Arriving in Bahia
Topic: Brazil
The bus to Bahia was great - cool, clean and comfortable. There were lots of films, unfortunately in Portugeuese but with the help of my iRiver MP3 player and a copy of Nicholas Nickleby, time actually went pretty quickly.

We arrived in Bahia at dusk and checked into yet another crummy hotel, the Maridina in Pelorinho (historical center). The funniest thing about this room was the shower with the electrics dangling dangerously above it. The only plug socket was in the shower and, of course, soaking wet. Dad would have loved it. I didn't bother plugging my hairdrier in.

The owner of the hotel was Spanish and very friendly. We asked him if it was a dangerous neighbourhood and he seemed offended. He said it was very safe and that the guidebooks exaggerated the violence in Bahia but just to be sure, don't go out wearing watches and don't take much cash. We weren't planning to anyway.

Pelorinho is very lively at night. Music coming from all sorts of places, people selling food and drink in the squares. The old buildings have been beautifully restored and the place has a very nice atmosphere. Even the smell of pee on the cobblestones or the grubby urchins can't take away its charm.

Back to Rio
Topic: Brazil
The bus back to Rio took more than 4 hours as it turned into a local bus for most of the way. It stopped at every little two-coconut-tree village to let people on and off.

Rio bus station was stiflingly hot and we couldn't leave until we had sorted out our onward bus journey to Salvador de Bahia in the north east. We joined a sweaty queue for an hour but found that there were no buses leaving that night, or the next two nights. We tried another company and bought a semi-cama executive ticket for the following afternoon. It would take 28 hours - the longest bus trip we have done so far.

The next job was to find somewhere to stay in Rio for the night. We rang up a few places that were either full or madly expensive so we put ourselves at the mercy of the tourist office. They found us something in Copacabana for about 65 dollars which was the cheapest they could find and the most we have spent on a room the entire time we have been travelling. When we heard it had a pool and air conditioning we cheered up. We had been sweating on the bus and in the bus station for hours by now. the Atlantic Copacabana had both those things but was still crummy. We had to pay in cash in advance. I reached into the money belt I was wearing under my clothes and pulled out some warm, damp dollar notes and handed them over (yuck!).

The room was by far the worst we have stayed in. It was just big enough for the bed. The tiny window overlooked the air conditioning unit of the room opposite and our air con unit chugged and rattled like an old train. There was also the smell of drains. The darkness, heat, size and smell made the place really claustrophobic. I have no idea how we managed to sleep. Imagine coming on a package holiday to Brazil and being stuck there for 2 weeks - at least we could escape!

Paraty
Topic: Brazil
The Costa Verde was described by Amerigo Vespucci as "paradise on Earth". My Brazilian friend Raquel had also mentioned the beautiful colonial town of Paraty on that coast about 4 hours from Rio so we thought we'check it out.

The bus drove along a stunningly beautiful highway - our guidebook says it is the most beautiful one in the world. Paraty is lovely. It is also very touristy. At first we thought the pale people dressed in beachwear walking around in the rain were Europeans. They were actually Brazilian - mainly from Sao Paulo.

The streets of Paraty are pretty. All the buildings in the old town are colonial, long and stable-like and mainly house expensive restaurants and shops, and art galleries. The cobble stones are huge and semi-submerged in water from the tide and the rain. People in flip flops leap from one to the other to get anywhere.

We spent a pleasant enough few days in the town but we realsied that we weren't in the right place. Mentally, I mean. We have too many things going on in our heads to be able to appreciate Paraty properly. We only have a few weeks left in South America and a lot of plans to make for moving to Japan. Every time we get ready to leave somewhere (Rio, Buenos Aires...), our minds go over not just the next step of our journey here, but the next few steps and it is becoming overwhelming. Also, Every time we stay somewhere new, we have new anxieties about money as we always have to hand over a load of cash for even the most basic hotels. What's the answer? Go somewhere for three weeks, the remainder of our time in Brazil and stay put.

Leaving Rio
Topic: Brazil
We were very reluctant to leave Rio as we had been so happy there. Two weeks was not long enough but we had had a good taste of the city. Apart from what I have already written about, we had the chance to see a few other parts. One day we took a ferry over to Niteroi to see the space ship that was the modern art gallery. The building was far more impressive than the exhibits but the views over Rio from there were phenomenal.

Another day we visited the 1000 ton Jesus on the hill. It really is massive. I wasn't impressed with the slow hot train that takes you up there or the number of tourists all beating each other up to get a photo of their family members in front of the statue. The views from the top however were tremendous.

