We we have moved into a flat on Visconde de Piraja in Ipanema this week. Thanks to lots of hard work by various parties, we seem to have done this in record time so we can now get on with life! Also secured a cpf number for Pat - needed even to buy a kettle in this country! Next weeks domestic agenda is to secure cpf for Kate and to open a bank account! Tonight we are due to meet up with Kate and Greg Stewart and next week see Kirsty Morton. Greg and Kirsty w...

Well I'm writing this on Easter Sunday back in the hotel on Copacabana & for a catholic country we've been surprised at how few signs we've seen of this important day in the church calendar. There may be more shops closed than usual but that's all we've noticed here or on our way back from Teresopolis this morning. Patrick's colleague at UFRJ, Leo Borghi, had very kindly invited us to spend a couple of days with him, his parents & his sister and her fa...

Happy Birthday Will!! Your birthday always makes us think about who we were, what were our thoughts, what were our concerns and what we were doing 27 years ago! In Holland parents get equal billing on their offsprings' birthdays. Whilst it is definitely YOUR birthday - it's a very special day 'ook voor ons'! This should be our last weekend in hotels so we're spending today by the pool on the rooftop. This morning there's been a swimming race across the bay from...

Well here we are back in another Hotel with a beautiful view of the beach - this time Copacabana! What did we do in the last two weeks? Pat flew to Tomsk for 5 teaching days and then to Edinburgh for two days. It was a great time to bring colleagues up to speed on Brazil and to find out about their latest work. We had two great evenings in London with family and saw a number of great friends in Edinburgh. Thanks for all the hospitality! Kate spent the week I ...

Well, Carnaval is over now and the crowds of partygoers & crossdressers have gone home. Everything's much calmer, quieter and cleaner. It's also enabled us to change rooms at the Mercure & life has improved as a result! Instead of a window looking onto a blank wall 6 feet away, we now have the 'rear window' type view in the photo with a favela (which has its own lift access) on the hill behind. And we don't need to have the light on in the room during the...