Morro De Sao Paolo

New photos here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/conorcu00/BrazilSalvadorMorroSaoDePaolo?authkey=Gv1sRgCM6_seLzl6WUvgE#

I'm writing this blog post from a hammock on the balcony of our pousada (guest house) on the island of Morro de Sao Paolo. It is a difficult life, but someone has to do it :) We arrived here two days ago after a long, hot, stomach churning boat ride. I don't normally get seasick, or at least I haven't before, but I think the after affects of carnaval were working against me and I spent much of the trip trying to sleep so I wouldn't throw up over the side, as others were doing. Morro de Sao Paolo is south of Salvador on the coast of Brazil and is a gorgeous island, very touristy, but with good reason. The water is warm and clear, the sand is white and fine, and the pepople are extremely relaxed. Most of the last two days has been spent relaxing on the beach, walking around, reading books, or in Clive's case napping in the air-conditioning. It doesn't help our activity level that the beach just outside our pousada has litte huts on it where you can get excellent fresh seafood and drinks. As a note, if you ever come to Brazil I recommend the cheese on a stick. A vendor walks around the beach with a portable BBQ and blocks of cheese on a stick that are then fried up. I had one for the first time today with oregano on it and it is *exellent*. I needed the food because I made the mistake last night of letting some couch surfers we met convince me to go to a foam party at a club on the island. I'm now extremely sore, I have a hangover, and I think my clothes are still wet. At one point during the party there was so much foam that I was about two feet under it and every time I would breathe in I would get a mouthful of foam.

This is probably the last time that we will be on a beach. On Monday we fly to Brasilia and then on Tuesday to Manaus, deep within the Amazon. From there we take the ferry along the Rio Negro to Iquitos. We finally met someone else who has done this trip, a Singaporean girl, who had done the trip in reverse. It took her two weeks and she said that the boats are extremely crowded and there are lots of chickens running around. She also said she would never do it again. We're both looking forward to it and dreading it at this point :)