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.
 

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! 

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.

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. 

Life on the Island

We have just finished a week on a not so remote but fairly remote Brazillian island.

The island is located about 200 km south of Rio and is only accessible by a 2 hours boat trip, the island has no cars and the only transport is your feet.

We decided to stay in a hostel that provides small beach huts as double rooms, these have a sleeping area and en suite bathroom, a luxury we are not accustomed to!

The first two days of our stay were spent looking out to sea though the rain and clouds, we were aware it was going to be like that but disappointing none the less, the fact our hut was extremely damp due to all the rain didn’t help.

However on queue after a few days the sun appeared and it was back to normal.

We spent our days on the island completing many of the local walks each lasting 5 – 6 hours around the island, the highlights included many different beaches, waterfalls and peaks as you can see below. There was the option of getting water taxis back from the other sides of the island however never wishing to be beaten we always managed to troop back!

We were also lucky enough to discover a new toy for James to spend the afternoons playing on.

The following picture shows the immediate aftermath of James attempting to hurdle a log and stretching his groin. If a picture could speak a thousand words what would the word be? 

To shave or not to shave that is your question

So the beard is now two weeks and a few days in, the below photos were taken at just under two weeks.