bazalblog

The Vote Now Show

2010-04-19T23:01:00.000+01:00

Went to the recording of the Vote Now Show this evening- very funny! About to air or Radio 4. This was projected onto the wall-

-- Post From My iPhone

Waaaaaales!

2010-04-17T19:08:00.001+01:00

Things to Do while the planes are grounded

2010-04-16T09:32:00.004+01:00

You have until 7 this evening to:

1. Fly kites at Heathrow, Gatwick etc
2. Listen to the birdsong at the London Wetlands Centre or kew Gardens (or any park near a flight path!)
3. Throw your windows open if you live under the landing path
4. Film an historical drama without worrying about planes messing up your sweeping sky shots.
5. Drag racing on the runways

Cest fini!

2010-04-06T09:18:00.001+01:00

And so our time in Dancevoir has come to and end and we're motoring north again.

Brent and I manged to get another ride in on Sunday, which started in the pouring rain but turned out delightful, and a lot shorter than Mondays 50 miler!

We made another four legged friend too, tho' there's no way this fella could get up to 25mph...

Here he is chatting up Brent.

While we were riding Leah and Helena tried to find some ingredients for dinner in Chaumont, but the French seem pretty set on being closed most of he afternoon. Thankfully the local shop had some pizza dough, which inspired Jim and myself to construct a pizza oven in the garden.... This consisted of some rocks to take up the heat on the inside, flanked by breezeblocks on the outside and as a ceiling. It turned out pretty good in the end so we lit a fire inside and stood back to let it do it's thing.

In the mean time a delicious tomato sauce was cooked up in the house, along with whatever other ingredients could be cobbled together. Jesse rolled the bases with the tonic water bottle (which caused it to explode later when Jim went to top up his G&T...) Once the fire had died down and we considered the temperature sufficient set to cooking the pizzas, each one taking about 2 minutes to oook- an they went down a treat, despite the charred bases...

There followed an evening of dancing, Lungie-Trungie and general merryment until the booze ran out (except for the bottles that Leah and I bought to take home and stubbornly refused to qwaf...) at which point we
Filtered away to bed.

We awoke to a beautiful srping morning, filled with birdsong (and some hammering from next door)...and without further ado we packed up our shizzle and hit the road.

Swapping manly stories

2010-04-03T21:31:00.001+01:00

Round the open fire in Dancevoir

-- Post From My iPhone

50 mile first day ride in champaign!

2010-04-03T11:46:00.001+01:00

Brent and I did a fifty mile ride round the champaign region yesterday to break our legs in, but maybe we just broke ourselves. The scenery and roads were amazing, but the persistant head wind reduced us to base emotions- including swearing at the sky!

The garmin satnav took us off road onto forestry tracks, where our highly strung road bikes had to be carried, and we picked up a friendly labrador that we discovered could run at 25 mph over a surprising distance...

We're staying in an amazing house in Dancevoir, which we would all move into at the drop of a hat. Here's the view from the garden.

After our seven hour ride a we settled into a good deal of wine and merryment and a delicious spag bol whipped up by Jim.

-- Post From My iPhone

Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-18T21:28:00.001Z

Went to see Alice in Wonderland last night, and the best bit of the cinematic experience was getting this snap of the hallway at Vue in the O2:

The film is pants.

-- Post From My iPhone

Street art

2010-03-07T11:00:00.000Z

Saw this on the floor on my way to buy dinner- pretty nice the way the letters are projected onto the floor.

-- Post From My iPhone

Get Some Gears - T Shirt on TeePay

2009-11-18T09:08:00.002Z

One for all you 'fixie' riders out there ;)

Chimovski on Road to V

2009-09-01T14:23:00.001+01:00

Abu Dhabi

2009-08-20T02:51:00.003+01:00

Been out for my first trip to Abu Dhabo on the Etihad job for work. It's been very interesting and really good to finally feel like I'm getting in on the project. We have a lot to do!

We've been up all night after getting back late from dinner, seemed like it might not be worth going to bed, instead opting to stay up and have a few more drinks. Not sure how great an idea this was, but i wasn't about to pull out.... pear pressure tastic!

We've been staying in the Al Raha Beach Hotel, t's so huge and impressive. We even got upgraded to a villa, tho' the Acumen boyz got here first and ended up in the presidential suit. Both spaces are twice the size of a huge London flat! Everything here is larger than life. Next door a massive building in the shape of a makeup mirror is being constructed. It looks like a planet or moon rising up out of the surface of the earth at dusk as it's silhouetted against the lamps of the cityscape. Amazing how much is being built here... and how big it all is!

Anyway, time to scoot - hopefully we'll get some sleep on the plane!

Bazalgette Sorts Sh*t Out

2009-07-29T13:56:00.003+01:00

There is obviously a pretty strong 'fix-it' gene that runs in some of the Bazalgette family... Sir Joseph had it, and I reckon my dad Bobby definatly has it. So in a celebration of this my first Tee Pay t-shirt is an homage to the Bazalgette Fix It gene. If I get enough orders it will even get made and 10% of the profits will go to Surfers Against Sewage. It looks like this:

And you can order one here
They are printed by the lovely people at Howies on organic cotton - I have loads of their Ts and they're great!

Design for Dwell competition - shameless plug

2009-07-02T12:25:00.002+01:00

Just to let you know that I've been shortlisted for the design for Dwell competition, and seeing as I'm not on Facebook this is my only outlet to try and get some more votes! You can see the design here and if you like it please vote!

Aid to Sri Lankan IDPs

2009-06-01T09:32:00.002+01:00

I thought I should post some links to good people we know who are on the ground in Sri Lanka who can and are getting food and medical supplies to the refugees from the war with the Tamil Tiger Rebels. These guys need money and they need money now in order to help the many wounded, starving people who are the unfortunate victims of this terrible war.

Please help if you can.

http://www.actlanka.org/
http://www.grassroots.lk/

lost my iPhone :(

2009-04-28T11:28:00.002+01:00

Well Elsie and Mark's wedding sure was a blast on Saturday, but the annoying thing is I managed to loose my iPhone somewhere on the way home. If anyone tries to sell you an iPhone with a Chimovski logo as the background image, please get in touch!

Some greeny product design stuff

2009-04-27T12:44:00.004+01:00

Just been catching up on various blogs etc to do with green-design. Here is the current Greenpeace rating for electronics companies:

Also, I just discovered Worn Again, who are making stuff from old stuff. Awesome!

It's always sunny in Wales

2009-04-13T19:28:00.001+01:00

Just on the train home after a fantastic long weekend at Fforest, where the sun shone, the lambs bleated, and we generally ate, drunk and were merry. Bobby is in the process of buying some land so the first thing I did was build a style over the fence to gain access. It's five acres of fantastic land that rolls down from the house to the road, and is currently occupied by the owners sheep and their offspring. Leah an I sat on the style watching the elambs play as the sun set over the hills on Saturday night - lovely!

Here are some of the (tasty) little dudes watching us watching them.

I went for a three hour rude up into the Brechfa forest trails on Sunday- it's amazing up there, and I'm starting to see lots more people. Most of the people I spoke to had made the journey down from London, and one bloke was from ipswich way!

Last night we had 18 for dinner, including my friend Frank and his partner Sally from the Eco design centre in Cardiff. They had bought along their chocolate Labrador, Marley, and bobby's friend marcus had bought his one, Rollo, so it was a bit like seeing double at times! Still, alisha and ffyon made good use of them by incorporating them into their show, which was awesome. Frank had bough some authentic Irish patchin so things deteriorated a bit as the night wore on, with peter polish even chosing frank's drink over his native vodka- a sure sign of it's authenticity!

It's a real shame that rob and claire don't feel that they want to hang out with us all and sort out the situation that has brewed over the last five years or so- they're really missing out and it's a great shame not to be a part of bela's life- I need to write to him but it's hard to know what to say....

Nerves

2009-04-03T19:31:00.000+01:00

Pre gig pints!

-- Post From My iPhone

Maida vale drama

2009-04-01T21:37:00.001+01:00

Two police vans and two cars have pulled up opposite....but they've all come put again empty handed....

-- Post From My iPhone

Amazing Maldives!

2009-03-15T15:35:00.001Z

Just read that the Maldivian president is aiming to make the islands completely carbon neutral, which is such a positive step. They are hoping to do this with wind and solar power, which will hopefully lead to innovation allowing other places to follow suit.

-- Post From My iPhone

More music Sunday

2009-03-15T15:01:00.001Z

It's a beautiful day outside, but we've once again chosen to sit in the bedroom and record Chimovski tracks - it all for you, folks! Dedication or what?

Here is buzz doing a rough take of Come and Get It... The ironing board kinda ruins the cool factor, but this is a home, not a studio, so what to do?! I should get my surf board in there, or maybe my new Bustin long board once I've figures out how to get it over from NY...

Getting in on london2012

2009-03-10T20:00:00.003Z

Been at an Olympic 2012 business network meeting this afternoon in the museum of London in the docklands, trying to work out how to get in on the fun. They are working hard to make it 'sustainable' but as usual there are some crazy things going on. For example they've tied the heating up to a 40 year contract which is supposed to provide combined heat and power from waste at the site using bio-matter. However, this means that the houses they build on the site can't have solar hot water heating as this would eat into the projected returns of the power company... Crazy! Anyway, it was raining when I went in, but a lovely night when I came out, with all the lights of the docklands and a big moon rising between the buildings. The iPhone camera can't do it justice of course, but you get the idea.

Simple sounds

2009-03-10T20:00:00.001Z

Been recording more chimovski this week, trying to get a few more tracks nailed before our next gig, which is Friday the 3rd April at Dead or Alive in Bar Rhumba on Shaftesbury Av. Should be a good one as it's Rich's birthday that weekend. Jim is having a party on the saturday too so it might be a mad weekend.

Went to comedy at the Arts Club on Frith St on Saturday- was very funny and a cool venue, though I wasn't reduced completely to tears as I often am. Must go to more comedy, laughter is great.

Freedom Path longboard

2009-03-10T09:22:00.002Z

I've just been checking Core77 and it looks as though my Freedom Path long board has been cut and is on it's way! COOOOOOL. Ch ch ch check it here.

