Another day (or 4 days) in paradise

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- FOOD: BBQ with lots of delicious meat bought to you, the best pina coldadas in the world made from scratch by the sweetest cocktail seller, fantastic breakfasts with toastie maker, crab served in it's shell with VERY hot sauce, good steaks.

- AREA: Small island with no roads or cars, 4 tropical beaches, nice boutique shops, no ATMs, hardly any people due to low season, lighthouse parties, choppy boat trip to an even quieter beach. First experience of showers that give you electric shocks.

- PEOPLE: VERY friendly with non aggressive selling skills, strong 'taxi' men who push wheelbarrows, jewellery sellers galore, 'charming' locals.

- WEATHER: Rainy and grey for a few days, sunny and hot eventually (as we were leaving).


Sun 1st May: I woke up to be made to feel even more hospitable with a gorgeous breakfast. It was sunny at last so I carried out my plan to go to the little island of Morro do Sao Paulo, 2 hours boat trip away, with the others Ruth, Kelly and Mari.

The boat certainly wasn´t reaching health and safety standards as the most disgusting smelly fumes surrounded us for the whole trip and those sitting at the back of the boat were filthy by the end. The boat was small and as it started raining, the sea became a bit choppy. Fumes and choppiness luckily didn´t lead to sickness.

The island doesn´t have any roads so the 'taxi' I caught to the pousada Laura was staying in consisted of a man pushing a wheelbarrow!
Laura said I´m a jinx as I bring the rain with me everywhere - it had been very hot the day before.

There are 4 beaches on the island - the first one contains streets with lovely little boutique type shops which I realised I wouldn´t be able to go in as there´s no cash points on the island.

We had lunch and bought little chocolate bon bons off a little boy who was wandering around in the rain looking miserable - probably because his Mum had told him he couldn´t go back home until he´s sold them all.

In the evening, we walked to the second beach where all the bars are. Attracted to a bar with a fire outside, we bumped into the others. After a few caipirinhas, Laura and I decided that our pousada which was at the top of a steep hill was not the best place to be staying.

After eating at a BBQ where they bring lots of different types of meat over to you (like the rodizio in Rio), we found the bar that everyone on the island seemed to be at (off peak season means there really were not too many people around).
Spent the evening listening to some crazy woman go on about her ex husband who is Austrian and she was with for 17 years. After hearing this story 8 times, Laura and I found another bar, played with an adorable puppy, drunk lots more, scrabbled back up the hill and then I spent the whole night feeling sick. I blame it on the smell of the bed which was damp and not the alcohol consumption...


Mon 2nd: Breakfast was good so I was glad to be feeling just about alright enough to eat it.
More rain so all we managed to achieve was moving to the third beach where the others were staying, having a long lunch and chilling all afternoon. Exhausting life. Had my first experience of South American showers that are hooked up with wires carrying an electric current through them to heat the water. You´re not supposed to touch the settings as it can give you an electric shock. Problem is that the thing has to be turned off somehow!! Many electric shocks.

In the evening we checked out one of the many stalls that had been set up with displays of fruit to make cocktails with. We chose the woman with the nicest spread and had the most delicious pina colada ever which took her ages to make as she had to bash open the coconut and mash it all up. It would´ve been rude not to have more so the hangover cured quickly with more gorgeous cocktails.


Tues 3rd: Breakfast was VERY good with a variety of fruit, bread, a toastie maker, and lots of cakes. Wow - too much choice.
A vaguely sunny start meant we decided to walk to the 4th beach which is the quietest and longest with only a couple of pousadas. But as we got to the corner it started pissing it down AGAIN - major torrential rain this time. Quite strange to be walking along the beach in a bikini and poncho.

It was Mari´s Birthday so we decorated the corridor of our pousada with balloons and ate in a nice restaurant that did very good steak. The strange French guy playing guitar for the restaurant sung Happy Birthday in a few languages and then of course we had to visit the cocktail woman...

The locals had told us of a party that takes place at the lighthouse. We hadn´t gone the night before as we were wary of who exactly would be at this 'party'. But the pina coladas lead us to the lighthouse party - it was a Birthday party after all!
I was very surprised to find the music was a good mix of European and Brazilian and the people were a good mix of local and tourists. It had a nice feel to it and it was amazing to watch some of the Brazilians shake their thang. We wet ourselves though when a few of the local men 'charmed' us by telling us our piss taking dancing was very sexy! Another very late night....


Wed 4th: Oh my god, WHY did we not go to bed until 4am knowing the alarm would be going off at 8 for me to phone the travel agency doing the boat trips round the islands that we´d forgotten to book the night before?!!
Somehow Laura, Mari and me managed to make it onto the boat for the all day trip. Thank god it was sunny at last but the sea was still choppy so the boat had to go the reverse direction meaning we missed out on snorkelling in the natural pools.

Anyway, after being on a very packed boat for a couple of hours, stopping off to visit another small island with narrow streets and a church, we landed on another beautiful island with a long, sandy beach and palm trees. They just get better and better.

Crab thing for lunch - too much chilli sauce.

After sleeping off the hangover on the peaceful beach, we did a short walk along the island before getting the boat back. The sea had suddenly become incredibly choppy and the waves were HUGE. My fear of big waves meant I talked non stop for the whole journey and had nail marks in my hand. The waves were higher than the boat and many times the boat had to surf the wave. The driver was very skilled luckily and we somehow got back in one piece.

We had another good dinner but the island seems to be running out of food as there was not ANY fish that day and most of the fruit supply has dwindled - but not the pina colada girl´s supply so we had our final cocktail.


Thur 5th: Another sunny day so the morning was spent lazing around on the beach before Laura and I got the boat back to Salvador.
It was really sad to say goodbye to the others as we´d spent lots of time together but no doubt I shall bump into them somewhere else along the way as they´re doing a similar route to me. I look forward to a sky dive in New Zealand with 'the team'.

The sea was too rough to get the boat straight to Salvador so we had to take a long route round (but loads cheaper).
Boat to Valenca (past some beautiful scenery), a bus to the town centre past more scenery full of marsh, wildlife and palms, a nice lunch in a tiny local restaurant with very cheap food, another bus and then a ferry back to Salvador.
Phew - we didn´t get back until 8pm but managed to get our old room back at the hostel.

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