Rio - the city where it's always sunny........

Except when I show up.

Apparently the weather was up around 40C the day before I arrived, the beaches were packed and the city was humming.  By the time I got there it was raining and had dropped to a high of about 30C.  The locals apparently get kind of grumpy when this sort of weather is around so I kept quiet about the coincidence.

Anyway, the city still had a pretty good buzz about it and felt pretty safe to walk around, even later on at night.  They've been doing a lot of work to tighten up on that the last couple of years but one of the people I was talking to who lives here told me it had been slipping again recently.  Let's hope they get it together before the World Cup shows up.

Anyway, some of the sights, and I was pretty lucky to get them.  First day was Corcovado, the mountain with the statue of Christ on the top.

He's pretty big!  And you get a great view of the city, providing it's a clear day.  Fortunately for the short time I was up there the clouds stayed away.

The Sugarloaf mountain

The Maracana - famous football stadium where the World Cup final will be played.

Ipanema beach and a natural salt water lagoon.

One of the Favellas (slums) climbing up the hillside.

Shortly after we left there the clouds came in, but nothing like when I went up Sugarloaf the following day.......

It's two cable cars to go up.  The first takes you to the top of Uca, and then the next Sugarloaf.  It's a great view from up there, again, providing the weather cooperates.......

Copacabana beach.

Corcovado.

And then the clouds moved in and all you could see was white.

This is from Uca looking up. From the top it was just white.

We did see one of these little guys scavenging for crumbs.

But unlike the film it didn't sing or dance.  Yet again, I have been lied to by Hollywood.

And finally the beach, but with the weather the way it was there weren't many people out and about.

All in all Rio was pretty nice, it would have been good to see the sun at least once but never mind.  I ended up with my last night in an area called Lapa with a Brazilian girl, Regiane, who I'd met in Ushuaia and was kind enough to agree to show me some of the life in the city.  It's a nice bar area but she was telling me that with the rain it was pretty quiet compared to how it would normally be on a Saturday.  Very quickly about Regiane, she's from a city near the Amazon and she spent a good chunk of the time feeding my nightmares by talking about spiders that jump at you if you try to hit them with a broom or swimming in the river where there are piranhas - apparently they only attack if you have an open cut somewhere.  Thankfully there were some really good drinks and food at the bar so it wasn't that difficult to sleep 😄

One thing I will comment on, after spending a month muddling around in Spanish and just about getting to a point where I could handle a restaurant and some simple greetings and thank yous I got to Rio and ran face first into Portuguese which sounds nothing like what I'd been used to.  I got by with pointing and such like but it was tough.  Next stop is Cape Town where I'd like to say the language will be easier but I know better than to make such assumptions.

Iguassu Falls - or, "I will never be dry again!"

This is the end of my time in Argentina, it's had some highlights and some lowlights but I'll get to those in a few days when I'm hauling across the Atlantic.  Anyway, the last days in Argentina have been at Iguassu Falls, one of the seven natural wonders of the world, you can see why........

2.7km long, falling from a height of 80m at its highest point.  The sight and the sound of this place is almost overpowering.  

The falls themselves are on the Iguassu river which runs between Argentina and Brazil.  Paraguay is also near but doesn't have any of the falls.  Actually, you can see what they call Hitos, or boundary markers in each country from a certain spot.....

Paraguay

Brazil

And........

Argentina.  Well, actually I think they're putting a new one in, here's the one that's there now.......

Anyway, back to the falls, really the main attraction.  As with Niagara the falls are actually in two countries, Argentina has the largest portion of falls while from Brazil you can see the whole length of it, both have viewing platforms that wind around the falls and give you different viewing platforms.  Let's start on the Brazil side.

This is one of the main complexes of the falls seen from Brazil, on the left is San Martin is one of the biggest.

This is only fall on the Brazilian side and from here going up river is the 'Devil's Throat' but I'll get to that from the Argentina side.  As you can probably see there's a lot of spray and keeping everything dry is nearly impossible, it's actually really impressive how close you can walk to the falls on both sides.....

So that's from Brazil, as I said it's more of a panoramic view than anything else but gives you a good feel for the overall size of the falls themselves.  So now, over to Argentina.

