Monday 4th Feb (grr i just typed all of this and until today but then there was a powercut!! and i spent 2 hours typing it so my money is up.)

Promise to keep you updated soon....going to the Pantenal tomorrow for 3 nights where we sleep in hammocks, get attacked by these moquitoes which are unlike any breed of mozzies ive ever encountered and get to fish for pirhana, horseride, and basically see loadsa wetlands....when i get back from the great outdoors i'll keep you posted...

Monday 4th Feb

Everyone was so tired today as most of us had got back at about 6ish the following night from the Carnival. I wanted to go and see Jesus today but i couldn't as the weather was pretty poo and castover. Everyone just chilled and went on the internet so we could prepare ourselves for the Copacobana Bloco tonight. A bloco is not an 'official' party but basically districts of Rio have their own street parties for locals and tourists alike where cars just pull up with about 12 or so speakers attached by string to their bonets and basically blast out Brazilians tunes whilest everyone Sambas as, of course no cars can drive down the road because the music car blocks it off. We got there at about 8ish after taking a little minibus;taxi thing downtown which ended up being cheaper than the bus. we definately heard the Bloco before we saw the mass of people. There were lots of market sellers, music and dancers. I bought a few Caiprhinis and before long Charlotte, Mitchell and I were lost from the rest of the group. We went down to the sea and decided to have a little paddle in it. It was slightly crazy to think that the next bit of land we imagined looking into the Pacific would be Africa?! I had been craving a prawn skewer since the day at Copacobana beach and there was a little old man sitting in front of a little gas flame with a metal pan and oil in it. He had fresh shrimp skewers and was just cutting up limes, frying the skewers and selling them for about 11p each. I waited for about 10 minutes watching him and it was so simple, yet SO DELICIOUS! For those of you who know how much Henry and I adore prawns....you know that he would be in heaven. Ahhh and the lime was just squeezed over the top....it was lush! mmmm. Mitchell wanted to play footy on the beach with some local boys so Charlote and i decided to get another drink which ended up in a strange old raving man giving us a free coconut ( to drink the water from- a really common thing here) and then hunting us down on the beach to take a sip of our Caiprhini's in exchange....!! We caught up with the rest of the group and ended up dancing the night away with many Brazilians chatting up our only blonde girl, Kath - very glad i dyed my hair now. She ended up with about 4 old mens numbers across her arm!! We ended up slightly tipsy at a little market where we all spent a little too much on.....things we thought were 'amazing' and obviously oh so necessary to buy at the time? We then got the minibus back and SOMEHOW during that ride back our taxi driver managed to dress himself in a complete gorilla outfit and then park his taxi in the middle of Lapa, get out, get us out and dance with us. IN A COMPLETE GORILLA OUTFIT.....IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD!! In conclusion....Brazil is slightly mad, but the place literally oozes and sweats everything positive and happy!!

5th feb 2008

Last day in Rio, pretty basic. not much to say at all except for i went to see Jesus which was fun. Great views but the amount of tourists trying to do the Jesus with outstretched arms got slightly annoying. We also had to dodge the clouds to get some photos but obviously it had to be done...a date with Jesus - complete! Wanted to find the blue steps i had yattered on so much about which feature in Snoop Dogg and Pharells music videa - beautiful. I knew they were in Lapa which was the area i was in, but i also knew from google that they were hidden and somewhere near the arches, which is the dodgy bit where everyone gets mugged. No one wanted to come with me on my mission so i headed off by myself and ended up getting very lost, and annoyed at myself that i didnt have the guts to go up this alley that i though they maybe up. I only saw locals coming down the street and it seemed very far away from the Lapa Party below. However after pacing up and down the street looking like a complete idiot tourist and biting my nails i decided to just go power walking up the alley by myself. that alley then joined another- so i went up that one....all the while thinking that just before i'd gone on my mission, Henry had made me promise not to do anything silly that could put me in danger. At the top of this alley though there were police guards who then signalled that i was in the completely wrong area and thought i was mad to come up this end. They told me where to go to find the steps but by that point i was tired, slightly scared and just went back to the hotel in a bad mood.

6th Feb 2008

Had to get up at 6am this morning to load up the bus - FIRST DAY OF THE TRIP!!!!! whooooooppppp!!!! had a 5 hour drive to Parati which is a small EVER SO CUTE colonial town. It is situated on the coast and the town was built so that every day when the tide comes in it washes the streets....a great idea in theory however it was raining the day we went so the cobbled streets were lined with gaint mud puddles. All the houses and shops are painted white with coloured doors which made it so quaint and special. I loved it here! It was such a diamond in the rough. We also had to set up camp which was um.... interesting. i enjoy a spot of camping however.....our tent is called el saunio and i think was made in WWII. It is SOOOOOO OLD and smelly and patched up with black tape!!! Little faith in it. I was on washing up duty- the fist of my duties which sucked big style as the camp site flooded and we had to keep walking to the tap to fill up water containers to wash the pans etc. NOT FUN AT ALL. It rained all night and I was very grateful our tent didnt flood. Quite scary and lonely in a tent which by the way has two layers- neither of which are waterproof!! OUr leader, Joss just said....'dont let the two layers touch'. BUT NEITHER ARE WATERPROOF AND ITS THE WET PERIOD HERE!!