Ten at Fifteen

2009-03-06T23:34:00.001Z

Went to Jamie Oliver's Fifteen retaurant last night with a bunch of friends. Was pretty nice food and not bad value overall, though I think there's probably a fair amount of hype about it. We were given a set menu, the starter being a large plate of various tasty treats including aubergine, yummy pate and, king sqaush and some mozarella. For my main I chose haddock on a bed of chick peas, but for me it a was a little salty and the chick peas a little to crunchy- I know they're supposed to be 'al dente' but personally I prefer the Spanish style soft ones...

Anyway, here are some photos of the fun:

First mobile blog

2009-03-05T13:18:00.001Z

Just checking, while I await my sandwhich, whether blogging from my iphone is working...

-- Post From My iPhone

Boiler Man

2009-02-04T19:56:00.003Z

Poor engineer dude is here from British Gas....his afternoon started badly with a difficult to maintain and repair boiler that had broken down in some poor old dears' house, leaving her with no hot water and no heating. He toiled all afternoon, when I called to find out where he was, he said he was looking at bits of a boiler all laid out over the floor....so I waited patiently, just hoping he would come today so that I wouldn't need to wait until tomorrow. And come he did, at about six thirty, and he's still beavering away in the kitchen trying to get my boiler to work properly...

I made him a cuppa tho' so he'll be right as rain soon.

Just been reading through the Howies blog, those guys still rock. I'm sending them some jackets back on which the zips have broken....I'm hoping their design team will find it useful to see where their jackets fall down and make them even better.

Snow fun, comp winer and more.

2009-02-04T17:50:00.005Z

Well, Manu Chao was awesome, I was right to be excited! Following that Leah and I headed to Sri Lanka for a lovely holiday over Christmas, with Bobby, Netta, Laurie, Beth and Family...I should post some photos thinking about it.

2009 has started well. Chimovski played an awesome gig at the Bull and Gate in Kentish Town. We managed to get 99 people down to see us so the place was heaving - they had to open the doors at the back so that the people who couldn't get in could see! I'll try and sort out video and photos soon. We're playing again at the Bullet Bar in Camden on the 26th Feb.

This Monday serious snow hit London, which meant my office was closed for the day, which was a nice surprise. Went for a nice walk with Jesse and Katharine through Regents' park and up to Primrose Hill. The snow was perfect for snow-balls and snow-men. This lead to everyone rolling MASSIVE snow balls, until they couldn't roll them anymore, and they lay dotted about the park like some kind of strange art exhibition. It was a shame to see the number of discarded bin-liner bags all over Primrose Hill. People are SO lazy.

From cold snaps

I had a result today as I found out that I'm one of the winners for this months Core77 1 Hour Design Competition. You can see my 'Freedom' entry here. Always nice to win something.

Seriously excited: Manu Chao next week

2008-12-11T16:31:00.001Z

I'm sitting here winding myself up watching Manu Chao videos on You Tube. I've managed to get some tickets for next Wednesday to see them play at the Forum and I'm seriously excited.

It's grandma's funeral that day too, which is less exciting obviously, tho' I'm hoping it wont be a dour affair, I'm pretty sure she wouldn't want it to be.

£120 road sign

2008-10-20T14:05:00.000+01:00

This almost invisible congestion charge sign ended up costing me £120 last week since I missed it when I drove to work to return the hire car that I'd rented for the weekend in order to go to Wales. Unfortunatley, due to a crash on the M4 we didn't make it to Wales and instead spent fives hours on a Friday night driving nowhere in order to end up back home.

The really painful thing is that the hire company, Capital Hire, have charged £50 + VAT to photocopy the congestion charge letter and send it to me. OUCH.

The sign should be bigger, it's stealth! If the van on right was on the other side of the road you wouldn't see it at all.

Chimovski return to the Stage

2008-07-12T13:20:00.001+01:00

A big thanks to all those who made the French Revolution in London party last night and gave support to us. Was great to be back on stage playing music, we've got some great new songs and it felt really good to be up there. Hopefully I'll get hold of some photos soon.

We're working on the website, so that should be live soon, and we're still recording so we should have some more stuff for your iPods soon.

Glastonbury 2008

2008-07-06T18:47:00.002+01:00

Here are our photos from this years' Glastonbury festival.

Once the rain stopped it was a great festival, I think my favourite band to see were Vampire Weekend - see them if you can 'cause they're great live. We also saw Manu Chao again, who rocked, a bit of Leonard Cohen though we split early as Tasha didn't really like him, some great circus and comedy, and lots of other stuff too.

Keeny Greeny

2008-06-20T10:31:00.000+01:00

I've been spending the last few months trying to get under the skin of sustainable and 'good' design, but it's proving very difficult to reach a consensus in many areas as to what we should all be doing. True, there are some examples of great forward thinking design, like the Herman Miller Aero office seat, but the main difficulty I have is convincing everyday clients and my fellow designers as to what the best steps forward are and how we can make them economically viable. One of the main problems it seems to me is that consumerism is so fundamentally woven into our society as the model for happiness and good living. I finally got round to watching the http://www.storyofstuff.com/ video and it says everything I've been thinking and reading for ages... only thing is trying to change the momentum behind our current way of life and alter the rather self destructive direction we are currently pursuing.

There are lots of great ideas coming from people like wearewhatwedo.org and http://www.dothegreenthing.com/ but I wonder how global all that really is - who's actually reading them and taking part other than what probably amounts to a pretty small concerned minority at the moment. So how do we get these thoughts out to your every day Joe Blogs? Well the Internet is certainly doing it's part on many fronts, as I suppose is some of the media. But many of the arguments are still unresolved, and some ideas that seem really good on the face of things have terrible implications - such as trying to run our cars on Bio Ethanol- Bye Bye Forrest and food!

Anyway, just some ramblings as I sit here musing on how to draw all this stuff together into something that makes sense.

The Story of Stuff

2008-06-20T10:30:00.000+01:00

Please watch this:
http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Thanks!

Back in Colombo

2008-05-25T16:22:00.000+01:00

So Leah, Tasha and I have returned to Colombo after five months in London for a two week break to celebrate Aushi and Ero's wedding, which is next Saturday. It's great to be back, especially as this time we have no agenda and nothing to organise, which means we can chill and hang out and go visiting places.

Last night was Aushi's 2nd Hen Night, once again themed after Sex and the City. They asked me to take some photos, which came out ok but I don't have permission to post them here yet...ok, well maybe use one.

So tomorrow we're going to head South towards Galle with Zarook and Neela so spend some time chilling with them. The weather is very hot and pretty muggy, but the sun has been out so hopefully I can get some colour over my computer tan. Plus I'm determined to get a bit of a tan since Helena has a bet out against me that I will come back the same colour as I left...

Lauren's b-Day Bash

2008-05-13T13:56:00.001+01:00

Si B Stag Photos

2008-05-05T23:00:00.000+01:00

apparently it was a car chase...

2008-04-28T22:29:00.003+01:00

that got the bikes (see my previous post)! Now that would have been fun to watch!

Went on Si B's Stag Do this weekend to Dan's parents farm down in Surrey. We did lot's of boy stuff, like shooting, quad biking and swapping manly stories about the good old days of being young, free and single!

The clay pigeon shooting took place on the farm itself under a lovely clear blue sky and was lead by a couple of real old geezers who regaled us with their stories, usually begining with 'well, when I was a lad' and 'caws, kids these days dhant know their bauwn'. We split into two groups; the have shots and the have not shots - I was needless to say in the beginners team and spent quite a while missing, but on my very last go I got 6 clays for six bullets so I was dead chuffed.

After a Bar-b-q that was most skillfully cooked up by Dan's folks we headed off to quad biking, which took place on a seriously hill-billy farm but was pretty enjoyable considering my preference is to have pedals if the word 'bike' is involved! There was plenty of mud and a fair amount of testosterone to boot.

Quad biking was followed by setting up camp back at the farm, and with a fair degree of optimism I strung my Hammock between some very thorny trees next to the camp site. I'd forgotten how cool the hammock that we bought way down in Florianapolis is, and it's fairly ironic that I carried it all the way up through Brasil only to send it home and not use it till now. I put up a tent anyway just in case the many predictions of rain were to come true...

Once camp was all set we headed off to the Hare and Hounds for a fantastic meal and some post shooting/quad biking analysis, general advice to Si on being married, er, again, and plenty of Spitfire ale and red wine.

Back at camp a number of hours later and with some marsh mallows and Stella Artois to hand we lit the carefully pre-prepared bonfire (Dan's handywork) and settled down to some suitable round-the-camp-fire banter. I'm sure at this point I began to bestow virtues on Red Ken beyond his merrit in response to the terror I felt that some of the party were considering voting for Boris... Oh well, seems to be the way with a lot of people I know, and it occurred to me today that we may well end up using the term 'Borisisms' way more that we can currently imagine if it goes his way.

After I failed miserably to get my guitar to play properly and we'd thoroughly exhausted a good number of Stella cans I fumbled my way into the Hammock and settled down to get some shut eye. Sure enough at some very early time of the morning I was awoken by rain pitter pattering through the tree leaves and onto my head, so in fear of a total down pour I upped camp and retreated to my tent. However, no sooner had I got there than the rain stopped and all was well again at camp Mohacek.

Sunday was a day of recuperation and rest and generally feeling pretty mash-up, which would mean that the stag do can count as a complete success.

Bike rack destruction

2008-04-04T14:16:00.000+01:00

Check this, someone overcooked this junction and destroyed this rack of bikes. Nuts. Hope no-one was putting their bike in at the time...

Long time no blog....

2008-03-28T19:51:00.000Z

Hard to come home and blog when you're on a computer all day at work, but now I have one of these fancy pants Macbook Pro's to work/play on, it's super sweet - such amazing product design. Plus I am running Windows XP under Bootcamp on it and have my seat of Solidworks working a treat so I can do proper work on it ;)

Leah and I are busy trying to find a home of our own to buy, but it's not proving particularly easy. Plus the markets are all going crazy so who knows what to do? People round here live in very expensive shoe boxes....

Tomorrow we're doing Shoot Portobello, which should be awesome fun. Check for photos on Shootexperience.com

Anyway, it's Friday so I'm going to get off this machine and go have some fun!

The earth moved....

