Belo Horizonte - March 27th

As there is nothing really to see in Belo Horizonte, it is simply not a tourist town, you may wonder why we are staying an extra day there.  The answer is simply called INHOTIM.  This is a place we heard about from a German couple we met in Paraty, and we have since looked up.  It is hard to describe, one third botanical gardens, one third art gallery and one third open air art installation.  It is located 50km outside Belo so we get a taxi to the bus station and get the one bus a day that goes there at 09:15.

The journey there isn’t great.  As with all the roads in Minas Gerais it is hilly, but also the added extra of speed bumps really makes for an unpleasant journey.  But once we get there all is forgotten (after a quick drink) as we begin to look around.  As with a lot of modern art some of it is pretty way out there, but some of it is pretty clever and some of it is quite fun.  For example one of the galleries has rooms with hammocks, balloons, or a bouncy floor, and the art is how we interact with them (lazing in a hammock is now art!).  Another was a large number of flower pots in the shapes of different letters and the art is how we arrange them.  So there is some fun.  The best part of all was the price; we got there on a day when they were giving free entry.

We spend the whole day there, wandering around the park, looking at the palm trees (apparently this is the largest collection of palm trees in the world), and eating the high priced snacks where they make up for the free entry.  We had thought that 5 ½ hours in the park might be too long, but there was so much to do that we could have used the whole time if only it hadn’t been so hot, which tired us out quite a bit.  So we were not in a good mood to have the journey back delayed half an hour by the rush hour traffic.

For dinner we wanted to go to one of the best restaurants in Belo.  We knew it was a bit outside the centre of town, so we had to get a taxi, but it wasn’t very comforting when the taxi driver didn’t know where it was.  But he had GPS so we thought it would be OK, except he didn’t know how to follow the instructions on how to exit a roundabout.  Eventually after explaining it to him we got there, but it was a bit worrying as we went down some wrong turns. The restaurant itself was supposed to be in one of the best neighbourhoods in Belo, but when we got to it there was an armed guard standing in the door.  His job was to escort diners to and from their cars.  The people of Belo need some lessons on what makes a good neighbourhood.  Not armed guards.  Anyway the meal was nice and then we got a taxi home.  We had decided to skip the Belo highlight, a church in this area designed by Oscar Niemeyer, because of the dodginess of the area.  But we still got a good look at this dodginess as a weirdo jumped out in front of our taxi on a dark road.  We were sure it was a robbery but our taxi driver just sped past him, later saying he was either a drug addict or a mental patient.  However it doesn’t do anything to change the view that Belo is not really a place for tourists.

Belo Horizonte - March 26th

As today is a Monday, all the museums are closed, so the ones we didn’t get to yesterday can’t be visited.  And because the rain is still around, we can’t even hang around Ouro Preto waiting for better photo shots, so we leave early and head to Belo Horizonte.  This time on the road back in the daylight we see one of the reasons our bus was going slow, there are a number of places where the recent rain has caused a lot of subsidence.  Some of the road is under repair, but the damage is quite extensive.

Once in Belo we go to our hostel and check in.  This is in a part of town called Santa Teresa, which is supposed to be a nice part of town, yet the hostel, and all its neighbours, are behind massive security fences topped with electric wires.   Yet we are assured by the owners it is a safe area.  It is not very confidence inspiring.  I think the Brazilians have a different view of what safe mean.  We ask about getting into the centre of town and they advise us to take the metro, but when we begin to walk to it the road looks so dodgy we turn back and instead take the bus, which isn’t much better, but otherwise we would be stuck in this neighbourhood.

The centre of Belo isn’t that attractive.  There are some nice old buildings knocking about, but it is mostly high rise developments, and the buildings are too far apart to walk to.  One or two plazas look good, but that is about it.  Also it is extremely hilly (San Francisco style) and is therefore tiring to walk around, so all in all we don’t really spend too much time sightseeing.

Instead we go to the cinema.   The film is Safehouse starring Denzel Washington.  That is not really important, but what is interesting is a fact I picked up about the film.  Part of it is set in the shanty towns of Cape Town, but originally it was to be set in the Favelas of Rio.  However it was deemed to be too dangerous to film in Rio.  Rio needs to take a look at itself with the big sporting events coming up.  You know you have sunk to new lows when South Africa is safer.

Ouro Preto - March 25th

The reason we are in Ouro Preto is because it is the best preserved of the Old Portuguese colonial mining towns in the interior of Brazil.  In the 18^th century gold was found in the area, and using African slave labour, the Portuguese exploited it for all it is worth.  The result was that at one point Ouro Preto (the name means Black Gold) was the richest town in all of the Americas.  And this in turn lead to the construction of many fine churches and other buildings.  And eventually this led to it being the first UNESCO world heritage site in Brazil.