7th Feb

Boat trip which was meant to have a BBQ and beautiful crystal clear seas has been cancelled due to the weather. Poo day.

8th Feb

Had to get up early again today to travel to Bonito. Bonito is about 26 hour drive away so we had to just have a day of driving, and then free camping. It was stupídly hot today and the bus was baking.....had to be when we were traveling that the weather would be great!! i thought free camping was camping in someone kind's garden for the night. NO - its actually sleeping and eating by the side of a main road or setting up camp in a petrol station....literally. Not a nice nights sleep.

9th Feb

Woken up at petrol station by c*** crowing at 5am. Yes i woke up to quails and chickens around my tent. Surreal!! Another day spent traveling and the weather was great - again. Arrived at camp sight and decided a BBQ was in order. Had a few drinks and got a little merry. However not all was right. Went to bed at about 3ish. By 5 we had a freek storm. By a freek storm i mean....one that honestly was probably the scariest thing i've ever been caught up in. There was NO gap between the thunder and the lightening it was directly overhead. The rain thrashed against the tent and i thought it would cave in. Charlotte and I tried to evaluate what would happen if the lightening hit our tents,as the tnets are only help up by two metal poles...!! the lighetning completely lit up our tent and we soon realised our tent was FLOATING on water so it was like a water bed. the storm woke up the camp site and at one point there was just one almight crack that literally shook the ground and i think the lightening hit the camp site near us. BLOODY TERRRIFYING. Kath and Sophies tent flooded badly and their ipods and mobiles are totally broken as they saw them floating by in a puddle. Looking back we were in a slight dip which caused the tents to be enveloped by the flood and definately have learnt a lesson in askingthe boys as to where to pitch our tents. Another life long lesson to be learnt is before traveling on a 10 week trip ensure that the tents are waterproof if going to countries during the wet season! After the hour long storm we tried to get a few hours sleep before waking up for brekkie at 830.

10th Feb (Bonito)

Most of the group went snorkelling today but a group of us had chosen to do the optional excursion the next day to go and swim in 6 waterfalls, so we were left to our own devices. Decided to go back into town and try to lift our spirits after the dowlpour whilest drying out everything that got wet (which was a lot). We had completely lost track of the date and day and was very dissapointed to go into a deserted town on a Sunday and not know where the local taxi rank was to get back. To make matters worse the mosquitoes were out in a huge army-like force and we couldnt walk anywhere without being attacked by loads! The day was swelteringly hot we so when we managed to get a taxi back to the camp sight we decided to go for a swim in the river near-by. This was very refreshing and it was lovely to basque in the cool waters next to a natural waterfall and just wash our muddy feet!! Decided to have a read under one of the shelters when out of nowhere the storm came back for another hit at our tents. This time the rain didnt soak into the ground and then form a puddle, no it just formed a puddle within minutes!! We thought we were safe in our shelter but the wind managed to push the rain sideways and drench us. In the end our tents got completely flooded because the puddle outside just went through the zips and linings luckily we managed to grab all of our stuff and abandom camp. Our tour leader, Joss said he had never had to do this before and it really was a freek falsh flood. Swampy (our massive yellow bus) smelt foul with 30 grumbling, wet people with their wet stuff and unfortunately it was my teams responsibility that day to clean the bus...not nice!! We were very happy to see a hostel but slightly alarmed at the fact that Bonito town was completely out of electricity. Half of us were crying with sheer frustration at the weather, and the other half were just too pissed off to care. We got given some complimentary red wine and shown to our rooms which seemed like a safe haven especially when we heard the rain pouring down outside. Sophie had a wierd caterpiller on her bed but just flicked it off, we nicknamed him Jose and threw him out...little did we know what was to come with Jose. After watching the lighetning rip through the sky we all got hungry and made our way to a pizzeria. As we walked in, the town got power back and we all whoooped for joy. Had a nice pizza and an early night in a warm, cosy bed!!

11th Feb (Bonito...still!!)

Woke up with quite afew more Jose's around the room, again, thought nothing of it and went to a hearty breakfast of fresh fruit, cheese, ham and bread. The waterfalls trip was cancelled due to the weather which hardly raised our spirits any more but we were all grateful of a day of rest and relaxation. When i decided to have asort through of my pack i noticed 12 Jose's dropped from one pair of trousers....then we relaised we were not alone in our room. We ended up finding literally hundreds of the Jose's in general damp little corners of the room and had to sweep them all out. After Toby made a complaint we were upgraded to other rooms and i got a double bed!!! LUXURY!!!