Mar 2008

Last week we spent learning to dive in Arraial do Cabo. We stayed in the dive resort, which also seemed to be our instructors house. When we arrived he had a hareem of 4 women staying with him and as he put us up in what appeared to be his bedroom, it appeared that alas he had to bunk in with these 4 women.

There were loads of dive schools in Arraial doi Cabo, but we managed to pick the one that was some guys house with a little open top motor to carry all the diving gear that stalled everytime it stopped and stuff fell of it at every bend. It was very friendly though and we now have our Padi's.

We arrived in Arraial do Cabo on the Monday at lunchtime and immediately went to a hotel pool the size of our lounge back home and had our first lesson all scuba'd up with 2 hotel guests at the other end of the pool. The main difficulty I had was in not realising this tiny pool had a deep and shallow end and so had to ask why I kept sinking and floating when I swam at the bottom. Dan tried to blow up his life vest with air from his lungs rather than fill it from the tank from the bottom of the pool. So having mastered all of this the following 2 days we spent diving in the ocean with Marcello (our instructor) and then the final dive alone.

There's loads of aquatic life. I just wish I knew what a lot of it was. We saw turtles, which was very exciting, rays, puffer fish, scorpion fish, conga eels, spider crabs and a crab that looked like a clam with little yellow legs.

It also rained a lot here. We caught the bus back to Rio and spent a night there in a hotel where the guy behind the desk spotted I was English and was very pleased to tell us that he could speak in an American accent. He spent the next ten minutes saying bottle of water in an American accent until some other guys came to check in and we made our escape.

On Thursday after a 7 hour bus ride from Rio we arrived in Sau Paulo, the business capital of Brazil. Lots of skyscrapers and city types, so naturally with my pink crocs and Dan's bleach stained shorts we blend right in.

The main problem I'm having in Brazil is that when the pavements get wet, my crocs turn into ice scates, and as several people wash their section of pavement daily I'm slipping and sliding my way round. So far I've only ended up on the floor once!

Slowly we're picking up a few words of Portugeuse, but gestures remain our staple language. We've taken to pointing to other's meals in cafe's to order our food. The people are really helpful and seem to find us quite amusing.

This evening we take a sleeper bus to the Iguacu falls (15 hours).

Brazillian Big Brother appears to dominate the headlines of most of the national newspapers.

Rio is becoming one of my fovorite cities. It's hot, humid, everones skin is some where in the spectrum of brown and women waer jeans so tight around the arse that they can bend time. Yes Rio is for me! The poeple, music and views all combine to give a certain fizz to this tropical town. I know it's our first stop and I am aware that beneath all this beauty lies the ever present dark underbelly of adject poverty but Rio is still amazing. The beaches are always full of scandalusly underdressed people, even for the beach, and the city streets are not much different. This look isn't exculsive to the young and well toned, every one seems to get into the act. The first time you see a 70 year old woman with a plunging cleavage as low as the Tropic of Capricorn it can take you a while to adjust. Men can also be found wondering the city streets with just speedos on. I've not tried that my self and I don't think Sue plans to "Go Rio" and sport a teeny weeny bikini (shame) on our way to buy some bread.
The biggest problem is the Language barrier. We get buy with a phrase book and the odd mime or two but can can be difficult.
I can't wait to see the rest of Brazil but I think, as cities go, Roi will be hard to top. We are heading out of Rio tomorrow to learn how to dive. It'sw not the best place to dive, the cold Atlantic waters seem to keep the fish very plain looking, but there is pleanty to see and once we quallify we'll be able to dive in other parts of the world.

Hi all

Well we're here in Rio on our second day. We got our hopes up for the plane ride, as we were offered £450 each and a night in a hotel at Heathrow to fly the following day as they'd overbooked the flight. Naturally we volunteered. We had to wait until 45 mins before check in to see if we were going to be flying or not. 20 mins before the flight we were told that we weren't needed as standby's and would be flying and so had to dash to make our plane.

Anyway after the 14 hour flight we managed to get the right bus from the airport to where we wanted to go, the driver even shouted our stop to us so we knew where to get off, although nearly missed getting off as I'd put my seatbelt on and couldn't find the clip to get it off. He dropped us off on the side of a busy road, which by chance happened to be just round the corner from the guest house we were looking for. So all going quite smoothly so far - the main mishap so far involved creme eggs, the sun and our Brazillian currency!

We're staying in Catate, just outside of central Rio, it's lovely. We're in Copacabana today and have just spent the morning on the beach - lots of beautiful people as you'd expect, but also lots of not quite so beautifuls, so didn't feel too intimidated! I think we're going to head to Sugar Loaf mountain to try and do the cable car trip around sunset today.

We're trying hard to pick up some Portuguese, but not finding it that easy - most of our communication is via pointing and gesturing as not many people speak English. The food does seem to be mainly meat based or lots of Pizza with more cheese than pizza.

It's hot and humid, but nice breezes from the sea.

Really interesting mix of people. Therefore we don't stand out as tourists too much apart from us being much less tanned than the locals.

Delicious Amazonian berries made into a drink. Looks a bit like chocolate milkshake.

Will try and upload some photos soon.

Sue and Dan. x

This is the journey we're planning - the dates are more of a rough guide than an accurate plan, as we've still got book and change some of the flights.

I had a surprise 30th birthday party on Saturday (I had an early birthday with my folks in January and now this and my birthday's not until June, so doing quite well drawing out the celebrations). My friends arranged a fanstastic surprise consisting of meals and drinks in 5 different houses around Aldershot, pin the clothes on a giant polystyrene Sue, a song to the tune of she's coming round the mountain and a wonderful memory and photo book which everyone contributed to. Thanks guys - it's given me a hundred happy memories to take with me on my travels. x