Buzios: 28th-29th March 10

Today we hung out on the beach reading our books and (subtly) checking out the world renowned Brazilian beautiful people! Oh the joy of zoom lenses!





We had a gorgeous fish lunch on the beach and headed into the town in the evening!

Rio to Buzios, Brazil: 27th March 10

Today we took the bus for 3 hours from Rio to Buzios, where we’ll spend 4 days.

Buzios is known as the St. Tropez of Brazil, and was relatively obscure until Brigitte Bardot came here in the 60’s. She was pictured walking along the palm-fringed beaches and the international jet-set soon followed!


We’re staying in 2 beautiful bungalows as part of the ‘hibiscus beach’ resort, up on a hill just 100 metres from the beach, surrounded by gardens and flowers. The views are amazing – a really nice surprise.



The beach has fine golden sands and blue sea, lined by palm trees and beach bars. It’s crowded, but still lovely! In the evening we ate at a local restaurant and then headed into the main town, 5 minutes away. It’s a nice town, very up-market with tonnes of boutiques and nice bars and restaurants – we whiled away the hours drinking cocktails on the beach!

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: 26th March 10

Obe and Penny are here! It’s brilliant to see them – nice to have familiar faces around!



Today we started our exploration of Rio. We’re staying in a lovely guest house in the Santa Teresa area, which is known for having great views of the city and lots of old run-down mansions, now populated by artists, writers and trendy bars.


We climbed up the hill and then took the tram down to ‘centro’, the central commercial area of the city. The tram was a bit mad – really old and noisy, and the rule is that if you don’t sit down, but just cling on to the side, then you get a free ride! Lots of people took this option – cheap but dangerous!


The commercial center was full of contrasts, modern office blocks next to familiar shopping streets, but peppered with beautiful churches and squares. It’s even home to a Royal Palace – the Portuguese Royal Family fled here in 1807, escaping Napoleon, and made it their base for several years, until they returned back to Lisbon - then one of the Princes made himself Emporer of Brazil. They had their own crown Jewels and everything and the monarchy lasted over 80 years!



We had lunch on the street where Carmen Miranda used to live and then visited the Mosteiro de San Bento, which has a famous baroque interior – very impressive!


We then took a cab back to Santa Teresa and visited the Parque das Ruinas – an old ruined mansion set in parkland with a stunning view over the city. You can climb to the top and see right over centro in one direction and over the bay to Sugar loaf Mountain in the other. You can also see the famous statue of ‘Christ the Redeemer’ which is on the highest point at the edge of the city. Unfortunately it’s currently under scaffolding – bummer!



In the evening we went for a meal at one of Santa Teresa’s most famous restaurants!

Iguaçu, Argentina to Rio, Brazil: 25th March 10

Yesterday we spent the early morning walking around the Argentinean side of the falls, this time on walkways over the falls themselves – again they were breathtaking. On the way we saw monkeys, lizards and more raccoons, one of which came and sat on a bench next to Matt!





Later in the morning we crossed the border to Brazil and had a look at the falls from that side. 80% of the falls are in Argentina, and 20% in Brazil, but the best views by far are from Brazil as you look over from a hill side to a stunning panorama.



There are 270 falls in all – each cascading through the jungle at different levels – now we understand why this place is loved by so many people – it’s truly awesome.


At one point we crossed a walkway at the bottom of the biggest falls and got a major soaking – and then stood right next to them - the volume of the water is incredible!




Afterwards we popped for a snack in an adjacent café where we were entertained by dozens of Racoons raiding the bins and jumping on the tables to nick people’s food!


Having finished in Iguacu we took the 2 hour flight to Rio, where we met up with our friends Obe and Penny, who had just flown in from London. It’s great to see them – we’ll spend the next 2 nights in Rio, before travelling to Buzios, the St. Tropez of Brazil for 4 nights, then back to Rio for 5 nights. Yay!