Where am I?

Two peaks and the end

2008-01-10T17:16:00.000Z

The last week in Brazil brought two of the absolute high points of my trip. The first was Friday, 4th January, my last day in Rio before moving on one last time. At 4pm in the afternoon (a slightly cooler time of day), myself, Diogo, his father and a pro, climbed up Sugarloaf Mountain. Of all the mountains in Rio, two are really famous: Sugarloaf and the Corcovado – the one with the Statue of Christ on top.

I had been to the top of Corcovado on my first day in Rio with Diogo, so it seemed fitting to go up to the summit of Sugarloaf on my last. However this time we were to avoid the hoards of tourists queuing for the cable cars, and armed with grippy trainers, rope and harnesses, we started our way up. The majority of the climb was done without rope, on pure trust. I was convinced that my trainers would slip and I’d slide off the side of the mountain – the rock was fairly smooth, but provided us with enough bumpy bits to get a good footing every time it was needed. I usually love to look down from high up, I have no fear of heights whatsoever, but looking down behind me whilst climbing made me feel very nervous.

The difficult part involved our pro climber securing a guide rope and us hopping into harnesses. Even with security measures in place, it took an awful lot of strength to pull my body up and over the rock – my legs were shaking so much from tired muscles that I started to wonder what the back up plan was if I couldn’t pull myself up. Diogo told me later that I would have had to let go of the rock and use the guide rope to pull myself up instead. I don’t feel that this would have been welcome news had it been necessary! I would probably have begged for them to tie themselves to something and pull me up!

The great thing about climbing straight up, vertically, is that it’s fast – the whole climb only took two hours, and we reached the top in perfect time, about an hour before my favourite time of day – sunset. The adrenaline from climbing and doing something new meant that I spent a long time watching the sun setting over Rio, feeling incredibly happy, and proud, and appreciative of what a stunning city it is. The views are not as extensive as those from Corcovado, but they are prettier, and by now I had a real feel for the place and could pick out where places were and where I had been.

Following dinner that evening at what must be one of the smartest restaurants in Rio, with Diogo’s brothers and girlfriends, I said my goodbyes and the next morning flew right across the country the Western border of Brazil and Argentina, to spend a few days at the largest waterfalls in the world: Iguacu Waterfalls. To quote from Wikipedia for a second:

‘The waterfall system consists of 275 falls along 2.7 kilometres of the Iguacu River. Some of the individual falls are up to 82 metres in height. The Garganta del Diablo or Devil's Throat (my own link - take a look!), a U-shaped 150-metre-wide and 700-metre-long cliff, is the most impressive of all, and marks the border between Argentina and Brazil.’

Basically, they are HUGE!

The town I stayed in was small and in grid formation so I felt that I knew my way around from the minute I arrived. The hostel was easy to find and the buses to the waterfalls were relatively straight forward, so I literally checked in and headed straight out to the National Park on the Brazilian side of the falls to catch my first glimpse of them. You can’t actually ‘glimpse’ something so overwhelmingly large – they sheer mass of water blew me away, they really are beautiful. It felt strange to be alone again after 10 days of safety (in my mind), excitement, friendship, fun, and being looked after in Rio, but I didn’t feel lonely at all. In fact loneliness is not something I experienced throughout the whole trip – even during the hard bits - probably because there was so much to think about, see and do, and of course, there are so many people to meet along the way that travelling never really leaves someone on their own. The following day I went on a tour of the Argentinian side of the falls – six hours of walking in 40 degree heat, a boat trip right under the falls (aaaggghhhhhhhh!), rainbow spotting, and a stop at the crossing of 2 rivers which mark the border between Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. This was my last day in Brazil and once again I made friends with people on the trip and in the hostel (see what I mean!), and after a dip in the hostel’s pool we decided to go for one huge meal all together, and stay out for a few drinks afterwards – a perfect ending to my trip.

