sun sand and the postage stamp bikini

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Well i have to say after my rather unfortunate start to this expedition things have begun to take a turn for the better. I last left you somewhat tired after a rather gruelling trip to Rio, although i have to say that having arrived it was definately worth it. What can i say about Rio, as you fly in you see a sprawling city, surrounded by mountains, it even has mountains in the middle of the city with the houses just lapping up against the sides. The mountains are beautiful, the beaches are beautiful, the women are beautiful in fact all round it is a pretty attractive place.

Having recovered from my journey with dinner and a particularly well earned rest i went out sight seeing. I ended up heading out with a german guy from the hostel called gary (presumably he was trying to help the poor english bloke by not burdening me with his real name which was probably gartenheisenburgen or some such). However he did have the distinct advantage of speaking spanish, admittedly people in brazil speak portuguese but it was still a step up from my english. Basically travelling around rio is just a matter of following the coast so it's pretty easy. We headed downtown where they have easily the coolest cathedral i have ever seen. It was built in the 70's and is basically a concrete cone with the top chopped off and air vents all the way up it. A bit like a dalek without the sink plunger coming out of it's head. Inside there is room for 20000 people, the only adornment is a cross hanging from the ceiling and four, floor to ceiling, stained glass windows of some crazy modern art style surrealist christian scene. Absolutely fantastic St Peters could learn a lot.

We also headed up to Santa Theresa a district with huge mansions on the top of a hill and great views out over the city. You can go up on a street car that dates from the turn of the last century and hasn't had any upgrades since. However you only have to pay if you sit inside so like most of the locals i went for the hanging off the side option. Definately the way forward! Having chilled out up there for the afternoon we needed to head over to the corcavado, (the famous statue of christ looking out over the city) now this should have been a relatively straight forward thing, allegedly we could take a streetcar most of the way, however in the manner of most of my travel so far the streetcar wasn't running there. We never quite found out why although we did have a 30 minute conversation with a local on the subject, or more precisely gary spoke broken spanish to a guy that couldn't understand him and he couldn't understand the replies, for 30 minutes the upshot of which was (after this guy had very helpfully spoken to a couple of cab drivers for us) we could take 2 buses and a train, or we could hire a taxi for 100 real. This seemed quite a lot to us as a bus journey anywhere in the city cost less than 2 real. However with communication not in our favour our options seemed limited. But then enter Carlos from spain. Oh yes while we were debating the merits of the taxi a tall hispanic looking guy with a ridiculous goaty was arguing with another driver. Carlos spoke broken english perfect spanish and most impressively of all passable portuguese. Having communicated to us that he wanted to go to the Christo by spreading his arms wide and simply saying Christo our bargaining power suddenly increased. It seems that he had been offered a taxi for 50 real however if we went with him that went up to 40 each i.e 120. This did include the taxi waiting for us for 1 hour and bringing us home. The issue other than the cost was that we wanted to stay until sunset for the view and photo´s so really only wanted to get a cab there. How we would get home again afterwards was an issue for worrying about later. While Carlos argued with the taxi driver quite vociferously in portuguese, with the occasional break to tell us how things were progressing, Gary started asking another local what the best option was. She favoured the 2 buses and a train option saying that the taxi was overcharging us, something that hadn´t slipped our attention. At this point our original advisor began arguing with our new advisor in portuguese presumably about what our best way of getting there was. Carlos was arguing with a taxi driver and Gary was running between the two arguments attempting to keep each up to date with the latest taxi price. I just kind of sat on the bench watching it all thinking what hard work it would be to arrange all this by myself, and occasionally rejecting the latest price we had been given as too expensive. I did ask how much just to get a cab there but no one seemed to be taking much notice. Eventually Carlos got the drift of the just go one way argument although he was a bit concerned about how to get back i assured him there would be loads of people there and it couldn´t be that hard. Although somewhat unconvinced he managed to get a cab one way for just 45 real including our entrance fee to the statue.

