 click for larger image |
6 years ago we visited Brazil and couldn't wait to return to its samba rhythms, epic jungles and cultured cities.
This time we would also investigate the wildlife-packed Pantanal, the endless beaches of the north-east and meet up with Cheryl's family and Cheist. |
|
||||||||||
 click for larger image |
Giant Marsh Rats
The Pantanal; a vast marshland in the west of Brazil, home to the giant rodent Capybara. As big as large dogs, to catch one of these chaps you simply need to bait your trap with an extremely large lump of cheese. |
|
It's Them Or Us!
Our Pantanal guides gasped as Cheryl pulled out this whopping piranha, which could have your hand off with one bite. This was apparently the largest piranha they had EVER seen. |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
Sayonara Sao Paulo
We stopped off in the metropolis of Sao Paulo, visiting the largest expatriate Japanese community in the world. Wandering around, we were lured into a quirky bar by these hospitable Japanese Brazilians who force-fed us beer, sushi and good-natured banter on the cultural differences of Brazil, Japan, Scotland and America - all done in our new found Spanish! |
|
The Most Beautiful City In The World?
Set beneath towering jungle-fringed peaks, in a sparkling bay fringed with powder white sand beaches curving in all directions, thronged (and thonged!) with beautiful people - Rio is unfeasibly gorgeous. |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
A Tourney Tornado Hits Town
Dale, Barbara and Leah joined us in Rio, along with 3 million other Carnaval-hungry visitors. The next week flew by in a blur of street samba soirees, Carnaval costume cleavage and copious caiparinha consumption! |
|
A Love Affair With The Beach
Cariocas (residents of Rio) need no excuse to take a 3 hour lunch break, don the tiniest of thongs (and that's just the guys!) and head to the beach for some serious posing. |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
Carnaval
Carnaval is the biggest street party in the world. It is hyped, tacky, touristy yet still spectacular, glamorous and fun, fun, fun! |
|
Jungle Fever
After the constant party of Carnaval we visited the Atlantic rainforest at Itatiaia, wandering into the jungle to commune with the wildlife and revel in the peace and quiet. Using her uncanny talent for monkey mimicry, Leah lures this unwitting fellow out into the open. |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
|
Wasn't "The Maracana" A Bad Dance From The '80s?!
The Maracana is the biggest football stadium in the world. The terraces were ring to the sound of samba bands, brightly coloured flares go off at the slightest on pitch encouragement and occasional fights typically break out on the terraces. |
 click for larger image |
City Of God
To see the other side of Rio life we visited Rocinha, the largest shanty town (favela), home to 200,000 people. Despite the presence of all-powerful drug lords (as portrayed in the film "City Of God"), it was great to see how people create a normal life out of almost nothing. |
|
Into The Amazon
From Rio, we flew to Manaus to meet Cheist and head up the Amazon river. This massive river system stretches all the way to Peru where we rafted with Space months before, perhaps on the same water flowing past us now! The Opera House is an incongruous relic from the days when European merchants made fortunes from the rubber trade and Manaus was a boom town. |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
The Future Of The Amazon
The world's greatest jungle is being systematically razed by cattle herders, gold-prospectors and other business interests, leaving large areas depressingly bare. |
|
Though for now, at least, vast areas of wild and pristine beauty remain. |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
Cheist Bags A Whopper With His Bare Hands
|
|
Swimming In Piranha-Infested Waters
Despite bleeding profusely from a cut on his finger, Ironman Cheist was only too delighted to leap into the Piranha-Infested waters. "As long as I don't attract the toothpick fish by peeing in the water, I'll be happy", confided the plucky 43 year-old. |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
Cheist Of The Jungle
Cheist attacked Amazon life with gusto. Admittedly, the ridiculous net-gear provided by "friend" Space was unnecessary; grabbing a poor defenseless caiman because it was "like my pet mongoose at home" was a mis-step; ...and abusing an ancient rubber-making process to craft a phallus rather unsettled the locals. But he really tried to fit in: mimicking the locals in hacking the jungle down with a machete, yodeling Tarzan-style as he swung from vine-to-vine because "that's what they do here", and finally proclaiming that he'd "nailed it", by blending in with this local hat. |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
|
OK, I Guess Toucan Take A Picture Of Me
|
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
Magnus' Manioc Mania
6 years ago Magnus feigned illness to avoid a miserable 4 day process needed to extract arsenic from manioc, rendering it into a useful protein. This time round there was nowhere to hide. |
|
Beach Bum Buggies
To sate Cheist's obsession with the beach life, we traversed the length of the Amazon to the white sands of the north east for a crazy buggy ride and silly sandboarding down steep dunes into a lake - what fun! |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
Bahia
Bahia is the African heart of Brazil, where thousands of slaves from West Africa were brought to work on plantations. It fuses African, indigenous and Latin cultures - producing amazing music and unique martial arts. Having been here before, Magnus and Cheryl knew just how to fit right in. |
|
Cheryl Kicks Capoeira Chief
Unintimidated by the ripped and athletic bodies of the capoeiristas Cheryl took on a master, surprised him with a rugby tackle, and then set off on a victory lap of the dojo. Apparently no one told her it's a non-contact sport... |
 click for larger image |
 click for larger image |
- See more pictures from this section
- Go to next section : South Africa
- Go to previous section : Argentina