No more Peru (two thumbs up)

We've arrived in America! The place we were looking forward to for the good food, and widely spoken English. Well, one out of two isn't bad. Over 50% of the population in Miami speak Spanish to each other, which turned out to be helpful when i accidentally kept saying 'gracious' and 'si' to our waitress.

Our Art Deco hostel.　Turns out there are 100`s of these buildings and they are all hostels!

Miami was nice, lots of old art deco buildings, bars and fun places to see. Also lots of shops selling nice black basketball trainers and big tonged skate shoes, which are a complete weakness of mine. Since my shoes now have holes in the toes as well as holes in the souls, i am in need of a new pair. Xss and I have very different styles, and whilst i am not of the opinion that a girl should change herself to suit a guy, i do believe in dressing in a way that means your guy likes your appearance. Apparently Xss doesn't care so much for the 9 year old boy style i adhere to. So starting from now, i am going to try hard not to buy any boys (or men's) clothing. This will be a tall order for me, but I'm going to try. I know that some people log on here to read about my travels, but with so much time to think I'm almost more preoccupied with re-evaluating my life than i am with the ever changing world around me.

Since America is so much more expensive than other places we are going we decided to spend less days here. This has resulted in us trying to do as much as we have elsewhere, only in 3 days. In Florida this involves a day Miami (getting off the plan at 6am having not slept), next driving the 200 miles to Key west via the everglades, then Key West for the day before driving back and flying to Minnesota for Christmas (which we are very excited about).

Miami- South beach. Only saw it in the evening but the water was a lovely colour. Still nothing beats Morro de Sau Paulo in Brazil.

Everglade alligators, i know they are alligators because they have rounded snouts, are darker in colour (olive coloured skin) and their bottom teeth protrude outside their mouths as well as their top. National park information centres are so informative. It was hard to be that excited about the Everglades having just left the amazon. Pretty blase statements were easy to come by, `Parrots? we saw 40 last week and one sat on my arm`; `Do you remember when we were in that canoe the other day and Edgar pulled that baby alligator out the water for us to hold?`

Most overwhelmingly, everything here is in order. This flower bed blew me away, all neat and tidy, and our room was all clean, with UNLIMITED hot water, and a TV!! Its wonderful to be in a place again where we can understand a menu and ask questions about things.　It was nice to see Peru, but i wont be returning.

Peru Evaluation 139.3

Peru

Likes: Lomo Saltado (steak, gravy, red pepper and chips all mixed together), sand boarding, seeing a real live sloth, the arrival of Christmas songs and decorations, Cusco coffee company (a grassroots Starbucks but better!), feeling like a giant when standing next to most people (my legs have never seemed so long!), drummer\taxi drivers trying to get Xss to discuss 70´s British rock music, 3 course meals for 2.20, JF Kennedy park in Lima teeming with nice cats, the food in general- brilliant.

Dislikes: Even though the traffic is crazy it hasn't made them any better drivers, little kids (as young as 3) working on the streets selling chewing gum until very late, panpipe music (even playing Guns n Roses on them doesn't make it any better so stop trying), looking like an idolised western clothes model, Peruvians only knowing English when it helps them to beg better, so much grey dust in parts near the coast you cant understand how anyone can live there, everyone looks the same (its true), altitude sickness.

Sunrises missed from sleeping: 23, and 1 i saw in the Amazon (and it was crap anyway)

Places visited: Lima, Huacachina, Arequipa, Puno, Cusco, Iquitos

Number of times i wanted to come home: 1 - being in one places for a long time gets boring. London is awesome.

Favourite Hostel: Hotel El Huacachinero, in the sandy oasis of Huacachina. Nice sunny swimming pool to relax around, an easy going few days!

Mowgali achievements: catching and eating my own Piranha, getting water from a tree trunk, holding a sloth (which was passed to me), Xss disciplining the monkeys who wouldn't share, getting juice from a tree, finding a tarantula, climbing a thousand year old tree (it must have received worse over its life), dancing with some ´Indians´whilst wearing face paint.

Favourite Memory: When Victor (one of our guides) stepped out of the dense forest holding a baby sloth at arms length as we had given up looking for one (and hope) and were standing chatting near a banana tree. We then photographed said sloth a lot, put it down to see if it would walk (it didn't) and then watched it try to attack us in slow motion repeatedly, how they survive is beyond me! or: Doing cartwheels and ´street dance´moves on the top of an isolated sand dune at sunset in Huacachina.

Worst day: Iquitos after the jungle, just waiting to go to USA in sweaty heat with nothing to do.

Favourite new food\drink: Ceviche! raw fish with lime, chili and parsley and a bit of sweet potato, cold. Oh its divine.

Best\worst noise: Christmas songs in Ripley's department store. Christmas is here, and luckily for us they have very few ones translated into Spanish.

Best\worst smell: The bark of the cumaceba tree smells lovely.

Best Norwich Victory: Norwich 4 Ipswich 1! a hatrick by Grant Holt!

Weirdest country fact: Everyone looks the same. The first day we arrived we managed to spot our taxi driver from the previous day over 14 times. People don't seem to try and distinguish themselves here any either. Where is the creativity and personal style?

Number of pictures taken of me holding a Lamb in a hat: 6!

Number of times lambs in hats became a subject of conversation: 74

Number of times lambs in hats conversations were attempted to be changed by Xss: 70

Number of words in Spanish that sound like you are speaking Portuguese with a lisp: All of them.

Number of Portuguese words that Spanish speakers admit to understanding: 0

Number of posters using western slim white models: 7 million and 43.

Number of posters or adverts with shorter stockier more Peruvian models: 1

New thing learned: When everything is always changing around you, it highlights what things are important. Funnily enough i didn't know i liked Starbucks as much as i do, or that I'm interested in running a hotel\hostel of my own (watch this space), or that Xss´s family is so important to me (i cant wait for them to come see us in Thailand), or what good, dependable friends i have in True and Tx, (Miss you both) or that i like themed restaurants and hotels, and things are always better when a canine companion comes along. I also realise that i love our tea culture and now that Xss drinks coffee, i am excited that we might be able to just sit and have hot drinks together in our house and just talk. I love that.

UNCP score: 139.3

You cant hide behind a stalk of sugercane.

