:(
leaving tomorrow at 11
Monday, October 19, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
feliz dia de la madre
hola chicos y chicas...
so today was mellow, which was sooo nice, we met up with our new friend from our flight, Katja, and headed to the san telmo market... this time we walked from beginning to end, it was awesome.... we all got killer leather jackets, we look cool, fanzie cool! now it is just a mellow afternoon, for tonight tbd.
also happy mothers day (hence the title) it is mothers day in argentina:)
much love
so today was mellow, which was sooo nice, we met up with our new friend from our flight, Katja, and headed to the san telmo market... this time we walked from beginning to end, it was awesome.... we all got killer leather jackets, we look cool, fanzie cool! now it is just a mellow afternoon, for tonight tbd.
also happy mothers day (hence the title) it is mothers day in argentina:)
much love
Saturday, October 17, 2009
back "home"
ahhh so we have arrived back in buenos to our favorite hostel <3 we are staying at the same hostel as before and were very excited to see the people we met last time we were here,,, yo, if you ever head to ba check out hostel suites obelisco, awesome.
so, last few days in rio were awesome... love love love rio. wed night as mentioned we hung out with our tour guide, Andres, who has now earned the title, creeper, well done son! After we met up with Katie´s aunt and cousin, Mary and Jon, at their hotel and hung out. Then on thursday we met up with them and walked from copa to ipanema, it is sooo beautiful on the beaches, we saw a surf contest, and lots and lots and lots of surfers. proving to my theory "there is always another surfer in the ocean". Katie and I split for the afternoon and i headed to the favella tour (fascinating and disturbing mixed at once) and she stayed with the fam. Then her wonderful cousin Jon took us to another brazilian bbq except this one was on the water.... so delicious. awesome. I ate quail and sampled chicken hearts again... hhehehe, when in rome...
we flew out this morning, direct, thankfully, and met the sweetest german girl on the plan. naped showered and are now awaiting the chinese food to be delivered while we sit at the hostel bar, ahhh content, yes?
so that is the dealio, alive and well and lots more pictures to share but that will have to wait until I am at a different computer. As for now, i have a quilmes cristal calling me nombre.
much love
so, last few days in rio were awesome... love love love rio. wed night as mentioned we hung out with our tour guide, Andres, who has now earned the title, creeper, well done son! After we met up with Katie´s aunt and cousin, Mary and Jon, at their hotel and hung out. Then on thursday we met up with them and walked from copa to ipanema, it is sooo beautiful on the beaches, we saw a surf contest, and lots and lots and lots of surfers. proving to my theory "there is always another surfer in the ocean". Katie and I split for the afternoon and i headed to the favella tour (fascinating and disturbing mixed at once) and she stayed with the fam. Then her wonderful cousin Jon took us to another brazilian bbq except this one was on the water.... so delicious. awesome. I ate quail and sampled chicken hearts again... hhehehe, when in rome...
we flew out this morning, direct, thankfully, and met the sweetest german girl on the plan. naped showered and are now awaiting the chinese food to be delivered while we sit at the hostel bar, ahhh content, yes?
so that is the dealio, alive and well and lots more pictures to share but that will have to wait until I am at a different computer. As for now, i have a quilmes cristal calling me nombre.
much love
Thursday, October 15, 2009
No, no obrigado
greetings from rio friends!!!! we have been having a blast here, quite the life. Yesterday we woke up to amazing weather... upon recommendation we decided to get all the tourist attractions with views out of the way. So we hopped a bus and took a tour of the city. the citys included pao de azucar (sugar loaf), the beaches (copacabana, ipanema, etc), macarana staduim (the host to the 2014 world cup), the cathedral metropolitana de sao sebastiao, the samba street, corovado (aka Jesus!!), and these crazy famous steps that are mosaic that i am drawing a blank on right now....we had a great time, well except for the fact that kat-ie felt like death. fortunately the rec. here wrote down medicine in portuguese for us to we could go to the drogria for some meds so she is feeling better today. We also had a lasting impression on our tour guide, anrdres, as he invited us to go out with him tonight.... now before you all have a hissy fit, we consulted the rec (who are girls) who informed us that andres is very nice, has taken many vistors out, and is safe. There so do not fear, we will not be sold to the drug lords, well tonight at least, hehehe. but also the selling point of joining andres is he speaks both english and prtuguese and we will have a male companion joining us to protect us along with our pepper spray!
