Ola My Beauties!!

Its 2 weeks down and have already done so much.

I landed in Sao Paula on Friday 30th where the girls (Kate and Sian) met me of the plane. It was a very long trip and is safe to say I was shattered!
We were picked up by Janina, who is a friend of Sians. For the first few days we stayed with her in Vila Madalena and got to experience some Brazilian family life and the city of Sao Paulo which is huge and has lots of sky scrapers.

We went to some traditional markets and saw the Cathedral Se. Janina took us to a Samba club where we had some drinks and danced to a live brazilian band.
On the Monday We walked down a massive street of shops and banks called Paulista Ave then made our way to a gorgeous park called Ibiapuaera Park. This day we got slightly lost and walked miles - but we made good use of our phrase books.

We moved on to Boicucanga on the tues to get some sun. It was a little beach resort which was more for the locals than travellers. It was lovely to chill out and spend a couple of days in a place which we would never have gone to as its not in the guide books or anything.

On the Thursday we went further along the coast to Sao Sebastion and made a day trip to Ihla bela which was lovely but fall of biting insects!!

The last Friday was when we started to hit the main travelling places and made our way to Paraty, which is awesome. Its got a stunning histrical town with cobbled streets and market stalls but by the beach it starts to get more funk and our hostel was alot of fun. we met up with a friend of mine tom and his mates. On the Saturday we attempted to walk out to see to this other island because yo can walk about a mile (maybe further) and the sea still only comes to your waist height. However unfortunately a few weeks before we got there the river at Paraty flooded and left this sludge at the bottom of the sea - Not fun!! Instead we hired Kayaks and paddled across the sea to the other island.
On the Sunday we went to a beach called trinidade which was lovely but have massive waves that knocked you over. There were also lots of wild horses on the beach.
That night we met even more people who happened to have gone to Birmingham Uni which was good fun.
On the monday we visited a waterfall that you could slide down. It was alot of fun but scary. It was harder to get up it and i had to be helped by a locall guy and once your uo theres no way but to come down. I thinks i did the slowest slide ever and screamed all the way - it is on film too!!!
That night we went into town with about 13 people from our hostel which was alot of fun.

Tuesday 10th we travelled to Ihla Grande which is an Island that was recommended to us by everyone we met!! Its a gorgeous place and has no cars or cashpoints on the island. On the wednesday we took a boat trip to what is one of the top 10 beaches in the world - lopez mendes on Ihla Grande. It was stunning, as corny as it sounds it was paradise - turquoise seas, white sand fairly deserted and the weather was amazing.
That night however there was a massive storm - it was right over our heads. Bit of a drama when i jumped of my bunk bed straight into a puddle to find our room had flooded!! We were moved to a differed room which was good. After the storm passed we went out but the whole island had no electricity so everyone had candles and torches. We went to a part at another Hostel which was good.

The thursday was the day of much rain and it meant that alot of stuff stops on the Island. We changed our initial plans to go snorkelling in a lagoon and stayed indoors for most of the day teaching some irish lands to play UNO! When the weather let up we went for Pizza and beer.

On Friday the 13th there was yet more rain which wasnt too bad as we were travelling to Rio - but it did take us longer than we expected. We arrived at our hostel which is really nice and busy - have met so many different people already. When we arrived they had a BBQ on so me and kate made the most of it and ate alot of Beef.

It was still abit rainy today but we went out to explore the area of Rio De Janeiro we are in which is Leblon. We stumbled across and street party with a parade in preparation for carnaval next wek. There were so many people it was fabulous!! Lots of convetti and clowns handing out roses! loads of stalls seling drinks and everyone just dances in the street - Rio was totally made for us!!

Any way there will be plent more to tell as this week gets going. Lots of tourist stuff to do like Christ the Reedemer statue and Sugar loaf mountains and much more all needs to be fit in before CARNAVAL!!

Hope this gives you an insight into whats going on in Brazil right now.

Much Love xxxxxx