Karl and Kara in South America

Kara says: i have a sneaking suspicion that this blog entry is particularly disorganised and i would like to apologise in advance. Also I tried to be fancy and add a couple of videos so no guarantees how that's worked out. Iguazu. It's all about falling water. Iguazu falls are the biggest waterfalls in the world, i think by volume of water (?), and i saw somewhere there's over two hundred separate falls. It's on the border of Argentina and Brasil and is a u-shaped waterfall and then a string of waterfalls stretching down-river a bit. It's very cool. Kara says: We saw them from all angles and took photos from most. From above where the river looks perfectly pleasant for an afternoon boat-ride until it opens up and sucks you into a white foaming hole. From above watching the river just disappear over the edge. From below enjoying a power-shower (see little soggy me on the walkway). From a boat up close to the base of the falls. I think i know now what it...

Kara says: Encarnacion. In the south of Paraguay, near the Argentine border. We figure there's not much in Paraguay 'cause the three cities we went to were all on the border with Argentina or Brasil, though in different corners of the country. Actually the countryside we passed through was very pleasant - rural, based on agriculture, small towns and villages, lots of businesses selling tractors, harvestors etc. Not unlike home. Green, with cows and sheep, and a grey sky and pretty chilly. And very pleasant, polite & friendly people. And very clean, despite a muddy climate and being the third poorest country in South America after Bolivia (and somewhere else) but doesn't feel it. And civilised. The fact that we have no photos whatsoever of Encarnacion probably reflects a little harshly on its entertainment value. It's pleasant, nice plaza, some restaurants, lots of street markets (like a giant Moore St) but the old part of town is being drowned by the resevoir so the...

Kara says: Girly blog's back, watch out, may contain feelings, emotions, wants, desires, longings, regrets. Right. Asuncion. A quick flight from Montevideo on their version of Ryanair where we had to buy lunch. However their lunch special came with a half (love* uruguayos!) bottle of wine so we were in a pretty good mood* when we touched down. In such a good mood that I was only half-perturbed* that the plaza in front of our hotel is home (at least temporarily) to a lot of Asuncion's homeless, camping under black plastic tied to the trees and cooking over fires. See photo. I don't know if it's a recent occurrence after some local disaster or if it's a long-term thing. They managed to keep themselves and their kids remarkably clean and tidy for the conditions but it must be so cold in those tents at night, there are three portaloos and a couple of taps, not sure where they get firewood, or food for that matter. Anyway. The city feels much smaller than a capital of on...

Karl says: Warning. Man blog. Emotion free zone. Just pictures and facts. Maybe even bullet points. Photo of Pocitos beach where we've spend countless hours walking off steaks, roasts and other fine feeds. We never held hands or anything girlie like that though. Photo of sunset over the city from Punta Carretas, where we spend countless hours sitting thinking about doing something. Picture of Kara at the counter of one of the parillas in the Mercado. This place is fantastic. First you have to confront an almost overwhelming choice of parillas all under the one roof, all the while being attacked by hosts plying free wine in an attempt to break you (oh the horror). Then you find yourself a counter, tackle a menu speckled with intestines and other oddities, order every sausage on the menu, 'cos how can you not?, a steak the size of your head and a couple of microbrewed beers. Terrible. A lighthouse. Because lighthouses are manly. Actually, I think the area around the lighthouse ma...

Kara says: A few days in BA and now settling into Montevideo. Nice to be back in BA but completely different city! Winter (brrr), swine flu (or the less stigmatising, for pigs, "gripe A") and not a soul around. The schools were closed for a month to contain the spread of flu, the theatres closed, people were supposed to stay at home - and they really did! So very odd. Felt alot more european than before, don't know if it was because everyone was wrapped up in winter clothes shuffling through the biting wind or because now we've seen some more of South America we get why BA is seen as being the Paris of the south. Visited all our favourite haunts - local english pub for delicious ale and even more delicious porter, bar El Federal (see photo of Karl) for cosy nibbles and our favourite milonga (where there was room on the dance-floor all night! crazy.) and wandered around generally, reminiscing... Photo of the Obelisco with giant argentine flag just to remind us where we...

Kara says: Caracas. Not the world's most attractive city. Also fairly dangerous so we did the pathetic tourist-in-a-taxi thing and snapped a few photos through the windows. A few colonial buildings left in the centre of town - parliment, Hugo's place, a couple of goverment buildings. We went up to the top of a hill by cable car for a bird's eye view of the ugliness, and in all fairness of some green-ness over the back of the hill, see photos. Also saw Bolivar's tomb, see photo. Bolivar: famous and much loved freedom getter for much of south america. His dream was to ditch the spanish and have a united states of south america. He did well with ditching the spanish, got them out of Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador and I think was also instrumental in getting independence for Peru, Bolivia and Paraguay. Alas less successful with the uniting states bit. Venezuela, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador were united for a while which explains why all their flags are the same - I t...

Kara says: Angel Falls. Fan-bloody-tastic. Karl got his hobo baggage (see photo) and we got in a canoe and headed upriver. We ran rapids! Upriver and downriver!!! Can't decide which is more exciting, downriver is much faster but upriver has the added tension of praying that the engine doesn't die. We went through a section of huge rocks like the shotover jet in Queenstown only narrower and with an actual risk that you might crash and die. Pushing hands were deployed at key points. The river winds it's way through rainforest and tepuis. A tepui is that mountain sticking up with shear sides and a flat top. As the flora and fauna on the top have been effectively isolated for a gizillion years each tepui has species that have evolved uniquely. I'm sure it's wildly exciting if you're a botanist. Don't know what creationists make of it all though. The rocks are various shades of pink and the rusty tanins in the river mean the shallow areas have a fabulous ruby col...