Rio de Janeiro

We spent a relaxing time in Rio de Janeiro. We enjoyed walking the beaches and seeing the sights around this beautiful city.

"The Girl from Ipanema" was written about 50m from our hostel. For the majority of the time the surf was too enormous to swim at Ipanema (helicopers plucked people from the surf) so we swum at Copacobana beach.

A definate highlight was a semi-final clash between two Rio football teams. 72,000 people standing on their seats singing and cheering constantly for three hours.

Lots of thongs here (all kinds).

Peru, Bolivia, Chile

Highlights of Peru:

• The kids at the school, although our class control is pretty average with next to no Spanish under our belt.


• The mountains.


• Inca trail to Machu Picchu. 4 days, 3 nights, almost 50km. At times this almost killed us. It took our breath away, sometimes due to the scenery, but the rest of the time the altitude had that covered. The ruins of Machu Picchu are an amazing sight.


• Spending time with Aussies has been fun. One was a male model for Dolly magazine. Another a butcher who has the claim of eating a BBQ everyday for lunch! At least we have finally got a grasp on the true Aussie dream.


• Spending time with our dear Latin-Australian friend Brugh (who got us into this mess) has been great. Meeting up with George and Lucy from home was also fun.


• Foods eaten - alpaca (tick), llama (tick), guinea pig (tick).

From leaving our work in Cusco we travelled with some friends from the volunteer house to lake Titicaca. A fresh water lake so big that you cannot see the other side (as Australians we only thought this possible of the ocean). One night in the highest capital in the world, La Paz, then a few nights with our friends Bec, Bev and Jake Ward in Santiago, Chile. It has been a hectic but fun time.

Until next time.

Love Tyson and Talitha.

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Ramblings from the confused.....

South America. A land of political uprising, coups, protests, blockades, violence, danger and imperialism. So different from home?

I am currently reading a great book by John Pilger - "The Secret Country" (1988). In my opinion this is an important book for Australians and has stood the test of time to still be relevant today.

I was surprised to learn that the CIA had links to the overthrow of the Whitlam government in 1975. These same CIA agents were also installing the dictator Pinochet in Chile (from were I am writing this), supporting the puppet government of Vietnam and influencing the politics of Lao and Cuba.

"The CIA's aim", said former CIA officer Victor Marchetti, "was to get rid of a Government they did not like and that was not cooperative.......it's a Chile, but in a much more sophisticated and subtle form." Pg. 219.

A little scary