COBBLED STREETS AND AZULEJOS

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Jean Marc and I got picked up by the taxi at the hostel and 4 hours later we arrived in Sao Luis, we got dropped off at a nice Hostel called Pousada Lagoon in the new part of town, recommended by Jean Marc's friend, a little misunderstanding there, JM thought he will stay with him in his house but he booked us a hostel instead, nevertheless quite good for the 30 reais per person price, and has wifi and en suite toilet. We freshened up then walked the town, the new part that is, quite busy as we walked down the waterfront, loud music blaring, lots of people drinking in makeshift bars in a parking lot, big booming speakers in the streets, seems like there is a party going on this weekend, this being Sunday its busy than normal so we thought something is going on. i will always have in my memory the blaring sound of the speakers and people dancing in the streets, and they can dance! We queued up for subway sandwiches, JM's first time and then we headed back to the hostel to catch some zzzzs.

The next morning we got showed around town by Giancarlo, JM's friend and he drove us to the old town where we left our luggage at a small restaurant near the bus station for the day, Giancarlo asked them if it was possible and they said yes. so we wlaked the old town a little then we decided to head to the main bus station to buy the bus ticket to Belem, took 45 minutes to get there amid bead traffic we got there finally and bought the 8pm ticket for Belem. We headed back to sightsee in the old town, its hot and muggy and we are both struggling to walk, we saw lots of picturesque houses with Portuguese tiles(azulejo) for outside walls, very decorative, we saw most of the sights, stopping to take a breather every now and then, JM is an avid photographer using 35mm stll and would take ages for a perfect photo since he cant waste it. The sun and humidity caught up with me and could barely walk so we sat at a local bar and had a few sol beers after trying out 2 before it, apparently due to the party last night most bars ran out of beers! We waited for the sunset near the waterfront.

Low tide here meant the harbor is completely dry, for miles you can see the muddy bottom, i sat and waited for Jm at the bench as he tried to take more fotos, then we took our backpacks out of the small restaurant we left it in this morning, and it was there still, sigh of relief. Off to the main bus terminal, as before it took a good 45 minutes, traffic jams again, we got there around 710pm and enough time for me to internet and sort out accomodation in Belem while Jm go for a shower in the public toilet. The bus left on time with a handful of gringos. as the night went on the a/c got colder and colder, i was only wearing shorts and shirt and flip flops so i was freezing my balls off, i should have planned ahead. Everyone was freezing cold and when JM asked the driver to turn it down the driver said it's only either on or off! So we froze a little bit more until morning came, arriving in busy congested Belem and said goodbye to JM and hope to see him when I visit St.George, French Guiana.

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Photos

SAO LUIS
Traffic lights with tiles

SAO LUIS
hot chick