Hi All

Well I last wrote to you from Bonito in Brazil pre carnival which seems like moons ago now. So after Bonito came Paraty the carnival warm up and I don¨t think there was a dry mouth on the entire campsite.. Paraty is on the Atlantic coast so on route to the small colonial fishing town we caught a glimpse of the ocean for the first time since Peru and although the weather wasn´t el scorchio the Brazilian coastline was absolutely stunning and reminded me of my time in Thailand.

We arrived into the campsite in Paraty and were warned it would be hectic as it¨s the destination where all the overland trucks converge before heading to Rio. They weren¨t wrong. It was indeed a truck fest but best of all E.O.E were there on the last leg of their Alaska to Brazil adventure so it was cool to arrive and see the big orange truck almost identical to the one I did London to Sydney on only ours was a touch bigger. It felt like coming home (yep that´s how institutionalised we became on that trip!)

Our group arranged a meal followed by drinks in the small town but E.O.E invited me over for dinner so naturally I opted for the latter. Karen (whom I had only met once form my pre departure meeting in London in Feb) was extremely hospitable and treated me as one of their own for the next 3 days infact all of their crew did big thanks to Zane, Kat, Amy, Pablo, Kate, Johnny, Rob and Lin and of course not forgetting Karens partner Will. Between them Karen and Will have the ultimate overland company under their belt that being E.O.E. Thank you again team you really made my final week in Brazil enjoyable and the rum helped too :)

So back to Paraty first night with E.O.E (and for those of you that are new to the blog they are the company I travelled from London to Sydney with www.eoe.org.uk) second day the weather was a bit of a let down so we spent the day shopping I had to buy a new pair of flip flops as I came home the night before without them don¨t ask because quite frankly I wouldn´t be able to answer! That evening was a wet one so a few of us jumped ship and spent the night under the orange trucks tarpaulin...we woke to a third day of rain, and it rained and rained and rained turning the campsite into Glastonbury in a flash and it became easier to walk around in barefoot. That night we had our Rio meeting and were told the do¨s and dont's of Rio following this the Budget staff decided it would be fun to fill up a barrell and I mean a barrell full of caiparinha to cheer us all up following so much rain and no Brazilian sunshine.

Day four came and the sun came out in full strength a few of the group went on a booze cruise, some booked their own fearing the worst from the booze cruise, I opted for kayaking with Karen! You all know I¨m done with the whole group thing for now and I was in desperate need of some exercise. Day four was Johnny's (E.O.E) birthday so they celebrated in style with good old egg and spoon races in the mud followed by another night under the tarpaulin talking random rubbish to random travellers, perfect.

So along came day five and I should have left to head for Rio but I was torn as Karen had asked me several times to join E.O.E for an extra night and drive into Rio on the orange truck the next day, I thought about it for a few seconds then agreed to stay ditching the Budget truck much to my tour leaders dismay but hey given half a chance she´d probably ditch Budget too! (and no I won´t be travelling with them again, E.O.E yes)

That extra day was awesome half the trucks from the site had left Budget, Dragoman, Kumuka, Oasis etc and the camp was so peaceful. Will had bought a small boat in Alaska to use on their trip with a small off board motor so Karen, Will, Amy and I went out on it and stopped off for some swimming, a spot of seafood and on our return we pulled up alongside a huge liner 'Splendour of the Seas' was her name and we felt like the borrowers motoring around her. She was moored up in the bay and we couldn´t resist waving to a few of her trapped passengers on board.

So day six and the road to Rio my coast to coast trip was nearly over from the Pacific to the Atlantic through Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil and another overland adventure near enough complete. The route into Rio hugged the coastline a stunning route and the sun was shining. I was hanging out of the back window just like Will and I on the London to Sydney trip (Budget don´t allow any limbs to be outside incase we´re stupid enough to injure ourselves) it felt good to be back on a familiar truck so to speak. As we pulled into Rio Kate cracked open a bottle of bubbly and their nine month adventure was over I felt for them as I knew how they were feeling when we drove over the Sydney harbour bridge as good as it was the`end´ is never a great thing.

We arrived in Rio to a nice temperature of 34 degrees immersed in hectic traffic, people, street kids, police sirens.. just how I had imagined it. We passed by the sambodrome and then found a truck park right next to our hotels. Thankfully Pish my Budget leader booked me into a room with my old Pom friends Karen and Clio. They had left me a note to say they had gone down to Copacobana but I opted for the rooftop spa instead given the heat and unpackng I felt like a lazy day. My first evening in Rio was spent with another old flame as it were from E.O.E Danny from my original trip. He was in the same hotel and is now going from Rio to Quito with Oasis. It was awesome to see him it felt like seeing a friend from home which was nice. Danny and I went out to Copacobana in the evening for food then met up with Karen and Will and co. then headed back to Lapa where we were all staying for some free bloc parties that go on all night long. Karen thought it be good to go back to their hotel for a nightcap or two and several cuba libres later we were in their sauna and spa no they weren`t in a 5 star hotel it was an 'alternative' hotel where if one wishes you could pay by the hour! Dan and I strolled in at 6am just intime for breakfast at our hotel.