today we headed to the copacabana beach... which was awesome except for the intense wind... it would blow the sand up and it felt like you were getting pelleted to death by small little needles.... i dunno if that makes sense, but basically it was painful.... we also saw many many man speedos and lady thongs... the surprising thing is we were expecting everyone to look like Gisele. And will there were a few (and yes mark I have pictures for you) there was also quite the range of body types, making katie and i feel at home. After a few hours of being assulted by the sand, we headed to the beachside bar in which we got coconuts and the rum sugar drink the make here, cannot even begin to spell it our, so sorry you will not be getting the proper name. We sat on the boardwalk watched the water and was assulted by numerous street vendors. Which I do not know why. i mean katie can vouch for me, i have been trying to blend with the natives, yesterday bright yellow shorts and a pink shirt, and today a neon fanny pack. but alas, we are sized up as tourist everytime. so much that they hand us english menus (which they thankfully have) as soon as we walk in. Also an interesting observation from today, like i mentioned before, the men here are less agressive,,, but are... lets say assertive, in their own way... what do i mean, well rather than coming up to you and trying to offer you a gift (aka a kiss) or yelling at you like they do in brazil, here they stare and stare and stare and stare and stare and stare and stare and stare and stare, never ever breaking their line of vision, except to blink, then once you walk away they blow kisses at you... hahaha. i have tried the stare them down approach but that only seems to encourage them because they never break their stare, so my new approach is to be equally as agressive. We tested it today, in which after a solid hour of smiling at us and staring, i went up to dude and said can i take a picture with you. in which case he became very self aware, shy, and embarassed especially since his friends stared teasing him, worked like a charm, took the photo and he minded his own business. hahaha priceless,
shortly after, it stared to pour, not as bad as argentina but enough to hurry us back to the hostel to change and figure out lunch... so that is it for now....
here are some pics...
jungle on sugar loaf
view from sugar loaf
cathedral
samba street
more jungle at sugar loaf
catherdral
staduim
me and Jesus
staduim
coconuts on copacabana
stange men, katie, me, and Jesus
staduim
view from sugar loaf
hostel
monkeys on sugar loaf
rum, sugar, lime
copacabana
those famous steps...
Katie and Jesus
told you they are agressive here
katie and i at sugar loaf
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Pictures...hopefully...
Since there are only 2 computers for the entire hostel to use and we can now upload fotos...I don´t want to take forever to upload fotos from Arge. So, we´ll start with the most recent pics...enjoy a taste of the fun we´ve been having!!!
Chicken heart...ummm...yum
Brazilian BBQ
The hostel we are staying at right now...Bamboo Hostel in Rio de Janeiro
Chicken heart...ummm...yum
Brazilian BBQ
The hostel we are staying at right now...Bamboo Hostel in Rio de Janeiro
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Chicken Heart
Hola!!!! We have arrived safely in Brazil! and on my word, what a trip! So we arrived at the airport at 8. Upon going through security, they arked us if we had visas to paraguay (we had a 6 hour layover in paraguay). we said no only brazil. the security took out passports and itenerary and said they had to make a call to make sure it was ok for us to fly into paraguay. Apparently, the in transit area of the airport was closed overnight (which is the area we would have to stay in since we didn´t have visas and they needed to make sure the country would accept us prior to our departure. so dude takes off, leaving us there with no real information or even his name, for over a half an hour. Finally dude comes back and lets us know we will be met by someone to escort us to the intransit area where we will stay- by ourselves- until the airport opens again. The also let us know we HAD to pick up our backpacks because they would not be checked all the way thru
so mad dash through check-in, security, and boarding since we lost almost a hour by the end of the ordeal. Which by the way, the security in b.a. is super lax! So zip zam bam and off we went to paraguay. Upon arriving at 11pm, we debark, noting no one waiting for us. so we wandered aimlessly into customs in which we asked a security guard for help, in which the language barrier kicked in full force and we some how managed to figure out via hand gestures we were supposed to go up stairs. We found in-transit and was ready to curl up and pass out when we realized, hey we need our bags... so back down stairs we wander to find the oh-so-friendly security guard (note sarcaism) and ask how we get our bags. being the wonderful man he is, he becomes angry by our prescene in the customs area and lack of ability to communicate. forunately a sweet stewardess stepped in and helped translate. she also pulled in a bag boy who explained to us the bags were checked thru to sao paolo and we would have to pick them up there, not here. so back up stairs we went to curl up on the lovely airport chairs for 5 hours.
