The Precious is gone! Where's a fortuitous fish when you need one?

After Rio we flew to Salvador to stay with Kat and Bruno in Camaçari. Camaçari is different again from the other places we've been in Brazil - a sort of dirty little town which definitely doesn't expect tourists. Maybe it seemed like that because it was raining. We met their cats, and their house, and then went for dinner (a saga in itself involving getting very lost in traffic. Enough said. Things are very far apart in Brazil). Next day we were to get up early (well, try - very difficult to fit to any time scheme when there's 6 of you) and head to Chapada - an area 6 hours drive inland full of mountains, rivers and caves. It's an ex-diamond region, and the landscape again grew very different from what we'd seen in Brazil so far as we approached. We'd hired a car, and I think it's safe to say that Bruno drives like a maniac. Or perhaps that's just the roads. They're very bumpy and full of potholes so that he does these sudden stomach-lurching swerves at 100mph to avoid them. Then there are the trucks. They drive very slowly, and there are lots of them. So cars are obliged to do mental feats of overtaking, playing chicken with the things coming the other way. There don't appear to be any road rules that people obey at any rate.

We were staying in a pretty little town called Lençóis - which means laundry or sheets or linen or something. Bruno kicked us out of the car so he could find a place for us to stay without them ripping us off. He did well. After we had settled ourselves in, disaster struck. We didn't have time to do anything substantial, so we went on a little walk (for walk, read drive) to the river. The river bed would have been full during rainy season, but now just a small stream ran and landed in smooth pools at intervals as it travelled down the hill. The riverbed itself was made of a rainbow of smooth oval rocks embedded in overall hard rock surface. Deep round pools sunk in here and there, so that the water collected into dark bottomless baths. Some were empty too - just smooth round tubs. Anyway, it was beautiful and weird-looking.

Paul, Bruno and Kat jumped in one of the pools for a swim - it looked like a very cold brown watered jacuzzi. I think people normally wash their clothes in them. I turned round for a few minutes and when I turned back, worried expressions. Paul had lost his wedding ring in the murky depth. What was going to be a nice splashy afternoon in the sunshine turned into a panicked race against the setting sun full of diving in impossible conditions. There was no way they could have found the ring in there. The water was too murky to see in and too cold to stay under for any length of time. The Precious was lost! Bruno leapt from rock to rock like Gollum, before, like a hero, he scuttled off in just his speedos to find some goggles in town in the vain hope we still had a chance of finding the ring. The sun had just disappeared behind the hills when he reappeared with two lads in tow, one sporting some scuba goggles. They tried diving too, asking how much the ring was worth - hoping for a substantial reward or to sell it if they found it. For all we know they lied to us and did find it in the end. We never got it back. Paul was devastated, but coming to accept the loss by this point.

Now, by rights, what should happen next is that the ring will be swallowed by a fortuitous fish, which will be caught by a humble fisherman, sold at a faraway market, bought by the chef at the seafood restaurant in Camacari we're going to, and end up on Paul's plate complete with the ring inside its stomach. If this was a proper story. For now we've just got a Gollum interpretation. Some hapless swimmer will come across it and be transformed by the magical engraving inside, revealed by the fire they'll use to try and melt it down to sell ('Charlotte, 6/9/8') and cursed by the immortal lines: One ring to marry them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them. We all tried our best to cheer Paul up and I think we succeeded. After all, it's of these little incidents a round the world trip is made (*For Scott*). His losing things record is getting pretty impressive!

That evening we had a go at some Brazilian street food - Acarajé, which consisted of a deep fried bean bun with chili oil (v powerful), bean paste, some salad, okra stew and shrimps. Really good. Followed it with some variously fruited caipirinhas and tapioca pancakes (surprisingly stretchy). The stalls were in a covered market which was strangely empty of most market-related things, except for a guy sitting at a table with his guinea-pig. He looked a little embarrassed as we all crowded round him making squeaking noises.

Next day we hired a guide - something very new to me, and he took us on a botanical trek past the accursed river bed and up a hill. We swam in pools under waterfalls, and in the afternoon we went for a swim in a part of the river where big pools had gathered, and the rock was worn smooth by the water. One part of it formed a giant water slide, which I found traumatic and painful, but everyone seemed to think was amazing. One guy was even running down it. I think he was showing off to Kat because she could speak Portuguese. Place was worth it after the trek in the heat. The day after we graciously employed the same guide (Bruno had beaten him down to a good price - not physically of course. Although we weren't there so we're only assuming that.) who took us away in the car to see further away things. More waterfalls (complete with monkeys who always gather where there is human food to be had), up a big rock with a view over other big rocks and desert-like landscape for miles around, and finally some caves where, at a particular time of day, chemicals in the water made it spakle blue

On the way home today Bruno decided to stop in a town which seemed to exist only to sell stolen goods, and risk our own car being nicked by having lunch there. People shouted stuff at us as we went past, and we knew it wasn't complimentary because I could pick out the word 'gringo'. At the cafe, on the other hand, the staff seemed delighted to see us and offered us loads of food for very little money. A feast of rice, spaghetti, salad, meat (BBQ of course) and a manioc flour thing with beans in was laid out before us. All very good. We weren't sure why they were so keen to be nice to us - it was the most friendly reception we've had yet in an eating establishment! We had Mexican last night and Bruno says the waiter was being very rude to us in Portuguese. No tip for him. Bruno is very good at refusing to pay the service charge :)

This evening we went to a big sprawling fruit market which was great, and Bruno let us buy some weird-looking fruits to try. There was probably more to say, but I've forgotten it now. [Insert local colour and witty observations here.]

