Charlie and Shaz s South America Travels

Hello!

So we are picking up from where we left off and have been in some pretty remote locations, hence lack of contact.

Ihlabela was a really beautiful island where we saw a really cute sea turtle (very small) in the crystal blue water, we followed it around for a bit after I confirmed it was not driftwood as I had originally thought. We tried to walk the 25 km to the other side of the island for the famed beautiful Beach Castellanos, however Charlie managed two minor cuts on each big toe in about 1 hour and we soon realised we did not have enough water so we retreated. That and the fact we saw a 7ft fat snake with a huge yellow stripe streak across our path. This pleased Charlie after the initial shock and screamed to me to run away and get the boat as jungle trekking is best not done in flip-flops!The boat ride was spectacular, we saw a school of dolphins. They were so amazing and were jumping and swimming so close to the boat it was incredible. They were a lot larger than I expected and were so beautifully blue, they matched the sea perfectly. The beach on the other side o fthe island facing east was completely remote and because of the Atlantic quite difficult to get off the boat, we tried a bit of snorkelling but ended up losing the snorkel as really there was only sand to see in the sea. On our return to the other side of the island we hired some bikes, which quickly turned out to be torture devices as all of the roads (being about 4) in Ilhabela are cobbled. AGONY. Those got returnedquite promptly and then we retreated off the paradise island for more adventures. I also was being eaten alive by the sandflies at day and mosquitos and night.

We arrived in the beautiful historic town of Paraty, here the cobbles followed but unlike any others you have seen before, and also we had the good sense to walk. The cobbles are basically huge chunks of rocks placed haphazardly along the pathways and road. It is quite a struggle to walk without tripping over or stubbing your toe. It does however give the town a lot of charm!There was also a rickety pier with about 50 or so little wooden boats all painted in multicolours, it was really beautiful. We went on boat trip to one ofthe surrounding 100 islands and stopped at 4 during the day. They are all absolutely tiny and all uninhabited, there is one which only has restaurant on. We stopped at beautiful deserted beaches but soon realised on a huge boat tour it wasnt worth it!We were harrassed throughout the day with Brazilian karaoke and it wasnt the most pleasent music. In Paraty we also visited another waterfall, although this time the slide was absolutely massive!! It was so much fun to slide down , although carefully edging your way up the slippery moss was not as much fun. As Paraty is a port town there is no beach to walk to , wel there is one but its not fantastic, so we sniffed out the nearest beach town and hopped on the bus.

Trindade came after Paraty and being only 30 minutes by bus it was ideal . It is a tiny little village and to our utter joy and delight we found that we could wak to an amazing beach in 20 mins from our hostel. As opposed to Ilhabela where we went trekking upto 10 kms a day to find a nice beach!Trindade was incredible and had lots of natural pools in the sea which were amazing. We went to some waterfalls which have many tricks. There is one called the rock that swallows as you can literally slide under the waterfall into a crack in a rock,down into a cave. It looks like the rock has eaten you!Then you climb out the other side of the cave. I have a video if this explanation baffles! There is also a cave you can climb under and do the reverse, so sprout out of a rock, highly entertaining! There was another boat trip here which was much better as we were 10 people and the beaches were acutally deserted when we got there instead ofbeing filled with 100 plus other tourists! They were so stunning! We hiked to a little tiny fishing village with charlie doing a huge rock jump into the sea on the way. Trindade was a beautiful undiscovered gem that remains the highlight of our trip so far.

We took a boat and bus to get to Ilha Grande and decided to camp on the beachfront as i have had enough of walkingup ridculous hills with or without the backpack. Thankyou Peru and the Incas. It wasvery fun and ensured we got up early to enjoy the entire day. We went to Lopes Mendez, one of the most beautiful beaches in Brazil. The water was like a lukewarm bath and the sand like silk. No boats are allowed so the water was lovely to swim in. We were however itching to get to Rio de Janeiro so made that our next stop!I will continue in the next few days as i am being eyed up like shark bait for being on the computer in this hostel for so long!!
Miss you all lots and lots,
all our love,
Charlie and Shahinaz xxxxxxxxxxxxx

So we had briefly returned to Argentina for our trip to the falls, which were nothing short of spectacular! I had no idea of the sheer scale that we were faced with upon arrival - there was me expecting a waterfall of two, and ended up being gretted by about 200! There are so many they havent even bothered to name them all. The crazy thing is, the first thing we did was to get on a boat to be driven straight into the middle of the biggest one. It was absolutely incredible, and within seconds I was wetter than I would have been if I had just jumped in a pool... we even have a video of the whole encounter, but that will have to wait untill our return.

