Just to start, we wanted to say that we receive all the comments that you write without any problem... and we read it!! It is great to see that a lot of you follow us. Unfortunately we can´t answer all of them as they are comments only, but you can create your own adress on blogabond and send messages (those we can answer!).
Anyway keep on sending plenty of messages and comments because we love to read them...

kisses to all of you.

Alors un peu en francais...
On voulait just dire que l'on recoit bien vos commentaires que vous nous ecrivez... et meme on les lit!! C'est super de voir que beaucoup d'entre vous nous suivent. Malheureusement on ne peut pas repondre aux commentaires mais vous pouvez creer votre propre adresse sur blogabond et envoyer des messages (ca on peut repondre!).
En tout cas continuez a nous envoyer des messages et commetaires parce qu'on adore les lire...

Gros bisous a vous tous!!

AND NOW THE BLOG!!

So we are now in Argentina... Second country of our trip!!
We arrive in Buenos Aires a little bit less than a week ago and stayed there for two days...
As we always do, we went around town seeing as much as we can...the Palace of Congress, the big avenues, a demonstration, political graffitis on the street walls, the little Big Ben lookalike... and many more buildings that we don´t really remember the names of!! We also saw the famous pink palace where Evita and her husband used to live and where she used to come out on the balcony and be greeted by the population!

At night we wandered in the touristic streets of Buenos Aires and saw a great jazz/ska band called Pollerapantalon! Check it out if you can!

On the next day, just before taking our bus to Puerto Iguazu, we quickly went to see the grave of Evita in the Cimetery where most of the famous people from Argentina are buried... The graves are absolutely beautiful (in their own way) and rivalise with great sculptures.

After those two days in Buenos Aires we took the bus (20 hours of bus) to go to Puerto Iguazu where we are now... It is the main city from where you can visit the Foz de Iguazu, which is the world biggest waterfall.

So we arrived yesterday, very early in the morning and after finding a place to stay at night, we jumped in the bus going to the foz...
We started to go to see a part of the falls called El Garganta Del Diablo which means the Devil's Throat. It is a kind of hole where a big waterfall goes down to and because it is so

Foz de Iguazu, Devil´s Throat 2

Falls From the side, Foz de Iguazu

Along the way, we saw many strange animals called capotis!

Capoti in the foz de iguazu park

We then went to see another view of the park from an island in the middle. After a short climb and a walk in the forest, you see one of the waterfall from the left side... but this view seems to be the closest you can get in the park... and it is beautiful...
The power delivered by the water when it splashes down is very very impressive...
You really don´t want to fall down!! It must be like being in a gigantic (and dangerous) washing machine!!!

After seeing all of those waterfalls, we went for a trek in the forest for about 7km return. It was a real pleasure to leave a bit the touristique part of the park (it is very touristique!!) and to be more in the nature. We heard and saw a lot of birds, we saw a Capivara which is the biggest rodant in the world (kind of mix between a big rat and a rabbit!)... but we missed to see jaguars who are supposed to live in those forest !! (they even give some leaflets at the entrance of the trek to tell you how to react if a jaguar sees you.... scary!!!)

After an hour of walk we arrive to a small waterfall (again!!!) very secluded... the water at the bottom was very clear but definitely too cold to swim in!!

We then return to the park, happy to have walked in the nature.

After a nice night of sleep, we are now getting ready for 20 more hours of bus to return to Buenos Aires, but we won´t stay there long as we plan to head for Mendoza in the wine region...

Love,

Agnes and Ola

written by  agnesola on July 30, 2007 from Puerto Iguazu, Argentina
from the travel blog: Baby and Baby's around the world travel...
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We ended up in a little town north of sao paulo called Paraty. It is an old colonial town by the sea where restaurants, shops and houses are very well kept and decorated. Some of

We came at the end of a celebration of Santa Rita (they always have celebrations for a saint somewhere in Brazil...) which was nice because when there is a celebration they sell nice fruit cocktails in the streets!!

On our second day we Went with local bus to see a waterfall with a natural slide and a Cachaca distillery. The waterfall was not very impressive but the slide and surrounding forest was great. We both went down the rock which was the slide quite a few times: we are still kids when it comes to sliding down on water!!

