Today was the day for ticking off the last of my must do things in Rio - Cristo Redentor, the iconic statue which looms over Rio from up above,day and night. Along with Sugar Loaf and the Iguaçu falls, which I saw three years ago, I would then have done the three things that tourists must do in Brazil and could do the things I really wanted to do such as avoid big cities! The day got off to a bad start when the metro machine swallowed the integrated ticket that was also supposed to get me on the bus which would take me the rest of the way. However since the woman in the ticket booth had been less than helpful I decided not to make a fuss for the sake of about 75p. As ... read more

Brazilan trip 31st March I had to get up along with John before three to get to the Manchester Airport for flight to Amsterdam at 5.55 am. I hardly slept at all so landed in Rio exhausted, having frittered away the time on board watching films. Both flights were uneventful in spite of having a baby aged not much more than a year behind me on the long haul one. I forgot he was there and so apparently did the parents who largely ignored him (and each other) during the flight. From time to time he helped himself to breast milk with very little assistance from his mother and the rest of the time slept. Apparently a successful approach to child-rearing, if the aim is to pretend you don't have a baby! In order to get ... read more

A bit of a screw up and an adventure but everything worked out fine in the end! I planned to do a walk to a waterfall and had got some instructions from the owner of the hospedaje and the Tourist Information Office. Unfortunately had written these on the map which I then proceeded to lose. It' s not that I am losing my marbles, I think, but that I can' t get everything I need to carry with me in my bum-bag so attempt to lodge water, hat etc between this and my waist so of course they fall out or I take them out and then forget them. Breakfast is not included with my lodgings, which is a pain because anywhere that does breakfasts is busy before the 9.30 am bus leaves for Cocora so ... read more

All the references on the web describe Salamina as a quiet, sleepy sort of place. I have never heard such nonsense. The place is absolutely buzzing well into the evening, which would be fine if it weren't for the traffic. Turns out that this house is on the corner of one of the main routes into town. I still don't understand why there is such a lot of traffic as the road we came in on is hardly a recommended throughway. Anyway there are motor bikes roaring past all the time and lorries start thundering by at about five in the morning. Fortunately the son has kept his promise and I have been moved to an interior room which has only a skylight - not exactly free of traffic noise but muted. In other respects I ... read more

Compared with yesterday everything went smoothly. The plan was to go to La Piedra del Peñol which is a very big rock overlooking a pretty reservoir in which land covered in dense vegetation and water are so intertwined that it is impossible to say which bits are islands. After that I was going on to a resort on the water which is much favoured by weekend trippers. The bus trip was fine with picture postcard perfect scenery. Fields of crops sloping down the hills with cows grazing and the occasional cluster of palm trees to remind us we were somewhere exotic. Have decided also that the green of the hills and vegetation somehow looks paler and bleached compared with home and certainly with Galicia. Got off the bus near the rock and an Argentinian couple included ... read more