South American Honeymoon!

The bus journey took 2 hours longer than planned because it broke down, but we eventually made it over the border and into Venezuela. We got a cab from the bus station into Santa Elena and then found out that none of the cashpoints worked with our card. Luckily, we had some 'emergency' dollars tucked away so our cabbie took us to a money changer on a street corner and we got some Bolivars (a relief for us and the cabbie I think!).

After talking to some people we realised that we'd been stupid to ignore some advice given to us previously, which was to take Brazilian Reals across to change on the black market for a much better rate than the official one given by banks. SO, we jumped into a taxi to the Brazilian border (where Steve got taken into a room and frisked by a scary policeman with a huge gun!) and got out all the Reals we could!

We then went back to Santa Elena and Steve haggled with about 10 dodgy money changers on the street until he got a decent rate from the bloke he'd met the day before. We didn't want to change the money on the street as we were changing so much, so we went inside a shop and counted out the 3250 Bolivars - they were all in 10's so we walked out of there with a HUGE wad of notes and spent the next hour trying to work out how to stash them in amongst our clothes!

We left there and headed up to the Caribbean coast (on yet another bus that broke down), to a place called Santa Fe. A small fishing village with a nice beach....

And lots of Pelicans....

We went on a boat trip to Parque Nacional Mochima and saw some gorgeous islands....

On the way back loads of dolphins started swimming along with the boat. We've never seen so many dolphins at once before, there must have been about 20 of them and it was amazing. It was hard to capture them all in a photo because they were going in and out of the water at different times....

Next we got a 5 hour ferry to Isla de Margarita (which had some lovely views along the way)....

It left 3 hours late so by the time we got to Porlamar (the main town on Margarita) it was about 11pm and the area that we´d planned to stay in looked really dodgy. Our cabbie said his mate had a nice apartment in a good area that he could take us to, we were a bit dubious (not least of all because he seemed to be drunk) but we didn´t have many options at this stage! It turned out to be fantastic and after we´d had a nice cup of tea and our first HOT shower for a while, the stress of the journey disappeared...!

We stayed there for a few nights, even though it was costing us a fortune, enjoying the duty free wine and great food! Then we moved on to Pampatar and got a more basic apartment right on the beach....

Unfortunately, most of the beaches we saw in Venezuela were pretty badly littered. Some locals tend to take a cold box full of beers down to the beach and chuck their empty bottles on the beach and in the sea. Not quite what we were expecting from the 'Caribbean' coast. So we left the island and headed down to the Andes.

The journey to Merida was long but the views were gorgeous and the city had a really nice feel to it - it was our favourite place in Venezuela....

This is a small Andean village near to Merida, called Jaji....

After months of thinking and talking about it, we finally decided to go to Colombia....Unfortunately, we missed the only bus of the day that was going there so we had to get a taxi instead....

There are loads of really old American buses and cars in Venezuela, and some of the cabs we got in were literally falling apart! This one was a bit of a tight squeeze with Steve and me in the front with the driver, and a Venezuelan family in the back. There were loads of checkpoints along the way, where we handed over our passports and the other people handed over 5 Bolivar notes.....no comment on that one!

When we got to Manaus, we'd planned to get the bus straight out to Venezuela, but we bumped into an Amazon Jungle guide who ended up talking us into going on one of his trips instead!

The next morning they picked us up early and a bus, boat, another bus and another boat later we were at their jungle lodge which was really nice....

We all slept in a big hut in hammocks with mozzie nets....

On the first day we went piranha fishing. We caught loads but felt quite bad about it, although we did eat them so they didn't die in vain.....plus they would've eaten us if they'd got the chance! We thought they were quite small but everytime I got one the guide kept saying 'grande grande'! They were evil looking red things with very sharp teeth (obviously)! I would have got a photo of it but I accidentally drowned my poor camera and it stopped working!

That night, when it was pitch black, we went Caiman spotting and the guide scared the life out of us by saying 'some things might jump into the boat but don't jump or panic and fall in because the things in the water are much more dangerous than the things in the boat' - great! He spotted a small caiman just by the eyes glowing in the torch light and caught it before we even knew it was there - it looked just like a crocodile (not sure what the difference is?).

The next day we did a jungle trek and, I know this is obvious, there are A LOT of bugs in the Amazon Jungle! We had things biting us and flying into us all the time but we braved it out and it was excellent. The guide showed us lots of medicinal trees, including the 'Vicks' tree (now you know where that vapour rub comes from!).

This is Steve drinking from a tree root (photo's a bit on the blurry side)....

This is a bird-eating tarantula which I thought was wicked but scared the life out of Steve!....

At about 10pm that night we were chilling in the bar with a caipirinha when our guide came along and asked us if we wanted to go to a birthday party in a hut nearby....we did of course, so we drowned ourselves in insect repellent and off we went with our guide and some friends from our group. We pulled up in our canoe and clambered across the other boats 'parked' there to the hut....

