Advertisement
Published: April 23rd 2009
Edit Blog Post
Laura -
Greetings from Brazil!
The time here is 11.41AM and the temperature is approximately 30 degrees... hahahahahaha!
Ok, so last time we spoke (?) we were coming to the end of our lovely stay in lovely Paraty living with the lovely Pablo in his hostel.... we love you pablo!!!!
On the last day before we moved on i went Kayaking in the morning.... in this part of Rio State there is meant to be an island for every day of the year so there is more than enough to see and explore!
Later on that evening courtesy of Mr Alan Gallagher, we took ourselves out to one of the NICE restaurants in the old town.... thanks ALAN.... t´was tremendous!!!
Ok, so Tuesday 14th.... we get a local bus to coastal town of Trindade! Now this place is not massively well known.... up until a few years ago, it wasn´t even a many maps. We came to know about it through word of mouth.... the description we were given was something along the lines of: hippie, reggae, stunning beaches... clearly this was the point when tor and i look at each other as though someone
has just said ¨free caipirinha anyone?¨
We have decided to stay at a hostel we were recommended called Sea and Forest.... we realised upon arrival the name wasn´t just a gimmick....it actually is IN the forest! The dorms are all made out of wood.... like little cabins, was very nicely done, the place actually reminded me more of the kind of tropical retreat you might read about that say, Kate Moss might head off to! The guys that runs the place.... Ozzy also is a yoga instructer and Tor and i had images of us perfecting some manouvres and becoming all zen and in tune with our inner selves and all that.... unfortunately Ozzy recently hurt his back so Yoga was not presently on the menu... alas, made mental note to ´tune´into my inner self at a later point!
The beaches here are something special..... definately hands down the best we have seen since arriving (and we have been committed to our beach research). So we make a little agreement with ourselves to settle here for as long as a week before we finally get on the road and head to Argentina!
For the first couple of nights
at the hostel, we were the only two guests.... a far cry from the end of our stay there when there wasn´t enough room for us and we had to sleep on the floor of the reception.... all part of the experience!
We essentially were allowing ourselves a weeks beach holiday before we move inland and we really did get our wish! We spent most days laying on one of the three beaches in the area! Then another day we explored the natural pools which are a short walk through the forest away.... got some snorkelling action done! Off an evening, we might mostly indulge in a couple of local beers and sit on our reception cabin benches listening to the sounds of the rainforest!
Now this may all sound very pleasant, etc and don´t get me wrong.... the place is AMAZING, however.... Tor and i are city gals and all of a sudden we are sleeping in the middle of the forest.... so at night time you can hear the craziest noises and there is the risk of ´visitors´making their way into your cabin!
Tor was the only one out of the two of us that experienced
any such guests... Night 1: Tor wakes in middle of night and can hear a tapping noise.... she turns on light above here bed to see (now please note following desctription is in words of Tor) and bug crawling up the wall, approx 2 inches in diameter, grey colouring, ressembles minature armadillo (???) with suction pad type feet (???). She knocks him onto floor with a leaflet.... but later on after she has done a few deep breathing exercises on the balcany, she finds mini armadillo creature has returned....
Day 2: Tor reading on her bed, looks above the light in her little bed area and there is a lizard above it.... she asks me to come over and have a look... i am generally fine with Lizards but must confess that did agree with tor when she said it did resemble baby crocodile!!!! However we decided to let Lizard stay as they eat bugs as mosquitos etc!!!!
So the weekend arrives and as it is a national holiday it brings with it many visitors to Trindade.... it was nice to see the contrast of the town so quiet and then see it brought to life!
Are
hostel is now much busier and there is talk of parties on the beach come sat and sun evening!
On Sunday, Ozzy takes most of the hostel residents to an evening event about a 15min drive away! i call it an event as i don´t know what the correct term for it is.... will describe! SO there are a few remote communities in Brazil that until recently, no-one knew existed! The were founded by groups of slaves who had run away and went into hiding for fear of being recaptured. Some of these communities were in hiding from 150-300year! Clearly they didn´t know if and then when slavery was abolished in Brazil and so in the instrance of this one community we visited, when the road to Trindade was being built in the 70´s, they ran off into the forest as they thought people were trying to recapture them! So this évent´we went to was based in one of these small towns and has food and music and is about residents of these communities celebrating their african heritage!
There are pics to follow of this particular evening, it was brilliant! We were constantly being pulled up to dance by the locals and the music was fab!!!
Me being me, went to bed when we got back to Trindade (lightweight), however Tor and the rest of the gang went to check out the beach party which apparently was AWESOME (typical). There were various fires along the beach which had people playing live music around and everyone up dancing! The dance in question is the fahore (spelling??) and when done well like some of the locals, it looks similar to a scene out of dirty dancing and is very very very sexy!!!
One final comment about Trindade - so these two boys move into our dorm.... you come all the way across the world to see amazing things and meet amazing people..... and they are both from.... Lewisham, haha!
Also, we managed to get ourselves and invite for accommodation in Sao Paulo from a couple that are working as teachers there..... the girl in the couple went to the same school as my sister.... random!
So we are checking out now and will update you in a week or so! Hopefully by this point we will have swung by Sao Paulo, seen the Iguassu Falls and maybe well on our way to Beinos Aires.... hurrah!!!
Ciao!
xxx
Advertisement
Tot: 0.069s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 9; qc: 52; dbt: 0.0413s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb