Wellington is Windy

Looking back on the past week, it is difficult to say where to start. Here are some of the highlights:

Brazil

Noting that:

•  on buses, you not only have to give up your seat to elderly, disabled, women-with-child, but also to overweight people - it made for a funny sign which sadly we didn't get a picture of.
• On Copacobana beach they have digitized displays every few hundred meters that appear to indicate what type of sunscreen you should wear based on what color you are. The day we left, it was 30SPF for white chocolate colored people, and 15SPF for milk chocolate colored people.



Copacobana Beach with Sugar Loaf in the background

• Trying to reason with an Air Canada check-in agent after 44 hours of travel is a pointless exercise. Our plane leaving Sao Paulo had a problem that extended our total travel time from Rio to London to a total of 46 hours. The consolation being that the airline paid for a night in Sao Paulo and Toronto in rooms that were palatial compared to anything else we have stayed in - ever. And no dorm mates to blame the snoring on.

Ontario

Brr

• Rushed, but great visit with family (sorry Nonni)
• Snow
• My first attempt at hanging xmas lights. Monica's mom commented: "Don't worry, I will fix them tomorrow!"

All I have to do is...

Masterpiece

BC

• Quick visits with friends
• Packing
• Packing

NZ

• Someone on our flight being detained, and turned over to the police in Auckland for smoking in the toilet. Really?
• Almost missing our connection through to Wellington having had our tent inspected for bio-hazards, and sprinting from International to Domestic terminals pushing two bike boxes.
• Being amazed that our wonderful Warmshowers host (Gary) was actually at the airport to meet us, despite having been in such a mad rush to pack and get on the plane, that we forgot to email him to let him know we were on our way.

We were treated to a beautiful cycle in from the airport to Gary's house, and spent the morning learning a wealth of information about New Zealand, bike touring, Wellington and more. 

Eager to get  on our bikes, we set off into town to check things out, do a bit of shopping, and figure out how we were going to get up to the east coast.

The fresh breeze we encountered on our way into town soon turned into a 40+ knot gale. The video and pics don't really do it justice. Cycling into the wind was almost futile, and with the wind at your back, you didn't have to pedal at all to get blasted down the winding roads. Monica had to get off her bike at one stage, as her back tire was getting blown out from underneath her as she skidded sideways down the sidewalk.

Wellington approach

Monica likes NZ pie

Just a little windy

Moments before she got blown over by a gust

Let's hope the rest of New Zealand isn't like this! Spot tracker updated - check the "Where Are We" tab.

Ode to My Hostel

O hostel, my hostel, how do I love thee?

Hosting young adults, so drunk their beds they oft' pee.

Snoring, farting, mumbling, 

Like some night-long, out-of-tune symphony.

How can I be so sure

That inspired trumpet solo was not me?

Rio is a happening city! Full of activity, culture and of course about 6 million people. We have been travelling around on the local bus system, which is actually very good (and cheap), and trying to see as much of the city as we can in 3 days. 

Yesterday, we made our way up to the Corocovado, to see the iconic statue of Christ the Redeemer. Riding up a tram packed full off tourists that takes you to the peak of a hill overlooking Rio is well worth the price for the stunning views:

There was some special name for this type of track that I have forgotten.

The Tram rides up through the Tijuca Forest

One of the many views from the top of the Corocovado. This is Ipanema Beach where we are staying

Of course, the main attraction is Christ the Redeemer. Everyone likes to take funny pictures of themselves imitating the statue or pretending to squish the statue in their fingers or windmill-five. We tried to get some funny ones ourselves, but settled for windmill-fiving each other a la Goose and Maverick.

I stand 70 metres high

"I swear, it was this big!"

We also strolled around a  local market on the beach, and today are off to rent bikes to cycle around the city.

Mmm. fish!

10 Things Brazil

6 Things You Will Love About North East Brazil, and 3 Things You Can Probably Do Without, and 1 Myth Busted.

With only a few days left in the North East of Brazil and the wind slowly declining in strength, there has been plenty of time to reflect. Here it goes:

6 Things You Will Love

1. The Beaches

• This part of Brazil is essentially one big beach that stretches for hundreds of kilometers. Beautiful white sand, the occasional sand dune and palm tree: What more could you ask for in a holiday destination? Well, if you like lying on the beach, doing so here will leave you with the uncomfortable knowledge of what it would be like to be rubbed vigorously by sandpaper.
2. The Weather
• The most overpaid person in Brazil has to be the weatherman. Today, the average temperature will be 29 degrees Celsius, sunny and windy. This evening will cool off to 27 degrees Celsius, clear skies and breezy. Repeat!
3. The Sunsets

• Having spent the last 10 years in Vancouver, where it does tend to be overcast more than not, by contrast in these parts, almost every day you will get to see a stunning sunset. Watching a sunset gives that great sense of closure on what is almost always another truly amazing day.
4. Cake for Breakfast
• Do I really need to say more? This is definitely a cultural anomaly worth adopting and evangelizing. 
5. Toilets equipped with water pistols
• You can hose down attacking zombies, unsuspecting passers by  or flood the bathroom trying to shoot that mosquito that has been bothering you out of the sky. Or like most in Brazil, you can simply use it to "clean" yourself after using the washroom. A word of advice, as Brazil has wildly varying water pressure, test it first or you may find yourself cleaning much more than intended. In Brazil, toilet paper does not go in the toilet. I think someone should look into the industry for false advertising
6. Fanta
• Not fruit, but Fanta! While you may not be able to import it into Canada due to Health Canada having an issue with the health effects of some of the ingredients, Fanta is quite possibly the best soft drink ever. Brazil, unlike North America use real sugar to sweeten their drinks instead of high fructose corn syrup - it just tastes better!

