Blogs from Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America

Hey People, The priority today was finding a quiet place in the busy hostel for my phone interview with Carnival UK. After a disturbed sleep in our 9-bed dorm by the noisiest snorer I’ve ever had to endure, it wasn’t the best start. I prepared a few notes in the morning before I set the laptop up in the common room in preparation for the phone call. It seemed to be louder than usual in the common room today, which is just my luck, so Neil asked the reception if there was a spare room available to sit in that could still pick up the Internet connection. There was so; I moved the laptop into the room 10 minutes into the call. Anyway after an hour of trying to find every slither of sales experience I ... read more

Rio is really gearing up for Carnival. I have seen some of the most beautiful drag queens on earth just walking down the street with the most divine glittery costumes. I have no idea how they can walk so gracefully in such massive platforms, but they do. You can also see the drunken tourists beginning to pile into the city, and the nights are getting more crowded and loud. I’ve seen a few people drinking beer at 10am and earlier during weekdays - but Andreia seems to think that’s pretty normal for Rio and not a Carnival thing... It seems to me that most of Rio’s residents try and escape the city for the days of carnival (28 March – 4 April) because there are so many people flooding the city. I hear that it is ... read more

We spent 6 days in Rio, and it was fantastic!..To kick start the trip we decided to tandem handglide from the moutains in the Sao Corado region which is amongst the rainforest...Thoroughly enjoyed it despite questioning why l wanted to run off a platform into thin air strapped to a strange Brazilian called Alex! but we managed it and loved every second. We flew above the rainforest like birds, over the sea and finally landing on the beach. We also completed the main gringo trail, walking along the copacabana and Ipanema beaches (Craig and myself competing to find the man with the smallest pair of budgey smugglers on), going up to the Christ de Redentor to marvel at the city from one of its highest points, walking around the lagoa and watching sunset and Rio lighting ... read more

9th March ’13 Rio, Sugar Loaf Mountain and Copacabana Well we got up early today and were first for breakfast so we could leg it round to the cable car for Sugar Loaf Mountain and hopefully beat the bus trips and we did. The sky was clear and so we paid our money and got in the cable car, which first took us to Urca Mountain (of mountain view room fame) and then on up to the top of Sugar Loaf. The views were glorious and stunning, a 360 degree panorama of Rio with all its bays, beaches, mountains, suburbs and the statue of Christ the Redeemer looking down from its perch over the whole city. There were paths leading down and around the mountain and I think we explored them all (no surprise to those ... read more

This blog entry chronicles the last day and a half I spent in Rio by myself before flying back out to London. It also gives me a vehicle to show off some more of the photos I took in the this stunningly scenic city.... The name of company taking me from Paraty back to Rio was called easytransferbrazil.com but in reality it was anything but. Again, it all started well - one of four people in a massive minivan with air-conditioning and DVDs playing on the main screen (even if it was Welcome To The Jungle starring "The Rock"). As with most people here, the driver seemed pretty laid back, and didn't speak any English. We then stop for "five minutes" which was more like twenty, while the driver decides to get the minivan washed by ... read more