Ok, so a major apology for the complete lack of blogging which became increasingly difficult with the bad internet access and our fast pace across South America, however the good news is I have been keeping a travel journal and I fully intend to put up all my stories along with links and photos when I return- in one month.
So in a short wile my travels will be replayed on here along with my reflections, you will be traveling with me, just a little behind.
Love to you all as always xxx
Saturday 7 May 2011
Monday 7 March 2011
Carnival
Carnival runs from the Friday the 5th March to Tuesday the 9th, 5 nights of partying, seems simple enough on paper. Well the whole event becomes a ground-hog day experience; you sleep late, you get up, you laxe around, you get ready to go out, you start drinking, dance and follow samba processions, you get home very late and go to bed= repeat for 5 days!!!
Carnival has been amazing and I would love to come back another year, everyone is just so happy and up for a party! My body did start rejecting me after the 3rd or 4th night of drinking and 4am bed times, but it was necessary to push through the pain barrier and complete the 5 days. As the barman at our hostel said, ´too much cachasa? So much cachca?´
The people were great where, we were staying as as we were there for 7 nights we made friends with the staff and we out with them at night. John and I become good friends with the barman who resembled Fagin from Oliver twist, and he made it his mission to give out as much free drink as possible, no one was complaining.
So I guess the best way to recount the week of debauchery is to give you a day by day synopsis with random words, although they did all meld together, especially since the same 5 songs were played repeated for the 5 nights!
Friday- day 1
A big stage in the main square with bands playing samba and popular music, lots of food stands all around with BBQs and people spraying foam at you. Big effigies or giants and scary looking people all around the town, hanging out windows and in the square. The beer for sale on the street is only 1 poundfor a can so you can imagine the aim, drink drink drink! The people also have a focus on making out, which is pretty wild, which I am sure is partly for show! The people are also really friendly.
We went out the first night with hostel people and there was dancing everywhere, and you follow the music round the streets. You follow the different samba schools and their dancers through the old town and always end up back at the main square.
The night saw the beginning of the ´Sophie, Sophie, Sophie´ chat by the hostel staff members. For some reason the barman and his friends took an interest in me and my face. Basically of the course of the whole of carnival, everytime one, or all of them saw me they began to chant my name, I dont know if this was because I was one of the only European girls in the hostel, but it became a frequent chant, and now I am sad when I dont here my name being chanted wherever I go. The chant was usually followed by attempts to get me to so cachaca shots, but I drew the line before dinner!
A great night, not too late, in before 4, and a warm up for the nights to come!
Saturday- day 2
Carnival has been amazing and I would love to come back another year, everyone is just so happy and up for a party! My body did start rejecting me after the 3rd or 4th night of drinking and 4am bed times, but it was necessary to push through the pain barrier and complete the 5 days. As the barman at our hostel said, ´too much cachasa? So much cachca?´
The people were great where, we were staying as as we were there for 7 nights we made friends with the staff and we out with them at night. John and I become good friends with the barman who resembled Fagin from Oliver twist, and he made it his mission to give out as much free drink as possible, no one was complaining.
So I guess the best way to recount the week of debauchery is to give you a day by day synopsis with random words, although they did all meld together, especially since the same 5 songs were played repeated for the 5 nights!
Friday- day 1
A big stage in the main square with bands playing samba and popular music, lots of food stands all around with BBQs and people spraying foam at you. Big effigies or giants and scary looking people all around the town, hanging out windows and in the square. The beer for sale on the street is only 1 poundfor a can so you can imagine the aim, drink drink drink! The people also have a focus on making out, which is pretty wild, which I am sure is partly for show! The people are also really friendly.
We went out the first night with hostel people and there was dancing everywhere, and you follow the music round the streets. You follow the different samba schools and their dancers through the old town and always end up back at the main square.
The night saw the beginning of the ´Sophie, Sophie, Sophie´ chat by the hostel staff members. For some reason the barman and his friends took an interest in me and my face. Basically of the course of the whole of carnival, everytime one, or all of them saw me they began to chant my name, I dont know if this was because I was one of the only European girls in the hostel, but it became a frequent chant, and now I am sad when I dont here my name being chanted wherever I go. The chant was usually followed by attempts to get me to so cachaca shots, but I drew the line before dinner!
A great night, not too late, in before 4, and a warm up for the nights to come!
Saturday- day 2
Mud, mud, mud. It is traditional on the second day of carnival in paraty to take part in bloca de lama which is a mud festival where everyone goes down to the second beach of the town where there is a large mud section on the bay. There you cover yourself head to toe in mud and then take part in the dancing and drinking on the beach. There is live Ska7punk bands and everyone dances around in their swimwear and covered in mud. Many of the brazillians dress up as cavemen, symbollising primitivism. This means lots of real animal skulls on sticks, horses and dogs covered in mud and with seaweed and bones hanging from everyone and everything. After a few hours you go on a procession through the town with a liudspeaker and a flaot in front leading the chant of ´OOGA OOGA EEH EEH´. People throw around canisters of orange smoke (which burns the skin) and lots and lots of beer. It was a really creepy expereince and people get pretty wild runing and chanting and screaming. People looked scary too! Look at the links below for an idea.
