| I'm outta here! |
[Apr. 4th, 2008|02:43 am] |
Hi all,
Welcome to my first Brazil post. I'm off to Brazil tomorrow for a four-week vacation from Hawaii (this place just wears you down). Why Brazil? Couldn't tell you. I've had some justification for the other backpacking trips I've taken - I went to Costa Rica because I made the mistake of thinking Jurassic Park was filmed there and thought it looked cool (I later found out the movie was filmed in Hawaii); went to Thailand when google told me I could afford to spend 6 weeks playing with monkeys in an animal rescue shelter and still spend 3 weeks backpacking; and I spent 24 hours on a greyhound bus just to see the Hollywood sign, although I did make a stop at Universal Studios - best theme park ever. But I'm not really sure why I'm off to Brazil. Part of the reason might be that my housemates and I have blank maps stuck on each of our doors, we colour in each country we've been to and Brazil is a big 'un to get. Of course, there's all that stuff like tropical rainforest with giant anteaters, sloths and tapirs, swamps with herds of capybara and beautiful beaches. Another reason is that the plane ticket was just $1070, pretty good when you take a look at a map and realise just where Hawaii is.
I'm currently sat in my room with rather a small pile of belongings to take. I plan to take a half-full backpack given that I will misjudge my bus-stop in Rio de Janeiro out of fear of shooting past my hostel and will have to walk 2 miles in 35 degree heat. I am fully kitted out for my trip however and can boast a full first aid kit (no thermometer though, mum!), tiny tubes of toothpaste, 16 AA batteries and a tiny MP3 player I like to call Pinky. I am rather proud of Pinky - $30 for a 1GB MP3 player. It's even got a speaker. I still need to finishing filling Pinky up with the essentials. Essential music will include a selection of Ben Harper, Elliot Smith, Elvis, The Smiths and Billy Joel. I think Pinky will be one of the best things I've bought for this trip. I would only be happier if I could figure out a way to take my guitar. Seriously tempted to buy one before taking a 5-day, 1500km boat trip up the Amazon. Pinky's batteries will only last so long.
I'm looking forward to being on the road again. The last proper trip I did was Thailand which was amazing - my Thai travel blog is somewhere below this one. No more internet, no more ipod, no more cellphone. My god, no more google, no more youtube. Hmm. How will I entertain myself? Better find one of those book things (actually already picked it, On the Road by Jack Kerouac).
Things I plan to do on this trip:
Sleep in a hammock while travelling up the Amazon
See pink river dolphins
Catch a piranha then eat its face off
See a herd of Capybara in the Pantanal (east Brazil)
Go to Argentina for a day
Run off a cliff with a Brazilian (hang-gliding)
Poke a caiman (alligator)
Things I do not plan to do:
Catch dengue fever
Lose a vital document
Lose a finger to a piranha
Plummet from a cliff with or without a Brazilian
I think that about sums it up. Now I must get back to packing or, more importantly, whittling down my list of possible songs to put on Pinky.
Rach
Disclaimer: Words will not always be spelled correctly. If you are American, there will be many Us, Ls and Ss that you think are superfluous - they are not. There will be little to no grammar and/or punctuation at times. My younger brother always says bad handwriting makes letters last longer, I am assuming the same goes for poor spelling etc. If I am excited when I write, there will also be no obvious structure to the post, nor any indication that I have thought about what I am going to write. If you would like to read something more eloquent, please hunt down my older brother's travel blog at www.sorryforthegroupemail.com. Units used will be metric, imperial or made-up. There will be no consistency.
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| Comments: |
I love your disclaimer! I can't wait to read about your trip!
Hey Rachel - have a good trip to Brazil.
Would love to catch up with you at some point. Hope you do a trip to the UK at some point!
Love Frankie
This sounds like it's going to be absolutely amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!
Add this to the list of things to do:
Bring back an anaconda for Vivi
Yes, you live in Hawaii, so you really need a holiday.
Enjoy yourself. Make sure you visit Argentina (I may be biased but everything from Argentina is excellent!)
From: (Anonymous)
2008-04-05 04:50 pm (UTC)
Have fun - | (Link)
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Rach - hope it is brill. If you need us or we need you!! Remember Timbukto? Sheila is going to be the main contact again. We will be in Israel from Monday 7th until Thursday 17th. love Mum
From: (Anonymous)
2008-04-06 05:08 am (UTC)
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We were in a house in Vietnam with a doctor from Malaysia who gave us the rundown on Dengue fever in horrifying detail. Try not to get it.
If you haven't already left, try Plans by Deathcab for Cutie. Sends me to sleep on long bus journeys.
35 degrees is nothing, btw. It's not hot until it's past 40 and you're vomiting on the pavement with heat exhaustion.
The Vietnamese must love me.
Don't kill yourself.
Dxx
From: (Anonymous)
2008-04-06 05:53 am (UTC)
How you are awesome | (Link)
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Have a great trip Rach! Be sure to put the smack down on the piranhas--they've been strutting around the waters for much too long. Best to show whose boss right from the start. Sounds amazing--I look forward to reading all of your adventures.
See you soon!
xxMendy | |
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