The rest of the day was, however, fairly tame by comparison, and didn´t involve any more that just looking at the falls. After the falls, we sadly had to part ways with the group that we had formed. There really is nothing like a little english solidarity in South America, and there were 6 of us which made it all the better. We did consider trying to illegaly enter Paraguay in order to stay together for a few more days, but though better of it. So we headed back to Brazil, all with the extenive and meticulous plan of doing nothing more than sitting on a beach for the foreseeable future.

We did have an interesting nights stay on the way though. We couldn´t get a bus out of Foz do Iguazu, and the oly ´room´left in the hostel was at the top of a ladder and through a metal grate. If you think standing up is a luxury, try not being able to even kneel! It was a memorable night, but for all the wrong reasons, I have never faced so much danger just trying to go to the loo in the night. Our next stop was the Ilha do Mel, a stop that we had been recommended. It was a little disappointing though, not the nicest beaches, and the single most filthy hostel that we have stayed in - and that is saying something. The island has no cars, and only sand paths for roads. We did have a nice few days, though not a lot of sleep as our dorm was right next to the path to the only club on the island.

From the island we headed to Curitiba, which was more of a functional stop that a desired one. Mostly for the sake of replacing the phone that I had managed to lose - just another thing to add to my now extensive list. Again another unusual hotel experience ensued when we were shown a room that had no windows, but to our surprise a huge jacuzzi bath. Not entirely what we were expecting, but for less that the price of 2 dorm beds we were sold. We had planned to move on to Ilha Bela, but my serious lack of planning left us in a terrible place called Santos, and no bus to take us to where the ferry left from. This forced a fairly hasty retreat to Sao Paulo, and a slightly drunken evening with my cousin Henry. The lack of planning turned out to be one of those good mistakes, and it was nice to catch up after what we worked out to have been a good 11 years. 3 days in Sao Paulo was definately enough, the place is enormous, and after nearly a week we were starting to miss the beach.

We did eventually make it to Ilha Bela, and are still there now. This place is absolutely fantastic, and pretty much exactly what we have been looking for. It has plenty of beaches to choose from, in an amazing setting, and a few waterfalls just to sweeten the deal. WE went to visit one today, and found it had a smooth section of rock where you could slide down like a water flume. It was loads of fun, but sadly we got eaten alive in the process. There are some places that have to have a draw back, becuase otherwise it would be too good to be true, and in this place it is mosquitoes. They are absolutely everywhere, and are certainly not shy.

is time to now return to our tough existences. hope you are all well, and lots of love from us both

SO i hope everyone had a wonderful christmas and new years eve!!! Our christmas was spent on the beach and i went in the sea after my foot had healed only to have it cut again, DANGER!! the waves are so strong we are going to wait for somewhere else to try surfing!! The christmas eve was the main part of the event for Brazilians so we spent much of the day hungover , although i was very keen to go white water rafting. Again we'll have to wait for a later date! On boxing day we went to P12 which is a pool party famed for its high society crowd ( hmmm pretty dubious) , there were many men who had spent too much time in the gym and tattoo parlours and many girls who appeared to have mistaken their dental floss for bikini bottoms!! ooops indeed. This however was part of our working day so it was fantastic, free champagne and strawberries was delightful and so was the day of sunshine that had been evading us for so long. After this wonderful exhausting day of standing around and looking cool and high class we retreated back to the hostel.

