LET THE JOURNEY BEGIN

The taxi driver looked in his review mirror, glaring at us as our stifled giggles grew into loud snorts when Celine Dion finished the last few notes of her song.

Its just that¨The worlds greatest Divas¨CD seemed inappropriate for someone whose driving skills were similar to someone off Prison Break. Perhaps it was part of his anger therapy.

Buckled over from the weight of our ever growing backpacks and from the laughter, it was obvious for Ilea to spot the gringos in the crowd.

Ileia is the sister of Ilce from Rio, whose friend the paster, is staying in Annes mums house in Welkom!! Complicated ??? Try explaining that in Portuguese!!

But what a little ripper she was. She welcomed us into her home, and soon enough ushered us out of the door to meet some of her mates who could speak English.

After sampling the local Moqueco (fish stew) we found ourselves invited to the beach the next day.. got to love it when life takes care of itself.

Guarapari is an awesome little coastal village just south of Vitoria, and at long last we got some sun. The beach was amazing, but what a place to people watch.

To Drews delight, the girls hardly wear a thing!! One ¨Post It¨ on the front, one on the back, and one over each boobin seemed to be all the kit that was required. Tie together with a piece of string and Bobs your uncle!! And the girls really work it!! Even with all their shapes and sizes.. its brilliant!

We made our way to a mates grandparents house where we were blown over and given the biggest family welcome ever!!

You have to love Brazilian familys.. 6 kids on this farm raised singlehandedly by their mum (after the dad passed away at a young age). As we arrived, the brothers / husbands were all mucking in doing alterations to the old farm house, while the sisters / wives looked on drinking wine and chirping them.

We caused such a commotion, that it took about 20 minutes for them to figure out our names... they couldnt seem to get it. So they settled for Andreas and Joanna. Fine by us!!

Just as we thought all would settle down, the 10 year old hyperactive cousin arrived flung down her bicycle and before I knew it she had me by the hand dragging me to the kitchen to help make Brigadero - a little Brazilian sweety treat made from condensed milk.

The little girl was like a tasmanian devil and when she wasnt on Drews shoulders or getting a piggy back from me, she was hanging upside down from a Mango Tree, or hurdling over broken farm gates.. pretty intense

Ilea is a pretty religeous girlie, so she took us to her church with her, and roped people out of the congregation to translate the songs and prayers, everything!! It was awesome.

The most special part was when we were invited to a ¨cell group¨the night before we left and they all sang to us and prayed for us.. It was so emotional!! But very very special.

We met such increadible people and were super sad to be leaving Vitoria, but our flight to Peru was booked and so we closed the Brazilian chapter of the tour and climbed onto the bus.

* The picture is Naiara (whose grannys house we went to), me in the middle and Ileia on the right. This was at Guarapari where it was a public holiday and locals were decorating the streets making motifs out of sand!!

There have been a few occasions on tour so far when music has lifted the mood with an uncannily relevant song popping up just at the right moment...

No more was this the case than on our ferry trip across to Ilha Grande.

Just hours after our near gun point robbery at our hostel in Rio, we had made our way through the mad rush of Rios bustling streets and had managed to get on a bus headed for Angro Dos Reis.

We were now sitting aboard a modest fishing boat in another world. The calm waters either side of us, the sun setting over the rickety old port town of Angro Dos Reis behind us, the imposing shadow of Ilha Grande on the horizon in front of us and blaring over the speakers on board Bob Marley ¨Dont worry about a thing ... cause every little thing is gonna be alright¨
My how life can change in the space of a few hours!!!

Truly relaxed or should I say chilled to da core maahn, we arrived at Ilha Grande under the cover of darkness and booked into our hostel excited for the next few days.

Unfortunately for the first time on tour, weather decided to play its ugly hand and we woke up to rain. Not to be set back by this, we ventured into the surrounding hillside on a trail headed up and over the mountain behind us to the surfing beaches on the other side. Regardless of the fact that the mountain was covered in a shroud of mist.

We only managed half an hour up the mountain before the rain really turned torrential and soaked to the bone we turned back, and scurried back to the safety of our room, looking like drowned rats.

Rain persisted for the next few days, and being a small island with no vehicles or roads, a few restaurants and very over priced internet, there wasnt too much to do.

When the rain finally lifted. We very excitedly signed up to a boat trip around part of the island. Although a little bit cold, we managed to get in a bit of snorkeling and explored some of the remoter parts of the island which (as you can see in the pic) included a little school which the kids get to by boat every day.

We would have loved to have stayed as the island had loads more to explore, but the rest of Brazil beckoned.

We were told by one of Jax´s friends that when you drive into Rio de Janeiro you will be totally gobsmacked by the amazing views and beautiful surroundings.

I was gobsmacked yes. Drew told me to close my snoring gob, stop drooling, and buck up because we had missed the grand entrance into Rio that we had been promised. And then said.. no you do not look like an angel when you sleep.

We clambered onto the first bus in Rio that said Copacabana. What they dont tell you is that every bus is like an obstacle course. You have 15 seconds to get on the bus, pass the turnstiles, shot put your backpack over the turnstile, pay your fair and find a seat before the bus takes off and sends you flying.

D&D 0 - Bus 1

Although we missed our first sighting and views of the city, we made up for it, and spent the next few days exploring all viewpoints, hiking up sugarloaf mountain, walking along the Copacabana beach and not to forget training up Corcovado to view the city and take our shots of the infamous Christ the Redeemer.

But as with most trips the most rewarding parts are those that not all the tourists do. We caught a rickety train into one of the suburbs called Santa Tereza. The train is really old fashioned and only goes about 20 kph. But whats great is that the Brazilians throw health and safety to the wind.

The trick with the train, is that you have to jump on and off while it is still moving. The locals run, grab on to the railing, pole vault on to the train, then lean back holding on to the railing and high five all their chommies cheering along the side of the railway.

Rio seems to dance to the beat of its own drum. Thanks to Annes mum we managed to link up with a friend of a friend, Ilce who showed us around Rio and tried to explain the ¨Brazilian Way¨.

¨In Brazil, a red light is only a suggestion¨ was one of her chirps.

¨Do not eat food from the local street vendors¨ was another suggestion - too late for that one...

¨Rio is a dangerous city¨ - pff, Drew and I laugh in the face of danger we are from South Africa.

Do they do smash and grabs here?? We asked.. No. Well then I guess we are safe.

After a night out at the local Samba club, we went to draw money.
We came back to find that our hostel, 30 minutes earlier had had an armed robbery.

We had missed it by moments. We swallowed our bravado, saddled up our backpacs and skulked out of Rio to our next destination. Not so cock sure of ourselves after all.