December 2011 - Page 3 of 6

Boris Bikes in Rio

20/12/2011/3 Comments/in Things to do

People often say that when you return home after you’ve been away for a long time, you are surprised by how little has changed. When I returned to London for a short break earlier in the year (having been away for 2 years) I found this to be largely true. However, one thing that did pique my curiosity were these black and blue bikes that were everywhere. Since I had been away, London’s self-styled ‘Buffoon Mayor‘, Boris Johnson, had introduced a bike sharing scheme and these bikes had become known as Boris Bikes.

Well I recently discovered that Rio now has it’s own Boris Bikes!

There are 600 of these bikes and around 60 docking stations (mainly in Zona Sul). I'm not sure how much Rio's mayor, Eduardo Paes, had to do with this scheme, but if I were him I'd be pushing the nickname 'Paes Bikes'...

Verdict?

19/12/2011/5 Comments/in Musings

So, what do you think? Please be kind! I’ve been mulling over the idea of a move away from blogger for a while and decided today was the day to finally take the plunge.

There are a few things I should say:

Take a look at the top-left of the page – you should see the Feedburner, Twitter and Facebook icons. Click these to get fully EatRio connected – all the cool kids are doing it!
There may be one or two broken links in my old posts – Blogger and WordPress do things a little differently and I need to check through every old post to iron out a couple of probleminhas. If you spot anything that isn’t working, I would be eternally grateful if you tell me about it.
A big thank-you to my very talented sister who single-handedly did all the fancy design stuff you see here.

Supercool Stationary from my sister (lollipopdesigns.co.uk)

Tidying up and moving…

18/12/2011/6 Comments/in Musings

Hi everyone!

Just a quick post today as we had a party last night and I’ve been clearing up and cleaning the house all day. Here is a photo taken from our balcony yesterday as we were preparing for the party – dramatic right?

The rain and clouds were moving away, to the right. Does the rainbow (on the left) look a bit fake? I promise it isn’t! We hoped it would be a good omen that the storm clouds were leaving us in time for the party, but unfortunately there was plenty more rain to come. Luckily the birthday girl got so drunk she didn’t notice!

Is it better not to speak Portuguese?

17/12/2011/6 Comments/in Language, Musings

Recently I was reading the blog of an expat and they were summing up the good and bad points of living away from their home country and then also looking at what it felt like to return. One point that particularly interested me was the returning to a country where everyone speaks your language isn’t always that great. Sure we all get a little tired of the language barriers when we’re ‘away’, but when you go ‘home’, you have to get used to understanding everything that everyone says.

Yes. Yes I am still complaining. And so is everyone else apparently.

The most amazing natural wonder in Brazil.

16/12/2011/14 Comments/in Things to do

That’s right, I’ve just gone right ahead and put a full stop at the end of today’s post title. No question marks today, it’s Friday, I’m feeling tough and I’m going to make a statement of fact. Lençois Maranhenses is the most amazing natural wonder in Brazil.

Before I tell you anything about it, I’m doing to do a quick backtrack regarding my tough Friday stance in that opening paragraph. I actually haven’t seen very much of Brazil – I’ve seen some of the Amazon region, a little of the north-eastern states of Maranhão and Ceara and a little of Rio state. I haven’t been down south to all those amazing beaches everyone tells me about. I haven’t been to the waterfalls of Iguaçu (and yes, I know they’re amazing). So I will listen if you tell me there is somewhere more spectacular (in fact I’d love to hear your opinions/suggestions).

But seriously, take a look at this:

Situated in Brazil’s poorest state, Maranhão, the Lençóis Maranhenses National Park covers 270 km² and lies on the coast of north-east Brazil. Situated next to the sea, these huge white sand dunes are dotted with rain-fed, fresh water lagoons.

Archive for month: December, 2011