Brasil

Oi from Brasil. Apologies for the delay. Been a tad busy getting the beach look going - clearly working on the tan first. Apparently Brasil is the sexiest place on earth. Also the land of sun. Not sure about the first, most diverse would certainly have a good shout. Every shade from deepest mahogany to ginger stepchild are available and all are equally Brasilian. First place I have been where I could be local. Until I open my mouth that is.

Hit Buzios as the name of the place was cool. Nice with cool beaches, swanky shops and a plethora of restaurants etc but damn this place is expensive. I had heard tale but most of lifes necessities are about as much as you would pay in Geneva - and that is not a cheap place to spend a few days. Even if you only had to buy new speedos each season.

Have made a few early observations though. Beach wear is more of a waft in the general direction of clothing rather than a commitment to cover. If you´ve got it then flaunt it. If you used to have it but do not anymore then flaunt it anyway. If you never had it nor would have even recognised what it was had you actually been aware there was an ¨ít¨ out there somewhere - then flaunt something, anything. General flaunting of everything at all times seems to be one of the few irrefutable pieces of style advice you need in Brasil. And well done to them. To my own tastes the speedo that actually manages to clearly identify each of the 3 component parts of a man´s genitalia are somewhat too tight. Their call though. Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but sexy seems to remain the property of the large ladies on Copacabana who could not give a monkey´s what anyonere else thinks. Good on em.

Recently joining the travels are Stephane and Coralie. Welcome to Brasil.

Arty I know but we are having a photo competition. Good stuff so far. Results to follow in a few weeks. Using my camera so I should be ok.

Copacabana is the beach in the city. Its actually quite nice. Pretty clean and lots of locals swimming and hanging out. A thought ocurred to me as I wandered along it. If evolution had not given us the mammary gland and the shapely flesh surround ideally suited for comfortable milk dispensation to fresh born children then it would have only been a matter of time before the Brasilians had got round to the idea of enormous tits. It seems that there are few things created by nature that humankind does not see the opportunity to improve - in this case enhance is more appropriate - but bloody hell. Crikey. Gosh. Wowzer. Everywhere. And not really very attractive. Then again I suppose if you only wear swimsuits most of the day the relatively rich have to distinguish themselves somehow. It would appear that a nip a tuck and the occasional inflation is how....

And no boys (Dad) - I did not take any photos.

Took a tram in Rio up to Santa Theresa. Lot of fun. Its free if you hang off the side. Gringo´s like us pay and then hang off the side anyway. Cool views of the City.

And we survived. Rio was only really a place to meet up so we headed south to Paraty. Parachy if you want to actually get there. Very cute, lots of little shops and although the beaches close to town are shitty if you take a boat there are some cool places around. The town itself is mostly pedestrian with no building allowed and some sort of world heritage protection thingy. Which is very good.

We took a boat for a day and also were advised to head to the local waterfalls. Only really used by locals for the most part. The kids, as per usual, are completely nuts. The following is a huge slippery rock with a small pool at the bottom.

Lunacy to my mind but they seemed to be doing it for quite a while and no-one got hurt. All fun and games etc. People also tell me that the main attraction of coming here is also the dancing. Stephane and myself were both clearly born to be highly powerful and flexible athletes with an excess of funk in our souls but I´m not sure we are staying long enough to get up to this level.

Kind of dark but believe me it was amazing. Main difference from Europe is that no-one appeared to be collecting cash afterwards. Looks like they actually do it just because they like it. Crazy really.

We also went to Trinidade (gy ending) as the nicest beach around abouts. Very nice too. Wedged in a bay with the tropical rain forest overflowing onto the beautiful white sand.

Good time to mention that Brasil has over 7,000 KM of coastline. They would be pretty pissed if it was all mud and stones I suppose but people seem to think its all a bit like this everywhere. Which is super.

We left Paraty relaxed but excited as we had heard of a place called Ilha Grande. No-one knows where the name comes from but it is rumoured to be not related to the fact that it is an Island nor that it is big. More than that I cannot say. We heard that this was a little chunk of paradise. Not sure they eat as much fried food in Paradise as they do here but apart from that the hype was pretty much true. No cars on the island. Largest town has 3,000 inhabitants and there are 30 or so beaches spread about the island accesible only by foot or by boat - although in hindsight that is how most beaches globally are reached but hopefully you get the idea. There are no car-parks next to beaches here and some you have to walk for 3 hours in stifling heat and unbearable humidity - which makes it good news that the beaches look like this.....

Although as you can see the locals posing for photos does ruin it a little for the tourists.

Paradise found. Staying here for another 4 or 5 days. Planning on reading my book, laying on beaches and generally relaxing. As such there should be another blog toward the end of the month. Heading to Rio to see Fat boy slim on the 26th and then North for some extreme sports. Buggie riding, sand surfing, swimming in shark infested waters. Cool.

Hope the NY resolutions are going well. Take care. Backflips a go-go.

Don´t try that at home. I gave myself a nasty whack in the family jewels on landing.

Ciao
Lid

ps. more photos here.
http://lidster.myphotoalbum.com/view_album.php?set_albumName=album04&page=1
should work. let me know if not. cheers.