In Parati when the tide comes in, the streets get flooded, unusual but very beautiful to

last but not least, one of the most fun things that happened in Parati was monkeys!!!
on our last night 8 little monkeys came around our pousada and we jumped on the occasion to give them some bread and try to touch them. They were very cute climbing down touching our hands and taking some bread! That same night was filled with very bad weather and lots of thunder and lightning, so we took the opportunity to make some mulled wine (glogg!) and spend the night outside under the roof!

thats all, now we are in Buenos Aires and starting our adventure in Argentina

With Love
Ola and Agnes

written by  agnesola on July 27, 2007 from Parati, Brazil
from the travel blog: Baby and Baby's around the world travel...
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DAY 1
We arrived in Lencois on Saturday after a night bus travel from Salvador. The town looked straight away very friendly and cute.

Lencois streets

So there we are starting our adventure by going to Pai Inacio, a mountain about 1 hour bus ride from Lencois. After arriving to the site, we hiked for about 15 minutes to enjoy

Pai Inacio, Chapada Diamantina, Brazil, ola on top

Pai Inacio, Chapada Diamantina, Brazil, sunset start

But that was only the start of a three day adventure in the Chapada Diamantina Park which is one of the most beautiful place in Brazil....

After going back into town, we had dinner and went sleep, all excited for the next few days coming...

DAY 2
After a night sleep, we left Lencois at 8.30 am to go to Cachoeira da Fumaca, a 400 m waterfall.
We went by bus for 2 hours until we picked up our guide, her name was Cris, and she luckily spoke english. Another couple of minutes until we stopped. Our guide explained that we were walking 6 km to the waterfall and 6 km back. one of these kilometers was walking 800 meters in elevation up a mountain. In total we were going to be 1400 m above sea level. So we started, it was quite steep but not to bad, as we went higher up the view just got better and better.

After we had walked up the mountain there was walking on plain ground, at one part we had to take of our boots and walk through kneedeep black water to cross to another side where we continued our trek to the waterfall. The surroundings were quite plain and apparently a long time ago they used to have cows up here.

We could hear the waterfall before we saw it. We were gonna see it from 2 places, first from the side, then on top. the view from the side was just incredible, the waterfall itself was not very strong but it was 400 meters long, which is quite enough to make it impressive, and the view on all sides are mountains! we had our lunch here, and I dont think any of us has ever had lunch with more beatiful scenery!

After eating, and seeing a mountain rat!(tiny hairy little thing) we went to see the fall from the top. To get there we had to cross the actual river that makes the waterfall(cool). If we thought that the view from the side was good...this was ten times better. On the side and above the waterfall you could crawl out and look down on the waterfall and 400 meters down to the ground!!! This was such a rush! and so beautiful. We stayed there for some time just enjoying until we went back to the river we crossed earlier to bath. There is not many times in your life that you get the chance to bath 50 meters from where a waterfall plunges 400 meters down... the water was dark because of minerals and when you took some of it in your hands it was orange/brown. After drying in the sun it was time to get back before it got dark, the trek back was the the same but a bit quicker and we just arrived when the sun was going down.

This night we did not sleep in Lencois but in a town called Capao, in a very nice pousada where we had the best food so far in brazil!(the most common food in brazil is rice and beans....) we went out with our group after dinner and had a beer but then everyone was so tired so we went to have a nice sleep....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

DAY 3
Our first day going by jeep! bumpy!!! to go to where we were doing our trek there was red dirt roads with loads of holes and not very well built bridges, at one half of the group had to get out because it was to heavy, but we stayed in. As we crossed we could feel the planks of the bridge move...

Our 16 km trek through Vale de Capao started with crossing a river on some planks and stones(a lot of fun!) and then going upwards through the forest and then exiting out to a valley with breathtaking scenery, we were walking on a trail that we could see from the mountain we were on top yesterday.

We arrived to a small waterfall surrounded by lush trees and vegetation where we could swim and have lunch, the water here was freezing cold! but we went in anyway and it was very refreshing.

Then we hiked up another mountain on a 150 y old man made trail of stones where they used to transport cows up and down. We came to a where we could see the whole valley that we just trekked through, we stayed here sometime on the edge of the mountain just enjoying the scenery.
Then we bathed in another river thas was not as cold as the last one, these days are alot about walking and bathing!

The 16 km trek was definitly worth it when close to the end we walked down another stone trail with a spring flowing down it and we arrived just in time to catch an extremly beautiful sunset. All of us were a bit tired and today half the group left to go back to Lencois because they had to go back to Salvador. So now it was only 4 of us plus our guide Cris. At night we ate and had some beers and fell quickly asleep to be prepared for our last day...

