Chapada dos Guimaraes, Brazil

From Brasilia we have had quite a relaxing time travelling through the middle of Brazil. For those who want to know what's there, the answer is lots of trees!! We have also experienced 3 time changes in 48 hours which is very confusing and I'm sure not necerssary. At one point we were working on Odyssey time only! We have had a lovely but mosquito infested bush camp outside a farmer's farm. When he saw us he was delighted to see that we were travellers "gringos" that he invited us to stay longer. We left quietly after a beautiful sunrise but I'm sure that the site has been put on the GPS as a bush camp for the next trip. We also had an unexpected stay in a hotel due to a motor bike accident directly in front of us on the road which held us up a couple of hours meaning that it was dark by the time we were cleared and no camp could be found. Bush camps are a great part of the adventure but any more than one in a row in a sweaty climate and you are very happy to be given the opportunity for an evening shower.

There has been a lot of rain recently, so much so that we haven't been able to get into the northern Pantanal because the roads were undriveable. We took a detour to another wildlife haven but that was also inacessable so we had another night in a hotel. Anymore and we could get a little bit used to squishy pillows and buffet breakfasts!

We eventually got to Chapada dos Guimaraes national park. We had a great couple of group days out swimming in waterfalls and snorkelling in a river which was paid for by kitty. It's great when you get something that's included in kitty. You have already paid for the activity months in advance but it still feels like it's free and a nice surprise. It was very hot in the park and it required a fair bit of walking so the waterfalls were a welcome dip

We are now in a town called Jaru and staying in a hotel for the night. It was a great call by Pete as the stormy weather closed in, it was getting dark and we are currently cooking on charcoal due to the very pricey gas at the moment. There is also a fair number of us, me included, who are suffering or who have just recovered from carnival flu so not having to pitch a tent and a bed is very welcome.

Tomorrow we are away early in order to cover the 300 odd km to Porto Velho which is our hop on point for a 3 day Amazon cruise to Manaus which will be interesting!

Brasilia, Brazil

We spent a morning having a tour around the main sights of the capital of Brazil, Brasilia. Pete assured us that a morning was plenty of time to see the city which was only formed in the 1950s making it a huge mass of concrete. The city was planned into sectors so there is an area for banks, supermarkets, hospitals, the government, cheap hotels, expensive hotels and then the different types of housing. If you took a bird's eye view of the city it would look like an aeroplane. We went to see the JK memorial where the founder of Brasilia has his tomb, we saw the first church in the city, visited a church with a lot of blue glass windows and a massive chandelier which was pretty amazing. Also on our quick city tour we saw the cathedral, the biggest flag pole and flag in Brazil, national congress with a huge square next door complete with a clothes peg like pigeon house. We finished the tour with a look at the extremely plain presidential palace and a quick jolly up the TV tower to get an over view of where everything is, in what is a very odd city!! Pete was right, Brasilia just needs a morning. It's a plain city with some unusual buildings but I can't imagine anyone wanting to live there as it really is a bit out of the way. It was however on our route and it was a great to have a quick stop.

For the last few days we have been travelling through the middle of south America and we are actually not too far from the Bolivian border. We have had a bit of an odd few days, having bush camped at a great little spot next to a lake, seen lots and lots of rain, lightning, we have also had to change our watches 3 times in 2 days, been first in line behind a motorbike accident, seen a lot more rain and had 2 nights in hotels as we just haven't made camp. The rain has put a halt on our attempts to get to the Northern Pantanal as the roads are just undriveable. Truck life continues and we are headed to a National Park a few hours down the road tomorrow for some more relaxation and to see some waterfalls which I should imagine will definitely have water in them!

Lencois, Brazil

A days drive inland from Salvador and we hit the little town of Lencios and National Park Chapada Diamantina. It's ages since we been for a day out so about half the group headed out with a guide to see what was in the park. I enjoyed the day but I didn't realise there would be so much walking thinking that we would just be dropped off view point to viewpoint. We went swimming in a waterfall fed pool, visited a cave with a 1km long walk way through it which had some cool stalagmites and stalactites. I also really enjoyed snorkelling in another pool where the variety in fish was better than Bonito. To finish the day off we climbed a huge hill to see sunset which was pretty pretty. The next stop is Brasillia, once we get there. It's a very long way!

