The day before we left Alter do Chao we went into town to get more of the best ice cream in the world (Açai and Brazil nut combo this time, a proper Amazonian treat!) and met a guy called Berto who told us about these tours he could take us on in a boat to see the surrounding forest... I was really keen to see a bit more of this- you know, since we're in the Amazon and everything! (I've had a great time splashing around and jumping off trees with the others but to be honest we could've done that in Bahia, or, I'll admit it, Wales... I'll do everything I can to make that 40hour bus journey worth it!)
We didn't have a whole day left, our bus to Santarem for the boat left at 11, so we asked if there was any chance we could do a quick one starting early and returning for 10 or so.
He told us we could start at 7 and just go and see this community in the forest nearby for R$10 so we went for it.
After dragging the others out of hammock at 6:20 with steamed plantain & coffee as bait, we got our stuff sorted & ready to go and off we went, saying goodbye to our dear Argentinians on the way- they aer going to a place called Alenki before making their way to Manaus on Segunda-feira.
The boys were falling asleep on our way to the community, as we drifted past the last scattering of houses from the little town and off down the huge river.
Before long we were entering the trees, floating between the almost submergwed treetops and looking down through the underwater branches, trying hard to picture how different the landscape must look in the dry season!
Soon a round lodge raised above the flooded water appeared and we pulled up between some wooden canoes & waded through the weedy shallows to a little path.
The smell of woodsmoke & cooking drifted over along with some morning voices. A German guy (sorry, the name's gone again) came over and introduced himself, before taking us for a walk around the community.
(ok the next bit is a compost rant. I'm just warning you so you can skip if you want- the next break is where i've finished. just because it's something i feel strongly about, i don't have to inflict it on everyone else!)
He suprised me a couple of times- he was telling us about the leaf-cutter ants, the last of which were drifting home to bed.
He explained how they are a real problem for farmers & gardeners because they are programmed to gather new plants above all else to ensure a variety of leaves...
This means that the moment you plant something, they find it and completely devour it overnight!
I asked him how he dealt with it & he said he poisoned them, which was my first suprise.
I don't know why but I didn1t expect that kind of thing.
I walked along scratching my head with images of glass bottle barriers around veg plots and mini moats for the next little while...
The other issuee I want to think of something for is the soil fertility thing.
I remember bein suprised when we learnt in Environmental Science that soil quality in the rainforest is actually really poor- the thing is because all the other conditions are optimum for plant growth (hot, bright, humid), the plants are growing really fast, and most of the nutrients are in cycle.
The systems there have evolved to break down and use up all the nutrients from the leaves and wood that fall straight away.
This is another reason why it's so grim when rainforest is torn down for growing crops, because only one or two crops can really be produced from the land before it's barren and infertile- & either has to be fertilised artificially or left derelict to slowly get reclaimed by the forest or just wash away once all the old roots have rotted.
But the other aspect of the whole thing that I hadn't thought of till now is that when people do try and farm on a smaller scale, it is made quite difficult because the plants around are so wel adapted to suck up every trace of goodness they can find in the poor soil, so it's very difficult to grow mos things among them.
I tried to ask if he'd ever thought of setting up some sort of composting collecting scheme with the local town
(it kills me to see all the juicy mangoes swept up off the street and chucked into the dustbin along with the cans and bottles and wrappers, even just throwing it in the river would be better...and domestic composting is pretty much ignored as far as we've seen so far)
he replied that they'd tried once but people's mindset wasn't really on composting, and anyway they could use the fallen leaves if they were desperate.
I din't push it further, but I was thinking, surely that's the point? It's got to be the perfect oppurtunity to change afew peoples mindsets about composting, which is a great first step towards being environmentally conscious- and what better place to start than in the Amazon, technically the lungs of the world, which happens to be being deforested at a horrific rate and is probably one of the places we're losing soil fastest?
I think it would be super cool to have a big skip in the town & a sign saying how important it is to save organic waste (saying what is done with it etc) so that people (and the sweepers!) can save up their nutritious goodies and contribute it.
It'd be really good for awareness & for the community, or any farm they chose to give it to, whatever. Even if they just went and chucked it in the forest! But obviously it's better for people to see the results of theis hard work, at least in theory if not first hand.
Hey, they could give it to a local school to set up a little garden with volunteers, they could grow veg & learn directly the cycle!
Aaaaaah dreams.
Maybe a better person to have spoken to would have been Allan from the same pousada we were staying at.
He told us in his musical Bahian accent about the project he was working on Saude & Alegria - a movement to up awareness for kids as far as I can tell, they do workshops & a magazine, & caring for the environment seems to be high on their agenda.
Reading his leaflets and listening to him chat, waving his hands around enthusiastically, gave me another wave of frustration at only being able to understand half of what he was saying.
But I got the general gist, & I'll be googling it and copying and pasting it into an online translator in no time!
I may well have to come back here & see what contibution I can make, I mean there's no limit to what I ought to do to 'cancel out' the damage i've done by flying here...
Speaking of which...
It is now the 21st. Ash flies back on the 8th of April- that's 18 days away, and Sao Paulo is... a really long way away.
We'd have to spend about 100 hours of lessthan 2 weeks on coaches if we travelled back from Belem, & wouldn't be able to see the Pantanal, Foz do Iguaçu, or the clockwork smooth recycling, public transport & social systems in action in Curitiba. Not fun eh?
Which is why we're on our way up and not down the river sea, to Manaus where we will fly to Cuiaba in the Pantanal. There we can go on a tour with Dilwyn's friend Joel, & catch a coach to Foz- quickly have a look at the waterfalls (no-one has said we need more than 1 or 2 days there) and back to square 1 via Curitiba if we've got time.
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Saturday, 28 March 2009
Tuesday morning into Wednesday middle...
We've just woken up, there's a whole raggle taggle group of us and we spent the night in the main square of this lovely little town we've arrived at, Alter do Chao, on the banks of the Tapajos, a huge Amazon tributary.
Since I last wrote I've seen loads of river dolphons, including shiny pink tummies, which really suprised me- I had thought river dolphons were really rare with no chance of seeing them but maybe that's the Yangtzee sort.
And alright I know we're in the Amazon and everything but I never expected to see actual alligators! Me and Ash were just chatting about mistaking logs for crocodiles when we saw a great big spiny looking log dissappear with a great big splash, you could tell it was huge just by the amount of water swirls it made.
Then we saw another sinister looking head, you could just see it's dark little eyes eyeing up this huge noisy intruder to it's dark watery home, before dipping back under to continue its mysterious business.
Only a minute after seeing those enormous reptilian beasties, we went past a tiny aldeia, with kids splashing around in the river at the bottom of their little jetties. I felt a bit sick but just hoped none of them went near each other!
While I was off writing a little letter for mum at the back of the boat and chatting to a drunken friendly brazilian (the one who brought my spider) the others saw a big black snake, 1-2metres long, with an orange tummy. Apparently it reared a good 1/2 a metre out of the water up against the side of the boat... I wonder what it was trying to do! I hate to imagine the chaos that would have ensued if ti had got onto the packed out bottom deck with all those people!
The other exciting thing I saw was some fishing eagles and then 2 enormous black and white birds, they looked like turkeys till they took off then they were more like eagles.
Anyway, after passing the time with music, massages, eating, cards (thank you Rhiannon!) and general lounging aroundwe finally arrived at the town of Santarem where the clear watered Tapajos fans into the thick muddy Amazon.
Here after replacing my magic dissappearing shoes and internetting briefly, we caught a bus with Paul and Richard who you already know, Ariel, Cristian and Javier the Argentinian musicians, and Danny the Mank (Isle of Man) version of Bobbi Jeelan... (Complete with Freddie the funny Amazonian artesan we had every single musician on the boat with us :) ) to the nearby village of Alter do Chao- High Ground as far as we can tell!
The ground is covered in a thick carpet of candy pink fluff from these flowery trees, with a healthy spattering of juicy mangoes which replace themselves faster than 9 of us can gather and munch them down!
Looking out overthe dark expanse of the Tapajos you can just make out the top halfs of a line of beach huts & bars & trees, drowned now until June or so when the wet season starts to get tired out.
