two days of adventure!

we knew sunday was going to be an exciting one when we were woken by the sounds of an almighty gun fight going on somewhere (hopefully far off), there was machine guns and petrol bombs the lot! anyway that bit is completely irrelevent, except that it happened and i found it exciting. once we had breakfast, john had a read through his lonely plante guide and we decided we were going to go to an niteroi, an island just off rio and explore one of its secluded beaches. so once wed got everything ready we headed off to the bus stop, only when we were there did we realise that our plan had some flaws; we would have to catch a bus into the centre and then walk to thye ferry dock (the centre is apparently not a safe place to be on a sunday) and then on the way back wed have to be in the centre at night (even worse. so after much discussion we did the sensible thing and went anyway! once the bus dropped us off we set off in stealth mode dashing from cover to cover (ok that bits not true) until we reached the ferry dock. the centre was amazinlgy abandoned i couldnt believe it, it was like something out of 28 days later. anyway we managed to catch teh ferry and set off to niteroi and wide sandy beaches! the ferry journey itself was quite a view, and was even better on the way bac with the sun setting over rio! upon arriving in niteroi we had to catch the no 38 bus to the beach; finding the no 38 bus was easy, catching it however was not. after the 4th time of it passing us we managed to catch it, it was, by this point, ridiculously crowded and for the next 50 minutes we were entagled in a mass of arms legs and bodies. finally we arrived at the beach to find it was absoloutely packed full of people! i suppose a secluded beach near to rio on a sunday is too much to ask for! ah well, we swam and messed around and had fun, before catching the crowded bus back, then the ferry as the sun set over rio, then speed walking into the centre to catch the bus to take us back to our hotel! mission complete!
then yesterday, i stupidly agreed to go on a hike up corcovado (the mountain with the statue of christ on top). the walk was more of a scramble through jungle then a hike! but still the views were pretty amazing! and despite feeling famished and exhausted by the end of it i reckon it was just about worth it!
so yeah, its been a fun couple of days! the weather has turned stupidly humid, so i envy you people back home who can feel the cold!
keep enjoying england for me!
lots of love to you all!
andrew

sun sand and samba!

so i havent managed to get to a computer in about a week and boy what a week its been! we set off to arraial do cabbo ( a beach town just north east of rio) last wednesday to partake in a capoeira event called capoeirando! our hostel was situated right on the beach front and as we arrived we could see white sand, big waves and a hint of sun ( which did come out as the week progressed) and i thinkn we all realised we were set for a pretty awesome week!
straight after grabbing some food and dumping our bags we hit the beach and went swimming and boy did we need it after the hot bus journey. in the evening we then had a capoeira lesson until late in the evening after which we wondered roubnd town trying to find some where to eat. we eventually fouind a pizza place but it was closed. to my dismay (we were making quite some noise) a light came on in the resteraunt and a man came out (at this point i hastily crossed to the other side of the road thinking he was going to shout some abuse at us!) as it turned out he said he was going to find the cook to see if we could get something to eat! i was stunned and although the cook couldnt be found i was still pretty impressed!
the rest of the week worked out like this; we wake up train capoeira until the afternoon which we spend on the beach, then inn the evening we would have a capoeira demonstration in the street; it was so much fun but sheer agony. accompanied by hilarious attempts to learn how to surf (i was so so bad) and late nights out with brazilian capoeiristas (it wasnt my fault mum, they literally wouldnt let me leave the bar until the early hours of the morning!) i was pretty releaved to have a rest on the beach on sunday before heading back to rio! unfortunatley in my exhausted state i forgot to reapply sunscreen and have been looking like a lobster ever since!
since being back in rio we´ve rested, trained capoeira (where have i heard that before =p) been to a samba party which was good fun (the thing ive figuired about samba is that there are so many different rhythms that im bound to hit one of them at some point!) and done a big capoeira demo at a university.
=D so as you can see its all good, we´ve got exactly 3 weeks left in rio and are starting to settle into it, hopefully this weeken weĺl go see the statue of christ or climb sugar loaf.
hope you guys are enjoying yourselves!
God bless you all lots!
andrew

welcome to brazil!

