gone or leaving. And thats why the place was empty. Now it all made sense the flooded toilets, piss puddles on the near the dance floors, empty cups and beer bottles lying everywhere. In the movie after Benny was shot, people start running everywhere but they dont show how the club looked later. I think we saw how it would have looked. I cant believe there was someone killed in there and we werent told. Finally we left at 4.30 am and got to the hostel just before 5.30 in the morning.

Anthony and a couple of others didnt get over the fact that there was no crowd, but I think it made sense to them after the shooting story. All in all a very wierd experience, I had a great night until I heard about the shooting.
Hey one good thing atleast I got the Johnny Bravo print T-Shirt thanks to Faisal.

Looking forward to just lying on the beach at posto 9 now.

Chao

Easter in The City of God remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Later that night we took a walk around our surrounding streets to get a quick bite to eat. Despite being a weeknight the street we were on seemed to have a party vibe with little after work Sandwhich bars housing samba musicians and street vendors armed with big boom boxes. We decided to sit at one of the more crowed cafes at the end our street and were delighted when the musician started to play and acustic version of our favourite song of the trip "Minha mia" I think thats what its called. By the tm we had dinner it was a around 10.30ish and the busy street we had walked up to get the cafe had by now began to get a lot less crowded and far more dodgey. In fact it was a pedestrian only street so you could not even get a cab if you wanted. So we rushed back to the hotel hoping not to encounter any dramas. Luckily no issues.

The next few days in sao paulo we spent exploring this vast city with the help of the friendly tourist information guys and the massive city map we had in hand. By day Sao Paulo city was a lot less scary. The Metro train system was amazingly effecient. The longest we ever had to wait for connection was 3minutes and that was on a public holiday. The only real difficulty we had with the metro was buying tickets on the first day and that was mainly due to our poor portuguese.

The first area we visited was the extremely clean and wonderfully diverse Fruit Market and Veg Market. This place was reknowned for being the best in Brazil. I think you would be hard pressed to beat it. Every thing frm Rumbutangs and Mango Steens to Unheard of Amazonian fruits. The best thing about it was each vendor would insists on you trying the produce. I think I speak fo both Harsh and myself when Saying we tasted the best Mango we had ever had here and probably the biggest. The size of a grideon I reckon. Once again my lack of Portuguese got us into problems when eating lunch here. I saw this fantastic photo of a ricota filled pastry which I thought I ordered with the help of the waitress but much to my dismay I got this monsterouse ham sandwhich instead which the locals were starring at and even a begger refused to take off me when I could not finish it.

In the progressive days we explored Jardims Paulista an wealthy area, bellavista an italian area and liberdade the Asian area of Sao Paulo. It was amazing to see how diverse the respective neighbourhoods were. Jardims Paulista was extremely safe and well lit Infact walking around at night was not an Issue. We had Dinner one night here at a beautifuly atmospheric restauran filled with a glamurous young crowd, Innovative cocktails and the most decitent Chocolate mouse. Ohh i forgot to mention it came at an equall exorbertant price bu hey it was well worth it. We also visited a fantastic Art Museom here, where we viewed a few picasso´s, rembraints, van goff´s and Renoir´s to name a few along with a lovely exibit of Brazillian photography.

Bellavista, the italian eighborhood which was only a stones throw away from the city had a completely different air about it from the houses to the people. The Restaurents were Uniquel italian too from th Pasta´s and vines right down to the Old men seating out the front, Capiche, forget about it!

Liberdade, the asian area was also a five minut stroll from the city center. We had a very filling oreintle per kilo buffet there and ejoyed walkin through the tows main street which even had the oriental lantons for street lights and a string of chinese shops. I must say i was more orderly than most asian areas I have visited.

Our nights in Sao Paulo was mainly spent persuing the city´s club scene which we had read rivalved New yorks. We spent many minutes riding the subways and many dollars in cab fares venturing into many neighbourhoods such as vila olympia and vila madelana and Jardms Paulista. However struck out most times. I think i would have been better if we went with local knowledge. It was hard to find places we liked as the nightlife was wide spread. We eventually went to one club named vegas where we spent about $20 for entry but i was all trance music. The only thing excitng was a 70+ Man dancing around trying to be 25 I think he was Brazil´s equavilan to "the Legend". The other stand out of the night was a guy who I thought was chatting up Harsh but it turned out in their conversation he mentioned to her " Your boyfriend is beautiful twice". Hey What Can I say, maybe next time Harshu.

As mentioned before we were staying on a pedestrian only street, it seemed the street and Sao Paulo City in general had an abundance of sex shops and adult cinemas(good choice of hotel Harsh), each time we came back home we had a scary stretch of about 250 meters to our hostel. Many a night we found ourselves evading drunks and druggies to get back to the safety of our hotel. I think the city center of sao paulo has been the most nervous we have been on the trip to date. One night there was a dodgey Druggie who approached yelling what sounded like Heeyyy heey heeyy in a deep voice. It seemed like he was running to us from a distance but when he came close it was like he was running in super slow motion,never the less it was scary, I wish I had my heartrate monitor on as I think it would have been higher than when we did the Inca trail. Normally Harsh complains about my lack of speed when walking, but we both discovered I walk quite fast when shit scared. Luckily we simply walked away unscaved as we were only 50 meters away from the hotel thank god or else Harsh was ready to assault him with her heels(Definition of Assualt-throw them at him and run away). I think if we had our time in sao paulo again we would have stayed in the prettier suburb of Jardims Paulista.

Well we are off to Rio next by bus, a 6 hour ride. No plan on accomodation yet but we will work that out on arrival. We are looking forward to seeing Rio away from the crowd of Carnaval and spending Easter in the City of God.

Scary Sao Paulo remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Our guy Miguel at calicanto arranged free airport transport in Lima for us from Cusco so when we get to Lima
we could be taken hostel hunting as we had not booked anything. The flight was pretty smooth
no dramas. When we got to the Lima airport instead of 1 there were 2 people waiting for us for this free pick up.
The free fried fish with Louey had taught us a lesson.So about 10 minutes in the taxi I
couldnt help it and I reconfirmed whether the transfer was free with Pablo our driver. Pablo who was quite churpy till then exclaimed "Nooooooo Lady!!!" that its not free and we had to pay 30 USD to him and then off course you can imagine Anthony, he was like STOP right now and then rudely negoiated the fare to be 10USD(is what we would have paid if we took a bus). But it wasnt either of their fault as the taxi driver wasnt told about the free trasnfer and we were under the impression that it was a free transfer.
Thanks Louey it was the free fried fish incident that urged me to confirm this free transfer or else we would have paid much more if we didnt check.

The first impression of Lima was lots of chinese restraunts(chifa´s), pokies and a stone beach. There
was no sand on the beach but just pebble stones. I have never seen that in person so it was cool. We drove into this hotel called Excetivo in Mira Flores. which the taxi driver insisted. It was not the best option but we took it for 1 day as we were gonna walk around and move somewhere else the next day. The taxi driver swore that he didnt get any commission and we had to pay for the tranfer but I still dont beleive him because I think about 30mins after we checkedin he showed up in the recepetion and didnt expect to see us and was a baffled when he saw
me walking in.

Lima is offcourse a much bigger city than Cusco. We went wandering on the beach and make
reservations in this place called Rosa Nautica. Like Unc Ranchi says, it was an "upmarket"
place right on the beach, we drove past earlier. It was so upmarket that the bellboy declined Anthony to walk in with his sleeveless top to even to make a reservation. Eventually after persuasion we walked in and made one for 6.30pm. It was already 4pm and we had not had lunch yet. So I wasnt sure how we were going to make it back for dinner at 6.30pm. Anyway we decided to walk towards the main centre. As usual Anthony was being picky for place to eat and it was 4.15pm and I was shitty as I was hungry. I finally put my foot down and we walked in to a place called cafe Z. I ordered a simple tomato and oregano pizza as thats the only thing I understood from the menu. Anthony on the other hand picked something fancy, as he thinks he knows Spanish and orders this mix thing which
he thought was a better pizza. And later he was telling me ``Look it says misto, that means mixed pizza``.

My pizza comes first offcourse as it was simple and Anthony wouldnt stop teasing me and asking how did my cheese and bread tasted? 5 mins later his pizza arrives, and I asked him where the pizza base was ?as it had olives, cheese, porksaugages all alinged beautifully. And then we realise that he ordered a startes platter. I
have a pic of his reaction which i will upload u have to see it. Now my cheese and bread -
The simple pizza was offcourse better and he was eying that. As nice as I am (U know what I
mean Aunty ) hehehe, I did share my pizza with him and offcourse as usual after his stuff up I was
there to save the day. I spoke to the waitress, she didnt speak english but I think she
understood what Anthony had done as she walked away giggling.We werent sure where she went, and
then the manager walked upto us and told us that he will get pizza for him for free. Anthony
was like wwwwweeeeeeeee !! It was really nice of the guys at cafe Z to give the pizza to anthony for free
when it was Anthony who had made a mistake ordering. And now all of sudden as he got a free
pizza and a platter he went back to teasing my simple pizza. TYPICAL Lol !!

After lunch at 4.45pm we went looking for a hostel in the centre and did check a couple out but they were all full. It was the last hostel we were gonna look at before we made our way back to the hostel, LOKI backpackers, spoke to this manager Sabastein, he said they had one room left but someone else was supposed to check in like 8 hours ago and if they didnt show up in the nexthour we will getthe room, Nice room amazing view of the main road and the
biggest Mackers I have ever seen.

So we were very happy about finding this place and were looking forward to the hear from Sabastein in an hour and hoping he says yep its ok u can check in tommorrow. It had got pretty late by now about 6,15pm and we had reservations for this Náutica place at 6,30 pm.

BOth of us were pretty full still so we decided to can that place and just roam around the centre where it looked pretty good. We walked into this street which looked like china town at first but then we realised it was a cluster of restaurants, kareoke places and some night clubs. Before we ate we called the hostel and confirmed that we can check in tommorrow in the room shown to us by the manager.So we were relieved and ready to enjoy our dinner.We ate at this really welcoming place, mainly an english speaking waiter who could help with the menu. He was really nice and got us into eating at this place. Offering 2 free pisco sours each instead of one; which is a norm. I think in lima people like to eat a lot of cold fish as most of the menu in this restaurant was just that. Anthony ordererd the local favourite some cold fish with tiger milk(nothing to do with a tiger) and I got something that looked like it was going to be hot as the fish was supposed to be served with some chilli sauce.It was my turn to make a mistake with the order. I thought I had ordered warm cooked fish and was telling Anthony how I cant eat cold fish as a main. The food arrived while we were sipping on the Piscos, Anthony looks at my food and before I tasted it, he took a bite and had a face. I still didnt get it and I took a massive bite and had a brain freeze as the fish I thought would be fire hot was Ice cold. OMG i was so pppiiiiisssssseeedddd !! And offcourse I had take Anthony´s smart stabs about my choice for the rest of the meal.

After dinner we walked into this free night club it wasnt the best but wasnt bad as the music was ok and the crowd was bearable. But we had heard about this one particular street where there was supposed to be a CLUSTER OF CLUBS (like Anthony likes it). I didnt really drink but Anthony finished a whole jug of beer. Had a decent night and came back pretty late.

Next day we got to Loki to check into our room that we booked.
You must be thinking how come there is no drama with these two yet. Finally ready for a smooth run as everything is confirmed and cross checked. But nnnnooooooooooo !!

