Tootling down the Emerald Coast ...

Hello again! 


 Hope you are well. We've left Rio behind us now so I thought it was about time I sent an email. Thank you to anyone who sent me an email, it was much appreciated and I apologise if I haven't replied personally. Thanks also to Dave for the football results. Keep them coming, please. There isn't always a good connection to t'internet and it's all I can do to send an email sometimes let alone browse the football sites looking for results. 

 Since my last email I've had an almighty cold. It knocked me for six and as a result I missed the entire carnival. That's right, every blimmin' minute of the thing passed me by and I haven't seen even one scantily clad maiden gyrating her way down the streets of Rio wearing nothing but a few appropiately placed feathers. Neither did I get to see any floats... though that could have something to do with the constipation. But don't worry, I'm feeling much better again now! 

 Well, as I mentioned earlier we've now left Rio behind and we're making our way southwest down the coast. Whilst in Rio (despite missing the Carnival) we did manage to see some of the sites. We took a cable car to the top of Sugarloaf Mountain for some spectacular views of the city. We took a boat trip across the bay to a place called Niteroi which has one of the best buildings I've ever seen. It's the Museum of Contempory Arts. Do a search in Google for it to see a picture - it's amazing. For the budding architects out there - the museum was designed by Oscar Niemeyer a disciple of Le Corbusier and looks like a giant UFO. It was closed for renovation when we went but I got some good photos of the outside. We did a favela tour. A favela is a shanty town built on the hillside and with a reputation for violence and crime. We visited Rocinha favela and it was a very interesting experience. 60% of our trip costs help to fund a community centre in the favela. See the "Links" section on the right for more info. 

On my last night I went to see a football match at the Maracana Stadium, the world's largest football stadium. The capacity is about 200,000 people. The game I saw was Botafogo Vs. Cabo Firense and by my optimistic estimate there were about 5,000 people at the game. By all accounts Botafogo should have won easily but the game ended 1 - 1 with Botafogo snatching a late equaliser. It was a very dull game - not what you would expect when you think of Brazilian football. Lynn decided not to go and so didn't miss alot. 

 We left Rio last Thursday and went about 3 hours down the coast to a place called Angra Dos Reis where we took a boat for a 1.5 hour journey to Ilha Grande - a beautiful island off the coast of Brazil. Here's what the guidebook says about Ilha Grande: 

"Ilha Grande is a mountain ridge, covered in tropical forest, sticking out of an emerald sea and fringed by some of the world's most beautiful beaches. There are no cars and no roads, just sandy trails winding between the trees and buildings of this island paradise." 

I can tell you that all of this is perfectly true. We found a beautiful little place to stay called Riacho dos Cambucas. A lost little pathway through the trees, a small wooden bridge over the river, down a few steps, humming birds flitting everywhere, to 3 or 4 wooden chalets hidden away amongst the undergrowth. It was as idyllic as it sounds. After the hustle and bustle of Rio this was the perfect way to unwind. There's a wonderful sushi resaurant on the island and an ice cream shop with a million different flavours. I was in heaven! 

 We left Ilha Grande this morning and went back to the mainland. We took the bus another couple of hours down the coast and are now in a little place called Paraty. We plan to stay here for about 3 days and then head further down the coast... but more of that as and when! 

 Hope you are all well and look forward to news from home. We've been gone 2 weeks already! 

Toodle-pip! 

Rich

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