The Homecoming

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You will be glad to hear that this is my final blog. I have travelled all the way down the Brazilian coast and am now in Sao Paulo, a mass concrete sprawl home to over 17 million Brasileros. Tomorrow I fly back to London.

When I last wrote, we were headed to Natal. As it´s winter in Brazil, we flew north to get some good weather, so you can imagine how disappointed we were to have rain and clouds for the only two days we were in Natal. Natal is reknowned for being surrounded by huge sand dunes 50m high, so we spent a fun day racing around them in a dune-buggy. We didn´t get to drive, but our driver, Pablo, thought he was a bit of Colin McCrae. Next stop was Praia de Pipa, a chic hippy village on the coast. The village and beaches were beautiful, but there wasn´t a great deal going on in the evenings and the bad weather followed us.

We then flew to Rio, where we were blessed with gorgeous weather everyday. We stayed in Copacabana at a hostel called Mellow Yellow, which was a great place for meeting people, although it was a bit skanky and the some of the staff weren´t very nice. One morning we went up to see Christ the Redeemer. The views were amazing and without doubt, Rio is the most beautiful city in the world. We spent lazy days at Copacabana and Ipanema beach. On the weekend, these beaches are rammed full of people. We spent Sunday at Post 9 at Ipanema, which is where all the body-conscious Brazilians hang out; it was a day of good viewing. Another day we went to the Maracana to see Flamengo v Ponte Pirais. The stadium was only a quarter full but the atmosphere was still impressive. It was just a shame that the standard was woeful and it ended 0-0.

We had some good nights out in Rio, but the nightlife didn´t meet my expectations, probably because Rio is quite expensive to go out, and a backpacker´s budget limits things. On the Friday night we went to the Lapa street party. Lapa is a slightly edgy district in Rio. I imagined a carnival-type affair, but it was simply a street full of bars and clubs, with people spilled into the streets. One of the guys we were with had his camera stolen, he chased after the guy, caught up with him and miraculously got it back. During the chase his flip-flops had come off and he had stepped on a broken bottle. He needed 7 stitches. On Sunday night we went to the favela funk party. It's a club night Rio de Pedras, a favela in Rio. The club is the venue used in City of God where Beni gets shot. By this time we were tired of the hostel ripping us off with their tours, so we decided to go by ourselves. We grabbed some other travellers and got a taxi there. We were all a little bit nervous. After we´d bought our tickets and the bouncers had checked we weren´t carrying guns, we made our way in. The atmosphere was very intimidating. The club was packed and we couldn´t see any other tourists. Everywhere you looked were beefed-up guys with their tops off and they all had scars which looked like they were from a knife or a bullet. The tourists that had gone with the hostel were in the VIP section which was upstairs. We didn´t have the right ticket, so we had to stay downstairs with the masses. We got a drink and after a couple more, we loosened up and ended up having a wicked night. Despite the gangsta image, the people we met were really friendly. The music was Brazilian funk, which sounds like dirty hip-hop. The guys all danced like they were auditioning for a porn movie, and the girls danced like the girls from MTV hip-hop videos. It was quite a spectacle.

We spent one afternoon going on a tour of Rocinha, the biggest favela in Rio. We got a motorbike to the top of the favela. Our guide explained how they the favelas came into being and how they are run. There are three drug gangs that run all the favelas in Rio: A.D.A. (amigos de amigos), Red Command and Third Command. Each favela is run by one gang. Rocinha is run by ADA. In the favela, land is divided on a first-come first-served basis and you are allowed to sell your roof-space so that someone can build their house above yours. No one pays for water or electricity. A lot of people feel safer living in the favelas than in the actual city, as a favela has its own law. The ruling gang acts as the police and judiciary, so there are no robberies, muggings or murders - unless sanctioned by them. Our guide stressed that we weren´t allowed to take pictures of anyone carrying a gun, as that person would take offence and confiscate your camera or maybe worse. Despite all this and the bad image that favelas have, I felt safe walking around and the people we met were so friendly. People said hello and stopped to talk to you, a group of kids even invited me in to play ISS with them. It was a great experience, all though we were a bit disappointed not to see a drug lord carrying an AK-47, as other people had - it felt like we hadn´t seen the real favela.

We left Rio and travelled south to Ilha Grande, a gorgeous, rainforest island 3 hours away. The island is dotted with over 100 beaches, the best of which was Lopes Mendes, where I did a bit of body-boarding and managed to graze my chest and chin through not wearing a rash vest. The weather was mixed but we had 4 good realxing days there.

We are now in Sao Paulo. Janie is booked with VARIG, a Brazilian airline who are going bust. Her flight has been cancelled and she hasn´t been put on another one. She´s managed to get on the waiting list for a flight to Frankfurt tonight, so she´s at the airport now. If she can´t get on that one, she is supposed to be getting one tomorrow, so fingers crossed. I arrive in London on Wednesday.

The bus journey to Sao Paulo hit home that this trip is finally over, and the working world now awaits. I calculated that I´ve spent 1/12 of my life travelling, so I guess I can´t complain, in fact, I´m quite looking forward to it. I´ve had a great time in South America and I´d recommend coming here to all of you.

Adios

Jack

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