Ilha Grande, Days 5 - 7

If Rio is a beach lover's paradise, then Ilha Grande is a paradise lover's paradise.  With beaches.  Ilha Grande (Big Island) is about two hours south of Rio down the Atlantic coast, and is reachable via a 40 minute ferry or boat ride from either Mangaratiba or Angra dos Reis.  We left from Angra.  The journey down from Rio along the coast was stunning.  Cerulean waters meet golden beaches on one side, whilst the verdent jade of the Atlantic forest cover the rolling foothills to the north.  I could have stayed on our bus all day, but of course the purpose of the journey was to find Ilha Grande!

There are no vehicles or banks on the island, and even electricity is sporadic heightening the welcome sense of separation from modernity.  Ilha Grande has an interesting history, hosting a prison as recently as the early 1990's before being closed down and the island turning to eco-tourism.  During the age of discovery and colonisation, immigrants from the old world to Brazil were quarantined on the island to protect against the raging cholera endemic at the time.

We stayed at the Green Studio Beach Hostel, just off the main beach and full of interesting characters - both tourists and locals.  One chap that  would pop in from time to time was probably about 70 years old, looked the height of health, spoke no English but constantly urged us to drink caipirhinas.  That's what I understood from his gap-toothed mutterings anyway.  Breakfast consisted of what I now consider the typical Brasilien morning fare of cake, super-strength coffee and fruit.

We managed to trek up into the jungle on our penultimate day to discover the fabled Cachoceira da Feiticeira waterfall and ruined aquaduct.  The intense humidity whilst under the trees is exactly how I imagine the Amazon.

Here is a shot of my attempts to refresh myself under the waterfall:

Estoy Hecha Mierda
A couple of days after 'catching a few too many rays', my shoulders were toast.  It was at this nadir of my physical condition that we ambled past a room of Chileans.  I am not sure of the Collective Noun for a group of Chileans, so I shall use poetic license and call them a 'mine'.  We ambled past a mine of Chileans in the midst of energetic partying.  A friendlier bunch I have rarely met.  Of course they called us in and dosed us up with Caipirinha and Pisco, whilst making music with no more than a saucepan and table (there was aso a guitar).  Although they could speak perfect English, they were too drunk to recall my pained protestations each time they slapped me on the shoulders and back.  Hilarious at the time but agony for the next few days...

Rio de Janeiro, Days 1 - 4

At the Copa, Copacabana

They really do know how to live down in Rio.  A quick stroll to the beach (of which they have ten stunners to choose from) followed by a day of frollicking and lounging in the sun.  Combined with a choice of coco, caiparinha or beer and watching the sunset over the ocean, it is a good life.

Of course, we Brits also know how to live life.  I spent my days at the beach covering myself with factor 50, griping about the blisters my flip-flops were giving me and stopping my hat from blowing away!

Rio is nown as the `Cidade Marvellhosa`, a title it certainly deserves.  I have mentioned the beaches, but there is so much more.  Pau do AcucarSugarloaf mountain is a main tourist draw but is impressive.  Almost Alpine style cable car ascent sent my mind back to various snow-capped mountains and valleys.  Santa Teresa gives the  town a quaint colonial feel with French influences, now inhabited by the local artistic community.  Lapa is the party quarter - a Friday night here entails sipping caiparinhas and dancing samba on the streets.  Then there is Ipanema, the bohemian area.  Requires more than a bohemian budget.

Pictures shall follow if I ever get time!

Ash.

So it comes to this - an actual blog post

Well, after spending the last half an hour attempting to resurrect my old travel blog, it has become apparent that I have only managed to change the template (about five times) with the result being that it looks even worse than before!  Hmmm...I'll get back to sorting out the formatting I am sure.

For the time being, all that needs to be said is that me and Jenny are flying out from Heathrow on Tuesday heading for Rio.  I say flying out, we may be lucky to even get to Heathrow with the current Arctic weather conditions.  This isn't a Snowboarding blog any more thank you very much Mr. Weather!

Let's see what the weather is like at the moment:

Nice and chilly!  At least we have been practising our Patagonia-wear...

Rio is looking like a touch more tropical.  I wonder how ever will we cope :)

So for now please accept my apologies on the poor state of my blog, but be reassured I have six months to nurse it back to health.

Ash.

Powder Monkeys on Tour 2008

Its that time of year again - time for another blog post and of course two weeks of delirious board on snow action in the wintery climbs of North America's finest slopes!

The official blog can be found at:

http://utahpowdermonkeys.blogspot.com/

so make sure you checks it out...

First Post Facebook Post

ahem

Unfortuntely, due to the recent increase in popularity of that which we in the know refer to as 'the 'book', or even simply as 'fb', there has been less occasion to keep up with excess bloggage. I am taking a firm stance, however, and attempting to restore this dieing art form. On that note I proceed.