The view from Corcavado is absolutely amazing. As you look out over the city all the suburbs and landmarks can be put into perspective and orientation. Sugar loaf looks great with the Botafoga beach curving towards it. Copacabana and Ipanema stretch around one half of the coast and the north of rio sprawls out around its hills with the massive macarana stadium in its centre. (i really wanted to see a football match there but they only played on sundays so i couldn´t) You can also see the favello´s or slums hidden from the south of the city behind some mountains and the difference between the rising hotel blocks by the coast and the dwellings in the slums is quite stark. Unfortunately our plan to watch the sunset was slightly foiled by a bunch of clouds and rain in the direction of the sun making it the dullest sunset ever, but at least the thought was there.

Rio is not the cheapest of places in south america, not that it is expensive by london standards, however as a man on a budget of $30 a day it is quite tough. Accomodation costs $18 for a dormitory bed in a hostel which by south american standards is scandalous, meaning that after accomodation and a bit of sightseeing i can just about afford to breathe. There are a lot of restaurants here that are self serve buffets, with lots of great dishes and you just help yourself to what you want. You pay by the kilo basically they weigh your plate and charge you accordingly. The food is very good but those that know my eating habits are likely to see the flaw in this plan. Fortunately by the second evening i remembered that when being shown around the hostel in a travel weary blur there was a kitchen so found where the supermarket was. Fillet steak is about $5 a Kilo and vegetables are next to free. All of a sudden food didn't seem to be such a problem anymore. Now you would think that with all that new world wine being produced a decent bottle of red to wash down your half Kilo of steak wouldn't be a problem. Apparently my friends this is not the case a bottle of chillean or argentinean wine is more expensive in Rio than it is in London (presumably the roads between the countries are that bad!) However fortunately a 965ml bottle (don't ask me that's clearly what you get if you are colonised by the portuguese) of CaÇacha costs about $2 and limes cost 50 cents a kilo now if i'm not mistaken that makes it caiphirinia o'clock.

Rio is however at it´s best when strolling along the beach. The brazillians are fitness fanatics and consequently many a lithe and toned body can be found taking in the sun. Having spent so much effort on getting themselves into shape the brazillians appear intent on showing as much of it off as possible, God bless the postage stamp bikini! Now given that Rio has more than it´s fair share of incredibly attractive women I can only suggest that this is a perfectly reasonable habit and long should it continue. It does become clearer however why the women need to be kempt in such a manner as to be, well, brazillian!!! Tatoo´s also seem to be the rage, my favourite was to be found on the small of the back of a particularly lovely girl and read simply ´Made in Brazil´ I did wonder why it was in english rather than portuguese but it would have been churlish to complain.

Beach volleyball has been taken to a completely new level. Mostly played by guys to my distinct disappointment! They don´t use there hands. They serve with their feet and could only use there feet, chest and heads. The rallies were absolutely incredible the control they had chesting the ball for a set or desperately overhead kicking it to keep the point alive was unbelievable. New rules for picnic volleyball when i get back!!

After 3 nights in Rio i headed up the coast to Angros Dos Reis to catch a ferry to Ilha Grande. An incredibly beautiful island covered in forested hills with beautiful sandy beaches. However upon arrival at angros it started to rain, not your i´ll just drizzle a bit kind of british rain, but proper your in the tropics now i´m going to piss it down rain. I was walking along what would have formerly been called the main street but now resembled an elongate lake, ironically shopping for a sunhat as i had got a bit sunburnt the day before. Luckily the rain just drops the temperature from the high 30´s to the low 30´s so is still quite pleasant apart from the distinctly dampening property it possesses. 90 minutes of fruitless wandering around later and feeling pretty wet but secretly pleased about the last minute purchase of a waterproof liner for my bag i got on the ferry. An hour and a half later i got off at the main port on Ihla Grande and the weather hadn´t changed. The tourist information office was closed and all the paths, road would be an outrageous exagerration on the island, were raging rivers about a foot deep. Waterproof boots are of little use when they are underwater. I headed for the nearest campsite, which fortunately was at the top of a hill, it was run by 3 girls that spoke absolutely no english and my portuguese didn´t go any further than hello and thankyou. The longest coversation we had in 3 days was me saying ´the island is beautiful´ and one of the girls replying ´yes very beautiful´ i only knew the words for island and beautiful because they are the names of places i wanted to visit.