We get to the reception and the guy tells us someone else hás been put into our room by mistake. We were pretty disappointed, the guy at the reception said that the poeple will be back in 2 hours and they will get them to move into a different room and until then we can stay in a different room. We thought 2hours is not bad as we were going for a walk anyway. We come back at 6pm in the evening which was 6 hours later and nothing yet. After being tossed around for the whole night we were told that we wont get our room and stay in a different one for the night. Anthony and I were pissed, we had not even unpacked thinking we are going to move soon. And also no one had the audacity to come up to us and tell us what was happening. And on top of that I had specifically asked to speak to the manager or someone with authority when possible, The manager sends this non english speaking girl to us, telling us about the room and how we cant move that night and bargaining to give a discounted price for the other room. I thought it was really poor on Loki´s behalf. We were really keen in just staying in our room and enjoying the view and relaxing that night. The hostel had a really cool common área. So we decided to enjoy the special rate dacquiris and enjoy the view from there. We played some wierd drinking games within a group of 15 people i think. Met this Lankan guy from England who was next to us. First I thought he was related to Anthony in some wierd way but he was Tamil so that was not going to happen. He mentioned how he hás visited his cousin in melbourne a lot times and he lived in Keysborough. I thought he had to know Bevan or some one Lankan and have a wierd connection. He started speaking about cricket and the attack on the Lankan team in Pakistan. We were really happy thinking we can have a cricket conversation as no one else we had met even knew cricket. But unfortunately he didnt know who Chaminda Vaas was; At first Anthony was real excited trying to find who this cousin in Keysborough was but after the Vass mishap Anthony stopped talking to him. Lol !!
I could not beleive that, I was just giving him so much shit the whole night . It was real fun. We went out get a bite and walk arouund a bit and called it a night.

Next day expected someone to come to us telling that ok your room is ready and we can check in. The guy at the reception didnt even have an idea of what was going on. I was about to crack it, (I gave him the benefit of the doubt thinking of the chicken burger incident) and explained what had happened. But he was arrogant and saying´he has worked there for 3 years, and this had never happened´ and was passing the buck; then I cracked it. I told him to send Sabastein to speak to us in the breakfast área where Anthony was waiting and he was the one who we were dealing with. I wouldnt have got angry on this guy but he was giving me attitude when it was their fault. We had nearly finished our breakfast when this Sabastein who is the manager shows up with even more attitude and arrogance. It was great the way Anthony and I gave it back to him as both of us had lost it by now. We were a great team.

Finally we got into a adjacent room which gave a similar view but we had so much to do as we were leaving for São Paulo next morning. We nearly got what we wanted and then headed to this big shopping centre which was constructed on a cliff overlooking the ocean. I think it is one of the best shopping centres I have seen locationwise. We had not had lunch and were looking for a place. We ended up feasting on an amazing buffet and enjoying the view of the ocean. What a spread !! Offcourse we had to move from our table at least once, but this time it was in middle of the meal thanks to Mr. De Silva.
I have to edit the details here but I am sure you know what must have happened, if not I will tell in person. I personally think that this place was a better place and value for money than the Lake Náutica place that we ditched the night before. We were so full couldnt walk properly for the first 10 mins after we left the place. We wandered around the mall for a while and then made our way back and got to our hostel at about 6.30pm.
Chilled out in the common área for a little while and went out to get some dinner. Anthony got some beef roll and I got a fried rice from one of the Chifa´s (chinese restaurants) there. Had a quite one as we had to catch flight for São Paulo at about 4,00am.
Looking forward to São Paulo as have heard heaps about it but if I feel scared will get to B.A. before schedule.

Goodnite

Lima remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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To fast forward a bit and let you catchup we arrived back from aguas cliente and the trail on the 25th march. Initially we were supposed to check back into our previous hostel where our baggage had been stored-Hostel Rojes. It actually should be called Hostel Rogues. These guys were a disgrace to the rest of Cusco who were largely extremely hostpitable. To sum up we requested the same room on our return and were promised if this was not available we would be given a smaller room at a lower cost. However Nino the arrogant owner refused to honour his promise and abruptly told us that we could look eslewhere even though he had promised this. If this was a once off it would have not been so bad, however the same thing had happenned to us when we were here last time when his daughter promised us breaky included but he went back on that word. Anyway after a heated exchange we stormed off with all our luggage in pursuit of a new hostel. Luckily Ursula the sales rep from our trekking company(all trek)was nearby so we managed store the luggage there whilst we searched. Whilst I am on the subject of feedback, let me tell anyone reading this that ALLTREK CUSCO are an excellent company to go with for the inka trail, excellent customer service. Even when we had a miscommunication with what was included in our trek, they simply listened and resolved the inquiry immediately.

Well leaving Hostel Rojes turned out to be a blessing in disquise as we ended up stumbling on hotel Calicanto, which was in good central location and had the best staff imaginable. Miguelle and our friend Johnny were fantastic. And the room was spacious and homely. Infact we even celebrated Shetty´s birthday at Calicanto. Miguelle helped me purchase a cake and we surprised her early after breaky on the 31st March. Bubba was so happy, well until she gauged two massive pieces down in 5 minutes after our usual eggs for breaky and then vomited it all back out straight afterwards. (should I have mentioned this in the blog?)

Okay I will let you chuckle on that last sentence a few more minutes.

Okay Done

As i stated before we got into a bit of a routine in Cusco. The following paragraphes will expand on these essential parts of our time in Cusco. In a nutshell we would get up after breakfast and complete a siteseeing activity, walk around the majestic Plaza de Armes and simply soak in its beauty, be stalked by countless woman canvasing cheap Inka Massages, Contemplate whether we eat at a 15 soles set menu cafe or Mcdonalds, at night we would invariably have cocktails at our favourite pre-party venue Mushrooms and afterwards party at mythology then stumble home to Calicanto and knock on the door to be let in at 3 in the morning. You can see why it was tough to update the blog during these ten days we spent in Cusco.

Site Seeing in Cusco

The following our some of the sites we took in during the day

Religous sites

The Cathedaral

Before we went to the Inca trail we purchased a tourist ticket that allowed us to check out four religous sites in Cusco. We had already visited the Jesuit church La Compinia, when we returned we Visited the Magnificant Catholic Cathederal. This was the iconic building in Cusco´s Plaza De Armes. It stood out like no other building and consisted of three seperate buildings, two smaller chapels along side the main church. Apparently some of its stone work was brought from nearby Inca sites. What stood out was its solide silver alter, its amazing wooden crafted choir area and its abundance of cuscan artwork which included the last supper with a Guinea pig on the main plate, and its signature barroque front alter piece that blocks the view of the main alter on entrance. This allows late comers like myself to sneak in to mass without the priest knowing. Unfortunately like all the religouse site in cusco we were not able to take pictures. Apart from the wonderful architecture and artwork another highlight of the cathederal tour was bumping in randomly to Sarah our friend from the GAP tour who informed us that herself and the rest of the group had just arrived in cusco that day.

ARCHIEPISCOPAL PALACE MUSEUM OF RELIGIOUS ART

This place was a great exibition of all the Cuscan religious artwork. It displayed a combination of similar work we had seen in the catheredal and La Compinia along with many other classics. Around this building was many small art schools where you could purchase replica works. It building base also housed the famouse 12 angled INCA stone.

Church of Sanblas
This church was the first church built in Cusco and was much smaller than the other churches we had seen but was not outdone in character. The pulpit was excusuite in the church and worth a mention. It had a scull at its summit which was said to be that of its scuplturer. I was not able to take pics but here is a image I found in google.
http://www.enjoyperu.com/multimediagallery/photos/img/3-30.jpg

INKA SITES

Coricancha
The temple of the Sun as it is transleted is situated next to the Church of Santa Domingo. It is now a site where the dominican monks reside however it was once a great Inka temple. Like most other important INKA sites the spanish built over it with a religouse building of themselves to sho dominance. Our guide named "lady" told us that when cusco suffered a mighty earthquake the INKA walls survived yet the spnaish colonial structured crumbled. We enjoyed this tour as it was Lady's first english tour which was a bit of a laugh.

The INKA Musuem.
This was a great tour and very informative. Having done the INKA trail this really filled in a lot of gaps for us about the INKA teritory, progress in ceremics,gold,stone and silver work. This Musuem is a must see in Cusco.

Set Menu or Mcdonalds
After all the site seeing we used to get pretty hungry. The biggest problem was the number of choice we had to pick from. At every street corner around the plaza that would be touts pulling us in all directions. Invariable most of the set menu´s where similar. A Soup, a main(trout,steak,or Chicken) and a dessert/drink oh and offcourse a miniscule shot of Pisco sour to tempt us in. I think we at about 15 different restaurents whilst there some where a bit dodge but luckily most where really good despite the skeptically low prices. We even met up with Walter and Isa from the trail twice at one of the better cafes. Well actually all in all I did quite well in my food selection but shetty was not quite so lucky especially as she kept getting tricked into choosing this mustardy sauce each time thinking it was a chilli dish, you know these "curries" must have spice in every dish. This sparked her to go for the safe option, Macca´s a few times. This however was no ordrinary Macca´s, it was beautifully built to match the decor of the Plaza, no gordy golden arches just tasteful wooden ones. No colouful feature walls, Inca Like brickwork instead. It was by far the prettiest Macca´s we had eaten in and it had the finest selection of sauces which we savour.

Massages
Usually after a hard days site seeing and a full stomach we would eather take a nap or wonder down to the Plaza to where would be hounded by tribes of local girls waiting to massage our arching bodies for a small fee. I do mean small, Infact $10 Aussie for a fullbody 1hour massage. $7.50 if we bargained hard. It was like we were in bangkok unfortunately minus the happy ending, however I dont think you get hounded as much for a massage in bangkok as you did here. Eventually after trying out a few we settle on two girls named Sonia and Claire. I offcourse chose the prettier one(louey you would know that). I must say for the price they were the best value massages you could get. You would pay over $100 buck in melbourne for the same treatment. However, I am not sure back in Melbourne they would jump on the table and straddle your head to do your lower back as they did here.

Nightlife in Cusco

After our packed daily schedule we would embark on our nightly ritual. Which consists of pre drinks and partying.

Mushrooms

As mentioned Mushrooms was our standard pre party venue. This place was a laid back loungebar that featured comfy sofas plus lazy beanbags, tasty bites, chilled out music with a DJ spinning from the bar and Vuluptious barmaids(at least I thought so harsh thinks it was all in the push up bra). Most of all though it was our favourite place because of it´s Zany bartenders and the crazy large monster cocktails. Mango and Strawberry Daquiris and piscuirri´s were amongst our favourite. The presentation was intriquette and the preparation of Cusco´s unique cocktail the machu picchu was done with a surgeon´s precision. We had many a good night here and even managed to drag in the GAP group and Walter and Isa here too.

Mythology
This place deserves a mention as it was the first dance club we visited in Cusco. Infact it was one of the first times we actually got down and danced properly on our trip. Mainly as in rio it was so packed it was hard to move during carnival and the rest of the time we have been on the move. Mythology was one of many clubs we would visit on a nightly basis whislt in cusco. We would do so just after Mushrooms. We would walk towards the cluster of clubs and be acosted by touts with free drink offers. I think the reason we went to Mythology was the music was the loudest from outside the club. Before 11pm the place was a salsa club and afterwards a full on dance club with hip-hop to techno and dancing tourist on the bar. It was also a special place as we met the "latin usher" the same guy we saw dancing up a storm in Bolivia. It turned out he was peruvian and he was a salsa teacher, he aslo had a new friend we refered to as "stiffler" due to his uptight upright technique. Usher still had the same stand out salsa moves and even asked shetty for a dance who politely refused as she did not want to be shown up on the floor. However the funny thing was when the tables turned and the music switched to panjabi, Shetty was quick to return the offer and asked him to dance, this time it was the "Latin usher" that got stage fright and went missing from the floor when he realised Shetty was well versed in this format of sub continent salsa.

