Gay Pride Festival in Rio, Paraty, Pantanal, Bonito, Iguazu Falls, Buenos Aires. Tick, tick, tick, tick etc.

About two seconds ago i decided to write this blog in English, mostly because i would think it is more non norwegian speaking people who wants to read the blog than it is norwegians..Call me crazy, but that's what i'll go for.So mum and dad, you better pick up your dictionary or befriend google translate.

I could probably write about all of this stuff for hours and hours. It must be about a month since last update or so, but i will try to keep it as short and extremely funny as i usually tend to do... At the moment i am sitting in Mattias' and Maria's house in BA, one of the couples i did the Machu Picchu trek with. They have been so nice to me, and even though i try sometimes, Mattias refuses me to use any money. "You are my guest!", he says, and i guess i can't i have to leave it at that:)

But lets start at the beginning, which was the end of my stay in Rio my lovely Rio. I will try not to start crying when writing about leaving Rio. The second last day in Rio i went on a favela tour to see how the life was there. We arrived in one of those typical taxi-vans which picks up a lot of people all the time. I went together with 3 pretty awesome swedish girls who stayed in my hostel in Copacabana. Its interesting to see that those with the best view of Rio is some of the poorest people in the whole city. We visited an old man who was a friend of our guide, and he proudly showed us his rooftop, and told us he had the best view of Rio, and to be honest, i kind of believed him when standing up there. After this we got on some motorcycle-taxis who drove us around in the favela(which by the way is what the slums are called in Rio). We were not allowed to take pics some places, and it wasn't advisable for the drives to stop on the way either. Two weeks later the very same slum was a warsone and had the police and army in tanks and all driving through it "cleaning" it for the upcoming world cup and olympics in 2014 and 2016. During the tour i randomly checked the time by coincidence, and saw that it was the 14th of November, which was the day i had a pre-departure meeting and had to change to a hotel to meet my group. For a month or so i had thought the 14th was on a monday, so after the tour i had to get my ass in gear, as we so nicely say it in Norway. I met Nick, later also known as "The kid", in my hotelroom, who was also joining for the overland-tour. I talked him into going to Copacabana to see the gay pride festival, after convincing him that i wasn't trying to make a move on him or anything. The pride-march was pretty amazing, and it was millions in the street of all kinds. Gringos as me and Nick were, we seemed to be quite popular in the crowd as well. Pictures comes tomorrow(i hope). After the pre-departure meeting and a group dinner at an awesome buffet-restaurant, i brought The Kid and Pete(a welshman later also known at Old Spice) to my leaving party in my hostel for the 3 last weeks, Che Lagarto. Michael and the guys were there, and it was sad to say goodbye to all of the guys i had spent so much time with the last weeks, and all of them had been so warm and welcoming towards me as well.. But i try to look at it as a "see you later" in stead of a "goodbye". It makes it easier, and it feels right as well, cause i will most def go back to Rio sometime in the future. After a not to late but fun night out with Kiddy and Oldie, we went for a couple of hours sleep in the hotel before heading towards Paraty, a historic town in Brazil with a LOT of nice beaches. Unlucky as we were the weather wasn't awesome towards us while staying here, but we had a good time, and some of us, later named "The Core", had some late and fun nights here. We also went on a boat-trip one of the days, and we went to Trinidade one day, a surfers paradise and an amazing beach.

The fourth day our truck arrived, four days to late, and it was time to leave Brazil's coastline and drive towards Pantanal, the biggest wetland in the world, which also is supposed to have a rich wildlife. After two days with a lot of driving, 12 hour a day or so, and a socalled bushcamping, which obviously meant sleeping in tents behind a gas-station, we arrived in Pantanal, which proved to be a very nice place, although a bit different than i had expected. 97% or so of Pantanal was privately owned, and most of what we saw had cows present, which kind of killed my hoped for seeing a jaguar a little bit. Didn't see much carnivores, but we saw quite a lot actually. And something i never got tired of was the toucan, this cartoon-look a like bird that sometimes came out of nowhere, and was gone again just as quickly. The birdlife here was amazing, and we also saw animals like armadillos, different kinds of ant-eaters, snakes, tapirs(or whatever its spelled like), crocodiles this type known as caymans, a crab-eating fox(oh wait, it was a dog), ostrich-wannabees, wild pigs and a LOT of white cows. We also saw hundreds of animals which i have forgot the names of, but they look like giant hamsters. They also tasted very good by the way. One of the snakes we saw was a Boa-snake, which we came really close up on, and i happily did a lot of foreverizing(my made up english word) with Flashley(My camera for those who didn't know). Since we were in cowboy-land we also got to see some cool lassoing with some badass cowboys.

