Rio Skylines and Patagonian Landscapes

Here we are on the downhill slide of our year long trip, with less than 5 months to go. We are now in Southern Patagonia and the last month in South America has felt like a whirlwind.

Since the last blog in Morocco, we spent 2 weeks in England catching up with friends and family, which was really nice. It was great to see you all and thanks for everything.

We flew to Rio in Brazil first and spent a few days exploring the city. I have to say it gives Sydney a run for its money on the scenic stakes. My favourite view point was from sugar loaf mountain. Rio was a bit of a contrast to Northern Africa, you couldn´t go from one extreme to the other more dramatically. All we could see in Rio was lots of lycra triangles interspersed with very tanned skin. I think I may have shocked the locals with my pale blue pins. Rio was great, a bit too hot and humid for us, but I liked it anyway.

Unfortunately, we couldn´t change a vital flight date from Buenos Aires to El Calafate in Southern Patagonia, sadly this meant our time in Brazil was limited as we had to rush and make our way overland from Rio to BA in about 1 week. I don´t how we did it, but we manged to stuff most of the things we had wanted to do and see in. By the time we arrived in Southern Patagonia we were very tired. On the plus side it has meant we have more time down here to play, so I´m not complaining.

From Rio we caught a few overnight buses and stopped over in Curitiba and Iguazu Falls on route to BA. I have to say that the bus travel here is nothing like Africa. It feels more like business class on a nice airline. On one bus we had very roomy velour lounge style seats that reclined to an almost flat position, with a foot rest...what more could you want! But wait there is more, they even had air-conditioning, blankets, pillows, on-board movies, a toilet, AND a guy that served us dinner and breakfast on a stable table! We didn´t know ourselves. Bloody luxury!

In Curitiba, we took a train journey to Morretes and back through some great mountainous terrain. We visited Iguazu falls from the Brazilian and Argentian sides, both very impressive. On the Argentinian side we took a jetboat ride underneath the falls and got absolutely soaked, but it was a very hot day...so very welcome. The force of the water was unbelievable. We also attemped to do an eco boat ride through the trees on the upper side of the falls in the hope of spotting some wildlife...but we had one young English backpacker on an overland truck tour that couldn´t stop raving on about how great Sponge-Bob Square Pants was, and what she was going to do when she got to the internet cafe that night, and where she was going to go rafting and bungy jumping on the tour, and where she was going to travel next..blah, blah, blah!! Needless to say we didn´t get to spot much wildlife.

We satyed in the very cosmoplitain city of BA for a few days, I think Nick covered this on his blog so I won´t repeat it. We did spot a hotel nearby called Hotel Colon??? Interesting! Not sure if that name would work too well at home.

We arrived in Southern Patagonia a few weeks ago...since then we have spent 10 days exploring Torres Del Paine, in Chile. Tomorrow we are off the Seron glacier for some kayaking and ice hiking for a couple of days. I´m looking forward to it.