My first full day in Rio started with a favela tour. This was an illuminating experience if like me you were looking for an insider view of Brazil. The tour introduced me to another Rio, the favelas and for three hours all thoughts of the carnival went out the window. There are now close to 750 favelas in Rio. Mostly placed on former public areas on the hillsides, these settlements are now home to 20% of Rio's population. The latest craze in the Rio De Janeiro tourist industry is to take adventurous backpackers and travellers with guides into the heart of the favelas. This is done by driving through Rocinha, the world's largest slum complete with a McDonald's outlet. Whilst there are catastrophic landslides in bad weather the social phenomenon remains and this is the only place in the world where the poor get the sea views and breezes while the rich live in fear down below. The people of the favelas were largely friendly and proud people whom I think have just seen a little too much too young. Reality bites in the favelas and watching your best friend get gunned down by the Police or seeing your grandma climbing the 100 steep steps to her house that she shares with ten other family members must do alot to form your character. Reality really hit home especially when our guide took us to his home in the favelas where he had grown up with three generations of his family, it was cramped to say the least and I respected him so much for taking us there. In the 11 months I'd been travelling for his tour had been by far the most fascinating. I´ve put a few photos on the blog which I hope will capture the spirit of the world in which he lives. After the tour Clio and I sat on the roof and took it all in.

Later that afternoon we went to the Macarane football stadium to watch Botafogo play, they won 3 - 2 five awesome goals including a penalty and the spirit of South American football really came alive. Aswell as the match itself the journrney there and back with thousands of cheering fans was an eye opener, they are so passionate, I wasn´t brave enough to take my big camera so huge thanks to Kat for keeping record of events on her camera. The journey home saw us all split up due to the crowds so a few of us went back to Lapa for more street festivities and caiparinhas. It´s hard to describe the city at carnival but I´ll try. Basically you have the sambodrome which is a strip with raised seating either side like stadium seating whereby 11 special samba schools parade on the Sunday and Monday. (The final was on the 9th) In addition to that you have bloc parties all over the city thankfully we were staying in Lapa (below the Carioca arches) which was pretty central to all events going on, the parties are like Mardi Gras on a much bigger scale with of course pure samba music playing out everywhere you turned be it on a mobile soundsystem, cafe or petrol forecourt, I have very few photos of the nights out as theft is rife so it wasn´t worth it. So Sunday came and that meant sambodrome night the rain had been on and off since Saturday so the streets were now awash with all manner of leftovers be it people, sewage or the occasional flip flop much like Monday at Mardi Gras! Up until now I had been trying to get up to Christ the redemeer statue but the cloud was so low it wasn´t worth it unfortunately due to such appaling weather all weekend I never did make it up. So Sambodrome. To finally be at the greatest show on earth was incredible, we were in section 13 at the finish line, basically all the samba schools have one hour and twenty minutes to get to the end in order to be judged. The costumes, floats and music was astounding I am afraid Frome carnival may never be the same again! We were surrounded by all the locals who were extremely passionate and knew every line and every step of the samba songs...I bought the CD at the airport so yes it may be on at future gatherings! Clio and I went on the scrounge for costumes people discarded top tip Maff thanks and fingers crossed Clio brought home my trophy find as her hand luggage?! The rain poured down through parts of it but it really didn´t matter and gave me a perfect opportunity to take a cracking picture of hobo Andrea asleep underneath Michelles poncho! The parade began at 9pm and finished about 5am! We made it back to the hotel for 6am perfectly intime for breakfast again along with several other sambagoers including some cheeky fellows who latched on and had a buffet breakfast for free. The next Morning (Monday) I recieved a text from Adam at the station to say it had been agreed for me to go back to Frome to work so rest aside I won´t be heading for Bristol...not yet anyway. That was good news on a carnival hangover to say the least! Naturally Monday was an easy day weather was still too bad to visit Christ so we wandered the city dodging showers and thankfully not bullets infact I saw very little crime in the time I was there but then again I know alot will go unnoticed and the Police that I did see were heavily armed to the extent where their machine guns would poke out of the windows of their cars! On Monday evening we had farewell drinks in the hotel courtesy of Raa, Jess, Michael and Brook, thanks guys. Clio and I then later stumbled upon a samba bar whereby we were surrounded by locals lapping up carnival whilst we watched the world go by from a balcony it was without sounding dreadful, beautiful! Our Portugese let us down somewhat and we were served red wine in a thimble but we got there in the end. My final day in Rio was spent on Copacobana in overcast skies that burnt us to a crisp! We were joined by Dan and Claire his new truck friend we then finally went to visit Christ as the clouds had cleared only to be told it was too late, sigh. It had closed for the day. Oh well wasn´t meant to be, my Rio experience was still incredible and another one to last long in the memory. I flew out of Rio in heavy rain and thankfully arrived in Argentina in warm sunshine, Buenos Aires would now be my stop gap before my final continent, Africa. I´m now going straight into another blog my final one from South America so I will do the usual goodbyes at the end of that one....Welcome to my new budget friends ( The Michelles , Clio, Karen, Andrea and Kira, Raa and Jess to name but a few) finally you get to see the blog now that our trip is over!! As 'budget' as the budget trip was as Michelle righty put it it wasn¨t all bad and I´m glad I met some top Aussies!!

Missing you all

Rach xxx