Last stop in South America

Hey Boyzz and Girlzz!

After some 'loose' updates around my B-Day, now again the 'full' version completely updated. :D

Booked my flight home in the meanwhile, but isn't sure whether it is booked. Got an cancelation and one confirmation email. :S ^:|

Anyway, I'm now in Brasil. Pretty difficult to get around since they speak portugesk here. And that doesn't always resemble the Spanish (just check the week days f.e.). Second time I'm in Brasil, since we did a daytrip from Argentina as well. :P But you can read all of that below. Enjoy!

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1) A Iguazu; Argentinian and brasilian point of view

As said in earlier updates, we went to the waterfalls in Puerto de Iguazu 2 days after my official B-Day. But we did more then that (as you probably saw on the pics). We also went to some wood museum where they had trees of over 1000kg and more then 1000 years old. Also they had some gems/stones and also 2 unique ice cream flavours: rose and mate (sort of tea). Furthermore we visited a gems workshop, but it wasn't that impressive and stones there were way too expensive. That was all on the raining day. Ow yeah, we also drunk a lot with some people we met before somewhere on the continent (Vivian, Richard, Ainsley, Ben, Chris, Arjan, ChangAn). The day after we went to the waterfalls on the Argentinian side, we did a daytrip to the ones in Brasil. They were the same actually, but diffrent to see. In Argentina you saw the falls up close, went under/in them etc while in Brasil you saw the big picture. I'll give more details when I'm home (planning to do a little evening to let you tast some food of here, see some pics, read my diary etc). And that was about it. On the 17th we had another overnigth bustrip and went to Rio.

1) B Rio de Janeiro; Waves and Festa

When we got in Rio on the 18th we went to our hostel in Copacabana and walked around that area a bit during the afternoon. Yesterday evening we went to a party with about 20 peeps of the hostel. We had to pay for the bus, but entree and drinks were for free (wasn't that much fun this morning). And now it's proven: South American men like blond. :P Linda was surrounded by men the whole time and didn't like it, Ralf didn't got any attention either (or was to chicken to undertake something :S) and also didn't like it. :P FUN! But the party was good. Even better was the breakfast here: melon, toast, dulce de letche, cake and more. And after that we went to the beach (Lin is there now). And the waves are AWESOME!! About 2 meters or more in hight and they crush down just before the beach!! Powerfull as well. We did some skinboarding and when I was laying on the surf, I was even taken by a wave and pulled back into the sea! :P Ow yeah, tomorrow is the real deal: surf lessons.

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2) The Route

This was my trip:
- 22/01/09 I flew to Aruba to visit and pick up Linda;
- 03/02/09 We went to Washington DC and visited Mariska;
- 06/02/09 We took take the bus to New York and slept in our first hostel;
- 10/02/09 We had a flight to Orlando and did 2 days Disney World
- 13/02/09 Drove to Miami were we did Miami city and the Keys;
- 17/02/09 Flew to Bogota (Colombia);
- 23/02/09 Cartagena;
- 24/02/09 Santa Marta and la Ciudad Perdida (6 day hike in the jungle);
- 02/03/09 Taganga (rest!);
- 04/03/09 Medillin;
- 05/03/09 Salento (Zona Cafetera, between Perreira and Armenia);
- 08/03/09 We took the bus to Ipiales (border) and left Colombia behind us;
- 09/03/09 Quito;
- 13/03/09 Galapagos (8 day cruise and 2 days on Santa Cruz for diving);
- 22/03/09 Guayaquil;
- 25/03/09 Lima;
- 28/03/09 Huarachina (Sandboarding);
- 29/03/09 Nazca lines;
- 30/03/09 Cuzco;
- 01/04/09 Aguas Calientes, Machu Picchu and Wayna Picchu (hot springs and ruins);
- 04/04/09 Cuzco again;
- 07/04/09 Bustrip to Canyon Country;
- 08/04/09 Cabanaconde and the canyon itself (3 day hike);
- 11/04/09 Arequipa and El Misti vulcano;
- 16/04/09 Puno and Floating Islands;
- 17/04/09 Copacabana and Isla del Sol;
- 20/04/09 La Paz;
- 22/04/09 Uyuni and the Salt Plains;
- 27/04/09 Tupiza for some horse riding;
- 01/05/09 Wine, wine and more wine in Mendoza;
- 06/05/09 Capital B.A.;
- 13/05/09 B-Day at the waterfalls of Puerto de Iguazu (Argentina) and Foz do Iguacu (Brasil);
- 18/05/09 Really entered Brasil in Samba y festa city Riooooo de Janeiroooo!;

And then what we/I planned:
- 23/05/09 Direction Ihla Grande;
- 25/05/09 We've been post phoning it for a while and I'm having already hallucinations for more then a month because my malaria pills, but we'll finally go to the jungle in Campo Grande;
-31/05/09 Also jungle, but in Bonito to go snorkling in the rivers (hopefully there's no piranha's :P);
- 04/06/09 B-Day Ta

As you see, no USA since Joanna went to Japan and Hawaii instead of Rio. And I'll be home in the summer. Working in July and having an operation for my hernie as well.

