Merry Christmas!

Not being home for Christmas is really odd, but spending the happiest day of the year in the J.W. Marriott of Rio de Janiero is nothing to complain about. For the past month we have sort of ignored the fact that it is the Christmas season. This is no difficult task as we couldn't even find Christmas carols to listen to when we tried and the only decorated trees we have seen are in malls or hotels. Last night we had a great dinner (about 6 hours long) in which we consumed enormous amounts of wine and Caprioskas (Brazil's signature cocktail) and ate massive amounts of sushi and steak.

Since Jimmy Steaks is in town we have been on the move quite a bit. After a couple days lounging around in Rio we headed to Ilha Grande, an island about 4 hours south of here. It was here that we had a reunion with our favorite English non-couple from Floripa, Alasdair and Claire, and made new friends with another fun English non-couple, Sarah and Mark. It seems as though we attract the English. One of the days on the island we took a boat ride to a beach called Lopez Mendes and another we took a 2 hour hike with Sarah and Mark. It was doubtful that Mr. Hayden would survive the grueling trek, but somehow he pulled through. The hike led to virtually no where so when we got to wherever that was, we pretty much turned around and headed straight back. All was not lost as we had tons of fun with our new friends and laughed pretty much non-stop. We finished up our time on Ilha Grande to return to Rio for Christmas and celebrate in style.

We miss all of you back home and wish we were there for you to spoil us with gifts. Remember we get twice as many next year since you all got off easy this Christmas.

Merry Christmas and a special Happy Birthday to Mr. Chris Gordon!

Why Brazilians Get Brazilians.

This past week we learned the answer to the perplexing question, why do brazilians get brazilians? To put it frankly, less is much, much more here on the beach and if your butt cheeks aren't hanging out you are the exception to the rule. After a week in Barra da Lagoa (near Florianopolis in Brazil) we have torn ourselves away from our second home at the backpackers share house in order to come to Rio de Janiero for Christmas with the one and only Jimmy Hayden.

In Barra da Lagoa the days quickly mesh together and it is easy to understand how someone can come for 3 days and stay 3 months. The beaches (and people) are gorgeous, everyone is friendly, and you feel like you have accomplished some great feat by laying on the beach all day. In attempt to save some money we (scratch that, Jess doesn't cook...she just complains) made 2 huge vats of chili surprise (SURPRISE, it's not chili!) and chicken noodle soup to feed us for 10 days. On our most active day we took a hike from our hostel to a nearby beach. We were ill-informed by an Australian named Karl and wore our flip flops and skirts to hike through a rocky trail filled with cacti. Once we arrived we were greated by naked men enjoying their day on the sand and swimming in the ocean. We nearly sprinted past that beach to get to the next and found some relief when the men there at least had speedos. Thanks Karl.

The days following we spent lounging around the hostel and spending countless hours with our new counterpart, Rose. She tried to teach us some of her many talents, including juggling and surfing (if you want to call it that). We thought we were getting better as the days went on, but I think our memory might have been skewed by our fabulous creation of tropical goodness. Although she attracted stray dogs and slowed us down because she sprained her ankle falling down 2 flights of stairs, we still love her dearly and life is not the same without her.

Although we cried the whole way, after 18 hours on the bus we are happy to be in Rio to celebrate Christmas with Mr. Hayden.

Waterfalls, Buses, and Beaches

Since our last entry our days have been completely filled with bus rides, waterfalls, getting lost, getting found, and now...laying on the beautiful Brazilian beaches of Ilha de Santa Catarina.

Our first 18 hour bus ride to the Iguazu Falls was not as bad as we expected. We arrived into the town only to find that the hostel we hoped to stay in was completely booked. Instead, we found a spot at a less glamorous place nearby. Curious to see the falls, we woke up early and headed out despite the fact that it was downpouring. Our first sights of the falls were from below and we were pretty stunned at how big they were. I, however, was not yet convinced that it was worth the 18 hour bus ride we took to get there. The next step was actually going into the falls on a boat ride. When I say we went "into" the falls, I mean it in every sense of the word; I felt like we were in a dunk tank and the driver just kept putting us in and out of the falls until there was not one ounce of dry clothing on our bodies. I can't tell you if the view was good, as we were virturally under water the whole time. After this we took a small hike onto an island that was in the middle of some of the falls and at this point I was beginning to be convinced the bus ride was worth it. We were literally right above what we thought was the largest fall-the devil´s throat-and got a little bit more wet as the rain picked up. After lunch we took a stroll over the upper pass and the views just kept getting better and better. We literally got to walk on top of the waterfalls. If we looked to our right we saw seemingly calm water and if we looked to our left we saw that same water crashing over the edge of one of the 250 falls in the area. At this point we were both a little gitty from the view and content with going home, thinking that was all to see. Just to make sure, we asked a tour guide if we had seen it all. Apparently we hadn't even gone to the largest fall (devil´s throat)! How stupid are we? We hopped on a 20 minute train ride and were instructed to walk across man made metal paths to get to the main fall. Looking back the sensation of walking across the paths was so odd. We were literally walking across water that seemed to be leading nowhere, until we actually made it somewhere, and that was to this ridiculously large waterfall that looked like it reached all the way down to the center of the earth. It was so white from all the water crashing that Jess and I concluded if we were to jump in we would be able to walk straight across. Don't worry, we didn't try. Unfortunately since it was raining so hard we didn´t get great pictures, but here is one:

Anyhow, after the falls we spent the worst day of our lives trying to get to Brazil. After crossing the border we arrived to the land of the portuguese speaking people...aka we had no idea what was going on...ever. I never thought I would wish that someone was able to speak Spanish...but I did and yes it was THAT bad. We somehow managed to get to the right bus station to get us to the other right bus station to buy our bus ticket to Florianopolis leaving that afternoon. To make a very very long story short, we didn't consider that the time would have changed when we crossed the border and we missed our bus. When we finally got "placed" on another bus to god only knew where, we were just relieved to be going somewhere. Anyhow, 4 hours later we were instructed to get off the bus and and get on another, and 15 hours after that we arrived in Florianopolis with no idea where to go. We hopped on another bus to somewhere and found an internet cafe to look for a hostel. To make another long story short, the afternoon ended with our savior (Ida, owner of a nearby hostel) picking us up from the internet cafe and bringing us to the hostel. We love her.

As for right now we are soaking up some sun on the beach and loving every minute of it. The beach is gorgeous and probably one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. Instead of heading back to Buenos Aires, as we planned, we think we are going to stay here a bit longer and then head up to Sao Paulo. We need a vacation from our vacation.

New pictures are now up so take a look!

Tangoooo

After a week in Buenos Aires we don´t have much to show for ourselves. We have been taking it easy, trying to get back into running, and walking aimlessly around various parts of the city. The most exciting thing that we have done is attend a Tango show in the famous Cafe Tortoni. It was pretty amazing to watch the dancers twist and turn their bodies in ways that I never even thought possible. Their legs looked like they were double jointed. We also realized the importance of timing....one wrong kick and that male dancer would have had a heal where he didn´t want one.

That's just about all I have to say for now. How boring! Tomorrow we head up north to the Iguazu Falls for a couple days and then move onto Uruguay for a bit. Yay for waterfalls!