So i was going to use this post to write to you, in almost meticulous detail about the wonders of staying in the amazon jungle for four days. It was going to contain highlights of hearing and seeing the warm rain approach on an isolated pond in the depths of the virgin rainforest; the moment when Victor emerged from the forest with a sloth in hand as if it were a teddy bear while it made noises like darth vadar (who`d have known?) and tried to `attack` us in slow motion; laughing in the dark whilst swinging in hammocks lit only by one small parafin light and surrounded by the noise of the jungle joking with Edgar our Peruvian guide about cultural differences; catching piranhas on said lake and eating them for dinner; of monkeys that liked Xss so much that one ran up to him, climbed up his body and rubbed his face against his forehead whilst embracing his head. However this has all been userped by the last cultural experience we encountered this morning, the Yaguas tribe.

It was awkward enough when they got all three of us visitors up to dance some tribal dances. We knew this might happen and had throught about asking not to come, but when in Rome- dance tribally. So there we were clomping about in regulation welly boots, trousers and shirts concentrating on not stamping on the poor near naked Indians who were trying to lead us around. Luckily the dance seemed to centre around going very fast around in a circle so not too much foot crushing occured. In fact nothing else happened but this Indian girl pulling me around very fast in a circle like we were doing the maypole. I was tempted to stop and explain to her that when she is on the inside (always) then i must go further and since she was going so fast this was very hard in my clumpy boots to deal with. I wasnt sure whether to smile at the bizareness that i found myself in, in the middle of the Amazon rainforest or scowl as would be my normal response.

The two following `dances`created an even more painful situation as none of the Indians seemed to want to do these ridiculously simple repetative movements and only two senior men sang, the rest by all means appeared to empathise with all primary school children who hate acting and are coxed into the play to be chorus with the words, ìt`ll be fun!`. On arriving at the villiage i asked Edgar how many people lived there, none was his reply in an embarresed way that meant i could ask no questions. These Indians come over here for the day to entertain the tourists and sell their handy craft. Thats not so bad is it?

Well, the time came to buy the handycrafts (this was after a very brief blowgun tutorial which turned out to be very easy). We were plauged. Whilst looking at one persons stuff 7 others are shoving other things at you telling you to buy them. They were in competition with each other and each selling all the same crap which we never even wanted. Having decided just to buy anything and try to spread the money out, guess what no-one has change so we will have to spend the whole of our S10 note with only one person. Now to work out which one owned which malnourished and parasite infected children.

So we were visiting dirt poor indians, who looked ill, couldnt survive without dancing some weird dance to oggling tourists and then going in for the hard sell with soveniers. This was a bad situation, but do you prefer that the lodge doesn`t send you here so they get nothing? Well, after having spent all of our money (we didnt have much) we legged it. Our guide was terrbily uncomfortable with this `cultural expereince´but bares it as it was his job, but was only too happy to leave when we were. We waited for the boat to pick us up down a little track from the village. As we were now very early, uncomfortableness forcing us to leave, after ten minutes it was decided that we should walk back to the lodge (about 45 mins). We promptly returned to the path, and whom should we see, our nearly naked Indians..... wearing t-shirts and shorts. Not only was it obvious that they got naked for the tourists, the little boy who was about 6 knew that he was `in the wrong` and stopped stock still behind a tiny thin sugarcane stalk, as if we might not see him. His father followed him, and looked also as awkward with the whole scenario.

It was terrible. I felt so bad for the `Indians`, and wished i wasnt in that situation but what was the alternative? They have no money and that is their only income, accordinjg to Edgar it is not possible to live only off of the forest, they need a little money to buy somethings. So all the way back to the lodge we spoke with him about other alternatives, a cooperative for one. As GCSE english taught me, Mans in humanity to man, is shocking. What i find worse still is the Indians inhumanity to each other, but then again i have never been that poor.

Shouldnt the ones who dance and sing loudest get more money, than those who shuffled at the back? Shouldnt those with kids in need get more? But as no-one had any change, one Indian became significantly richer whilst the rest got nothing. Why can`t they all put their products in together and share the profits equally? I guess im grasping at straws at i cant beare to think that i am partly responsible for making people get naked and dance to feed their children. And there wasnt even any beer or salted peanuts involved.

P.S i´ve mever been in a strip club so am not actually sure the accurate type of peanuts they have. Perhaps they have pork scratchings instead?

Peru

This cant be long as i am sitting in an Internet cafe sweating away in a town called Iquitos in the Amazon jungle. Its the kind of heat you can only feel after dark, and its kind of surreal as in this crowded little cafe the `person` sitting next to Xss is actually a family of nine squeezed onto one seat, looking at someone on the computer screen, it is obvious that they don't know how to communicate with them though and keep making random noises (like trying to coax a cat) to see what happens. Xss looks like he is part of it all, like a long lost cousin, if they are lucky he might even wave hello to the person too.

So we arrived in Lima having loved Santiago and found another lovely city in Lima. We enjoyed the Starbucks in the park, the arrival of Christmas ushered in by the big department store (Ripley's) which not content with cheerful Christmas music and decorations inside even had a snow machine beckoning us to come in. Clothes are cheap here so we both almost have full stocks again now. Just trainers to go. There was so much nice food in Lima, really brilliant different tastes to home and i hope that one day i will be able to return again, just for the food if nothing else.

We had been looking forward to Peru for a long time as it offered us a decent amount of time to travel independently, not booking anywhere in advance and going wherever as we choose. However, time passes very quickly and we soon discovered that we had to hurry in order to fit in Cusco and Machu Picchu.

After taking the bus south and stopping at Ica (Hurachina) for the sand boarding, which was awesome. Since we liked living in a sandune so much we stayed another day to sunbath by the pool and relax with our elephant style towels. We then re-boarded the bus and headed to Arequipa. We stayed here for a couple of days as well, enjoying the old town and visiting a convent which was really like a small, tranquil, walled city.

