Mar 18, 2004
adios south america // gday sydney
hola all,
hope that life is treating you nicely....
well it is official - i am back in sydney for a bit of a holiday before heading home to london. rather bizare being back here - looking forward to catching up with am many ppl as possible whilst here.
it was defiantly hard to leave south america, and i will be heading back to her lovely golden shores sooner rather then later...
life in buenos aires was wicked. most amazing city - more like rome or paris then what other south american cities are. but it still manages to maintain that amazing south american feeling.
everyone that goes to ba talks about the steaks - and let me tell you, the steak that i had there was some of the best meat that i have ever eaten. so big. so juicy. so cheap. would make and vegetarian think twice. the life style that the argentineans have is rather amazing also. resturants dont really open befoe about 9 at nite - with us eating at about 11/12 most nites. with this in mind most of the clubs do not even open until about 2 in the morning.....
we managed to go out 3 of the 4 nites that we were there - the highlight defiantely being the vip entry to pacha to see hipp-e. wicked club. wicked music.
after leaving ba i was in santiago/chile for a day. a lot of ppl had said to me that santiago was just another big city with not much to see. i got this impression as soon as i jumped into the cab and headed into the city. i wondered around a little and stumbled on a few gems that the city had to offer - which drastically changed my initial impression of the city. i was able to find a beautiful park that clung to the side of a mountain in the middle of the city - spending most of the day cruising around there - escaping the hussle and bussle below.
then back to airport and more flying (think that i managed about 4 countries in a week!) and back to the big lump on land called AUS....
hopefully will be speaking to you all soon
as always
miC
Mar 11, 2004
"the most amazing thing that i have ever seen"
ola all,
hope that you are all well.
it is true, i have been heard saying "the most amazing thing that i have ever seen" on a number of occasions, but this time i think that the statement may not come close to describing what we saw the last two days.
i am talking about iguazu falls which is on the boarder of argentina/brazil/paraguay - we were actually about to be in brazil and argentina at the same time....
the falls are absolutely amazing. i am still at a loss for words to descibe or compare them to anything that i have ever seen before. we did the argentina side two days ago (sorry i dont know the day, they are all running into one another). and this allowed us to see the top of the falls but also to get down and literally under the falls. we took a boat ride that basically sat under the fall for a few seconds - resulting in us all being completely soaked. a great feeling when you are wearing 3/4 jeans and have half a day of walking still to do....
but seeing as though it was 45 degrees the jeans dried pretty quickly.
we were running out of time so had to rush the last - and most outstanding part of the falls - devils throat [dan, mate the rest of the falls fade compared to this beast]. you stand about this part of the falls and it sounds like a plane is taking off. the amount of water that is pooring down is unbeleivable. you cannot see half of the gully as the spray from the falls creates a constant fog.
headed to the brazilian side the following day - and didnt expect much as most ppl told us that the argi side is the business. boy were we wrong. this side is just as amazing, with another whole waterfall system that is hidden from the argi side. i just hope that the 3.5 rolls of film it took will help to tell the story of this amazing site.
had a rather difficult time getting to iguazu. missed the last bus and had to spend the nite in the bus terminal. a deck of cards and a bottle of vodka kinda helped the nite slip by.
in buenos aires at the moment. last stop (sad) before heading to sydney (happy). city is quite amazing. a lot different then rio. more like an european city.
that is enough from me - been getting a few comments about emails (you know who you are xx :)
will leave you with this though - if you are thinking of travelling - do it - NOW.
as always
mic
Mar 2, 2004
another day in paradise
ola all - tudo bem?
well life is amazing here in brazil. we seem to be lazily cruising from one perfect day to the next, with our greatest stress being which crystal clear lagoon to swim in next - ah such is life.
well on the day that we decided to leave rio, the weather god conspired against us to produce some of the bluest skies that we have seen the whole time in rio.
headed in the direction of ilha grande - an island off the coast of brazil about 2 hours south of rio. had to get a boat out to the island which was magic.
island itself was so so beautiful. thick, dense green rainforest covering mountains that fall all the way onto golden sand - which slips into the bluest clearest water imaginable - making you jealous... sorry. but the place was something straight out of a travel broucher. did a 2.5 hour trek through the jungle to an amzing beach on the other side of the island. my choice of footware may not have been the best considering the muddy conditions - wearing the haviana thongs was reminicent of pip vs cinque terra ;).
took a boat ride around some of the beaches on the island and were treated to some amazing beaches. snokelling was top notch. took on the boat crew in a little game of beach football. think they liked us more once they realised we werent from america. zach/mus/myself held our own and managed to pull a narrow victory out of the hat. not bad considering that brazil is the beach football champions of the world. game was stopped though after the three of us had mild heart attacks.
headed another few hours south to a little colonial town called paraty. this place is brilliant. same water and islands that graced ilha grande, but this time the town is all cobble stoned streets with wicked little colonial buildings all around. went on another boat cruise today (yep 2 in three days aint bad stats) with the owner of the hostel. samuel (the owner) doesnt have the best grasp on english - but just basically smiles all the time - so you know that everthing is alright.
heading to florianopolis after this on the hunt for some waves. after that to iguaçu falls/then buenos aires/then AUS.
best be off. think that i have some more lazing about to do.
hope you are all well
adeus
coco the monkey (that is all for you mus)
mum/wernejs - will keep sending the sms's. will try and call you in the next coulpa days.
lauren - went to the havaina shop today - mroe details to follow xx
dan - will hunt down your card on samuels wall. gutted that i cannot stay here longer - time constraints. btw: any more tips on buenos aires? clubs/bars/places to check?
yoav/tom - let me know if you get this email. first time i have tried to email you guys so lets see if i have the address right. any tips that you have on flori/igaçu would be greatly appreciated also....
