Blue footed boobies and all

If we recall correctly we left u a hop skip and a jump ago somewhere in the middle of Colombia. Since then geez we guess you could say a lot has happened (as per usual though right?)

So after the charming tale of Brett versus dog in Capurgana and a few days spent waiting for rabies injections in Medellin (just to be sure Brett didn't turn into a Werewolf), we made our way to the
Melbourne-esque Bogota. Filled with trendy cafes, alternative city folk and some tasty delights we slipped right into the Bogota way of life. We managed to find ourselves in town while a world cup qualifier
between Colombia and Uruguay was playing. With the city streaked with the red blue and yellow Colombian colours and some diehard soccer fans, we joined in the festivities in a local pub and we're quickly accepted as some of Colombia's own. Of course it being such a small world and all we stumbled into our new Texan friends we met in the Northeast coast of Colombia, random!

Later in the evening we wormed our way into an exclusive rooftop pre-party for German DJs Tiefschwartz who were later playing in a nearby club. A few friendly drinks later we cruised into Salon Continetal (nightclub) somewhere after midnight and upon entry asked a local when Tiefschwartz was to come on, to which he replied "they're on now, this is some serious german techa". We were certain the skinny girl behind the decks at that time was NOT 2 manly German dj's, but how would we know?

Post Bogota we scooted on down to Cali and paid a visit to our special Colombian mother (Luis' mum) and were spoilt rotten with tasty dinner, good company and great spanish practice! We were of course sad to leave but alas the Galapagos Islands were awaiting!!

So after realising our budget was going swimmingly we decided to dip our feet in the cool waters of the Galapagos Islands. And what better way to spend a few extra pennies than being surrounded for a week by the largest abundance of wildlife one could imagine! We landed in San Cristobal and in our first afternoon found ourselves overwhelmed with hundreds of sea lions and marine iguanas of every size! Our second day  involved a day trip to a few places nearby which included, swimming with sea lions (kinda looks like a shark when it comes at you all of a sudden!! Ok, I'm exaggerating but it is kinda frightening at first), searching for reef sharks, and giant tortoise spotting. Crazy currents and huge above and underwater volcanic rock (named Kicker Rock) and Giselle decided to take the situation head on...literally. While
snorkelling and attempting to make space for the other people in the water and trying to avoid being carried out to sea by the current, Giselle decided she would show Kicker Rock a taste of its own medicine
and gave it a good old headbutt (it was some serious WWF moves believe us). A few squirts of iodine to the skull and shoulder and she was back in the water again chasing the fish and showing them whose boss!

The following day a little drizzle couldn't hold us back as we hired bikes to ride to the middle of the island where stunning lagoon views and giant land tortoises were the objective of the day. Of course it was Brett and Giselle on bicycles and we all know what that means by now right? Shocking brakes and gears, relentless rain and HILL after HILL for 25 odd kilometres (Giselle is seriously starting to notice a pattern here, Brett should just tell her if he thinks she needs the exercise!). On the up side we managed to check out some awesome wildlife and the return journey home was all downhill, phew! After a few days checking out the scenery on San Cristobal we fast-boated over to Santa Cruz.

Santa Cruz did not disappoint and included trekking through lava tunnels (they're like, huge!) much more wildlife (including the token blue footed boobies), reef sharks by the pier, a day trip to nearby Island Floreana and bumping into our Texan friends again! Brett managed to squeeze in 2 dives (this time minus a dog bite) and scored himself upclose views of a hammerhead shark, rays, and thousands of barracuda. To say he was thrilled would be an understatement!

We were fortunate enough to experience all this without being on a tour and in turn also saved a few more pennies than we were expecting. Doing the islands independently seems to be on the rise and there was
certainly enough to keep us entertained for the week we were there.

