Feb 2008

We left the Iguazu falls to travel the 442km to the Argentinian Pantanal.

On the way we stopped for lunch at a small town called San Ignacio, which used to be the site of San Ignacio Miní, an old jusuit monestary. The ruins looked like they were about a 1000 years old, but when we found out they were only 300 years old, no one was that bothered any more, so we left.

We stopped at a gas station and then took a dirt path for 2 and a half hours to get to our destination. The drivers werent sure whether the rain had made the path uncrossable, but the truck is an off-road truck anyway, so we gave it a go. The road was perillous and muddy - the truck actually slid sideways a few times, but we made it in the end, and arrived at a campsite in Carlos Pelligrini. It was the first sign of life we had come to in about 200km of dirt roads, and it was supposedly a main tourist destination for the Pantanal, but it was tiny. The roads were made from dust and there was only 1 shop. There were a couple of bars though, which are more important.

The next morning we took an early boat trip onto the Iberá Wetlands. We saw caymans (South American crocodiles), capybaras (which are like a huge guinea pig), herons, deer, a tame wildcat and loads of birds. We booked ourselves into a guided walk around an area where there are supposed to be a family of monkeys, so that made me excited.

After the boat trip we had a relaxing afternoon at the campsite, washed some clothes but didnt do the horse riding because it was too hot. The walk in the evening proved fruitful because almost straight away we spotted the family of howling monkeys. It was weird being close to them without a cage and we hung about (pun) and took loads of photos of them until they left. One of my main prorities on this trip is to see as many monkeys as possible, to the point where my nickname is now Monkey Boy (which Ive been called many times before, but mainly because of the hair on my back, not my obsession with spotting monkeys). The walk included many types of land, including savanna, marsh, jungle and lake. The guide spotted some armadillo tracks but they are shy at the time of day we were there, so we didnt see any. The guide taught us to say "¿Donde molitas?" which means "Where are the armadillos?" in Spanish, which should come in useful for armadillo spotting in the future.

We were promised a whole pig for dinner that evening. The previous night a drunk man at the bar said he would sell us his pig (dead, I presume) for only 15 pounds, but we couldnt find him, so we had to make-do with more pasta.

On the way out of the Pantanal we sat on top of the truck for the first time, which is a cool, but windy, experience.

We arrived at the campsite next to Iguazu Falls at about 6pm. The campsite is the nicest one so far. It has a pool, free internet, free table tennis, pool table and table football. After I whooped everyones arses at table football we had a bit of a swim and drank quite a lot of the 4 reais (1 pound) caipirinhas.

The next day we were up early and went to the Brazilian side of Iguazu Falls (the Brazilians spell it Iguaçu Falls). The weather was boiling and the walk we took towards the falls had amazing views. The walk went through the forest and there were loads of coatis about, which are cute but deadly, a bit like a pikey racoon. I saw them attack a woman who tried to feed them crisps. One jumped on her leg until she dropped the bag and they all came out of the trees and everyone watched and took photos of the feeding frenzy. The coatis are part of the tourist attraction almost as much as the falls.

When we got back to the campsite one of the Aussie girls had a photo of a tarantula which crawled across her foot on the walk. That totally freaked out Dee. She spent the next couple of days walking like she was barefoot on glass, just in case there is a tarantula about.

The next day we crossed the Argentinian border and went to the Argentinian side of the falls. Most of the falls are on this side, so we can get right up close to the water, which was amazing. The views which we saw were like they were from a film set like Jurassic Park. Its hard to explain but the whole environment looked surreally plastic, like a Disneyland version of itself.

We went on a boat trip which takes you really close to the waterfalls to get absolutely soaked. You can really experience the power of the water as you get close - its like needles in your face, and the noise is deafening. Dees last words before we we got on the boat was "If we sit at the front I think the water will just spray over our heads". How wrong she was. We came out soaked to the bone. Even my pants were heavy with water, and that was just after a few seconds of getting close to the spray. The weather was the hottest yet so it didnt take too long to get dry.

Earlier that day there was a traffic jam to get into Argentina which put u behind schedule, so when we got to the campsite Mac had put up our tents for us, which Dee thought was the best Valentines present. I was happy because I didnt have to buy anything to make her happy.

Just a quick note about the majority of our overnight stays as we head down the east coast of Brazil/Argentina. Due to the immense distance we have to cover daily its mostly not possible to find towns with campsites, so when everyone if trucked out we just stop, park up the truck get the tents down from the roof and pitch right there. The first bushcamp we broke into a wood, well, pineforest actually. It was swarming with mosquitos and lots of little jumping spiders, but also lots of fireflies that glow amazingly at night. But then comes the dilemma, open fire means BBQ so good tasty grub, but can you risk eating when you know it may be 12hrs until you reach a flushing toilet? There is always the truck spade and a quiet bush, but you risk losing your dignity and possibly getting eaten alive by bugs as you squat.

It was also Ollies cook group that night so I had the rare opportunity to take photos, I´m usually not allowed as apparanetly I can´t take photos for S**T but I think you´ll find the following photos are of a much higher class of skill than Ollies.

