Hanging out in Brazil

Crazy bag theft debarcle dealt with and we continued with our travel plans.  Luckily, we had already planned to go to Petropolis, the mountain area outside of Rio for some calm and relaxation as it was exactly what I needed!  It is a beautiful and peaceful area, perfect for chilling out and for me to sort out insurance claims! 

We stayed in one of my favourite hostels so far, Hostel Samambaia, out of the town, with gorgeous views, lovely staff who cooked for us when we hadn't had time to go to the supermarket and who walked me to the supermarket so that I wouldn't be on my own!  There was a menagerie of animals, including black swans and an ostrich; a stream running through the gardens and an amazing swimming pool for admiring the views from.  It was the most idyllic place and what was even better was that we were the only ones there and had the entire place to ourselves for relaxation!

But, it wasn't all relaxation ... I did get out to explore the beautiful countryside and walked through a near by national park up one of their mountains where you can see Guanabara Bay from.

A stunning area and the best beginning to seeing Brazil!

Next stop ... Brazil!

My entry into Brazil was a bit bumpy!  I left Argentina on a night bus all excited to be going to a new country for new adventures ... however on arrival in Brazil I found that my bag had been liberated from me as I slept! 

It was all a bit traumatic spending my first few hours in the country calling the bank to cancel cards, trying to remember what was in the bag ... apart from my laptop (still gutted about that!) and then reporting the theft in a new language!  Despite the trauma, it had to be one of the best entries into a new country that I have experienced... I was well looked after by everyone, Lucy was on hand to buy me a cup of tea and I was hugged by all of the bus drivers which was very sweet.  In Rio we located the tourist police in the bus station and they explained that we would have to go to the main police station in Copacabana to fill in the paper work.  We all groaned at the thought of making this trip with our bags, in a new city, by public transport ... until they said that someone was on their way to pick us up!

While we waited we chatted in pigeon spanish/ english/ portugese ... I was asked if I knew the royal family, whether I was a soldier and whether I would like to go on a date; my friend was told he looked like pop star and berated for wearing socks with trainers.  When our ride arrived we were waved goodbye and blown kisses to! 

We were then escorted to the main police station in a police car; we darted through the traffic with the sirens on, made a stop to one of the policeman's girlfriends and generally had a guided tour of the wonderful Rio, passing by Sugar Loaf mountain, Christ the Redeemer, flavelas and Copacobana beach. 

An hour of filling in paperwork later we were off again in our high speed police car back to the bus station ... driving over central reservations when turnings were missed and listening to Ace of Base on their mobile phones.  I'll never be sure whether my recollection of events has been impacted by the shock of waking up on a bus to find my belongings gone ... or whether this really was one of the most surreal moments of my trip!

Farewell Argentina

After 2 months in Argentina, the time came to say Adios. 

Argentina is an amazing country with more variety than I could have imagined. I´ve experienced the cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, the Lake District, the deep Patagonian South, the red wine and the red meat and I have not once been disappointed by this country.

I left Argentina on a massive high after visiting Iguazu Falls.  It is everything I imagined it to be, it´s size, magnitude and power takes your breath away.

The guidebooks are correct in the way you should experience Iguazu; take two days and visit from the Brazilian side for the panoramic view and to understand the overall scale...

And then visit from the Argentinian side to get up close and feel wholly insignificant against a natural wonder of the world. 

Also on offer on the Brazilian side of the border is a bird park ... which was just the icing on the cake for the day.  Seeing such amazing jungle and rain forest birds in real life was fabulous.  The reserve allows you to go into the aviaries and so you can see them and all their glorious colours up close. 

Iguazu Falls really was the perfect finale for my time in Argentina... Next stop Brazil!