today we leave paraty for sao paolo which is 6 hours on a bus, then we go overnight on another bus to foz, which is at the iguazu falls by the argentinian border, and takes 16 hours. we've stolen some bread and bananas for the trip from the hostel breakfast like true gipsies.
yesterday was officially best food day yet - chocolate cake for breakfast! and calamari and rice and acai for lunch on the most amazing beach ever in trindade, and pizza for dinner at pizza dos amigos back in paraty. not sure exactly what traditional brazilian food is but i don't think it's cake and pizza. we will make up for this by eating some steaks in argentina and some guinea pigs in peru.
message to abi's mum - i made abi listen to bach's double violin concerto and she liked it! she said she just doesn't like harpsichords too much, so i'll try to find other baroque things for her to listen to without harpsichords in (might be tricky), and by the time she comes home she'll be converted i promise.
me and abi both had near death experiences yesterday - big waves landed right on our heads and squashed us under water. abi got a video of it happening to me, and it's actually very very funny, but wasn't at the time.
i have put my travel plug on it's first warning, as it didn't work so well yesterday when hand washing, and we can't afford to be carrying dead weight. it will get a written warning next and then be sent home unless it proves itself useful.
will try to upload some photos later, got lots of pictures of bikes, there's some weird ones in this town.
bye for now.
oh and what is the difference between a lake and a lagoon does anyone know?
and why is sugar loaf mountain so called?
Thursday, 31 July 2008
Tuesday, 29 July 2008
kitty leader and the fat fifty
in paraty now. pirates used to come here and it was once the 2nd most important port in brazil. nice hostel with our own room and ensuite bathroom, and a slightly crazy owner. i thought i saw a bat but it was a big moth - i have some spare glasses and yes i was wearing them, but it was that big.
in a fit of my-bag-is-too-heavy rage i have sent a small parcel of things home from the post office - watch out for it mum, though i think it will take a while to arrive. i went to the post office and said 'quero enviar uma encomenda para via terrestre a inglaterra'. he looked at me and said 'this parcel here? please put it on the scales'. we carried on in english but at the end i said obrigada which means thank you. i think he was fairly impressed.
wandered around the town, very big cobble stones on the streets. lots of tourists as it's got some of the best beaches in brazil, and lots of stalls selling wooden handicrafts. laura nearly bought a sarong with tutankhamen on but we thought it was too confusing and abi bought some new flip flops. i had 2 ice creams.
for dinner we found a nice place and got meatballs rice beans and salad for 10 reals, which equates to about 3 pounds. for breakfast this morning we had had our dinner from last night - cold pasta at 830 in rio bus station isn't the best way to start the day, so it was nice to have some proper food. we ate our weight in biscuits on the bus journey too.
in an attempt to make the blog more interactive, and if anyone has actually read this far, we have some questions:
what does favela actually mean?
what came first, the favelas or the rich areas?
what does sardonic mean?
would you rather have cold bolognaise gnocchi or ham and cheese cannelloni for breakfast?
over dinner abi was explaining that someone had once told her to imagine her 'powerhouse' whilst doing some breathing exercises as a metaphorical strengthening exercise. i asked her what her powerhouse would be and she said it would be a factory with lots of smoke and steam, and i said mine would be a little wood chalet in the snow. we laughed our heads off and a brazilian man came over to ask what we were laughing about so we had to explain in very slow english what a powerhouse was, and what we had said. at which point he looked at me and said very deliberately 'you're not funny you're just crazy'. and walked off.
in a fit of my-bag-is-too-heavy rage i have sent a small parcel of things home from the post office - watch out for it mum, though i think it will take a while to arrive. i went to the post office and said 'quero enviar uma encomenda para via terrestre a inglaterra'. he looked at me and said 'this parcel here? please put it on the scales'. we carried on in english but at the end i said obrigada which means thank you. i think he was fairly impressed.
wandered around the town, very big cobble stones on the streets. lots of tourists as it's got some of the best beaches in brazil, and lots of stalls selling wooden handicrafts. laura nearly bought a sarong with tutankhamen on but we thought it was too confusing and abi bought some new flip flops. i had 2 ice creams.
for dinner we found a nice place and got meatballs rice beans and salad for 10 reals, which equates to about 3 pounds. for breakfast this morning we had had our dinner from last night - cold pasta at 830 in rio bus station isn't the best way to start the day, so it was nice to have some proper food. we ate our weight in biscuits on the bus journey too.
in an attempt to make the blog more interactive, and if anyone has actually read this far, we have some questions:
what does favela actually mean?
what came first, the favelas or the rich areas?
what does sardonic mean?
would you rather have cold bolognaise gnocchi or ham and cheese cannelloni for breakfast?
over dinner abi was explaining that someone had once told her to imagine her 'powerhouse' whilst doing some breathing exercises as a metaphorical strengthening exercise. i asked her what her powerhouse would be and she said it would be a factory with lots of smoke and steam, and i said mine would be a little wood chalet in the snow. we laughed our heads off and a brazilian man came over to ask what we were laughing about so we had to explain in very slow english what a powerhouse was, and what we had said. at which point he looked at me and said very deliberately 'you're not funny you're just crazy'. and walked off.