The Rio Tourist Trail

One of the nice things about hanging around with Nigel, Sandy and Kat is that we have the excuse to be real tourists for a bit, something we usually try and avoid. Believe me, there are plenty of things to do as a tourist in Rio. The statue "O Cristo Redentor" or "Christ the Redeemer" or, "the Jesus Statue" as I've come to term it is one of the most iconic landmarks in the world. It's so iconic in fact that if you go looking for it on Google maps you'll find a lovely 3D rendered version of it that you can fly around. This, of course doesn't compare to the real thing. You reach it by a rack-and-pinion railway which climbs the Corcovado mountain through the lush and green looking Tijuca Forest Park and the views are already getting spectacular as you head up. At the top it's stunning. You can see right round the city including the domestic airport, something I found most interesting as the runway juts right out in the water so a mis-calculation on someone's part could potentially result in the all-too-famous lifejackets finally finding a use. The statue itself is art deco, built in the 1920s and finally opened in 1931. It looks over the city with arms outstreched protecting all the murderers, theives and con-artists that (we're told) reside within. It was an opportunity for us to have an EYG bag moment. In case you dont know what I'm talking about, Charlotte has been carrying around one of the Edinburgh Youth Gaitherin cloth bags and the aim is to have a photo taken in each country with it in front of an obvious monument. This is our Brazil shot. Our argentina one was in from of the Argentinian congress building a and you can see them, along with all our other photos on our Flickr page. Back on the ground we spent the afternoon chilling out at K, N and S's hotel before heading to the park we'd seen the day before with the guinea-squirrels (capybaras according to the well travelled Lucy), cats, peacocks and other miscellaneous birds. I think this one wins the award for the most random cats in one are. At one point Nigel was chatted up by an interesting looking lady under the watchful eye of (we think) her 'sales representative'. She eventually figures she was barking up the wrong tree.

In the evening Kat, Charlotte and myself decided to try and get a feel for the Rio nightlife and were thus advised to head to the district of Lapa, famous for nighclubs, Samba bars and generally the venue for anyone looking for a wild night out. We got there far too early and not a lot was going on so we found an open-air bar to take a dring in, a beer and a couple of the now famous caipirinhas. Behind us was a bit table of folk who had a guitar and a ukelele and seemed to be breaking into songs occasionally but we let them be for the moment. We took a wander round the block looking for a place we'd found on-line which looked good but when we couldn't find it we headed back to the bar where we starteed, agreeing that it was quite a reasonable place to spend the evening. When we got back, the a guy at the big table invited us over to come and hear some Brazillain music. We were only to happy to do so - it turned out that they were a load of Ethnomusicology students on a night out with their lecturers for one of the older lecturers birthday. One of the lecturers had spent some time in Scotland and shouted "bonnie lass" at Kat and Charlotte and "braw lad" at me. He knew quite a few people invloved in musical acoustics at the University of Edinburgh, most notably Murray Campbell who lectured me in 2nd year and sand in the Church choir from time-to-time (he lived in Carlops, about 4-5 miles from Penicuik. a bizarre coincidence. The lecturer who's birthday it was knew of a couple of folk in the School of Scottish Studies as well. We taught them the cup percussion routine (we'll show you sometime if you ask) and sang them the Kelty Clippie accompanied by one of the students on the guitar. It was a sort of Brazillain Clippie by the end - he picked it up pretty quickly. We left agreeing that we'd had the perfect evening really without trying to find it.

Today we went to do the other Rio tourist activity, the Sugar Loaf Mountain cable car ride. It was the third cable car in the world, and started service in 1912 before a period out of service and an upgrade to the current "bubble" style cars in the 1970s. More spectacular views of the city abounded - it really is a city best seen from above.

Kat and Sandy were wiped out with heat by the end of that so they headed back to the hotel which Nigel, Charlotte and I headed to the famous Ipanema Beach, famous from the song "The Girl from Ipanema". We'd had a swimming experience already on Flamengo beach but I really fancied a go in the waves and the small pool which we'd seen on Ipanema a couple of days before (Ipanema is an oceanic beach so the waves are much higher than on the beaches in the bays). It was completely worth it, C and I played in the waves for ages even swimming to the point that we couldn't reach the bottom, a new experience for both of us.

Dinner was at another pay-by-weight place (the best one yet it was agreed) and even desserts were taken this time. It's becoming a game in which the winner is the person with the lowest priced plate. Kat won this evening with Sandy declared the loser. As yet I have never one but neither have I lost. We decided to take the risk of an evening stroll and a drink on Copacabana beach, previously the site of the toothpaste incident (I must wash my boot...) and it passed without drama. It seems that the worst of our Rio troubles was the toothpase incident so all-in-all after everyone's warnings we've probably done pretty well. There was also a bus driver who tried to seriously short-change us but given that he was writing down how much he was short-changing everone by we found him out. Tomorrow it's off to Salvador then Kat and Bruno's place in Camaçari. We haven't seen Bruno yet since we got here so we're all looking forward to a yarn with him.

