Our Last Night.

Ipanema!

The posh part of town.

I went to meet the others at the beach where it turns out a massive party was taking place!

Yikes. It was pretty crazy. There were a lot of drunk, young, beautiful people there, so it wasn't too bad! Hehehe

We soaked up the atmosphere for a while before going for a spot of dinner. The look on the waiter's face when I asked for plain white rice was a picture!

It was lovely but a little sad, as it was also a goodbye dinner to say so long to the other people we'd been travelling with these past few weeks.

On the way back to the hotel, we got to see the aftermath of carnival. The party from earlier had fizzled out somewhat, leaving behind the stench of urine and beer and who knows what else. The street was covered in litter, cans, food and 'slush'. It was pretty disgusting. The side of carnival you neglect to mention or remember when you get home and tell all your friends.

Still, overall it was a pretty wild experience!

Sambadrome

On Sunday night we had tickets to the Sambadrome, which is a massive concrete venue where the best Samba Schools parade, and where they get judged by a panel of experts. It is a massive event over two days (well, two nights, it started at 9pm and went on until sunrise!)

It was amazing.

We were sat very high up (Imagine the seats like those found at football stadia or amphitheatres) so we couldn't see the details of the costumes, but we could see the overall parade as it came down the runway. It was spectacular! The floats in particular were so elaborate and complicated, it takes your breath away!

Each school had a different theme, and the most popular schools had fans singing along to their music.

Each Samba School parade took one and a half hours to complete the runway of the venue (it is THAT big!) so around 4am I'm afraid to say I had to go back to the hotel.

In my defense, I hadn't eaten anything in twenty four hours due to being ill, so not so bad!

Carnival!!!

Well. Due to a stomach bug, I managed to do the whole thing SOBER. Which is a pretty impressive feat, I reckon!

After spending the day wandering around the shops, we went to have a look at one of the street parties in Lapa. Wowee, what a lot of people! Plenty of people dancing Samba in the streets and partying hard! Every few steps there was someone selling beer or burgers or carnival masks. You could hardly move, but the buzz was great!

The next day we went to have a look at Copacabana beach. Well, once has to when in Rio, no? I must say, it was very pretty, but I wasn't blown away. Perhaps because there was no room on the beach at all! The weather was beautiful, the people were beautiful (more or less...) and so they came to tan. The mosaic pavements were very distinctive though.

We then went to one of the famous balls held during carnival.

I have mixed feelings about that. It was great, and I had a fantastic time, but it wasn't as extravagant as I had expected. The venue was like a nightclub / dinner and dance. Very strange, but there was a mixture of people and the Samba bands played on stage for hours so we danced the night away!

Favelas

We went on a tour of one of Rio's favelas, which was eye-opening in a positive way.

We took moto-taxis to the top of a hillside on which the favelas are built. (Moto-taxi = you on the back of a bloke´s motorbike. Cool and scary!) We then walked through the favelas downhill to end up at the bottom.

We stopped to look into an art studio, where artists teach young adults how to paint, then they sell their canvases. It´s an interesting educational tool. One of the artists, a 14 year old called Jean was there. It seems that by expressing themselves through art, the young in the favelas can keep out of trouble.

We also heard some boys practising Samba drums (plastic buckets) in the hope that one day they can join one of the Samba schools.

The guide told us that most of the people in the favelas are respectable, and try to work hard to one day get out of the favelas, and there are plenty of schemes and schools to encourage the children to go to school and learn to work hard in order to succeed. (Rather than reverting to begging or selling drugs)

The favelas themselves are all over the place, and there is a big problem with sewage and rubbish in the streets. Much caused by houses collapsing in mudslides in the rainy season.

It was an amazing experience, and it was interesting to find out that the favela lifestyle portrayed in the media is quite different to the reality. (In this one, anyway) The people there seem to be like any others, just trying to get on in life and make the best of things. They are not dangerous or violent. They were very friendly.

RIO BABY!!!!!!!!

Our last bus trip!!!

Thank GOD.

We left Paraty very early in the morning, and so arrived in Rio around 10.30am. So what better way to kick off our arrival than to get stuck straight in to a city tour?

We took in the beautiful tiled steps designed by a Chilean artist. His idea was to add tiles from all over the world to this paved stairway in the centre of town. When he amassed more tiles from different places, he replaced some of the old ones. Now, the stairway is an ever-changing piece of art, as when he receives a new tile (donated or encountered) he removes one and replaces it. It won´t be the same this time next year! (Sounds strange, but wait until you see the photos!)

