From Uyuni, it was a long journey to Rio in Brazil. I stopped in Sucre (Bolivia), Santa Cruz (Bolivia), Bonito (Brazil), Iguazu Falls (Brazil and Agrentina) then after many overnight buses, trains, planes etc, I finally made it to Rio de Janeiro. What a beautiful city. Beautiful harbour, beaches, climate, great bars, restaurants and beautiful people. I have barely been in a city for the last 3 months, then this one has 11 million people. That´s big.
I stayed at Ipanemma beach where all the young and hip Caroica´s hang out. The Pan Pacific Games are also on here so the place is just buzzing, like Sydney during the Olympics.
I went sight seeing for a day, checked out the Big Jesus, Macarana stadium, downtown and the Sugarloaf cablecar. The views were stunning everywhere. Friday night I went out to the Lapa district to check out the bars. Went to a favella festival, did some samba in the street, and got home after 8am. (I was the first one home to my room at the hostel).
Sunday at the beach was 30 degrees. It was great to be hot again. This is what I´ve been missing. Then the weather changed and went cold and I caught a cold and have been sick ever since.
I also visited the Ihla Grande, a beautiful tropical island 2 hours off the coast, and stayed there to recover before heading back to Rio.
I decided to make Rio my last stop as everywhere south from here is just too cold. Buenos Aries has had snow for the first time in 80+ years, and I just can´t take the cold anymore. So in a few days, I´ll fly to Santiago for a few days, before I fly home ariving on the 8th August.
But for one last treat before I leave, I went tandem hang gliding over Rio which was superb. You have to run off a ramp then you just glide gracefully over the beautiful mountains and beaches. I was very scared before I jumped off, but once in the air it was great.
Looking forward to catching up with you all soon.
Jeff