Love to all.

P.S. Time-shift back to our first Couchsurfers in Buenos Aires, Marina took a video of part of the amazing evening fo food and music we had at their place which you can take a look at. Good memories - C's getting pretty good at teaching the dance now!

Itchy and Scratchy

So many bites! Arrrrrrgh!

Rio

The bus pulled into Rio and again the heat and humidity went up another notch. I was already nervous about the Rio part of the trip, particularly carrying the heavy bags in a big scary city, so I was a bit twitchy and tired from the lulling effect sitting on a warm bus. Our job was to find our couchsurfing hosts, but this was not a trivial affair. We bought a map but couldn't find their address on it. We spent hours looking for tourist info but could find no-one who could help us. We paid for an internet session and found a message from them with a phone number, but the line was dreadful and our credit ran out before we could organise anything. Potential stress and disaster! Luckily our hosts, Daniel and Carol, rescued us like angels and came and found us at the station. After 2 or 3 hours there I've never been so happy to see someone!

On the way to finding a bus to their house a guy started hassling me saying 'money! money!' - I suppose we'll have to expect more of this kind of thing. Let me just say that local buses are not made for giant backpacks. Anyway, enough of all that. We were exhausted and starving, so when we got off the bus we stopped on a street corner, where a temporary BBQ and general food stall had been set up. Someone brought us some plastic stools, and we propped ourselves up against the side of a bank and someone else brought us meat on sticks and coke (the drink, not the powder - it wasn't that kind of street). Much needed! The way it worked was that you bought a load of tokens, then could use them to buy things like meat on stick, cheese on stick, etc etc. Really good, if a little bit surreal. There was no sign of the impromptu cafe the next morning.

Another beautiful thing about arriving with Daniel and Carol was access to a shower and washing machine. Sometimes these things just get taken for granted when you have a permanent home to live in! We spent the evening explaining the difference between Scotland and England (the concept of the UK is really baffling to an outsider) and trying to convey the sheer weirdness of Hugh Laurie in House, by showing some old Youtube clips of Blackadder. House seems to be huge in South America. Personally, I don't think I could ever take Hugh Laurie seriously, but I feel a sort of possessive pride at what he's managed to achieve overseas.

The next day we boldly ventured into town and braved the seemingly baffling transport system. Daniel and Carol live quite far out in a reasonably poor part of Rio. Daniel assured us that this didn't mean it was unsafe - the people there 'weren't worth robbing'. He pointed out that at that moment, in one of the posh hotels in Copacabana a bunch of drug dealers had taken everyone hostage and there was a police shoot-out going on. It turned out there were 60 dealers hauled up inside. The dangerous areas are the tourist areas, and the places where the dealers actually live.

We had a wander about town and then went home - not easy, because of the aforementioned stupid transport system (I'm sure it makes sense if you can speak Portuguese!). The wonderful thing about Brazilians though is that we would be standing around looking confused, and someone would always come up to us and ask if we needed help, then try to help. Even if they couldn't speak English and even if their help sent us in the wrong direction. You'd never get that in Britain. We've had a lot of people just come up to us and offer us help like that.

So far we've had a policy of arriving at a new place with no expectations and just seeing what happens, but this tactic doesn't seem to work with Rio. We've just had no idea what to do. People said, 'oh, Rio's amazing - you'll want days there, there's so much to do,' but the problem was, what WAS there to do? Nothing was immediately evident. In Buenos Aires we'd just walked around and come across things, but here it feels like you really need to know what you're looking for, or at least the right places to go. So we wandered around a market selling crap, ate a nice stodgy thing with cheese and ham, and drank sugar cane juice. I'm happy to say, we have not been robbed. In the evening we got back and made cottage pie and shortbread for our hosts, and some Italian couchsurfers who arrived just as we were serving up. It was a proper little party! To finish off, Paul and I played a few tunes, taught Daniel the Gay Gordons, and sang some songs. Good times.

Yesterday we met up with Mum, Dad, and Kat - seeing her for the first time in well over a year. Very exciting. She's changed a lot I think! Or maybe not - maybe I'm just saying that for something to say. We had another wander around, spent a long time trying to interpret a restaurant menu, and have been driving Kat mad forcing her to be the official communicator with the locals. We went to Ipanema and Copacabana (just so we'd been) and admired all the people in their swimwear. The men like to go jogging in just speedos, and the women wear strings with bits of cloth attached. But they get away with it because there seems to be this strange culture of working out and body obsession among the Brazilians. There's even gym equipment on the beach, people playing sports, etc etc. The land of the beautiful. I was expecting to feel a bit intimidated by all the buff bodies, but it's just fascinating to see. We went for a swim on the beach ourselves today. Hurrah! We all looked very pale and wobbly, although Kat has got herself one of the local strings-and-cloth jobs. She says it was the largest she could find.