After breakfast we begin to walk around the town.  Being a Sunday there is one complication, not that the churches are in use as I had feared, but the museums all only open at midday.  So our early start has to content itself with external photos (they aren’t allowed inside most locations anyway).  Luckily it is sunny at this point, because as midday arrives it begins to rain quite heavily, so we end up having to shelter inside the various museums.  There are quite a few museums, one for religious artefacts, one about the Brazilian independence movement which also began in this town (and died a quick death first time around – one section of the museum in the former jail, showing the tombs of the dead rebels, is very like Kilmainham in Dublin) and one for a sculptor called Aleijadinho.  He was a crippled sculptor who created his own style of sculpting and used in in the creation of the many churches in Ouro Preto.  There are 17 of them, most on hills, but we only have time to visit 4 of them.  They are all very impressive on the inside, some would even say quite over the top in the ostentation of their décor.

On top of all this we did also go on a mine tour.  The best mines are outside the town, but as we didn’t have time to visit them, we went on the tour of a mine which was owned by a tribal chief from Africa, Chico-Rei, who managed to buy his freedom and then a mine, and then he used the proceeds of the mine to buy the freedom of all the slaves from his tribe.  Naturally he is a folk legend in these parts.  The mine itself wasn’t great, but it did give us a sense of the history of the place.

That was pretty much the day.  We got into the restaurant that was full the previous night for a very nice lunch, and in the evening went for snacks across the square from the hostel.  The rain never really let up all day, and this seemed to keep the town quiet in the evening.  So instead of hanging out we went back to our hostel and watched TV in the TV room.  It sounds boring but we were really exhausted because the town is incredibly hilly, and it is very tiring just walking around it.  Add to this the fact that you are walking on slippery cobble stones everywhere, and it is no surprise our legs were aching.

Ouro Preto - March 24th

We haven’t actually had a very long bus journey for a few weeks now, most of them have only been a couple of hours as we have worked our way through Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro states.  But today we are moving to a new state, Minas Gerais, so it involves a long bus journey of 6 hours.

First things first we have to get to the other end of town and the bus station, but this is easily accomplished because we asked the taxi that drove us home last night to meet us at our hotel this morning, and he complied.  After this the journey is not as straight forward.  Our bus is not originating from Petropolis and it is 15 minutes late getting to us.  Bigger problems start when we get underway.  Not too far from Petropolis there has been a large rock fall onto the motorway and it is closed (because of the previous night’s rain).  So we are diverted onto side roads.  This in itself delayed us somewhat, but the bigger delay came from the fact that our driver takes a wrong turn, and the roads are so narrow it is 15 minutes before he can turn back.  Overall the detour cost us an hour and a quarter.

So a 6 hour bus journey is now a 7 ½ hour one.  Other than that it is fine, the countryside is quite hilly but not that beautiful.  Probably the best part is our approach into Belo Horizonte, Brazil’s third largest city.  As we are coming down off a plateau into a valley we get a great view of the city.  But we are only staying in the city long enough to get on a bus to Ouro Preto, an old mining town when the Portuguese were still running things.  This is another 2 hours bus journey, across a very hilly road, so it isn’t fast.  Of course the fact that Brazilian buses seem to stop more often than Argentinian ones might also be a factor in the slowness of the journeys.

When we get there and check into our hostel, which is brilliantly located on the main square, it is almost 9pm, so all we have time to do is have a quick look around the town.  We try to visit a local favourite restaurant, but it has a queue to get into it, so we decide on another place and have something there instead.

Petropolis - March 23rd

Our full day in Petropolis starts with the completion of the sightseeing that we didn’t get to do the previous day.  Although it turns out there isn’t that much more.  Amazingly after the massive thunder, lightning and rain storm we had the previous evening the streets are not too wet, and so we are able to walk alongside the canals (built as storm drains) that run down the centre of all the main roads as we look at some of the more spectacular colonial style buildings in town.  But none of them are open to the public, including the current presidential summer residence.  Where the royals used to come here to escape Rio, the current presidents come here to escape Brasilia.  Because we aren’t going to visit there I can’t say who is getting the better deal.

One house that is now a museum is the house of Santos Dumont.  He is one of the great pioneers of aviation and the man who popularised the wearing of wristwatches.  Needless the say the Brazilians are quite proud of him and have a museum in his house.  The only problem is that as a practical man who was also not very tall, his house is tiny.  Still it is interesting and has some good exhibits from his life.  Although it has to be said that our hotel, named 14 Bis after his plane, has almost as many artefacts.

Once we finish with Santos Dumont there is really only one sight to see, a large shrine to Our Lady of Fatima which overlooks the town and provides great views.  However the road up to it looks like it goes through a flavela, so we decide not to walk up.  I think it is for driving only.

Because we are finished early we go back to our hotel where we plan to lie by the swimming pool (something that we have never actually done on this trip, even though a few places we have stayed in have had them) but as we get there it starts to rain, so we take a siesta.  In the evening we go out for a meal, which is a very large and very good steak dinner, and then we take a taxi back to the hotel on account of me nearly breaking my toe on the way out of the hotel.  Again this night there is an unbelievable amount of rain.

