Twice as high as Niagara Falls, two thousand tons of water per second, 275 waterfalls along 2.7 kilometers, borders Brazil and Argentina. This is the devil’s throat, and it’s beautiful.

The best way to get around Brazil (and all of South America) is by bus. It’s not like taking the Grey Hound from Philly to NYC or that dreadful overnight bus in Albania, complete with chain smokers…it’s more civilized. Executivo class buses provide a snack pack, pillow and blanket for your comfort, and lido class buses include the snack pack, pillow, blanket and seats that nearly fully recline. In order to get to Foz do Iguacu, we took a 6 hour bus back to Sao Paolo, only to get on an 16 hour bus to our destination.

The Rocinha favela is located on the hills of Rio de Janeiro which ironically has the best views of the beautiful beaches below. Rocinha was built by refugees or former soldiers the government had no use for. Started in the late 1800’s, the government allowed public land to be used for housing, largely ignoring the poor shanty towns until it began spreading into the metropolitan areas. With an estimated 20% of Rio’s population and roughly 750 favelas surrounding Rio, the government is now taking notice.

Crime is not tolerated in the favelas. The drug lords who control the favelas are fierce about controlling any activity that might attract police presence. There is a complex network of lookout posts that make it virtually impossible for the police to enter the favela unnoticed. Rather than attend school, many of the kids prefer to work for the drug lords. The favela tour gives back to the community, donating part of the proceeds to an activity center where children go for half the day to keep them off the streets.

From Paraty we headed straight for Rio to meet up with Hedda (and her friend Claire) for a few days to catch up since we last saw her in July. The overcast skies didn’t keep us from doing the requisite tourist activities. We went up to Christ the Redeemer, watched a football (soccer) game, toured Rocinha favela (township), watched Brazilian volleyball on Ipanema Beach (no hands, only feet, head and chest), went to a churrascaria for all you can eat meat, and went to Lapa for dinner where Hedda almost had her wallet stolen. I’d say we did all that we could do as a tourist in Rio.