Well after chatting to a few friends of Freddies who we met, and laughing at the parrot shaped phone box (we took a picture of Danny 'chatting up a bird') the weather turned & gave us a taste of a proper Amazonian storm- we all bundled into this hut think like a band stand in the main praça in the town centre, with our impressive heap of colourful baggage- consisting of great rucksacks with hammocks, boots, ukeleles, guitars, mozzie nets, towels, displays of jewellry made of wire, string, feathers and seeds; and settled down to play some music and wait for the rain to pass.
As the rain got heavier and heavier though , up to Glade '07 standards and possibly beyond, it wasn't long before a few hammocks were strung up for comfort, then the avocado, crackers and pimenta sauce were brought out to keep the wolf from the door, and hte cachaça lime and sugar for tasty caiprinhas followed soon afterwards.
By now of course most of our bags were more or less unpacked so we gave in and committed ourselvwes to night there.
We must have been a funny sight all brushing our teeth in the bandstand in teh main square!
I fell asleep slowly and happily to a mix of Buena Vista Social Club, Jackson Frank and Leonard Cohen's Suzanne, thinking of mum as Leonard Cohen always makes me :) ....
In the morning after stuffing our faces with fresh mangoes and getting laughed at by many, and asked ever-so-nicely to move on by 1 or 2, we headed to the Pousada Por-Do-Sol (sunset hostel) where we heard there was a hut we can string up our hammocks in, and a kitchen we can use, all for about 4pounds a night :)
The Argentinians and Freddie are sleeping on the beach because they've got tents- but it's only 1 minute away so it's all part of home for now :)
By now I'm well into the Wednesday bit of this entry... after getting distracted from yesterdays scribbling me, Richard & Paul hired kayaks (although we've spent so much time in hammocks we kept on calling the kayaks hammocks!) I managed to haggle the bloke down to 2 reais an hour, then we went off to explore the drowned beach village, then along the forested coast (o.k i mean riverbank) to this grat big headland.
When we got there I ealised there was moer water the other side of the vegetation we could see, so I pushed my way through and found this tranquilo lagoon the other side, fringed by rainforest trees & lianas draping into the still water. I quietly went for a peek around the edges - it was very different being by myself, I could hardly stop thinking about alligators and snakes.
At one point I could have sworn I heard something eating something in the undergrowth; I battled with my sensible side as images of big cats and big old lizards accompanied the chewing and crunching sounds in my head. After nearly rowing away I realised I'd never forgive myself and crept back, heart pounding, to have a look, wondering how fast alligators actually are comparedwith aninexperienced kayakist, and how well jaguars can swim.
It was just the sound the little wavelets made though, as they splished into a funny shaped hole in a submerged tree trunk. Sorry no stroy there!
I laughed at myself a bit rthen paddled on into the lagoon, I just had to see the other side before going back to meet the boys...
When I got closer though I could tell it was possible to carry on going through some more vegetation, so of course I did, and when I broke through and couldn't see the other side of the water I knew I was back in the main river so I quickly paddled all the way round the headland / island to find Paul & Richard just where I left them.
We paddled back, the boys stopping at the little bar on the outra lado for um poco cerveja, I went back to den where Ash was lying in one of the Argentinians hammocks looking very chilled.
We went and got a muito gostoso ice cream, (Açai and tapioca flavours!) & used the internet- had a look at Dad's Cuba pictures! They aer really good, it looks like you had a great time my loves.
A lovely lady called Agnes told us the name of that great big green ball fruit Fiona was looking at 5 minutes before I saw the picture of yours, but I'm sorry I forgot. You can't eat it but some people use the hard shell inside thwe green bit for making things out of :)
I tried Skype to call mum but no matter what I twiddled she was just saying, Hello?... Hello?... :(
I also had a lovely letter off Anne, my godmother which was really nice :)
By the time I'd finished though it was getting dark, so I went and got some tasty veg, cheese etc for the barbecue on the beach we're planning for tonight.
By the time we'd got home & started cooking though I felt really sick, so while the others went down to the riverside to eat round the fire and play music, I was feeling green in my hammock now repositioned to be closest to the toilet. Very annoying, but one good thing was when I got up to lather myself in mozzie reppellent (not till after my hands and face were covered in bumps from one really persistent little bugger though) there was a little frog sitting on the wall, lookng at me with it's big black beady eyes. It wasn't bright green or anything, but it was beautiful, and it made me loads happier to know it was there :)
Even better, when I woke up to the sound of stereo satisfied and slightly hungover snoring, there was a hummingbird frittering around the hut!
Since I last wrote I've seen loads of river dolphons, including shiny pink tummies, which really suprised me- I had thought river dolphons were really rare with no chance of seeing them but maybe that's the Yangtzee sort.
And alright I know we're in the Amazon and everything but I never expected to see actual alligators! Me and Ash were just chatting about mistaking logs for crocodiles when we saw a great big spiny looking log dissappear with a great big splash, you could tell it was huge just by the amount of water swirls it made.
Then we saw another sinister looking head, you could just see it's dark little eyes eyeing up this huge noisy intruder to it's dark watery home, before dipping back under to continue its mysterious business.
Only a minute after seeing those enormous reptilian beasties, we went past a tiny aldeia, with kids splashing around in the river at the bottom of their little jetties. I felt a bit sick but just hoped none of them went near each other!
While I was off writing a little letter for mum at the back of the boat and chatting to a drunken friendly brazilian (the one who brought my spider) the others saw a big black snake, 1-2metres long, with an orange tummy. Apparently it reared a good 1/2 a metre out of the water up against the side of the boat... I wonder what it was trying to do! I hate to imagine the chaos that would have ensued if ti had got onto the packed out bottom deck with all those people!
The other exciting thing I saw was some fishing eagles and then 2 enormous black and white birds, they looked like turkeys till they took off then they were more like eagles.
Anyway, after passing the time with music, massages, eating, cards (thank you Rhiannon!) and general lounging aroundwe finally arrived at the town of Santarem where the clear watered Tapajos fans into the thick muddy Amazon.
Here after replacing my magic dissappearing shoes and internetting briefly, we caught a bus with Paul and Richard who you already know, Ariel, Cristian and Javier the Argentinian musicians, and Danny the Mank (Isle of Man) version of Bobbi Jeelan... (Complete with Freddie the funny Amazonian artesan we had every single musician on the boat with us :) ) to the nearby village of Alter do Chao- High Ground as far as we can tell!
The ground is covered in a thick carpet of candy pink fluff from these flowery trees, with a healthy spattering of juicy mangoes which replace themselves faster than 9 of us can gather and munch them down!
Looking out overthe dark expanse of the Tapajos you can just make out the top halfs of a line of beach huts & bars & trees, drowned now until June or so when the wet season starts to get tired out.
Well after chatting to a few friends of Freddies who we met, and laughing at the parrot shaped phone box (we took a picture of Danny 'chatting up a bird') the weather turned & gave us a taste of a proper Amazonian storm- we all bundled into this hut think like a band stand in the main praça in the town centre, with our impressive heap of colourful baggage- consisting of great rucksacks with hammocks, boots, ukeleles, guitars, mozzie nets, towels, displays of jewellry made of wire, string, feathers and seeds; and settled down to play some music and wait for the rain to pass.
As the rain got heavier and heavier though , up to Glade '07 standards and possibly beyond, it wasn't long before a few hammocks were strung up for comfort, then the avocado, crackers and pimenta sauce were brought out to keep the wolf from the door, and hte cachaça lime and sugar for tasty caiprinhas followed soon afterwards.
By now of course most of our bags were more or less unpacked so we gave in and committed ourselvwes to night there.
We must have been a funny sight all brushing our teeth in the bandstand in teh main square!
I fell asleep slowly and happily to a mix of Buena Vista Social Club, Jackson Frank and Leonard Cohen's Suzanne, thinking of mum as Leonard Cohen always makes me :) ....
