Blogs from Brazil, South America - page 598

by tim After six and a half weeks we finally arrived in Rio. Nine Dragoman/Encounter trucks carrying 120 people had descended from all over South America on the Hotel Paysandu. Our first night there was the Red and Black ball. This we had been pre-warned was an event which saw several thousand people dressed in Red and Black converge on a nightclub called the Scala club. The point of it was fairly obscure apart from the fact that the woman generally got mauled by the local bloke's. I was'nt really looking forward to it but it was just one of those things we felt we had to do. The first few hours were as expected, my worst nightmare. The place was packed with blokes just out for a cheap thrill. Caroline and Precious, dressed in minimilistic ... read more

Finally got out of Rio. Took a long long journey from Rio de Janiero to Foz do Iguacu. On this 25 hrs journey, some thoughts abt the interesting habits of Brazilian ppl flashed through my mind. Here´s some to share (pictures to be accompanied later) 1. With Rio being renowned for its beautiful beaches, it is without doubt that we get to see ppl walking ard in swimwear. But in this city, they not only wear swimwear on the beach but also on the streets, on buses & subway, at street parades and even at places of interest like the statue of Christ The Redeemer!!!! But I must say these ppl really have got good bodies. 2, Even pregnant women wear a bikini top, showing off their big belly! Not bad for a way to save ... read more

Hola (Still the same in portugese) From that you can gather that i made it to Rio. It only took 25 hours on a bus that must have been suspected for havin dodgy people with dodgy substances due to the amount of police stops and bag checks on the way to Rio. No surprise to me due to the look of some of the local passengers. But that doesn’t do them justice, true they where a strange bunch due to watching the weirdest dvds so far on the bus a mix of strange concerts/club nights and kids films. But in broken Spanish they were telling me they were looking forward to the Rolling Stones. Got to rio and decided to pick the most disorganised hostel i could find, fortunately located in Copacabana, so it was really ... read more

Hi all, Thanks for all the comments! Just to let you know I cannot to reply to any of these so don´t expect me to. I can only reply if you send a message. And some of you I have no email address anyway, Dick! But to the bloke who sent a message about Patapsco school, No it¨s not really me! Now on with the blog... Carla!... read more

Not sure why our flights both to and back from Florianopolis were in the middle of the night, but it all worked out. We arrived very tired early in the morning on Thursday, Feb 23. My friend Steve, his wife Tunica and Max (their 2 year old), were not coming until the next day...they said the maid would let us in the house eventually, and she did. Locked out for most of the day, however, we napped by and swam in the glorious pool- peering inside the house of windows at the ample comforts within. Wow! This was my friend's beach house! In fact the house is on the *cover* of a Brazilian Architectural magazine. We checked out the beach just across the street (AWESOME!) and had some Lula Milanesa (Fried Calamari). Later that night, we ... read more