Paraty

I spent the weekend in Paraty, a Portuguese colonial town about halfway between Rio and Sao Paulo. I met Paul and Luke there, and it was great to have some company after a few very chilled days on Ihla Grande!

Such pretty streets...but the cobbles sucked! 

This reminded me of Grandpa and smelt exactly like his workshop :)

The old town was really pretty and lovely to wander around (huge cobbled streets though, so def not a city to wear heels in!). We went to Trinidade for the afternoon, a famous beach in the area. It was beautiful.

Trinidade

Luke and I found out about a local brewery tour and thought it was a great idea....forgetting that it would be in Portuguese! Fortunately it was a very small brewery so the tour didn't last too long...and thanks to our basic Portuguese we understood a few words (water, here, main hahaha). It was in a very German themed bar, with flags and German colours everywhere. So cool!!

A very happy Luke!

Yum!

Ihla Grande

After Rio, I went to Ihla Grande. It is a small, undeveloped island about a 45 minute boat ride from the mainland. No cars, no ATMs (no donkeys either, it ain't Lamu!) but a great place to chill and literally do nothing than rest and read. The beaches were very pretty and the island is mainly rainforest, so a good nature dose for a city dweller. 

The weather was a little rainy, but the lovely warm rain that is quite pleasant to walk through. It was a good chance to catch up on sleep and reading.....am still on the same book I was reading in July! There was a beautiful cloudy mist on the hills and there was no sense of urgency or busyness. My daily plan was to find a good cafe to sit in to read and drink a beer and perhaps eat a few Brazilian snacks. Lush!

Rio

Rio.....where to start....it is a beautiful city. It really reminded me of Capetown. Built up, but with a beautiful coastline and mountains and hills surrounding it. It was lush to be able to hop onto the metro and travel round easily. I felt way more independent. As my Portuguese is very basic, metros are much easier than buses (less conversations required and maps everywhere!), and I realised why I found it easier to sightsee and zip around in Madrid!  In São Paulo, there is a metro but there isn't a stop near me yet......it will be there they hope in time for the World Cup......along with many others. It will be very interesting to see the changes to the city this year. Right now, it is completely unready. The levels of English alone are shocking, besides the public transport in an already very busy and full city. It is an interesting topic of conversation to hear everyone's views. They will pull it off, of course they will, but it is funny hearing people stress in the meantime!

Graffiti in Santa Teresa

Visiting the Christ is awesome. It was a winding bus ride through a forest and then a few hundred steps up. We were there just after midday and the sun was intense, it was quite difficult to gaze up at Him at times! The views down over the city and of Sugar loaf were beautiful. 

We went to see the cathedral which was completely different to any other I've seen. A cylinder structure, with floor to ceiling stained glass windows. The way the sun came through was amazing, and from the inside it is truly beautiful. 

Cathedral to the left, The Christ in the distance

Santa Teresa was a sweet neighbourhood which we kept venturing back to because it was so chilled and filled with gorgeous cafes and shops. It may well be a place to escape the craziness of carnival if it all gets too much....that and the beaches! 

Love this shot!

View down the hill from Santa Teresa

Late afternoon we went to the Lapa steps. I was really excited about seeing them.....mainly because of Snoop Dogg and Pharrell! I counted three Welsh tiles which made me feel very proud....and there could well have been more but there are hundreds and hundreds of tiles to search! It was amazing to see all the different places that had sent their tiles to be added to Selaron's collection, as a tribute to the Brazilian people. It was awesome to get another song into my head as Copacabana has driven me crazy...probably because I only know a line or two so it just loops around! 

Just in case you wanna check out the vid......... (for the record, people in Rio do not look like this. I was a bit disappointed)

At dusk we went up Sugar Loaf mountain. It is two cable car rides up. It is simply stunning. We watched the sun set and tried to work out where everything was. Rio is much easier than São Paulo to get a feel of! 

Christ the Redeemer in the distance

Copacabana

The next day we did a walking tour. It's was actually a good thing but probably for the wrong reasons. It really put me off Rio! I was feeling quite sad and sorry for São Paulo after our first day so the walking tour made me realise that São Paulo is awesome and I'm not so sad about going back! We did however, see some beautiful buildings, the theatre in particular is very impressive. 

City Hall.....just a few protesters today

Munincipal Theatre. Cost less to build than City Hall apparently! So beautiful.

We did get 10% off in the Haivanas store (world famous Brazilian flip flops) which lifted my spirits a little! I do need all your shoe sizes btw and colour/design requests (children included!)...have got some ready mules who will take them back to the uk for me! There were some gorgeous Little Mermaid ones! The variety here is amazing. 

Rio ended with some awful bites. If ever you feel jealous, now is the time to feel perfectly content with not travelling and putting up with certain things. I've been bitten badly before, but not like this. Over ten on my face! Loads everywhere else too.... I looked like the elephant man (slight, but not crazy exaggeration). It involved a 4am run to the pharmacy and a change of rooms then a rather tearful conversation in the morning to get money back from the manager. It was so so gross....I could actually see these bugs crawling round when I was switching rooms. My left eye was bitten badly on the eyelid so wearing sunglasses worked pretty well....but when night came it was rather embarrassing! All ok now, and after a few days the swelling went down and the make up returned. All good! No photos on here I'm afraid! 

First impressions of Rio

Flying into Rio and seeing the first glimpse of the Christ was pretty cool! The airport is only 2km out of the city so landing was amazing, though did bring a few scary memories back of sky diving....still can't believe I did that! 

We went to Copacabana this eve for dinner. There is a certain song that is on repeat in my head, slowly driving me crazy! Very surreal place to go to, but I liked it. 