I'll take a little brake talking about seeing stuff, and i can inform you a little bit about the truck and group. The thing is that we have this truck that is a mix between a truck(lastebil) and a bus, and is specially made for this kind of sightseeing. We cook our own meals, we wash our own truck, we gets different tasks each etc. I was a bag boy, which meant me and the Kid had to get everyones bags in and out of the truck before every departure and after every arrival. As long as i get to do some musclework without a t-shirt i'm not complaining as you probably know. This maybe has something to do with the nickname i got, i dont know. They called me "Ken", as in Barbie's bf, and i think maybe it had something to do with my tan, og that i was fixing my hair to much or something.. I'm not quite sure, if anyone of you overlanders are reading you can explain me if you want. The group was a good mix of young and not so young, and singles and couples. Mostly europeans, but we had four Australians and the Kid was(or i guess he still is) from New Zealand. The other nationalities was Ireland, Wales, UK, Austria, Belgium and our driver was from Italy. It was a bit weird for me to suddenly join this big group(15ppls), after having travelled for two months around just by myself. I have to admit it was a bit irritating sometimes when eating out with everyone and stuff like that, but most of the time it was fun and nice to be with someone for a longer time, and to let someone else decide and just tag along. And i didn't need to do much thinking either, Tony the tourleader did that for me. And if i hadn't joined this tour i probably wouldn't have gone to Pantanal and Bonito, which i am very glad i visited. And i wouldn't have met all the nice people either, i guess i got to be closest friends with Pete the welshman, and "the Core". 19 days was enough for me though, it was something very different than overlanding in Africa as i did two years ago, but i guess i shouldn't expect anything else either. It was less exciting things to see and expirience between the sights, like the campsites and on the road. But i guess that lead to making more fun on our own, and a bit more partying perhaps.

Bonito was one of the places i hadn't read or heard to much about, and i must say it was a beautiful place. Or that is, the city itself was pretty much just another s***hole, but all of the things to do and see around was amazing(and expensive, do'h!). Here we snorkled in a river with the most clearest water ever, and thousands of cool fishes. We didn't need to swim much, as the current just took us down the river itself. It took a couple of hours, the weather was amazing, the water was amazing and the scenery both under and over water was too. I rented a underwatercamera, so pics will hopefully be posted soon too. After this awesome time in the water, we went to a huge sinkhole, where somewhere about 30-40 couples of Ara-macaws lived. The Ara-macaws are the most popular macaws i think, those with all the different colours, with red as the main colour. Before we arrived here i told some of my friends, i really hope i get to see an ara-macaw today, that would make my day perfect. Little did i know about that i was about to see around 100!!! They were %$# everywhere! And with all the echo from the huge sinkhole it made it a truly amazing expirience(one out of many the last months). Suddenly 50 or so ara's started flying around over the sinkhole in a big pack, screaming their lounges out. This was according to our guide very rare, and Flashley didn't hestitate with the foreverizing. They flew maybe 10meters above my head or something, and as if this wasn't enough i got to tick another box minuts later. I had also(no kidding) told my friends i missed the typical perfect humminbird-pic, with the wings flapping so fast that it just looks like a photoshop-effect(not sure how to explain it very well obviously), while the humminbird uses its long thin beak to suck in its flowernectar. And that picture is what i got minutes after leaving the sinkhole. Tick! We left this place shortly after, driving back towards our hostel(not tents this time), and the truck broke down in the middle of nowhere. We got stuck here for two hours or so, under the clearest star sky ever. I saw shooting stars, and while most of the others sat in the truck playing cards, i was outside with my flashlight looking for animals and took some pictures. I saw some eyes looking at us, when i held my torch towards the forest, and i have no idea what animal it was, but it was on the fox-size, but should we just call it a jaguar and tick another box? lets to that.

One thing i also did, the most expensive one so far, was going to a cave. We abseiled down 72 meter, through a tiny little hole and down to a cave the size as a footballfield. Here as well was the water so clear, and after a little boat-trip(!) around in the cave getting a little tour, we did snorquelling(?) as well. This cave was just discovered in the mid 80s, and was opened to tourism in the mid 90s. It was only allowed 18 people a day, because of safety and space reasons. We also had to do a course the day before to show that we were capable of the abseiling and the up-going-thing that i have no idea what is called, but you are going up again the exact same way as you came down, and it is exhausting! If someone know the word for it please enlighten me! The nicest was when a little strobe of sunlight entered through the cave and down in the water, which reflected it again. Not easy to take a picture of this but i guess i got one that will kind of give you the idea how beautiful it was..

I am sicking tired of writing now, and im starting getting a headache. So i will fatte meg selv i korthet(non norwegian speaking fellows, your turn to google translate). We pretty much went to Iguazu Falls after Bonito. And it was AMAZING. I have seen Victoria falls, and it is just a little river or something compared. Kilometers of different waterfalls, so many rainbows, and so green and loud. I am sure it is the prettiest waterfalls in the world, no doubt. Alex in my group had also seen the Niagara Falls, and pretty much said the same as me, they can't compete at all. We spent a whole day on the Brazil side, and one whole day on the Argie side. It would be unfair to pick a favourite because it is so different, but i must say Argentinas side impressed me the most, because we came so much closer on the biggest falls, and it was much bigger. We also drove a boat literally into the falls, and what wasnt clean already certainly got clean after that shower. I will let pictures do the talking i guess.

After a little stop with some Jesuit Ruins on the Argie side, we had a 14 hour driving day to BA, where my flight is leaving from in two weeks. Sad to leave the group, but fun to be on my own again. I have been here a couple of nights now, and i must say it is an interesting city, which reminds me more of a European one than any other so far. Much more blond and blue eyed people here and so on, and the city itself looks a bit like Paris(i'm told). I will tell you more about BA in the next blog. I am now moving from my friends Mattias and Marias house to a hostel in Palermo, and after that i am going with Ciaran the irishman and Alex the Englishman to a Boca Junior match(football/"soccer"). Should be one of the best ones in the world to attend, the stadium, atmosphere and supporters that is. Looking forward to it. Otherwise the temp lies around 30-40 degrees, and i hear it is about 60 degrees colder in Norway. Enjoy the cold back home, i will join you in two weeks!

Ciao.

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