Hello Ecuador

Well here I am in beautiful Ecuador! I finished up in Colombia last week after couchsurfing with a local from Cali, Eliana.  It was a great experience. I met her at her workplace, a huge preschool where her colleagues were having a party for the schools anniversary.  There was a lot of karaoke and her 8 year old son Miguel did a pretty awesome Michael Jackson dance.  The next day she showed me around Cali and in the evening we sat up on San Antonio hill overlooking the city, watched some comedy in the open air amphitheatre (which I barely understood but it was amusing nonetheless) then had dinner with her friends.  The language barrier was challenging- I felt like an ignorant retard a lot of the time but then I figured I am relatively ignorant of the Spanish language so that's probably a good reality check for me - can't be awesome at everything can I :)  The Sunday evening we drove out to her grandmothers little country house up in the mountains, where her family were all gathering.  There was a soundsystem set up on the veranda and Eliana danced salsa with her grandmother which had everyone in stitches.  Then it was karaoke time - I did a woeful rendition of Yesterday and a slightly better version of La Isla Bonita.  Then an embarrassing uncle took hold of the karaoke and wouldn't let up with the ballads so Eliana and I sat on a log in the yard, looking out over the valley drinking beers an listening to music on her ipod.  I felt like we were teenagers at her parents party it was funny.

After a brief stop at Popayan the next night I crossed into Ecuador the next day, arriving to Quito that evening.  I was really happy to be there - the hostel had a gorgeous terrace overlooking the city with a fire going, it was great.  The next day I went out to the equator park, where you do all these experiments like watching the water going clockwise, anticlockwise and straight down all within a few meters of each other. I tried and failed to balance an egg on a nail, and also found it rather difficult to walk in a straight line right along the equator - something to do with the centrifugal force ( I wasn't drinking honest!) This science fan was pretty impressed with the whole thing.  Quito itself wasn't bad either, I enjoyed walking around the old town, hula hooping in the park and drinking and chatting with some lovely fellow travellers on the terrace.

I decided to tag along with a few said travellers, a cool couple from oz Kate and Luke and the cute Canadian brothers Brad and Jeremy, up to a hostel in the countryside near the Cotopaxi volcano.  The place was just amazing.  Stunning scenery, relaxed beautiful hostel with hammocks and fireplaces, amazing food and a spa bath! The first afternoon we walked up to a nearby waterfall and jumped into the pool below - not a huge drop but woah! Icy cold! Then we walked home down the river, skipping along the rocks feeling all adventurous.  The next day we walked to a place with these amazing caves, confronting claustrophobia and bats, but again, feeling pretty darn adventurous.  

On the last day I was even more adventurous still - climbing to the summit of the extinct Pasochoa volcano to an elevation of 4200m.  What a spectacular day that was! Walking alongside the old Inca terraces with their still functioning irrigation canals.  Across the ridge with the tall grasses gently flowing in the wind, then overlooking Quito and the surrounding farms at the top of the ridge.  And finally scaling the summit and looking down into the crator all lush with trees, around at the countryside, Cotopaxi and all the other mountains surrounding us...It was magic.  I could really get into climbing mountains I think it´s so satisfying, and I totally have a better understanding of the term 'feeling on top of the world'.  Mind you I'm still feeling pretty sore two days later - time for some hot springs at Banos methinks!

Hummingbirds and Gunpowder

I'm enjoying my last few days in Colombia, and I have to say I've had a great time here -despite getting sick.  I ended up spending two and a half weeks in Salento partly because it was beautiful, and partly to recover from a hefty bout of bronchitis! It wasn't a bad place to fall ill though, the hostel owner was friends with a very good doctor who came to see me and sorted me with antibiotics.  So for a few days I just lay about reading, enjoying having a dorm to myself for several days, drinking nice coffee and soaking up the chilled vibes of the place.

In the end I decided to take some Spanish lessons while I was there, so did a week's worth with a teacher Louisa.  She was great and I learned a lot, even though she usually spent a good 10 minutes every lesson telling me about her love life! (If you want my opinion he sounds like a jerk, but maybe that was just my bad translation of the Spanish)

Once I was feeling better I got to enjoy the highlights of Salento once again.  One being the Speakeasy, a bar run by a two brothers from Perth.  They have a cool little set up and do good meals, a mean 'russian cocaine' shot (coffee limey goodness!) plus really know how to have fun.  I played many a game of 4-2-1 down there, plus there was a cracking disco-funk party last Saturday night - I made some hula hoops and took them along and everyone had a go, it was loads of fun!

