In Fortaleza

My hosts have been so won-der-ful !!! - recently Barbara and Emili, they made my trip whileworthy.
I arrived in Fortaleza yesterday, distance Natal - Fortaleza: 540 km, 8 hours on the bus, cost: 30 pounds. Rorix, my next host, picked me up from the bus station (although it wasn't easy - we were looking for each other for an hour). He took me to his family house where I met his sister, brother, parents and neighbours. They are great people and they all support the Couch Surfing project so much. They don't mind me staying with them for the whole week, including Easter. I sleep in Rorix's bed and he sleeps right above my head, in a hammock :)
Today he took me to two beautiful beaches in Caucaia, outside of the city. On the second beach I got angry with myself. I tried to swim but the waves were so big, almost two meters high. Some Brazilians showed me how to brave the waves, you just dive under them, they pass above you and you are ok. I tried to do it but every time I saw a huge wave I chickened out and I run to the shore as quickly as I could... In the picture with a small "Rysiaczku" (dog) I found on the beach.
I understood that in Brazil beaches are very important, they are like main squares, churches or museums in Europe. Always when I arrive to a city or town the first thing my hosts recomend to see are beaches, all the rest of the city is irrelevant.

Natal in English means "christmas" and you can see a huge artificial christmas tree in the city (all year round) and also Three Wise Men and the star of Bethlehem. Natal is the capital of Rio Grande do Norte region.
On Saturday I went to Centro Storico. I have to say it didn't make any special impression on me and all the cafes, shops and museums were closed (not that I would go to museums :)) and the place was isolated. On Saturdays all the people go to the shopping centres or beaches.  However, I had a nice conversation with two bus drivers (in Portugese) who showed me some historical places from the bus. They were also very interested in finding out some information about Poland (as many people here, they didn't know where it was on the map).
In the evening Zaza came again to pick me up, this time with seven people in his car. So we were eight people in the car and we went to a samba club called Espaco21. I was disappointed that it wasn't a forro' place but as soon as I entered the place I felt the positive atmosphere and I actually enjoyed myself a lot. I finally got the samba step and I was shaking my bum all the night. Then a guy asked me for a dance, he was a good dancer of samba de gafieira. I never danced it before but I saw people dancing in Rio so I tried to copy the steps. When we finished dancing, people were asking me if I was a teacher of samba de gafieira ha ha ha....
Yesterday Emili, Zaza and Vivien (with her little daughter Fernanda) took me to a park where you can see the biggest in the world cashew tree (in the picture). Amazing... I loved it:
http://www.natal-brazil.com/entertainment/cashew-tree.html
Then we went to a bar where I had the best tapioka (traditonal food) in the city, with prawns. The bar was on the beach and because of the full moon period, the tide was high and the waves were intruding the bar. It was so beautiful and magic that in this moment I understood why I am going to miss Brazil when I am back in London.
The guys also showed me a place where years ago Brazil used to launch rockets into Space.
In the evening Zaza picked me up again and we went to another samba place called Sancho Pub, where I met the same people I danced with on Saturday. It was another great night and some of Zaza's friends were teaching me again how to dance samba... so it was a lot of shaking involved again :)
There was also a concert of a very popular samba band in Brazil, called Catinguele. I liked the group a lot.
I have to say I miss lambada zouk like crazy... I can write poems about it. I am making plans to come back to Porto Seguro, either in two weeks or in December for the lambada zouk congress.
I have a high expectation for Fortaleza where I am going tomorrow. I have been corresponding with a tango teacher who promised to take me to many good dancing clubs.
Today I have been to Pipa, 60 km south from Natal. It is a nice town with a beautiful beach and cliffs, however no better than the wonderful Dover cliffs :)

Yesterday I went to Ponta Negra, a very nice beach (in the picture). It has a nice promenade where people jog and the water seems to be clean. However, the best beach I have seen so far in Brazil is the Trancoso beach.
In the evening I cooked dinner for Emili and then I went to a forro' place called Rastape', on my own as Emili was going out with her friends. I was invited to join them of course but they were going to drink only and I wanted to dance, so I decided to go to the club on my own. I didn't regret it. I danced a lot of forro' however I had problems with men. Once they danced with me they thought they were my boyfriends but I wanted to dance with other men. So I was pretending I was going to the toilet and then I was disappearing in the crowd. Eventually I got annoyed and I was telling them straight away that I wanted to dance with others. It was very tireing I have to say. Today Emili got some tickets for a forro' party so we are going with her friends.
My face starts looking human again (after the accident in Salvador and Recife), I have to admit with satisfaction - there will be only a small scar on my forehead. People in the streets stopped asking what had happened to me, although it was a good ice breaker :)
My pictures from Salvador:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37219358@N07/sets/72157623715823300/detail/

