One of the best parts of travelling is the interaction with other travellers, meeting so many different people with different experiences from all over the world! Aside from the countries we have been in, we have met people from Canada, Sweden, Iceland, Germany, Australia, Denmark, Portugal, Holland, Spain, France, Switzerland, Poland, Belgium, Norway, New Zealand and plenty of Americans and Israelis (who seem to travel in groups of no less that 20 after having finished their military service).
The other great thing about meeting all of these people is their advice and tips for places to go or stay- that's why we popped into Uruguay, and in the same way, Elle and I found ourselves in Pucon, Chile. We had been told about the active volcano there called Villaricca, with a floating glacier, meaning it is possible to slide down parts of it on ice slides! Needless to say, we had to investigate.
Getting up at 5am was bad enough, but nothing compared to the treacherous steep path, with a constant fear of falling- and that was even before we had to start using crampons and ice picks on the glacier. Apparently two people had died just the week before on the hike- not something you want to hear when you are half-way up and not completely confident about completing the other half. After about 4 or 5 hours of the hike, we reached the top and felt absolutely EUPHORIC! The panoramic views were insane- stunning scenery all around (the only negative being toxic sulphur fumes issuing from the huge crater, made it hard to enjoy lunch!) The way down is always worse than the way up, having reached the goal of the summit, the pain starts to increase and exhaustion sets in....
At least there were ice slides then! There were only three of them, due to high temperatures etc, but even so, we slid about a kilometre down the side of the volcano. It was obviously great fun; we were instructed not to go too fast by using our ice picks as brakes- many people accidentally impaling themselves on them at the sudden stops- and we used protective mats which clipped round our legs to slide down on (although one of our group somehow managed to completely shred his, clearly wasn't using his ice pick enough!) Eventually made it to the base, coated in dust, breathing dust, swallowing dust- lots kicked up on the steep descent downwards, in parts you slip and slide down the slope with great plumes billowing behind- not the best fun if you are at the back fo the group. Elle was almost spritely when we got back to the hostel, although I don't think either of us managed to walk without pain for a good week afterwards. My boots clearly didn't fit well because the excruciating pain in my feet turned out to be my big toenails detaching from the nail bed- the left one coming off completely a few days later- one of the most disgusting things I've ever seen! It was a comfort to meet another woman a few days later who said the same had happened to her too. Even after all the pain, it was definitely worth it- how many people can say they climbed an active volcano and slid down it too?
The next few days were spent further north, in Valparaiso, a quirky bohemian port town with plenty of street art and winding streets with steep steps (slow progress on the battered legs!) We spent the day trying to take increasingly arty photos- my favourite building was one painted in the style of Mondrian- and the next day at Vina del Mar, a short bus ride away, relaxing on the beach and soaking up the sun rays (an acitivity we thought we had long since lost back in Brazil- so so nice to be back on sand!) Then it was time to move onwards, back into Argentina to Mendoza and meet Bee flying back from Canada....
Tuesday, 17 April 2012
Birthday in Bariloche
Depleted to just two members (Bee having flown off to see her family in Canada for skiing), Elle and I took a lovely long bus ride down south to Bariloche. I say 'lovely long' because Argentinian buses are out of this world- tea, coffee, meals, films, music, blankets etc etc- and all this on just the most basic 'semi-cama' seats. On the Royal Cama Suites services there is champagne and whisky before bed, where the seats go fully horizontal and another part flips up to make an actual bed...so with all this luxury, you end up not wanting to get off at the final destination! This particular bus ride was about 20 hours (nowhere near long enough) down into Patagonia.
Our first thoughts on arrival in Bariloche was its resemblance to Switzerland- not only in the snow-capped mountains surrounding a curved lake (leading to the most incredible panoramic photos of sunset and sunrise with all the reflections and silhouettes)- but also in the alpine-lodge-like buildings, the numerous chocolate shops, ski shops and fleeces on display (felt a little out of place still in flip-flops with everyone else bundled up in thermals- clearly the coldness was a state of mind).
I celebrated my 19th birthday with some exhilirating white water rafting; we felt incredibly intrepid even when informed that the course was only a level 3 and the hardest level is a 5. Either way it was great fun- at one point we jumped out and floated feet first down the rapid- hard to breath with the coldness of the water and each surge of water coming milliseconds after the previous. Returning that evening, exhausted, probably resembling to some extent drowned rats, we indulged in dinner at a nice restaurant, which turned out to be owned by the brother of the Argentinian princess!
