As soon as we arrive Geoff and I hit the ground running, Geoff off to a local football derby and I off to Ipanema beach for a bit of culture :)) Having walked the length of Ipanema I continued along Copacobana beach. The sand and sea were beautiful as were many of the sights ! Having a reputation for beautiful women, these beaches didn't disappoint, I decided they do like a nice bikini......or lack of them. They had every type of cheese cutter you could imagine in every type of colour. I decided I was too old to pose but not too old to ogle !
That evening I decided to wash out the netting of my daypack, which my fishermans friends had melted into due to the intense heat. All clean I decided to dry it off with one of the hotels hand towels. Unfortunately not as clean as I thought and a big brown stain appeared on the white towel. Geoff at this point ask me a question and I wandered through to answer him, towel in hand. He pointed at the towel and asked what the hell that was. Quick as a flash I pointed out that I wasn't impressed with the hotel as they'd ran out of toilet paper and I'd had to use the hand towel. The look of utter disgust on his face was a picture especially when I tried to shove it under his nose saying " here sniff it". He went crazy calling me all the names under the sun. We could not stop laughing when he realised it was the sweet smell of fishermans friends.!!
We completed a city tour, just caught sight of Christ the Redeemer in amongst the cloud and it was a similar situation with Sugar Loaf mountain, but I managed a couple of good shots nevertheless. A visit to the ugly concrete Catedral Metropolitana hid a breathtaking inner with its beautiful stained glass windows stretching 60 metres to the ceiling, and finally the Escadaria Selaron steps. Chilean born artist Jorge' Selaron decided to cover these steps with tiles / mosaics as a dedication to the people of Brazil. A vivid riot of colour, which he added to on a daily basis, he encouraged tourists to bring him tiles from around the world which he incorporated into his work. However last week he was murdered by his assistant. Stabbed around the head and set alight whilst on his couch Selaron suffered a brutal death, his killer still at large. I think Rio would have been fantastic if the weather had been kind to us, but no time to hang around we move inland to Ouro Preto, one of the many colonial towns, infact one of Brazils finest baroque architectural gems with cobbled streets climbing precipitous hillsides. However yet again it was monsoon type conditions that really stopped us exploring this gorgeous area. Geoff and I persevered to no avail, totally sodden we hiked the two km back to camp. Infact over the whole week moving camp daily we could not escape the rain. The tents, sleeping bags, clothes and belongings got so wet and mouldy, everything began to smell mouldy and it was a total relief to get back to the coast, Porto Seguro the destination for tropical sunshine and two days of rest and relaxation, apart from washing and freshening up everything we owned, it was a welcome respite? The plan is to head up the coast towards Salvadore, stopping for another two nights, before hitting the city for six nights of carnival.
1. Ipanema beach
2. Christ the Redeemer
3. Out of the cloud from Sugar Loaf mountain
4. Catedral Metroplitana
5. Ditto
6. Escadaria Selaron steps
7. Ditto
8. Ditto
9. Local graffiti
10. Ditto
Chau
Tony x
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