19-22 Feb - Chapada dos Guimaraes

Another change to the already amended plans due to rain causing muddy roads. Crew were disappointed but we were fine. I mean, they're good but we can't expect them to control the weather. :-) So a night in a hotel in Nobres and then off again, heading for Chapada dos Guimaraes, where we would spend a relaxing 3 nights.

The campsite was basically someone's big, leafy, back garden, which they had thrown up 3 loo's and showers in, with a covered BBQ area at the bottom. Only 100 yards to the town's main square, with its bars and nick nack shops, it as an easy place to spend time, whole others robbed wifi by standing next to the campsite owner's house. This town has my favourite church so far. Sadly no photos as I had no camera when it was open and it wasn't own when I did. Grrr. It was a simple white building from outside, with blue wood doors and windows (a bit rustic Santorini-esque). Inside, it was ornate carved wood but again, quite rustic, and only painted in what as now dull colours. Something about it made me think Antonio Banderas might run through any minute shooting with a pistol in each hand. Luckily he didn't as, if you recall, I didn't have my camera.

I spent one day on a 2km each way trek to vista waterfall where we chilled out with a book in between jumping into the water. Cold at first, then refreshing after a couple of minutes, we all stood under the pounding waterfall.
Neil having a nap at the top of the waterfall








A grasshopper landed on Robin's hat....then hitched a lift for about 20 mins of our trek. Smart move.


Geoff cooking up a storm on the wood burner hot plates


Some did a similar outing the next day but I chose to mooch around town and relax (hide from the rain) back at camp.

Oh, equipment update. My indestructible swatch watch bout in New York 3 months ago has broken. Indestructible my eye! With all the early starts and having to get to cook group on time etc, a watch is essential, so I'm now on th look out. Without an Argos, where does one expect to find a £10 digital/waterproof number in Brazil?

17-18 Feb truck days and bush camp

More Brazil observations.....
- lots of barking dogs, which seem to get together at night. Why do people own them and how does it not irritate them?
- cockerels, none of which seem to know they are only meant to crow at dawn! Again, above comment applies.
- road humps, everywhere, even on motorways.
- the women all wear sprayed on shorts and jeans. I wish my Portuguese was better cos I really want to know how the heck they get in and out of them.
- jugglers, unicyclists and kids selling fruit and small electrical items at traffic lights
- lots of police check points taking our information and no doubt filing it somewhere that no-one will ever look at it again.
- lots of different names for toilets...it can take a bit of thought.

Sick member of the team on the front bench, birthday balloons


A big truck day to get through that no man's land separating Brazilia from anywhere good. Saw something I have never seen before, a rainbow coloured cloud! It was rather good and I am sure has a special name. I must remember to google it next time I get some wifi. Pete found our next bush camp down a road behind a load of trees, next to what appeared to be a small local air strip. The owner popped along when we were eating our dinner and ready to be evicted, he jumped out of his car, shouted 'gringo's' and shook Pete's hand. He then encouraged us to stay longer (we couldn't) and mentioned there might be an early incoming flight (ooooh, exciting). What a nice chap.

Several of us found ourselves hooked on nature's tv that night, watching the most active lightening storm any of us had ever seen. Too far away to hear thunder, it must have been a mile or two wide and it flashed every few seconds. It kept going for hours and pinching the truck to go storm chasing was discussed.

Family pet at one of the hotels


800km from the Northern Pantanal, our next destination but as Jane had a birthday in Salvador, when we were separated and today as Pete's birthday, we decorated the truck cab and truck body with balloons. :-) Unfortunately, our plans were scuppered by rain (the road to the N'thn Pantanal would be a mud bath) and then a crash immediately in front of us. Sobering and sad (whilst some basic first aid by one of our overlanders saved the motorcyclist's life, ultimately he'd taken on a truck (not ours) so may not have made it in the end). I was struck by how much this country is still very much developing. The police and ambulance arrived only after at least 20 minutes, closely followed by 2 tv news crews and one newspaper reporter. The journo's trampled the scene, the camera men stuck their camera's into the ambulance and the paramedics wrenched the motorcyclist's head 90degrees. All filmed on mobile phones by locals who came to watch. As witnesses, crew had to hang around till released by the police, which took a couple of hours. So, instead of a bush camp, we went to a hotel and took Pete to a (a BBQ meat based buffet) to try and 'birthday up' the day.