In the morning after stuffing our faces with fresh mangoes and getting laughed at by many, and asked ever-so-nicely to move on by 1 or 2, we headed to the Pousada Por-Do-Sol (sunset hostel) where we heard there was a hut we can string up our hammocks in, and a kitchen we can use, all for about 4pounds a night :)
The Argentinians and Freddie are sleeping on the beach because they've got tents- but it's only 1 minute away so it's all part of home for now :)
By now I'm well into the Wednesday bit of this entry... after getting distracted from yesterdays scribbling me, Richard & Paul hired kayaks (although we've spent so much time in hammocks we kept on calling the kayaks hammocks!) I managed to haggle the bloke down to 2 reais an hour, then we went off to explore the drowned beach village, then along the forested coast (o.k i mean riverbank) to this grat big headland.
When we got there I ealised there was moer water the other side of the vegetation we could see, so I pushed my way through and found this tranquilo lagoon the other side, fringed by rainforest trees & lianas draping into the still water. I quietly went for a peek around the edges - it was very different being by myself, I could hardly stop thinking about alligators and snakes.
At one point I could have sworn I heard something eating something in the undergrowth; I battled with my sensible side as images of big cats and big old lizards accompanied the chewing and crunching sounds in my head. After nearly rowing away I realised I'd never forgive myself and crept back, heart pounding, to have a look, wondering how fast alligators actually are comparedwith aninexperienced kayakist, and how well jaguars can swim.
It was just the sound the little wavelets made though, as they splished into a funny shaped hole in a submerged tree trunk. Sorry no stroy there!
I laughed at myself a bit rthen paddled on into the lagoon, I just had to see the other side before going back to meet the boys...
When I got closer though I could tell it was possible to carry on going through some more vegetation, so of course I did, and when I broke through and couldn't see the other side of the water I knew I was back in the main river so I quickly paddled all the way round the headland / island to find Paul & Richard just where I left them.
We paddled back, the boys stopping at the little bar on the outra lado for um poco cerveja, I went back to den where Ash was lying in one of the Argentinians hammocks looking very chilled.
We went and got a muito gostoso ice cream, (Açai and tapioca flavours!) & used the internet- had a look at Dad's Cuba pictures! They aer really good, it looks like you had a great time my loves.
A lovely lady called Agnes told us the name of that great big green ball fruit Fiona was looking at 5 minutes before I saw the picture of yours, but I'm sorry I forgot. You can't eat it but some people use the hard shell inside thwe green bit for making things out of :)
I tried Skype to call mum but no matter what I twiddled she was just saying, Hello?... Hello?... :(
I also had a lovely letter off Anne, my godmother which was really nice :)
By the time I'd finished though it was getting dark, so I went and got some tasty veg, cheese etc for the barbecue on the beach we're planning for tonight.
By the time we'd got home & started cooking though I felt really sick, so while the others went down to the riverside to eat round the fire and play music, I was feeling green in my hammock now repositioned to be closest to the toilet. Very annoying, but one good thing was when I got up to lather myself in mozzie reppellent (not till after my hands and face were covered in bumps from one really persistent little bugger though) there was a little frog sitting on the wall, lookng at me with it's big black beady eyes. It wasn't bright green or anything, but it was beautiful, and it made me loads happier to know it was there :)
Even better, when I woke up to the sound of stereo satisfied and slightly hungover snoring, there was a hummingbird frittering around the hut!
Friday, 27 March 2009
Sunday...15th March
We're in the Amazon!
When we got to a wide bit on the first night I hopped out of the hammock I was lounging in to see why we were rocking so much- I asked Richard, are we in the sea?
But we're not! The water was the classic rich amazon muddy brown, & if I really strained I could see a tiny light on the other side.
It is a crazy expanse of water, I knew it would be big but this is bigger than I ever could have imagined, and it stays huge as well!
About half the time it's narrow or we sail near the edge, so we can peer into the vegetation, and see all the kids in their canoes coming to hitch a ride, sell some juicy rainforest mysteries & row back home to their little huts on stilts by the dwindling edges of the forest.
The other half though, like now, you can sit and look for ages at this huge expanse of water thik with mud and the occasional patch of water hyascinths(- manatee food!) and a tiny tiny strip of forest in the very distance under the enormous sky.
It turns my stomach, the sheer size of it- I've never seen so much fresh water and I didn't think there was so much- we've been chugging along up it at a good old pace for a solid 2 days and nights now.
I keep thinking about how deep it must be- I don't know if it goes a long way down like a basin or if after the initial drop it's mainly flat... I will have to find out. In fact when I write this into the blog it will remind me to look it up, yay! Good old internet.
((1t's about 150 feet apparently))
I made another spider, & gave it to Javier the smiley Argentinian to hang above his hammock- nao filtro do sonho, melhor, filtro do mosquitos!
(better than a dreamcatcher, a mosquito catcher!)
Freddie the Amazonian craftsman then gave me a load of chunky wire to teach Ash and Javier to make them- so I made a life size tarantula so they could see.
Later a Brazilian guy came up and asked how much, so I asked- how much do you think?
"8reais"
"10?"
done :)
I gave 5 to Freddie and brought some fruit when we stopped at a small port today with the other 5.
There's definately stuff going round on the boat, so we're being really careful.
Back in time slightly- last time I wrote all we knew from piecing together various rumours was that we were meant to be changing boat then setting off. So when a wooden boat pulled up alongside boat no.2 we figured it must be boat no.3 and piled all our stuff onto it along with the frenzy of about 200 others- being passed everything from freezers to suitcases to babies once we were on the other side.
To add to the chaos it was absolutely chucking it down typical Belem style, so standing near the edge of the boat guaranteed a soaking, & the planks between the two boats were lethally slippy, on top of rocking...
We didn't make ourselves at home though, from boat 3 we just waited for boat 4 to pull up and clambered through onto that one. A cheer went off when it set off... but it soon seemed horribly to be going the wrong way..
Well it was- we went to this other dock - and had to load ourselves onto number 5.
By now all our stuff was so mixed up and no- one knew where each other were, let alone where they were sleeping. Pretty soon it was clear it was not going to be easy to find a place to sleep- hammocks were strung between every possible thing- across the eating area, over the stairs, in the smoky smelly corridor bit outside the toilets by the engine - all in a tangled mess around each other. And still they let more people on from the shore, more and more bodies squeezing into the thick hot damp mass with bags and boxes & a bit of rope and hope to hang their hammocks.
Of course me and Ash couldn`t find our hamocks anywhere... I scratched my head and remembered at some point handing the bundle over to Paul, so wove my way through the tangle, down the ladder to where I thought he was- he scratched his head for a bit and thought he`d given it to Christian...
Eventually e found them strung up in the middle of the lower deck where Javier had found a `space` - we relaxed & took our bags down there.
Between us we had all of Freddies thngs; his jewellry & crafts for selling, but we couldn`t see him anywhere which was worrying. There was time though- the earliest being rumured was 6 and it was 3 or so. I thnk he had just got off no.2 when the chaos began.
When we were sitting waiting for the boat to set off, huddled with the masses as far away from the edges as possible so as not to get wet, I had a little moment with Ash- ``uuuurgh I don`t know if I can do this... I`m going to go mad, maybe if I`d not been on a boat for the last 3 days I`d be ok, but not now, I mean how are we going to sleep?``
Apart from that horrible coach toilet it was the closest I`ve been to tears on the whole trip. I just could`t forsee it being even slightly o.k.
By the time the boat started moving there was a huge cheer onthe top deck, everyone who`d been through the whole ordeal from boat no.1 was jumpng around hugging each other, & Freddie popped his head up as well which was a relief!
Of course it was a taunt, we were ony going to the first port where we spent the last 3 days to wait around for another few hours.
We eventualy set off for real a nice round 50 hours late, and I have to admit the cheer was slightly less enthusiastic than the last few times.
But after a great night getting to know some of the newcomers on the top deck and after moving my hammock to under the awning outside the bar on the top deck as well and sleeping brilliantly in it, after waking up to the sight of the Amazon stretching overthe horizon, we were definately well on our way.
Aaaaaaaaaah...
When we got to a wide bit on the first night I hopped out of the hammock I was lounging in to see why we were rocking so much- I asked Richard, are we in the sea?
But we're not! The water was the classic rich amazon muddy brown, & if I really strained I could see a tiny light on the other side.
It is a crazy expanse of water, I knew it would be big but this is bigger than I ever could have imagined, and it stays huge as well!