Brazil is a country which really does have its ups and downs – poverty and crime are clearly an issue – highlighted by statistics such as ‘95% of murders go unsolved’. However in contrast Brazil puts so much back into the world - renewable hydropower accounts for 85% of Brazilian power production, 95% of their aluminium cans are recycled, and of course Brazil is the home of 60% of the Amazon Rainforest, which represents over half of the planet's remaining rainforests and comprises the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. There are of course many ways of interpreting statistics to make them look good or bad, but the gist is that I was impressed with Brazil, and I have come back to the UK feeling restored, a bit wiser, a lot more confident, and very keen to go back and see more :)

H x

What a week!.... and HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008

2008-01-01T20:07:00.000Z

Firstly, I still can't work out what the island was called - common perception is that I had it right first time, it was indeed Morro de Sao Paolo. And following on from Aunty Marion's comment - I have indeed slipped into 'manana' mentality, as it's been a good week since my last entry.

Christmas eve is celebrated more than Christmas day here, so the 24th was spent on a (very fast) boat doing a tour of the island. We visited a few floating bars, and took a few lazy walks along the island's stunning beaches. We didn't want to expel too much energy - the 'party' on the island that evening wasn't to start till 1:30 am so we were preparing ourselves for a big night. Dinner with about 20 new friends caused chaos in the restaurant, which just couldn't cope with the volume of people at one sitting - they certainly have a manana mentality there - and then we danced till dawn and way beyond it at the sunset bar, a high point of the island.

This all made Christmas day a little tricky - I had to get up after 2 hours sleep, check out, and catch a boat back to Salvador - and for the first time in my life I was "travel sick". Myself and about 20 other passengers aboard the catamaran, on incredibly choppy water, were sick for the entire journey. Unbearable! At one point the stewards tipped my head back and threw water over me, as if that was going to work! I think I went through about 15 sick bags....... nice.

Needless to say the evening in Salvador was a quiet one - I made a few friends in the hostel and went for a stroll to get myself one last fill of Bahian food - quite african in style, very fattening, and extremely delicious.

Onwards and downwards - South - to the part I had really been looking forward to - Rio de Janeiro - this time by plane - 2 hours in the air rather than 30 on a bus. I was lucky enough to sit by 2 local fellas who clearly had never been on a plane before, and couldn't sit still the whole journey. Even in broken english and portuguese, it was lovely to talk to them and share the excitement of travelling to Rio for New Year.

Being taken in by a family, after travelling alone, makes me feel incredibly lucky. It's amazing how many decisions have to be made when alone - and how many tensions there are - not being able to walk out of a room without locking belongings up, losing the keys, finding keys after having to ask for the lock to be forced open!...... and having to be so very careful of myself and my belongings everywhere I go.

I am staying with Diogo and his wonderful family in Rio, where I feel very welcome and am being extremely well looked after. The excitment has been pretty much non stop - Rio itself has so much to offer - I have never come across a more diverse city - from mountains to favelas to beaches and the beautiful appartment I am in, right on Copacabana. The slums in the city are immense - the largest in Latin America is here in Rio, with 180 000 residents. Some of them look quite urbanised, but all of them look a complete mess. It dumfounds me how people live around the problems caused by this poverty - I have heard so many stories, of first hand experiences, from Diogo and his brothers that mine just slots right in there, risk of danger is often evalutated before making a decision about where to go, which road to take, everything.

I have of course done the expected trip to the top of Corcovado mountain, where Christ the Redeemer outstretches his arms over his city - the 'city of God'. I could have spent a whole day up there, the views are as beautiful as I imagined they would be, and Diogo and I went at the perfect time - sunset. We took the cable car up and down the mountain, because the real mountain climbing was still to come.

Diogo's father is very active - and I joined them on a climbing trip to the top of one of Rio's highest mountains, Pedra Bonita, with a small climbing group. For additional challenge we took the route of the dry river bed up - loose rocks being a bit of a danger throughout. In fact if it hadn't been for Daniel, Diogo's elder brother, I would no longer have a head! A huge rock became dislodged and came rolling towards me, and just as I was considering the best course of action he managed to overtake it and get hold of it. Phew! The climb completely wore me out - to be honest I was impressed at myself for having completed it - my legs were rather shaky by the end!

