Paradise found

I had expectations of Morro de Sao Paulo being a really idyllic island which I'm sure it was 20 years ago, it was a bit too 'resorty' and not the idyllic island retreat that Abby and I had envisaged for the penultimate stop of our trip and so we decided to take a boat to Boipeba a couple of days earlier than planned. 

Great decision!

There were no roads, no cars and no tourists just long stretches of sand to lay our sarongs on for the day.... which we did pretty much every day. It was the perfect island untouched by mass tourism and so safe, there's very little crime there which meant we were able to walk around safely at night - well as long as we had our head torches with us.

Paying the 'bus' driver

We drank some great caipirinhas and ate some wonderful food,the Moqueca was one of my favourites, it's a traditional Brazilian fish or seafood dish, a delicious casserole/curry combo served with side dishes of rice and manioc flour or paste and in some instances a piquant sauce that was a little more piquant than I was expecting which resulted in some unexpected eye watering and coughing fits. I was quite surprised to find very little spice or heat in food across the whole of Latin America, the African influence in the Bahia region has brought not only vibrant colours and terrific music but great food too, may well rustle one of those up when I get home (crikey, one cookery lesson and I think I'm Delia!).

We stayed at a lovely Pousada a short walk from the beach called Casa Irene, not altogether surprisingly run by a lady called Irene. She fell in love with the island some 30 years ago when a local fisherman offered to take her and a friend on a boat ride around the island of Morro de Sao Paulo but when the boat started to let in water she and her friend were 'rescued' by another fisherman from Boipeba who took them to the island where they stayed for three days..... After years of holidaying there she bought some land a built a small Pousada. She was a lovely host who made a mean caipirinha and who told some great stories about her life and the life of the island, she seems to know each and every one of the 3,000 islanders.

Perfect....

Sundowners exist for a night like this

Whilst our days on the island were mostly spent on the beach we did exert ourselves last Sunday by taking a boat ride around the island, it was such a perfect day. We visited some of the natural swimming pools around the island, had a caipirinha at what must be one of the most idyllic beach bars in the world and then had a delicious lobster lunch at Estrella de Mar.

In one of the natural swimming pools

Island life

Delicious

I'm surprised and I have to say delighted that so few people seem to have discovered Boipeba and hope that it remains the way it is for as long as possible.

Heading to Rio via Salvador on Thursday, I can hardly believe that my South American adventure is almost over.

See you in Rio.

Raine x

Don't worry, they don't carry guns!

Whilst I was a little sad to be leaving Buenos last Friday I was excited to be meeting up with Abs again and to be going to Brazil. 

The flight to Sao Paulo was uneventful - my favourite kind of flight! I arrived a few hours before Abby and Sarah and had planned to go for a bit of a wander, but it's the rainy season and it rained (a lot) when I arrived so I didn't get to explore as planned.

On Saturday after Sarah had checked in for her flight to the UK and we'd said our goodbyes, Abby and I boarded our flight to Salvador in the Bahia region. A lot of people had told us that they loved Salvador but I have to say the drive from the airport through some very deprived looking areas didn't endear me to the place... 

We arrived at our hostel Galeria 13 and were greeted by Paulo the very dour owner of the hostel who originates from Norwich, I can only imagine that  Paulo Martinho was once Paul Martin. Paulo gave us a brief intro to the city using a map of the area marking on it where we should go and circling a place where we absolutely shouldn't go, to quote Paul(o) "you will get robbed by the kids on crack - but you won't get shot, don't worry they don't carry guns".... What?!?! It's fair to say I wasn't falling in love with Salvador.

Strange to think that Salvador is known as Brazil's capital of happiness, it's fair to say I wasn't feeling particularly happy. However, as is often the case, once we'd been for a walk and got our bearings I was feeling a lot more comfortable. The part of Salvador that we were staying in, Pelourinho, is another UNESCO world heritage site and a couple of streets have beautifully maintained colourful buildings lining them, unfortunately though so much of the rest of the city is dreadfully run down.

Such a contrast between the high road and
the low road.

Preparing for the street party

There was a music festival on while we were there and having missed carnival in the other places we'd visited this felt like an extension of the celebrations and having spent two nights listening to some really great (and some not so great) music on the streets of Salvador I have to say that my impression of the city was greatly improved. 

Jorge Vercilo, he's big in Brazil

Abs having a Skol

On Monday we took a boat to Morro de Sao Paulo for a little bit of beach time.

See you there.

Raine x

Never go back - Back in Buenos (2)

Once I'd established that I didn't have to wear a bikini I hopped in a taxi to San Telmo to meet Elliot at the pool party. It was a very funny night - we drank too much vodka, didn't eat and I got asked out for a drink by a young Argentinian guy, a young Argentinian guy who was almost young enough to be my son - like I said a very funny night. Unfortunately because of the amount of vodka we drank (too much) and the amount of food we ate (too little) we both woke up on Monday with a hangover...... Quelle surprise!

One of the 'too many'

The rest of the week was pretty much spent eating, drinking and taking in some culture.

We had some great meals and some even better wines, it was kind of Elliot to consider me something of an expert when it came to choosing the wine, something to do with the 30+ wines I'd tasted in Mendoza I guess.

On Tuesday we met at MALBA the Latin American art museum which it turns out is closed on Tuesdays and so we walked to the national museum of decorative art, we got there at 1pm and it opened at 2pm.... As we weren't far from Recoletta we visited the cemetery which was open, there were two funerals underway which made touring a cemetery feel very strange. We discussed the relative merits of being buried in a tomb or being cremated, Elliot opted for a tomb but I've got a funny thing about my eyes and so it's cremation everytime for me....

Having checked that MALBA was open on Wednesday we met there at lunch time, there was a real mixture of art work there none of which I particularly liked. There was also a Tracy Emin exhibition which was made up of five movie shorts - what a strange lady she is.

Me through the eyes of an art installation 

We'd agreed to have a lazy day on Thursday and met in the early evening for sundowners in San Telmo before going for dinner at ILatina, another delicious wine paired meal. After dinner we said our goodbyes as I was flying to Sao Paolo on Friday morning to meet up with Abs for the final few weeks of our trip.

Torrontes sun downers in San Telmo

Elliot and I agreed that a weeks holiday in Buenos was a great way to get to know each other, we'd met at Sainsbury's a year or so ago when we were both part of the corporate leadership development programme which resulted in him being promoted to Director and me to Senior Manager - that all seems like such a long time ago..... 
We had such fun and a few 'you had to be there moments',;one of which has resulted in me having spontaneous fits of giggles almost daily when I think about it, most embarrassingly when I was sat on my own in the departure lounge at Buenos Airport and I ended up crying with laughter and couldn't stop - and I think Tracy Emin's strange!

I do maintain my position on revisiting places however I suspect that I may well find myself in Buenos Aires again, some time soon I hope.

Raine x