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4th January Bonito
After lunch I fell asleep again on the bus pretty much till we got to Bonito. Apparently had my mouth wide open again and Kathryn caused some amusement by putting her umbrella up in the mini-bus to keep Gideon away from her.
We got the mini-bus to the Boia-cross. As usual in S America we had to wait so we jumped into part of the river for swimming. We got in rubber doughnuts and began going down the small rapids. It was fun but I did go in quite a bit of a mood quite close to the beginning. Mainly because of worrying about my contact lenses coming out. I really want my eyes lasered so I can fully enjoy water activities. First small rapid we went down- everyone flipped out of the doughnut. Was a bit disorientated when we came up as water had got into contact lense. I got ahead of everyone while they were splashing and tipping each other out. I then enjoyed going down the rapids in the tubes.
5th January Bonito
Had a lovely lie in today and missed breakfast as I wasn't rafting till 1 o'clock. I was taking my contact lenses, goggles and glasses on boat so I wouldn't worry about losing contact lenses. Trying to explain could I take them on was hard as they couldn't speak english. Luckily another customer came to help in the translation.
We got on raft and it was extremely tame. There were children and families on it. I still need to try white water rafting. We finally found out that hammer meant paddle. It was an afternoon out, I enjoying being in a boat and enjoying the sun. I enjoyed when I got to paddle but I didn't get to paddle a lot. We had water fights with the other rafts and also went for a swim mid-way through. There were comments about the gringos by the families but we weren't sure exactly what they were saying.
6th January Bonito
Well packed up and had breakfast before taking the easy option of getting the taxi to an area next to the river. I am so glad I didn't cycle- some of the others were rather fast even though the bikes were terrible and the chain kept coming off Jonathan's bike. Spent a lot of the day swimming in river. We spent some time just chatting by the life ring and spent some time trying to balance on it. I tried to take photos of Sean with his waterproof camera but I can't tread water and lift my arms out of water so I kept ending up going lower and lower into the water. After lunch I tried to get a snorkel but unfortunately there were none left. I had my goggles so I went underwater. First time in years when swimming to go under by choice. It was good fun to go underwater again. I tried proper breaststroke again and briefly front crawl. It was rather uncoordinated and my timings were all out. I had forgotten how perfect my goggles were in keeping water out. I did put my bum in Sean face apparently when I went to follow the fish and apparently I got too close to a women as well. Oops I wasn't aware of it till I was told. We then got on mini-bus for night bus. It was a hideous journey. We tried to watch films but that didn't work. It was freezing cold before the stop for dinner at 11:00. I was getting in a very bad mood as I was freezing and I had no leg room as had bag below me After that I went into a bad sleep where I kept ending up headbutting the window and then when I tried to stop doing that I kept encroaching on Pablo's space. Driving was nutty though in minibus- we got there about 3 hours earlier than we expected to. It took 10 hours and usually it takes 13 hours. I did feel a few sudden breaks but I was asleep most of the time even though it really didn't feel like it when we arrived.
7th January Iguassu- Iguassu falls, Brazilian side
We arrived early very sleepy and had some time in hotel before going to Iguassu falls. We then visited the Brazilian side of Iguassu falls. We started off looking around the exhibition. We then began our walk around the walkways. It was quite busy so had to jump into spaces quickly for a photo. One of photostops got particularly busy as one tourist was taking lots of photos of herself there and analysing them. She was having pictures taken with a sign saying Daffy so that became her nickname. Everyone was getting annoyed with her. I felt awful when it got to my turn as my camera went really slow stitching together the panorama shot.
We had already seen coatis wandering around but they were also all around in the cafe. We walked around the circuit and we walked through Devil's nose and felt some of the spray. The falls were beautiful. Sean thinks he may have stood on Daffy as she got in his way again when he was taking a photograph. We then used a lift to take us above the falls. The walk takes around 2 hours.