Yesterday I did some visiting in Natal. There is no much to see to be honest, apart from Natal's beaches. I went to the city centre first where there is nothing but ugly buildings and shops (Emili tried to change my mind and prevent me from going there but I insisted), and then I went to Praia do Meio (in the picture). It is a very nice beach but near a favela and people from Natal don't like coming to this beach for that reason.
In the evening Emili's best friend, Zaza, took me to a nice bar for a drink. He was very disappointed as I drank aqua de coco (coconut water) all the time, instead of getting drunk :) Then we were looking for a forro' place to do some dancing but it was difficult to find one on Thursday. Zaza asked if I would like to come to his flat and do some dancing with him. As much as I love dancing, it sounded a little bit strange to me and I politely refused (just because it was Emili's friend :)).
Here are my pictures from Porto Seguro:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/37219358@N07/sets/72157623583932787/detail/

In Natal

Yesterday afternoon Geraldo left for Barcelona (and then London) so I phoned Danielle who I had been corresponding with for several weeks and she invited me to a flamenco class. I jumped in a taxi because it was already late and I arrived in Danielle's house in a district called Ipsep. We did the class which was a little bit boring for me (flamenco is not lambada...) but it was a great experience and we had fun as the teacher tried to explain the flamenco steps to me in Portugese... (in the picture Danielle on the right, with her teacher). After the class I went to Danielle's house for a dinner and then she gave me lift back to Graças (where I lived in Recife). She is a beautiful 33-year old Brazilian girl and still single!! I thought it was not possible to find a beautiful single girl in Brazil, it is normal for London but I thought not here.
I had a great time with her however (why not?...) I got diarrea and suffered a lot when I got home (the cramps started before we had dinner). The next day I woke up in pain caused by cramps but I was determined to get to Natal. So... here I am!! The distance from Recife to Natal is 297 km, 4.5 hours by bus, cost: 23 pounds. The bus was as comfortable as always and it was not too cold this time. I did fall asleep as soon as I got on the bus and I woke up when we were approaching Natal bus station... very convenient.
I live with my host Emili now in a very big and beautiful house. She works for the University of Natal (doing administration job) which is situated ten minutes from her home.
Her friends came over, we had dinner and some interesting conversations. For example, one of her friends works for a television company (we watched her first on TV and then she showed up in the house!!). Journalists and presenters in Brazil can't work more than six hours a day and they earn little money so many of them have another job (one would think: it is a glamorous job to be a TV presenter but the reality here is different).
Regarding my health, I feel very weak. I force myself to eat proper meals as with this weather I don't feel like eating at all. I just hope I will not faint somewhere in the street and hit my head again.

Yesterday we went to Porto de Galinhas which is located 80 km south from Recife (1.5 hour on the bus). Everyone said that the place was amazing but we were very disappointed. The beach is beautiful indeed but there were so many people, chairs, parasoles and vendors on the beach that it looked like a market, not a beach. Geraldo called the beach "favela" because of many people from favelas on it ha ha ha...
Tomorrow I am leaving Recife for Natal, my next stop. I am getting close to the equator :)