We then went on to Puno, and it was only at the moment of getting off the bus we both questioned why we had come up here. Not only was it at high altitude and not on our way to Cusco, but we knew of nothing to do in the town and could already see the grey and non-mystical Lake Titicaca on the drive in. Altitude sickness hit me, and has never managed to catch Xss. So i spent a day laying down as i felt very dizzy and with a high temperature (this is not a listed side effect of altitude sickness, what are the chances!) In the afternoon we went to see the floating Islands of Uros, where people supposedly live on little reed islands (5-6 families per island) and eat reeds and make boats out of reeds and sleep on reeds, and sell reeds; however i am sceptical that this is nowadays much more than a job people do to attract tourists and sell their crafts, there were no teenagers on the islands and no sign of cooking having gone on ever.

We are increasingly finding faults with our `rough guide` and finding ourselves thankful that we did not follow some of its advice. One such example is that it suggests going out to the Uros islands by yourself. We have now had many a conversation about how awkward it would have been to turn up on a tiny floating island with only a few tribal people on, with no language in common and nothing to do. ermm... Uno anyone. (everyone knows Uno don't they!)

So onwards to Cusco. Unfortunately everyone loves Cusco, so i was expecting a lot, and since they had no Starbucks i was deeply disappointed (really Xss was, he has become quite an addict). Luckily i had an Incan McDonald's instead. It rained whilst we were at Machu Picchu, and one of us forgot the hood to their coat (luckily it kept the clothes under it back in the room nice a dry). I did not receive the Butterfingers chocolate bar and kiss for hurrying up at the end as i stopped to take a few photos and went the wrong way onto a dead end path. Luckily, it was all fine and we enjoyed it. It was very similar to the photos so this made it a little odd. I don't really understand the Inca´s or the wonder of their talents yet, i might have got it wrong, but Machu Picchu was only abandoned in 1400s and Hampton Court Palace (per say) was made in 1514, am i missing something but i know who i would want to build my holiday house.

So we flew back through Lima and caught a flight out to the crowded Amazon city we now find ourselves in. Time has gone very quickly, but in some places it seems to go very slowly. We are now faced with the brilliant decision of how far into the jungle to go and how many days to go for. It all looks pretty exciting and i cant wait.

When i see an Elephant towel.

Sometimes its the places you see that make you excited, at other times it is the way that they fold the towels. We got into Huacachina last night and as we walked around the hotel picking our room from a selection i really wanted a downstairs one as it had a towel folded in the shape on an elephant. However, upstairs (with a swan) was a nicer room.

In order to remedy this in my perfect Spanish i wrote a note to our room attendant stating, ´Elephant towels, por favour´. He didn't disappoint, and look at the elephant! I left him a tip and thought that would be the end of it as i couldn't ask for clean towels 2 days running. However, not to be losing out on a tip, he then made a sea turtle out of clean towels, including using my pen and paper to make little black eyes. Brilliant. But not better than the elephant.

We came to Huacachina to try sand boarding, and it didn't disappoint. Living in an oasis in the middle of the sanddunes was amazing! Here is a picture of Xss mucking around at dusk.

Chile Evaluation 216.7

Chile

Likes wonderfully clean Santiago, Starbucks ' i know its the same everywhere but it tastes better after a 3 month withdrawal), the flatness of Santiago contrasted with the glorious mountains surrounding it, Hostel Casa Roja a wonderfully restored old spacious building), steaks, cerro something park, crisp warm but not too hot sunshine all the time, free museums on Sundays, the number of EMO kids (and adults) walking around Santiago has a good taste in music, public snogging (even the adults) snogging is fun.

Dislikes: Valpariso, the way Americans pronounce Chileans, having to leave after 5 short days, very public snogging - i mean really, again, do you have to snog each time your eyes meet?, Men urinating everywhere with no attempt to turn away or shield my eyes from their manhood.

Sunrises missed from slumber: 5

Places visited: Santiago and Valpariso

Number of times i wanted to come home: 0!

Favourite Hostel Casa Roja. see their website for great pictures, and we even managed to make friends with their staff!

Traveller achievements being asked if i had checked a backpack onto our flight, still not brushing my hair, only having one pair of shorts since losing the other ones somewhere, Xss being complimented on his ripped jeans, always replying 'what's the cheapest' when presented with several options, being pally with hostel workers, throwing away clothes that i need to make my bag lighter but keeping impractical thing like the knife and fork i brought with me.

Favorite memory Walking home from climbing tired but very satisfied. See previous blog entry.

Worst Day VALPARISO. Why is this crap town a UNESCO world heritage site? on a par with Macchu Pichu? Smelly, dirty, teeming with nothingness. Don't go. We went on the bus 2 hours each way and only managed to spend 2 hours there, and that's only because it was such a long walk back to the bus station after searching for a reason to be there!

Favourite new food\drink pure pineapple juice. Why don't we do this in England. Fruit, in a blender. simples and great.

Best\worst noise: The Australians going to bed at 6am at Casa Roja after the cricket.

Worst\best smell: The intestines that accompany burgers on all the stands on the way to a football match (which we couldn't get tickets for), think tripe left out in the sun with some vomit stirred in for good measure.

Best Norwich Victory: Signing Henri Lansbury on loan from Arsenal!

Weirdest country 'fact': Potatoes cost about 10p in the shop, but in a restaurant it costs 4 pounds for a side of chips. This is 4 times more than a bottle of coke, why?

Times people looked at me like i was a unicorn walking down the street (Blonde's really do exist): 7,598

Number of Imodium instants left: 3 out of 12

Number of people in our marriage that need a haircut: 2

Number of six packs being maintained in our marriage: 1

New things learned: Having so much time to think about things whilst travelling, this revelation has been a long time coming. If you dress in your boyfriends clothes it doesn't make you sexy, if you still do your make-up and hair nicely then wear his clothes, then that's sexy. Since i don't do my make-up or hair, that's why i don't look like the girls in the magazines when i wear an over sized t-shirt or boy jeans, i just look like a boy.

Country score: 216.7

And i still have found what i`m looking for......

In a strange moment today i finally felt like i understood what it is to be a traveller, what it is we are supposed to be looking for and why people perceive times of travelling as so amazing.

Today we went rock climbing in the Andes surrounding Santiago.

This is us having our pic-nic (South American spelling) lunch down by the river. Hezus our climbing expert, Monica one of our hostel workers and me. Xss took the picture. As usual we managed to befriend a dog and it tried to sit on my lap throughout lunch, but was really rather nice. I think someone should invent a rent a dog business because it makes nice days outside even nice when you have a dog in tow. She turned up sad and lonesome and after some food and fuss was running home with us happy and bouncy!