DAY 4
The trek and hike yesterday were quite difficult, though really worth it... but today is meant to be an easier day...
It starts of course by a bumpy jeep ride through the red roads of the park (we are now used to it!!!). After a while in the jeep, we arrive at a river crossing without bridge that we will have to cross with the jeep. Just in front of us, we can see a big very old bus, almost stuck in the river!! It seems all normal for the brazilians that such a massive bus can cross a river, but it does seem quite crazy for us!! Anyway we cross the river also and arrive to the end of the road. We now have to walk!! The walk is not very long (about 45 minutes) and quite easy. It starts by the crossing of the river over stones (crossing rivers has been one of our main activity that day!!) and a wooden board. We then walked all along the river, where we learned that before being hills and rivers, this part of the park was actually the sea!! (a very long time ago of course!!). The guide explained that the movement of the tectonic plates made this area go up and the sea slowly disappeared. We could actually see that there was still some sand left from this period.

We also saw some carnivore flowers (quite pretty and looked quite inoffensive!!) and a lot of cactus from which the flowers come out at night..

Still following the river, we then arrived to a first waterfall...

But this was just the beginning. We then started to go down ladders and steep stones to arrive to a small canyon with a tropical "tarzan" feel to it... it is quite impressive and amusing as you realise how different the nature is from our own country...
We could see from there a waterfall that was going underground...

We then went even more down the stones full of green vegetation on it (because of the humidity from all the water surrounding) and arrived to a small lake of dark water (it looks really black from the top) which is linked to the main waterfall. That's where we realised that we had to swim to see the main waterfall of the area which is a 90 meters waterfall called Buracaõ (which means Big Hole).

It already feels amazing to hear the waterfall even if we don't see it and to see this lake in the middle of the canyon. The next thing to do is to jump 5 meters into the water and to swim to the waterfall... we feel so excited to do that!!
And JJUUUUUMMP!! ... youps!! it is always higher than we think!!

What a great feeling to swim in that dark but smooth water... we are now swimming to reach the waterfall... and there, after a 150 meters of swimming we see it... this impressive, powerfull, beautiful waterfall... it is difficult to explain how we felt but we did feel so lucky to have our eyes open on the beauties of the world. Feeling so small close to this massive water going down in the canyon... we are excited, impressed and I can still feel it while i am writing this few words....

WAAAOUOUHH, we scream and laugh and enjoy with all our heart... it is once in a lifetime experience and we know it... and we love it.

But it wasn't the end of the emotions as we followed the guide to go behind the waterfall, I stopped about 5 meters to getting there as I feel that it is difficult to breathe, and the water is so much that you can't really see much. But Ola did carry on and went behind this massive waterfall to touch it... and from what he says it was a real rush of happiness and amazement... well it is an experience!

We stayed a very long time there, just enjoying the view... but we had to go back and look at it from the top... Seeing it from the top is very impressive as well as you realise how high it is... a real pleasure when we plunge our heads down to see the bottom of the waterfall in which we were swimming just a few minutes ago...

Time to eat!! we reach another waterfall, smaller, but beautiful as well... and we sit down to enjoy a bit of food.

It doesn't take long for us to eat as we want already to jump again in the water and play with that smaller but still very fun waterfall... going behind, getting a massage from the water going down... we played maybe for 1h30 in the waterfall.... I feel so happy to be here, it feels great!!

The sunshine starts to go down and we know that we have to go... On the way back, we both feel sorry to leave, and we would love just to run back and see the Burracaõ waterfall again... but we know it is not possible! Who knows?? we might come back another time...

We have a long way to go back in Lencois, especially with the jeep. We arrive around midnight and went for a last drink with the guide, Cris. We are sorry to know that those three days are finished but very happy to have done it. Everything was very good as we saw beautiful things, the organisation of the trip was very good, and Cris our guide was extremely good, always smiley, very helpful when the roads and the hikes get hard, always ready to tell us about the mountains and the rivers as well as the brazilian life and cooking favorites: rice and beans ;)))

Time to leave, we are heading to sao paulo, decided to leave straight away for a smaller town called Parati.

We feel exhausted but so alive and happy...that was definitely the best experience so far and we will remember it for a very very long time....

Lots of kisses to all of you

Agnes and Ola

written by  agnesola on July 20, 2007 from Lencois, Brazil
from the travel blog: Baby and Baby's around the world travel...
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We are now gone from Salvador and we are in Lencois for some forest and trekking.

