Brazilian Big Adventure

Howdy partners Uge here reporting in on our progress

Its been almost a week since we last checked in and things are moving at a mighty fast pace and we have crammed lots in and run at a rate that I didn’t think our little legs could take us.
Firstly we took an amazing train journey from Curitiba to Morrettes a quaint little town on the river in the Atlantic rainforest. Despite the gloomy fog which would have looked at home in the toon we boarded the train thinking we couldn’t wait forever for the weather. On a side note it is officially rainy season in the south in Brazil in October. That’s right folks rainy season. Now between us we have done a fair bit of reading and unless we are both very sketchy/idiots it doesn’t tell you about this in any guidebooks we read. If we wanted rain we would have gone to Manchester for the weekend for gawds sake guvnar. Anyway despite the rain I have managed to burn (ha, ha mr lobster/salmon boy manages to burn anywhere you are thinking) mainly due to some sunshine bouts in between rain. Anyway despite my very british rant about the weather I will get back to the train ride. Despite the weather being not ideal it was fab you get right up into the clouds and wind across bridges tunnels, pass numerous waterfalls and see loads of birds (animals gents). The journey lasted for roughly 3 hours and was truly memorable. Upon arrival at our destination we were greeted by Maria a very helpful lady who offered a jungle lodge for 50 a night roughly 14 quid translated. The pictures looked nice so we went for it. During the journey to the lodge roughly 7km from the station we got chatting to Maria who was from Ibiza. Oh top place I said that ive been many times had a great time partying. It transpired Maria had left many years ago when English yobs led the invasion. Oops!!. Anyway our lodge was plush fully functional all the trimmings and a fab brekkie but once again it was raining. Who would have thought rain in the rainforest. Really you would have thought they would have learnt to accommodate tourist by now, so selfish. In between the rain we managed to befriend a German girl that was pleasant enough it a little on the geeky side who came with us Jungle trekking when it stopped raining. Trekking was eventful, when we turned up Marias bloke Nicolas chucked us some suede shinnys and told us to buckle up in case our reptile friends fancied nibbling on some Geordie flesh. Champion. Despite the pads we didn’t see any snakes but had fun hiking around the jungle form which our clothes have never recovered from the smell (we need to find a laundry soon) and Menisha and I are convinced that the dude kept taking us round in circles after all it all looks very similar. From the jungle lodge we headed south again on the bus (we have done nearly 1 to 2 days in bus time now but is well better than the uk) to floranolpolis stayed there for a night in a hostel had giant pizza then headed south to watch whales in praia de Rosa. Upon arriving we were dropped at the highway a good 8km from the beach from where we had to get a local bus to the beach which was interesting to say the least. It consisted of me, menisha, lady and daughter, daughters baby and woman as mad as a brush. Nana arrived talking to herself then nearly sat on menisha before asking her to move up. Nana was around 13-14 stone silver skinhead, thick skinned and smoked tabs like they were going out of fashion. She proceeded to complain about the bus being late the scolded us for not speaking the lingo. Whilst this terry wogan shenanigans was taking place the young girl was breast feeding and the rest of the people got fed up of waiting and Nana,s ranting and pished off. Eventually it turned up and we were taking to our destination very much on a bus for locals run by locals. My only regret was not getting a picture of nana who wouldn’t have been out of place on 39/40 route in the toon. Talking of pictures we are building up a look-alikes library and so far we have the aborigine dude from crocodile Dundee gday mick spotted in the veggie restaurant in curitiba and we also have the midget off james bond working on a long distance bus. Not sure what bond movie roger moore killed him in but at least he is alive and well seeking alternative careers in the bus business.
After our lively local bus journey we arrived at the hotel were we had decided to treat ourselves in at vida sol de mar which was a luxury place full of minted divorces or couple that had managed to boot out there nest. We didn’t exactly fit in with our backpacks and smelly clothes from the jungle but hey the staff were pretty accommodating. We checked into to a superior double with a fireplace Jacuzzi bath and ocean views which was a little different from the hostel before but we liked it. As it was sunny when we arrived spirits lifted by being by the sea in luxury we ordered our first caiparinha. Given the taste we the headed to the supermercado to purchase the main ingredient local firewater cacacha for all of 2 squid a bottle. Needless to say the rest of the afternoon was spent hazily enjoying our surroundings followed by dinner and more wine followed by crap food at the hotel. The following day our whale trip was abandoned due to the weather and we started to doubt we would see them and our adventures south be wasted. Another cacacha day passed interspersed by walks on a beach voted brazils best not so long ago and quick enough and were awake early the next day excited at seeing the whales. During breakfast overlooking the ocean we saw about six whales very close to the shoreline basking about playing which was great. I wouldn’t have minded canceling the whale trip from then onwards but we opted to go and was taken in a bus up the coast by our whale expert roderigo who had previously told us 2 nights ago the only reason he was back helping the family out was because he went a little crazy at Uni not so long ago. I think it must have been drug related as by the time we had finished our whale education talk before leaving the boat it was clear there was something else in Roderigos coffee. Talking us through our education he basically explained that a whale was a mammal, often log and had eyes. No sheet Sherlock give this man a gold star. Ecotourism my harse. Party boy gets lucky with family is more like it. Anyway we went out and got within 20 feet of seeing a female with her baby which was fantastic. We have picture a plenty but I am still trying to track down a place that will let me download the canon software that will let me put them out to the world so bear with us on that one. On the bus out of the whale place we realized that Roderigo had failed to charge us for our whale trip which saved us about 25 quid each so in hindsight our fury at their false pretence to know anything about whales was calmed by the powers that be. Anyway we are now in Barra De Lagoa for a few days renting an apartment hanging out in the sun before we head to the waterfalls in the west then upto the panatanal wildlife watching before ganning to rio then north to Salvador.

Hope all is well with people back home

Would be good to hear from you all, let us know what’s going on whilst we are basking/burning in the Brazilian sunshine.

Laters

Gav and Menisha