So we decided to go climbing and called up Hezus from a hostel advert. He was really nice, spoke brilliant English and he invited Monica along (who turned out to be great). We took a tube to the end of the metro line then a cab to the middle of nowhere from where we proceeded to walk into the Andes, stopping at an idyllic spot near the river to climb. I was pretty bad at it but it was great to be in the great outdoors, being challenged, trying new things and enjoying peoples company.

Here is Xss at the top of the rock having climbed up the easy route. We then tried another easy way and two harder ways (one being near impossible i think). Xss excelled at it, was quick and sure and it was great to learn this about him. He also managed one of the very hard routes where you had to hang underneath the rock at a time. Because Hezus thought it was fun we also tried out ´jumping´off the wall. This involved climbing up higher than where the rope was attached and launching yourself off the wall knowing that the rope would catch you and pull you back in after a 2 meter drop. I tried this and did it, but the sensation of going against all your senses and falling backwards with nothing to hold onto was very strange and i had nothing to prove so didn't go very high. Xss on the other hand was lunching himself off the wall from the word go trusting the ropes instantly. He was truly fearless, another thing learnt.

It was after this, and chatting with Monica (our single serving, lovely, friend- openly acknowledged by all), and having yummy fresh avocado, chicken, tomato and cucumber rolls (with our feet in the river) for lunch, and the glorious surrounding scenery, and having some cold beers in the river which we drank as a celebration at the end, and walking down the dusty road at the end of the day ( we didn't get home until 9pm having left at 8.30am) tired from the physical exercise, with our now happy dog skipping along at our feet that i realised. I realised that i was truly content, not worried about anything, not wanting anything more, no plans for the future, satisfied with all i had learnt in the day. In this moment i was truly happy. For me, this is the best i could get from travelling, a time when i am happy in each moment, relaxed and not upset about anything, enjoying the world and Xss for all they have to offer and not making things complicated.

The view from the river rock

Brazil Evaluation 187.25

Brazil

Likes quality graffiti on all wall available, the friendly people who tell you when to get off the bus even though you haven't asked, lots of salt in the food, the way the mountains and cities integrate, the beaches in Morro de Sao Paulo, spending loads of time with Xss, doing physical work daily, getting a tan, having the satisfaction of having learn`t Portuguese well enough to communicate with others, listening to Ailtons long stories up in the forests after having raked all the trails (all in Portuguese so i couldn't understand a word of it, but obviously very funny stories judging by his chuckles), multipart handshakes which prove that you like someone.

Dislikes the ant war on humans, screaming children having tantrums about stupid things frequently, the dogs barking (for no reason) at 4am on the veranda outside my room, getting a fungal pattern from crappy hostel sheets on my back which looks pretty but is ruining my tan, no Starbucks in all of Brazil,

Sunrises in Brazil missed by me lazing in bed 103

Places visited Rio de Janeiro, Paraty, Ilha Grande, Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto, Itabiritu, Salvador, Morro de Sao Paulo, Foz de Igazu.

Number of times i wanted to come home 2 (Once following a serious ant attack and once after we seemed to be spending all our time away planning our next hostel so we could then find another hostel)

Nights spent in strangers houses 4

Favourite hostel Ailton`s pousada in Morro de Sao Paulo. Two stories with our own hammock on the private veranda and a wonderful breakfast of fresh fruit, real juice, bread, cake and coffee.

Pirate experiences achieved posing with a parrot on my arm, seeing a pirate ship flying the jolly roger, eating at Pirates Pizza restaurant, and staying in several place that pirates used to pillage.

Times Xss got annoyed with me talking about Pirates 17

Favourite memory playing monopoly (which i won) with Ali, Paddy, Hafa, Marcus, Claire and Xss in the farm communal kitchen. (is that really sad) or the waterfalls in Purto Igassu -absolutely amazing.

Worst day One of the days when i failed to help anyone on the farm by following Ailton around holding things that didn't need holding, like a 5 year old who insists on helping and really hinders.
Favourite new food/drink Brigadiro (cocoa powder and condensed milk rolled into balls around a strawberry)

Worst smell The smell in `poo room` in Salvador. seriously.

Best/worst noise: Someone shouting `Almoco` (lunch) when you are sweating away at physical labour in the hot sunshine knowing you will have an hour in the shade to rest and chat.

Best Norwich City Victory 3-0 away at Bristol City.

Weirdest country 'fact' Rio`s Metro system is actually partly a bus system that goes along normal roads. You have to go down to buy tickets then surface again to get on a normal bus that isn't any quicker than a normal bus meaning that you have even less time in the Botanical gardens when you leave the hostel at 4pm and it closes at 5pm.

Days Xss wanted to be a plaid shirt and army boot wearing punk 0 :(

New thing learnt There is a time for everything (Ecc 13) a time to be sad, a time to be happy, a time to sunbathe and a time not to, a time for rain and one for sunshine. Enjoy each time you have as all have benefits and soon enough your`ll be on the other side wanting the old time back.
Country score: 187.25

Ive Made it!

I have been recognised as a back packer. I'm not sure if i should be proud of it, but since i am back packing i am proud. As i was standing in Rio airport looking at the books, an air hostess walked straight up to me and asked if i had checked a backpack. score. I'm not sure if it was the metal clip on my small bag, my dirty unkempt looks or the fact that my trainers were so dirty they looked like they had been thrown down a mountain with me running behind barefoot (how does the mud get right up to the top of my basketball boots when it only cakes the sole of Xss.
It was my bag and i am darn proud that i made little net bags to put all my underwear in to keep it together, as the security then proceeded to check my luggage by pulling it all out and delicately placing it on the floor. Luckily no pants flying everywhere and he realised that my ipod player was not dangerous.

So we have made it to Chile, and the NICEST hostel ever, apart from the noise. It is an old, old mansion and has a real commune feel to it. We arrived last night at 10pm and Xss already loves it and is suggesting we stay more days. However this was supposed to be a short city break where we didn't do much or spend much.