440 - wake up board the flight to sao paolo. arrive in sao paolo... taxi For-Ever! arrive at gate, late, and then we have to walk to what seems like the end of the airport to pick up the luggage and go through customs. we had about an hour and fifteen minutes until our flight departed for rio. we hustle to baggage and wait and wait and wait.... the stuff finally comes out on the carousel. 45 minutes later, still standing in baggage collection, we realized, our stuff was not coming. off to the help counter to practice our portugese. T minues 10 minutes until connecting flight..... the very nice man at the counter explains, that no, we do not pick our bags up here, they are checked all the way thru to Rio.... so here we get worried because everyone said they were checked thru to the previous destination..... but due to the lack of time we were like alright, off we goooo... so we hustle thru customs and realize we have to check in again for the connecting flights.... ahhhh t minus 20 minutes. we step in the extra long line and as a employee walks by katie goes, we have 20 minutes until our flight leaves. The AMAZINGLY SWEET and NICE woman grabs our information hustles us to the front of the line prints us tickets then says follow me. She is short of run thru the airport to another counter, to security, in which we cut the line, the all the way back to the last gate in the terminal, go figure! We profusely thank her, kiss on the check and board being the last ones to get on the flight, t minus less than 5 minutes. ahhhh sounds not that bad when i describe it now but on less than 5 hours of sleep, no coffee, not feeling well, not having showered in 3 days, and not understanding the language or where our bags were, we were stressed!!
Arrive rio 1030 am. Baggage claim, what do you know, katie´s bag appears asap. so i wait and wait and wait, another airline is added to the carousel adding to the confusion, so i wait and wait and wait,. tears begin to show, and smack there´s may bag, turn to katie, vicotry pump in the air, grab it and off we go.
next two hours were spent trying to figure out the stupid atms, food, how to buy a english to portuguese dictonary, and get a taxi. Finally, we arrive at the hostel to check in only to be notified....... there was a ´problem´ in our room and we cannot get in it.... even through it is already an hour after check in.... so off we go into rio to kill time.... and wow what a city! I love love love what i have seen of rio so far. amazing beautiful, friendly, precious.... i could go on and on but rio def to my breathe away much more then buenos did. I wish i could speak portuguese. so we wander picking up a few necessities... starving I saw and stand selling acai, heaven... oh ssoooooo delicious, i could live off of that stuff. So katie and i sat and enjoyed. cruised back to the hostel, got our room and passed out for 3 plus hours, woke up, showered and set out to attack rio once again (this time pepper spray in hand)
for dinner we landed a delicious brazilian bqq per recommendation of the hostel rep. sooooooooo good, katie and i our stuffed to the brim... amazing side dishes and all you can eat meat,,, so we ate and ate and ate... the meat ranged from chicken, filet, prime, ribs, pork, ham, sausage, etc etc etc annnnnnddddd chicken hearts!!! baaahahaaa yes chicken hearts. we declined but the waiter insisted, i caved and got one, katie stayed strong.... so now i can say... proudly,,, or more like awkardly, i have eaten chicken hearts... actually not bad tasting... would have been better if i hadn´t know what it was!! walked home in the rain and now i am here with you attempting to down load photos, do you feel loved?
so that is the deal for now..... oh and ironically (given everyone has said to be careful) we feel safer in rio... possible because the men here are way and i mean WAY less aggressive than the men in ba.... which is greatly appreciated.
and now for photos.... wait for it wait for it wait for it..... and fail once again,,, for the 1200 time, sooooo beyond annoying and fustrating.
