A sad day for Brazil

The Holland v. Brazil match of course left the country silent....you
can see the sadness in everyone...including this man passed out on the
sidewalk...

Salvador

The streets in the historic centre of Salvador during and after the
Brazil v. Chile game. Everyone watched the game on a giant screen that
was setup outdoors.

Updates

Arrived in Salvador, already doubting whether or not I had made the
right decision to leave Lencois in the Chapada da Diamantina. Nearly
all the travellers I had met had come to the conclusion that Salvador
received more hype than it deserved. However, my thirst for beach and
curiosity to see capoeira eventually led to me purchasing a ticket out
of Lencois on Friday, right after Brazil played Portugual.

And so, Thursday night I danced forro until 5am, headed back to my
place only to wake up a few hours later for breakfast, packed my bags
and headed to my friend´s house to watch the Brazil match. The match
wasnt particularly exciting...ending in a tie. Caught my bus and
headed to Salvador sleeping for the entire 7 hour trip.

Upon my arrival in Salvador, my doubts as to whether or not I should
have left Lencois only increased. I was greeted by showers and heavy
rains. The place where I was couch surfing (www.couchsurfing.org)
seemed to be far from everything.

Yet, my stay in Salvador was a blast. Saturday I spent the day in the
historic centre of Salvador...and when I found out that it was the
last night for Sao Joao festivals I found myself a cheap hostel in the
centre so that I could join the party. Saw children doing amazing
square dance routines at a competition, drank some licor de jenipapo.
A sweet tasting liqueur made from cachasa and a fruit called jenipapo.
Then danced forro and samba before passing out at the hostel.

The next day proved to be beach weather, so went out and spent the day
at the beach. Finally, Monday, with Brazil´s match against Chile was
no doubt an amazing day despite the grey clouds. I spent an awesome
evening with Liane, my host in Salvador, her friend Jorgia, as well as
a couple from Uruguay. Jorgia became my samba teacher for the
night...and I started working on my Samba dancing.

Finally tuesday was spent up in Praia do Forte, where I visited the
TAMAR project, an NGO dedicated to protecting the 5 different turtle
species (out of a total of 7 in the world) found in Brazil
(http://www.tamar.org.br/).

Wednesday, caught a plane (which I had nearly missed, I arrived at the
airport 27 minutes before departure) to Belo Horizonte, where I am
currently staying with family.

p.s. Happy Canada Day! ....A day which passes like any other here in
Brazil. I think the closest im getting to comemorating is by eating a
Canadian-style pizza. Cheers!

Chapada da Diamantina 2

Here is a group from France I had met up in the Chapada. The next
photo is me and a group of girls from Israel I had met (and will
probably see again in Rio). My head was going crazy, speaking french
then english then portuguese. But it was a lot of fun! The more tired
I was, the more likely I was to start mixing up languages.

Chapada da Diamantina

One of the many waterfalls in Chapada da Diamantina. I visited this
waterfall twice. There was a nice ledge some 10 meters high to jump
into the dark pool of water below.

Chapada Da Diamantina

I seem to have gotten myself stuck in an addicting routine in the town
of Lencois located in the Chapada da Diamantina--a huge national park,
filled with waterfalls, mountains, watering holes, gigantic and
multicoloured rocky landscapes. My routine goes something like this.
Wake up in the morning and visit Lurdinha who makes an amazing
breakfast of papaya, water melon, pao de queijo (cheese bread), cake,
different juices, tea, and bread and cheese. Ive gotten to know
Lurdinha´s son, and now im staying at his place, while he is out
taking people on treks throughout the Chapada. Ive basically got the
house to myself.
Anyways, i make myself a couple sandwiches to pack for lunch and head
out for a day trip with some locals that I have gotten to know. One
day its a watering hole, next its rock climbing, then cliff jumping,
or lying out over some rocks and enjoying the sunshine.

After a long day of walking I head home, take a shower, go out for
dinner. Lately, the entire town has been getting ready for a massive
festival celebrating Sao Joao on the 23rd. Green and yellow streemers
are strung all over the streets. There have been dances of Forro (a
traditional dance) nearly every night...and they are just growing in
intensity as the festival dates are growing closer. I end up dancing
till 2 or 4AM then head back home. Pass out, and begin the routine
again.

I cant seem to get myself out of this routine...when I had thought I
would be spending 4 days here..now I think Ill be staying atleast 8
days.

I dont have any photos to upload, but just type in Chapada da
Diamantina in google to have a look at some of the sites here.

Cheers from Bahia,

Philippe

My cousins and I

Well...I didnt have time for the update I was hoping to write! Today
Brazil beat Korea 2-1...Brazil´s first victory, and the streets go
insane here in Macae, RJ.....Im almost afraid to see what winning a
final game looks like over here!

Anyways, my time here in Macae has been short and packed with things
to do. It was good to catch up with some of my cousins, Allan, Paulo
and Ian.

This picture is me, Paulo, Allan and his wife Flaviana at a beach in
Buzios. Ian is in the second picture. Last time I saw this guy he was
about 8 years old! Crazy.

Re: Oddities 2

> Some other odd things ive seen on the trip...
> -Popcorn with bacon sold on the streets of Curitiba
> -Vending machines with books in Sao Paulo

in my hometown

Made it to my hometown (Macae, Rio de Janeiro)...will write
more...after sleeping!

oddities 1

Some great spanish to english translations in Iguacu