The great outdoors

For the past week I've been travelling through inland Brazil, taking in a few national parks the Chapada da Veadieros and Chapada da Diamantines.

Our first stop was a little town Alto Paraiso near the first national park.  It was quite cute with little hippy shops around the place. The first day there we did a massive hike down through the savanna scrubland to check out some waterfalls.  It was bloody hot which made the swimming that much more lovely when we arrived.  We stopped there and had lunch and sunbaked on the rocks before heading upstream to another swimming spot with a few little mini waterfalls and some rapids.  Of course the boys had to show off in the rapids and our tour leader Rudi scored a cut to his forehead, silly man.  No sympathy from nurse Erin!

After Alto Paraiso we went to a community in Kalunga.  The founding of the community was quite interesting, first forming several hundred years earlier from slaves who had escaped work in the mines and other labour.  The community kept themselves isolated and only in the past few decades have they been connecting with the rest of the country and getting government services etc.  I just had a chilled day there cos I had been a little sick, hanging in the hammock playing ukulele and resting up.

The next day we had a long drive to Lencois, gateway to the Chapada da Diamantines.  Its a gorgeous old colonial town with the brightly painted houses set on a river.  The first day a few of us from the group (Kate, Jarod, Sarah and Sarah, Chas and Tyler and I) went exploring upstream, traipsing across some strange pink marbely-rockyroady rocks then swimming in a few little interconnected pools.  After lunch we walked through the forest downstream to a natural waterslide - the river streaming down a flat rock at about a 40 degree angle - that was SO much fun.  A tad scary cos you do pick up some speed, plus its a little bumpy:) There were some guys at the waterhole who had strung up a slackrope across the water and very impressively walked across it.  They made it look so easy in fact that I thought I'd try my hand at it - totally hopeless!  One of the guys was holding my hand but before I could even let go I was shaking all over the place and promptly splashed in the water as soon as he let go.  That guy was crazy actually, kept singing really high pitched Bob Marley and ''you can get it if you really want" as people tried the slackrope.  On the way home we stopped for coconuts: they just chop the top off and stick a straw in, its great, the most refreshing hydration ever!

The following day was friggin brilliant.  We did a tour all around the national park.  We began with a huge cave which had tonnes stalactite and stalagmites plus all these drapey bits, it was so beautiful as we walked along shining our torches on more and more of these amazing formations.  We stopped halfway through the cave, turned off our torches, went silent and had a short little meditation.  Which was good once I got "Ïf you like pina coladas" (Which for some reason has become the tour theme song) out of my head!  Next stop was this amazing blue pool/river with crystal clear water - I jumped off the cliff on a zip-line and flew across and into it - that was awesome fun.  We walked upstream to another cave where the water was bright blue, then drove to another spot and hiked to a cool waterfall for more swimming.  The day finished with a hike up one of the mountains where we could see all around the park.  The views were just stunning, looking across the valleys to all these tabletop mountains as the sun set, it was lovely.  That night we found a weird party with some performance dancing and a couple bands and had a good dance, then a few of us went for a spontaneous moonlit trip up to the river pools again and swam and listened to music late into the night.  All in all a pretty awesome day.

Since then we've been in Salvador which is a big city where we've been walking the streets sightseeing, checking out markets, and last night watched this incredible dance performance with some amazingly athletic local dancers.  The culture here is much more African influenced, with Capoeira demonstrations in the street so this performance involved some amazing jumping and twisting to some intense percussion based music, it was great.  I cant wait to see what the next leg of the trip has in store, we're now on the coast and will be making our way up to Belem at the mouth of the amazon - no doubt even more swimming woohoo:)

Trucking around brazil

I joined my tour with Dragoman last Friday. It's been bloody great so far. We've been on the road to Brasilia, the inland capital of Brazil.

Our first stop was in the small mountain town of Teresopolis and the drive up there was fantastic. The views were just stunning, gorgeous mountaintops and beautiful forest. Teresopolis is where the rich from Rio have little mountain holiday homes because it's close to Rio and so picturesque.