Me, Eva and Toby went to the bird park. We went in the Pantanal enclosure, butterfly enclosure, reptiles, macaws, endangered parrots plus many more places. We covered the whole of bird park pretty much and it was avery pleasant way to spend afternoon. We were all very tired though and it was very hot. We also had photos with a macaw on our arm. We then got the public bus back. It was hot waiting for the bus and then had to stand up for most of journey. The bus was in good condition though. It made me wonder how I managed to cope with public transport in India.
8th January Iguassu- Iguassu falls, Argentina side
Well got soaked two times today not counting my shower. We went through the border to Argentina today. We got in mini-bus to Argentinean side of Iguassu falls. In no mans land we took photos of the river and could see Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina from there. That was an easy border crossing as we stayed on the bus and tour guide just took our passports over to border crossing. First on Argentina side we got a jeep through the jungle with tour guide to get down to the boats for going under Iguassu falls. The jeep was a good ride but I couldn't really hear what the guide was saying and some of the vines/ branches were a little long so I got one whipped across the neck and then one on arm. They didn't hurt- it was just a bit odd. We then went on the boat which was fantastic even if a bit short for what we paid for it. First we went along the river on it through some rapids. We then had time to take photos of the falls before having to put cameras away. We went twice into one of the waterfalls and then into a smaller one. We all got drenched and when Sean scanned around everyone on his camera, Marc was wiping water out of his eyes. It kept us reasonably cool till about lunchtime. After that we walked around the inferior and superior circuit. On one of the circuits I struggled at first to get in a dustbin. Found out later that I wasn't the only one in group puzzled by it. I did get in it in the end though. Sean said thats to protect the dustbins from Coatis. I had worked that out but if I couldn't get in it either to begin with does that mean I've got a similar intelligence to a coati? After that we got the train up to devil's nose and then we could see where we were yesterday opposite. The Argentina side is better in my opinion than the Brazil side so if we could only do one I would like to have done the Argentina side. On way back we went to ice cream shop and I had a scoop of vanilla, chocolate, Ferrero rocher, strawberry and pineapple. Everyone else had less ice cream and Sean said you are going to have to eat that fast before it melts. He then said I've found out that sweet stuff you can eat fast as I ate my way through the ice cream.
I had 5 minutes to have a shower and get changed before going to dinner at 8:00. Amazingly I did it and me, Sean, Toby, Eva and Pablo went out for dinner about a 20 minute walk from hotel. On way back I was asked do I fancy going for a drink and seeing where they went last night. I fancied dipping my legs in the pool at the Iguassu guest house while having a drink despite being tired. I had a fanta at the bar and then went to dip legs in the pool. Jonathan and Giddeon then also arrived so there was me, Pablo, Sean, Jonathan and Giddeon. We all ended up going in the pool after discussing it. I slid in in my dress. Had to stop it riding up as got in. I was up to waist deep until I was dunked in. Then I had a sit down on the bottom of the pool. They said kick off the side of the pool but I wasn't going to do that in a dress. I then got out and lay on one of the sunbeds as I didn't want to walk back to hotel and into hotel being soaking wet as it looked weird. I was picked up and dropped back into pool. I wasn't thrown in in case I missed the pool or got hurt. Not long after I got out again and this time was allowed to dry off with my scarve over me. I would have stayed in pool for longer but I didn't want to still be dripping when went in hotel. It was good fun and I waited for others to finish their drinks and get out of the pool. I wasn't dripping when I went back into our hotel.
9th January Iguassu- visited Paraguay
We got mini-bus through to Paraguay. Looked so easy for us to get through border as we gave passports to tour guide again. As the guide was driving the mini-bus to park it there was an argument between him and a local. We went on a shopping trip around Paraguay. It was very busy and didn't make me enthuse about going to Paraguay again. Then had night-bus that night.
10th January Travelling to Paraty
At breakfast I found out that we had stopped for an hour that night on bus while police with guns got on to check it. There had been a lot of movement on the bus last night. I probably did vaguely wake up as I did hear a lot of commotion but I just turned over and went back to sleep. After breakfast the bus broke down so we were delayed again. We were moved on to another bus. We finally got to Sao Paulo. We then began travelling in mini-bus to Paraty. We stopped for lunch at around 3:30. The toilet was interesting in service station. It looked a nice restaurant but then when went in toilet it seemed to be half inside half outside. There was an area with no roof and to the side of toilet there was no roof also and you could see the guttering.
