Oi de Rio!

Oi / Bom dias
Well it wasn´t originally intended that I would come this way, but here I am in Rio. Only a 24 hour bus journey, stopped and searched by the police 6 times (as we were coming from near the border with Paraguay - lots of contraband there), and with me eating a dodgy empanada thing...(meat stuff covered in manioc flour paste and deep fried - it was very tasty the first time...)...and being sick. On the bus. In my lap to be exact. Luckily some nice people helped me clear it all up, and I was only sick for the next 3 hours, and the next day I was completely recovered. Staying at my friend Bruno´s apartment - who I met back in Cusco - we´ve been visiting lots of nice places - we drove to Petropolis one weekend, where we visited the former summer palace of Dom Pedro II, which was really well looked after and pretty, but they made me put my camera in a locker, so no photos. Have seen people warming up for carnival which starts this weekend, although don´t know if I will still be here then.

Have also been on other visits out of the city, to Ilha Grande, a beautiful island with virtually no cars or motorbikes, and beautiful beaches which were nearly deserted in the mornings, so I felt like I was on some paradise island. Also visited Ouro Preto, which is a small colonial former mining town (Ouro Preto means ´Black Gold´), and went down a mine which had a lake at the bottom and went swimming in it! V cold. We took a steep rollercoaster-type ride into the mine, but the rollercoaster thing broke down or ´needed to recharge´when the tour had finished, so we ended up having to walk up out of it, which was fun. And Cabo Frio is another small beach town we visited which was lovely.

In Rio, have visited all the big sites, the Corcovado (The Christ on the hill - we actually walked up using a track through the jungle, instead of paying for the expensive cogtrain up and it was SO difficult, only and hour and a bit walking uphill, but in 37 odd degrees C and high humidity its so much harder - I was sweating like a PIG!), Pão de Azucar (Sugar Loaf mountain), where I saw more lizards (still excited to see them! - I have more pictures of lizards than of humans I think) and some little monkeys came up to talk to us, lots of churches, some museums, Copacabana beach - where I saw the Rolling Stones play for free! - Ipanema, and done lots of walking in the hills inside the city - avoiding the favellas (slums) though of course. Last week there was a big shooting in the favella near where I´m staying, and 6 people died - quite scary no? Have felt mostly safe in Rio though, apart from one incident on Copacabana beach were I nearly got my camera nicked, but the other 4 weeks have been fine. I think you just need to make sure you avoid certain areas, which can be difficult as the favellas are so close to the city, but I´ve had a local to show me around so its been easier!

Eaten lots of meat, but my favourite thing is the sucos - there is a juice bar on practically every corner, and there are more fruits in the world than I ever imagined! Did you know apples, oranges and bananas aren´t the only fruits?!?! The best suco, which is really fashionable with the fit young men, is açai, which is a frozen drink which looks a bit like chocolate, and kind of has a bit of a chocolate taste, but the fruit actually looks a bit like an overgrown blackberry. You eat it like an icecream, and its gorgeous - very high in protein and vitamins and calories, which is why the guys drink it, but it tastes lovely too yum. Feijado is also another Brasilian dish, made of beans and animal ´parts´- the slaves used to eat it, so the only bits of meat they got were the leftovers like feet and ears and other blee stuff. I´m not too keen on it, but there are other similar things with just the beans which are really tasty. Oh , and caipirinhas are very nice too, just lots of crushed limes with ice and a bit of sugar, with lots of cachaça, an alcoholic drink made from sugarcane - also used to be a slave´s drink, but v nice. And v strong.

That Pele has small feet!