Last weekend we went to an event in Rio that was like a County Show, but without animals. It consisted of a number of large tents filled with food and handicraft stands from different parts of Brazil. It was refreshing to see after all the plastic tat in the shops and the uniform nature of everything in the supermarkets but the afternoon was spoilt by a structure collapsing due to high winds which resulted in a death. It was in the area of the beer tent which luc...

Even though Christmas is less than 6 weeks away, Brazil has 2 Bank Holidays in November, which falling as they do on a thursday and the following tuesday this year, yes, you've guessed it, many people have been on holiday for nearly a week now... We didn't get our act together quickly enough to take full advantage of this as by the time we decided we'd like to explore the colonial towns of Ouro Preto and Tiradentes, all the hotels we contacted were full, so, hav...

Tale of two Saturdays. One in Leme and yesterday in Duque de Caxias. Leme sits at the north end of Copacabana Beach and a path takes you up through the military encampment to the fort - really a gun battery with four big guns surrounded with concrete. (Not Kate's sort of thing at all, on the face of it but we'd heard that it gave great views over Rio so worth a look...) From a superb defensive poistion it commands a perfect view of the entrance to Guanabara Bay...

Well here we are back in (not very sunny today) Rio after a 3 week trip back to Europe. Patrick had teaching to do at Heriot-Watt and then for Repsol in Madrid so our paths diverged at Heathrow. I went to Brighton, Dorset and London before joining Patrick briefly in Edinburgh and briefly in Madrid. It was a wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends and family who were as generous as usual in offering hospitality while we were back. It's reassuring how easy i...

This weekend we've done a number of cultural things and had a nice day out to Paqueta. Firstly, Paqueta Island is an island 1.5 hours by boat from downtown Rio. Situated to the north-west the boat takes you past the naval docks, Isla Fiscal, under Niteroi Bridge, past tied-up offshore support vessels at mooring, past various LNG and oil loading jetties - to a quiet (by Brazilian standards) island about the size of Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour. We were surp...