However the following day brought another fantastic adventure, and another first for me - we drove north out of Rio, into the mountains and to the border of Rio state and the next state up, Minas Gerais, where we were to spend the day white water rafting. Having never done it before, I was anxious that I was going to be the first to fall in and get sucked into a current, but luckily I managed to only exit the boat when told to. We travelled 20 km downstream, to a delta which apparently is the only meeting of 3 rivers in the world, and came across some pretty exciting rapids along the way! From time to time we could jump in and let the current carry us along, and at one point we were given the option to go through the rapids without the boat. Of course we were all in, so armed with only a lifejacket and helmet I went for a ride that no water park will ever be able to beat. I think I might have worried the guides with my screaming, but it was pure thrill and I had a smile on my face the whole time. In fact I was smiling and laughing so much that I swallowed an awful lot of water that day - I am convinced I will have picked up a tropical disease!

So, last night - new years eve - huge party at the appartment, where the staff hired to help out ensured that all 70 or so guests ate and drank to our hearts content. Just before midnight a small group of us headed to the street with lord knows how many bottles of champagne to see the new year in amongst the crowds and the fireworks. It was pretty much raining champagne for a while, the atmosphere was of course euphoric, and by about 4am we started to flag just a little. I only got out of bed at 4 this afternoon, but was pleased to see that Diogo and I were the first out of the 3 brothers to do so, and Diogo has even gone back to sleep right now so I am clearly strongest survivor ;)

I am now getting ready for another party :) It's Diogo's father's birthday today, a double celebration of birthday and New Year. The saying in Brazil is that the Sao Paolo people work so that those in Rio can party. I now see why!

Much love to all, and again, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Helena

Much

Two problems with no longer having a guidebook...

2007-12-22T20:56:00.000Z

1. Information is power, and I can no longer swat up on places before I get there/ while there

2. It means I get some very silly things wrong - the island I am on, as far as I can tell, is called Tinhare, rather than Morro Sao Paulo, which is the name of this part of the island. Doh!

Another tropical island?! Ok then

2007-12-22T14:57:00.000Z

Salvador = hectic! There is only so much being pestered for money by kids on crack that a person can take. I could see their eyes rolling round in their head, and they were so desparate that it became difficult to deal with. Everywhere we walked, literally everywhere, locals would be trying to 'help' us in return for a tip, or sell us something we really didn't want.

Having done my fair share of dancing in the streets, I decided to hop over to Morro de Sao Paulo, another tropical island, just 2 hours on the boat from Salvador. It's small like Ilha Grande but not as mountainous and rainforest covered - more commercial. But there are walks to be done and ruins to find and sunsets to watch so I have a full agenda. No roads here again, heavenly :) Last night I had dinner with the gang that I came here with - and then a few drinks along the beach. There are 4 main beaches here, and we were on beach '2' which is the party beach. The 'bars' on the beach itself are wonderful because they look like exotic fruit stalls. In fact they are. The trick is to play a bit ignorant, ask what every type of fruit is, and when you have had a taste of them all choose a drink - literally what fruit and spirit you fancy and they blitz it all together. Yummalicious. And so good for you!

I am just going to go with the flow here for a few days - I will probably be here for Christmas - I am flying to Rio from Salvador on the 26th. However I have friends both here and in Salvador inviting me to spend time with them - so if beach and sunsets gets too much, I could head to Salvador to spend Christmas day with some lovely brits/ americans or stay here in my group of south africans/ australians/ german/ mexicans! Either way I am feeling safe and loving the fact that I yet again hopped over to an island when it got a bit hectic :) I wish there was a tropical island 2 hours down the Thames!

