we´ve been in salvador a few days now and its a funny city. the people are all very melodramatic and commical you cant help but laugh. after our little tour of the churches we went down into a nearby market, chatted/battered with all the little stall owners and generally just enjoyed watching how theatrical it all was. then in the afternoon we had a capoeira lesson which was ok (but not as good as in rio) and then we went and watched the sun set over the port and then got chatting to a brazilian who took us arround the town, eventually ending up in an irish pub that was so lame and clueless that it only sold guiness in a can (foul!!) and they rented the pool table out by the hour!!(obviously no idea!)
the next day (yesterday) we went with an argentine guy to the barra beach, which was gorgeous, really clear water with nice waves! after spending most of the day there we came back got something to eat and then went out to look at what was going on in town. in the main square was an awful rock band playing, so instead we went and watched some busking tap dancers who were incredible!! (made me want to get some ironj soled shoes and stomp around!)
once this bizzare shore was over, john and i managed to get into a huge arguement with a dorrman of a resteraunt! it was crazy; all i said was that the best capoeira id seen was in rio and that the capoeira in salvador was touristy, and he flipped! got really agressive and started calling us crazy so we left.
we met up with some other peaople from our pousada, 1 peruvian, 2 argentinians, 1 german, 1 indian, 1 english and john and i! was a cool night starting off at a bar listening to live music (which then became even better when one of the argentines got up and played!) and finished in a funny african bar. the only down point was when the doorman from earlier came over again to threaten john and i (what a wierdo!).
today was just spent chilling on the beach but was just as lovely.
tommorow we say goodbye to salvador and head up north to olinda!
will try to keep you all updated!
God bless!!
lots of love
Friday, 23 March 2007
Wednesday, 21 March 2007
northward bound!!
phew a flipping lot has happened since my last blog and i have been trying to post, but havent been anywhere near a computer in ages!!!
so after our stupidly long wait in rio bus station we finally got our sleeper bus to ouro preto, except i didnt manage to sleep, partially because my seat was really uncomfortable and partly because at 3 in the morning some woman decided to give her baby son a language lesson, which consisted of here say `oi meu filhop, e meu filho, que foi meu filho´to anyt babble he aid. at any other time of day this may have been endearing but at that point i just wanted her and her sone to become mute!
we finally arrived in ouro preto at 6 in the morning and as we were walking off to find our pousada a man (who i swear was dressed like a pim or a drug lord) came and asked us if we had a place to say. to which i said to john ´ignore him, letsd keep going´only to find that not only was the man fluent in english, he was also the owner of the pousada we were seeking! (i am an idiot sometimes!) so once that little embarrassment was sorted and we´d had some sleep john and i set of and wandered the towns gorgeous colonial streets before catching a bus to go find some gold!
the gold mine tour itself was pretty commical and there wasnt much to see, but it was well worth the money for the comedy factor and because at the bottom of the mine was a crystal clear warm lake in which you could swim!! it was amazing!!
our next destination was parque national de caracas (or something) where we stayed in a really peaceful ex monastry in the middle of a national park in the mountains! the food was cooked over a wood stove, they had mass in the evenings in a beautiful little chapel, you could go for walks in the evening and watch the sunset and at night wolves would come to the porch and you could watch them being fed!! was amazing!
after this john and i kind of got lost (hence my lack of communication) well we decided to head to a state calle espirito de santos, but once on the bus we looked at the guide book only to realise there was absoloutely nothing there!! so we ended up spending a few days waiting around bus stationsd and traveling, our new destination being corumbau!
corumbau is a tiny little hamlet on a beach in the middle of now where and it is absoloutely stunning! we spent a day or two chilling out on the beach swimming in the calm sea (at night the stars are amazing!) then after that we travelled by canoe, dune buggy, boat and bus and are now in salvador!
so its been quite an adventure and we´ve met lots of people; from tramps who have threatened us at bus stations, to strangers who have asked for our autographs (i never thought that would happen) to christians randomly inviting us to there houses for lunch (we were looking lost in a bus station) to just now where a catholic priest used his ´get into cathedral free card´to take us on a tour of all the churches in the area!
amazing!
so thats where i am now. sorry that was so long ill try to update this more regularly! we are now in salvadore for a couple of days (about to go to a capoeira lesson) then going to catch a bus up to recife!
hope everything back home is just lovely!