One Sunday we packed a picnic and headed for Tajuca national park and spent a few hours walking in the forest and looking at waterfalls.

We also spent a couple of frustrating days faffing around in Internet cafes and telephone boxes doing "jobs" like changing and booking flights, working out budgets, getting bus tickets, looking for somewhere to stay in Salvador for carnival and other such arrangements. The phone system is impossible. It took us ages to figure it out as the number you dial depends on which phone card you are using! The prices vary a lot too. We can't ever phone Ireland again as the most expensive phone card you can get gives us only 3 minutes talking time.

We are going to miss a lot of things about Ipanema like our regular stand up juice bar where you can get anything. David has been working his way through the menu with some surprising results. Some fruits have no translation in English either. Another is our regular stand up espresso bar which serves the most perfect coffee in the world (we think). Another is our little section of Ipanema beach. Another is our regular selection of kilo restaurants. They are buffets where they charge you for your food according to the weight of your plate. Brilliant. I normally hate buffets as I either over eat of feel like I'm not getting my money's worth. Another is our regular caipirinha bar and finally our fabulous local supermarket. Life is so relaxed and healthy here you'd think it was California.

Favela life
Topic: Brazil
We had a number for a guy called Paulo. We phoned him up and he agreed to be our guide to Rocinho, the largest favela in Rio and, in fact, the largest slum in south America. There are hundreds of favelas in Rio but this one has been around since the 1960s and is home to 250,000 people.

Paulo picked us up about 10am. He was a bit of a character: about 50, casually dressed with an infectious Eddie Murphy laugh. He'd studied languages at university and his English was really good. He occasionally provided guided trips of the favela when he wasn't busy with his other work as president of various neighbourhood societies and volunteer at a children's club.

He drove us through the leafy streets of Gavea past the gated communities. I was surprised that we stopped and parked the car there but then I looked up and saw Rocinho favela spread out up the hillside overlooking the posh suburb we were in.

We entered the favela up some narrow concrete steps. The steps wove upwards in and out of higgledy-piggldy houses. We then walked through a path separating houses along which ran a stinking open sewer which occasionally slopped onto the path. As slums go, this isn't a bad one. The residents have clean water and pay for electricity. A television was on in every house we passed even if no one was watching. Along the narrow path were houses (with floors added as families grew), bars, shops, salons and even youth centres.

Everyone knew Paulo and he was clearly a popular guy. As we were with him, everyone was so friendly to us too and made us feel very welcome.

We visited a children's club and met some volunteers and kids who had been playing in the swimming pool. Membership was free to children and they had access to the pool overlooking the city below, a gym room and various classes. We had a look round. Apparently there had been some English teachers there but they had just left and some replacements were expected. Children are taught various life skills in these classrooms after school.

We left the club and went back into the heart of the favela. Paulo kept going on about a motorbike ride. I told him I hadn't been a great fan of motorbikes ever since I fell off the back of one in the south of France 14 years ago and had to go to hospital.

We met a local musician who played us a few tunes as we looked at the view from a terrace. I looked down at kids flying kites on other roof terraces. We left the roof and carried on. Above us, we heard Oi! Up here! We looked up at a 7 year old Macy Gray waving like a nutter. We all waved back.

I'd bought a bag of bananas which I gradually gave away to kids we met. One kid gave his banana to a man whose house had fallen down. The man sat on his mattress eating his banana while his neighbours offered advice for how to start again with the rebuilding. He didn't seem too bothered about the task even though he had just lost everything.

We visited paulo's house in the "Middle Class" part of the favela. We met his wife and a couple of his children. The had two stories and a panoramic view of the city and the favela from the terrace.

We had been weaving our way downwards for some time and now it was time to go up to where the car was. We didn't walk, we were to go by moto-taxi. This is a new initiative in the slum. You sit on the back of a motorbike and the driver takes you where you want to go. I tried not to think about what I was doing - whizzing through the busy street, meeting buses head on as they came around corners downhill, weaving in and out of traffic going in both directions and all of this with no helmet on! Of course the fact that I was on the back of a bike with a stranger didn't help, especially as we had left David and Paulo behind on their own moto taxis. I was so terrified of falling of I held on to the poor driver so tightly I could have crushed his ribs. I wanted to ask him to stop but found that language was beyond me. Of course, I made it safely to the end of the journey without an injury but I really was scared. I am never doing that again. Paulo thought it was really funny and thought it was good therapy for me.

We drove out of the slum and went for lunch on Barra Island (not Barry Island!) Actually, it was called Lovers Island and is full of shopping malls and car show rooms. We stopped at a lovely restaurant next to a beach under the motorway flyover which connects the island with the mainland and had fried fish.

