Tuesday 28 June 2011

Everybody's surfing! Surfing Brazil!

Ok the title is not as catchy as the beach boys hit! I know.

So after my 3 day surfing course I decided that I should venture out without the instructor and put what I had learnt in to practice.

We headed off for Engenhoca beach which can only be accessed by a 30 minute walk around the cliffs, not great carrying an 8 ft surf board! but worth the walk.



Anyway here are the results.



Not much more to say than that really, I don't think Sarah's camera skills do me justice I was clearly much better than this, well I was in my mind anyway.

I am very bruised and sore now, and a little sun burnt today but hoping to get out again before we leave Itacare.

Sunday 26 June 2011

Canoes and waterfalls

We thought after a week with no blog updates people would be wondering where we had gone.

Well in the words of the town we are currently in were on Bahia time now so things happen when they happen we have been swallowed by Itacare!

We have been here 8 days now and are very chilled, its been 8 days of wondering to the beach or going for a coffee/beer not the stuff of interesting blog updates!!

However yesterday we decided to venture out and go on a Canoe ride up the local river to some waterfalls, in Brazil style the river was not quite like the Thames.




Once we travelled through the mangrove trees we arrived at a beautiful set of waterfalls that we could swim and relax in, needless to say it was too cold for Sarah!





We have another week in Itacare, this will hopefully be filled with some more surfing and chill out time, going to try to get Sarah to take some action shots of me surfing in the next few days will get them up as long as its of me standing and not drowning myself.

Sunday 19 June 2011

It's a Beach Life Part II

So we decided that the street wars of Salvador were not where we wanted to be right now!!

Our journey to our next destination of Itacare was to take 8 hours travelling south down the coast, and include 3 different types of transport not including our feet!

We jumped in a taxi from our hostel to the local ferry port, upon arriving we were told the ferry we had raced to get was cancelled and the next one was an hour and a half! So along with all the people who were going to get the last ferry and the next one we were herded in to a waiting area that was penned in by a cage.

The next ferry was late...then a little later then a little later, hey this is Brazil time man chill! However the local Brazilian's did not want to chill I can only assume people were late for work etc...so they started shouting and singing and then furiously rattling the cages all around us. At this point I thought we had ten minutes until it kicked off! luckily as with most situations here it was all resolved as finally they let us board the Ferry.

The next 40 minute ferry journey was a little cramped and rough but it was cool.

We now got on a bus for the 6 hour journey to Itacare.

We have now been in Itacare for 3 nights and intend to stay here for at least 2 weeks, its a very nice little surf town with 6 or 7 different beaches in walking distance.

We have a very nice place to stay in an en suite double bedroom! extravagant! It's run by an English couple who have been here 6 months and they supply PG Tips for Sarah and Marmite for me :-)


Thursday 16 June 2011

Salvador’s midnight Samba beat

Our next destination was Salvador in the far north of Brazil, far closer to the equator and guaranteed sun?? well that was the plan!

Salvador holds much heritage from the time the African slaves were shipped to Brazil to build and work for the Portuguese who ruled at the time, much of the colonial building is Unesco world heritage.



Much of this heritage can still be seen today and the city holds definite Afro Caribbean feeling, from all angles at all times there are people playing drums and people dancing in the street.

Salvador has a very bad reputation for crime and violence luckily we were to experience none of this.

We arrived on Tuesday which is always party night in Salvador,  a stage was being setup right outside our hostel window and I mean right outside!!


We were duly advised to take nothing out with us we didn’t mind loosing! Watches, wallets, cameras, jewellery….

So we stripped down to the bare essentials and headed out to join the party, everyone was singing and dancing in the street and the Caprinihas were flowing once again.

Next stop Itacare!

Favela's of Rio

A favela is essentially an area of land that the poor of Brazil have to live on as they can not afford to live anywhere else. The people build their houses one on top of the other up to a height of 4 stories an unofficial limit. The Favela’s up until very recently have not been recognised by the Brazilian government however this is beginning to change.


1 in 3 people in Rio now live in a favela, this sheer number makes it impossible for the government to ever think about demolishing these slums.

We decided to go on an organised tour of the largest and most infamous Favela in Rio, Rochina. This favela houses over 300,000 people.