Yesterday Geraldo went with me to the hospital and helped me to get all the documents I need for my insurance company. I also saw a neurologist who had a look at my tomography scan and confirmed that there was no damage done to my brain or skull, however I suffer from chronic sinusitis, which should be treated but it is not really serious. In the picture, some of the scan immages (is it really me???...).
Then we went to another hospital to visit Barbara who had appendectomy done and is recovering now. She will not come back home for at least a week as she can't climb stairs (and there are stairs where she lives, I mean where now Geraldo and I live) and her mother's flat is in the basement which is convenient. We were all talking about our bad luck, me and her in hospitals and Geraldo leaving his laptop in a taxi. He got the laptop back, luckily, but he paid a lot of money for it (to convince another taxi driver to take him to the favela). All this was unnecessary but it all happened. Geraldo said that he was not surprised it all had happened. In his opinion there is a lot of negative energy in the country and it takes its toll on me as I was suddenly confronted by the energy when I arrived. Now many people will think - she is crazy, Brazil is a wonderful country. I agree, if you come here on two or three weeks trip and stay in a good hotel with your friends or in a hostel with other travellers. If you decide to see the life of ordinary people in the way I travel, it all changes. Anyway, this is my personal opinion but even Brazilians agree with me.
Today Geraldo and I went to Olinda, Recife's "twin city" - it took us half an hour to get there by bus. It is a beautiful place. We got involved in a very interesting conversations in a bar on the beach and unfortunately we drank too much beer, after which Geraldo got very sleepy and lazy and I had to convince him to do some sightseeing. We did, and then I convinced him to go to a forro' bar and then I convinced him to dance some forro' with me so now he is dead tired :)

Unfortunately this is not the end of bad stories. I went to the bathroom yesterday at about 5 am and entering it was the last thing I remembered.... I woke up on the bathroom's floor, lying in blood on the left side of my face. My first reaction was relief that it is not the right side of my face where I already had a wound after the accident in Salvador. Then I checked if I had all the teeth; I did. Then I wanted to check where the blood comes from but I did not reach the mirror, I fainted again in half way... I regained conscousness in exactly same position what before, lying on the left side of my face. I don't have to say how painful it was. I got really scared. I managed to get up by holding the wall and I looked in the mirror. I had a big wound on my lower lip and on my chin. I got to the bedroom and I fainted again, luckily on my bed this time. When I regained consciousness, I had blood on my cheeks, chin, chest and pigamas and a big purple bruise on the right side of my face. I looked in the mirror by the bed and I started crying. I cried and cried, and cried.... Then I phoned Barbara who was just scheduled for a surgery and asked her if she knew somebody who could go with me to a hospital, as I was not able to walk properly. Her friend Ana came with her husband, and they drove me to a hospital. First, to avoid the hussle of contacting my insurance company, I wanted to go to a public hospital. We went to three of them but they did not want to see me, they said there was no doctor on premises or that we should go somewhere else. Eventually Ana decided that it was better to go to a private hospital.
She stayed with me for more than six hours, talking to nurses and doctors. It was absolutely wonderful, she phoned work and said that she could not come in because of an emergency, and she stayed with me all day. I had tomography of my head done and it appeared that it was ok but the detailed results will be available next Tuesday. A plastic surgeon did sew up my lip and chin. I paid in total 1000 reals = £370 (the scan was very expensive). I contacted my insurance company straight away and started the process of claiming money back.
Ana's husband gave me lift home and then Geraldo came in the late evening. When he saw me he wasn't very happy, as before, which was strange... - it appeared that he left his laptop on the back seat of a taxi (which already drove away...). He left his luggage in Barbara's flat and took another taxi back to the airport to chase the laptop. He came back after three hours with the laptop!! He asked some taxi drivers at the airport if they knew the guy he went with before, and they said that it was a very dangerous man, living in a favela. So Geraldo took a taxi, paid three times more than usuall to get to the favela and nicely asked the man to give him the laptop back. Honestly, I think it was a miracle that the man gave it back to him....
What a day...

Well....
1. I didn't cook the dinner as Barbara got really sick yesterday and she was throwing up all day, poor thing (and I even didn't start cooking!!). In the evening she went to a hospital to do some tests. As we didn't have water, she moved to her mother's flat for a couple of days (I was invited to join her but it would be too much hussle for me to pack and unpack again so I am staying in Barbara's flat and I am carrying on using bottled water).
2. Geraldo didn't arrive as his second flight was overbooked and he had to stay in Sao Paolo (his flight schedule was: Porto Seguro - Sao Paolo - Recife) where the airline paid for a hotel and dinner.
3. I was invited to join a free temporary dance class yesterday but I didn't go as I was waiting for Geraldo. When he phoned with the news it was too late to join the class (for this reason I was a little bit harsh on him and told him to shout at the agency he booked the ticket with or jump on the leaving plane or do something else to get here yesterday. He already was in a lot of stress so I have to apologise today).
Hrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....
so instead I chatted to a couple of friends on Skype which was nice and I did some reserch about Recife.
This is what I found out:
"recife" in English means "reef". There are amazing reefs here and a lot of ship wracks so many people do diving in Recife
it's the fifth biggest city in Brazil and the capital of Pernambuco region
it's called "Venice of Brazil" because of numerous waterways and bridges in the city
Barbara wrote thesis about reef corals for her Masters degree (see the picture - it's her work).

