TRAVEL:THIS IS BRAZIL! RIO DE JANIERO and ILHE GRANDE

THURSDAY 6TH AUGUST sao paulo to rio 

FRIDAY 7TH AUGUST Copacabanna

Brazialian hostels seem to always do free breakfast, this is never a bad thing! got the most important thing already on my first day - a Brazil Flag beach towel (this can be used for nearly anything!) and hit Copacabanna beach, white sands and rough waves (impossible to swim in you have to jump and try not to drown) Great fun though! some small dark (black) Brazilian kids took a shine to me calling me leche/blondie (since im super white and blonde haha) and shouting Irelanda for when i was to jump the waves haha

You can get anything on this beach its seems and you dont have to move, vendors come offering you everything from food and drinks, bikinis and towels, to weed haha! we finally moved (and later discovered we should have moved sooner as was super burnt!) and got some food along one of the restaurants along the beach

saturday 8th august CHRIST THE REDEEMER and Sugar loaf mountain

moved to a new hostel @Lisetonga

It was exhilarating. At the first hill we found super cute Capuchin monkeys! some with fizzy long ear hair like little old men haha. some nibbling little bits of food and others just chilling in the branches (where they make their homes) all tiny with super cute little faces and hands and lemur like tail! (yes I want one!) they weren't too timid so i was able to get quite close for pictures and they were also at ground level in the bushes.

similar price but easier!

SUNDAY 9TH AUGUST ilhe Grande

 Some of the views were stunning, it's approximately 2-3 hours south of Rio, lots of trees and small beach towns littered our route, high rise bends overlooking beautiful beaches made a journey one could do just for the sights alone!
we stopped and got boat tickets and return bus, we were going 2.30-6.30 (the last boat) and booked spaces on a bus that would be stopping nearby at around 7.10 with the boat taking about 20 minutes. - theres an island tour you can do straight from rio (similar price and less hassle of all the changes and therefore a bit  more relaxing and quicker, but no time to chill when on a tour schedule) due to time we wouldnt be able to do the blue lagoon, the beach we waited on for the boat was really nice - lots of families spending their sunday on the beach together, kids playing, mothers with their babies (always an adorable sight)
the boat journey was one of the craziest i've ever experienced, so bumpy - like a rollercoaster on water (splash island) basically rising up and slam dunking the water with ever wave we met, madness, and so fun!

 got a delicious caparinha when we finally arrived on the beach, before heading along the forest like trail to the fourth beach. walking barefoot in the forest and discovering we couldnt swim with bags or even wade through the water to the next beach haha
therefore taking the inland forest jungle like trail. very fun, rustic, adventurous  and great for those with a free spirit. and very empty, barely a soul around, the forest trial in itself was beautiful - i felt like i was on a desert island (lord of the flies without all the savagery, and basic amenities of course) the ground beneath our feet, the overhanging branches, plants, trees all around with light filtering through, the waves crashing in the background, when we finally arrived at the beach, barely a soul was around, it was heavenly, though cooler as the sun was starting to set and a slight breeze had begun along with some cloud coverage (would have be wondrous earlier in the day for sure!)

 got in the water and swam briefly, practising handstands on the sand, before watching the sunset  perfect scenery.
 there were some random dogs on the island (the restaurant and hostel owners i think not wild) and a blonde labradour came up and lay down right beside me on my towel snuggling up to me haha. who needs Bond girls when you can have two BLONDE girls eh haha was super cute!
it got cold and dark pretty quick (not the hottest day and it is technically Brazil's off season/winter)

 careful if you get a last minute taxi boat, we got a bit ripped off. but it was a nice trip going along the beach coast just as it was starting to get dark as the last of the fading rays of the sun slipped away.
much cooler now we got some delicious pastries from a restaurant before we eventually got the bumpy boat then bus back to the city (of course stopping for an acai on the way back)

one caparinha and one acia a day.....;)

Monday 10th august Rio de Janeiro to Salvador

checked out after breakfast and got the bus to Cinevadia for the free walking tour that starts at 9.30 in front of the square in the theatre. there were 3 rather large groups, one in Spanish, one in Portuguese and one in english. or guide's nickname was something like kusto. he was good at english and knew a lot about Rio, we were able to ask him questions and in between points of interest and he was always able to answer.

He started off by warning us that you can get a 200BR for littering. you also aren't meant to flush toilet paper etc down the toilet as it will cause blockages. Brazil is the only country in south America, the biggest with nearly 2/3 of the population, its however very corrupt and dangerous. the famous Favellas (shanti towns) in the mountains are mini cities within the city, very dangerous though, to visit you need to take a guide, even with the new police enforcement. they were started with the freedom of the slaves, Brazil was the last country in North and South America to do so. the flavellas are rife with crime, danger and corruption, no-one buys houses there, in a way its all pretty much squats. colourful and unique but deadly. 

   we started off getting some information about the square we were in, the town hall, the theatre, the library - the biggest in south america with lots of books from the royal Portuguese collection after they left the capital. Brazil is the only colony that became a base for the royal family, the Portuguese left Lisbon due to invasion from Napoleon and only left in the 1800s when Brazil became independent.   the square used to be the area for all the cinemas sort of based on a french american style, a bit san franciscan i guess - hence the name of the area, however there is only 1 cinema left - the odeon. there were some monuments to mayors etc as well, its a nice area but the piece d'resistance is the theatro.  we headed down through the parque with the ghandi monument, "praca mahatma Ghandi "  lots of area of brazil were small lagoons and lakes, but with the high mountains preventing fresh air getting in lots of people got sick, so they levelled a lot of them and filled in lagoons, this praca (park) was the first in Brazil for people to use, a public park to help with the health.  There's interested tress that look like they are a form Of coconut tree, brought from the Amazon, however they are just for decor as they have no taste and are pointless.

