Brazil - Rio de Janerio & Paraty

We left Iguacu and took an internal flight east to Sao Paolo. The city was not on our itinerary per se. However we got good views from the plane. Sao Paolo is one of the largest cities on the planet with a population of in excess of 20M. We have never seen a city so huge. It seemed to go on forever.
We landed and took our transport and headed straight out to the country.

Paraty is the opposite to somewhere like Sao Paolo. It is really small and quite remote. We drove 5 hours from Sao Paolo airport to get here. The idea was to see the rural side of Brazil. We took a boat for the day. Above is a view back onto the village as we sailed out. We were able to pull into various small coves and jump off the boat to swim in the warm water and enjoy a few cold beers on deck.

The streets of Paraty are narrow and cobbled and closed to traffic. The houses are old colonial style, brightly painted. All in all this is a really laid back kind of place.

L exploring the streets.

A must do in Brazil is to get to a football game. The country is football crazy. We went to a game in the Maracana Stadium. This is the largest stadium in the world. It holds 102,000 people. The game was between two of the biggest clubs in Rio - Flamengo and Vasco.

Yes, that is a Leinster shirt in the picture..

The game was fast moving and exciting. The fans sang the whole way through.

The score at half time was 1- 1.

Athmosphere inside the Maracana stadium was great. The Fans really know how to party. The game was between two of the biggest clubs in Rio - Flamengo and Vasco. Flamengo won 2-1 courtesy of a penalty midway through the second half.

Concrete Modernistic styled Cathedral in central Rio .....

D in downtown Rio de Janeiro .....

This is the Sugarloaf mountain from the midway cable station. You can see the top cable station in the background.

Views of Rio at sunset from the sugarloaf mountain.

View of downtown from the Sugarloaf.

This is the classic view of Rio. You can see the Statue of Christ the Redeemer on the Corcovado mountain in the top right corner of the image. One dissappointment was that we did not get to go up here. We did try, but all roads up here were washed away in the recent floods and landslides. The afternoon we arrived in Rio was a deluge. 153 had been killed in the city in landslides in the previous couple of days.

The various neighbourhoods of Rio are separated by high sheer mountains. Many of the main roads linking these districts are via tunnels through these mountains.

This is the famous Copacabana beach. We stayed just off the beach and managed to catch Leinsters Heineken cup Qtr final victory on ESPN in a bar here. This was huge surprise. Rugby is not played in Brazil!!

That's it from Brazil.

Next stop Peru..............

Iguacu Falls

This is Iguacu Falls at the border of Brazil and Argentina in the middle of the South American continent. These falls have to be seen to be believed. This is truly one of the most spectacular sights that we have ever seen..and we mean ever!!

First thing you do when you get here is to get in a boat - life jackets on .....

and away we go - took a little spin in a high speed boat under the falls - yes literally under the falls. It was a breathtaking experience.

And a wet one too!!

Ok, but we did dry off after a while - or maybe we just stopped noticing how wet we were.

So who is this with L then? Meet Marcelo, guide, local expert and superhero extraordinaire!

Marcelo is from Mendoza, Argentina, one of the worlds best wine regions and was our guide and group leader for the first two weeks in South America. Marcelo made sure we got through all three countries and seven destinations intact and as those of you who know us will probably agree that is an epic feat!! Nobel prize perhaps.....?

Perhaps Marcellos only error on the trip was to introduce D & L to the pleasures of Argentine Malbec. He may have subsequently regretted this!

Here is a nice photo of some waterfalls in the jungle ....

Oh and these are ...well you know yourself...

From calm river above to thundering water below .....

The town of Foz De Iguacu in Argentina is the base most people use for visiting the area. The falls and river are at the point where three countries borders intersect. You can walk out of the town and get your picture taken showing three countries at the same time!!

So here goes - as you look at the picture ;

1. The bit of land on the left is Paraguay

2. The bit of land on the right is Brazil.

3. The bit D is standing on is Argentina

Ok, it is getting kinda dark here, but in case you think we are making this up ........

So, that was the night before and this is the morning after. We left early in the morning and drove the couple of KMs across the bridge into Brazil. This is the marking in the middle of the bridge where you cross out of Argentina and into Brazil.

This is 9AM at the border checkpoint. Wo hoo they let us in!!! Another stamp on the passport.

Most of the falls are actually located on the Argentine side. You can't really see it in the picture because it is so small relative to the falls but the jungle boardwalk basically runs along the top of and around the various cascades. However what you do get from the Brazilian side is fantastic views back accross the river to the Argentine falls. There are just so many falls it really is breathtaking. We did not have a lense with a wide enough angle but you can see that this stretch goes right accross the picture and it continues someway beyond by approx 2KM.

As well as being kinda wet it's really hot around here!!

Another amazing vista.

And another .....

And another ...... We could have put up the other 252,000 photos but we sorta ran out of time.

Question; What do you reckon you might find at the end of a rainbow?

Correct- A leprauchan!!

Well he's a Gnome actually but lets not split hairs.

On into Brazil .......

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is a city with many faces both modern and old. This first shot is taken along the docks and like many places in the world shows how B.A. is reinventing and rebranding its docklands area with a bright modern feel.

Old neighbourhood of Buenos Aires - St Telmo - very arty and bohemian.

Most of the city has a very European feel although in need of a bit of a scrub up here and there. This is a main shopping street in B.A.

Obelisk in the middle of the main avenue through the centre of Buenos Aires.

Close up shot of the tomb inscription.

L delivers a rendition of " Don´t cry for me" at the tomb of Eva Peron, in St Telmo cemetery.

Surprisingly, we didn´t get any tips.

Typical Buenos Aires Street. The city is full of elegant 19th century buildings and has the nickname the Paris of South America. Unfortunately due to a series of crises and particular since the economic collapse of 2002 many are badly in need of repair and restoration. But from a distance as in the above shot they look great.

This is the Argentine Congress or parliment building. The grey things in the corner are pigeons.

Street scene near the main Square in B.A.

This is the Casa Rosada, translated for all you Gringos as "pink house". We won´t elaborate on where it got the name.

This is actually the presidential palace and we took a tour. Very interesting ( if you speak Spanish). This main square has been the scene of many political rallys with presidents making speeches from the balcony including Juan Peron and Eva Peron.

Inside the Casa Rosada are state rooms used to receive foreign dignatories, sign trade agreements, treaties etc. We tried to represent our great nation as best we could.

D: "Ok, I´ll just leave L here for a few minutes and see if I can broker a deal for good ole Ireland.....I´m sure she can behave for a few minutes...."

Well, maybe not !!!!!