11th January Paraty
Well we were meeting at 11:00 to go on the booze cruise (or thats what it was called). I wasn't sure I wanted to go on it due to it being suggested that it was all you could drink but company had given us it free for the terrible nightbus the other night. I had to take my glasses to an optician to be fixed as the glass had come out of the frame. I first walked up the main street looking to see whether there was one there. I then spotted the tourist information so I went in got a map and ask whether there was an opticians close by. Showed the tourist guide my glasses at the same time as asking so he understood. I'm sure he would have done anyway but he said he had limited english. Luckily there was one very close so I went there and they quickly fixed my glasses, gave them a clean and charged me nothing. I then planned my route to walk through some of the historic centre which mainly consisted of old churches and pretty streets and over the bridge to the beach. I really enjoyed my walk on my own around Paraty. I was watching kids in like a club playing on the beach. I was sad to leave but I needed to make the boat.
We then walked down to the boat which had lots of deck space. I sat on top for quite a while but unfortunately it wasn't the best day with the spattering of rain. Downstairs there was the instrumentalist and singer. The others were downstairs having some capirinha and playing cards. Not long after coming downstairs we stopped at our first swimming stop. We jumped off the boat and Sean recorded me as I gave a little shriek before jumping off the boat. Hannah and I tried to go for a swim but found that a tender boat kept telling us to go different ways so I gave up and swam back to the others. As singer was going past boat it was mentioned about a whale (lady) on beach and we were talking about it and I suddenly realised that singer may think we were calling him a whale as he was quite a whale himself.
For 2nd swim trip we could rent a snorkel I actually really enjoyed that snorkel and finally I may have got the hang of it. Only me, Sean, Toby and Eva were snorkelling and we had quite a distance to swim back to boat when the boat whistled for us to come in. Saw so many fish. After lunch we jumped off for our last swim and stayed by shore. Jens was trying to climb tree to get coconuts or throw things at the tree to get a coconut. Soon Marc and Steffen were joining in. Me, Hannah, Sean and Amberleigh spotted that there was a smaller coconut tree which Sean could reach so he got 5 coconuts and Amberleigh then took them over to the others who were struggling to get any.
I then finished my walk around the historic centre of Paraty when we got back. There were also horse and carts going by. I went in Casa de Cultura and walked in there but I decided to give it a miss as I was tired and I had to pay to view the exhibit. I was just thinking I fancied a milkshake when I spotted Toby and Eva in the ice cream shop. I had a look in and then couldn't resist having a ice cream. I then was walking back when I thought I fancy another walk to the beach and maybe the beach a bit further on. As I was walking by first beach I spotted a lady selling bracelets and was just trying to glance to see whether she had one saying Brazil. She saw me looking and called me over. I then got to practice my spanish with her and she had some cute children. She called her boyfriend over with a roll of necklaces. Think she said he was going off to find some weed or something. After talking to her for a while I realised she was also probably stoned as her memory was screwed up and she kept asking me to repeat things. I felt I had to buy jewellery from her as I had been talking to her for a while. I got a necklace and some earings. It gave me a chance to practice spanish even though I kept having to repeat it. My spanish with her wasn't that bad as she seemed to understand it each time originally. I decided that going to second beach on my own may be a bit dangerous as it was going up what looked like a fairly deserted road so I gave it a miss. For dinner we went for a Thai restaurant- it was horrible I had a sea-food salad it was tiny and seemed to have like these tiny worms. As others were getting ice cream I piled up with ice cream and all the decorations to try and fill me up. Unfortunately these ice cream shops are very expensive as it goes on weight.
