Blogs from Maceió, Alagoas, Brazil, South America

Please click on the entry to see the full text and all photos. So it was on this day a year ago, June 14th2011 that I left Vegas and the States to start my South American odyssey. A whole year has passed and I can’t believe it. I know it sounds cliché, but it doesn’t seem like I have been away that long. I feel as if I could go on for a while longer. As a matter of fact, there are only 2 things keeping me from extending my odyssey. One is money. Hey the funds are running low (now if you want to donate to the Keep Dave Oliver Traveling Fund I do accept Visa and American Express). The second reason is I do have a job to go back to. If I did ... read more

Po wyczerpujacej przeprawie Amazonka dotarlismy do Belem gdzie zlapalismy autobus (12 godzin) do Teresina (podobno nagoretsze miejsce w Brazylii), nastepnie caly dzien wloczenia sie aby zlapac kolejny nocny autobus (kolejne 21 godzin) do miejscowosci - Natal, polozonej na upragnionym wybrzezu. Plaza, woda i palmy to cos co marzylo sie nam od kilku tygodni. Podczas 5 dniowej przeprawy Amazonka, zgralismy sie z kilkoma ososbami i okazalo sie dwoch kolesi: Brian i Alex zmierzali w tym samym kierunku wiec postanowilismy polaczys sily - razem zawsze razniej i weselej - takze stworzylismy mala grupke 4 gringos. Dojechalismy do Natal gdzie bylo juz ciemno a przed nami bylo szukanie noclegu. Alex zostal z bagazami z jednym z barow i reszta rozdzielila sie w poszukiwaniu czegos przyzwoitego. Kiedy z radoscia rozladowalismy toboly w uroczej ´posadzie´postanowilismy oblac meczaca przeprawe co zako... read more

The north east coast of brazil is soooo much fun! Beautiful!! -and brazilian culture is out of this world- people are so nice!!! So I arrived in maceio brazil to meet the most amazing women, my couchsurfing host, Vitoria, 65 retired vivacious professor of French. She picked me up from the bus station, made me a baked chicken dinner, made me a fantastic breakfast (all for free) and drove me to the beach to enjoy the next day. A truly terrific women, she was full of zest, life, and love. She had just fallen in love and been proposed to by her french boyfriend that had come from, and returned to, France. She inspired me when she told me about her life, and her long marriage that she left 12 years ago. Since then she’s had ... read more

Instituto Eco-Engenho Instituto Eco-Engenho was founded by José Roberto Fonseca in 2001. The goal of the NGO is to use technology for sustainable development, taking advantage of renewable resources and innovative solutions oriented toward the needs and capabilities of marginalized communities. The program we visited is called H2Sol, whose goal is to use “micro-irrigation systems to produce high value-added products with the use of renewable energy to generate income in remote communities of the semi-arid region of Brazilian northeast” (from Eco-Engenho). The pilot project is located in Baixas, in the municipality of São José da Tapera, in the interior of the state of Alagoas. H2Sol receives funding from the Fiorello LaGuardia Foundation, Fundo de Microcrédito de Alagoas - FUNCRE, United States Agency for International Development - USAID, E3V - Environment Energy and Enterprise Vent... read more

We made the trip from Salvador by bus to Maceio. This was our first overnight journey. The buses are nice and really comfortable but the only problem is the air conditioning, we continuously woke up freezing through the entire journey. One piece of advice if you are travelling on overnight buses in Brazil, bring a sleeping bag or at least a pair long johns!! We got in early the next morning and the weather was noticeable warmer. We had planned a day on the beach but we didn't make it, booo, basically we could not make our lazy assess move and ended up hitting our bed for a daytime nap. Maceio is a small city by Brazilian standards but the coast line is beautiful. The beaches are lined with Palm trees and also small cone shaped ... read more