I also did some lambada zouk exercises and I found out this excellent video. There are my three teachers dancing in the video (from Porto Seguro but living in London now: Patricia, Solange and Braz). I love this dance and music.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bue2FuTlYbs

Today's mission: cook a Polish dinner for Barbara (schabowy, bigos? - I will see what I can find in shops). She cooks for me every day so yesterday I offered to cook, and it was accepted with enthusiasm. The only problem is that we haven't had any water since yesterday. We take showers using bottled water or buckets which is fun but a little bit annoying as the temperature here is again 40 degrees and you sweat a lot. It was more than 40 degrees in Rio, then it was around 35 in Porto Seguro and Salvador and now again it is very hot. I didn't know that 5 degrees makes such a big difference.
So the Polish dinner might be postponed to a later date (in the picture: in Barbara's kitchen).
Today Geraldo from Porto Seguro is coming to Recife to do some business here before he flies to London. I am going to pick him up from the airport and help him to find an accomodation. I am so happy to help, he did so much for me in Porto Seguro. I just hope he will not be too stressed about going to London.
I am getting frustrated as I haven't been dancing for about ten days now (although it is so hot that I became sooo lazy!!). There are some forro' clubs here, they always open on Wednesdays (there is completely nothing happening on Mondays and Tuesdays) so hopefully I will go dancing later in the week.

Today Thiago took me to a beach in Boa Viagem, a district which looks very posh, kind of Copacabana in Rio. However, you can't swim in the water because of sharks. I think it's a big disadvantage when it comes to the tourist industry in this city. I actually haven't seen any tourists here as I think the city doesn't advertise its attractions enough, and it's a really nice place.
All the local people I met here are lovely, I feel very welcome. I hear so many stories from their lives, almost all of them don't like Brazil and think about emigrating. They don't like the political and economical systems, too much working and not enough money, and lack of safety. I understand them very well. Especially when they are not lazy (as many people in Brazil) but ambitious and intelligent people who would like to make a difference but they are stuck because of the system...

In Recife

Before I came to Brazil, I never heard about Recife, and it's a big (and apparently very dangerous...) city with good means of transport. I arrived here by another extremely comfortable bus from Salvador. Distance: 950 km, 13 hours by bus, cost: 50 pounds. It was very cold on the bus, I had to put on two jumpers, jeans, jacket and socks, plus they give you a warm blanket on the bus.
One thing I forgot to say about Salvador is that 70% of its habitants is black, and in Recife you can see some white faces again :) The city is very pleasant, smaller than Rio or Salvador but nice. If only they painted some of the buildings, it would be beautiful.
I live with Barbara and her two gay flatmates Thiago and Daniele in a district called Graças. The guys are all great. Barbara gave me a map of Recife, we sat down for an hour and she told me what I should visit.
In the picture: a very relaxing night out with people from Couch Surfing (Barbara in the red top).

