Still a bit wet behind the ears

So I swapped to the beach, and now I have a computer to type on, rather than using my phone and wifi..
The Lonely planet described the mini rooms at the Hotel Toledo as coffins... not quite that bad, and only slightly smaller than my digs at uni so I´m used to it. Weeny en suite, tho!
Yesterday started with heavy rain, but it had just about finished by 8am so jumped in the taxi to Copacabana. A quick wander to the beach with a backpack (a no-no) and back to the hotel. I´m starting to notice more things about the city - like the homeless people, passed out on the street, and I have been accosted by one of the street kids, but fortunately I was saved by one of the other customers at the juice bar. Have to learn when to use eye contact in future!
But then there is the shoe cleaning scam - I fell for it yesterday when this chap cries ¨mister¨and when I looked down there was something brown and runny on my brand new boots. Amazingly he had everything he needed to clean it off - what a stroke of luck! He seemed to want 50000 reais, tho (divide by 3 for pounds!!) an argument ensued and I wandered off to find a juice bar serving coconuts. They open them with machetes and everytime they swing I wince for their fingers! Amazingly the small coconuts are the best - full of water but not much meat.
So then, the fun stuff.... I spoke to the front desk of the hotel and they put me in contact with a chap for the hang gliding.... the day was brightening up outside, and so was I. It was only when we got to Sao Corvado that I thought ¨this could be another scam¨- you jump in a car with someone you don´t know, and they know you are carrying a 100 pounds or so. The 30ft long bundle on top of the car was some reassurance, tho.
So we swapped into a very clapped out beach buggy, with the glider on top (couldn´t understand why, until we turned on to the mountain road - about 45 degrees!) Took no time at all to get to the top, and then we practised the take off while the driver built the hang glider. The sun was out and it was looking lovely, but while we queued for take off the cloud rolled in and killed off the thermals - boo. Still, we managed a 7 minute or so flight, and the landing was really exciting - swinging in not very far above the windsock we sped up and skimmed across the beach at about 30mph before a final flare and a very easy landing! The view on the way down took in everything - the favelas, the abandoned buildings in the forest and the traffic jams!
Back to Copacabana and I went for a wander up the beach along the strand line. Not too many people out, but plenty of dead and decaying fish. Hmmm... meat for tea for me, I think...
Managed to find a churassco rodizio (I think) - a brazilean barbeque where they bring you crispy meat on a skewer, and there is an all you can eat buffet. Phew - stuffed.
So, Saturday dawned bright and beautiful, and I could see someone had drawn a heart on the sand with the wheels of the beach tractor from the hotel restaurant window. Another wander along the beach, this time to Ipanema, and I spotted one of the shoe cleaning guys as I was walking on a path on my own. I turned around and thought I´d got away with it, but no, somehow he still squirted me, but I didn´t stop. This time I was in my teva sandals but didn´t feel it - he seemed to hit the straps. I´d love to see how they do this so accurately! I tried to wash it off in the see but it was like acrylic paint... no idea...
Sadly I hadn´t booked a climbing trip up the Sugar Loaf so had totake the cable cars instead. There´s an utterly spectacular view from the top, and you can pretty much look the pilots in the eye as they take off from the downtown airport!
I was just a little too late to see the capuchins - I saw something about the size of a squirrel moving along a tree branch about 30 foot away, but couldn´t get close enough before they dived into the bamboo (not something I´d expected to see growing around here!) So I then spent the next hour wandering down little paths hoping to see another, but to no avail :(
It did get a little unnerving, though, wandering through the forest with noone around, and all you could hear were cicadas and frogs, and the occassional helicopter. It didn´t help that I´d seen the vultures circling earlier, either (no, really!!) Turns out it´s a path the locals use as exercise up and down, but unless I knew where it came out I wasn´t going to walk all the way down on my own in case it came out somewhere shady. I did read something the other day about drug related shootings in the favelas - I´m going to stay well away from them for the moment.
So with a little luck I should be flying to Campo Grande tomorrow (you have no idea of the fiasco for booking the tickets!) Fingers crossed!

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