Rio and Ilha Grande

Ok where was i ... monday the 23th, i got up and went to buy Claire a samba cd for her birthday, she hasnt had a chance to listen to it yet. Then wandered around for a while. We ended up going Ipanema for the sunset - ate heinz sandwiches...the best kind.

24th, Claires birthday, we were going to go get her a manicure but due to the carnaval it was a public holiday and nothing was open. We went to the Botanical Gardens. Stunning. There were all kinds of plants ive never seen before and waterfalls and a playground that had wooden slides (splinters much?) and an old abandoned gunpowder factory. There was a lake that contained some humungus fish. I sat down on the grass because it was so hot, then a guy came over and told us off. Not cool.

Sugar Loaf for sunset..me and claire and a few friends rode the cable car up due to our repective illnesses...Claires damaged foot, and my asthma. The others climbed up and saw monkeys on their way. Watched the sun dissappear behind rainclouds at the first stop then ventured to the second to watch the lightening storms take over the entire city. the thunder was horribly loud. Claire mentioned that we may have been in a dangerous spot for a lightening storm so i opted to head back down.

Made our way to Ilha Grande on ash wedsnesday. Busride had amazing views but we were all quite tired so didnt appriciate it enough. Then caught a catamaran to the island from Algra port. I slept the entire way then we found our hostel and i slept there too!
The next day we scouted out the town...leaving claire at the hostel to rest her damaged foot... she did something to it by walking in bad shoes. Asked around all the places about diving and then went swimming at the beach. The water was possibly the warmest water ive ever swum in. Beautiful. Loads of frogs out at night, and also very strange and elaborate array of insects.
The next day i had pancakes and admired the ocean from a few different angles. Then had an amazing supermarket dinner involving chips bread tomato ketchup and cheese sauce.
The next day... (i have no idea where im up to..) i went diving with my american pal, Chris. The company we chose was PADI but because its Brazil you cant expect much. We climbed aboard then once at the dive site they geared us up and threw us in. The guide kept touching all the animals which upset me. But besides that it was spectacular! I saw sea snakes! and turtles and Anthias, and scorpian fish and spiders and huge crabs and seahorses and a little fish with wings and another with legs. it was amazing. And so warm too. I had a two piece ´Lady´suit and i was overheating despite the huge thermocline at about 12meters. Oh and thats another thing, no depth guage or timing device...oh , those brazilians! Lunch consisted of a variety of portugese snacks and pepsi and free time to swim. I enjoyed it a lot.. ...Now i can say ive been diving in the tropics! YuSS. After diving we got cake...the town is scattered with cake trolleys full of the most amazing looking sweets youll ever see...if anyone is even considering going to Ilha Grande they should do so just for the cakes!

The day after that i went on a boat to the south side of the island to the surf beaches. The ferry dropped us at a beach then you walk a 20 min track to Lopez Mendez. On this track i saw monkeys!! horay. and fed them the remainders of an Australian´s apple. Therefore the monkeys now have the nickname, apple monkeys.
The surf beach was crazy, the waves were really strong..not huge but they had a lot of kick. I like it. And there was some fantastic climbing rocks around the side...but the incoming tide kept me from venturing too far.
Walked back to the ferry bay and went for a quick snorkel. Saw a few turtles poke their heads above the water but that was all... eventually got cold, would you believe it and went back to the boat. Ferried back at sunset and saw a huge array of sea birds.
That night we went to a few bars along the beach and then i called it a night reasonably early.

The next day we got a ferry to the mainland, it was incredibly uncomfortable in the afternoon heat but i still enjoyed the boat rocking. Once at the town of M..... some crazy long name, we waited for our Rio bus. The busride was extraordinary. There were palm trees and banana trees and small towns with houses damaged by too long in the sun.. Brazil is as beautiful as all the photos you see... i cant even explain.
Stayed in an average hostel.. they claimed to be alternative by having a rock wall and fusball...but their maths and other services werent up to scratch :P. Left there this morning, i dont know what day it is.. but we caught our flight to panama reasonably stressfree.
We flew over Amazonia!!! i saw jungle and water and it made me super excited about being an explorer later in life.
Arrived without accomadation so we managed to get the information lady at the airport help us out with that one. Phew, so here i am. In Panama.. at 12.26pm Panama time. Good work, im pretty much blogged up to date, sparing quite a few details though. And now, im not even going to read through to check it. Just take it as is.
Thank you and goodnight.