I had a really good time last night, and I even wasn't dancing!! Well, let's start from the beginning. I asked few people to find out for me if there is lambada zouk place in Salvador, where I could go dancing on Saturday. They all came back to me saying "I don't know" (usual answer, which was no surprise to me) so I went to an internet cafe', opened about ten websites (all in Portugese) and found an address of zouk dancing studio in a district called Nazare'. In Brazil, if you don't do your own homework, nobody will do it for you... (I have to say here: Renato, you are one of a very few people who were extremely helpful, I am talking about the majority of people I have met).
I decided to go to Nazare'. I arrived in the city centre when it was already dark and I asked few people for directions. Everyone told me to take taxi as it was too dangerous to walk. A guy sitting on the stairs of a church started talking to me and he wanted to help. He said that I couldn't walk to Nazare' because of safety reasons. He was going to a concert in Barra district and he said it would be great if I joined him. I had a chat with him on the stairs and I felt I could trust him so we went to Barra. It appeared that the band playing was Buena Vista Social Club!!! - right on the beach in front of me, and gratis.
Josue (the guy) showed me some nice places in Barra and I couldn't believe how beautiful they were. If I hadn't met him, I would never visit the district. Josue was born in Salvador but he lives in Germany now, in Stuttgart, working as a capoeira teacher. He comes to Salvador only on holiday.
He also told me how lucky I was walking with a big handbag and haven't been mugged yet. Everyone I met has been mugged, turists or locals, so I got really scared. Josue told me some stories which had happened in Salvador, for example that the police is too frightened to fight with the gangs; muggers can drag you into a car and if you don't have enough money on you, they will shoot you, etc. I decided that I am not going to play with the fire any more and I am going to buy a small travel bag or a special belt to hide my money (but what about the camera??).
At the end of the concert Josue asked me if I would like to spend the night on the beach with him, and I said yes.
To come back home this afternoon I took a bus which drove by the cost. It was so beautiful (in the picture).

I am a little bit stuck where I live in Salvador. Praia do Flamengo is situated far from the centre and there are not night buses to get home. I went to a forro' party yesterday but before it started I had to come back, otherwise it would have cost me too much to take a taxi. There is no TV, radio or computer in Marcelo's house and I would love to listen to music!! I tried to practice lambada zouk in my room but without music I couldn't do it.
This is the price I am paying for living right next to a beautiful beach, the place is amazing but far from the centre. I started having thoughts of coming back to Porto Seguro and staying there for few months, dancing lambada all the time. But then I think - I came to South America to see places and meet people so I can't stay long time in one town. Lambada zouk in Porto Seguro.... no, meeting people and seeing places... Porto Seguro.... no!!
I may come back to Porto Seguro at the end of my trip....
Tomorrow I am travelling to Recife where Barbara, my first female host in my whole trip, is waiting for me.
I also stopped counting how much money I am spending. I am still very careful of course, as you can't change overnight :) I spend 300 - 400 reals a week = 112 - 150 pounds and about 150 pounds a month is spent just on travelling by buses from one city to another. Well, Brazil is the most expensive country in South America, no wonder there is so much crime here...

I have to say that the transport system in Salvador is very bad. There is no tube (apparently they started building it ten years ago and never finished) and sometimes you have to wait two hours for a bus and at the end it never arrives (it happened to me few times). It is so different from Rio where the transport system is excellent.
Yesterday I went to the Couch Surfing meeting in Rio Vermelho. I met some great people, some of them locals, some travellers (in the picture with Ricardo - a Portugese guy who loves Bahia and spends a lot of time here).
I met a Spanish girl who doesn't have much luck with muggers (as I don't have luck with gangs and flying TVs) - the last time she was mugged on the bus in Salvador. She was sitting by the window and three men sat next to her. One asked for money, another had a strange object in his pocket so she gave them everything she had. I really hope it will not happen to me because I know that I will not give them my property so easily.
I met a Turkish guy who always works seven months a year and travels during other five months. He has seen so much of the world!!

The surfing instructor, Marquin, lives in a small hut on the beach, called lovely: barraca do surf. There is electicity in the hut and it has a landline but apart from this everything is very basic. He takes shower on the beach (using soap, shampoo et cetera.. which all get in the sand) and god knows what he eats (the fridge is broken). Not much I think as he doesn't have much money I suppose. The hut is a surfboard rentals and I have never seen anyone renting his boards. It is very dirty inside; he invites me there and I accept his invitations because he is a great guy. I have been there several times - I was so happy to have all the vaccinations done in London!! This is a horrible thing to say but Brazil is a very dirty country and when you live on the beach, it is inevitable that there is sand and dirt in your house (sorry, hut... :)).
In the picture: place where we go to eat acaraje', apparently the best one in Salvador.
I don't see my host Marcelo at all. He works a lot and I am out at night. Just once he took me to a surfboard "factory"; I was pleased to hear that they stopped using polyester to make the boards as polyester produces harmful for the environment gases.

This is my new face. I hope that for no more than a week though!! Do I look good in purple, pink and yellow? hmmm.... it's not funny!!

