Before I talk about today here are a couple of photos from last night – of the percussion band. I didn’t take my camera so these are from Monique.

This morning I went to school – as I will do every morning this week. I’m learning a lot but I’m not sure if I will remember everything. The class is really good and today another English guy joined the class, Joe.

At the end of school we went for lunch at a little cafe close by – the food was delicious and big portions.

I popped home quickly and then met up with Monique. We braved the very busy Subte and got a tube to Palermo. We went to visit the Eva Peron museum. I learnt a lot about Eva Peron that isn’t really portrayed in the film or musical. I didn’t realise she was quite so politically active including setting up social welfare foundations and supporting the elderly reforms and helping orphaned children. Quite a lot of what she started to set up is still happening today. It was a really good museum and quite moving too as she died so young at just 33.

Later on in the evening we met up with some of the others and went to Las Cabras for steak. It was good steak but not the best that I’ve had.

At 11pm the tubes stop running so we had to work out the bus system which was pretty interesting. Somehow we all managed to get home ok.

So today was my first day at school. I had to do a small oral test and we established that I was a complete beginner as far as Spanish conversation was concerned.

We had an orientation around the Exspanish school and lessons started around 930am. There are 7 people in my class so a good small number to learn with. The teacher, Rosana, is really nice and very patient with us all. I felt I learnt quite a bit today, especially around pronunciation. I met some really nice people too.

We had lessons until 1pm and then we had another small orientation session which covered how to stay safe in BA as well as some recommendations of where to go.

A few of us decided to go for lunch to one of the recommended empenada places – Galeria Boston, la cocina. And it was a great recommendation as the empanadas were amazing.

A few of us then decided to go and visit the Japanese gardens as it was a lovely sunny day.

The gardens were beautiful but quite small so we went to the park next door and did our homework together.

In the evening we all met up (Wanja and Tabea from Switzerland, Monique from Holland, Tobias, Michael and Andy from Germany) and went to Ciudad Cultural Konex to see La Bomba de Tiempo play. They are a percussion band and they were unbelievably good. The venue was kind of like an outdoor warehouse and it was packed. The band started at 8pm and played for a couple of hours – the air was quite thick with smoke, and the type you could get high on. It was a great evening!

I had a small mishap with the safe in my apartment – I couldn’t get it to open. But luckily the lady who owns the apartment came and sorted it all out and everything is working fine again. Good job as my money, cards and passport are all in the safe!

Today I was going to go on a day trip to a Rancho but things didn’t go as planned. I’d booked the tour online last night and received an email confirmation and directions to a meeting point. Trouble is, nobody met me at the meeting point. I got hold of the company I booked through and they apologised a lot and are processing my refund – shame as I think it would have been a good day out.

So plan B was to do a free city walking tour but when I looked at what it covered I had seen a lot of it already yesterday.

So next plan was to go the market in San Telmo. On the way I popped into the cultural centre.

They also had an exhibition of ‘Las diablas’ – The annual Carnival in Uquia where more than 300 people dressed as devils descend a sacred hill whilst lots of drums are playing. It happened earlier in February so one to do another time. The photographs were amazing.

After having a fix of culture I headed down to San Telmo which is the main area in BA for tango. And I wasn’t disappointed as I saw a couple of tango dancers on the streets – they were really good.

There was also a huge market all down one street leading into San Telmo, around 12 blocks of it, as well as in Plaza Dorrego itself. So I mooched around that for a while and also visited the bar in the square.

I then headed back into town and visited the famous Cafe Tortini where I stopped for a hot chocolate and churros.

Nicely refreshed I walked on to the Plaza del Congreso and saw the Palacio del Congreso.

As I walked back to the apartment I stopped off at Plaza Lavalle and saw the courts of Justice.

Tonight I spoke to Mum and Dad and Nicola- modern technology is so good sometimes. I’ve got a good Wi-Fi signal in the flat so it was easy to chat using WhatsApp.

I went to a lovely little Italian, Broccolino, for dinner – despite me trying to order in Spanish the waiter twigged I was English and then looked after me really well. The food was average but the service was great. I had to walk through the kitchen to pay by card which was an experience- luckily everything looked clean and hygienic!

Tomorrow I’m going back to school to learn some Spanish!