Other notable nights out in cusco was when we saw the entired GAP group from the balcony of Mama africa´s (another night spot). This was the same day we saw sarah at the catheredaral so it was not as big a surprise to see them but it was exciting all the same to catch up with the guys. We actually ended up partying with them twice doing the rounds at mythology, Mama africa´s and roots another joint close by where the promoter guy kept on calling me OBAMA. It is worth a mention that Shetty was so hyper one night that she declined my request to leave at 4am and ended up stumbling home with the rest of the group at 5ish. Now I know how my mother felt waiting up for me back in the day.

Well That was our fantastic 10 days in Cusco after the INCA trail. We probably waisted a few days figuring out whether we were going to fly to Cuba or the amazon as it turned out we decided on neither due to cost. However that said we loved here in Cusco and are sad to leave. Hopefully Lima will be just as nice.

CUUUUZZZZCCCCCCCO remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The hotsprings themselves was a bit disappointing as we expected actual natural surroundings, however they were more like a bath house. The water itself did not look that inviting and the place was a bit overcrowed despite being late in the evening. Having said that we had not really had excellent shower conditions in the last four days to add to our aching legs so we jumped in anyway. It was a good decision in the end as we were able to just stay still and recharge whilst downing the local brew. The highlight of the evening was when we witness a 50+ Brazillian lady sleezing on to this 20 year old peruvian boy. It reminded us of thailand in reverse.

Apart from the hotsprings, Aguas Caliente was fairly lowkey. Just a point for us to relax. It did have an abundance of restaurents for us to choose from though, all at rock bottom prices. We ended heading back to cusco by train and bus the next day where we hope to chill for a while.

Aguas Caliente-Relaxing after the Inca trail remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After the heaviest nights of rain we all awoke on time to the sound of our cook Chu Chu marshelling us for an early breaky. Once we ate and packed up for the final time, Carlos called for the final toilet break. Myself and walter opted for the natural setting, whilst the two ladies opted to walk to the main toilet blocks. Whilst this did not seem to worry anyone at the beggining it turned out to be a bone of contention later on. Mainly as there was a big queue for the ladies which set us back about 15minutes behind the masses who were already queued at the final check point to make there where towards Macchu piccu. After a heated public discussion or should I say verbal spatt between the ladies and gents we settled into a walking rythym. Walter up front, followed by Isa, myself, then Harsh. It was quite funny in retrospect. The two couples who set out united on day one where now tackling the final decent ferociously as angry individuals.

The concerntration of trekkers was the most on this day as everyone wanted to reach the sungate before sunrise to get there first peak of Machu picchu from a arial standpoint. Walter and my self reached first. By now the toilet issue was a distant memory, it was impossible to simply take a gawk at the acient city with out waiting for Harshu. So I stayed back of the sungates edge waiting for Harsh who arrived about 10 minutes behind. However my chivalrous abstaining effort was lost on her as she rushed straight passed me with excitement to the edge and took a look at the pinnacle of acient archeolical inca sites before me. It was a special moment, fourdays of walking and the end was only within an hour away and visually attainable.

After a few classic postcard shots we ventured down towards Machu picchu united. Unfortunately the wheather gods had not shined on us. It was still extremely gloomy with spurts of torrential rain. When we reached the acient city Carlos decided to wait about an 30 minutes before starting our tour to let the wheather pass and the people to subside. Once we began our two hour tour of the Macchu picchu it was quickly evident just how skilled and calculated the Inca´s were as people. The town its self was subdived into different areas eg The noble people, the religouse and the plebs offcourse. The buildings stone work differed depending on these areas as well. It was amazing to think that all those building materials was transported to erect this site on the mountain so long ago without the aid of modern machinery. The only drawback was the whether on the day as we only had glimpses of clear visibilty. However when the whether did clear up it was spectacular. In honesty you probably needed more than two hours there to really take it in and learn more about the civilisation. I think By the time we reached there we were more happy that we had completed the trek.

Both Harsh an my self aggreed that more than the actual site and destination of Machu picchu it was the emotional and physical ups and downs the journey that we will remember the most.

The Inca Trail-Day 4 remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We started our trek at 6.30ish with about an hour and a bit of climbing straight up. We continued up and over the mountain, with again a 40 minutes descent before coming upon to the first ¨archeological Inca Site¨ , this one on the edge looking out over the valley. Its called ***** . Our guide Carlos was telling us how it was the most important archeological Inca site. He said the same thing when saw the first look out point on DAY1. Infact it was at this point that Walter, Isa, Anthony and my self started to chuckle. Mainly because of the amount of times Carlos used the term ' Archeological Inca Site'. If we got a dollar from Carlos every time he used this phrase we would have all done the trek free. In all seriousness but we loved his enthusiasm and passion for his role. I also loved walking through the look out point and enjoying the view. After staying there for about 10-15 mins and taking in the view we started walking again a little steep it wasn´t as bad though. I was struggling on day 2 by now but not today. The incline wasn’t as bad. I was still sore from the day2 slip but it was all good. We were at about 3800ms above sea level. At this point we could notice a change vegetation, the flora and fauna. We could notice this, when Walter was taking even more pictures than the first two days(he he). I think after climbing another steep mountain we passed two other important archeological Inca sites Sayacmarca and Phuyupatamarca . By the end of the third site we were at 3600m above sea level. We could also enjoy the view of Urubumba ( U-R-U-B-U-M-B-A as Carlos EXCLAIMED !!!!) river and by 4.30pm we got to the camp site, Winaywayna.

We got to winaywayna and our campsite was a little away from the main camp area which was a god send as we were away from the noise. The place was pretty weird. I was pretty surprised as the restaurant sold beer, and different types of alcohol. I heard that there was night club in there as well, however this turned out to be more like a high school cafeteria. I cant quite understand why you would want to drink too much on the eve of reaching machu picchu though.

Before dinner Anthony and I ventured to the main camp area, Anthony took advantage of the first sight with hot showers in three days. We struggled back hand in hand with a flat batteried torch in the dark, awaiding spiders only to return to yet another great last supper.
After the meals It was time to give the porters their tip. Hopefully they were happy with what they got.I am sure they deserved much more for what they do. I wish I had the more cash on hand to tip them heavily. I feel for Daniel 18, it was his first trek carrying 25kg . I hope the others gave him an equal share.
After giving the tips and taking pictures with our porter friends, Carlos told us that we have an early start at 4.00 AM. So we returned to our respective tents just after 8.00pm. I fell asleep as I hit the bed.I could still hear the powerful gush of Urubamba river which was pretty far away but it felt like that we had camped right on the bank of the river.

In a wrap it was a great day climbing up and down the steep mountains and looking at the many 'Archeological inca sites and Urubamba river and hearing its powerful rush. Really looking forward to tommorrow we will be in machupicchu tomorrow. Cant belive that the four days went so quickly.

The Inca Trail-Day 3 remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After an early morning wake up call at 5.30am with coco tea given to us in bed we got ready by 6.00 for breakfast. I took a lil while to get up as usual and Anth had to wake me up again. We got ready for breakfast and man was the breakfast good or what. It was great. We started off with Porridge, then had pancakes and offcourse cocatea and coffee. The meals have been so good. Its amazing how the porters are able to get all this ready so early in the morning and it is delicious.

After a great breakfast I was ready to go back to bed. I was dreading the DAY2 of the trail as everyone had been saying that it is very difficult. Our guide Carlos told us to take it slow and steady on the trek today as it can be very tiring and we were walking a total of 11kms with over a 1200 meter ascent. Isabella and I were already scared. But we started on a note SLOW n STEADY. Again the view of monstorous massive mountains was just breathtaking but today we did not really ease into the climb. The Ascent began straight away from our camp site. Unlike yesterday the climbing bursts were longer, not just a couple of minutes at a time but atleast 10-15 minutes stints.

Harsh´s Account of Dead womans Pass

Despite the steep climb we made it to the first resting point with many stops in between at about 09.30am, whilst it was challenging it was managable. We had our snack there. Rested for a 10mins. From here Anthony and I agreed go alone at our own pace to the highest point of the entire trek, dead womans pass which was at 4200 m above sea level. I could not match his speed so I was walking with Isabella and Walter. We took several stops as Isabella and I were getting tired. We had to climb the steep steps all the way so it was getting more difficult with every step. Practicing One legged squats with Anthony at the gym was helping at first but not all the way. The first two stops were still managable but by the time we got to dead womans pass, I was struggling and thank god Walter was there, he was very helpful and at one point he had to help Isabella and me. Poor guy didnt have time to be tired for himself. He didnt complain though. On our way to the 1st check point I met a lot of people who I was passing by and some were passing me by. There were a couple of them who had there whole backpacks and climbing the stairs. I dont know how they did that. I was carrying a a little day pack and I was nearly dying. We finally got to the first check point at 4200m above the sea level. I was nearly dead. I went looking for Anthony but he was no where to be found. So we figured that he went all the way as he wouldnt wana cool down. We took some photos and rested and I met up with some poeple who I met on the way who made there way at the top before me. They were all boys so I didnt feel that bad that they had passed us.
After getting to the ****** point, all we had to do is climb down to the othe rside of the mountain. So I thought it was going to be easy so I was relaxed. But After the 10 mins I realised it was even more difficult climbing down the uneven steps. It had just rained and got very cold. The had got wet because of the rain and now it was even worse. I was so careful in climbing down each step and there were porters who were carrying about 20-25 kgs were just running down the stairs as if they were running on the dry flat land.
I was thinking of that and I dont know what happened I slipped one of the rocks.Oouuch !! That hurt so bad, the right side of my bum was so much in pain. Thank God Walter and Isabella were there who helped me, but i felt bad that because of me that there pace was slowed as well. Isabella was struggling as well but I dont think she was in pain as me.I told them couple of times to go further and not wait for me, but they wouldnt leave my sight. I am very thankful to them. We were a great team.We conquered the second campsite. We got to the check point at about 1.15pm. We saw Anthony was already waitng there resting on a rock, he had been there for 2 hours. Yep he had got there at 11.30am.
____________________________________________________________

Anthony´s Account of Deadwomans Pass

As Harsh mentioned we parted at about 09.30am after the first resting point. Whilst we started the Inca trail together, we both had different goals ahead of us and differing abilities. For Harsh, it was to complete this monumental climb. For me it was to push my body to the limit in high altitude and see how fast I could complete day two. Many people we spoke to said this day was the hardest and they were right. The First part of the day till 10.30 was much tougher than the day before as the climbing aspect was much longer. I thought that was going to be the toughes part of the day. I asked Carlos how much longer till the campsite when we got the morning snack sight. He replied about 1 Hour. At this point I thought I would go ahead as he would be with Harsh and it was only an Hour. I took off uphill with the aid of Harsh´s Ipod. This helped alot as the music playing in my ear was the same as the round the block runs along east boundary rd. However what started off as supposed to be an hour solo effort turned out to be about double that. As I neared Dead womans pass, my legs started to fatigue slightly, the sheer site of the top although welcoming was daunting. My heart rate peaked at about 170 as I did not stop for more than a few seconds along the way. There was alot of tired looking people along the way who had set off long before us. I must say it was impressive to see so many older people, some nearing their sixties.

