http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from South America , Brazil , Rio de Janeiro en-us Thu, 20 Jun 2013 08:12:12 +0000 Thu, 20 Jun 2013 08:12:12 +0000 Rio Trip TourRio de Janeiro The Marvelous City is the historical political and cultural center of Brazil the largest and most populated country in South America ... http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Mangaratiba/blog-791711.html Hi everyoneIt39s a sad day for us. Ali has left for England today. So the 39rio gals39 are minus one member. Something I have learnt from my gap year is that I don39t naturally embrace change well and that39s no bad thing as now I can recognise and deal with it. BUT it doesn39t stop me being sad that our trip here is coming to an end and that our amazing gal has left. Rach and http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-789689.html Hey We went out to dinner a couple of days ago with Alison39s neighbour who is the same age as us her name is Anna. Her friends who we have met before were also there. We all get on really well Rach and I have been running along the beach a lot as well I have now run 8km three times this week Erm... Wow... and when we get to the end of the beach there is a huge rock over looking the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-788360.html Rio was good very good just as well as this 7 days is the longest we have ever stayed in any one place. We were a little worried at sharing a room in a large apartment with the owner along with the comings an goings of relatives and friends etc. but need not have been we were made very welcome and very much left to ourselves to come and go as we pleased. There are certainly some fringe benef http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Copacabana/blog-786359.html Friday 10th may we arrived in Angra dos Reis. Little town famous for its many islands Ilha grande is the biggest. It took us 4 hours to get there by bus and taxi 150km.Nature is amazing over here but the people are not really our cup of tea having a tattoo is almost standard and the smiling friendly brazilians are rare.... Also the prices are out of proportion especially when they notice you http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ilha-Grande/blog-785633.html Hey We went to a wedding last night it was beautiful. Although someone fainted during the ceremony. Ouch. But the bride didnt notice so that was good. The after party was gorgeous and the food was delicious They had so many chocolate tables which were just full of all these different types of white dark and milk small decorated choccysss Yummy I wore one of alis dresses which was s http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-785630.html Luggage suprisingly arrivedIn the mean time we bought some basic stuff. Hardest thing was to find a 39normal39 bikini as they all wear strings over here also the people above 90 years old. We bought an Ipanema Bum Bum and bum bum stands for ass.Hereby some first impressions of Rio.CultureThey say that to know a country you should experience the culture. So we decided to taste beers It http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Tijuca/blog-784921.html Second day in Rio. Nice weather crowded and not like in the books We do not advise to travel via Atlanta to Rio 25 hours travelling. Arriving in Atlanta we had to wait 2 hours to pass the customs IT problems and the airport was stuck totally. Hmmm IT Many people missed their connection....Then we arrived in Rio without luggage. Still waiting on it It should arrive today but that39 http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ipanema/blog-784404.html Hirach and I went out to a bar last night with some of the people from the favelathe boys who speak English and kind of 39supervise39 our lessons at the school. We had a lot of fun Their English is amazing and two of them are really good at street dancewe haven39t seen them dance yet I think they39re a bit shy but they have been elected to go to England for massive competitions http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-784231.html Sorry it39s been so long since we last bloggedIl start from when we went to Alison39s house in the hills. It is gorgeous It is almost like two houses in one. It can be a very summery bright almost villa like house and it can also be cosy and warmespecially with the log fire going Cadu and Alison were kind enough to let us both ride one of their horses. It was soooo much fun oh how http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-784063.html OK another rapid fire blog post I39ve really been slackin39 on my blog posts and since we only have three weeks left on this trip so I figured I had better get my last very wordy post about our trip cranked out so Sky can start working on our final blog post for our tripPuerto Natales ChileAfter spending a couple of days back in Ushuaia getting my whits about me after Antarctica Sky a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Copacabana/blog-783299.html Hi everyoneRach and I have now been in rio for five days and we are LOVING IT. Absolutely loving it. Dad mama why do u not visit Alison more often Granny spoons I can see why u and grandpa have made many ventures out hereAlison39s house is beautiful Rach Alison and I have nicknamed ourselves the 39rio gals39 that39s gals NOT girls anddd cadu is not involved because he is no http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-782098.html After catching a surprisingly cheap flight from Iguazu to Rio de Janeiro it was time to get ready for the biggest party in the world Carnival. I met Tamara and the other people we39d be sharing our rented apartment with a few days before the official festivities kicked off but there was already a party atmosphere in the air and the streets.Our apartment was nice and extremely well located http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-781909.html Machu Picchu exceeded our expectations because of its amazing isolated location and the extent of the Inca ruins. It was a spectacular delight archaeologically and geographically when you consider the Incas so many centuries ago selecting such a remote steep and jungle covered terrain to build such a huge community. The trek up to the Sun gate was an hour39s slog in drizzle and mist and the http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ipanema/blog-781711.html We finally made it to RioIt was a slightly delayed journey from Ilha Grande due to lots of landslips but eventually we pulled up outside the hotel you can see Christ the Redeemer on the mountain as you are driving into Rio it39s a pretty stunning setting.It was cloudy and threatening rain when we arrived but we headed out with Neil on a bit of a walking tour of the city. We took the metr http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/blog-780917.html We reached Ihla Grande by a relatively short bus journey and 1h on the ferry.I was surprised that it was actually quite a big island although only has one small village which is pretty laid back with palm trees and sandstrewn streets. There are some pretty big forested mountains through the centre of the island. We stayed in a nice little hostel place it was my turn for the double bed so my http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ilha-Grande/blog-780825.html The second night in Iguassu we went to Mega Pizza for dinner it was pretty amazing all you can eat pizza in lots of different flavours brought round by the waiters and they even had dessert pizza which was a bit of a revelation I had chocolate and strawberry chocolate and coconut banana and pineapple Not sure of my total number of slices but I was pretty full at the endParaty was the ne http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Paraty/blog-779995.html This blog entry chronicles the last day and a half I spent in Rio by myself before flying back out to London. It also gives me a vehicle to show off some more of the photos I took in the this stunningly scenic city....The name of company taking me from Paraty back to Rio was called easytransferbrazil.com but in reality it was anything but.Again it all started well one of four people in a massiv http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Rio-de-Janeiro/Botafogo/blog-777554.html In arranging our transfer from Ilha Grande to Paraty Sag was told one price by the tourist agent before being told another price upon payment. The price difference was relatively meagre but he refused to pay the new price out of principle which I suppose is fair enough.Which is how we ended up on the public transportation to Paraty.It was a stinking hot day and I was hungover as fck a familiar http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Paraty/blog-777530.html 11th MarchWe got picked up from our hostel in Botafogo between 11am12pm by the transfer company we had booked online with Easy Transfer Brazil . It felt good to leave Nearly everyone in the van was from the UK or Europe it felt good to actually have a conversation with someone got chatting to a guy Matt who was actually staying in the same accommodation we had booked Studio Beach Hostel. Of http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Brazil/Rio-de-Janeiro/Ilha-Grande/blog-777517.html