We walked on down to the famous steps - escalaron seleron, decorated by artist - they are so colourful, lively and beautiful, giving a run down area vibrancy and life and hopefully some benefits from the tourism. The artist only died a couple years ago, he'd painted a piece at the bottom on the wall. Facing the steps based on the upcoming World Cup - most believe that due to the colours of the team depicted and the numbers of boats in the background that he was foretelling how Brazil would win the World Cup and beat Germany by 7 points. He oddly painted himself depicted as a pregnant man for many of his late years of work due to the death of his pregnant gf in a car accident and many believe that his death wasn't a suicide, but who knows. He did. The steps for free and was given tiles to compete it by others, the government did not help. We climbed up pausing for pictures, to the very top, forgetting all about our plan to count the stairs and just enjoying the climb right to the top and posing for pictures, especially for the ones that looked like we were holding the mosaic Brazilian flag at the top and saying "this is Brazil" from the recent fast and furious 5 film 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3RvcMtNxY4

There were lots of small tiles based on countries, Israel, Germany, Alaska etc. I found only 1 for Ireland none for the UK. We passed back pass more churches and teatros.

We then crossed under the aqueducts that are now a train track that run up to the convent in the hills. They've been out of order but are being renovated to be in use for next year for the Olympics which will be held in Rio. It's odd. Rio isn't  the capital, Brasilia is - as it was moved inland for strategic regions and try to promote wealth in that area rather than the coast, Salvador has also been a capital. Both places, like most of Brazil has a huge link and influence from Africa as thousands of black slaves were brought here in the 17th century to work for he sugar and coffee feels, and of course for diamond mining, diamonds were actually discovered here in. Areas like Lencois before the were discovered in South Africa.

Near the old acros da lapas is the Rio cathedral. Built in the 70s the upturned bucket like shape is a bit of an eye sore, however the interior is beautiful, 4 full length stained class windows on each side meeting at the tops with windows forming a cross. Continuing on we got to the finance area of Rio, one of the buildings which was voted by the US' CNN in the top 10 ugliest In the world - the gargarem do Ventura buildings. They have 'garden' area hole spaces in a checker board form for the workers which I thought was nice, CNN however does not concur.

We passed a huge famous Portuguese coffee house, full of huge mirror from Brussels . A beautiful place. We stopped in the culture house which often hosts parties and hand lots of different paintings depicting the changing over different years of Rio. Was interesting, across from the lapas bar area.

We went from here to the old palace area with some huge landmark buildings and learnt about the independence of brazil and the freedom of the slaves - caused by princess Isabelle on 7th September 1822, hence why there are lots of streets with this name. a beautiful area the tour ended here.

also found out that they sort of combined the black salve religion with christianity - to an extent, and its still here to today, though mainly a christian country of catholicism, bonfim religion is what its known as, there's sometimes animal sacrifices and prayers to the sea etc. they converted and related the different  Gods to the different Saints.

 also,  during the time when the french tried to invade, several of the native Portuguese indians joined, hating the Portuguese invaders, however it was during a battle that the french were winning until there was a huge explosion and they believe to see St. Bartholomew with the Portuguese and switched sides, the city's name was then changed, the full name of rio de Janeiro includes references to this, and Bartholomew became the patron saint of the city. brazils roots come from african, Portuguese and native indians of brazil.  and ofc the name-Rio de Janeiro is due to a dull witted mistake o the Portuguese explorer who discovered the area, believing it was in fact a river and found in January  - hence Rio de Janeiro river of January

after this we got some food, trying a delicious Brazilian speciality -tapioca, condensed milk and coconut, and some of chocolate bricaderos. chocolate on chocolate on chocolate, and also  some sweet and salted nuts, all from street vendors.

got the metro to the botanical gardens while Mor went to do hang gliding. the botanic gardens are fantastic! a desert cactus area, hundreds of different species of plant, tree and flower, green houses, fountains and palm trees as tall and huge multi-storey buildings. i did a brief walk in their miniature forest trail which was amazing, full of monkeys! so close hanging and jumping around the edge of the path, one almost seemed to be dancing, i also saw some amazing tropical birds, reminiscent of a toucan, black red and yellow, several of them in the trees. and off in the distance you can see christ the redeemer atop cocavonna. i wish i had ;longer to stay but needed to head back to the hostel to head to the airport, un fortunately the buses were awful and would have taken 2 hours, we leapt into a taxi and he did it in just under an hour driving like a bat out of hell - thank goodness! we were bunked up the queue and hurried on, then for the connection flight they changed the gate and we were getting called last minute! the cheese bread roll made me feel ill, sticking in my stomach, however did get to try some of the local speciality soft drink, guarana. oddly got on with a huge water and food.

got a deal for a lift to the hostel, in the historical centre in Salvador, its super dodgy at night, didn't feel too comfortable and the guy who worked there was not too welcoming at all. however, by around 2am any bed was a gift! we had to get two flights to get there, first to Sao Paulo, so many people were dressed for business, we were exhausted and fell asleep watching a movie, however there was a screaming child, and although i love kids and think they are adorable (there's so many cutie kids here) when I'm exhausted on a plane (i hate air conditioning of the planes even without the exhaustion and noise) and there's a screaming kid - i sometimes feel it needs to die, i need silence, i don't think I'm the only one to feel this haha! of course, id never act, but i wouldn't never bring a very young child on a plane, unless it was the only option - like we were emigrating - so, if my parents are reading this, just to let you know, any time i'm traveling when i have young kids, you get to mind them! haha

(random brazil info: They have lines In supermarkets just for the elderly, disabled and pregnant. Like china you can't flush toilet paper, make sure you don't get in the wrong line as you'll have to queue all over again in the longer queue!)