12th January Ilha Grande
We got the minibus and then the ferry to Ilha Grande. In afternoon we went to local beach. I spent most of afternoon in water. I did get out at one time to go to a private spot. Was very hard to find one and ended up falling over going on a steep slope upwards. Just gave me a couple of scratches. Sean also spent most of the time in the water and we swam to rocks further along the beach. I did step on something at one time though which wasn't very pleasant but there was no marks so it was all ok. Think it was probably a barnacle as there were lots of them on the rocks. After swimming Sean and I decided we would go back to town as he fancied a coffee and if we weren't in water we got bored on a beach. On the way we got distracted and went for walk to ruins, aqueduct, a natural pool and a viewpoint so nearly everyone else got back before us. Natural pool was very fresh but was less noticeable for me at first as I had gone to sit on a waterfall just before.
13th January Ilha Grande
We walked to a beautiful beach then spent the day on it. We started by walking along the first beach before joining a new track. On first beach we had to jump over a water channel- a lot of us ended up with one wet foot as I did. Some people were sensible and just took shoes and socks off to paddle. I ended up slipping on some moss on a downhill slope and falling on to my hip. I was fine. Just thought that feels like I'm going to get a bruise. Not much longer we reached the second beach where we waited for the others before climbing down a small rock using the attached rope. Along this beach a wave washed over my hiking boots as it went higher up the beach than I thought it was. At this time I then gave up of trying to keep my hiking boots dry and just ended up having a bit of a paddle as they were already wet. Stopped to watch monkeys playing in trees and then set off again.
I went off swimming on beach when I got there and I spent nearly all the day in the water. It was so refreshing getting in and it stayed shallow for ages with the waves just gradually washing over me. The others wondered how we could spend so long in water but we wonder how they can spend so long basking in the sun. Sean finally taught me how to float on my back in water. It was lovely apart from my ears popping and unpopping. I then went back on beach to dry off a bit as planned to go back in water later. I tried to play football with JP and it wasn't bad as it was only him but I said you see now why I don't play ball sports. I then went back swimming and then afterwards we got the water taxi
We got in water taxi and then we had to move to water taxi next to us. I followed someone over the unofficial way. I thought thats a bit odd getting into a water taxi next to us with no-one helping us get in. Then I saw all the others being helped in. We had got the slow water taxi with music so the others sped past us in a quicker water taxi. As we were in water taxi we could see thunder and lightning starting. By time we got to hotel the thunder was above so I tried to go in room to have a shower but just as I was about to the lights flicked off. I had to wait for later as I didn't fancy wandering around in the dark so I watched the storm instead.
14th January Rio de Janeiro
Well we were getting the 9:00 ferry and then getting mini-bus to Rio de Janeiro. The bus ride was no problem for me- roads slightly bumpy and slightly windy but for me felt they were ok. A lot of people on the bus were feeling ill. We worked out later that it was the people who had drank the beers the night before (apart from JP had beers and he was ok.) The people who were suffering do drink beers normally and are fine and they are not usually travel sick so there was something dodgy about the beers. One of the first introductions we had to Rio was seeing an old man just in his bungy smugglers (small swimwear-think thats what the Ozzies call it but I may have mixed up my words again). He was walking with a shopping bag and flip flops when he spotted a fountain on street. He then was pulling his swimwear away from his body and allowing the fountain water to wash through. When he started putting his hand down there- people made comments about it would be good to do that in private etc.
When I got back I decided to go for a swim in hotel pool before getting changed ready to go out. Marc and Amberleigh came around to room for drinks. We walked to the hostel for a barbecue. At the hostel my shoes were taken off by Hannah and she said come and meet my new friends over by the pool and paddle your feet in. The boys then began pulling me in. I ended up having a dunking but I managed to get my watch off before they pulled me in. I ended up getting Hannah wet too as she had helped pull me in. JP had took some of the others to ATM so when he got back he was told there were two girls in the pool fully dressed. He was trying to work out who it would be.