Loads of love to all,

Hel x x x x x

Salvador

2007-12-20T04:24:00.000Z

It's amazing what difference a sleep makes. I woke up yesterday feeling much more in control. I had a timetable for buses to Salvador, had worked out how to get to the bus station in Ilheus, how long it would take, and so spent the morning relaxing and preparing for another road trip (it was still raining in Ilheus, which pretty much fitted the bill with what I ehought of the place!). I also stuffed myself stupid at breakfast - I was the first guest down there and almost ate the whole buffet. Fruit, Cake, sweet and savoury pastries, followed by a ham sandwich and about 4 glasses of fresh juice. It had occured to me on waking up that I hadn't eaten yesterday - after the journey and everything that happened it just slipped my mind.

So restored to full power (and with supplies in my rucksack just in case!) I hit the road again. I do love travelling through the country on the road - it takes a long time but it's also a real eye opener. Yesterday's trip was a bit mixed - we drove through such incredible poverty - "towns" which seemed to be a row of shacks painted different colours. I noticed that a restaurant and a garage were side by side, but I couldn't make out which was filthier. The road from Ilheus to Salvador runs right through what I guess are Favelas - cluster upon cluster of little communities of shacks, quite literally made from bits of wood and binliners. Women were washing clothes in the river and kids were playing in the mud. I've seen so much of it since arriving, it really drives home the difference between developing and developed.

I was a bit aggressive with a kid who wouldn't stop asking me for money while I was trying to buy my bus ticket in Ilheus, and then the little bugger hung around the open hold of the coach looking at me. There was no way in hell my bags were going in there. So spent the whole trip with my luggage between my legs! Fellow travellers looked at me as if I were mad, but that didn't bother me too much!

It was dark by the time I got to Salvador and I was nervous that the hostel would let me down in some way, but Salvador has an electricity in the air which makes it hard to feel too on edge. From the second I stepped of the bus in the town centre I could hear Salsa Reggae coming off every street corner. There's a huge African influence in this town, and it's an incredibly lively and charming place. The hostel is very well run, a bit big and impersonal, but luckily enough my roomies are lovely girls from the states with whom I have spent most of my time since arriving, and I've befriended a couple of Saffa and British guys too.
One hostellite joined in with the music outside our window - he's the one with the tambourine!

Last night in town I got a bit spooked by all of the attention us 'gringos' get (the term Brazilians use for any foreigner) and all of the guys hassling me /kids asking for money made me feel a bit vulnerable again. However today was a different story - now that there are boys in the group it's so much easier. I spent the day looking round the town, and attended a drumming lesson this afternoon! Being part of the music is so much fun, I didn't want to stop drumming! We've been out dancing tonight - there are huge open air concerts everywhere, people dancing in the street, in the shops, on their balconies. I feel a hell of a lot better and have had the good day that I was waiting for to get me back into the swing of things.

Thanks for all the lovely emails I've had - I didn't mean to frighten anyone, but wanted to carry on with the blog truthfully so thought it best to put it all down.

Much love to all,

Hel x x x

a bad day

2007-12-18T01:47:00.001Z

I arrived in Ilheus yesterday (Monday) afternoon and had to find my hostel - not easy - it turned out to be 14 km away! I had real trouble figuring out where it was, and after a 20 hour bus ride really couldn't face it.
No one speaks spanish or english so I was really struggling. I just wanted to get there and look round the town.
I felt so frustrated that part of me wanted to sit on the floor and cry! But the floor is so dirty and this area is so noticeably poorer than what I have seen so far, that I just kept on going. In the end I managed to get a taxi which was a rip off but I decided it was the safest option. When I got to the hostel I had more bad news - I realised I was the only guest there and I felt pretty daunted and a bit alone! It was too far out of town. So I thought about what to do, and I decided the best thing would be to take a bus into the centre to find a central hostel to transfer to.

