Wednesday, August 31, 2005
...The Beautiful Game...
We went to see a game of footie in Rio, it´s so big over here like rugby in New Zealand - everyone is into it. Maracana stadium was closed for refurbishment so we went to Luso-Brasileiro stadium (a long way out from the city). The stadium was basically an enormous scaffold structure but all the seats were good. The local side was Flamengo and they were playing Figueirense. One of the opposition team had apparently killed 2 girls in a drink-driving incident so there was lots of chanting `murderer´etc. The fans really go crazy...drums, enormous flags, chants and stamping feet. The atmposhere was electric.
Flamengo went good in the first half leading 2-0 (lots of happy chanting etc). Just like the NAB touch team they threw it all away and Figueirense scored 3 in the second half (not so happy terraces). I can´t imagine there are many 0-0 draws in Brazil - the style of football is so attacking and makes for good watching.# posted by Pete @ 5:53 PM 
...The Girl From Ipanema...
Rio...ah...Rio. Bronzed bodies, little bikini´s, caperinha´s, copa...copa..cobana, samba beats and hot, steamy weather and that is just to get started. Rio is all that you imagine from the songs, Bond movies and picture perfect post cards. Image is everything here and that is why pete and I stayed away from the tinsy insy pieces of bathers (sorry guys no pictures...just couldn´t afford the plastic surgery!)
Paty came and met us for a dirty weekend in Rio. Its not cheap here..the hostels are expensive as London and act like a sauna in the night but we had a great time checking the sights out in Rio...the Christ, the footie (more on that later) and of course the beach action.
Rio, like the rest of brazil has a stark contrast between the Rich and the Poor. We will talk on that later...but from hearing rumours of high crime rates and violence we fortunately escaped...unlike one unlucky frenchmen our hostel told us about. Night one whilst picking up a few brazilian delights at the supermarket he gets caught in the middle of a robbery and ensuing gun battle with the brazilian police...night 2 in Rio....Out partying in perhaps an unsavoury part of town he is set upon by a gang and closely escaped being gang raped....day three in Rio...a harmless trip to the Christ nearly ends in a brawl when he does the usual christ post (shirt off) in front of the statue...and his mate calls out that he is a big hairy monkey...to which the enromous american next to him...thinks he just called him a fatso...and gets mighty angry...still Rio is a place of adventure.
Like everyone in Rio..we headed out to Lapa (party district) for a night in a hot and steamy samba club...Lapa has an eclectic vibe...young, old, beautiful...and the prostitutes in there tiny little underwear strutting their stuff....course Pete not knowing anything about this sort of thing (isn´t that right Peter!!!!!) mistook then lovely transexuals to be girls.
...my best dayout was sunset from Sugarloaf with a Caparinha in hand...
# posted by Pete @ 1:20 PM
Friday, August 26, 2005
...Dois Caparinha por favor...
...Ahhh Brazil...
Parati is a small, colonial, historic port town on the coast between Rio & SP. It used to be used to ship gold to Europe and is fairly unspoilt as the road was only built in the 50´s. This place is really beautiful, too quaint for words really. Anyway, beach, great weather (37 degrees), cute poussada, great seafood - we loved it. After searching for about an hour for some bar in the Lonely Planet we ended up in the ´Che´ bar - not at all cheesy, but did get to watch the local kids have a game of football. One thing we´ve noticed about the historic towns here is that there are still thriving communities - we passed a hall where the local brass band were practising as well. Pretty different to Stratford on Avon or one of those ´frozen in time´ tourist spots in Blighty. Here are some pics to make you jealous.
...and then we went to Isla Grande - a tropical paradise island, supposedly with Brazil´s best beach - but we wouldn´t really know cos it rained all day. On the upside, Em learnt to play backgammon and we drank a lot of Cerveja :( Oh...and we were camping...
Feel better now ?
Tchau
# posted by Pete @ 4:22 PM
´Like Everything in Brazil, the girls get in for free, the guys pay 10 Reals´
...so, due to creative differences Em & I will be posting our own blog entries ;) Here we go...Sao Paulo - first impressions : big, polluted, dirty, street poverty, congestion, policemen with shotguns. I remember GCSE geograpy case studies about urban growth and development issues (shanty towns or favellas) and it´s all here. As Em said, the architecture is a lot influenced by 60´s-70´s high rise. Apartment living seems to be the norm here. 
Everyone drives everywhere it seems, and the smog, pollution and jams are pretty shocking. There´s a political scandal going down at the moment, as far as I can make out, it´s to do with President Lula´s ruling party receiving a large contribution (´pocket money´) from a business sponsor but the money´s from an undisclosed source. Corruption seems to be the norm here, whether it´s bribing a military policeman or in politics. The Brazilians themselves don´t seem to have the will or the means to sort out the corruption issues...life goes on as usual and after all there´s always Carnival!!! These guys really know how to party, and the people here are so friendly. Paty introduced us to her friends and family and they are all so generous, warm and laugh a lot - there´s a real ´joie de vivre´ here. Culturally, this place really reminds me of Europe but so much friendlier.