We walked through Copacabana as it was getting dark and the culture there was so different from other bits of Rio we'd experienced so far. It was all about getting as much of your money off you as possible - people thrusting things in your face, being harrassed with every step. It didn't help that we were a party of 5 pale blonde people I suppose! At one point Paul noticed a white blob on his shoe (turned out to be toothpaste) and a few minutes later, a man ran after him shouting 'shoe-shine! shoe-shine!' It was the audacity of it that annoyed us more than anything else. And though it was quite funny afterwards (especially as he'd really chosen the wrong person to con - don't squirt someone with walking boots, they obviously don't care what their shoes look like), it was also really sad that this was what the guy was reduced to doing.

Today we took our leave of our lovely hosts, and it was a shame we didn't get to spend more time with them! We're staying in a seedy little hostel now so we can be closer to the family (they're staying in relative luxury!) - when we arrived the door was unlabelled and unassuming in a slightly shady street. We would have walked straight past it if some woman hadn't come out and shouted at us. We've done more of the same today - beach and walking about having an explore. We've had coconut water (the stuff that fills a green coconut before it gets absorbed into the flesh) and watched parakeets in the trees. We also saw some weird giant guinea-pig things in a park, as well as a swarm of cats, some ducks and geese, and a peacock (all trying to eat cat food through the park fence). Also, Dad and Kat said they saw a monkey but I missed that. Enough of the wildlife report. Mum had a long conversation with a tramp who wanted her money. She gave him a nut.

That's all for now. Tomorrow we go and look for Jesus. It involves getting up early and taking a train or something.

Ta-ta!

For Scott

Top 5 favourite moments of Brazil so far:

1. Getting to see Kat again after what seems like forever (and seeing Mum and Dad too of course)
2. Samba!
3. Food by weight and BBQ meat that comes round on a stick (see previous posts)
4. The boat in Paraty - amazing
5. Paddling in a sea that is warm where staying in isn't some kind of bravado endurance test (I was going to write swim, but that would have been a lie - perhaps tomorrow!)

Honorable mention - the kindness and generosity of the fantastic Brazilians!

Bottom few moments:

1. Still being ill after a week and a half. Note to self - when returning to UK, take out wretched tonsils.
2. Paul losing things (I think the head torch still hurts him the most)
3. A bus door taking a bite out of Paul's fiddle case (useful news on the fiddle survival sweepstake front!)
4. Waking up to find a) new and unidentified insect bites all over me (esp round the ankles), and b) that I have been scratching them all night. But it always feels so good at the time!
5. Being tired, lost, confused and frustrated in Rio bus station with no idea how to find where we were meant to be going (they don't like the idea of 'tourist information' in Rio, apparently). Luckily we were rescued by our wonderful hosts!

Sun, Sea, Sand and Samba

The BBQ-meat-on-a-stick-brought-to-your-table-dining-experience is called "Churrascaria" and is fab. It would go down a treat in the UK if meat wasn't so expensive.

Anyhow, that evening we had a Samba experience in a music bar in Curitiba. It was a place that Leticia and Guilherme go fairly regularly. The band was a samba-rock band called Decompositores and they were great - mostly percussion but with a guitar and a fretless bass. The lead singer/harmonica player was one of those performers who was compulsive to watch. Guilherme taught me and C a few Samba steps and we seemd to manage pretty well. He and Leticia were particularly good and at one point Leticia was dancing with a guy who really knew his stuff. It was particularly interesting to see how that if a guy can lead confidently then the woman should be able to follow - Leticia did with amazing style. He danced with Charlotte as well and commented that he always finds European women trying to lead - something I have also observed...

A fab night was had. G and I were drining a Brazilian dark beer a bit like a sweet Guinness and L and C were drinking Caipirinha which is made from Cachaça, the Brazilian equivalent of whisky.

The next morning a bleary-eyed Guilherme drove us to the train station where we caught one of the few train journeys that you can do in Brazil. This one is one of the most renowned and was really the reason we were in Curitiba. It's called the Serra Verde Express and it goes to a place called Morretes and on the way passes through some fantastic Atlantic rainforest scenery. It was without doubt the most spectacular train journey I have ever been on with sweeping landscapes with mountains covered in trees - stunning. It was also nice passing all the old "dead stations" as Charlotte christened them. They had a certain ghost town feel to them. The weather however was freezing and as we pulled into Morretes I thought I'd never be warm again. I was still wearing shorts as I'd left my jeans in Argentina. Doh! It wasn't clear what we were supposed to do in the town so after a quick bite of our supermarket lunch we just took a wander. It was very different from Curitiba and certainly felt "exotic". Many of the houses were on stilts - I guess flooding must be a regular problem but you'd expect that for a rainforest. The train back was so quiet the guide allowed us into tourist class where at least the windows weren't made of scratched plastic. The weather different on the way back - still chilly but misty this time whcih gave the scenery a certain mystical atmosphere. It was great as we got to see it in two quite different ways.

When we arrived back in Curitiba we'd decided to buy stuff to make dinner from the supermarket and also buy ingredients to make shortbread for our hosts. This proved harder than we thought but a guy who spoke English pointed us in the right direction. Back at the train station we decided to take a taxi - the driver was a lovely chap and really wanted to chat but had no English. This led to an amusing ride with him speaking Portugese with the occasional English word and C and I smiling, nodding and laughing. In general, Brazilians are really cheerful and helpful. The shortbread was made and all too soon the next morning it was time to leave again. Leticia and Guilherme were fantastic hosts and their helpfulness and hospitality knew no bounds. Leticia even drove us to the airport which is actually in the next town - great, great people.

