2guysandaguidebook

Once the missing backpack arrived we booked our bus for the next day to get out of Sao Paulo a.s.a.p.and enjoy our last few weeks on this amazing continent, chilling on the beaches, trekking on some tropical islands and making our way up the coast. First we had to try and get to grips with the Brazilians strange little language…..Portuguese! We couldn’t even order a beer, even the English words had a Brazilian twist. A longneck bottle of beer was a Longy-necky , and facebook was Facey-bookey.

          First stop was Parati (Para-chee) to catch up with a traveling friend and enjoy the Brazilian sun and sea. Next stop for the Easter weekend was the popular holiday island, Ilha Grande (ill-ha gran-jee). About halfway from both Rio and Sao Paulo, this picturesque getaway is swarmed by residents of both for the long weekend. Trekking through the jungle, lounging in the ocean and cold beers at sundown were the order of the day and the perfect way to enjoy our last few weeks in paradise before we hit the south American finale….Rio de Janeiro.

…..but this epic change of scenery didn’t occur without a few bumps along the way. We had very few upsets on the trip so far, so a canceled flight and a free night in a hotel in Paris was nothing to complain about! Things go wrong every now and again, there is no point pointing fingers and blaming anyone (Air France). 
               That was until we arrived in the monster city that is Sao Paulo with one less bag. No need to panic, “it’s on the next flight and will be with you by lunchtime tomorrow”, we were informed (Air France). So with a complementary t-shirt and toothbrush to replace 16kgs of essential traveling gear we headed off, calm and confident. Surely our backpack that had managed to travel on some of the strangest and unorganized modes of transport the entire length of South America could make it from the airport to a city hostel, organized by an international, reputable airline (Air France)? 
      Twelve phone calls and three days later, (without one courtesy call from a certain airline) the bag finally arrived. We hit the road a few days behind schedule, to the picturesque town of Parati (Para-chee). Laying on the white sand and swimming in the crystal clear, turquoise sea I can’t even remember which airline we flew with!

Seven months on the road, traveling around South America we decided to take a break from struggling with Spanish and slurping cerveza. With a new nephew on the way and nearly two years since seeing the Irish clan, Dublin, Ireland was the only choice. Arriving ‘In Dublin fair city’ after being on the road for so long was both a shock and a relief. Everyone spoke English! (although one of us would argue with that fact), the cerveza was switched for the creamy black stout, the temperature dropped from ‘highs of 33’c to highs of 3’c and no longer did we share a hostel with strangers rather a house with the folks!

                   The new arrival to the family made us wait so in the mean time we wrapped up and got out to see the sights of this beautiful city. Steeped in history, although sometimes quite sad, walking around the sights of Dublin is impressive. From the Vikings to the famine and the uprising of 1916 to the boom of the ‘Celtic Tiger’, Ireland’s capital city is fascinating. After the exciting arrival of Freddie, we headed to see the sights of London for a week and headed to the west of Ireland to see a very different side of Irish life. Green fields, even colder weather, a taste of the Irish language (Gaelic) and a glimpse of traditional Irish life in a small town of Co. Mayo.

               We were due to fly back to Brazil but decided to extend our stay to enjoy one of the biggest dates on the Irish calender…St. Patrick’s Day! To be continued…..