Yesterday was a quiet day. I got up fairly early to pack everything together, have breakfast and check out by 10am.

After check out I just hung out at the hostel with a couple of the other girls I met whilst I was there- Juliana from Holland and Carolina from Germany. We just talked about our travels and what we do back home. My new friend came and sat with us too.

All of us were off to BA in the afternoon but all of us were going different ways on buses and planes.

My bus was supposed to leave at 330pm but it was delayed by an hour and then shortly after setting off the bus was stopped at a police checkpoint and one of the guys had to open a box of goods he was taking with him. It seemed to take forever before we actually got going. But the bus was amazing – fully reclining seats, food and beverages provided. I slept pretty well for a bus journey and would definitely travel by bus again. The journey took around 18 hours.

When I arrived in BA I had a few hours to kill before I could check into my apartment – I decided to go Air bnb as I’m here for a week and it was only a couple of pounds more than a bed in a hostel. So I dropped my bags off at the storage place in the bus station and did my own walking tour of the city – not sure what all the buildings are but one was the Argentinian version of Harrods and the other the ‘pink house’ where Eva Peron addressed her public.

I also saw some of the local guards – they walked past when I was in Plaza de Mayo

I found a little park to have a rest before picking up my bag and getting a taxi to the apartment.

The apartment is gorgeous – it’s just a one bedroom flat but it’s right in the centre of town and close to everything.

This evening there is a concert going on at the Teatro Colon which is just by my flat. I went out and watched from the street for around an hour – it’s really good, a huge orchestra and this is the main singer (I don’t know who he is):

A lady came on and sang ‘Don’t cry for me Argentina’ in Spanish and it sounded beautiful and obviously very fitting.

Tomorrow I’m hoping to go and visit a Rancho.

Today I got up early and took the local bus to the park entrance, the bus terminal is literally 5 mins from the hostel which is very handy.

As soon as I got to the park I got on the train from the entrance to the first stop which is where all the trails start from. Everyone had to disembark in order to pick up another ticket and then get on the next train to the ‘devil’s throat’. It was quite a bit of waiting around but the Coatis and butterflies kept us amused. And at the station I met two other girls from my hostel – Rachel and Pauline from California – so we did this trek together. It was so peaceful walking up to the waterfalls- if you didn’t know you wouldn’t realise they were just round the corner.

The views were stunning and we had beautiful weather too. After taking way too many photos we headed back to the train and ended up back where all the trails started. I headed off to the upper trail first.

As it was so sunny there were quite a few rainbows in the spray from the waterfalls.

I then did the lower trail where you get a little bit wet but nowhere as near as wet as on the Brazilian side.

The treks were fairly easy but there were obviously quite a few people around. I walked back from the trails to the park entrance all g the green trail and saw an iguana.

It’s hard to compare the two sides of the falls – you get amazing views from both of them. In Argentina it’s more spread out so you do more walking which is quite nice as it gives you a chance to appreciate the fauna and flora. There’s more animals around in Argentina too – including marmosets and huge spiders (luckily not too close to the path).

I really loved the Falls and it’s another one of the seven wonders of the world that I’ve seen.

In the evening I just relaxed and played with the little kitten – I’ve named her Misty.

It was really hard saying goodbye to Faye this morning. It’s been so nice to share the experience with her – it’s really lovely to just relax with someone you know well. We had such a good time together it’s going to be hard not having her around to chat to.

But we hugged goodbye and as I write this she’ll be on her way to Lisbon before getting her next flight to London. 😚😚

I got a taxi from the hostel in Brazil to the hostel in Argentina- we had to stop at both borders so I could have my passport stamped in and out – but it was a fairly painless process.

I wasn’t feeling great today – bit of a dodgy stomach, so I had a little sleep when I got to the hostel.

But in the evening I felt much better and decided to walk down to the three frontiers in Argentina- it’s around a 45 minute walk from town. You can see Brazil and Paraguay and you’re standing in Argentina. It’s pretty special.

I got there as the sun was setting over Paraguay and it was beautiful.

On the way back I managed to miss the main road and take a detour down a little mountain road which was actually very pretty but took a little bit longer. Luckily I had Maps.me on my phone!

When I got back I had some food which I shared with this little kitten.

Another one I wish I could adopt.