So this morning, in true backpacker style we are going out in search of Starbucks! Not sure if they have them here, but there weren't any in Brazil. The eternal optimism to try and find the most undiscovered, off the beaten track, new things that backpackers have, has not reached me yet. I'm happy to just see a new city and try to understand it.

Will upload some pics of the hostel here soon so check back, ok.

The dining room- looking old, but cool.

The Big Island

Well, what can i say of the adventures since last post. After staying in Diego´s loft, we ended up being booked in at TWO more hostels consecutively that had over booked us and ended up staying at two other random Brazilian houses (one a single mum with the cutest 3 year old girl called Maria ever) and once with a man who rented out rooms in his house. Which is amazing as this actually saved us money and gave for some interesting experiences. We have after a lot of searching managed to book places for the next week, so hopefully this wont happen again, but who knows. In all of these places they had lists with our names on, but then just said sorry your not coming in :(

This also led to Xss and I´s lowest day when we spent over 4 hours on the Internet and making phone calls to try and find places for next week. It seems to take forever, and be impossible to find places even though you know that the whole of Rio is not booked out for one Friday night! It seems more effective to just turn up at the small towns and then look around, but this is simply not possible in Lima or Santiago. Luckily this has passed and after a whole day without this faff, we are back on track and excited about going to Peru, via Chile.

We have enjoyed a week now on Ilha Grande, near Rio, as a last goodbye to Brazil. We were intending to go to Chile quicker as (if you've seen the pictures of Morro de Sao Paulo) we didn't think that this island would be able to compete.


However it has managed to. Despite being bigger its infrastructure is terrible and it is very hard to get around, but this is also a bonus as the island is one big nature reserve with wonderful mountains and forests as back drops for the beaches. Unfortunately it has rained quite a lot, and we spent the 4 hours of sunshine today walking to and from the beach in the rainforest, with a 2 hour break on the beach which was cold and gloomy. Really, it takes 2 hours to walk to the beaches, so we are now fit, but fed up with the effort too.

The view from our walk on the way there, note the sunshine making us sweat.

The gloomy weather on the way home.

All dressed up, no place to go....

We are back in Brazil again, and what a dramatic entrance it was. As a gringo we needed to wait for a bus just outside the customs building and upon boarding, heavy back pack on, bright smile on my face, hand outstretched with bus ticket, i tripped (as is my style) and landed on the bus floor, squashed under the weight of my heavy backpack. I was very embarrassed to say the least, especially as the whole bus shouted in unison ´ou-pa!´which is the Portuguese for ´that´s got to of hurt´ which luckily it didn't. It´s funny that even words we say as a reflex are actually socially conditioned. We are not all born to say ´ow´.

We have just spent two days in Argentina, which was wonderful, partly because no-one (Brazilian officials included) knew we were there and we hadn't planned on going. We went to the most amazing waterfalls which span the Brazilian Argentinian border and are really huge, and more awesome than anything i've ever seen before. I cant upload photos here, sorry, but look up Igassu falls on Google. There are 275 falls, up to 82 meters high, the widest one being 150 meters wide. It reminded me of the film ´Up´which if you haven´t seen you must. Its a brilliantly made Pixar film, about a girl called Ellie who marries and dreams of travelling to South America with her husband. The moral of the story is it isn't about what you do with your life, but who you share it with. And i don't think this means who you pick for a partner, but more the bigger picture, who walks beside you on the way. On which subject i feel truly blessed. My friends are amazing, my husband keeps me afloat and i have a great selection of mother, father, brother and sister type people in my life! I am humbled by the things they continually do for me. Thanks.

Oh dear, mushy. I guess being so close to nature was really great, made me appreciate what i have and the grandness of the world. It was really quite hypnotic to be at the top of the falls, and very frustrating to not be able to touch the flowing water anywhere. So much so that it felt tempting to jump in! (you would definitely die if you did this!)

So we ended up in our hostel last night, sitting up until 1am looking for hostels- this is the unglamorous part of travelling, constantly packing and getting up before check-out time (10am-that's early for me) and constantly looking for new places. What we didn't realise is that this weekend is a holiday for Brazilians and so everywhere is booked up. We couldn't find anywhere near the waterfall back on the Brazilian side, so sent an email to one in vain hope. As we got up, we had nowhere to stay, and were not even sure if we´d be able to get back into Brazil as we hadn't got our passports stamped on the way out (opps). Call it luck, fate or as i would, an answer to prayer, today has gone swimmingly and everything has worked out fine.

We got off the bus at the Brazilian customs as instructed by our bus driver and after the initial confusion about how we managed to get out without the right stamps etc, the lovely official let us in. Score one. Next we got to the hostel pretty hassle free, however they had no rooms and informed us that we were the 4th couple to have arrived today looking. They are so friendly here though that they offered to help us look on the Internet and find somewhere, however we were warned that it was only going to be expensive places on the outskirts of town.

However only five minutes later and the receptionist Diego asks, ´how would you like to sleep in a tree house?´Its an interesting conversation which results in us accepting an offer to stay in Diego´s room up in the eves of the hostel whilst he sleeps elsewhere. It is only accessible by a ladder, and cannot be stood up in but manages to contain a double mattress and at least 50cm squared floor space. Miracle worked. The hostel is lovely and we are optimistic that we can stay here tomorrow until our flight leaves mid afternoon, relaxing by the pool and using all the facilities.

So all has worked out well. One of my goals for this year was to read my bible and pray more. I have been ploughing through the bible most nights, learning things, and more often, writing a list of questions to ask a person wiser than I about the meaning, but praying has been harder. To me praying is just like talking to an invisible person. But that person is someone i want to talk to, but never seem to get round to returning the call (a bit like Ted- sorry). After the results of today which is a day following a prayer this morning -about fixing everything for me -(yes God doesn't love getting shopping lists of requests, but like a dad he likes to help when you finally admit you cant do it all by yourself) it has encouraged me to continue.

Tonight our ´tree house´, tomorrow Rio again. Only one week left in Brazil, just when my Portuguese was getting understandable.

P.S Have finally got Skype under my email address.

