Blogs from São Luis, Maranhão, Brazil, South America - page 4

so , what´s that you say lonely planet - 26 hours on a bus at a cost of R$190....hmmmm..... NO, just NO...lets re-phrase that: 37 hours on a bus at a cost of R$ 280 Oh my god..that was epic...! A very long time to be sitting on a bus with screaming kids and mad portugeeeese speaking people! crazy experience. Although we did save 2 nights accomodation... And, the best bit was probably the fact that we travelled through some of the remotist parts of Brazil. Roads, where we´re going, we don´t need roads! But potholes would be good like...lol. Yeah, the scenery was fascinating (when I wasn´t asleep!)...And we must have stopped in about 15 little bus stations. Getting off and the peple had never seen a white person before - absolutely fascinated, but once ... read more

Hello all, sorry its been so long since I have written- its been a busy few weeks!! After Jericoacoara I decided to head further up the coast towards Sao Luis but instead of going on another long haul bus myself, Murna and Marco decided to take to scenic route which turned out to be quite an adventure. We had to get a dune buggy 2hrs from Jericoacoara to Camocim then we were meant to be getting a mini bus from there but the ferry over the river decided that it would not leave with just 3 people on it so we ended up missing the bus so spent about 2 hours in Camocin which is absolutly tiny tring to find alternative transport. We eventually managed to find someone who was willing to drive us (for double ... read more

Having been back in South America a week or so i have already amassed enough useless currency to create an epic cash themed collage I got into Georgetown and decided to leave. I cant quite decide if it was because it looked a bit shady or because i want to see other places. Possibly a bit of both of combined with my relatively limited time on the continent. However on the way back to Georgetown airport i saw some bloke been “escorted” out of his car seemingly against his will, dodgy dodgy. I would have caught the bus straight down to the Brazilian border from Georgetown but the roads south were closed for the foreseeable future because of the rainy season. So i decided to fly from Georgetown to Boa Vista. As it turns out this ... read more

The next day from Bara we caught the first bus out of dodge to Sao Louis another one of the Portuguese early settlements that produced sugarcane and had a good little slave trading racket going on. They´ve done up the old heritage centre of the town and we actually prefered it´s vibe to that of Salvador and the shopping street is insane. You can take a boat ride to Alcantara where all the sugar Barons once lived in the many mansions (most ruined). One of the two ways to get there is a boat that takes about 1:15 and it is so noisy. It sounds like and Elphi 2900 at full noise - for an hour this can wear thin. We only really went to the island because it has the only preserved Pelourinho or ... read more

7th november- 10th November The beautiful city of Sao Luis is blessed with the most feverish cultural presence of the upmost north of Brazil. Walking through the colonial city, you could see its facades covered with azulejos (portugese painted tiles). it had a timeless beauty. I stayed in a renovated old colonial building turned hostel, called Solar das Pedras. Sao Luis is known as the capital of reggae in Brazil, pronouned He-gáy. I found some new awesome reggae music, and i partied to reggae in the nearby bars. No doubt the city would have been amazing during its higly folkloric festivals, that are represented in the themes of the many museums bound to the area. I made a trip out to Alcantara, a colonial architectural treasure slipping regally into decay. it used to be the hub ... read more