After meeting our tour guide, who was a 4ft tall part Brazillian /US citizen and well known ‘funk’ DJ who was covered in large tattoos of the actual favela, we headed off into mafia territory!


James made sure on the local kombi van up to the favela that all possible riots and drug wars were not on the cards for the day by making friends with our tour guide. However we were still greeted by a load of young guys on the back of mopeds brandishing machine guns!! Once they concluded that we were not rival Favela mafia spies or the police and had no weapons on us (apart from our camera’s) we headed in.

We were at the total mercy of the mafia now as the police are banned. The favela’s are in essence run by the drug gangs (mafia) they make sure that the police stay away (to avoid prying eyes in to their illicit affairs) and are not attracted to the favela. They do this by ruling with an iron fist and take punishment for crime into their own hands (for example you get shot in the hand if you steal)….Not to be messed with!! Perhaps a good demonstration that having severe punishment for acts retains order something the UK criminal system should take note of does a severe punishment deter the crime?

Anyway, our pre-conception of a favela was one of utter poverty, no form of sanitation, people stealing electricity and generally rubbish everywhere. We were however surprised to find that the houses are well built (by the favela inhabitants- who are often builders), have running water and electricity meters to power their flat screen TV’s….Yes you read correctly, lots of these places are kitted out very nicely inside with all the mod cons such as TV’s! It just happens that the address is in a favela.


Currently the Brazillian government is investing money in to the favela’s to help them, unfortunately the belief in the favela is that this investment is misplaced. The government have built one or two new  blocks of flats for housing people, the problem is to do this they knocked down many pre existing perfectly suitable houses. The feeling is these have been built at the edge of the Favela so the government can show the world for the Olympics and World cup that they care about the poor. The poor living here actually feel investment in sanitation and schools for the children would be better use of this money.

Take a look at our pics. It was such a great day and we would recommend it to anyone!






Saturday 11 June 2011

Copacabana and Ipanema

So our next stop in Rio was to visit the world famous Copacabana beach.

This beach is famous for its beautiful bodies and very small beach attire neither of which I was intending to don! Sarah on the other hand was out at 7am doing a beach workout, in her little shorts and crop vest along with the locals and soaking up the sights! (I didn't see her at breakfast until 9.45!) She said it was the best workout ever!

Anyway, after we had both put on our SPF 30, 40 on Sarah's face (to prevent the boot leather effect) we strolled along Ipanema and Copacabana. We passed the gay areas (small shorts), the surfer dudes, the meat heads and the very small bikini's! (Very nice) and brought a couple of classic beach items- sarongs!

As you may know, we had brought our flipflops a couple of weeks earlier, but due to our feet not being used to them (aka blisters) we had to wear our trainers. NICE!!! We looked like the perfect tourists, VERY white, blonde, wearing sarongs and wearing trainers... Classic!

We leave you with a few pictures:


The famous patterns on the paths.

 Sarah with her sarong!

End of an era

So the time for the beard was beginning to dwindle....

I had received no kisses from Sarah in approximately 4 weeks....That's how long I grew the beard.

Now i'm not one for emotional blackmail, however I was getting to the point where an ultimatum would occur.

Sarah or the beard ????

I knew in my heart if I kept growing it the beard might win !!!!!

It was time to say goodbye.

Like all men who grow a beard the shaving it off part is quite fun! We all do it but some pretend they don't, I don't care here is the evidence.

Fun with Facial Hair!


The last known photo of the beard please call crime stoppers if seen anywhere


This I like to see as my Phil Mitchell hard man look

This unfortunately may be likened to certain genres

I was actually quite sad at this point

So that's the end.
 

Tuesday 7 June 2011

City vistas

We had been hoping that Monday would be the day we went to see the world famous new wonder of the world the Christ the redeemer statue.

A heavy night ending at 3 am drinking Caprinhas in our hostel and finishing 2 litres of spirits between 4 was not going to help with a conductive day!

However opening the curtains to the bluest sky we have seen in Rio went some way to helping!



So after some breakfast we set off for the 2 hour walk through the national park up to the statue. Most people when they visit Rio get the train up to the statue we decided to be different.

The 2 hour walk was a bit of a struggle and I had to drag Sarah most of the way!

Upon reaching the top we were greeted with beautiful city vistas that were unrivalled in beauty and clarity.