A major highlight of Salento is the Valle de Cocora, a picturesque valley with lots of the very tall national tree of Colombia (does Australia have a national tree?) the wax palm.  These things are like 60m high and strange to see in the high rugged mountains- think beachfront meets cows and coffee plantations.  Anyway there's a 5 hour hike you can do up and around the mountains which I did, god it was lovely.  I was so excited to be healthy again I strode ahead of the others (who I had caught the jeep out there with), and so got to enjoy the scenery and the forest to myself.  Theres something fantastic about hiking alone, I felt like I noticed and appreciated the forest more, had more awareness of my surroundings rather than being distracted by other people.  Hmm, I wonder if I have some little inner hermit...(Ha! Me?)
Continuing up the mountainside you get to a little rest stop where I recharged with hot chocolate and watched the many different hummingbirds buzzing around.  It was then a further kilometre uphill to the top of the mountain. My goodness that view was spectacular.  The clouds would sweep in from the valley below, hit the highest mountain and woosh up higher into the air - this cloudspotter was enthralled! And it was an absolutely glorious day, too, so much sunshine!

What else was great about Salento? I can't seem to rave enough about the place.  Louisa showed me the artisan village and I arranged a workshop to make jewellery with a the quirky lovely Diana.  I couldn't make out what she was saying half the time but she punctuated her words with a slightly crazy giggle which was endearing.  That was quite a girly day actually - the wonderful Ruby and I spent the morning traipsing around the countryside together, then made jewellery, then had pedicures and a d&m. (It was rather strange actually, sitting in this lady's loungeroom getting pedicures while her kids ran around and her brother studied, chatting away about boys and god knows what else, assuming that none of them spoke English!)

Oh and the other cool thing was tejo!  Heard of it?  Its like a cross between shotput and and archery, with gunpowder!  You throw these metal discs at a clay target and on the clay sits a horseshoe, and little packs of gunpowder.  They explode if the disc hits the horseshoe.  Its not dangerous, its probably the equivalent of like 10 party poppers all at once.  Loud and a flash of light, and oh so satisfying when you get that bang!

Anyhoo it was sad but I said goodbye to Salento and am now in Cali with my friendly host Eliana, who is doing a very good job of immersing me in Spanish.  She is quite patient even though the most common thing I say to her is 'No entiendo'.  But boy has my dictionary got a workout!  Anyway we´re about to go out on the town so hasta luego!

Travels through Colombia

I've been in Colombia for a couple weeks now and it's been pretty awesome.

After Taganga the three amigos made our way down to Cartagena, a lovely city on the coast surrounded by high city walls (to keep out the pirates).  We cruised around the bars drinking rum, saw this great band that Kate knew from her last trip to Cartagena, afro-caribbean beats with melodic latin lyrics plus a little bit ska with the trombone, the dancefloor packed and pumping.  It was really all about the party in Cartagena, we had several crazy nights.  In the day time there was a lot of lounging around the hostel which had a lovely courtyard and a pool.  On our last night together (Kate sailing to Panama, Dougie off to Buenos Aires, me staying in Colombia) we had a massive one on the rooftop of the hostel, watching the sunset, doing acrobatics and other nonsense and making our own fun during a blackout.

After a fair bit of indecision I decided to make my way to Medellin, a thirteen hour overnight bus ride away.  It wasn´t that bad actually, when I woke up in the morning we were winding around the high mountain roads, with the clouds hanging low and the sun attempting to break through, it was quite beautiful.  When I got to Medellin I took a few days of resting and recovering.  I gradually explored the city which is set in the valley between two mountain ranges, checked out the plaza of sculptures by the famous artist Botero, the Colombian art gallery nearby, and chilling in the botanic gardens.  One afternoon I caught the cable car up to Arvi Park, a nature reserve at the top of one of the mountains.  Cable car is a pretty cool way to travel, the first part was sweeping over the rooftops of the city checking out the various neighbourhoods, watching the kids playing soccer in the streets, then the second part was quietly gliding over the canopy of the forest.  At the top I went on a guided walk through the reserve with a lovely guide, Monica (who I got all to myself) who told me all about the trees and different types of forest.  She practiced her english and tried to teach me some spanish, we had a great old time.  There were two dogs accompanying us and she explained that one of them used to be really skinny, so the park staff named him Juan, after a really skinny co-worker of theirs.  This human Juan took a liking to the little dog and started feeding him and fattening him up, and so now he was quite healthy looking, frolicking in the forest with the other dog, living the good life.  Monica said the human Juan is still skinny though!

