Blogs from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, South America - page 229

The journey back to Quito was the longest 10 hours of my life. JC took the same bus as me, and we sat together, but it lasted a lifetime, and my side had been hurting all day, and only seemed to get progressively worse - i thought due to being stuck in a cramped seat. I got to the hostel and was chatting to some nice people when the pain in my side got pretty bad. I decided to call it a night and try to sleep it off. I got into bed and was suddenly in agony, the pain was so intense I couldnt lie still, and started crying from it. I tried ignoring it for as long as possible, but soon i gave in - something was very definitely wrong, and I was worried ... read more

After leaving Paraguay, where you´d be hard-pushed to find a tourist anywhere, I then crossed on foot the noisy, bustling friendship bridge at the border and over to Brazil; the total opposite of its neighbour. Different language, different culture, marauding gangs of picture-hungry tourists and a much more expensive day-to-day cost of travelling than other Latin American countries. The first difference that gave me cause for concern was the language difference, I had heard from others that it would be OK to understand because of its similarities with Spanish... Then I heard them speak this Brazilian version of Portuguese. I thought it sounded like an unromantic, ugly version of some vile concoction of German, Hebrew and Spanish, after eight double whiskys. And the strangest thing is, I can understand one person speaking Portuguese almost perfectly, but ... read more

Ahh...at last, another iconic moment in the trip...(and another misuse of íconic´)..but still a significant milestone in the journey...to get to the most famous and exotic of Brasil´s places..Rio de Janeiro...and just for starters..its not a bloody river at all..the turkey who first landed..way, way back, thought it was and so named it..the next bozo that came along didn´t have the nouse or the courtesy to re-name it...like Porto de Janeiro, no, he wants the first bugger to have wear the ignomy for all time...anyway... Into the most beautiful city in the world, they say.....across the longest bridge in the world maybe..thinking I was back in the Florida keys...on and on, in the distance, the beautiful layout, the buildings, the mountains, the rock features, the fabulous beaches, the city skyline, the cable cars, and the Big ... read more

Day 3 We got picked up in the morning and travelled about 5 hours by bus south down the coastline to a quaint little village called Paraty. We wandered around town and then headed to the beach for a dip in the nice warm sea. We went out for dinner with the group in the evening. Quite an uneventful one really! Day 4 Today we were adventurers of the sea, taking a boat trip around the many islands of Paraty. We stopped off at a couple of spots for a spot of swimming and snorkelling. We saw some bright little fishes and some star fish which was cool. Had lunch on board and then sunbathed on the deck, chilling out drinking beer. In the evening we headed into town for some drinks. We even partook in ... read more

We arrived in Rio the night before Lorna's birthday and stayed in a truly nasty hostel in Downtown Rio. When we awoke we got out of there very quickly and headed to the posh hotel in Copacabana we had booked as a birthday treat. After exploring the area and enjoying the luxury of the hotel we went for dinner and champagne at a lovely restaurant on Ipanema beach. Lorna had sparklers in her pudding and the waiters sang 'Happy Birthday'. Most of our following time in Rio was spent lazing on the beach and working on our suntans. We were in need of some relaxation time after the hectic schedule in Peru and then travelling through Brazil. For the first few days when the weather wasn't so good the beach was quiet, then when it got ... read more