We sadly departed the islands and bussed into the quaint and chilled out town of Cuenca, Ecuador. Set up nicely staying in the home of a lovely Ecuadorian lady, we began another week of spanish classes.
Mornings spent grilling ourselves in class (but enjoying it immensely) and afternoons eating tasty local delicacies at the many markets and we were pretty content. Getting to practice our spanish in the
evenings meant a lot of mental exhaustion but also some satisfying improvements with our knowledge and ability to converse in Spanish!

At the end of the week we bid farewell to our Ecuadorian mother and hoofed it by bus alllllllll the way to Huaraz, Peru. (And we mean hooooofed it! 40 hours straight, 3 different buses makes Brett and
Giselle rather wacky we've since discovered.) Of course we cannot omit the joys of border crossing between Ecuador and Peru. Our lowsy bus dropped us in the middle of a town called Huaquillas Ecuador, and left us to fend for ourselves to get across the border (despite being promised by that same bus company to be dropped off and picked up again at immigration). We managed to get ourselves to immigration however were then greeted by a 5 hour wait for the next bus that would take us into Peru. (This all being at about 10pm at night mind you, great times!) Nevertheless we arrived in the wee hours of the morning in Huaraz and passed out quickly in a comfy bed in an attempt to recover from the lack of sleep.

We were kindly rewarded for our long transit with ridiculous views of snow capped mountains from our rooftop terrace, being able to basque in the morning sun with free breakfast at our hostel, and for the
first time in months - HOT SHOWERS! Never underestimate the power of a hot shower. We took a day or 2 to acclimatise to the 3000m height of Huaraz and organised a 4 day trek to Santa Cruz in the nearby
Cordillera Blanca mountain ranges.

Full of excitement and optimism we began our hike with 6 others and little by little covered 50kms including a pass of 4750m. We were spoilt rotten with 360 degree views of snow capped mountains, jaggered mountain sides, many many glaciers, silly lamas just being funny in general, picture perfect natural waterways, tiny rural towns with friendly locals, truly diverse landscapes every hour and crazy torquoise lagoons in the middle of the mountains. Despite all this Giselle thought it necessary to give herself the ultimate test and see if she could trek for 21kms (roughly 8 hrs) with a friendly case of food poisoning on the third day. She would be lying if she said she was chipper and in good spirits for the whole of that day but can honestly say there was a smile and a laugh for the majority of the day. And hey, she was just leaving her mark and getting back to nature and all that jazz right?

We returned to Huaraz feeling humbled and relaxed (ok and keen for a shower) and chilled out for a few days before embarking on the next set of mammoth transits.

2 buses and around 16 hours later we scrambled into our hotel room in Nazca, Peru - home of the famous Incan Nazca Lines. Fortunately there were no major hiccups and we boarded the small 6 seater plane the following day and viewed those outrageous and mysterious lines that are on most peoples South American agendas. The lines did not disappoint and after a quick 30minutes in the air the fun was over,
and we returned to our hotel to wait out the 10 hours until our next 15 hour transit-from-hell. Once on the bus, unluckily for Brett his body decided he was only allowed a few hours sleep and Giselle's body decided she fancied motion sickness which all together made for a fun journey! (Not!)

Finally we arrived in Cusco which will be our home for the next few days while we excitedly await Brett's mum Michelle and Giselle's friend Kassie's arrivals. Brett being image conscious felt that a burst of food poisoning might help his figure before his mum arrives. Luckily he managed to chuck up in a plastic bag this time -much to Giselle's disappointment of not getting to clean up vomit from the floor again!

Highlights:
1) Returning to our hostel each evening in San Cristobal, Galapagos only to find sea lions had taken over the town. They were found lounging on the steps, along the boulevard in hoardes and seated on the park benches, there were honestly more sean lions than people!

2) Waking up to gorgeous mountains views, sounds of nature and coca tea while trekking near Huaraz, a truly magnificent part of the world.

3) Brett (on the Huaraz trek) deciding that just admiring the glacial lagoons from the edge was simply not enough and having a quick dip in the icy water(approx 7 degrees in the water)!

