Blogs from Brazil, South America - page 551

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South America » Brazil » Minas Gerais September 17th 2006

I left Diamantina headed toward a point on the map- the city name was in bold which meant that it was a muncipal, larger then a village, but smaller then a city. It appeared to be a short distance on the map, so needless to say, 3 hours later chugging along a dirt road, I realized it might be more then I bargained for. After arriving I sought out the local pousada and wandered a bit around town. The place was dark and empty, and the people I passed on the street (some on foot, many on horseback)stared at me with curiousity until I greeted them. Eventually I found my way into a bar to get some food and thus began to meet the city. The city of Inhaí is hard to explain. Many Latin American ... read more

South America » Brazil » Pantanal September 16th 2006

The Amazon may get all the glory for flora and fauna, but it's the lesser known Pantanal that really has the wildlife for spotting. Located mostly in Brazil, but bleeding into Bolivia too, the Pantanal is basically a huge savannah/swamp teeming with all sorts of birds, reptiles, and mammals. For about half of the year the large majority of the area is flooded so it's allowed animals to thrive with little human encroachment for farming (although 90% of the Pantanal is privately owned and cattle, horses, and water buffalo roam quite freely). There's basically one long dusty road that goes through the entire expansive area, and that's it. So, leave from the city of Campo Grande I got a private 5-hour van ride out to the camp. (I was the only one going out to the ... read more
I was attacked by a herd of armadillos once . . .
Toucan Sam
Take that!

South America » Brazil September 15th 2006

Arrived in the Pantanal, the southern wetlands of Brasil after visiting the opposite side of the Iguacu falls. The Pantanal is a wonderful place for spotting wildlife. Unfortunately though, the weather was not on our side - it rained everyday of our tour (the day we arrived and the we left were beautiful hot, sunny days - typical!). We did see loads though - huge flocks of storks, kingfishers, humming birds, woodpeckers with their red mohicans, black monkeys, toucans, armadillos, a tapir and of course, zillions of alligators - oh yes and lots of pirahna too. Our arrival into Brasilia was rather disappointing - our reason for visiting was the architecture of Oscar Niemeyer. The images we had already seen in books and magazines and the way in which the city is described gave us a ... read more
Swastikas and Stripes
Pantanal
Me and a piranha getting friendly

South America » Brazil » Minas Gerais » Ouro Preto September 13th 2006

Etter et par dager paa reisefot er vi kommet til Ouro Preto. Her ble det i sin tid funnet gull og edle steiner, hvilket dannet grunnlaget for fremveksten av denne byen. Her er det kirker, gamle gruvearbeiderskoler, universiteter, kafeer, museer; alt i gammelkolonialsk stil (bygget av portugiskerne ved hjelp av slaver paa 1700-tallet). Den ligger imellom aaser og fjell inne i landet i delstaten Minas Gerais, og har cirka 45000 innbyggere (i sentrum). Det er en utrolig fin by som vi dessverre ikke faar anledning til aa nyte fullt ut. Grunnen: vi er blitt syke. Det har vaert en del ruskevaer rundt omkring paa vaar reise, og som tidligere nevnt tar ikke brasilianerne isolasjon og denslags saa hoeytidelig. Vi har vaert smaafoerkjoelet i perioder, men naa har feberen kommet, og Siri har faatt besoek av en ... read more

South America » Brazil » Rio de Janeiro » Rio de Janeiro » Ipanema September 13th 2006

Hello from Rio and long time no speak. Since arriving here, we seem to have become infected with a serious case of what doctors would call ´Brazil-itis´. The symptoms are: not getting out of bed, wanting to go to the beach every day, eating and drinking too much and generally behaving like tourists on a two-week holiday, rather than travellers who have to make their life savings stretch over a year. If ever there was a place to blow the budget, however, it´s here. Rio is an incredible city, with lovely beaches, gorgeous weather (even in so-called winter) and beautiful people, most of whom seem to have forgotten to wear any clothes. Seen from the statue of Christ the Redeemer that towers, swan dive-like, over one side of the place, it sits in a stunning crucible ... read more
Christ the Redeemer
Rio
Samba madness

South America » Brazil » Rio de Janeiro » Rio de Janeiro September 13th 2006

Well, here we go then. The first real entry in my travel journal. I actually wrote this while sat in a cafe earlier, so it is just being typed here as I am sat at the hostel´s computer. (Excuse the strange punctuation - I can´t find everything I need!). It´s really hot here, around 35 degrees, which is going to take some getting used to after the temperatures we´d been having in the UK before I left. I am so pasty pale at the moment though, but I´ve got my legs out anyway! Firstly, the flight. It was actually a fairly pleasurable experience, given how busy I had been in the days and weeks leading up to my departure. It didn´t seem like 14 hours in a plane at all, and I was lucky enough to ... read more
Lapa wall art
View from my room
Can´t remember the name of this!

South America » Brazil » Rio de Janeiro September 12th 2006

Come back Argentina, all is forgiven!!!!! Unfortunately, the Argie bus companies that travel to Rio were all fully booked so we had to go across the border into Brazil to catch a bus instead which cost us 40 quid instead of 30 from Argentina. And oh, my god, it was the worst thing we have done since we´ve been away! Our journey can only be described as 26 hours of sub-arctic air conditioning hell! The bus was crap, the TV had been ripped of the ceiling, the seats had as about much padding as Ally McBeal, and it stopped every 30 minutes allowing for everyone to hock the contents of their throat and nose onto the road.Mmmm! Add this in with the fact that every driver thought that he had the spirit of Ayrton Senna within ... read more
Corcovado
Rio de Janeiro
Rio

South America » Brazil » Ceará » Fortaleza September 12th 2006

So, I just figured out that if I change my IP address and do all kinds of funky complicated computer stuff, I can get internet access here at school in Fortaleza. Anyway, here's the email that I sent out a couple days ago... and the best part... PICTURES!!! Hello all, I'm officially in Brasil, sitting in a tiny internet cafe about 5 blocks from my house here in Fortaleza. Wow, it's weird to be thinking in English. I've been totally immersed in Portuguese for the last few days. My new family speaks not a word of English or Spanish, so I'm on my own to learn Portuguese ASAP! So far I'm doing ok, but I speak more a mix of Portuguese and Spanish, Portuñol, than actual Português. My host family is amazing, though. Let me tell ... read more
Teatro Alencar
all three floors of Teatro Jose de Alencar
Venecia and I in the theater




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