Blogs from Brazil, South America - page 626

I can´t believe I´m here in the legendary city of Rio De Janeiro staying at the legendary beach of Copacabana. It´s been a pretty cruisy few days here with late nights out on the town and slow wanders around town. Unfortunately the weather has been a little off and so haven´t seen the legendary G-string encased brown bums! I arrived about 2 AM on Sunday morning due to my flights from Lima being delayed. Coming out of the airport saw some serious road blocks with the local police armed with machine guns and were checking cars. It made me concerned whether I really had emptied my bag of Coca leaves but they didn´t search my taxi. The main two tourist attractions here in Rio are the Christ the Redemer statue and Sugar Loaf peak. You take ... read more

Women dont they just love markets and shopping,but in Brazil it can be excused cos today we went round a traditional Brazilian market and town,it made Denaby market look like Harrods!!!bought some flip flops and some beads so we look like proper travellers! We got there using the metro which is nicer than the underground in London and so cheap! We are so good at travelling round Rio. The market was cool but it was so busy that we were always on gaurd thinking everyone is going to nick our stuff!! Went in a couple of nice churches and lit a candle for mum. We enjoyed some Brazilian food in a little open stall/cafe.We are moving on tomorrow to another side of Rio called Ipanema for a few nights. Had a nightmare last night! We went ... read more

Well we made it here to Rio after the longest flight in the world and with stop at Sau Paulo. Arrived at the airport expecting to be picked up by our hostel (El Misti). This was to be the first hurdle to overcome! They did not turn up!!! Loads of taxis and hostels hounding us and trying to drag us off! Andy dealt with this very well! (I was a little worried!) Eventually spoke to hostel who told us to get a taxi and would reinburse us. Anyway to cut a long story short we got taken to our hostel by a mad driving taxi driver which should have cost about a fiver but he saw us coming and yes paid about 25!! First lesson learnt, be more careful at the first hurdle. The day progressed ... read more

São Paolo: Social Observations Part I: The Museum. (NB this entry is long) Bruno’s anxiety over his VISA interview had been growing steadily over the month of August but reached its peak in São Paolo. He spent a lot of time staring off into the distance and even said at times that he wasn’t hungry (!!!!). Yes, a true rarity for the Brumaster. So what could we do to distract him? We went to a museum about São Paolo and Brazil in the nineteenth century. It’s housed in a building that was supposed to replicate the palace at Versailles, but they ran out of funds and instead ended up with an abbreviated version. The model that they had constructed, which took the two years initially allotted for the construction of the actual building, is on display ... read more

After seeing the Itaipu Dam in Foz do Iguaçu, we set out on the road. Our second day out, we were excited to reach Vila Velha National Park, where we had planned for a couple of days of hiking. But as it turns out, there is only one (paved) trail where visitors are allowed to go, and it is all of 2.6 kilometers long. Although you can see the trail head from the ranger station, they make you take a bus there. All of five minutes away. So we did the trail twice and got back in the car... Before the hike, we had asked for some infomartion about the park from ranger Wallace Jonas Bussman Junior, a friendly young blonde; when he told us that the trail only takes about an hour he saw our ... read more