A little sunshine in Rio

Just chillin' with Jesus

So it finally stopped raining.

We had already bought our tickets to Christ the Redeemerfor 10.30 today in hope. 

We tried to catch the bus there, but firstly could not find the bus stop, then when we did find one the bus would not stop, so we hailed a taxi. 

Bonuses of the weather - there wasn't 2 hour (as expected) wait to get on the train to the statue. Just about 15 of us. Brilliant. So it wasn't crowded at the top and we took some photos, would have even better with sunshine.

We then decided we'd take the bus to the main bus station to buy tickets to Ilha Grande tomorrow. Got stuck on the bus for over an hour in Rio's finest traffic, the driver and money taker (2 bus people on busses here) were great, had translation problems but we managed just fine, people are ally friendly here. We finally got to the bus depot, which by the way is right a beside a favela, is a building site and one of the most confusing places we have ever been. After spending 30 mins here and not finding a bus to where we need to go tomorrow, we jumped on a bus back to Ipanema only to again get stuck in traffic for 2 hours. And during this time the sun came out. (A note here; travel during the World Cup and olympics is going to be horrible if you are coming! They said London was not ready!!!!)

Finally getting back to the hotel we booked a transfer to Ilha Grande with reception, R90 each (50% more than the bus would have cost...if we found it, but this takes us to and onto the ferry and saves us cab fare back to the station. So justified..)

Ipanema Beach

We then dumped our day stuff and just took money and our camera to Ipanema beach to watch the sunset, but clouds came over again. It was still lovely, we sat watching the kids play football and volleyball on the beach, surfers doing their thing and just general people watching. On the way to the beach we stopped at Mil Fruitas, our guidebook told us it was the best ice cream in all of Brazil. It was tasty but at R18 (£5) for 2 scoops it had want to be! 

Walked the 2 blocks back to the hotel after eating some local food for dinner - fried cheese thing (pastal) and bought some snacks for the bus tomorrow. 

Tomorrow looks to be very sunny and hot. 

Raining in Rio

Escardia de Selaron

We arrived into Rio under dark, rainy skies.  According to Angel, the flight was scary and he was quite panicked (a note here: Angel hates flying, he says it's a necessary evil). Immigration was quite slow, but we made it into the country just fine.

We'd asked the hostel to book us a taxi so there was a bloke waiting for us with a sign, probably the best thing we have done so far.

The city is huge, the driver told us there are 6 million people in Rio, he pointed out Christ the Redeemer  to us as we drove towards Copacabana and through the tunnel under the statues mountain. His English was not great, but as our Portuguese is pretty much non-existent we spoke in broken sentences, nice bloke. 

This is pretty much the most expensive place we will stay in on our journey, it's £72 a night and very basic, but has air conditioning and private bathroom. It's called Bonita Ipanema, and we're just 2 blocks from Ipanema beach.

Our first day we woke up to grey rainy skies again, a bit disappointed but we did not let that stop us.  We walked from our hotel to the beach then walked along the beach and around to Copacabana beach and along it to the metro. (Unfortunately the metro station 2 mins from our hotel is closed, so it is about an hours walk to the next one). 

We then caught a bus to Santa Teresa and wandered in the rain along the cobbled streets to find the top of the Escardia de Selaron, and walked down the beautifully tiled steps (the pic here is us on them) unfortunately it was pissing it with rain and they were slippery, Ellen fell down them, twice. To be fair it would not be a holiday without Ellen hurting herself on the first day! 

Pizza and toasted sandwiches for lunch at Ernesto's near Lapa, and headed back to Copacabana beach to walk back to Ipanema. Loads of walking today. 

Booked tickets to go up the 'cog train' to Cristo Redentor at 10.20 tomorrow.

Now, to plan which city we head to next....

2 more days!

We've just said goodbye to Ellen's family and friends in Scotland we had a great night out organised by ellens's pals.

Can't believe there are just 2 more sleeps until we leave.

Last day at work. 2 weeks, 2 days till we fly!

So it has finally arrived. Leaving work day.
It's both exciting and scary, the great unkown for 4 months before working again (when we find jobs that is!).
My liver is pretty much shot and I have easily put on a stone in the past month with all the farewells (and loads of Crabbies!)
After accepting an offer on the flat, we finally move out next Friday - after our stuff is packed up for shipping to Australia - and we move in with our friends in Greenwich for a few days, then head up to Scotland for more farewells.
And yes, that is a G&T on my desk.

Inca trail and flights booked

We have booked our flights, accommodation for most of the places we are flying into, and the Inca Trail.

South American flights are ridiculously expensive (£500 per person Bogota to Lima!) but it saves us quite a lot of time - and we heard about the dodgy route from Columbia to Ecuador - and this also let's us see more of Peru and Bolivia.

Below is a list of we have booked all our travel through. There is also a list on the side of the blog which we will list with all the places we will stay, and also any transport/tour companies we'll use.

London to Rio: BA
Buenos Aires to Bogota: Avianca
Inca Trail company: Lama Path
Cusco to Puno Train: Peru Rail
Columbian internal flights: Viva Columbia

Bogota to Lima: Avianca
Santiago to Sydney: QANTAS (unfortunately)

Just 4 weeks to go today!

Our beloved flat is for sale

Our lovely little flat is on the market.
Anyone want a really homely 2 bedroom garden flat in South East London (SE15)?

New carpets, bamboo floor in living room, renovated and ready to move it. 

2 Bedroom
Renovated Bathroom.
Freshly painted and carpeted.
3 year old boiler. 
42' private garden.

118 year lease.

Contact KFH in Peckham.

Visa approved so we can get cracking!

Ellen has visa! Finally we can write more about our adventure. We are off to Australia via a 3 month backpacking adventure through South America.

Ellen has been waiting 9 months for the Australian consulate here in London to issue her visa, and finally it came through last week.  

It’s been a long slog, the application itself took over 2 months to put together and in the time between first enquiring in January 2012 and applying in September 2012 the waiting time went from 2 months to 9 months!

So we will be in Australia just in time for Christmas with Angel's family - his first in over 10 years.

We now have loads to do – Sell the flat, the car, the Vespa, some crap we don’t want to take with us, book the shipping of our stuff and the transportation of our beloved cat Bob to Angel’s parents (she has gone through all the medical tests/injections she needs…poor thing).