I[m in brazil people! and a little worried since i didn[t know south indians got sunburn or peeled (thoughts, comments?) i[m sure it[s normal, ahem... i landed in rio and was oddly calm. i thought there might have been some outburst of panic along the way, but it seems not. all went smoothly, landed at an excellent hostel in copa cabana calling itself a 30s bohemian something something, but was pleasantly surprised. There was a bar, a BBQ and a hottub on the roof people... a hotub!!! ahem. as i[m not usually the lie on the beach type, i seem to have taken to it rather well. the last month in india and home before i set off were kind of hectic, so i have been luxuriating in doing nothing for a week. and it[s so hot, i am not hungry for the first time ever. i drink beer and caiparinas, eat this amazing berry sorbet with granola and banana called acai, drink coconut water and mangle the portugese language, yey.
Have fallen into the backpacker way quite smoothly (clean, is a relative term) and life is going very slowly, which is something i don[t remember ever feeling when i[m having a good time. these people KNOW how to have a good time! it[s pricey here, and is only going to get worse as carnivale draws closer (carnivale, eeeek!) and i[ve been chatting to a lot of people, local and foreign, all of whom are heading out of rio for carnivale and i might just do the same. salvador[s more dangerous than rio, which is saying something (don[t panic mum, i[m fine) so i[m probably gonna head a little north of rio, which is supposed to be even crazier and more amazing than rio during carnivale.
The hostel bar quicly became a favouriter haunt till midnight, drinking Itapave beer and Caiparinas, and then on to somewhere else. SOme amazing hiphop at the club next door and oone nioght we all went out to LApa, which has a street party every friday night. It[s like a mini carnivale. Every club has a different sound and you can either dance on the street to the music pumping from the clubs, or go inside and sweat ur balls off, (which is a lot more fun than it sounds!) or dance to the samab music played on the street, eating and drinking, and trying to avoid the river off pee flowing down the hill... seriously guys, peeing on the hill at the top of the street party?...really? Anyway, it was fabulous. Everyone only really goes out at midnightish and gets in around 5 or 6. Lazy as i am, I need a few days of rest after each one, but i[m hoping to build up my resistance.
Apart from hanging out on copa cabana and ipanema beach (booyah!) on monday 4 of us went to Ihla Grande. They[re some great people i met in my first hostel. Zaza from sweden, gorgeous, Helmer from Cuba, always ready to party party party, and Roberto from Argentina, who always forgets to bring his clothes, but never goes anywhere without his bottle of Fermet, a bitter sort of liquor from Italy. Ihla Grande a lush jungle island a couple hours south of Rio, with a teeny population, a laid back attitude and beaches that blow u away. Zaza syas they[re like the beaches in thailand. All i know is, it[s paradise.
We were hardly in the room, staying mosty on the beach. The second day, someone told us the Beach Lopes Mendes was amzing and just a 2hr walk across the island. 3 beaches and 3 hours into my jungle trek later, up a mountain wearing only a bikini, sarong and flip flops, noticing the blisters on my chest (seriously, i blistered like bubblewrap) i realised i[d been conned. Oh. My. God. Torture is not the word. All my months at the gym before India were oblitrated by all the butter they poured into and over my food in Delhi that last week, and i never realise just hooow out of shape i am. I was like the fat kid at camp... seriously, it was sad... And when we got to the beach, yeah it was pretty, but seriously? SERIOUSLY? %$#$*&*_#!!!
i napped and paddled for the next 3 hours, feeling damn proud of myself. Then we got the boat back : )
We stayed 3 nights in paradise and returned back to rio yesterday. Zaza and I are pretty chilled out people, but Helmer has more energy than nearly anyone I know (that means you Pramod) and Roberto is on his first holiday in 4 YEARS! (wanna hear the tragic part...he[s a travel agent, ;) So they are constantly waking us up, "Come on, come on, ur wasting the morning, we gotta go go go", but for some reason they always get everywhere after us, which pisses them off, which is hilarious. We get on two buses at the same time, theirs won[t leave for another hour. They left for lopes mendes beach 2 hours before us and went 4 kms the wrong way. On the way back, their boat took longer and while we luckily had an air conditioned bus back to rio waiting for us at the harbour, they had to walk in the sweltering sun to the bus station, tee hee hee.