We then got mini-bus to Lapa street party. Sean and I went off for a walk and then there was a heavy downpour of rain so we sheltered. I didn't think we would find the others again but we found them under the archways listening to live brazilian music. We spent time there dancing and listening to the music before the others went to bar. It was 20 reals to get in (£5), music didn't sound good and it was empty. Both me and Sean didn't fancy it so we spent all night wandering along the street parties. At one point in the night I had a choice of paying 20 reals for the toilet in the bar, doing it in the street or braving the smell of portaloos. I braved the portaloos on the street. Different for a male they could do it in the car park but sure there would have been comments from other people if I had gone there. I must have a dead nose as I could hardly smell the weed around the area. Danced to get through the crowd as they were listening to live music on street.
15th January Rio de Janeiro
We began our city tour and during our city tour we saw jugglers juggling standing on each others shoulders and other jugglers at two different sets of red traffic lights. Amazing they managed to entertain you when lights are red and then try and beg and then scarper when lights turn green. We first went to see the Christ the Reedemer statue. I was a little confused as I thought that Romeo and Juliet (modern version) was filmed in Rio and I remember on film the statue was quite big above Rio and looked fairly close to beach. I began to wonder whether I was mistaken and there was another christ the reedemer statue in Mexico city and Romeo and Juliet was filmed there. My confusion was soon cleared up as one of our tour group was from Mexico City and I was told there was no christ the reedeemer statue there. It must have been different camera angles. When we first got near the statue we had to change buses to get us up there. The statue was massive when we got up to it but it was difficult to get decent photos of it as it was so crowded and we had a very short time up there of half an hour. Half an hour you would think would be plenty of time but it wasn't mainly due to crowds up there. If I was going up there again I would go early morning so there would be less crowds. We then changed to our other bus and went to visit an arty area and saw graffiti- spotted two pictures-one of Charlie Chaplin and the other Bob Marley. I didn't know who the Bob Marley picture was but one of the others told me.
We then went back to lapa and viewed these fantastic tiled steps. Sean and I had actually walked past them last night but hadn't noticed them in the dark and in the crowds. Took photos of things that represented England and also took photos of tiles that interested me. I enjoyed looking around the steps. We then went in art gallery but that wasn't as interesting as steps so I didn't stay long there. When we went out of art gallery though we were told it was time to go. We then went to Catholic church which was like Paddy's wigwam. Stained glass windows and was so peaceful. It reminded me a little of lotus temple in Delhi as that also was a similar shape inside and was very peaceful.
We then went up the Sugar loaf in a cable car. There were two sections to cable cars and we walked down the disabled access between the two of them to try and get up there before it rained. It was beautiful but unfortunately almost as soon as we reached the top it began to rain. I carried on walking around it as I thought chances are I won't get up here again. It is only a bit of rain. The only thing was it made my ticket very soggy. When I took a photograph of Sean up there I just dumped my ticket in my bag which then got lost under all my stuff. So when others got into cable car I didn't make it in time to find my ticket so I ended up taking the Japanese tourist cable car (it was full of a japanese coach tour). The others realised I was missing when they got off to change cable cars so they waited for me. Guide lightly got hold of my ear when I got down for being missing.
Me, Toby and Eva (plus others on day tour) got dropped off at the Sambodrome to watch carnival practice. They were late starting off and it took time between the two different samba groups. The last one we didn't stay for as it was getting late. We were behind one of the samba support groups. Not long after we arrived the stadium filled up down the side that was built along a road. The atmosphere was really good. Carnival has never really appealed to me but after that I would quite like to go. Would still not go on own though. So glad Toby and Eva went as otherwise I wouldn't have got to see it and it was fantastic. Goodness knows what carnival would be like. The stand was full and all the Brazilians were singing. We also got in there for free which was a big plus. There weren't many tourists round. For second samba group (the group we were sitting/standing behind) we were handed flags and balloons. Confetti fell down on the performers. Crowd was singing even before performers came on. The second samba group finished at about 10:45. Unfortunately we just missed getting metro as it closed at 11 so we got a taxi back.
