Vern: "No quiero a morir!" A man screaming in his sleep woke himself yelping, "I don't want to die!" and, in this way we were welcomed to our 21-bed dorm in central Buenos Aires yesterday. Their website said 12 beds, but the staff don't seem to care that their webmaster is dyslexic. We put our stuff on the only free beds inconveniently opposite the pro-life sleeptalker. Massive paintings of distorted forlorn faces hung down from the double volume ceilings like ...

Vern: The Argentinian side of the falls was even better. It was a glorious day to see the 'cataratas' up close and personal and we spent several hours at the park. The walkway to the Devil's Throat took us right at the point where it bubbles and swirls and then blasts over the crest. The game is to get the ultimate photo with no other tourists in the background (so one day your framed photos can lie to your houseguests and have them think you discovered this wat...

Andrea: We returned from Petropolis to Rio on the 11th and just chilled in the hostel that night. They were doing an all you can eat BBQ, but it was the promise of 8 different types if salad that sold us. It was the best meal we have had thus far on the trip. The 12th was another travel day as we said our goodbyes to Rio and headed to Foz do Iguazu. We were quite cocky and turning up our noses at everyone taking cabs to the airport since we figured we had mastere...

Vern: In the morning, we walked around the gardens of the last emperor Don Pedro the Second's palace (no obvious link to the boozy coffee) but didn't go in because the museum didn't take bank cards, so we crossed the road to the Yellow Palace (the town hall) where a bilingual young clerk gave us a free tour on the condition that we signed the guestbook. We learnt you can paint concrete to look like oak or marble and that one seemingly must have a moustache to be ...

Vern: After not being able to go to Ouro Preto (actually not being able to come back), we decided instead to go to the charming mountain town of Petropolis. As we packed our bags to check out of our hotel, we saw something unusual shining in the sky--the sun! Yes, that glowing ball in the sky decided to come out as we were leaving Rio. We thought we couldn't let the opportunity pass us by so decided on an impromptu beach day before we went to Petropolis (only abo...