Catch up part 1

OK, OK, I know that I have been a slack boy and that I have not been keeping this little electronic enterprise as up to date as I ought. But in the great grand scheme of trying to balance going out and having adventures with writing about them I decided to weigh heavily in favour of going out and doing stuff. (And Sells, before you start, I know this is far longer than ideal blog entry length, but I don´t really give a fuck)






To pick up roughly where I left off after leaving Belo Horizonte we returned to Rio to join an organised tour type thing that would take us from there, through a variety of other touristy type places and down to Buenos Aires over the course of just over two weeks. First port of call: Ilha Grande




Ilha Grande is basically a large island down the coast from Rio, full to the brim with jungle, beaches and clear blue green ocean. There are two cars on the island, the police car and the ambulance but even then there can´t be more than half a mile of road for then to use, most places only accessable by walking along trails or by boat. Main highlights included hiking to Lopes Mendes, a stunning beach on the other side of the island where I reminded myself how much more I need to practice my surfing, and the caprihna boat tour. Anything that starts you on unlimited drinks at 10:30 in the morning is going to be a full on day out and amazingly the boats captain only had to dive in to save one person from drowning.




Paraty: Next stop, old colonial town, pivotal in the slave and gold trade futher down the coast. I´ll be honest it was OK, some nice buildings and history but nothing to spectacular. On the second day, more beach time at a beach called Trinadade a short bus trip away including a natural pool created by boulders in the sea discovered after yet another amble along a small path through more jungle. Got the boat back after the fish started biting Becky....



After a short stop over in Sao Paulo, where we finally managed to get up to the top of the highest building in the city for the views (we were turned away last time, went at the wrong time apparently) we headed off on the fun 15hr coach trip to Igauzu falls. Despite having been here before the place never ceases to amaze. As a little treat to myself, like I haven´t given myself enough treats yet, took a helicopter ride up over the falls to get a bit of a different perspective on the whole thing. Will let the photos do the rest of the talking. (EDIT: damn that last bit sounds cheesey!)

PS: Goddam this is hard work uploading all these photos with a 1980´s speed internet connection...