Backpacking

Rio is now at an end. In 4 hours we will be on a 12 hour overnight bus to Curitiba. We have taken Parati off our list. The accommodation options were about 3-4 times that of Lonely Planet (as are the bus fares!!!!!).

Rio has been a mixture of good, bad and indifferent.

The good are the people, the beaches and the weather. The acai (an amazon fruit I have since found out) is great as are Caipirinhas.

The indifferent is the poverty and those it affects. You cannot go 30 minutes without being hassled for money or whatever. Not that I don´t feel for the plight of those far less fortunate but you grow indifference to being asked and whistled at 20 times a day. Some kid tried to shoe shine my flip flops or thongs.

The bad was a stupíd moment by me. I was attacked by 5 or 6 youths on the beach whilst taking a sneaky pee as is the local custom and non-toilet situation on the beach front. Luckily I had very little on me and the blighters were frightened off when I fought back and left hooked one. I escaped unscathed and will what little money I had on me. Lesson to oneself - do not wander on the dark part of the beach alone on the last night of carnaval!.

Apart from that we have had a fairly decent time.

To any travellers reading this blog, rethink your budgets if you are following the Lonely Planet guide. The tourist attractions are at least double the LP as are planes and buses. Cheap eateries and bars are still up to date.

Our Rio adventure is over.... We are looking forward to a new place with new experiences. Curitiba here we come.

Jason & Alli

Buenos dias del Buenos Aires!!!!.

Alli and I arrived into Buenos Aires at approximately 13.30 on Tuesday 6th February 2007. The flight was okay but the plane was old with TV´s strategically located above one´s head. A far cry from the Emirates or Singapore Airlines seat back TV and entertainmntent systems. This flight was long. I am fine but Alli has a little jet lag.

That said we got here a bit the worst for wear (lack of sleep not beer) but we have already managed to book a bus to Puerto De Iguazu (Argentinian side of the grand Iguazu Waterfalls) for Saturday 10th February 2007 and our flights from Foz De Iguazu on the 14th February 2007 and getting into Rio for Carnival.

Moving back to Buenos Aires, we are staying at a reasonable budget style hostel called Nomade. It ain´t bad and the people seem friendly enough. It is in the San Telmo area of the City which is really nice with cobbled streets, a reasonable amount of culture and street atmosphere.

On the 6th we walked into the City area to see the B.A. version of Big Ben, the Plaza de Colon and the Cathedral plus a lot of the shops and some food at a Parilla. A parilla is a steak house. The food was good and the prices better. If the food cost is like this throughout the country I doubt there will be any self catering. (Sharing a steak, with two huge salads and a 1 litre beer for about AUS$15). We got a little bit out of our way but managed to see a decent bit of the city following dinner.

On the 7th we walked to Puerte Madryn (equivalent of King Street Wharf or the South Bank) and walked in the baking heat to the Retiro Bus station to organise out bus tickets on the 20 hour bus to the falls. Once Alli saw the huge reclining leather seats, dvd points, meals, champagne and alcohol on the menu was a bit happier with that. The bus looks good and the trip should be a doddle. We looked around the shops a little longer and made our way back to the hostel before trying food more local in the San Telmo tango district.

We will discuss more about B.A. and our perception regarding Argentine culture in our next blog.

To add a bit of light entertainment on this blog I have decided to add 1 "Alli-ism" to this blog.

We were lying in a park when a man was walking by shouting what Alli thought was hello. I was somewhat amused as I realised the man was an icecream vendor walking and shouting "helado". The Spanish for ice cream. Not a far cry from Hola, but far enough. He he.

To add a bit of light entertainment on this blog I (alli) respond with 1 "Jas-ism" to this blog.....

Jason is notorious for losing his sunglasses, and it seems this affliction travels with him. After an impressive dialogue with the reservations guy for the bus tickets to Puerto Iguazu in Spanish, he walked off all confident only to make a mad dash back to the counter 2 minutes later where his sunglasses were thankfully still sitting.

We will write again in a few days time.

Adios for now

Alli + Jason