R.I.P Demons shorts (Caribbean cost of Colombia)

Thanks for joining again, particularly our little fan club from Russia.

The final beach chapter (for a little while) has just been completed. After a month in the Amazon we were keen to get to the Carribean coast of Colombia.

We arrived in Cartagena, a beautiful colonial town, this quick visit consisted of a long walk sampling tropical fruit, tropical ice cream and tropical juice. Brett also went for an amazing sunset run on and around the city walls and got his Parkour on. This was followed by self catering a real Michelle Herskope style chicken salad with kiwi fruit. Nothing like some home cooked comfort food once in awhile!

Next destination was back to school, in Taganga. Here we spent a week learning Spanish in the mornings, followed by beaching, and eating freshly grilled fish in the afternoons. Aside from the threats from the local fisherman of flesh eating sharks patrolling the waters Brett would swim the 1km back from the quieter beach to Taganga main beach in the late afternoon. Of course Giselle the Watchman, would scour the cliffs alongside the water making sure Brett wasn't hit by the much more threatening speed boats. There were no sharks. The fisherman just didn't like Brett 'Trespassing' in their fishing spots. An ominous signal for the future perhaps? Or definitely? Yep, definitely. But hold on to your horses, we shall return to that later.

The following destination was a definite highlight...La Guajira.
Ah, this magical peninsula is situated at the northern most point of the continent. An area in which indigenous Colombians called 'Wayyu Indians' still reign supreme. They were the only Indians who won the battle against the Spanish and were left alone. A fiercely proud people in a fierce rugged desert flanked by turquoise Caribbean waters. We slept in hammocks under a tin roof right on the beach, ate fish cooked by the local family and walked along beaches. In utter isolation from the world. It was quite a strange feeling to know we were so isolated that the world could end and we wouldn't know. We were hundreds of kilometres out in the desert in the middle of nowhere. It was absolutely fantastic. There were more goats, grass hopper type insects that were as big as your forearm!! and snakes than people in the area and then us swinging in our hammocks by the sea.

The journey to this region was made even better when over 400 4x4 bikes and 4WDs arrived in town for a "Rally Raid". Before we knew it we found ourselves on the back of 2 bikes of our new made friends Diego and his son Juan Diego (no seriously that was their names) hooning around the desert. Diego and his friends had no hesitations in sharing their 'Ron' (which is rum, not Giselle's dad) and whisky as we watched the sun set on a deserted beach.

We followed this spectacular part of our trip with the beautiful Parque Tayrona. Finally after Brett carrying the tent for 3.5 months we broke it out of its plastic! Parque Tayrona is an amazing national park, just imagine boulder strewn picture perfect Caribbean beaches with dense tropical rainforest as a back drop. An exciting find in the middle of the park was a bakery with fresh out of the oven Pan au Chocolate (which Parisian bakeries could only dream of making). This and a nudist beach, Brett took full advantage of, of course.

After a bone rattling 12 hour bus ride we arrived in the aptly named Turbo (you just want to get the hell out of there!). A transit hub where we caught the boat on route to Capurgana/Sapzurro which lie in the Darien Gap on the border with Panama.

These two places still have little kids fishing, old women selling coconut icecream, and older men walking aimlessly at a snails pace or sitting around playing checkers. Jungle walks to rickety lookout points, sitting by the shore watching turtles, walking across the border to Panama to swim in even more isolated beaches and a couple of scuba dives were the order of the day.

