Chronicles: Part One

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Hi everyone! Ive decided to start a blog as the best way of keeping everyone back home up to date with whats going on with our travels. No doubt someone will one day publish these chronicles in the style of the Motorcycle Diaries.

First stop was Rio. Had a good few days wandering around the different areas of the city, enjoyable despite the fact that it did drizzle quite a lot. Walking down a deserted copacobana in the rain wasnt quite how I imagined it would be! When the sun did come out we managed to get to the beach for the obligatory capariniha in a coconut. Got some great views of Rio from Santa Teresa, and obviously from the Big Jesus, (Christ the Redeemer to be specific, but Im pretty sure there is only one big Jesus. The locals call him J force). Incidently the funniest moment of the trip so far occured when Martin repeatedly commented very loud about how cool the Moon looked behind J force. Having established that he wasnt joking it was left to me to tell him that he was looking at the Sun through a cloud.
The highlight in Rio for me was the nightlife. First night in the hostel was curry and pub quiz night. As appealing as that sounded we had travelled half way around the world and didnt fancy a glorified weatherspoons...so we went to an Irish bar instead. What can I say, we wanted to sample Brazilian culture. Following night one of the bar girls at the hostel told us about a party at a club in Leblon called House so we went along with a crowd from the hostel. It turned out to be a really cool little club, packed with locals which was interesting. Without doubt the loudest music I had heard in my life, which became more of a problem when I realised we were the only ones there not wearing ear plugs. Had a great night despite the permanent loss of hearing. Martins attempts to chat up girls who speak no english were a sight to behold. Probably benefits him to be honest. The night ended with a ridiculous walk through Copacobana to find a Tariqs style take away. We settled on a 24 hour garage and bought literally all of their meat.

Yesterday we got a coach and a boat out to an Island called Ilha Grande. It really is an increadible place, everything you could imagine from an Island paradise. The weather was great today, we hiked up to a little waterfall in the middle of the jungle. This island used to be one massive prison, so I was reassured to hear that there are still quite a lot of boobytraps just off the hiking trails. It would be just my luck get caught in a massive net or something. Of all the things you worry about travelling I didnt think boobytraps would be up there. We arrived in one peice and spent a while doggy paddeling around with Brazilian kids jumping of trees into increadilby shallow water. We had a great time, despite standing out as massive gringos!

Anyway so far so good! Living the dream. Matt x x x

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