Having a whale of a time...

apologies for my absence. i´m not really sure if anyone´s reading anymore anyway! since the last entry, things have been somewhat less relaxed. I´ve completed a whip-round gringo tour of southern peru in less than two weeks and though i´m glad i´ve seen the things i´ve seen i can´t say it was an altogether pleasurable experience. and it cost a small fortune. i never want to go on another gringo tour as long as I live!

the peruvians are getting to grips with mass tourism and offer what they think the tourist wants. so you get this weird simulacra peru instead of the real one. everywhere you go you´re confronted with a woman in traditional dress, trailing a dutiful llama. even at the top of a large hill on an island in the middle of lake titicaca, there´s the obligitory pan pipe band, complete with amp. if i see another gringo buffet lunch or hear another tour guide screeching down a mic, (or worse, at macchu pichu they had really loud whistles) I think I´ll scream.

It´s refreshing to be somewhere new. I´m in ecuador until late november and am currently living with a lovely family in quito brushing up on the spanish...

we went to the coast for the weekend (a 10 hour bus journey) but all was worth it. i now know where the expression used for the title of this blog came from. on the way to a national park island just off the coast, our small boat was surrounded by humpback whales. they were having so much fun jumping right out of the water, in pairs, over and over again for almost an hour! it was like a montage of the best bits of the blue planet played out right before

my eyes. one of the best days of my life....

R & R in Praia do Forte

If I´ve got deja vu so have the locals, many of whom recognise me from a Christmas holiday here in 2006.

It´s a touristy, (somewhat middle-class) sleepy little fishing village with little to do everyday but watch turtles, whales and some very sexy surfers in the glorious sunshine.

It´s a hard life but someone´s got to do it.

And then there was one.....

Just a quick update to let you know that I´m now going solo as my travelling partner ditched me (by email! Apparently I didn´t want to do the same things she did blah, blah, blah) I am nervous, very - and have had a few sleepless nights but have decided to go on and see how it goes.

Please don´t worry, I will be OK. There are gringos everywhere, plus I met a lovely girl, Louise, in Rio so we´re travelling together for a bit.

We´re in Salvador right now, staying in the Pelirinho - the pretty, cobbled old part of the city with a very dark history. Went to my first candomble ceremony the other night. Was relieved yet disappointed not to be witness to any exorcisms, psychotropic drug taking or sacrificial rites. Just a load of women in big lacy dresses and fancy head dresses dancing in a trancelike fashion to some hypnotic drums.

We area eating wonderful mocqueca (traditional Bahian stew without the fish brain juice I unwittingly consumed in Rio!) and falling asleep most nights to the sound of the most amazing drums.

Leaving today though and am looking forward to it since my camera was ripped off from across my body yesterday. Have a sneaky feeling the kids sell them back to the shops so at least have done my bit for the local economy....

Life in the favela

I had mixed feelings about a favela tour. I didn´t want to be a typical gringo, gawping at those less fortunate as if they were animals in a zoo. It was only when I learned that the money we contribute is used by NGO´s to support the favela, that I justified the trip. Besides, I reasoned, you can´t ignore something that is intrinsically such a huge part of life in Rio. Just sweep it under the carpet while we carry on enjoying life in well-to-do Ipanema.

The tour started with a hair-raising motorbike taxi ride, dodging and weaving trucks, buses and cars at breakneck speed up to the very top. Rocinha is a sprawling hillside neighbourhood. The biggest favela in South America.

The narrow network of streets were designed that way, apparently, to make police evasion easier. People on lookouts inform of police arrival with use of flares. However, we were told that incidents between law enforcers and residents occur on a daily basis. And usually involve guns.

We were given one rule; do not take photos of men with guns or walkie talkies. Dealers do not take kindly to being imortalised in a gringo´s holiday pics. We started a rapid decent (didn´t do to dawdle) through one of the main arteries of the favela (street 1) It was hard to imagine this narrow, dark, dirty, rubbish, excrement-filled passageway as a main street. The stench of open sewer clawed at my throat and as I stepped in puddles of unidentified liquids, I wished I had worn something more practical than flip-flops.

Drugs earn the favela between $US 1-3 million a month, by which time half a tonne of cocaine has changed hands. The ADA (amigo de amigos) are the controlling gang. Disputes among rivals are common.

Other than that, life carried on as normal. People enjoyed the benefits of electricity and running water. Most have mod cons and government subsidised cable TV. The locals were friendly and welcoming. We visited a gallery, a bakery (keen to capitalise on a recent visit from Lenny kravitz, they sold ´Kravitz bread pudding´) and saw where our money went when we visited a nursery. Adorable, smiling, happy little faces made me sad as i realised that many of their parents couldn´t afford to look after them and couln´t help wondering what their future might hold. Decent education is a priviledge of the rich.

Despite this, the sky was full of evidence of children enjoying their holidays. Kites twitched and fluttered over the multitude of decripit roof tops, some kids taunted us with the only English vocab they knew ´Gringo´, ´money´, ´photo´.....