Petropolis - March 22nd

Today we leave Teresopolis and go to Petropoils.  All these ‘opolis’ places can get a bit confusing, but they seem to be quite popular here.  I haven’t found Metropolis yet, but if we do then we will pay Superman a visit.  For the moment Petropolis is the closest we will get to it.

Because they are so close, and because we like hanging around our nice hotel in Teresopolis, we are only getting the midday bus, so we have a leisurely breakfast, pack, and walk down to the bus station.  The walk downhill from our hotel is almost as bad with the backpacks on as walking up was.  The bus journey had some really good views of the mountains, but it was so twisty and hilly that both of us were feeling a little queasy when we go to Petropolis.  The bus station for the town is about 10km from downtown (like Teresopolis this is a city built along a long valley so it is long but not very wide), so we then had to get a taxi to our hotel.  Despite it being only a 2 hour trip we were quite exhausted by the time we got there.  The new hotel was every bit as nice as the last one, maybe even nicer, but it is costing a bit more.

We decide to begin our exploration of Petropolis immediately, and we go to the old imperial palace where the Brazilian royal family used to spend summer.  Petropolis is much more of an old imperial city than Teresopolis, and better preserved.  Whether because they didn’t have much money (compared to European monarchies of the time) or whether they deliberately avoided being ostentatious the palace and its furnishings were not too grand, but the imperial crown with all its jewels was.  After visiting the palace, we visited the cathedral to see where the last king, queen and princess were buried.

Once the first part of our sightseeing was complete we walked along some of the shopping streets in the town.  Petropolis is a large enough town, and it has a lot of students and weekend visitors, but the shopping isn’t great.  Because we had a late breakfast, and no real lunch after the bus (due to queasiness) we choose to have an early dinner in an Italian restaurant, although amazingly at 6pm we weren’t the only diners, a record for South America.

Teresopolis - March 21st

The main reason why we are here in Teresopolis is to see the mountains, and the way to do this is to go into the Serra dos Orgaos National Park on the edge of the town.  The range is called the Organ Pipe Range because of the weird and wonderful shapes of the mountain peaks.  Most spectacular of all the is Dedo De Deus, or Finger of God, which is actually visible from all over the town.  But we want to see it up close, so we head off to the park, with a transfer organised by the hotel to the park entrance on the edge of town.

Once we get there we start walking through the various trails in the park.  There are quite a few, but really only 4 are doable within one day, the rest require camping in the park, so we set out to do the four.  They are harder than we thought they would be, the first was a fairly simple one through the forest, but the second, up to see the Finger of God, is much steeper than we expected.  However the sign at the start of the trail did say we would take an hour to do it, and we only took 40 minutes so maybe we were going a bit too fast.  The extra time gave us time at the top to wait out the clouds that were swirling around the mountains.  They never really cleared but we did manage to get some shots.

The interesting thing about being in the park is how few others there were, but we did get to talk to a guy from Rio, and a couple from France, so we didn’t feel totally alone on the trip.  The Rio guy accompanied us on the third trail, which was across platforms built up in the tree tops.  And we met the French couple at the top of the last trail which gave us a great view of the town.  The town is built along a valley but there are some flavelas up the sides of the valley, so it is an interesting view.  And we get to see the Brazilian teams training ground.

In the evening, after we were collected by our hotel and deposited back there, we decided we were too tired to go out in the evening, so we ordered pizza to the hotel and had a few beers.  And we watched a few US cop shows on our cable TV.

Teresopolis - March 20th

Given Rio has been a bit disappointing, and that we have overdosed slightly on beaches, we are leaving to go to the mountains.  Brazil isn’t that well known for its mountains, but there are loads of them, how else did they get all the Swiss and German immigrants to come in and give us the good beer and sausage that we have been having.  Anyway today we are going to Teresopolis, which gets its name from the Empress Teresa who used the mountains as a cool retreat from the hot summer weather in Rio.  In case anyone isn’t aware, Brazil does have an imperial past, but we will see more of that in a couple of days.  Not much of the remnants of the imperial past are left in Teresopolis.

But first to get there we had to get there.  This turned out to be fairly easy; we got a taxi rather than risk the bus again.  But it was a lot cheaper than we thought it was going to be, and although there were a few dodgy characters around the entrance to the bus station in Rio, once we were in it was quite secure, but nowhere near as nice as the ones in other cities.  Our bus is one of the frequent ones, so we weren’t waiting for too long.

The trip itself took a bit longer than scheduled, because of an accident and road works, but it gave us more time to enjoy some great views back over Guanabara Bay as we go up to 900m above Rio.  When we get off the bus we walk to our hotel, but we didn’t realise it was up a very steep hill, so it was a struggle with our backpacks on.  Still it was worth it, because the hotel and room are lovely, and the view is pretty good.