2008-02-27T09:48:00.000Z

and I felt it! Cool huh?

Woken up at 5am

2008-01-29T06:40:00.000Z

This morning I was woken up by an alarm at 5am. First it infiltrated my dream and I found myself outisde an enormous skyscraper office block with the same alarm going off. We were trying to turn it off by switching various sockets on and off, but to no avail. Arrrgh, failure dreams, must mean something deep and meaningful.... ;) Anyway, when I woke up the alarm was still going off and now I cant get back to sleep, so I'm up. Hurray.

Finally took delivery of my Dahon Speed P8 folding bike on Friday. I had to go to the scariest industrial estate ever, which is to be found round the back of Wormwood Scrubs prison on Mitre Lane in case you want to go for and 'extreme walk' some time. Since the bike is a folder it allowed me to unfold it there and then and ride home, which seemed to impress the lads working for the courier company no end! Riding a folding bike is a little unnerving at first since it's easy to believe that one of the many quick-release hinges could leave you in a crumpled heap of folded wheels and pedals at the least bump in the road...however, so far so good and it's great to be riding again - public transport sucks! While not the smallest or quickest folder, the Dahon offers great value for money and looks great too....well, for a folder anyway.

Mrs Leah Bazalgette and I are happily settled back into our lovely flat in Maida Vale and she got confirmed at Cunning last week so is feeling a lot more permanent now. We've the In-Laws/Land-lords staying at the moment, i.e Neela and Zarook, which is great, though it's a little odd to have other people here all the time! Looks like we'll have Leah's sister Tasha move in after they've gone too, though I think I've managed to convince her that I'm a total anti-TV fascist, banning all but Radio 4 from the media streams.... well, I'm not that bad, but Hollyoaks really isn't my idea of interesting or relaxing TV. In the mean time Leah and I need to sort out our own space I think, and having to share this flat will no doubt galvanise us into getting our sh*t together.

Off to Wales this weekend to introduce Neela and Zarook to proper cold...

Bye Bye Family

2008-01-10T09:54:00.000Z

Just seen our family off on their way to the airport and back to the UK :( Sad to see them go, and to know that we're heading off soon too... but what a fantastic time we've all had!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-07T04:21:00.000Z

Ok, so we're a week into it, but then I've been very busy with all the parties here - getting married, er, three events for that! - Leah's birthday, Zarook's 2nd 30th - so young and handsome to boot. It's been the most amazing end to 2007 and a fantastic start to 2008. Check Sami and Mer's blog for some descriptions and photos, I'll post more of mine later...I'm on a Mac so no Picasa at the moment - please google, sort us out a Mac version!

I'm really looking forward to this year - Factory have given me an opportunity to try and really make a difference with sustainable design and I've a new path to establish with that one. Exciting and daunting too.

So for 2008 I want to:

Surf more
bike more
read more
cook more
grow some of my own food
shop local - farmer's markets rule!
climb more
play more music
take more photos
spend more time with my family
blog more
make more of a difference
live the life I love

Being married has been fantastic so far, Leah and I are closer than ever, it feels natural and great! We had the most amazing wedding ever, the beach was beautiful, the sunset red and stunning, the people wonderful....everything about it was just awesome.

New year was also great - all our friends down at Hikaduwa beach, 'angin' out and causin' trouble. Some great surf to be had there too - almost felt like I was getting somewhere again. Man, it's so nice to bod up and down in the warm indian ocean with turtles popping up for air every so often.... going to be hard back in the Atlantic!

Then an awesome 'home-coming' reception, where Leah and I got to enter riding on palanquins, with a procession of traditional dancers and women throwing flowers at our feet. Oh, and an elephant!

So I've a week left to sort our selves out and enjoy this wonderful family before heading back to London. 2007 was such an amazing year - here's to topping it with 2008!

Comfort

2007-12-09T09:36:00.000Z

Well, business class sure is nice! A little ostentatious maybe, but it sure is comfy. With a little creativity I'm sure we could improve the 'economy' seats to be more like that! Going to have to 'cause I'm not going to get another ride in there for a while!

So here we are back in Colombo, where Neela and Zarook have been really busy on their house, a new kitchen, Leah's bedroom's had a complete makeover and generally they're making such an effort for the place to be an amazing 'magul geththera' or wedding house! Here is where people will be coming and hanging out and buzzing with the excitement of our impending Big Day. Wooo Hooooo!!!!!

We're hoping that Sami and Mere will be over some time today, crazy to think they're somewhere in Colombo - trouble is we don't know where! Hopefully they'll call us and we can hook up....

"Going to Sri lanka and we're..."

2007-12-07T17:45:00.000Z

"...gonna get maaaarrrieeed"

You know the song, now sing along. That's right; tomorrow we fly (Business Class) to Colombo for the final countdown to Mr and Mrs Bazalgette! We are getting pretty excited now, of course, even more so due to people like our good friends Sami and Mer already heading to Sri Lanka and indeed probably landing as I write this!

I've been super lame at blogging, but getting my feet back on the ground here in London coupled with getting a wedding organised in Sri Lanka has been taking up any spare minutes might have otherwise grabbed to write some words here. When I have sat down I've found myself largely wordless, maybe just down to mental melt down...who knows. Hopefully the sunshine and adventures in Sri Lanka will inspire some more interesting stories.

Baby Bela Bazalgette

2007-10-28T18:50:00.000Z

We went to visit Robin, Claire and Bela last weekend. Here is a photo of the proud daddy and his beautiful baby. She's really very sweet indeed and it's great to see Rob and Claire so happy. Still amazing to think of my brother as a dad.

Madia Vale Floods!

2007-10-12T09:37:00.001+01:00

Woke up this morning to a river running down Maida Vale!

Rockin' out at Manu Chao

2007-10-05T17:05:00.000+01:00

Went to see Manu Chao last night, was awesome. Moshed like I was 14 again!

I'm an Uncle!

2007-09-18T18:14:00.001+01:00

My brother and his partner Claire had a baby today!

free bikes?

2007-09-18T13:56:00.000+01:00

These bikes have been left chained to the railings for at least a week now, so I thought if no one wants them I'll rescue them - I really need a bike myself. The racer is missing a back wheel, but the rest of it looks OK, and the upright bike just needs a bit of TLC I reckon. I've put a notice on asking the owners to contact me if they don't want it, so I'll leave that a week and if it's still there, well I might just cut the chains!!

31 Today!!!!

2007-09-07T12:43:00.000+01:00

What a year!

engaged!

2007-08-25T23:46:00.000+01:00

Ok, I kept it from you last time as I wanted a moment to tell friends etc, but Leah and I got engaged on Los Roques! Yup, I popped the question on our first day there, after all the stress and agro of Mexicana we found ourselves alone in a beautiful place and I thought 'It's got to be here or Hackney...'!

So now Leah is away in Sri Lanka organising tons of stuff for the big day, which is scheduled to be the 29th December of this year! It's very very exciting, we're planning to try and have a beach wedding in Sri Lanka and it looks as though a good number of our friends will be able to make it along.

I'm currently down in Wales escaping the hustle of London, which I was finding way too much after the freedom of traveling. Don't have a job yet so being in London is doubly stressful, plus with Leah being away I was kinda lonesome! Here the weather has been amazing, wonderful blue skies and still warm weather - what a treat after the last week or so of miserable drizzle in the big shitty. My poor mum has broken her femur after being knocked down by an Alsatian in the park the other day whilst walking her dog. She's now laid up in hospital after having had a hip replacement operation, and I've bought little old Misty the dog down here with me. She's pretty blind and deaf so has been wandering around bumping into things the whole time, but I trimmed her fringe and that seems to have made a difference...

Today we went skinny dipping in the river! Been ages since I've done that and it's still loads of fun!

Los Roques to London City

2007-07-28T02:27:00.000+01:00

OK, it's a broad title, but then it's been quite a while and now we're back home in London after lots of adventures in Venezuela, and Mexico for that matter.

So after a prolonged period in Cumana we finally made our way West and ended up slap bang in the centre of Caracas, the city we'd vowed never to visit! However a reasonably swift taxi ride took us out of the city and through the mountains to the sprawling town of Caita la Mar where we stayed the night before heading out to Los Roques. We were booked to stay at La Parada hotel, but they are crafty and ship you off to some hotel right on the industrial docks when they are over-full - nice. Explore we did not, though I did manage to get a ride to a Bodega to pick up a couple of bottles of wine for our up and coming romantic dinners!

At 6am we were already at the airport as we had to pass by the Mexicana airlines office to pay for the first leg of our journey home before catching our 8.30 flight to Los Roques. After much arduous and painstaking investigation (while in Brazil) we thought that we had found the cheapest and basically the only way to get back home from Mexico without requiring further Visas for Leah, and the extra $1100 (US) cost to our budget would be painful but livable with. Unfortunately we were in for a nasty surprise as due to a communication breakdown on the behalf of Mexicana, the price quoted when we reserved the ticket was no longer available and instead we were slammed with over $2000 (US) worth of airfares and taxes! Of course our protests, tears, reasoning and pleading fell on deaf ears, "computa says no", and with no time left to try and explore a cheaper option we handed over my credit card and left to find our Los Roques flight feeling thoroughly cheated.

So with that rather nasty taste in our mouths we left the international terminal and headed to the domestic one to catch the short flight over to Los Roques, which, being described as Venezuela's most beautiful Caribbean destination, we hoped would cheer us up somewhat! And indeed as we began to spy the white sands, clear waters and sun soaked islands from the plane window the stresses of the morning ebbed away and our smiles returned.

From Los Roques

On Los Roques we spent our time either sitting by or paddling around in the beautiful water, snorkeling and generally taking it very very easy, conscious as we were that these would be our last few days on our wonderful adventure through Argentina, Brasil and Venezuela. We were looked after wonderfully by Dona Carmen and her crew, and the ever helpful Libia appeared as if by magic whenever we needed advice on a tour or had a boat to book. I think I'll let the photos do the talking for the time being...

From Los Roques

The journey home was long and pretty arduous, especially as Leah was basically taken to a secure area for 9 hours in Mexico, where she had to ask for an escort even to visit the bathroom! Fortunately I was both allowed to stay there with her and leave to go and find us food - I'm sure she'll be writing more on that when she gets around to blogging. Now we're back in London and feeling pretty shell shocked, but enjoying seeing our friends again and trying to decide which stories to bore them with first...

