The Business of Buzios

As Dave and I went to our favourite drinking hole to have mojitos, (three rounds please!!!) we met a fabulous duo, Tiff from Canada and Neill from America. We quickly discovered we had a lot in common, aside from our alcoholism that seems to flare up when we are travelling.

So at our new friends suggestion we travelled with them north for two hours to Buzios, they really had to convince us to come with a lot of descriptions and information. The conversation went, "Wanna come?" "Sure". Best decision ever though, this is the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life. It's a peninsula that received international attention in the '60s when Brigitte Bardot went there. Buzious has about 12 or so beaches surrounding it and each is so different from the other. Our foursome decided the best way to start was drinking Caparhinias in the water and looking out at the islands, good plan!

Next plan, see the whole peninsula by hiring a dune buggy. Excellent, so many gem beaches and ripping it up on the roads. Burst a tyre though but its all part of the adventure. Next stop a restaurant for our daily hit of fresh fish grilled to perfection. As we walk back to the buggy we have another flat tyre. 'What bad luck' I think, and hum away like a simpleton. I seemed to be the only one that didn't instantly realise that it was deflated in retaliation by the restaurant staff for parking in their lot and not eating at their restaurant. I maintain that I didn't realise this because I naturally believe in the good of people and not that I am ignorant of the ways of the world. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

In conclusion I would recommend Buzios to everyone. Calm, stunning and fun beyond description.

Then it was back to Rio for Dave and I to see all the touristy things before we left. So we saw giant white Jesus, walked around Centro, Samabadrome (where the Carnivale is), war memorial, museums and the awe inspiring metropolitn cathedral. All in enough time to spend the last day on Ipanema beach. Walking onto our plane to London with sand in our hair and suntans to boot, I am revelling in being (for the first time in my life) the most tanned person around!!

xoxo
Sim

So........I love Rio

It´s true. As Dave, my patient and peppy travel partner can attest to, I have seen some amazing things that have given me a variety of things, joy, awe, inspiration, but it all seemed to require effort to see it. But Rio requires nothing for me to love it here. It´s like the people have fun and passion firing off them, and there is nothing for us Gringo´s to do but be caught in the cross fire.

I arrived four days ago and I have been out drinking and dancing every night since. I have never, in my entire Sydney social career been out more than two nights in a row. Here I have become the sterotype of standing on the corner excited to buy the next round of drinks for the group, (yes I have a group of friends here, such an easy accomplishment with there friendly folk)a giant bottle of beer to share for three real, that is a dollar fifty for us Aussies. Then saunter off to a dance club at three in the morning.

Now I insert the paragraph that will make you jealous. You go to the beach, (Ipanema all the way) hire a cheap umberella and seat, sit on the beach and look at the fine bodies God created walking past in fine fine form. It´s not even like your perving, you are just gob smacked by how amzing these guys are and how they present themselves. But no-one can deny that there is sex on the beach when these Adonis´ walk by. Then, my absolutely favourite part, there is this whole industry of people walking on the beach yelling out the things they are selling. So you sit in comfort with an amazing view and people come by selling clothes, bags, jewellry, drinks, frozen fruit, ice creams, and my personal favourites corn on the cob, meat pastries, melted cheese with oregano and last but so far from least, cooked prawns on a stick that they smoother with salt pepper and lime. I learnt to take more money to the beach after my first day. It is expensive here at the momemnt, as we are in the best part of town and it is just post Carnivale, but every dollar has been so happily parted with.

We made it out to the club Rio Scenario, voted one of the top ten clubs in the world, and for good reason. It has three floors that has a massive hole that you can look down through to see everything. On the first level is a seven piece band playing Bossa Nova, complete with big sexy guy walking around the crowd pumping it out on a trombone. There is also a great dance floor off to the side, but this places decoration was un frickin believable. Think crazy crap on the walls everywhere, each thing being interesting and looks great. I even had my own personal Bossa Nova dancing with a local, man he had some fancy footwork and was the standard hot male!

The people here are great, all they want to do is include you, or if they don´t they love being interrupted. Today we had an amazing tour of one of the cities Flavellas, these are the slum towns. As you would expect, horrible living conditions but so interesting. I have to give out guide 20 out of 10 for her tour. So much information was given between her cigarettes and hugging the locals that would interrupt her. We learnt all about the drug trade that goes on there, and how this living in the Flavella is the only option some poeple have as there pay is so bad that this is all they can afford. We had our first one cancelled because the police did a raid on the day we were meant to be going through so it was the real deal, but the tour had me see these were great people who live in poverty, dispersing a lot of preconcieved ideas of what that meant to me. The motorcycle ride to the top of the hill was nerve wrecking. The tour guide laughed saying the guys couldn´t touch the drivers but the girls were free to put their arms around them, they love it! She didn´t need to tell me twice, i jumped on, (no helmet and in thongs mind) and held this man so close you couldn´t put a feather between our bodies. Several times I actually thought my kneecaps would be taken off by buses that we were overtaking on the wrong side of the road. The tour was worth it just for that.