Our campsite was great, the set up with the tour is pretty slick- great tents, all the supplies and equipment needed, very organised. And the people I'm with are all pretty cool- a couple Brits, Kiwis and Aussies, being led through the countryside by a Scot and Italian. We've been cooking communally, playing Pataki (kind of like hacky sack) going for swims, traipsing around together and if course having a few beers, it's been delightful!

Our second stop was the old mining town Ouro Preto, where a lot of gold was mined early after portuguese colonization. Heaps of wealth was taken out of the place via these mines, which were worked by slaves, many dying young in the process. We visited a few of the mines and swam in an underground lake inside one!
The town if Ouro Preto was lovely and reminded me a bit if Cuba. Cobblestone streets, cute houses, lots of churches all set on the mountainside- a bit of work to walk around but gorgeous.

The night after we camped by a lovely lake on our way to Brasilia, where we are tonight. It's an artificial capital, kind of like Canberra! Yeah so not much to report there, a lot of government buildings...

Tomorrow we head out bush for about a week, taking in several national parks before we arrive back to the coastal city of Salvador, which should be awesome!

Rio

What a magnificent city! Mountains, beaches, so much to see... and boy do they know how to party!

I to my lovely hostel last Wednesday and despite the long flight decided to go exploring the neighbourhood a little.  Set between the loagoon and the beach, Ipanema is a beautiful neighbourhood.  As I arrived to the lagoon the scene took my breath away.  The granite mountains make for dramatic views from all over the city.  After this I walked back to the beach where the locals were playing futevolei.  Its a really impressive version of volleyball where instead of using their hands they show off their mad soccer skills, its so fun to watch.

The following day was spent exporing Ipanema, Copacabana and the City, looking at some rad art deco architecture and some ridiculously ornate churches.  I saw an exhibition of paintings by a Brazilian artist Tarsila do Amaral which was brilliant.  As I walked around the city there were stalls on every corner selling  masks, crazy hats and silly glasses.  The city was getting ready for Carnaval!  That night I walked a few blocks from my hostel to a local bloco (street party) to see what it was all about...

It was crazy!  Totally nuts!  And bloody awesome:)  There were people absoutely everywhere, decorated with feathers and aforementioned silly hats just singing and dancing and drinking and kissing.  Smiles eveywhere.  The first bloco I went to and was in a park.  I think there was a band somewhere in the middle of the massive crowd but people were just dancing to their own songs, loving life, it was great.  The next bloco I stumbled upon had a proper parade with sexy samba dancers and an absoutely rocking percussion section which whipped the crowd (myself included) into a joyous frenzy.  There was a float of a giant smiling condom, which at one point was dangerously close to hitting the powerlines over the street.  Twelve Brazilian guys in green pig hats carefully, and rather comically, guided it through but didnt stop drinking or dancing in the entire operation.  The blocos are the lifeblood of Carnaval, but the highlight are the parades in the Sambodrome.

The Sambodrome, a purpose built stadium for this event, hosts a competition every Carnaval, between the many Samba schools around Rio.  Each school puts on theri own parade (each lasting over an hour) with hundreds of participants dressed in elaborate costumes,  the glamourous Samba dancers in their feathery mangnificence, crazy floats and a specially written song for the parade.  The aim is to impress the judges which then choose the winner from nine schools, held over two nights. 