We also went to the artists´quarter in Santa Teresa, and visited a modern cathedral, which looked more like a bunker, but had an interesting layout inside.

Naturally, we finished off by visiting Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf Mountain. We had some time to look around, but really it consisted of riding cable cars and taking in some stunning views of Rio.

Later on after dinner, we were wandering back to the hotel, looking to buy some bottles of water on the way. Seeing that the supermarket was closed, we opted to buy off of a street seller on the corner. Seeing that we were English (and Aussie! There was five of us) he invited us to sit with him and his friends as they played guitar, drunk beer and sang. He wanted us to sing English songs, so we obliged. My solo of 'wish you were here' accompanied by the guitar would have brought a tear to your eye.

Around 3.30am we figured we should probably head back for some sleep!

Parati

Parati is a beautiful town!

It is very small and has a seaside resort feel to it (without being too tacky). Probably due to the fact that it´s on the coast halfway between Rio and Sao Paolo, and so the city-dwellers often visit during the holidays.

It has cobbled streets and artesanal shops and a beach on one side, mountains on the other.

Again, we only had a day to spend there, so we opted to go on a boat ride which takes in the local island beaches, which are cleaner and more beautiful than the one in the town.

It was amazing! The boat would stop just away from the beach, or some rocks at the edge of an island so that we could jump in the sea and swim around. In most of the areas, the water was so clear you could see the bottom, even when it was deep. In some areas you could see the shoals of exotic fish swimming around the rocks and our boat.

Topped off with a fresh fish lunch (oops!) it was lovely. And we had great weather for it too.

Topped up the tan a treat.

The rest of Sao Paolo...

...we only had twenty four hours in which to explore the massive metropolis, so we basically ended up wandering around the centre shopping for a few things for carnival.

We went up a viewing tower to the 41st floor in order to see the sprawl, which went on as far as the eye could see.

Other than that, I really don´t have too much to say about the city. It is a large westernised city much like any other.

Meh.

Sao Paolo

Now we just arrived in Sao Paolo. It is HUGE.

There is something ridiculous like 21 million people living here. It also has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan, so we had sushi for dinner!

Now I´m in an internet cafe near our hotel which is in the gay quarter of town.

It´s Sunday night and the streets are absolutely PACKED with trannies and half-naked gay guys.

Interesting.

Curitiba

NIGHT BUS.

Hideous. A ten-hour journey on a bus overnight, arriving at 7.30am in Curitiba.

After sleeping around only three hours out of the ten, we were told to make the most of the city as we would be leaving the next morning.

Twenty four hour stopover!

We dragged our feet a bit, but we soaked up the atmosphere as best we could. Lovely place. It looked a lot like Lisbon or a Spanish town. We shopped a bit, picking up a few pieces (and several pairs of shoes, in Jackie´s case!)

Nothing too cultural, I´m afraid. A simple dinner and a few drinks and we were zonked.

Foz do Iguacu and a day in Argentina

This was jam-packed couple of days with some once-in-a-lifetime experiences!

Foz is where they have some of the largest waterfalls in the world. It is the home of the "Devil´s Throat" where more than a billion litres of water a minute crash down creating ´smoke´out of the water vapour. (Along with some stunning rainbows!)

There is surrounding walks and jungle and more than thirty waterfalls. It is really beautiful. Yes, I have about a hundred photos.

The Falls are also on the border of Brazil and Argentina, so we visited one side on one day, and the other the next day. (My passport is now full of stamps from crossing borders every five minutes!)

On the Brazilian side, we visited a bird park, full of exotic and pretty birds. We then flew over the falls IN A HELICOPTER. It was a little pricey, but well worth it! Awesome doesn´t cover it! Followed by an afternoon of walking along the top of the falls.

On the Argentinian side, we could get a lot closer to the Devil´s Throat, which was incredible. The noise of the water roaring was impressive, and the white spray so bright I had to wear sunglasses the whole time.

More excitingly, we went on a speedboat along the river at the base of the falls, which was fun, but the best part was when the speedboat stopped, turned, and slowly started to move towards the falls. A moment of anticipation before zooming through and under the waterfalls. AMAZING. Absolutely soaked through. At one point it was rather frightening as the water is crashing down on you so hard you can´t see or breathe, but it is so exhilirating!

