The Stumblers

This our second blog has been aptly named The Stumblers. Despite our somewhat purposeful strides we have recently found ourselves stumbling into many situations, including the good, bad and downright hilarious. So enough suspense (which we're sure is causing some of you nameless dread)...

Arraial D'Ajuda Giselle's Birthday

We awoke to find it was raining gatos y perros. Not wanting to have an uneventful day we decided to hire "mountain bikes", which turned out to be a "fixy" and a "self gear changey" (yeah look that up) and ride to a nearby (ha!) beachy town Trancoso. Brett assured Giselle it was a short trip, as it was meant to be 13km along the beach, so the road shouldn't take too long. Unrelenting rain, a wrong turn leading to a mud, pothole and steep 35km ride on the "old road" and we finally skidded into Trancoso. We breathed a sigh of relief upon discovering the actual road back to Arraial was sealed and what seemed like bike friendly conditions. 15 minutes down the road, we were heartbroken to find we had a further 32km to go. After Tour de France like hills, ongoing sheets of downpour and trucks hooning pasts spraying us with mud on the fixy and self gear changey we finally made it home unscathed.
Brett did end up spoiling Giselle with a well earned massage (from a professional), followed by dinner and drinks to celebrate what was actually a muito bom day!

Itacare

After arriving at dusk and trekking around town for an hour looking for accomm we stumbled across the best deal in Itacare. For cheaper than a shitty hostel we found a 2 story loft with a balcony over looking town.

Driven by the need/desire to exercise and perfect weather we stumbled upon the beginning of a hike which promised a delicious beach at the end. A few steep climbs, a river crossing, Giselle saving Brett who was doing his best to fall down a waterfall, we arrived at deserted Praia do Prainha. The beach was basically the beach from "The Beach". Di Caprio was nowhere to be seen.

Salvador do Bahia

Coincedentally turning up on Tuesday which is the biggest night in Salvador we found ourselves in the middle of a street party. With a further strike of luck we stumbled upon a famous street drumming ensemble with a swarm of sweaty dancers on their trail. The drumming was extremely powerful, & the dancers ba-donk-a-donks were pulsating. It was carnavalesque type atmosphere. We learnt later that the drumming group (Olodum) had performed with Michael Jackson and we had got to see them for free.
After the high of the drumming the street party continued and we quickly found the freaks of Salvador. A few particular delights included a trannie with his/her chest out in the open, a beggar (lady) trying to steal Giselle's donut and Brett receiving a strike on the arm from the beggar as he dutifully blocked her advance at the donut!

Again the need/desire for fitness led us to stumble in to yet another "interesting" situation. What had commenced as a pleasant trot quickly turned foul as we started to pass piles of human excrement. Initially unaware of what this signified we pushed on in to what became a favela. We made a quick U turn and although returned to safety, the feeling of nausea took some time to diminish!

Joint highlights: Bale Folklore de Bahia show (traditional Afro-Brazilian dance), being part of a Brazilian TV commercial whilst sunbaking at the beach because we are so sexy.

Giselle's highlight: watching Brett eat chocolate, pizza, icecream and a Big Mais (huge unhealthy cheeseburger with 2 patties, bacon and ham), ok ok it was over the course of a few weeks but still, when has anyone seen him eat that stuff?
Also I've liked the travel type stuff too

Brett's highlight/s: Moqueca. Google it. Also finding the hot dog stand where 4 years earlier at Carnaval Ads was going to buy 100 hot dogs.

Least best highlight: Gearing up all day for an all you can eat Bahian feast only to turn up and the restaurant was closed. Tragic.

Giselle is still Phil Stubbins not so much Carrie Bradshaw or Mrs Mapp anymore but she does have 2 new theme songs.

Run vs DMC - It's Slippy (as she has a serious tendency to slip over)

Justin Timberlake - Sweaty Back (cos she's bringing sweaty back YEAH)