Enormous glaciar - Perrito Merino

The Perrito Moreno glaciar is one of the only advancing glaciars in the world and it is utterly HUGE - 30km's in length and 5km's wide. We took a boat to get up close and personal and then took a seat to watch mother nature's show - huge chunks of ice come away from the glaciar everyday and make a deafening sound as they fall into the lake below. To top it off we had a stunningly beautiful day - apparently most of the time the mountain peaks are covered in clouds, however someone was looking out for us on this day!

Torres Del Paine - Towers of Pain (literally!) - Patagonia

'WOW' is all I can say about Patagonia. The size, the vast open space, the changeable weather.... and the lack of people is quite astounding. We're close to 'el fin del mundo'- the end of the world and you can really feel it. We arrived in El Calafate last week and headed straight to Puerto Natales in Chile to do a trek in Torres Del Paine, a massive National Park famed for its beauty and challenging treks. And believe me, this was the most challenging thing that either of us has ever attempted. With ridiculously heavy backpacks - carrying our tent, sleeping bags, mats, cooking stove, food etc, we trekked through howling knock over winds, (gusts of 100km that literally picked you up and throw you) across cliff faces for many many KM's. In fact over 2 days we walked over 40kms, and then slept in the tent in zero degrees. If this does not test your physical strength and endurance I don't know what will as it was just the two of us, a map and our backpacks. Unfortunately Claire got a big blister on the first day, so with the constant water seaping into her trainers, and the feeling that it was getting infected we had to cut our trek short. However, we would truly recommend this to anyone who wants a challenge, though it is certainly not for the faint hearted! I hope that the pics speak for themselves.......

Hippy days

For a bit of a rest from the travelling, to save some cash and also get a bit of zen time, we opted for a short stay at the Eco Yoga farm outside of Buenos Aires. We spent 4 mornings building an eco tree house with bamboo, wood scraps and plastic bottles. We spent the afternoons doing yoga, relaxing and eating LOTS of organic vego food. Upon arriving we realised that it was a Hare Krishna commune. While it was a great opportunity to de-tox, we have no temptation to become borne again Hare Krishnas!!

Iguazu highs

On our way back to Argentina we had a pit stop at the Iguazu falls. These falls sit across 3 countries - Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. We spent most of our time in Argentina - the food is a lot better and it's cheaper than Brazil. We did however manage to fit in a trip across the 3 countries in an hour to buy a netbook in Paraguay...which was an interesting experience in itself. We weren't sure whether we'd get back to the hostel to find that the computer had been swapped for a brick. Luckily, it was all good.
Anyway, back to Iguazu.... the falls are truly spectacular and come highly recommended. As the United States First Lady reportedly said;'Poor Niagra' upon seeing Iguazu. The falls just keep on going and going and there are continuous photo opportunities. The most exhilerating is the 'Garganta del Diablo'- devils throat. It's 82m high, 150m wide and 700m long - at one point you can stand and be surrounded by 260 degrees of waterfalls. And you get very wet from the waterfall spray! Check out the photos and short vid below.
Next stop - back to fab BA and then to a hippy Hare Krishna vegetarian yoga farm for some zen, building huts and $$$ savings...

a bit of culture in Sao Paulo

we recovered from our food poisoning in a cool hostel in Vila Madalena, Sao Paulo, an artsy bohemian part of town. We slept in a 12 bed dorm for 5 nights however it was surprisingly ok as the people were really cool and the vibe was good (except for 2 Norweigian 20 yr olds who insisted on drinking a massive bottle of vodka in one night....as you can imagine it had a messy ending!). couppla photos of the city. Note - the rather skiny Tom after losing 10kgs.
Next stop Iguauzu Falls.......

Pretty Paraty

From Rio we set off to Paraty - a cute little colonial town 7 hrs south, which is surrounded by lush jungle. Unfortunately it rained and rained and rained, however this was where we got sick so we were in bed for most of the time anyway. Note to self - do not eat a meat pastel from a bus station no matter how hungry you are! Couppla piccies below taken when the sun made an appearance for 5 minutes.

Santa Theresa

In the hills above Rio sits a cute bohemian area, Santa Theresa. Winding roads, narrow streets, lots of street art and cute bars that haven´t changes in 50 years. To get there you take a tram from the city - we had seats on the way up, however coming down we had to hang onto the outside of the tram and cling for dear life. Found out afterwards that people have died doing this - thankfully we were unscathed!

Rio - crazy views and favelas

We spent a week in Rio to get a feel for life as a ´carioca´. According to the locals the city has been cleaned up for the world cup and olympics, there were cops everywhere! Once the weather improved we made a bee-line to Christ the Redeemer statue with some friendly Columbian guys from the hostel and some crazy Argentinians who we met on the bus. Check out the cool view of the city in the photos below.




Whilst in Rio we met up with Maka and Rose - friends from Melbourne. Lucky for us, Rose being Brazilian could speak Portuguese and after chatting with the police at the bottom of the favela in Copacabana we took a stroll up the steep hills for a look around. Along the way Rose got chatting to a lady who then volunteered to show us around. Our own private favela tour! The Police have taken over many of the favelas in the past year or so, taking the guns from the drug dealers and bringing peace to the communities. Tom and Maka also brought a bit of colour to the streets and made friends with some local kids - check out the photos below.





Our last 2 days in Rio were spent staying in a favela hostel. This favela had the most awesome view over the city - so we spent a fair amount of time lying in a hammock taking it in and chatting with the locals kids.

Beach Bums

so, we´ve all heard about the ´thongs´ (or ´G strings´ for the Aussies!) in Brazil, however something that came as a big surprise to us was that it doesn´t matter what shape or size or age the Brazilians are, they are flaunting their booties on the beach for all to see!! ....and ahem there was a fair bit of cellulite on show. Go the Brazilians for not caring and being confident in their skin.
Check out below a photo of some of the booties on display in true Rio style.
And not forgetting the ladies, there were plenty of hot male bodies on display, these guys must seriously work-out 24/7!



The Carioca´s (people of Rio) are seriously keen on their beach ball sports - all along the beach there were balls flying everywhere.
Next update coming soon, apologies for the slackness! A massive bout of food poisoning knocked us out for a week!!