Monday, 30 November 2009
Rio to New Zealand
Sunday, 29 November 2009
Back in Salvador + Photos!
Hi all!We´ve sadly left paradise and returned to Salvador to begin our journey back to Rio and ultimately New Zealand.
We have uploaded a whole load of photos that have cost us a small fortune in the internet cafe! Check them out in the gallery!
Wednesday, 25 November 2009
Boipeba - Bahia
Hello all...it´s been a while!
We left Salvador a week ago (or so....lost track of time!) and took a ferry across to a place called Bom Despacho. From there we caught a bus to Valenca and from there took a speedboat to the island of Boipeba. Once here, we were greeted by a group of wheelbarrow boys who haggled with us for the right to carry our backpacks up the hill to the tractor stop (the island´s taxi service as there are no cars or roads). The poor kid wheeled our heavy packs for a good 20mins in the blistering sun, pushing the wheelbarrow through the sand! (a relief for Nikky as it would not have been good for her thumb)
The old Ford tractor spluttered it´s way up the hills and across to the other side of the island to a small fishing village called Morere. We were met by the really friendly English owners of the Pousada called Tony and Susanna. Their guesthouse was set in oasis of palm trees, tropical flowers and fruit trees!
They showed us to our ´room´, which turned out to be the family sized bungalow with 4 beds, lovely bathroom, no less than three terraces and two private hammocks!! We couldn´t believe our eyes! Only 150yds from the beach, nestled in the palm trees with humming birds buzzing all around us!
We are 2 of 4 tourists in the village, which consists of a church (without a vicar because he couldn´t be bothered to trek out here every sunday) a shop, and a handful of small restaurants dotted along the deserted beach. From our beach we can walk for miles across empty beaches and swim in the turquoise water that is beautifully calm and protected by a reef. The water is so warm, it´s like getting into a bath! It´s around 26 degrees!
Back at the pousada, Tony and Susanna prepare amazing breakfasts for us everyday. The kind of breakfast feast you would normally only have once a year, at Easter or a Birthday! We have fresh tropical juices, fruits, cakes, homemade bread and different jam everyday made from the fruits that grow in the garden. All this accompanied by a very tasty coconut coucous thingy that tastes delicious! A breakfast fit for a King (and Queen)!
For dinner, we usually wander down the beach and see which restaurant is open. It´s still low season here, so most of them are closed or only open on request. All of the food is seafood here, but we are starting to love it! Most dishes involve prawns, octopus, crab or lobster accompanies by rice, beans and erm...dust. The dust is actually called Farofa and everytime it comes we try to figure out how to eat it. It´s basically fried flour and tastes, well, like fried flour! It sucks all the moisture out of your mouth and even if mixed with a liquid just turns to paste. I´m sure we´re missing something (Sammy? Help!!).
Most evenings are spent reading our books (at a rate of one book a day!) or playing Uno until late. So far Nikky is the Uno-Queen and will fight her throne to the death! Lasty night´s score was 7 games to 3!
Our hosts took us to a party in the next village on Saturday night. A rare occasion for some nightlife on the island! The village was a 20minute walk away, over the hills through deep sand. Once there, we were told that they rarely venture here as it´s a bit ´scary´. Apparently the village was started by one family and now that family consists of 250 people! A good gene-pool? I think not!
The party was a bit slow to get started, but when it did....it did! There was a band (a guy with a keyboard) playing reggae music. We have never seen people dance like that! I swear they found rhythms and beats that weren´t there! We just sat and watched the women (and men) shake their behinds to the reggae beats! It had a great vibe and we gauped in awe until 1am!
The following day we were introduced to a frail old fisherman who barely had any teeth, but promised to take us out over the reef to do some snorkeling. He took us out in his canoe that was made of a hollowed out tree trunk and anchored a couple of miles offshore. Here we donned our snorkelling gear and explored the colourful underwater world! The fisherman had a little trick up his sleeve and started throwing bread near us. All of a sudden we were surrounded by hundreds of yelllow tropical fish! Beautiful!
We have made a couple of friends in the village. Including the only gay in the village! Typical. A flamboyant old Brasilian who is sure that I´m from Sao Paulo!
Needless to say, we have extended our stay here. We were supposed to only be here for 5 nights, but will end up staying for 10! It will be hard to drag ourselves back to Salvador on Sunday, but New Zealand awaits!
We had better end this post now, as the tide is rolling in fast and it´s a two-and-a-half hour trek along the beaches back to our village. But, a cold beer awaits, some more seafood and some more ice for Nikky´s thumb (which seems almost definately to be broken).