Reaching the top was quite a relief as it meant it was all down hill from here. I did not stop too much at the top as I did not want to cool down. It was actually harder doing this trail with big breaks in between as you would have to warm up again. With that in mind I tried to emulate the porters and run down the mountain. This was a lot of fun and I was so glad that I had purchased a pair of trekking shoes with vibrim grip(thanks Yogus). Even though there was a bit of dampness my traction was solid. Even though the grip was good there was an awful lot of steps down. Very narrow and with a large depth. It helped having smaller feet and a low center of gravity. About an hour and a half into the second part of the day I was beggining to think Carlos was having me on again as even though I appeared to be going faster than the majority of trekkers he told me it was only going to take an hour. I actually thought I had taken a wrong turn as there was no other people in sight for awhile. Just me and the Ipod. But I soon was reassured when I saw the bright tents in the distant valley beneath me. I eventually reached the camp site about 11.25am about 15 minutes before our porters so I knew that I had got here in good time. I felt quite satisfied at first and begin to relax as I had the whole day to rest up for tomorrow.

My Relaxation however, turned to anxiety when Carlos arrived at about 12.30 with out Harsh,walter and Isa. I left thinking Carlos would be there with them. He assured me they were only about 20 minutes behind. I began to rethink my decision of leaving Harsh behind and began wondering whether the climb had been too much for her as each minute went by. Eventually though She arrived at about 1.30pm. I was really proud of her effort. I had mixed feeelngs about not being there during her struggle at the same time was happy we both achieved our individual goals.

Back to Harsh´s account
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By the time we got to the campsite the porters were there offcourse, and had the lunch ready. I missed out on the 3 course lunch but loved the soup. Took a great nap in the till 5.30pm and was woken up for tea. Had nice caramel crackers, popcorn and tea and coffee.
Dinner was ready at 7.15pm, had another great meal offcourse a 3 course meal. Had a great soup, and a nice stuffed chicken roll. With rice and salad and dessert. We finished dinner and got invited to the couple´s tent, didnt talk for long as we were so tired we went to sleep before 9am. Had an early start at 6.30am.
All in all had a great day. Was a very difficult trek but I am so proud that I finished the most difficult day of the trek.Thanks to Walter and Isabella for helping me when I was hurt and didnt worry about themselves and took it at my own pace. I am looking forward to tommorrow, it is assumed to be easy.

Inca Trail-Day 2 remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Many questions would be asked of our fitness and stamina along this journey not to mention a test of each other´s patience. Could Shetty´s heart and knees with stand the altitude and steep climb of dead womans pass? Could I encounter 4 days in the wilderness without hot water and a decent toilet? Would we end up being irratable due to the close proximity and being out of our comfort zone? Would Machu picchu live up to the hype?

Well all of those questions were surely answered along the course of the four days.

Day 1

After a 7am Pick up we made the bus trip to Ollantaytambo along with Carlos our infectious guide, Walter and Isabel our fellow group members and new friends from Austria and the five porters/cook( Chu Chu,Rohillio,Quan,Daniel and Alexendrio).

We grabbed a quick bite to eat along with snacks,poncho and Walking sticks,wet ones and set off for kilometer 82 where the trail began.

Carlos assured us the day was going to be moderate, (Amigo´s 70% flat and 30% climbing). After a few happy snaps of the group we got straight into an incline and my heart rate was already over 150 and beginning to questions Carlos´s oveview already. However as soon as we reached the first Zig Zag the trail flattened out and we were all able to breath easier. Harsh and Isabel seemed to Gel together from the onset and were walking at similar pace from the start. This helped ease both their anxiety as they were worried about lagging behind before we started. Myself and Walter headed up front at a relaxed pace whilst Carlos switched his attention evenly between the girls and us before the first break.

Speaking of the first break it came within 1 hour 20 minutes of the start although the group stopped for pics and breathers in between as well. Immediately as we sat down it started to rain quite heavily and we were thankful for the 3 soles investment in plastic ponchos. Although we looked like dicks it served its pupose.

After the short break we headed for XXXXXX the first of the Archeological Inka Sights we were to see enroute. We did not actually visit this sight but viewed it from above in panarama.

By Noonish we stopped at our lunch site, the first think we noticed was the state of the toilets. Well let me just say I thought Indian trains were bad. Well they are but these rivalled them. I though to myself I aint going to eat for the next 4 days. However that thought was soon quashed when I laid eyes on the amazing three couse meal our cook and helpers had prepared from scratch, Garlic bread,soup,Grilled Chicken,rice, Veggies the works. What was more amazing was that these guys set off afte us with18-25Kilos of equipment and luggage on their back but had managed to set up a dining tent and prepare the meals for us. Lucky they set up the tent as it was by now bucketing down with rain. I wished we could have just slept the night then in that tent.

Unfortunately we set off again after Lunch for a further 2hours for our night camp site, xxxxxxx. Towards the end of day one we began to feel the pinch slightly as the inclines to the camp site was steep and after 5-6 hours walking we could have done without a tough finish. However what we did this day would mean we did no have to do the day after.

Our camp site xxxxxx was great. We had fantastic view and were away from the masses of other groups who were also at the site. We had our own toilets which I thought was favourable at first but changed my mind when I realised the flush did not work. Well looks like no dinner fo me again.

However once again Chu Chu our cook made that impossible to stick by preparing pop corn and cookies for afternoon tea followed by amazing freshly cought fish for dinner. One can get used to this type of camping(Someone to cook, someone to set up your tent)

After dinner we sipped on a few Cervesa´s that we purchased from a local boy who stalked us at the camp site. The four of us in the group decided to get to know each other better and chatted till late in our tent. It seemed Walter and Isabel also noticed the flush problem and we spent the best of the evening on potty talk, which was weird andstrange conversation with people we had just met. Hey but it was a good ice breaker. Well that was day one. Moderate like Carlito explained, Great food, good company, poor sanitory and great crew. Bring on Day two!!!

The Inca Trail to Machu Picchu-Day 1 remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We got to Puno at about 3.30pm. Originally we were going to stay a night in Puno but due to the strike in Lapaz and staying there for an extra night made it difficult as we had to come to Cusco before 19th.So once we got to Puno we made a decision of not staying in Puno and just taking the bus straight to Cusco.

At the bus station we met this guy who was I think working for the bus company and was showing us the way to get the bus that goes to Cusco. On the way he asked Anthony if we needed accommodation and booked us at a hotel in Cusco saying its the best option. We were going to get to Cusco at midnight so Anthony just booked the place as we were going to get a transfer from the bus terminal to the hotel. The bus ride was worse than the one to Puno. Crap roads and I think something was wrong with the bus, as it was bumpy even on good roads. So finally we got to Cusco at 12am. There was a man waiting for us so the anxiety of we paying a total stranger who we cant trace back if no one was at the Terminal went away.

The hotel was an absolute shocker but couldn’t really do anything about it as had already paid for that night. First thing in the morning we went hostel hunting.
Found a really nice place for the same price and it ended up one the same street where our Inca Trail tour operator’s office was located. So got our bags from the other hostel and checked into this new place.

After resting for a little while we went to the all trek office which looked a bit dodge at first. But Anthony met the girl he was in contact with via emails so it was all good. She educated us about the trip and the meeting with the guide and the rest of the group. There were only 2 other people another couple so we were very happy that it was very small group.

In the evening we went wandering in the city centre. Cusco is really clean and pretty. We went for dinner and had another great set menu meal which was 15 Solas and had nice balcony view of the Central Plaza. We can get used to the cheap set menu meals.

The next day we decided to do some sightseeing. We went to see this Jesuit church called la Compania. amazing place. This Church is a prominent structure on the main square and is said to be one of the beautiful structures of the Inca rulers palaces. This churh is known to the best examples of Baroque architecture in South America.It was built in the 16th century but was demolished by the earthquake in 1650 and was rebuilt again after 18 years.

Inside La Compañía de Jesús the golden altarpiece is decorated with wreathed columns, the whole thing is covered in 22c gold leaf. Different features of image of the Virgin and panel of transfigurations recognizing the the Flemish Jesuit Diego de la Puente.La Compañía possesses important works of art, including a picture of Saint Ignatius de Loyola by the local painter Marcos Zapata, and a Crucifixion by Cristo de Burgos near the main altar.

The paintings to either side of the entrance, which depict the marriages of Saint Ignatius's nephews. One of these especially exemplifies Peru's mestizo character, depicting the granddaughter of Manco Inca marrying the man who captured the last Incan leader, Tupac Amaru.

After admiring the church for a good couple of hours it was nearly time for our meeting with our tour guide and the couple. We got there at 7pm. Met our tour guide Carlos. He seems like a nice guy. He spoke to us for a little while as we were waitng for the other couple. They finally arrived, an Austrian couple the guy was Walter and girl Isabella. They seem nice. Isabella had lived in India for two years a while ago so seemed very excited to know me. I felt excited as well as she was very positive about the experience. After the initial introduction Carlos briefed us about the Trail.

After the meeting we got a massage from one of the people who were stalking us and I suppose every tourist around the plaza. It was so good. I think it was a good idea to get a massage before the trail.

OMG we start the INCA TRAIL tommorrow. I am so anxious and scared. If I don’t make it alive please tell my mother I love her very very much !

Way to Cuzco remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Thankfully no strike today, the only delay was when we had to get off the bus to pay our entry to Copacabana. It was quite funny as we had to get off the bus and get a boat to get to the other side of the land, Whilst our bus floated away with baggage on the roof on a floating barge. Our bus beat us across to the other side as the boat had issues and went at literally 1 K an hour.

On arrival to Copacabana we took another one and half hour boat ride to the Isle De Sol, meaning island of the sun. We found our way to the correct habour thanks to Ricky a Local Guide who was accompanying two girls from Norway who were also on our bus.
Once we arrived at the habour we were supposed meet up with harviar the hotel owner who had promised to carry our luggage up the 200+ step Inka stone Stairway that greeted you when landing on the island. Instead we were met by a swarm of local kids trying to offer us guide and bag carrying services. We could not stoop to allow a 10 year old kid to carry our 15kilo luggage uphill for 30minutes Although it was tempting after we started reached 10 steps up. We were both determind to make it all the way but gave in after 20 steps when two older adolescent boys offered to help for 15 bolivianos($4) which was a much better than the 50 boliviano’s the little kids offered. Thankgod we gave in when we did because after the 200 steps it was another 25 Minutes up hill to our hotel Inti Kala. We almost stopped off and checked in to a few hostels lower on the hill of Yumani. However, all the pain of walking up the hill was soon forgotten when we reached the summit and laid eyes on the view that greeted us from our hotel balcony. It was nothing shot of amafuc#ingzing!!!! Imagine lush green hills with inca stone work laid amidst them, continuing downwards to the most prestine blue lake which was as large as the ocean. Beyond it´s horizon was Peru and its own hilly backdrop. WOW!!
We simply sat on the balcony and enjoyed a welcome drink with our feet up for the first hour we were there.

Initially we intended to trek to the other side of the island but could not go past this magnificent view. Funnily enough, Ricky and the girls from Norway also checked into the same hotel but they had got off earlier on the boat trip and made thereway on a different path.

