Blogs from Goiás, Brazil, South America

Gut, dass ich durch meinen Mini-Roadtrip mit den Mädels letztens schon halbwegs auf eine Mietwagenfahrt durch Brasilien vorbereitet war. Sonst wäre ich gestern vermutlich von der nächstbesten Brücke gesprungen. Habe meinen Bruder vorsichtshalber auch von Vornherein darauf aufmerksam gemacht, dass die Huckel in den Straßen sehr hinterlistig sein können und ein Navi nur sehr bedingt nützlich ist. So richtig vorstellen konnte er es sich nicht. Bis wir uns kurz außerhalb Brasílias völlig verfahren haben. Wir wollten ja eigentlich nach Pirenópolis. Da das aber nicht auf direktem Weg zwischen Brasília und Goiânia liegt, gab es zwei Wegmöglichkeiten: den kürzeren oder den schnelleren. Uns wurde der schnellere empfohlen, da der kürzere sehr schlecht sein sollte. Das Navi hat uns natürlich über letzteren geschickt, was wir aber zu spät gemerkt haben. Wie ich schon von unserem letzten GPS wusst ... read more

We began our first Brazilian fishing trip by driving further into Central Brazil to a place called Lago Verde with a group of Embassy coworkers. With a quick stop at a roadside stand, we made the journey in about 3 and a half hours. After checking in and renting some fishing gear, we had our poles in the artificial lake and caught (and released) several small fish. Following a dinner break, we tried nightfishing for catfish for the first time. We didn't catch any catfish, but at midnight, Alex hooked a 26 pound tambaqui that took 30 minutes to reel in. The next day, we were back at it, and caught a few more small fish. In the late afternoon, a huge rainstorm hit, driving us to return home.... read more

Back to the grind of Itumbiara now. Ive been back here since Wednesday, after my time in Aguas Lindas near Brazilia, and nothings changed much to be honest. The last couple of days have been busy though, seeing old friends, catching up on missed church and ferrying Joaquim around in his car to and from the Physiotherapist! anyway, remembering Aguas Lindas was fun. My time there was well spent generally going to the free- flight project everyday... exchanging portuguese insults with the lads that went to play football and basketball there everyday. Kind of miss the shouts of ´toca bolla joel' and ´gringo loco' etc... The last weekend i was there we had a festa of feijaida(!) which was a charity meal party thing where the food was faijaida... pork filled bean feast feijao dish. Any ... read more

Ive been in Brazil for 4 weeks now. The news i hear from england is obviously about financial doom and gloom, and all the snow...trust me to miss out on all the fun, but hey, im in brazil and its 30 - 36 C most days and nights, so im getting that summer feeling all the time at the moment. Settling into life here has been good, everyone as usual is very kind, cooking for me, showing me around, translating for me etc. My portuguese is very limited still, but i have never really been one for new languages, but i get by all the same. Its been a steady move into brazilian life... the cultural differences aparent between here and england, can be seen just by looking around. Although not as bad here in Itumbiara ... read more

Thought i should write since i might be out of contact for a bit. Aaron should have touched down fairly recently. thanks for the birthday dinner!! we ran out of stuff to do in puerto iguazu so i actually ended up playing age of empires 3 at an internet cafe for half an hour haha.. then started going solo. the border crossing was the most pathetic yet, got exit stamped in argentina, then the brasil guy opened my passport and just stamped it smack in the middle of my egypt and tonga stamps, which annoyed me since i had plenty of blank pages, and tore off my entry card without looking at it, didnt look at my passport photo or yellow fever certificate either, or my pack. this also annoyed me because i could have brought ... read more