Feb 22nd – 27th Curitiba and Ilho do Mel

Took the 12 hour coach journey from Rio-actually quite comfy, the seats were wide enough for me (Lou) to curl up in. I Pod was a life saver. Brazil have got excellent service stations – they have everything you could want apart from nice toilet paper! We had a few problems with knowing how long we were going to be at each stop as the driver garbled something in Portugese and then legged it for some food. The scenery was endless mountains, trees and jungles for about 8 hours. Very nice and green, felt like we were in one of those cartoons where they just rotate the background.

Finally arrived in Curitiba, Jonty was asleep and I woke up as we stopped. No one was getting off, but then the driver muttered something that sounded like Curitiba so we made a run for it. Grabbed a cab, but the driver didn`t really know where he was going and kept trying to drop us off at mansions!

Hostel was called EcoHostel and is a really good hostel – our favourite so far!! Relaxed with a beer for a change! Stayed here for two nights and completed small missions like posting our Rio painting home. It should arrive in 3 weeks Jo. (Fingers crossed) Curitiba is much friendlier than Rio, you can walk around without clutching your bag and people stop to help, rather than stop to mug you. There isn`t much to do in Curitiba, but it is a good stopover.

We decided to see what it would be like to be Michael Palin for a day, so we took a bus, a tram, a train, a coach and a boat to get to an island called Islo do Mel. (We later found out that it is an hour and a half´s coach ride-but nevermind) The train was built-up to be the most scenic train in the world-and certainly cost as if it should be. The views were good to impressive (depending if you talk to Jonty or Lou) but really the only good part was going over a dodgy iron bridge that was built several hundred years ago. Still, it was all part of our adventure. We even got some free crackers!

We met some Swedes who accompanied us on the boat trip to the island. It took 2 hours and was a pleasant crossing. Our new hostel (Zorro) was right on the beach front and was of beach quality. We set off to explore and found the beach to the rear of the island, it had some good surf and a lot of crabs who hid in holes and ran out every now and again.

We spent three really enjoyable days here, it felt like we were finally relaxing after the manic of Rio and all the travelling. Highlights were: throwing the aerobie, there was so much space; great coastal walks, clambering over rocks (avoiding the parasites); great surf, the waves were up to 10 feet (I nearly lost my bikini!). Ben and Tom-this is the perfect sand for cricket-I´ve never seen a potential wicket so good.

In the evenings we would have a meal-the usual Brazilian staple diet of meat/fish, rice and beans-it´s all they eat, then we would go to the reggae bar (it´s all they played for 3 days solid), then they had a faroh up on the beach front. If you picture the bar from dirty dancing-it looked exactly like that, but with Brazilians dancing Samba. They were far too good for us, I have bruised toes from Jonty´s efforts!

Whilst on the island we chatted to many other explorers and read the rough guide, only to discover that we may have underestimated how wet the wet season really is in the Pantanal. The roads are closed due to flooding, in fact they get washed away and have to be rebuilt-so we have decided to avoid that area and will probably now go to Argentina instead. Plan B if you like.

We took the fast track route back to Curitiba via the boat and coach. It was 5 hours quicker! On our arrival we were so thirsty, and must have looked desperate because some man started to talk to us and then took us to a fruit/smoothie bar and ordered our drinks. He was very friendly, just like the rest of the people in Curitiba. Jonty braved a haircut, using the international finger sign language of snip snip! We went back to Ecohostel for a night´s stay, before we head off to Foz du Iguaçu-the amazing waterfalls.

Rio 13th – 21st February

OK, here we go. Our tales on Rio De Janeiro. We were there for 1 week and tried to cram in as much as possible from Sugar Loaf to Street party to Carnival. Overall we had an outstanding experience.

Firstly we arrived to 33.C heat to a brilliant apartment. Well done Mark Archer for sorting us out there. The apartment was in Botofogo, not for from Copacabana. A very good location. As soon as we arrived we hit Copacabana. That night we went out for a classic Brazilian dinner in Ipanema- we learnt that you only need to order 1 meal between 3!

We were up early on our second day and walked to Sugar Loaf Mountain – we got there for the first cable car up. We were two of the only 3 tourists up there for the first hour and a half. It was brilliant, so tranquil, amazing views. Had a brilliant, brilliant morning.

The next day we had an adventure to the bus station, trying to book our next leg.. We thought we were really clever and did it first time, but it turned out that we had booked it for the wrong day, so out came the notepad as we tried to explain this to the guy in the booth. A few minutes leter, we were happier and legged it.

That night, Mark invited us to a Bloco (samba street party). We started in Ipanema and followed a giant bus through the streets with pushing 1000 people. Lou bought a carnival T-Shirt and we were massively caught up in the carnival spirit. The Bloco was sheer brilliance, they sang the same 30second tune, over and over again for 5 hours. The drums were the backbone of it all and you couldn´t help but samba. What an experience.

We were going to continue our braveness and get a bus to Cocavado, (The Statue of Christ), but after walking around dazed and confused, decided that the safest option was to get a taxi. BUT… this was during carnival and the streets were full of people attending Blocos. The traffic was horrendous and we sat for ages, looking at each other, looking at the meter. Then drives went mad and drove up onto the pavement, without care or forethought!! Well done drives!

Finally got to Cocavado. WOW! Had to wait a while for the cloud to clear, but that just added to the atmosphere. It was definitely worth the wait-what a view. Time for Jonty to break down and cry!! We had waited four years for that.

Next day we decided to go to Ipanema beach instead of Copacabana. This beach is far Superior as the atmosphere is happier and safer. We like this beach. On Sunday the whole coast road (that runs parallel) closes to traffic and what seems like the whole of Brazil either walk, run or cycle along it. They are mad as it was 34.c. Still, great idea by the brazilians.

On our penultimate evening it was time for the Carnival. We accompanied Mark and his friends, who had all performed in the carnival the night before-(see the photos of the costume we tried on!) to Ipanema`s most famous restaurant-where we ordered one meal and it fed 5 of us! They really can eat! We had no plans or ideas of how to get to the Sambodromo (Stadium where the carnival is held), so asked the resident Brits for some advice. They had all prebooked their tickets and coach, but said thatwe were welcome to try and sneak on with them. We managed part 1 of our mission! We then needed to buy our ticket. This next part was made more difficult by the coach dropping us inside the arena barriers. We had to break out of these and find a tout-which there were many of. We then started to haggle-which we had not had much success at so far. This was hindered by the fact that Jonty was bartering 160 reais over what we had!! We managed to move away and heard some Aussies gloating about their tickets, so sought advice on the price we should pay. Our next haggling session was a success and we had managed to purchase tickets inside the local´s area for only 15 pounds.

We clambered up the concrete stand to a good spot, full of Brazilian families. The carnival started and immediately we were joining in with the samba beat, flying flags and dancing with the crowds. The floats and colours were immense. It was still 28.C at this point. We won`t ever experience anything quite to this scale again. There were about 30,000 people in each samba school and they parade along the route for over an hour. The Brazilians have got some stamina, the parade goes on until 8am.

All in all, Rio was everything we had hoped for, with a few surprises thrown in. We thoroughly enjoyed it. We particularly won`t forget the bus or taxi rides- you take your life in your hands! To be continued…

Check out our photos of Rio on www.family-taylor.co.uk (Gallery)