And we're off

So my trip officially started on the 4th January – which coincidently also happens to be my birthday! I am on an overland truck trip, which means that there are 11 of us being transported around South America on a converted truck. The truck carries camping gear including a camping kitchen, food and spare water. We team up in pairs and take it in turns cooking and shopping for the entire group. So at 8am on the 4th Jan, I climbed aboard the truck, stored all my belongings and was very surprised to find the truck full of birthday balloons!
We drove out of Rio into the mountains of Teresopolis and pulled into a local campsite. After the tents were put up, we made use of the swimming pool and Danny (our trip leader) even found an inflatable in the shape of a water-melon ice lolly. There is no dignified way to try and climb aboard an inflatable in a pool and much hilarity followed. Later that evening, I was even presented with a chocolate birthday cake. So the first day of my trip was great!

The next day we all took a bus to the nearby national park. The walk to the viewpoint was described as moderate, but as I struggled up the muddy, tree root entangled, extremely steep mountain side, I did not feel as if I was putting in moderate effort! Only marginally surviving heart-failure, I made it to the top to take in the breath-taking beauty of the local mountain range. Only I didn’t! It was a complete white-out. Clouds were completely covering the mountains. Nevermind. Luckily, we had stopped for a photo shoot the day before as we drove up the road. So the above photo of the ‘Finger Of God’ was taken by a roadside viewpoint. At least I got a good work out!
So the trip is certainly underway. Next stop will be Ouro Preto – a pretty colonial town famous for its gold mines. Then it will be the first bush camp and unfortunately i will be responsible for the catering!