After settling in we go for a walk around the town.  There isn’t that much to see, a nice church, a few squares, and a museum showing an exhibition of the history of carnival in the town.   There is one other major sight, the place where the Brazilian football team train when they are in the country, but as they are not there at present, and as it is about 3km outside town, we don’t bother going.  In the evening we find a restaurant serving sauerkraut and pork, so we have another almost Polish dinner.

Rio De Janeiro - March 19th

As we have done as much as we want to do in Rio, we have a fairly easy day today.  In fact all we do is go out for a walk around Ipanema.  We even got a lunch from the supermarket and ate it back in the apartment.  In the evening we went out for dinner, again to a local Ipanema restaurant, which was very good, but also quite expensive.

Because we didn’t do much today I can write a bit about Rio, which hasn’t been the great place I imagined it to be.  The main reason we didn’t go out much today is because it is an exhausting place.  Why is it exhausting, because at every stage of the day when you are out and about you really have to be on your guard.  It just feels dangerous, and it is, as our pickpocketing incident showed.  It is not a pleasant place, especially in the evening.  You can’t go into parks because there seems to be dodgy people hanging around them.  I know this happens in many cities, but it just feels worse here.

Why is it like this?  The only reasons I can see are because the poor people in the flavelas are even closer to the rich areas of town than they would be in other places.  They are built up in the hills behind Copacabana, Ipanema and all the other suburbs.  I’m sure when the city was expanding in the 30s they felt they were doing a great thing leaving the mountains undeveloped, but it just meant there was free space for the poor to move into in the 60s.  The other reason is because there are so many tourists here, they can feed on them.  In other parts of the country there aren’t enough tourists to have people focus on them.  And they do focus on them, the guy who did his pickpocketing routine has probably done it 100s of times on others.  He was hanging out at a place where everyone is a tourist.  It just makes the city unpleasant, it is beautiful in some places, but it is run down in others, and the people just don’t seem to be as happy living here as in other places.

And it is dear.  I won’t say it is as expensive as London, but it is not too far off.  We are eating dinners for over £50 because this is the price.  Coffee, coke and a cake can be over £10, and a beer can be over £3.  And our accommodation was expensive.  Yes we had an apartment in a good location (which required heavy duty security) but that was only because it was no dearer than the hostels.  But as a value for money proposition it was not as good as the one in Buenos Aires.  It was smaller, the cable TV didn’t offer any English channels, and the internet was missing for the whole weekend.

So what is my overall view on Rio.  I have to say I wouldn’t recommend it to people travelling independently.  Go on an organised trip.  And then you still have to worry when you go to the main sights.  If Ireland qualify for the World Cup in 2014 I don’t think I would recommend going to anyone, and as for the Olympics in 2016, forget it.  I’ve seen where some of the venues are, and they are not safe.  I’m sure there will be police all around the venues in 2016, but then the rest of the city will be even more vulnerable.  Just stay safe and watch it at home.

Rio De Janeiro - March 18th

Today is clearer so we can go up to see Jesus.  Based on yesterday’s example at the Sugar Loaf, and because this is after all a ‘Wonder of the World’, we decide to do this as the only sightseeing trip of the day.  We start by getting a bus to the base of the mountain, which is an adventure in itself.  The buses here are driven by madmen.  They absolutely fly around the place, especially corners, and they throw you about in the bus.  It is also a bit tricky crossing the roads sometimes, as if you see a bus and a car in the distance, it will generally turn out to be the bus that reaches you first, not the car as it would be in most other places.

When we arrive at the train station at the base of Corcovado Mountain there isn’t that big a crowd, but we still have to wait an hour.  Unlike yesterday’s cable car which had a frequency of about every 5 minutes, the cog train system used to reach the top of the mountain only runs every 20 minutes.  In fact there are some delays so we actually end up waiting an hour and 15 minutes.  The trip up is quite an adventure, pretty steep, and with a bit going backwards in the middle which is a bit unnerving.  The views are breath-taking though, and at one of the stops to let a train pass us on the way down we also get to see some monkeys.

Then we get to the top.  The statue is not as big as I had expected, I guess that is part of the whole built up image that it being a wonder of the world entails.  I think I was expecting something the size of the cross in Skopje.  Like our other wonder on this trip, the Taj Mahal, it is crowded, which makes getting good pictures difficult, as does the sun being right behind the statue.  But the crowding here is mostly from the small size of the viewing area at the top, rather than the number of people.  In fact given it is a wonder of the world, and we are here on a Sunday, the big surprise is that it isn’t more crowded.

I’ve always wondered if this should be included in the man-made wonders of the world, and I think that part of the problem is so many people cannot distinguish between the man-made item and the natural beauty of the whole city laid out before it.  The views really are spectacular, but I don't think it should be a wonder.  We try to get some photos of the city, and then take a break at the refreshment stand, and to also let the sun move a bit so we might get better photos.  We do get some better photos later on, but at the same time the clouds roll in and we also get to see how the clouds would have obscured our view had we gone up on either of the other two days.