About half the time it's narrow or we sail near the edge, so we can peer into the vegetation, and see all the kids in their canoes coming to hitch a ride, sell some juicy rainforest mysteries & row back home to their little huts on stilts by the dwindling edges of the forest.
The other half though, like now, you can sit and look for ages at this huge expanse of water thik with mud and the occasional patch of water hyascinths(- manatee food!) and a tiny tiny strip of forest in the very distance under the enormous sky.
It turns my stomach, the sheer size of it- I've never seen so much fresh water and I didn't think there was so much- we've been chugging along up it at a good old pace for a solid 2 days and nights now.
I keep thinking about how deep it must be- I don't know if it goes a long way down like a basin or if after the initial drop it's mainly flat... I will have to find out. In fact when I write this into the blog it will remind me to look it up, yay! Good old internet.
((1t's about 150 feet apparently))
I made another spider, & gave it to Javier the smiley Argentinian to hang above his hammock- nao filtro do sonho, melhor, filtro do mosquitos!
(better than a dreamcatcher, a mosquito catcher!)
Freddie the Amazonian craftsman then gave me a load of chunky wire to teach Ash and Javier to make them- so I made a life size tarantula so they could see.
Later a Brazilian guy came up and asked how much, so I asked- how much do you think?
"8reais"
"10?"
done :)
I gave 5 to Freddie and brought some fruit when we stopped at a small port today with the other 5.
There's definately stuff going round on the boat, so we're being really careful.
Back in time slightly- last time I wrote all we knew from piecing together various rumours was that we were meant to be changing boat then setting off. So when a wooden boat pulled up alongside boat no.2 we figured it must be boat no.3 and piled all our stuff onto it along with the frenzy of about 200 others- being passed everything from freezers to suitcases to babies once we were on the other side.
To add to the chaos it was absolutely chucking it down typical Belem style, so standing near the edge of the boat guaranteed a soaking, & the planks between the two boats were lethally slippy, on top of rocking...
We didn't make ourselves at home though, from boat 3 we just waited for boat 4 to pull up and clambered through onto that one. A cheer went off when it set off... but it soon seemed horribly to be going the wrong way..
Well it was- we went to this other dock - and had to load ourselves onto number 5.
By now all our stuff was so mixed up and no- one knew where each other were, let alone where they were sleeping. Pretty soon it was clear it was not going to be easy to find a place to sleep- hammocks were strung between every possible thing- across the eating area, over the stairs, in the smoky smelly corridor bit outside the toilets by the engine - all in a tangled mess around each other. And still they let more people on from the shore, more and more bodies squeezing into the thick hot damp mass with bags and boxes & a bit of rope and hope to hang their hammocks.
Of course me and Ash couldn`t find our hamocks anywhere... I scratched my head and remembered at some point handing the bundle over to Paul, so wove my way through the tangle, down the ladder to where I thought he was- he scratched his head for a bit and thought he`d given it to Christian...
Eventually e found them strung up in the middle of the lower deck where Javier had found a `space` - we relaxed & took our bags down there.
Between us we had all of Freddies thngs; his jewellry & crafts for selling, but we couldn`t see him anywhere which was worrying. There was time though- the earliest being rumured was 6 and it was 3 or so. I thnk he had just got off no.2 when the chaos began.
When we were sitting waiting for the boat to set off, huddled with the masses as far away from the edges as possible so as not to get wet, I had a little moment with Ash- ``uuuurgh I don`t know if I can do this... I`m going to go mad, maybe if I`d not been on a boat for the last 3 days I`d be ok, but not now, I mean how are we going to sleep?``
Apart from that horrible coach toilet it was the closest I`ve been to tears on the whole trip. I just could`t forsee it being even slightly o.k.
By the time the boat started moving there was a huge cheer onthe top deck, everyone who`d been through the whole ordeal from boat no.1 was jumpng around hugging each other, & Freddie popped his head up as well which was a relief!
Of course it was a taunt, we were ony going to the first port where we spent the last 3 days to wait around for another few hours.
We eventualy set off for real a nice round 50 hours late, and I have to admit the cheer was slightly less enthusiastic than the last few times.
But after a great night getting to know some of the newcomers on the top deck and after moving my hammock to under the awning outside the bar on the top deck as well and sleeping brilliantly in it, after waking up to the sight of the Amazon stretching overthe horizon, we were definately well on our way.
Aaaaaaaaaah...
Tuesday, 24 March 2009
12 March
What is it now... Thursday or so?...
So we're still in Belem...
Last night we made some lovely Argentinian friends and sat up on top deck with all of them and 2 guitars, waiting for the ship to set off.
It was calm where we were, but all around us in the night there were constant flashes of lightning... now we are learning the Spanish words for everything as well as the Portuguese!
We got all tired and eventually gave up waiting for the boat to set off, and went to bed with images of waking up somewhere different with exotic forest floating past our window! If we can see the window through the mass of hammocks that is.
But this morning we woke up feeling suspiciously still, in the exact same place as we dropped off.
We have got various answers as to when we might leave, ranging from meia hora to meia dia amanha, so we went to the bar in the port for a coffee so as to be back with a safe amount of time- then not long after 12 we actually set off!... turned round a couple of times, and went back to port, where everyone started jumping over to the next door boat with their bags and hammocks. It was a huge palavre (which means 'word' in Portuguese) with hordes of people grabbing all their stuff and climbing from one boat to the next, bagsying spots for their hammocks- panicking about finding space bacause the last boat was so crammed!
But as it turns out this boat's got quite a bit more space than the last- which sort of balances out that it is supposed to be leaving at 10 tonight even if it is on time- which seems unlikely, as this is Brazilian time.
This is really nice, we're hanging out in our laughably little and nearly trustworthy hamocks (rede's) tangled among everyone else's, our Argentinian friends are playing music on their guitars, flute, ukelele, water bottle, and i just remembered my bag of flamboyam beans I gathered in Capao and handed them out too, so now there's some rattling going on too :)
It's funny, everyone's always really suprised about the beans, and always lacking in percussion (unless you count chair-tapping) so it works out really well. I don't know why everyone doesn't do it!
It's nice- the really frustrated peoplew have all left so everyone is just chilling with the music.
It is a bit of a shame because we are really going to have to hurry the rest of our trip if we're going to see the lot before Ash has to go home, but that's not the aspect we're going to think about, it won't make waiting any easier!
11 March... anticipation!
We set off today but we haven't yet, there's been loads more people and stuff bundling on all day since we woke up with the sun!
It was a funny night, in a tangle of weird dreams, hammocks and mosquito nets.
I've never actually slept all night in a hammock before!
Today we went to Ver-o-Peso market to get supplies while Paul and Richard looked after all our stuff.
We got a coconutwhich the man de-shelled for us, a bag of mini papayas, giant passionfruits, apples, bananas, fresh brazil nuts (which are a completely different thing!!), an avocado the size of a squash and some tins of veg and instant noodles... etc, etc.
The market's great, it's huge and bustling with stalls selling crazy looking fruit, animals, crafts, herbs and spices and medicinal tree barks and powders and little bottles of exotic lotions and potions, fish and meat and boating equipment.
There's hardly any other gringos there and the stall holders loved watching us not knowing what anything was- everyone wants you to taste their stuff, so we had plenty of those amazing brazil nuts...
When we got back Paul had his hair cut by the on-board transvestite hairdresser & now it's our turn to lounge around in the hammocks watching crates and crates of mainly veg and alcohol being loaded up onto the boat.
We're surrounded by a tangle of every colour hammock, all sorts of people going off up the big river for their various reasons- no other gringos again though.
I can hear so much going on, bundling stuff all around and people shouting in occasionally understandable portuguese, little fishing boat engines spluttering past.
And apst my mozzie-bitten feet & my 10 real stripy hammock I can see this huge huge huge expanse of thick brown amazon water, with a tiny grey gold distant strip of rainforest sandwidged between it and the heavy grey sky.
It's been hot and sunny all morning (though so humid and stuffy), but we've heard some rolls of trovao and the daily tropical storm is looking imminent. Hoping it doesn't catch the boys on their shopping trip!