So, delicious food, good wine, complimentary champagne- what was our favourite part of the meal? The salad for starter. Our diets have become really terrible- too many carbs and not enough fresh fruit or vegetables (if any). On the plus side we now know that cooking with rice and pasta has limitless potential- plain, butter, salt, chicken stock, vegetable stock, noodle soups, garlic and oil......and all this generally free by taking full advantage of hostel kitchens (if you can withstand the horror of the other travellers!) It can get rather intimidating when somebody next to you is cooking an incredible stir-fry whilst you stir your rice cooked in chicken stock and optimistically call it 'risotto'....
Our first thoughts on arrival in Bariloche was its resemblance to Switzerland- not only in the snow-capped mountains surrounding a curved lake (leading to the most incredible panoramic photos of sunset and sunrise with all the reflections and silhouettes)- but also in the alpine-lodge-like buildings, the numerous chocolate shops, ski shops and fleeces on display (felt a little out of place still in flip-flops with everyone else bundled up in thermals- clearly the coldness was a state of mind).
I celebrated my 19th birthday with some exhilirating white water rafting; we felt incredibly intrepid even when informed that the course was only a level 3 and the hardest level is a 5. Either way it was great fun- at one point we jumped out and floated feet first down the rapid- hard to breath with the coldness of the water and each surge of water coming milliseconds after the previous. Returning that evening, exhausted, probably resembling to some extent drowned rats, we indulged in dinner at a nice restaurant, which turned out to be owned by the brother of the Argentinian princess!
So, delicious food, good wine, complimentary champagne- what was our favourite part of the meal? The salad for starter. Our diets have become really terrible- too many carbs and not enough fresh fruit or vegetables (if any). On the plus side we now know that cooking with rice and pasta has limitless potential- plain, butter, salt, chicken stock, vegetable stock, noodle soups, garlic and oil......and all this generally free by taking full advantage of hostel kitchens (if you can withstand the horror of the other travellers!) It can get rather intimidating when somebody next to you is cooking an incredible stir-fry whilst you stir your rice cooked in chicken stock and optimistically call it 'risotto'....
Sunday, 15 April 2012
The Big BA
It was incredibly disorientating to arrive in such a HUGE city after a small sandy village! Our stay kicked off with St Patrick´s Day celebrations- lots of green and glitter and beer in the streets around the irish pubs, and plenty of film crews too (maybe if you search hard enough you will find a clip of us dancing and chanting and generally giving travellers a rowdy reputation).
We managed to pack a lot into our days, highlights include:
-exploring all of the markets in the different areas of BA, leading to an enjoyable but exhausting 10 hour walk around between and back from the markets
-visit to La Boca, area where all the huildings are painted to the point of true graphic design and street art, also `La Camanita´ where the houses become individual blocks of coloured corrugated iron, they are so vibrant they almost seem to emit life!
-the cemetery in Recoleta, huge tombs with ornate carvings and statues, forming a labrynth at once beautiful but solemn and imposing- also Evita´s tomb
- a hugely funny tango class, followed by a professional tango show (we could have given them a run for their money...definitely...)
-a mound of the juiciest steak imaginable
-visiting a ranch, horse riding and riding with gauchos, watching an incredible horsemanship display (cantering up to a stand and sewing a needle through a ring the size of a bottle cap)
-football game at the BOCA stadium! BOCA juniors vs. Lanus (ended in a draw) but now a die-hard fan, got the football jersey and everything...
-obviously the crazy nightlife! people start to party at 2am, making it back to the hostel in time for breakfast, having danced as hard as the Argentinians
We managed to pack a lot into our days, highlights include:
-exploring all of the markets in the different areas of BA, leading to an enjoyable but exhausting 10 hour walk around between and back from the markets
-visit to La Boca, area where all the huildings are painted to the point of true graphic design and street art, also `La Camanita´ where the houses become individual blocks of coloured corrugated iron, they are so vibrant they almost seem to emit life!
-the cemetery in Recoleta, huge tombs with ornate carvings and statues, forming a labrynth at once beautiful but solemn and imposing- also Evita´s tomb
- a hugely funny tango class, followed by a professional tango show (we could have given them a run for their money...definitely...)