When it comes time to head back down the mountain we again have to queue, although not quite as long as coming up.  Coincidentally we meet up with a girl from Colombia who was also at the Sugar Loaf in the queue behind us.  She went to the Samba clubs recommended in Lapa and wasn’t too happy with them.  So I think we are now OK with missing that part of Rio.  At the bottom we board the bus to come home and then we hit a little snag.  As I get on the bus last in the queue a man appears from nowhere, jumps on the bus past me and knocks me over.  Before I can get up he is gone again, and so is my wallet.  It only had about £30 (in US$ and Reals) in it, but it is quite annoying.

Once we get back to Ipanema we go to the Irish pub which we didn’t make it to the previous night for a drink.  It’s actually a nice place, but it stinks a bit after the day before.  The drinks are pricey even for Rio.  We end the day by going to a Thai restaurant just to get some different food for once (and also because the restaurant we wanted to go to wouldn’t take us without a reservation).

Rio De Janeiro - March 17th

With time in Rio already running out we have to bite the bullet and do one of the famous sights today, either the Sugar Loaf or the statue of Jesus.  But it still looks a bit cloudy, and again we can’t see Jesus from the Lagoa, a big lake just behind Ipanema beach which is used for rowing and sailing.  So after a bit more wandering around there (and seeing how full the beach really gets on a weekend day) we decide to head off to the Sugar Loaf.  Between slow starts, wandering around Ipanema, and window shopping, we don’t really leave for it until about 2pm.  So when we get there the hour long queue to get tickets is quite frustrating.

For those that haven’t seen Moonraker (or who didn’t watch James Bond fight Jaws and think I have to go there like I did) the only way to get up to the top of the Sugar Loaf Mountain is to get a cable car up.  There are two stages, the first 200m are up to the Morro de Urca, and the second 200m is up to the Pao de Acucar itself.  Luckily once the tickets are bought there is no waiting time and you are on your way up.  The ride itself is pretty smooth, and not too scary.  Although you are up in the air, the cabin is the size of a small plane, and as packed as a Ryanair one (about 80 people) so it feels safe.  The only time you can even sense how fast you are going is when you pass the other cabin on the way down, it does fly past.

The first stage landing is pretty impressive in itself, with a museum, some shops and restaurants, and a helipad.  And the views are impressive.  Even if there wasn’t another stage you would come up for the pictures.  We stay there for a while, and then continue on to the top.  There is a bit of cloud around, and as we were queuing the top did go from being clear to being completely obscured by cloud a few times, but luckily when we get there it is mostly clear. 

The views are stunning, not only of Rio but of Guanabara Bay on which it stands, and Niteroi which is across the bay.  And you can see planes taking off from the airport coming right towards you, and ships leaving the port.  Needless to say we stay a while up here taking photos (and exploring, there are a lot of paths around the summit, I thought it was just going to be a small viewing platform), before we head back down.  This is where we end up back in queues, we didn’t have any to get on the cable cars going up, but they were there for going back down.

Overall the experience with the queues took us the full afternoon, so we just head back home, and in the evening we try to celebrate St Patrick’s day by going to the local Irish pub, which as luck would have it is only a few blocks away from our apartment.  However it was packed full of rowdy expats and it was charging a cover charge, and so we decided not to go in.  I should have guessed it would be like this.  Instead we do something quite Brazilian, we have Feijoada on Saturday.   This is a bean and pork stew, and is a tradition in Brazil on a Saturday.  The most famous place to have it in Rio is even closer to our apartment, so we go there.  The meal is good, but it is a bit pricey, like so much of Rio.

Rio De Janeiro - March 16th

The plan today had been to go up to see Jesus but as it is very cloudy today we aren’t going to do that.  Instead our morning is taken up with a walk up Ipanema beach (which despite the cloud is as populated as Copacabana was yesterday), to the posh suburb of Leblon, and a walk back along the main shopping street.  It is a great street for Dorota, although some of the prices are a bit high.  Having now seen both suburbs I think I can agree with the general assessment that other travellers have told us, Copacabana is the better beach, but Ipanema is the better suburb (in that it has the better shops and restaurants, and it feels a lot less edgy).

As we walk along through Ipanema we catch a glimpse of Corcovado, the mountain on which Jesus stands.  It is partially covered in cloud, so it looks like we made a good choice.  Instead we get the metro to the suburbs of Catate and Flamengo, which Lonely Planet raves about.  However they look pretty shabby when we get out of the station, and although we find a nice (but expensive) per kilo restaurant for lunch, there isn’t that much to see.  There is an old presidential palace from when Rio was the capital of Brazil, but other than that and the Flamengo park, there isn’t much in the area.

Except for two things, a magnificent view of the Sugar Loaf mountain (and the suburb of Urca which it overlooks) and a museum to the famous singer Carmen Miranda, where I guess we could have seen some of her famous fruity headdresses.  However after a bit of walking we couldn’t find the museum so in the end we got the metro back to our flat.

