Paris, Pope and movies

this will be the last part of the Brazil story because now I'm in Paris and my life here is something to share with you all.

My travel to the airport took 60 min boat ride with a speed boat, 4 hours waiting at the bus station in Angra des Rais, 7 hours bus ride ( along with car sicknes ) from Angra to Sao Paulo and then 14 hours waiting at the airport in Sao Paulo. I just didn't want to miss my flight out of the country.
Not that I didnt like Brazil - I was just ready to get back.

My travels were very interesting, police man going through my stuff, arriving late in Portugal and running to the next gate, not having my luggage in London and waiting for 4 hours on Heathrow, my trainticket to paris was not bought so I needed to buy one and therefore loosing the train I wanted to take.
VERY NICE!

So I arrived in Paris last Wednesday and so far I like it a lot.

- The weather has been good
- the MC team is super nice
- I finally got my jetlag out
- I went to listen to the POPE
- I walked all over Paris
- I've been to the movies
and many more :)

I'm trying to practice my french as well, it's going ok. I'm remembering many things so far so that's good for me :)

Tonight I'm going to the movies again - I wanted to see Jar City ( Mýrin ) with French subtitles - and it's also just 3,5 EUR :)

-with love-

upload complete - Transition pictures :=)

Hey everyone :P

here you can find some interesting pictures since my transition time in Rotterdam!!

http://www.picturetrail.com/missMCP-5

-with love-

Riding boats all the time :P

My stay at the paradise island went by way to fast.
Day one:
- I took a boat ride at 10 in the morning to their BLUE LAGOON. I had to go and see if it was nicer then one in Iceland or not hehe. The boat ride was like an hour and half in this amazing weather.
When we got to the blue lagoon people had the chance to snorkle and look at the fish life and enjoy the cold water.
It was my first time snorkling and I enjoyed it so much, so cool to be swimming with the fishes ( not in a Mafia kind a way ) and just enjoying the great weather and the people.

After the snorkling in blue lagoon we took the boat to this beautiful beach where we stayed sunbathing for 50 min ( the time schedule was very strickt ;) )
The next stop was another beach where you could by food for a lot of money. Shit... I decided not to eat. Looking at the prices, all of a sudden I wasn't hungry anymore ;)

So then the boat ride was over, I came back to the "capital" of the Island, took a shower and got ready to leave for a barbeque in the hostel I was originally supposed to stay at.
After this amazing day I found out that I got sunburnt on my back and it hurt like HELL.
So that night I couldn't sleep well. :s

Day two:
- was not so sunny day so I stayed in the hostel to begin with and did some work, my back was also still hurting so it was good to take some time of from the sun. :S
After my work I went for a walk and saw a little more of that beautiful island.
The day was very nice, I did a lot of reading and just relaxing.

Day three:
- I took another boat ride ( you have to travel by boat to get to other places of the island ) to Lopes Mendes. Its a beach where no one lives. and it's so beautiful.
I stayed there for 5 hours and only slept, read and went swimming in the sea.
On my way back to the harbor I heard Icelandic language being spoken but I didn't want to bother the people. It was just very cool.
When I got back to the hostel it was already getting a little dark, so what I did was to arrange my luggage because I was leaving the next morning.
Then I went for a night walk and saw young kids playing Brazilian marshall arts, it was SO cute.
Then I got back and had an early night.

so this was my stay in Ilha Grande :)
more to come soon.

Difficult journey

So day four was a travelling day.
My day started with me going to the beach and enjoy my final moments on Cobacabana beach. I love that place.

After lunch I took a taxi to the Rio bus station. My plan was to take a 2 hour ride to Angra De Rais, a small harbor town between Rio De Janeiro and Sao Paulo. From there I took a ferry, a very interesting old boat, to a small island called Ilha Grande. Its the paradise Island that took 2 hours to get to by the ferry.
I arrived there at 9 PM, tired, hungry and needed to pee. Not so good situation.

So I take my HUGE luggage to go to the Hostel I was supposed to stay at. It was so hard since the Island doesnt have roads, no cars ( exept for police, firetruck and ambulance ), and only way to get to the hostel was to walk over the beach. SHIT.. I had to drag my luggage for 20 min. and it was SO difficult.

So when I got to the hostel, the lady told me there was no free space. I'm like WHAT!!
I had a reservation, I had already paid part of the amount and I had dragged the suitcase all this way!!
So the lady found me another place to stay at, she asked her son ( or some young dude ) to take my luggage to the new hostel and I got refunded the money had already paid.
I was so ANGRY.

