Blogs from Botafogo, Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 6

Day 7 So the day started off very early from the night before, Craig and a few others went home and me, Jen, Kerri-Ann and Taryn went to lapa, a place where loads of people hang out, drink, dance, eat and take copious amounts of drugs. We walked up the hill to the outside of a club, bought some beer and started chatting to some locals. they were from a favala, seriously dodgy geezers! So we decided to head home t about 7:30am, it was light. These guys wanted pictures so we took some photos and jumped into a taxi. I grabbed the camera from the from my pocket and gave it back to Taryn and she went thats not my camera, its those guys from the favela, i had only stolen a camera from them! ... read more

Another good layin, h'm struggling to sleep in shared rooms but i think its just getting used to it! So we head down to Ipanema beach again in the afternoon and are harassed by loads of beach people selling stuff, i got a wicked Brasil flag towel/ sarong. Craig bought and tank top and some others bought tees and and a hammock. We watched the sun set before getting another bus back to the hostel. On arriving back at the hostel we decided to go to the bus terminal. What an experience! The stoned guy that works at reception told us to get bus 125, the bus was outside so 5 of us jumped on and headed to the Rodavario. After about half an hour we look out and we were in some really dodgy area. ... read more

Day 3 After waking at 2pm we decided we would head to the beach in Ipanema, we asked Michelle for the correct bus number, got showed and headed outside into the 34degree heat. The bus runs adjacent to our hostel so it was easy to flag the bus down, each bus has a driver and conductor with a turnstile but some buses only except swipe cards...so we failed with our first attempt to get the bus but the second one that came we paid 2rais and were on our way. We got off a little early in coca and wondered down the beach, the streets are lined with dancers singing and playing the drums etc. We get to Ipanema beach where we chilled for a bit, we then headed to an English bar Tom had read ... read more

Day 695 (22.02.09) Today was the day for us to experience all the colour, grandeur and true spectacle of the Carnaval in Rio as we had tickets to the main parade in the Sambadromo. But before we could make it out for the start at 9pm, we still had to drag ourselves out of bed following our previous Carnaval celebrations. Making it up for a spot of brekkie before falling back into bed for a couple of hours we eventually made it outside for a trip to the hippy market in Ipanema where amongst the local artists dsiplaying their work we found a guy whose work we fell in love with. After a while of debating whether we had room for yet another painting we went to ask the artist its cost. Unfortunately just as we ... read more

Day 1- 22nd Feb 7:30- Craig leaves Newport with family in tow, Tom leaves Leicester at 7:30. 9:30- Both meet at Terminal 5, Heathrow. Check in and say our goodbyes, no tears from the boys, which Tom was very impressed with! 12:00pm- Board the Boeing 777, seats 37 a and b. We are sitting on the runway for an hour waiting to take off, due to BA's incapacity to clean the aircraft in time for takeoff! 9:45pm- (Rio De Janeiro time)- Land at Rio International, manage to get through customs without any problems and our taxi man waiting with the board- TOM WALTON. Happy days, we are onto a winner here mate! 10:45pm- Still at Rio airport, there is huge issues with cash points. Hundreds of them but only a couple that had english translations, we ... read more