Surveying the campsite on arrival it was flat and sandy and mostly underwater except for a high spot in the middle. Luckily that spot was under the sun shade which was well enough made to keep most of the rain off. I pitched there and one of the girls dug a little trench around it with some kind of gardening hoe, towards a drain to stop water getting to my tent. Having set up i went for a little explore thinking the weather must improve quite soon. The main harbour is quite picturesque with a lot of very deserted restaurants and bars. Ihla Grande only gets busy at weekends the rest of the time it is very quiet. This was friday night so the hordes should have been descending, however with the weather that wasn´t really happening. I decided it must be lovely in the dry and gave up, returning to my tent.

The rain didn´t stop until 9 o´clock the next morning by which time i was beginning to wonder whether it was worth coming. Then the sun came out and it was gorgeous. Tracks head all over the island so i went for a wander to a beach about 2 hours away. It was a pleasant walk and idyllic beach so chilled for a bit had some food and then wondered what to do. Lying on a beach isn´t really me so when i saw a sign for a track to the next beach I thought it would be nice to walk a bit more. Now the sign did say 3 hours but that was going to be for unfit people wearing flip-flops not for people like me with proper walking sandals. The sign also said only take this route with a local guide, but that was for american tourists not people like me that wandered through rain forest all the time??? So despite the fact that i knew if i went to this beach i would be at least 4 hours from where i was staying and that by the time i reached it (assuming that it would take me no more than 2 hours) it would be dark before i could get back, off i went. Well obviously i had brought a torch with me so what could possibly go wrong. Soon after setting off it became apparent that people didn´t frequent this path that much. I could tell that by the number of vines and creepers that seemed to have grown across the path, and the way i had to kind of push plants out of the way to follow it. I did wonder whether swimming shorts and sandals were the perfect attire for forcing routes through rain forest especially after going through a stand of particularly scratchy shrubs, but as anyone will tell you having an adventure is all about the story and the beach i was going to was suppose to be particularly nice. As i wandered along i was getting quite into the sounds of the forest, insects buzzing and birds calling is very soothing. The forest was cooler than the beach as well so things were pretty good. Every now and again something beside the path would scuttle away making an absolute racket, but i could never see one, then one ran into the path it was a lizard about 3 foot long. They are the clumsiest things when they try to run and just kind of bounce off things in their way. Other than that though there didn´t seem to be very much wildlife around. After about 90 minutes i became convinced that i must be almost there. It really couldn´t be much further after all i was walking pretty quickly for someone pushing there way through vines and stuff. After about 2 and a half hours i eventually stumbled out onto the beach which was lovely in a way very similar to the beach i had been on before was lovely, except this was more remote and absolutely no one else but me was there. Of course by the time i had had a quick swim and finished off my food i had to leave if i was to make it back to the first beach before it got dark. This was essential as i didn´t really fancy being in overgrown jungle after dark so off i rushed. Luckily i made it back to the first beach just as the sunset was fading, my proper walking sandals had been rubbing my big toes so i had a quick walk through the surf to cool my feet off before heading into the gathering gloom. From this beach home the path was much easier and a lighter colour so distinguishable from the dark forest even though it was getting dark so i didn´t bother using my torch. After about 10 minutes i started seeing flashes of light, fireflies were just starting to light at the edge of the forest and along the path which meant i could just follow the flashes. This with the forest sounds was really cool and so i just strolled along happily thinking what a cool way to explore an island. Eventually it became pitch dark so i put my head torch on. Then i could see the multitude of insects that couldn´t be seen just by my night vision. I could also see the bats swooping down to feed on them which was really cool although did remind me of the story in the metro just before i left saying that thousands of people had died in brasil due to being bitten by rabid bats. I´m sure that was on the mainland though so couldn´t be a problem here. I finally staggered homeabout 10 o´clock 2 hours after dark having spent about 1 hour in total at the beach and about 8 and a half hours walking to them, a perfect day out!!