After lunch, Paulo dropped us home and we said goodbye and wished each other well. It had been a very interesting day and a good insight. He was keen to stress the positive aspects of favela life - the community spirit and the safety. When we asked him questions about drug problems, violence and gangs, he maintained that other slums had such problems as these but no Rocinho. He maintained that it was a safe, healthy place to live. I admit, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting, but wondered about the health and safety of people living next to open sewers, with dodgy DIY electrics and intermittent refuse collection.

Santa Teresa, Rio
Topic: Brazil
Today we decided to try out the Metro and were very impressed. It is clean, cool, safe and took us right to where we needed to go.

We wanted to explore the district of Santa Teresa travelling first from the center by tram. The tram is ancient and rattles through the cobbled streets up the hill into this historic section of town. Santa Teresa is full of crumbling mansions, lush gardens and old buildings inhabited by artists and students.

Practically everyone on the tram was foreign (so that's where they are!) often accompanied by a guide. Urchins jump on the tram as it moves and ride on the outside because it's free. When we got to the top, we wandered slowly back down into town, taking in the main squares, museums, a cultural center and some art shops selling very creative pieces. The views looked over the city and a neighboring favela. The last part of the walk took us down some really steep steps decorated with hundreds of old tiles. People hang out on the steps. Kids played cards, a man played a guitar and a prostitute advertised her services. Santa Teresa is a neighbourhood bursting with stories and atmosphere.

Centro, Rio
Topic: Brazil
We decided to explore the "centro" neighbourhood today and it was a good day for it as it was overcast and cooler after the night's storm. We got off the bus where it started to get interesting - beautiful old building in amongst the snazzy and (sometimes) monstrous new towers. We alternated between wandering aimlessly and getting lost and following a map and walking tour suggested by Lonely Planet. I am always very nervous of getting out a map or guidebook in public as you draw attention to yourself, but to be honest, in the business district of Centro, people took no notice of us and just went about their way. We found the most famous churches and squares and also had a look inside the art museum and the old library.

Saara street market in the Lebanese quarter was probably the tackiest market I have ever been to and that includes Abu Dhabi Souk (although no one tried to sell me a "Rolex Rolex"...). It was great fun, especially as people are getting ready for carnival and you can buy all the paraphernalia there. The mask collection was quite something. Amongst the ones of pirates, monsters and Chucky masks, were Osama Bin Laden, Sadam Hussein and even George Bush!

We had lunch in a scruffy corner diner advertising Fejouada for 7 Reis. Fejouada is the national dish of black beans and bits of meat in a stew. It was lovely. David finished off a whole pot leaving nothing but bits of bone and the manioc flour.

We went into the "Campo de Santana" park where vagrants and nutters shared benches with tiny cats weak with hunger and enormous "agoutis", a kind of rodent. It was a vile place but David (for some reason) liked it.

We saw about 4 foreigners the whole day. Where is everyone? On the beach I suspect.

Bossa Nova
Topic: Brazil
"The girl from Ipanema" has become a bit of a theme tune for our trip to Brazil ever since we first went to Foz do Iguacu back in September with Christine. The lovely singer at the bar in our hotel would play the song every night to accompany our caipirinhas.

One of the first things we did in Rio was visit a famous Bossa Nova record shop and acquire some CDs. Being new to the genre, we asked the sales assistant for help. She played a few samples for us and we bought 2 albums, both featuring Tom Jobim. the first a classic interpretation of the songs and music and the second more contemporary.

the music really is relaxing and sultry sung in Portuguese. Words like lush, mellifluous, languid, sumptuous and luxuriant spring to mind as you listen. It's the ideal backdrop to laid back, chilled out, steamy, tropical Rio. We have a CD player in our retro flat and, if I had any friends, I would invite them round for a retro Bossa Nova night and mushroom vol-au-vents.

The girl in the record shop invited us to a free concert on Sunday night in the street. We got all dolled up (relatively speaking, I still wore flip flops - this is Rio) and took seats next to the well dressed women, almost all in their late 50s-early 60s, who formed most of the audience. I imagine that the ladies remembered the exciting early days of Bossa Nova in Rio first hand. The band consisted of a female vocalist and two male guitarists. They played for about an hour, some songs so moving that they brought tears to the eyes. They played some of the old classics including "The girl from Ipanema" to enthusiastic applause and ended with some sing-alongs to songs praising the beauty of Rio de Janeiro that everyone knew. Although I know no Portuguese, I found myself magically joining in on the choruses.