The decking outside was full to the brim with people drinking and dancing. We got ourselves a drink and all stood around a bit sheepishly at first, but the locals were very welcoming and they even dragged a few people inside to dance - not us though because their rule is that people who are married can only dance with eachother or relatives (well, we like to think that was the reason!).

It didn't take long for us all to relax and soon we were in this little room strutting our stuff....

We left there about 2.30am and our (drunk) boat driver just about managed to get us back to the lodge in the pitch black, narrowly avoiding driving us into the depths of the jungle along the way! The party went on for ages after we'd left and we could still hear the music when we got up for breakfast the next morning!

On the last day we went canoeing through the flooded forest (the water rises about 12 metres in some places around Lake Mamori during the wet season). It was very hard work to get through all the branches either overhead or under the water, plus loads of insects kept falling on us....yuk! We did see a family of Howler monkeys making their way through the trees though so it was worth it.

We also saw a massive wasps' nest hanging from a tree....

After we got back from the trip we spent our final night in Brazil with the friends we'd met in the jungle, which was fantastic. Then we caught a bus to Venezuela the following day....

When we got to Belem we were looking forward to getting to a nice hostel and having a long shower, unfortunately the hostel was pretty basic and the shower was FREEZING....but still, it was nice to be off that bus!

We decided to economise by washing all our stuff by hand (washing is dearer than you'd think), so we bought some powder and used the hostels washboard sink. It was quite a novelty to us as we'd never done it before so we thought it'd be fun - it wasn't. It took us AGES in the sweltering heat and once we'd hung it all out on the line it started pouring with rain (as it does there every afternoon apparently) - how did anyone cope before washing machines and tumble dryers?!

Anyway........

We went down to the dock to check out the boat that was leaving for Manaus the next day and, after MUCH badgering, they let Steve on to see it (wouldn't let me on for some reason!). We were since told that they never let people aboard to have a look but I think Steve was driving them so mad that they eventually gave in!

We cheated a bit and didn't travel how most of the locals (and backpackers) do, even though it would've saved us a fair few quid. We didn't think we could handle 5 nights of sleeping in a hammock in very close quarters....

So we booked ourselves an ensuite cabin with aircon which was lovely because the temperature out on deck was about 35 - 40 degrees each day!

Our freshly painted cabin (or suite as they called it)....

We'd heard that the journey could be a bit monotonous because you don't really get to see any of the animals in the jungle - mainly due to the fact that our boat is SO loud, blaring out 'Forro' music from 7.30 am till long after we'd gone to sleep!! It was a long time to spend sitting around all day but we really enjoyed it because there were so many things to see along the way - just the river in general, different people, their houses, lots of birds and even a few dolphins.

On the first day we saw lots of kids, aged from about 5 upwards, lined up along the river in little wooden canoes waiting for our boat to come along....

Some of them were waiting for the people on the boat to throw stuff over for them. One of the locals had loads of carrier bags full of kids clothes that he threw over which was great. We felt terrible because we hadn't realised that this would happen so we didn't really have much to give them which was a shame.

Some of the other kids rowed up very close to the boat (as it was still moving) and with a lot of skill and courage, threw a big metal hook onto the side of the boat and tied their canoe on. They then climbed aboard with their stuff to sell, shrimps, fruit etc. As you can see from this photo below, the waves created by our boat were pretty rough and they were really thrown about in their little canoes - not that they seemed to mind but I was a nervous wreck! It was amazing to see, especially considering how little they are.

The boat itself was nice, the staff were really lovely and one woman used to come and call us before each meal was being served (we didn't overly appreciate the brekkie call at 6am though!). We'd been warned that the food could be a bit dodgy and we'd stocked up on crisps and biscuits to keep us going but it turned out to be really tasty. The people who were staying in cabins (about 10 at most) had a separate eating area from the people staying in hammocks which felt a bit embarrassing and just plain wrong really! The food though (other than breakfast which was included in the price) was the same for everyone - and at about £1.50 a meal it was brilliant.

We spent most of the time just chilling in the sunshine and watching the Amazon go by....

The sunrises and sunsets were stunning....

We stopped quite a few times on the way, to drop off and load on people and an incredible amount of cargo. We only got off once, at Santarem which is a big town about halfway between Belem and Manaus. This is just outside Santarem where the Amazon River (the brown one) runs alongside the Tapajós River (the blue one) for several kilometres without merging (this is caused by their different temperatures).

It was a great experience and it was almost a shame to leave the boat when we arrived at Manaus!

After we said a sad goodbye to Dean and Kam, the rest of us picked up our hire car and Pa drove us up and around the winding mountains to Petropolis (the former Imperial Capital).

The town is lovely and very scenic with canals running through it and mountains all around.

We found a great hotel overlooking a lake and a stunning old Colonial building...

We spent a couple of days here chilling around the pool and seeing the sights before heading onto Buzios a couple of hours up the coast.