-a mound of the juiciest steak imaginable
-visiting a ranch, horse riding and riding with gauchos, watching an incredible horsemanship display (cantering up to a stand and sewing a needle through a ring the size of a bottle cap)
-football game at the BOCA stadium! BOCA juniors vs. Lanus (ended in a draw) but now a die-hard fan, got the football jersey and everything...
-obviously the crazy nightlife! people start to party at 2am, making it back to the hostel in time for breakfast, having danced as hard as the Argentinians
Tuesday, 3 April 2012
Rio to Buneos Aires!
One of the last activities we did in Rio was a favela tour- favelas are similar to slums but with much more structure and are more like a neighborhood than a nuisance. There are about 2 million inhabitants in favelas in Brazil in total, this particular favela (Rocinha) had about 30,000. The police had just started a `pacification-process´- flushing out all the drugs and guns etc.- in this favela, and similar operations were being carried in others, in preparation for the Olympics.
There are tiny little alleys for streets, winding between (and sometimes under) the houses packed closely together, with all electricity lines and pipework on the outside of buildings, so there is a constant jumble of wires overhead. Apparently all the locals have free internet, electricity and cable tv by breaking open the locked access boxes and wiring them up directly to avoid the metre- officials do not prevent the tampering from fear of local drug lords [At one point a man walked past who, we were later told, worked for the drug lords, and was used by them to punish domestic violence in the favela- by scalping!] People can rent the `houses´- more like rooms- which costs close to if not all of an average monthly wage, so most build their own. In the favelas, if somebody finds an area of open space it is theirs to build on. Obviously with so many people crowded, space isn´t available, so roof space can be sold instead, and building goes upwards, with four or five houses on top of eachother. With no real foundations or structural support it´s very easy in mudslides for houses to collapse- we saw one eerily empty gap among the houses with the hep or rubble left there. Rubbish is also strewn about; in theory it is collected every three days by the government but salaries are paid by standing order and nobody checks if collectors do their jobs, so in most cases, it is just left. Sewage systems run under the alleys, but with mudslides, heavy rain and all the rubbish clogging, there were parts which flowed across the street.
After a few more days of sun, sand and samba, we took another 24 hour bus to see the famed Iguazu Falls. It´s possible to see the Falls from both Brazil and Argentina- and hotly disputed which one is better- but we crossed the border into Argentina and first saw then heard the water at `Garganta del Diablo´- The Devil´s Throat. The sheer sound and scale was absolutely breathtaking- especially with the water vapour rising into the air- so despite all the photos looking like generic downloads from google images, it really was awe-inspiring. We walked round all the other waterfalls too and later took a boat underneath one, getting soaked and chafing all the way back to the bus. Next stop was Florianopolis, or technically the Isla Santa Catarina,.further south back in Brazil. Lovely beaches and atmosphere, dearly remembered by all who have been there and for good reason! We were there for International Women´s Day and celebrated with a self-navigated kayaking excursion to the lagoon (felt the endorphins almost immediately!) followed by Notting Hill and then a half-price-for-women all-you-can-eat curry for the equivalent of about two pounds. Heaven.
Following the advice of some friends we made in Rio, we decided to make a little detour into Uruguay for a few days. The bus arrived at the border between Brazil and Uruguay at 7 am, and it was quite surreal to be sitting in the middle of an avenue with Brazil on one side, with signs and shop names in Portuguese, and then Uruguay and spanish on the other! It was here that we had our first experience of `Maté', a herbal tea drunk from a special gourd through a silver spoon called a bombilla, and shared among a group, all drinking from the same cup. We felt privileged to share in the custom with one local and two fellow travellers from Spain (who luckily did most of the talking). We walked the 2km across the border to our next bus stop and the border control for the all-important passport stamp, walking along the side of the road with cars, lorries and horses and carts driving past, it felt very strange to be suddenly in a different country with a different langauge and a noticeably different landscape- lots of flat green fields. We spent a few days in Punta del Diablo, climbing boulders along the beaches and sand boarding (a friend at our hostel decided to teach us; we weren´t exactly quick learners, it was exhausting, there was sand in our teeth for days afterwards, but most importantly it was so much fun!) We watched both the sunrises and also the moon rise out of the sea- initially blood-red and triangular, poking up out of the waves, then slowly growing and fading in colour. The stars were beyond belief- never seen such clarity or brightness before or since- and we could even see the Milky Way.
