Despite having met numerous cabocos (the more modern, civilised Indians of the Amazon), we were still curious to see if we could visit a true Amazon Indian tribe, but were extremely disappointed to find out that this was impossible as they are ardently protected by the 2 Brazilian government agencies, FUNAI and IBAMA. Everyone told us it was strictly prohibited, and that to visit a tribe we would need to be either Christian missionaries or medical researchers, and would need to get permission from Brasilia up to 6 months in advance. So things weren’t looking good, until one guy gave us [View Full Entry]

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Things happened quick in Manaus. All in the space of our first day there, we disembarked the boat, made our way to the other end of the city to collect the car (which we had sent from Belem on a different boat), dropped it off at a mechanic, found ourselves a local guide and were on our way into the jungle with him. Finally, we had found something more like the jungle we had in mind! For the next 7 nights, we alternated between camping out in the forest and staying over at the local cabocos, as we made our way [View Full Entry]

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It was probably when we were sitting at the contemporary river-side restaurant in the modern Amazon city of Santarem, and the waiter had to keep increasing the volume of the restaurant music to compete with the guys that had parked their car on the sidewalk and were showing off its massive sound-system, that we fully realised that the Amazon, or at least parts of it, was not going to be quite what we’d expected. Santarem itself is otherwise quite a charming little city and actually looks more like it belongs somewhere on the French Riviera. Another three days later upstream on [View Full Entry]

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Sitting here now in the city of Belem all the way up at the mouth of the Amazon, and thinking back on all that’s happened in the last month and everything we’ve done, it seems all too much to fit on one entry. Cruising the beautiful coastline of northeast Brazil, we have experienced several new things, seen countless picturesque beaches, and met many wonderful people; all the while taking our Portuguese to new levels as less and less people speak any English at all. The people of the north-east of Brazil are reputed to be wonderful hosts. We have found this [View Full Entry]

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For the last month, week after week our hopes of finally starting our trip were dashed as we found more and more problems with the car. The latest snag happened on Wednesday night when the rusted screws holding the engine in place came loose and one-by-one fell out as we drove. The car eventually gave up after all but two screws had popped out. With cruel irony, this happened right outside the house of Valquer, the seller of the car, when we came by to finally say good-bye. In what we can only attribute to a combination of Salvadorian hospitality and [View Full Entry]

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Meet Beruška , the latest addition to our little team. After scouring the classifieds, the internet, and finally the streets of Salvador, for a Toyota Land Cruiser, we became convinced that these cars just don't exist in Salvador and prepared to move on to the next city, by bus. Just then, guess who shows up - none other than the beautiful Beruška herself, and parked in the parking-lot of our apartment nogal. What followed next was a series of skillful negotiations (with Danilo, Nanda's brother doing most of the talking obviously), a check-up at the local Toyota mechanic followed by many, [View Full Entry]

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The last few days have been non-stop partying as we joined the people of Salvador in celebrating the biggest party in the world - CARNAVAL! Contrary to popular belief, Salvador (and not Rio de Janeiro) is the place to be for Brazil's carnaval. Rio's carnaval is very much a spectator sport - only tourists and rich Brazilians who can afford the expensive tickets "partake" in the party by watching the 7 samba schools perform their shows, after which 1 is chosen as the winner. Salvador's carnaval, on the other hand, is for everyone. People, young and old, pack a 5km stretch [View Full Entry]

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One stark difference of this place compared to some of the other places we've been to around the world, which is almost immediately apparent, is the overwhelming friendliness and kindness of the local people here. From the friends we have made on the city busses and bus-stops to the generous couple at the beachside restaurant who saw us struggling with the Portuguese menu and kindly offered us a side-plate filled with a little bit of each thing they were having in order to help us decide, the people here, although they have so much less, seem to have so much more [View Full Entry]

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Our adventure starts here in Sao Paulo. We finally met eachother on Tuesday night at Guarulhos airport, after being apart for 2 and a half months. After the most wreckless taxi-ride of our lives, we arrived at our hotel in dodgy downtown Sao Paulo. At exactly 4am, we were both jolted awake by the sound of a gunshot from the street below. About 5 minutes later, a second gunshot, followed by police sirens... Despite all this, during the day Sao Paulo felt safe, and, for a big city, was pretty cool and had some nice night spots (outside downtown, in Jardins [View Full Entry]

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