We went to a Brazilian carvery - kind of cheesy but so much meat. There´s a `yes please / no thank you´sign on the table, and when it´s set to ´yes please´ the meat just keeps coming. They carve it at the table - so much meat. 18 reals (10 Aus dollars) for as much as you can eat. Em loved it as they kept sticking slabs of meat in her face.
...oh one more thing, the sewage system isn´t that great here so toilet paper doesn´t get flushed (there´s a bin next to the toilet) :o Em says this is the norm in a lot of countries but as I haven´t travelled that much seems a bit unusual to me !
Tchau Tchau
Pete
Everyone drives everywhere it seems, and the smog, pollution and jams are pretty shocking. There´s a political scandal going down at the moment, as far as I can make out, it´s to do with President Lula´s ruling party receiving a large contribution (´pocket money´) from a business sponsor but the money´s from an undisclosed source. Corruption seems to be the norm here, whether it´s bribing a military policeman or in politics. The Brazilians themselves don´t seem to have the will or the means to sort out the corruption issues...life goes on as usual and after all there´s always Carnival!!! These guys really know how to party, and the people here are so friendly. Paty introduced us to her friends and family and they are all so generous, warm and laugh a lot - there´s a real ´joie de vivre´ here. Culturally, this place really reminds me of Europe but so much friendlier.
We went to a Brazilian carvery - kind of cheesy but so much meat. There´s a `yes please / no thank you´sign on the table, and when it´s set to ´yes please´ the meat just keeps coming. They carve it at the table - so much meat. 18 reals (10 Aus dollars) for as much as you can eat. Em loved it as they kept sticking slabs of meat in her face.
...oh one more thing, the sewage system isn´t that great here so toilet paper doesn´t get flushed (there´s a bin next to the toilet) :o Em says this is the norm in a lot of countries but as I haven´t travelled that much seems a bit unusual to me !
Tchau Tchau
Pete
# posted by Pete @ 3:57 PM
...´I will name my dog Lettuce !´ (pron; Lett-oo-see)...
After 21 hour flight to Sao Paulo we were greeted by the lovely Patricia at the airport. Seeing we are hard core travellers now we went straight out to party in this funky cafe/bar area called Villa Magdelena. Very nice, quite European in the style of bars and in fact the whole of Sao Paolo is steeped in a mixture of multicultural immigrants.
Paty and her sister took us out the next day. It is very much a car culture here and there seem to be very limited road rules. Met up with Alex, an old friend from the UK and his girlfriend Ana and we hit the bars again. This time we headed to a Samba bar...and Pete thought I wouldn´t get him on the dance floor!!!! As we are finding out in Brazil, Girls get in for free everywhere boys pay and small fortune.
Pete and I cruised around the center of town. All the buildings are tall, grey and built in the same era...the fabulous 70s. The architecture was interesting, the pollution choking.
I am finding out vegetarianism here is of limited variety...the word that goes with Brazil is CARNIVORE!!. Am having lots of cheese, eggs and rice, thats if I manage to get across that I am vegio. On my first day I ordered two meals...both came with ham spread throughout the meal....guess I will just have to get used to a carbo meal...not good for the Insie Bitsy bikini I am supposed to get into in Rio.
I know pete wants to share his thoughts...so over to him.....but thumbs up for Sao Paolo from me.
Paty and her sister took us out the next day. It is very much a car culture here and there seem to be very limited road rules. Met up with Alex, an old friend from the UK and his girlfriend Ana and we hit the bars again. This time we headed to a Samba bar...and Pete thought I wouldn´t get him on the dance floor!!!! As we are finding out in Brazil, Girls get in for free everywhere boys pay and small fortune.Pete and I cruised around the center of town. All the buildings are tall, grey and built in the same era...the fabulous 70s. The architecture was interesting, the pollution choking.
I am finding out vegetarianism here is of limited variety...the word that goes with Brazil is CARNIVORE!!. Am having lots of cheese, eggs and rice, thats if I manage to get across that I am vegio. On my first day I ordered two meals...both came with ham spread throughout the meal....guess I will just have to get used to a carbo meal...not good for the Insie Bitsy bikini I am supposed to get into in Rio.
I know pete wants to share his thoughts...so over to him.....but thumbs up for Sao Paolo from me.
# posted by Pete @ 1:42 PM
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Oi!
...well, we`ve arrived in Brazil and discovered how slow the internet in Parati really is (snail mail would be faster). We`re having a top time (bit jetlagged though). We`ve been catching up with friends in Sao Paulo and now we`re in Parati enjoying the old colonial town & sunshine (it´s 37 degrees - sorry to anyone in Melbourne :P ). Trying to speak Portugese is pretty hard but we`re getting by... Anyways, proper update to follow in a few days when we hit Rio (we`ll post some photo`s too). Hope everyone is well. Tchau Tchau
# posted by Pete @ 1:05 PM