The next day we were ejected from our beds as the hostel had over booked and as staff we were not high priority. Some lovely australians lent us one of their tents and it was all fun and games until it happened five nights in a row! On new years eve we were at a beach in the north which a very nice change to the usual cold pub or so! It was amazing having celebrations their and literally a shower in champagne, i even crouched on the floor when it started thinking it was a downpour of rain, so yes quite fun once you realised you'd be dry in five minutes and there was no evading it whatsoever. Then was the brazilian tradition of jumping seven waves and making seven wishes which was dangerous considering the amount of alcohol imbibed but i managed to be the one not to fall over! This was to be our last night in Florianopolis as i had the itch to move the minute woke up on new years day in who knows where. After 5 nights of being a nomad i gave up the job ( as accomodation was part of our pay ) we were basically working for free! (food was the other half of our pay and this was quite literally inedible, unless you eat pork).

So as Shaz mentioned we are now on the move again, our job at the hostel worked out quite nicely because on our slightly restricted budget we ended up spending about a tenner each for a 2 week stay in on of the most expensive parts of Brazil! It would have been nice to say a little longer, but it was literally the most disorganised place on earth and we just couldn't face it any more. We made a hasty exit on new years morning, and walk upstairs to the reception fairly tentatively thinking we would have a fight on our hands about leaving - but to our joy the receptionist on duty was leaving in a few days as well and was not in the least bit fussed that we were heading out. So we made a hasty retreat and spent the night in another hostel on the island, followed by a 16 hour bus to Iguazu Falls last night. We have now made it there, but are yet to see the falls, a night to recover after new year is still in order i think!!!So after the rain briefly followed us from Brazil into Argentina, it has now gone and we are back in the sunshine. We'll let you know how the culture goes. Lots and lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

HIYAA!!!
oh its so nearly christmas !! MERRRY MERRRRY MERRiness! i hope everyone is well and warm, and playing in the snow. So we arrived at the Uruguay border town of Chuy with very little , well actually no portugese to help us, but proceeded to find a lovely taxi driver who drove us the 1km to get our passports stamped and directed us to the bus terminal. Here we were told we had around 8 hours or so until the next bus.
We had a picnic in the sweltering park and then went for a wander and found an entire street full of huge air conditioned duty free shops, just like the airport!! wow it was delightful, so i found some make-up (bad advice whoever told me not to take any) and Charlie discovered Captain Morgans Rum for 5 pounds a bottle. Basically that right there was the start of our drunken downfall into Brazil.
The bus was a standard uncomfy affair and we arrived in Porto Allegro only to change onto another bus within 1 hour. This time sleep was acheived and we arrived in Florianopolis. Here again we got on another 2 buses to reach our final beach bound destination but picked up a Columbian Dude on the way so his language helped us get there a lot quicker. Upon arriving so early and keen for some work. We have basciially been told eventually that today is our trail shift, hmmmm, we are on our way to the beach as the boss is no where to be seen! The boss being a hedonistic 5 year old. (well not literally of course)
so Yes brazil is brilliant, the beaches are beautiful, but my my my there is a LOT of rain, im talking thunderstorms of the stuff, lighting the whole shebang! However this did hold out for our first day and we wandered to the beach with our rum and then i decided to be a retard and rock climb, whereupon a huge wave came and beat me up, cut toe, cut bottom , Lifeguard drama, lots of blood. In the end its healed perfectly well in only a week, so wasnt that bad in the first place, but wowee did it hurt then. So i have been resting said foot all for the joy of swimming in the sea on christmas day, rain or not.
Yesterday saw us on the party bus of the hostel, where we went to a few beaches and a seafood restaurant, where i proceeded to order chicken, yeh good one! i did try the calamari and it wasss lovely, but those oysters stayed away from us both, much to charlies delight (re barcelona NYE 2009) So now the job potential is gone we are going to retreat down the infamous Iguazu falls, then who knows. We are thinking of travelling brazil but then its basically like contemplating bankrupting yourself so were no sure yet. but will let you know. and anyway at least we will have warm leather coats when we get home. so yes a Very Merry christmas, we shall be picnicking on th beach as our hostel is providing christmas rice (left over from last nights beef stroganoff) and peanut pave(hmmmmm , so yeh potatoe salad for me) . Lots and lots and lots of love, missing everybody very much indeed. Shahinaz and Charlie xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

So it has been a little while since we last wrote, and is defiantely time for a little bit of catch up. After the wine tour we headed down to Bariloche, which is Argentina´s ski resort (though sadly we were about 2 months late for the skiing), but is also in Patagonia. The town itself is beautiful, but it is the views that you get that are truly breathtaking. The hostel that we were staying in was on the 10th floor of an apartment building, and as the town is set on the edge of lake surrounded by snow capped mountains, it afforded some fairly beautiful views! The only drawback to our time there was that there was a constant wind, and by wind I don´t mean a little breeze, I mean the type of gale that at times felt like it was going to knock you over!