16-17 Feb Brazilia

Up at 5.30am as we still had 430km to go. (Yes, Carol (my sis), lots of early mornings when we have long truck days. Sticking eh!)

Well, Pete said there was nothing to see on the way to Brazilia and he's right. Agriculture and farming land. Oh, Brazilia is the capital of Brazil by the way. Before this trip, I admit to thinking Rio was the capital. All a bit like Canberra/Sydney in Australia I guess. In essence, Brazilia was a purpose built city, made to protect the land in this region from neighbouring countries who quite fancied it and could see it wasn't being used. Now, purpose built makes me think of Milton Keynes and I can't say I am a fan, and with Pete giving us half a day to explore, I was not expecting great things.

There is a political/judicial area which has all the ministry's, all the banks are together, all the hotels are together, there is even an entertainment zone (you WILL have fun HERE and only HERE!) As it turned out, our guide for the morning showed us the key sights and whilst it was only 3 or 4 hours, I enjoyed what I saw. I can't say I would want to live there...the numbered blocks and regimented order of things makes it all feel a bit 1984 to me. Oh no, did I really think that!? The thought police might get me! (sorry, the heat must be getting to me).

Transparent walls for the confessional booth in one of the churches.....bet it doesn't get used much then :-)


Cathedral mean to look like the crown of thorns and the bell meant to look like a chalice


inside


These chaps represent outsiders coming in....like us.....so I thought I would have a cuddle

Main government building, shaped as an H to represent honesty....hmmm



The supreme court....not as impressive as UK or USA/i>


I finally got to witness some capoeira, which for them that don't know, is a martial arts style of dance, of a sorts. It's no contact, fluid martial arts really and was originally the only way for people to practice their fighting skills by dressing them up as dance. We went to a market at the end of our tour and I fell upon a circle of people who were singing, clapping and twanging a couple of basic instruments. It appeared to be a local club or clubs who clearly gather there on a Sunday morning to practice with each other. It was huge fun to watch them all tap in and out and they were clearly having a lot of fun themselves. I have some video but here's a still from it.

Capoeira


Oh, on exiting Brazilia, I saw lots of Brazil's famous "love motels" which rent by the hour for couples to spend some alone time. My camera skills were not fast enough to capture my favourite........the huge billboard sign just had the name of the hotel and a sea of swimming sperm. Nice. Tempting. No, really!

Bridge in Brazilia meant to influence a stone being skimmed over water


Loo sign.....the pictures amused me



For my dad.....how many different styles of pylon does one country need?

13-15th Feb - Lencois and bushcamping

Lencois, a former diamond mining town. Again, a beautiful colonial town with cobbled streets but this one had a few more squares for chilling out in and seemed a bit funkier than other towns. A cool place to while away some time.

waiting for our day trip out




We went on a tour of the local sights; caves and waterfalls, culminating in watching sunset.
Time for a dip





Some of the gang went for a blue cave snorkel


The tannins (what? Like tea?) made the rocks go a lovely pink


That, plus a roam around town and we were off again. Talking of being off, largely over my cold, my tum was not getting any better so crew brought out the antibiotics to try and nuke the bug that's going round us all.

1200km to go to get to Brazilia, so we stopped off for a bushcamp. We camped on a road/cut-through in a wood and had one of our nicest bush camps to date.

Home for the night

7-12 Feb -Salvador. "Carnaval"

Everyone's heard of Rio's carnival and can picture the parades of women wearing little more than some body paint, jewels, huge feathers and a smile. However, Brazilians spend all year gearing up for 'Carnaval' all over Brazil and whilst Rio's parade is about 900 metres long, Salvador welcomes a couple of million people to join in in the 3 parade routes which cover many km's. (I have 27 km in my mind but I'm not sure if that is correct).