Since Medellin I've been in the beautiful Salento, high in the Zona Cafetera (coffee growing region).  Its just my kind of town - small and friendly, beautiful mountains all around and GOOD COFFEE!  The coffee has been pretty crap around most of south america, all the good stuff gets exported.  On my first day in Salento I went to the lookout at the top of town and was blown away by the beauty of the valley below.  A guy up there told me I could walk down to the river below so I did, then decided to keep on walking to Cocora, a little spot with lots of walking trails and such.  It took a couple hours to get there, but it was such a nice walk along the quiet country road through the valley.  When I got there I had lunch then went on a short horseride through the forest along the river, it was magic.  Afterwards I caught the jeep back to Salento and met some other tourists including an Australian Katie who was staying with friends at their bar the SpeakEasy, so I went there that night and had a burger and a few beers and made plans to go on another horseride the next day.  Another fantastic day! I had a fiesty horse called Violin who liked to be at the front of the pack and when he broke into a gallop was really bloody fast, almost scary, but in a fun rollercoaster kinda way:) We spent four hours riding though another gorgeous valley, to this little farm where this cute old grandpa showed us around his palm trees and coffee plants, smiling all the while, then a muddy precarious walk to a beautiful little waterfall.  We had tea on his balcony before going home again.

I was a bit sore after that ride! But I like it heaps here so I reckon I'm gonna hang around a while and take some spanish lessons:)

adventures episode 2 - Taganga and Tayrona

I am loving Colombia, it´s heaps of fun!
After leaving Venezuela Kate and I hit a small beach town called Taganga, on the edge of the Tayrona National Park.  Its just over the hill from the city of Santa Marta but a world away in terms of atmosphere.  There are a few thousand people living there, you can walk everywhere along the unpaved streets, get 2 for 1 cocktails on the waterfront and party late into the night.

Which we did.  Repeatedly.  There was a bar up the hill alongside one end of the beach called the Mirador, which had music and dancing out on their terrace overlooking the beach, an amazing breeze and a lively joyful atmosphere.  When that closed there was always an 'afterparty' somewhere in town.  The first night it was an empty lot where there were the ruins of an old house.  Good music and cheap drinks but strange little brick walls poking up in unexpected places.  I tripped over one and was kindly caught by a fellow aussie, Dougie (didn't even spill my drinks!).  Kate and I ran into him again the next night and for the next week our travelling aussie duo became a trio.

Besides partying in Taganga I also managed to squeeze in some scuba diving, it was cool! I was worried I may have forgotten how but I had the divemaster as my buddy so he refreshed me on everything, plus showed me lots of cool stuff and took photos.  There were a lot of multicoloured coral, and so so many beautiful fish.  Angelfish and various triggerfish, pipefish, rockfish, spotty moray eels, lobster...so many more too that I don't know the names of.  Tiny little black and white ones, bright blue and yellow ones, big, slow moving black ones.  At one point I was completely surrounded by a school of bright bright blue ones, that was really cool.  The whole experience just reminded me of how much I love fishies and the ocean in general, its so lovely down there, I must get back more often.

After another night of partying the three of us managed to drag ourselves out of bed early enough to make our way to the Tayrona national park.  It was a colourful bus ride, with some people preaching about Jesus in the aisles, a rocking horse sat down beside Kate, and the general crazy colombian driving style.

When we arrived we were greeted by a line of little leaf cutter ants, streaming past with their little leaf pieces. Okay that doesn't sound that cool, but it really was cool to see!  From the park entrance there was a short bus ride to the top of the walking path, then a one and a half hour walk through the beautiful beautiful jungle to the beach.  That walk was really lovely.  You know when you just step into a forest and suddenly everything inside you just relaxes and you feel at peace and content?  Like it's where you belong.  Well that's how I felt, anyway.  The trees, vines, plants, bird songs and cute ants all around, it was bliss.