(it's funny being with English people, we haven't mixed as much as usual with the locals, & I have to admit they have been much less inclined to mix with us! But Richard has a guitar so I'm sure we'll make some friends this evening. We do feel a lot like gringas though)
funky jungle roots
Ola tudo! como via?
(i thought i would do this blog in foresty green to go with our surroundings)
we are now in the strange old city of Manaus,built in the middle of the rainforest,with the start of the Amazon river just around the corner. In front of the city the two rivers,the Amazon and Rio Negro, flow in to one and you can see the muddy waters of the river sea and the jet black of the other flowing side by side,and then eventually combining. Due to different speeds and mass because of mineral content the two river dont just mix straight away,but share the same bed and get to know eachother gradually=)
The city has a strange feeling to it,you can tell there used to be a rainforest where now there are buildings,and some how it dosnt seem quite right. its very warm,muito calor aqui, and humid too.
Tomorrow we are going on a jungle trip and staying in the rainforest for a couple of nights,oooo! im so excited about that!! we get to go parana fishing and crocodilio hunting,and learn about the medical uses for some of the plants.A few weeks ago some one saw a jaguar........=O =D
we are till with a few of the fellas who we went to Alter do Chao with,but no longer have the crazy Argentinians. was actually quite sad saying good bye to them,we had so much fun with them and they helped us loads with speaking portuguese and spanish. Tnight is our last night with the english lads,Richard, Paul and Danny but we`re all going to stay in contact and hopefully meet up when we`re all back in uk.We`re planning on doing something for brazilian carnaval next yr!
The boat trip up to Manaus from Santarem was a funny one,no where near as fun as the first one,there was much more space on the boat though.Paul had his birthday while we were traveling which was pretty funny,he said it was his most random birthday ever,and i felt very proud to be a part of that! We got him a huge cake and then covered it in doce de leite and rainbow sprinkles,it looked like some kind of outa space mushroom!
in the hammock next to us was a gorgeous girly called Lucianno,and her beautiful mum. we made good friends with her and Megnut made floweriny things with her and Danny taught her to do some stuff on the guitar. she was only 9 or 10 but so good to chat too,she spoke very clearly and made sure you understood. i dont think i`ve ever met a kid that age in England who talks about how beautiful light looks when reflecting on water at night,or discussing the difference amd strangeness between the green rainforest and the huge buildings of the city.
xxxxxxxxxx
(i thought i would do this blog in foresty green to go with our surroundings)
we are now in the strange old city of Manaus,built in the middle of the rainforest,with the start of the Amazon river just around the corner. In front of the city the two rivers,the Amazon and Rio Negro, flow in to one and you can see the muddy waters of the river sea and the jet black of the other flowing side by side,and then eventually combining. Due to different speeds and mass because of mineral content the two river dont just mix straight away,but share the same bed and get to know eachother gradually=)
The city has a strange feeling to it,you can tell there used to be a rainforest where now there are buildings,and some how it dosnt seem quite right. its very warm,muito calor aqui, and humid too.
Tomorrow we are going on a jungle trip and staying in the rainforest for a couple of nights,oooo! im so excited about that!! we get to go parana fishing and crocodilio hunting,and learn about the medical uses for some of the plants.A few weeks ago some one saw a jaguar........=O =D
we are till with a few of the fellas who we went to Alter do Chao with,but no longer have the crazy Argentinians. was actually quite sad saying good bye to them,we had so much fun with them and they helped us loads with speaking portuguese and spanish. Tnight is our last night with the english lads,Richard, Paul and Danny but we`re all going to stay in contact and hopefully meet up when we`re all back in uk.We`re planning on doing something for brazilian carnaval next yr!
The boat trip up to Manaus from Santarem was a funny one,no where near as fun as the first one,there was much more space on the boat though.Paul had his birthday while we were traveling which was pretty funny,he said it was his most random birthday ever,and i felt very proud to be a part of that! We got him a huge cake and then covered it in doce de leite and rainbow sprinkles,it looked like some kind of outa space mushroom!
in the hammock next to us was a gorgeous girly called Lucianno,and her beautiful mum. we made good friends with her and Megnut made floweriny things with her and Danny taught her to do some stuff on the guitar. she was only 9 or 10 but so good to chat too,she spoke very clearly and made sure you understood. i dont think i`ve ever met a kid that age in England who talks about how beautiful light looks when reflecting on water at night,or discussing the difference amd strangeness between the green rainforest and the huge buildings of the city.
xxxxxxxxxx
Monday, 23 March 2009
10 March
We`re in our hammcks (rede) on our ship now!
We`re going up the Amazon to Santarem tomorro, but for now we get to sleep on the ship- which saves us a nights accomodation.
We`re with 2 english guys we met at the hostel, which is good because we can take it in turns to lok after the stuff, because the barco is completely open and the port is a funny sort of area!
We went for a wonder to get something to eat, had quite a mission finding any food but there were plenty of sketchy folk selling other stuff...
Found something eventually though, undefined greasy object, &came back to Paul and Richard who had made friends with a smelly drunk man on the boat. They've gone out drinking now and he won't leave us alone!
We`re going up the Amazon to Santarem tomorro, but for now we get to sleep on the ship- which saves us a nights accomodation.
We`re with 2 english guys we met at the hostel, which is good because we can take it in turns to lok after the stuff, because the barco is completely open and the port is a funny sort of area!
We went for a wonder to get something to eat, had quite a mission finding any food but there were plenty of sketchy folk selling other stuff...
Found something eventually though, undefined greasy object, &came back to Paul and Richard who had made friends with a smelly drunk man on the boat. They've gone out drinking now and he won't leave us alone!
Funny old place, this.
Wednesday, 18 March 2009
we're here!!
ola tudo
this is a short one im afraid,soory it has been such a long time! we are now in the modst of Amazonia and the connection i s wee bit dodgy. we have both been writing loads in our books,so we will update the big gap from inbeween our last entry and this one when we next can.
i will just say that we are having an amazing time here,we have a wicked group of friends that we're with at the moment,and that we fully understand why the Amazon is called the river sea!
Right now we are in a little village on the edge of the river caled Alter do Chao,which is about an hour away from Santarem.its gorgeous e muito tranquilo aqui,with mango trees and mango fruits lining the streets.
so much love to you all
xxxxxxxxxx
ps i went for a midnight swim last night with the three agentinians,was wicked fun! the very same water that alligators,river dolphins,piranahs and sting rays live in! Nutmeg was a wee but poorly,but seems fine today,which is relief
xxxxxx
this is a short one im afraid,soory it has been such a long time! we are now in the modst of Amazonia and the connection i s wee bit dodgy. we have both been writing loads in our books,so we will update the big gap from inbeween our last entry and this one when we next can.
i will just say that we are having an amazing time here,we have a wicked group of friends that we're with at the moment,and that we fully understand why the Amazon is called the river sea!
Right now we are in a little village on the edge of the river caled Alter do Chao,which is about an hour away from Santarem.its gorgeous e muito tranquilo aqui,with mango trees and mango fruits lining the streets.
so much love to you all
xxxxxxxxxx
ps i went for a midnight swim last night with the three agentinians,was wicked fun! the very same water that alligators,river dolphins,piranahs and sting rays live in! Nutmeg was a wee but poorly,but seems fine today,which is relief
xxxxxx
Monday, 9 March 2009
from Belem :)
We arrived in Salvador, got scammed all over again by the taxis- especially by trying so hard not to be! And returned to the Nega Maluca once we managed to wake Diego the dedicated night-shifter up with the doorbell, to a card off Rhiannon and a parcel off mum- which was SO nice :)
Stefan who we met at Venetius & Catarina`s house in Capao arrived not long after, which was really good as we thought we`d missed him - we were expecting to be on the same coach as him from Lencois and then all of a sudden he was gone.
We met a really lovely Finnish girl Alex who was telling me she got to South America by getting work on a sailing boat- apparently if I get to Caribia there`s loads of boats going back to Europe in May time... if I do stay a little longer (which is looking more and more likely...) (the idea of actually coming back in only a month is a bit mad for me at the moment) then I could do that to get home!! It would be pretty exciting and maybe even save me some money!
Much to think about. It would be very different travelling by myself.
