La Paloma, Uruguay

Sorry i missed a few days, but i have not seemed to be able to catch the one computer at the hostel open. It has been another beautiful fews days here. It stormed a bit yesterday, which was unfortunate because that also happened to be when i decided to wash clothes and hang them out to dry. The good news is they are almost dry and i have clean clothes! The hostel we are staying in here is amazing, its new and literally 10 steps from the beach. The only bad thing is that you never seem to be able to get rid of the sand, its everywhere and most annoyingly it is always in your bed. I am about to catch a bus to Punta del Diablo, Uruguay (our last stop in Uruguay). It leaves shortly and we still have to walk there. Hopefully our next hostel has internet and maybe more than one computer....

Punta del Este, Uruguay

I feel like a beach bum, only one that must wear extreme amounts of sunscreen. Today consisted of an exhausting run on the beach and then lying at the pool most of the afternoon. I talked with a couple people from Denmark and a guy from New Orleans. Around 7:30 pm we hit the beach for some sun bathing until about 9:30. It started to get a little windy and cold in my opinion. We leave here tomorrow to head up the coast to a smaller village. At dinner tonight we sat around and talked with some Aussie girls about some of their hostel experiences, it made for a good laugh.

Punta del Este, Uruguay

The best way to describe this place is....International Beach Resort! There is lots of money here. There are sky scraper hotels and beautiful beach resorts lining the coast. OUr hostel was a bit off the beaten path. There was a sign that lead us down a gravel/dirt path and then another one to turn right and then we kept walking straight. finally we stumbled across it. I wouldn´t say it is one of the better hostels we have stayed in but the atmosphere is wonderful. We have met several very interesting people here. Most of them are from Denmark but also from Argentina. The beaches are beautiful here and the waves are huge. You really have to stand your ground to walk into the water. I will write more later, but for now its a beautiful day and i am going to the beach!

Montevideo, Uruguay Again

I woke up this morning to a wonderful organic breakfast of homemade peach jam and homemade peach yogurt. I then headed out to walk around the city for a bit. I went and saw the Constitution Plaza and Independence Plaza. You could walk down below the statue in Independence plaza. Down there were two guards on each side of a glass box which contained an urn with the cities hero´s ashes. I don´t know the exact story but it has to do with war and how he lead them to their independence. The best part about going down there was investigating the guards. I felt like the people on tv who try to make the guards of the royal palace move. I culdn´t tell if these guards were fake or real. I got really close to see if they were moving and then i walked very slowly in a circle around each one. I believe one of them looked in my directions but i could be mistaken. I still have no idea if they were real people or not. I also visited an art museum. The art was nice but unfortunately i couldn´t read any of the descriptions of each painting due to th fact that they were in Spanish. I did enjoy 3 floors of his art and it varied due to the time period he had created it. Most of his art ranged from mid forties to early seventies. After leaving i headed back to the hostel for lunch. I still had some ham and cheese left so i made a sandwich. The frustrating part about the ham and cheese was that i don´t know how to ask for it sliced in spanish so this resulted in me receiving a hunk of ham and a hunk of cheese, haha! So i spent a great deal of time butchering the ham and cheese trying to get small pieces for a sandwich. After lunch i rented a bike and rode along the coast to a few of the beaches in Montevideo. The farthest beach i went to was about 2 miles away and slightly uphill. I definately got a work out in. The water was not the nicest here but the beaches we clean. The whole city was very clean compared to the other ones i have visited so far. By the time i got back from my bike ride i realized that i had forgot to put on extra sunscreen and had managed to burn my hands. I didn´t even know that you could do that. Fortuntely it was only a small burn and had went in by the next day.