I arrived to the Sambodrome and was immediately struck by the atmosphere, it was electric!  I arrived about 10.30 pm and plonked myself down, solo gringa girl amongst hundreds of happy brazilians dancing, singing and waving the flags of the schools they came to support.  Then the second schoos parade began and in a short time my mind was blown.  The costumes were nothing short of amazing.  This first school had some strange historical theme, with kings and knights, boats to new lands, indigenous peoples (including biazrre aboriginals with boomerangs and koalas sitting on their hips?!?) then scientists with huge magnifying glasses and Newton´s with apples on their heads, throught to Beatles with Yellow Submarine hats, finishing off with Alice in Wonderland for some reason.  The themes were kinda random, but I liked that cos you never knew what to expect next!  The school that ended up winning featured these incredible dancers in Slinky costumes, the Queen, Michael Jackson and Ronaldhino dancing on a plane, and some other weird and wonderful costumes and a catchy tune.  I was there til 530 am and it was easily the most entertaining thing I have ever seen in my life.  That day as I collapsed into bed I dreamt dazzling trippy rainbow dreams...

Other highlights of Rio have included:  favela kids drumming on bins and dancing their little hearts out; the panoramic views from the giant Jesus statue; sitting on the Lapa steps at 4am discussing the practical applications of Pythagoras´ theorem with cute Argentinans; hanging out by the pool with the hostel cat, Lilu; and laying under an umbrella on Ipanema beach being served coconut water...I kinda love this town!

Adios Amigos!

So I've decided to resurrect my old travel blog!

If you miss me like crazy (or maybe I should say when) and the facebook status updates and hipstergram photos aren't giving you enough of an Erin-fix, come here to get all the juicy details.  I will endeavour to write a decent post once a week, depending on computer availability.

So the adventure begins! I fly out bright and early Wednesday morning and touch down in Rio about 24 hours later, and start enjoying Carnaval, the biggest party on earth, yay!

While this is obviously awesome, a part of me is a little sad to leave all you lovely people.  Life has been getting so good lately, I've been having smashing times with some some fabulous friends who bring out the best in me.  My family has been beautiful, especially the gorgeously cute Rafael and Malia - they're going to be so big by the time I get back!  Oh well, I'll just have to have a super awesome time to distract me from how much I'll miss you all:)  Keep you posted my dears...

goodbye blogspot

yes i have become a statistic: apparantly 80% of all blogs die in a year, as has mine. i would direct you to myspace but im about to give that the arse as well. facebook my friends, is the lazy womans blog. see you there...

Beautiful Bath

I just had a lovely weekend in Bath. Its a cool place. Nice town with the river Avon running through it, nice and compact so you can walk around most of it. We stayed in a decent BnB, very affordable. Probably because they used child labour to serve us breakfast - there were these two nine year olds taking orders. It was school holidays so I don’t think they work there all the time, somehow. (It reminded me of when I was little and liked playing waitress, had my own little apron and everything. These kids got to do it for real – lucky bastards)

Anyway, as you can imagine Bath is so–named for the baths the Romans built in the 1st century AD, around the only hot springs in England. These springs churn out some phenomenal amount of water like a hundred litres a second or something. Its hard to imagine that they managed to turn some bubbling bog into a series of very civilised thermal pools and the system is still working today -most of the same pipes even.

Sadly you’re not allowed to swim in them but Troy and I tested out the rejuvenating qualities of the mineral rich water at the new baths complex. We thought it was a bit steep at £20 for 2 hours (mind you Troight-arse reckons everythings a bit steep) but we got to swim in a rooftop thermally heated pool, another one on ground level with these big jets and streams which massage you, and 4 steam rooms with different aromatherapy oils in them. It was SOOO good and we were walking around the rest of the day in a bit of a haze, smiles all round, cos we were so relaxed.

To Fritz

Little ball of crazyness,
my one and only frisky Fritz
who loves to run and climb and stalk,
we need to have a little talk.

I know you need to strutt your stuff,
but I have really had enough!
Quarrell with another kitty
and I'll be more than a tad shitty.

"Tis all fun and games" said I
til my sweet kitten lost an eye.
You frightened me you little brat!
Because I love you, darling cat,

to make this point I shall persist:
from fighting ways you must desist!
Be at peace, make love not war.
Spare me the vet bills, and the gore.

Snuggle, sleep, be cute and nice.
Even catch a bird or two, or mice,
if you must prove that you are tough.
Dont fight, be good, dear ball of fluff.