Really glad I came but left, intrigued wanting to experience and learn more frustrated by the fact the only (safe) way to do so is on the internet.....

January River

It´s difficult to write about Rio retrospectively. I didn´t think I´d find a beach city - bar Barcelona - much cooler than Brighton. Rio for all its dangers, is intoxicating. We came for two days, wound up staying as many weeks and i still don´t want to leave.

Its green hills and mountains, magnificent bays and glittering harbour humbled by Christ the Redeemer, make it unforgettable. Coupled with Latinos, immaculate bodies in thongs and speedos on crowded sand, sexy Samba rhythms emanating from bars, caipirhinas, uppercrust Ipanema, poodles in socks, vine-entangled trees on cobblestone streets, hillside favelas, nighttime shotgun sounds made incongruous by the rising sun.

We tore ourselves away for a few days of tranquility in Paraty - a four hour bus ride south of Rio. A sleepy town, row apon row of pretty whitewashed houses, huge cobbles, bohemian boutiques, boat trips ferrying tourists to the many neighbouring islands. Only a world-famous literary festival and rising prices forced us out.

I write this looking out over a bay of fishing boats, the sound of waves lapping at the shore. Thick green hills, tops obscured by cloud. Palm fringed beaches and it must be said, an abundance of 19-year old Brits on the lovely Ilha Grande.

An overcast day, we´re saving one of the many beautiful beaches for tomorrow. Was considering an island trek until the mention of poisonous snakes persuaded me to sit here instead....

'Real' nightmare...

Bank with Cooperative? Think twice before you travel to this part of the world....

From BA (where, on my last night, I fell of the wagon and ate the biggest juiciest steak imaginable) we got an exceedingly comfortable bus - with champagne - to Puerto Iguazu. The beauty of the falls defies description - suffice to say, I´ve never seen anything so astoundingly beautiful in my life. Apparently they make Niagra look like a ripple.

We ´did' the Brazilian side as soon as we got off the bus. The rain was relentless but we were gonna get wet anyway. A small bridge (with metal flooring you could see through) took you out over the heart of the falls where you could look down at certain death. A humbling, spiritual and quite terrifying moment for us both, I think.

The Argentinian side took the whole of the next day - many people say it´s better but it´s simply because there´s more of it. Waterfalls and rainbows as far as the eye can see. The wildlife was pretty impressive too - iridescent blue butterflies, blue jays and raccoons that scared the living daylights out of me as I was chased by a pack and had been told they carried rabies. It wasn´t until they ransacked my shoe bag with their sharp claws in search of food, that I realised it wasn´t my flesh they were after! We were on the lookout for toucans, pumas and jaguars too but, perhaps luckily, weren´t rewarded.

The highs of travelling come with lows and these came as soon as we crossed the border into Foz do Iguacu in search of a bus to take us to Rio. Foz isn´t very nice but the hostel was amazing - tennis courts, football pitch, swimming pool, beautifully kept tropical gardens and cute cabins. Or it would have been amazing if it hadn´t been bone-achingly cold, wet and deserted. The misery was consolidated by no heating and an open, now muddy restaurant in which I got food poisoning. I spent the day trying, unsuccessfully, to find a cash point that would let us withdraw reais (thanks to Cooperative banks´ over-scrupulous security policy) and the night sweating and starving out a fever. Weak and tired the next day, we discovered that we could only get a sleeper bus in Argentina! So here we are again. Back over the border in Puerto Iguazu with the buses to Rio fully booked till Monday. Realised that in just two days we missed the Spanish language and the familiarity of Argentina. It´s lovely to have a rest too...this travelling malarkey´s great but can take it right out of you!

Montevideo

Someone asked me what Uruguay was famous for. Like meat pies in tins? Well, they gave us Fray Bentos. Didn´t make the pilgrimage as couldn´t persuade Sare that it was worth the t-shirt! (wonder why?!)

On Friday we were invited to a Friends of the Earth press conference in the capital, Montevideo. It was followed by a tribunal review (including ruling party MPs) - they're doing a lot of campaigning against European companies in SA. I only wish I understood it! The speakers directly addressed us thinking we were journos but we met the enthusiastic quick-fire Spanish with confused stares!

We were told Montevideo was a pretty city but didn´t appreciate it till the last day - on a bus (pumping out Bob Marley) when the sun came out. Its dirty elegance certainly looks better in the right light. It´s scattered with the familiar market filled plazas, kioskos and radio taxis like BA but the latter feels unabashedly opulent by comparison. Not sure why the shantytowns outside Montevideo surprised me either.

I can´t help feeling we came here at the wrong time of year because we´ve had to bypass some of Uruguay´s most beautiful beaches after being told some didn´t have electricity and we´d face polar conditions. (and how much would princess Tamara not like that?!)

Being back in BA has put a smile on my face (at least until a cab driver ripped us off with fake currency) Off to the Iguassu Falls tomorrow....16 hours by bus...bring it on!