BRAZIL

Wow, there are going to be a ton of updates, since I have about 800 pictures from Brazil. This is just a very general overview, though.
First of all, the place I went isn't tropical rain forest, it's tropical dry forest, that floods like crazy and has little forested islands when it floods. It was still really cool though, and has something like 800 species of birds or some ridiculous number like that. Pantanal (which means swamp in portuguese) is in the western central part of Brazil, kind of by Bolivia and Paraguay.
I flew in to Cuiaba, and my tour guide Edilson (I taught him the word awesome because I was using it so much) took me to a hotel, then in the morning we went and drove for three hours on a dirt road, occasionally stopping to look at wildlife. The weather was good, because when I got there it was still dry season since it hadn't rained yet, but during the night it rained so that everything flooded, so I got to see the Pantanal when it was dry and when it was wet. I spent about 3 days there, then went back to Cuiaba, got my plane to Sao Paulo, then to Rio de Janeiro! I was picked up by Helio, and first I went to pao de acucar, which is called Sugarloaf. It was gorgeous, and I took lots of pictures, and I saw the smiley face spiders there (will explain more with the pics).
The second day was cloudy, so I went to the Botanical Garden. It was literally the size of Recolleta, possibly bigger. I didn't realize how big it was when I went, and I literally gave up on trying to photograph all the different types of trees. They also had greenhouses for insectivorous plants, orchids, and bromelias, and they had a huge section of Atlantic Forest, which is what covers the sides of the mountains in Rio. Hey, pay attention Buenos Aires: THIS is how you run a botanical garden!
Btw the way Rio is set up is that there are these mountains, and the city is built around and between all the mountains, so there are these huge beautiful forested mountains behind parts of the city. Yesterday, the Da Motta's and I went to Ipanema, but we didn't go to the beach because it was raining a bit. But we walked around and saw the overpriced clothes and other things.
In general, Rio de Janeiro is a lot like an American city, so much that it surprised me. The subway system is tiny, and everything is... well, the architecture is more modern than Buenos Aires. The way I figured it out was that Buenos Aires takes itself very seriously, whereas Rio de Janeiro knows it's cool and doesn't sweat it.
The people are also a bit different, they seem more relaxed (although I'm not sure if that's because of the fact that Rio de Janeiro is in an economic boost, or if it's the culture, or what). The women here actually have curves, they aren't all anorexic like in Argentina, and then some of them are actually overweight as well, just like the united states. There are all sorts of ethnicities here, it's not the entirely European population like in Buenos Aires, even to the point where stores sell white dolls and black dolls, since the buyers are of all different races. I love this, America needs to be more like that.
The house I'm staying at has all the modern luxuries, such as a dishwasher, washer AND dryer, and beautiful appliances everywhere. There are surprisingly few bugs here, even though they keep the windows open all the time. It's just very much an American city, overall. Oh also, Rio has the reputation for being dangerous because a few decades ago it was, but now that the government is trying to clean everything up for the various big events that are taking place in Rio (like the Olympics and World Cup), they've been doing a lot to cut back on crime, and are extending the infrastructure and doing all sorts of renovations and constructions, especially in the port.
The food is spicier, they use beans a lot, and apparently are huge fans of Arabic food. When I told the mom Sheila that they don't use garlic in Argentina, she was like "how is that even possible?" They also actually eat fish and seafood, unlike portenos that are all beef or chicken, all the time. There are all sorts of delicious fresh fruits, and there are banana, mango, orange, GUAVA and STARFRUIT trees all over the place like it's no big deal.
Today we're celebrating their daughters' birthday, and going bowling after eating pizza, then tonight I'm heading to the airport to go back to Buenos Aires. The only really bad thing about Rio is that it's not really a city that you can just walk around in, since everything is spread out so much and the public transportation is still in its infancy. Also, because it's a bit cloudy, I don't think I'll be going to see the Cristo Redentor statue, which is okay. It just means I have to come back some day! :)