Blogs from Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 2

Rio Carnaval 2013 - Part one We start our trip with a week in Rio de Janeiro at the time of Carnaval, a immense festival of colour, music and general indulgence before the start of lent. Really a visit to Rio during Carnaval should come with a note of caution - if you value your sleep, are averse to large raucous crowds or are in anyway claustrophobic - Carnaval is not for you! We arrive in Rio late in the evening, after our first sweaty, meagre nights sleep we arise with one thing in mind - the beach! Rio is famed for its miles of sandy beaches and striking views (girls with big butts and tiny g-strings) so we thought what better way to start our stay than with a trip to Ipanema, the next beach ... read more

As far as going out went on Saturday night, our prematch nap may have continued through to the morning, so we woke up fresh and ready to hit the beach. There´s a fine line between being tanned and being frazzled, but in our case there was no doubt we were the latter. Thinking it was cloudy and that clouds didn´t have the ability to move (and the fact that we´re English), we ventured out to Copacabana with no sun cream and paid a price we are still feeling today. Copacabana is a five kilometre stretch of unrelenting sunbaked sand filled with the upper echelons of beauty. The sea, while clogged with a bit of rubbish and sewage here and there, is a warmish temperature. It´s quite nice. That paved the way for the favela funk party ... read more

Ok, last ever blog from a grey, glum-looking Rio. The sun has barely shone here, but the beautiful Costa Verde coast has definitely made up for it. Looking forward to seeing everyone at Christmas and glad to see the back of our backpacks, grimey hostels and SA scumbags, but we'll definitely miss this way of life! 09/12/11- After publishing our last blog in Paraty, we returned to the pousada for crackers and a poolside beer before catching a minibus to Penha village. We were dropped off next to a church perched on top of a massive boulder, and walked down to an even bigger boulder in the river, creating a crazy natural water slide! Lunatics sometimes surf down this monstrous rock (there's even an annual world cup!), but we only saw people sliding down it. Olie ... read more

Today we had our first day free all on our own and it was a gorgeou day so we decided just to chill out at the beach. Dan was sick in bed all day which really suck. Allie and I headed straight to the beach and Trav and El went via the shopping mall first. They said the mall was pretty cool and El bought a few lil things like a singlet and a t0-shirt to replace the few she has lost on the trip! ( I'd like to point out that I hve officilly lost nothing!!!!! - shock horror I know!) We were planning on meeting up at the beach but never saw them the whole day. So the 4 of us hung out seperately at the beach all day. The sun over here is ... read more

Pierwsze dwa dni w Rio byly dla mnie udreka! Po tygodniu w slonecznym, radosnym tygodniu w rytmie bebnow wyladowalismy w szarym i deszczowym Rio, gdzie ani widu ani slychu Karnawalu, zero przygotowan (jak w Salvadorze) nic a nic. Z Salvadoru zlapalismy samolot bo okazal sie tanszy niz bylby bus. Coz za cudowne uczucie leciec, ahhh. Po ponad dwoch miesiacach tulaczki z miejsca na miejsce busami odwyklam od tego wynalazku! Wsiedlismy do samolotu, usadowilam sie w siedzeniu, podziwialam widoki przez chwile - jak to zwykle bywa w busie - po czym poczulam znuzenie! Oczy sie zamknely na dobre i zapadlam w slodki sen na siedzaco - jak to bywa w busie. Po chwili otworzylam oczy szykujac sie na zmiane pozycji zeby zniwelowac zdretwiale poslady a tu nagle okazalo sie, ze to juz...jestesmy w Rio!!!! Wow, dzieki za ... read more