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, having arranged to hire a car, we made day trips from Rio instead.

Patrick has been a real hero to drive out here. I can't count the number of occasions over the past few days when, in the passenger seat, I've 'braked', closed my eyes and just relied on Patrick to save our skins! Brazilians drive too fast, too close to each other, don't have any lane discipline (often there aren't any lanes marked), undertake as well as overtake, squeeze as many vehicles abreast as they can, don't indicate, pull onto main roads from side roads without warning, if they miss a turn-off they stop and reverse....etc, etc, etc Patrick adds that he didn't feel heroic - just figured out they didn't really want to bump us - and that's how it works - drive however you want but don't bump anyone!!

I think there may be quite a lot of people away this weekend as Rio traffic has seemed slightly lighter than usual and the weather's been cool and damp though sunnier today (Sunday).

On Thursday we drove up to Tijuca National Park which is somewhere in Rio we'd been wanting to visit but which isn't easily accessible by public transport. Tijuca is a 120 square kilometre area of dense green tropical forest which offers lots of walks and some excellent views of Rio. As we drove up the long, steep, winding roads within the boundaries of the park, we passed numerous cyclists, slowly but steadily making their way to the summit. This must be what the joggers along the beach and the gym fanatics do at the weekend - there are a large number of seriously fit people in Rio!

We had a walk in the Floresta da Tijuca, the area to the north of the park, followed by a rather cool and damp feijoada lunch in Alta de Boa Vista, a community between the two sections of the park. We thought the restaurant had a nice atmosphere with the square around it - and were grateful to be in Brazil where you can still get lunch at 3:30! This is one of the best things - meals when you want them rather than when folk want to serve them!!

The next day we headed out along the coast beyond Barra as we'd heard there were great beaches along there which you can only get to by car. We stopped and had sardines for lunch at a deserted beach cafe and amazingly, saw a whale out at sea (sea pictures!!).
Prainha beach is popular with surfers and there were plenty of hardy aficianados braving the waves, despite the dull weather. It's a beach that has green forest as a back drop and feels very different from the concrete jungle behind Copacabana & Ipanema beaches. We had hoped to visit the garden of Roberto Burle Marx, an influential Brazilian landscape designer, that is also in that area and only accessible by car and by prior appointment but unfortunately there were no free slots available so we ended up buying plants at one of Barra's many shopping malls instead. Predictably, the shops are full of gaudy christmas fripperies - it'll certainly be different this year! Respect to Patrick for negotiating his way through christmas shopping traffic in Barra which is more hectic than usual with the construction of metro lines for the 2016 Olympics....

Yesterday we drove right out of Rio and were relieved that the traffic wasn't too heavy. We were heading north towards Petropolis which is a city high in the mountains and is approached via a road that snakes up through mountain passes. Luckily the routes up and down are different but each one is dual carriageway which inevitably leads to some interesting instances of drivers overtaking heavy-goods vehicles on blind corners.

We drove on north past Petropolis and Tres Rios - almost to Juiz de Fora - to find the site Onda Solidaria has been gifted recently and where Ricardo has great plans to open a children's home, plant trees & build sports facilities for the local community. Once again, it was fascinating to see a bit of Brazil we wouldn't have visited otherwise. It was lovely to be somewhere so rural and quiet and interestingly, once we'd driven over the Petropolis watershed, the sun came out and our visit to the Project with several other of Ricardo' s supporters enabled us to see the red soil and green surroundings in all their glory. Patrick has already approached Ricardo re donating some flowering trees as a way of at least attempting to offset our carbon footprint. It was nice to see and photograph the site for future reference. It's very rural - cleared hillsides for cattle but full of bird and animal/insect life. As we approached the site a big snake crossed the road in front of us and as we slowed, reared up and hissed at the car before there was a clunk! It slithered off afterwards, P could see in the rear view - dazed perhaps - and probably angry!!

We stopped off to look round Petropolis on our way back to Rio and maybe it was the rain but I can't say we were particularly impressed. It's described as an imperial city as it's where Dom Pedro II took his court in the summer and is meant to have a European flavour but it all felt a bit shabby. I'm coming to the conclusion that I like my history older than is in evidence in most of the Brazilian cities we've visited so far!

P returned the car on Sunday after three days negotiating road space with Brazilians. It was surprisingly pleasant to read the newspaper on the bus journey back to the flat - never thought I'd find myself finding a bus journey relaxing!

Workwise, Patrick feels there's been much progress in the last 3 weeks since we came back from Madrid. Certainly feels like we are going to get something achieved by the end of the year! Don't want to count chickens - but somehow connections are being made and it doesn't feel so lonely any more!!

One last thing - our Portuguese teacher showed us this youtube clip this week.

Well worth a watch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1C3lCbKzlus&feature=youtube_gdata_player