Montevideo, Uruguay

We boarded a bus around 10:30 this morning for Montevideo. The drive was about 2 1/2 hours alond countryside. I read a book most of the way and occasionally sneaked a peek out the window. When arriving in Montevideo, we received our luggage and then wandered out of the bus terminal. We couldn seem to find any streets that were labeled, which could prove to be a problem. We walked to the nearest bus stop and asked a lady which bus number we needed to catch and how much it would cost. After a short ride through the city, we exited the bus and wandered around until fortunately we spotted our hostel. The hostel is were open and tall. Our room has very high ceilings and is quite spacious. There is a terrace which I intended to go to after typing this to read for awhile. Once we checked into the hostel, we left to take a tour of the city. This when we found out that the whole place pretty much shuts down on Sundays. We walked along the oceanfront for a bit. But it felt as if the wind was going to blow me over. We ventured through a few plazas, but eventually i decided to return to the hostel and go to the nearest grocery store for food. I bought ham and cheese and a few other items to get me through. Tonight should be relaxing and then tomorrow will be full of walking! So stay tuned for the adventures of tomorrow. Sorry again for the lack of photos. None of the places we stay allow you to use the USB outlets so i can upload any. I will get some up as soon as possible. I am going to try and find an internet cafe tomorrow when there is actually places open.

Colonia, Uruguay again

We woke up to a semi-disappointing breakfast of hard bread, orange jam, coffee and funny tasting cereal. I always add to the meals with yogurt or fruit. This morning I went with a banana to give it a little more. Sarah and I then walked to the market to look for souevenirs for her to take home. Of course that resulted in me finding something as well. I bought a hand made necklace with leather braided strap then silver intrically wrapped and holding the yellow stone in place. Iç usually avoid the color yellow but its was so beauitful i just couldn pass it up. Sarah found some wooden bamboo wind chimes with designs carved into them. Once returning our purchases to the room, we hit the beach. We went back to the same spot we had been the day before. Just below a beach side resturant/lounge which played music all day long. It made for a relaxing time at the beach. There weren many people out today and that must be due to the fact that it is so hot! We both fell asleep for about an hour. I woke up to sweat dripping all off my body and decided to take a dip in the ocean. This also allowed me to wash some of the sand off my body. Once in the water the day felt nice. There was a breeze and the water was a perfect temperature. After standing about knee deep in the water for a bit, I returned to the hot sand where Sarah was still laying. We decided to head back to town for some helado (ice cream) since we both felt the first signs of a burn. As we walked along, the sound of drums rang from the speakers along the road. They had been playing music over the loud speakers all day long. I love this town. Its full of old buildings and everyone seems to be polite and content. I could see myself living in a place like this. We walked to the first helado shop we saw and ordered a scoop of strawberry and cream. It tasted like i was eating fresh, frozen strawberries with a little added sweetness. We then returned to the hostel and relaxed in front of the tv until Sarah and Stephen (this is the correct way to spell his name but for some reason i always get it worng) had to leave.

Colonia de Sacramento, Uruguay

We decided to skip out on Buenos Aires and travel on to Uruguay. We boarded a large ferry this morning for an hour ride across the border. Once arriving in Colonia, we first went to book Sarah and Stevens bus ride to Montevideo for tomorrow since they will be flying out. I´m very sad to see them go, i wish they could continue with us. This will be a wonderful end to their trip though. We checked into Hostel El Viajero and then headed out for food. We walked down the street and stopped at an ATM to get Uruguay Pesos (conversion is about 23 to one US dollar) so everything seems like it is supper expensive. We first went to a fruit and vegetable market and I bought some of the best peaches i have ever had as well as tomatoes and bananas. We then headed to the market to buy lunch meat and other snacks. Immediately we returned to the hostel to devour our sandwiches and then get ready for the beach. Sarah and I walked about a half a mile to the beach and waded in the water for a bit. It is the calmest water I have ever seen in the ocean. There are sand bars you can walk out to and the sand feels almost like mud. After walking around a bit, we found a nice spot on the dry sand and sat down to people watch until the sun went down. It felt really nice to lay out and just relax since we have been going going going for so long. Once the sun set, we headed back to the supermarket to buy food for dinner. We decided to make pasta with tomato sauce and fresh tomatoes, chicken, fresh corn on the cob, bread and peaches. The meal was wonderful, especially since we managed to find some spices at the store (the food so far in argentina especially is very bland). We just finished dinner and took a shower and now we are lounging around for the night. The plan for tomorrow is to hit the beach again!