These waterfalls are unbelievable – absolutely awe inspiring. The highest drop is 82m and they span across 2.7km with a total of 275 drops. Most of the waterfalls are actually on the Argentinian side of the river but that means you get a really good view of them from the Brazilian side.

Here’s a little collection of the many photos I took:

We had good weather and as it had been raining a lot lately the river and the falls were quite full.

This is Devil’s Throat which is the highest drop

The park and the trails are really well organised and signposted so it was easy to get around – obviously there are a lot of people so sometimes you have to wait to get a good photo. The initial walk is quite dry but as you walk out onto the platforms on the waterfalls you get soaked- but the views are amazing.

You also meet a lot of quite tame Coatis on the way – I got told off for stroking one.

To get to the Iguazu falls from our hostel wasn’t too bad either- even though we’re kind of out in the middle of nowhere. We got a free bus to the main road and then a bus from there to the park via the airport. Whilst waiting for the free bus I got stung by a wasp which wasn’t the best start to the day!

This is our hostel – basic but beautiful.

Tonight we went into the Foz do Iguazu which is a strange kind of town. We met an Israeli guy, Jacob, and his mother on the bus into town and they invited us for free drinks at their hotel. We were going to meet up with them for dinner but we couldn’t find the restaurant so we ended up having pizza and then going for a Caiprainha at Capitao Bar.

I can’t believe it’s Faye’s last night here, I’m really going to miss her. It’s so nice to have someone to share the experiences with.

We had a couple of hours on Copacabana beach this morning before we had to pack up our things and get ready to leave.

This is a gorgeous white sandy beach that stretches for 4km and you can see sugarloaf mountain at the one end of it.

It was a sunny morning but unfortunately we had to leave as we had a flight to catch.

Everything went smoothly and we arrived in Foz do Iguazu safely. Our hostel is literally at the end of a dirt track and is in the middle of nowhere but it’s in beautiful surroundings.

We took a walk to the nearest shop which is basically two rooms of food so we bought some bits for our supper. On the way we came across some owls – I thought they were carvings initially but then they moved!

We also met some very friendly puppy on the walk and the hostel has a beautiful fluffy cat but he’s not so friendly.

Tomorrow we’re off to see the waterfalls.

This is one of the main tourist attractions in Rio so we decided to go and see what it was all about.

We caught an uber to the cable car which worked really easily and then bought out tickets to the top.

You have to go up in two separate cable cars- the first one from the base of Morra da Babalonia to Morro da Urca and from there to Sugarloaf’s summit. The highest point is 396m above the harbour. The rock itself is made from quartz and granite which is why it has weathered so well.

Looking down from sugarloaf mountain across Rio:

Looking back up at the peak:

The views were stunning. However, we didn’t seem to be having much luck with the weather and as we were up at the summit it started to rain quite heavily – we got soaked:

And the view once we got back down shows how cloudy it was.

But again- definitely worth doing. As you looked across Rio you could just see the Christ the Reedemer statue on a peak opposite- it looked like he was floating on the clouds.

The rain had stopped by the time we got to the bottom so we walked back to the apartment stopping for some delicious late lunch on the way. We didn’t realise until about 12pm but the clocks all went back an hour in Brazil today!

In the evening we went for a snack and a caipirinha before coming across some local live music in a small bar – it was really good even though we couldn’t understand what they were singing about.

Rio Carnival is very different to Salvador in that it is much more about watching rather than being right there amongst it all. Although I’m sure the various street parties are just as crazy but we didn’t get to experience those.

However, the parade was well worth watching. The floats are amazing as are all the costumes. And you do get to dance/ jig around a bit whilst watching the parade.

We arrived at the grandstand around 830pm and just after 9pm the parade kicked off with an impressive firework display.

During the champions parade the 6 winners parade down the parade area- it takes at least one hour for each samba school to get from one end to the other. And each school has a variety of elements as part of its parade including some breathtaking floats, their own band, flag dancers and a variety of stunning costumes.

The samba schools must spend a fortune on all of this but I read that each school gets some money from the city funds to help take part in carnival.

We only stayed to watch the first three schools before heading home. It was amazing- just all the colours, the costumes and the atmosphere.

The photos can’t really capture the scale of the floats but they were huge and with so much detail including moving parts for the animals etc.

Definitely worth seeing.