Mine Your Head

Day off! So we went to the gold mines (mined by Slaves for the British, Germans and Portuguese). It was surprisingly fun to find myself amongst a group of tourists- there are so many of us here now. But it was thoroughly entertaining, and really mostly quite lame (which made for great comedy), except for the scary cart ride 120 meters down into the mine which was wicked! The people in the front seat (Ali and Marcus) had nothing to hold them in, or to hold onto and the ride was really quite vertical. It would also be easy to bump your head if you didn't duck when sensible. So much for health and safety. In the cart you can see (right to left) Marcus, Ali, Me, Xss, Chris, Paddy, and then the family who willingly agreed to bring us! Brazilians are very nice, and the couple who brought us work sometimes at New Destiny. I think they enjoyed the novelty of walking around with loads of gringos. However interestingly whenever a local came over to try to convince us to go to his restaurant or museum, the dad in this family was always easily sucked in. We would just say no and walk off whilst he spoke for 20 minutes with each one and believed word for word what was said. Below is a picture of Chris and Ali in front of ´The second largest Iron Ore Museum IN THE WORLD` as informed by a guide.

We are leaving the farm on Wednesday and i am sad. Sad to be leaving the new friends i have made; sad to be going into the unknown again (despite it being so much fun when we went to Salvador only a few weeks ago); sad because i have just recently been managing to find the place where i fit in, and now i am losing it again: If you meet me today, you will find out exactly what a Brazilian LE Geek looks like, and i like it.

The last Horoah!

Since we´ve been back on the farm its been very uneventful; although i am now more tanned than some of the Brazillians. All i need is longer brown hair and tight denim shorts and i´d blend in perfectly. (well i doubt i ever blend in because i´m always tripping over, but i might be mistaken for an outstanding Brazillian). There are now eight of us British people on the farm so evenings have become a little more fun. We generally play bored games or watch films, Paddy (29, British) makes a mean cup of British tea, but more importantly the level of Banter is great as several people are very funny (Ali- 26, British) and i havent laughed as hard or so constantly for ages.

The breaking news from Britian is that True has given brith to her second son and named him Joel David. Xss and I have talked about when we will have kids and i am willing to admit that i am less than enthused about the prospect of voluntarily allowing my body to be comendered for nine months with no deposit being held for damages. I am pretty sure damages will occur, so i have to wait until the want for the product is greater than the sacrificing of my lovely flat stomach and only slightly wobbley thighs (even if i do get bigger boobs!). However, I do want a family and along with the excitement of Joel coming, and the disappointment of not being able to meet him until June, is an odd feeling of slight jealousy........

Joel not yet aware that sleeping involves a shut mouth

So now we only have three weeks left in Brazil, and only one on the farm. I am going to spend mine painting a house and Xss will continue building one. There are now so many volunteers squahed in here that we more long term ones have enjoyed a few days of witnessing the new arrivalsBrazillia induction into n culture. Here are some clues as to how to spot a new arrival:
- They have large holes in their towels from dog attacks at night and not pinning their towel up high enough.
- They have an english red and white stripes pattern.
- They admit outloud that they dont like rice and beans (they´ll have to take this back later)
- They stroke the dogs. This results in a half an hour battle between them and the dog as the dog will try anything to get another stroke.
- They think its weird/unusual to be bitten by a Tic or an Ant, or a beatle or any type of bug.
- They dont know you have to hold the oven nobb down for over 30 seconds initially to keep it alight and keep letting go at lesser times.
- They ask, ´what does Jeff do?´
- They dont wear socks and flipflops yet
- They try to wear different clothes each day
- They eat something other than chicken noodles and frozen pizza
- They stand silently in front of Brazillian speakers as they realise they have no words to say that will be understood and then try to think of a back-up plan on the spot. (imagine the very begining of a charades game).

Delayed Posting of Poo Adventures

[Written late at night on Thursday 21st October]

Everywhere we go, people want to know, who we are............

Going to Morro de Sao Paulo was so easy i said to myself, ´this isn´t much of an adventure!´ Although we refused the R$70 direct luxury boat from Salvador and chose to take the local bus to Sao Jochicm, then the Ferry Boat to Bom Dispatcho, then the coach for two hours to Valenca and then a little motor boat to the Island, all the connections added up and we got there entertained and happy early afternoon, after only four hours of effort. The way back was different. The way back too seven hours and we don´t even know where we are now.

It started off simply, but we had to wait an hour at the port for the next boat. After enjoying a plesant ride past several beautiful isolated beaches we stopped and everyone got off, great all the more room for us. Well no, it turns out that this boat doesnt go to Valenca but somewhere else entirely. Stepping ashore at a place we´ve never been to with everyone asuring us it´s Valenca was a feeling i will never forget. One moment we are in the middle of the tourist brigade, the next we are severing all ties with it by stepping off this boat and down a pier into a tiny village which looks like it hasnt been discovered yet. (i´ve named it Geekville). We recovered well as we followed other locals onto a bus and found ourselves dumped off shomewhere in Valenca an hour later. It´s really quite a challenge to find your way around a town you dont know, in a langage you dont know without a map.

We made it to the bus station just as a bus was pulling out and we misrebly passed an hour and a half wait staring blankly forwards, occasionally punctuated by an ongoing discussion about whether to buy some popcorn from the local vender. Xss wanted it but chose to not get some in the end. Boring as it sounds the locals were riverted to this conversation.

After the nice bus ride we got a ferry, immediately, no problems. Then the real fun began, getting a bus to an address given to us by a friend (so we could stay with their friend at a Charity base). After asking the bus driver and the conductor at the back of the bus (where you get on) we managed to establish that the bus was going where we wanted to, but there was always something said afterwards that we didnt understand. So we got this amazingly cheerful bus with kids cheering and fighting to sit next to us, office workers laughing and the jolliest conductor you will ever see not on childrens TV. As we sat down a tidal wave of kids rushed towards us and tried to speak with us. It was fun and even the office workers joined in and started shouting comments which had the whole bus laughing. Unfortunately nobody else wanted to travel for an hour and a half on a local bus service around the houese. I swear we went to ´Pituba´three times. So slowely our friends got off, the laughing stopped and the confusion around us increased exponentially. I had a map of where we wanted to go and this was passed around liberally and the driver consulted several times, either he didnt know where the bus was going or he was being pertitioned to take a detor for us. Since no-one on the bus knew where we were going despite my nice handdrawn map (and believe me EVERYONE was asked) someone decided to call the person we were going to (i claimed he was our friend, because i didnt know friend of friend). So a nice guy called and told Dijalmi that he had his two Americans there and what stop did they need to get off at. After a long conversation this man knew and them promptly got off the bus. Luckily somehow he had informed someone else (why not us??) and this man accompanied off the bus. HE then phoned Dijalmi to say that the tourists were at the bus stop. This was accompanied by a hished voice warning we didnt understand. So we asked him to say it again, nope, nothing, but it appeared from gestures that it was very dangerous here nad we must not talk to ANYONE, or cross the road or leave the bus stop and must not move until a man with a sign saying Dijalmi arrived for us. And he left. By all accounts the area looked fairly nice so we werent scared and soon enough the hassled Dijalmi appeared. We pilled into his car, and it wasnt until we were a little way down the road that he polietly asked, ´Who are you?´Oh the shame.