Salvador, Brazil

Salvador is the 3rd biggest city in Brazil and the destination for our celebration of Carnival along with 3 million more people heading to the city for the week. It's manic!! The group have been split up into 3 apartments in the Barra region of the city planting us just 10 minutes away from the carnival route which has been great as you can see as much or as little of the carnival celebrations as you want. It's obvious that carnival is huge here. Supermarkets and any available space on the street is filled ceiling high of crates of beer, the queues are an hour long and the shopping centre has shut down for the week. Everyone is in partying and not a huge amount gets done

In the Rio carnival, which is the carnival that you see on the TV it's all glitter, feathers and fancy costumes, centered around the samba school parade. Salvador is a completely different experience as the main focus is on the music and instead of watching the parade the thing to do is to take part in it which is what most of us decided to do by joining a “bloco”. The “bloco” is a huge amount of people which follow a specific float along the parade route dancing away to the music. When you join your “bloco” you get a t-shirt to identify you to that group and you are confined to the safety of a roped area whilst everyone else is on the street pavements as “popcorn”. It was a fantastic experience. The first “bloco” was an evening one following the Bob Sinclar float so the road turned into a moving nightclub. With a day off to recover and then we joined the Olodum “bloco” which was a different experience as it was middle of the day- 35 degree heat and it was a lot less crazy as we had a bit more space and due to the nature of the artist it was a bit of an older crowd.

It's not just been about Carnival as there is the old town to explore with the colourful buildings lining narrow cobbled streets. We went to have a look in some of the churches (apparently very impressive inside) but they were closed for carnival so we settled for t-shirt and sarong shopping and a few hours watching drumming parades coming through the square which was great

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A big thanks to Karen for her bloco photos as I didn't want to risk taking my camera out with me.

Beach hop to Salvador, Brazil

We had a bit of relaxation time on the way to Salvador stopping at 2 very nice beaches along a coast where the Portuguese first landed in South America. Puerto Seguro was a big town popular with Brazilian tourists so it was nice to relax on the beach and do a bit of people watching. Olivanca was great fun as there were big waves and a deserted beach. Sadly I'd caught a stomach bug so was recovering from that there, but at least it wasn't a travel day!

Ouro Preto, Brazil

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We left a rainy Rio and headed to a very rainy Ouro Preto. The town was formed after a gold mining boom in the early 18th century and as a result there are lots of pretty building, cobbled streets and 23 churches!! It would have been lovely on a sunny day but we hit torrential rain so there were rivers flowing down the steep streets. I'm just glad that I wore my flip flops!!

Rio de Janerio, Brazil

We had a day and a half to spend in Rio and lots to cram in. On first impressions it wasn't quite how I thought it would be. It wasn't hot and sunny and it also stank of rubbish and port a loos outside on the streets! I spent the first afternoon at the beaches of Copacapana and Ipanema because people watching there is classed as a “must do”. Copacapana was an impressive 4.5km long but it if you removed Sugarloaf mountain at the end of it we could have been in Spain with high rise hotels and cafes lining the front. Ipanema was slightly cleaner and had huge waves which made great viewing. Either way I wouldn't be doing any sun bathing or swimming on the beach as there was a huge amount of litter filling the sand. Didn't stop the locals though!

We had another cool and cloudy day two with most of us taking a tour of the Rocinha flavella (slum). It was very interesting to see the flavella and everyone was friendly along the way. The flavella houses between 69,000 and 72,000 people and is sprawled up the mountain side. Housing at the top of the mountain is more desirable due to cleaner air and the fact that everything drains down hill and when it really rains in Rio the houses nearer the coast flood. It was amazing to walk down the alleyways, watching where you put your feet (really shouldn't have worn my flip flops) and also minding your head on drain pipes and very dodgy low lying electric cables! The flavella is completely self contained and it's only necessary to leave in order to find work. There are shops, hospitals, schools, and daycare within the area and also a police presence in order to keep gangs under control. With samba being Brazil's national dance some of the young kids showed us their moves whilst a couple of older ones made a great racket with an empty plastic bucket and a tin box

