| DIARY 10 |
| 13th Sept 2005 Breakfast brought up to the room for us - could get used to this!!! Pouring with rain outside, so borrowed umbrella from hotel and went exploring. Claire got legs waxed - whilst in Rio do as the Brazilians do!!! Claire also bought some Havaianas (3 quid a pair) to replace the freebie flip flops that she's had for 3 years - said a tearfull goodbye to them as they went in the bin.... they've served me well!!!!!! Explored Rio in the rain!! 14th Sept 2005 Woke up, breakfast brought up................ still raining!!!! Not quite so bad, so got metro to Botofoga beach where the yacht club is and wandered round the coastline to Urca and Sugar Loaf, noticing that Christ the Redeemer kept spookily revealing himself to us through the clouds. Got the cable car up to Sugar Loaf - some fantastic views of Rio and Copacabana until the cloud engulfed us on the way down. Did some shopping in Copacabana and in the evening went to an 'inexpensive' fish restaurant recommended by the Rough Guide - took ages to find it in the rain only to find that we didn't have enough money to eat there..... not so inexpensive!!! So wandered back to the beach to find somewhere else and got dragged into another all you can eat buffet!!!! God we're pigs, but food was excellent! Got the metro to Lapa and found a bar with live music - was like a converted warehouse, something you'd find on Grand Designs - very nice!!! Bottle of wine went down well too!! 15th Sept 2005 Woke up and tentatively opened the window to find the sun shining!!!!!!! Hooray!!!!! Practically ran to the beach. Watched surfers and body boarders and Terry watched a few skimpy bikinis!! Terry went in the sea with the big surf and came out with sand in every orifice - like being in a washing machine - should have noticed the no swimming signs!!! Very rough! Quite strange on the beach - with a big, noisy city directly behind it - not a relaxing one. In afternoon we caught a bus to Corcovado and up to Christ the Redeemer. Didn't make it in time for sunset, but great to see the city lit up at night - hard to describe - amazing!! Went for dinner in a lovely italian along the beach - a lot busier now it's not raining. 16th Sept 2005 Another sunny morning in Rio for our taxi ride to the airport!! One last glimpse of Copacabana and Sugar Loaf as we flew over - loved Rio, a dream come true, but will have to come back for longer and better weather!. Landed in Foz do Iguacu, where it was cold and cloudy - damn!! Went to the Brazilian side of the falls for the panoramic views - pretty impressive!! Huge and spectacular - so powerful, so much water!!! Both got soeaked by spray especially when right next to them, but one of us sensibly put waterproofs on...... whilst Terry got drenched, wet through!!! Then crossed back over into Argentina and found a hostel in Puerto Iguazu. Had a mixed grill for dinner - lovely!!! And listened to two guys playing guitars amazingly well - so impressed we bought a CD!!! 17th Sept 2005 Wasted morning by crossing back into Brazil to go and see Itaipu dam - biggest in the world - only to find that the next tour wasn't till 2pm, which was too late for us as we wanted to do the Arg side of the falls before catching a bus to Buenos Aires that evening. So back into Arg and to the falls which were much better than the Brazilian side. There were walkways going over the top of the falls and by the side of them - awesome - will definately visit again because ran out of time to see it all. Caught bus - best one yet, dinner in restaurant included in price! 18th Sept 2005 Still on the bus - had breakfast brought round. Arrived in BA about 11am. Found hostel and strolled around the shops. Terry bought a pair of trainers then we went down to the harbour. Very nice - bit like St Katheribe's Dock in London but bigger. Experienced some Buenos Aires cafe culture, looking out on the yachts!! 19th Sept 2005 Terry got up and went jogging!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1 Came back exhausted!!!!!!!!! Then we went shopping - bought jeans, trainers, jumpers, etc... fed up with the same clothes in all the photos and about time the pink splodgy ones got replaced!!! Saw street entertainers similar to those in Covent Garden and also a couple dancing the tango. Terry had a huge steak for dinner - diet well and truly going out the window!! 20th Sept 2005 Morning in Buenos Aires and then went to bus station to get a bus to Mendoza. Had to wait a couple of hours so had lunch, played cards and bought neck pillows. Another nice bus with the same dinner routine and the neck pillows were a god send - why didn't we buy them two and a half months ago???? 21st Sept 2005 Arrived in Mendoza about 8am and got a free transfer to a cheap hotel. Took practically all our clothes to the laundry and had breakfast, then spent nearly all day trying to find out about skiing on the internet and in the tourist information centre. Eventually we found that Penitentes was the closest and still open despite the season normally finishing in August, so we decided to go there. Booked a bus ticket for the next day. 22nd Sept 2005 Up early for the bus, which was leaving at 6am. Freezing journey, finally arriving in Penitentes at 10am. Bit chillier up here - Mendoza was really hot. Managed to find a hotel (the best one in Penitentes apparently) and hired boards and boots and hit the slopes - in Claire�s case, quite literally!!! Tried it for a little while on the nursery slopes and then went to bed while Terry went up to tackle the reds and blacks and stayed out till about 5.30pm - loving it!! He makes it look so easy, but it�s not!!!! Dinner at the hotel and treated ourselves to a few bottles of wine. |