16th January Rio de Janeiro
The mini-bus arrived to take us on a tour of the favella. I opened the bus door to find Jonathan, Giddon and Sean in. Sean made a comment about t-shirts and I realised me, Sean, Giddon were all wearing the same t-shirt that we had got for doing death road. You can tell we are all running out of clean clothes. Even Jonathan had a black t-shirt on but luckily not the death road t-shirt. Then guide had a go at me for getting on bus- who are you what are you doing on here. The others explained that I was one of them. We then drove to where we were picking up the taxi motorbikes.
All we were basically told by guide was be careful not to burn your leg on your exhaust. I headed for the yellow bike as it was my favourite colour. I am just glad that it was just a 5 minute ride. I put helmet on and then I was like now how do I get on and where do I hold on. I had both hands around the drivers waist till he told me in Portuguese to put one of my hands on his shoulder. He was a speedy gonzaly. We were the last to leave and the first to arrive at the top of the favela. My helmet slipped so I couldn't see and we were speeding around hairpin bends. I realised that there was probably a handle behind me as all the others were using handles to hold on. I wasn't going to remove my hands from drivers body though and begin searching for handle while we were going at that speed. I would probably have been off the bike. There were other vehicles coming towards us on road too. I know I've been in India and traffic scared me there to begin with but his driving certainly did as I didn't feel steady on the bike. I also was holding on to my water bottle near his head. When we first arrived we couldn't take photographs as there were police with guns there.
We were walking down through the favela. We first went up to a viewpoint over the favela and then went into an art gallery. Some of the art work that the children had done was fantastic. I would have liked to buy some but I didn't have enough money with me and I don't need more to post home or keep in bag. Used toilet there which was fine despite being splattered with paint. As we walked down we were performed to by four males-two young males one drumming on a bucket and the other on a oil can while two young boys danced. One of dancers was very good- think the other one was probably a relative trying to copy. We then went to local bakery where I got two cake slices- one chocolate, one banana. I only had time to have the banana cake. Some of the group had a local drink and in the bottle there was a dead crab in there along with the drink.
We walked further down into favela and you could tell it was getting worst but it still wasn't as bad as I expected. I obviously wouldn't like to live there. It was similar to some Indian streets with wires hanging everywhere. After being in India it wasn't much of a culture shock walking through a favela in Brazil. It probably is a good favela though as tourists walk through it. There was a young girl spitting out of the window. I'm not sure whether she spat rather further than two of the girls in our group were expecting as they mentioned that was close. The guide was telling us that the people of favela are very friendly, happy go lucky and are not depressed. Shes heard them say the tourists don't visit the houses of rich in Copacabana etc but they come to see our houses. There is pride in their favela. The guide we had used to be a teacher and people thought she was on drugs etc when she began working in the favela. At end of favela there were colourful houses. A bridge was an interesting shape at the end of the favela and it is a symbol of Rio. There is also the same design at the sambodrome. I didn't realise till guide showed me that its shape is a large womens bum with a thong in middle. She said no wonder the Brazilian women struggle to get work as models, actresses when we've got that bridge to live up to. My room was a bit like a washer womens with clothes hanging around it after I'd done my laundry.
17th January Rio de Janeiro
Panick this morning when I woke up at around 8:35 and I was due to be picked up at 8:45. No chance for a shower or putting suncream on or breakfast. I managed to make it down and taxi came at 8:50 to pick me up. We all went then to sign disclaimers to go hang gliding. It seemed a bit of a different disclaimer as it didn't mention that it was a risky activity and there was a risk of death or serious injury which most disclaimers tend to do. Sean and Jonathan had already left the disclaimer building when I came out of the toilet and they had gone up the mountain. We then went up to mountain in cars. We were then set up in equipment and then had to practice the run with the instructor. Suppose it felt a bit unatural like a three legged race running with arms attached to him. Jonathan had already gone ages ago by the time I went. I was hung up on the hang glide for a photo before having to stand up and run with the instructor. Actually when lifted off the ground it didn't make the stomach drop much which I was expecting. I did ask a stupid question just as we were about to go "this harness is secure isn't it?" That rock climbing incident that I had at home when got to the top of the wall and one of the leg straps came undone has made me a bit paranoid. One of my legs kept shaking when we were first up there and we were hovering above peoples swimming pools. Coming down to land he had to undo one of my leg straps which I found rather unnerving when we were still in the air. Also when instructor was landing we would briefly go over the sea to get in position to land which was a little freaky. I was told to remove my hand pressure on instructors back. I fell over when we landed but it would have helped if I had been told to run when we landed. It was a good but scary experience. I was quite calm most of the time though.