lo siento
until tomorrow...
so mad dash through check-in, security, and boarding since we lost almost a hour by the end of the ordeal. Which by the way, the security in b.a. is super lax! So zip zam bam and off we went to paraguay. Upon arriving at 11pm, we debark, noting no one waiting for us. so we wandered aimlessly into customs in which we asked a security guard for help, in which the language barrier kicked in full force and we some how managed to figure out via hand gestures we were supposed to go up stairs. We found in-transit and was ready to curl up and pass out when we realized, hey we need our bags... so back down stairs we wander to find the oh-so-friendly security guard (note sarcaism) and ask how we get our bags. being the wonderful man he is, he becomes angry by our prescene in the customs area and lack of ability to communicate. forunately a sweet stewardess stepped in and helped translate. she also pulled in a bag boy who explained to us the bags were checked thru to sao paolo and we would have to pick them up there, not here. so back up stairs we went to curl up on the lovely airport chairs for 5 hours.
440 - wake up board the flight to sao paolo. arrive in sao paolo... taxi For-Ever! arrive at gate, late, and then we have to walk to what seems like the end of the airport to pick up the luggage and go through customs. we had about an hour and fifteen minutes until our flight departed for rio. we hustle to baggage and wait and wait and wait.... the stuff finally comes out on the carousel. 45 minutes later, still standing in baggage collection, we realized, our stuff was not coming. off to the help counter to practice our portugese. T minues 10 minutes until connecting flight..... the very nice man at the counter explains, that no, we do not pick our bags up here, they are checked all the way thru to Rio.... so here we get worried because everyone said they were checked thru to the previous destination..... but due to the lack of time we were like alright, off we goooo... so we hustle thru customs and realize we have to check in again for the connecting flights.... ahhhh t minus 20 minutes. we step in the extra long line and as a employee walks by katie goes, we have 20 minutes until our flight leaves. The AMAZINGLY SWEET and NICE woman grabs our information hustles us to the front of the line prints us tickets then says follow me. She is short of run thru the airport to another counter, to security, in which we cut the line, the all the way back to the last gate in the terminal, go figure! We profusely thank her, kiss on the check and board being the last ones to get on the flight, t minus less than 5 minutes. ahhhh sounds not that bad when i describe it now but on less than 5 hours of sleep, no coffee, not feeling well, not having showered in 3 days, and not understanding the language or where our bags were, we were stressed!!
Arrive rio 1030 am. Baggage claim, what do you know, katie´s bag appears asap. so i wait and wait and wait, another airline is added to the carousel adding to the confusion, so i wait and wait and wait,. tears begin to show, and smack there´s may bag, turn to katie, vicotry pump in the air, grab it and off we go.
next two hours were spent trying to figure out the stupid atms, food, how to buy a english to portuguese dictonary, and get a taxi. Finally, we arrive at the hostel to check in only to be notified....... there was a ´problem´ in our room and we cannot get in it.... even through it is already an hour after check in.... so off we go into rio to kill time.... and wow what a city! I love love love what i have seen of rio so far. amazing beautiful, friendly, precious.... i could go on and on but rio def to my breathe away much more then buenos did. I wish i could speak portuguese. so we wander picking up a few necessities... starving I saw and stand selling acai, heaven... oh ssoooooo delicious, i could live off of that stuff. So katie and i sat and enjoyed. cruised back to the hostel, got our room and passed out for 3 plus hours, woke up, showered and set out to attack rio once again (this time pepper spray in hand)
for dinner we landed a delicious brazilian bqq per recommendation of the hostel rep. sooooooooo good, katie and i our stuffed to the brim... amazing side dishes and all you can eat meat,,, so we ate and ate and ate... the meat ranged from chicken, filet, prime, ribs, pork, ham, sausage, etc etc etc annnnnnddddd chicken hearts!!! baaahahaaa yes chicken hearts. we declined but the waiter insisted, i caved and got one, katie stayed strong.... so now i can say... proudly,,, or more like awkardly, i have eaten chicken hearts... actually not bad tasting... would have been better if i hadn´t know what it was!! walked home in the rain and now i am here with you attempting to down load photos, do you feel loved?
so that is the deal for now..... oh and ironically (given everyone has said to be careful) we feel safer in rio... possible because the men here are way and i mean WAY less aggressive than the men in ba.... which is greatly appreciated.
and now for photos.... wait for it wait for it wait for it..... and fail once again,,, for the 1200 time, sooooo beyond annoying and fustrating.
lo siento
until tomorrow...