Well, he was nice to us anyways (and we had emailed him to tell him we were coming on this date). We waited in the lounge whist he made us up a bed in the room next to the pool ( i call it a pool house), and then called us down. It is sparse but thats not unsusual. But there were no pillows on the bed so we asked if he had any, i mean this is a base that we presumed had lots of houses on, all owned by the charity and empty most of the time, surely they have pillows. So back Dijalmi comes with two pillows straight off his bed (or the bed of his 7 year old!) one complete with crusted on bogie, both with old hairs. Now we find ourselves in this little room, with no glass in the windows, a very dirty bathroom, and a very strong smell of Poo. So strong we have considered leaving right now, or maybe tomorrow morning saying we got our flight wrong, and going back to the tourist areas. Its good to be adventurous, but when you don´t speak the language and they dont speak English how can you communicate about a poo smell? We are running out of toilet paper as well... tense times.

Questions we are still asking ourselves as we settle down to sleep:
Are we in the right place?
Are we at Djalimi´s house and not the Charity base house
and most importantly, where is the poo?

Adventures in the rain

Hi all my lovely, lovely blog readers. I was logging on to tell you about our nice time in the rain around morro but have been distracted by the stats people at Blogger who inform me that my funny little blog this week has been read by people from:

The UK (no suprises there)
Brazil (well I've told one person here the address)
The Philippines
Hong Kong (I'll see you later next year)
USA (I've family there!)
Columbia
UAE
Poland
And one from Israel!

I can't believe it. What if these people think everyone from England is like me and eats their banana´s sideways!?

Anyway. Today it is raining (yes rain exists in paradise)(anyway it is nice rain here, warm and very fine- so nice infact that everyone is pretending that everything is normal and it's only me who has come out wearing a raincoat). Even Xss had left his at home and made me look like I had an overly concerned mum back in the hostel making sure I didn't get wet, the un-rubbed in sunblock on my cheeks and nose probably didn't help matters.

So we decided to walk to the fort (turns out there isn't one). After viewing the towns fonte, an odd well/hole in the ground, we continued on to the theatre and accidentally took in a full tour of the town and nothing touristy. The theatre was naff (it was an outdoor theatre with no great views and nothing special to note- it was simply a theatre- why didnt the sign tell us this?!) but as we were leaving we spotted the bookseller on his porch. We smiled and said hello, amused that we had found his home. However as we continued onwards who should we come accross but the cake lady! We have bought two flapjacks off of her every afternoon down on the beach. She came out of her house calling after us and pushed a clingfilm wrapped, joy creating, bundle of warmest, freshest, sweetest flapjack into our hands! The Brazilians have got to be the nicest people I've met. If you go to the house of a Gregs worker uninvited the best you'd get would be a punch in the mouth, not a free iced finger roll.

We are due to leave Morro tomorrow and weirdly enough we are glad. It's very nice in paradise but there's only so much doing-nothing that you can do. Two more weeks on the farm and then we will be whizzing through the destinations. Watch out America it will be Christmas soon!

Morro De Sao Paulo

This is the place.

I am not sure if you get a nicer place than Morro de Sao Paulo. It is seriously nice. The scenary is amazing, soft white sand, VERY clear warm water, no crustations, no litter, warm sunshine and plenty of shade. I love this place. As we walked in it was like the scene off of ´The Beach´when Leo walks into the village, everyone is busy but stops to look at the new arrivals. There are various shops and resturants all lining a little sandy street. 3,000 people live here and support the tourist trade. We have spent our days getting up late, lying on the beach reading and swimming (when the water is warm how do you know when to get out?) and then showering and going out to a resturant for a plesant dinner. I would recommend that everyone come here. You can get direct flights from the UK to Salvador, then its a 2 hour boat ride away!

Our room complete with two levels and hammock. Also all you can eat breakfast with fruit (Pineapple, Papaya, Banana, Mango, Melon), cake, bread, freshly squeezed juice and a nice man who smiled a lot but spoke no english running it. Monkeys run past every now and again on the power line.

´Second Beach´ complete with sunbeds, bars playing music and beach volleyball courts.

´Fourth Beach´ virtually uninhabitted all day.

In a shady cove.

The views were nice here too.

Salvador!

We have arrived in Salvador and i am suprised to say (yes i am very ignorant!) that it is significantly different to the state the farm is in, ´Minas Gerais´(means general mines- guess what their main industry is there!)

The architexture here is colonial and looks very grand outside, this square was particularly good for buying local street food off big African looking women dressed in white. The best was a fried bean curd burger, cut in half and filled with VERY HOT spice, (in fact after she put some in she wiped it off again as we were obviosuly Gringos and it still burnt like crazy), salad, and prawns still in their shells. Which brought back great memories of going out for dinner one night in Peckham (!) to an all you can eat Chinese with this bubbly African lady from church who crunched her way through millions of prawns with shells and tails and chastised me for being wastful when i carefully pealed them. I dont believe that the rough shells clense your body on the way through.