Bueno Aires Day 1

We caught a flight this morning from Puerto Iquazu. After arriving in Buenos Aires, we boarded bus 86 headed towards our hostel. This ride took a little over 2 hours and it was hot and sticky. I believe the temperature has not been below 80 since arriving in South America. We checked in at Hostel Inn-Tango City. We are in a 10 bed room with our own bathrooms and lockers. After check in we went out to find a quick bite to eat unfortunately what we found happen to be our worst meal here. Oh well we plan on a nice dinner tonight and a tango show. Will update later! Sorry for no pictures lately but the last hostel didn´t have usb ports on their computers so i could not update them. I will try to put some up while i am here! Stay tuned!

Puerto Iquazu Day 3

We woke up early again and headed to the supermarket for lunch and dinner supplies. After returning to the hostel to drop them off we boarded a taxi for the falls on the Argentina side. After entering the park we looked at the map and tried to find the trail to the upper. We found one dirt trail that didn´t seem to be located on the map. We followed it for awhile until we realized we had read the map wrong so we turned around and back the direction we came. Once we were back on paved area we were able to find the correct trail. The upper trail led above the falls and right over the top of many. The walkways were grated therefore you could look straight down and see the falls drop off. The trail winded around many of the falls. We then walked the lower trail where you went down to the bottom of some of the falls. Here we were able to get soaked, which was nice considering how hot it was!!! After completing the trails we hopped on the train that took you to the Devil´s Throat. Here we unloaded the train and had to walk across grated walkway over the river until we were right at the edge of the devil´s throat. It was amazing. I took video of it for a little while. I couldn´t believe the view and the rainbows and all the mist whooshing through. This was the end of our day at the falls and the end of our adventure on both the Brazil and Argentina side of the falls.

Puerto Iquazu Day 2

• Due to storms did not begin day until 1 pm
• Watched guy get tackled and beat by police in the resturant we were dining in
• Illegally entered a country

All together it was a successful day!

We woke up early to more storms. It poured all morning, therefore our day didn´t get started until 1pm. We went into Centro of Puerto Iquazu and enjoyed lunch at the tin roof barn. This is where we heard a loud noise and watched a man go to the ground. The police then continued to drag him up off the ground while beating him with a police stick and pulling him toward the street. We have no idea what his offense was. After lunch we headed to grab a taxi to take us to Foz do Iquasu, Brazil. We stopped on the Argentina side to get a exit stamp but the taxi drive blew right through the Brazil entry and said "it wasn´t necessary". He dropped us off at the falls. We walked down a path and as we went several falls came into view. It was beautiful! The farther we walked the more and more falls we saw. As we came to the end of the path we noticed a walkway that would take you right into the middle of river below some of the falls and above others. As we walked along the path we were almost surrounded on all sides by waterfalls. The water would fall and hit the rocks and then come up towards us along with all the mist. We were drenched but it was an amazing experience to be right in the middle of this natural phenomenon. After the walkway, we headed to the top of the tower where we were able to get a look at the Devil´s throat. After going in the tower we caught the last bus out of the park and headed back to the bus station in the Centro of Foz do Iquasu. Here we found out there were no more buses crossing back into Argentina tonight so we had to settle for a taxi. The taxi took us to the Brazil border ad stopped for us to get our exit stamp. This is where we ran into some problems. I handed my passport to the lady working the desk. She looked at it and then handed it to a guy behind her and it then went to another guy. He came out and asked if we were going to Argentina and I said yes. And he asked if we had stopped to get our entry stamp where we said no and explained what happened. That guy left and then a guy came out wearing a federal badge with my passport. He didn´t look to happy but explain to us from now on that we must get both entry and exit stamps and then handed back our passports and let us pass. Thank goodness! The rest of the evening was quiet. We enjoyed dinner and called it an early night.

Puerto Iquazu

We arrived at Hostel Inn around 3pm and checked into our rooms. The hostel had a large swimming pool out front and relaxing music playing and people all around. A big change from our Rio hostel. After unloading, I headed to the pool for a swim. It felt nice although there were lots of dead bugs in the pool. After a quick swim, Sarah and I laid out by the pool for several hours. That evening the hostel had a BBQ and we all purchased tickets. The BBQ was ok, but we got to meet more people. A girl named Jess, who was from Toronto, Canada joined us for dinner. After dinner everyone went out by the pool and talked. There we talked to a couple from Sweden for awhile. The night continued on until the storms came in. It stormed all night, but it cooled off our room.