They have three trails there, upper, lower and then out to Devil's Throat.  First up the upper trail which, surprisingly enough leads you out over the top of the falls, about 650m.  Apparently they are working on extending this by am additional 1km in the next two years.

Oh, while I think of it.  As you walk around you need to be a little careful where you put your hands on the railings........

And where you're walking.....

This is in the middle of sub-tropical rainforest so there's plenty of things that will bite if you're a little careless.

After the upper trail, the lower trail, letting you get right up close and personal with the falls.

I know I look pretty soaked in that picture but it's not all from that waterfall, more on that later.

And finally, the Devil's Throat......

This is a narrow area with, I think, 7 falls emptying into it.  What the wind is doing defines how clear a view you get.  The viewing platform looks like this from the Brazil side.

So now to the highlight of the day.  Similar to the Maid of the Mist at Niagara you can take a boat trip right up to the falls.  This one is a little different however and with a certain amount of Latin flair.  For a start it's a lot smaller boats and able to ride the rapids up to the falls.  Second, they park you really close in to get a great view of the falls up close and personal.

You get given a waterproof bag for your stuff (including your shoes) and then once everyone has taken their photos you wrap everything up and they drive you right in and under the falls.  If you want to experience anything like this you simply have to go down to your nearest fire station and ask the nice people there if they wouldn't mind pointing three of their hoses at you and turning them on full blast.  It's just incredible the way you get battered around, forget opening your eyes, just not happening.  Oh, and I had a great idea, I had my waterproof jacket with me, so that will stop me getting too wet, right?  

Wrong!

No matter how tight you think you seal those things up there will always be an opening and with that amount of water and pressure it forces it's way inside the jacket.  And the thing about waterproof things is that it works both ways.  I ended up with my own personal swimming pool wrapped round me.  It's a great cure for a hangover though!

So that's it, the end of Argentina and just three more days to go.  Today it's a flight up to Rio de Janeiro and then off to South Africa.  With a bit of luck there should be a couple of people to meet up with in Rio that I met along the way.  While I'm sure Rio is an amazing place, again I stand by my statement that a city is the people you know there, not the physical place.

The Beagle Channel

Again, I can't believe how lucky I'm being with the weather, yesterday wasn't great but it was a day for moving around so a bit of cold wasn't too bad, not to mention that the rain stayed away properly until we'd finished.  Today it was Ushuaia's attempt at blue skies, at least a little bit anyway.  And it really gave the mountains behind the town a chance to show off.

So today was a boat trip out into the Beagle channel, one of only three natural channels to cross between the Pacific and the Atlantic.  The other is the Magellan straits and Cape Horn, although that is considered extremely dangerous due to the two oceans meeting.  The Beagle channel is 180km long and Ushuaia is right in the middle.

Actually a great trip today, it was a small boat so there were maybe only 25 people on board in total and the guide was great.  While we were going from place to place he actually talked through a lot of the history using a bunch of different books and maps of the area.

The main thing that stands out in my mind is the tribes that used to live in this area,  there were two which were land living and nomadic and two that sailed.  They survived hunting sea lions, penguins and eating the seaweed and other vegetation.  Despite the cold they wore no clothing and had survived in the area for 6,000 years.  Then the Europeans arrived around 1870 and converted them to Christianity.  They forced them to wear clothes, stop their hunting practices and within 60 years there were none left.  Sad to say but I know this isn't the only story of its type. 

Anyway, more cheerful topic, first stop was a sea lion colony, always good for some photos and these guys knew they were the star attraction.

I was even able to get onto the rocks so someone could take a picture of me........

:o)

From there an island full of nesting cormorants.

The guide suggested we could just tell the brazilians they were penguins since they wouldn't know any better :o)

Next up, the lighthouse which is featured Ina lot of photos of the area.  It is there as stretching from just south of Ushuaia all the way to it are pockets of shallow water.  In 1930 a German ship tried to cut the corner inside the lighthouse, hit a rock and sank.  There were 1,300 people on board who had to wait in Ushuaia (population 800 at the time) for seven weeks until another boat arrived looking for them.

