It's been a while since my last entry, but I have a good excuse - Carnaval happened. There was little time to sit in front of a computer, editing my photos and trying to turn my thoughts and experiences into words. Now that it's over, I've finally had the time to take a (quick) breather, while I wait at the airport in Rio de Janeiro.

After Quito, I spent an entire day enduring a ridiculous flight itinerary (Quito to Bogotá, Bogotá to Panama City, Panama City to São Paulo), to then fly the next morning to Belo Horizonte. It was all worth it of course, to return to the place where I made an amazing last year friend in Maria. She invited me to stay with her for Carnaval, where we could once again party it up with her and her friends.

Walking back into her apartment, where I spent over a week back in April last year, it felt like I was returning home. That feeling was helped by the fact that Maria had sent me a key to her apartment back when I was in Recife, so it really did feel like I was opening the door of my own house. I was able to unpack my bag completely, and have my own bedroom and shower. We had home cooked meals, my laundry was done for me and we spent a fair bit of time on the couch watching Netflix. After 11 months of travelling out of two small bags, a break from the traditional backpacking experience was exactly what I needed.

We partied for days on end, then took a few days off to recover, where we ate a lot of Japanese food, watched TV shows, went to the cinema and even adopted an abandoned puppy for Maria on the day I left.

Just as I had expected, it was another special experience with some great friends, and the return to Belo Horizonte only cemented our plans to catch up again somewhere in the world in the near future. I had plans to fly to Sao Paulo for 2 nights after Belo Horizonte, but decided to stay in Belo Horizonte for a couple more nights to recover from a bug I still seem to be shaking off (to be fair the heavy partying didn't help).

Nevertheless my time in Belo with Maria came to an end, and I spent the following 2 nights back in Rio de Janeiro, I place I just can't seem to bypass when I'm nearby. It's such an incredibly picturesque city. Whether it's due to it's beauty, the fact that it was Carnaval, or maybe just because the amount of special memories I have in this city, it always has a unique feeling which to me brings a lot of happiness.

Unfortunately, I only had one full day to enjoy Rio, and being a Saturday during Carnaval, it was impossible to do the one thing I really wanted to do - hang gliding over the city. But, it makes for a good excuse to return again one day. I met up with Lydia, who works in a hostel I stayed at last time I was in Rio, and we walked around the city, eating and drinking our way around Ipanema, Leblon, Copacabana. We finished the day enjoying the sunset on Ipanema beach, then went for dinner at one of my favourite Brazilian restaurants, Fogo de Chão.

We ate way more than anyone should have in one sitting, but the meats are too delicious to say no to, until you've actually reached the point of being in pain from eating so much. Hopefully, the rest in Belo Horizonte and the amount of food I ate in Rio will give me the energy for the last leg of the trip - Chile, and one other surprise destination... stay tuned!

I recently decided to try out Couchsurfing properly for the first time, so when I was in Rio de Janeiro I began to look for someone in Belo Horizonte who would be willing to put up with me for a few nights. I ended up finding much more than that, and left this city not only staying much longer than I originally intended, but also making some great new friends.

My bus from Rio was delayed by a couple of hours, so it was quite late when I arrived. I felt bad for my host Maria who had been waiting there for a while with two of her other Couchsurfing guests Dave and Gabby (who both happened to be Australian). She took us back to her place for dinner, then we went out to a party in town and hung out with some of her friends.

Maria was fantastic in showing us around the city, and the weekend was packed with activities. We visited Inhotim, a massive open air museum in Brumadinho; got tickets to see the Atlético Mineiro vs Cruzeiro game (the local derby); and went to a few parties and nightclubs. We also walked around Mangabeiras Park, which has a beautiful panorama of the city:

We visited Pampulha, Praça da Liberdade and had lunch at the Museum of Arts and Crafts, and took a tour of the Estádio Mineirão - Cruzeiro's stadium that was used for the World Cup last year.

On Thursday we drove to Ouro Preto, an old colonial town that was once the epicenter of a huge gold rush. A tour guide took us through a few old gold mines, then we visited an old church and finished off with some coffee and cake.

For our last bit of sightseeing Maria took me to Gruta Rei do Mato, a cave located about 1 hours drive from Belo Horizonte. The rest of the weekend was spent eating lots of great food, partying and hanging out with our new friends.

And then the time comes to an end, and you have to say goodbye to the great people you've spent almost every minute with for the past week and a bit. What I've come to realise on this trip is the continual disappointment you feel when you have to move on from the amazing people you meet. It's one of the only downsides of travelling around the world, but you hope one day you will cross paths with these people again. It was however a great experience with great people, and although I might not find a Couchsurfing host quite as generous as Maria and her family, I'm definitely keen to try it again.

The Brazil Return

Belo Horizonte, Brazil