Back in Cumaná

2007-07-15T18:43:00.000+01:00

In the end we spent just about ten days in Rio Caribe, partly due to Leah being ill for some of them but mostly due to Posada Villa Antillana being so nice and our reluctance to be running around all over the place! Don't get me wrong though, we didn't spend all the time sitting around in the hostel watching films in the comfortable lounge area or hanging in the hammocks enjoying the peaceful shaded garden, no sir, trips R us...

Aside from the already mentioned boat trip and day at Playa Loero we also headed off to San Juan de las Galdonas to try and see some baby giant sea turtles being born. This town is about as far East as the coastal roads on the North will take you and the drive is a dramatic ride up and over the mountains that reach down to the sea all along the coast. We had arranged to stay as Posada Tres Caravlas through our friends at Villa Atillana, with the promise of a trip out to visit the biologists who man the Sea Turtle program.

The posada itself sits up above the beach and has fantastic views of the bay, however it's a bit run down and the heavy rains meant plenty of dripping ceilings! When I thought the sky had cleared a bit I persuaded Leah that we should take a walk along the beach, though she protested that it would rain again soon. "Nah", I assured her, "it's cleared up now..." We had been walking for half an hour or so when the clouds moved back in and the rain started to come down again. I didn't mind so much as it was a lovely walk none the less, but we arrived back at the Posada very bedraggled, with only a change of clothes each to last us the night. Oops.

From Rio Caribe an...

When we had dried up a bit and changed we headed out with Eduardo (the guy running the posada) to a beach where the sea turtle program is being run. Unfortunately for us there were no hatchlings to be seen at that time and the plan didn't appear to be to wait around until they popped their heads out of the sand, which was a great shame as we would have been happy to hang out for a while to catch a glimpse of the little things making for the sea...oh well. Instead we took a walk along the beach and back and then headed back towards San Juan. Before leaving though I bought a T-Shirt with a cool turtle print on it; been there, missed it, got the T Shirt.

On the way back to Rio Caribe the next day we stopped off at the Bucare chocolate factory and did a tour which involved plenty of chocolate tasting and a good bit of knowledge consuming also - long winded process, chocolate making, but worth it! If you're lucky when we get back there'll be some of the chocolate flavoured rum left to try...

Once back in Rio Caribe our plan was then to head inland to Caripe and visit the cave called Guacharo, Venezuelas largest, but timing conspired otherwise and we ended up back here in Cumanà - we're planning to visit the cave next week before we head off to the final and most exciting part of our time here; los Roques!

Yesterday we headed off for a day trip to the National Park Mochima, an hours journey from Cumanà. It's a beautiful area off clear waters and green islands and we spent the day on a tiny beach lounging and paddling as we so desired. Nice.

From Cumaná

beached again

2007-07-10T23:52:00.000+01:00

We went to the beach again today, this time by "Por Puesto", a kind of local bus service, which is actually a pickup truck with wooden benches in the back. Yesterday we tried to go too but it started to piss down with rain just as we left Rio Caribe, and didn't stop for hours. We got as far as the path to the beach, hoping it would stop, and then told the driver to take us back! It cost 20,000 bolivars for the journey since we kind of hired the vehicle. But today we did it for 4,800 there and back...living and learning once again.

We saw a couple of curious things on the beach. The first was a pelican that kind of surfed into the beach and then sat on the shore. I didn't think it was very well, but we left it be. Then some kids came and started picking it up and taking photos with it, then they carted it off with them when they left, poor thing. Later though an older dude came waling past with a pelican in a sack, its heading poking out and looking around, seemingly not very alarmed by its situation. Maybe they were going to nurse it back to health. Or maybe they were off to make pelican stew.

The other thing we saw was a fishing boat anchor just beyond the surf, then the young sailors jumped out and swam ashore. They then proceeded to collect some eight or so huge barrels of fuel on the shore, they roped them together and swam them out through the surf to their boat... a pit stop with a difference!

Other than that we just lay soaking up the sun and playing the odd game of Frisbee,

boat trip

2007-07-09T01:01:00.000+01:00

Today we hired a boat and headed out along the coast with another couple from San Sebastian in the Basque Country. The scenery is beautiful; ragged mountain hills, covered in thick jungle greenery reach straight down to the sea while flocks of pelicans fly overhead. The boat ride was quite exciting due to the small size of the boat and the seeminlgy large size of the caribbean rollers. The first beach we stopped at was Pui Pui, a beautiful stretch of palm backed sand with enough surf for a bit of body-surfing to pass the time. After a few hours we then back tracked to Medina, a more popular beach, again very beautiful with tall palms, mountain hills and a much more scerene sea. Nice.

From Rio Caribe an...

Rio Caribe and a hot mud bath

2007-07-08T03:13:00.000+01:00

We've ben in Rio Caribe for a few days now, but unfortunately Leah came down with a nasty fever, aches and a bad headache so we've been holed up in our posada. Thankfuly Villa Antilada is a fantastic place and the people running it have been great to us - taking us to the doctor, helping to get a blood test (we thought it might be Malaria...) and even sorting out food and stuff.

Today we went with Emillio (one of the managers) and his girlfriend Sarai to the Agua Sanas thermal springs and had a good dunking in mud and sulphorous pools. It was a cool experience and a realy nice place to relax, set at the base of a plain that spreads out after you pass the imediate hills that front the sea. It's a terrain of cocao and fruit plantations amongst a jungle set in the hills.

From Rio Caribe an...

Crazy cheap

2007-07-03T20:02:00.000+01:00

Get this, even the most premium of petrol over here costs just 90 bolivars a litre. Even at the official exchange rate of around 2000 bolivars to the dollar that's 22 litres to the dollar, or about 44 to the pound. I reckon that in my old Smart car you could probably go from one end of the country to the other for about two quid.

No wonder they're all driving mash up old V8 chevies!

Cumaná

2007-07-03T19:10:00.000+01:00

After three days or so in Ciudad Bolivar relaxing and trying to get my back sorted we have travelled North to Cumaná, right up on the Caribbean sea! The sun is back out, the sky is blue and we're going to spend a few weeks chilling before we take the long fight home. Woo hoo!

The scenery around here is really nice, green mountains in the distance all around and the deep blue sea if you can get up above the houses to see it. We took a look around Cumaná this morning and it's pretty enough, another of these colonial style towns with small colourful houses, which look poky on the outside but open up inside to reveal an inner courtyard surrounded by cool dark rooms.

From Cumaná

There are plenty of restaurants and bars too, which is nice after Ciudad Bolivar where simply finding something to eat seemed like a real mission. One lunch time we ended up in a restaurant where a stack of speakers blasted music at us from only a few feet as though it were forever carnival, and the dilapidated air conditioning machines fired cold air at us from all sides from filthy vents. The food was ok though, Leah couldn't believe my enthusiasm for the carcas-soup I was served, leaving hers to go cold, but I figured it was probably pretty good and recently made judging by the number of happy (though possibly deaf) diners, it tasted good and in the end I didn't even get ill!

From Cumaná

So tomorrow we're going to head further East to Rio Caribe and the beaches around, which should be pretty nice from what we gather. We'll spend a little while in that area and then work our way slowly west, back to here to Cumanà to do a few trips around the islands and stuff. Apparently there are some hot springs, which I've never had an opportunity to try, and a large cave which I always enjoy!

Venezuela!

2007-06-29T22:12:00.000+01:00

It's been a little while and it feels like we've done a lot, but I'll try and keep this brief.

After spending a couple more days in Manaus, in the pretty nice Anna Cassia Palace Hotel with a swimming pool on the roof and view over the docks (see photos), it was time to make the move towards Venezuela. We debated flying as far as Boa Vista, but ended up taking the bus due to the cost saving. Actually it was a total palaver due to miss-information but we eventually got the tickets and were set to go.

The road from Manaus to Boa Vista must have just about the worst Karma ever, much much worse than the Newbury Bypass. This is due to the fact that it passes through an Indian reserve, and when the indigenous people protested at the building of a tarmac strip straight through their land the government simply bought in the army and did away with anyone in their way. Picture Swampy being gassed out of the tunnels. However, flying is kinda bad Karma too since it is so polluting so we took maybe the lesser evil. And we were punished too since the road surface resembles corrugated iron with the odd chasm thrown in for luck, so sleep was out of the question and we arrived at Boa Vista sleepy and fed up. We then had to jump another bus for three hours or so that took us up to and across the border into Venezuela! Border formalities were thankfully very easy, the most chilled out looking bunch of immigration people you can imagine, even laughing and joking with each other...they were more concerned with our Yellow Fever vaccination certificates.

So then we arrived at Santa Elena a few kilometers over the border, a pretty small town but useful as the first stop and a place to change money. It's great to be back somewhere where Spanish is the language, they understand me and I understand them, fantastic. Didn't stop us from getting ripped off with our first street-side money exchange however...

Here in Venezuela there are many exchange rates. The official one is about 2000 bolivars to the dollar. But on the street you can get up to about 3800 if you´re lucky, and 3300 for travellers cheques. Kinda irritating that we got 2600...oh well, you live and learn. It´s funny to hand over a few hundred dollars and walk away with over a million bolivars. "one miiiiilllioon..."

We spent one night in Santa Elena before heading off on a tour of the Gran Savana. That area is home to the unique mountain formations known as Tepuis, which are formed when the rest of the land is washed away and only the harder stuff is left over. This means that on the top there are unique ecological regions, which strange fauna and flora adapted specifically to those environs.

From Gran Savana

You can take a trip and walk up one of them, Riorama, but we opted for a two day tour around with Adrenaline Tours instead - which involved lots of walking up rivers, jumping into pools and sliding down rapids. Unfortunately it´s rainy season and our second day was a bit of a wash out, however our guide was great and led us on a tour of the area explaining about the lives of the local Indian populations and the wildlife.

From Gran Savana

Last night we took yet another night bus for ten hours up to Ciudad Bolivar. Thankfully we only stopped at one of the dreaded military checkpoints, where they took a cursory glance at our day-packs and passports. After hearing so many stories of entire bags being searched through in the dead of night we were pretty grateful to get away so easily - no doubt it wont be long before we are party to the full blown affair.