Next post will be from the mainland on Sunday or Monday. Hopefully get some photos up then too!
Love to all! - Nikky and Jan.
We left Salvador a week ago (or so....lost track of time!) and took a ferry across to a place called Bom Despacho. From there we caught a bus to Valenca and from there took a speedboat to the island of Boipeba. Once here, we were greeted by a group of wheelbarrow boys who haggled with us for the right to carry our backpacks up the hill to the tractor stop (the island´s taxi service as there are no cars or roads). The poor kid wheeled our heavy packs for a good 20mins in the blistering sun, pushing the wheelbarrow through the sand! (a relief for Nikky as it would not have been good for her thumb)
The old Ford tractor spluttered it´s way up the hills and across to the other side of the island to a small fishing village called Morere. We were met by the really friendly English owners of the Pousada called Tony and Susanna. Their guesthouse was set in oasis of palm trees, tropical flowers and fruit trees!
They showed us to our ´room´, which turned out to be the family sized bungalow with 4 beds, lovely bathroom, no less than three terraces and two private hammocks!! We couldn´t believe our eyes! Only 150yds from the beach, nestled in the palm trees with humming birds buzzing all around us!
We are 2 of 4 tourists in the village, which consists of a church (without a vicar because he couldn´t be bothered to trek out here every sunday) a shop, and a handful of small restaurants dotted along the deserted beach. From our beach we can walk for miles across empty beaches and swim in the turquoise water that is beautifully calm and protected by a reef. The water is so warm, it´s like getting into a bath! It´s around 26 degrees!
Back at the pousada, Tony and Susanna prepare amazing breakfasts for us everyday. The kind of breakfast feast you would normally only have once a year, at Easter or a Birthday! We have fresh tropical juices, fruits, cakes, homemade bread and different jam everyday made from the fruits that grow in the garden. All this accompanied by a very tasty coconut coucous thingy that tastes delicious! A breakfast fit for a King (and Queen)!
For dinner, we usually wander down the beach and see which restaurant is open. It´s still low season here, so most of them are closed or only open on request. All of the food is seafood here, but we are starting to love it! Most dishes involve prawns, octopus, crab or lobster accompanies by rice, beans and erm...dust. The dust is actually called Farofa and everytime it comes we try to figure out how to eat it. It´s basically fried flour and tastes, well, like fried flour! It sucks all the moisture out of your mouth and even if mixed with a liquid just turns to paste. I´m sure we´re missing something (Sammy? Help!!).
Most evenings are spent reading our books (at a rate of one book a day!) or playing Uno until late. So far Nikky is the Uno-Queen and will fight her throne to the death! Lasty night´s score was 7 games to 3!
Our hosts took us to a party in the next village on Saturday night. A rare occasion for some nightlife on the island! The village was a 20minute walk away, over the hills through deep sand. Once there, we were told that they rarely venture here as it´s a bit ´scary´. Apparently the village was started by one family and now that family consists of 250 people! A good gene-pool? I think not!
The party was a bit slow to get started, but when it did....it did! There was a band (a guy with a keyboard) playing reggae music. We have never seen people dance like that! I swear they found rhythms and beats that weren´t there! We just sat and watched the women (and men) shake their behinds to the reggae beats! It had a great vibe and we gauped in awe until 1am!
The following day we were introduced to a frail old fisherman who barely had any teeth, but promised to take us out over the reef to do some snorkeling. He took us out in his canoe that was made of a hollowed out tree trunk and anchored a couple of miles offshore. Here we donned our snorkelling gear and explored the colourful underwater world! The fisherman had a little trick up his sleeve and started throwing bread near us. All of a sudden we were surrounded by hundreds of yelllow tropical fish! Beautiful!
We have made a couple of friends in the village. Including the only gay in the village! Typical. A flamboyant old Brasilian who is sure that I´m from Sao Paulo!
Needless to say, we have extended our stay here. We were supposed to only be here for 5 nights, but will end up staying for 10! It will be hard to drag ourselves back to Salvador on Sunday, but New Zealand awaits!
We had better end this post now, as the tide is rolling in fast and it´s a two-and-a-half hour trek along the beaches back to our village. But, a cold beer awaits, some more seafood and some more ice for Nikky´s thumb (which seems almost definately to be broken).
Next post will be from the mainland on Sunday or Monday. Hopefully get some photos up then too!
Love to all! - Nikky and Jan.