so ive been in brazil 4 days now and its been a pretty packed few days! we (jo, will, john and i) flew into sao paulo on the evening of the 11th and spent the 12th in saopaulo, shopping, going to the park before going out in the evening to the cinema then to a little bar with a live band. it was all good, just getting a chance to try some portuguese and get to know a bit of brazilian life. then on the 13th we got on a bus and took a six hour bus journey to rio! the journey itself went without to much fuss, appart from one brakdown, but we were sent a new bus which was far nicer and i ended up sleeping most of the journey! upon arriving in rio we were picked up by mestre gatoś son pedro and taken to our hotel which is situated in santa teresa an old colonial part of rio made up of winding cobbled streets, it has quite a bohemian feel to it. we spent the first few hours sitting in our doprm unpacking worjking out where abouts in rio we were and what we wanted to do during our stay. i think it was our way of trying to feel in control of what was going on. it had struck us just how big rio was and how bad our portuguese was and we were all a little scared. after our action plan was made we met up with a yank call dagan who is also training capoeira here and went and got some food and then headed off to a street party in lapa. the atmosphere was pretty intense and the band (although cnot seen) were certainly heard! that night i realised that not all brazilians have rhythm, its just most of them dont care so just carry on dancing! it gave me a little bit of hope =D! the next morning (sunday) we slept in then went for a wander around santa teresa before traing caopoeira at mestre gatos! the work out was pretty intense and i reckon after the month i could be good *(if it doesnt kill me!!) from there we went to ipenema beach and wandered down the sea front, went swimming and just generally tried to soak everything in.
today wee been training again and tommorow we head off for a big capoeira festival outside of rio!
so yeah =D so far so good! i havent been shot at or mugged or attacked so i think im doing ok! my portuguese is improving slightly and im enjoying myself!
its a bit scary being in such a big city, but its making me depend on god so much more because i realise its all to big for me to even try to cope on my own!
anyways i hope everyone is good and smiling! im praying for you all lots!
emma youre going to have an amazing time in moz, really give it all to jesus iĺl be praying for you loads!
God bless you all!!
andrew

back home in time for tea!

so im back in england, staying at my aunties house near dorking until tommorow morning when i fly off to brazil! the journey from livingston to lusaka by bus whent surprisingly well breaking down only once and for only 20 mins! we then arrived to the chaos that is lusaka bus station just at it got dark and where instantly swarmed by taxi drivers upon stepping off the coach! not having a clue what was going on, just knowing that we were staying at a backpackers lodge near by i grabbed 2 of the other guys and followed one of the taxi drivers who, thank God, took us to the right place!the next day was spent thousands of miles abouve africa watching the landscape twist and change below; from the sahara desert to the black and somewhat misty mountains on the morrocan coastline, it was truly spectacular, ending with an amazing sunset over the mediterannean. i was then picked up by nem and dad and the airport and since have been out checking out charity shops, eating lots of english food, and doing washing. the sun has now come out so i think we're about to go for a walk (im trying to cram as much of england into this day as possible). this is my last day in england for a while, so make sure you have a good day for me!!
i'll hopefully be putting photos on the internet some time this evening.
God bless!!

last day in livingstone

So tommorow we drive 6 hours (fingures crossed) to Lusaka stay the night in lusaka then fly back to England tuesday morning arriving back in time for tea!!
this means today is my last day in livingstone which is kinda sad =/. its an interesting place, full of back packers out looking for adventure and locals who are out looking for your money! =D no thats not all there is too it, its hard to explain, its been a fun place to be these last few weeks, getting a feel for a different culture, kayaking some big water, riding on the top of trucks under a bright full moon! its all been pretty amazing, but at the same time im not unhappy to be moving on.
so far i've spent my last day going to an african pentecostal church just over the road (you'd be proud mum =p) the service was from 7:30 - 10! so pretty long, but appart from one woman who would end every sentence with AMEN (no matter how random the sentence) i enjoyed the whole thing.
so yeah its been really fun these past 2 weeks, but im really looking forward to the next 7 months in brazil, to see what adventures i can find myself there!
hope you are all smiling!
God bless!!

andrew

happy new year!

so ive just got back from spending 3 days on the river, the last day of 2006 and the first 2 days of 2007! hurrah!! and what a few days theyve been! involving john cracking his head open on the hard zambian rock and having to get 8 stitches (any excuse for a face lift!), caping by crocadile infested water, getting absoloutely rained on every night we camped! (how apt that now we are back in a dorm the sun has come out!) and going out to a local resteraunt where they tried to serve all 14 of us at the same time as a result at least 10 peoples meals had been sitting around for a good 10 minutes and were stone cold!
its all good though, im learning so much that in africa you just cannot predict what is going to happen next and the best thing is to just keep smiling and see how events unfold!
so with only 5 days left in zambia its been really exciting and i have little idea of whats going to happen next! paddling wise, johns out of it for the rest of the trip which is a real bummer cause he was looking pretty smooth! and the river levels are rising so we might only paddle the lover sections of the river. then after all that its back to blighty for just over a day then brin on brazil!!!
Hope you are all taking care of yourselves and are having an amazing start to the new year!!
God bless!!