We headed next to a town called Cabo Polonio; a town with sand roads flanked on both sides by untouched beaches, and supposedly with no electricity. It was really beautiful with lots of little painted houses and lighthouse, and at night the candlelight emitted a bewitching glow from all the windows. Elle and I met a man whose godfather ran a radio station and we were invited to be interviewed, and so we made our international radio debut in Uruguay! (Ok..Cabo Polonio...with about 40 listeners...we said about two words in spanish since we tried to be polite and make an effort...we got told we ''could have done better''....) Later that night we danced around a bonfire on the beach with three musicians singing and playing guitars/wooden blocks, under the stars with the sound of the waves providing a background ostinato...
Very sad to leave Uruguay, we caught the bus to Montevideo and then the overnight ferry to Buenos Aires, arriving on Paddy´s Day and completely unprepared for the excitement waiting for us!
There are tiny little alleys for streets, winding between (and sometimes under) the houses packed closely together, with all electricity lines and pipework on the outside of buildings, so there is a constant jumble of wires overhead. Apparently all the locals have free internet, electricity and cable tv by breaking open the locked access boxes and wiring them up directly to avoid the metre- officials do not prevent the tampering from fear of local drug lords [At one point a man walked past who, we were later told, worked for the drug lords, and was used by them to punish domestic violence in the favela- by scalping!] People can rent the `houses´- more like rooms- which costs close to if not all of an average monthly wage, so most build their own. In the favelas, if somebody finds an area of open space it is theirs to build on. Obviously with so many people crowded, space isn´t available, so roof space can be sold instead, and building goes upwards, with four or five houses on top of eachother. With no real foundations or structural support it´s very easy in mudslides for houses to collapse- we saw one eerily empty gap among the houses with the hep or rubble left there. Rubbish is also strewn about; in theory it is collected every three days by the government but salaries are paid by standing order and nobody checks if collectors do their jobs, so in most cases, it is just left. Sewage systems run under the alleys, but with mudslides, heavy rain and all the rubbish clogging, there were parts which flowed across the street.
After a few more days of sun, sand and samba, we took another 24 hour bus to see the famed Iguazu Falls. It´s possible to see the Falls from both Brazil and Argentina- and hotly disputed which one is better- but we crossed the border into Argentina and first saw then heard the water at `Garganta del Diablo´- The Devil´s Throat. The sheer sound and scale was absolutely breathtaking- especially with the water vapour rising into the air- so despite all the photos looking like generic downloads from google images, it really was awe-inspiring. We walked round all the other waterfalls too and later took a boat underneath one, getting soaked and chafing all the way back to the bus. Next stop was Florianopolis, or technically the Isla Santa Catarina,.further south back in Brazil. Lovely beaches and atmosphere, dearly remembered by all who have been there and for good reason! We were there for International Women´s Day and celebrated with a self-navigated kayaking excursion to the lagoon (felt the endorphins almost immediately!) followed by Notting Hill and then a half-price-for-women all-you-can-eat curry for the equivalent of about two pounds. Heaven.
Following the advice of some friends we made in Rio, we decided to make a little detour into Uruguay for a few days. The bus arrived at the border between Brazil and Uruguay at 7 am, and it was quite surreal to be sitting in the middle of an avenue with Brazil on one side, with signs and shop names in Portuguese, and then Uruguay and spanish on the other! It was here that we had our first experience of `Maté', a herbal tea drunk from a special gourd through a silver spoon called a bombilla, and shared among a group, all drinking from the same cup. We felt privileged to share in the custom with one local and two fellow travellers from Spain (who luckily did most of the talking). We walked the 2km across the border to our next bus stop and the border control for the all-important passport stamp, walking along the side of the road with cars, lorries and horses and carts driving past, it felt very strange to be suddenly in a different country with a different langauge and a noticeably different landscape- lots of flat green fields. We spent a few days in Punta del Diablo, climbing boulders along the beaches and sand boarding (a friend at our hostel decided to teach us; we weren´t exactly quick learners, it was exhausting, there was sand in our teeth for days afterwards, but most importantly it was so much fun!) We watched both the sunrises and also the moon rise out of the sea- initially blood-red and triangular, poking up out of the waves, then slowly growing and fading in colour. The stars were beyond belief- never seen such clarity or brightness before or since- and we could even see the Milky Way.