Later on in the evening we made our way to a higher point of the Island to enjoy the breathtaking Sunset. It was beautiful, as delightful as the three dancing kids we saw on the mountain top. Well actually it was more delightful than them as one of the girls we gave a few bolivianoes to take pictures of turned Ferrell when we gave an extra boliviano to her friend. Yes this seven year old kid literally followed and pested Harsh for about 10 minutes straight. Shetty’s lude experlatives could not even deter this little runt’s persistence as she continued to hound Harsh for more cash unpeturbed. But not even she could take away from the breath taking scenery from the top of the island and our dinner table where we devowed the islands finest Truche(trout). The best part of the night was ears dropping on Ricky the Guide of the Noreagan girls from across the dinner table. Yes we got some great insight about Bolivian Culture and Customs from Ricky who chatted lated into the night with us. All guides Should as passionate as him.

Early next morning I took off to the southern most part of the island to see the Inca ruins alone as Shetty rested. Whilst the site was quite impressive, not having a guide with me meant Idid not get the whole picture and story behind it. Never the less it was a good mini excursion.

I wish we had more time here as there was more to see on the North end but we were pressed for time and made the tough journey back to the harbour with our backpacks to catch the boat at 10.30 after breaky on Wednesday.

Isla Del Sol remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After all that walking we were beggining to feel a bit peckish and was hell bent on sampling one of these hole in the wall restaurents that I was reading about. So sampled the set menu at Laza´s. Ordering was a bit awkward as our spanish is non existant as was the waiters english. In the end i just aggreed to every thing the waiter suggested but ensured shetty got no beef. The quality of cusine was average, Shetty´s chicken was a simple boiled chook in broth and mine was a palatable beef with egg and rice. Hey but we could not complain we got a salad,three mains and dessert for under $5 AUD in total.

I think we will stick to the more reputable restaurents from now. In fact later in that afternoon after sights seeing the main plaza which looked like a scene from mary poppins(tuppence tuppence ) we dined at large family restaurent in the city that served up fantastic desserts and pretty good burgers and mains. Shetty was in her element with all the disney characters around. The kids had to fight her off for a photo.

We sampled another of La paz´s famous night spots in the late evening called Mongo´s, we had walked passed this joint the night before and it was dead. Not so this night. It was saturday night and the venue filled up quite quickly. We were joint on our table by a Estonion guy who resides in La Paz who to us his profession was selling drugs. I was not sure if he was a pharmacist at first but when he told us to join him at a bar that sells Cocaine from the menu I figured out what he meant. The music was a mix of western and latin. We were keen to hit the floor to emulate the moves of the sexy couple we saw at Ram Jams. However, it was not as easy as it looked. At 3600 meters above sea level we found our silky smooth moves had deserted, my legs were like logs, even the ever rhythmic Shetty was off beat.

CHACALTIYA AND MOON VALLEY

The next morning on the Sunday we set off for Chacaltiya take two. After an early start we drove off into the mountains enroute witnessed some remarkable views of La Paz. Simply Breathtaking, we were literally driving in the amidst the clouds. We were joined by a mix of travellers from Holland, Argentina and Brazil of differing ages. I will not comment more on the scenery I will let you see for yourself in the Pictures.

When we reached base camp of Chacaltiya which was 5300 meters above Sea Level we began to feel the breathing getting more difficult, to add to that we then climbed a further few hundred meters to reach the summit.

My recently purchased timberlands were serving me well as we tackled the snow capped rocky terrain. Shetty did well to reach the first pinnacle slowly but surely and watched as I ventured to the second summit at 5421 meters above sea level. Too easy managed to do twenty push ups at the top, with out breaking a sweat.

Well the funny thing was I only felt the pinch on the decent. My head was cavin in, maybe the push ups were not a good idea.

After a quick Coca tea at he summit we spiralled down back to La Paz city and then Valle De La Luna(moon Valley) situated in a rich resentendial area south of La paz. The place was once a lake many years ago and has eroded into a sandstone glacier that appears like the Moons surface hence the name. It was strange walking around this place that looked more at home on the set of appollo 11 than in the middle of snow capped La Paz.

Leaving La Paz Dress Rehershal

On The Monday Morning we woke up early for our 7.30am Bus ride to Copacabana, Lake titicaca. After travelling around in the coach for an hour picking all the other tourists the bus headed off north west towards our destination. About a further 40 minutes into our journey, the bus ran into what we thought was routine monday morning traffic jams. The bus was seemingly trying to cross a bridge but had to reverse as there was some bolders barracading the entry. Our bus and all the other cars reveresed and tried to cross this town using other paths but each time we attmepted there was a similar result, Reversing back due to blockage. It turned out the blockage of bolders was not natural, it was the people protesting about rising cost of coach prices and as a result they were not allowing any vehical pass through the town. Our driver attempted many other smaller paths that had no right having a large bus on them but all to no avail.

Eventually we were informed in Espanol that we had to return back to La Paz and resume the journey the next day. La Paz Manyana thats all we understood.

This was not all that bad as it meant we returned to our comfy hotel Esterelle Adina, Harsh got to do more shopping at the markets and by more winter goodies at dirt cheap prices, We both got to eat at our favourite restaurent in La Paz - Alo Cubana on Calle Sagarnaga and i got to try a spinning Class at High Altitude at the the Strong GYM.

Yes I did say spinning at 3600 meter altitude, it was myself the instructor and another only another two idiots game to try this class. I was F&cked by the 5 minute mark, infact my heart rate monitor read 170 when I rand down the hotel stairs on the way to the gym. So you can imagine the work rate when attempting the class. but eventually I was glad i completed the 60 Minute class that seemed like an eternaty. I eve managed to sneak in a few clean and jerks and T-bar rows whilst being inspired by the posters of Arnie, Coleman and my favourite Mr Shawn Ray.

Well fingers crossed our bus gets to reach Lake Titicaca tommorrow morning.

Spinning heights of La Paz remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The death train we all were so looking forward to it, all the things we had heard about it, were so anxiuos. But first we had to cross the border and get into Bolivia. On our way our tour leader Rani told us that our train was preponed from departing at 7.30 pm to 4.30pm.We gota bit tense as we were still on our way and it was about 3pm and still not crossed borders. We were a bit anxiuos of how long it would take as Lily and Mark didnt have there visas for entry into Bolivia (our tour leader had said they can sort it out once they got tot the border), and offcourse me with my dramas with me and my passport.

We got to the border at about 3.15pm and Mark and Lily were waiting anxiously to see what happens with the visas. The rest of group is travelling with either British or Aussie passport so they didnt have issues. I have not seen border crossing like this, Paraguai is still the winner. There were two men and a computer next to one them who took the passport details down. He took these details down with the latest technology ie on his note book. Yes he wrote it down in a scrap book, by drawing colums for name , passport no etc with his pen and ruler. We all were so surprised seeing that.

I was just after Anthony in queque he got cleared as usual. And then it was my turn. Offcourse what did you think that I had a visa so I wont have dramas ? nnnnnnnooooooooooooo !! First this guy looks at my passport he sees the cover saying India and his eyebrow raised and he went Indian hhhmmmmm......
Then my passport was circulated between 5 officials who couldnt speak English and I was trying to tell them that I already have a visa for Bolivia. One of them pretended that he understood what I was saying and after I finished talking he goes pay $35 US. Now Anthony was getting a bit impatient and anxious and was giving me instructions to show them the visa. After about 10 minutes of running around after these guys, I bumped into this other man who was sitting in the higher official´s office. HE could speak a bit of english so he translated what i had to say to the others. Then they had another doubt I have an Indian passport and I got my visa from Sydney why? It was funny seeing how this guy was helping me to tell these officials of what was going on. Anyway after 15minutes everything was all good and I was given an entry in to Bolivia.

By now Mark was getting really frustrated that they were no where near getting a visa,it was 4pm by then and our train was at 4.30pm. At about 4.10pm our tour leader told us that Mark and Lily were going to wait atthe border to get the visas. And we made our way to the death train.

The train seemed alright. We had comfortable seats. The only 2 things that were not great was very bad food and bumps. We had not eaten for over 14 hours thanks to our tour leader and then the only option we had was beef and the train was ssoooo slllllooooooowwwwww. I still cant figure out how can a train be so bumpy on tracks.

We got to Santa Cruz at 9ish and made our way to the hotel. The hotel was good. Again good accomodation.

After resting for a little while we went for a walk and get some lunch . I must say the lunch we had one of the best lunches we have had in S.A. and great value for money.

As it was our last night with our all of us went together for dinner. Anthony and I shared a barbecued llama. After a great meal and some crazy mojitos and dacquries, everyone wondered where to hit it next.

We were in bolivia the people from the group were expecting to hear some Bolivian music but instead our tour leader took us an Irish Pub. Disappointed with the choice Anthony, Sarah and myself decided to leave. On our way back had some great ice cream. Chatting till 11pm we called it a night as had to catch a flight to come to Lapaz.

The next day Anthony before breakfast Anthony did a work out in the gym in the hotel. The gym reminded me of the gym at browns rd but only more equipment.

At 11am our group came to see us off in the lobby. It was a bit emotional to part from the guys and wish if they had come to the airport and taken the same flight as in the original itinerary but things changed for them and instead of Lapaz they were taking flight to Sucrri.

The flight to Lapaz was cool. Just like the border clearance another experience at checkin. We were passing the security to board the flight and suddenly Anthony remembered he had a bottle of vodka in his backpack and a small bottle of Casacha. We were anxious as we thought we will have to leave the 3.4 full bottle of vodka but like the Paraguai border passing, Anthony was allowed to board the flight that bottle. No questions asked. yyyyeeeaaahhh !!!

We had a guy waiting for us at the airport who drove us to our hotel called Rosario. He was nice enough to stop on the highway for us to be able to take a couple of pics of the beautiful ciew of the city.

Didnt do too much on the day apart from checkin to our nice hotel Rosario as I was feeling sick probably because of the altitude change we were 3600m above the sea level. We didnt panick about my sickness as such as we expected that.

We had a great lunch at a Thai restaurant which offered Thai, Indian and Japanese food. I got a Indian chicken masala and Anthony got a Thai grilled Trout with Hindi music was playing in the background.Anthony almost danced to the tunes as it was from a Shah Rukh movie.

I was stuffed in the evening and pretty much slept through the evening. At 10 Anthony went and got a pizza for dinner. Called it a night.

The next day I was feeling a bit better. After a good breakfast we checked out of our hotel and checked into a hostel next door (Esterelle Andina) as the accomodation was half price here with an absolutley amazing view and bright feature walls.

We ventured around the city and the little streets of Lapaz throughout the whole afternoon and had lunch at this Cuban restaurant.The meal was aaammmaaazzziiiinnggg !

We walked through the crazy shopping mini alleys around the different plazas. Didnt really buy anything except I got a very flashy pair of yellow sunnies. Couldnt resist them.

Man the city is so beautiful, I am sure the people are very nice too, however the hunkameter has not registered in Lapaz or Bolivia for that matter yet.

At night we went to this place called ram jam a salsa night club. It was highly recommended so got there all excited. The place was dead. May be because we got there at 10 so shared a decent meal there. At about 11pm it did start to get bit busy and people got on the floor. And then the band started at about 11.45 and the locals tore up the dance floor, especially this latin version of Usher and his seductive partner. We left the place at about 1am and got back the hostel at 1.30.
So far so good .

I am looking forward to stay in Lapaz it looks really nice !!

Border crossing bolivia, Santa Cruz and Lapaz remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The Pantanal a tropical wetland in Brazil was famous for its wildlife which included Caiman, Capybara and to a lesser extend Jaguaarrrr. It was also known for it´s tenacious Mozi´s. So we lathered on the Bushman´s Deet hoped off the bus for our lunch stop which was 40 minutes away from our farm accomodation. Shetty was not impressed as there was only beef on the menu a trend which continued for the next two days. After Lunch we hopped on a safari truck with out local guide Diago and the rest of the group and headed for the Farm. This was comical as we changed Trucks three times Luggage and all in stiffling humidity before we moved an inch on the road.

