Rio de Janeiro, Paraty & Sau Paulo

Monday: We arrive on time and successfully find the cheap airport transfer bus to Ipanema with no Brazilian only very broken Spanish.

We stayed at Bonita Ipanema (to the left of the picture), a slightly more expensive alternative but one we don't regret. A chilled place with cool staff, bar & pool area. We decide to have a wander to the beach (2 blocks away) and in the surrounding streets of Ipanema and Leblon; and are thrilled to find them filled with a huge variety of eating & drinking establishments, no more rice & beans for a week anyway! The place reminds us of Miami and we prepared ourselves for a week of luxury (forgetting about the expense!). That evening, after relaxing on the beach into the early evening, we head to several local bars and enjoy one too many Caipirinhas.

Tuesday: The morning was spent on the beach, the afternoon spent walking around the lagoon behind Ipanema and another trek into Leblon. This area is definitely high class, and we enjoyed the shops and cafes, and made an important purchase of a pair of speedos for David....always one to want to to fit in with the locals!

Wednesday: We enquired on the way to breakfast whether there would be any chance of hanggliding today...unfortunately we received a prompt answer of...”you'll be picked up in 20mins”...yikes! No time to back out now. We were picked up on time and met the other Europeans / Americans who had signed up for the day. Before being taken to the top of the Tijuca National Park (~1.5k ft high) we were asked to sign a form basically indemnifying our instructors against any negligence on their behalf....the colour in Lynne's cheeks vanished!! We then met our instructors who drove us up to the park, and we were shocked to see that there would be a very quick turnaround before it was our turn to take the plunge. There wasn't much in the way of a runway and after one practice run with the instructor Lynne found herself next in line. The key message everyone is told is “...you must keep running until you are off the platform, failure to do so could event in us falling!” This seemed to be enough to make most people obey, however, due to the sheer fear, Lynne stopped running after 1.5 steps and to David's initial shock & then amusement (when he realised she would be safe) her feet were dragged off the runway by her instructor...regrettably there is no video of this moment! David fared much better with a proper run-off although Lynne was not there to witness so she is not entirely convinced. Anyhow, both successfully landed on the beach, having had a great experience. David's thanks go to all those at BDO who bought him the great experience. The afternoon was spent recovering and working on the speedo lines on Copacobana beach.

Wednesday night was a repeat of Monday night, hitting the local nightlife.

Thursday: Today was spent visiting the Botanical Gardens, which were really impressive (no Kew though). There was also a run (second of the week) along the beach front in the evening; the city is very health & body conscious, with running / cycling tracks and outdoor gyms littering the beach front.

Friday: We did some exploring of the Copacobana, Centro & Lapa districts. In the evening, we headed into Lapa with a bunch from the hostel to experience true Rio Samba nightlife. The place was heaving, a huge street party (happens every weekend) with beer venders on the streets amongst the many many bars & nightclubs. We ended up in the 'Estrella de Lapa' (The Star of Lapa) which is a large gig venue where we watched Jorge Ben Jor was playing a live gig for MTV Brazil. We're sure you are all aware of this guys biggest hit, 'Mas Que Nada' used for huge amounts of football coverage ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCM_VWzSiMo ). It was a great night, an absolutely crazy place. After several very strong Caipiroskas we left and in true British style, found another venue to grab one more beer and some chips before a cab home. It would have been nice to show those of you who haven't visited some photos of the area at night, but it is advised not to take any cameras, watches, wallets etc to be on the safe side (kind of like being on Bridge Street, Warrington on a Friday night).

Saturday: As one would expect by now, we spent today on the beach recovering with some of the other tired & sore heads from the hostel. Being the weekend, there were more locals on the beach, and the people watching was very enjoyable, for David especially! We initially planned to have a quiet Saturday night....however, being Saturday in Rio, this was never going to happen! We instead signed up with others from the hostel to be taken to a Samba school evening in the Mangueira Favela. We were dropped off in a street party outside the school for an opportunity to soak up the atmosphere before getting into the club around midnight. On stage in the club there was a live singer, band and percussion. The music was FANTASTIC and the dancing displays were even more impressive...it gave us just a glimpse of how crazy the Carnival must be!! David was quite enamoured with one of the leading ladies, (Lynne was later to discover this on Sunday morning whilst reviewing the photos!!) and Lynne received a lesson in Samba from a lady of 50+ years but who moved like a 20 year old. A brilliant night overall!

Sunday & Monday: Relaxed on the beach of course!!! Not much to report.

Tuesday: We did the tourist trail as part of an organised tour, visiting Sugar Loaf Mountain, Christ The Redeemer, Lapa Steps & Santa Teresa (where we had a great Brazilian style barbeque lunch). The views from Sugar Loaf & Christ TR were as impressive as expected, we think a tour is the best way to cover these sights as they are far apart and mobbed by tourists.

We took the 8 o'clock bus from Rio to Paraty (4 hrs down the coast) and checked into the Blue Jungle Hostel, our home for the next 2 nights.

Wednesday: Paraty is a very beautiful colonial town, characterised by cobbled streets and artisan shops. We used it as a nice relaxing stop off but there are in fact many activities & restaurants to check out. As it is a popular tourist location, eating out can be quite pricey, so when you have a good kitchen (& good cook...not David) and a host doling out free (& strong) Caipirinhas, there's no need to go out! We enjoyed an evening in the hostel chatting with the other guests.

Thursday: We spent most of the day on the bus to Sau Paulo, at Sau Paulo Bus Station and trying to find our hostel. After finally locating Olah Hostel, we were picked up by Cez (David's University friend) who took us for dinner in town. We went to a very upmarket end of town and had Sushi in a very smart restaurant. It was awesome. We were intrigued by the other diners, including a whole entourage of young female models with their agents; interesting people watching!

Friday: We had a stroll round Sau Paulo before embarking on an overnight bus to Puerto Igauzu.