Despite some serious flack for the continuing stories on the blog, here comes another installation... for those of you who enjoy reading the blog, thanks for the comments, they are a welcome relief to some of the other emails i have received, not naming any names but one from a sibling of mine rings a bell....
well last time we left the blog we were camping the night in the Santiago airport in Chile... violent protesters and then even more violent police officers had us pretty keen to spend the 12 hour stopover in the relative security of the airport. The flights over the Andes were tuly spectacular though...
From there it was off to Rio De Janiero in Brazil, to catch a few sunrays, a few cheeky sneak peaks at the locals and to catch up with new/old travelling buddies from New Zealand Mat and Caroline.
For our arrival Mat and Caros, in ever organised fashion (they are the ying to our yang) had arranged a wonderful appartment from an American expat who had found the going so good in Rio he couldnt leave. The three bedroom (complete with sat tv, stereo & dvd in every room), kitchen, lounge & laundry, palace was only slighty bigger than the unit Carrie and I had been living in in Adelaide for the past several years. Complete with 12th story views and a 5 minute stroll from Copacabana beach it was a bit of a steal, and i have resolved that any future appartment deals will have to be handled by our savy amigos in future. Having a home base was exactly what was required after 4 months of slogging it out in some pretty awful accomodations, after a week it almost felt as if the travellers funk had been washed off completely.
To celebrate our arrival Mat and Caros took us out immediately to a ´Churassco´ an all you can eat type restaraunt where the waiters bring you cuts of meat that have been stabbed with a skewer and then spitroasted. They shave off juicy portions of meat until you say when, and dont stop coming for the rest of the evening until you meekly tap out wrestling style or burst. The initial bombardment is intense as you try to identify what cut of meat you are eating. To make things a little easier they do have a numbered map of the cow on every table and will quote the number they are carrying as they serve. I had deliberately starved myself of meat for the past several months anticipating the onslauhgt in Argentina, but this was far too good to refuse, and to quote Homer Simpson, i think they were sorrry to ever see the likes of us.
Rio itself, sadly did not turn on the best weather for us, but we still managed all of the highlights, and plenty of time spent on the beaches, and yes boys, they are everything you would hope them to be.... its fair to say that the swimsuits are tiny, tight, usually transparent and leaving nothing to the imagination and that is just the mens.....
We have stumbled across a few world wonders on our trip thus far, so were excited to learn that Christo the Redeemer has recently been named in the new 7 wonders of the world. It looms large over the city so a trip to the top was in order. I must say that the experience was a little underwhelming, but the sight affords some great views across the city. Rio is a city divided into parts that sprawl between valleys made out of the forested mountains. You get a true appreciation of the size and beauty of Rio from Christo, he certainly found a good spot to perch himself. From Christo it was off to Sugarloaf, another mountain (presumably looking the same as a loaf of sugar, whatever that is?) to get more spectacular views of the city, and even a few looking back at the big guy. A cable car to the top, made famous by a scene from James Bond, saw me having a pretty good time (if a little nerdy) retracing the steps of the great man. They didnt let me get out and hangglide down the steel cable though.... bastards.
Famed for its amazing nightlife, and New Zealanders and Australians famed for drinking at any place that will combine those two words we struck out for a night of dancing in a samba club in the trendy area of Lapa, suggested as a good thing by some friends we met along the way, we stumbled across this club, which resembles an old school assembly hall but is filled with a 12 piece samba band and full of dancing locals. The Brazillians do not let age, or lack of space stop them from dancing and it is pretty spectacular to watch, typified by one fellow (he must have been pushing 80) who cracked onto any young piece of tail walking past (his eyes must have still been working cause they were all perfect 10´s) dragging them onto the floor and pulling some hip gyrating moves. In experience that can only be learnt from age, he always left them wanting more and was still dancing strong at 3 in the morning when the anzacs were making there way home.
We also took in a soccer game at Maracaña stadium, a 90,000 seat capacity cauldron where we watched a local derby between Vasco De Gama and Flumines. While the result (1-1) was a boring one the Brazillian style of play and the spectators made it a fantastic night. There would have only been around 50,000 people but the noise was more than 5 full football parks could generate (or 10 half full ones if port are playing and they get a big crowd), there was much singing, plenty of flares being let off and even a few good fisticuffs after the game, everything you could want in a match, obviously with the exception of actually seeing a result (doesnt seem to matter too much over here).
To continue in the spirit of participating and seeing the local side of rio the next morning we set out on a favela tour. Mat and Caros had tried to go prior to our arrival in Rio but it was cancelled as a police raid on a drug house that was making 500kg a month. Police raide often lead to gang members shooting at the helicopters circling overhead, and the threat of lost bullets is too great. After a motorbike ride thru the area, where all survived a few near misses with the local buses we were able to walk around the area, and see how people live in the biggest favella in south america. With the movie City of God fresh in my mind, i hung on tight to my camera and was particularly suspicious of the young kids hanging around, but all the kids wanted was for us to take their photo and then see themselves back on the digital camera. We also were able to visit a childcare centre that is funded by tourist donations, where we were able to play with the kids which was a lot of fun. We aurvived the rest of the tour,money and camera intact, it truly is amazing to see how close the favellas are to some of the most wealthy areas in Rio.
So after numerous strolls along copacabana and ipanema beach, and plenty of stops on it for a beer and swim (vendors will patrol the beach and offer beachgoers everything from shrimp sticks, beer, lumps of cheese thru to chairs, bikinis and dicktogs) it was time to say goodbye to Mat and Caros, dine out on an all you can eat meat fest for one last time and then leave Rio ourselves. 
Rio was great, and despite the language difficulties (how dos can be pronounced as doiiissschhhh is beyond me) the people were great (and not too bad looking either). We will definitely look forward to coming back to Brazil one day, but sadly it was time to move on.
A casual 24 hour bus ride from Rio to the border with Argentina saw us crossing over to the small town of Puerto Iguazu, jumping off point for visits to the Iguazu waterfalls. Much contention arises in these parts as to who has the best views of the falls, so Carrie and I decided the only fair thing to do would be to have a gander at both sides. The first day we travelled back into Brazil (with full formal border formalities on the way in, and none on the way back) to see them, and while they give a great overall shot of the size of the falls, the massive crowds were a little frustrating. The next days visit to the Argentina side was absolutely spectacular! You are able to get very close, we opted for a quick boat ride that actaully takes you under some of the falls, and the views of the garganta diable (devil´s throat) were an amazing site that i will never forget. Photos will never do it justice, it looks like the whole world falls away from your feet. So unlike the Latin America Cup Argentina come away with a resounding victory (at least in our minds).
From Iguazzu it has ben straight south into the tiny country of Uruguay where we have been stuck with some pretty horrible cold rainy weather which has ruined plans of hanging around on the beach and seeing some sun. Tomorrow it will be off to the soccer to see a game played in the stadium that saw the very first ever world cup game, and then it will be off to Argentina, for more meat!
Take care all
Brett and Carrie
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