Or was it. No. There was more. Sapzurro had the most action it had had in years. Whilst walking from Sapzurro to Capurgana Brett missed the trail. As there were no fences, ('Trespassing' is not really a thing that exists in places like that) Brett decided to walk past a house toward the track. Boom, out of nowhere a huge dog came barging down the stairs, barking its head off, furiously chasing Brett. Unable to out it, it leapt at Brett and chomped down on his thigh. Meanwhile the owner came screaming and sent the dog elsewhere. In an ill attempt to protect himself, Brett threw a water bottle at the dog. And missed. Didn't really deter it. Luckily Brett had had his pre rabies vaccinations. Supposedly the dog didn't have rabies, however what it did do was tear Brett's demons shorts into tatters. For those of you who are not acquainted with these shorts, they have accompanied him on every overseas journey and had represented 'good luck'. RIP. So it was big news, in an attempt to justify the guard dogs behaviour, the owner claimed Brett was 'trespassing', only for the whole army (which patrols Sapzurro as it is a border town with Panama) to basically tell her where to go shove it. Turns out Brett was the 4th victim of Valenton, the dogs name, which roughly translates to 'Brave'. A tetanus jab in the bum and some post bite injections later the wounds are healing up! Luckily, this ordeal didn't sour the memory of another place off the Gringo trail which truly delivered the goods.

Brett's highlight: Nudie swimming in the cool turqoise Carribean waters of Parque Tayrona.

Giselle's highlight: Being able to half string together a sentence in Spanish.

George, George, George of the Jungle!

Thanks for joining.

This is Brett and Gisy reporting for the final time from Brasil.

So last time we left you was ages ago in Sao Luis.

What a journey since.

We arrived in Belem at the mouth of the Amazon full of anticipation.

Belem, Para - is the culinary heart of North Brasil and did not fail to disappoint. Home to the most famous food market in Brasil and arguably in South America called the Mercado-Ver-o-Peso. We indulged in freshly cooked Amazonian fish, drank unusual but delicious Amazonian fruit juice, snacked on freshly cracked Brasil Nuts, even sampled Amazonian herbal medicines and last of all sat and had a beer as the sun set over the mighty river.

Ilha de Marajo, Para - 3hrs by ferry to an island the size of Switzerland sitting inside the mouth of the Amazon was our next destination. We stayed in a little village called 'Joanes' which was the smallest of 3 villages on the Southeast of the island with a beautiful Amazon beach. We decided to hire bikes and ride 13km's to the next village, as we have figured out Brasilians have no concept of time and distance and a friendly girl told us it would take 7hrs. Well it didn't. As expected it took just about an hour. As always when we hire bikes it decided to rain, we also got chased by dogs and the bikes tires were pretty much flat. Nothing too out of the ordinary really.

So we arrived in Salvaterra (after an hour) and this Brasilian man at the cafe took a liking to us and wouldn't settle until we went to his house so he could give us presents. Better judgement told us that this was a bit odd but he was friendly enough and we made sure we had an escape route the whole time. Turns out he just wanted to give us (rather force us to take) 2 mugs and 2 glasses with the emblem of the football team he supports printed in them. This followed by hugs, kisses on the cheek and thanking god we made the hour cycle back to Joanes. Again in the rain!

Ilha de Marajo is also home to countless buffalo and is famous for its buffalo cheese. We discovered banana and buffalo cheese in a french style roll. Delicious.

Algadoal, Para - so we got a bus out of Belem out of the Amazon to a town called Maruda and then caught a small boat to Algadoal. An absolutely beautiful island off the north coast of Brasil. The only way to get around is by horse, boat or foot. With sand streets, sweeping views and huge expanses of sand the key to a week there was sun, sand, sea and Acai! The only stressful decision you have to make in Algadoal is what time do you want to go to/from the beach and what do you want to eat? Tough life.

Ok so you're probably wondering when we go to the Amazon proper. Well. Now.

The only mode of transport up river in to the jungle, its towns and villages is by plane ($$$) or by boat. So we decided boat. This involves stringing your hammock up next to 7 million other Brasilians with absolutely no personal space and spending 2-14 days on the river depending on your destination. However, the scenery, the sun setting over the river while river dolphins play and the friendly waves of people living in the middle of nowhere on the side of the river made this trip truly unique.

We were breaking up a 5 day boat trip to Manaus in Monte Alegre followed by Alter do Chao.