Now most people when attending Christ the redeemer follow the default photo poses such as sarah imitating the open arms of Christ welcoming the city. However, I was not willing to follow the trend and decided to try a few of my own, admittedly several were stolen from Ricky Gervais.




My particular favourite

I also decided to try to feed Jesus some of my cheese sandwich.



After all the photos and lots of tourists we decided to head back to the hostel to relax.

When we got back to the hostel we had a chat with some friends we had made and the hostel staff and decided that heading to Sugar Loaf mountain while the weather was so good for sunset was a good idea!

This meant a very quick turn around and heading back out to rush across the city to get to Sugar Loaf for sunset.

A van, a bus and some running later we arrived at Sugar Loaf mountain just as the sun was getting low in the sky. We had made the decision that by running to the middle station of Sugar Loaf mountain we could save a bit of cash. This was a mistake we took several wrong turns and unfortunately arrived at the middle station as the sun was setting disaster but still very beautiful.

We then got the telecabin to the top of the mountain saving ourselves £8 pounds (oh dear maybe not worth missing sunset from the top?)

We were now however lucky enough to get vistas of the setting sun and the light coming on through the city. I cannot take credit for all the below photos some come from me and some from a new friends Chris we made. (his are the better ones)









We now had the hour trip home very very tired, but a truly amazing day.

Tomorrow we head for Copacabana! 

Saturday 4 June 2011

Rio De Janeiro

So we have made it to Rio, we have been in Brazil for 3 weeks now and finally made it to the big city!

Getting from the long distance bus station Rodiviara to the hostel was going to prove difficult, everyone you meet seems to have a horror story (urban myth) about how dangerous Rio is:

"Don't get the bus its dangerous"
"Don't walk to Christ the redeemer I know someone who got mugged once"
"Don't take you r camera to Lapa its really dangerous"
"Don't walk round Centro at the weekend its really dangerous"

I'm not sure if any of these claims have substance......

Anyway I digress! Where was I.....Yes the bus.

So we arrived at the Rodiviara and were advised don't get the bus its dangerous, a taxi however was £20 for a 15 minute ride which we decided was not worth it.

After much stress in the local bus station we started to realise we were not going to find the bus the hostels web site had told us to get, nobody spoke any English and my pigeon Spanish was not working today!

Eventually one bus driver told us to get on his bus and it would be ok, so we decided to take a leap of faith!

Whilst on the bus, (hanging onto our stuff in fear of being mugged) he told us to get off the bus and pointed to another one, which we guessed meant we needed to get that one... After the bus pulled away we realised we had no idea which bus he had pointed at! After a little more stress we finally succumbed to a taxi however from here it was only £5. When we got to the hostel we found out that all the bus numbers have changed- great, thanks for telling us via email!!

Anyway we were welcomed at our hostel with a 3rd story terrace where we can see Christ the redeemer and Sugar Loaf mountain.


The next few photos are my artistic attempts at using camera night shot features without a tripod so please use your imagination.



On Saturday (after we recovered from our stinking hangovers) we took a ferry to Niteroi, where we went to the museum of modern art! 
Museum of Modern Art

I have heard people say  "oh don't got in Favellas there dangerous" I'm going to find out tomorrow.

Thursday 2 June 2011

Parrots Pecker

So the island of Ilha Grande has many walks, one walk is the one to the highest point on the island.

The walk was actually named Parrots Peak but James refused to refer to it as that.


(The Parrots peak is the small peak just above Sarah at the right)

The peak is 982 Meters above sea level, now bearing in mind our hostel was on the beach that means you have to climb 982 meters to get to the top, however the 982 meters are climbed in 6 km of trail that's only 3.5 miles, a very steep climb!


The walk is a 6 - 7 hr round trip, that was like a red rag to a bull for us.

After we scaled the sumit in 2 hr 05 mins we knew we were going to be quick!

(this is the town the first photo on the blog was taken)



At the top we met a couple of German guys who were sat eating their lunch and had arrived 5 or 10 minutes before Sarah and I.

We left the summit first and after about 10 minutes heard them behind us, we decided the race was on, so we started running down the mountain to see who would get down first!

Unfortunately for us Sarah bladder meant the Germans caught us and overtook about half way down!! A little despondently we finished the downhill walk in 1 hr 45 that meant we had round tripped in about 4 hr 15.