Roughly my trip after North and South America will look like this:
- 09/09 (or 10/09) Australia (working and traveling for almost 1 year, maybe with Katie);
- 05/10 Asia (Indonesia, Philipijnen, Maleisia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, China, Korea and Japan, maybe with Isabel for a while);
- 11/10 Trans-siberian Railway Peking Express through among others Peking (China), Mongolia, Jarkoetsk (Rusland), Onsk (Rusland), Moskou (Rusland) for 18 days (maybe with Robbert);
- 12/10 Home sweet home for Christmas, Wingman back in the Netherlands.

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3) My to do list

In one of the first messages I wrote, I said that you could let me do certain things in exchange for money. Here is the status quo:

- Get (naked) on national tele in the USA: Waiting if were on, being taped for Comedy Central and MTV’s the Fashion Show ~ REWARD: € 100,- by Ruud and Youri;
*** (nearly) ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Find a famous place/square and be a street artist: I forgot my jiggling balls every time I went into Paris or other cities, but I had some audience in Zipaquire and jiggled in the Uyuni salt plains. ~ REWARD: € 100,- by Ruud and Youri;
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Enjoy your trip: I will! ~ REWARD: € 25,- by Hans (Thank you Hans!!)
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Shave your head bold: since my mum shaved me twice I'm almost hairless now. :S ~ REWARD: € 3,50 by Sarah H;
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Come to the Luna-Tik Switch: since I'm in Maastricht now (and bored) and waiting till 10h, I think I'll manage. ~ REWARD: free entrance as per Erik;
*** ACCOMPLISHED ***
- Carry Mickey around the world and take pictures in famous places: I WILL! ~ REWARD: A cool photo collection, as per me!;
- Get married in Las Vegas in an Elvis Suite and stay married for at least 2 months: Linda s not interested ~ REWARD: € 450,- (or 150,- for a short marage) as per Erik;
*** FAILED or not???***
- Carry the hand cups around that I ‘won’ with the Saint Nicolas Surprise: they are still on my back ~ REWARD: ??? told by Jule;
- Collect 2 stickers from every hostel I go to: difficult, since they only have 'visite kaartjes' ~ REWARD: 0,50 euro each as per Erik;
- Gues on what place in the world 2 pics my parents send me have been token: it was around Istanbul, one on the canal between Asia and Europa and one was the Blue Mosque in Istanbull ~ REWARD: 20,- as per dad and mom [Money on my account ]
- Get dressed up by a loco from BA: sorry Erik, completely forgot about this one. :S ~ REWARD: ?? (don't remember) as per Erik;
FAILED MISSERABLY

Did I forget one, do you want to add one?? Let me know!!
Do you want to add some?? Let me know!!

NOTE!! I’m running out of quests, please give me some more!!!

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4) Games

A little game for all:

Each person that posts, must repeat the sentence 'I will go on holiday and take with me:', repeat the items of previous persons and add one item of his own.

This is where we left of and since nobody played last post, we’ll stop with this one:

*I'll go on holiday and take with me: my backpack (Inge, afblijven!), my hand cups, Inge's prom dress, Mickey Mouse, a snorkel, juggling balls, 1 under pens, a passport, mama's toothbrush, Linda!, a winter jacket, snow boats, my MP3 player, mama’s bracelet, some dollars to buy breakfast, everybody’s notes with the best wishes on them (there actually at my parents Erik),my lonely planet, some stickers and bueno aires-carnavals-attribute.

Here’s a new one:

Each post must say a number (in sequence from one till 50). The one who is number 50, will receive a little reward. And there will be a secret number reward as well!

*Failed big time due to lack of cooperation

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Well, I'm off to the beach again. Get some more waves and get a little (red) colour. :P See ya soon!

Kisses, lottie love and more from the one and only Wingman aka Ralf and a hug from Mickey!!!!

**Little addition**

Just got back from the beach (it's about midnight here). A day full of skinboarding, an evening full of beach football with locals and a nightly swim before going to bed :D Loving it! Was really nice, an was even made man/goaly of the match. :P Now really to bed, tomorrow surfing! Ciaociao bisbis