The death train got nothing on me!

Still alive, well what ive been up to since my last post. i underestimated Campo Grandee, initially it looked like shacks but after a little exploration there was enough to keep me ocupied for one day. markets, sights and the local people. the bus to Corumba was fairly decent, managed to arrange it from the shop next door to my hostel. result. 6 and a half hours. arrived in Corumba not knowing the location of my hostel so i got a taxi. i got ripped off terribly! 20 Reals for a 5 minuets cab. the hostel was nice, a little weird as it had so many rules. i met this cool Greek dude who had been living in Scotland for 5 years, he was a true wild man, beard and all. he went with me to the boarder. 3 hours to get a stamp and that was it, welcome to Bolivia!. from there i located the train station hoping they would have a ticket for the death train spare, they did luckily. there i got chatting with a group of 3 dudes, one from Amsterdam, one from Holland and one from France, their on the same route as me to Santa Cruz and then La Paz. I've decided to tag along, there doing a different city and the salt plains before going on to la paz, ime considering taking along for that instead of spending so long in Santa Cruz. would be more exciting as there's most likely only about 2 to 3 days worth of activities in Santa Cruz. one is a trainee doctor and knows of my condition which is lucky (I have Chrons diseas for those of you that don't know).
the so called death train wasn't to bad, 16 hours at night is more like 5 because i spent mos of the time sleeping or trying to watch S.A.L.T (movie) in Spanish audio ANS subtitles. terrible. the only way the death train almost killed me what the sambas! really cheesy music videos.
I'm now in Santa Cruz with the group mentioned. tomorrow we plan on visiting some small town outside of Santa Cruz that has old inka ruins, and i hope to see the botanical gardens maybe on the following day. i also plan on visiting the several markets to have a bit of a mingle with the locals. one point to mention. there are less of the stereotypical fair skinned Latin Americans you see in Rio around. there seems to be a lot more indigenous people.
i have a few pictures to put up but as the computers are terrible I'll have to wait till i can upload them.
that's all for now.

Did i just try to snugle a armed officer =S.

Well, the 22 hour bus ride to Campo Grande terns into 24 hours. yet again arriving in a town alien to me in the dark. The coach ride was alright, the coach was a sleeper one. legs forward, seat back, i slept. to begin with the coach was half empty but as it stopped at most towns on the way to Sao Paulo and then to Campo Grande it gradually filled up. i didn't realise that the police rode on the coaches at night time, fully armed up with shooters and all. one took the seat next to me. whilst i was asleep. i vaguely remember yawning and putting my arm all up in his face and then terning to try snuggle! yes i tried to snuggle a armed police officer. ops. still alive tho. didn't give me his nomber either. i took a few cool pictures of the countryside because that's all there was to see, country, was quite nice. well i say country, as we were leaving Rio ans Sao Paulo it was the slums. like seriously the GHETO i feard for my life. well not really the bus driver was going like 90 mph in a coach. yes he drove like a mad man and still the trip took 24 hours. anyways back to the ride. everyone along the road seems to be either broken down in there car, a mechanic, a farmer or selling some fruit. so as you can guess there was a lot of fields. one point to mention was the areas where they had cut down trees and it was like one large patch of read soil. but then there was places where they had attempted to replant the forest. it looked like a well trained army of trees. there was acres of forest that was regimently order you could have sprinted in a straight line for a few minuets, done a 45 degree tern then ran dead straight for another few minutes, it looked strange. had the urge to go running through the forest.
Campo Grande was not worth the trip. its small, full of shacks and run down. the hostel is on the street and from the front looks like a shop. luckily it has a food bar next door and on the other side a bus agent where i swiftly booked my bus ticket out of here. next stop is Corumba. yeah Bart a Simpson style quot. i Corumba.
I'm still a little sceptical about this hostel, on arrival they didn't have my name down for the room and looked at my hostel bookers reservation in confusion. The man behind the counter said he will give me a room, and only  charge me for a dorm, I'm happy with this as the rooms are sub standard. lets hope he sticks to his agreement. otherwise i shall be writing a letter! one good thing about this hostel is that it has a pool, might go for a little swim later, after a little excursion into Campo Grandee and sun it up reading a nice book by the pool. this is all Campo Grandee has to offer me.

Blisters.