At the end of the walk was a beautiful long white sandy beach.  Treacherous to swim in apparantly, several people have died there caught in the undertow.  So we just admired it and walked further along, past the big rocks, had a rest and some arepas.   We were going to camp at the Cabo beach so we made our way there, found our hammocks, then jumped into the beautiful beach there - just the thing after a long walk!  And there were waves!  Hardly any beaches I've been to in South America have waves to play in, so swimming at the beach isn't as much fun.  In fact the whole time I'm constantly reminded how lucky we are to have such awesome beaches back home.  Anyway, this beach was small, but great.  There were cool rocks to climb on, it was fun.  And who pops up but the three polish girls we met in Venezuela!  There were big hugs and playing in the surf, then we all played uno together.  It was a pretty quiet night (except for the donkeys eye-oring which threw some people into fits of giggles) and I had a good sleep in my hammock.

The next morning I joined Ana and Marta for a mega hike up the mountain to El Pueblito, the ruins of an old city which dates back to the year 450.  The walk was nice through the forest again, but also a bit hairy at times, quite steep!  It was certainly some good exercise, but there were some nice little streams along the way and when we got to the top it was interesting seeing the ruins.  The three of us just chilled up the top for a while before making our way back and having another swim.  At the end of the day it was time to head back to Taganga so the three aussies hopped on a speedboat with a bunch of other tourists and sped along the rough waters off the coast, got splashed, laughed at other people getting splashed, and enjoyed one last night in Taganga before heading to Cartagena.

The adventures of Erin and Kate episode 1 - Angel Falls

Since leaving Brazil a little over a week ago, my awesome buddy Kate and I have had some pretty cool adventures in Venezuela and Colombia.

We left Manaus and travelled via bus (two 12 hour days, pretty gruelling but that's travel in South America) to Cuidad Bolivar in Venezuela.  From there we´d arranged a tour to Angel falls, the highest waterfall in the world, set in the beautiful Canaima national park.

That morning we set off from the airport - the two of us along with three polish girls on our tour Ana, Marta and Ola -all of us piling into a tiny six seater Cessna, flying to Canaima. When we arriving we hopped in a little boat with an American and his Venezuelan son in law, and began travelling upstream to the falls.
As the scenery  unfolded it was breathtaking.  The park has a beautiful forest with these tabletop mountains called tepuis jutting up out of the trees, with cloud covered jagged peaks.  So we sat in this little boat watching the landscape, occasionally getting splashed as we sped through some pretty fun rapids.
Once we arrived near our destination we began a hike to the base of the falls, through some absolutely gorgeous jungle.  Green broad leaved plants and towering trees with winding root systems, it was just beautiful in there.  After an hour or so of walking we arrived to the base of the falls and I had a swim - cold but so much fun.  The top of the falls are so high up that the clouds obscured it for most of the time, but while floating in the pool beneath, the clouds cleared and I could see the whole height of it and it was spectacular.

That evening we camped in hammocks nearby and our local indigenous guide told us the legend of how the falls formed.  A shaman had a vision of foreigners invading the land near the coast, so he sent his son to find a new place for their people to settle.  With him the son was carrying a magic potion that could heal all wounds, and when he came across an injured falcon he gave it some of the potion and in return got to fly on the falcons back to explore the area, eventually reaching the top of a tall beautiful tepui.  He was so excited to see the place that when he was running along the top of the mountain he tripped, spilling the potion and it turned into the waterfall.

It was lovely waking in such a place the next morning- fresh air, the raindrops quietly falling on the tin roof and the sounds of the forest.  We got back in the boat, had a little swim in the tea coloured river, then moved to a new camp where we had a little siesta before exploring the waterfalls in that area.  The first one we viewed initially from the top, then walked alongside it then got absolutely pounded by water and saturated walking behind it - SO much fun!  The sheer force of the water was incredible, so fast and loud.  Afterwards we had a swim at the little beach below, then walked through the trees to another waterfall, again walking behind that, getting saturated and giggling like silly.  That night back at camp we had beers and a little rum with the polish girls, but after such a day it was early to bed.

I woke ridiculously early the next morning so decided to wander down to the little beach near our camp.  I watched the moon set and sunrise there at the base of one of the waterfalls, a great start to the day.  After breakfast Kate and I swam and lounged on the beach a little before it was time to leave beautiful Canaima, sigh.

We had a bit of travelling to do again to get to our next destination Taganga in Colombia: catching freezingly air conditioned planes, a big old taxi driven by a devout Catholic called Mercedes who cranked the Venezuelan music to the six of us piled inside (I think she was devout anyway, she crossed herself as we left Maracaibo but maybe that was in the hope that the ancient Lincoln she was driving would hold together for the journey!), a freezing bus that seemed to go in circles at one point, and finally a very helpful taxi man who dropped us at our hostel in Tangana - party town:)  More on that later...