Everyone we spoke to about Brazil said not to stay in São Paulo so after the plane ride there we got another one of the famous South American buses to Paraty. We arrived late to our hostel so we didn't find out where we were 'till the next morning.

Now we were further north we could feel the difference in climate. Paraty is like your vision of paradise. Sun, sea, sand - not quite crystal clear waters but certainly much warmer and more swimmable than the north sea. We were to stay with a rather unusual Couchsurfer - Michel who is a 62 year old Frenchman who lives on a boat. He met us on the pier and took us to his boat via a dinghy. This was very amusing as it was only really designed fr one, maybe two people and not three people, massive bags and two fiddles. I nearly went in with my bag and fiddle on my back. That would have been pretty exciting.

Michel moved to Paraty about two years ago. His boat "Horizonte Azul" is about 40 or so years old and it is beautiful. On the outside a massive mast and sails, a proper wheel and on the inside three bedrooms, two toilets, a living/dining area and a kitchen with loads of carved wood, old light fittings etc. We had a coffee and a chat with Michel and discovered a mutual love for Irish music - he had an Irish music radio chanel playing in the boat.

Michel had to dry-dock the boat for painting so he dropped us in the town and we took a wander around. It is a very interesting place - the streets are all cobbled with stones brought from Portugal and there's loads of wee shops and houses. It was definitely more of a tourist town but still very nice. We decided to take it easy since it felt like that kind of place so eventually we found a place on the beach and spent the afternoon there reading our books and paddling in the sea.

That evening we met Michel at one of the bars where we also met one of his friends who was also French. In fact, he spoke little English and little Portuguese as well despite having lived in Brazil for 2 years. Given that I have no grasp of languages whatsoever, it became C's job to try and chat (in a mixture of English and broken French punctuated by bits of Gaelic) while I sat, laughed and drank Caipirinha. Very pleasant. We then left to get some food at a "pay by weight" resteraunt. These are quite common in Brazil apparently. The trick is to fill your place with light stuff (salad, chips etc.) before going for the heavy meat which was cooked on a BBQ. More fantastic meat was eaten, much to my delight. It was then back to the boat where we slept like logs and woke up the next morning slighty mindful that we'd had a couple of strong drinks the night before.

It's a novelty for us to be able to swim in the sea without pain and brain freeze so we decided to dig out the swimming costumes (C's bikini had it's debut outing) and head back to the beach. Another very relaxing day was spent reading, paddling and swimming. We weren't far enough north for the water to be properly warm yet but it was much more pleasant than my prvious sea swimming experience in the waters of Coldingham! Food was taken in another pay by weight establishment - this time it was based around fish and was again, very good indeed. Michel was kind enough to cook us dinner on the boat. We wanted to try and help but there's so little space that was impossible so instead we played tunes and sang. Michel played a wee bit on his melodion as well but for the main part seemed to be happy to listen to us. We headed into town looking for a quiet cafe to play in but most of them were closed or about to close. We played for a wee bit outside a creperie though and had a wander round the beginnings of the Cachaça festival about to happen in Paraty.

The next day it was time to move on. We said to Michel that if he ever came back to Europe he should come and visit us in Scotland but he said "i have found my paradise, I'm keeping it". It's so nice to meet someone who is entirely happy with their life - it was a pleasure for us to spend time with Michel and his boat. The Couchsurfing is working out really well so far.

I write this now from Rio de Janiero which gives me the perfect opportunity to post this video which I've been driving Charlotte crazy with by singing all week.

We are now at the home of Daniel and Carol, our next couchsurfers and it's here that we meet with Charlotte's sister Kat, her husband Bruno and her parents Nigel and Sandy. We haven't seen Kat and Bruno since they left the UK over a year ago so this is a big reunion.

Love to all and in particular a big congrats to my parents on their 35th wedding anniversary!

Brrrr Brazil

After an intimidatingly hot and humid couple of days at the edge of Argentina, Brazil has been freezing from the word go. Even the dogs wear little jumpers. Not what I expected of Brazil at all, I can tell you. We got the bus across the border from Puerto Iguazu to Foz do Iguacu in Brazil, and the first thing I noticed was a horse-drawn cart for day-t0-day use. In fact, it all seemed really different from Argentina. Probably the cold weather that made us feel that way. Our stay in Foz wasn't that eventful so I won't bore you with it. We were stupid enough not to take the hostel up on their offer to pick us up from the station (I didn't realise they'd made that offer!) so we suffered an hour and a half uphill trek for about 4km to find it. I'm also ill at the moment so was not a happy Charlotte. Especially as I fell over in the middle of crossing the road, and my knees weren't strong enough to let me get up on my own! The hostel was full of the same English gap year kids as we'd seen in Puerto Iguazu, and we met a Scottish couple who spent the night feeding us horror stories about Peru. Thanks for the warnings, guys! That and a little sausage dog wearing a different jumper each day. That's about the sum of it.

