May 13 – 17, Brazil and Rio de Janeiro – our last stop

Having finally arrived in Brazil (hateful BA) and braved the not so freeway, 420 kms from Sao Paulo to the second city, Rio with 9M inhabitants. (From a personal safety viewpoint Graham refused to visit Soa Paulo, time had run out. However, we did therby learn that buses and lorries rule the roads, before we arrived safely but tired in beautiful Rio de Janeiro.
Difficult to really get used to pedestrians crossing the motorways on foot – let alone the joggers!

Tropical South America




Rio as spell binding as we could have imagined – a dream site ecologically protected since the mid 19th century (by Emperor Pedro II) – with re-forestation

Bet its seriously hot and humid in summer – look at the haze from the heat in winter







Wonderful sambas and bossa novas - but not really in the streets (Graham makes a comparison with Cuba here)



Crumbling latish 20th century high-rises right next to .............



Wonderfully preserved 17-19th century buildings and monuments often but not always just squeezed between these sky scrapers

Famous café where Graham found another source of his favorite Argentinan dessert "dolce de leche" again only this time called "doce de leite" but also served as ice cream!

A great unpreserved but operational tram system winding around some of the cities hills

Horrible/ugly modern Rio Cathedral in this very Catholic religious country and then an absolutely gorgeous baroque one



Signs of an Ecological awakening – good!

Artistry in the Graffiti




Brazilian people


Not a low cost destination – especially clothes and even quality clothes – a bit of a surprise

Home grown developed economy from all signs that we could understand for Portuguese only spoken here (the contrary to nearly all the rest of Latin America where ONLY Spanish spoken here – woe-betide that determined English speaker – rejection is inevitable

Poverty was around us again – and Graham’s camera seriously coveted – but brought safely out of the country