Sunday, October 11, 2009
ALIVE and well!!!
just wanted to let you all know we had an amazing weekend... stories and pictures to come hopefully soon!!!
highlights:
marble steps
muy dinero
tango
markets
bife
futbol
RAIN
wind
thunder
lighting
sunny
4 steps
.... tu madre
peru vs argentina
CREEPERS!
fusion
no significa que no
mi nuevo es argentina
there is a little something to start your work week off!!!
As for Kat-ie and Br¡... vamos a la bomba de tiempo!
culo de mandril!
muchas gracias
te amos
highlights:
marble steps
muy dinero
tango
markets
bife
futbol
RAIN
wind
thunder
lighting
sunny
4 steps
.... tu madre
peru vs argentina
CREEPERS!
fusion
no significa que no
mi nuevo es argentina
there is a little something to start your work week off!!!
As for Kat-ie and Br¡... vamos a la bomba de tiempo!
culo de mandril!
muchas gracias
te amos
Friday, October 9, 2009
How are you liking it.... Cinco noches y Sies Diaz
¡Hola Hola! ¿Como estas?
day two, and wow, what a big day.
just woke up from a nice little nap. it is 9:16 at night and we still have to eat dinner.
here are the highlights from today....
woke at 11
walked to recoleta and walked the entire area
walked to palermo
saw Recoleta cemetary along with Evita´s grave
cruised through a market
saw many many parks, i wish i could tell you which ones but i left my book in our room
had un cafe at la beila
climbed a tree
slaughtered and I mean slaughtered the Spanish language
visited 5 banks
met many dogs
was told off by a seven year old
had a mcflurry con cadbury
cafe, lots and lots of cafe
and as you can see, still no photos.. once i find a place to upload, you will be bombarded with loads and loads of photographic genius... just wait, let the excitement build!!
now for dinner and un disco, hey-o!
Mucho Amor
Br! y Kat!e
day two, and wow, what a big day.
just woke up from a nice little nap. it is 9:16 at night and we still have to eat dinner.
here are the highlights from today....
woke at 11
walked to recoleta and walked the entire area
walked to palermo
saw Recoleta cemetary along with Evita´s grave
cruised through a market
saw many many parks, i wish i could tell you which ones but i left my book in our room
had un cafe at la beila
climbed a tree
slaughtered and I mean slaughtered the Spanish language
visited 5 banks
met many dogs
was told off by a seven year old
had a mcflurry con cadbury
cafe, lots and lots of cafe
and as you can see, still no photos.. once i find a place to upload, you will be bombarded with loads and loads of photographic genius... just wait, let the excitement build!!
now for dinner and un disco, hey-o!
Mucho Amor
Br! y Kat!e
Thursday, October 8, 2009
First Day
Here´s the highlights,
flew in just in time to see sunset
also managed to see sunrise, hey-o
met amazing peeps and i mean A-mazing and from everywhere... france, italy, australia, mexico, argentina, brazil, england, oh, and lovely texas...
the hostel is pretty awesome
woke at 2 pm
had delicious lomo
cruised through downtown buenos
saw florida st, plaza de mayo, bascilica, casa rosada, cafe tortino, oblesico, ave de 9 julio, ave de mayo
survived a mugging by 13 year old locals
lost my (bri) sunnies
lost $90 pesos or 30 bucks, shaddy cabbie
lost and found our room key
AND
KAT-ie was on TV!!!
That{s right ladies and gents, katie made your local access television, heck yes! It was an amazing day for america!!!