We went to get Ash some new pockets because she sold hers to a leather worker to copy the design, found a bin full of scraps of fabric, scrounged them, & went home to make clothes in the morroccan corner all afternoon.
The next day we went with Stefan & Alex on a cheap food mission.
We finally tried cashew fruits! They`re horrible, I really didn`t like it, it was kind of like pepper but when you bite it all this super acidy juice spills out but no substance it`s all stringy. Me and Alex really burnt our hands and mouths too, trying to get our cashew nuts- don`t ever try that! Slimy acid all over us burning and nowhere to wash it off.
Later me and Alex went to an African cafe and Ash and Stef went to a cake shop, then after all bumping into each other again just in time to watch a stunning sunset, caught a bus here, and Alex came with us to get a break from her super intensive capoeira training. Stefan had to go back to get back to Nega the sick dog, although he was tempted to come with us. We sent plenty of love back with him to Capao!
We had such a great welcome in Arembepe! Everyone was sitting round a campfire and there were a couple of guitars, and Annie and Stefanie the amazing Italian girlies were there as well as all the Arembepe faces, they were all so suprised to see us!
It turned out to be Annie and Stefanies last day there, they were going back to Italy the next day!
So a lovely evening of chats & songs & goodbyes in the firelight.
In the morning it was the usual difficult Arembepe decision of sea or river first? We opted for sea first, river later, and some more wire jewellry making learning of Chacal inbetween :) I made a little wire spider the same as the one he made Ash last time, but littler.
There was a festa last night, we drunk Cachaca and had a really fun time, might have learnt some more Portuguese but might have forgotten it all too :S had fun trying though!
One more day in Arembepe though, because our coach to Belem leaves on Friday- we did some sea, some river, walked Alex into town to go back to Salvador, then me Ash Chacal and Edge went back to make a fire by the river and cook some plantain, yum. Saw some more giant toads, had a little moonlight swim & slept.
In the morning we ate a huge coconut we found, & caught a bus back to Salvador- used the Nega maluca (shower and) internet for a bit to sort out the phone thing
(when they were looking after it for me before, someone who worked there took it. They didn`t tell me until I asked though, so loads of money`s been spent on my contract... Aaaaaaa! So Chris (thank you thank you thank you!) has put it on hold so they can`t spend any more of my money, and I need to find out whether my phone insurance covers unauthorised calls, and if not does my travel insurance... otherwise i`ve lost about 2 weeks worth of spending!!!)
8 March
Now we`re in Belem!
Big huge exciting purple tropical storm happening right now- you must gthink they happen all the time but it`s more that once we`ve watched the lightning for a bit, it`s a really good time to write.
That was the worst coach journey of my entire life- not just because it was 40hours long, but I got a horrible stomach bug and was in the disgusting hot toilet throwing up all night. It was pretty grim as far as places to be sick go, but at least I wasn`t somewhere with much better things to do.
We`re having quite a chilled out day in Belem as it`s Sunday, but tomorrow we`re checking out hte market to see what exciting fruit and nuts we can find- apparently there`s more fruit than there are names for them here, I`m so excited!
Then on Tuesday or Wednesday we`re catching a boat to Santarem, where Rio Tapajos meets the Amazon, to do some exploring, before somehow getting to Cuiaba to see the Pantanal (there is no road in the wet season)
Love to Tess, it is odd to think of you being back in the UK- it`s been nice trying to picture you in Peru :)
9th
Aaaaaa. Today`s been reasonably grim. yesterday I thought I was better but it turns out I`m not, unless another spiteful bug came and bit me while I was busy kicking off the last one!
It`s really frustrating, we were going to catch a boat to Santarem tomorrow but that doesn`t look like a good idea any more. Also loads to see in Belem that I just can`t really, I want to go and see the markets and all the amazonian fruit, I want to get a hammock for the boat ride, I want to explore Belem! But I haven`t even left the building all day, I feel all horrible and trapped.
The really nice girl from Hong Kong who we`re sharing a room with, Sim, made me a cup of hot orange and ginger, which made me feel loads better, & I even managed to eat a bit after that.
Ash has been a star and found some spinach, which I hope I can get in later! Yummmmm. It`s the one food I`ve been craving most in this country!
Stefan who we met at Venetius & Catarina`s house in Capao arrived not long after, which was really good as we thought we`d missed him - we were expecting to be on the same coach as him from Lencois and then all of a sudden he was gone.
We met a really lovely Finnish girl Alex who was telling me she got to South America by getting work on a sailing boat- apparently if I get to Caribia there`s loads of boats going back to Europe in May time... if I do stay a little longer (which is looking more and more likely...) (the idea of actually coming back in only a month is a bit mad for me at the moment) then I could do that to get home!! It would be pretty exciting and maybe even save me some money!
Much to think about. It would be very different travelling by myself.
We went to get Ash some new pockets because she sold hers to a leather worker to copy the design, found a bin full of scraps of fabric, scrounged them, & went home to make clothes in the morroccan corner all afternoon.
The next day we went with Stefan & Alex on a cheap food mission.
We finally tried cashew fruits! They`re horrible, I really didn`t like it, it was kind of like pepper but when you bite it all this super acidy juice spills out but no substance it`s all stringy. Me and Alex really burnt our hands and mouths too, trying to get our cashew nuts- don`t ever try that! Slimy acid all over us burning and nowhere to wash it off.
Later me and Alex went to an African cafe and Ash and Stef went to a cake shop, then after all bumping into each other again just in time to watch a stunning sunset, caught a bus here, and Alex came with us to get a break from her super intensive capoeira training. Stefan had to go back to get back to Nega the sick dog, although he was tempted to come with us. We sent plenty of love back with him to Capao!
We had such a great welcome in Arembepe! Everyone was sitting round a campfire and there were a couple of guitars, and Annie and Stefanie the amazing Italian girlies were there as well as all the Arembepe faces, they were all so suprised to see us!
It turned out to be Annie and Stefanies last day there, they were going back to Italy the next day!
So a lovely evening of chats & songs & goodbyes in the firelight.
In the morning it was the usual difficult Arembepe decision of sea or river first? We opted for sea first, river later, and some more wire jewellry making learning of Chacal inbetween :) I made a little wire spider the same as the one he made Ash last time, but littler.
There was a festa last night, we drunk Cachaca and had a really fun time, might have learnt some more Portuguese but might have forgotten it all too :S had fun trying though!
One more day in Arembepe though, because our coach to Belem leaves on Friday- we did some sea, some river, walked Alex into town to go back to Salvador, then me Ash Chacal and Edge went back to make a fire by the river and cook some plantain, yum. Saw some more giant toads, had a little moonlight swim & slept.
In the morning we ate a huge coconut we found, & caught a bus back to Salvador- used the Nega maluca (shower and) internet for a bit to sort out the phone thing
(when they were looking after it for me before, someone who worked there took it. They didn`t tell me until I asked though, so loads of money`s been spent on my contract... Aaaaaaa! So Chris (thank you thank you thank you!) has put it on hold so they can`t spend any more of my money, and I need to find out whether my phone insurance covers unauthorised calls, and if not does my travel insurance... otherwise i`ve lost about 2 weeks worth of spending!!!)
8 March
Now we`re in Belem!
Big huge exciting purple tropical storm happening right now- you must gthink they happen all the time but it`s more that once we`ve watched the lightning for a bit, it`s a really good time to write.
That was the worst coach journey of my entire life- not just because it was 40hours long, but I got a horrible stomach bug and was in the disgusting hot toilet throwing up all night. It was pretty grim as far as places to be sick go, but at least I wasn`t somewhere with much better things to do.
We`re having quite a chilled out day in Belem as it`s Sunday, but tomorrow we`re checking out hte market to see what exciting fruit and nuts we can find- apparently there`s more fruit than there are names for them here, I`m so excited!
Then on Tuesday or Wednesday we`re catching a boat to Santarem, where Rio Tapajos meets the Amazon, to do some exploring, before somehow getting to Cuiaba to see the Pantanal (there is no road in the wet season)
Love to Tess, it is odd to think of you being back in the UK- it`s been nice trying to picture you in Peru :)
9th
Aaaaaa. Today`s been reasonably grim. yesterday I thought I was better but it turns out I`m not, unless another spiteful bug came and bit me while I was busy kicking off the last one!
