Blogs from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 213

Well, I had my leaving party with the kids yesterday. Tears were shed (not just mine) and it was very sad. Trying to explain that I had to go back to work was a little difficult as they figured that I should just stay with them as they didn´t want me to go home. I got a lot of messages written in my book and they´re all really touching - in fact, every time I read them it makes me want to cry again! I´ve promised to visit next year - so I guess I´ll need to start saving now. There´s plenty more pics but I need to pack. I´m on the overnight bus to Ouro Preto so looking forward to that.... read more

Cariocas Arrived in Rio after a rather long flight, i think it was 14 hours including the stop off in Sao Paulo, which luckily we didnt have to leave the plane for. We also had the good fortune to be upgraded on the flight to ´world traveller plus´ which afforded us an extra 7 inches of leg room, which doesnt sound much, but when you are attempting to sleep for as much of it as possible its very much a welcome addition. After leaving the plane experienced our first ripping off of the trip in the shape of an over charged taxi, which we paid outright at the airport to the tune of 72 Reals which is about 18 pounds. To be fair we didnt actually consider it a rip off until about a week later ... read more

Que l'aventure commence !!! Nous sommes arrives vendredi soir a Rio, vers 18 h : il faisait deja nuit; ici c'est l'hiver. Le trajet en avion etait excellent (15 heures comme meme!) et les velos sont arrives en entier , impeccable. Nous logeons chez Michel, un francais qui vit a Rio depuis 35 ans, entre les quartiers chics de la ville d'Ipanema et de Copacabana. il nous accueil avec de la Caipirinha melange de cachaça (alcool de canne à sucre) citron vert et sucre; un regale ! Nous nous sommes promenes sur les superbes et immenses plages d'Ipanema et de Capacabana ; les Cariocas y pratiquent Surf, beach volley, bronzette et Farniente. Le dimanche la circulation y est interdite aux vehicules et c'est la maree humaine qui envahit les rues du bords de mer. Samedi nous ... read more

We arrived in Rio on Wednes morning, and beat our way through the frantic crowd of taxi drivers to find some dude who said he was a tourista guide and was going to help us. He led us through the crowd of taxi guys to our bus and kept walking, beckoning us on. he kept muttering something about a big safe blue car, in pigeon english. It turned out he was just an industrious taxi driver willing to relieve two newbies of their wedge. We copped it and head back for the bus. Iano and Aoilo 1 - Rio 0. Weather that day wasnt great but we hit for the beach anyway. On the second day, we were picked up to do our tour of the favellas (shanty towns). we stopped off at some hostel and ... read more

Sorry it’s been so long since my last blog, am sure everyone is waiting in anticipation for the next exciting instalment! We have been in South America for about 5 weeks now and having incredible time! Sen and I were really sad to leave New Zealand and team consumption, especially the Great Danes (missing you both loads!!!), not so bothered about Simon and old WHJ (for those of you who don’t know WHJ stands for Wandering hands Jackson - I feel Phil’s new nickname needs no more explanation than that!) since they were following us to Chile a few days later. Really liked Santiago we hadn’t heard great things about it and so were surprised by how much we loved it, may have had something to do with all the amazing food which after all the ... read more