Ok, that[s enough, cos i[m probably asking for trouble and the fates have far too much time on their hands! So that[s about it. Right now i[m writing from a hostel in Ipanema called "The Girl From Ipanema" (the locals must really hate that song) and apart from the muggy heat, and the exposed steel girders in the ceiling, it[s nice. although they have a "strict no fun policy after 10pm please"...bizarre. Anyway, gonna go do some touristy stuff now, cos we[ve been total bums for a week, like Sugarloaf and Christ etc.
Ciao for now everyone, photos to follow!!!
xxx
Have fallen into the backpacker way quite smoothly (clean, is a relative term) and life is going very slowly, which is something i don[t remember ever feeling when i[m having a good time. these people KNOW how to have a good time! it[s pricey here, and is only going to get worse as carnivale draws closer (carnivale, eeeek!) and i[ve been chatting to a lot of people, local and foreign, all of whom are heading out of rio for carnivale and i might just do the same. salvador[s more dangerous than rio, which is saying something (don[t panic mum, i[m fine) so i[m probably gonna head a little north of rio, which is supposed to be even crazier and more amazing than rio during carnivale.
The hostel bar quicly became a favouriter haunt till midnight, drinking Itapave beer and Caiparinas, and then on to somewhere else. SOme amazing hiphop at the club next door and oone nioght we all went out to LApa, which has a street party every friday night. It[s like a mini carnivale. Every club has a different sound and you can either dance on the street to the music pumping from the clubs, or go inside and sweat ur balls off, (which is a lot more fun than it sounds!) or dance to the samab music played on the street, eating and drinking, and trying to avoid the river off pee flowing down the hill... seriously guys, peeing on the hill at the top of the street party?...really? Anyway, it was fabulous. Everyone only really goes out at midnightish and gets in around 5 or 6. Lazy as i am, I need a few days of rest after each one, but i[m hoping to build up my resistance.
Apart from hanging out on copa cabana and ipanema beach (booyah!) on monday 4 of us went to Ihla Grande. They[re some great people i met in my first hostel. Zaza from sweden, gorgeous, Helmer from Cuba, always ready to party party party, and Roberto from Argentina, who always forgets to bring his clothes, but never goes anywhere without his bottle of Fermet, a bitter sort of liquor from Italy. Ihla Grande a lush jungle island a couple hours south of Rio, with a teeny population, a laid back attitude and beaches that blow u away. Zaza syas they[re like the beaches in thailand. All i know is, it[s paradise.
We were hardly in the room, staying mosty on the beach. The second day, someone told us the Beach Lopes Mendes was amzing and just a 2hr walk across the island. 3 beaches and 3 hours into my jungle trek later, up a mountain wearing only a bikini, sarong and flip flops, noticing the blisters on my chest (seriously, i blistered like bubblewrap) i realised i[d been conned. Oh. My. God. Torture is not the word. All my months at the gym before India were oblitrated by all the butter they poured into and over my food in Delhi that last week, and i never realise just hooow out of shape i am. I was like the fat kid at camp... seriously, it was sad... And when we got to the beach, yeah it was pretty, but seriously? SERIOUSLY? %$#$*&*_#!!!
i napped and paddled for the next 3 hours, feeling damn proud of myself. Then we got the boat back : )
We stayed 3 nights in paradise and returned back to rio yesterday. Zaza and I are pretty chilled out people, but Helmer has more energy than nearly anyone I know (that means you Pramod) and Roberto is on his first holiday in 4 YEARS! (wanna hear the tragic part...he[s a travel agent, ;) So they are constantly waking us up, "Come on, come on, ur wasting the morning, we gotta go go go", but for some reason they always get everywhere after us, which pisses them off, which is hilarious. We get on two buses at the same time, theirs won[t leave for another hour. They left for lopes mendes beach 2 hours before us and went 4 kms the wrong way. On the way back, their boat took longer and while we luckily had an air conditioned bus back to rio waiting for us at the harbour, they had to walk in the sweltering sun to the bus station, tee hee hee.
Ok, that[s enough, cos i[m probably asking for trouble and the fates have far too much time on their hands! So that[s about it. Right now i[m writing from a hostel in Ipanema called "The Girl From Ipanema" (the locals must really hate that song) and apart from the muggy heat, and the exposed steel girders in the ceiling, it[s nice. although they have a "strict no fun policy after 10pm please"...bizarre. Anyway, gonna go do some touristy stuff now, cos we[ve been total bums for a week, like Sugarloaf and Christ etc.
Ciao for now everyone, photos to follow!!!
xxx
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