My back has gone all stiff after riding around in the jeep the last two days so I´m planning on staying horizontal for the next day or two before we continue north to the Caribbean coast! We´re back in the Northern Hemisphere now, come on summer!

Told you I'd keep it brief.
Oh, and I bought a cheapo guitar too...

The Amazon Jungle with 'Jungle Experience' tours

2007-06-24T16:32:00.000+01:00

sDay 1: Wed 20th June
Our trip into the jungle started early at six in the morning, a ride through Manaus at Taxi speed Mach II and then a three hour bus ride 200km east to Lindõia. On the trip along with us was Marie, from Sweden, Merche and Iñigo from the Basque country and two guides Francisco and Leo. From Lindõia we hopped in a small boat and set off up the Urubu river to find the base camp. Since there was no wind the surface of the river formed a mirror reflecting the tops of the submerged trees and the clear blue sky. We had not gone more than half an hour when the guides spotted a rare pink dolphin crossing the river in front of us and brought the outboard motor to a stop. We drifted in awed silence as the peculiar looking animal surfaced to breath only a few meters in front. Another bum-numbing half an hour or maybe more and we arrived at what was to be the main camp during our trip; a collection of open, palm thatched shelters on the side of the river.

From Amazon jungle

After setting up our hammocks and a brief tour around the camp we chilled out and got to know each other before lunch was served. Marie was at Hostel Manaus with us so we´d already spoken to her quite a bit, but it was great to be speaking Spanish again with Merche and Iñigo after so many months of Portuguese. Good practise for our impending trip into Venezuela also!

After lunch Francisco took Leah and I out on a small canoe to explore the canopies of the submerged forest. We crossed the open river and then pushed through the branches in to a darker world of trees, spider webs, shadows and peculiar bird calls. Once again everything was mirrored buy the dark waters of the river.

From Amazon jungle

After a while of pushing through the branches and brushing off the cobwebs from our faces it was time to try piranha fishing for our dinner. We each had a simple rod with a length of fishing line and a hook with a lump of chicken for bait. Fransisco splashed at the water violently to imitate the sound of an animal in distress and then we lowered our hooks and waited. It took only minutes for the first bites and with a sudden jerk of his rod Fransisco had his catch and pulled aboard our first piranha. After taking it from the hook he demonstrated with a leaf it´s seemingly automatic biting reflex, which was very effective at taking large chunks out of the foliage, and no doubt would have done the same to our limbs had they gotten too close. Soon enough I felt the nibbles pull at my line and tried the same aggressive snatch I had just observed, and was rewarded with my own thrashing piranha fish, albeit a fair amount smaller that that of our guide. I think Leah was a little alarmed by the whole process, gnashing teeth and all, so we swapped places and she moved to the front of the boat to take some photos. We caught a couple mor each, moving the boats position once or twice once the fish got wise to our tricks, and then headed back to the camp with our haul...

From Amazon jungle

After dinner of more chicken, rice, and, you guessed it, Piranha (bony but very tasty) we headed out into the starlit night for some alligator hunting. Once again it was perfectly still which meant that the stars and the moon were also reflected in the now black water, adding a surreal depth to the scenery. This time we were all in the boat, occasionally shining our torches into the black forest edge to see if there was anything to see, which there never was! Our guides led the boat back into the the submerged trees from the open river, which was still, dark and exciting! I have to admit that I though we were looking for some two meter beast that could tip the boat and gobble us all for it´s dinner, but it turned out that the alligator we caught was pretty small, just over a foot I'd say and very scared looking. Never the less it was quite exciting to hold onto it and feel it's leathery skin in my hands.

After we got back to the camp it was time to sample our first night in a hammock, which turned out to be a lot less comfortable than I had imagined. I didn´t sleep very well at all, but poor Leah I think spent the whole night waiting to be eaten by some terrible jungle beast as she was awake every time I opened my eyes to try and find a comfortable, warmer position!

Day 2: Thursday 21st June

I got up before sunrise and left with Fransisco to watch the sun come up over the trees. I think Leah had finally managed to drift off so there was no way she was getting up to come along! We headed out onto the still waters and drifted in the silence as gradually the sky changed colour through the blues and reds and the sun rose up over the dark line of the trees. We spent a little while exploring the canopies again, eating a few more cobwebs, and then headed back to camp for breakfast. In the time we'd been out a thick mist descended and it was eerie and still back at camp.

From Amazon jungle

After breakfast Leah and I headed out with Fransisco on a three hour jungle walk. As we went we were shown various trees and their medicinal qualities, which we got to smell, taste or simply look at. There was a lot of noise of birds and crickets, and we got to see some monkeys in the distance shaking the trees. I think my super jungle camouflage white shirt may have given us away though, and Leah and I were certainly not stealthy as we crashed through the trees, so we didn't really see them up close. Not that I minded, being there in the Amazon Jungle was enough for me! The scariest thing was when Fransisco poked into a hole and tempted out the tarantula that was asleep inside - Leah had run off to a safe distance, but I stayed to take to necessary tourist snaps. I wouldn't want one of those in my bed. After a few hours, tired and sweaty we headed back to the camp for lunch.

From Amazon jungle

After saying there was no way were were going to do it, we decided to spend a night out in the jungle after all - no point coming all that way a not doing so really. I felt very safe and in good hands with Fransisco anyway, so was sure that there would be nothing to worry about. Only the Amazon Jungle after all. So after lunch and a bit of a rest we packed our hammocks, some water and insect repellent and headed out once again into the trees, this time with Marie as well. We were lead back along paths we had come along that morning and then after a while Fransisco broke off and began cutting a new trail through the undergrowth. This was slow going and tiring even for us, and we didn't have to swing the machete or carry more than a small bag each. We reached a point near some waters edge and Fransisco decided that building a small bridge across would be better than going around due to the change in water level, so he set about cutting down some smaller trees to use as planks. At that point in time I think Leah had become a little anxious about the whole staying out a night in the jungle thing so we had a long talk about whether to head back to the safety of the camp. It was the no going back point, so a good time to decide if going on was what we wanted. Thankfully we decided that we would go through with it and made our way across the water and once again onto dry land and eventually back onto ta clear path. Soon enough we were at our camp for the night; a couple of lean-to shelters in a clearing in the trees.

Fransisco set about fetching some firewood and then headed off to a nearby stream to prepare the food. I helped Marie get the fire going and Leah busied herself inspecting for anything dangerous that might have been lurking in the camp waiting for us to arrive. Thankfully nothing was. It was great to watch our guide prepare the camp using only his machete and the green resources around us - spoons, plates and a table were made and the chicken and sausage skewered and hung above the fire. The only concession was a pan to boil water and make rice. We ate like kings under the forest canopy, with only glimpses of the moon and stars above to reassure us that it wasn't about to rain.

Leah and I shared our hammock that night and spent much of it awake listening to the sounds of the jungle around us and holding tightly to each other in case anything was sniffing us out for a tasty midnight snack...once again, we didn't get much sleep! The most scary thing was probably a howler monkey doing just what it's name would suggest and sounding a lot like someone in terrible pain.

Day 3: 22nd June

After breakfast was skillfully whipped up by Fransisco once again, coffee, boiled eggs, pineapple and bananas, we broke camp and headed back the way we had come to the main camp. It was a fantastic experience and I am very very glad we decided to go ahead with it! Getting back to the camp was like returning to a five star hotel and swimming in the river like a sauna and hot tub combined it felt so good. City slickers.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and learning how to make rings and handicraft stuff ,with only a short trip up river to the site of the new Jungle Experience base which is being built by the owner Antonio. It is a great location, slightly elevated and open to the river, creating a great view and spot to watch the sun go down, so that's what we did before heading back for dinner.

From Amazon jungle

That night we all slept well.

Day 4: 23rd June.

After waking up early there was time to pack, have breakfast and go for a swim off a boat out in the wider river before we gathered our things and headed back downstream the way we had come. I spent the time reflecting on what a wonderful experience it had been and enjoying the last views of the sunken forest.

Flight over the Amazon

2007-06-19T22:25:00.000+01:00

Yesterday we took a three stop flight from Sao Luis to Manaus via Belem and Santarem. Belem is at the mouth of the Amazon river and would have been the principle port of trade for the rubber heading out from Manaus. The river is massive. No joke, it's big. Taking the plane proved to be awesome since the route from Belem to Manaus follows the amazon almost exactly, offering amazing views of the river, its tributaries and the seemingly endless Amazon Rain Forest. It's like a childhood fantasy to see the Amazon and tomorrow at six AM we're heading off for a four day adventure somewhere in the jungle, 200km from Manaus and up the river Urugu.

Today we've been hanging out in Manaus trying to sort out a few last details for the jungle (such as a raincoat...) and having a look around. It's a pretty run down city in truth, with loads of buildings in need of some serious attention. Since the Brits smuggled rubber tree seeds out to India and undermined the honey pot that was, the government introduced a tax free trading zone to encourage industry into the area. Subsequently there are loads of electronic goods shops, cheap looking clothes and pirate / cloned MP3 players etc. I nearly bought a camera lens, but realised it would be cheaper in the UK anyway - so much for tax free.

On another note, I've been wondering whether Facebook.com proves the old 'seven-degrees-of-separation' adage about people knowing people knowing people....? Anyone care to find out?

Lone dancer

2007-06-17T16:59:00.000+01:00

This guy was well into the festivities...

Cant see it? click here

Chariot of Fire

2007-06-17T16:42:00.000+01:00

Had to interject with this video we took back in Itacaré since we found it highly amusing. It's the town rubbish truck at about eight in the morning, you'll need sound to appreciate since it was blasting the Chariots of Fire theme tune as it cruised the streets. For the first few mornings we were completely baffled as to who would be playing that tune so proudly so early in the morning....

Cant see it? Click here

São Luis

2007-06-16T23:47:00.000+01:00

After a two day stopover in Olinda, in which we stayed in the dampest, most cavey room ever, we flew up so São Luis with GOL airlines - our first flight in Brazil, and possibly the newest plane I've ever been in. Took a load more photos of Olinda since the weather was a bit better...

From Maracaipe and...