In the evening we went back to the vicinity of the location where the Girl from Ipanema was written.  This time instead of going to the bar we go across the road to a bar which has nightly Bossa Nova concerts.  It costs a little, but the singing was quite nice (as was the food, luckily we learnt to only order starters as the portions were massive).  As Dorota said given our age now I think we are more Bossa Nova people than Samba people.  However we were the youngest in the crowd which were 90% tourists) as with Lapa looking dodgy even during the day, I think the chances of seeing it at night are pretty low.

Rio De Janeiro - March 15th

Our first full day in Rio starts with a walk along Copacabana beach.  This is a lovely walk and as it is a nice day the beach is fairly busy even though it is a Thursday.  There are people playing beach volleyball, futvolley, and jogging, and it all looks pretty great, especially with all the tall buildings in the background and the mountains at the end of the beach.  Still there is a thought in the back of the mind are these people here on a Thursday because they are tourists, rich, retired, or because they don’t have a job.  There is a police presence along the beach front and life guard posts at fixed intervals, so it does feel safe enough.  Add to that all the kiosks and very cleverly disguised toilet/locker rooms and it is one of the best serviced beaches I have seen.

We walk as far as the tourist office, get some advice, which didn’t tell us much we didn’t know, and then we head off by metro to the centre of town.  Apparently this can only be visited on weekdays (and definitely not after dark) so we want to get it out of the way.  We are mostly going to follow the Lonely Planet walking tour in our guide book, but we will add a couple of diversions for other sights.  It all begins well enough; we start in Praca Floriana which I guess is an equivalent of Trafalgar Square.  It is quite a nice square with old buildings on half of it, and big new office buildings on the other half, an interesting contrast.

After that it is into the pedestrianized shopping streets, where Dorota gets a little shopping in at the same time.  There is an old convent up on the hill which contains the oldest church in town but it is being renovated, presumably for the World Cup and Olympics, so we continue on our way without visiting it.  Lonely Planet recommends taking a coffee break in a café called Café Colombo, and it is well worth doing because this is one of the most amazing locations we have eaten in on this trip, with old mirrors and gold all around.  The cakes are pretty good too.

Immediately after this we detour for some more shopping and in one of those amazing coincidences we pass by a bar named Costello.  Right on the main shopping street.  It has to be visited, but it isn’t yet lunchtime, so we go off and visit a number of colonial locations ourselves first.  Interestingly these are not on the Lonely Planet walking tour.  For some reason they do not have you visit the best church, the old imperial palace, or the main cultural centre.  However we do and this brings us neatly to lunch time where we go back to Costello’s and I have a pint and a steak which were very good.

After lunch we complete the Lonely Planet tour.  For some reason it brings us to a square, Praca Tiradentes, which isn’t very nice, an area of town called Saara which is just full of junk sellers, and a park, Campo de Santana, which is just plain scary.  It then continues down Rua do Lavradio which it says is a great shopping street.  Dorota was convinced we were on the wrong street because it was bad.  Our guide book is 4 years old, and things do change, but I do have to wonder at who wrote this tour, and what they were thinking of when they wrote it.

However the best was saved for last.  We reach the cathedral which is an amazing modern building, looking like an upturned dustbin.  Inside are some amazing stained glass windows, and even better, all around are modern buildings with reflective glass so you get good pictures of the building in reflection.  After this we go under an intriguing aqueduct turned tram line, and up a beautifully decorated tiled flight of stairs.  This work of art is constantly being added to and has tiles from all over the world, so we have some fun seeking out the relevant ones for us.  Having said that this attraction is in Lapa, the Samba capital of Rio, and it looks pretty dodgy.  It is getting dark so we aren’t hanging around, and we get the metro home.  The metro isn’t as efficient as the one in Sao Paulo, but it is pretty safe.  Because we have a big lunch, and because we can self-cater, we go shopping in a local supermarket and decide to eat in this evening.

Rio De Janeiro - March 14th

Today we left Ilha Grande.  There would normally be some sadness in the air leaving such a beautiful location, but as we are going on to Rio De Janeiro it’s not too bad.  We actually stayed an extra night on the island because we couldn’t get the accommodation we wanted in Rio for last night, so it worked out well.  Rather than do public transport, we have opted for a private transfer to the door of our apartment.  I think it actually works out cheaper.  Because of this we aren’t leaving the island until 13:00 so we even have time to do some blogging.

One good thing about this voyage is that we are able to get a good look at the island from the sea in nice bright conditions, which we didn’t have on the ferry across or the beach transfer yesterday.  So we get to see the parrot shaped highest peak on the island in great detail.  The private transfer is on a much smaller boat than the ferry so the waves affect us more.  There were some on the boat who looked like they were about to lose their breakfasts, but luckily nobody did as it would have set off a chain reaction.