Salvador's carnival is less about watching and more about joining in. Floats/trucks carry the artists slowly and noisily along the the route and most have a human cordon around them.
A float


This cordon is made up of people holding a rope with those at the front forcing their way through the crowd, followed by security, then followed by people who have paid to be part of that float and crowd; "bloco". That crowd are identified by their bloco t-shirt, most of which have been customised by street tailors and walk/dance along in the bloco. The alternative is to stay outside the ropes with the rest of the hordes and be 'popcorn', which all the dancing, jostling bodies are said to resemble.

Havng some cheese on a stick for dinner in the old town


Lisa, Tony and Geoff dancing along with the bloco


Mikkel in his 'Lucky Dude' bloco T-Shirt (does chest thump with fist) and Anthony with more hair than he normally sports


Our apartment in our Bob Sinclair bloco shirts


Here's what it looked like later!


A more traditional bloco in the new town


Most of us paid to join two bloco's, one being Bob Sinclair (he did Love Generation, amongst other tracks, which you will know if you google them) and the Olodum Drums, probably the most famous drumming band in the world, even starring in a Michael Jackson track/video. (Again, go google the song with the lyrics "they forgot about us", it's the only bit of the song that I remember due to the irony of such a rich chap bemoaning the wealthy 'forgetting' about the poor....and him!?!. Hmmm.)

Duncan exploring alternative ways to wear his Olodum drums bloco shirt


Okay, a quick summary of time here:
- we broke off into 3 apartments, as locals move out in order to rent their places out and wipe a bit off their mortgage.
- the old town was gorgeous, lively and we sank a few caipirinha's and devoured a few melted cheese on a stick's here.
- inevitably, with such tight crowds and poverty, there were a few attempted pickpockets, but with money mostly in bra's, hidden pockets and socks, these were unsuccessful. Unfortunately, before carnival crowd security measures had been fully implemented, I did fall victim on the first night and lost my St Christopher, which was a gift from a friend for this trip. It'd done its job well so far and as I didn't lose anything else that night, maybe it did it well that night too.
- some of us started to fall ill with either a cold, flu or dodgy tums. Little did we know this would carry on for at least another 2 weeks.
- with access to our own washing machine, we all did a LOT of washing!
- the bloco's were NUTS! Being popcorn was NUTS! Brilliant.

Pete taking his life into his hands to get the group bloco shot (the wig was so we could easily find him.....allegedly ;-' )


view from inside the Olodum drums bloco


The float behind, loo's and bar on board and dancers on top.


Oh, using the loo on a moving float was exciting, especially as it had the look of a milking shed (cos of the metal swing doors). Only enough room to stand really......hmmmm.....maybe lean a little.

1-6 Feb - Beach hopping!

After all the soggy weather, crew ferried us off to the coast and some sun. After a couple of long truck days, we hit our first beach in Porto Seguro. Our campsite was across the road from the beach, but with a nice pool and shady, poolside bed areas to lounge, I didn't get as far as the beach or the markets that some of the others visited. A few had several caiparinha's and took to the ping pong table on our last evening here. That's how we roll, oh yeah!

Next stop was Olivenca and we were even closer to the beach this time, with nothing between our campsite and the beach, which was beautiful, quiet/empty and had lively crashing waves.

Photo taken from the campsite







More lazing around here and a beach BBQ to round off the day. With little light polution, the milky way was visible again. Beautiful stars and the sound of the crashing waves. Not bad eh? I really need to live by the sea.

Pete taking care of business


One last stop before Salvador, where we watched the England v Brazil football match and I reaffirmed in my mind that I just don't like football. :-o

29-31Jan- The 'Opolis's and a caravan of love

So, observations on Brazil so far.... It has the most beautiful, mountainous, lush landscapes, with all kinds of fruit along every road we travel down, bananas, avocado, mango, lime, bread fruit (phooey). The people are great, really fun and full of life and I have seen some cracking tattoos, especially in Rio and Parity. (Note for Terry, lots of Latin religious style tats, unsurprisingly).

Anyway, back to the route...we stopped off next in Petropolis (where the rich Rio folk used to holiday) and whilst crew food shopped, we escaped the rain with a visit to the Imperial family's museum. The visit was made all the better because we had to wear slippers over our shoes to protect the marble and wood floors......yes, we were ice skating through the rooms.