From São Luis

The old town centre here is a Unesco World Heritage site due to the excellent examples of old colonial architecture, although much of it is in a pretty dire state. Everything is covered in "Azulejos" a type of tile brought over by the portuguese which helps to protect and decorate the outside of the buildings.

From São Luis

We have arrived right on time for the Bumba Meu Boi festivities, which means there has been fantastic dancing and music in the streets every night till the early hours. There is a strong Afro-Carribean influence here, and due to the promiscuous Portugues there is every colour, shape and size or person you can imagine.

Cant see it? Click here
Here is a photo of some of the dancers, seeing as the video seems a bit dark...

From São Luis

Less than ten days left in Brasil now, with the Amazon jungle still to come!

Back in Olinda

2007-06-12T22:26:00.000+01:00

This time we took the bus route, and it wasn't bad at all, and it cost almost three times less than the taxi...but then we did know the route, and that makes it much easier. In fact as we entered Recife I recogonised Olinda on it's hill and was able to ask the driver to stop and let us off, which meant no long metro ride or extra taxi costs.

Anyway, we're here for tomorrow and then the day after we fly up to São Luis. It's been raining a whole lot, which is a bit boring.

We never saw dolphins in Pipa in the end, mainly 'cause it was raining loads so we didn't go back to the beach. We did buy some art though.

There was a nasty incident last night though when one of our fellow guests at the pousada found that his room had been broken into and his camera and laptop had been stolen. Oddly enough the thieves took the time to go through his bag and empty it of his TAG watch, money and passports and just took the camera stuff. This lead us to believe that whoever it was knew what they were looking for, particularly as that morning he had taken the bag out and was showing me the photos on his laptop in the open communal area. Another reminder for Leah and myself about how important it is to keep your stuff as safe as possible, and assume nowhere is secure!

Bye bye board, bye bye

2007-06-11T15:52:00.000+01:00

Well, we just sold the surfboard, bag leash an'all for 50 Reais - about GPB12.50! Kinda sad, but it served us well and it's going to make getting on buses much easier!

Olinda and on to Pipa

2007-06-10T20:06:00.000+01:00

OK, we know it was lazy but it felt good; we took a taxi from Olinda to Pipa yesterday to avoid the 5 hour bus ride. We have to go back to Olinda by bus anyway, so cheating on one leg of the journey isn't so bad...

Olinda is a very pretty town/suburb of Recife, which is an enormous imposing city of skyscrapers - we didn't go there. Olinda is made up of narrow winding cobbled streets and colourful little houses, which double as artist studios, cafes and pousadas (like hostels). We stayed in a rather nice, if very overpriced place called Cuatro Cantos, which was based in an old colonial holiday home. It had high ceilings, polished wooden floors and plenty of character, the only down side being that the rooms we could afford would have previously served as a store room or something similar! Clean and pleasant enough though. Olinda is a great place for just wandering and taking photos and stumbling upon things; music, art, whatever. We'll be back there on tuesday to take our flight to São Luis.

From Maracaipe and...

Pipa is also a lovely little town, cobble streets etc etc. It also has pretty good surf and the beaches are different to everywhere else we've been in that they are backed by cliffs, though not very high ones. I've been out on the board a couple of times, but we're going to sell it now (or have to give it away) as it's too much of a pain to carry it through the jungle and up to Venezuela - plus the airline will charge us more than it's worth just to stick it in the hold!

Tomorrow we're hoping to go and see some dolphins that are apparently in great numbers just round the headland.

Maracaipe

2007-06-05T18:00:00.000+01:00

After a three hour wait in the bus station due to ticket confusion, we split from Maceió and headed further north on yet another long bus ride towards Recife. We got off at Ipojuca and jumped in a Combi van to Maracaipe, which is a lovely quiet beach village just south of Porto Galinhas.

We were in an over priced pousada at first but after dinner on the first night we stubled upon a bunch of lovley little apartments, where the owner and some friends invited us to join their little party. Many whiskies later we had arranged to come and stay for the rest of out time here - it's great as we have a little kitchen, living space and a veranda looking out to the sea. The party was made up of a couple of doctors, a physcologist, a journalist, a stylist and a couple of other people, who were acting like teenagers getting drunk and falling over and generally having a good time. We felt right at home.

From Maracaipe and...

I've been surfing quite a bit here on the beach break and had some great rides the first day - really felt I was getting somewhere again. Yesterday though I managed to put a hole in the board and have just picked it up from the repair shop. I'm going to head out again this afternoon and tomorrow before we head off to Olinda for a couple of nights. Only a week or so more and we'll be selling the board before we board a plane to São Luis. :(

From Maracaipe and...

Rainy day in Maceió

2007-06-01T16:54:00.000+01:00

The incessant rain hasn't stopped since last night, it could be Wales here. We arrived yesterday morning at 7.30 after a nine hour overnight bus ride on which we didn't sleep much at all. It was a beautiful sunny day and very hot, but we crashed out in the hostel for a few hours trying to shake off the journey.

We made it out for a short walk to the sea, which is an amazing green / blue and very beautiful, especially in the sun. I have a feeling it wont look so nice today, but we've not been down to have a look. After some crap spaghetti we headed back to the hostel. A bit of a nothing day really.

From Maceió and jo...

I was hoping to head to a local surf beach called Praia Frances today, but the rain has stopped play. Instead we're just hanging out and staring into computer screens. There is another traveller at the hostel called Tim who's coming to the end of a nine month trip on which he's been to Africa, Australia and South America. He's looking forward to being back at home and going to Glastonbury...

Tomorrow we're going to continue North. There is a Marine park fairly near by where there is supposed to be excellent snorkeling, but if the rain continues like this it wont be great. May be better to head on further north to Porto Gallinhas (another surf spot) or Recife, we shall see.

Salvador da Bahia

2007-05-29T20:31:00.000+01:00

We made it to Salvador at the beginning of a very wet weekend, which nearly managed to turn all the brightly coloured houses of the Pelourinho into a boring grey. Mmmm, flip flops and wet cobblestones; Slip slops.

From Salvador

The Pelourinho sits on a hill over looking what's known as Ciudad Baixa (lower city) and the bay upon whose borders Salvador lies. It's super cultural up here, which also means it's super touristy and you get hustled to buy stuff or give out money wherever you go. On the upside there is music and dancing all day long and we are always stumbling upon a group of kids bashing out rhythms on the streets outside their school.

From Salvador

We got taken in by a scam last night when a street kid came and asked Leah for some money. We've read that it's best not to give out money since more often than not they don't use it to buy food but instead for drugs, or even worse for someone elses drugs. So instead we offered to buy him some food and he lead us off to some cafe. We ordered him a burger and a drink, which we paid for upfront and then we waited while they went about making it. When the kid realised we wanted to stay and wait with him while he ate he threw a tantrum and began huffing about outside the cafe, and when asked why he didn't want to eat with us he said he wanted to take the food home. Meanwhile we still waited for them to make his burger. I realised that the guy in the cafe was in on this scam and actually they expected us to go before we received his food, at which point no doubt they would have split the money we had handed over and he would have been off to hustle someone else for money. When he realised we weren't going anywhere he reluctantly took the burger and drink and then left in a huff. But when we left after him he was waiting round the corner and promptly ran back around into the cafe and we overheard him arguing with the owner, no doubt expressing his disappointment about having food rather than cash. What to do?

Tomorrow we're splitting North again to Maceio and in the next two weeks we've to make it right up to the most Eastern shores of Brasil before we turn the corner and fly West toward the jungle. Incredible to think that we just past the four month marker on this trip! A little under a month left in Brasil now and then we shall be in Venezuela.

Itacaré

2007-05-25T12:00:00.000+01:00

Itacaré is a super cool little surf town where we have been since Sunday. It has cobbled streets and loads of restaurants and bars much like Arrial d'Ajuda, the difference is that it feels less polished and touristy, which is down to the more hippy / surfery crowd that hang out there.

The beaches are lovely, though the bay closest to the town is a bit poluted and stinky, however a 10 minute walk brings you to fantastic waves and clean water. I spent the first two days playing on our board, which was frustrating at first but I had one or two quite good rides in the end. Some of the waves are really scarey - massive and steep and they form those tubes you see people riding through in surf videos and photos. The thing is, when you're lying on a board looking down one it all gets a bit hair raising - and if you dont stand up you get mashed; welcome to my world.

From Itacare

On the third day we got up early and took a bus a little way out of town with a Swiss girl called Ursula to find some other beach that had been recommended for snorkelling. The bus dropped us by a muddy track and we had a feeling that they had shot past the proper path to the beach. However, some helpful locals pointed us in the right direction so off we went and were soon following a path through an amazing jungle forest which we hoped would lead to the beach. After some interesting and rather painful encounters with ants, a few river crossings and a squelchy walk through a mangrove swamp we finally arrived at what was indeed a pretty nice beach. Not sure you'd write a book about it though. There was no snorkelling to be had since the sea was rough (out of season apparently) so we wiled away a nice day reading and throwing the occasional Frisbee.

Back in Itacaré that evening we went to watch a Capoiera demonstration, which was pretty cool. Not sure I understand it all that well yet but some of the dudes where obvisouly really good, even to my untrained eye. We actually prefered some of the stuff we've seen individuals do on beaches when they're just practicing since the sand allows them to do some amazing flips and stuff without too hard a landing.

I had hoped for one last day of surfing before we left but yesterday the sea was a right mess and the lifeguards were actually stopping people from going in. Nevermind, reading the Lonely Planet it seems as though there will be plenty more as we continue up the coast past Salvador and onto São Luis. We're currently sat in a bus station waiting for our bus to Salvador - we started at 6 this morning so we're both a bit bleary-eyed, only 8 hours to go though....

Arrial d'Ajuda

2007-05-19T16:59:00.000+01:00

We met a realy nice guy called David and his Brasilian step daughter Ueidi at our lovely pusada here in Arrial d'Ajuda (check the photos of the pool over looking the reefs and lovely blue sea!). They've left back to Salvador today but we've had a nice time hanging out with them for a couple of days -we'll hopefully be catching up with them in Salvador next week for a bit of local knowledge!

From Itaunas and A...

I've managed to upload a whole bunch of photos from Vitoria, Itaunas and here so take a look if you've a moment!

