Blogs from Brazil, South America - page 556

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South America » Brazil » Amazonas » Manaus August 22nd 2006

It’s ninety-six degrees today and I’m sweating like a menopausal female. The air is humid, almost like being in a greenhouse. It’s two in the afternoon and the sun has been up for hours. The day is almost over, in four more hours the sun will go down. It’s another day in Brazil. I slice open a papaya in the kitchen and smile to myself. Sweet tropical bliss. Everytime I cut a mango, guava or papaya, I am confronted with a wave of joy. Two women chatter and laugh in the open kitchen across from ours. All of the kitchens here have permanently open windows. It allows for a communal type of living where nothing is truly private. Smells of lunch waft throughout the air from one kitchen to the next. Bright torquise, gold and ... read more
breakfast joint
Presidente Figuieredo
CIGS zoo


After the laziness of Jeri, I felt I needed to do something active and interesting, so I decided to pierce the interior of the scorchingly hot state of Piauí to go to Parque Nacional de Sete Cidades. Again, transportation was an issue. Our (me and a Swiss guy I met) ride bailed due to a broke car, so we thought we were stuck in Jeri. By chance I had talked with a man going up the coast in a Toyota (the name of any type of pick-up used to carry people and luggage to and from Jeri). We were able to snag a ride in the back of the truck, along with all the luggage. It was a great way to see the beach and countryside, with open air, sun, a breeze, and we were even ... read more
A Tartaruga
Pedra do Índio
Wall paintings

South America » Brazil » Ceará » Jericoacoara August 22nd 2006

Despite the towns of Praia da Pipa and Jericoacoara being constantly compared by travelers as equals, they´re truly not. In order to get to Jeri, you must hop on a all-terrain vehicle that drives you an hour over barren beaches and dunes and kilometers and kilometers of uninhabited land. I mean, the city is literally in the middle of absolutely nowhere. All the streets are composed of nothing but sand, so there´s a feel that you´re on the beach wherever you are. In Jeri you can do almost anything you can imagine from lounging lazily in front of your pousada to playing soccer on the beach to windsurfing to kitesurfing to hiking to horseback riding to taking yoga classes to learning capoeria on the beach to going on a buggy excursion. Once again, the four of ... read more
Dune run
Dunas
Buggy

South America » Brazil » Alagoas » Maceió August 22nd 2006

It´s been quite a while since I´ve been on a computer with this much time, so I´m going to write a few short entries for each city to catch up what´s been going on for the past few weeks. After the craziest of Salvador, I was looking forward to get to quiet Maceió. Unfortunately, the bus company had other plans. Getting at the bus station around 20:00 to buy a ticket for the 22:30 bus (usually no problem) I learned that they had just sold the last ticket two minutes before I walked up. Next bus, 6:30. Beleza. I spent a quite miserable evening in the rodoviária (bus station) trying to stay awake all night in order to keep my pack safe and with me. However, when I finally got to Maceió safely and with all ... read more
Barraca
No centro

South America » Brazil » Minas Gerais August 21st 2006

Ok it´s time this got written. I´ve been staying in Joao Pinheiro now since 6th August, staying with Henrique (Brasilian I met while travelling and with whom I travelled for about 6 weeks in Bolivia and Peru, along with Leo) and his grandmother. Henrique´s family own farms and so I´ve really enjoyed myself a lot ¨working¨with Henrique, riding horses, feeding and playing with foals, watching cattle getting tagged, riding the range, and accompanying H on all the jobs he has to do around the town too. Farms are called Funil and Chapadinha, there´s also another one belonging to H´s uncle called Fazentinha. H manages them all. Funil and Chapadinha were bought by H´s grandfather and worked by him. Funil is the oldest of them and was bought about 40 years ago. H´s lovely horse, Makako is ... read more
Tiago e Juliana
Waterfall
Another Waterfall

South America » Brazil » Maranhão » São Luis August 21st 2006

Chapter Twenty: São Luís I have been looking forward to São Luís for weeks. Following the coast north of Recife, past colonial Olinda, the situation has shifted from historic to an exclusively tropical beach culture along the coastline. São Luís is the Northeast’s last significant remnant of what the Portuguese left behind when they departed Brazil for good in 1822. Given my appetite for Portuguese colonialism and its urban vestiges, with heightened anticipation and expectations, this is precisely where my time in Brazil should come to a fitting end. Tragically, no city in Brazil boasts of more potential, yet fails to live up to it like São Luís. The “once-upon-a-time” timeless historical center could be Brazil’s greatest colonial treasure, outshining even the great historical towns of Olinda and Paraty. Sadly little of that potential is realized ... read more
And Then -
Azulejos
Welcome Home

South America » Brazil » São Paulo August 21st 2006

You will be glad to hear that this is my final blog. I have travelled all the way down the Brazilian coast and am now in Sao Paulo, a mass concrete sprawl home to over 17 million Brasileros. Tomorrow I fly back to London. When I last wrote, we were headed to Natal. As it´s winter in Brazil, we flew north to get some good weather, so you can imagine how disappointed we were to have rain and clouds for the only two days we were in Natal. Natal is reknowned for being surrounded by huge sand dunes 50m high, so we spent a fun day racing around them in a dune-buggy. We didn´t get to drive, but our driver, Pablo, thought he was a bit of Colin McCrae. Next stop was Praia de Pipa, a ... read more

South America » Brazil » Rio de Janeiro » Rio de Janeiro » Ipanema August 20th 2006

It was so good especially the last few nights, missing you both so much. But bring on the 22nd! TC reformed!!!... read more
WHJ and Me
Favela Kids
Pollo

South America » Brazil » Rio de Janeiro » Rio de Janeiro » Ipanema August 19th 2006

Perfect last day in Rio, Francois and I sailed about the Lagoa in a blue swan, played racket ball on Ipanema beach and then I took my two favourite favela kids out for dinner. Sitting in Rio airport very hungover and waiting for my flight home. Cant believe its all over, very excited to see everyone at home although I did cry in the taxi on the way to the airport leaving Rio will be very hard as the whole thing has just been too amazing. Call you tomorrow wilbs!!!... read more

South America » Brazil » Rio de Janeiro » Rio de Janeiro » Botafogo August 18th 2006

Ja, naslednji dan sva sla na Iguacu slapove. Obiskala sva jih iz argentinske strani, kjer so veliko lepsi. Ker avtobus fura non stop in preckanje meje ni problematicno (vsaj ne, ko gres v Argentino) sva hitro prispela. Brazilci se sploh ne sekirajo za obmejne formalnosti in smo se samo peljali mimo, medtem ko sva morala na argentinski pokazat pasose. No, prispela sva v park, placala mastno vstopnino in se po nalivu odpravila raziskovat. Z vremenom sva imela ''sreco'', saj v tem casu ze dolgo niso pomnili taksnih nalivov. Po parku hodis po urejenih potkah, se vozis z vlakcem, opazujes dzunglo in zivali (videla sva nekaksne cudne rakune in enega ptica) ter ves cas oprezala, da na naju ne skoci jaguar. Slapovi pa so enkratni in ogromni. Za boljso predstavo uporabite strica Googla. Res da ni bilo ... read more




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