Without being completely vain, it is nice to be noticed! All but one of my male friends in São Paulo are gay, so we normally frequent gay bars, which I don't mind, but us girls do feel rather invisible! It is nice getting complimentary glasses of wine again and having smiley men around. Also, seeing the horizon! Who would have thought that that was something to miss. I love being closer to nature here, and having the ocean. I do have independence in São Paulo but its something different here. It's so much smaller and so getting the metro is easy, as well as being in holiday mode so everything looks cool and is rose tinted. We've booked and organised a four day stay here during carnival....it will be a completely different place, so we are trying to make the most of sightseeing now. When Rachel and I went to Cologne carnival a few years ago (amazing, giggly, tutu adventures!) the city was on shut down and it was insane....I cannot imagine what it will be like here with thousands upon thousands of locals and tourists....just over 4 months to go! 

Flight path

As much as I love where I live, there is one rather irritating thing. It's on a flight path, and about a 15 minute drive from one of the airports. I have slept with ear plugs for years so it doesn't disrupt my sleep, but can be a bit annoying when chatting on the phone or watching DVDs and there's a plane every ten minutes.  I have been looking forward to flying from the airport and getting to see the local area from up high. I don't think I will ever get to grips with this city's sheer size. It just goes on and on. The views from the plane were impressive. It's so built up! 

Brazilian friendliness

This is incredible. I thought the Kenyans were friendly, and they are, but this is another level. I am touched and amazed by the kindness, helpfulness and all round niceness of the people here. Strangers will go out of their way to help. Friends, wow, there is nothing they won't do.  It is really challenging me to be more selfless. At first I thought it was a bit fake (such a sceptic!) or just that I was a tourist, but it's not. There is such a community of caring and helping others. This morning a car pulled up next to my taxi to ask directions, my taxi driver kept pulling back up to him at the lights to clarify the route and make sure he was ok, before a friendly good bye hoot a few minutes later. My TA in work cannot show me round enough, as well as paying my bills, taking me shopping, leaving coffee and chocolates on my desk, booking flights....the list goes on and on. Another beautiful thing about this country. 

Sport

Brazilians love it! And not just watching their beloved football. A lil walk in the park will reveal so many different types, and a complete cross section of the population taking part. I have started Pilates classes again, but they are so different to ones I've done before. There are only two of us in each class and we use a range of machines instead of just doing mat work. Oh man, we feel it the next day. I have fallen in love with Power Plates....less because of their amazing results, more because of how hilarious it is to watch yourself wobble that much!  A couple of weeks ago I tried out Zumba which was good fun. And then there is the roller skating. Wow, I find it scary! I am determined to learn though, and must get over my fear of falling, which is I know is ridiculous as I am wearing elbow, wrist and shin pads, as well as a gorgeous pale pink helmet. I am starting to think though that my fear of falling may actually be my fear of scratching my helmet! I am taking lessons which is good, as it really helps having a professional to skate over and hold my hand or help me catch my balance when I start shrieking! Hopefully by Christmas I will be feeling more confident. I am determined to keep going!

Teacher-Children day

Wow, this is an amazing tradition in Brazil. Unfortunately we did all have to wear pjs to work.....rather inappropriate I thought, but was v comfy! I teamed mine with high heels of course, though did wear slippers in the classroom. No one was surprised hehe Parents came in and supervised the children whilst all the staff enjoyed an amazing breakfast of treats after treats. It was seriously lush! Hello pao do queijos and churros! We then helped out with some games after break, including a cool water fight, before having to fake eating lunch with the kids......we had proper food babies going on but managed a couple of cherry tomatoes before dulce de leche for dessert (a favourite at school, it is amazing, I was full but couldn't resist!) The children bought us gifts and made artwork for us. It was such a lovely day....ending with ice creams in the playground before we went home. When I worked in London we used to celebrate saint days with ice creams, I thought that was awesome, but the parameters have now been moved! 

Fogo Do Chao

Our next pay day treat finally came and we went to the famous meat restaurant. I think Kenya has ruined me a bit...although the steak here is incredible, if I go to a meat place I expect a few exotic animals to be served, so was rather disappointed by the lack of crocodile or eland on offer. However, the bounty of smoked salmon and pao de queijo soon cheered me up! One of the nicest things about living abroad has to be the new foods to try and new favourites to develop. I am starting to understand why Brazilians have to work out so much, the food is so delicious but full of calories. Think I may have to up the roller skating! 

Kiwi sake caipirnha, amazing!

Fancy brigadeiros

World Cup Fever......obese?!

This week Emma and I applied for the lottery of football world cup tickets. As Brazilian residents we are eligible for a separate category which is lovely and cheap but def the worst seats in the stadiums, above the goals and way up high! As both of us don't really know anything about football but would just love to go for the atmosphere, this is perfect.  Whilst looking at the FIFA website and trying to figure it all out, I was rather surprised by some of the categories, one in particular. They have a special category for obese people. These tickets are currently in low demand....as opposed to all the others which are in high demand. I am sure that if we carry on hitting the brigadeiros the way we do, we could well be obese in time for June! But we then wondered if you needed a doctor's certificate to get in, or whether a cheeky pillow up the jumper would suffice? The tickets were no more expensive than others, but surely you'd get a more generous seat? I haven't seen many overweight Brazilians so do find this all rather baffling and hilarious!

We've only applied for the opening game, as it's in São Paulo and then we can leave the craziness that will be Brazil to visit some other South American countries. The chances of us getting tickets is low, but you gotta try. Some of our football mad friends have applied for so many games and have already told us how cross they will be if we get tickets and they don't! It would be so funny!