I started analysing the shooting and TV accident situations to try to avoid them in the future. It appears that there were similar circumstances when they both happened:

1. I left Trancoso and took a bus to Porto Seguro. I was nervous because I had to look for a hotel, it was already late and I knew nobody. I had a phone number of a guy who I just met a day before (Geraldo). I phoned him, he picked me up in his car and he offered me a room in his beautiful house for as long as I wanted. This was a sudden hit of feeling very secure and also happines. Two hours later happens the shooting.

2. I was lying on the beach on my own for few hours, I felt very lonely. Suddenly my surfing instructor appeared in front of me. He said that if I gave him my USB stick with lambada zouk music on it, he could play it loudly on the beach, using the music equipment in his beach hut. I suddenly felt very happy. Two hours later happens the accident with the television.

Does it make sense??

Yesterday I went out with the surfing instructor. We went to a place in Salvador called Itapuã where you can eat the best typical food of Bahia called Acaraje'. Hmmm...lovely!!!... Then I heard some nice music coming out from a horrible club, kind of a dirty drinking hole. We went there, danced a little bit and actually had a good time.

I realised that I don't have much time any more to spend in this part of the region. I have to be in Manaus in a month time, and I planned to visit few more cities on the way. I think I will have to leave Salvador as soon as possible, probably on Friday. There is a Couch Surfing meeting on Thursday, to which I want to go.

Salvador is sooo different than Rio de Janeiro!! Rio is posh, elegant and snob; Salvador is less sophisticated but I like the vibe here, much more than in Rio. I spent all day in the city and what surprised me a lot was that most of the city is a favela (well, Geraldo told me about this before). I took a bus from Praia do Flamengo where I live - it took an hour to get to the Centro Storico. The last 40 minutes on the bus was favela on the right and favela on the left... Centro Storico is very beautiful, actually it looks European (in the picture).
I phoned Sayuri from Couch Surfing and she gave me details of the Couch Surfing meeting in Rio Vermelha, a very nice part of Salvador. I went there and I met other CSurfers, they were great people.

I went to the beach yesterday evening and lay down in a hammock, as many times before. This time, one end of the hammock was not tight properly to the wooden wall and it untangled. While I was landing on my back, the untangled end of the hammock pulled a television. The TV landed on my head. I felt nothing, I just suddenly saw a lot of blood on my belly and people running towards me. I was immediately taken to a hospital where a doctor did sew up my forehead. I was very lucky that the TV did not crush my face. There was a long que to see the doctor but he decided to see me first. There was a man in the que with his leg in a bandage and it was all red, and there was a constant stream of blood coming out of the bandage. He got really angry when the doctor decided to see me first, he started shouting, came to the operating room and I think he wanted to hit either me or the doctor. A nurse called about ten police officers and they calmed him down. Well, I did understand him and I even wanted to say sorry - I was a foreigner with blood on the face and he was "only" a Brazilian with a bleeding leg...
The doctor told me to do a head scan today but I am feeling all right so I am going to skip it - anything but going to a hospital again!! - although the doctor and the nurse were lovely.
I can't believe it... in five weeks of my travel I saw shooting, killing, fainted in a toilet and got my head hit by a TV. Believe me or not, yesterday I started appreciating my life - I mean I reeeally started appreciating my life. The television could have killed me.
Now some positive news for a change. I live with Marcelo and I have a beautiful room with a big balcony, overlooking the sea. The whole house is lovely and it is located one minute from the most beautiful beach in Salvador, called Praia do Flamengo.
Salvador used to be a capital of Brazil, then they moved it to Rio de Janeiro and from 1960 Brasilia became the capital of the country. Salvador is the capital of Bahia region (Porto Seguro belongs to Bahia as well but Rio belongs to Rio de Janeiro region).
Two days ago I went to the beach with Marcelo and Barbara, and I met his friend who is a surfing instructor. When he found out that I don't have a boyfriend, he became very interested in showing me how to surf :) So I had a proper surfing lesson plus a wave management lesson (the waves are so big here... almost two meters high). I loved it but I can't do it any more because the TV wound on my head has to be dry :( Also no dancing for a week because if I even frown, the blood starts flowing on my face.
I think I am still in shock after the accident, and a little bit angry. Enough is enough!!! - not bad stories any more!!