100km further on and we camped in Teresopolis. It was still all a bit soggy so a few of us chose to explore the upgrade option. Picture a few rickety caravans, the towable kind. We rejected one that had a line of ants marching about on the mattress (crew took this one later, after being seen entering the caravan with a large can of bug spray. 3 of us took one of the caravans for the princely sum of 5Reals per head.....about £1.70.

Anthony waving from his end of the caravan of love


We had a meaty BBQ and drank bubbly to mark the engagement of Kirsten and Pete (crew) at Ipanema beach in Rio last night (Hurrah!)

The happy couple


We set off again after our caravan night and the eery scenery of our arrival (mountains peaking out of a misty valley) was replaced with a huge, lush valley, with mountains as far as we could see. Gorgeous.









Next stop Ouro Preto, a gorgeous, cobbled street colonial town, similar to Parity but far more hilly. It pelted it down with rain and I legged it back to the campsite before any of the 23 churches re-opened in the afternoon. Oops.

See! We walked down this long, steep river....I mean road

27th-29th Jan - Rio de Janiero

We arrived at lunchtime to a rather nice hotel, which I was pleased about as Rio is a bit grimey. A few of us went to Feira Nordestina, a market of just under 700 stalls, in an attempt to see some capuara (a martial arts inspired dance style). Completely failing on that front, we had a cracking time regardless. The market opens every day but at weekends, opens friday morning and doesn't close till 10pm on Sunday. This was a sunday so aside from the usual market stalls we get in England, there was a lot of food on sticks (halumi cheese, meat, sausage) and seemingly at every turn a small (and in the centre, a big..) stage with performers singing away and the crowds samba-ing their little hearts out. I was in heaven watching people of all ages dancing and switching partners.



After moving around the different stages (and I think being invited to sing on one of them!), we plonked ourselves down at one to have a drink and watch. I couldn't persuade the two chaps in our group to dance with me, so V and I gave it a shot and were quickly assisted by a local. Her and her friends quickly adopted us and started teaching us how to dance Brazilian style.

Me stifling a laugh whilst I get told off by Joseph for not looking in his eyes while dancing



Bit more dancing, this time with Paulo


Blimey, it's a workout, that's for sure, and I now know why Brazillian women have firm thighs and a tight butt! Vera, Paulo, Joseph and Shelly took us off to a bar in the market (presumably their favourite haunt) and with some beers in a bucket of ice, the dancing continued till we left at about 9pm.


A shower and change into clothes more fitting for samba (earlier I was unfortunately in baggy shorts and trekking shoes so wearing about 10 times more clothing than any local) and V and I hit the streets of Lapa. We realised we didn't have any more dancing in us though, so after some more food on a stick and a visit to the Lapa Steps, where we were serenaded by a guitar playing Texan, we hit the sack.

daytime pics of Lapa steps pinched from Lisa


Day 2 in Rio meant a Favela (slum) tour. We visited one favela, which was 1 square km, with a cosy population of 70,000. That's the population of my home town, York, in a much smaller space. Built over years and constantly threatened by landslide and disease (especially those at the bottom), with interesting electrics, they are so established and of such a size to have small hospitals and schools in them. It was a true privilege to gain access to the Favela and we were only too happy to buy the art work, jewellery and pastries/cakes the residents produced for groups such as us.

Mind your step



One for my dad. Nice electrics huh?


Gang tag marking territory in the favela


undercover police....yep, that's a loaded handgun in his mits





the favela


We took in Copacabana and Ipanema beaches in the afternoon. It was an overcast monday so we didn't get to do the beach people watching we'd hoped for (although I doubt it could beat the previous day's sights anyway). Our last morning was meant to see a few of us hangliding off sugar loaf mountain, so we could get a birds eye view of the famous christ the redeemer statue that looks out, arms wide, over Rio, but unfortunately the weather put paid to that.
Ipanema


Copacabana








Christ the redeemer.....in the clouds


Sugar Loaf mountain


Bridge influenced by the Brazilian woman's bum in a thong....one cheek bigger than the other to signify the step back of the samba