God bless!!
andrew
so after our stupidly long wait in rio bus station we finally got our sleeper bus to ouro preto, except i didnt manage to sleep, partially because my seat was really uncomfortable and partly because at 3 in the morning some woman decided to give her baby son a language lesson, which consisted of here say `oi meu filhop, e meu filho, que foi meu filho´to anyt babble he aid. at any other time of day this may have been endearing but at that point i just wanted her and her sone to become mute!
we finally arrived in ouro preto at 6 in the morning and as we were walking off to find our pousada a man (who i swear was dressed like a pim or a drug lord) came and asked us if we had a place to say. to which i said to john ´ignore him, letsd keep going´only to find that not only was the man fluent in english, he was also the owner of the pousada we were seeking! (i am an idiot sometimes!) so once that little embarrassment was sorted and we´d had some sleep john and i set of and wandered the towns gorgeous colonial streets before catching a bus to go find some gold!
the gold mine tour itself was pretty commical and there wasnt much to see, but it was well worth the money for the comedy factor and because at the bottom of the mine was a crystal clear warm lake in which you could swim!! it was amazing!!
our next destination was parque national de caracas (or something) where we stayed in a really peaceful ex monastry in the middle of a national park in the mountains! the food was cooked over a wood stove, they had mass in the evenings in a beautiful little chapel, you could go for walks in the evening and watch the sunset and at night wolves would come to the porch and you could watch them being fed!! was amazing!
after this john and i kind of got lost (hence my lack of communication) well we decided to head to a state calle espirito de santos, but once on the bus we looked at the guide book only to realise there was absoloutely nothing there!! so we ended up spending a few days waiting around bus stationsd and traveling, our new destination being corumbau!
corumbau is a tiny little hamlet on a beach in the middle of now where and it is absoloutely stunning! we spent a day or two chilling out on the beach swimming in the calm sea (at night the stars are amazing!) then after that we travelled by canoe, dune buggy, boat and bus and are now in salvador!
so its been quite an adventure and we´ve met lots of people; from tramps who have threatened us at bus stations, to strangers who have asked for our autographs (i never thought that would happen) to christians randomly inviting us to there houses for lunch (we were looking lost in a bus station) to just now where a catholic priest used his ´get into cathedral free card´to take us on a tour of all the churches in the area!
amazing!
so thats where i am now. sorry that was so long ill try to update this more regularly! we are now in salvadore for a couple of days (about to go to a capoeira lesson) then going to catch a bus up to recife!
hope everything back home is just lovely!
God bless!!
andrew
Sunday, 11 March 2007
visconde de maua!
so weve spent the last few days up in the mountain in a place called visconde de maua. its kind of attempting to be a mini switzerland (which is funny) but really has a beauty of its own, with lots of green fields, bubbling rivers and waterfalls and (for some reason) dogs which follow you everywhere with there tails wagging!
the first day we walked from our pousada to the tourist information centre (5 miles away!) only to find out it was a bit rubbish! however, un dettered we bought a little map with all the waterfalls and went off in search of them! the rest of the day was spent swimming, clumbing around rocks and jumping into big river pools! was absoloutely stunning! in the evening the stars were ridiculously bright, all crowding the sky trying to catch your attention!
saturday we set of in search of cachoeira alcantilado, (a waterfall whci used to be a favourite of mums). we trecked for miles and hours along a little dirt track, getting farther and farther away from civilisation, only to find when we reached the waterfall, that it had been made into a mini theme park with a road leading too it! =D was a bit disheartening but really funny!
right now im sat in rio bus station waiting for a night bus to ouro preto an old mining town where john and i are gonna find our fortune!
we´re having lots of fun, but feeling a bit lonely!
praying for everyone back home!
the first day we walked from our pousada to the tourist information centre (5 miles away!) only to find out it was a bit rubbish! however, un dettered we bought a little map with all the waterfalls and went off in search of them! the rest of the day was spent swimming, clumbing around rocks and jumping into big river pools! was absoloutely stunning! in the evening the stars were ridiculously bright, all crowding the sky trying to catch your attention!
saturday we set of in search of cachoeira alcantilado, (a waterfall whci used to be a favourite of mums). we trecked for miles and hours along a little dirt track, getting farther and farther away from civilisation, only to find when we reached the waterfall, that it had been made into a mini theme park with a road leading too it! =D was a bit disheartening but really funny!
right now im sat in rio bus station waiting for a night bus to ouro preto an old mining town where john and i are gonna find our fortune!
we´re having lots of fun, but feeling a bit lonely!
praying for everyone back home!