It`s really frustrating, we were going to catch a boat to Santarem tomorrow but that doesn`t look like a good idea any more. Also loads to see in Belem that I just can`t really, I want to go and see the markets and all the amazonian fruit, I want to get a hammock for the boat ride, I want to explore Belem! But I haven`t even left the building all day, I feel all horrible and trapped.
The really nice girl from Hong Kong who we`re sharing a room with, Sim, made me a cup of hot orange and ginger, which made me feel loads better, & I even managed to eat a bit after that.
Ash has been a star and found some spinach, which I hope I can get in later! Yummmmm. It`s the one food I`ve been craving most in this country!
2 March Our last bit of time in Campinas was really fun, it was very sad to leave (although i more and more think i might come back...) On Thursday afternoon when we´d done the morning´s work we walked into town to get some shopping, and on Friday got the fire going and made a great big version of the Be Good Soup, a big pot of chai, & baked plantain with chocolate & canela. It all went down very well and they told us we weren´t allowed to leave, we started to feel the time limit dig in a bit. Only a month left now really! There was a tarantula on the kitchen floor, we were all looking at it so i knew it was there, but I went to get Veronica a cup of chai and completely forgot about the arana until I saw the look on Ash´s face- apparently I stood on it bu I didn´t even notice! Graca did our Mayan calendar and Chinese numerology thingies for us- I was really happy as I´ve been confused about mine for ages... I am a Dragao Elétrico Vermelho and Ash is a Macaco Solar Azul and it turns out we´re dead opposite each other on the chart- so that means apparently we´re supposed to get on really well and complement each other perfectly and all this other stuff (which we could have told you ages ago obviously, but hey hey) After dinner I went for a walk by myself... The thing is I usually REALLY need some alone time! But me and Ash get on so fine I´ve never really felt pushed so haven´t bothered, but it turned out to be just what I needed, it was lovely to set out into the night with a brilliant torch made from a candle and a tin can, and process my thoughts, while I had a little star gaze and natter to myself (these things are importrant!!) Had some wishes on shooting stars and a little paddle in the river, wondered if anyone back home could see the same stars as me :) Lit the wee willy winky again and wondered back home feeling even better than before :) On Saturday we waved our goodbyes at the farm (after getting some of the salvia we dried to send back to our friends:) ) and dawdled into Capao like little snails, and sat down on the pavement with some rastas and their wares and spent the rest of the day dancing on the street with our rasta friends, various friends and Capao faces coming apst and getting goodbye hugs through the day. We caught a jeep at 8 to Palmeiras and a coach to Lencois, and dragged ourselves up the road to Woshington`s pousada that we stayed in last time (we were considering staying in one closer to the bottom of the hill but Woshington`s has such good breakfast!) Sunday we spent exploring Lencois- after dithering around town for a bit bumped into some more friends from the pousada and impulsively went with them to the waterfall nearby... It was really good, to get to the waterfall you have to walk up the river bed, past peoples multicoloured washing spread out to dry on the rocks and past all these deep deep holes, the rock was really weird there, a conglomerate which had been washed extremely smooth, so it was like spotty and slippy and quite fun for sliding down :) These deep holes, that the river flowed from one of to the next, were deep enough that you could leap off all the jutted bits overhanging, I was the only one who wanted to though! the others just stood around waiting, so i had to go loads of times in quick succession so as not to keep them, and then walk back- they`re mad though because it was brilliant! The hole carries on going straight down with perfectly smooth sides underwater, so you can jump from as high as you like from the rocks around it and when you get under the water you just slide down this tunnel! Ok I can`t quite decribe it, but it was lovely stuff.
Monday, 2 March 2009
a little load of updates from meg =)
22 Feb
So we had a twinkly little carnaval in capao, and walked over to the farm with ran in the afternoon. On our way we bumped a bearded barefooted man and his dog pushing a wheelbarrow of veg so we asked about the farm and found out there was room, spent the rewst of the afternoon by the river until a huge billowing storm cloud rushed over the mountain at us really fast, so we hopped it with everyone else at the river (it`s even busy here at carnaval!)
just after we set off this teeny car pulled up and told us to get in, one last glance at this cloud was enough so 7 of us squeezed in and we slowly inched down this bumpy sort of `track` through a stream and everything, only getting out to push a couple of times... We were so grateful!
Stopped at some Venetius and Catarinas house to pick up the didgeridoo Venetius made for Ran- and lost Ran in a mindblowing didge sesh, he`s not coming to Campinas any more...
We`re starting to see the suck factor of this place- when you ask people how long they`ve been here and they look at you blankly before saying um... a couple of weeks? no... what`s the date? Oh! ok... maybe a month or 2?...
We had a fun walk back, a bit chilly, believe it or not, and had chai when we got back. Now Ash and Ran are asleep and it`s only 9! Apparently some more festivities at the circus I might head down there...
24Feb
Now we`re in Campinas!
When we got here Veronica gave us breakfast and sent us off with the girls Sara and Rosa, for a guided tour.
The farm`s amazing, I`ve never seen so many herbs! Herbs for absolutely evrything, from sugar to face paint (that was fun :) )
But the rest of the day we didn`t have to work at all apart from a tiny bit of veg chopping & pot washing, we just spent the afternoon with the girls - they love our glitter and fake flowers and ribbon and glitter glue!
We made some filtro do sonyo`s with crystals found in the garden, went for a dip in the river and now it`s a big storm with trovao and relampago! The river`s flooded so we couldn`t get out even if we wanted to.
So we`re sitting in the communal kitchen having a doodle.
26th...
It`s really good here!
Yesterday we did a load of hoeing in the aloe vera patch then weeding and spreading mulch to stop the soil washing away. We`ve seen some pretty exciting bugs and torn our hands to shreds- aloe vera is brutal! Luckily we also knocked off a leaf or two so we`ve got something to put on our tatters.
Our Chilean friend Auka (another kringlin- yay!!) turned up as we were doing it, gave us a hand for a while and when it got too hot we went for a swim in the river.
Last night was good too, me and Ash and Auka walked to Capao and found the circus with all its goings on. It was nice to see some people and lights! :)
The circus was brilliant, (they have some really good clowns!)
And no rules or political correctness apply to Brazilian... well anything really!
The lady on the silks was amazing, and the Israeli lady on the trapeze too, in her pyjamas and hloding a pillow the whole time :)
Berto was dressed (and painted!) like the ladies in white from Salvador who sell food and cakes, with a big fake bunda & boobs.
After the show we hopped on the back of a truck that was going in the direction of the farm and walked the rest of the way, getting home at um poco para um a manha.
Today we made some paths through the Citronella and Lemongrass patches (so we didn`t get bitten by mossies so much!) and then went to the herb room to strip piles and piles of Salvia and put it out to dry! (They use it as medicine here)
Then this other herb Carqueja which is for making tea, which apparently cures pretty much everything from worms to diabetes.
But when I got the last handful out of the box I had to squeak because there was a tarantula on the herbs! We both squeaked a bit more and got out the branches around it till it was sitting at the bottom of the box, then I took it outside, had a little look and left the box upside down on a bush.
After lunch and doing some washing, we went for a nadar in the nu with Sara and Auka, and painted each other like indians with reddy rocks from the river, and played hopscotch till we heard people coming, when we went back as we flt a bit silly.
Fun times! :)
So we had a twinkly little carnaval in capao, and walked over to the farm with ran in the afternoon. On our way we bumped a bearded barefooted man and his dog pushing a wheelbarrow of veg so we asked about the farm and found out there was room, spent the rewst of the afternoon by the river until a huge billowing storm cloud rushed over the mountain at us really fast, so we hopped it with everyone else at the river (it`s even busy here at carnaval!)
just after we set off this teeny car pulled up and told us to get in, one last glance at this cloud was enough so 7 of us squeezed in and we slowly inched down this bumpy sort of `track` through a stream and everything, only getting out to push a couple of times... We were so grateful!
Stopped at some Venetius and Catarinas house to pick up the didgeridoo Venetius made for Ran- and lost Ran in a mindblowing didge sesh, he`s not coming to Campinas any more...