We headed next to a town called Cabo Polonio; a town with sand roads flanked on both sides by untouched beaches, and supposedly with no electricity. It was really beautiful with lots of little painted houses and lighthouse, and at night the candlelight emitted a bewitching glow from all the windows. Elle and I met a man whose godfather ran a radio station and we were invited to be interviewed, and so we made our international radio debut in Uruguay! (Ok..Cabo Polonio...with about 40 listeners...we said about two words in spanish since we tried to be polite and make an effort...we got told we ''could have done better''....) Later that night we danced around a bonfire on the beach with three musicians singing and playing guitars/wooden blocks, under the stars with the sound of the waves providing a background ostinato...
Very sad to leave Uruguay, we caught the bus to Montevideo and then the overnight ferry to Buenos Aires, arriving on Paddy´s Day and completely unprepared for the excitement waiting for us!
Wednesday, 14 March 2012
Downtime Then Downtown (Feb 23rd- March 4th)
The exhaustion hit hard following the apocalyptic week of carnival, so Bee and I decided to head south to a very relaxed beach town called Itacare. (We are slowly realising here that everybody does the same route around Brazil or in reverse, so the friends we made in Salvador had been there before carnival, and the people we met in Itacare had been in Salvador previously. It sometimes feels like there is no such thing as originality or individuality!) We spent three days on the most beautiful beaches- the description ´picture postcard´ doesn´t even come close- which are all laid out next to the other like perfectly manicured fingernails on a hand, each one favoured for different reasons- surfing, bar/food, beach sports. We were lucky enough on our last night to see a capoeira show. Capoeira is a kind of fusion of martial arts and dance which was (we were told) developed by African slaves in Brazil who wanted to maintain a standard of strength and agility for fighting without making it obvious. The fighters/dancers all wear white and spin about at ridiculous speeds, launching high kicks which look terrifying at such close proximity! The show was performed by a school, so it was also very cute to see little children trying in their own way to mimic the movements.
It was hard to leave such a beautiful and charmingly relaxed town, but our two friends were flying into Rio in two days and time was of the essence! Onwards south.
Our first long-distance bus journey was horrific, putting it mildly. We had half-reclining seats right at the back by the toilets, so quite smelly after a while, we were right over the engine, so the tainted air and heat were awful and the windows wouldn't open. We were slowly cooked alive for 24 hours. But after all that complaining, we had reached Rio! Coming out of the bus station we could see a tiny pin-sized statue of Christ the Redeemer in the far distance which was just a little underwhelming but regardless, photos were taken like the tourists we are. Found a hostel in Ipanema (IPANEMA!) three blocks from that little-known beach, in an off-street called Hostel Row, where there are about ten hostels packed side by side in this one little alley, so a great atmosphere and lots of lovely people from all over the world. Finally Lily and Elle arrived! There was a moment of sheer blinding excitement to have them here with us at long last, but also very strange to have such a large group of four after only being a twosome for four weeks. Girls being girls there was much giggling and shrieking but we did eventually manage to calm down....
Ipanema Beach is a stretch of sand for strutting and exercising, of epic proportions. There is a very shallow bank at the edge of the water, meaning the waves crash high and thunder downwards, making it very hard to swim- Elle bravely attempted and lost her bikini bottoms in the process. Just a note for fans of skinny dipping- it is very strongly frowned upon here and most beaches in Brazil and we even heard a story of a group of Brits being beaten with sticks by locals after being discovered! It seems very strange that complete nudity is forbidden whilst the tiniest thread-like bikinis and speedos are paraded with such pride everywhere.
We decided to grab the bull by the horns, so to speak, and did a tour of all of Rio´s most famous sights in one day. Needless to say, we were exhausted by the end!
The tour started at the Christ the Redeemer statue, where we took lots of airplane-pose photos and also the stunning landscape all around. The statue itself had been undergoing restoration work a few years before and looked absolutely pristine and gleaming in the sun. Next stop was the neighbourhood of Santa Tereza where we would spend our last night in Rio- very pretty architecture coexisting in surprising harmony with the graffiti (actually like artwork) adorning the streets. Next stop, Sugarloaf, thus named after the Portuguese thought the shape of the hill looked like bread that the locals baked. There we watched the sun set over Rio and it was beautiful, if not slightly marred by the number of people crammed up against the railings trying to take the perfect photo.