But before that, we visited thursday and yesterday more of Salvador. We started by going to Campo Grande, a beautiful park not so far from the pelo. And Ola got lost in a massive tree!!

Ola lost in a big tree, Salvador

Then we walked all the way to Barra, well known for its lighthouse and its fort (unfortunately we dont have any pictures!!! Soorry!). The water there was absolutely amazing and you could see clearly a few meters down... the blue-turquoise water was beautiful to look at! Anyway, that was the first time that we could see such a beautiful water... and of course we had nothing to swim with, so we went away!

Ready to walk for hours, we then walked all the way to the zoo of the town which was free (budget... budget!!). The zoo was quite nice but animals didn't have so much space... (well they never have in zoos!!!).

Yesterday was relaxation as we went to the beach a few 20 kms away from the town, the wter wasn't as beautiful but it was quite clear anyway... And I didn't get sunburnt!!! niiice!!

Ole looking at the sea, Salvador

More at the next blog entry!!!

Lots of kisses and i leave you with a picture of a traditionnal dress in Salvador!!

Traditionnal Dress in Salvador

Agnes and Ola

written by  agnesola on July 14, 2007 from Salvador, Brazil
from the travel blog: Baby and Baby's around the world travel...
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As I said, we are now in Salvador de Bahia. Just to give you an idea, it used to be the capital of Brazil, so it is pretty big. We found a nice little hostel in the middle of the Pelourhino which is the historical center of the town and also the party center!!! ok, it is touristic but lovely and safe! The place is full of colonial buildings which are beautiful, loads of church and lovely cobblestoned street... wandering around here is great...

Pelo street, salvador

Sao Francisco church

So we enjoyed the Pelo (as the locals say...) as much during the day as during the night...: we went out with a few people from the hostel and followed for about an hour a percussion band. Everyone was dancing and the music was great, full of rythms... i can assure you that Brazilians know how to party and take over the streets!! We then sat down for a few drinks before going to a local party where I did enjoy showing off my samba and salsa talents!!! I got to meet a few great dancers (ola was one of them!!) and i did dance like crazy!!! It was amazing!!
We unfortunately don't have any pictures of the night, but you can just imagine a big samba and african party in the streets!!

Today, after a nice sleep... we found a capoeira class... it was also great. We are now feeling Brazil fully and enjoying its culture....!!! WE LOVE IT!

After that, a little nap in the hamac was very welcome for me...

Loads of kisses

agnes and ola

PS for mummy danielle: my feet are back to normal!!I will survive!!

written by  agnesola on July 11, 2007 from Salvador, Brazil
from the travel blog: Baby and Baby's around the world travel...
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We are now in Salvador de Bahia, old capital of the country.
Before arriving here we stayed for two nights to Ilheus, small town about 8 hours south of Salvador. To be honest it wasn't the best of Brazil as it was not a lot to see...and of course it was sunday (dead day in Brazil!!!)!! euh of course there is always a jesus!!!

Big god in Ilheus

Ilheus Cathedral

And we also found other ways to spend time: welll i will leave you to judge those!!!

Agnes after an electric shock

Ola with hair

ok, a few explanations: i found the electic plug and put my fingers into it!! and ola's hair grow like hell!!!!

ok that's it for the moment, we will go through Salvador very sioon (it is our first day here!)

lots of kisses

Agnes and Ola

written by  agnesola on July 10, 2007 from Ilheus, Brazil
from the travel blog: Baby and Baby's around the world travel...
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The beach was full of sellers and I promise there was not 2 minutes going by without someone coming and wanting to sell stuff. not only do they insist but how can so many people really think that I want to buy a Henna tattoo(it is quite clear that I have enough)

Anyway, after about 2 hours we left and Agnes Had a bit of sunburns, but nothing severe, her feet looked like little lobsters though.