We then walked from the others hotel to the shopping mall. I then walked through tunnel and I was supposed to be just walking to my hotel but I went too far so I decided to walk all along Copacabana beach. The sunblock information amused me as it said the factor you should be wearing for 4 different skin types. One of boards said 0 for all the skin types. Obviously the board wasn't working and I wasn't going to follow that information or I would be as red as a tomato. Was quite a pleasant walk along the shore with live music playing in some of the restaurants/cafes along the front.
18th January Rio de Janeiro
In afternoon I had decided to go for a walk to Ipanema bay. First I walked round a street block while trying to find my way to the beach. I went past Mr. Dog petshop and veterinary centre. In the front window they were examining a bichon frise's ears and paws. I wouldn't like laser to be on display while she was being examined. I realised I must be on way to beach when I met a person in bungy smugglers coming the other way. Think thats the name aussies use for speedos. I people watched as I walked along Copacabana beach. I also took photographs of the sand sculptures along the beach. Was asked for money for one for taking photographs of it so I just gave some money for it. Probably more than I needed to.
In between Copacabana and Ipanema beach I went to the Pizza hut. It is the most expensive pizza I have ever seen in Brazil and probably more expensive than most places in world. It was 50 reals for a pizza so I went for carbonara pasta instead. I object to paying over £10 for a reasonably small pizza. I amused the waitresses as I kept going in toilet to get my money from my moneybelt as I couldn't get it as I was wearing a dress. I then walked along Ipanema coastline and some little kids made a noise and slightly startled me. I didn't realise that I had also walked along Leblon coastline. I then walked to Sheraton hotel as I thought Leblon beach was in front of it but when looked at map at sheraton I realised I had already walked past leblon beach. Rio de Janeiro is set up fantastically for going to beach. There are stalls all the way along for buying food and drink. There are toilets, showers and lockers at the entrance to beach underground. There is hose pipes running along the beach so your feet don't get hot walking along the sand. There is the information boards about what suncream factor to wear for your skin type. The advertising boards if you press a button on them a mist of water sprays out at you.
I then began the walk back along leblon beach and Ipanema. I stopped for a grape lolly and when I was sitting there a jewellery man came past and smiled at me. When I started walking back I met him further along the beachfront and had a conversation with him in spanish. I pretended not to understand him properly when he said come back for a swim tomorrow at 5. I began walk again and cyclist was coming the other way with his fluffy dog in his basket. Very sweet. Amused me to watch the street sellers all try and pack up their gear quickly when a police car was coming down the road. I then carried on walk along Copacabana beach and then walked to my hotel without looking at my map. I just had a quick glance at room key to check address and did walk the wrong way down street to begin with. I don't like getting maps out when I am on my own as it makes me look very like a tourist and more of a target. I prefer to try and look confident that I know where I am going even if I don't. I got back at 6:30 and decided to go and rest my feet in pool. I've no idea how far I've walked today but I know it is a long long way. Unfortunately pool is more like a paddling pool at top of hotel. Views are fantastic but theres no where really to swim in it and there were already people in it. I couldn't chat to them as they were all spanish or portuguese speakers. I didn't stay in long but just enough to try and rest my stiff muscles.
19th January Rio de Janeiro
I decided to walk down Copacabana in the opposite direction to where I went yesterday. I was amazed that two people said beautiful to me today when I was wandering around in a floppy hat and shorts + t-shirt while there were some stunning people on the beach in bikinis. I walked around to where there was another outdoor gym and then on to where people were fishing.