So I came to this other hostel, got my room and then went to eat. Had to get my mind of this frustration.
Then I turned back to the hostel to sleep.
So nice.
-with love-

Seven hours in a tour :)

So it's been a while since I posted something here but it's been for good reasons. But here is further info on my holidays in Brazil.

Day 3 in Rio was very good.
I started the day with taking a 5 hour tour around the most important things in Rio. I went to Pedra Bonita, that has great view over Rio and it's coast lines.
Then the we went to a national park of Tijuca just to see the nature and how beautiful it is.
Next step in the tour was to go to see the Christ statue - or the "Big Dude" as it was called in the tour guide ;)
Oh man, seeing that statue was AMAZING. It's so HUGE, so elegant and so powerful. I spent an hour there and I only looked at the statue and then the stunning view over Rio De Janeiro that the statue has every day and enjoyied the lovely weather that we had that day.

I actually found out something very interesting at the Christ statue. It as a small chapel inside where people are invited to pray and/or even get married there. ( that would be very expensive but possible )
I went in there, sat for a while and just embraced the peace and power that I felt from that statue.
I highly recommend to everyone that are on their way to Brazil - GO TO RIO :)

Last step in the tour was to visit this neighbourhood in Rio called Santa Tereza. It is supposed to be very old, nice town. So we sat down there and had lunch.
I got Black beans, rice and pork ( typical Brazilian dish ) and I have to admit it was better then it looked like ;)
When I finally got back to the hostel it was already 17:00, so it ment I spent 7 hours on a tour... not so shabby :P

In the evening I went for dinner, read a book and prepared some work I had to do. YEAH..
Then I went early to sleep because I had to wake up early the next morning.
So that's day 3 in Rio... I loved it!!

- with love -

Day 2 in Rio :)

ok. Day 2 in Rio was like this ;)



I woke up to get great coffee and bread. Then I went to the beach to enjoy some sun since the day was much better then before.



I spent good time there sunbathing, then I went for lunch and had a very expensive sandwitch.

After lunch me and Tomas went to a Favella tour under the name "be a local". I had to ride a motorcycle up to the place because that is faster.
So what is a Favella?
Its a neigbourhood of poor people where they have made their homes in order to have a place to stay. Favellas are supposed to be dangerous place to live, under gang laws and people dont have honest jobs.
OK... most of this above is not true. Favella is a place for people to live that can not afford to live in the cities. And it can be dangerous but only if you do not follow the "laws".
people do have honest jobs, mostly in Rio. And they are trying hard to provide for their babies.
In Favellas, girls as young as 12 years old are starting to have their own families. Thats why the favellas are growing in a fast paste in Brazil.
Favella tour was very interesting for me to see that peoples lifes are not the same even though the live in the same city. People really do have to struggle.

The tour took around 3 hours and when we got back to the hostel we sat down to watch some TV with other hostel guests.

In the evening there were more AIESECers in the hostel from AIESEC Colombia.
They were really cool so I spent the evening playing UNO with them in spanish ( note to you - I dont speak spanish )
That was a very interesting experience hehe.

But I did go early to sleep because I had booked another tour in the morning and I wanted to be Fresh for that one.
COOL ah?
-with love-

Living on a paradise Island

its 22.23 and Im sitting outside, Im tired and I want to go to sleep.

Im currently on a small island called Ilha Grande and its a paradise island between Rio De Janeiro and Sao Paulo. I can not say at this point if its beautiful or not since its been dark the whole time here.

My holidays have been super cool.
I arrived early sunday to Rio De Janeiro and took a taxi to the hostel, called walk on the beach in Cobacabana. So cool.
I checked in and went to sleep since I didnt sleep well in the bus to Rio.

When I woke up I decided I couldnt waste more time so I ran to the beach..even though it was not sunny outside, and I staid there for 2 hours.
Then I got back and did more sleep until Tomas came back from a soccer game.
Then we went out for dinner with English couple to a restaurant called Bagdad. The food was good and it was a nice experience.
After this exotic food Tomas invited us for a shisha. So we sat there for few minutes smoking Cappochino Sisha. Very nice.
Then i went back to sleep :)

I have lots more to say what I have been doing in Rio but I just wanted to let you know I was still alive.
Now Im planning on getting some sleep. Its been a long travelling day.

-with love from Ilha Grande, Brazil -