We`re starting to see the suck factor of this place- when you ask people how long they`ve been here and they look at you blankly before saying um... a couple of weeks? no... what`s the date? Oh! ok... maybe a month or 2?...
We had a fun walk back, a bit chilly, believe it or not, and had chai when we got back. Now Ash and Ran are asleep and it`s only 9! Apparently some more festivities at the circus I might head down there...
24Feb
Now we`re in Campinas!
When we got here Veronica gave us breakfast and sent us off with the girls Sara and Rosa, for a guided tour.
The farm`s amazing, I`ve never seen so many herbs! Herbs for absolutely evrything, from sugar to face paint (that was fun :) )
But the rest of the day we didn`t have to work at all apart from a tiny bit of veg chopping & pot washing, we just spent the afternoon with the girls - they love our glitter and fake flowers and ribbon and glitter glue!
We made some filtro do sonyo`s with crystals found in the garden, went for a dip in the river and now it`s a big storm with trovao and relampago! The river`s flooded so we couldn`t get out even if we wanted to.
So we`re sitting in the communal kitchen having a doodle.
26th...
It`s really good here!
Yesterday we did a load of hoeing in the aloe vera patch then weeding and spreading mulch to stop the soil washing away. We`ve seen some pretty exciting bugs and torn our hands to shreds- aloe vera is brutal! Luckily we also knocked off a leaf or two so we`ve got something to put on our tatters.
Our Chilean friend Auka (another kringlin- yay!!) turned up as we were doing it, gave us a hand for a while and when it got too hot we went for a swim in the river.
Last night was good too, me and Ash and Auka walked to Capao and found the circus with all its goings on. It was nice to see some people and lights! :)
The circus was brilliant, (they have some really good clowns!)
And no rules or political correctness apply to Brazilian... well anything really!
The lady on the silks was amazing, and the Israeli lady on the trapeze too, in her pyjamas and hloding a pillow the whole time :)
Berto was dressed (and painted!) like the ladies in white from Salvador who sell food and cakes, with a big fake bunda & boobs.
After the show we hopped on the back of a truck that was going in the direction of the farm and walked the rest of the way, getting home at um poco para um a manha.
Today we made some paths through the Citronella and Lemongrass patches (so we didn`t get bitten by mossies so much!) and then went to the herb room to strip piles and piles of Salvia and put it out to dry! (They use it as medicine here)
Then this other herb Carqueja which is for making tea, which apparently cures pretty much everything from worms to diabetes.
But when I got the last handful out of the box I had to squeak because there was a tarantula on the herbs! We both squeaked a bit more and got out the branches around it till it was sitting at the bottom of the box, then I took it outside, had a little look and left the box upside down on a bush.
After lunch and doing some washing, we went for a nadar in the nu with Sara and Auka, and painted each other like indians with reddy rocks from the river, and played hopscotch till we heard people coming, when we went back as we flt a bit silly.
Fun times! :)
Sunday, 1 March 2009
we're on the road again
ola pessoas bonitos!
tis i Ashai =D
well we have now managed to pull ourselves out of the strong clutches of Capao and Capinas,it was hard! right now we're in Lencois,but are getting a coach back to Salvador this evening to say hello to the lovely Nega Maluca family again.we'll only be there for one night though then back to Arembepe!!! yaaaay =D
Capinas was lovely lovely,it felt like we could have easily been there much longer.there's so much to learn.the poeple there were all brilliant,and helped us so much with speaking,especially the kids,and also the Brazilian Steve(im not quite sure which steve,but he remeinded us of lots of them....mostly steve jones who used to be with Dawn,sunni and rubi..)he lent us a huge english portuguese dictionary and a learn Portuguese in ten mins a day book,which was so helpful.
a day in Capinas....well we got up at around 7-7.30am,i had a lovely stretch and bounce around outside our little chalet every morning,then we head to the cozinha communidade(communal kitchen) for breakfast.all the meals are written on a rota and you put your name down next to one if you want to do the cooking,and when its all ready a konch or horn is blown.breakfast would be something like cooked plantain,cooked potatos,cuscus,or this sweet custardy stuff made from banana and..something! after breakfast(cafe da manha) we would then have our trabalha(work) which mostly,for us,was working with the herbs;either in the garden or in the casa do urvas.heheh we spent a whoçe morning working with Salvia,stripping it down and drying it!took us a while to realise what we were actually doing.
trabalha was only done in the morning as it got too hot to work much in the afternoon,so after lunch(normally something vegetably with rice) our time was ours. we spent a lot of our after noon time with the girlies,swimming and making stuff. we had a particularly briliant afternoon with our fantastic friend Awka and the younger of the girls,Sarah,down by the rio.we all went for a swim in the nu,and then det off to find a sunny rock to dry off on.there we found these bits of old pottery that went like paint when you rubbed them with water,so spent the next half an hour drawing patterns all over eachother and then got dragged off by Sarah to play hopscotch,where every one parked their cars no less! so there we all four were,playing hopscotch in the carpark,naked and all painted like indians =D we only got caught by a couple of people..heheh!
on our last night in Capinas me and beautiful nut meg cooked the dinner,and had great fun doing it! we made the Now soup(or a variation of),bread with herbs and sesame,a massive pot of Chai and bananas baked with chocolate =D tws lovely indeed,and very popular.
it was very sad leaving Capinas and Capao last night,but we got to say good bye to most of our friends(didnt find Ran though) and also found a few who are also headong to Arembepe,which is exciting,as we now have a new crazy,rasta-ery posi for that funny little hippy village=D
much love to you all,thinking of you ALL loads
xxxxxx
tis i Ashai =D
well we have now managed to pull ourselves out of the strong clutches of Capao and Capinas,it was hard! right now we're in Lencois,but are getting a coach back to Salvador this evening to say hello to the lovely Nega Maluca family again.we'll only be there for one night though then back to Arembepe!!! yaaaay =D
Capinas was lovely lovely,it felt like we could have easily been there much longer.there's so much to learn.the poeple there were all brilliant,and helped us so much with speaking,especially the kids,and also the Brazilian Steve(im not quite sure which steve,but he remeinded us of lots of them....mostly steve jones who used to be with Dawn,sunni and rubi..)he lent us a huge english portuguese dictionary and a learn Portuguese in ten mins a day book,which was so helpful.
a day in Capinas....well we got up at around 7-7.30am,i had a lovely stretch and bounce around outside our little chalet every morning,then we head to the cozinha communidade(communal kitchen) for breakfast.all the meals are written on a rota and you put your name down next to one if you want to do the cooking,and when its all ready a konch or horn is blown.breakfast would be something like cooked plantain,cooked potatos,cuscus,or this sweet custardy stuff made from banana and..something! after breakfast(cafe da manha) we would then have our trabalha(work) which mostly,for us,was working with the herbs;either in the garden or in the casa do urvas.heheh we spent a whoçe morning working with Salvia,stripping it down and drying it!took us a while to realise what we were actually doing.
trabalha was only done in the morning as it got too hot to work much in the afternoon,so after lunch(normally something vegetably with rice) our time was ours. we spent a lot of our after noon time with the girlies,swimming and making stuff. we had a particularly briliant afternoon with our fantastic friend Awka and the younger of the girls,Sarah,down by the rio.we all went for a swim in the nu,and then det off to find a sunny rock to dry off on.there we found these bits of old pottery that went like paint when you rubbed them with water,so spent the next half an hour drawing patterns all over eachother and then got dragged off by Sarah to play hopscotch,where every one parked their cars no less! so there we all four were,playing hopscotch in the carpark,naked and all painted like indians =D we only got caught by a couple of people..heheh!
on our last night in Capinas me and beautiful nut meg cooked the dinner,and had great fun doing it! we made the Now soup(or a variation of),bread with herbs and sesame,a massive pot of Chai and bananas baked with chocolate =D tws lovely indeed,and very popular.
it was very sad leaving Capinas and Capao last night,but we got to say good bye to most of our friends(didnt find Ran though) and also found a few who are also headong to Arembepe,which is exciting,as we now have a new crazy,rasta-ery posi for that funny little hippy village=D
much love to you all,thinking of you ALL loads
xxxxxx
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