The Amazon

Last Tuesday we began our adventure into the Amazon, jumping aboard a ferry to take us from Belem at the mouth if the Amazon delta all the way up to Manaus, the capital of Amazonas way way upriver.

Our little Drago family were put up on the top deck, 17 little hammocks all lined up together (Well 15 actually, they forgot two).  It was pouring with rain when we jumped aboard, but the rain had cleared, the sun had set and several drinks had already been drunk by the time they finished loading the seven thousand boxes of tomatoes onto the bottom deck.  It was quite exciting to depart, you could almost hear the cheers of joy above the noise of the engines.

The days and nights on the boat all kind of blur into one.  We did bring a shit tonne of alcohol with us, so maybe thats partly to blame.  The nights consisted of talking shit and laughing, playing uno and shithead, mafioso and therapy, and dancing to the god-awful brazilian music (the same 10 cds over and over, including a chipmunks version of rolling in the deep. I'm not even a huge fan of the original version) with brazilians of somewhat questionable character.  The days involved waking too late for breakfast, staring out at the river and the trees and trees and little houses and 5 year olds driving their boats and trees,  laying in the hammocks attempting to read but falling asleep to the rocking of the boat, playing more cards and dominoes with the kids on board, scouring the wide water for pink dolphins (did glimpse a few!) I had such grand plans for my time on the boat (do some spanish study, read a bunch of books, organise photos,  plan the next stage of my trip) but very little of it happened, I just surrendered to laziness and it was quite delightful.  In that time the forest just went on and on, and the river never really got any narrower, although we did weave around a bunch of islands and flooded forest.

When we finally got to Manaus a day late it was good to be on land, in a bed and get to eat something other than chicken rice and beans.  But I'm so so glad I did the trip, and especially with such great company.  In Manaus we had to say goodbye to each other, tough since I've spent the last 40 days or so in such a nice group.  But there was no time for tears as I set out tree climbing then on another little tour out into the forest to the Gero jungle lodge.

The tree climbing was fun.  I've never done any sort of climbing so even getting the harness and all the gear felt cool.  Clambering 30m up the rope and standing atop a branch overlooking the river was just magic, if a little scary!

The next day I set out to the Gero jungle lodge which involved a 3 hour journey out of Manaus via bus, speedboat, combi and another boat.  That last section as we set off into the trees was where I started to get really excited - The Amazon Rainforest! I was finally here!  The lodge was very basic, with wooden bamboo walls and thatched roof, and all the hammocks and beds together in one big room with the kitchen and dining hall downstairs.  After lunch we went out canoeing to spot some animals and saw sloths (including one up close, man those things are cool like a cross between an alien and a muppet but better), a bunch of hawks, terns and kingfishers, and pink and silver river dolphins.  Floating quietly under the canopy of the flooded forest was so fucking beautiful I almost cried.  We headed back to the lodge at sunset and had an early night, falling asleep to the (quite loud) sounds of the forest.

The following morning we went for a hike into the forest where our guide Mateus showed us a bunch of medicinal plants and the original coco tree that chocolate comes from, and we tried some of its fruit which was quite nice.  At one point four of us got distracted taking photos and lost the rest of the group.  Ah! Lost in the Amazon!  We went back and took what looked like another path, and just as we began counting our collective water supply and discussing rationing we found the rest of the group again, phew!  But hey, I was lost in the amazon (for two minutes) how many of you can say that?  The afternoon was spent piranha fishing, quite fun even though I didn't catch anything.  And at night we went caiman spotting, with the local guide catching a little one and bringing it onto the boat for us to hold (I just patted it - there there poor little caiman).

The next day we visited the house of some locals and saw how they make their canoes and process manioc from their small plantation.  The place we went to had just gotten electricity last year, and the hut was really really basic.  That afternoon it was time to go home, which was easier said than done because our captain had to drive our tiny little boat in the driving amazon rain - it got a little hairy!  As did the combi ride, we got very close to getting bogged but made it through.

So now I'm back in Manaus planning the next adventure - to Venezuela with my mate Kate - should be awesome.  But I'm definitely getting into the Amazon again, maybe in Peru, because I absolutely love it!

Boats dunes n party times

Ahh the fresh air and adventuring feeling of traveling by boat! It's been a fortnight or so of much time on the water, and quite lovely.

