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Published: March 5th 2015
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Sarah: Man down! Nick has unfortunately been struck down by a tummy bug. After not much sleep we've spent this morning trying to rehydrate him so that we can get our bus to Paraty. It's touch and go at the moment but think we're going to go for it. I picked up some travel sick tablets that the pharmacist warned 'would cause extreme drowsiness', which was what I was going for and hopefully should do the trick for the 4-5 hour trip....
Anyway, we managed to fit a lot in in Rio. Tuesday's walking tour was a big success. We saw the tiled steps, the 'brutalist' cathedral (ugly on the outside, beautiful on the inside) and had a lot of history of Brasil and Rio explained, most of which involved 'this happened because the government lied / were corrupt / took all the money for themselves'. The locals and the government do not get on here! (Depending on political persuasion, feel free to insert British comparison here). When we were finished (9km - tired feet!) the tour guide pointed us in the direction of a good 'pay by the weight of your plate' restaurant, which was cheap and mega tasty,
and gave us a good opportunity to get some salad and veggies down our necks! We made our way back through central Rio, taking in more of the lively atmosphere. In the evening we went for some 'churrascos', where the waiters walk round with different hunks of meat on skewers and you turn your card green or red if you want a piece of their meat or not. The meat was really tasty and the Chilean wine gave us a taste of days to come!
The next day we set out to see Christ the Redeemer. We managed the local buses like pros (once we found the right bus stop and a local told us when we needed to get off, even though we didn't ask, I think the quandary was written all over our British winter faces!). We got the little train up to the top and took in the spectacular 360deg views. It felt pretty amazing being so close to something so iconic. However, the place was PACKED and we got a bit shuffled around and you have to watch that you don't trip over people lying on the ground trying to take photos of their partners
with arms outstretched in front of Christ or get whacked in the head by a waggling selfie-stick (I have two selfie sticks - use your bleeding arms!). Not our idea of a good time so we headed back down to get some lunch.
We were plied with leaflets for lunch when we got down, but headed up a little street nearby and stumbled across a vegetarian cafe - a very rare and welcome sight! We had the most amazing veggie, gluten free, lactose free lunch, which included something that looked and tasted just like chicken and sweetcorn pie, some veggie koftas, yummy lentils and all really beautifully presented - best meal so far.
Buoyed by our earlier 'success' on the buses we headed to the Jardim Botanicals on another local bus, with the anticipation that there may be toucans! It was the absolute highlight of Rio. The gardens were amazing and it was all so peaceful after the hustle and bustle of Rio and Christ earlier on in the day. We were on serious Toucan Watch, and on seeing some people with their eyes and cameras on the trees, we thought we might have done it. It was
no toucan but a wild monkey! Pretty good going. There was further success with more monkeys, some leaf-cutter ants, a bird that we thought was a statue, some pretty cute regular birds, lizards, turtles, however, the highlight was yet to come. A real-live-in-the-flesh hummingbird! It was one of the most amazing things I'd ever seen, and spotted by pure chance. It was feeding about 5 feet away from us, it's little wings beating so so fast and it was deep red in colour. Made me feel a bit emo! We took a nice walk back to the hostel around the lake, with a pitstop beer en route. It had been a long but eventful day - definitely the best so far.
The evening was a little soured by the onset of Nick's bug. I'm happy to report that since writing, Nick has made it out the room of his own accord and although not looking his best, I'm hoping we'll make it to Paraty without any dramas! xxx
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Jean Adams
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Recovery??
Poor Nick. Hope you're feeling much better now . Photos stunning - particularly the statue bird. Sounds wonderful. All love to both.