When we got onto land on the other side we got a small minivan which would take us to the southern parts of Rio.  The back row of the bus was filled with 4 people from Ireland, so I had a good chat with them while we drove.  It has to be said that from first impressions as you approach Rio is doesn’t seem that nice, even compared to Sao Paulo, but as once we got to the centre of town (and some strange geography meant that even though we were coming from the south we still have to go through the centre of town to get to the south) it improved.  There are some really nice buildings, and the mountains that surround the town give it a great look too.  Of course we got to see the Sugar Loaf and Christ on Concorvado during this voyage.

Probably the two strangest things about this drive through Rio was going to the airport for a drop off, because the airport is as close to the city centre as you can get, 1km from the equivalent of Piccadilly Circus, and driving through the tunnels that connect the centre to Copacabana.  The mountains just rise out of nowhere in front of the road and then only a few metres later you are out again and in Copacabana.

We have chosen to stay in Arpoador, which is a tiny little suburb sandwiched between Ipanema and Copacabana.  Our apartment is OK (not as nice as our one in Buenos Aires) but location is amazing, 1 block from Ipanema beach, 3 from Copacabana beach.  In the evening we walk a bit through Ipanema looking for somewhere to eat, and a local supermarket.  By luck we end up in a bar which turns out to be the place where the famous ‘Girl from Ipamema’ song was written.  If we had known such as bar was near us, we probably would have headed for it anyway.  And even though we only had starters, the quantity of food we got filled us up.

Ilha Grande - March 13th

The showcase beach of Ilha Grande is Praia Lopes Mendes.  This beach is a 2 ½ hour walk from Abraao, but we are rested from our shorter day yesterday and head off.  Unlike the first day which was one long uphill followed by one long downhill, this is up and down as we pass over many headlands and through many beaches.  It has to be said that some of the beaches we passed by were amazing in their own right.  Although we only climbed to 205m today, with all the up and down I’m sure we surpassed the 325m of the first day, and unlike then when we walked on a dirt road, this is really a jungle trail.

We didn’t head directly to Lopes Mendes though.  We had heard that the beach next to it, Sao Antonio, was very good as well, so we went to it first.  And it was good.  Much smaller than the other beaches we had been on, it was good because there was only one other guy there when we got there, and even at its busiest, there was only 7 people there.  The water was good as well, so we stayed there for a few hours, recovering from our long walk.

After lunch we did go to Lopes Mendes.  This is a big beach, and is nice, but there is a crowd on it.  Despite that you can find a place to sit and the water is good.  The waves were pretty strong, but it wasn’t too deep so you could have fun in them.  We stayed there even though it began to cloud over, because we had a boat back booked for 17:00.  This wasn’t from this beach but one about 20 minutes away, but we didn’t really want to walk too much more.  It still took an hour to get back to Abraao on the boat.  Unfortunately the clouding over was so severe that it wasn’t really very good for taking pictures as we had hoped it might be.

In the evening we had a choice to make, go for the cheap all you can fit on a plate place, or the more expensive quality restaurant.  In the end quality won out over quantity and we went and had another great meal there.

Ilha Grande - March 12th

After our very lengthy walk yesterday we decide to take things a bit more easy today and instead we do a shorter walk to the west of the town.  This walk involves more than just seeing some beaches, we also get to take in some views of the town, a local waterfall with bathing pool, and the ruins of an old aqueduct (which were interesting) and the ruins of an old prison (which were not).

It is worth mentioning here that in the past Ilha Grande had been both a leper colony and a prison, and yet now people pay to come here, where in the past people were sent here against their will.  It is interesting how we view this as a paradise where in the past it was a hellhole.  It has to be said that is most likely because of the insects, the one downside to a jungle island like this is that there are a lot of mosquitos and other things that bite.

Anyway after the short walk we find a shaded spot on the more crowded beach and spend the day there.  The beach has black sand, so it isn’t as attractive as the previous day’s beach, and it has deeper and rockier water, so swimming isn’t as good, but it is still a pretty good beach.

Because we had splashed out on dinner the previous night this evening we go to a local all you can eat (from one plate) restaurant, where we fill our plates for £3.30.  There is an art to stacking and I am beginning to get it right so you can end up with so much on a plate.  I actually thought it was a per kilo place, but once I realised that it was a per plate place I just lumped on the potatoes to make sure I got my value.  Because this was so cheap we were able to take a dessert as well.  Here (and in Paraty) this seems to come from guys with street stalls with loads of cakes on them which you can buy a slice of for less than £2.  I had an amazing chocolate cake, although Dorota’s custard cake was not the passion fruit one she thought it was.  Still it was better than the shrimp cake they had on offer (I will repeat this in case you think it is a typo, a cake with shrimp in it).

Ilha Grande - March 11th

Ilha Grande is a big island as the name would suggest.  There is really only one town, Abraao, on the north side of the island, and although its beach is quite nice, being close to the town has meant it isn’t really a place to spend the day.  So the only way to see the islands 102 beaches is to get out and walk.  So today we walk to Praia Dois Rios, which we are told is 6 km away on the other side of the island.