So, I last wrote after the U.S.; excuse the cliche, but so much has happened since then. I have been strumming away to my little heart's content, perfecting my guitar concentration face and finally got 'da boyz' together for a bit a bread and jam - with endorsement from a certain Miss Zoe Ball at this year's Glastonbury where can we go wrong? Don't believe the rumours - I have been reliably informed that said Miss Ball gave up both sarcasm and alcohol for lent (are we past easter yet?? mmmmm.....).

So, Glasto was a ball (excuse the pun)and predicatably so rather muddy (zzzzz... I know). Pear Cider (sorry perry) featured heavily and I got drunk, and stoned....

Holidays planned for the Summer?? Well, I am hopefully going to whisk away my gorgeous, kind, funny, intelligent girlfriend to some place exotic - fancy getting involved in abit of naturism.

---------------------------

Clearly I have neither the literary nor mental capacity to write even a sentence of the above - but it is a close representation of recent events.

I sign off, Peace Ash.

This is my united states of whatever

Well I guess its time for another post, seeing as its been more than four months since my last one...lazy bugger. I can only remember stuff that happened over the last few weeks so anything important that happened before them I apologise to - I may remember you some day.

So the major thing that happened recently was my first trip to America - the land of plenty. I went there with not a few pre-conceptions and left quite dissapointed that they were mostly wrong. I really did enjoy myself over there, and could see myself emmigrating one day. So, obligatory list time:

Stuff that ruled:

Huge meals at restuarants
Everything is sooo cheap
Women love the English accent
Snow
You can buy anything you want - the choice is ridiculous
Everything is bigger over there. Example: Burger King here - Double Whopper with cheese. Burger King there - Triple Whopper with cheese.
Wendy Burger's square burgers


Stuff that sucked:

Very poor quality of 'micro-brewery' ales
Tipping everybody for everything
Claim culture - everything has a warning label like "This chocolate bar is only intended for oral consumption"
People are a bit too happy - maybe I'm too used to good old British cynicism and happiness is actually a good thing


OK thats it for now, pictures to follow...

Peace

Haloween

Damn, already three weeks - I've been working too hard lately and deserve a break.

Anyway, my History Matters contribution:


Okay, so attempt number two at writing my diary on:

Tuesday the 31st of October, the year of Our Lord 2006, ten past ten o'clock. ish.

My first attempt, it must be said, was so nearly complete. All that was required was for myself to sign off and there it was, the masterpiece that everyperson is capable of writing. Alas, IE just dissapeared after an inexplicable key press - denied!

So I shall attempt to recreate my thoughts of but ten minutes ago, in an effort that surely drove Gogol to the edge.

I started off with the vacuous statement that I shall write about my day from the current moment back to emerging from the pea-souper that was my shower this morning - in reverse. So here goes:


As I sit on my comfortable Ikea sofa dressed in shorts and an old ripped but resown t-shirt halfway through a bottle of French red. I've glanced at the half-phase moon from the corner of my eye. It illuminates the surrounding cloud cover in a brilliant cerulean/silver most enigmatic. It causes me to reflect on life - I struggle and limit it to merely the day, as is surely the healthy option.
Specifically my recent attempts at recycling - I like to think I'm getting pretty good, paper in that one, green glass there, plastics in the frying pan. All that stuff. I've even got a Recycling Wheel that tells me where to put everything. We should really take a look at our habits in this respect, there is so much we can do and theres no better place to start than with yourself! There's absolutely no reason to use the 'But the Yanks and Chinese aren't so why should I?' excuse, in fact its a disgrace. It may be true though, but as I always learnt as a child 'actions speak louder than words'.

For real.

So, I spent the working hours at Leicester Mercury office clearing up post WAN Audit loose ends. Our WAN Review Executive Summary received a good response from the I.T. Director, so it's looking good for a fat contract!

I missed my train this morning and was obliged to wait an hour until the next trundled in; for once it was no fault of my own! I left my flat bang on schedule to saunter down to the station this morning, but stopped in my tracks when I heard 'Oi! What time do you call this Georgeson!' (It was 9am) I turned to see my boss (and landlord) Steve, come to pick up his car from the flat. Parking lot. A lift was offered, duly accepted and we were sat in said warm Audi, engine running pulled upto the gates when it dawned on my boss that he had neglected to bring the gate keys with him! A short jog to the site office for assistance proved fruitful (due to it being closed on Tuesdays) so I opted to walk as originally planned, fatally 5 minutes behind schedule. (I always time my movements to maximise lazing around at home)

The early rise from slumber has been hindered of late by the onset of winter conditions. I shouldn't complain; I'm a healthy lad with some wit to my name and all that, but its so damn cold of a morning nowadays!



Right, that covered about most of my original epic; I'm now off to drain the last of the red and play guitar.


Good wishes to anybody who read this -


Peace

Ashley Georgeson

Age 24

Nottingham, UK.