I will continue later with more about the next day in Puerto Iguazu....its very interesting so stay tuned!

Last Adventure in Rio and a day in Sao Paulo

We woke up the morning of our last day in Rio excited for the upcoming activity. After running to the supermarket for a yogurt and granola bar, we waited outside our hostel for our ride to come. A guy pulled up in a truck with bars around the pickup end and seats with seatbelts in the back. We loaded into the back of the truck and buckled up. The ride through the city was refreshing. We started out going through the usual area of Botefogo but then continued on through what is known as a shanty town (basically a very poor neighborhood). Right after the shanty town there were golf courses and mansions. It seems so wrong to put a gold course right next to one of the poorest areas in Rio. We ended at a beach and there we exited the vehicle. We signed all the necessary papers and then told we were heading up the mountain to our takeoff spot. The ride up was insanely steep. Our driver (who happened to be the owner of the company) told us that he has been doing this for 28 years and in those he had went through 21 vehicles trying to drive up this mountain. Once at the top we walked to the takeoff area where many hang gliders were already set up. After watching others take off, we finally got our chance. The guide came over and suited me up in my harness. He then instructed me on how to grab his shoulder and where to place my other hand during takeoff. We practiced running together for takeoff. I was told not to jumb at the end of the ramp but to just keep on running. After a couple practices, we went over to our hang glider. He strapped me in and had me lay down to get the feel of letting the glider hold my weight. Once i felt comfortable, we prepared for takeoff. I thought the hardest part was going to be running off the cliff but actually it was very easy. He said one two three and I had no choice but to start running. Once leaving the ramp, it felt so surreal. We floated over the land and sea. At one point I was able to take control of steering the glider. We waved to people on the roof of a sky scraper. After floating around, we prepared for landing. He unstrapped one of my legs and told me when he said run to take off and not until then. We landed on a beach south of Ipanema.

After leaving hang gliding we headed to the hostel to pack up. Then we caught a taxi to the bus station. The bus ride to Sao Paulo was about 6 hours. Once arriving in Sao Paulo, Maria came to pick us up. It took awhile to figure out where she was parked but eventually we found them. Maria and Pedro (her boyfriend) were there to meet us. After placing the bags in the back and all four of us in the back we were quite cozy. We headed to a Japanese restuarant to enjoy some sushi. There we met two of their friends, Vivian and Louis. Dinner was delicious, i would have to say that it was some of the best sushi i have ever had. After dinner we headed back to Maria´s parents house to call it a night. After a good nights sleep, we woke up to a filling breakfast. They treated us so well during our stay. Anita had bought me my favorite Portuguese nuts. We talked after breakfast with Anita and Ricardo. Once all of us finished getting ready, we packed up our things reloaded the vehicle and headed to Sao Paulo for the day. Our first stop was the Market in what is considered the old part of town. We walked around and enjoyed the atmosphere. There were fruit, fish, dried meat, nuts, spices, oils, etc. They were all seperate stands inside a large building. We headed upstairs and enjoyed a huge, greasy bologna sandwich. Afterwards we bought some fruit and nuts and then continued to explore this part of town. We went to a couple old catholic churches and looked around and also walked around the Brazilian stock market type area. The streets were lined with trash, grafitti was everywhere. It was sad to see how dirty the city was. We left and headed to the main avenue, Av. Paulista. This is th newer area of Sao Paulo. We walked around a mall and then through a street market. I bought a simple necklace from a local vendor. Afterwards we returned to the mall and went to the food court to try a Aqui dessert (a type of fruit). It tasted alot like laffy taffy. Maria and Pedro and Vivian and Louis then took us to the bus station where we said our goodbyes and headed for a 16 hour bus ride to Puerto Iquazu.

Little Email Until More Detail

I am now in Puerto Iquazu, Argentina. It is beautiful here and the plañs are to travel to the Argentina side of the falls tomorrow. I will write more tomorrow when i have more rest (just finished a 16 hour bus ride from Sao Paulo).

