Brazil

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Can you believe it....how 6 months have flown by......

So we made it to Brazil and had a few days at the beach in Paraty, the place was really quaint and they obviously knew how important the Beaumonts’ are as they had flags up on the cute cobbled streets, fireworks at night and a real fiesta atmosphere – even dancing in the main square for us!!! Not really sure what the fiesta was about…..unable to speak a word of Portuguese has been interesting!!! Anyhow we had a very nice relaxed time here and on one day when we had a long boozy lunch – i drank Lambrusco (something i have not done since uni) and it was nice!!!! Danny in a drunken state even took on a local boy at a penalty shoot out – Rooney v Pele – well Pele won – however, i wasn’t too shabby – all those evenings in the garden when i was younger with my bro smacking balls at me – had to pay off at sometime!!!
We then decided to have a day on the boat – sickness pills consumed and off we went – unfortunately the weather was very overcast and we didn’t have jumpers so we spent most of the time huddled together but it was still nice and the little secluded beaches would have been great in hotter weather! I was beginning to get a bit stressed about my lack of tanning but no need to worry the weather picked up……..

We then headed to our final stop, Rio de Janeiro. We have had 4 days here and it has been action packed……beach, beach and more beach….no just kidding… we managed to find time to visit another Irish bar…
On day one we headed on a favela tour which was really interesting – it wasn’t as bad as the slum tour in Mumbai, for one, everyone has free water, electricity, cable and stolen internet – but it was still pretty shocking to realise people live in places like this – the real shocker was to learn about the drug dealers and two guys holding massive ak47 machine guns walking round was a bit of an eye-opener!!! We also heard that a guy who lived there who had 2 grandchildren and he was only 28 – obviously not much else to do in the favela!

Like all Rio tourists, day 2 meant that we headed to check out our 3rd New Wonder of the World of the trip (after the Taj Mahal and Machupiccu) – Christ the Redeemer – with no ability to communicate with the locals we managed to catch the correct bus and then bought tickets for the tourist train to the summit of Mount Corcovado (where the statute stands!) when you get to the top you get an elevator and 2 escalators (very weird!) The statute was massive but to be honest both Danny and I agree that it was not that spectacular (I know that may sound ridiculous and a bit like Carl Pilkington (of idiot abroad fame) but true!), however the views from the top of the mountain were fab!!!! We stayed for few hours (taking pics was interesting when you basically have to lie on the floor to get the statute in). Then I dragged Danny to the Santa Teresea area to see the trams and explore the city more……..

That night, our last (boo hoo), we decided to head out to the area of Lapa, by accident we found the famous ceramic steps – not really sure why they are famous but they proved most useful to sit on as we drank the famous (and extremely strong) Brazilian cocktail called a Capriana – it literally burns your insides! I was hoping for some Samba in Lapa – but to Danny’s grave disappointment we didn’t find any dancing……oh well – I did suggest another show – but after Danny’s last experience in Buenos Aires and the tango – I knew it was a lost cause!!!!

So today, woke up with a bit of a hangover, the weather was really hot –a nice 30 degrees to finish off my tanning and we have spent the day chilling on the beach checking our women in thong bikinis – Danny loved it – he said he was a bit disappointed not to see any beach volley ball – which he has been told to watch out for!!!!!!!! But hey you can’t have everything!

Anyway, to conclude top 5 things in South America (not in order as Danny and I can’t agree! ummm – nothing changes!)

1. San Pedro de Atacama (Chile) to see the salt plains with a little water on and to chill in the salt lakes
2. Inca Trail and Machupicchu (Peru)
3. Iguazu Falls (Argentina)
4. Wine Country – Mendoza and Cafayate (Argentina) particularly the wine tours by bike (well what we can remember anyhow!)
5. Around Rurrenbaque (Bolivia) – Danny would say the bike trip (I think that is because he is a sadist and thought it was funny that I was so bad), I would say the Pampas tour and doing the pirhana fishing (and just to remind you - I caught more than Danny) and the alligator spotting!

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