Wednesday, 7 March 2007
goodbye will!!
so our work in curitiba came to an end. we finished painting the school on friday and spent the weekend playing with the kids, seeing the parks of curitiba, going to the churchs youth service and to its sunday service and then monday morning we said a sad goodbye and boarded a bus to sao paulo!
monday night being wills last night in brazil we went off to the cinema and watched lettres de musica (i dont know what that is in english) but its the new one with hugh grant in, and we were practically the only ones in the cinema (which was huge!!) so we had an absoloutely wicked time just laughing about was really cool! then tuesday will did some last minute shopping, we worked out how to smuggle his birimbau stick out of the country, played cards then put him on a plane and said goodbye! it was sad!!
so now there is only john and i left in brazil, and were feeling an ickle bit lonely! we went to the police station to extend our visas today, only to find that there good for another month, so were gonna have to worry about that later. and now to keep ourselves distracted, tommorow we are heading off in search of more adventure! up north in olinda there is a charity that works with favela boys in high risk situations. so thats where we are heading, we are gonna take our time seeing the sights on the way. so the plan is tommorow get a bus to visconde de maua and i´ll finally get to see some mountains and waterfalls again!!!
i cant wait!
hope you are all really well!
God bless you all billions
andrew
monday night being wills last night in brazil we went off to the cinema and watched lettres de musica (i dont know what that is in english) but its the new one with hugh grant in, and we were practically the only ones in the cinema (which was huge!!) so we had an absoloutely wicked time just laughing about was really cool! then tuesday will did some last minute shopping, we worked out how to smuggle his birimbau stick out of the country, played cards then put him on a plane and said goodbye! it was sad!!
so now there is only john and i left in brazil, and were feeling an ickle bit lonely! we went to the police station to extend our visas today, only to find that there good for another month, so were gonna have to worry about that later. and now to keep ourselves distracted, tommorow we are heading off in search of more adventure! up north in olinda there is a charity that works with favela boys in high risk situations. so thats where we are heading, we are gonna take our time seeing the sights on the way. so the plan is tommorow get a bus to visconde de maua and i´ll finally get to see some mountains and waterfalls again!!!
i cant wait!
hope you are all really well!
God bless you all billions
andrew
Thursday, 1 March 2007
im blue!
no seriously i actually am! ive been painting the outside of a house in a nearby favella blue for the last few days and i keep finding paint everywhere!!
so heres whats been happening! monday we turned up at one of the houses belonging to the charity and got settled in, we´re currently living here with a loovely family that has 7 lovely children 4 of which are adopted, and all of which are very excitable and energetic! so we sent the morning playing with the kids, teaching them some english games and trying (in vain) to understand the (possibly non existent) rules to their games. in the afternoon they all trooped off to school and will john and i took the oportunity to see the sights of curitiba!
two hoursa later i hated all brazilians! its not that they were malicious its just that they try to be helpful by presuming what you meant, for instance when getting our photos onto disk the lady at the desk burnt two copies of johns phots because we were twins! then after abnout three other suimilar situations of brazilian helpfulness, it absoloutely tipped it down and we got caught in the pouring rain trying to find the correct bus back to our house! eventually (soaking wet!) we caught the correct bus only to find it was going in the wrong direction and we ended up on the opposite side of town and had to wait 1/2 an hour for the next bus!
well i suppose its all character building!! tuesday wednesday and today have been spent in the favella repainting the charities buliding (whilst singing `when the going gets tough´ by ronan keating) there and playing with the kids, the charity runs activities during thew week to keep the kids occupied when they are not at school in either the morning or afternoon, then in the evening we have been keeping 7 energetic children occupied so as a result we are truly cream crackered!! but having a great time!
we even managed to make it to a cell group and although i disagreed with about 2/3 rds of what was being said it was nice to have fellowship.
anyways hope u are all well, im exhausted but smiley!
God bless!!
so heres whats been happening! monday we turned up at one of the houses belonging to the charity and got settled in, we´re currently living here with a loovely family that has 7 lovely children 4 of which are adopted, and all of which are very excitable and energetic! so we sent the morning playing with the kids, teaching them some english games and trying (in vain) to understand the (possibly non existent) rules to their games. in the afternoon they all trooped off to school and will john and i took the oportunity to see the sights of curitiba!
two hoursa later i hated all brazilians! its not that they were malicious its just that they try to be helpful by presuming what you meant, for instance when getting our photos onto disk the lady at the desk burnt two copies of johns phots because we were twins! then after abnout three other suimilar situations of brazilian helpfulness, it absoloutely tipped it down and we got caught in the pouring rain trying to find the correct bus back to our house! eventually (soaking wet!) we caught the correct bus only to find it was going in the wrong direction and we ended up on the opposite side of town and had to wait 1/2 an hour for the next bus!
well i suppose its all character building!! tuesday wednesday and today have been spent in the favella repainting the charities buliding (whilst singing `when the going gets tough´ by ronan keating) there and playing with the kids, the charity runs activities during thew week to keep the kids occupied when they are not at school in either the morning or afternoon, then in the evening we have been keeping 7 energetic children occupied so as a result we are truly cream crackered!! but having a great time!
we even managed to make it to a cell group and although i disagreed with about 2/3 rds of what was being said it was nice to have fellowship.
anyways hope u are all well, im exhausted but smiley!
God bless!!
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