Arriving late at night I saw very little of the Belem and definitely saw no mango trees. The mangoes in the market are huge but there are few trees to be seen even in daylight. The taxi woman who went thru all the red lights drove at break neck speed. I thought she was in a hurry to get back to the airport to meet another flight. Have since discovered everyone drives fast. The Hotel Itoaca is a quite a few wrungs below the one I had left behind in Brasilia. It is clean and the people are friendly. The towels and sheets are reasonable new. The elevator works and there is air conditioning in the room. A restaurant attached to the hotel and next door serves breakfast, lunch (buffet/kilo) and dinner a la carte. The ... read more

From the bus station by taxi to the Icarai Hotel in Niteroi, across the bay over the 13km bridge, the cost was R$55. I enjoyed myself at the hotel. The restaurant food was good. The breakfast was tasty. The coffee was OK until milk was put into it. Bus number 33 to the ferry stopped at the corner. Bus costs R$1.90 and can be paid in cash. The ferry cost R$2.40 per ride. In the Metro one ride was also over R$2.00. The Metro was a bit of a disappointment ... it was a far walk to find one and a far walk to get somewhere when leaving the station. Connecting with the bus routes is an important and necessary piece of information. The travelling back and forth was easy. What made it difficult was ... read more

Paraty & Jabaquara Campground, January 25 to 30, 2008 Visiting the Pantanal was scraped because of … wait for it … too many mosquitoes! Turns out the hidden agenda was a six day stay at Jabaquara Campground. This place is situated along Jabaquara Beach. People walk out from the town to sit by the water. There is no surf to speak of. The beach sand is not free of beer bottle caps and other refuse ... would not lie here or walk barefoot. Paraty is an old, pleasing town on the Atlantic coast, four hours from Rio and closer to Sao Paulo. Its importance was great when gold was discovered in Ouro Preto. The Golden Trail is a stone pathway into the mountains thatwas used by mule trains and slaves to get to the gold fields. ... read more

Too much intake ... not enough elimination. One theory was a 24 hour bug ... NO. Another theory was food poisoning ... NO. And I do not get diahrrea! Have never ever been so out of control of my bodily functions. Because La Jefa was taking forever to find a place for the group to sleep, it was the weekend , S.A. holidays in January and February ... school vacations don't you know. I was forced by an exploding system, to seek refuge in the nearest hotel. Too bad it was the one that cost $75/day ... that's dollars! Because I was in such distress I deserved the plush robes, 500 thread egyptian cotton sheets and room service. Did not even turn on the TV. Good thing the posh hotel had a toilet and a bidet. ... read more

Iguzu can be found at the northern tip of Argentina in the state of Misiones where it borders Brasil. The two countries share the distinction of having within their states the most magnificent phenomenon. Whereas Niagara Falls was caused by the weight of ice depressing the earth and causing an escarpment, Iguazu Falls had much more violent origins. Caused a volcanic eruption which left a large crack in the earth, the waters of the River Iguazu hurtle over the edge causing a display greater in magnificence than Niagara. The sound of crashing waters, the power of the roiling successions of tonnes of liquid, the height of the underlying basalt rock formations and width of 3M make Iguazu Falls an experience that can only be termed transindental ... very Nietzsche … The bus ride from Posadas was ... read more