Being tired and a bit emotional I was aware that I needed to concentrate and made sure I didn't take valuables with me. Just some cash, guidebook, credit card and my notes. When I got to the centre it was getting dark and again I felt a bit daunted, but I focused on what I needed to do and I started looking for a hostel which I had seen recommended in my guide book, determined to get myself into a nice room for the night. A guy must have seen me looking a bit lost, and asked if I needed help. He looked really smart, like a police man, and in fact he told me that he was a policeman. I showed him in my guidebook where I was going (Iwas completely lost, none of the street names matched up at all) and he said he´d walk me there.

All of a sudden I realised that I had dropped my guard, I maybe shouldn't have trusted him, he had a gun, being a policeman, but I felt in my stomach that something wasn't right.
It felt as if we were leaving the centre. I asked him if we could turn around. Now for the horrible bit, but before I go on, the important thing is that I am absolutely fine, safe, sound, and sane.

The 'policeman' turned on me, got his gun out, and told me to stay quiet (lots of shushing noises). I begged him please please dont hurt me and grabbed a load of money from my pocket and offered it to him. He didn't want it. That really shocked me. It was worse than I had thought. He told me to turn around. There was a big drop down to the beach from the side of the road, just a small wall to push me over to get me down there. I didn't need to turn around to know that.

I think I know what he was going to do, either shoot then rob or rape me or both, or push me over and sexually attack me first. It's horrible, but these were the thoughts going through my head.

I carried on begging and he kept telling me to turn around. I was desparate, but I couldn't turn around, put my back to him, look down into that drop. I couldn't. I just couldn't. I was so horribly afraid but not ready to give up. I figured if I did what he said it was over, the best chance I had was to run. So I ran, screaming as loud as I could, and just then a car came round the corner. I jumped in front of it and screamed at them to stop. They thought I was mad. I must have looked it. I was screaming 'he´s gonna shoot me please please stop'. They opened a door and I jumped in. It was a family, a couple with a daughter my age. The woman spoke english. The first person to speak a word of it since I got here and she was almost fluent. What good luck. When they realised what had happened they took me to the police, and they really looked after me. After giving my statement they took me to the hostel to get my stuff, and now i'm in a safe hotel run the woman's sister right by their house. They even watched me cross the road to come to the internet cafe, this morning they are taking me back to the police station where I have to give them my passport number, and then I am going to head to Salvador. I have a reservation for a few days time, but could go early, and it's definitely in the centre, and have got a women only dorm and everything. I don't know how I planned Salvador so carefully and not Ilheus. What a wally.

I have spoken to my friend in Rio, Diogo, who has been wonderful support, and I have the option to go to Rio straight away and spend the rest of my time safe and sound with him. Either way the flights from here to Rio go to Salvador first so I'll probably see it even if only for a day.

I think that being so stubborn probably saved my life last night, and it will also mean that as long as I find a nice group of people to hang out with in Salvador, I will try and spend some time there. I am definitely not going to make it up to Recife, which is where I had planned to end up by the 29th December and from where I have a flight booked back to Rio.

After all the warnings I had about Brazil, and I did try and be safe, but I guess I didn't try hard enough - I WILL NOW! The idiot has stolen my guidebook too. He can have it. Phase 2 ends here, there can be no continuation of the last few days, so from this afternoon on is going to be phase 3. Good riddance phase 2!

Loads of love to everyone, please remember that I'm in really good hands now, in a lovely hotel, where they are checking right now that I am ok, and will get a bus later to Salvador, where I know for certain I am in the central safe bit and have even prewarned the owners that I am coming early due to a bad experience. If there is anything at all I don't like about it, I will go to Rio. No risks. I love an adventure and I don't regret for a second being here, I have had so many more ups than downs, but I am also now more aware than ever that I am not bullet proof, that I really have to be careful.

I haven't been able to call anyone other than Diogo - I think my phone has stopped working, so please don't worry anyone who may try and call and not get through.

Hel x x x x

Moving on. Phase 2.

