Brazil

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We crossed the border into Brazil, ready for part two of our Iguazu experience. Leaving the falls for later, we spent the afternoon in a local bird-park. With Hannah keeping us company, we peeked at parrots, photographed flamingos and touched a toucan! This park included in its collection, the Cassowary and the Hummingbird, two of our favourites.

Our campsite was very much to David's liking; floodlit football pitch, table tennis, pool, table football and even a version of shove ha'penny in addition to the bar and free internet. We mostly spent our evenings bumming about here with Ollie and Hannah. Ollie and David set about trying to arrange a seven-a-side match against a Brazilian group for the following evening.

We spent a day checking out the town. Louise bought new shoes, and David, new football boots for the big game ahead. In the event, a game did take place that night, but not against the Brazilians. Presumably they had been too scared to show their faces against the English! So we ended up playing a game between all the budget players, for about two hours. Everyone played brilliantly. The best moment for David was when he looped in an outswinging corner form the right that Ollie met head on, and bulleted into the back of the bulging net.

Our last night on budget food was a treat. Barbecued sausages and jacket potatoes! Sounds basic, but a jacket potato is something we had been looking forward to for some time. We washed our last plastic plates, and began to say our goodbyes to the group.

There was to be no farewell night out for us, as Trevor was due to leave at 4am the following morning. So we sat up with Ollie and Hannah, playing table games, and watching the amusing DVD souvenir of our Iguazu falls speedboat experience. When it was time for bed, the others were packing to go. We were smug to be getting into bed for a nice long sleep, but were very sad to say goodbye to our friends.

The next day we woke up late, and went to book our helicopter ride over the falls. Our heads clear of budget nonsense, and our hearts free; we had no regrets. No sooner had we shut the helicopter door than the thing shot directly up towards the sky, and began its scenic journey. The ride was a short, but memorable look at the amazing falls from above, and also our first time in a chopper. After that, we entered the grounds of the national park, riding by bus through the rainforest to the main attraction. The view of the ´Devil´s Throat´ from the Brazilian side was stupendous, and it was breathtaking to see all the falls in one view; the main benefit of seeing them in Brazil.

Next, we were off to Sao Paulo, the third biggest metropolis in the world; seventeen million, all told. We had planned to meet up with a good friend of ours; Jeff from our China tour lives in this city. Sao Paulo is not a particularly touristed city, and it pays to know someone here. Hugely multicultural, and vast in size, it was hard for us to grasp true Brazilian culture here, especially as we didn't speak Portuguese! Also, the streets were dangerous at night, which meant we had to take taxis everywhere (expensive!). We were delighted to finally make plans to meet our friend, in the city park. This park contained an interesting Afro-Brazil museum, and a gallery of modern art, as well as a beautiful lake and a company renting every kind of bicycle imaginable. We had coffee here, before Jeff took us to his local driving range to sample one of his favourite activities. After smacking a few balls, and lots of thin air, he took us to a blinding Brazilian barbecue. This is what you do: First order drinks, we had the brazilian classic Caiparinha, made on a trolley beside our table. Then you can help yourself to the buffet, and what a spread it was too; sushi, salad, olives, vegetables, salmon etc. Then waiters come round with various cuts and kinds of meat, sizzling and glistening on skewers, and carve it onto your plate: Steaks, spicy sausages, chicken hearts and lamb were our favourites. We were stuffed. We continued the night with a few drinks, talking the night away in a classy bar. We picked Jeff's brains on Brazilian culture and the tricky Portuguese language.

The next day we were outta there, and on a bus to the seaside paradise of paraty. Arriving late, we luckily found a simple room in a pretty hostel. Paraty's cobbled streets gave it an instant charm. The people who lived and worked there all seemed to appreciate this as much as the tourists. Locals smiled and waved as you passed their shops and cafes, and the pretty houses with colourful window frames and doors were so well looked after, that the place was literally picture perfect. Days were easily spent browsing artisan shops and eating ice-cream, and evenings passed by from quaint restaurants with live Jazz or Blues music. We began to spend money with ease and enjoyment, throwing all budgets to the wind for our last jaunt before home.

Our favourite day was when we took a private boat cruise around the nearby islands. Promenading up and down the harbour, we surveyed all the smaller vessels and their respective captains. There were so many pretty boats, and we finally settled on the ''Sol de Verao'', manned by Vagner, an affable young man who made our day absolutely memorable. We left port under the bluer-than-blue sky, on an amazingly perfect day. Moments later, we were lying back (just the two of us) on the roof of the boat. The sun glinted iridescently on the water; the mountainous islands looming majestically behind. It was total and utter romantic bliss and we were delighted to have found our last paradise. The day was broken up by a tasty lunch of fish (and cashew juice!), and a bit of snorkelling. Also, Vagner helped us with our Portuguese and made friends with us. We arrived back as the sun was setting, feeling fully gratified, and thereafter helped ourselves to a delicious ice-cream. We later dined in a charming restaurant where we enjoyed more great fish. An excellent day.

After three beautiful days in Paraty, we headed for the resort of Trinidade. With an altogether different vibe; beachy and laid-back, it was a great place to spend a day or two. After our time was done here, we took a bus to Rio, for five action-packed days. We were intending to finish our trip with a flourish!