So after this we triioed back home with everyone and began the long queue for hostel showers!
So after this we triioed back home with everyone and began the long queue for hostel showers!
In the eveinng these things occured: girls dancing, meeting brazillians, drinking out of random people´s bottles, penis masks with condoms hanging off the noses, men dressed as women (which aparently is very common for all men to do during carnival), sexual connotations everywhere, an elected king of the carnival who had his own float and a tacky robe and crown, the queen of carnival is this very old granny who also has here own float and she rides around dancing, girls, music, dancing lessons from brazillians, people staring at us for being so out of place, cachaca, big models of monsters, demons, marching through town to samba bands etc.
The second night was epic and we managed to last until 4, the music really good and we met some Brazillians we had become friends with and we hung around with them. That evening there were these three little girls, about 8 years old, who were with their dad who owned a beer stand. They were like a miniture ´Destinys Child´, some of the best dancing I have ever seen. Each carnival song has a setof moves and the little girls started to teach me the moves. They were mesmorised by John and I, as we were so pale and fair haired beside them. We ended up dancing with them for a long time and then our Brazillian friends helped them talk to us. They told me I was beautiful- biggest complement EVER!!!!
Sunday- Day three: the fancy dress evening, about 30 men dressed up as the powerpuff girls and wheeled around a big soundsystem. They were dancing and grinding with each other and getting the crowds to join in. They also had with them a with giant paper mache penis spraying water at everyone! They also had light up penises in their pants, very classy. Face painting with hostel ppl, silver paint everywhere!
Day Four- After having our faces painted again, this time with pink glow in the dark paint, and several chants of ´Śophie, sophie, sophie´ and cachaca pressure drinking we headed out for more samba, processions and dancing ( I think you get the jist of it now). The atmosphere on this night was much more frenzied, I think as it was the second last night and people were really throwing themselves at each other!
Day Five-
Completely exhausted and really not feeling like going out, we were cheered up by managing to find a creperie to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. Once back at the hostel it was inevitable that we were going out. This night was much more chilled, the town people were alspo exhausted but it was a really happy atmosphere. We had befriended the tallest man in Paraty who was at least 6 foot 5 and we followed him onto the dancefloor, as the only tourists. The bands were good and we stayed out late, bobbing instead of dancing but having fun nonetheless.
You start seeing the same people every night and you have become part of the celebrations. It was such a great time and I have completely fallen in love with Brazil. The people are so great, and always so welcoming and up for fun.
Day Four- After having our faces painted again, this time with pink glow in the dark paint, and several chants of ´Śophie, sophie, sophie´ and cachaca pressure drinking we headed out for more samba, processions and dancing ( I think you get the jist of it now). The atmosphere on this night was much more frenzied, I think as it was the second last night and people were really throwing themselves at each other!
Day Five-
Completely exhausted and really not feeling like going out, we were cheered up by managing to find a creperie to celebrate Shrove Tuesday. Once back at the hostel it was inevitable that we were going out. This night was much more chilled, the town people were alspo exhausted but it was a really happy atmosphere. We had befriended the tallest man in Paraty who was at least 6 foot 5 and we followed him onto the dancefloor, as the only tourists. The bands were good and we stayed out late, bobbing instead of dancing but having fun nonetheless.
You start seeing the same people every night and you have become part of the celebrations. It was such a great time and I have completely fallen in love with Brazil. The people are so great, and always so welcoming and up for fun.
Saturday 5 March 2011
Paraty and the beginning of Carnival
After arriving so early and being completely exhauusted, I still seemed unable to actually sleep so after long, and the first vaguely tepid showers in 2 weeks, we set off to wander round the town and see what it had to offer.
Paraty is very beautiful and the old town is perfectly preserved with cobbled streets so uneven it hurts and you need to watch the ground constantly! It is an old Colonial town, one of the first properly set up with the Portugese landed in Brazil and began to build towns and create their own communities. It seems Paraty got left behind in urbanisation due to its industries as its focus was on cachaca (sugar cane spirit), fishing and crops, and didn't necessitate the development of the buildings too much. Now that it is so perfectly maintained in its orignial state it is a protected site and simply beautiful and a great atmospheric choice for us to spend Carnival in.