2007-12-18T01:11:00.000Z

I guess that was the end of week one and also what I have started calling phase 1, as I then needed to start heading North, and leave behind the people I had met so far.

So Sunday brought a day of travel. To my horror I discovered that I couldn't head North from Buzios, I had to go all the way back to Rio first.

The discovery

Annoying! So back I went, 4 hours the wrong way, to then say goodbye to Jeff, a fantastic travelling buddy, and get on another bus for 20 hours to Ilheus, my chosen point to take a look at on the way to Salvador, which is where I plan to spend Christmas.

The bus journey was quite bizzare - I felt a bit anxious about travelling so far and I guess kind of starting again.

Buzios and the buggys

2007-12-18T01:05:00.000Z

Well it took us a day to get there, but it was worth it. Buzios is a stunning place again full of gorgeous beaches, quite touristy but really smart (cool shops yey!)

We arrived too late to do any exploring when we arrived on Friday night but planned to hire bikes and tour the peninsula on Saturday. This didn't work out quite as planned - there is no bike hire here, despite the locals all seeming to think they know where it is, and it being in the guidebook. After 2 hours circling the streets we were told that the bike hire no longer operates, so thought 'sod it' and got a kind of mix between a jeep and go kart that we had seen plenty of cruising around - they call it a buggy.

Wow that turned out to be fun - those things go over pretty much any ground and I have some hilarious clips of us driving the damn thing all over the island

Jeff driving

My turn

The hostel here was absolutely gorgeous, with a pool and the friendliest staff - I hope the other hostels follow suit!

Ilha Grande

2007-12-18T00:46:00.000Z

The Island was heaven from the minute I stepped foot there - walking across the beach to get to the hostel which the guys had booked, I knew I had made the right decision to move on. From the decking at the front of the hostel we could literally jump straight into the crystal blue water, and so we did.
The hostel itself took full advantage if this and crammed us young hostellites in 6 to a room, and not too clean a room at that, and after one night Mike and James - 2 of the 3 people I was there with, decided to head back for Rio. However I really wanted to stay and so did Jeff so we did, after swapping to a really gorgeous family run hostel just off the beach.

Before the others left on Tuesday I spent the morning watching them catch starfish and tear down a ´slide´ we had found (spring water running over slate is slippy!)
Being only day 3 in Brazil it all felt pretty surreal still, especially having moved to hostel 3 in as many days, and being so far from where I thought I´d be, so early on!

Wednesday
The next day Jeff and I decided to go on an adventure - having planned to go on an organised and very touristy boat trip round to some of the (even!) nicer beaches on the island, we ditched the plan last minute and went on a hike instead. Armed with the worst map known to mankind, we needed to pick up a trail going up over the mountains and down the other side.

NOT easy for several reasons:
- the map wasn't labelled fully
- the trail kept forking off when we didn't expect it to
- when we did hit a beach and asked a local working in the bar which beach we were on, he didn't know!!!

some highlights of the adventure:
The start of the hike: high expectations

Defeat!

Rain!

Aaaanyway, trecking through forest bare foot, getting lost, and hiding under upturned canoes in the rain all made me feel pretty damn adventurous, Indiana Jones style, so I didn't mind one bit that we didn't make it to the other side. Honest!

Thursday
What we thought was a downpour on Wednesday afternoon turned out to be incessant rain which went right over to Thursday, and beyond. So we spent the day chilling in hammocks, chatting to the hostel owners, other hostellites, watching frogs eat flies, eating an enormous amount (of yummy fish of course), reading, and sleeping. We planned to leave the island the next day and decided to head for a peninsula town north of Rio, which sounded lovely and put me in good stead to head up to Bahia afterwards.