We had to walk around the rest of the day in damp clothes, but it was hot and sunny, so it felt almost like some kind of natural resort.

I must say, it was spectacular.

Asuncion, the melting city

Paraguay!

I´m missing out the time we spent in a border town, as nothing happened in Ponta Porra, and there was nothing there. (It exists only as a passage between Brazil and Paraguay)

So, Asuncion. It seems that Paraguay is where the rest of South America goes to shop, due to it´s tax-free status, I suppose. It is, therefore, full of shopping centres and long streets full of various shops. It´s also the best place to pick up bargain electronics. I didn´t need any new cameras or anything, so we did a city tour.

It was interesting, and Paraguay has a strange history. Unfortunately I can´t pass on most of this information as it was too hot to concentrate. At 9am, in the shade just standing, the sweat was running down my face and back. Looking at each 0ther we could see beads of sweat where we´ve never seen beads of sweat before. Like our chests and arms........hideous!

The temperature recorders on bus stops were reading between 43 and 46 degrees. It was so hot and so humid, it´s almost impossible to describe. I think I have never been so hot and uncomfortable in my life. At night the temperature dropped to..........37 degrees!!!

OH MY DAYS.

I´m going on about it, but I really don´t know how anybody can live there. I suppose natives are used to it!

After the tour we simply wandered around and tried not to exert ourselves too much.

We left the next morning. A very brief stopover, but I must say a relief to get on an air-conditioned bus!

Bonito: snorkelling and sunburn

After smothering myself liberally in mosquito repellent whilst in the Pantanal, we were told upon arrival at Rio Prata that we were under no circumstances to wear anything on our skin, due to the fact that the crystal clear waters of the river have to be kept free from contamination.

Fair enough.

What they then told us to do was to put on WET SUITS then walk through the forest to get to the river.

Hmmmm. I don"t know if you have ever worn a wetsuit in 40 degree heat then trekked an hour through a forest of mosquitos in said wetsuit, but it wasn too pleasant.

The following two hours more than made up for it though. Oh my, it was amazing. The river is absolutely clear, and we were instructed to "float" down the river. That is to say not kicking or moving your arms too much. Just wear the mask and snorkel and drift with the current. I felt like I was in an Attenborough documentary. There were so many types of fish and coral-like formations on the river bed. Some tiny and many large fish, yellow, blue and black. I"ve never experienced anything like it. Itś a shame my camera isn waterproof, or I could have got some amazing shots. Just imagine a marine nature docmentary and you are halfway there.

We spent the next morning by the river in a kind of small resort. We sunbathed on the bank, then took dips in the river where all kinds of fish swam around our feet. Fantastic! Although I confess to missing a bit on my back with the suncream.......OUCH.

Pantanal or; My my, Pablo, that´s a large weapon you´re carrying...

To the wetlands!

As if it wasn´t humid enough already, we´ve just spent the last few days in the Pantanal, which is a large expanse of wetlands with the largest amount of flora and fauna anywhere. Fantastic! It was much like the Amazon, although even noisier at night!

The lodge was really cool, all built from wood, and on stilts to deal with the flooding in the wet season. I might add that it is now the wet season, and as we arrived a MASSIVE storm broke out, meaning that it was raining for about 2 hours in the biggest torrent I have ever seen. Itwas literally pouring from the sky. We were soaked through, and had to wait for our guide who was stranded somwhere else. But we had cards and a pool table, so we were all set.

We went on a boat ride to spot animals (a LOT of alligators and birds) and spent the following day at a ´farm´which is more like a ranch. We trekked through the forest to spot weird and wonderful animals and plants, then the others went on a horse ride through the landscape. Obviously I had to miss out due to my death allergy to horses, instead suffering the injustice of lounging in a hammock all afternoon. Shame.

Still, I got chatting the guide, Pablo, in Spanish, which was good. It got me practising a bit more and earnt myself a new friend.

Also, this morning just before we left we went piranha fishing!!!!!! AMAZING. I caught a big fat one with huge teeth. Jack caught three and a massive catfish, which got thrown back for another day. We then ate them for brunch. Fantastic way to start the day!

Needless to say, that after lathering myself liberally with DEET, I still managed to receive 8 mosquito bites whilst there. Aargh.

Still, a little goodbye peck on the cheek from Pablo made up for it...