From there the journey back took us onto an island where the natives used to live.  It's an active archaeological site now so you have to be careful where you walk but some of the views were great.

We even got to see some penguins.........

....... Briefly.........

All told it was about three and a half hour out in the channel, a good group of people and a good crew.  If anyone goes down to Ushuaia I thoroughly recommend Patagonia Explorer as opposed to the other companies running much bigger boats.

So that ends my time in Patagonia.  Right now I'm on the plane heading back north again.  A one night stop over in Buenos Aires (literally, I land around midnight and leave the following lunchtime) and the on to Iguassu falls.  I have to say I'm sorry to leave this area behind,  it really is stunning and there are amazing options to hike and camp all over the place which I haven't really taken advantage of.  Maybe another time, but it is a long way to come.  For now it's time to pack up the winter gear and stow it down in the backpack out of the way and break out the shorts and t-shirts for the warm weather.  Apparently in Rio a week ago it hit 45C which according to the Brazilian I was talking to is just considered 'uncomfortable', to me I consider it as me turning into a puddle on the floor.  Let's see how we go.

The Beagle Channel

Again, I can't believe how lucky I'm being with the weather, yesterday wasn't great but it was a day for moving around so a bit of cold wasn't too bad, not to mention that the rain stayed away properly until we'd finished.  Today it was Ushuaia's attempt at blue skies, at least a little bit anyway.  And it really gave the mountains behind the town a chance to show off.

So today was a boat trip out into the Beagle channel, one of only three natural channels to cross between the Pacific and the Atlantic.  The other is the Magellan straits and Cape Horn, although that is considered extremely dangerous due to the two oceans meeting.  The Beagle channel is 180km long and Ushuaia is right in the middle.

Actually a great trip today, it was a small boat so there were maybe only 25 people on board in total and the guide was great.  While we were going from place to place he actually talked through a lot of the history using a bunch of different books and maps of the area.

The main thing that stands out in my mind is the tribes that used to live in this area,  there were two which were land living and nomadic and two that sailed.  They survived hunting sea lions, penguins and eating the seaweed and other vegetation.  Despite the cold they wore no clothing and had survived in the area for 6,000 years.  Then the Europeans arrived around 1870 and converted them to Christianity.  They forced them to wear clothes, stop their hunting practices and within 60 years there were none left.  Sad to say but I know this isn't the only story of its type. 

Anyway, more cheerful topic, first stop was a sea lion colony, always good for some photos and these guys knew they were the star attraction.

I was even able to get onto the rocks so someone could take a picture of me........

:o)

From there an island full of nesting cormorants.

The guide suggested we could just tell the brazilians they were penguins since they wouldn't know any better :o)

Next up, the lighthouse which is featured Ina lot of photos of the area.  It is there as stretching from just south of Ushuaia all the way to it are pockets of shallow water.  In 1930 a German ship tried to cut the corner inside the lighthouse, hit a rock and sank.  There were 1,300 people on board who had to wait in Ushuaia (population 800 at the time) for seven weeks until another boat arrived looking for them.

From there the journey back took us onto an island where the natives used to live.  It's an active archaeological site now so you have to be careful where you walk but some of the views were great.

We even got to see some penguins.........

....... Briefly.........

All told it was about three and a half hour out in the channel, a good group of people and a good crew.  If anyone goes down to Ushuaia I thoroughly recommend Patagonia Explorer as opposed to the other companies running much bigger boats.

So that ends my time in Patagonia.  Right now I'm on the plane heading back north again.  A one night stop over in Buenos Aires (literally, I land around midnight and leave the following lunchtime) and the on to Iguassu falls.  I have to say I'm sorry to leave this area behind,  it really is stunning and there are amazing options to hike and camp all over the place which I haven't really taken advantage of.  Maybe another time, but it is a long way to come.  For now it's time to pack up the winter gear and stow it down in the backpack out of the way and break out the shorts and t-shirts for the warm weather.  Apparently in Rio a week ago it hit 45C which according to the Brazilian I was talking to is just considered 'uncomfortable', to me I consider it as me turning into a puddle on the floor.  Let's see how we go.