Rio de Janeiro - La Cidada Mervelhosa!

We are loving Rio and have thoroughly enjoyed our week here. There is so much to see and the athmosphere is great with all the preparations for the Carnaval. We went to the Sambadromo on Sunday night to view the first practice run of two famous Samba schools. There were 30,000 locals there watching with us. This is the only chance for many of them to see their Carnaval heroes life as this is a free show. The tickets for the real show are way beyond their means - sadly. A lot of the famous dancers come from the Favelas. It was brilliant and I could not see any other tourists around. Amazing talent and passion. How can they last for so long in their ridiculously high heels??? And the heat in these concrete arenas was unbelievable - I kept asking the drinks guys to pour water over my head. They all went totally bananas. I had more fun watching them than the action on the samba route. Fascinating. No pictures as it was not safe enough to take a camera but trust me, the girls were delicious. I had no idea how quickly a bum can wiggle! We watched 2 samba schools dance past, each of them must have over 2,000 dancers. It is an unforgettable experience. Samba!

Sono Beach - a paradise

This wonderful beach is not far from Parati, only one hour on the bus and 1.5 hours hike through tropical rainforest. It has a campsite as well... and a few bars selling cold beer. Thank Goodness!

Sono beach

by popular demand, finally foto of us at the beach, still blindingly white (us, not the beach). Camera was hanging on tree and I cannot find out what crop might be in Portuguese... but u get the idea.. bliss!

Parati!

This is one of the streets in lovely Parati, lined with Cachaca bars... mmh!

The Girls from IPANEMA!

We have finally arrived in Rio after a blissful few days in Parati on the coast. Stunning beaches with powder sand and clear blue waters, bordering right on the dense rainforest. Beautiful! We did a lovely hike to Plaia Sono and although I almost died from the heat, this views were unforgettable. Never seen people hiking in Bikinis and trainers before... quite interesting!!!
Certainly made Craig walk faster!!!

Now we arrived in Rio - our hostel is right off Ipanema beach and one block away from the Gay section on the beach, my God! I do not know where to look first!! I never knew that so many men in the world had sixpacs!!! Makes me a bit dizzy and Craig quite appalled by my shameless stares but then again... the next Brazilian beauty going past on roller blades wearing nothing but a (very small) bikini, we are even. I promise to get some photos up soon! Is that legal?

Today we had did a tour up to the Corcovado and enjoyed the view of the beaches from above (at about 34C). Pictures will follow. We saw lots on monkeys in the trees and of course the infamous favelas from the top, a lot to take in. Apparently, 1.5 Mio people live in Favelas in Rio, 20% of the population - unbelievable. Craig managed to defend our brand new camera after being attacked by 2 kids and kicked ass in his new flipflops! Very scary and I am oh so proud of him for not letting go of the camera.

We are now looking forward to the next few days relaxing at the beach, taking in the sights ;-p and just chilling out.

Brazil not cut out for 6ft Blondes!!!!

Leaving Sao Paulo

We are finally leaving Sao Paulo today to travel towards Rio and enjoy some beach life in Parati. A little fishing village in the Rio State, 6 hours on the bus from SP. Unfortunately, the next bus is fully booked and we have to wait another 5 hrs for the next one... sigh! Thank God we are in no rush whatsoever. It helps!

We cannot wait to get out of the city, very scary place. Our hotel was very nice but not in the best areas. We were advised not to walk around outside after 8 pm... What a shame! We were followed by two guys who kept calling us gringos and wanted our money because there is no policia. Quite intimidating. So staying in the hotel was absolutely fine. The very cute cleaning lady would let you know that we had a great time in our room with lots and lots of cans of Brahma, the yummie local beer.

The picture is taken in the Edificio Italia, the second highest building in SP with amazing views over the seemingly endless city. There was lots of rain coming in from the mountains looking beautiful from safely of the bar. We were able to identify all the sights and get a better idea of the state the city is in. Very good Caipirinhas as well!

Yesterday we explored the Japanese quarter of SP, Liberdade. Very fascinating and it felt like being in Asia. We had lots of Noodles and Sushi and Japanese Pizza (fried scampi stuck together with some form of batter) - delicious and almost free. Very nice. What a diversity of people and noises and smells and the constant drizzle of water falling down from hundreds of aircon units above. I will always remember.

Looking forward to the seabreeze now. Need to work on suntan for Carneval!!

Farewell from Frankfurt

VAMOS!!

As you can see we are at the airport and about ready to go.

Lots of you have asked us where we are going to be and when so voila our rough itinerary:

19 of Jan to 23 of Feb: Brazil

Sao Paulo, Rio, Iguazu Falls, Recife, Olinda, Salvador (for the Carneval) and then off to Buenos Aires

23 of Feb to mid April: Argentina and Chile

Buenos Aires, Mendoza, Punta Arenas, Torres del Paine National Park, Puerto Natales, Puerto Montt on the ferry, Santiago, Valparaiso

mid April to mid May: Bolivia

Uyuni, Potosi, Sucre, La Paz, Lake Titicaca

mid May to mid June: Peru

Puno, Cusco, Inca Trail to Maccu Picchu, Cordillera Blanca, Iquitos (start of the Amazon)

we will then travel down the Amazon and spend some time to recover at the beaches in Brasil. We are planning to fly back on 18 July but who knows... our tickets are valid for 12 months...

Hurray! Cant wait to get going now!