Sunday Markets Brazilian Style
Topic: Brazil
We thought Sunday would be a good day for a market. We had read about two - a local one which takes place once a month in Ipanema and another one every weekend in S?o Cristov?o. The one in Ipanema occupies the whole square and was very civilised. Stalls sold "hippy" crafts and lovely colourful art.

To get to the other one, we had to take the 464 bus. It took a long time to get there but it was a really interesting trip through Copacabana, Urca, along the coast to Botafogo and Flamego where numerous simultaneous football matches were going on, past a favella on the side of a largish hill and finally to the northern suburb of S?o Cristov?o.

The bus conductor told us where to get off and, really, we wouldn't have missed it. the venue was a huge exhibition centre called the Feria Nordestino - the North Eastern fair, a place where people originally from the North East of Brazil sold traditional food and crafts. It was absolutely enormous and packed with people and stands selling kebabs, steaks, grilled cheese, crafts and clothes. Groups of friends and family sat around drinking Skol beer or coconut water watching loud live samba music. There was a really great atmosphere and no other foreigners. I think we managed to blend in fairly well despite being several shades lighter than anyone else. No one took any notice of us anyway.

We stopped at a stand/restaurant (baraka) for a bite. It was stiflingly hot and the thick air didn't move despite the fan in the corner. The menu was full of things called "espetos". We had no idea what they were so asked the young waitress. She jabbered on in Portuguese and we think the conversation went something like this:

Us: What are espetos?
Her: Well, we have meat, chicken, mixed meat with onion etc.........
Us: Yes, but what are they?
Her: Well I just told you - meat, chicken....
Us (trying a new approach): Are they like kebabs?
Her: Meat or chicken? Anything else?

We ordered 3 meat espetos and discovered that they were indeed little pieces of skewered grilled meat on a stick. Very nice. We realised that we had done the equivalent of, say, going into Starbucks and asking what coffee was. How can anyone not know what coffee is? How could anyone not know what espetos were? It was outside the waitress realm of experience.

As we were tucking in, the chef/owner came over and started jabbering away in Portuguese. We think he was asking us where in Portugal we were from. How on earth had he come to that conclusion? We couldn't even place a simple food order! When people speak to us, we generally understand about 40%, when we speak slow Spanish back, they usually get the gist, particularly if they are used to foreigners. Unlike our young friend the waitress.

We wandered around the stalls in sun so hot that it scorches skin on contact. We tried to stay under the shelters. Later,we stopped at another "baraka" near one of the main samba stages. Dripping with sweat at this stage, we sat under a fan. No one seems concerned about the heat here. It was a cloudless, airless 34 degrees but people all just sweat together. There was an Air Con restaurant in the complex but we resisted the temptation to go in as we would be away from the music and the atmosphere.

We ordered food which was a bit like a Sunday roast with a Brazilian twist - grilled salty cheese, roast beef and deepfried turnip, all heavily salted. This came with manioc flour (a bit like sawdust) and we washed it down with Skol. When we had had our fill of food, salt, skol, noise and heat, we went to look for our bus back home. When our bus finally came, it was horribly hot, packed and went at racing speeds with sketchy shock absorbers. I hung on for dear life all the way back to Ipanema. If David suggests getting on a packed bus on a hot afternoon again, I am just going to laugh at him.

It was a good fun day out all in all and the fair is probably great fun at night when the caipirinha and cocktail stands come into their own. Perhaps we'll have time for another visit before leaving Rio.

Urca and the Sugarloaf
Topic: Brazil
Rio is divided into neighbourhoods, each with a distinct character. We took a local bus Urca on Saturday day to discover the village by the sea within the city and then go up the Sugarloaf mountain.

The main beach in Urca is very scenic. It has the backdrop of the Sugarloaf, Christ the Redeemer looking over it and misty, mysterious mountains straight out to sea. The small promenade is lined with chairs where you can get a beer or drink coconut water straight from the coconut.

We walked through the streets admiring the houses. Some were Portuguese style, others mock Tudors and others art deco, all set in lush gardens. We managed to locate Carmen Miranda's former residence. We decided that if we ever lived in Rio, it would have to be Urca.

Every now and then we looked up at the sugar loaf which seemed to permanently be in cloud. We weren't sure whether to go up it or not. Would there be a view?

We took the risk and got the two cable cars, each about 3 minutes, to the top of the mountain. What a phenomenal view! It was hard to decide what to look at first, the beach we had just been sitting on, the long stretch of Copacabana, the city centre and its parks and beaches, Christ the Redeemer, or Niteroi across the bay circled by a rainbow. Rio really is a gorgeous city. We stayed up there until sunset and still weren't ready to come down.