Monte Alegre, Para - of the few tourists on the boat we were the only ones to get off here. Much to the surprise of the locals getting off as well. Ominous? Regardless we had our reasons. Monte Alegre is the only piece of high land in the Amazon region. With spectacular views over the river and jungle as well as recently discovered indigenous art on rocky out crops in the forest Monte Alegre was an amazing day trip.

Except that that night Brett was a bit ill and decided to not make it to the bathroom and projectile vomit all over the floor and the bed. Poor Giselle was on her hands and knees cleaning it up as Brett was laying there like a helpless animal. Good times.

Alter do Chao, Para - a morning boat took us to Santarem, which we swiftly exited to Alter do Chao. A piece of the Caribbean in the Amazon.

After settling into to a brand new pousada in town we made friends with the owners and began our quest for the perfect jungle experience. We waited in anticipation with a pair of charming french men to chat to a local guide from one of the nearby rural villages. The man known as "Bata" approached wearing a crocodile dundee hat and animal tooth hanging from his neck, with his only advertising material being a laminated photo of himself holding a cayman and we were instantly hooked!

Bata, the 51 year old local, lives in a small village (of about 103 people) called Jamaraqua in amongst the primary protected rain forest "Floresta de Tapajos" or FLONA, 3 hrs along the river from Alter do Chao, with his wife and family of 14 children! (Ages from 1 year old to 30 years old). His resume includes 6 years spent living alone in the heart of the jungle when he was 20 years old and hence a ridiculous knowledge of the forest that is literally his backyard.

So, clearly we were going to go with this guy, right? Uh-huh!
We embarked upon a 6 day adventure into the jungle proper, complete with: sleeping under an open air thatched roof in hammocks, eating home cooked food, canoeing through and swimming in a 'flooded forest', nighttime cayman hunting, Sumauma searching (like a really really massive tree native to the Amazon - you know the big one from Avatar?), tarantula/monkey/sloth/cobra watching, and jungle trekking.
And that was just the first three days.
The second 3 days included:
Bush bashing without a track to locate our own camp spot, gathering large ferns and creating our own shelter, swimming in a natural igarape (small creek), slinging our hammocks up between the trees (while praying it doesn't rain which would mean a sleepless night huddled under the shelter with our 5 other friends on the trip), making a fire to cook our freshly hunted agouti (large "rodent" from the guinea pig family, sounds small but it fed 7, brains and all. Nothing goes to waste in the Amazon), boiled bark from a local tree to make tea (tasted a lot like clove, yum!), observed our dear Bata while he skinned, gutted, salted and smoked our dinner, and really the list goes on...including waking up to the growl of a jaguar which was only a stones throw away. Quite a unique alarm. Brett turned 25 somewhere in the middle of that and was still spoilt with a surprise party, cake and was sung happy birthday in 3 different languages.

Post our jungle fix we went back to Alter do Chao and recharged the batteries on the river beach town before the next 2.5 days of boat travel to Manaus. Was a repeat of the first boat. Many Brasilians in many hammocks and many wonderful riverscapes.

Manaus, Amazonas - apart from being the largest city in the Amazon region and therefore a huge transport hub, Manaus provided us with more culinary delights (Acai, Bolo de Leite, Caldeirada de Peixe and more Tapioca with ) and we completed our Brasilian chapter with an all-you-can-eat meat fest for the crazy price of AU$17(a very Brasilian dinner)! A few days chilled out eating and watching the Olympics and we departed Brasil! Sort of........we flew from Manaus to Tabatinga which is on the triple frontier of Brasil, Colombia and Peru. So we walked from Brasil in to Colombia and arrived in to an area isolated from everywhere.

Leticia, Colombia. As soon as you walk the border there is an extremely sudden change in everything. Language, food, people, music etc etc. There is no such thing as a fusion of culture. We were in Colombia. Salsa music, old men sitting in old cafe's sipping tintos (short blacks) and typical Colombian patriotism. Everything is painted blue, yellow and red!