Here there is a plce called Passarela de Alcool(the alcohol passage...)
We went for a drink, you get massive caipirinhas or mango drinks for about 6 real which

Passada de alcool, stand to sell cocktails

That was all yesterday, Today we went to a nearby town called Arrail d'ajuda and it was absolutely beatiful, and the weather today...Amazing! there was a church from 1550 something, nice but very plain. The town though, located high above the sea with colorful

The town of arraial

We Heard from an aussie were we are staying that around this town there is some of the nicest beaches in Brazil, so we decided to go to one called Pitinga Beach. There was a little hot walk of 2 kilometers before we arrived, but oooh my what a reward. So different from the beach we went to yesterday, not very much people, no annoying sellers and surrounded by beatiful red cliffs. And the water...nice and clean. of course we forgot our swimming gear...but hey, underwear works fine...

beach of Pintinga... a real beauty!

that's it, tonight we are going out to eat and then buy a drink and walk along the sea I think... Tomorrow morning we are heading more towards Salvador, but we are stopping in Ilheus. New town, new things...

Tchau Tchau we love you!

Ola And Agnes

On the beach

written by  agnesola on July 6, 2007 from Porto Seguro, Brazil
from the travel blog: Baby and Baby's around the world travel...
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So we are on our way to Salvador de Bahia. we just have a few stops to make along the way. Right now we are in Porto Seguro. The place where the portugese first put foot on

stone in porto seguro, town where the first portugese came

The town is nice, but alot of turists, which is good in a way because it is safe; but instead of thiefs here, we get jumped by people trying to get us into a restaurant or selling something else. I am not kidding they come in groups and svarme around you like bees.

Other than that there is a historical center here that is alright but not awesome, the view over the sea was nice though.

View on the sea From the cidade historico, Porto Seguro

We got lost and had to ask for directions, but the guy just pointed and said nothing...

Ola ask directions (no wonders why he is always lost!!)

We have had a bit of sunshine and a bit of tropical rain(when it rains, it pours) so we have not been to the beach yet, but hopefully tomorrow...

until next time

Tchau and we love you all

Ola and Agnes

written by  agnesola on July 4, 2007 from Porto Seguro, Brazil
from the travel blog: Baby and Baby's around the world travel...
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So now we are in Vitoria since yesterday.. and to be honest with you it was not the best time of our life!! We arrived in the morning and had to find a hotel, which was slightly harder than we thought.... but we did it!! and then we started to wander around town to see what that town was made about!! well, to be honest with you... on a sunday... it was DEAD!!! all the shops closed and nothing much to see, no tourist info... so we walked around anyway and saw the few nice buildings around like the Ancient Palace!! But the worst was to come... we went to the banks to take out money and realised that none of my cards were working!! OUPS!!! first trouble!! ;))) as it was sunday, there was nothing to do, so we went to sleep. This morning we jumped out of bed and went to the bank straight away... they could not do much so we had to buy an international card and we had to call Lloyds in UK!! They told us that my cards were blocked, so they unblocked it!!! pfffiiiuuuu that was a bit of an adventure!!
Now everything is fine and we are going to Porto Seguro tonight!! Apparently it is the town of parties!! ;)))

Now, just a little Hello to Axel and Ana from Saquarema: guys, thanks again a lot for everything, you are both lovely and we hope that we will keep in touch, the oranges and avocado were lovely, thank you!!

Lots of kisses to all of you who are following us...

Agnes and Ola (Baby and Baby!!!!)

written by  agnesola on July 2, 2007 from Vitoria, Brazil
from the travel blog: Baby and Baby's around the world travel...
tagged Brazil and Vitoria
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Alors je voulais quand meme ecrire un peu en Francais pour ceux qui nous suivent mais qui ne sont pas super top en Anglais (coucou Papy!! coucou Mamie!!).

Tout va bien pour nous et on sa ballade bien pour le moment. Nous avons passe trois jours a Rio de Janeiro ou nous avons visite autant que possible (Cristo Redentor, Ipanema and Copacabana...). Nous sommes ensuite partis vers le nord dans une petite ville appelee Saquarema...tres mignon!! Nous avons rencontre un francais et une bresilienne (qui est nee au portugal) qui tiennent un hotel tres joli. Ils ont ete adorables et ont pris soin de nous durant notre sejour.
Nous sommes ensuite retournes sur Rio afin de prendre un bus pour Vitoria ou nous sommes aujourdhui. Vitoria ne nous a pas seduits vraiment et en plus nous avons eu des problemes pour utiliser nos cartes bleues... donc nous avons decide de partir ce soir pour Porto seguro... (ville reputee pour faire la fiesta!!)...

cest a peu pres tout pour le moment, nous commencons tout juste notre deuxieme semaine!!

gros bisous

agnes et ola

written by  agnesola on July 2, 2007 from Vitoria, Brazil
from the travel blog: Baby and Baby's around the world travel...
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