Ouro Preto
Trip Start
Jan 10, 2005
1
10
12
Trip End
May 21, 2005
Ouro Preto,
Brazil
Monday, April 18, 2005
Now, lets talk about Brazil....
Itīs big, really BIG!
In fact itīs the same size as the US - 8.5 million sqm with a population of 180 million
- two thirds of whom live on the coast. The reason for this now seems pretty clear - Brazilian men and women have such amazing bodies that they feel compelled to show them off on the beach at every possible opportunity
01. Rio
! In fact the day we got here we saw hundreds of men wandering around the streets of Rio in bare feet, wearing nothing but their skimpy speedos (Nicks, book your flights here NOW!).We spent a couple of days in Rio - did the usual Jesus/Sugar Loaf thing before heading to a magical place called Buzios which is a super chic beach resort īdiscoveredī by Bridget Bardot in the 1960īs. Here Dan changed from white to er.. white while I developed a deep charcol complexion (heīs so jealous!).
Now boys, you do not need to read the next paragraph - girls, you may
not want to either...you have been warned....
Before I was able to put myself into a Bikini I needed to address 3 months of severe neglect in the bikini bottom area. In my rubbish Portuguese I pleaded with the beautician that all I needed was a wax īpara um bikini europeaī but what she did was far more extreme and within seconds I was in a world of hot-wax pain and I think the whole of Brazil must have heard me screaming.
When I looked down at the damage I barely recognised myself, the word "Airstrip" springs to mind
02. Copacabana
!Anyway, moving swiftly on....After a week of bronzing (or not), snorkelling, boat trips and eating far too much we thought -
"Itīs time to climb a mountain!".
Now Brazil only has about 5 of them but we managed to hunt down the 3rd highest (Pico da Bandeira) which was in Rioīs neighbouring state, Minas Gerais.
Doing this involved coming off the "tourist trail" and having to employ our embarrassingly bad Portuguese. In fact, on one of our stops at the amazing Pedra Azul (see photos) we were so far away from Gringo land and so unable to communicate that the hotel receptionist took pity on us and booked us buses, taxis and hotels for the next 4 days!- God knows we needed the help - as you can imagine Danīs version of Portuguese involves shouting in English more loudly.
The mountain (when we finally made it there) was really a hill by our current standards at a mere 2850 metres and only took 6 hours to summit. When we got to the top we were greeted by a cloud whiteout and we couldnīt see a thing. At least we got the chance to work off some of the beach fat!
Now we are in Ouro Preto - a beautifully preserved colonial town (although we secretly wish the Spanish had got here first so we could understand what people are saying!). Next stop is the North East so until then...