Travelling in another plush bus with leg room and reclining seats, we were excited about arriving at our Copacabana hostel 'Stone of a Beach'. So, with a base in place, we headed straight to the famous beach for a spot of sun, and a lot of people-watching. Rio is full of posers, and they have plenty to pose about with their superfit bodies in dare-to-bare bikinis.

The next day we got haircuts. The lady did a lovely job with Louise, but she proceeded to butcher David's barnet. He has spent the whole year growing it, and she ended up taking it right back to square one. We were fuming, and had to cheer ourselves up with a visit to the artisan area of Santa Terresa, where we wandered in and out of the cool shops.

Next day, we headed out on a tour of the city's slums, known as the favellas. This unfortunately required us to get on the back of one last motorbike to travel to the top. Weaving in and out between buses and cars round the bends on this hill was hairy, to say the least. Arriving in a city within a city, we learned from our guide how the drug gang runs the place, self-policing from inside the favella. Their lookout crew guarded the entrance with guns, on watch for rival gang members. We stopped to see the gallery of some local artists, and to buy doughnuts from the bakery. Some boys played to us rhythms in a junk percussion band, and we bought some cool bracelets made from telephone wire from some other kids. Flip-flops were a bad idea, as the streets were constantly flowing with water, and litter and sewage were omnipresent. A visit to the local day-care centre completed the morning. We feel strongly that this community deserves recognition and funding, both of which this tour provided. We think that it's a shame so many people are critical of the idea of visiting this important part of Rio's culture and identity.

That night, we treated ourselves to a visit to the Maracana stadium. We arrived early at the world's largest football arena (the superlative still holds despite massive downsizing; the ground used to hold almost two hundred thousand fans). After having a quick beer in the home fan's bar outside, and learning the relevant songs from the Botafogo fans, we entered the mighty Maracana. Botafogo were entertaining Sao Paulo outfit, Corinthians. Although the match's profile did not rank up there with a Rio derby game, it was never-the-less an electric atmosphere. Samba drums boombed out, huge flags were waved with vigour, and chants and songs were delivered unrelentingly. In the event it was a rather one-sided affair, with 'Fogo' wining 3-1 at a canter. All the same, it was great to watch Brazilian domestic football, and in such an impressive venue.

The Christ statue was next on the cards, and we joined a tour, taking in magnificent Rio vistas, before heading to the big guy himself. This world famous site, the last big landmark of our tour was really cool, and the harbour and city views were great from here too. We took in Selaron's steps, an ever-changing artwork of tiles from all over the world. Selaron, the artist, is a resident of this street, his home mid-way up this most awe-inspiring public stairway. It was a really interesting spectacle; each tile an artwork in itself, framed by fragments of red, green and yellow to reflect the colours of the Brazil flag. We then spent the remainder of the daylight on the exquisite Ipanema beach with two friends from our hostel, Freda and Az. That night, we were expected at Budget's Rio hotel to collect the rest of our stuff, and reunite with Ollie and Hannah. After all the tasks were dealt with, we met up with everyone for a last budget group meal, and yes, the paying of the bill was a nightmare, yet again. We then moved onto a very classy samba club with three spacious floors adorned with all manner of fine decor and antique items. It was really quite impressive. A live band played, while the punters moved in time to the samba beat. At 'very late' o'clock, we jumped in a taxi home.

With Ollie in tow, we set off to handglide over Rio the next day. This was one of the best adventurous activities of the trip. The instructor first practised the run up with us, before strapping us into the contraption. Then after a count of three, we had to run really fast off the platform. The glider plummeted for a moment, before rising back up again, and flying like a bird over incredible city views, and out to sea. The landing was exciting, as we glided low across the water, and felt like we might get our feet wet. However, the skilled instructor was able to land us softly on the sand. A great buzz.

We later met up with Ollie and Hannah. After watching a bit of Capoeira (the Brazilian dancing-style martial art), we took our pals to one of the fantasic Brazilian barbecues nearby. Despite our friends informing us beforehand that they 'weren't really hungry' each and every one of us ate our own body-weight in food, until we could hardly move. After dinner, we went to check out the regular friday night street party that was in progress in Lapa that evening. It was a cultural experience, the streets packed with locals drinking and socialising, with music pumping out of the surrounding venues. The only down-side was that we were unable to fit any beer in after our meat binge. We went back to the hostel to round off our last evening together with a night-cap.

So our last day was upon us, and unfortunately it began with a hangover (for Louise anyway). We set off to honour the appointment she had made at the coiffeur for a national rite of passage - The Brazillian Wax! Not nearly as painful as she had expected, she headed straight to the beach to show it off and catch some last moments of sun, sea and sand before the off. David spent the afternoon in the hairdressers, trying to rectify his embarrasing mullet. Reunited on Copacabana, we settled up at the hostel (our last checkout), loaded our extreme volume of belongings into a taxi, and waved goodbye to our friends. Filled with excitement about home, we prepared ourselves for the journey and the reverse culture shock awaiting us.

One more blog to go!

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Photos

Louise looks out to sea
On the beach in Trindade

Comments

[june&graham]

A taste of Brazil
You certainly covered it all from Falls to Footy and Whirly-birds to Waxing.....phew! Can't wait for the final blog. xx