During the day, petrol stations are quite few and far between so we just stop the truck on the main road, boys to the front and girls to the back - glad I have my she pee so I´m not pulling moonies each time - what a great invention.

So heading out of Paraty on towards Iguazu Falls, this was the hottest day to date, sweltering 34 degress on the bus. By lunchtime everyone was feeling the burn so we managed to find a little town of around 10 local houses. Cameron (the truck) did us proud by taking us down a sharp decline one lane mudtrack to find the most beautiful beach so far in Brazil. After supplying the locals with some of our sandwiches for lunch they didn´t mind our bright orange truck taking up their whole town square as we wandered down to pure emerald green sea and smooth off white sand. This beach find was quite unexpected and we were so desperate to cool off most of us just stripped to underwear and dived in. A few funny looks from locals but no comments were made! It really has reached that level of closeness between us, 22 adults sharing a space 2 x 4m for 20hr a day does that to you!

So soaking from sea water we wandered back onto the truck, a 12hr drive that day to stay on a campsite just south of Sao Paulo. When we say campsite , I use the term very loosely, they vary quite a lot but most have one or two communal toilets with cold showers and nothing else. If we come across one with heated showers and a pool it is comparable to staying in a 6 star hotel.

As we arrived in this little town the sky turned a deep grey and the mountains had soon disspeared by thick cloud and rain. The whole sky flashed white as we saw fork lightening hitting the floor around us. I kindly gave Ollie the job of erecting the tent in the rain (with metal poles - missed him though,dammit ) and I got started cooking. Each night cook groups rotate and they do breakfast and lunch also. Ours was by far the best food of the trip, potato salad with honey soy chicken and aubergine sheeps cheese bake and we filled our bellys watching the electrical storm for hours. We then spent 4 hours playing "shithead" in the pouring rain, playing cards and water = soggy, great combination!!

So off to the falls, 2 more full days driving with only a bush camp enroute to break the monotomy. Plus the fun of service station toilets (did I mention you can´t flush loo roll in south america -overflowing bins and hot weather, smells good) and beating Ollie at backgammon as my only pleasure - oh life is hard.

p.s. Did I mention argentinian vino tinto is one quid fifty, and thats the expensive stuff. I´m officially alcoholic.

p.p.s. Keep seeing shoes tied with their laces hanging from the electrical wires in small towns, apparantly this is where you go to find drug dealers at night and I naively thought it was a childs game or something. Lots to learn.

dee.x

Hi guys,

Ollies busy fiddling with his many gadgets, I´m bored sat waiting for him so thought I´d update.

Where were we? Oh yeah hung over after the gay ball, well as you guys know we missed the welcome meeting for this trip, our attendance rate got much worse when we missed the meeting meal set for that night (we did have important things to do like use the internet). Our guilt increased as we met them on the way back to the hotel all holding hands - new best buddies; ain´t it sweet. However our charm and GREAT personalities got us back on track and we also have many ´new best buddies´

So there are 22 travellers on the truck ´Cameron´with tour guides Luca and Mac (I call him big mac cos he´s massive -in the fat sense). Arrived at Paraty at teatime, an old colonial town 286km south Rio very touristy, but pretty. First night we had a group meal (sticky over cooked pasta with bacon type sauce that had no flavour - that group ain´t cooking again) we then got allocated tents. These tents are green, mouldy smelling and small and will be our home for the next 5 months. Great. To round off a lovely meal the brazilian weather didn´t let us down by giving us a great lightening show with about 6 hours of torrential rain. The capsite was a lake and our beautiful smelly tent leaked so much we went to bed under a shower of rain water. So wet clothes on, wet bags to lie beside, muddy feet and no room to even breathe, we spent our first night overlanding.

I woke up in a great mood - dirty, smelly, no sleep and nothing dry to put on.

But, the sun sensing my wrath has done nothing but shine its glorious face off of the past two days. We´ve done a group boat trip with snorkeling (tropical fish and everything) and a day on the beach and now I´ve decided its too hot. I can´t drink enough water to keep up with the sweat, and Ollie is quite embarassing with his glowing redness. What, all we Brits do is complain - never?!

So off to Igazu Falls tomorrow morning, at 9am, having packed up our smelly green home.

dee x

On thursday we got on the truck which is our home for the next 5 months. It smells a bit and theres no air conditioning and theres not enough space, but weve grown an affinity with it already. Its called Cameron and when we drive through little towns and villages, everyone in the street looks up and waves at us.

The truck is pretty comfortable but storage space is minimal. Weve all been given jobs to do - mine is unloading and loading the bag, presumably because im strong and fit. Dees job is to look after the toilet roll and cleaning products, presumably because she looks like a cleaning lady.

We only drove for 5 hours and we arrived in Paraty, which is either pissing with rain or oppressively hot. Im not sure which i prefer. I seem to spend most of my time shying from the sun like a vampire or cowering from the rain like the witch from The Wizard of Oz.

Our first night camping was during a thunderstorm and our tent leaked, which wasnt a good start to the holiday, but the next day was boiling hot so we went to the beach and walked into Paraty.

