2.5 million people on the beach for new year. Some of those contributing to the numbers, other than ourselves were Dai and Sally who had flown from Wales specially for the party.

Rio is a beautifully located city. The view from Christ the Redeemer faces out over Guanabara Bay.

We also met some old friends, Adrian and Catie (from the Inca Trail), who contributed a new pair of pals, Adam and Tracey from Melbourne.

There was also Stuart, Tori and Niki who we had met in Rurrenabeque, Bolivia. Some Americans and a brazillian too.

I think our little group of about 20 contributed only slightly to the total!

The Expensive Accomodation

Prices are really raised over the new year period, in most cases 2-3 times. Also many places make you book several nights.

We stayed in a youth hostel which cost 20 pounds per night each! The atmostphere and the people were friendly but the accomodation was of typical hostel standards. Some rooms had air conditioning (1800-1000 so not good if you want to cool off in the day!) which after the first 2 nights we managed to swap into. Our new room had a panel of glass missing and this lead us to have a slight mosquito infestation!

After 4 days we moved into a much classier hotel, around US$60 per night for a double room, a completely better class of accomodation, but not one that can be sustained if travelling over a long period of time.

The Boat Debate

Having arrived in the hostel there was the opportunity to take a booze cruise on New Years eve. The cost was arround 200 reais (40 quid), which was to include transportation and all you can eat / drink.

Ultimately we decided the reason we were in Rio for New Year was to be on the beach, and its not a decision that was regretted!

There is a cable car that runs from the bottom to the top of the sugar loaf which is a nice journey in itself.

The sugar loaf can be seen from Copacabana beach and once the top is reached beautiful views can be found.

Cable car ride	Sally & Dai

Due to the grey weather which according to the weather reports was going to hang around the Rio area for quite a while made us decide to head down towards Argentina. Our original plans had included visiting some of the beautiful islands off the Brazilian coast, but the grey skies influenced us to move where the sun was shining. So we booked an overnight bus to Iguazu which is the most Southerly town in Brazil bording Argentina. The bus journey took 24 hours.

We arrived in Foz do Iguacu early afternoon. It was a scorcher of a day and the sky bright blue.....just what we had wanted! We booked into a hotel with a swimming pool and enjoyed a good splash around after being stuck on the bus for such a long time.

The next day we woke early and caught a bus to the falls. The impact of seeing the falls is awesome. The sound of so much water falling around you is deafening.

A short walk from the falls entrance is a bird park.

	Ev hosts the birds