HELLO THERE!!

So as we last left you, we were in Iguazu, Argentina. We spent a day in the national park, which was overall pretty spectacular. The falls themself are walloping, they pump out more water than the Niagra or Victoria falls just to give you an idea of the size its the 5th highest in the world.... but look at the photo album (the other lad in the pic by the way is Sam who was part of the 5-a-side and drinking action in BA). Thumbs up for Iguazu indeed.

With Chile & Argentina down, onto Brazil. Here is where our 2day nightmare began.... ha.. no actually... not funny, bad times. We left to cross the border between the 2 countries by bus as standard, once we had out exit stamp from the Argies, we headed to the Brazilian border control, only the driver never stopped, we thought there must be another further ahead....nope....we were officially illegal immigrants, we had to get a taxi all the way back to the border control, get our passport stamped, then back to the bus station. Good start. ´Cheers Drive´ Naaaaattttttt. So we waited in the bus station for like 4hrs then got our 18hr bus to Sao Paulo, which was a pretty shabby bus too. Anyways arrived in SP, it was lashing it down, Brazil? raining? behave dave...... Then we stomped it round Brazils largest city for 2hrs, trying to find a hostel with 2 spare beds, no joy......hungry, wet, hungry, over tired and not in the mood to spend another 2hrs doing the same, we went back to the bus station an jumped on a bus to Rio! ha,guess thats the joy of travelling, go where ever when ever!
So after the 6hr bus ride to Rio, it was still lashing it down, Brazil? raining? behave dave..... So we headed for the hostel, praying they had room, and like old Joseph on Christmas eve, we were kinda in the mood to take anything, all they had was a stable out the back....o no thats Joseph...all they had was a TV Room, we´d been recommended this hostel by a few people so we took it for the night, if i ever see those ´few poeple´again im guna have a word, shocking hostel, well unless you like drugs that is....after a terrible nights sleep, we woke up early and walked in search of a hostel. ´Copa Hostel´ about a stones throw away from Copacabana beach that´ll do nicely,n its been our home for the last week....happy days now were talking. (nightmare over by the way) back to the good life.....

When you think Brazil, the first thing i think is Football... so onto ´The Maracanã´, the largest stadium in South America, held just under 200´000 poeple in the 1950 world cup, now it ¨only¨ holds 89´000. Our first game (of 2) was on the sunday, Flumeninse played Cruzerio drew 1-1, not a bad game, but not a patch on our experience we were to have 6 days later.

The next day, we woke to a rare sight in our time here in Brazil... blue sky. So we headed to Mt.Corcovado, where the statue of ¨Christ Redentor¨, dont wana sound like a hypocrit but it was full of tourists,hundreds of em´...tut tut shockin. The views though were amazing, Rio does boast top scenery, mountains, beach, ocean what more could you want? The pics dont really do the views justice, but they´re pretty good.

Over to C-man for the evenings entertainment....

After the partys in Buenos Aires we thought we would see what Rio had to offer, as we heard it would be just as good! We decided to go on a boat party which the hostel had been advertising, as there was a massive group of french students here taking up most of the hostel me and barnes were the only 2 people from our hostel going, so we arrived at about 11pm got on the boat and were basically the first people on there, we sat there thinking this was going to have been a big mistake (apart from the free marshmallows and sandwiches on the table...many of which were gone by the time everyone else arrived!!) and we should have just gone elsewhere for the night! Luckily by 12 when the boat was due to leave, it had filled up a fair bit and then we knew we had made a good decision! The beer had been flowing since about 8pm that evening and we were now in the mood to party!! The only downer was that it was still raining slightly, the majority of the boat was covered so it didnt affect us too much, although towards the end of the night a few people seemed to be finding it hard to stay on their feet!! Very funny for us as we didnt go down once, but we saw maybe 10 people hit the deck due to the boat rocking and the floor being wet.....although im sure alcohol played a small part in it as well! We had a good night, cutting some carpet on the dance flooor, met some brazilians girls and attempted to talk a bit of portuguese......we couldnt.......but that didnt matter!! We eventually got back to the harbour at about 4.30am and were taken back to the hostel by one of the guys who worked their, a top night.

The following day we went for a perfect hangover cure....an Expresso grill, basically in Rio there is a lot of restautrants buffet style, that you go in choose what you want, then get your plate weighed and you pay for how much is on your plate! A genius idea!!! So great in fact that we have been there every evening bar the first night at the different hostel!! The best thing about this one is that it is about 15 seconds walk from our hostel! Happy days! They also do a brilliant selection of cakes...........and i just love a bit of cake! (little britain quote!) although sometimes we maybe spend more on the cake than we do on the actual dinner! Back over to JB to finish this off, hope everyone is ok, look forward to reading your messages on the message board......and they dont appear by themselves!!!!! haha!

Nice work C....

Im affraid a bit like the ashes, rain has delayed some serious play.(in Rio), but we did manage to score ourself a sunny day... cue Copacabana beach.......cue Football......cue brazilian girls............cue GREAT DAY! It´s a happening beach, i think it´s like 4km long, it´s packed full of football pitches and volleyball pitches, although rarely see actuall volleyball being played, they play an adapted football version which is pretty impressive, also the waves are big enough to attract the surfers and bodyboarders. Those loyal enough to have read previous blogs will be well aware our surf days are done.... ha. A top day, glad we made the most of the ´sunshine day´ because its the only one we had.

We headed back to The Maracanã for a better game yesterday, Flamengo, who are Brazils ´big club´ played Atletico Mineiro who were sat top of the league...gotta be a cracker.... it was. Much to my dissapointment... the Flamengo fans never stood on one leg nor did they wear pink....whats that all about? The crowd were ´loco´ thou, never seen so many flags, i think there were 40´000 at the game, but felt like more, cracking atmosphere. The game itself finished, 3-1 to Flamengo having been one nil down. Adriano and Kleberson were the stars, both played in Europe and it showed, the brazilians play such an exciting open game, but the defending is sooo bad, alan hansen would have field day. Me and C separated from the group and went an sat with the real fans for the game....check out the video...C was gutted he never knew the words to the songs, i was gutted they never sung, ¨We all dream of a team of Carraghers¨. Good solid night at the Fùtbol anyhooooo. (may i add at this point not a patch on Anfield of course)

So onto Bolivia, for those who dont know, Brazil is a humongus country! An with flying costing shed loads, back on those darn buses tomorrow, its probs guna take us a couple of days, literally, maybe 3. Via Paraguay n all that, but Rio is a seriously cool place.... cant imagine how packed it would be in Summer time. Or the world cup in a few years... but overall, good times as usual!

Check out the pics of course and msg board as standard....

Chau

JB and C

xxxxxx

p.s 8 months away... where have they gone?!!?!!?