I have to go, time runs short, I have so much more I want to tell but next time!!!!

Ciao for now from this Gringa

xoxo
Sim

Chillin´in Chile

So, patient viewers, you may have noticed that I have not written in a while. Please forgive my tardiness, the reason has quite sinmply been......I have been sick. Boring, no? I did make the mistake once of sitting and writing, but it turned into whingeing and venting, and ended with me wishing the world death.

So I waited until I was in a happier space where I could look back and laugh at my unhappy head space.

So Dave and I left Cusco and arrived in Lima. Somewhere in transit I was struck down with the mother of all flu´s and chest infections. So I paid for the privelige of having my own room with bless, a TV, so I could hack away into the wee hours without disturbing Dave with my less than sunny demeanor. In my delerium of pain and coughing I had a revelation. I am travelling with the man version of Pollyanna, I call him PollyPeter. Can you imagine it, I felt and surely looked filthy, wishing someone else to be as pitiful and in pain as me. But PollyPeter would have none of it, he briskly walked hours a day seeing nothing much in particular that I could gather, but constantly everything was ´fantastic´, ámazing´, ´beautiful´. All I could see was the not so great. E.G. We ordered a KFC meal, they came and asked five minutes later what we had ordered. Dave got his meal, I had my chips and drink and was waiting for my burger. 10 minutes later I had to ask where it was, they looked at me and said, ¨úmm, 3 minutes?. I looked around, there was NO-ONE in the KFC and there was 6 FREAKIN STAFF behind the counter and they wanted me to wait another 3 minutes? I had an aneurism in KFC. A weird point to make my stand against slow service and miscommunication, but made it I did. As a favour to both of us I remained in hibernation until I felt better.

Then we came to Santiago, Chile, and being that my health is now good we have been traipsing round having fun for four days. It is a beautiful 33 degrees and I am getting some colour! But that will be nothing compared to the sun I am gonna get in Rio de Jainiro tomorrow!!!

xoxo
Sim

Macchu Picchu

Ok.......OK, I think I have worked out this blogging thing. Here goes............

I had a really good day yesterday. It started like every other day, jet lag woke me at some ugodly hour. This time it was at 11pm, I lay in bed exploring the dark recesses of my mind until 5:30 am when the alarm went off to go to Macchu Picchu! It was a four hour train ride through the mountains and it was stunning, really stunning. I love travelling by train; but to see the country side in this way was perfect. A camera can´t capture the height of these mountains taking up all of your peripheral vision, and you can´t see the sky because the mountains go right through the clouds, and we followed the Ollytambo river, (which I think eventually turns into the Amazon River). We would pass these small farming communities in the middle of nowhere somehow making a life for themselves and their families. Some living in small mud brick houses, others a small shack with a bit of foliage for a roof.

Macchu Picchu was great, an Incan city on top of a mountain. Beautiful and impressive, a stone city made to house 700 people. It was only populated for 120 years but the detail and effort put into it was amazing. I have trouble constructing sturdy leggo houses, but all this time ago they had temples built out of perfectly tight fitting rock. No mortar or clay, nothing to hold them together exept that they were carved for each other. We were generally quite lucky as the weather was sunny....mostly. There were a couple of heavy showers, but us prepared folk bought ponchos off the locals before we left. But instead of being in the tour group of like poncho minded people we were in the group that spent that extra dollar at home and got themselves some snazzy water resistant parkas. So out came our plastic, noisy bright yellow and orange ponchas, (nice colour choice Dave!!!)I felt like fricking Big Bird. Dave, (bless his cotton socks) found it difficult to hear our tour guide in the plastic hood, so resorted to tucking his hood behind his ears. I couldn´t stop laughing because he looked like a suspended head with stick out ears, a little reminiscent of Dopey from Disneys Snow White.

I must be off, we just found the best place in Cusco. A bar that you choose DVD´s to watch, all you have to do is buy some drinks. We just watched I am Legend and CHarlie Wilsons War. Yes, I have discovered heaven.

xoxo
Sim