So yesterday we got on one of these famous Brazilian long-distance buses (10 hour, so relatively short) and shivered through to the other side of the country to Curitiba. (I say famous because Brazilian buses are known for being of a very high standard and pretty comfortable. A nice change from the Megabus!) The drive was actually beautiful after we made it out of the Foz area. Trees and hills and all those things. Plus sunshine eventually. A giant Jesus or Mary towering over each village, and more weirdly, some grannies playing in a park. Upon closer inspection it turned out there was fitness equipment there built out of the same materials as the kiddies play bit, but what it looked like was a play park for old ladies.

Apparently Curitiba is the coldest city in Brazil, which we can believe, but it's very beautiful. We met up with our next lovely couchsurfing hosts - Leticia, a lingerie entrepreneur, and her boyfriend Guilherme, a doctor. Today they took us out to lunch with Guilherme's family to a place Paul is particularly fond of - an all you can eat buffet with Lots Of Meat. Waiters come to the table with cuts of meat on sticks and you just take what you want. And there's a whole load of other delights too. Paul was in 7th heaven. We also had pasta in sweet sauces which was a new one. Like chocolate and banana, and coconut and milk. And of course various things with Dulce de Leche. Like the Argentinians they're a big fan of that. Made a nice change from the dreaded rice and beans which we had on our first night. I believe tonight we are going to experience some Brazilian music so more on that to come I'm sure.

That's about all for now - my head is filled with porridge so I'm sure Paul will come up with something I've missed. Mmmm porridge. That would be good right now. And some whisky, for the medicinal properties of course.

Iguazú...zú, zú, zú!

Up to now we've managed to avoid the tourist bubble but we're now in a place where that's impossible. If you've ever played "Curse of Monkey Island" or "Escape from Monkey Island" then you'll know that there's a couple of points where Guybrush Threepwood gets stuck in a tourist trap. Well, that's what Puerto Iguazú feels like. Everywhere you look there's people selling cute necklaces for you to buy or groovy bars for you to dance in or charming restaurants for you dining pleasure.

We're staying in the Marco Pollo Inn which is quite a decent place. It's sort of open plan, even with an open air kitchen which is something I've never encountered before. Iguazu National Park itself feels a lot like the Eden project. It's doing a good thing but it does it amidst fast food stalls, ice cream etc etc. None of this can detract from the sheer beauty of the falls though. I have never seen anything like it and I have never seen as much water in all my life. We took a load of photos which you can see on Flickr but the simply don't do it justice. One day you'll have to come here for yourself and see it. There's mad racoons who try and nick your lunch but we managed to escape them

An Argentinian style pizza was the result of our kitchen/supermarket efforts this evening and tomorrow we bid farewell to Argentina and head to Brazil where we are staing with two more Couchsurfers before the big Hathaway family reunion in Rio de Janiero. It's all still to come and you'll only read about it here so keep following!

Love to all.

Exotic

After Paul's epic last post I thought I'd keep this comparatively short and simple.
The last day in Buenos Aires was a blast. Celina took us back to her school and we entertained a couple more classes. We also met their dance teacher, who is involved with this RSCDS and partly responsible for continuing the intriguing culture of Scottish dance lessons in schools in Buenos Aires. The kids were fantastic and it really made our trip to have the opportunity to meet them and do some dances and songs with them. They also gave us a sticker with the school badge on it for our fiddle cases. Hurrah!

To make a good day even better, Celina took us to the best pizza place in town (according to her) - Argentina is very proud of its pizza and it is a beautiful thing to behold. We then had a last wander around, before shooting up to the 28th floor of her dad's office building to see an amazing sunset over the city. You'd had to be there, I suppose. A photograph could not do it justice. On the way home we happened upon a Tango club (well, it had to happen sometime), and Celina talked Paul and I into doing a lesson. Suffice to say we were awful. We'd been avoiding Tango up until this point, because most of the stuff you encounter in Buenos Aires is staged tourist trap type thing. We've been told that Tango is a bit like ceilidh - something old people do, and something young people are just getting into, but certainly not quite something that most people are genuinely interested in. But this was great. There were about 3 other couples, and 2 smiley men trying to explain to us what to do, in a huge room with a nice roof. And some coffee. For some reason both Paul and I have succumbed to drinking coffee. Not sure what it's doing for my caffeine intolerence, but it feels very south american.

Thank you for having us, Celina!

Today we hopped on a plane and flew to Iguazu, on the border with Brazil and Paraguay. It couldn't be more different from BA. While Buenos Aires felt quite European with all its French architecture, Iguazu is exotic. As we landed there was forest as far as the eye could see (the rest of Argentina seemed to be pretty flat and empty), and it was hot (Buenos Aires was warm in the sunshine, but still quite wintery). There were exotic trees everywhere with actual fruit actually hanging from the branches (normally seen going squidgy and wrinkly in a British supermarket). The roads are dusty and red, the houses are short (compared to skyscrapers, anyway), and women carry their shopping in round baskets on their heads. Lizards, coconuts, humidity, you get the picture. We decided to take it easy to get ourselves used to the heat (ok, it was only about 26 degrees but that's a lot for pastey Brits), and went to see the border point between the 3 countries. It was divided up by the biggest river I've ever seen (although I'm sure there's bigger to come), and it was nice to see Brazil just across the way. We'll be coming to you soon!