Last night was the first night of 5 for carnival, runing from Friday the 5rd to Ash Wednesday on the 9th. So 5 nights of serious dancing and drinking ahead of me. I have been keeping of noted of the escapades, blogging of the fun times will follow xx
Paraty is very beautiful and the old town is perfectly preserved with cobbled streets so uneven it hurts and you need to watch the ground constantly! It is an old Colonial town, one of the first properly set up with the Portugese landed in Brazil and began to build towns and create their own communities. It seems Paraty got left behind in urbanisation due to its industries as its focus was on cachaca (sugar cane spirit), fishing and crops, and didn't necessitate the development of the buildings too much. Now that it is so perfectly maintained in its orignial state it is a protected site and simply beautiful and a great atmospheric choice for us to spend Carnival in.
Last night was the first night of 5 for carnival, runing from Friday the 5rd to Ash Wednesday on the 9th. So 5 nights of serious dancing and drinking ahead of me. I have been keeping of noted of the escapades, blogging of the fun times will follow xx
Thursday 3 March 2011
Florianopolis 25th- 28th Feb
My first impressions of Florianopolis are that it is incredibly beautiful. The town of Floripa where we are staying reminds me a lot of Costa Rica with beaches, the surfing vibe, hammocks and lots of reggae music. We walked to the beach when we arrived and it took far longer than the hostel said, almost half an hour in the heat! There were these massive sand dunes on the road to the beach with people queuing up to go sand boarding. It looks like a section of some desert have been lifted up and placed beside the beach! The sand dunes are so high up and the sand is so white, blinding in the sun.
Florianopolis is a city, but it is a collection of mini-hubs around a series of lagoons and beaches, each hub with its own city centre and bus terminal. Each lagoon therefore has a slightly different feel and different beaches and places to go out. It is all quite spread out and sometimes difficult to get a feel for what actual Florianolois is like, but the centre is very modern and has a big University. It seems to be a city that many Brazillians see as the most organised and modern.
After beaching it in the intense heat and only lasting half a day despite the rented umbrella we investigated the towm with some other hostel people. Thw town of Floripa is really cool, with beach shops, lots of surf stuf and hundreds of juice and acai bars, and pay per kilo restaurants, all designed for backpackers I'm sure! The town actually takes a half an hour walk from the hostel and the hostel is near the beach but it is so secluded its very relaxing. It is a humid and tropical atmosphere here with lots of green vegetation and bananas trees. Aparently Florianopolis has over 70 beaches! We only managed to see 3 in our short stay there but they were all gorgeous!
The market in the town had a different feel from the other markets in Brazil. This one clearly refleted the people who live here, with organic pulses, rice, tofu(!!!), soap, hemp and hand made bags and hand carved furniture. There was even an organic fruit and veg stand, not seen that ever in this part of the world.
Most evenings in Floripa were spent in the hostel bar drinking caipirahs, the traditional Brazilian drink, and chatting with all the lovely people in the hostel. A caipirah is made from cachaca, soda water, sugar and lots of lime, it is essentially a much stronger mojito without the lime. Very refreshing!
I am slowly easing into this backpacking malarky, which has taken a little time as being chilled and less planned is not really my natiral state- as many of you will know. But I think the beaches and caipirahs and helping out!
Florianopolis is a city, but it is a collection of mini-hubs around a series of lagoons and beaches, each hub with its own city centre and bus terminal. Each lagoon therefore has a slightly different feel and different beaches and places to go out. It is all quite spread out and sometimes difficult to get a feel for what actual Florianolois is like, but the centre is very modern and has a big University. It seems to be a city that many Brazillians see as the most organised and modern.
After beaching it in the intense heat and only lasting half a day despite the rented umbrella we investigated the towm with some other hostel people. Thw town of Floripa is really cool, with beach shops, lots of surf stuf and hundreds of juice and acai bars, and pay per kilo restaurants, all designed for backpackers I'm sure! The town actually takes a half an hour walk from the hostel and the hostel is near the beach but it is so secluded its very relaxing. It is a humid and tropical atmosphere here with lots of green vegetation and bananas trees. Aparently Florianopolis has over 70 beaches! We only managed to see 3 in our short stay there but they were all gorgeous!
The market in the town had a different feel from the other markets in Brazil. This one clearly refleted the people who live here, with organic pulses, rice, tofu(!!!), soap, hemp and hand made bags and hand carved furniture. There was even an organic fruit and veg stand, not seen that ever in this part of the world.
Most evenings in Floripa were spent in the hostel bar drinking caipirahs, the traditional Brazilian drink, and chatting with all the lovely people in the hostel. A caipirah is made from cachaca, soda water, sugar and lots of lime, it is essentially a much stronger mojito without the lime. Very refreshing!
I am slowly easing into this backpacking malarky, which has taken a little time as being chilled and less planned is not really my natiral state- as many of you will know. But I think the beaches and caipirahs and helping out!
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