Our Amazon experience was wrapping up but not quite.

We spent a day swinging from 35m trees in the jungle. And then Giselle spent a night with the toilet bowl (But Brett remains in the lead on the food poisoning talley surprisingly). This was followed by a 60km trip up river to an isolated town called Puerto Narino.

There we stayed with a family, marvelled at the infamous Pink Dolphins of the Amazon, went Piranha fishing (successfully, and followed by eating our catch. Who eats who now Piranhas?), trekked to a local community and generally lazed around with the locals and the brightly coloured Macaws and Parrots. We should mention that while we did successfully catch our own fish, one fish did actually jump on to our boat itself. No rod required sometimes.

Brett's highlight: having a spike in testosterone and wading in to the Amazonian lake in the dark with Bata to hunt for Caymans. Neck deep in the dark in a lake full of Alligators the adrenaline wore thinner and I started to shit myself! Luckily I was with the jungle guru Bata who told me I was the first tourist (idiot) to go in with him.

Giselle's highlight: obviously there were many the past few weeks, one of the most recent was catching a piranha, getting so excited that I ripped the rod out of the water, only to have the piranha let go of the bait, go flying into the air, over the top of the boat and back into the water on the other side of the boat, doh!

Next stop North Colombia.

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.

VW GOLFINHOS

We left you last time with stories from Salvador. Since then we haven´t had the need to blog as we have pretty much been lying on the beach drinking freshly squeezed juices (of fruits we had never heard of), eating Açai and working on our tans. (You should see "chocolate" Giselle).

Here is a quick summary of where and what!

Aracaju, Sergipe: Picture a kilometre of sand before you can even see the water, lots of surfers, coconut sellers and teenage girls taking self portraits which we assume were heading straight to facebook....... That was Aracaju.

Oh also, the day before we left whilst commenting on how safe and clean the city felt we picked up the newspaper and read "316 murders in the last 5 months in Sergipe" - Time to go !

Maceio, Alagoas: A bit of a city, however the main charm was turquoise waters in which you sail out to natural rock pools 2km´s out to sea on a picturesque (jangada) mini sailboat. We were fortunate enough to be on board with 3 pastors from Nth Brasil and a toothless captain. Upon exchanging names the pastors exclaimed  "ahhhh Giselle Bitch" we assumed Giselle Bundchen?
We also saw Men in Black 3.

Jacuma, Paraiba: Managed to score ourselves a condo type room right on the beach. It included sunbeds, an exquisite breakfast and 4 days of crook guts for Brett. Lots of book reading and trips to the toilet. Found ourselves in the middle of a local community party which closely resembled a Bar Mitzvah. There was even a lady who sang the local song while we all line danced. If you are lucky one day Brett will give you his rendition of the song!

Praia Da Pipa, Rio Grande Do Norte: To sum Pipa up if you walk 10 minutes away from the main beach you get to a pristine beach equipped with noone else around, clear water, arid red cliffs and.....................

DOLPHINS !! ("Golfinhos" in portuguese) No futher than 10 metres out from shore, at hip depth, along side us as we swam. This happened multiple times on 3 different days. Jealous? They were close enough to hear the water being blown out of their blow hole. Giselle was pretty much Ariel and Brett was clearly Eric.

Did we mention there were dolphins?

Fortaleza, Ceara: What to do with one day in Fortaleza? Go the equivalent of "wet and wild". That was all.

The highlights this time are a little treat for you.

Ignore all the ads, scroll half way down the page and then hit download to the right and above the thumbnail of Brett with the play sign on his face.
http://videobam.com/PbQTy

Rocinha Favela in Rio

We´re only half way on the crazy bike ride in Arraial

And this is actually a good part of the "road"

Adam "I´ll have a 100 hotdogs" Littlehales

Something silly

Something sexxxxxy

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)