A New Year is Starting - Days 28 and 29

New Years day should always be for taking it easy and that is exactly what we did - a long lie then we got up and rented ourselves a couple of chairs and a sun shade on the beach and neither of us moved far except to get a hair of the dog.  We stayed on the beach till about 8pm, the sun had gone but it was still so warm.  They guys packing up the chairs were staring daggers as we were quite happy where we were but we were the last on the beach sitting in their chairs!  ah well I had paid 20 reals (about six quid) for them so was going to get my moneys worth.

This is the view from our apartment - shame about the big crane but you can see the beach is very busy with red sun shades!!!  Just behind the trees is where we were for new year - very close to home which was brilliant, especially with being wet from wave hopping - even though it was 26 degrees at 2am I still felt a bit cold when I was wet and had stopped moving.

The beach was much quieter later on on New Years day a huge difference to the night before...

Today - 2nd January we had a lazy morning and then headed off to the internet cafe - getting wifi and getting money out of ATMs has been a huge problem in Rio - stupid really as its such a huge city you would think it would be really well connected!   Mark downloaded all his tweets which kept him happy while I uploaded my New Years Eve blog.  I don't really get twitter at all but he follows sports personalities,journalists and other twitter weirdos so they must have something interesting to say if he is interested in them!!

I had problems uploading my pic of me and Jesus from the 30th Dec so here it is now - Suz and Christ the Redeemer - what a pic....  well if Mark hadn't cut Christ's head off it might have been a good one and if we weren't back lit you might be able to see my face!!! ok its a shit picture but its the only one I have of me and Jesus -  and who is the geezer in the sun glasses trying to get in on my photo action?!

This afternoon we got on the Metro and on a bus to the Botanical Gardens - it was really beautiful and a bit like being back in the jungle - similar energy but not the intensity of the real Jungle.

Here I am doing what I do best and hugging a tree - I plan on hugging a tree every day in 2013.  The trees have such an amazing grounded energy they will help me through whatever 2013 has planned for me.  They will keep me deep rooted and will help me to remember what is most important in my life, instead of running around like a dafty on stupid film jobs - I am sure I will still be doing that but I will be very rooted and grounded so it will be a calmer more thinking dafty....

We spent a few hours just wandering around and we stumbled across the medicinal gardens - I hadn't realised they had one there otherwise we would have had to go there first!  Some of the plants I recognised but others I didn't but I could sort of work out some of the portuguese words to figure out what they were for - some medicinal words are the same no matter the language.

Here I am in the Medicinal Gardens - definitely 2013 is a year for discovery and learning about healing plants - I have been heading in that direction in the last few years but after my Jungle Ceremony it is clear that this is where my future is.  I really feel that the plants get me, they understand me and can help me to think clearly and breath clearly - I don't think I would have had the experience I had in my Ceremony in the Jungle if it wasn't for their support - does that sound daft? Probably but I know what I mean and so do the plants.  Have you ever felt plant energy?  It really is amazing - go up to your house plant and hold your hands about 2 or 3 inches from the leaves and wait until you start to feel the energy - I get differently feelings from different plants some are like a magnetic field and others are like a tingling.  Trees I sometimes get a pulsing like the tree has a heart beat, it really is the most amazing feeling - go and try it...

We headed from the Medicinal Gardens to the wee lake which was really cute - I was enjoying lounging on the grass until we got chased by a Parky - What we are not allowed to sit on the grass?!  is it some kind of special grass?  No just normal grass but no sitting allowed.  fucksake! might have said that to the parky too but don't think he understood!!  so off we went to stand on the pathway!!

A very nice afternoon spent - we left about 630pm and walked back to Copacabana beach which took about an hour and a half - I should really be slim with all this walking!! mind you for every mile I have walked I have had a beer so that will be why I am not slim - ah well... will keep drinking and walking!!!

Off to Foz Do Iguaco tomorrow by plane so an early start and need to get the apartment packed up - there is stuff everywhere and it not just my shit I have to pack now, I also have to make sure that Mark gets packed and doesn't forget anything.....

Hope you are all having a very happy 2013 so far.

suzxxx