In Salvador de Bahia

The distance from Porto Seguro to Salvador is 722 km (12 hours by bus, cost: 50 pounds).
The bus was as comfortable as the one I took from Rio but it was very cold this time. There were warm blankets on the bus but despite that I had to put on two jumpers. Many people were coughing and sneezing because of the cold - so why the hell they switch on so much air conditioning???
I was sitting next to a Brazilian guy and it was funny - when you both transform your seats into beds, it seems that you sleep in a bed with a stranger :)
My Couch Surfing host Marcelo and his girlfriend Barbara picked me up from the bus station when I arrived very early in the morning. They are nice people and Marcelo speaks fluent English.
Yesterday, before I left Porto Seguro, Geraldo's mum cooked the best meal I have eaten in Brazil so far, plus she made two kinds of fresh juices - my favourite mango juice and one with lemon and some magic herbs. She also prepared a heavenly dessert, made of passion fruit and condensated milk.
In the picture: view from Geraldo's mum balcony.

Well... I am still in Porto Seguro but I am going to Salvador tomorrow. I decided to stay a couple of days longer here because I met two wonderful people - Geraldo's friend Gloria and her Polish husband Marek.
They arrived from Minas Gerais on Tuesday and we got on well straight away. Gloria is 47 years old and Marek is 45. They married two years ago and the story of their marriage is quite interesting. Gloria needed a visa to stay in London so a mutual friend arranged her to meet Marek just for this visa business. She was going to pay him to get married. However, they did fell in love... and it's not business any more :)
Meeting them gave me a hope that maybe one day I will meet somebody who I will love, no matter how old I am going to be :)
Last night I stayed in Gloria's appartment in Arraial d'Ajuda and we had a great time... it was pouring with rain, crazy tropical rain and we were walking in the centre of the town and laughing, completely wet.
I also tried different tastes of cachaca (alcohol), my favourite taste is definitely cinamon.
In the picture all of us drinking cachaca.

I found out that in the street where I saw shooting, there were three killings in three weeks - two drug dealers died and also a girl who was sitting in a car. The girl was shot incidentally, she was in a wrong place at wrong time when two guys were shooting to each other... There is why not many people do the street dancing any more, apparently.
I am leaving Porto Seguro this week, possibly tomorrow. I had a fantastic time here (despite the shooting...) and I hope I will come back one day. Geraldo's stress starts to affect me and I don't like it. I also had a little crisis yesterday when some friends came for a bbq to his house. We were sitting by the swimming pool and they were speaking Portugese all the time. I felt very lonely and I started craving a good conversation in English, Italian or Polish... . It was great to meet all these people and communicate with them despite the fact that I don't speak Portugese but I would like to have a fluent conversation now. I hope I will find it in Salvador de Bahia.

I couldn't sleep well in the first days of my stay in Porto Seguro (too much excitement) so Geraldo gave me a sleeping pill, chemical but not strong (0.25 mg). I sleep very well now (and I took just this one pill) but he takes too many of them and much stronger that the one I had (1 or 2 mg). He lived in London for five years, then he came back to Porto Seguro eight months ago and later this month he is going to London again. He is selling his motorbike and the cars he owns, and he wants to open a business in London, and start a new life. He says that he is so stressed about it that he has bad dreams or he wakes up at night and he can't sleep for hours. I understand him very well. Before my trip to South America I was waking up in the morning and thinking: what the hell I am doing? - giving up all my life for this trip. I was very stressed but stayed focused on the plan. Of course, now I don't regret my decision at all, but it was so hard to resign, sell the car, say goodby to friends etc. Unfortunately Geraldo is not coping with the stress as well as I did. He takes the pill and he claims that not only doesn't he wake up at night but also when he wakes up in the morning he feels nothing, the pill kills all the stress.
I spoke to him today and told him about my experience, and that he has to stop taking the pills. He says he knows that but sometimes it is irresistible.
This morning he was too doped to give me a lift to the internet cafe' so he gave me his old car to drive. A new experience for me - driving in Brazil :) I drove his new car before but only at night when it was quiet on the roads and I also drove buggy (on the picture) - a very old jeep, it's actually a nightmare to drive it but a lot of fun too :)
I didn't realise how bad the roads are in Porto Seguro until I started driving, you have to be so careful not to damage the car on the big holes. There is no asphalt in the town, all the roads are made of big, irregular stones.