I was sad to leave Isla Grande but I had to make my way to Sao Paulo to get my flight back home, but before that happened I had a brief stop in Paraty. To get to Paraty I got a local bus to the bus station and wandered down the main street to the ocean which is where the Misti Chill hostel was located. I would recommend this hostel, it had a good vibe about it and the manager there was from new Zealand so we entertained ourselves with Flight of the Concords anecdotes. Unfortunately the respite on Isla Grande [View Full Entry]

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There is an easy way to get from Rio to Isla Grande, (direct hostel to hostel transfer) I realised too late, but as always I had to make it more difficult for myself and my new chum Ellen. So after a bus to the bus station and then another bus to Angra dos Reas, then another local bus to the port (where I stepped on it and it then drove off without Ellen)!! and then a walk to the boat and then a 90 min boat journey to Isla Grande ending with a 15 min walk to the hostel!! I find [View Full Entry]

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The next day I wandered off to do the touristy bits, the bus service is really good round Rio and every journey cost 2.30 reais - about 90p. My first stop was sugarloaf mountain, when I was going up in the cable car I couldn’t help but think of the scene in Moonraker where Bond is tackling jaws:-) The weather wasn’t particularly good so the views weren’t brilliant. Without doubt I think that Rio has the most beautiful location of any big city but whether it is the most beautiful city in the world (as some commentators say) I would just [View Full Entry]

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Finally arrived in Rios bus station after my mammoth journey from Argentina. The journey just flew by though, the seats were more like beds and fully reclined so I good a full nights sleep. I even watched Appaloosa again, not that I had much choice as it was piped over the speaker system. I don know what it is about that film but every time I travel its on, so know I have watched this film on the flight to India, the flight to Sao Paulo and the bus to Rio!!. When I got off the bus I met up with [View Full Entry]

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I was travelling all night on two separate flights to get to Foz de Iguassu and arrived in the middle of a thunderstorm, it continued to rain all morning. From the airport I had to get 2 local buses to travel initially to the Brazilian town of Foz de Iguacu from where I caught another bus to the Argentinian town of Puerto Iguazu, everything in Argentina is half the price as in Brazil, plus it is a nicer place to stay. The hostel I was staying in was the MarcoPolo Inn, right opposite the bus station for 5 pound a night [View Full Entry]

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After a good nights sleep in the hostel, it was time to visit the Argentinian side of the falls and at last the sun was out. On this side you could get up very close, there were two routes - one across the bottom of the falls and one at the top culminating in the Gargantua Diablo - the Devils throat, which is a crescent shaped drop where most of the water flows. I spent all day at the falls and they were truly mesmerising, the photos don't do justice to the power of the falling water so I have included [View Full Entry]

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What a night!! We had to get into our hammocks as soon as it got dark. Above the sounds of the ever present insect noise, the first things to hear was the frogs. This carried on for a couple of hours and then partway through the night there was strange sound like a hoarse lion. Rubens said that this was a jaguar - this made my night as they are very rare. Then around midnight the howler monkeys started up, they were amazing and were very close at times. In the early hours something came into our camp and started rummaging [View Full Entry]

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Manaus Day 2 After a good but hot nights sleep we headed off for a trek through the jungle, the heat was incredible, you just had to step outside and you were covered with a sheen of sweat, as a result there as no point taking a shower - also the showers were full of mosquitoes so it was more trouble than it was worth! The size of Amazonia is mind boggling I was only restricted to one small part and we travelled on Tributaries which were wider than any rivers in England and yet for here they were tiny. And [View Full Entry]

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Its that time of year again - holiday time and my next adventure involves travelling round Brazil with a couple of side trips to Paraguay and Argentina thrown in. The main areas I will be visiting are the Amazon rainforest near Manaus, then Iguassu Falls, Rio then chilling out on the tropical Island of Ihla Grande. Not sure how often I will be able to update the blog, if not possible during the trip itself will have to complete retrospectively when I get back. My first destination is Manaus in the heart of the Amazon, to get there I flew with [View Full Entry]

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Busy day today, lots of temples to see - you can never see too many temples, can you?? As usual I decided to reach my destinations the hard way - by local transport. The bus station or rather the part of the road where all the buses and minibuses parked is adjoining the park south east of Thamel. Obviously none of the buses had a sign displaying their destination so I had to keep wandering up to the drivers shouting Patan Patan until one said yes. I got chatting to a couple of students on the bus, they had been in [View Full Entry]

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