(TO BE CONTINUED)
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Still Alive!
Sorry for such a long gap between posts, no excuse really so instead I will try and make up with an incredibly informative and interesting whiste-stop tour of the last few weeks and our activities!
So. Carnival. Salvador. Where to begin?! It was an incredible week that seemed like a lifetime- had the most amazing experiences and met incredible people and if we got the chance to do it again, we would and do it in exactly the same way. Enough gushing! We arrived on a bus with no clue where Pelourinho (the area of Salvador where we were staying) was- we asked a few people but the best we heard was ´´Upstairs!´´. Thinking that something was being lost in translation, we kept asking about until one helpful man literally pointed upwards where we could see a huge elevator and lights that seemed to be floating in the sky! Magical. Found the hostel very easily, just off the main square- nice location but after 6 nights of incessant drumming and mike testing at 5am and music blaring, it was wearing us down. It was also pleasing to discover that our 16 bed mixed dorm really wasn´t that bad- two points of silver lining: making friends required very little when living so close (very important to go out in a big group so no chance of getting lost in the crowds) and no sight of cockroaches! (Since they were hidden so well....)
The first night ended with a bit of downer- Bee fell down some stairs and ended up needing six stitches in her chin and tongue, so maybe not the best start but definitely an experience! There also just so happened to be two Canadian medics in the dorm who were on hand to give lots of helpful advice, so all was fine, especially since the on-site hospital was just around the corner and Bee got said stitches within minutes.
The following days were spent in a whirlwind of drum corps, samba beats, colourful costumes and relentless loud music playing 24 hours a day, so very little sleep was had. On top of that a man in our dorm insisted on playing the guitar in the afternoon which was designated nap time, and it was almost too tempting to cut the wires of his guitar. Or better still throw it off the balcony...Highlights included getting into a ´bloco´ ( a roped off area around a huge truck with speakers and samba dancers which drove along the main street in Barra by the beach) for free, spending hours dancing alongside people who had payed hundreds), meat on a stick- chicken, beef, sausage, all juicy and sizzling and perfect for the meat munchies, plentiful hamburgers everyday and night, engaging in a water fight of epic proportions with a parade of transvestites dressed as Cleopatra, all of them shouting ´GRINGOOOO´at us and drenching us with their huge water guns...there was also of course the fact that we were not once pickpocketed, mugged or molested which was the icing on the cake!
Will continue as soon as possible (internet session timing out) but stay tuned!
xxxxxxxJen
So. Carnival. Salvador. Where to begin?! It was an incredible week that seemed like a lifetime- had the most amazing experiences and met incredible people and if we got the chance to do it again, we would and do it in exactly the same way. Enough gushing! We arrived on a bus with no clue where Pelourinho (the area of Salvador where we were staying) was- we asked a few people but the best we heard was ´´Upstairs!´´. Thinking that something was being lost in translation, we kept asking about until one helpful man literally pointed upwards where we could see a huge elevator and lights that seemed to be floating in the sky! Magical. Found the hostel very easily, just off the main square- nice location but after 6 nights of incessant drumming and mike testing at 5am and music blaring, it was wearing us down. It was also pleasing to discover that our 16 bed mixed dorm really wasn´t that bad- two points of silver lining: making friends required very little when living so close (very important to go out in a big group so no chance of getting lost in the crowds) and no sight of cockroaches! (Since they were hidden so well....)
The first night ended with a bit of downer- Bee fell down some stairs and ended up needing six stitches in her chin and tongue, so maybe not the best start but definitely an experience! There also just so happened to be two Canadian medics in the dorm who were on hand to give lots of helpful advice, so all was fine, especially since the on-site hospital was just around the corner and Bee got said stitches within minutes.
The following days were spent in a whirlwind of drum corps, samba beats, colourful costumes and relentless loud music playing 24 hours a day, so very little sleep was had. On top of that a man in our dorm insisted on playing the guitar in the afternoon which was designated nap time, and it was almost too tempting to cut the wires of his guitar. Or better still throw it off the balcony...Highlights included getting into a ´bloco´ ( a roped off area around a huge truck with speakers and samba dancers which drove along the main street in Barra by the beach) for free, spending hours dancing alongside people who had payed hundreds), meat on a stick- chicken, beef, sausage, all juicy and sizzling and perfect for the meat munchies, plentiful hamburgers everyday and night, engaging in a water fight of epic proportions with a parade of transvestites dressed as Cleopatra, all of them shouting ´GRINGOOOO´at us and drenching us with their huge water guns...there was also of course the fact that we were not once pickpocketed, mugged or molested which was the icing on the cake!
