These are the search terms used yesterday that led people to my blog, along with the frequency in which they occurred.
There were some great ones last week..
| cat cemetary | 2 |
| transexuals – palermo buenos aries | 1 |
| buenos aires-after dark- | 1 |
| cat prowling | 1 |
| brazilian domestic life | 1 |
No words, just photos..
A great week spent surfing, playing chess, pool and poker, with a little partying and a tsunami warning thrown in for good measure..
Merlin, if you are reading this, you are welcome to write a guest post.
Otherwise, sit back and enjoy the pretty pictures:
QUITO TO MONTANITA PHOTO GALLERY HERE!
And as always, a few samples below:
A slightly different format for this post..
Rather than ramble on, then slap some photos at the bottom of the post with a link to the gallery, captions have been attached to the photos and the presentation has been fixed in a different style – much like one of those photo diaries you might find in the red tops or a trashy magazine.
Look through all the pages for the full story:
ASCENT OF ILINIZA NORTE PHOTO DIARY HERE!
No photos attached here, so just click on the link above..
Important footnote – many beards were harmed in the making of this post.
Fitting in somewhere just before I wrote the silly post coming up next, and my arrival in Ecuador, I found myself in Sao Paulo again.
A few words and some photos below..
After Busca Vida, a day was spent in other parts of Salvador, along the coastal stretch and bay area, before catching a bus inland to Lencois.
Lencois is a small, old diamond boom and bust town and sits in the national park of Chapada Diamantina, a beautiful oasis in the dry and dusty surrounding sertao.
There is good trekking here, if a touch hot – but this is eased by the refreshingly cold lagoons, tarns and waterfalls.
Interesting rock formations surrounded by tropical flora and drenched in gently flowing water, like natural Japanese gardens, stand all around and are amazing on the eye.
Like so many other places, it would be easy to stay here longer – 10 days to walk the whole region and see the many spectacular peaks, valleys, caves and lagoons would be ideal.
However, getting to Ecuador is a priority and time is short, so a few days trekking will suffice this time.
The executive decision to skip Amazonia and the rest of north Brazil was made, mostly due to time, distance and costs involved. North-eastern Brazil is definitely somewhere I would like to see more of, as is the Amazon (still want to travel the whole thing by boat) – so missing this out gives a perfect excuse to go back at a later date.
HERE IS THE CHAPADA DIAMANTINA PHOTO GALLERY!
For a few samples, click below..
Moving chronologically forward from the post, Killing time – post carnival Salvador, we land in mid July, 2007 – a little further north than before.
As soon as I felt fit enough, I arranged to stay for about 10 days in Busca Vida, 50 or 60 Km north of Salvador. I stayed in a house backing onto a private beach, lined with palm trees, good surf in front of the house and no one around – tranquil paradise!
The property was owned by Berto, a friendly, funny Brazilian guy, who runs Bahia Surf Camp, which comes highly recommended.
Each day was spent surfing, stretching, juggling, learning capoeira and power yoga. Every day, except the fifth, as I was too stiff to move – a brief and feeble attempt at surfing was made but I could barely even paddle out past the breaks! That, coupled with using a shorter board in rougher waters meant the sea destroyed me with ease, firmly putting me in my place and signalling a time to rest!
After the frenetic Rio, Sao Paulo and Pelourinho, this change of pace was perfect and was made even better by the food served by Cecilia 3 times a day.
Different, delicious dishes were served for every meal and the quality was only surpassed by the quantity..
Frequent feasting would be the best way to describe it! I left relaxed, feeling healthy and strong again (for the first time in weeks), ready to move inland, west to the Brazilian highlands.
CLICK HERE FOR THE PHOTO GALLERY!
View from window at the back of the house:
So, so far behind in updates – such seems to be the way on the road.
So far..
Two and a half countries behind to be roughly exact – I am currently in Mexico. Long left Brazil – trekked, scrambled, shivered, surfed and successfully dodged a potential tsunami in Ecuador (following a powerful earthquake in Lima, Peru) – only to jump right into the path of Hurricane Dean on the Yucatan peninsula, in Mexico.
Luckily (again), this didn´t strike with the force of a category 5 as predicted. I didn´t take any chances and fast forwarded my schedule to sidestep a stern slap from mother nature.
I decided to go to Acapulco. Time to go loco, I thought. This turned out to be a superb idea and was the start of another amazing few weeks (following on from the preceding few weeks with Merl, which were on a par, although different in style).
After Acapulco (impressive cliff divers and a good day´s kayaking) was Puerto Escondido (amazing surf and parrot called Harley, which I taught to high five). Then came San Christobal (amazing solidly styled colonial town) and a radical rewind (in terms of direction anyway) back to Cancun (amazingly tacky, yet beautiful beaches dusted with fine white sand). This reverse of gear was in order to continue with my original route and catch the bits I was forced to miss due to the adverse weather.
Despite the overzealous use of the word `amazing´, none of the places were that spectacular in themselves but I was lucky enough to meet lots of people who were amazing.
Too much fun to write about, words would likely wrong it.
Instead it shall remain as a collection of shared, happy memories, some more vague than others, between friends both old and new. With luck, some of the new will become old with time.
This brings us right up to now – which, as always, is today. Except in some other countries, such as England where it is tomorrow already. Long live the Monday Morning Mutiny!
I have just arrived in Valladolid and am about to embark on a turbo charged few days of travelling, sight-seeing, cultural leanings and learnings. Starting with Chichen Itza as early as possible tomorrow morning – hopefully there will be some morning mist and a lack of hording tourists to add some mystery to the air and allow for better shots of the scene.
This change of pace is in order to reach the mighty Mexico City in time for Mexico´s Independence Day on September 15th.
Before more updates come and wash this away – Merlin, Maria, Molly, Eva, Glenn et al – if you´re reading – it´s been great!
A truly fantastic few chapters in my travels.
Time to go back to the past – time to rewind, back to Brazil and an older chapter, many thousands of kilometres away.
The dust from the carnival settled surprisingly swiftly and the next day was business as usual in Pelourinho, the historic centre of Salvador.
“Pelourinho” means whipping post and it was here that slaves arrived from Africa and were traded and treated in a manner that would be considered unethical for cattle today.
Although somewhat rundown, with verbal harassment common, I liked the place and it’s unusual charm. Still a little under the weather, I spent a few days here, avoiding the more modern, built up coastal stretch and bided my time chatting to the locals and being shown the sites.
It`s definitely a generalisation, but it seemed like every male under the age of 30 here was either an expert drummer, skilled capoeira fighter or a drug addict.
Very different to everywhere else in Brazil, Salvador possesses a unique and vibrant zest for life, love, music and history, almost bubbling over with energy, despite the obvious hardships.
The African influence is very apparent and flows through everything – from the food to the rhythms in the music, the religious ceremonies of candomble and of course, the people themselves..
Continuing north up Brazil to the north-eastern state of Bahia, I arrive at Salvador in the middle of the night. I decide it safer to take a cab.
The crazy web of unnamed cobbled streets was deserted and still.
Equally crazed was my driver, who made the journey anything but still.
It was unusual that everywhere was so quiet driving into the city – there is usually something going on somewhere in the bigger towns and cities in Brazil; at any time of day or night.
MondayMorningMutiny.com 