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Hi Guys,
As you can see I am now in Rio de Janeiro, which is without doubt one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to. Here is a summary of my week leading up to now.
On Friday we finally left Foz du Iguazzu in the vague direction of the Brazilian coast. As this involved driving some 24 hours we broke this down to two 12 hour drives with a stop at another crappy campsite in an uninspiring town. Actually on the first day of traveling I had to wipe out my cast-ironed stomach theory as I spent most of the journey with my head in the bin, quite literally, chucking my guts up. I was so bad that the guys, rather sweetly put my tent up and even tried to put me to bed, upon arrival.
Miraculously after a very early start I was feeling much better the following day as it appeared the vomiting had stopped so much so that I almost had an appetite again. So after another long day on the road we finally arrived at Paratti, which sandwiched roughly half way between Sao Paulo and Rio is a stunning little town with a campsite right on the beach. As you may recall from my moaning from my previous entry that we have been pretty unlucky so far with the weather as it has been largely cold and wet in most of the places I have been to in South America, so there was a definite need for a bit of sunshine. So bearing this in mind you can imagine the sheer excitement I felt the following day when I woke up to the brilliant warm sunshine. I could not wait to go for a nice, long walk on the beach, which was beautiful with the sand in-between my toes and the morning sun beating on my back, I felt like I was in heaven. Later that afternoon after a bit of a cleanup operation in the camp I decided to check out the town itself, and was pleasantly surprised to see a pretty little town with lots of cobbled streets and beautiful white buildings. What a fabulous town I thought to myself.
The next day....rain, my upbeat mood was short-lived as it started off with a spot of Peter Kay style fine rain that just soaks you right through and then warmed up to an all out pour which did not let up for the rest of the day. Despite the weather I was determined not to waste the day and carried on with a bit more sightseeing, shopping and general wandering around the town centre. Later that evening as it was our official last night together as a group, a few of us went on a bit of a splurge and treated ourselves to a fine meal of more of that delicious steak and washed down with a few beers. It was so nice and everyone came back to the camp in an upbeat mood, reminiscing over our weeks spent together, it was only inevitable that we would proceed to have a mini party.
I woke up after just 2 hours sleep at 7.00am, still slightly drunk, I struggled to pack my bag, my tent ready for our supposed 9.00am departure to Rio. Well, it was never going to happen in all honesty with us all drunkenly swaying and things taking just a little bit longer we eventually left at 10.00am after an emotional goodbye to the 4 people we were leaving behind in Parati. The final journey was bizarre as it was just myself and 3 others carrying onto Rio the truck felt empty. Upon arriving in Rio later that afternoon and after checking in to our hostel, we then had a bit of a mad 3 hour dash to fit in as much as possible. The reason for this as 2 of the 4 were leaving Rio the following day, so we walked over to the world renowned Copacabana Beach for the obligatory photo and then Taxied our way to Sugar Loaf Mountain just as the sun setting over the mountain. The view from the top was spectacular as it was then dark and the city was all lit up like a Christmas tree.
Later that evening we were then reunited with the remaining 3 from the group, who decided to leave Parati early for more time in Rio. We then went for an all you can eat Pizza, which turned out to be a bit of a mistake for me as I then spent most of the night in the toilet with projectile vomiting and diarrhea. It was horrible.
The following morning I decided to take it easy as I was clearly suffering from the something I eat syndrome. By the way if you are wondering why I never put speech marks on things anymore, it is because I still can not get used to Spanish/Portuguese keyboards! Anyway, I decided that instead of being bed-ridden, to take Imodium and get out and explore, afterall I only have little time left. Myself and Sarah who was staying another day did a bit more sightseeing at a much slower pace, we decided to do a bit of shopping around Copacabana for those much needed souvenirs before checking out the temporary beach side arena which is currently housing the Pan-American games. We decided to go in and enjoyed about 2 hours of beach volleyball, firstly Guatemala Vs Venezuela in the ladies and then México vs Chile for the men, it was so much fun!
This morning as Sarah was due to leave about 3pm, we had almost a full day again of sightseeing, wasting no time we made our way over to the Christ Redeemer mountain. This is the big Christ statue for which I am sure you are all familiar. After waiting what seemed like ages for a bus we arrived at the foot of the mountain and boarded the cog train upward. The views from the top were spectacular despite the rather wet weather we were again experiencing as we tried to fight our way through the busy crowds for the obligatory christ pose under the famous statue. After arriving back down the mountain we caught a bus back to Copacabana, well that was the intention, unfortunately both Sarah and I fell asleep and ended up in Ipanema which is about 10 minutes drive south of our desired location...doh! Still after a short hop in a taxi we had just about enough time for a spot more shopping before I waved her off in the direction of the airport. Back on my own I decided to head back to the beach as the sun decided to come out for the afternoon, I very much enjoyed an afternoon of lazing and people watching, seriously not only is Rio a beautiful city but it has so many beautiful people, what more could you want?
Ok so now you are up-to-date on my adventures. As you know I am now on countdown to the day which I too will be flying home, next Tuesday. I have decided to spend a few more days in Rio to see the sites I have not yet seen before making my way down to Sao PÃ ulo, where I finish my trip.
I hope everyone reading this is well.
Take Care,
Jon
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