Hit My Bull

We are now entering the final phase of our Brazilliant adventure. The Amazon.

Here is a quick run down of where, what, who and why we have been.

Jericoacoara, Ceara: Set in almost complete isolation. Jeri has sand streets, beach surrounded by awe inspiring sand dunes and a multi cultural cuisine. We easily lost a week there not doing much. One highlight was Giselle standing up surfing on her 2nd wave ever. This was quickly followed by a low light as Brett was holding the camera to get sick shots of Giselle getting barreled, the camera cord got caught on the leg rope.

The camera cord snapped and the camera dropped to the bottom of the ocean. This was followed by Brett frantically searching for the camera underwater, while Giselle stood still like an idiot to mark the spot, and as if it was fate, it got dark and stormed hard for 15 minutes pending the camera to infinite doom.

We did have the genius idea of waking up at 12.55am to go search for it on the low tide with flashlights. As you could imagine. Negative findings.

Jeri was however brilliant.

Jeri-Camocim-Parnaiba-Tutoia-Paulino Neves-Barrerinhas.

This was the route that was required to get to our next destination of Barrerinhas.

Most of the time we just go to the rodoviaria (bus station) pay for a bus and go. As Jeri is the definition of isolated, we had to share a jeep with an elderly Brazilian couple who took a liking to Bretch (as Brett is pronounced in Portuguese) and Giselle (Giselle).

This jeep had to make water crossings, drive along the beach and use the road. Nothing like some scenic off road driving until the Paulino Neves-Barrerinhas leg. Signs were ominous as our driver let the tyres down to handle the terrain. 40km in 3hrs we were told. That's quite slow we both thought. HMMM.......

If you have ever been on the ride at a carnival called the zipper then you will know what we went through for the next not 3 but 4 hours. For those of you who don't know the zipper, try diving down a set of steps for fun!

Again, the scenery was out of this world and the 'trail' shall we call it, which we passed, including, dense forest, rolling sand dunes and remote villages was really special.

Barrerinhas, Maranhao: Picturesquely set on the bend of a river, Barrerinhas was the perfect place to visit Nacional Parque Lencois Maranhenses. This was another fantastic part of Brazil. The park is set in a desert with massive sand dunes and natural lagoons forming rivers and lakes between the sand dunes. Giselle thought she was in Aladdin. Clearly Brett was Aladdin and Giselle was Jasmine and we rode a carpet (a truck) out to the dunes and swam in one of the lakes, followed by an outrageous sunset. Very special (thanks Bruce, as Giselle called Bretch as that was the only adjective he had in his vocabulary that afternoon).

Sao Luis, Maranhao: We were fortunate enough to time our expedition up the north coast of Brazil to see a truly unique festival. A smaller version of Carnaval celebrating the rebirth of a bull called 'Bumba Meu Boi'. This translates to hit my bull. We weren't sure what that had to with anything though. For the last couple of weeks of June there are huge street parties with various stages displaying 'bois' which are big groups who dance and sing. They wear extravagant traditional costumes all celebrating the rebirth of the bull. Lots of drinking, dancing and eating was had as we slowly but surely are learning to move our hips like true latin americans.

Now we are in Belem, Para: At the mouth of the Amazon.

Ready for a month stint cruising up the river and visiting small towns and remote communities. Giselle has been training hard in case of a run in with an anaconda or two.

Brett's highlight: Bumping in to the old couple from the jeep a few days later after hearing Antonia (the lovely old lady) shout "BRETTTCCCHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" from across the street. Also working out in a very very local gym (called Xclusive) in Barrerinhas with substitute Luis's.

Giselle's highlight: Standing up while surfing on her second wave ever! She is definitely a bit of a Layne Beachely in the making. Without the bogan accent.