The next day i decided to have an easy one so after buying a fish from a local fisherman at the harbour and taking it with some ingredients for dinner back to the camp site i set off on a boat to cruise around the island to several beaches. From the sea the island is particularly beautiful as forested hills extend down to the sea surrounding beautiful beaches. Seabirds with long angular wings soar on the air currents in a particularly pteradactyl like fashion making the whole place seem like some prehistoric paradise. It was a tough day i had to sit on a boat full of good looking women as it made its way around a beautiful island. Every now and then we would stop somewhere to go snorkelling or sunbathe on a beautiful beach. The crew fed us exotic fruits and cold beer, and then took us back home again. By the end of the day i had spent about 6 hours cruising arounds the island, lying on the beach and swimming in the water and about 10 minutes walking and thought what a perfect day out!!!

Especially for Dale a special feature, recipes from travelling south america. Today fried snapper with lime served with tomato salsa, rice and beans.

This recipe takes a whole day so ensure you have very little to do.

Firstly take a leisurely stroll to the harbour to buy your snapper. Do attempt to practice your spanish on an old fisherman with only 3 peg teeth in his mouth that only speaks portuguese, as its less rude than speaking english. When discerning that the fish costs 5 real per Kilo and asking for una do act surprised when he puts several in a bag. After correcting him do look a little sorry when he says ´un pescado, una real´ with a slightly disconsolate voice, but secretly think how cool it is to be able to stroll down the road to the harbour and buy a really fresh fish for dinner for 25p. Also collect some ripe tomatoes, onions, chillies, cucumber, ripe mango and limes from the local market.

Upon returning home do put your beans in to soak before heading off for a cruise around your paradise island.

When it is time to cook drain the beans and put in boiling water with rice for 15 minutes. Don´t cook with salt as it will toughen the beans add before serving, however do wonder why the only salt you could buy in the supermarket comes mixed with monosodium glutamate, the only artificial additive to the entire meal.

Next fillet your fish with the new leatherman that the chaps at work kindly gave you as a leaving present. Do be careful while doing this as new leatherman blades are very sharp and it would be incrdibly easy to slice a good portion of the side of your thumb off at this point if your not. This will make squeezing the limes a lot harder and more painful than is required.

Stir the rice and beans before washing tomatoes, cucumber, and mango. medium dice the tomato, discarding seeds, cucumber discarding seeds and mango. Add some finely chopped chilli and lime juice. If your paradise island happens to support the production of coriander leaf then feel free to add this to the salsa. Leave this to stand while frying the fish.

Simply heat a pan with a little oil to a high heat. Fry skin side down for 2 minutes and turn for about 1 minute depending on the size of the fillet.

Serve the 2 fillets crossed, with plenty of salsa and accompany with rice and beans. Garnish with any appropriate herbs.


More tales from the green coast and iguassu falls next time

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Photos

sugar loaf mountain and archipelago
view of sugar loaf mountain, botafoga beach and the archipelago in the background from christ the redeemer

isla grande boat trip
view from boat when sailing around isla grande

Christ the redeemer
largest art deco statue in the world and probably the most famous.

rio cathedral
Coolest cathedral ever, inside is just a couple of stained glass windows and an altar. oh and room for 20000 people

great light through the clouds
taken from christ the redeemer

cool sand castle
copacabana beach

my tent under sun shade
arrived at isla grande and it poured with rain only dry place under the sun shade.

path to the beach through the jungle
This was a good bit of path. looking back from where i have just come.

parrots peak isla grande

Comments

[Chris]

Too Chilled
Hmm - "the mountains are beautiful, the beaches are beautiful, the women are beautiful in fact all round it is a pretty attractive place". This all sounds way too holiday-like. I think you need more of a challenge to keep you sharp. Now, on route to/from this remote beach you encountered some bats. And I know you like cooking. Alex, getting served fried snapper which someone else has hunted is beneath you. Thus, your mission, should you choose to accept it.. a lovely bat-dish, caught and prepared by your own fair hands. Think of it as a temporary substitute for the wild boar. I expect to hear about it next time. By the way - I don't have your email. Can you send it round? Cheers man. Enjoy!