Actually I still to this day don´t no why. I hope this was not a taste of things to come. Thankfully it was not.

The accomodation was basic, infact we shared one giant shed in comfortable hammocks with the rest of the 14 people in our group. Although this does not sound all that flash it was not that bad at all except for the communal bathrooms fitted with insects and Frogs. I did say it was basic.

The first activity we undertook on the day we reached there was a 1hour walk into the lush wetlands of the pantanal.

Whilst it was no African safari we did get frightfully close to lots of Caiman a member of the Aligator family. One whould say too close. Suprisingly they were quite passive and did not seem to phased we were invading their personal space.

Infact the Wasps were more threathening and managed to Ping 4 members of our group in the buttocks, which I think would not have been good for first activity the following day-Horseriding.

The next morning after a suprisingly good rest in the hammocks despite having no fan or AC and after the worst breakfast I have ever had-Dry Bread and dry cake, we set off for a two hour horse ride. I must have got a pregnant donkey as it refused to move and respond to my kicks and was atleast 10meters behind for half the ride.

Only after Max our other local guide handed me a Whip like branch did it start to catch up to the rest of the trail group.

Harsh on the other hand was doing exceptionally well with her noble steed, too well infact as her horse Patchy got bitten by another trying to overtake too many times.

Overall the ride was fun, we saw lots of Capybara and different types of birds [Sarath would have loved it] but no illusive Jaguarrr. My respect goes out to all the jockeys and cowbows as it was tough work when the Horse started to trot let alone gallop. Mind you hanging onto a video camera, still cam and backpack did not help my cause either.

After Lunch and a snooze we set off for what was the most exciting part of the whole trip. Piranha fishing.
Yes I did say Piranha Fishing. Once again we hoped on our safari truck, this time no comedic transfers and travelled for 45 minutes to this remote riverrrr. The climate had changed drastically thanks to a spurt of tropical rain and was pleasantly about 10 degrees cooler than the day before.

We reluctanly hopped off the truck and ventured through lush green vegetation deep into the Pantanal, on our way we passed a smaller creek which was guarded by Caiman, I was hoping we did not stop there, thank god we did not. Diago and Max had other plans, we penetrated the forest more into a larger lake. However We were wondering where the fishing boat or the pier was, to our dismay Diago Pointed in the direction of river signalling us to submerge ourselves waist deep in the river which was infested with Piranha , Caiman and Many other creatures unbeknown to us. Reluctanlty the group tip toes into the river which was filled with leafy vegetation on its surface and gooey,slushy murcky mud at its base. The Filling on our feet was something I had not felt before. I w were in a beauty salon we would have paid big money for this natural mud solution but as we could not see what was under us we felt quite squirmish.

After the intial fear of entering the water we were fine although we did stay very close to one and other when we were surrounded by Caiman in front of us and behind us. Diago managed to put our mind at ease explaining that we were too big for them to attack and they did not bother humans unless they threathened a nest or provoked them. All the same it was a bit nervy being with 5 meters of a member of the alligator family in the water and not knowing where they were when they went under water. All ¡n al though we had a fantastic time piranha fishing despite having creepy crawlies surrounding us in the eater, Katrina the norwigien girl was the first one in our group to catch Piranha, she seemed to do it with ease by simply throwing in the bate then yanking the line and up came these ugly looking terrors of the river. Infact she caught about three in quick succession so too did most of the group some even catching about 4 each. It seemed like they were trowing a line into a bucket, even Sarah and Lily who feared getting into the water the most got lucking close to the bank. So your probably wandering how many did De Silva and Shetty manage to snare between them, well not 4, not 5, not 10 i think the corrosponding word in spanish for what we caught was ´Nada´´. That´s right sweet Fu&ck all. The rest of the group caught about 15 piranha and we contributed with nothing just a few unfruitful bites and poses for happy snaps.

Luckily later that night the group was unselfish and let us eat three fish between us despite not cathing anything. Boy it taste good, Harsh was finally able to eat something else in the pantanal other than beans and rice.

We left the Pantanal the following morning after a 2 hour walk, all in all it was a good destination. The highlight being the Piranha fishing and the close proximity to the Caiman and the horse riding. Unfortunately no Jaguuaaarrr!!!

Pantanal remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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The activity for the next day was to go shopping in Paraguai, yes Paraguai. I didnt have a visa to go there so offcourseI couldnt go. And so I was looking for other things to do. But in the morning our guide Antonio the same guide from the Falls told us not to worry. He said I could still go as it wasnt as strict for people to get in and out. I wasnt sure if I wanted to take a risk and get in trouble as I have had enough drama with my visas. But there were some other people in the group travelling with a Chinese passport Mark and Lily ie; said that they will join me too. I was a bit anxious we checked out of our hotel and got in this mini van to go shopping.

I have never seen border crossing like Paraguai. No passport checked, no id,nothing we didnt even stop.Our tour guide just told us `` Okay this river is the border and you are in Paraguai now.`` All of us were pretty amazed at this border crossing. We got even more excited about the shopping.

The shopping experience wasnt great. There was a small shopping centre with electronic shops spread all around 3 floors of the centre. on the streets there were people selling socks, handbags, electric shavers etc. Surprisingly they sold a lot of warm stuff like jackets, blankets, blankets and blankets. There was a stall selling blankets after every 2-3 stalls. There was one thing for sure you could bargain all you want.Anthony ended up buying a 32GB memory stick as that was the only thing we really needed. He was very proud of himself that he got a good bargain. He was offered the memory stick at 80 Real and he paid 55 Reals. And
he was suggessting other people from the group to go and buy it from the same place as he got it for so cheap. Mark and Lily our Chinese friends from the group and got the same memory stick for 45 Reals from the same face. Mark came out and told Anthony how much he paid for the same thing.I didnt have a camera in my hand to get Anthony?s reaction in pic.
But I am sure everyone who really knows him can figure that.

Honestly apart from that, I was bored and couldnt wait to get back to the hotel and start my journey to get to Bonito.

We left Paraguai at about 1pm. Our tour leader informed us that we will be leaving for Bonito at 10pm instead of 7pm.We werent happy about that as they wouldnt put us in our rooms till that time . So were prettymuch stuck in the hotel Lobby for 8 hours. And then got in this shitty mini van for a 12 hour bus ride. Anthony and I were pretty pissed with the whole thing. There will be a very strong feedback about this to our tour company GAP who had
sent us an email requesting a feedback for the trip.

Anyway so we finally left at 9pm and got to Bonito at 7am yesterday morning. We couldnt check into our rooms till 9.30 am.People were so tired and buggered that some of them slept on the floor in the lobby.
Didnt do anything other than sleeping and lying in the hammock the whole day. We had an amazing dinner at this place, cant remember the name now, but will update it later. The food was pretty amazing. We had 5 different types of fish and fried cayman, Yes Cayman. We had Cayman.OMG I didnt want to Anthony made me try it and I ended up liking it. It was the buffet system of all you can eat, like in the restrauant Copacabana on Chapel like people kept on bringing the different food till you say thats enough. We were stuffed after that meal. Had a couple of drinks with the group later in Taboa bar(popular among tourists) and
made our way back to the hostel.

Got up today at about 8.30 and after a shit breakfast waited for our guide to take us to Bonito.Our guide Nao (now), was really good. I think one of the better guides we have had. Was very informative and made sure we understood what was going to happen.

Oh I didnt tell anything about the place we were in. Bonito(the place we are at) means beautiful. Bonito is situated in Mato Grosso do Sul state, close to Pantanal- our next stop. It is one of the major attractions of this state. Lots of activities for such a small town. We could choose from visiting flooded and dry caves, waterfalls, lakes and rivers with lots of species of fish and other animals. But the best way to of experiencing the real beauty of Bonito was to go on an adventure tour. There are four rivers to the south of Bonito, each with there own different activites. The tour that we selected was called Rio da Prata where we could
snorkel in a protected area. This tour included our transportation, our gear, and a buffet lunch.

Being fitted for wet suit and snorkel mask we went on a 40 minutes flat hike and got to the first pond.


The water was so clear. The pond had a stony sandy bottom. Now it had hit me that I have to get in the water and float. In this first river we werent b allowed to touch our foot down in the river bed as it would have disturbed the some natural eco-system balance. We were specifically warned not even to kick our feet to swim. only gentle movements with our hands were permitted for adjusting our course and speed through the river. The Brazilian government has protected the snorkelling section of the river and only allows 150 people per day down the river for snorkelling in groups of about 9 people with a guide and under strict instructions. The wetsuits provided sufficient bouyancy for snorkelling down the river with minimal effort. Even then, I was very very very scared, firstly of drowning and then kicking in the shallow bottom.We enjoyed observing this marine eco-system and the gentle ride the river provided and several fast current during the course. The river ranged in depth from several feet to 5 meters, and had several natural springs along the river bed which looked like boiling water under the river bed.I had not heard the names of these brazialin fishes before but many resembled catfish and
trout.

We arrived at the second stop where the water current had got a bit quicker and the current was pushing us to a side, we navigated past
boulders and fallen trees . Soon it became quite exciting as our speed increased. We soon merged with the main branch of the river which is much wider and deeper and much scarier forme. Here scuba diving is possible when the water is clearer. The variety of the fish wassame but still very exciting.After swimming for about 10-15minutes the amount of fish started to reduce. So our guide started tapping the water in order to attract fishes´attention and suddenly he stopped. We wondered why did he stop as we could not see any fish. I looked at him and he was pointing to look on our right. And there it was a Cayman.

OH MY GOD ! Everyone else seemed pretty cool and excited. I was shitting myself (my fear of crocs kicked in and I started panicking) and then got yelled to be quite which didnt help. You cant really recognise it as it was sitting in between the broken branches and looked like a branch.It was an experience. We stayed at the point for about 10 minutes and continued. After that every branch on the side looked like a cayman and was shitting myself. At one point the current so fast for me that I was getting pushed to the side of the river and was getting scared that either will end up in the broken branches on the bank of the river and a cayman waiting for me or get panicky and drown in the 10 meter deep water.I was so scared that I clinged on this branch, like a monkey scared of falling in the water. Everyone else were gone except for Mark who was trying to pull me back in the water telling me its ok and he will swim with me. And there was Anthony trying to take footage. We got a piont where the water current has got just too fast. Here we had to get out of water a walk for about 10 minutes and then get a to a point where we could get back in the water.

This time the tour guide pulled me just next to Lily (the other girl who couldnt swim) and we snorkelled around him. The water by now had got colder and deeper. The variety of the fish didnt change much other than a couple, mainly we saw this big golden fish, and a couple of other big fishes. Surprisngly it wasnt as clear as the other rivers. We got a point where we saw the biggest water spring under water. The water wasnt too bad here just very deep.Everyone was very excited. Lily and I floated at the top while the other tried to dive closer to this huge water sring.Anthony was trying to take pictures of this spring. People gave up as the water was too deep and the wet suits were making it difficult for them to dive, we decided just to float and rest up a bit. Everyone was in a cluster as usual Anthony was trying to be away and trying to take shots from a distance. I had a eye on him but he was a bit far from me. And the rest of the group and I were just joking around and chatting. And I dont know why I just turned to look for Anthony and I could see him struggling for air. Apparently water went in his mouth piece and he sturggled to spit it out. I dont remember feeling this helpless or scared, I started screaming for help for him. It took a second for the others to realise it. But I must say our tour guide, Mark and Sarah went to help right away. It was all over and ok in a couple of seconds but felt like eternity. I thought at that moment, The first thing I am doing when I go back to Melbourne is take swimming lessons.

