Blogs from Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 5

OK, another rapid fire blog post! I've really been slackin' on my blog posts, and since we only have three weeks left on this trip so I figured I had better get my last, very wordy post about our trip cranked out so Sky can start working on our final blog post for our trip! Puerto Natales, Chile After spending a couple of days back in Ushuaia getting my whits about me after Antarctica, Sky and I headed back on the road on our way to Puerto Natales, Chile, the gateway to Torres del Paine National Park. We were headed there to spend 5 days trekking the famous "W" trail. Thankfully our bus ride to Chile was one of the least eventful bus rides we've had to date! Twelve continuous hours of relatively smooth roads, no ... read more

Carnaval is one big, fun party, obvs. The most surprising thing was the sheer city-wide scale of it and its levelling effect: age, class, nationality didn't matter. Fancy dress and beer did. Everyone got involved and was basically really happy, from grannies to little kids, even if just in their local 'bloco'. You can see and hear Carnaval literally everywhere, from the singing groups of teens on public buses to the mask/hat/feather vendors, the never-ending crates of beer or the gridlocked traffic. Brazilians are culturally and attitudinally sound anyway, and Carnaval is also a celebration of sexuality - flesh and cross dressing is everywhere! Carnaval seemed to consist of two main events. One was the Samba Parade at the Sambadrome (Sambódromo), a bespoke stadium designed by O... read more

We flew into Rio on a day when we knew there was a lull in the pre-Carnaval partying. The program told us so, and the aim was to squeeze all the general tourist sights into the few days we had before the festivities resumed. We were really looking forward to seeing some serious art galleries and museums. Rehgan has been suffering something like "art withdrawals" as most of Brazil is lacking in what we would consider fine art. There's obviously plenty of culture, in the forms of music, dance, religion, etc. but what he's missing is pretty pictures on the wall of a decent gallery. Unfortunately Rio did not come through for us and it wasn't for lack of trying. The best display of paintings we saw was the Naïve Art Museum. A lovely little collection ... read more

Unless you're being picky, I have now visited every continent in the world. I was always going to come to South America at some stage and Brazil in particular. Having seen, read and heard so much about the place - to finally be here was super-exciting. A place so different to what you're used to - in my head Brazil is almost the definition of exotic - I had finally reached a final frontier, of sorts. There were additional reasons that helped ramp up the anticipation of this trip; I was coming to the end of a work project that had completely consumed my life for the last six months - this was to be my reward; it had been absolutely freezing in the UK and I was heading for a tropical climate; I would be ... read more

Hello All, I have a travel blog!! So arrived in Rio De Janeiro today and somehow managed to get myself to Copacabana. Anyway about to check in but just wanted to set this up ready. Not a lot of news yet but ill update soon. Cheers Tom... read more