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Published: March 4th 2008
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Santinho Beach
AKA home for a week. Go on, you know you´re a little bit jealous. Well well well, our time out here in South America just keeps going from crazy to crazier and our week in Florianopolis was no exception...but I suppose id better start at the beginning!
But before I do that, just on a personal note. Two of my very close friends have just anounced their engagement (thanks for waiting guys, Mum 2, you can stop crying now), getting serious for a minute though, congratulations! I know how happy you both make each other. Trig and Kaz are two of the most genuinely kind and lovely people you could ever wish to meet and I wish you every happiness in the future. God, I think I just aged 4 years writing that. Mum 2, you can stop crying now. (Trigs Mum, Jill)
Back to the business in hand, when last I wrote, Brad and I were leaving Sao Paulo and just in time as the night we left the rainfall was ridiculous. I´ve never seen rain like it, and bear in mind i´ve lived in England for 29 years!!
Still after another long bus journey south, the climate changed for the better and we had crossed from the mainland to the
sunnier Florianopolis. Now Chris had already been here a few days as he came down here to surf. It turned out he´d done pretty well on the meeting people front. He´d already been out surfing with a Brazilian guy called Ismael, who has been surfing for the last 11 years, so not a bad teacher! He´d also got lucky and rented an apartment in Praia de Ingleses next to some really cool people, firstly David and John (Norwegian & Swedish Cousins respectively) and also some really really funny Chileans who are without a shadow of a doubt the most patriotic people I have ever met! My real problem with Praia de Ingleses (English Beach), is that there wasn´t a single person trying to get me into their bar with Sangria, not one sunburnt brit and no places to eat a fry up....and you dare call yourself an english beach!!
Chris had already organised a new place for the three of us to stay. A really nice new apartment around the corner in the quieter area of Santinho. The apartment is in a new block and run by Ismael, it´s quiet with a swimming pool and recreational area and best
Justified!!
Sorry these captions might be better, but im not really that familiar with his work! of all its a 2 minute walk from the beach.....it was hard going spending a week here.
With no time to waste we got straight into the party atmosphere, one of the Chileans was having a birthday party to which we were invited, who are we to turn down the offer of a party? It would have been rude after all! So on to the party which was really good fun and plenty of beers all round, we didn´t want to go too crazy though because the following day we had a pool party to attend from 3pm. So most of us had a fairly reserved night, well all except John the Swede and one of the Chileans that I didn´t catch the name of, challenged each other in a drinking contest. This pretty much ended the night, with John just shading it, it didn´t help that his Chilean counterpart was throwing the drink over his shoulder! Going back to the Chileans for a moment, I didn´t really catch any of their names, mainly because my Spanish is still rubbish and their English wasn´t much better...but I do however know that in Chile there is mucho cerveza y mucho
Ismael & Family
The very laid back Ismael. Mi casa su casa has never been more appropriate mucho muchachas! (beer and women, and thank god it´s the internet and I don´t have to show you how he gestured the muchacha bit!!)
So to the sunday and this was the most unbelievable day of my life for two reasons, buckle up people, it gets a bit odd from here on in!
Firstly it was the English league cup final between Spurs and Chelsea. The first dilemma of the day was working out how and where to watch this. The area of Flori that we were staying in was not exactly a mecca for pubs, bars etc. Fortunately David and John were kind enough to let us stay and watch the game at theirs until two, (they had to go out after this to set up for the party) result, or at least it would have been had the game not finished 1-1 and gone to extra time! So me and Chris legged it to the nearest internet cafe, and used the only idea we could think of, to call a couple of mates in the UK and have them commentate the game down the phone to us! (of course im not serious...a half hour phone call
Its the effect of the camera....
not my state thats made part of this blurry, cool huh! from Brazil to the UK is expensive!) Big thanks to Trig and Ben. We won 2-1 for those interested come on you spurs!! (we may have got a little noisy at the end of the game and caused a few stares in the quiet cafe!)
Well, we were aready on a high when the day took an even more unexpected turn! We made our way to the hotel that David had hired out, which is one of the nicest hotels in Flori, but then he was expecting alot of people. As we approached the entrance there seemed to be quite alot of commotion going on. On closer inspection, we suspected it might be an american football team or similar, as there were so many large guys floating about. That is when we spotted him.
I know you wont believe me, because if I had not been there I wouldn´t have believed it myself, who else but Justin Timberlake, AKA the trousersnake himself is coming out of the hotel. Unbelievable, now Brad and I aren´t his biggest fans, not like chris anyway (as you´ll see in the photos!) but how many times do you get to meet a megastar.
My uncanny impression of....
that elephant god with all the arms, I think he´s called Vishnu off the top of my head! Fuelled by courage and a couple of footy match beers...welll mainly the beers, we thought we´d see if we could get a piccy with him. He turned out to be a really nice, humble guy. We did think it was a bit odd that he was down here but apparantly he´s been doing some promo work between Rio,Sao Paulo and then he´s on to Buenos Aires. Well im pleased to say he let us take the piccy, though I reckon his entourage were just scared, after all its not every day JT meets some pissed up English footy fans...his 110 stone of hired muscle against the 35 stone might of us three....they wouldn´t have stood a chance, especially when the windmilling begins!! Unfortunately we couldn't get him to stick about and blast out a tune, he seemed in a real rush, probably lucky he posed for the photos I guess.
The rest of the party was alot of fun, as you can imagine we spent the rest of the day on a real high, Spurs winning a trophy and JT in one day.....that´s as rare as me getting a haircut! So we partied to the wee small hours. Chris,
Chileans and the Saffron Massive
In the house Boi!! Respect!! BO! Brad and the Chileans even took part in a bellyflop contest at the hotel pool, whilst I was taking part in my own down a pint of chilli vodka contest. Well as you would expect I necked it in one, as you would also expect the rest of the night is a bit of a blur. I recall leaving the hotel to go to an open bar on the beach, where im sure I drunk more (completely unnecessary) and then I vaguely recall Brad having to climb the fence to get us back into the apartment, as Chris had left earlier with the key!
A good night had by all then! Well the next few days were spent doing the usual sightseeing, chilling and more chilling. Not to mention being in starstruck awe....JT! people, this is a genuine superstar. I was tempted to ask him who was better, Britney before her crazy slut mentaller days, very P.C of me I know, or Cameron Diaz my money is on Cameron....gggrrrr. That said though his new bit bloody lovely too, damn he´s one lucky bugger.
Other highlights worth mentioning are that we cooked ourselves a roat dinner one night, dull
Por Chile
The crazy Chileans I know but when you spend all your time eating something with chips or rice, roast potatoes and veg are a real treat!
Also did I mention that John the swede was a tattoo artist................
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mel and mum
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Hairy Hair
Hi Darren, mum and I were just commenting on your hair - I reckon you look like Albert Einstein and mum reckons you look like Ken Dodd minus the Diddy Men. I can't wait to see how long should I say bushy it is by the time you come home. love Mel and Mum x