After Jeri the Dragoman family made our way to the Lencois Marahenses delta area. First stop was a remote windswept pousada set amongst the sand dunes of Cabure. It's the most 'in the middle of nowhere' feeling I've had so far, it was just us, the dunes and the water. We made our own fun though playing coconut Olympics (I won the long jump! Snap- still got it!) singing to the dixie chicks, playing pool on confusingly small tables, I never ever by the fire and roaming the dunes to some funky tunes.

The following day we hopped on a speedboat to explore the delta, stopping at a lighthouse nearby, a place in the dunes with naughty monkeys and a domesticated raccoon type creature which provided much entertainment by jumping into people's hammocks with them. That day on the boat listening to Kettel I had one of those blissful 'ah gees this is the life, I'm so fucking lucky' kinda moments:)

Barranheiras was the next port of call. There I had a nice dinner by the river and a pretty hilarious night out at a " reggae" bar- think earnest love ballads with a drum machine and synthesizer backing, not remotely reggae! But entertaining company through the night, even the part where Tyler, Julia and I got lost in the rain on the way home.

Next day was a rip roaringly fun 4wd journey through to some (more) sand dunes, including rolling down them into the lagoon below. After that we made our way to Sao Luis and had an absolute corker of a night out at a gay bar and another nightclub Candy drinking cuba libres, pulling awesome dance moves under the lasers and generally bonding with my fellow travelers.

The next day we ferried over to Alcantara, spent the night in a cool little pousada with a strangely decorated little garden (concrete mushrooms, chandeliers made of different coloured glass bottles and eggshells atop aloe vera plants) a pool, and stunning views. I tried to have a hula hoop there but alas my hoop finally died despite my best efforts to repair and re- repair it:( I'll have to learn how to live without hooping for the next few months, wah.

Belem was next on the agenda, a pretty ordinary city where we prepared for our trip up the mighty Amazon river. I think the next bit is probably a whole nother post so stay tuned...

Adventures in Northeast Brazil

So much has happened in the past couple weeks, I hardly know where to start.
We left Salvador around the 12th of March and hit the road for the next leg of the tour - making our way up the East coast to the mouth of the Amazon river in Belem.

The first couple days involved a lot of time on the truck - Brazil is a huge country!  We camped on a beach the first night and had a good old fashioned campsite singalong (ie tipsy singing, bad ukulele and lots of laughs).  After my morning beachside hula hoop we went over to the turtle sanctuary nearby where they look after sick turtles and care for their eggs, important work because the fishing and pollution means turtle numbers have suffered though in recent years are on the rise again. 

In those first couple days we also stopped at the Inga monolith which has cool prehistoric rock carvings from thousands of years ago; briefly visited the colonial seaside town of Olinda where cats like to have conferences on the waterfront (there were so so many of them!); went to this gorgeous hillside with Devil´s-Marbles -like rock formations at sunset; and explored the Valley of the Dinosaurs where you can see footprints of velicoraptors, brontosaurus and stegasaurus.

After those inland adventures getting onto the beach again was awesome.  We stayed a couple nights at Canoa Quebrada, a lovely small town next to a long beach with red cliffs leading down to it.  After our camp dinner the whole lot of us (17 on the tour now) hit the town and much silliness ensued.  After dancing and pool at a bar in town we went to a reggae bar on the beach - the rest is kind of hazy although I do recall climbing a stack of whitegoods because I thought it was a shortcut...

The next morning involved laying on the sand, swimming, and an absolutely delightful horseride with my mates Kate and Julia.  Well it was mostly delightful, except for  the part where my horse wanted to swim in a lagoon, then roll in the sand with me still on him - kinda scary that, my feet slipped out of the stirrups and i thought I might fall off and then have him roll on me:/ but the guide got his naughty arse up again and the rest was lovely.  We stopped for a coconut and a swim at an oasis-like lagoon in the sandunes, then had a great canter on the beach on the way back - brilliant.

Next stop was Jericoacoara an abolutely awesome beachside town.  This was where I tried my hand at windsurfing (bloody tough but fun in the end and I think I want to do more!); watched the sunset and played with poi atop a sand-dune;  and ate really really well, the restaurants were terrific.  The second day in Jeri four of us hopped in the coolest little dune buggy and hooned around the dunes it was so so great.  We stopped in a river outlet and saw seahorses, made a party everywhere we went because our driver had the loudest sound system of anyone, slid down a dune on a sled, then lay in a hammock  in the lake drinking caiprinhas - a really great day! 

Theres so much more I could write about but I´m outta time ciao my loves