Upon uploading these pictures i realised that we dont take many, and they are often on random things. We stayed in Pelourinho, which is a lovely old town area. Our Rough Guide told us not to go out of sight of the policemen at night, which made for a fun game the first night as the police wander around a lot and it ends up almost like you are watching and stalking a policeman. Luckily we chilled out the second night, ignored the guide and had a great evening watching a samba band with the locals. Did you know that people play music that has no words and is all on percusion? If so, did you know that people who are not primary school teachers also own ´rain sticks´(you know the poles that you turn upside down and the beads run down and sound like the rain) and think it is ok to use them in public. I did not really enjoy the ´music´.

Pelorinho was easy to get around on foot and a good base to explore all the architecture and museums with no hassle. The most unique feature was ´the elevator´which is simply an elevator which costs 60 cents to ride and goes vertically down to the bottom of the hill. Its a very quick way as the cliff is shear and takes a long winding road to go by car. At the bottom was a nice market.

An old burnt out church that Xss particularly liked, however someone ruined the photo by sitting in the way. I think they are pretending not to itch a mosquito bite on their leg, but really have probably rubbed it raw.

Below is a picture of Xss enjoying the lovely hostel we stayed in in Pelourinho. It had hamocks hanging in doors, lots of little balcony´s and quirks, and tiles that look like comic books. It made me wonder if i wanted to be a hostel or boutique hotel manager one day? Seriously.

Last Live Action Hero.....

Xss and i have arrived in Salvador, and within the last hour already tried to save street child´s life! We have thus far (in Brazil) not managed to meet any street children, and i admit i was looking forward to it. I am a fool. Within a very short period of time of having stepped off the bus a child approached us, i could understand he was saying he was hungry and wanted food, and tried to take us to a shop to buy it, not asking for money. Well being British and not good at spontaneity we said no and walked on.

On the third encounter of this same boy, whilst we were buying street food none the less ( a sausage of tapioca covered in sugar and cinamon- 9/10 according to Xss) we thought, well, its food, he´s hungry and you know what, its directly what the bible says we should do. I gave the lady R$4 (155p) and explained that he could have the R$2 extra......... to spend on food. However, although this was a complete sentence said fluidly, she gave him the money before the word food could come out, and he was off! So much for the food. Not sure what to make of this, should we have given chase! Perhaps he spent it on food for his starving brother around the corner, well really it was probably chewing gum and a go on a video game. But at least if i see him again we will have grounds not to feed him.

We have now been on the road for over two months, and my most notable achievement so far has been to not brush my hair for this whole time! Think of the time i have saved! Incidentally i am forever confused as to why people think girls with Blonde hair are pretty, who doesn´t know about hair dye!?! Jeff has also reliably informed me that unibrows and a squint are sexy here and a quailty looked for in a potential partner, well he didnt say a squint was, but i havent asked him yet, so lets assume it to be true.

We are staying in Salvador for two days before going on to yet another idyllic, sandy island, where cars are banned and you have to sunbathe- new Brazillian law passed last week. Salvador is very different to the down south that we know. Here they have lots of cats walking around, and they are not as friendly as their cainaine counter parts; they don´t have tic´s here apart from the three Xss and I have liberated since arriving (look out for a later enchanting game called ´spot, tic or mole´) and street children take the 77p you offer them and run off leaving you annoyed.

Who doesn´t like playing with Machetes?

There are increasingly moments in my life when i am mistaken for an adult and i get a little baffled/smug feeling inside that someone has made this mistake and given me much more responsibility or power than they should, and that it is going to be fun. Can people not tell how irresponsible i am from looking at me? A feeling not disimilar to getting an adults portion of food when you are a kid, its great that you get to eat more, but also you know its going to be someone else´s fault when you can´t eat it all. On Friday Ailton gave me a Machete.

He then took one for himself and we went up in the woods and hit things and cut things. I never really worked out what we were doing since Ailton sent me one way and he went the other. However, hitting things with a machete is really fun. i cut vines, trees, the ground, roots, and once, copying Ailton, i dropped it blade first into the ground so that it stayed thereupright, whilst i did something else. I am so cool. It took me a lot longer to ´do´myside than it did for Ailton........

Me practicing my smug look whilst perched on our windowsil.

Whilst i am doing this, Xss is moving earth on the building site. This is monotonous in itself, but becomes more than that when after moving it by wheelbarrow and spade for days on end for only a week later, them to move it again. You can see the beginings of the 3 houses below Xss, and then beyond the rubble is the football field (is desperate need of water), the volleyball pitch, and the sheds.

Does it look like Xss is in old fashioned pjjama´s? We only have a few clean clothes each for relaxing in. we are heading up the hill to enjoy the view and a beer after a long day. Well, actually days are the same length everywhere, work just starts earlier than when we are in London.

I also got my first experince of playing Risk in Brazil, which has been much discussed and long awaited. It seemed like a great idea as we gathered around the war table (the pool table, with several white plastic chairs stacked into piles to make us tall enough to see), everyone was laughing and joking, music played in the background and the rules were amicably explained (they have aircraft that can bomb countries!!). However, the moment the dice were first rolled, the laughing stopped and silence followed. I immediately regretted agreeing to play (it was already 1030 at night, i had to work at 8.15 the next day), this was not going to be fun. I now know that Brazilians take Risk very seriously. It was a matter of great concern when Marcus(19, scotish, very intelligent) gave me an aircraft because i had most of Africa and explained that there was a large famine and humanitarian aid was needed. The plane was confiscated and put out of play; and thus the game began mirroring real life.

Happily for me, and mostly due to his good luck, Marcus got out of the game first, having taken one begruding turn after finding out that Great Britian had been labelled England on the board, like he didnt even exist. So that left me, the one foreigner. I was initially VERY smug about this as my mission card had stated that i needed to destroy the greens - Marcus´team. I smiled a lot, asked what to do when i had fullfilled my objective and even passed it over to my most senior colleague to validify, before Marcus agreed to check it for me and pointed out that Verhmelo is red, not green!!! So i deflatedly set about trying to kill the red men. However, as i already stated, this is not a happy game but a serious one, and people do not like you when you try to kill them. Hafa (16, Brazilian) took particular offence to my 15 plane attack and shouted a lot, got moody, went silent and then gave me evils for 20 minutes. As luck would have it someone else got me out before he could reap his revenge. I am honsetly not sure if we are still friends or not, i might avoid his house for a few days and i´ve given up Risk for good.

The view from the hill on the farm. Nice huh.