P.S Is Myspace dead in the face of Facebook?

North north north - Porto Seguro

2007-05-17T16:55:00.000+01:00

Arrrgh, my head is fizzing after one of the worse bus rides yet - from midnight till seven in the morning rumbling along in a dark smelly box. At one point the over enthusiastic child in the seat behind noisily slurrped down it's Guarana drink (smells a bit like Tizer) and then threw it up all over the isle - thankfully though, not over Leah who was in the seat directly in front trying to get some shuteye. The journey started at 16:30 from Itaunas after there were no seats left on the bus that would have arrived here in Porto Seguro right as we eventually began our journey described above. Blah blah blah, I cant think straight, think I need to hit the lovely pool or take a dip in the calm blue seas that are making up for the nasty journey! We're actually staying in a town just across the estuary from Porto Seguro, which is much nicer but ~~has a much more complicated name that I cant remember right now - I'll ask Leah and get back to you!~~ It's called Arrial d'Aujda.

From Itaunas and A...

First though, I've got to call the Mexican embassy in Venezuela to try and work out how we are going to get home without it costing an extra GBP1500 to buy a flight from Venezuela. BA have decided they can be of no help. Thanks guys.

Itaúnas

2007-05-15T01:13:00.000+01:00

After five hours we arrived at the deadest town so far; Conceiçao De Barra and had to run around knocking at doors to find an open pousada (Hostel). We debated not going to Itaúnas (which is where we were aiming for all along) as the bus connections are terrible and to get out of here we have to back-track for miles (and hours) but in the end we're super glad we did. Itaúnas is great - sure it's outofseason sleepy, but it's got personality. Personality goes a long way.

No sooner had we stepped off the (rickety) bus than a dude approached us asking if we wanted a pousada. We're pretty cagey about being approached these days after a few dodgy experiences, but this guy is super cool and genuine and is really looking after us here! This place has 35 pousadas as it balloons in summer from 1000 fishermen to 25,000 party people! We're actually pretty happy to be here in the sleepy hour as we had the beach almost to ourselves today.

From Itaunas and A...

There were just two of us surfing the waves - me and a guy called Marcelo who we've been hanging with ever since! We got chatting and after the beach Leah, myself him and his wife went for a canoe trip up the river here....then they invited us to dinner at their pousada - he's been coming here for 15 years! Travelling is fun!

From Itaunas and A...

Tomorrow I'm going surfing again :)

From Itaunas and A...

Vitoria

2007-05-12T17:17:00.000+01:00

We splashed out for a day of luxury yesterday after leaving Guarapari and stayed in the Senac da Ilha do Boi in Vitoria...a place atop a hill with a Sauna, pool and cableTV. Last night we ventured into the happening 'Bermuda Triangle' of Vitoria and had the nicest Sushi of the trip!

This morning hasn't gone so well however....the bus we wanted was full so we have to wait around till 4 to leave. Then we walked into town to find this internet cafe so I could Skype Heddwyn for his birthday...the first computer crashed, on the second one the microfone didn't work and then to top it all ~~the boss of this place seems to have sacked the guy who was trying really hard to help me out....what a w*nker.~~ Got that wrong thankfully!

There's some nice architecture in this part of town though, I'll try and get some photos before we hop on the bus. I wont be sad to leave now, but it also seems as though a lot of the coastal places have shut down with the coming of winter...though it's still hot and sunny. We're trying to get up to a marine park for some snokelling....but currently it's hard to get in touch with anyone for advice on whether it's open. oh well!

Sleepy outofseason Guarapari

2007-05-10T15:49:00.000+01:00

After a tiring 9 hour bus journey we arrived in a windy and rainy Guarapari yesterday evening. Today the sun is out again but the wind is whipping what would usually be a calm and beautiful great-for-snorkelling bay into a sea of white horses. And 90% of everythig is closed. I guess our snorkel and masks will be staying in the bags for the time being....

I think tomorrow we will head to Vitoria.

P.S I think it's Ben Lambert's birthday, Happy Birthday Ben!

Saquarema photos

2007-05-08T21:24:00.001+01:00

From Saquarema

Super Surf at Saquarema

2007-05-06T23:16:00.000+01:00

We've escaped from Rio and come to Saquarema where we've been watching a leg of the Super Surf Brasilian surf championship. This beach is allegedly one of Brasil's best surf beaches and when we arrived the waves were massive! However, today the swell has dissapeared somewhat, which has made for a dissapointing final for the surfers. However, for me it was great as I got to spend hours on our board playing in the waves. I went in yesterday too, but it was pretty scary for a novice like me!

Last night the town was heaving as some famous band were playing, never really caught the name though - sorry. We went to join in and after a steak that could have fed ten (we actually shared a portion listed as a single) and a fantastic banana and chocolate pancake we joined the heaving crowds in front of the stage. There was a cool fireworks display before the music that went off in front of the very pretty church that overlooks the town and the bay. We only stayed for a couple of numbers in the end though as it turned out to be a sort of Ska band and it didn't really butter our muffin.

On a final note: if you want to stay regular, forget fibre; drink coffee.

One last look....

2007-05-04T14:36:00.000+01:00

Death of my Birks

2007-05-04T14:28:00.000+01:00

It was with a tear in my eye that I had to say goodbye to my trusty Birkenstock sandals that have been travelling with me since the begining of this trip....Bye bye Birkies, bye bye.

Football, Snot and video rush

2007-05-02T19:25:00.000+01:00

Man, I'm all snotty. Had to happen eventually I guess - a little bit of rain over the weekend and suddenly my nose is running all over the place. Nice.

On Sunday we went to see a football final between two Rio teams; Flamengo and Botafogo. We went with a whole bunch from the Hostel and were bunched together as token Flamengo fans in the sea of serious Flamengo football nuts that went crazy all around us. The atmosphere and vibe were great, but at the end of the day it was just football, innt?

From Flamengo Vs. ...

The video below should illustrate some of the maddness that overcame everyone...The other videos are from the Redbull air race and the Christ statue that I tried to post before but they didn't seem to work...

We're now staying with some family friends of Leahs' called Munira and Dilshad and their three young daughters, Nafisa, Tahani and Zahara. It's great to be in a home, though we're are getting far too comfortable thanks to their wonderful hospitality! I've got this cold though, which I'm keen to shake off as my head feels like a damp sponge.

Flamengo fans going crazy

2007-05-02T19:23:00.000+01:00

Redbull plane madness

2007-05-02T19:21:00.000+01:00

Redbull Helicopter madness

2007-05-02T19:16:00.000+01:00

Rio from Cristo

2007-05-02T19:14:00.000+01:00

Rain stops play

2007-04-29T15:00:00.000+01:00

Aaawwwww, oh well, Sri Lanka lost to the Australians. What, as they say, to do?

Today we're working at half speed due to a few to many drinkies during the cricket yesterday and then the subsequent return to Lapa for a boogie. Ended up in an aweful club playing RandB at distortion levels with the clientele swaying in each others arms. However, we were with a really cool bunch from the Hostel so it was fun none the less.

Later today we're off to the footbal stadium en mass to see the regional final - should be fun as apparently the crowds go mental.

World Cup Cricket Final

2007-04-28T17:31:00.000+01:00

Right at this moment Sri Lanka are bowling against Australia in the final of the cricket world cup competition, and Leah is going crazy for Sri Lanka to win! We're in a Hostel in Rio owned by an Australian cricket nut and the atmosphere downstairs is tense!

Go Sri Lanka, Go!

Christ, St George and Visa trouble

2007-04-27T16:41:00.000+01:00

On Monday we hooked up with some Irish friends, April and Dan, who we met in Barriloche and incredibly enough bumped into at the Paraty bus station! Here in Rio it was a holiday to celebrate St Geogre, or Jorge as he's known here, which meant there was a huge concert on Copacabana beach. Never has the name been so widely celebrated I'm sure - all the artists were called Jorge, all the songs were about Jorge (well nearly), Jorge was written in lights as big as a house....well, you get the drift. It was kinda cheesy music to be honest, though they threw in the odd classic to keep the crowds happy!

The next day we went up to the statue of Christ the Redeemer who overlooks the whole city. Our host Eric in Santa Teresa assured us we could walk down to the cog train that winds its way up to the statue. Thankfully it was all down hill but the people who live round there must have legs of steel - at one point we walked down the longest stairs in the world, at least it felt like it and by the time we got to the train our knees were tingling. Weak flatlanders. The train winds it way up the steep hillside and then you emerge to some truly incredible views of the city.

From Rio de Janeiro

On a slightly more annoying note it currently looks like our plans they are a changin' due to the difficulty in obtaining Visas for Leah. We optimistically thought that we'd apply for the central America visas here in Rio, but it appears as though there will be no way to do this so the chances are we'll be heading for home after Venezuela. We've not given up hope yet, but the embassy/consulate people are pretty unhelpful in most cases. The Mexican consulate explained very helpfully how we'd have to return to countryof residence to apply, i.e London. From Brasil to London to get into Mexico. At times like this I realise how great it is to have a UK passport.

And finallee, Sri Lanka play Australia tomorrow in the Cricket World Cup final - go Sri Lanka go!

Rio de Janeiro

2007-04-21T21:10:00.000+01:00

Well well well, we've made it to Rio - who would have thought? We're staying in the old bohemian part of town called Santa Teresa in 'Eric's place' - a really cool house right up on top of the hill. We have fantastic views over the city from the open living room. We found the place using 'Cama E Cafe' which has a number of rooms in residents homes up in Santa Teresa - a bit more personal that a hosel. Eric is a really nice guy who lives up there with his 7 year old son...we're not sure about the mum yet. They have two dogs too, including a three month old puppy who is a right character and has Leah wrapped around his tiny paw!

From Rio de Janeiro

Today we've been watching the Red Bull Air Race over Botafogo beach. I'll try and post some videos in the near future, but basically a bunch of crazy pilots fly at breakneck speed around a number of obsticals about ten feet from the floor! Botafogo is an amazing setting with the sugarloaf mountain in the background and thousands of people lining the beach. We got a bit tired though and split for some Sushi, and now we're just wondering how on earth we're going to get back home....