As Abraao is backed by mountains, we expect the path to Dois Rios to be uphill, and it is.  But it isn’t a path, it is a road, and we even encounter traffic, a van, a tractor, and a caterpillar digger.  So much for this being a no car island (although technically these are not cars).  The road goes up to 325m and then down again.  However it takes us longer than I expected, but this is not surprising as it turns out it was almost 9km.

Still the beach itself is worth it, as its name suggests it lies between two rivers, but they are about 1km apart, leaving a large beach in between.  You can swim in the sea or in the rivers, and it is quite amazing.  The only strange thing is that there is a whole faculty of the University of Rio De Janeiro just behind the beach.  But it doesn’t detract from it.

A lot of the beaches have boats ferrying people back from them, but this one doesn’t, so in the evening we have to do the same walk back.  As usual it has clouded over, and in fact it rains a bit, so we actually do it a lot faster, and all this despite bumping into a group of Polish travellers and chatting to them for a bit.  In the evening we find what trip advisor advises us is the best restaurant on the island and go for a dinner there which has to be said was pretty good for an island.  Strangely although an island, there isn’t much fishing going on as all the meat dishes seem to cost less than the fish, so it looks like everything here is imported.

Ilha Grande - March 10th

Today was one of our more stressful days so far.  It all started in Paraty where after we paid for our B&B we needed to get out some money.  But having tried 3 bank cards in two different banks none would connect with our banks to authorise the transactions (despite one of them having previously given us money).  As we had a bus to catch, and just enough money to pay for it, we got the bus to Angra dos Reis.

We had another spectacular bus journey, although this time some of the wonders out the window were man-made, as we passed Brazil's only nuclear power plant on the trip.  However my mind was on the money issue and so I didn’t notice my camera had fallen out of my bag until after we got off the bus.  Which meant I had to run to catch up with the bus and get it back.  Luckily the conductor had noticed it and still had it.

In Angra we tried even more machines and card combinations but to no avail.  Our problem was that we are going to Ilha Grande, which is an island with no ATMs.  So we need cash, and we need it before the ferry departs.  With increasing desperation (and no sign of a cambio to change our emergency dollars either) I try one of the machines again, and it works for one of the cards.  Whatever faults there must have been must have been fixed, and just in time.

After that we are able to get on the ferry to the island, which is a nice pleasant crossing of about 80 minutes.  Its long, but it is cheap.  The ferry brings us right into the main town on the island, Abraao, and we walk through it to our hostel.  Like Ilha do Mel, this is another no car island, so the streets are narrow sandy paths.  But unlike Ilha do Mel, this is a proper tourist town with all the facilities you would expect, pharmacy, tour companies, lots of bars and restaurants, but strangely no Wi-Fi.  We struggle to find a place to give us Wi-Fi, and even when we do find one bar which has it, it doesn’t really work properly.  Visiting Ilha Grande is like being back in my 2008 travels in the pre Wi-Fi days, as it looks like internet cafes are the only way for us to get internet.

Paraty - March 9th

Having seen the old town the previous day, all that remains left is the visit to the fort, and then onto one of the many beaches around Paraty.  The fort is not too far away from the old town so we walk to it fairly quickly, but it is fairly disappointing.  Even though it is up a hill there isn’t even the benefit of great views because there is so much jungle surrounding it.  However it is on the way to the beach so it isn’t that much time taken.

The beach we go to is Jabaquara.  This isn’t the best beach in Paraty, but it is the closest good one to town (the best beach is called Trinidade which is a half hour bus journey and an hour long walk away, this one is only 20 minutes’ walk).  It’s a nice long beach with trees at the back to provide shade, and shallow water which turns out to be quite warm.  I guess the difference this water is all in the bay of Paraty where previous beaches have been on the open ocean. 

And this is where we spend the rest of the day.  After discovering how extortionate the beach bars which line the beach are I get lunch at the local supermarket.  It is probably the first time we have really felt that a bar is taking advantage of its position.  In the evening, as it clouds over, we head back to our bed and breakfast.  An interesting feature of the weather on this part of the coast is that in the evening at about 4pm it always seems to cloud over.  Sometimes there is rain, sometimes there isn’t, but rarely can you stay out in the sun until sundown.  It’s not a problem, there is enough to go around in the day.

Our ‘bed and breakfast’ place in town also deserves a little explanation.  It is a strange place, its just four bedrooms (of which only ours and one other are occupied) and someone comes along in the morning to make breakfast.  It’s not like a hostel with a bit of buzz, or a normal B&B which is someone’s house, it’s a strange place.  In the evening we go to a German restaurant, although we have another local fish stew type specialty, and a lot of conversation with the German host and other German guests (and a passing guy from Galway who looked a bit bewildered to be dragged into the conversation).