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

23rd-26th Jan - Parity

After a couple of 14 hour truck days and a few hours sleep in a hotel, we arrived at a very muddy campsite in Parity after dark. A large Brazillian family were clearly starting their carnival celebrations early, with loud music and horn blowing for all bar about 2 hours so a few folk scurried off to hotels the next day. My ear plugs and I were fine though.

Lush scenery abounds in Brasil. Here with some spooky clouds.


The first day was spent meandering round the beautiful old colonial town, a town you can only walk around slowly due to the huge-cobbled streets. Still very hot. I was amused to see a policeman patrolling the harbour......on a paraglider! Not a bad job.






After sampling the fruit cocktails at the main square watching a band perform, we got our first taste of how Brazilians love to dance. Fantastic. Then, a carnival group came marching through, with a full brass band and crazy dancing folk in huge costumes. We saw them a few times in the night and they were at it for 2.5 hours. Who needs the gym! We then meandered home to a different campsite. Apparently, the noisy family from last night had been asked to keep it down and rather aggressively conveyed that they would not be doing so, so Pete and Kirsten and whoever else was at camp that evening, grabbed all the tents, stuffed them in the truck and relocated us.

Our 2nd full day in Parity was spent lounging on a boat, going round the islands off Parity. With a guitarist/singer on board and some beer/caiparinha's to lubricate the party, it was a great day.



The water was lovely and warm, albeit very salty, and we spotted one our group, who had instead gone scuba diving for the day.






I missed the manta ray but saw some beautiful fish in the green sea (it's known as the Emerald coast round here). The rain started as we swam in from one of the islands and got progressively worse. Being fairly warm, that was ok until we started back and the wind and rain made it a bit chilly. A few of us grabbed some small children under the pretence of keeping them warm and dry but with the added benefit of getting a bit of warmth back.





Walking through a pretty flooded Parity was amusing, and Lisa, Vanessa and I felt that a brief visit to the beach bar opposite our campsite for a cheeky caiparinha was in order.







A pretty soggy cook group

21st-22nd Jan - Southern Pantanal

Next stop, Santa Clara Pousada (campsite) in the Southern Pantanal, known for its wildlife. Super hot here so much time spent in hammocks, with wet sarongs draped over us.







There was a hammock room here so half the group decided to grab a hammock and practise sleeping in one in advance of our Amazon boat trip.




Not seeing the benefit of practising, I stayed in the tent, a decision I questioned once I went to bed on the first night, shone my head torch into the river I was pitched next to and saw a dozen or so Caiman eyes refecting at me. Eek.

My tent.....caiman filled river!


This was before he wandered up a bit higher......and Angela and I quickly wandered off


We took to the boat one day for a river safari, seeing lots of species of birds, capabara (the big rodent) and plenty of Caiman.



Tom caught a piranha......to feed to......



....this fella





At the end, we went Piranha fishing and ate our haul as part of dinner the next day. The Piranha we caught weren't huge, so quite a bony and not particularly meaty fish, I thought they tasted a bit like cod. Pretty good.

Here fishy fishy fishy





Vanessa eyeing up her food


So, our first night was spent relaxing around camp, only to be surprised by Mikkel (read earlier instalmants) appearing carrying a 4 foot caiman! He had clearly been a man with a plan (nutter) as he was wearing the welding gloves we use for fire building/poking and the caiman had string wrapped round it's mouth. Even the camp staff grabbed their cameras for this one!








My nieces will be horrified to know I skipped the horse riding, being more of a quad/motor bike kind of a girl. But later we went out on a 6 hour safari, driving round the pantanal, spotting more wildlife, plus a trek into the forest.


Our guide plucked some fig-like fruit from a tree, which, when cut, had the insides of a white passionfruit. It was used by local tribes as a a natural bug repellant and although invisible when applied, we were told it would stain blue so tribes used it for body decoration too. Most of us ended up with a blue mark on a hand or arm plus a blue finger but Duncan seemed to end up looking like a cat with a Hitler moustache, so got some strange looks for about a week after, until it wore off. It's lucky we move a lot! The closest we got to seeing a jaguar was several paw prints, but we did see (and hear the growls of) howler monkeys, capabaras, pigs, coaties, tucans (hurrah!), bright blue maccaws, tarantulas and a lake with hundreds of Caiman. Then back to camp for a Brazillian BBQ.

mummy howler monkey with baby


Big pussy cat paw print (jaguar)


See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil?


Yep, them there are all Caiman


Funnily enough, I didn't feel I needed a closer look


maccaws


Nabbed from Lisa's visit to a bird sanctuary a few days before, but you get the idea. Aren't they cute?!?

15th-20th Jan- Into Brazil - Iguassu Falls, Paraguay & Bonito

After umming and ahhing about a boat ride under the falls or a helicopter ride over them, to see the falls from the Brazil side, I instead opted for a much needed chill day in Pete's hammock.




On the 2nd day here, a few of us nipped into Paraguay for a couple of hours. Mainly to get that extra stamp in the passport, the town you drop into is a completely crackers market, with the hustle and bustle atmosphere of Marrakesh's souks.




it was soooo slow getting back into Brasil




After a hot and sticky 14 hour truck day, we arrived in Bonito. A couple of chaps from the group chose to repel down into a sink hole (followed by the 70 metre climb back up the rope) but most of us chose to do the main activity Bonito is known for, which is to float down its clear rivers, snorkelling to see the fish as you go. We had a lovely day for the activity and once wrapped up in our wet suits (mostly for sunburn prevention I think), we paddled 1.5km up the river we would soon be floating back down (Rio Sucuri...sp?)Floating back down took about 45-60 minutes and was soooo relaxing. You aren't allowed to swim as it disturbs the river bed, which would spoil your visibility. Without that disturbance, we could see for 20-30 metres easily. Our boat didn't have any waterproof cameras on it but hopefully by the time I get to upload this, I can nab some pics off someone.

thanks for the pics Heather








The rest of my time here was spent mooching around the town (GREAT espresso), chilling out in the shaded hammock area and dipping in the pool.
Lesley



Terry




Pete and a few of us making a stylish coffee shop look untidy




drawing on walls (with permission)








Francois taking it easy