Will continue as soon as possible (internet session timing out) but stay tuned!
xxxxxxxJen
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Penedo was absolutely stunning- like Olinda except with more brightly coloured houses and colonial architecture without a ridiculously big hill to climb to get to it! We had a lazy few days, more hammocks and sunshine and sunbathing and ice cold beer. Socialising is a very important part of life- whole families go out in the evening to enjoy the atmosphere- even babies sleeping while parents whip out the samba moves! There is also lots and lots of very loud music playing everywhere, which seems strange in such a small sleepy place, but in everywhere we have been so far people drive about or cycle around with huge speakers attached and music BOOMING. Maybe a gentle taste of what´s in store for carnival?
Continuing the theme of small more remote places we headed to Mangue Seco for the 13th and 14th (how romantic!) Getting there involved a boat across to Neapolis, a bus to Aracaju, another bus to Indiaroba, a taxi to Pontal and finally another boat across to Mangue Seco. This place really was tiny tiny- sand roads/streets and no cars only sand dune type buggies. There were only a few streets but it was infuriatingly easy to get lost (maybe our brains our slowly melting in the heat) and very hard work walking on the sand- a mini work-out for the calves every time we walked out of our room. The beach is across a sand dune which we naively thought we would cross at 10am, and when the sun is scorching by 8am you can see where the problem might be...without flip flops (too hard to walk in the sand) it was p-AIN-ful on the burning white sand, we were walking gingerly afterwards! The beach when we got there really was beautiful; the most deserted and secluded we have been to so far and the possibility of walking for an hour without seeing anybody. Unfortunately we wanted to make the most of this gem and maybe spent a little bit too long in the sun...we left crispy but satisfied. We probably did the most exercise in one day when we went to that beach and with all the sun we were exhausted and called it a night a 7.20pm (not after a decent helping of portuguese Paddington Bear- one part he performed SInging in the Rain- brilliant! Although have you ever noticed how strange his head looks without his hat?) And thankfully, despite the picturesque location and stunning stars, hallmark holidays don´t come this far so it was a lovely peaceful Valentine´s day. Awww.
We stopped off at Praia de Forte for one night, very much a touristy spot which was quite a shock to the system- but now on to Salvador for CARNIVAL!!!!!!!
Benny and Jee xxxxxx
Continuing the theme of small more remote places we headed to Mangue Seco for the 13th and 14th (how romantic!) Getting there involved a boat across to Neapolis, a bus to Aracaju, another bus to Indiaroba, a taxi to Pontal and finally another boat across to Mangue Seco. This place really was tiny tiny- sand roads/streets and no cars only sand dune type buggies. There were only a few streets but it was infuriatingly easy to get lost (maybe our brains our slowly melting in the heat) and very hard work walking on the sand- a mini work-out for the calves every time we walked out of our room. The beach is across a sand dune which we naively thought we would cross at 10am, and when the sun is scorching by 8am you can see where the problem might be...without flip flops (too hard to walk in the sand) it was p-AIN-ful on the burning white sand, we were walking gingerly afterwards! The beach when we got there really was beautiful; the most deserted and secluded we have been to so far and the possibility of walking for an hour without seeing anybody. Unfortunately we wanted to make the most of this gem and maybe spent a little bit too long in the sun...we left crispy but satisfied. We probably did the most exercise in one day when we went to that beach and with all the sun we were exhausted and called it a night a 7.20pm (not after a decent helping of portuguese Paddington Bear- one part he performed SInging in the Rain- brilliant! Although have you ever noticed how strange his head looks without his hat?) And thankfully, despite the picturesque location and stunning stars, hallmark holidays don´t come this far so it was a lovely peaceful Valentine´s day. Awww.
We stopped off at Praia de Forte for one night, very much a touristy spot which was quite a shock to the system- but now on to Salvador for CARNIVAL!!!!!!!
Benny and Jee xxxxxx
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