Rio - Copacabana beach in the rain!

Rio De Janeiro & Buzios,

Brazil

We tend not to book our accomodation in advance as we prefer to see it first but we did do for Rio. So having arrived much earlier in the morning than expected, due to changed flight, we were glad we had booked. Until that is we pulled up outside a rather shabby looking building in Cocpacabana at 6am. We went in, still shabby, and dark.....! Anyway, room was clean and we needed sleep so we stayed. Glad we did as the guys working there were brilliant and made our stay in Rio a lot more fun than it would have been without them.

Whilst we were waiting for Mik's bag to arrive (2 days) we had a wander along Copacabana beach, although as the sun wasn't out there weren't many chicas in string bikinis for Mik to oggle.

We did however see some rather well toned men playing volleyball, so I stopped to watch and pick up some tips - they weren't doing the usual and using their hands and fists but their chests and heads and backs - most entertaining I can assure you! Anyway, true to form food has continued to feature strongly and with the all you can eat churrasco restaurants we were laughing. All you can eat restaurants may conjure up images of a buffet with semi cold bits of beef and chicken - oh no, in Brazil they know how to do it. For just 5 quid you can load your plate with salad from the buffet, we're talking sushi and quails eggs, not limp lettuce and bacon bits, and wait for the men with their skewers of all types of meat to visit your table. We were in heaven - and went back several times! Another other type of restaurant they have is a pay by weight, which if we were people of small appetites could be a cheap option. What it meant for us however was that we piled as much different stuff on our plates as possible and experienced the utter disgust of the people weighing our plates at the end!

We spent most of our time eating in Rio as the weather was lousy. We did have a wander along Ipanema beach in the drizzle though but this meant it wasn´t the people watching spot we had been looking forward to. We did however get one beautiful afternoon which we took full advantage of and went up the Corcovado mountain, atop which is the famous statue of Christ the Redeemer, arms outstretched. The view across Rio is amazing. The Brazilians have been known to claim that God took 6 days to build the world and saved the 7th day just for Rio. Stunning though it is I personally would argue that he may have spent some of that 7th day on Cape Town too. Rio itself is wrapped around the base of several granite pinacles with long sandy beaches wherever it hits the Atlantic. It´s a sprawling city of so many high rises that it must rival Singapore, but punctuated by the jungle covered pinacles makes it far more beautiful and impressive.

Having said all that we didn´t really warm to the city. I´m sure the rain affected our perception but we were keen to get out of the city and so headed north east up the coast in search of sun. Buzios is a peninsula with no less than 25 different beaches. It is a place which came very highly recommended by all those who had been there. Unfortunately for us the rain continued, for about 40 hours non stop at one point so we didn´t get to see it in it´s full glory. Coupled with the fact that both Mik and I came down with some flu/virus thang it wasn´t the most positive experience. Luckily we had found a decent, and massive, room in the centre of town. It even had a TV, although the fact that the owner downstairs controlled which channel was on did prove a little frustrating. Especially when he´d change channels 10 mins before the end of a film! Again we had one afternoon of sun so I dragged Mik out to walk along the beach, and it was beautiful, but that small amount of exertion landed Mik with a fever for the night. Needless to say by this stage we were feeling like every sliver lining had a cloud!

The following day we headed back to Rio, stayed with our friends at Newtons Hostel and the following morning caught our flight to Foz do Iguacu(portuguese spelling). Happy to leave Rio behind us. Foz do Iguacu is the town on the Brazilian side for the Iguacu Falls, which lie right at the point where Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay meet. We were, by this stage, so desperate to get out of Brazil that we paid 12 quid for a taxi to take us straight to the town on the Argentinian side, Puerto Iguazu (spanish spelling). Such extravagance, but the best decision all round.

Cara