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Yay - We finally left Brasillia - We headed over to Chapada Dos Veadeiros National Park where we spent four nights. My roomie and I wisely decided on the 6 pound upgrade - it must have been women's intuition because the skies openned up and it poured down that night - definitely not the time to be sleeping in a tent.
The next day we ventured into the National Park with a guide to go on a 10 km hike to some waterfalls - parts of the track were fairly steep but we managed to make it to the first waterfall in one piece. Time for a dip and some lunch - unfortunately for some reason I decided to forget my inability as an olympic swimmer and went a little bit beyond my means and got into a bit of trouble in the water - I had to call for help for someone to come rescue me - I really need to take some swimming lessons, I must be the only kiwi that never got the hang of swimming.
After the break, we carried on our travels but unbeknown to a few of us - we passed within cms of one of the most venomous snakes in Brazil - luckily the Snake tried to make an escape up the tree so we were fine.
The rain the decided to make an appearance - I'm not talking your average little tinkle - I'm talking torrential rain, hail stones and the like and this didn't let up for an hour and half so the return journey was a partially painful one and all of us were soaked through to the bones and beyond - some people weren't allowed to sit down in the truck for the journey back because they were so wet.
The next day was activity day - we attempted some tree top activities - unfortunately some of the activities weren't particularly orientated to those of us with shorter legs - but I managed to make it safely to the end of the course. It was then a 2 km walk to a waterfall where we had lunch - still with yesterday's antics in my head, i made the wise decision to avoid the water - the boys however spent most of the time jumping off 5 metre rocks.
Next on the list was the Repelling - abseiling for those peeps from NZ. This was down a waterfall (see pic). It was a 45 metre drop down through some waterfalls. The wait at the top of the waterfall was nerveracking - a couple of us had never done it before. Finally it was my turn - parts of it were ok, my shoes weren't geared up for the slime or the water (even though they were water proof tramping boots!!). Apparently I was doing ok until the last section - I'm not sure if you've clicked by now, but we were cascading down a waterfall and this means lots of water and as per the previous day, we've all learnt that I'm not confident in the water. So at the bottom, I decided to have a panic attack and with water pouring all down me from the waterfall and a sceptisism about how deep the water was and what I was actually supposed to do (the instructions weren't overly clear) - I was on the verge of tears and had to cry for help. My tour guide was at the top of a 20 metre rock, where him and the boys were jumping (again). Daniel apparently decided that I wasn't drowning (I beg to differ with this) so made an executive decision not to try and save me - I finally found my senses and made it to land - abseiling great - but not through a waterfall!!!
The final activity was a giant flying fox (1800m) - I was umming and rrrrrrrring about this, considering I had screamed during the 80 metre flying fox in the first activity. After much coaxing and being called a p**** by Daniel, I bit the built and made the jump - I screamed a bit, but finally got over myself and began to enjoy the ride.
The next day was a fairly quiet day for some of us, while the others went and got drunk at a river. They must have downed a fairly large amount of alcohol because they were all in a state on their return - the antics got worse and worse as the night progressed, suffice to say, I saw somethings that people should never witness and there was a couple of very ashamed faces the next day.
Travelling day - we had to back track to Brasillia (yay?!?!?) then we headed back east - again, it was a successful morning of sleeping for me - I definitely have truck sleeping down to a fine art.
We had to camp over night and I got to a tent all to myself because my tent partner had found a new "friend" to share her tent with. I didn't mind, because it meant I could sleep in the middle of the tent and not worry about getting soaked should it rain.
More driving the next day - I sat up front and that was an experience in itself - several times I had to use my brake foot - but to no avail, since I wasn't actually driving.
We arrived in a little colonial gold mining town called Ouro Perto. We're staying in youth hostel so all the single girls are sharing a room. Somewhere down the line, we decided that it was a night of drinking and eating. The restaurant that we went to was amazing - all you can eat pizza for 7 pounds and it was fabulous pizza - I would even go so far as to say it was better than Pizza Express. The Passionfruit Caprivodkas were going down a treat. At some point in the night, we ended up in a student hall at a party, but they decided they wanted 15 reales each for the priviledge and they didn't have any alcohol left, so we declined and came back to the hostel and stayed up till 4am.
The intention was that I was getting up at 7ish to go for a walk around the town, but I only managed to get out of bed after 9am (which is more than I can say for some, who didn't drag themselves out till lunchtime). I rushed to get ready as had to run up the hill to catch a bus to the mines. It was a portuguese guided tour, but luckily one of the Brazillian tourists translated it into english for us. We entered the mine on the most rickerty shuttle train that I've ever seen - if you imagine the runaway train scene in the mines in Indian Jones - it felt like that. My hangover was playing havoc with me, but I struggled through. Back into town and had lunch - am still ordering food for a small nation and struggle to get through half it. I'll learn one day, but nby that time, I'll probably be in Argentina and the portions will change.
Internet time, the skies then openned again and there was a huge thunderstorm and down pour. Unfortunately about this time, my stomach decided that it wasn't well and I had to make a short sharp trip back to the hostel - this meant that I got drenched through again.
Evening time consists of videos because I'm too tired to go out for dinner and my attempt to get one of the boys to go get food for me, failed.
It's off to Rio tomorrow, yippee!!! CARNIVAL TIME!!!!
- comments
Chris You and Nate can have lessons together when/if you get back.
Deb Thanks - I might take you up on that!!
Kerri Hi You sound like you are having a great time all is well here kids are good, nate is doing well @ school and Grace is toilet trained and Chris is under the big 100 yipee, keep the blogs coming lol
Michele Sorry meant to rate this as 4 not 5 - even thought I am hating you!!! I think paragliding should be next on you list & no water - well not unless it goes really wrong!
Mum See if you find a shop that sells water wings
Jackie Wow - sounds like a very interesting trip so far Doo .. keep the news comin!!! Miss u xxx