Wednesday, 18 November 2009
Salvador
Well, the night spent in the building site turned out to be the best night`s sleep we had in Florianopolis! Unfortunately the sash window didn`t have anything to secure it other than Nìkky`s flip-flop, which gave way, causing the window to come crashing down...ontop of Nikky`s thumb! I`m sure you must have heard the scream from Europe! The rest of the hostel certainly did at 6am! Poor Nikky now has a black thumbnail and a thumb thats an even stranger shape than it was before!
We arrived in Salvador and were greeted by a free Caipirinha (our new favourite drink!) and a BBQ in the guesthouse. Perfect! We really love Salvador. It seems to have a lot more spirit than any of the other places we`ve been so far.
We went into the old town today and, following the advice of Russel (our friendly english guesthouse owner), removed all jewellery, watches, wallets and cameras before going there. This is beacuse the city has a huge drug problem and the junkies all live on the edges of the old town. Hence no photos on this post (we took a disposable camera, so will have to develop the pictures the old fashioned way). A little nervous at first, we gingerly stepped onto a bus. It was total mayem on the way! People everywhere, selling anything you can imagine on the streets! But we soon got used to the way of things, especially the beggars who kept trying to steal our Cokes!
The town was stunning. Full of old squares with colourful old colonial churches, people doing Capoeira on the streets and the sound of drums drifiting through the cobble-stone streets! We also had the tastiest meal yet in the whole of Brazil! It was a seafood stew, with prawns and coconut milk called Mucequa. Tasty! So far all the food here has been bland, but I guess the African influence up here has not just brought spirit and drumming, but spices too!
We are off to an island called Boipeba tomorrow morning. It`s very isolated and hard to get to. We have to take 2 boats, a bus, a taxi and a tractor (!!) to get there! Once we are there we will have our own bungalow right on the beach...or so the website says! We will come back to Salvador before we fly back to Rio, so if we don`t have an internet connection on the island you`ll just have to wait!
We arrived in Salvador and were greeted by a free Caipirinha (our new favourite drink!) and a BBQ in the guesthouse. Perfect! We really love Salvador. It seems to have a lot more spirit than any of the other places we`ve been so far.
We went into the old town today and, following the advice of Russel (our friendly english guesthouse owner), removed all jewellery, watches, wallets and cameras before going there. This is beacuse the city has a huge drug problem and the junkies all live on the edges of the old town. Hence no photos on this post (we took a disposable camera, so will have to develop the pictures the old fashioned way). A little nervous at first, we gingerly stepped onto a bus. It was total mayem on the way! People everywhere, selling anything you can imagine on the streets! But we soon got used to the way of things, especially the beggars who kept trying to steal our Cokes!
The town was stunning. Full of old squares with colourful old colonial churches, people doing Capoeira on the streets and the sound of drums drifiting through the cobble-stone streets! We also had the tastiest meal yet in the whole of Brazil! It was a seafood stew, with prawns and coconut milk called Mucequa. Tasty! So far all the food here has been bland, but I guess the African influence up here has not just brought spirit and drumming, but spices too!
We are off to an island called Boipeba tomorrow morning. It`s very isolated and hard to get to. We have to take 2 boats, a bus, a taxi and a tractor (!!) to get there! Once we are there we will have our own bungalow right on the beach...or so the website says! We will come back to Salvador before we fly back to Rio, so if we don`t have an internet connection on the island you`ll just have to wait!
Monday, 16 November 2009
Florianopolis
Our journey so far has been very smooth. A little too smooth perhaps?We landed safely in Florianopolis on the island of Santa Catarina in the south of Brazil. Great flight, good airline, free food! (Although...slightly worrying that they didn`t have lifejackets and instead recommended that we use our seats for bouyancy should we land on water!)
Our pre-booked transfer was waiting for us when we arrived. So far so smooth. After driving for about half an hour, the taxi took a turn up a dimly lit residential street. A shortcut we thought....surely! Then another turn, around another corner, onto more residential streets. Eventually we stopped in front of a non-descript building in a non-descript street and entered Tucano House Hostel to a fanfare of drums and tambourines! A welcoming committee? Just for us? NO! It was a party of 45 miners from central Brazil who were staying in the same hostel and were well on their way to an all-night party. Our hearts sank. There was no way we could sleep through that noise! Our evening was about to go from bad to worse. We were told that they had mixed up the dates and double booked us, so there wasn`t a room for us in the hostel. But not to worry, they had arranged for us to sleep in a `Private Chalet` across the road. This `chalet` turned out to be a shed and we had mattress on the floor. This caused Nikky to have a little tantrum and a strop and told the (really friendly) hostel owner that there was no way we would be paying full price for this! Luckily they didn`t charge us a penny!