Next stop was Christ the Redeemer, another “must do” in Rio and something else which it really would have been nice to have the sun out for. We got to the top but Jesus very much had his head in the clouds and we couldn't see an single bit of the view over Rio. Thankfully there is a viewing platform on the way down to the city so you can get a view below the clouds which was great. The statue has been seen in glimpse from sea level but the statue which is 38m high and sits at a height of 710m looks tiny! The statue was built in 1922 to mark 100 years since the independence from Portugal and Christ faces the sea to bless any visitors from the air or by ship

We also visited Santa Teresa and the Lapa steps. The 250 tiled steps were created on the street outside the Chilean artist Seleron's house. He spent 10 years covering the run down steps in tiles the colours of Brazil's flag- yellow, green and blue. When he had finished he created his steps into a changing work of art by asking people to send him decorative tiles from all over the world that he could include in the steps. As a result there are lots of odd tiles and it makes great viewing. Sadly Seleron was found dead 2 weeks ago on the Lapa steps. We also had a quick visit to the ugliest cathedral I'd ever seen. A concrete mess on the outside stands at nearly 100m, but on the inside it was beautiful. There were 4 huge panels of modern stained glass and some lovely statues. I'm glad I bothered to go through the door!

Our final stop of the day was Sugarloaf Mountain which we were going to go to for sunset (we hadn't seen the sun all day so everyone knew we wouldn't be seeing it set) and to get amazing views down the coast and inland towards Christ if he had his head out the cloud. You have to get 2 cable cars to Sugarloaf and despite being clear-ish when we queued for tickets it most definitely wasn't clear by the time we got to the car changeover and by the time we got to the top we were inside a rain cloud and couldn't see a single thing!! For me the saving grace of sugar loaf was the fact that we saw a tiny little monkey up close. It's a shame that we haven't seen Rio in all its glory but it's certainly an interesting city and a great stop to visit.

Paraty, Brazil

We had a very long 2 days drive to the coast. We clocked up over 28 driving hours and we had an last minute hotel stop in Aracatuba as there were no campsites or suitable bushcamps. It's a shame we weren't there long enough to enjoy it though as we were back on the road by 6am. Our journey was mainly on motorway so we have been stopping at the services which are amazing. There are restaurants, fast food places, truck repairs, pharmacies and even barbers.

We finally arrived in the coastal town of Paraty. It is a town with UNESCO status and has a lovely colonial feel- cobbled streets, white washed buildings, and coloured window frames. It was nice to have a mooch around the little shops and we went for a lovely thai meal finished off with fruit cocktails and live music in the main square. The campsites have been a bit eventful here though. First of all we stayed in a very compact site but just for one night as a huge group of campers decided that they were going to party all night and day which disturbed us more that we wanted. Que mass movement of the tents and the rest of camp into the truck and relocation to a quieter camp down the road. Our second day in Paraty was spent on a boat trip. It was lovely and I got to test out my newly purchased mask and snorkel but sadly the weather wasn't kind to us and we had torrential rain the whole day. Guess that's the tropics for you!

Southern Pantanal, Brazil

From Bonito we headed to the Southern Pantanal. The pantanal which is split in Brazil into the Northern and Southern halves is the biggest freshwater wetland in the world. The wetland really isn't that wet as the rains haven't arrived yet, but they were due last month. We stayed on a Fazenda (farm) on the edge of a river and were given the choice, to put tents up in what felt like a million degree heat or to tackle the art of sleeping in a hammock. I went with the hammock option which was great. The campsite fed, watered and entertained us. It's fantastic for wildlife viewing and we saw caymen, various birds and an iguana just from camp. Mikkel ventured down to the river bank after dark with just a stick, a pocket torch and the oven gloves. He came back with a caymen!! We did horse riding, a boat trip, pirahna fishing (I caught nothing), and a jeep and walking tour when we saw howler monkeys which was amazing when the guide howled to get them going. Highlight for sure was sunset with the caymens. We went to the edge of a water pool and the edges were so black it looked liked sand. It wasn't, it was caymen sandwiched all together! Pretty cool!!