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

Luggage suprisingly arrived!In the mean time we bought some basic stuff. Hardest thing was to find a 'normal' bikini as they all wear strings over here (also the people above 90 years old). We bought an Ipanema Bum Bum (and bum bum stands for ass). Hereby some first impressions of Rio. Culture They say that to know a country you should experience the culture. So we decided to taste beers, Itaipava - Skoll - Antartica - Brahma - Caiperinha (ow yes that's not a beer of course).... you can also find Stella everywhere, Leuven is not far away.... Brazilians are drinking all day long, and they drink lot's... Beside drinking we also checked out the local food. Rice, beans and great 'Picanha' meat. We had dinner together with friends of Lidia (the mother of Roger - ... read more

Second day in Rio. Nice weather, crowded and not like in the books : ) We do not advise to travel via Atlanta to Rio, 25 hours travelling. Arriving in Atlanta, we had to wait 2 hours to pass the customs - IT problems and the airport was stuck totally. Hmmm IT, Many people missed their connection.... Then we arrived in Rio without luggage. Still waiting on it ; ) It should arrive today, but that's what they told us yesterday too. Welcome to Brazil! Relaxing day at Ipanema and Copacobana - nice views and so many people chilling around.... read more

Machu Picchu exceeded our expectations because of its amazing, isolated location and the extent of the Inca ruins. It was a spectacular delight archaeologically and geographically when you consider the Incas, so many centuries ago, selecting such a remote, steep and jungle covered terrain to build such a huge community. The trek up to the Sun gate was an hour's slog in drizzle and mist and there was no view at the top. However our patience was rewarded and eventually the mists cleared and the view to the bottom of the river valleys and over huge mountains was stupendous! It was a rewarding but tiring few days getting up very early and walking all day and so we were pleased to arrive in a "Chelsea" area of Buenos Aires called Palermo Soho. Again more walking but ... read more

4th/5th March So said goodbye to Mum and Dad (Petherick) and set off again on the National Express to Heathrow at 1am. Couldn't sit next to each other as the coach was packed :( and we had a five hour journey ahead of us. Finally arrived around 5.30. Checked in and had a mooch around. Boarded the plane, was a small one as we were heading to Lisbon, Portugal for a change over. Flying in to Lisbon it was drizzly with rain, good job we didn't have to leave the airport and just had to stay in the connections area, the flight was in two hours. Finally boarded the plane, wasn't nowhere near as nice as the Etihad flight we had previously been on, still had a meal which was actually nice, big chunks of beef ... read more

HI Guys, So we got a bus this morning from Buzios to Rio. We had heard that the bus station in Rio was not in the nicest of areas but when we went to get a taxi they were just to expensive so we decided to get the bus as so many people had told us it was fine. We were only out of the station a minute and we were getting hassled by some dodgy looking guys, Laura immediately started freaking out and with everyone in the station telling us to get different buses we decided to go back and get a taxi. Luckily though we managed to get a taxi for nearly half the price so all's well that ends well! We had heard so much about the Mango tree hostel so we booked ... read more