After staying for a little longer and making sure that Anthony was ok and handing the camera to Mark, we started on our way to the last point. After about 10 minutes of swimming Lily and I got in the help boat to make it to the final stop which was another 10 minute swim. But we had had enough.

Anthony and the other guys got to the last stop not long after and we made our way back to the hotel where a nice Mato Grosso style buffet lunch was ready. After a great lunch we finished half a basket of oranges amongst 4 people which we still are talking and laughing about, while Anthony was resting on a hammock under a big tree. We just made our way back to the hostel in Bonito at 6pm.
All in all we had a great day and an amazing experience of snorkelling in Rio da Prata.

I better get going as have to get ready for dinner.Anthony would have been
back from the gym. Yes he found a gym even in Bonito. We are leaving for Pantnal tommorrow. My gosh not looking forward to the mozzies.

Bonito remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After a tough but comfortable 24hour trip from Paraty to San paulo then to Foz de Iguzzu we arrived at our hotel(Hotel Del Rey)at about 9am on the 3rd of March. Thank god the hotel had airconditioning unlike the one in paraty. The initial plan was to visit the Brazillian side of the falls as we checked in but a few of our group members did not have their visa´s so we were delayed till 1.30pm. Antonio our local guide drove us to the Brazillian Side of the falls which were supposed to contain less of the geographic area of the falls than argentina´s side but it did provide the better overall panaramic view.

After being driven about 8k´s into the national park we began our descent into the path to gain a good vantage point of the falls. 275 falls to be exact spanning 2,7 ks long on the Iguazu river which seperates Argentina,Brazil and paraguai. The biggest individual fall, the Devil´s Throat is 82 meters in Height and we hoped to see it in all it´s splender this afternoon.

The afternoon sun was unrelenting, we were beginning to feel the effect of the doxycilin. The mozi´s were also present, yet none of this seemed to matter when we laid eyes on the first falls. There was a fight for the camera´s, each step we took gave us an even better view point. Just when we thought we took the perfect pic, there was even another better pick around the corner. I have truly never laid eyes on something so naturally spectacular in my life. The walk towards the Devils Throat was quite easily paced and not difficult and provided a great overview of the falls from a distance. Two thirds of the falls lay in Argentina, which was what we were observing from Brazil.

After many happy snaps we reached the Epicenter of the falls, The Devils Throat. The Vantage point was extremely close. There was a walk way that took us across and over the river which made you feel suspended right front and centre of the falls. The sound of the water gushing through was majestic. We Could Have sat there all day. If only there was not so many tourist and photographers. We managed to get some great shots and got drenched as well. Harsh played model for a day as a few random photographers seemed eager to take her bikini clad torso amidst the falling water-Haha she will kill me for writing that.

Like Chrsit the Redeemer the access points around the falls were equipped with Lifts and escalaters which gave everyone easy accessabilty to view the beauty of this true natural wonder.

The next morning after a good night sleep caused by 4 free caphinara´s we ventured to the Argentine side of the falls. Apparently there was more intimate viewing of the falls from this end.

The border crossing was much smoother than Chile to Argentina, it only took about 15minutes and they did not even check faces to passports. This day the plan was to be at the falls all day. We arrived a little after 9am and ventured through a 600meter trail to a mini railway line which took us up to the argentine side of the devils throat. The walk from the train stop was about 1km. It Crossed the Iguazu River and many smaller streams. It was hard to imagine that there was going to be a gushing, powerfulful waterfall at the end of the walk. Yesterday we had seen the falls from front and centre, today we would see it from the top end looking down at the free flowing descending water. As we got closer and closer to the vantage point, the noise got louder and and louder, Qwoaaaooossshhhhhh!!!!!! Thats our best attempt how to verbalise the sound. When you see the video you will understand.

The spray was even more than the Brazillian side and the brute force of the water was even more apparent from this vantage point. Words will not explain how powerful the flow was, I recommend coming here to view this natural wonder with your own eyes. Even though the platform was secure you felt a scense of fear as you could really imagine being swept way into the depths of this 82 meter drop. It was amazing to think that it generated so much force as the lead up trail displayed a calm river.

After the initial trail to the Devils throat we completed a few other trails that gave you views of many other smaller yet powerful waterfalls from a upper and lower vantage point. Harsh even managed to get a pic with some butterflies.The real excitement however was yet to come as we had a boat ride in the river to come in the afternoon.

The access point to the boat was reached by a open air safari truck, along with a zany Argentinian guide who spoke with the most thickest twanged accentand loved to over annuniciate words like Rivvvvvveeeerrrrr!!!! and Jaguaaaaarrrrr!!

We arrived at the boatramp not knowing what to expect, we had heard the boat gets pretty upclose and personal and judging by the people hopping off the boat that account was right as they seemed pretty wet.The operators provided us with waterproof backs for our camera´s and belongings. Harsh and my self quickly grabbed front row seats, which was now becoming a habbit on this trip. The lead up ride to the falls was calm, I was beggining to wonder why we needed the waterproof bags as it was pretty tame. The boat stopped about 75meters away from the falls and allowed us to take pictures, whilst we were close still no affect of spray. I was beggining to think this was a rip off for 60$AUD.


However, Just like the favela trip the best was yet to come. The Driver was just teasing us, The guide announced in spanish what I think was " put you camera´s away " he then put on his waterproof pants and top. Within a few seconds the boat made its way right under a smaller waterfall, this was extremely refreshing we got a great account of the power of one of the minor falls, we certainlay needed the waterproof bags. Wow we thought that was great. Thinking that was it we were just about to take the camera´s out for our return back, when the boat made it´s way back to the bigger waterfall, not the Devil´s throat but a fall about 65meters high with equally velocity of gushing water. The Driver gave us no time to think and went head first into the mouth of the fall. The Rappids before it made the boat bunny hop a bit and we had the best seat in the house being in the front. The feeling was amafuckinsing, We had both never felt anything like it as the boat went airborn into the crashing water. Lucky I had sunglasses on or else my Eyes would have been F%cked. Harsh unfortunately did not have her sunnys on and felt the wrath of the gushing Iguazzu river at full throtal in her face. This was a feeling that Everyone should experience atleast once their lives. As Bruce Macca´s would "how good was that!!!" it was Special. Not one part of our clothing was dry, we were drenched from head to toe and loved every minute of it.Whoooooooooooo! Loved loved it loved it loved it loved it loved it.

The rest of the afternoon myself and harsh got lost from the group as we were ambling along taking photo´s whilst the others were on their way back to the starting point. However, Lucio the other tour leader was also lagging back and we luckily met up with him and enjoyed the lower circuit of the falls together and we were literally the last people out of the falls at 6.40 pm. A fact that did not please Antonio and the rest of the group who had arrived an hour and 15 minute before us. But hey we were here only once and made the most of it.

In the evening both myself and harsh could not stop talking about this magnificant place and found are selves simultaneously mouthing the sounds of the water whilst trying to sleep. Quoaassshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! hey it was funny you had to be there.

Iguazu Falls remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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We left our hotel at 10 am and in a private coach and then a ferry to get to this island. At first didnt think too much of it. I think because we were on the pier it was loud and chaotic. It was a pretty hot day and the ferry ride had made me fall a bit sick. So all I wanted to do at that moment was to check into our hostel and relax. Our hostel called Pedacinho De Ceu was a pleasent surprise. Got a decent room with Air con THANK GOD ! It was a pretty cute place with a small strip of shops and restraunts around it. Didnt really do too much on the day other than relaxing.

Had an average dinner which took about close to 40 minutes to come out.

Anyway after an average dinner we made our way back to the hostel. Then Rani our tour leader told us about the choice of activities for the next day. Everyone agreed to go to on a hike for 2.5 hours to get to this beach called Lopes Mendes. This beach is known for its pure white sand and is one of the most popular beaches in Brasil.

So everyone is up and ready to rock to get to Lopes mendes. But I felt a bit sick I think it was because it was just too hot. Anyway I decided to can it and De Silva cracked it. But he did come to his senses and offered to stay back with me and leave later. So our group left at 10.30 am and I went back to sleep while Anthony updated the blog and pictures. Anyway he woke me up at 12 and I was feeling better . So we left for Lopes mendes. We decided to take a ferry instead of walking for for 2.5 hours. It was just way too hot to walk at that time.

We got to Lopes Mendes pier and from there we had to endure a short steep hike through the bushy path. We could hear the waves from a long a distance but due to the thick forest couldnt really see anything till we got there. Man we got there was it beautiful or what ! The sand was so white and soft like flour and made a funny noise when we walked on it. I was amazed at the clarity of the ocean. The beach had no jellyfish, no shell to cut your feet,no seaweed. It was so clean and white and blue, white cse of the clean sand and pale blue cse of the cleanest water.
The beach was so safe. At copa and Ipanema I was scared to be in the water, offcourse because it was cold but also the waves there were scary. But the water in lopes OMG was i think the best I have been in. It was perfect, pretty warmish, calm, clean.

The beach looked like the ones I have seen in Bollywood movies. It was the best we really didnt want to get out of the water. Anthony got a body board and made me glide on it. He knows I cant swim but still forced me and made me get on it. He pushed me on a biggish wave and watched me boady surf for a mili second and fall into the water and get panicky . Omg I nearly drowned and he was laughing. I think that was his revenge of me taking taking pictures of him spuing at Marcana.

We got back from Lopes Mendes and went out for Pizza. We had got used to it by now. The pizzas took about 45minutes to come out. After dinner Anthony wanted to have a crepe that he had seen at this place walking past in the evening. So we went to have dessert and ordered this place.I had realised one thing about this island that it was very laid back. I have never seen a slower crepe making man before this. Can you imagine waiting for 20 minutes for one banana choclate crepe, with all the ingredients being ready. He speaking in Portuguese with us even when he knew that we didnt know the language. Just trying to kill time. OMG ! it was funny in a way seeing this guy and how relaxed he was.

And after all this the crepe wasnt that good.

After the crepe we met up with our group. As we couldnt go out wwe decided to have some drinks in hostel. Anthony, Liz, Simon ran to the supermarket to get drinks. We played a wierd drinking game. Learnt to say ´´Your mum is á man´in Norwegian. Anthony and I taught the group a few dirty words in Sinhalese and Hindi. The night was great. We felt bad for Sarah who was trying to sleep in the next room and ended up reading the whole night. She didnt stop us thought which was very nice of her. After a couple of more wierd drinking games we had to call it a night as we had to leave the next day for Paraty.

All in all it was a great day and wish we get to visit more beaches like this.

Ilha grande remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Paraty is about 125 miles south of Rio, it is a very colonial looking little town.

We took a ferry to the bus stop and then a 2 hour bus ride along the lush green coast and ended up in Paraty about 2pm on the afternoon of the 28th Feb. Once again GAP had us in cosy accomodation located in the new part of town. You see the town has an historic area which has been there since the late 15 early 16th Century. It is a very endearing place with it´s cobble stone streets which doesn´t have access to vehicles, only horse drawn carriages.
Most of paraty´s appeal lies in the old part of town, with countless romantic little cafe´s, churches and an array of Cachaca liquor stores. The brazillian Sugar cane liquor is one of Paraty´s more famouse products. You would think you could get a cheap Caipirinha here but it is double the price of Rio, go figure.