Day Number 2 in Rio

The day started at 8am with a wonderful breakfast at our hostel consisting of bread, cheese, ham, coffee, a type of pound cake that tasted lemony (Sarah´s word for it), mamao (type of papaya) and bananas. We left the hostel and caught a bus to Corcovado (Christ the Redeemer statue). It was beautiful today with clouds floating by and swirling around the statue for short periods of time. It was nice to actually be able to see the statue this time. The statue up close looks like a mosaic. We were able to see the whole city. On the way up to the top we stopped about half way for another beautiful view of the city and we saw a pack of about 6 little monkeys in the trees.

After leaving Corcovado, we headed to Pao de Açucar (Sugarloaf Mountain). The ride in the cable car to about the halfway point was a little nerve racking. My life was dependent on the cable not breaking and that popping my head since I already have an issue with heights. But after calming down the ride up was beautiful. We were able to look around at the surrounding city and bays. After stopping for a bit, we got into the other cable car to head up to the very top. At the top the clounds had completely engulfed the area and all you could see was white. I felt like I was walking through smoke but it was actually clouds. You couldn´t feel it as you walked through though. We decided to explore the trails along the top while waiting for the clouds to disappear. The trails felt like we were in the heart of the rain forest. The clouds were still misting by, bamboo was everywhere and everything seemed to be so green. After spending time looking for wildlife which amounted to lizards and butterflies, we headed back to the top. Unfortunately the clouds remained.

Our next stop was dinner at the Grill Espresso. There was a buffet and you loaded up your plate. The going rate was about 23 Reis for 1 kilo. Altogether I enjoyed a ton of delicous food for about 7 US dollars, can´t ask for too much better. After dinner we went to Copacabana beach. We walked along the boardwalk type area and people watched. There were many women in thongs and men in spedos, which lead to some wonderful people watching. We also stopped to watch a sand soccer game for a bit and I enjoyed some coconut water. My camera died so I was unable to post my pictures but I will add more tomorrow. Until then Adios!

First day in Rio de Janeiro

After running to catch the flight out of Altlanta, we finally arrived in Rio at about 11am. There were several cloudy patches but it is still my favorite city to fly in to. The mountains surrounding the area along with the ocean make the city picturesqe. A closer view of the city reveals the need for more clean up of the roads, beaches and waters. After taking a taxi from the airport we arrived at the Rio Party Hostel. This name is quite funny since me, Jim, Sarah and Stephen are the only guests. We have showers too ourselves and air conditioned room with 2 bunk beds. The staff is extremely helpful, one of the guys had a time trying to show me how to operate the calling cards for the pay phones. After several tries I was finally able to get ahold of Maria but that is when I found out the 40 on the card does not mean forty minutes instead 40 units and I believe one unit is about 4 or 5 seconds.

Once we got settled into our rooms and moved any valuables into our locker (since we couldn´t seem to figure out how to lock our door), we wandered around Botefogo beach and down to Sugar Loaf. We stopped to have lunch, which consisted of pastries filled with ham and cheese and then cheese and tomato pizza. After returning to the room, we showered and napped until Sarah and Stephen showed up. Once all four of us were together we headed out to a Brazilian steakhouse. I had several parts of a cow that I don´t normally eat including the hump (which i´m not sure our cows back in the states have). This piece of meat was quite tender. After dinner we decided to walk to our hostel, which would have been fine if a tunnell had not been involved.

The tunnell had about a 2.5 feet walkway along the edge of the road. The walls of the tunnell were covered in soot. Cars were screaming by as we walked along the lit path. Unfortunately part of the way into the tunnell the lights were broken. It was so dark that we would have to stand still until a car came and then run while the headlights lit up the path. Once the car passed we were once again waiting for another to go flying by. Once we finally saw the light at the end of the tunnell, we all decided maybe from now on we should avoid walking through tunnells. Overall it was a wonderful first day and I can´t wait to see what tomorrow brings! Stay tuned!

The Beginning

My name is Elizabeth and within the last semester I have graduated college, accepted a job and finalized a trip to South America. In only 5 days I will be flying to Rio de Janeiro to begin an approximately 2 month journey. Please stay tuned to see what adventures me and my fellow travelers have.