Later after lunch I walked along Copacabana and Ipanema again till I got to road to turn down for lake. On way I saw two little vans with graffiti on them. They seemed rather out of place as there were all these posh hotels and posh cars nearby. I was a little worried walking down to the lake as it seemed to be quieter than along the coast. I was debating when I got to lake whether I should be walking it on my own but there were lots of stalls all the way around. It was also very close to road so when areas of the park seemed to get a bit quieter I moved to the roadside. I walked all the way around it but when thought I would walk it I hadn't really taken into account the distance. I think most people cycle it. I thought I had gone all the way round and then was disappointed when I found out I still had longer to go. It was beautiful though and if people had been with me or it was earlier in the day I may have took a boat trip. When I was walking I was getting up to an area and the gates closed on me. I thought am I about to walk on private posh property. What it was-was a sightseeing helicopter going over the section of path I was walking on and then landing. The strength of wind the helicopter made from where I was was bad enough. I finally got around the whole lake and I was like I need to get a taxi or bus. I walked further than I was going to to get taxi or bus. I got on to Ipanema coastline and was trying to hail a taxi when I got on the mini-bus shuttle back to Copacabana for only 2.50 reals. I wasn't really sure how they worked so I hadn't been trying to hail that but they stopped for me anyway. Again probably the only foreign tourist on it but it dropped me on the Copacabana coastline and I stopped it close to road that I could walk to hotel on. I wouldn't like to think how many miles I've walked in last two days but I know it was a lot for just walking around a city. I had very stiff legs which I'm not sure whether was due to the miles I had walked or a small bit of sunburn. I went for a swim in hotel pool to relax my feet again. I judged it was too late to go back to sea for a swim. Pool was crowded again so couldn't swim and couldn't converse as they were speaking in Portuguese.
20th January Rio de Janeiro
I packed all my stuff up before breakfast as I was aiming to be able to go for a swim in the sea before leaving for airport. Feel you've got to try the sea in Rio de Janeiro. I thought I had left enough time to withdraw money and go for a swim with time to spare. Unfortunately I had to do a long walk to find an ATM that worked. When I finally got one I was trying to rush back and I walked the wrong way up the hotel road. Decided to get a taxi along the road back to the hotel as it was the only chance I had of being able to go for a swim in the sea. I quickly went up to room to change. I then walked down to beach, placed my clothes and shoes on beach. I had brought no valuables. I then went into the sea for at the most 5 minutes as I had less than half an hour to go to beach, swim, put clothes back over swimsuit and get back to hotel. I was having to watch my clothes and shoes to check no-one ran off with them. The sea was so powerful- the waves were knocking me off my feet- waves very quickly went over me. I had thought maybe of keeping hair dry but it was impossible on the beach at Rio. I even ended up being under a wave and I was in the shallows. I put shorts straight on over swimsuit and it looked like I'd wet myself but I didn't have time to allow myself to dry. Didn't really like walking to elevator with hair sticking up on end due to waves washing over it.
Got flight to Santiago, Chile. When I came to get off flight I couldn't get off at first as my bags were behind me on the plane and there was just floods of people coming. One of the problems about not queuing to get on and just thinking I will wait till the end to board was there was less room in luggage rack. My bag was just in the right place on the carousel when I came out of immigration so I was able to pick it up straight away. At customs I thought I'd better declare my ornament from Peru as I didn't want to risk a fine just for a cheap ornament. The fines were really expensive and my ornament was made out of plant reeds. I was a bit worried that I was about an hour later than I said for pick up. A nice man picked me up and took me to apartment. His english was very good considering he studied it 10 years ago. He did seem to get a bit lost a few times from airport to apartment. He was talking to himself about it. Don't think he had done it very often as he wasn't sure how to get off the airport car park. It was a little disconcerting though when he took his hands off steering wheel when trying to think what an english word was.
- comments
Sean Ryan ....budgie smugglers....
Suzanne Ellis Thank you. Mixing up words again. I had never heard of them until this trip.