friends, m16's, and a tropical island

2007-12-11T19:48:00.000Z

Well then, on the afternoon of day 1 I met my first hostel roommate - the gorgeous Nikki who is simply FAB - and things haven't stopped moving from there really. I made a load of new friends, ate a LOT of meat (evidence to the left!) went to a party where one particular gentleman was wondering around with an M16 hanging off his neck - like it was a necklace or something, tried my first (Brazilian) caipirinha, of course being a raving insomniac couldn't sleep so watched the sun come up on the beach, and then decided that as I am coming back to Rio for New Year I wouldn't hang around any longer - decision's have to be made even in the tired state I was in, so after just one day in Rio, I joined 2 american chaps on a journey out to a tropical island reasonably close to Rio.
A clip from the way there
So here I am - on Ilha Grande, a heavenly place with no roads, just rainforest and beaches, and I am not sure how I'm going to leave! The sheer number of new and exciting experiences I went through in 30 hours from hitting that runway was incredible, so I'm now looking forward to exploring the island for a few days before continuing my journey north. I never seem to have my camera plus data lead when I pass an internet cafe - I'll get more organised and post some photo's soon.

H x x x

Hello from Rio :)

2007-12-09T14:36:00.000Z

Well after a lovely (and a bit emotional) sendoff by Jen and Dan yesterday, I sat on the plane at Heathrow and tried to remember what it was, exactly, that made me decide to fly half way across the world for Christmas and new year, to be alone, travelling through a country whose language I do not speak and about which I know so little (but want to know so much). I guess in a strange old way I answered my own question - it wouldn't be exciting if it was easy, comfortable, and without a challenge I won't grow, get stronger, braver, better ;) ... these things that pop into my mind and I think "I wonder if I could" and "imagine if I did!" - well "why not!"

It's now somewhere around midday, already time doesn't matter. Without paying much attention to what I needed to do, today I have stepped off a plane, fought my way through immigration (not really a fight just a simple big jump of the queue), hopped onto a bus, convinced (using sign language) (and props) the bus driver to drop me off outside the hostel, checked in (room not ready yet) thrown on a bikini and taken a stroll to the beach.

Just as I stopped to take in the ease at which the last few hours have passed, I looked out to sea, across Ipanema Beach, and right in front of me was an oversized umbrella shading a kiosk. One word was printed on it: HELENA.

I've arrived :)

H x

The day before I go....

2007-12-07T13:55:00.000Z

Hello,

Well the 7th Dec has arrived frightfully quickly, and it seems I fly out to Brazil tomorrow! I haven't packed a single thing, yet, but there's plenty of time for that tonight (aided by (at least) a glass of wine and some Christmas carols).

I have popped a map onto here to show the route which I expect to take - the plan so far is.....

1. Fly into Rio (blue dot on the map)
2. Relax for a few days (probably 3 days)
3. Using coaches / trains / cars / motorbikes (JOKE) - start heading North - shown by a pink line on the map! (passing through a nice national park, Salvador, Recife, Natal, and hopefully arriving at Fortaleza or thereabouts)
4. On the 27th(ish) December, fly back to Rio from however far North I have reached by then
5. Spend New Year in Rio
6. After New Year, get myself over to the Iguazu waterfalls, possibly stopping at Sao Paulo on the way
7. Admire waterfalls for a day or 2 - crossing into Argentina to do so, as apparently they have the best viewpoints
8. Grab a flight back to Rio in order to fly home
9. Fly home!

The whole plan is rather flexible - the only thing actually booked is the first few nights in Rio.
I thought it would be foolish to set things in stone before I get there as I really don't know what to expect, and it's so exciting to walk into an unknown. I have a vague idea of what I want to achieve, but am ready to admit that it might not be achievable and /or better ideas might present themselves as my knowledge of people and places grows.

So... next entry should be hello from Rio!

Bye for now,

H x

post numero uno

2007-12-03T17:45:00.000Z

Hello! Well this is just a test to see if I can manage to upload videos to youtube (the only site I could find to host my 70meg clips for free) and link them to here. So here's the test - It's aptly named 'Jen plus Hel plus G plus T'

What this combination 'equals' is rather silly dancing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXJXyDf8rBs

H x x x