After a very long night we eventually drifted off to the chants, singing and drum beats of the 45 miners and checked into our nice double room the next morning. What a relief!
The island has 42 beaches and the nearest to us was a beach called Praia Mole. We walked there on the first day (an hr and a half each way!) but were rewarded with a beautiful white sandy beach. And a few beautiful Brazilain bodies to go with it! (both male and female..haha)
The heat was intense, so in true Robinson Crusoe style I built us a hut made of bamboo and Nikky`s sarong (see gallery!). Very pleased with my building skills! As we sheltered in our little patch of shade a pod of dolphins swam past, surfing the waves a couple of meters off shore!
The beach was a little too hot, so on the last day we decided to explore the area around the hostel. We were staying on a huge lake and so we took a boat up to a tiny fishing village that is only accessible either by boat or by foot. The trip took us past some amazing lakeside villas and the village was really unspoilt. We walked up into the hills and found a waterfall!
Back in town we enjoyed amazing tropical juices and smoothies and the hostel actually turned out good. Met a few nice people and the bar has served us amazing Caipirinhas and beer at very little cost!
But guess what? It is our last evening tonight and we have been told we are double booked again! But we have been upgraded from the shed...we have been given a matress in a room in the building site next door! Let`s see how that goes!
Off to Salvador tomorrow morning at 6.30am. Next post from Bahia in northern Brazil!
Ciao!
Jan and Nikky.
Friday, 13 November 2009
An Island Paradise
We have just come from an island called Ilha Grande. It´s only 3hrs south of Rio de Janeiro, but a total contrast! There are no banks and no cars, just rainforest and beaches! In true ``flashpacker`` style we were picked up from our hotel in Rio in an airconditioned minivan, which took us 2hrs south to a port. Here we hopped on a small speedboat and shot over to the island at 25knots in 15mins! Very nice!
We fell in love with the place as soon as we got there! Our Pousada (guesthouse) was run by a really friendly little fat lady called Leila who spoke no english, but made us feel very welcome! Our room was fantastic, loads of hammocks to chill out in and the breakfast and afternoon tea was great!
After wandering round the sand-streets of the town, we took an old schooner to a beach around the headland, called Lopez Mendez. This massive beach had some big waves and a few far-to-cool-for-school surfers, but other than that almost empty! The walk there took us through the rainforest, and in true Amazonian style it started to chuck it down with rain as soon as we got there. But it was so warm, it was really quite refreshing! On our walk back to the boat, we were walking through the forest when we heard a rustling sound in the trees. On closer inspection a group of monkeys had joined us on our hike! No idea what kind of monkey, but they were very inquisitive!
The next day we walked across to the other side of the island and found an amazing waterfall with a swimming hole. Ice cold water! Around the next corner were the ruins of a former prison which was only deommisioned in the 1950s. Very spooky!
The next few days were spent lying on the beach, wandering through town and enjoying nice cold Brazilian beer! We were sad to leave the island, but we had a plane to catch back Rio and then on to Florianopolis in the south of Brazil.
Next update coming soon! Hope you are all well!
Lots of love,
Jan and Nikky.
Saturday, 7 November 2009
A mountain retreat
Wow it´s hot here! 47 degrees today! Amazing. Headed for the hills in an attempt to hide from the heat. Went up to Sugarloaf Mountain (see gallery!). Spent most of the day up there sitting in the shade, watching the hussle-and-bussle of the city below. Had a walk through the jungle and encountered lizards, praying praying mantis´ and parrots! And so far I (Jan) jave only picked up one mozzie bit and Nikky has none! Does that mean I win?Friday, 6 November 2009
Made it!
After nearly 13 hrs on the plane we finally made it to Brazil! Hotel is great and in a good area..so far so good! It´s a lot warmer than we expected! 37 degrees today and not a cloud in the sky! Went up to see Christ on the hill today. Amazing views of the city and a great train ride up the mountain through the rainforest! Off for a Caipirinha by the beach....it´s a hard life! I will upload some photos to the gallery!Thursday, 5 November 2009
We're off!
At Terminal 5 departures! Way too early of course. Flying at 12 for 11hrs. Last cup of good ol' English tea before Rio!
- Posted from my iPhone
- Posted from my iPhone
