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Published: February 21st 2007
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Macieo bus station
yes 5 hours at the bus station with nothing better to do.. this was the best shot of 300 i took on different settings i hope you like it It has been six days some may say way too long but with the craziness of carnaval and booking hostels and my rapid travelling through brazil it has been a welcomed change of pace.
I tried to stay in Macieo but it failed dismally when i couldn´t find a place to stay... so since salvador it has been a 8 hour bus ride to Macieo which was extended by four hours as the bus broke down then 12 hours walking around the beatiful beach area in Macieo with my bag (and stupidly my camera locked in the bus station locker). i did manage to get one of the bus station for anyone interested and to prove that i have been there haha yes i was bored!
it was then another overnight bus ride to Natal... this place was just what i needed a nice small fairly clean city with good beaches. I actually stayed in ponta negra which is where most tourists stay and arguably the nicest part of the city.
6 days here and i really settled into the brazilian tempo ...beach, beach, beach.. yes my tan is half decent now!
Resturants... ange you would cry
if you saw the dishes we have been eating in Natal... one particular place a rodozio (which is an all you can eat place after you pay the entry cover charge) for camerones or in english prawns... yes ange, plate after plate of garlic prawns, prawn cutlets, prawns in cocktail sauce, prawns in pasta, prawns on pizza... basically every prawn dish you could think of and as much as you could eat! for like 10 bucks australian.
then there were other resturants per plate, all you can eat pizzas joints, juice bars with fruit i have never seen before caju and caja.... awesome!
The night life was fairly average here but not that bad either i had a forro dancing night which was interesting, i realised my dancing is extremely unco-ordinated in thongs and i don´t think the girl i was dancing with was really impressed at my efforts haha.
It was carnaval time so another night we followed a drumming group about 4 km to the town center slowly gathering more people until we reach the live music concert... very colourful but besides the drumming the music was not my style so we just stuck around
the boys
the boys out side the hostel the center for an hour or so when the crowd was dying out anyway. One other carnaval night we got a cabbie to take us to the party in town which turned out to be really awesome. basically it was a live rock concert in the street with you typical venders selling caprihina´s cerveja etc but hundreds of people dancing... even the rain which bucketed down half way didn´t slow peoples enthusiasum. it was pretty intense and one of the best live music i have heard in brazil definately a great night... i couldn´t imagine how big it would be in rio or salvador for that matter.
One of the best things about the place i was staying which was a literally a castle ...
(check out the photos possibly the best hostel i have been in yet in terms of location, staff, breakfast, dorms, and atmosphere definately the place to stay if you come to natal)
... was it was close to a great little bar i am talking about 10 meters
because the hostel bar was closed i had to seek other places and found this fantastic place yes 10 meters away (alright my
PRAWNS
The boys and all you can eat prawn night search for a place to drink wasn´t that extensive)... basically it was just a window front with stools pulled up next to it but the people behind the bar made the place... the owner was a big music fan and only played english music for his guests... which was a welcomed change as i hadn´t heard english music in ages. We talked for hours about new bands like wolfmother, kaiser chiefs, etc. he let me pick the songs from his extensive cd collection... a really great guy. The girls were great as well when service was slow they would join you on the other side of the bar for drinks and make you extra cocktails... the friendliest bar in brazil! i managed to grab a a drink here ever night i stayed in the hostel.
leaving this place and its neighbouring bar was not easy six days later it was like saying good by to your family ... a shame but i think it happens a lot whilst travelling.
it wasn´t all drinking tho i did manage to get out and knock off a few tourist sites as well when the weather wasn´t so great... me and argentine
Fort
the fort on the northern point of natal from the hostel hit the tourist fort site up the north end of Natal... not a bad day but when returning and waiting at the bus station one of the tourist guides in the area left his store to wait with us as apparently the area wasn´t safe due to it being directly outside a favela and the fact that the police were on
strike this particular day. he was a great guy and he told us his name was actually in the lonely planet book... i am sure he just wanted to plug himself but his information was much appreciated. (forget his name tho haha.)
that was natal though a nice city but if you looked closely there still was the seedy underbelly the usual beggars but also mass sex tourism (as they call it here) you will find really fat white old ugly bald guys with stunning brazilian girls under there arms... to be honest although i have been heckled by prositutes all through brazil and almost accidently picked up one or to of the more subtle ones on the beach or in bars.. this place kind of made me feel sorry for them, and there were
carnaval
following the carnaval crowd so many young and beautiful girls but brought up selling there bodies to sleazy old guys... it just seemed like a real shame.
enough serious stuff tho
on the last day of carnaval i set off to fortaleza which after checking it out for one day i think i am ready to push on... not that it is totally terrible but i am aching for a change of scene and i just bought my bus ticket to belem in preperation for the amazon... you probably won´t here from me in a while but i think i may be able to catch up with every one in manaus
till then.
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mum
non-member comment
We so love hearing from you. Are you travelling with anyone when you go to the Amazon. It seems like you have been gone for so long, I can't wait to see you. Everyone here is well. Steve's 21st fast approaching but he is waiting for you before he plans anything. Have fun. Take care.