Last stop

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With 1 week left in Brasil and indeed South America, it was definetely time to get into holiday mode, relax and unwind. We found a lovely place to stay in Natal with all you can eat breakfasts a swimming pool and the beach just a few steps. The beach was very nice, lots of people selling everything from CD's, jewellery, drinks and of course barbecued food, clothes and one guy had a stall with mannequins wearing dresses (the mannequins not the guy). The weather was hot, applying spf40 and you would still get burnt, the cool sea was a welcome relief. Natal was looking like the perfect place to finish, offering everything you could want from a week's holiday and with the second cleanest air in the world (second to Antartica) what more could we ask for!

We spent the first couple of days lazing on the beach, relaxing and enjoying short walks around Natal, sampling the local food and drink. We booked up for a buggy tour to the north of Natal which took us to see the sand dunes, a huge playground for buggys. It was a really enjoyable experience, being chucked around the buggy as it climbed and descended these dunes sometimes thinking you were going to fall out. Another day spent lazing on the beach, I was keen to return with a suntan in the true British tradition becoming a little competitive. It wasn't just about relaxing though it was also time for us to reflect on what we had seen and to prepare ourselves for what was to come when we returned home.

Another trip and to the south of Natal this time, the surroundings were alot different as it was mainly on roads with the occasional dash onto the beach where we would blast up and down it, these beaches had very few if any people on them. We stopped at several places on the way including the largest cashew nut tree in the world which was huge, I finally found out where cashew nuts come from (still wondering about babies though so if anyone's got any clues). Our final destination was a place called Pipa, a small town with a big selection of bars and restaurants, nice but not worth staying too long we thought.

That evening we both went to an internet cafe and checked our bank accounts, both our statements were showing that a large sum of money waiting to be cleared, we knew it wasn't us and so began the lengthy ordeal of trying to work out what was happening. It appeared that over £500 from both our accounts had been taken on two separate days mine from Rio and Rachael's from Salvador. At this point we couldn't understand where it had happened and soon we began to distrust everyone and everything, becoming suspicious of the place we were staying at, had they been through our bags whilst we'd been out for the day or was somebody watching us make withdrawals at a cash point? We eventually thought we wouldn't get to the bottom of this and so we made a police report with the details we had, the police wrote what we told them and gave us a copy for our insurers.

We had to put this behind us and be thankful the money wasn't taken from us in a more aggresive manner. However it caused us some problems as we were both right at the end of our travels and therefore money was tight, we soon started living on credit cards. In some ways we felt lucky that this had been the only problem either of us had in 5 or 6 months of travelling in South America, but in others ways it felt a shame that it had to happen right at the end when we were so near to finishing with such a clean sheet.

On the Monday, 2 days before we flew home, we had our last day trip to a place called Maracajaú where we would snorkel. It was a beautiful hot day with plenty of marine life and great visibility, a lovely way to finish the experience of Brasil and South America.

We spent the final day lazing on the beach, contemplating life back home, how we would adjust to life and a routine, sitting behind a desk and a computer screen, they were not appealing thought's at this point (or ever actually) however we had no choice as funds had almost run out and we had a return flight home with commitments and responsibilities. So Wednesday came, we packed our bags and got on that flight.

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Photos

Biggest Cashew Nut tree
Natal

Nice beach
Natal