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First impressions after landing in rio was 'what the fuck are we doin here!'. Nobody speaks english, everyone looks like there about to mug you and somehow we had to get to our hostel - good start!
We got escorted to our room, which was the smallest thing id ever seen, loaded with 3 bunk beds. The room itself didnt have a door and only had 2 proper walls - i blame Andy for bookin this one! :-p
Funniest thing about it was that Andy was lumped with the top bunk.... Which had no sides to it! I was prayin all night he was goin to fall out!
We arrived late as it was so decided for the early night - sleeping with everything on our beds! Welcome to Brazil!
Surely the next day would be an improvement? We found out it was brazils national independence day meaning everything was shut! We had a wonder around our location but there wasnt much point - plus we were pretty close to some favelas!
We managed to book ourselves onto a tour which would show us the whole city and hopefully tell us something about it! - also having a guide felt a whole lot safer than tryin it on our own! The weather wasnt great for the views but the camera doesnt do it justice to what we saw! We were taken up the hills to where the christ the reedemer was standing. We were able to take quite a few photos on the way up which hopefully you will see soon. The whole experience was incredible! One of the main thing that gets me is the brazilian driving - there all bonkers! Stick to one lane? Naaaah! Will pass someone just to make up half a second! Surprisingly i havent seen a crash!
Comin to the end of the tour our guide takes us to a place called Lapa - basically the party area! He told us not to take anything valuable or bulky in the pockets here, giving us the impression it wasnt a nice place.... So what does he do? Parks up the van and says 'food anyone?'. Everyone on the tour is there with cameras, money, bags etc but there wasnt a great deal we could do. Ive never felt so out of place in my life! Everyone on the street basically stopped what they were doin and stared at us! Our guide was all out with open arms, greeting his friends which made us think that this guy wasnt just a tour guide! It was all good though! All part of the experience being with the locals, although i have to question the food - chicken, chips and rice isnt a meal guys!
Got back to the hostel and we crashed out a little - i think jet lag was with us. I got up before andy and went for a wonder round the communal room to find someone had put bloody glee on tv! Glee in Rio?! Fuck me! Everyone was friendly in there though. You get chatting about their experiences and what their doin next, which can give us a few ideas too along the way. My opinion about this place changed - i just wished the weather would brighten up!
Well after getting abit giddy after the first tour, the next day we wanted to go handgliding off one of the cliffs next to the sugar loaf (see photos). We never got to do it though because the weather pissed it down, which made the day abit grim! We stayed about in the hostel for most of it but so did everybody else. I got chatting to some more cool people which i probably wouldnt have done if we went out. Note to self: ask the names of the people your talkin too! Everyone gets caught up telling their stories that askin their names slips you by! Pain in the arse though because there are people i would have liked to stay in contact with.
The next day was time to move! Fuck Rio and its shit weather! Shame though because i was warmin to the city! Our initial plan was to move to sao paulo but after talkin, we got told that was a city for people that knew peoplr their - otherwise it was pants! We got told instead to go to a little island called ilha grande - a small island just off sao paulo ish. Have a little google search - thats what made us go there!
It was quite a task getting their though - we got told to get the local bus to the terminal, then a coach to the port and a boat to ilha grande! This tested our 'traveling skills'. Getting a bus - easy! Getting to the terminal - not so easy! Our bus stopped at what looked like a local bus depot which we knew wasnt our stop. After a few exchanging with the driver, both not knowing what one was saying, he decided he'd had enough, shut the bus doors and took us round to another bus we needed to catch - why couldnt he have just said that?! The clown.
From there it was easy going, just abit of waiting around.
Finally got there and we thought
Strolling through the beaches insearch of our hostel, we couldnt help but admire what we had found! Truely awesome! Ahead in the distance we see a sweet housey/hostel on the corner of the bay and we thought 'naaaah couldnt be! Looks way too good for £10 a night'... But it sure was! Jackpot! It was such a cool hostel - the rooms were big, ensuite CLEAN bathroom. We were so happy! We had a decking balacony outside our room which looked over the main area of the island... Pretty sweet. We chilled out with a couple, maybe a few more haha, and did abit of exploring.
We heard that 1 of the top 10 beaches was on the island - Lopez Mendes! It was either £6-7 return by boat or you could do the 2.5 hour walk. For some reason i felt like John Locke - i had my backpack and water and i was off. It was such a good walk with great views, but by hell it was long! We reached a beach after around 1 hour and we thought we had made it... Nope! Keep walking lads! This happened another 3 times! - they werent lying! It was 2.5 hours!
Finally made it! Golden white silky sand, crashing blue waves! I think its one of the best beaches ive ever been too! Rookie error though - you coildnt buy food there and we didnt take any! Oops. We stayed a few hours and decided to catch the boat back! - the walk was good but not that good!
The next morning we got up, had the usual cheese n ham sandwich that was given out (not by choice) and headed inside the lobby area to extend our stay.... Only to find man utd playing everton! And it was only 10 oclock in the mornin! Champion!!! Saw the second half which was decent til the last 3mins in injury time! Oh well, id watched football and was on a beach before midday!
We left ilha grande (9am) the next morning to head for Argentina/foz de iguazu. We got told the trip would take around 30 hours! - grim! So we load the boat, head for the first bus terminal and go down to sao paulo which was a 7 hour trip (7.30pm) to get a night bus to foz de iguazu. That trip was abit hazey but we got in at 10.30am the next day! That was pretty tough - especially when they play the chipmunks movie dubbed in portuguse - squeeking little basterds!
So tomorrow we're doing the bit im most looking forward to - seeing the waterfall from the argentine side! And from there we think were going to beunos aires (17hour night bus!)
There we are! Sorry its long but i want to fill you in on everything and hopefully give you a taste of whats happening! So mum stop crying now - if you would lile to donate me anymore money, feel free!
If you have the time, drop me a comment - i would love to know how your all getting on.
Much love x
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