My travel blog: New city, a new post:)

Hello folks... I´m back here on this blog and from a new place, Foz do Iguazu, a little town near some famous waterfalls on the boarder between Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay... tomorrow I´ll view from the Brazil side, Sunday I´ll watch from Argentina, Monday I´ll pop over to Paraguay to see whats going on, and then Tuesday I fly to Montivedeo, the capital of Uruaguay (I hope to watch the mighty Penarol of Uruaguay play in the Copa Libatadores on Thursday:) ... but to the here and now:)

I´m here after a 24 hour bus journey from Rio... it was actually quite pleasant... kind of like how I imagine buisness class to be just without the free booze... It was nice to be on the road again... although I took the bus in New Zealand that was too much like National Express... this bus was more like the classics from South East Asia... there is something analogus in a bus trip to traveling itself... you travel and cross paths with people... you continue on your journey but others come and go at will... I kind of like it... they don´t get a chance to hear me speak... the girls are just left with an impression of a handsome man, maybe Italian, maybe Estonian... they are taken aback by my looks... and I never open my mouth and ruin the enivatable image in their head;) ... ... it is over recent weeks and months I´ve realised how odd my accent is... I overheard one person say my accent was, "Just plain weird" (I like that:) ... I´ve been mistaken for Irish and Australian on my travels as well as occasionally being correctly identified as a Bristolian... a cleaner at uni, also a Bristolian, asked if I was Canadian!! She said my accent was exotic! ... blimey! ... and once a Norwegian girl said I had a classy accent! ... take that nay-sayers:))) ... I do think I´ve mangeled my accent by watching too much Alan Partridge, Father Ted, and spending too many nights as a youth at Bristol City games or talking crap with my mates from that way after having drunk half a can of white lightening... oh well, I´ll say it gives me character;)

... I´ve just been taken by a bit of shock... because I didn´t get that chance to have cake on my birthday (23rd March) I bought one today to share with people at this new hostel... I told the receptionist and they congratulated me and I told them they could have some cake later... and then, literally as I was typing they just presented me with a wrapped bottle of red wine as a gift... I didn´t expect that! wow, how generous, I just arrived! so Wine and cake for us here tonight:))) ... My birthday was pretty cool in Rio... I had lovely message from home and actually an overwhelming amount of facebook birthday wishes... I know its easy as piss to send a little message on facebook but it is really appreciated:) ... unfortuanatly it rained much of the day so I didn´t get to enjoy the "nature" at Copacaba and Ipanema beaches (see pictures below)... but I booked to watch Fluminases (the second team of Rio) play America of Mexico in the Copa Libatadores... it was a cool match with a good atmosphere... we were sat next to the band so were accompanied by a samba beat throughout the game... I was dissapointed by the size of the crowed though... only 13,000 people for a continental competition... We get more then that at Bristol City when Barnsley come to town... but Fluminases were in good voice and after trailing 1-0 and 2-1 they won 3-2 with a late goal from superstar Deco... the crowed went wild and my undefeated record of watching teams in South America continued:)) ... it was a decent birthday night but I think two days walking around in the Rio heat in my sexy vest had sapped my energy as I was struggeling to keep my eyes open for the second half of this 10pm kick off... it was great though... ... ... next game Penarol of Uruaguay:)

... Now I´ve left Rio and I´ve not seen the big Jesus, but I´m saving that for when I return to Rio to fly to England (maybe I already mentioned that)... to end the trip on a touristic-, religious-, and altitude-high:) ... anyway, it was cloudy all my time in Rio... as sods-law dictates, the sun only came out when the bus pulled away!

... but that feeling of being on the road and watching the unusual landscapes wash past you is great... ... While traveling I had a sudden memory from on the bus in Laos which I don´t know if I mentioned... Our bus broke down outside a village house in the middle of nowhere... a little girl was playing, saw me and waved... I waved back... this continued for literally 5 minutes, then her friends started joining her... after about 20 minutes, when the bus was ready to go, I was waving non-stop to most of the village children and their pets... it was tiring but wonderful:)

... Anyway, time to go... I´m 26 now, so I need to sit down and rest my legs with a nice glass of red wine:) ... maybe after seeing the waterfall and visiting Paraguay and Argentina in the next couple of days I´ll be able to bore you while waxing lyrical about a whole load of new crap... can´t wait:)) ... It seems like now the end of this trip is in sight I´ve got my lust for travel back... which is awesome... I want to end this trip wanting more... to inspire me toward my next foray into this crazy world:)

Anyway, enjoy some pictures from my birthday in Rio:)

Love you all,

Matt

P.S. It seems like the rollercoaster from my time in Santiago continues... I had ups and downs there but met some wonderful people... I was really a lazy hostel sloth during my time there but had a decent time there... I mentioned how the hostel was a party zone and then froze up for a bit and then was friendly once again when I left... well in a major change of events, since I left the managment claimed one of the staff was stealing money and so sacked the whole lot of them! ... Jesus! ... I´d like to think that if that happened at home the owner would be forced to prove the accusations and pay out of his ass to those falsly accused... it seems sad and weird that that has happened... frankly its the hostel´s loss as they were generally great staff... I´ve spoken to a couple of them and they´ve taken it well which is good:) ... but man alive, I didn´t see that coming... kind of glad I wasn´t around to see that crap go down!