Fri 28th Sept (cont.): It gets dark 2 hours earlier here than in Brasilia - much further east! Browsed around the seafront and main town centre. Found a good fish restaurant and had a meal - cabaret included (live band, acrobatics, dance, magic and fire eating). Dodgy beach scene - was approached twice on way back to pausada; made hasty retreat for early night. Sat 29th Sept: Happy birthday Robert! Usual light breakfast; thought my credit card was stolen but eventually found it in my swimming trunks! Beach buggy collected me for day tour just befor 9:00 - 3 others plus [View Full Entry]

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Fri 28th Sept: Last minute packing and taxi to airport. Plenty of time to spare - for a change! Flight was interesting; as we flew over a plateau region I noticed that there were large tracts of land divided into circles and each of these circles had crops in them or they were segmented with different crops or trees. I could not find the reason for this type of agriculture! It was hard to guage their exact size but they looked very large from the ´plane (see photo). A reasonable taxi ride from the airport to my new pausada (inn) in [View Full Entry]

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Wed.26th Sept: Domestic morning - laundry etc. 'Had a snack lunch and set off for the National Museum - looks like the planet Jupiter from the outside and very spacious interior. However not set out like a museum as we know it. The walls were lined with modern art - mainly scenes of the city, with a few 3D modern sculptures from the Stations of the Cross - no other historic exhibits! 'Went from there to the Palace Itamaraty (the Palace for Foreign Affairs). Had a guide to myself as I was the only English speaking person - a magnificent building [View Full Entry]

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Tues 25th Sept (Cont.) Exchanged some dollars for Reais - got a good rate. Browsed around one of the local areas and found a nice ´natural food´restaurant where I had a meal. On my back to hotel 'stopped off at another restaurant for a caipirhina. However when asked afterwards for a coffee they said they didn´t do coffees( it's not unusual for restaurants not to serve coffee or tea); so ´went across the road to a cafe for one. Got a taxi to the National Theatre (got him to agree fare for R$6 before getting in). ´Had a free ticket from [View Full Entry]

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Mon 24th Sept: Brasilia is built on a a plateaux with a hot dry climate, so lots of water (min 3 litres p/d) and moisturiser is the order of the day. Had a half day organised tour of the city - best way to see it . There were only 4 others in the party - 2 Spanish and 2 Brazilians. The guide gave his commentary in all 3 languages and also had a good sense of humour. It´s a truly amazing city - the dream of Don Bosco, built in 3 years by 60,000 people working round the clock; was [View Full Entry]

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Fri 21st Sept: After another noisy night in hotel 'met up with Diego and Georgette and visited Indigenous Museum, the market and the Zoo - the latter was v. interesing; set out in typical tropical forest with wide range of animals, birds and plant life. However the humidity was almost unbearable; the sudden heavy downpours did not help - retreated to an AC Cafe where we had traditional tapioca wraps; mine was infilled with cheese and nuts - bland to taste. Now getting used to the heat but not the humidity; also more familiar with local buses (omnibus) - one fare [View Full Entry]

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Thurs 20th Sept Excessive noise from main road and faulty AC meant little sleep; turned off AC and with the help of ear plugs (essentail items here) got a few hours sleep. 'Asked for a room at the back of the hotel for the rest of my stay but hotel full and would have to put up with it for another night. After typical Brazilian breakfast (slice of melon, roll with ham and cheese and an expresso coffee) did some sightseeing and some inconspicuous photography - displaying a camera in the streets is tempting the local opportunists! 'Met with Georgette at [View Full Entry]

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Tues 18th Sept Completed tight-fitted packing dispensing with non-essential but still a lot to carry. Drove down the Florida Turnpike to Miami and dropped off the rental car - just made the ´plane for Belem. Took off on interesting flight at 7:20 pm on TAM aiways; 'trying to sleep when around 11:00 there was a lot of screaming from one of the passengers - a lady screaming hysterically in Spanish that her husband was dead - lots of others made their way towards her calling for a doctor; sure enough there was a man in the aisle opposite me white and [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday 13.9: 4 hour drive up to Kathryn's place in Kissimmee - quiet evening. Thursday 14.9: Did the "tourist thing" and spent most of the day sightseeing on International Drive in Orlando; Kathryn was very busy with work! I spent late afternoon on the golf driving range at the back of Kathryn's home. ' Still can't get used to going outdoors and feel as though I'm walking into an oven - temperatures up in the 90s F. and very humid. Friday 15.9: 'Dove up to Wakiwa Springs (a national reserve north of Orlando) and went down the Wakiwa River in a [View Full Entry]

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Arrived in Miami, hot and tired (30+ degrees C), very humid! Met up with Kathryn and stayed at the Embassy Suites not far from the airport. Lots of sightseeing, swimming, jet-skiing and generally just basking in the sun over the next two days. [View Full Entry]

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