Etosha National Park, Namibia

Having closed the book on south america (yes it's closed, we did everything, no need to go back) we landed in south africa experienced travellers. As such, here's how we handled our first obstacle... morning after landing in Jo'burg we rent a car and head for Namibia. Second night on the road we set up camp in Namibia circa 10 o'clock and go looking for groceries. Finding the only open grocery in town to have 20 ne'erdowell's loitering out front we tuck tail and run to the closest fast food joint, quite fittingly named "Wimpy's".

Also en route we crossed the Tropic of Capricorn. Namibia was nice enough to bring our attention to this fact.
After 3 days of driving we hit camp just outside Etosha Park. Morning rises and so do we, I swear. We enter the park and the first watering hole does not dissappoint complete with a pack of a dozen or so giraffes, they're big. We then start a cruise around what's known as fisher's pan. 5 minutes in we spot a pack of zebra's in the distance. we wait patiently in zen like silence as they approach our white vehicle with black trim, possibly thinking us to be one of their own. our patience pays off as they approach within 30 yards of the vehicle, one of them even looked at me. Little did we know zebras are like squirrels in etosha, with dozens more packs just waiting to block our car as we drive by in search of more elusive animals.

Etosha's full of watering holes, both natural and man-made. It was dry which meant the animals had to come out to the main watering holes to satisfy their thirst. Sucks for them, good for us. Our two days there essentially consisted of touring from watering hole to watering hole, spotting some animals in between and logging some time at the campsite pools. life's tough. So let's get to the animals.

There's a wide variety of gazelle like creatures in etosha, the most common of which would certainly be the springbok. Here's a pack enjoying some water with a kudu and a warthog. close up of some kudu..
gemsbok...
can't remember the name of this one so let's go with, say, redbok...Giraffes and gemsbok living together in peace, drinking from the same watering hole, never thought I'd see the day. zebras...
warthog..

second day we spot a pack of 3 elephants heading to cross the road. we position ourselves for a close up. As they approach the front one changes course straight for the car. having heard stories of protective mothers doing some car crushing our heart rate kicks up a notch. I consider how fast I could start the car and floor it should the need arise. flash backs hit me of learning to drive standard and hope that the nickname hop-and-stall doesn't make a comeback. thankfully our paranoia was entirely unfounded as it seems the elephant simply wanted to let us know who's the man...

wildebeast...

At this one watering hole there was a pack of elephants endulging themselves for quite some time. Apparently rhinos and elephants don't share. A nearby rhino takes about an hour to build up the courage to step up to the elephants. takes him some time but he clears 'em all out and proceeds to go for a drink. not 5 five seconds later a second pack of thirsty elephants shows up, charges the rhino and sends him back to the waiting room.

popular watering hole...

second day after only distant views of lions we get some good face time with one...

giraffes and sunset.. good combo.

M

Sao Paulo and Garopaba, Brazil

One of my good friends from Leeds (Gabby) lives in Sao Paulo, so we arranged to meet up and spend new years with hime and his friends. We arrived and were met at the bus station by Gabby's mom (Tereza) and dad (Tim), which was soo nice given that Sao Paulo is an enormous city (the central city has a pop of 11 million, with another 8 million in surrounding suburbs). His parents as well as his borthers Chris and Nick were all very friendly and made us feel at home. After some drinks with Tim, we had a delicious home cooked meal. Gabby is next to me in the pic below, Nick is on the far right. Chris was already down in Garopaba.

We left early the next morning for Garopaba, which is a city in the south of Brazil, about 1.5 hours south of Floranopolis. The idea was to leave really early to beat the traffic. It seemed to be going well, until about 4 hours into the drive, the traffic came to a grinding halt….for 5 hours!!! Turned out a tank truck had rolled and spilled flammable liquid all over the road, so we hung out in the blazing heat, laying down under trucks and doing what ever we would to pass the time. The normally 8 hour drive ended up taking 19 hours. Luckily we were all pretty used to long long bus rides.

Worth the long drive....

Gabby, rockin the speedo...what a stud.

Chris organized all the accommodation, which worked out great. Food, booze and a bed for 5 days for 200 reals, which is about $125. If we had stayed in hostel in Rio over new years, we would have been paying 150 reals per night.

