Blogs from Brazil, South America - page 559

Hi again, Am desperately trying to update this (as usual) before I forget all the little bits. But d´habbitude am so bored of it that I´ll not bother with all the main bits. oops wasn´t supposed to admit that.. Anyway in Manaus I got on a very different boat to go to Belem. This time instead of having 8 passengers we were between 250 and 300- incredible. Of the 4 nights I slept there I only slept in the same hammock space twice. One of those times I was woken at 4am cos I was sleeping above the cargo hold and we´d docked somewhere and I had to get up so they could unload rice and sugar. Meal-times were a crazy affair, lunchtime lasted for about 3 hours with the supervisor woman screaming at people to ... read more

The day after... two words, my god. What the hell happened last night? Well, let me try to begin to explain... Rafael invited me to Carna Brahma which is an axe music festival (axe is pronounced ashay and it is a type of music played in Brasil usually during carnaval). We met up with 12 of his friends and we all took a rented van to the event. When we arrived there everyone piled out of the van and the guys, including me, lined to take a leak at this bush. After draining ourselves, we made our way up the hill to where the concert was being held. About half way up, I realized that my camera was not on my belt anymore and I had no idea where it was... Kenya phoned the van guy ... read more

We saw the falls at their worst from both sides and every angle but it was still one of the most impressive sights we´ve ever seen and worth every moment of our rubbish journey! The journey from La Paz took 24 hours by PLANE. We flew La Paz to Cochabamba to Santa Cruz to Sao paulo with a total of 4 hours delays. Then 8 hours at Sao paulo turned into twelve and we finally arrived at 4am after leaving the previous morning at 5 am and a night on the airport floor! When we finally arrived at hostel Bambu shattered and smelly they had double booked the room after a mistake with Tom Finley and Tom Dingley which left us needing to find somewhere else. We were taken to 5 different hostels/hotels before we ... read more

To make a long story short, I managed to get robbed within my first hour in Salvador. To make this short story longer, I arrived by bus from Lençóis early Sunday morning, before 6:00 am. I know my way around the city somewhat well since I´ve spent a week there previously so I grabbed a local bus that I knew would get me close to where I was trying to go. The man on the bus pointed me to the street that I needed to take to get to the neighborhood where I was staying. Unfortunately the road was one of the cities famously dangerous ladeiras (steep streets), a place where you would ride a car through but never walk. As soon as I turned onto it, I knew I shouldn´t be there but wasn´t sure ... read more

Staring out at the pristine beaches stretching down the Atlantic coast, I turned back to find myself looking up at massive city buildings; backed by the beautiful peaks of the mountains. Rio de Janeiro (January River) is thought by many to occupy one of the most spectacular settings on earth; aside from the Duck Pond in Fountain City of course. It is not the capital (which is Brasilia), but surely is the cultural center to South America's giant; Brasil (and yes, this is the correct spelling). The diversity of this urban metropolis is like no other. Some of the worlds most beautiful beaches combine with the charged atmosphere of the city, to make for one amazing getaway. A giant statue of Christ (Cristo Redentor) with arms outstretched, gazes over Rio and the countries colors (Green, Yellow, ... read more