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Published: February 8th 2008
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From Lencois we took the five hour overnight bus back to Salvador, arriving at 5am in the morning. After a few hours kip on the bus station floor (oh the glamour!) we grabbed a cab to the harbour in Salvador to take the ´fast´catamaran to Morro de Sao Paulo, an island just two hours away.
The ´fast´catamaran service actually turned out to be a catamaran / bus / slow ricketty boat combo which took four hours. The sea was too rough to cross entirely on the catamaran, but once again the situation wasn´t explained to anyone. By the time we reached Morro the boat was full of seriously pissed off tourists. We were knackered and hacked off after a long journey with little sleep (and it was pouring down with rain which didn´t help!), but at least we weren´t one of the poor day tripper who would have approximately two hours before having to make the return journey.
The island of Morro is super cool. There are no motorised vehicles on the island - the only mode of transport on the sand covered streets are wheelbarrows and the odd donkey. The four main beaches are conveniently names first, second,
third and fourth beach which in my opinion is much more convenient than crazy Portuguese names we can´t even pronounce. We´d been warned about the loud nightlife on second beach, so opted to stay within staggering distance to all the action on third beach.
Second beach is the only beach which isn´t covered in water at high tide, and is by far the nicest of the main beaches. It is lined with beach bars playing loud music and serving food to the crowds of people relaxing on the sun loungers. It´s a far cry from a secluded paradise, but it was exactly what we were looking for. We spent most of our time here, relaxing, reading and people watching. Finally we got a feel for the Brazilian beach scene. The guys come complete with 8-packs (nice!) and white speedos (not so nice) and spend the entire day playing football, volleyball (including a variation where any part of the body can be used except the hands) or racketball. The women meanwhile spent the entire day on their (oversized) bottoms soaking up the sun. That has been one of the biggest shocks in Brazil, the thong is ubiquitous but nice attractive
bottoms aren´t. Brazilian women, much to Paul´s disappointment, are a far cry from the stereotypical model image we both had!
The nicest beach, and one of the more secluded spots on Morro is Gamboa, which is a 25 minute walk from the main pier over rocks absolutely covered in black cockroach type crabs. The water here is calm (ie a bit boring), but the beach is beautiful.
The two only disappointments on Morro was the quality of the water (below par as it's not very clear) and the lack of nightlife. The first two nights were deserted and we wandered the streets and beaches in search of any sign of life. As we got closer to the weekend the place started to fill up and on the last night there was even a life band playing on the beach surrounded by fabulous cocktail bars selling cocktails made with copious amounts of vodka and fresh fruit - the Pina Colada was out of this world.
We're both extremely sad to be leaving Morro. It's felt like a proper holiday, and unfortunately brings us one step closer to the end of our trip.
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Born to travel
Sharon and Scott
Love the wheelbarrow taxis!
For a minute, I saw this blog and thought you two had packed it all in and gone travelling again without telling me!!! Unfortunately for you, I guess you are updating again after the server failure. Oh well. It's fun to see pictures from the end of your trip, though :)