Sep 13, 2012 - Paraty - Trindade

Depuis São Paulo, nous sommes allés à Paraty, une jolie ville coloniale. C'est d'ailleurs une des villes les plus anciennes du Brésil. La vieille ville était vraiment très jolie mais nous n'avons pas eu de chance avec le temps. Le ciel était couvert, nous avons eu de la pluie et il faisait presque froid. Bon, environ une vingtaine de degrés mais nous étions maintenant plus habitués aux 30. Alors, on avait l'impression d'avoir froid. Nous sommes ensuite allés à Trindade, un petit village sur la côte à une heure de bus au sud où nous pensions...

Aug 13, 2012 - rio de janeiro

hi everyone well boy have we been busy little beavers. we are staying at copacabana beach just around the corner from teh famous ipanema (you know the song about the girl from ipanema who goes walking). the weather is absolutely fabulous and the beer is too. there is an old fort at the end of the beach so we had a look around there, right up honks ally with canons and shells and stuff. we went up the famous jesus christ statue yesterday and also to these stairs that this guy turned into an huge mosiac of tiles, pretty cool. the highlight...

Jul 9, 2012 - Weekend trip to Rio de Janeiro

This weekend we had a three-day weekend due to a city holiday and as a group we organized a trip to Rio de Janeiro. Getting to Rio was a trip in its own right. Out of the 7 of us on the trip, 5 of us booked flights and two didn’t plan until last minute and ended up taking the 6 hour bus because it was more cost effective. Those of us who were flying had to leave for the airport at 4:30am, but due to the late night outings of most of our group the night before, I had a difficult time waking them up in the morning. Lets just say none of us...

May 14, 2012 - At last! Sorry about the delay.

What a lively City. People party 24-7. Stayed in an apartment in Copacabama not far from the beach. Views from Corovado and Sugar Loaf mountains over the whole city were spectacular. Bazza had a monkey cling to him on Sugar Loaf when he was eating his apple. They looked so good together. Photos to follow when we have downloaded and my niece finishes her Uni exams.

May 14, 2012 - Still in Brazil - Paraty

This lovely old town is 5 hours south of Rio on the coast. We stayed in Casa do Rio Hostel which overlooked the river. It was very relaxing here and we stayed for 3 nights. The old town has the roughest cobble streets we have seen so far. Nice walks along the beaches. The "old" town was very expensive, but well worth it.

May 7, 2012 - Rio- the rest

The following day was quite a hetic one, I think I was awake for a good 22 hours (memory a little hazy). In the morning I took to the skies of Rio & attempted some handgliding… after getting over the thought of running off the side of a hill 700+ metres high, it was actually an experience I would have regretted not doing. Scariest part was when the pilot directed the glider over the sea some photo’s of this will be included below. After that, we then went on a tour of a real life Favela of Rio, which was quite an eye opener of how other...

May 6, 2012 - Rio! day 1

Rio- How best to describe the place…. Beaches, pay per weight eating & steak!... Oh, and the Favela’s. Have had an awesome time in Rio, some of the highlights of my time in Rio was locating the Australia tile at Escadaria Selarón (AKA Lapa’s steps), although some could say it is a bit of a disappointment, I’ll let you all decide for yourself. Other things I enjoyed included visiting Christ the Redeemer, although the day we visited it was all cloudy! The day we visited it was a primarily clear blue sky all over Rio, except for one place,...

May 4, 2012 - Buzios- Relaxation time!

Buzios- Time to relax inbetween the hectic days spent in earlier days & in preperation for the craziness of Rio, & that is exactly what I ended up doing. After spending a good part of the day travelling to Buzios itself, we spent the evening cruising around some ilands, having a few drinks & some people even went for a swim- not me, I had had a few drinks. Anyhow, it was a bit of a scary flight from Iguassa upto Rio airport... upon a look at the airplane we boarded there was some nice chunks of airplane with rust on it (including the...

Mar 18, 2012 - Last Day in Rio

I woke up, packed my bags and headed straight to the beach. This was our first "free" day in Brazil and I felt that I had neglected the beautiful Rio beaches. We had a relaxing day in the sun, reminiscing about the trip. My spray suntan lotion let me down in the Tropical Sun and I burned badly. After I had enough (too much) sun, I headed to Ipanema for the Hippie Fair. A hippie hangout in the 1960s, this Sunday market in Ipanema was an entertaining place to browse for souvenirs and people watch. Bahiana women wearing traditional...

Mar 17, 2012 - Cultural Exploration in Rio de Janeiro

After a great night in Lapa, I decided to forfeit sleep in order to see some of the most spectacular cultural sights in Rio. First, we headed to see the Christ the Redeemer statue. It is considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world and the 5the largest Jesus Christ statue in the world. The statue, at the peak of Corcovado Mountain, is a symbol of Brazilian Christianity with an amazing view; it overlooks the entire city of Rio de Janeiro. After seeing the Christ statue, we took a walk through the Tijuca Forest National Park. The...

Mar 16, 2012 - Company Visits in Rio - Day 2

Today, we had three company visits in Rio. We began at the Committee for Democracy for Information Tedchnology (CDI). CDI establishes computer centres and teaches local people about how to use technology to improve their lives. Participants not only change their own lives but become role models in their communities, even in former drug dealer environments. In the past 13 years, CDI has trained more than 1 million people and established more than 750 telecentres in South American Favelas/slums. Following the presentation, we had the...

Mar 15, 2012 - Company Visits in Rio - Day 1

We woke up in Rio to get back on the bus for more company visits. Today we headed to Thyssen Krupp, one of the world's largest steel producers. The campus was colorful which was unique for a Steel company. There were many different areas of the campus including a raw material yard (raw materials are 75% of the company's cost). This is where the iron ore and cole are stored. The coking plant, sinter plant, power plant and port, where steel slabs are exported to the US and Germany, are also present on the massive campus. In addition to...