hello again!

im sorry it has taken so long for the 2nd south american instalment, i shall try not to write too much!

we left paraty after an adventure out into the jungle, jumping in, through, down freezing cold waterfalls, and going to a cachasa distillery and headed off on our 20 ho trip to igassu!! we made a little stop on the way in sau paulo, a place im happy tha we didnt relly spend any longer than an afternoon!! it felt incrediby unsafe and was not a particularly beauiful city, so not too much missed!then we headed on the night bus, that was actualy quite comfy and headed for te falls. they are incredible!!!!! the fist day we headed to the brazilian side of the falls, where u get an idea of the length of them walking the one and half km along the side of them and on platform out to the middle of some of them. it was immense! the amount of water and the power of it was astounding!!! not the next day bt the following ( we had a spare dayso we chilled and watched englang-usa, not so fun in the end!) we headed to the argentinian side of the falls which was even more impressive.from that side we got to see some of the falls from above an it is incredible to see the water tumbling of the edge at such a speed. then we got in a boat and ad a close incounter with the falls, getting drenched going right into the face of them- so much fun!!! then we ended by walking out to the devils throat part of the falls to a landing right on the very top edge. INCREDIBLE!!! it should be one of the natura wonders of the world, it is such and incredible sight. it is where the line of the falls comes back in a semi circle meaning that all the water is falling into one area, and u cant see the bottom of it the spraycoming back up completely blocks the view, but tt in itself is stunning! the sheer force of the water was breath taking!

from there we headed, on another, less comfy, night bus, to moito bonito, where we did some snorkeling, but not just any snorkeling, the worlds no.1 fresh water snorkeling. again amazing! the water was incredibly clear, the visibiliy was asounding! it was in a small river with a gentle current that slowly pulls you along, so u just float alonf looking at loads of fish swim by- some with some fairly impressive teeth i might add lol! then the next day we spet chilling at a private lake with volley ball, zip wires, bbq and all sorts of entertainment, most of which i ignored and instead lay i the sun and read-perfect!!!

then we headed to the pantanal, the wetlands that cover the same area as france!! we were staying in the middle of nowhere, sleeping in hammocks andbeing eaten alive by mozzies!!!! but the bird life there was awesome! there were hundreds of different parakeets, macaws (awsome!) and toucans!!! to name a few, i was loving it, in complete geeky bird loving heaven :) and then there were also the aligators everywhere, and dispite the anacondas and jaguars in the area the most dangerous thing we actually saw was a glow in the dark highly poisonous catapillar! we saw it on a night walk that we went on and our guide was loving it because they are really rare and the locals believe that hold some special energy, who knows, but it did look cool! we went out on loads of walks through the swamps, our bare feet squelching in the mud, and went out on horses to get a bit further out into the middle of the nowhere. we attempted piranha fishing- easy fishing right? not so much! we could 1!!! useless! we were throughly disappointed in ourselves!!! oh dear!

from there we headed to bolivia!!!! we arived at the border and left brazi and entered bolivia, tho there was no one at the border, we asume they were watching the footie (englands 2nd useless game was on), but we were asured that it was fine we would be able to get a stamp in our passorts in santa cruz if we explained what happened. so we headed onto our night train- the worst train i have EVER been on!!! it was sooooo shaky!!! it was pretty scary, it didnt feel like t was actually going to stay on the tracks, but somehow we made it alive to santa cruz! phew! there we headed to get our stamps- not so easy! we were threatened with arrest and told that the closed, but clearly open, immigration officecouldnt help as it didnt even have a stamp that could stamp our passports, not good. we were then told that if we headed to the airport they would b able to help us. we were heading to the airport the next day anyway, so we forgot about it for then and explored santa cruz, which was all pretty much closed, so weheaded out to experince bolivian night life with some great karaoke- they love it!! its hilarious! we were aweful, but gave it some welly, they were pretty good actually, tho i think our performances put them to shame lol!! so we headed the next day to the airport with our fingers crossed that we could get our stamps without getting arrested. it took a long interegation of our guide leon, who was again threatened with arrest, particularly for harbouring a fugative in the american in the group, and we ended up having to pay a fine of 300bs- 30quid and getting a stamp in our passport saying that we entreed the country ilegally-oops! but we got our stamp and now we just had to catch our plane. we said goodbye to 2 of our group there as the 2 swiss girls left, tho they almost stayed with us due to bolivian incompetancy and not announcing the change of gate, oh dear, we were really starting to get a feel of the way things work in bolivia- not very well is the answer! :)

so we eventually got our plane, again the worst plane ride ever, and it was only 25 mins, i just dont think bolivians like moving without shaking and wobbling everywhere, its very odd! but we landed in sucre in one piece so all was well. sure is awesome! it is a beautiful town, tho when we arrived it was a little messy as some riots had litterally just finished- good timing. but they got it tidied up again pretty quickly, especially for bolivia! th town is full of small streets with white buildings, it all looks like beautiful old spain. we spent a day exploring round all the different parks and chiling in the sun- suprisingly- it is actually really warm here! then yesterday we headed out of the city on quad bikes-soooo much fun!!! we headed through the town and out onto off road tracks. after only a few breakdowns we drove for about an hour and half out of town through awesome counrty side and stunning views. then we headed back into town, this time i sat on the back of tims bike, the token german in our group, he was in the fast group and so we sped back, over all the rough terrain and along the roads, it was soooo much fun!!! i love quadbiking!!!! and the views swe headed back we incredibly, the rugged dusty mountains with the most beautiful sunset behind, it was just stunning!

today we head to paraty, tho late as there some all important football games to watch! england are through!! woop!!! we now have to wait to see germanys fate and then we leave onto the next part of the adventure!!

so far i am loving bolivia, it is so different from brazil, as soon as we crossed the border it was different, we were now definitely in south america!with the women still in traditional dress and the general lack of anything happeneing as it should! but there is such a nice atmsphere and it is beautiful! the group we are with is also really good. we have 4 new members, another brit, 2 canadians and a malasian, who all are nice and should fit in with the old group well. so all is well here, we are safe and having lots of fun! sorry that this has been a long one, i will try to update u sooner next time!!

keep in touch! much love x x x x x x