Brazil!

Hello! This first blog entry will be short. Nothing has prepared me for how bad internet access is in Brazil and it has drained any interest I have in being humorous or informative - uploading the 3 photos below has taken almost 30 minutes :( (God help someone if the computer crashes when I save this post....)

Anyway we are staying in a lovely town about 300kms south of Rio called Paraty. Our Pousada (guesthouse) is amazingly chilled and very peaceful although its a bit of a walk to the main town.

Rio was a shock to the system, very hot, very crowded and more than a little bit dangerous. Although we were located right on Copacabana beach (in a top hotel - thank you Tripadvisor) a few blocks off the beach and you were surrounded in poverty and wallet inspectors. Our nightly activity usually involved getting a taxi to somewhere touristy, not venturing outside it and then taxi`ing back. The drink of choice is a Caprinha, yum.

The highlight of the stay in Rio has been the trip the Christ the Redeemer. After a traffic jam climbing the mountain that would put the M50 to shame we arrived at the top about 30 mins before it was due to shut and the sun went down. The view from the top is incredible. No sooner had we arrived than the clouds started to roll in and the sights became obscured but photos were taken just in time.

The plan is to stay in Paraty here for another 2 nights then onto the Iguazu falls (a bus trip of about 26 hours!). The weather has put a dampener on things - lots of rain. But its still quite warm so not too bad.

That´s it for now. I think i´m going to poor some water into this computer as I leave to put it out of its misery....

The Sugar loaf.

Jesus impersonating Karen.

Picture this for 3 miles, uphil, in 35c!