windiburrow

The Gran Sabana - 12th to 15th May We're up relatively early feeling very tired after such a long journey the night before. We wouldn't have made the early morning bus but we do manage to catch a taxi from this Brazilian out post to across the border to Venezuela. Its a 3 hour journey and our taxi driver stops at the border to drop off some packages. We're really glad we can be of help seeing as we are paying for this. This time we manage to get the border crossing correct as we are stamped out of Brazil into Venezuela! We're dropped off at our hostel in the next town (Santa Elena de Uairen). For our final leg of the trip we've organised the full 3 weeks with a company called Osprey Expeditions. ... read more

Fernando de Noronha - 19th to 23rd April Fernando de Noronha is an archipelago 400km of the coast of mainland Brazil. In the past the main island has been used as by the Portuguese as a prison colony, the French used it for aviation research & the American´s as base during WWII. Now most of it is a protected Eco reserve where sea life flourishes & to sum it up it´s stunningly beautiful & it´s where we went for my birthday treat. Lucky lucky me!!! Our four days there were some of the best of our whole trip. The main island is beautiful, green & lush with cliffs, hills & gorgeous beaches, some calm & perfect for snorkeling, others with good surfing waves. All the beaches were gorgeous backed with lush green hills & Palm ... read more

Rio de Janeiro - 10 to 13th April Since we have been travelling on our own we have booked most of our accommodation through the Hostel Bookers website. Unfortunately the Internet on Ilha Grande had conked out so we couldn´t get hold of the address of our Hostel in Rio all we knew was the name, Alpha Hostel & the area, Botafogo. When our boat arrived on the main land we offered to pop to an Internet cafe to check the address but were told not to bother as the Minivan driver new where the hostel was. Of course when we reached the Botafogo area he didn´t have a clue where we were supposed to be going & tried just to drop us at the tube station. We were having none of it & insisted ... read more

26th - 30th March When I was a child I was obsessed with wildlife & loved to read Gerrald Durrell´s books describing his career working with animals. In one book he described travelling to the Pantanal on an animal collecting expedition for an English zoo (not exactly PC in this day & age but when I was a kid it was spell binding.) His descriptions of the abundance of exotic wildlife there had me buzzing. So when we came to Brazil I begged And for us to go & to my relief she agreed, although somewhat reluctantly. We both new it was the end of the rainy season & that the Pantanal would probably be flooded & the mosquitoes would be horrendous & it would be hot but I don´t think either of us had ... read more

12th - 19th March On our first full day in Buenos Aires we spend most of the day wandering around the local district we are staying in. Our hostel is called the Chill House and the staff are good at giving advice and lots of tips as to what to do whilst we are here. We walk around Palermo which is a leafy green suburb of BA. There are lots of excellent looking cafes and restaurants so we stop at one to have the best homemade lemonade we have ever had! We also have lunch at a great restaurant called Cabernet, where we sit outside and watch the people pass by. So far so good for food and drink in BA! As we walk around we come across a small door with a sign outside ... read more