The story so far

so, it´s been two weeks in south america and having originally not been so pushed about visiting brazil, now i´m really happy that we´ve made it here. 

currently we are in a hostel in a place called Florianopolis. we travelled for about 24 hours to get here - our first long haul bus trip - and even though we slept practically 10 hours on the last trip we got here and spent the entire day in bed. mary aint feeling too well.... the first real illness either of us have had so far. i´m counting down the days to when i´ll be laid down with the delhi belly.

so, to start from the beginning. we arrivd in rio on the 2nd April and after a not-so-impressive bus from the airport (passing through some of the worst favellas in the city) we arrived in our hostel, Harmonia, in Ipanema (a beachside neighbourhood south of Copacabana). In Harmonia we met some really great people... Robert and his wife Eva who run the place, Sofia and of course Julio - the mentalist Carioca who took a shine to Mary´s sense of humour and let us both astray in Rio for our time there. 

Saw the major sites in Rio and managed to run off the side of a mountain in a tandem hanglide. 

Left Rio after 5 days to head south to a place calld Isla Grande - the 3rd biggest island off the Brazilian coast. Beautiful beaches and rainforests all around and once again some great people to hang out with. 

From Isla we went down the coast to a place called Trindade, a beach town close to the Portugese colonial town of Paraty. Julio was there to welcome us.... from his spot in the hammock on the deck anyway! We were there for Easter weekend, which is one of the big  holiday weekends for Brazilians (they get Thursday and Friday off) and Trindade was full of Paulistanas (people from Sao Paulo) holidaying (read on the piss) for the weekend. We encountered a totally unexpected festival atmosphere, with people camping all over the place and a dance tent (hideous trance unfortunately) on the beach front. Spent 5 days in Trindade.. lazing on the beaches and going for walks mainly (Mary surfed, but I wasn´t able / inclined due to having fell down a set of slippery steps and bashed in my elbow). Got the mandatory sunburning and began what I imagine is going to be a close 5 month relationship with mossie bites. 

And now here we are in Florianopolis.... hoping to stay here for a good few days and catch some more sunshine. We´ve treated ourselves to a private room as opposed to a ten bed mixed dorm (cos we´re worth it!). If I´m feeling courageous I may even do some surfing too.

until next time...

e