Fun in the Favella

Hi everyone! Now when I was discussing my trip with people before I came, I often told people that I intended to go to every country in South America and that I would not be going to the Rio carnival because I wouldn´t be getting to Rio till a lot later. Well plans change. Once i´d actually done some research (on the plane) I worked out that i didn´t have time to do everything if i didn´t want to spend the whole time on the bus or the train. So I decided to cut out the Guiana´s (difficult to get around) and Northern Brazil (expensive) and have instead decided to head down to Rio by plane from Boa Vista in the north.

So i arrived in Rio on Saturday and i´m already loving it. I´ve really landed on my feet with the hostel, it´s called El Misti and is in Botofogo in Rio, one of the nicest areas. It´s set up for partying, full of mainly Australians wanting to party and run by a pair of hot girls. I´ve been out both nights drinking with people from the hostel, the first night in a club in the centre, and last night I went to a party in the Favella where City of God was shot. I know that probably doesn´t sound like the safest place to go out, but that just isn´t the case. It was a great night, a bit like a warehouse party, but on a much bigger scale. Also apparently it is the safest place to go out in Rio. This is because in the centre you are being protected by the police. In the favella you are protected by the drug barons. Basically the police don´t go into the favellas if the people in the favellas don´t touch the tourists when they go, it is an agreement that sounds like something out of the film Sin City, but i don´t care as it makes for a great night out.

Apart from that i went and watched Flamengo play football yesterday. It was a great game to go watch, the atmosphere was amazing. I sat amongst the fanatics (similar deal to the favella) with all the flares going off and constant chanting. Flamengo also won the match 5-1 which I think helped.

Anyway i´m off down the beach to relax, i´m in Rio for the next 9 days with Carnival next weekend so I think it is going to be a bit hectic. I´ll speak to you all soon.

Little P

'Welcome to Latin America!'

Hello and welcome to the first entry into my blog since I arrived in South America. I am currently sitting in a 'hostel' (which more resembles an old colonial mansion) typing away to update you all on the first 10 days or so of my travels, which have cerainly been eventful.

Ups have included hiking and canoeing on a tour through the rainforest to see Angel Falls and chilling on a Caribbean beach in a little fishing village called Santa Fe. The tour to Angel Falls had everything you could ask for: Spectacular scenery, great weather, lots of people who could speak English for me to chat to, a football match with the locals and a hot Brizilian girl in her bikini the entire time.

However there have been negatives. I had heard a lot of negative things about South America (mainly from people who hadn't been) and one of the things I was watching out for was crime. Unfortunately when I was watching over my shoulder at cashpoints, apparently I should have been checking the machine for cameras. The result was that rather brutally my debit card was cloned on the second day. Oh well you live and you learn, the most annoying outcome of this is not the money but the fact that i don't have a debit card for a couple of weeks while I wait for it to be sent out. An English speaking local when discussing the matter merely said: 'Welcome to Latin America'. Cheers.

I have loved most places I have stayed but would advice anyone who was visiting Venezuela to avoid Caracas and Puerto La Cruz. Caracas being a hole, and Puerto La Cruz being a kind of neo-Benidorm for the Venezuelan middle classes (dirty and tacky). The guides have been helpful but they all also failed to tell me that 90% of Venezuelan banks will not pay out cash to foreign cards. Great. My advice if you do decide to come is this: Get out of Caracas as soon as you arrive and do´'t stay in Puerto La Cruz (although it is likely you will have to pass through it). Bring as many US dollars as you think you will need as it is difficult to get and you can get better exchange rates of unoffical exchanges which are completely safe(4 bolivares to the dollar as opposed to 2!).

Oh well, hopefully that is the end to the bumps, tonight I head South to Sanat Elena on the Brazilian border, then onto Brazil, where I am hoping to arrive in Rio in time for the Carnival.

Speak to you then.

They speak English in South America don't they?

Hello and welcome to my blog. Yes I have become one of the many individuals that believes my life is worth sharing with the world and so I have decided to dedicate a page on this interweb thing to myself and what is happening in my life.

Some may say this concept is slightly self-centred, but I figure if you're reading it you must be getting something out of it. Maybe you are a friend or relative and are hoping to see how a 23 year old alcohol enthusiast is getting by on his travels through South America when the only Spanish I can speak is: 'Dos cervezas por favor' and 'donde est el banco?' (at least if I need to find a bank or want some beer i'm ok). Alternatively maybe you are reading this because you dislike me and hope to find out that I have come down with some tropical disease or been bitten by a snake. Either way you are reading this and thus helping to further inflate my ego and make me feel that my life and travels are truly worth sharing with the world.

This blog will be updated at fairly random intervals which will be largely dependent on the internet connection in the town I am in, but I hope you enjoy it and maybe it will give you some ideas of places worth visiting . I leave in 9 days so next time I post I'll be on the other side of the world, so if I don't see you before then I apologise because I am a very busy and popular man.