Mainly Brazil

Had an amazing time in Brazil. We started in Rio. It rained for most of the time, but we did manage to see some cool places like the church of our Lady of Gloria, the hugely glamorous Cafe de Colombo and the Niteroi Art Gallery, designed by Brazil's most famous architect Oscar Niemeyer.

Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Gloria

Cafe Colombo

MAC gallery Niteroi

We then flew to Brasilia, the capital of Brazil which was plonked in the middle of the coutnry by the aforementioned Niemeyer in the 1950s. It's visually impressive, but awful to walk around, being entirely designed for the life of the future as envisioned in the middle of the last century.

Cathedral in Brasilia

From Brasilia we took various buses deep into the country with its rust red earth and savannah scrub. First we went about 400km south west of Brasilia to Goias Velho, an 18th century town that was the capital of Goias state until 1937. F asked me to marry him over one of the most delicious homemade breakfasts I have had. Obviously I said "yes!".

The red red earth of the Platano

A selection of the homemade jams at breakfast

From there we went to Sao Jorge, about 240km north of Brasilia. The bus from Goiana dropped us at Alto Paraiso, about 40km from Sao Jorge, at 2.30am. Managed to order a taxi in Portuguese over the phone using a number written on the wall. The driver arrived 10 minutes later half asleep and drove us at top speed down a road lit only by the spectacular display of stars in the sky. When the tarmac ran out and he continued driving down a dirt track, still at top speed, I worried for a moment we might be entering into the realm of the Cohen Brothers. But no, he dropped us at our spotless pousada (hostel) and was more than happy with the 100 reals we were more than happy to give him.

Over the next couple of days we visited the spectacular Vale De Lua (valley of the moon) - an ancient river that runs through rock formations that look like modernist sculptures - and went for a guided walk in the Chappadas national park. We swam in gorges, avoided being bitten by tarantulas and stepping on tiny scarlet poison arrow frogs, and ate a lot of crisp sandwiches (all there was in the shop).

Vale de Lua

Can you spot us in this picture? (click to enlarge)

We flew back to Rio and spent our last 4 nights in a crumbling-on-the-outside but beautiful-on-the-inside guesthouse on the road between the party district of Lapa and the faded bohemian grandeur of Santa Teresa.

Our hostel in Rio

The Santa Teresa tram

It's great having a pet

Especially one who you don't have to feed, and who doesn't get upset when you go away on holiday. This little fella lives in our garden and I always look forward to catching a glimpse of him.

Spring flowers

The spring flower seem exceptionally lush and plentiful this year, but perhaps I think that every year.
And here are a few random pictures from last weekend:
a swan being fed
An angry goose

A spider in the porthole of my boat

Lichen on a fence

Shadows and fog

My sister was 40 yesterday. To celebrate, she and her friends performed songs, poems and stories, all to the theme of "shadows and fog". The finale was a slide show from the Victorian magic lantern.

Shadow puppet film
One of the lantern slides
Working the lantern

Screwed

Here's my favourite sign from Saturday. Click on the image for a better view.

Anti cuts

Lots of different people on the march today. Here are some pictures.

Spring sky

Beautiful sunshine, although still cold. There are still some snowdrops in the graveyard at Hambleden. See pics below. I lay on top of the boat, the steel roof gently warming my back, gazing at the bright blue sky. As I type, F is in that sky, en route to Tokyo. I join him next Monday.