Advertisement
Published: April 18th 2011
Edit Blog Post
It's been my final week in Brazil and I'm really starting to feel like a Brazilian. I've been getting history lessons from the locals and my tour guide thinks I'm half way there with my love of Brazilian barbeques, acai, guarama and caiparihas. I've been doing my best to speak Portuguese but after several incidents ordering food where the staff just laughed at me, my ego is feeling slightly bruised. The pronunciation is so difficult, god knows what I was actually saying! I must sound ridiculous but at least I'm providing some amusement along the way and it's nice trying.
I really love Brazil but it is so expensive, I feel like I'm bleeding money at the moment. My drinking levels have dropped dramatically. It makes the UK look cheap. I knew it was going to be expensive but I think it's actually worst than I thought, especially on a backpackers budget. My days of living in luxury seem like a distant dream.
Being on an organised tour this week has made things easier, but I'm glad I'm not doing it all the way round. I'm really missing being spontaneous. It's nice not having to think about anything, but
it's proving to be a bit of a shock to the system. I'm so use to living at 100mph, working full time and being independent, I'm struggling to adjust more than I thought I would. Give me a few weeks and I'm sure I'll be saying something different!
My new group are great, we've got a diverse mix of nationalities; Swiss, Danish, French, Dutch, Irish and English. The variety of languages spoken is impressive. It's really made me appreciate the power and insight that comes from speaking other languages. I'm definitely going to do some Spanish lessons in Buenos Aires to help me with my trip ahead. I'm sure I'm more likely to end up in outer Mongolia rather than Patagonia with my current Spanish level.
I'm very pleased to report that everything in my backpack is getting used, all my planning is definitely paid off (My netbook and Iphone have been particular god sends). Between Amelia, Ami and I, think we could actually go just about anywhere in the world and survive. We're doing a good job of modelling every travel device ever invented. Amelia in particular is incredible, she has a 33litre back pack and she's
living out of it for 3 months. I'm in ore. I'm carrying 77litres, weighing 25kg, backpack and daypack included. My backpack also attacked me last week and I've now got an impressive bruise on my leg. It cost a whopping £200 (quite a lot for a backpack), the design is pretty good but the metal legs really weren't a good idea Mr Lowe Alpine! Toiletries, medical supplies and warm clothes for Glaciers and the Inca trail are the main culprits. At this point I really do need it all, but as soon as I get past Peru a good third of its is being shipped home. Every time I see stairs at the moment it fills me with dread!
Even at this slow pace, so much happens in one week, it's difficult to capture it all. I've been bitten by what feels like a million mosquito's (my 50% deet formula from the outdoors shop is not working on these bad boys), I've designed my dream home (going to need to work harder when I get back or find a rich husband), samba-ed in lapa, travelled through 1000's of miles of lush green countryside, been on several boats and catamaran,
visited tropical paradise and a paraty, a colonial gem.
Ilha Grande, Brazil's 3rd largest island was definitely the highlight. We stayed at small hotel made up of gorgeous wooden huts, swimming pool and clean towels – luxury! The first day we did some trekking across the island to lopez mendez beach (one of the best beaches in brazil) and I finally got to use those walking shoes I've been lugging all the way. I figured I need as much practice as I can before the Inca trail so I can keep up with my uber fit friends!! It was surprisingly hard going but was well worth it and the trip on the boat back felt well earnt.. Day two the rest of the group decided to head of on a boat trip, but my and O'felia's budgets were looking strained so we held back. We decided to wander into town to get some inspiration on things to do for free and by pure chance we got talking to some locals and before we knew it we were sailing on their boat to blue lagoon to do some snorkelling and have lunch. And all we did was provide some beer.
Completely random but one the best days I've had so far. They were so kind and generous, we both couldn't believe it. Not many people at home would ever dream of doing anything like that for complete strangers. It really was something amazing - such a perfect day!
It's fascinating to hear everyone's stories and what's triggered them to go travelling. Interestingly it usually comes down to trying to make sense of the world and understand their place better in it. That's definitely the reason for me. Being so far away from reality gives you plenty of time to think and meeting loads of interesting people brings loads of new perspectives on the world and life. Inevitably there is a lot of soul searching going on.
My brain is exploding with new stuff I keep learning. One fascinating fact is that Brazilians love to kiss – they're always everywhere kissing and I've already unintentionally left several Brazilians heartbroken. There really is no denying the Latin in their blood. Also, Acai berries (yum, yum) that are sold for a fortune in the uk for their weightloss properties etc, according to the locals here it's just a fruit - so
don't waste your money people!
I have to admit 6 months (technically on 5.5months left) at this point does seem like a very long time. Most people I've met so far seem to be travelling for 2-4 months. The longest I've been away before is a month, so I'm trying to break my trip down into bite size pieces to make it seem less daunting. I really want to enjoy not being in the rat race for a while and embrace it. As I've found out already living out of a backpack and on a shoestring really strips you back to basics and makes you appreciate what's important in life. So far my view is - the only thing you really need to be happy are good food and good people to share it with.
Next stop the almighty Iguassu falls - I can't wait!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.197s; Tpl: 0.019s; cc: 11; qc: 44; dbt: 0.1289s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
Thomp A Romp
non-member comment
Sounds Like You are Having Fun
It's nice to know somebody out there is having fun. I've been working too much. Mind if I live vicariously through you for a while? A subscription is in my future.