Woke up nice and early today, had to check out of the hostel by 11. luckily I'm allowed to leave my luggage and chill in the hostel until my cab comes later on today.
today I've spent the day exploring a bit more of Brazil, i took a leisurely stroll through the markets in Rio, lots of fruits and veg, as well as people selling trinkets. speaking of trinkets, picked myself up a nice little string pattern bracelet thing, something for the misses yesterday on Copacabana beach.
on a side note, the beaches are gorgeous! the waves are crazy, i tried body surfing with the other dudes i met the other day, i failed. the trick is to go in deep enough so the developing waves pass you, well, I'm too short to go that deep so i was battered continuously being at the point where the waves broke. exhilarating few seconds being dragged under towards the shallows, but very tiring, i had regular breaks. the beaches have tuns of people selling everything from beers, bracelets, blankets to hammocks, get annoying in the end.
if you've been reading then you know i intended to go on a boat party the other day, we all decided against it, it was quite expensive and apparently not very good.
we all went for dinner in Copacabana in a all you can eat meat restaurant, very nice, every imaginable meat! the lamb was a must. afterwards we went back to the beach, it was dark, we had a few drinks at the beach bar, and unfortunately one of the girls in the group had her bag snatched on the beach, we all went back to the hostel afterwards. there's a real vibe around the beach bars in Copacabana, musicians playing, chilled environment.
so back to today, i went to Ipenema beach to get some cool pictures of the mountains, i was successful (see attached pictures) i did this alone today as the group have gone to see the sugar loaf mountains, which I'm waiting till with john to see, as he didn't when he got here.
feet are quite blistered from all the waling and my feet adjusting to the flip flops i bought.
i managed to track down the bus company and have my bus to Campo Grande booked for today at 7, i plan to leave for the bus station in Centro at 5 as its about 30 minuets taxi ride there.
Blog  next from Campo Grande, hopefully the 22 hour bus ride doesn't nacker me out!

1st day (well 2nd)

Crashed out asleep at last night, must have been the time difference.
met some cool people today, group of 8 from Lester. 6 of them just flying in from London for a holiday to meet the other two dudes who been travelling for 5 months.
Today i got up early, had breakfast and luckily met the group mentioned, they were just getting in and off to the beach while they wanted for the check in time.
we all went down to Copacobahana beach and sunbathed, the waves were ridiculous so i decided not to go swimming.
we went on an excursion about the city, through the markets and on the streets. its a very busy city.
Lunch time came and we were all pretty hungry so we had the option of a R$3 burger from ¨bobs burgers¨ or hit up McDonald. i couldn't pass up the opportunity to see if foreign Mcdonalds  meets British standards.......it doesn't. food was average and seem to be just a plain chicken burger from Iceland's in a bun. in case you don't go to Iceland's, its not very nice.
tonight the hostel are arranging a boat party, open bar, all you can eat buffet, 2 levels music, should be fun. going with the group which makes me feel 100% safer out and about, now i have people i can talk with. the 1st night at dinner, i was the only English speaker.
tomorrow I'm off to the bus station to book my bus to Campo Grandee, 22 hours, fun. and also i plan to book my hostel tomorow.
in terms of budget, I'm on a slight overspend, by about 20 quid, not to bad, mainly the extortion rate i payed for a taxi from the airport and tonight boat trip, but hey, when in Rio!
That's all for now, I'll update when something interesting.

Arived!

well as the3 title suggests, i have arrived. I'm not going to lie, its kinda scary being alone, my heart dropped when the dude told me my reservation was canceled because i didn't phone then a day in advance (i forgot) so now I've got a bed on the floor for tonight. tomorrow my reservation is still good which is a bonus. its too late to go exploring tonight so I'm just going to relax, all you can eat pizza tonight with a free beer, awesome. tomorrow i plan on visiting the beach. My 1st impression was 'oh shit what have i got myself into! but I'm sure all will look better in the day time, as i went past many favelas in the taxi. A dude at the hostel invited me to a favela funk party, party with the locals in the favela, I'm giving it a miss. i think the sooner i get to meet up with john the better as I'm shore this lone travelling thing is going get lonely.
that's all for now,
I'll blog when i can next

Pssstttt: Heres the plan.

So this is in a very abbreviated form my planed itinerary.

Fly from London to Rio, Brazil. - spend a few days chilling, acclimatising and sight seeing.  Beaches, Bars and attractions.

Onto Campo Grande (in-between stop on the way to Bolivia) explore etc.

Santa Cruz, Bolivia. - Visit parks and museums.

Death train to La Paz.

La paz - the salt lakes, national parks, hiking.

Arequipa, Peru. - Meet up with john. GVI (Building water cisterns in small mountain village) and hiking.

Cuzco - Visit ruins.

Inca trail.

Manchu Pichu.

Cuzco. Festival of the sun god.

Manus to Belem 4 day boat ride through the Amazon.

Belem, Brazil. - Sight see ports and museums. As well as the nightlife.

Fly to Rio. - Nature trails, visit markets and any missed sights.

Relax.

Fly Home.

That’s the plan, 4 months, 10^th of April to 20^th of august.  =D wish me luck.

Getting Close

So the day is 23rd of March, the flight is on the 10th. Actually cannot wait.

Nothing major to report on since my last post, I’ve been moving out my stuff.
Going to be strange moving out of this place, I’ve lived here for over a year and got so comfortable here. The really strange bit was the other day when I removed all of my posters of the wall and took all unnecessary cloths to my parent’s house.

Everything is done, I have a whole 2 draws dedicated to all of my trip stuff. Insurance bought, flight bought, Volunteering paid for. Just been keeping up to date with my friends expeditions in SA at the moment. Sounds like he’s having fun.

Flying into Rio should be great, Copacabana beach here I come! On a cheeky note, in an attempt to look less like a "fresh off the plane gringo" I have decided to tan up, out of a bottle. Decent results so far, standing on stern heterosexual ground here.

Right, that me done for now.

I'll be back.