Lençois and Morro de S

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18/12

I've been pretty slack at keeping up with the blog over the last few days - we reached Morro de Sao Paolo on Wednesday and have been pretty chilled out ever since - but this is no excuse and I apologise profusely.

Our last day in Lençois was pretty uneventful - we booked onto our bus, and spent our day killing time - Rodrigo said we had to check out at 12 but that we were welcome to hang about the hostel - which indeed we did. I wasn't feeling great - so although the plan was to go see the waterslide with the local Dodo - who is a dwarf who is incredibly ripped from Capoeira times. Dodo taught me my first Capoeira move - anbd then went on to tell me he likes meaty women 'like me' because he's 'not a vegetarian'. Enough said. We said our goodbyes and Tasha tried to steal Tatu the dog to no avail. We headed down to the bus station, saying goodbye to practically all the people we'd bumped into in Lençois - it is a VERY small town - and we sat waiting for the coach to arrive. Dodo appeared once more, trying to flirt with his rendition of the 50 cent classic 'Candy Shop' cleverly changing the words to "I'll take you to the Can-do-do'. Brilliant. He asked if he could fit in my backpack and we determined that I could carry him (and my backpack).

NOTE: Although in the photos I look like I am groping him I definitrely wasn't.

By complete coincidence, Andrew was sat next to me on the coach which was a definite step up from the scary Brazilian man I had been sat next to on the way to Lençois - the bus was also much more comfortable and we slept reasonably well. We reached Salvador and said goodbye to Andrew for a few days before meeting him again in Morro de Sao Paolo. Then we realised we'd been incredibly inefficient at working out how we were going to make it to Morro. Whoops. We were pretty sure we had to get to the port we'd been to earlier in our time in Salvador - so, using what apparently is TERRIBLE Sportuguese we managed to guide the taxi driver to the port - although we weren't convinced that we had given him comprehensible instructions we made it - and then we were seriously harrassed in getting a boat to Morro. It was like being sold to by the first person to be fired on The Apprentice. We were harrassed endlessly by a very aggressive woman who wouldn't leave us be - we ended up just walking off. A French couple - who we'd been chatting to earlier came to us and said that if 7 of us booked together it would be $R60 (about twenty quid) - we were sold - so we got on the boat about 45 minutes later and we were off - Tasha and I sat inside and pretty much passed out whilst Amy sat outside watching the horizon in a bid to not throw up. We arrived on the island about 2 hours later - and it was glorious.

Morro de Sao Paolo is literally a little piece of paradise a holiday resort like Ibiza crossed with a Carribean island, there are five main beaches and we stayed on the second, known for being the party beach. There are major limitations on cars on the island, and in fact I've only seen an ambulance and a tractor since arriving - as a consequence though, getting a taxi in Morro means getting a bloke with a wheelbarrow to push your stuff around. It is 10$R a bag (3.50) but it's worth every penny - the island is really hilly and we thought at one point our taxi driver might have a heart attack!

We didn't have anywhere to stay but quickly found a very cheap hotel for us called Pousada Timbalada - we have our own room and bathroom and everything - exactly what we needed for a change from dorms. The hostel is a 50m walk from the beachfront. There are lots of bars and restaurants near us and at night mini cocktail stalls popped up. On Thursday night we also went to a party on the beach, which was great til 2:30 when it got rained off - there was lots random dancing and a man singing and playing keyboards - not often seen in Sheffield. I also had my first experience of weilding a mchete - I'm pretty sure I was more of a danger to myself than anyone else. Staying in our hostel is a British guy who's just bought a bar here and who took us there for a drink... the machetes are used to cut the coconuts and I couldn't resist.

The breakfast at the hostel is really random - bread, fruit and eggs (standard) but then also pizza, garlic bread and spaghetti this morning - bizarre. Speaking of food - I had my first hot cheese experience - a standard beach snack in Brazil is cheese and oregano grilled over coals - it is GORGEOUS - a new addiction discovered.

Morro feels like Lençois in the sense that its so small we run into the same people all the time - we're the token (reasonable loud) British girls - people like to shout London or equivalent at us, but its never anything other than good humour and the longer we're here, the better we'ew getting by, I'm picking up more and more Portuguese and feeling more able to say things.

I've probably missed something out because I've naughtily been a bit rubbish at keeping the blog up to fate - but the general overview of the last few days has been sunbathing cocktails, banter and jumping in the sea - none of which any of us can complain about - we've also caught a bit of Capoeira - which brings together tourism and voyeurism - Brazil = body beautiful.

On a separate not, I met Ross 6 months ago today and the combination of him and this trip has made this the happiest 6 months I think I've ever had. Soppiness over;

I hope you've enjoyed the update - if you've not managed to catch any photos - let me know and I'll put together a highlight package!

Until next time.

Rxxx

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