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Olá, oí e bom dia a tudo.
How are we all today? Nice weather over there? It's bloody raining here, and the temperature's dropped to an unbearably cold 26 degrees. That's Rio for you though, notoriously grim.
It's getting a bit late, and we have some cachaça to finish off tonight, so I'll get on with it. The last couple of weeks have brought us from São Paulo, through Paraty and Ilha Grande, to Rio de Janeiro, a little visited town somewhere on the southeastern Brazilian coast. It's rather nice.
São Paulo was alright, quite big and not that much to do, but worth a few days' visit. We spent the first day searching for an HSBC and a laundrette. Both we found, the latter cost us a cool $25 for a load. We popped over to the Asian district of Libertade for dinner, only to spend several hours searching for food and in the end spending a fortune on a rather small amount of sushi. Brazil was so far proving pretty pricey. Next, shopping. Plenty of musical instrument shops including one selling dead funky Brazilian percussion, but nowt we could afford. Later, plenty of very up-themselves boutiques selling clothes we didn't really want and really couldn't afford. Our last day was spent strolling a good couple of kilometres in torrential rain to an alright modern art museum full of childs. Still, we got a sticker.
Next day we got on a bus full of tourists to Paraty. At the other end, a friendly taxi driver charged us a substantial sum of money to take us to someone's back garden where they, in turn, asked for a substantial sum of money to camp there for a few nights. It was dark and raining, and the taxi had left, so we stayed. We regretted it later, as it turned out the same garden was hosting a massive party, inviting all the childs in the town (or so it seemed), and pumping out Brazilian drum & bass and jungle til dawn. Strangely, I got the best sleep I'd had in weeks that night. The colonial beach town of Paraty was the perfect place for us to spend a couple of days in shops and cafes dodging the rain. It cleared up nicely as we were getting on the bus out.
The very same bus took us to Angra dos Reis, from whence we caught a ferry to Ilha Grande. It's a lot like the Pile (of s***e), only nice. I was put off a bit on the first night when a (probably) rabid dog randomly attacked me and bit my leg. I didn't seem to be dead 24 hours later, which was a relief. Our time after that little incident was spent beaching and exploring a little bit of the island, giving stray dogs a wide berth as we passed them. One very odd thing that started in Ilha Grande and has more or less continued since was our willingness to get up very early in the morning. It won't last.
Last Wednesday we hopped on a bus to our final destination, Rio (that sounds more ominous than it was meant to). We've been relishing and dreading the thought of getting here: one of the best cities in the world, but also our last stop before home. Fortunately, it turned out to be lovely, enough so that it's taken our mind of the whole "end" thing (continuing with the ominous theme), leaving us to enjoy a week's holiday after all that hard slogging around the continent.
Day 1: Jebo on a Rock. Apparently, Jebo is quite a popular fella, and also a mean one. We had to wait two hours for a space on the train up to meet him, and by the time we got there, it had clouded over. We got the odd break for photos, but nowt great. We consoled ourselves in the evening with sushi and caipirinhas.
Day 2: Pão de Açucar. Much better than Jebo, Pão was a lot less crowded and permitted great views of the city. Jebo was suitably surrounded with cloud.
Day 3: Santa Teresa and Barra Shopping. Santa Teresa, a "bohemian district" on the top of a hill, was a bit of a let down. We queued for two hours for the bondinho which took us about five minutes up the hill, leaving us at some touristy restaurants and tat shops. The streets, buildings, views etc. were lovely, but there was b***** all to do. Barra Shopping, a big shopping centre out of town was indeed big, but also a bit rubbish. We came home and had more sushi and caipirinhas instead.
Day 4: Tat fairs. We started in the Ipanema Hippy Fair, where we bought rather a lot of tat. We then made our way halfway across the city to the Feira do Nordeste. That was a waste of time, but managed to get back to Ipanema in time to buy plenty more tat we couldn't afford and certainly wouldn't be able to carry home. There was also a bear dog.
Day 5: Beach and record shopping. We went to Copacabana for a bit and later bought some records. That's about it.
Day 6: Museums. The plan today was to tour the modern and contemporary art museums of Rio. When that failed, we bought more records and drank more cachaça.
And that just about brings us up to now. The end. We have tomorrow morning to try one last museum, and then get on a bus and head to the airport. Screw it, we're cancelling our flights and staying here. Can someone buy our Glasto tickets for us? We'll pop home for a short holiday in June.
Here are some lists we've compiled over the last nine months (we make a lot of lists):
Top 5...
Countries:
1. Colombia
2. Brazil
3. Argentina
4. Uruguay
5. Guatemala
Worst: Venezuela
Cities:
1. Bogotá, Colombia
2. Rio, Brazil
3. Quito, Ecuador
4. Salta, Argentina
5. Montevideo, Uruguay
Worst: Belize City, Belize
Colonialy Towns and Stuff:
1. Antigua, Guatemala
2. Cartagena, Colombia
3. Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay
4. Vilcabamba, Ecuador
5. Santa Elena, Costa Rica
Worst: Coro, Venezuela
Sights:
1. Iguassu Falls, Argentina
2. Machu Picchu, Peru
3. Glacier Perito Moreno, Argentina
4. Tikal, Guatemala
5. Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Worst: Chichen Itza, Mexico
Beers:
1. Belikin Stout, Belize
2. Beagle Fuegian Ale, Argentina
3. Antares Honey Ale, Argentina
4. Cuzqueña Malta, Peru
5. Imayki Scottish Red Ale, Argentina
Worst: El Bolsón Ají, Argentina
Songs:
1. Rhianna - Umbrella
2. Shakira - No
3. Juanes - Me Enamora
4. Molotov - Yofo
5. Árbol - Revoloteando
Worst: Pan Pipes - My Heart Will Go On
Dog Experiences:
1. Bear dogs warming the feet of armed police, Bogotá, Colombia
2. Stumpy, Quito, Ecuador
3. The San Rafael crew, Reserva San Rafael, Paraguay
4. Our friend for the day, Puerto Natales, Chile
5. Big dog trying to do little do, unknown location
Worst: Bite from rabid terrier, Ilha Grande, Brazil
Musical Instruments what we (Nick) bought:
1. Berimbau, Brazil
2. Charango, Colombia
3. Saxomothing, Bolivia
4. Zither, Brazil
5. Quena, Peru
Worst: Crappy flute thing, Honduras
And some other bests...
Brewery: Antares, Argentina
Beach: Puerto Colombia, Venezuela
Fat Face: II - Lost In Starbucks
Vomilist
Between us, we managed to vom in 13 of the 18 countries we visited. Vic won. Here are the results:
Nick 3 (Mexico, Guatemala, Chile)
Vicky 10 (Belize, Honduras, Colombia, Ecuador - disputed, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil)
Cluedo
Once we had acquired some rope for our hammock and a nice pair of candle sticks, we decided to try to complete the set. This is how we got on:
Rope - for hammock, Venezuela
Candlesticks - decorative, Chile
Revolver - Beatles CD, Argentina
Dagger - for piercing coconuts, Brazil
Blowpipe - with darts, Brazil
Longbow - with arrows, Brazil
That's it then, we'll start making our way home. See you all in a couple of days down't pub. Bums.
Lots of love for the last time,
Us xxx
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