Aside from that, we've had some adventures in an outdoor kitchen and stared longingly at the hostel swimming pool. Tomorrow, the waterfall.

Things that seem particularly Argentinian:
Coffee and cake - they do this a bit like the Swedes. We didn't realise you were supposed to have this meal so you could last until dinner at 9. We went very hungry.

Stupid meal times - see above. My stomach has just decided to give up and not expect food any more.

Great beef

Amazing pizza

Yerba mate - everyone has their own cup to drink it out of that only they use, so that things are kept the way they like it.

Tourist tango

Empanadas - look a bit like Cornish pasties

Sweet potato jam - comes in lots of flavours like vanilla and chocolate, tastes a bit like apple sauce, and comes in a slab which looks like rough jelly

Dulce de leche - Argentinians have a very sweet tooth

Cats - strays everywhere. It's like one big cat zoo

Balconies

Dog shite - everywhere, ahhh!

Tiny bread

Street signs sponsered by big companies, like American Express

Beef, Bagpipes and Bairns

They're from the streets of Aberdeen and the small border town

The Hebridean Islands and all the country round
They travelled to a new land and they sing a different song, but
There is no mistaking where they're from

Yes, no sooner had we arrived at our hostel when we were sitting down to an Argentinian beef BBQ next to a guy from Dumfries. They get everywhere these Scots! We were also joined by three young guys from London and an elderly American man who soon pointed out that one of the Londoners (who said his name was Freddie) was the double of Freddie Highmore of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "August Rush" fame. Freddie mumbled and looked a bit concerned when this was brought to everyone's attention so we just left the subject there. We're pretty sure it was though. Anyhow, the beef and the sausages were fantastic and after our epic journey having food that wasn't out of a plastic carton was very much appreciated. Needless to say, after that we collapsed unconcious.

The next morning we ditched our luggage in the basement of the hostel and went out to see where we'd landed. Buenos Aires is a city of contrasts with some stunning architechture mixed in with some real crap. It's a great place to wander around and we managed to find the Congress Building and the "Casa Rosada" or "Pink House" where the EYG bag had it's first airing. There are loads of squares or "Plaza" to wander in so we had a supermarket adventure (always a highlight) and had a picnic in one of them. Later in the day we headed to our first Couchsurfers, Marina and Andres who live West of the centre of BA in a beautiful house with 5 cats (three queens and one tom) and a crazy dog. I made friends with one of the queens and commented on how outgoing and freindly she was to be told that was because she was in heat. Oh well, I'm sure we'll always be friends. Marina and Andres were quite extraordinarily welcoming and very helpful in answering all our questions about BA and Argentina including "how do you cross the road without dying?" to which the answer was, "good question". We made them a spaghetti bolognese as a thanks for having us.

Yet another Scottish connection was discovered wandering Buenos Aires when we heard the sound of the bagpipes somewhere in the distance. Being so used to hearing it we didn't really notice until we had a "huh!?" moment and followed the sound. We discovered an Argentinian Piper so we made him the subject of our first video. When he discovered Charlotte dabbled in piping he let her have a shot of his Argentinian bagpipes, a really nice chap. He turned up later when we were watching a clown show and asked if he could have my Folksoc hoodie but unfortunately, it's the only one I have with me and I don't want to part with it.

We had heard about this fantastic cemetary in BA so after Breakfast we decided to pay it a visit. Cemetaries have always been places I've enjoyed visiting as they tell you so much about how people lived and what their atitudes to death were. Suffice to say, I've ever visited one like this. Glynis and Sooz would have been in their element. It is in effect, a city of dead people. There are streets and streets of cryps, many of which are like small churches with an alter at the top (chairs, tables etc.) and the coffins downstairs. Some of them have the coffins on the top level in which case you cn look through the doors (mostly glass) and peer in at the. A most bizarre experience!

That evening Marina and Andres took us to a BBQ restaurant with two of their friends. We were brought sausages, black pudding, various forms of offal (including small intestine and brain) and plenty Argentinian red wine before the main course of steak and a rack of beef arrived (Charlotte's face was a picture when she realised that we'd only had the starter). It was the best steak I have ever tasted and was so much cheaper than anything you'd get in the UK. Marina and Andres' friends were less confident about speaking English than they were and were there partly to practice. As the evening went on confidence grew, more wine was taken and by the end of it no-one was really speaking any recognisable language. Back at the house ice cream was eaten, we played some tunes and Charlotte dnaced the Gay Gordon's with Andres around the living room. An amazing evening and a HUGE, HUGE thanks to Marina and Andres, their cats and their dog for having us. Incidently, this is a city of cats. Just about every square and park has a colony of them and the cemetary was full of cats, each of which was dubbed "Greyfriar's Pussy".

We left after brunch the next morning to meet our next Couchsurfer Celina, who is a bundle of fun and energy living in the centre of BA. She took us on a wander round the Sunday market in San Telmo, one of the oldest parts of the city and we took in the sites, smells and ate some of the sugared nuts that are prepared on just about every street corner. It was giant and went on for streets and streets.