Alright homies, here is the dealio with the photos, I am sitting on like 200 photos, that is right i said it, 200 photos, unfortunately we are running into some technical issues... the computers at the hostels will not upload photos and the internet cafe we stopped at FAILED at loading photos, somewhat annoying, especially since i am better with pictures than i am with words.... so you will have to check back, i will get to the bottom of this i promise, but as for now, i am just going to work on getting to the bottom of this pint glass., hey-o :)
much love
Brrrrrrri and KAT-ie
flew in just in time to see sunset
also managed to see sunrise, hey-o
met amazing peeps and i mean A-mazing and from everywhere... france, italy, australia, mexico, argentina, brazil, england, oh, and lovely texas...
the hostel is pretty awesome
woke at 2 pm
had delicious lomo
cruised through downtown buenos
saw florida st, plaza de mayo, bascilica, casa rosada, cafe tortino, oblesico, ave de 9 julio, ave de mayo
survived a mugging by 13 year old locals
lost my (bri) sunnies
lost $90 pesos or 30 bucks, shaddy cabbie
lost and found our room key
AND
KAT-ie was on TV!!!
That{s right ladies and gents, katie made your local access television, heck yes! It was an amazing day for america!!!
Alright homies, here is the dealio with the photos, I am sitting on like 200 photos, that is right i said it, 200 photos, unfortunately we are running into some technical issues... the computers at the hostels will not upload photos and the internet cafe we stopped at FAILED at loading photos, somewhat annoying, especially since i am better with pictures than i am with words.... so you will have to check back, i will get to the bottom of this i promise, but as for now, i am just going to work on getting to the bottom of this pint glass., hey-o :)
much love
Brrrrrrri and KAT-ie
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Hola!!!
We have ARRIVED!!!!! Safe and sound at the hostel waiting to be checked in to our room, everyone is nice. Can´t post photos at the moment! will do in a bit!
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Checking out in 5...4...3...2....1
Less than 12 hours to departure. The morning was spent trying to frantically tie up lose ends at work for both Katie and I. We are taking the train to LAX at 4:45 and jumping on a plane at 11:20 pm. The photo of us was taken this am at about 11:20, exactly 12 hours until departure, Peace out yo!!Since today is a big travel day, we truely appreciate any prayers for safe journeys you send our way!
Lastly, I'd like to spend a moment providing thank you to everyone that has made this trip possible -
Mom - thank you for letting me borrow your back, I will wear it will pride.
Jax - thank you for letting katie borrow you messenger bag thing, we will treat it with the utmost respect and care in south america.
Olga - My dear mother Russia, thank you for risking your life and driving into O-side to drop us off at the train.
Meg - Thank you for driving all the way to LA to give us a ride home when we get back, I know this has yet to occur, but we appreciate the commitment.
Tim M. - Thank you for offering to pick us up from the drug lords when you go in November.
Much LOVE to you all..
Next blog will be from somewhere outside the US :) :) :)
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Travel Buddies
One Day! One Day! One DAY!!!!!! Can't wait. Since going forward this will be bri and katie's travel update blog, i wanted throw up some pics of my fabulous travel companion. About katie, she is a stunning blonde, loves surfing, blue moon, salsa, tall men, and long walks on the beach. We also have the same amazing taste in clothing as is noted by our matching tops. Katie is also amazingly creative. See the pic of us in my office. She made huge flags for Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay and hung them in my office for my birthday! Sooo awesome!!!! World, say hello to the KATIE!
T minus 2 day!
We leave in a little over two days! The excitement is building. I have some how managed to fit ALL of my stuff into one bag. And the bag is capable of being carried by me! Well until we find boys to carry them for us, hahaha!!! Also, the Brazilian visa is here! Yeahhh!! For any future Brazilian travelers, please note, it is best not to plan an international trip a month before you leave for Brazil because they need your passport for two weeks to give you the Visa.... Made the mistake of applying for the Visa less than two weeks before my Canada trip and only had a week and a half between Canada and South America. Very expensive mistake. But hey, at least I have my visa and I am going, hoooray! South America!!!! This is a picture of my costly Visa, i like how my flash captured the hologram! Please don't try and steal my identity:)
All that into one bag, doesn't seem like a lot but I have like two weeks of stuff... i think. And yes, those fabulous heel on the right are coming, hey-o.
Yeah one bag, GOOOOO BOLTS!
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