While we were there we emabrked on my second experience of horseriding, though all in all this was a lot more sucessful than the first - mostly because our guide did not fall asleep on his horse this time. He did not take kindly to Shaz asking to see the horses before we began, and for some unknown reason took it as a personal insult... though we are still trying to work out the Argentinians even after we have left. The ride was loads of fun, and took us through even more spectacular scenery on the way. We also found the time to head up in one of the ski lifts that was slightly out of town, which was again well worth the time as it produced what was probably the single most spectacular view I think I have ever seen.

After Bariloche we headed to the Welsh town of Puerto Madryn, the first time that we had been to the coast in 2 and a half months. Sadly however, the beach was fairly atrocious and not the kind of place that invites you into the water for a swim - that was going to have to wait for another day. The reason that we had gone there was too see whales, which we were lucky enough to do. We went on a tour the day after we arrived, and was yet another truly amazing experience. I never thought that I would ever get the chance to see whales up close, but they ended up swimming around our boat, and we even got to see the classic whale pose of tail out of the water. For most of the time that we were out they were quite far away, you would never have seen so many people with their fingers literally on the camera buttons waiting for any glimpse to shoot at (sadly I was one of them), but it turned out we were all wasting our time, as a little patience would have resulted in one calf literally swimming uder out boat only a couple of metres under the surface - at one point it looked as though it was going to breach right in front of us.

Without a beach to speak of there was not a lot keeping us there, and after a couple of aborted attempts at stopping at other beach resorts we found ourselves in Buenos Aires. We found that both the places we stopped on the way did not have a lot to offer, and moved swiftly on. The same can not be said though for Buenos Aires, and after spending a week there we still didn´t want to leave. It took us a few days to settle in, but can now really understand why so many people get sucked in and end up staying for months. The first day there was not great, but largely because we were recommended a terrible hostel and by the time we arived were way too tired to leave, though we found ourselves somewhere better the next morning. I think that so far, our week there was the best exercise we have had as we seemed to be walking past endless block on our way to one place or another.

We did afford ourselves a little bit of a treat when we got there, and ended up having leather jackets made for us. I say a little bit of a treat, well it was a serious one, and we had a great time in the process as we ended up with a slightly derranged saleswoman who made one or two too many references to her menopause... We did also manage to make our way to a tango show when we were there, which invloved a free lesson. I was a little scepticle, but was pleasantly surprised in the end to discover that I do not have 2 left feet, as I had originally thought! The show itself also came with dinner and a free bar, and was absolutely amazing.

From Buenos Aires we have now come to Uruguay. We could have got a 3 hour ferry straight to the capital Motevideo, but being the travellers that we are, ended up taking a 3 hour ferry to a local town and then a 3 hour bus to Montevideo - all for the sake of saving a couple of quid! Montvideo was a lovely city, though sadly we did not get the chance to properly explore as we only had one night there. The evening we arrived was spent watching a beautiful sunset over a couple of beer, followed by dinner. The day after we actually, finally managed to get to the sea (by which I mean in it), and found a nice beach just outside the city. The water was very cold, but we soon warmed up after swimming around for a while. I think we were so excited that we had actually made it to the sea that it could have been arctic and we wouldn´t have cared. That evening saw us onto a bus to Punta del Este, out only other stop in Uruguay. We had read that it was a crazy beach resort rivalling the best in the world... if anyone ever tells you that they are lying! It is a nice place, but not quite as much going on as we had imagined. We had a fairly relaxed evening last night, and spent the afternoon on the beach today. Tomorrow we are headed to the border, and hopefully into Brazil... we will let you know how it goes.