Pousada Catavento Saquarema

... and even more regular at the little whole-food shack by the beach that made awesome soy burgers and açai slushies. When Patrick's hives returned after a week or so absent, I thought I might tear out my hair. Marina was very helpful with suggestions and let me cry on her shoulder, she cooked us simple dinners so that we could know what was going into the food, and she let us use their kitchen whenever we wanted. Jorge called his friend who was a ...

... black. And you know how in some places you can't flush the toilet paper down the toilet but have to put it in the garbage? Well, there was only one other guest and I swear that thing had not been emptied for several weeks. And the kitchen. Oh dear. And the yard was full of dog ****. Basically, Jose didn't have a cleaner and he never cleaned the place himself. We really felt sorry for poor Anna (the other guest) who had been stuck in the place for five weeks already ...

The penultimate entry from my trip.... It´s all gone so damn fast but I am almost ready to come home.... Photo sets viewable here Taking the death train... I met up with Riccardo and Danny (2 guys I met in San Pedro Jail) and the 5 of us headed off to Brazil on the infamous death train. The train got its name due to it being so over-loaded back in the day that people used to fall off the roof. It was a great journey and was able to sleep pretty ...

The following day we decided to head to the bechside town of Saquarema and a local beach called Itauna, unfortunately we didn't check the weather before we left and we ended up catching a bus through floods and rains to get there, Itauna is known for great surf but due to the ...

... is, oneindig veel zee met golven om u tegen te zeggen, Braziliaanse topsurfersdie staaltjes van hun kunnen laten zienwaar wij alleen maar met open mond naar kunnen kijken... Onze plannen om hier zelf ook een allereerste keer op de surfplank te kruipen hebben we dus maar wijselijk weer opgeborgen. Misschien toch maar eerst een keer gaan oefenen in Hofstade... ;-) Na een dag luieren op het strand dan op zoek naar een plaatselijk restaurantje. Zonder grof ...

Very quickly: - yesterday went to City of God with Rachelle. YES CIY}TY OF GOD!!! Had hired a local guy here named Ricardo to be our personal driver for our sightseeing - he took us there - we hired to local guys to take us on motorcycle throughthe favela - saw pverty like never before - heard gun shots - saw river with crocs where they dispose of bodies at times Saw regular families (poor) who just are living their life ...

Its 11am Tuesday and I am here in Rio. Flight left on time yesterday from Sao Luis, and i landed in Rio at about 9pm. Cab to the hostel was 72Rs!! So I took the bus instead (only 6Rs) was a bit nervous about walking from drop off to hostel (not far) but I met a local man who spoke English on the bus who lives around the corner. He walked me here. NICE! Not that is was needed, just tourists here. HOstel is pricey, 32Rs per night for a 10 person dorm ...

... would be great anyway). The walk was fantastic, and a piece of cake compared to the Inca Trail (yes...I still feel invinsible after that weekend)!!! Much of it was uphill, but it was good as it gave us some time to take in our surroundings. The flora here is really varied, ranging from bamboo to elm-like trees. Unfortinately it started to sprinkle half way there...which turned into proper rain...which later turned into a full-on down pour! So we only ...

... to be travelling with guys at that point. We took the bus from the airport to the hostel and were able to see the centre and other parts of the city along our ride. Some of the architechture here is amazing...leftovers from colonial times of the Portugese. There are some beautiful government buildings and even residential areas. But unfortunately all of the loveliness was masked by my terror of the city ...

Rio gets a lot of hype as a city. After 10 days I can see why. It was hard to find the balance between doing all of the standard touristy things while still managing to get out and be day to day, but I sort of managed to do it. I stayed at a hostel that organized a tour almost every day, which seemed great at first but in hindsight was probably not. After doing a few tours, I ...