Celina is a teacher at the primary school Fundacion Nuestra Señora De La Merced in the centre of BA and bizarely enough, her kids have been learning some Scottish dancing. We'd agreed to go in and play for them, talk about Scotland and sing a couple of songs. When we arrived, it was a wee girl's 9th birthday so happy birthday was sung (the kids in Spanish and us in English) before the barrage of questions in a mixture of Spanish and Enlish; "What is your favourite colour?", "how old are you?" (asked beautifully in English by one young chap and "do you have horses and carts in Scotland?". I sang them a song about Elephants before we headed down to their hall where we taught them a simplified strip the willow and they showed us how they'd learnt the Flying Scotsman. I played and they stayed exactly to time with no instructions, remarkable. They also showed us some Argentinian dancing including a waltz which had them bowing to each other. I couldn't imagine Scottish kids doing it with such grace. We left after a rendition of the Jeely Piece Song which the kids thought was highly amusing when they found out that it was all about sandwiches.

That afternoon we took a tour (albeit in Spanish!) around the congess building which has a gorgeous debating chamber and a very impressive library. It was interesting to hear all the questions the others on the tour were asking. It was clearly their congressso they were keen to find out about what they were paying for.

Our meal for Celina that evening was a Scottish classic, scampi with chips and peas followed by shortbread. As I don't speak Spanish, I mistakenly bought self raising flour so the shortbread was a little more like cake than I'd planned but still very edible.

That epic brings us to this morning. We now have a Flickr account where we'll be putting all our photos. There's loads there of the cemetary and various view around BA so be sure to check it out. Love to all.

Planes planes planes!

So it seems like we've been travelling for 48 hours, though I'm so confused by the time zones that I can't be sure of that. Plus my watch has developed a very amusing habit of getting stuck on the hour sometimes... not boding well for the future.
Highlight of being on so many long-haul flights has been seeing what new and exciting meal gourmet gateway will give us. My stomach is so confused with the amount of main meals it's had at odd times. Best by far was some weird concoction of different flavoured scrambled eggs for breakfast this morning (haven't eaten since and the clock says it's 8.15) - they were with chillies, tomatoes, and some bean paste (which Paul didn't complain about) with cheese. Served slightly warm and soggy in a metal container.
Landing in Mexico City, by the way, was unbelievable. Don't know what time it was, but it was dark so there were thousands of lights as far as the eye could see, punctuated by black patches of hillsandthings. The lights were a bit weird to look at, as so many of them were skyscrapers so they had this 3D sort of effect. Still have no idea what Mexico City actually looks like! When we finally made it to Buenos Aires (oh, how I'm growing to love customs and immigration queues - we've already done 3) we spent about 2 hours trying to work out how to get a bus and how to get change for it. Then realised the journey was going to take 2 hours because it wasn't particularly direct. No matter, we got an interesting insight into the outskirts of the city, and were ambushed by some guy trying to sell chocolate bars to passengers on the bus. (Can you imagine a Lothian Bus response to that? The driver would shout and swear whilst everyone else would pretend they couldn't see the vendor.)
Anyway, we're here now in a great youth hostel resembling an MC Escher house and awaiting a promised BBQ where will have Lots Of Meat and Half A Bottle Of Wine each. Much needed.
Ta ta for now!

And they're off!

First of all, a big thank you to everyone who turned up at the Rev to see us off. It was fab to see you all and the burger I had was one of the best (a big thanks to A+G for buying us dinner and transporting us to the bus station). A sing through of the "Ramblin Rover" seemed the appropriate way to signal our departure and then we left to catch the red-eye bus to London. Since then it's still pretty red-eyed with a tube in London to Heathrow then a 7 hour flight to New York. We're currently in the departures awaiting our flight to Mexico then Buenos Aires. It's all feeling a bit strange - almost like a dream at the moment, especially when so little sleep has been had. I'm feeling sad that we're not seeing New York yet as looking out to the city it looks fab. All to come though!

Not much to report on flights. The on demand entertainment on our BA London-New Yor flight was very impressive. I watched the Simpsons, The Thick of It, Bill Bailey and the movie Invivtus, which I highly recommend. Morgan Freeman is a legend and it makes me want to meet him and Nelson Mandlea.

Anyhow, lots more flying to come before we start properly. I'll post again from Buenos Aires but not until we've had some sleep...

Love to all.

Ethno Scotland

This past week, instead of making last minute preparations for the big trip, Paul and I have been taking part in the musical force of nature that is Ethno Scotland. Many thanks to all the organisers, and everyone who turned up - we had a fantastic time! For anyone who's interested, Ethno Scotland involved 30 musicians from 12 countries all over the world, sharing music from the various countries' traditions and culminating in a series of fantastic concerts at the end of the week. We also got to spend a nice relaxing time on the beautiful shores of Loch Goil and even managed to fit in a bit of sailing and kayaking. Looking forward to an even bigger and better Ethno next year, and we'll miss all you people who we met this time!

http://www.internever.com/ethno/

Tonight we'll be taking the night bus down to London, ready to catch a plane to Buenos Aires (via New York and Mexico) tomorrow morning. Here we come!