After a much needed Nap I ventured to the towns beach alone as Harsh needed a few mor hours to rest offcourse, I was met with a fairly disappointing shore line compared to Lopez Mendez of ilha grande. However, there was character in the form of beach side bars with local music and water temperature of around 28 degrees in my approx. I even managed to sneak in a few reps at the dip and chin-up bar with a local young lad.

Both of us ventured out alone for dinner into the town centre, there was too much choice, we were lucky enough to be there for the towns birthday and were pleasantly surprised with a great fireworks display at about 9.30 pm. The town sqaure was full of locals who were obviouslt intoxicated on Cachaca, one street vendor was walking around with a normal home telephone as it was a mobile having an indepth converation with an imaginary friend, whilst another young lad was downing drink after drink screeming AIH!! AIH! AIH! AIH! to any one who would listen to him. Evry one was just loving life. We had a quick bite to eat where we shared a table with two Aussie blokes who were doing a world tour for a year, dinner was nothing to write home about except for the fact Harsh´s Pizza was about 8cm in diameter, well she should have known it did say mini pizza. Apart from that the most memorable moment was a palm tree branch falling 5 meters away from our dinner table and bi-secting two locals.

Luckily day two at paraty was much more Picturesque, we decided to decline the groups offer to take a bus to a beach 40 minutes away. Instead we opted for an Island hopping boat tour. This was a great decision. We visited 4 seperate islands within 5 hours, stopping off for about 45 mins in each. We had a simple seafood lunch on board, and were extremely cozy throught the day whilst we sailed the emerald waters aboard a comfortable scooner.

The two highlights of the tour was Harsh´s attempt at snorkling and meeting a young Brazillian family. Firstly lets talk about Harsh´s snorkling, C-O-M-E-D-Y! as George from seinfeld would say. Harsh was expecting to disembark the ship on a pier like we boarded. But the captain had other plans, at our first stop we had to jump into the water and simply explore the marine life. This was great for snorkling enthusiast like myself but for Harsh who struggles underwater in the bathtub it was somewhat dawnting. Credit to her she did take the plunge with a massive orange life jacket and did jump into 12 feet of water for the first time, she was feeling quite chuffed with herself until Luca and Amanda the 7 year old kids of the lovely brazillian family we met jumped over with no fuss whats so ever.

As mentioned the second highlight was meeting alexandria and her husband, they were convinced Harsh was Brazillian and the kids were fascinated at the fact we spoke English. I think that is one of the best things about travelling, you get to meet so many different people and learn about their from their own perspective.

After the tour we joined the group for dinner at a restaurent called Bohemia, there was hundreds of variations of Cachaca´s. The owner was a zany character who got pleasure out of serving us samples of cachaca from bizzare bottles that contained, Crabs, tarântula´s and snakes. You know us, we would never knock back a freebie so we tried them all. The food was great, I had to drag Harsh away from licking the bowl, as this was the closest dish that resemebled a curry since we got here.

We ended the night sampling icecream from a per kilo place. Thats right pay by the kilo for ice-cream. 200 grams set me back about 7 real.

Well we are just about to board a bus to san paulo enroute to iguazzu falls(24 hrs in total. I cant wait as I do love waterfalls and these are supposed to be sepectacular.

Sorry about the fact there are no pics, there is in issue with the PC here I will update the last 4 blogs with photos when i get to a proper PC.

Paraty remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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To give a bit of info, the statue of Christo is located at the peak of Corcovado mountain, in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. The Redeemer statue stands almost 40 metres tall ie about 130 feet and it weighs 700 tons. The statue was designed by local engineer Heitor Da Silva Costa and sculpted by a French monument sculptor Paul Landowski.

After taking like hundreds of pictures and adoring the statue for about 2 hours we saw some other amazing views from the top of the mountain of the Rio De Janerio. From this vantage point I could see Maracana Stadium, The Sugar Loaf Mountain well as many of Rio's beaches, including the popular Guanabara Bay, Copacabana Beach and Ipanema Beach.

I must say visiting and feeling the awe, seeing the statue is and will be one of the most amazing experiences I would have in my life. Definitely one of the highlights of this trip. I am sure Anthony feels the same.

Now have to make our way back to the hotel to check of Ipanema Palace and check into the new hotel where we start our trip to Bolivia. NOt sure whats it´s called? Better check.
Going to a Favella trip at 4 pm. Oooohh !! A bit anxious about that. Watching City of God before leaving OZ has added into the anxiety.

The Statue of Christ, the Redeemer remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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After the Christo we quickly checked out of apartment, Luckily no one had questioned the fact we had two extra people in the place so we managed to save a bit there. It was a mixed emotions splitting away from Wes and SA and the two irish lads who had managed to get accomodation in a hostel, whilst we checked into our new home in copa,Hotel Bandeirantes. On one hand we were excited about our GAP adventure to come but also felt we were beginning to Jell with everyone at the apartment. But hey we had one last outing to go, The organised Favela tour that Wes had booked off the street for about 30 real cheaper than other tours. Most of us were sceptical, especially the Irish lads, Andy and Steve who prefered the safer proven tour operator. Too late now we were picked up at our seperate hotels at about 4pm by a professional van, which was a good start, only the Van had a Dengue fever fumigation business name printed on it. Marcus Our guide explained the owner of the company also did fumigation as a side business. There was a sense of excitement mixed with fear as we ascended into the hills of Rocinha the largest Favela in Rio which Marcus told us housed over 300,000 people. The Fear was mainly caused by the mass media which only produces stories of Drug related killings and brutal crimes and offcourse watching city of God just before we came did not help either. The excitement was caused by the fact on the Vans Radio they were just counting the votes of the Samaba Parade we had attened a few days ago. It was quite amazing Marcus this robustly build tall black guy was fixated on the radio like a teenage girl awaiting the verdict of Australian idol.

Our First stop enroute was at a typical tourist craft market at the apex of the Hill, most of us were thinking is this just another tour similar to most countries where you get roped into buying gems and marble and all sorts of crafts because the driver gets a commission. I was thinking what the F%ck is this where are the gangsta´s, why is no one mugging me yet, I want my moneys worth. The view however was amazing, you could see the Christo, the lagoon and the beaches of Rio in one swoop. Marcus explained that many westerners pay big money to rent Favela houses just for the view alone. Speaking of views we then went on foot to a persons house in Rocinha. This place was quite amazing, picture three stories,marble staircases, TV in all rooms and a rooftop with 360 degree views of Rio.
This guy had paid 40,000 real for this place and was rejecting offers that were far in excess of 50,000 EUROS. I don´t blame he either as he charged 2 bucks for every foreigner that stepped into the house. And aparently he had had 120 people visit that day alone. Not bad for a days work.

It was a great overview of the whole favela, You could see every little house from this rooftop and hear all the sounds too. Infact we were fortunate enough to hear an amazing ROAR by the people in the valley beneath us, it was louder than the roar I heard when freeman won the gold in Sydney. We all were bemused at what was happening, amongst the people, Marcus rush to the TV. I should have known, they had just announced the winner of the Carnaval Samba parade. Salgueiro had pipped Beija-Flor by a point to take it out. This was the crowning moment for us so far in the trip. It was great to hear the real fans at grassroots level appreciate the winner.

Getting back to the construction of the houses, in the favela or Slums as they would call them in Mumbai or Sqautter camps back in Capetown. They were quite upmarket in comparison. No wooden planks, and make shift materials as they have in India or South africa, the main similarity was they were houses banked up on each other to house an influx of people into the city and maintained for political benefits. Some of the differences was this Favela, had Mcdonalds, Banks and Visa at most merchants within it. This was not what I was expecting, so far it was a very sugar coated tour, where was the fear. Finally, Marcus´s side kick, a local guy with a slight limp like Keyser Söze took us down some underground routes, right into the heart of the people. This was more like it. Little hidden alleys that provided us a voyeuristic insite into the lives of the Rochina´s inhabitants. This part of the tour was amazing, whilst for most parts we could take photo´s there were times we were strictly told we should put the camera´s away. Marcus explained there were Drug lords present, which we half believed as the smiles of the people vanished walking through these streets.

The defining moment of this tour was when Shetty signalled quite loudlly to the rest of us "Look a guy with a gun". Not the best thing to yell out loud, But Hey it was true, this was not a small pistol. This guy with an agressive frown on him Brisikly crossed the road and walked towards us whilst handling an AK-47 beneath his Right arm. It happened so fast that we did not have time to shit ourselves. Yeeeahhh, this was like finally spotting that elusive Leopard in a game reserve. No one else on the street seemed to take notice, not the kids and nor the most stunning street workers I had ever seen. Marcus advised this was routine this guy was armed incase another Drug crew came into this territory.

With all this excitement we were now getting peckish, where was this Macca´s? No Marcus had better plans for us. A all you can eat buffet, right in the middle of the Favela. Salads,rice,Pichana,Sausages,Chicken all extremely tasty. Guess how much? No a bit lower than that. 7Real, thats right about $4aud. The best meal we had had in Brazil to date. I hope I will say this an hour later. Food was not the only thing cheap here, shopping was crazy aswell, Harsh saw Jeans Shorts for about $5, the only problem was getting in and out safely. We had the benefit of Marcus and Keyser.

Our Favela tour lasted for about 4hours-fully worth the 50real. I must say it capped off what was a great day. We are now stuffed and have a meeting for our tour which starts tommorrow taking us from Rio to Bolivia.

Photos will be uploaded when I get to a Working PC

Favela Tour remains copyright of the author HonestAnth, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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I ran up to the ticket queque to get the tickets. We finally got into the cable car to take us to the first hill called Morro da Urca. This is the shorter hill of the two hills which was 220m high. By the time we got to this hill, we had missed the sunset. Anthony wasnt happy ! But there was decent light so we managed to take a couple of pictures.We had heard about this party on this mountain, which we were contemplating going to and didnt end up going.After we got there we were a bit gutted as it would have been pretty amazing.There was a restraunt there as well where Anthony saw Picana (the beef on new year´s eve) burger. He decided not to have that as he thought there would be better options on the top, typical !

It had got pretty dark by this time. We jumped into the cable car and went up to Sugarloaf itself. This mountain is 396m high. The night view of Rio from the top of Sugar loaf was spectacular and truly breathtaking. We took some pictures but I dont think they will justice to the actual view.

On our way back we met Anthony´s friend Melanie which was quite random and cool. Had a chat with her and her friends and then made our way down. We took the bus to come to Ipanema. When we got back offcourse there was a block party happening. We stayed for a little while and called it a night as we were still tired from the Carnaval and Anthony needed to rest. And we were going to Christo the next day.

Next morning after a good sleep we decided to make our way to Christo, Retendor. We left the hotel at 11.30 am and took a bus to get to the foot of Corcovado mountain. We got there all excited which soon turned into anxt. Firstly I couldnt believe that there was only one ticket window for a such big tourist attraction. Secondly, there was a massive queque for atleast 200 people atleast to buy tickets to take the train up. It would have taken us a good 3 hours to take the train up. There was another option of taken a mini van up. But I was keen on taking the train and so was Anthony. Also, we didnt want so many people around, as we thought we couldnt enjoy the sights and views as much in such a crowd. It was good that both of us didnt have issues canning the whole thing and going back and relaxing on ipanema beach. So we made our way back to ipanema. We got to Ipanema, had lunch and made our way to the beach. We hired an umbrella and enjoyed the water and the view, sipping on our chilled coconut like a good Carioca (a local ).

Sugar loaf and the Almost Christo remains copyright of the author Harshu, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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