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Published: February 13th 2005
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Hi Everyone
The lack of an update the last few days proves how much there was to tell you all about Rio and how we were short of news since we did all the main touristy things. This is a bit of a long one though...
Anyway, after the excitement of Monday´s trip to Christ the Redeemer and Sugar Loaf we spent the rest of our time in Rio chilling out.
Tuesday was a day for completing two missions. The first was to get our clothes washed, the second was to sort out accommodation between Thursday and going to Ilha Grande on the Saturday. The first task was, surpringly by Rio standards, completed pretty easily and we dropped off our clothes to be picked up the next day. It cost 4 pounds to get a massive bag of washing washed and dried - Pauline Fowler eat your heart out. Amazingly the second task was pretty successful too. We decided to stay in Rio for a few more days rather than mess about, and booked rooms another part of the city.
Wednesday was spent on the beach, another lovely sunny day. We actually tried to play a bit
of volleyball - Andy, Joff and Steve versus Jamie and the 2 Swedes. Despite early promise the English team lost out over the course of 3 sets, victims of a lack of fitness and woeful defence. After sunning ourselves we picked up our washing with no problems and got ready for the hostel move taking place the next day. Whilst Andy cried off sick (yet again) the other three boys ventured to a local sports bar to celebrate Judge´s birthday and crawled home in the early hours after a few drinking games.
The new hostel on Thursday was in the district of Ipanema, and it was a massive improvement on where we´d been staying before. The neighbourhood was more lively, a little less threatening, and it was only a few blocks from the beach (as opposed to the really knackering 15 minute walk in the last place!!). The hostel itself was great, it´s only recently opened and is more like a hotel than a hostel - nice big rooms and a shower with hot water!! What luxury...
Having got over the luxury we all decided to go out to celebrate our new lodgings and wave goodbye to Rio, as we were planning on an easy night on Friday in preparation for an early bus ride. The night was always in trouble when the bar at the hostel was having a Hawaiian Party and we all tried a few of the cocktails. They were pretty strong, and we hula-hula´d off into the night to choose our next destination.
Does anyone remember that we found an Irish bar on one of our first nights in Rio? Well, we found another, about 5 minutes away from the other one! It was pretty good actually, and they had a live band playing lots of American rocky stuff who were okay. We then decided to try out a club that we´d been recommended called Bunker, and having told Jamie and the Swedes where to meet us a number of times, Andy, Joff and Steve went off to find it.
Bunker was pretty strange to be honest. It was quite like an English club in its layout and the attitude of some of its customers. It wasn´t really the type of party place we were expecting. Joff and Steve had a bit of a dance with some Brazilian girls in a little side room playing Brazilian dance music, and then all three boys jumped around to some hip-hop and R´n´B. We were all pretty drunk when we got back, but we hadn´t seen Jamie since we left him in the Irish pub. It was okay though, in their drunken state the 3 of them had forgotten where we were going and gone to another club!!
Friday was another relatively quiet day, as we all nursed massive hangovers and whiled away the hours until we left Rio the next day. We spent another day on the beach and had a relatively quiet night, despite the massive storm which suddenly arrived at about 7pm. We´d been quite lucky since our first few rainy days so it wasn´t a massive problem.
We caught a bus out of Rio at 11am on Saturday, which was due to arrive at the port of Angra dos Reis at 1pm in time for us to catch a 3:30pm ferry to Ilha Grande. The coach was okay, and the journey produced some pretty amazing views. We spent two hours on the same road along the Atlantic coast, with the sea on one side and beautiful green mountains on the other. Along with some other Brits, a few Germans, and a few Candians, we got to the port to find that the ferry times had been changed and we´d missed the only ferry of the day! We´d got used to this sort of thing by now, so wandered around until we found a boat which was slightly more expensive but willing to take tourists over to the island.
We´d heard Ilha Grande was beautiful, but nothing could have prepared us for just how beautiful it is. Given its proximity to Rio, it´s amazing that the place exists. There are only 3 settlements on the island, the largest of which is Abrao where most tourists stay. Ilha Grande is a bit of a weekend getaway for affluent Brazilians, though the prices are still verty cheap by our standards. We walked from the dock to our pousada (like a guest house), which is located on the beach at the end of the village. We´ve got a fantastic room with great facilities and breakfast thrown in, all for about 20 pounds a night.
As the storms had followed us from Rio last night was a bit of a washout so we had a bite to eat (which was absolutely amazing - seafood to die for) and a couple of juices then sat on the beach for a bit before turning in.
The weather today (Sunday) has brightened up considerably, and we all spent the morning on the beach. Whilst the Royals were getting beaten on Sunday morning, Steve, Jamie and Joff were handing out a beating of their own to some French tourists from the next pousada who´d challenged us to a game of 3 on 3. Both teams suffered in the conditions, but fitness and youth won through in the end with the exiled Royals winning 4-2 thanks to a Malduca hat trick. We´re all having a quiet few hours now, Andy has found the only Internet Cafe on the island, and we´re planning to sit on the beach tonight and have a few drinks whilst watching the sun go down.
It´s Jamie´s birthday tomorrow (not to mention Valentine´s Day) so we´re going to wine and dine him and get him a bit drunk. Who knows what will happen?
That´s all for now, thanks for reading. We´ll try and catch up with you from our next stop later this week, which should be the coastal resort of Florianopolis.
AC
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anonymous
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Happy Birthday Burchos
Hello A-holes, Glad you're having a chillin' time. Happy Birthday Burch old boy - have a top day. Royals lost 3-0 away to Old Grey Mare yesterday - scoreline flattered them a bit. Still, chin up. Adios Brewster - Mike