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...