Catching up!!...

Let's start back in Rio..
Right! So clearly I survived being in the jungle for 5 nights, since here I am blogging again!.. But since I didn't actually blog from when I was in Rio or Porto Seguro, I'll get cracking with that now!

So a while back now, I arrived in Rio and was pumped to be staying in the Copacabana region! The beach itself is swarming with Cariocas and tourists. I must say, it was kinda liberating just watching the women of all ages and sizes strutting their stuff in little bikinis on the beach- they just don't care! So I joined them for a while before strolling around to Ipanema beach (which happens to be a prettier beach and frequented by prettier Cariocas)..

Unfortunately, instead of lazing around at the beach, it seems that I should have been busting my gut to see the sights of Rio! When I went to see Christ the Redeemer, the woman at the office of the "tram" that goes up to the top of the mountain said that there was no point going because the fog/cloud was so thick you couldn't see Jesus!.. (Ummm, shouldn't she have been trying to convince me to go??.. Surely it's in her best interests to sell me a ticket?!).. But go I did (along with a couple of Aussie blokes I seemed to keep bumping into all over Rio). When we got to the top, there was a pretty thick mist covering the ol' Christ, but it lifted enough to get some great photos- unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the view from Corcovado (the mountain Jesus is perched on)!! It is meant to have the most amazing view of Rio, but all I could see were clouds!.. Then in the blink of an eye, the thick fog moved back in and sure enough, you could hardly make out the shape of Jesus, even though he was only a couple of metres away!

The fog wasn't quite so bad the day I went to Sugar Loaf (and again ran into the aussie boys).. Got some quite reasonable shots of the city, and wasn't scared in the cable cars going up to the top!.. OK, maybe just a little scared!

I also managed to survive the CRAZY bus system they have going on in Rio- you literally have to jump on the road in front of the bus to get it to stop (and then hope it stops in time!!).. LOVED IT!!!

There were (of course) nights spent having a caipirinha (or two), and sharing some Natasha with fellow travellers!.. But all too soon, my time in Rio came to an end, and I found myself on an overnight bus to Porto Seguro...

Porto Seguro, Stupidity, Scandinavians and Lambada
So after a mammoth bus trip (when despite wearing my stolen TEDs, I STILL ended up with ankles that were almost bigger than my calves!), I arrived in the coastal town of Porto Seguro (between Rio and Salvador).. After surprising the guy working in the ticket booth with the fact that I understand Portuguese, I had my ticket sorted to go to Salvador the next night and checked in to my hostel.. The hostel was only a 10 minute walk from the gorgeous beach (and beachside bars!), and is run by a super helpful American named Paul, who lives on the property with his family. Not only did he sort myself and the Scandinavian blokes staying there out with tips on restaurants and bars, he even included us in the family BBQ for his son's birthday!.. It was kinda like being at home!..

So the boys and I headed into "town" for dinner, and at the insistence of our waitress, ended up at zouk/lambada club on the water... OH MY GOD!!!! The dancing was incredible!! I was quite keen to have a crack, but the poor Scandinavians (despite being able to dance) were kinda intimidated and just stuck to observing! I was trying to use my "interpreting skills" to get one of the guys to dance with a local who was keen.... But he was just too shy!..

The next day (28th Feb), I was swanning about, and going to organise my accommodation for Salvador... when all of sudden it hit me- THERE ARE ONLY 28 DAYS IN FEBRUARY, NOT 30!!! The lack of structure and a diary had almost made me miss my flight from Salvador to Manaus on the 1st of March!!

Luckily my bus to Salvador arrived in enough time for me to get a taxi to the airport and catch my flight!!!

YES, I KNOW I need to blog about my Amazon trip, and I certainly will....... But right now I'm in Trinidad! And I need sunshine!!!... So perhaps tomorrow I will pick up where I'm leaving off now??....