The village is very old and picturesque. There was an organised boat trip in the afternoon, which was great fun. Everyone brought their own drinks and by the afternoon everyone was merry and we stopped to do some swimming and diving off the boat. It was a good opportunity to get to know everyone on our trip, and so far everyone seems nice. Im not sure ill have the same view in 3 weeks time though.

Included in our Rio activities was a boat trip around one of the bays to see the sunset. There were a few free (strong) cocktails and within an hour people were dancing to the dodgy DJ playing songs like the Grease megamix (a wella wella wella huh). The weather was raining so we didnt see the sunset, but I dont think many people were bothered by that. This Rio Carnival trip is the end of a few weeks travelling for a lot of people, and this was their last excursion together, so everyone was up for a good time. We got back to the hotel a bit tipsy and prepared ourselves for the Gay Ball.

The Gay Ball is a televised all over Brazil and is famous for its transvestites and fancy dress. We (well, Dee) decided to put a lot of effort into the costumes we were going to wear and tried to glam it up as much as possible. I thought we were pretty camp, but when we got downstairs at our hotel we saw what some of the other guys were wearing, it put us to shame. A couple of them were wearing speedos and t-shirts with the nipples cut out. For some, it was their first night at a gay club. I dont think they knew what they were letting themselves in for.

When we arrived we had to walk down the red carpet to get in and the huge crowd cheered and wolf whistled as we went past. It certainly was an experience...

Hey guys. First entry by me here - thought I´d put my own mark on his blog.

Have loved carnival week and experienced amazing sights. Still can´t do samba for toffee, still can´t hack the pure alcohol cocktails and not quite sure if I´ll ever return from the nocturnal state Rio has forced me into, but I sure am smiling.

Was the Gay Ball at scala last night, felt like a VIP walking up the red carpet with the crowds cheering us on and the TV crew. Fantastic atmosphere with live samba band to dance to and loads of queens dressed (using the term lightly) to the nines. Wearing little more than hotpants, a garter, feathers and glitter wig I felt right at home, must admit the cocktails helped. Missed our first trip meeting this morning so unsure of the itinery and who´s in our group but I will hold no responsibility (or guilt), 10am after the ball, madness if they think we were ever going to attend it.

The sambadrome the other night was fantastic, who´d have thought it was possible to snowboard on a carnival float. They must spend thousands on the costumes. The top 12 samba schools compete in the finale and each one takes about an hour to walk the length of the sambadrome with the crowd going mental, just one bugbear, parade lasts an hour - their song lasts abou 10 seconds, its on repeat, non stop, again and again...I´m never going to get them out of my head.

Love Rio, love the views from sugar loaf moutain, love the carnival, not so keen on its rain (my fingers are like prunes) but its all been good fun.

Thats it -I´m done. Bedtime.

On the 4th feb we went to a tour of the favelas. Ive seen the film City of God, which is based in a favela, so was expecting bullets to be flying around our heads and drug dealers shooting people for stepping onto their patch. I was a bit on-edge about safety and not sure about the morality of seeing some of the poorest people in the country for pleasure, but the tours put some money back into the community and give money to schools and health centres, so thats ok.

We travelled to the favela on the back of an army jeep (which was an experience in itself), and the guide took us around the favela on foot. The favela didnt meet my expectations at all. The people were not threatening in any way, and seemed to be ok with us walking about. The favela is like any other city, with the main shopping street, water and electricity (although a lot of people make illegal connections to the supply), even a bank. The trip wasnt disappointing though, the architecture is amazing - if someone wants to move there, they just build their house on top of someone elses. The houses are so close together that the side streets are barely the width of 1 person. There arent official addresses for the houses, they collect their post at the post office. The favela we went to is the largest and houses about 200,000 people.

The 2nd Feb is the official start of the carnival and things started to get really busy. We went back into Lapa the following night for a free outside concert. It has rained pretty much every day so far, if only for a few minutes, so we found some shelter under a street bar and waited for the rain to stop. About an hour later, the rain still hadnt stopped but a lot more liquid had passed our lips (the cocktails here are over 50% spirits) and we were in the mood for dancing. Somehow the rain didnt seem to bother anyone and it was hot anyway, so it was kind of refreshing. We danced till about 4am until we were completely drenched. Even my underpants were soaking. On the way home we got thrown out of a taxi because we had caused massive puddles on the back seat.

You can see my nipples through my drenched t-shirt.

The next day we were feeling pretty rough so didnt do much during the day. We had to leave early for the carnival anyway and knew we had a long night ahead of us. We got to the carnival at about 6.30 (it starts at 9) to get our seats. Everyone from our tour was there so we were in a group of over 100 people. The atmosphere was amazing - we didnt really know what to expect, but when we saw the processions it completely blew us away. We were in sector 13, which are the cheapest seats, right at the end of the procession, so all the dancers were knackered by the time they got to us. It takes about 45mins to get from the start to the end, so we could really see the relief in the dancers faces when they crossed over the finish line. The parade has to be seen to be believed.

Here are some photos - Ive got a few videos as well, but my camera ran out of batteries at the internet cafe, so check back here in a couple of days.