Bumpy Buzios as we called it because every road has unmarked and sporadic speed bumps that you can only see when you're just about to go over them, which made the journeys pretty funny! It's on a peninsula and we spent some time seeing as many of the 17 beaches as we could - not an easy task as there are hardly any road signs and many are along dirt tracks.

This is the view from a look out point at one of the bays...

When we left Buzios we headed back along the coast in the direction of Rio looking for somewhere to stop for a night or two but everywhere was pretty deserted. We ended up getting all the way to Niteroi which is where the bridge goes into Rio. We didn't have any ideas about where to stay so we just headed for one of the beaches (in the chaotic rush-hour traffic!), but couldn't find a single hotel once we'd got there. We were at a total loss so we stopped and asked some police if they knew of a hotel nearby. One of them drove off to look for one for us, then came back and gave us a police escort to it! It turned out to be a stunning boutique hotel (far too expensive for us backpackers but we decided to treat ourselves with some birthday money I'd got!). The owners made us feel like we were the only people there and we loved it so much we stayed 2 nights enjoying the pool, steam room, garden, food etc!

The breakfast was huge....

Enjoying a nice glass of wine on my hammock....

It was a perfect way to end our trip with Mum & Dad before dragging ourselves back to the real backpacker lifestyle!

We decided that after all of our swanning around in expensive hotels we would do a hardcore bus journey all the way to Belem in the North of Brazil. It was about 2000 miles and FIFTY TWO hours! It wasn't actually too bad, we stopped a lot along the way at some nice per-kilo restaurants (where you pay for your food by the weight) and we saw some interesting towns along the way ....

Plus I was too sad after Mum and Dad left to do anything more than watch films and sleep anyway!

We arrived in Rio after what seemed like a reeaaally long journey but think it was just because we were so excited to be getting there!

The accomodation in Rio is really expensive and seeing as we only needed one night we decided to get a cheapo bed in a dorm room - had the top bunks of a 3-tiered bunk bed in the tiniest room you could ever possibly fit 9 people in! It was pretty grim so we just went straight out for a wander, saw Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, which were stunning obviously! Then we found a bar which served red wine by the cup and sat watching football with the locals till we were drunk enough to face our room!!

Got up early the next morning (with a hangover) and rushed to meet Mum, Dad, Dean and Kam at the apartment they'd booked for us all. It was fantastic to see everyone and finally all be together in Rio like we'd been talking about for the last year! The apartment was wicked, about 30 seconds walk from Copacabana which we could see from our windows and it was close to loads of great restaurants and shops.

This is all of us at the Copacabana Fort, which separates Copacabana beach from Ipanema....

For the remaining 9 days we couldn't get the songs 'Girl from Ipanema' or 'Copacabana' out of our heads (especially Pa!) !!!!

Dean and I (Steve) spent most of the first week trying to decide when to go and check out the Maracana stadium. We found out that a local side, Fluminese, were due to play Boca Juniors (from Buenos Aires, Argentina) in the semi-final of the Copa Libertadores (Champions League equivalent) and decided we had to go for it - despite some wide-ranging safety warnings! Having been given a quote of 200Rs each (about £63) for a ticket, transport and a guide, we got a deal for 80Rs (£25) the day before the game and were over the moon! We arrived at the ground at 8......late you may think, but the game didn't kick off until 10! The surrounding streets were already packed and when we got in the ground the atmosphere was already electric. The photos below were over an hour BEFORE kick-off....

We got seats just below the away fans which made the occasion all the more interesting but we felt safe having been happily accepted by the local fans. So, with the beers flowing, and having learnt a few of their songs we really didn't care too much if the game ever started!! When it did, it was a great game, with Fluminese coming back from 1 down to win 3-1. It was an incredible night from start to finish.....to think we may have missed it!?!?!??!?!

We waited for a nice clear day before we went up to see the Christ the Redeemer statue and it was definitely worth it because the view was fantastic from up there.....

And the statue itself was amazing to see, it looks quite small from the ground but it's absolutely huge when you get up there!

My (Kay's) birthday was FANTASTIC (thanks for all my lovely pressies!).......Mum and I went to the hairdressers for a bit of a pamper, I just about made myself understood and they did a good job (well we thought so) and we even got a big cuddle when we tipped them - we didn't think it was that generous at tip but maybe Brazilians don't tip hairdressers?!!

In the afternoon we went to Sugarloaf Mountain which was incredible. You get up there by cable car and on the first level there were lots of cute little monkeys running around. Even at this stage we thought the view was great but then we got up to the top level for sunset and WOW, what a gorgeous city it is!

After the sun had gone most of the people left but we stayed and sat drinking Caipirinhas as the lights went on around Rio.

When we finally managed to tear ourselves away (a little merry at this stage I must say), we went for dinner at my favourite Churrascaria where the waiters come to the table and carve the (unbelievably tasty) meat straight onto your plate.

On our last night we had a lovely meal on Copacabana, a really nice end to a great 10 days!