Monday, 28 July 2008
coherency
i have had a complaint from clare catchpole that my blog entries are too coherent. sorry about this, i can only hope they get less and less so.
today i lost my glasses on one of the hills that surrounds rio. this small cloud had a silver lining however when we then stopped on our little tour to admire a monkey sitting on a bin - thankfully i couldn´t see him. the tour leader is now on my list of least favourite people for not being helpful.
last night we went to a favela party at castelo das pedras (full of other gringos all thinking how adventurous they are being going to a favela). you queue up for nearly an hour to shout through a tiny kiosk your drinks order for the night and are given tokens to then queue up and redeem at the bar. then some locals that sound like borat ask if you are married, and would you please like to meet them. and eventually you get a collectivo taxi home, still unmarried. it was great fun.
tomorrow we are going to paraty to lie on the beach for 2 days.
today i lost my glasses on one of the hills that surrounds rio. this small cloud had a silver lining however when we then stopped on our little tour to admire a monkey sitting on a bin - thankfully i couldn´t see him. the tour leader is now on my list of least favourite people for not being helpful.
last night we went to a favela party at castelo das pedras (full of other gringos all thinking how adventurous they are being going to a favela). you queue up for nearly an hour to shout through a tiny kiosk your drinks order for the night and are given tokens to then queue up and redeem at the bar. then some locals that sound like borat ask if you are married, and would you please like to meet them. and eventually you get a collectivo taxi home, still unmarried. it was great fun.
tomorrow we are going to paraty to lie on the beach for 2 days.
Sunday, 27 July 2008
frandango
today we have:
been to the beach and drunk coconut juice from a coconut that a man sliced open with a machete.
been to see a football match at maracana stadium - flamengo v botafogo - 2 of the best teams in rio, and thus brazil. we supported flamengo because eduardo told us to - he was our minibus driver. it was 0-0. funny how you do these things on holiday that you would never do in real life - the last football match i watched in england was halifax v huddersfield when i was about 10. anyway we learnt some brazilian football songs - they go the same as english ones but have foreign words, and laura bought a flamengo flag, and we danced and clapped.
last night we went to ipanema beach and watched some local people play volleyball as the sun set and we also drank a beer there whilst taking photos - ie. all the things the guidebooks tell you not to do because it will end in robbery/death - but none of these things happened which was nice.
we have had approximately 3 conversations along the lines of how long have you been travelling;where to;how awesome is buenos aires;gosh isn´t peru beautiful.
i tried to ask a shop in portuguese what time they closed but she didn´t understand, but the man in a pizza restuarant thought i spoke really good portuguese when i said la cuenta por favor.
we had a caipirhina too.
eduardo is taking us on a tour to see christ the redeemer and other things tomorrow.
and yes mum we found a nicer room in the hostel.
adios.
been to the beach and drunk coconut juice from a coconut that a man sliced open with a machete.
been to see a football match at maracana stadium - flamengo v botafogo - 2 of the best teams in rio, and thus brazil. we supported flamengo because eduardo told us to - he was our minibus driver. it was 0-0. funny how you do these things on holiday that you would never do in real life - the last football match i watched in england was halifax v huddersfield when i was about 10. anyway we learnt some brazilian football songs - they go the same as english ones but have foreign words, and laura bought a flamengo flag, and we danced and clapped.
last night we went to ipanema beach and watched some local people play volleyball as the sun set and we also drank a beer there whilst taking photos - ie. all the things the guidebooks tell you not to do because it will end in robbery/death - but none of these things happened which was nice.
we have had approximately 3 conversations along the lines of how long have you been travelling;where to;how awesome is buenos aires;gosh isn´t peru beautiful.
i tried to ask a shop in portuguese what time they closed but she didn´t understand, but the man in a pizza restuarant thought i spoke really good portuguese when i said la cuenta por favor.
we had a caipirhina too.
eduardo is taking us on a tour to see christ the redeemer and other things tomorrow.
and yes mum we found a nicer room in the hostel.
adios.
Saturday, 26 July 2008
estamos aqui
hola todo el mundo
we are in rio. we are still alive.
laura has spilt coffee on her jumper. abi has insulted my choice of outfit. we ate a strange pastel de ricotta con tomate seco and went to our hostel room but it was full of boys asleep so we left again and are waiting for a nicer room.
we read some tongue twisters in portuguese to the people that work in the hostel.
so far i have had one conversation along the lines of how long have you been travelling, have you been to buenos aires yet, how long are you travelling for, how did you get from rio to buenos aires, i love honduras it´s awesome. lets hope that´s the first and last as it was quite boring.
es todo por ahora.
we are in rio. we are still alive.
laura has spilt coffee on her jumper. abi has insulted my choice of outfit. we ate a strange pastel de ricotta con tomate seco and went to our hostel room but it was full of boys asleep so we left again and are waiting for a nicer room.
we read some tongue twisters in portuguese to the people that work in the hostel.
so far i have had one conversation along the lines of how long have you been travelling, have you been to buenos aires yet, how long are you travelling for, how did you get from rio to buenos aires, i love honduras it´s awesome. lets hope that´s the first and last as it was quite boring.
es todo por ahora.
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