The south is a very popular destianation for Sao Paulo natives and northern Argentines to go over new years. The town we were in was a really cool beach town, really laid back feel, and becomes a massive party over new years. This was one of the first places we'd been were there were almost no other tourists, which was pretty cool. As I mentioned in an email, we also discovered that the Brazilian girls like tourists. Yesssss! We finally found the place where girls dig the goofy white guy.

We spent the days at the beach, and the nights at the bars, which were all pretty crazy. New Years Eve was spent on the beach, with about 3000 other Brazilians partying until sunrise. An absolute blast. It’s a tradition to wear white on new years (T and Mark didn’t get the memo), and also to jump 7 waves for good luck at midnight.

We also learned a commonly played card game called Truco. Gabby and I had a running competition, and finished tied 6-6, although, I did have a bit of an advantage being a foreigner. I'm sure if we play again in Canada he'll have the upper hand.

Me and the Baines Brothers....Gabby, Nick and Chris. And the answer to your question is yes...Nick and Chris are twins.

The whole crew

Dead sober, I promise...

Jumping the 7 waves at midnight

T and Mark going to a frolick in the waves

And somehow, gabby and his brothers manage to find eachother to pass out side by side. Ahhh, it's soo sweet.

Next stop, Johannesburg South Africa. South America was a blast, and ceratinly plan to return.

The Mustaches, Part 1

I almost forgot to make this post, but defiantely worth while. T and Mark both let there beards go while were in Patagonia, and returned to BA a day after me with some sweet stashes.

Since I hadn't grown mine out, they had to find a replacement. Luckily the door men and both our hostels we're rockin beauties.

Part two to come after our Acacia tour in Africa.

Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

The original plan was to have a week or more in Rio, but unfortuantely we got pushed back by visa issues and buses being over book due to the rush during the holiday season. We ended up arriving on christmas eve already pretty exhausted from partying in iguazu, and only had a few days there to enjoy Rio.

Though I had heard brazilians were extremely friendly, you never really know what to expect. But right away on the bus ride there it turned out to be like a party, with everyone shooting the shit with strangers, and people doing their best to talk to us. A guy also helped us translate whenever we stopped for food, which was nice because it was a helpless feeling once again not being able to speak the language. And unfortuantely english/spanish were not as prevalent as we'd hoped.

Though the night clubs aren't quite as busy, the beaches were still packed during the day. And since we were in Rio, we figured do as the locals do, so christmas day was spent drinking in the sun on Ipanema beach. It also became eveident pretty quick that bathing suites for men and woman are about the half the size as back home. The speedos for guys and thongs for girls. I could do without the speedos, but the if that's the tradeoff for the thongs I can deal with it. Don't have many pics of the beach cause didn't want to look after a camera (sorry fellas, I know you were all hoping for some good beach pics).

The next day, after moving hostels because our turned out to be bed bug infested dump, we headed up to the Christ statue which over looks the city. Of any city I've seen Rio is definately the most beautiful and dramitic setting for a city.

Mark....he's down with JC.

So on whole, Rio seemed like an awesome place, and I will certainly have to return since we really didn't get to do it right. Next stop was to meet up with Gabby (a buddy from leeds) in Sao Paulo, and head south for New Years.

Puerto Iguazu, Argentina

Iguazu Falls is the Niagra Falls of South America, except a lot cooler because it's surrounded by jungle and covers a huge area, spilling out of the trees randomly....very cool. They also have walkways that take you right over top of the falls. A few quick facts for you; it's over 1.5 miles wide, one of the widest waterfalls in the world, and during the wet season over 13 million litres of water flow over it ever second.

The falls sit at the border of Argentina and Brazil, with 2/3 of the falls on the Argentina side. The plan was also to check out the Brazilian side, but we had to pass because we needed to catch a bus an hour earlier than expected due to a 1 hour time change we forgot to check into when we crossed into Brazil. Ya, we're tools.


The town of Puerto Iguzu was about 15 minutes from the falls. Despite becing a huge tourist desination, the town somehow managed to keep a small town, very chilled out vibe. The hostel we stayed which was highly recommended did not disappoint. Definately my favourite hostel so far. It was basically a resort, only with dorm rooms. On wed and sat they have a huge bbq (or assador as they call it) with the whole hostel and have brazilian dancers come and put on a show and get everyone partying.

We also went on the boat ride through the falls. It was worth it just to cool off.