From Rio de Janeiro

Last night we went out in Lapa, which is a barrio at the bottom of Santa Teresa. It was like Nottinghill Carnaval down there - hundreds of people milling about the streets with all sorts of dffierent music blaring from bars, car windows and street corners. We had a few Caipairinhas and wandered the streets taking in the friday night flavour. Nice.

Paraty

2007-04-15T23:32:00.000+01:00

On a Friday the 13th that lived up to it's reputation we fled São Paulo and have landed in a lovely little town called Paraty. It's a real breath of fresh air after the heaving city and we're both a lot more relaxed.

From Paraty

Yesterday we went on a boat ride that took us out around the surrounding islands and beaches. It is incredibly beautiful here with lush green rainforest covered mountains reaching right down to the waters edge. We passed some amaxing houses that sit in amongst the trees on their own little island.

From Paraty

Today we took a bus ride to a nearby town called Trindade in search of some surf. Unfortunately there wasn't much swell, with the only waves dumping heavily right on the shore. I joined some locals in about the only available surf area, but didn't really get anywhere. What is it with surfers anyway? They're about as friendly as a slap in the face...I dont see why everyone has to be so cool and full of themselves... It's so rare to receive a "hello", let alone a friendly piece of advice or tip about the water. Oh well - I'm just going to have to get better by myself!

Ilha do Mel and onto Sao Paulo

2007-04-12T15:40:00.000+01:00

We made it to the ilsand Ilha Do Mel for the easter weekend and spent saturday night getting drunk with some surfer dudes from Sao Paulo and Curitiba. Leah and I went to a bar to get some food and in our inebraiated state found the menu translations a little too funny to bare - 'Chicken the Bird' has become a bit of a catchphrase for us...

On sunday the locals went home and it became very peaceful on the island. There were a number of great surf beaches so I spent Sunday and Monday playing on our board. On Sunday I spent most of my time flailing around in the white-water but on Monday the waves were great and I felt like I was finally getting somewhere! Gnarly.

From Ilha Do Mel a...

On Tuesday we found ourselves back on the boat to the mainland and after spending the morning in Paranagua took the 8 hour bus ride to São Paulo. The city is MASSIVE - third biggest in the world apparently with a population as large as Sri Lanka or Australia! It doesn't feel overly safe I have to say and I would rather be back by the sea! However, we happen to be staying in the same hotel as a lovely couple from Australia who we met on the boat over to Ilha do Mel (Ben and Clair) and so we've some tourist buddies to hang out with.

From Sao Paolo

Yesterday we followed the walking tour recomended by the Lonely Planet around the historic parts of the town, which was nice enough but not amazing. Incredibly we bumped into a dude (James) who we met on the bus to Florianopolis so last night the five of us went out for some fantastic Japanese style food - yum yum.

Today we're supposed to be heading out to a large park but the numerous Caiparinas last night have slowed us down a bit....should be heading out before too long though!

Moving on....

2007-04-06T22:03:00.000+01:00

It´s very grey outside this evening, and it keeps drizling on us which is dissapointing. We are now in Florianopolis centre as our bus leaves very early tomorrow morning and a taxi form the island at 4am didn´t appeal.

I spent all day yesterday in the sea with our new surf board. It´s a really nice board and towards the end of the day I actually felt I was maybe getting somewhere. The beach we went to was called Armaçao and to get you it you park and then cross over a little river. It is a lovely little bay with a tiny island on the left and verdent hills curving round to the right. The waves were small but fairly consistent and clean, which was great for learning and trying out the new board.

From Florianopolis

This morning we went to a beach called Joaquina, but it was really busy due to it beaing Good Friday, there was also a surf competition going on. the waves were really messy and I didn´t enjoy myself much at all....I wanted my nice quiet bay at Armaçao! Anyway, as we left the clouds were rolling in and the day has gone all grey, so I wasn´t sad to leave the beach behind.

Tomorrow we´re heading north to another small island; Ilha do Mel, on which there are no cars. We´re hoping that places to stay aren´t so rare. What with it being Easter places seem to be more booked up. Oh well - hammock on the beach it is!

Florianopolis

2007-04-03T23:13:00.000+01:00

We´ve made it to the sea! Last night we stayed in what amounted to a student halls of residence, so not realy our style. But we got our and now we´re in a cool little appartment, 12 mins walk from the sea.

Guess what? Today we bought a surfboard with bag and leash for 200 Reals - about 50 quid, and we got a hammock for a tenner! Road trip.

The island is beautiful so far...white sand beaches (the sand is like flour, but hotter), with green rolling hills. Loads of surf beaches, and many secluded quieter ones too we´re told. It´s going to be hard to move on, but then the rest of Brasil´s coast is like this too!!!!

From Florianopolis

Wooo Hoo we´re in Brasil!!!!

2007-03-31T19:36:00.000+01:00

So wow, there went Argentina. An amazing two months that we´ll never forget and no doubt will be boring people with our stories for a long time.

Our last port of call on the Argentine side was Iguazu, where we stayed at Hostel Inn - a sort of resort type place a little out of the town. It was really nice there with a pool, a bar, cool people and a really nice room - so a good way to finish Argentina! We took the compulsorary tour to the amazing Iguazu falls...see photos.

From Iguazu

After a couple of days of meeting cool people and hanging out by the pool it was time to cross into Brasil, which we did in a taxi. Kinda made it easy really - you hop out once to show your passport and get a stamp and that´s it; you´re in!

So here we are, Brasil. The first thing we did was go and see the falls from this side, which we actually enjoyed more although there´s less to see. The difference is that you feel right in the midst of the ´Devils Throat´which is an awesome water fall. We´re staying in a really nice chilled out Hostel called Hostel Bambu before we head east to the sea....woo hooo!

Bus ride from Belén to Santa Maria

2007-03-31T19:27:00.001+01:00


Check the music and the bumpy road that we went algon for hours to gat to Santa Maria before heading on to Cafayate. Some chump tried to pass our bags out of the window of the bus, but we caught them!

Corrientes

2007-03-27T23:47:00.000+01:00

Man, it´s hot in this town! This is one of the oldest colonial cities in Argentina and it´s littered with really cool old buildings. But boy is it hot. This internet cafe is even hotter. Anyway, I managed to post a load more photos and have added them below - plus follow the Photo link if you want to see more....

One more stop in Argentina; Iguazu. And from there....Brasil!

Cafayate and on to Salta

2007-03-24T14:24:00.000Z

Surrounded by vinyards which reach to the mountain foothills Cafayate is a wonderfully peaceful little town. On Wednesday we hired bikes and rode the six kilometers (uphill) to Rio Colorado. From there we hired a guide to take us up the mountain trail that leads to a series of waterfalls.

From Cafayate

In true Lee and Leah style we had set off at the hottest time of the day and with little shade the baking sun made the walking very hard work. By the time we made the first waterfall we were more than ready to jump into the refreshing mountain water. The first pool I jumped into wasn't as deep as I'd hoped and I landed with a bump on the pebble stream bed. There were three pools in total- one under the cascading water, the second a bubbling jacuzzi and the third where I miss judged the depth. Like goldielocks I tried all three, and while equally cool each had it's charm. We decided to have our lunch by the falls and the guide went on with the rest of our small party. After eating we made our way back up the precarious rock face and found our way back down the valley to our bikes. After pauses to fix the two punctures I managed to pick up we rolled back into town tired and happy.

The following day we went on a tour to what's known as the Quebrada, which as far as I could make out means river valley. The rock formations are incredible due to the oxidisation of mineral deposits in the rocks. There are brands of vivid colour; reds from iron, yellows from sulphur and greens from copper.

From Cafayate

From Cafayate we have come to Salta and it's odd to be back in a big city! We've met a cool couple who live in Milton Keynes who we've been out to dinner with and will be hanging out with later; Richard and Ayah. Their only experience of Buenos Aires was in a tattoo parlour where Richard got an enormous dragon tattooes onto is arm...a little bigger than he expected by all accounts! Last night we met up with Jimena's brother Gustavo and got drunk on Mojitos, so today we're feeling a little lame....

La Rioja and Belén

2007-03-18T20:09:00.000Z

In truth we only stopped at Rioja en route to Belen, but we found the town agreeable enough. Belen is a lovely little town, and apparently the birthplace of the poncho. After checking in to our budget-butique hotel we took a stroll into town and ended up at the new handicraft marquee which was, needless to say, full of poncho stalls. After chatting with the friendly stall holders we found out that there was to be some kind of cultural show that evening and decided we would return later. After wandering around some more we returned to the hotel to freshen up in preparation for the evenings entertainment. When we got back to the marquee things we in full swing. A fair number of people were sitting in front of the low stage, and there were tables where we ate some local delicacies- some kind of stew and some mini pasties called empanandas. While the food was pretty nice the loud open mic style music drove us away in the end.The next day we were hoping to climb up to the statue of the Virgin with Child that over looks the town, but with a late start and the hot sun wed decided to leave it till the evening. Instead we explored the streets some more and ended up back at the crafts marquee looking for food. It turned out they were having a meal to celebrate 'day of the handicraft', and recognising us from the night before invited us to join them. It was great to sit and chat with these two firey women of indigenous decent about their trade, their hopes and fears, the nearby foreign owned mines, the country, the government and everything else. After lunch we chilled for a bit and then made the acsent up to the statue from where we had fantastic views of the town, the surrounding mountains and the flat lands beyond.

From Belén and Qui...

From Belen we had hoped to make it straight to Cafayate, our next port of call. Unfortunately the rumbling, shuddering bus that wound it's way to Santa Maria was too slow so there was no connection. Furthermore some guy at the back of the bus tried to rob our bags by passing them out the window to his acomplice! Thankfully we caught himin the act and we still have our clothes! Our night in Santa Maria wasmarred by this and our dissapointment at not making it to Cafayate, and we weren't sad to be on our way early the following day.

We took a taxi from SM to Cafayate so that we could stop off at the 1000 year old ruins of Quilmes, which were the stronghold of an indigenous tribe until the Spanish came along and shiped them off to Buenos Aires. Nestled in the hills it consisted of a number of small walls, which we were to asume as rooms, kitchens etc. We followed the paths that led up behind the settlement to what appeared to bewatchtowers, and from there the layout of the town was much more clear to see.

From Belén and Qui...

After a couple of hourse we headed off to Cafayate.