3 Things You Can Probably Do Without

1. Socks
• See "The Weather" above. The national shoe of Brazil is the Havaiana, or the flip-flop. You would look very funny wearing socks with those.
2. Underwear



Peter and his cousin Dan's dopplegange:r Jean-Michel

• Don't pack any underwear, because you will in fact spend all of your time in a bathing suit (or swimming costume depending where you are from). However, if you want to fit in as a local in Brazil with your swimwear, take the following advice before you board the plane:
• Men - take a pair of scissors and cut the legs off of your boardshorts, or leave the boardshorts at home and take your girlfriends bikini bottoms
• Women - take your bikini, fold in half, and cut out all of the material just leaving the seams.You are done!
3. Mask and Snorkel
• You may recall I packed a mask and snorkel with the wild idea that I would snorkel, and occasionally bring home a nice looking red snapper that I had wrestled with my bare hands. Due to the wind stirring up the water, this remains a wild fantasy.

1 Myth  Busted

Coming to Brazil has been a dream for many years since my addiction to wind started. Part of coming  here was to test out the theory of whether you could have too much of a good thing. I am pleased to say that after 3 months of kitesurfing almost every day, kitesurfing is still just as addictive as the day I started. Therefore, the case is proven. WARNING: may not apply to other good things like children, shoes and alcohol.

It will be sad to go, but we are both itching to get on our bikes now, and ready for another adventure.

The surgery here is very affordable.

Something terrible has happened...

We woke this morning to find a ransom note pinned to door indicating demands of boerwors, biltong and other braai supplies for the safe return of Lupita. We were also sent this disturbing video via the internet:

With such demands, we strongly suspect that our South African house mate has gone rogue. We found a suspicious photograph on our camera this morning.

Have you seen this man?

It has been a very relaxing last week in Cumbuco so far, with activities like making Pizza, having friends over for barbecues, downwinding to to the Lagoon, going for runs on the beach, lazing around in the pool, doing the odd kite repair and hanging out with Lupita.

Having a  swimming pool nearby during kite repairs is very handy! Even Lupi wants to help out!

True love

Mmm mini pizzas

Lupi has a very expensive bed!

They are trying very hard tot be friends...

On to couch surfing:

Couchsurfing is apparently a great way to get to know some of the locals and see some of the non-touristy things in a city. It is an interesting idea whereby you open up your couch to host travellers and show them your city in exchange for meeting new and interesting people - and yes it is free. You get to say how great your host or guest is, so that you can get a sense of who the people are, but is also largely based on trust. We have had a few friends take part, and all highly recommend it as the way to travel. Perhaps something you want to try with your couch or spare room? Check it out at http://couchsurfing.org/

After several attempts, we have unsuccessfully managed to find a place to couch surf in Rio de Janiero. As it is a very popular city, most couch space seems to be already taken up. We are hoping to do more of this in New Zealand, and have already lined up a place to stay in Wellington through an equally awesome service: Warm Showers, which is tailored to cyclists.

We have booked instead into a hostel that is fairly close to Ipanema Beach. I plan to have my camera ready to photograph some of the latest fashions in  beachwear that Brazil is so famous for.

Monica has also been slaving away over a map of New Zealand, while I have have been dream planning our next leg in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. I spend several hours a day dreaming what it might be like there, and where we should go, which is quite different to Monica's pencil, map and guidebook method with carefully measured out mileage and annotations. We will be sure to document the success of each method as we go along.

Having so much time on our hands has also given us a bit of time to reflect: stay tuned for a "Best of Brazil" post, and thanks for all the great comments... keep them coming!

 

The count down begins...

Seriously where has the time gone!  We are down to our last 2 weeks in Brazil and the count down has begun.

Due to the bar malfunction that Pete alluded to in the last post, we decided to leave Ilha do Guajiru and make our way back to Cumbuco to get the bar repaired.  We had meet up with a lovely couple, Ruth and Jason who were also looking to leave Guajiru and the four of us made our way back down the coast.  We stayed in Icarai de Amontada for two nights in a very cute little house just a short walk from the beach.  Although, in our very lazy state and laden down with kite gear we did end up driving to the beach.  I know, not the most environmentally friendly option. The car runs on ethanol and not gas, do you think that helps?! The only downside to the house was that we shared it with a family of mosquito's, cockroaches and fire ants. It sounds really bad, but really we've been sharing our room with these things all along the coast and you just sort of get used to them. Although Ruth does say that if you squash a cockroach, the eggs come out and you just get more of them...yikes! Good thing we haven't squashed any.

Our house in Icari

A bit messy!

Pete declared the two days in Icarai de Amontada, the best he's had in Brazil.  The wind was just crazy and the area had both waves and a flat water section to ride in... it really was a kiter's paradise!  Sadly, there was no kiting for me as we were still having some issues with equipment and the wind was just way too strong. I was more than happy to just laze around reading, drinking and eating.

Sunset in Icari

From Icari we made our way back to Cumbuco, the place where our adventure first began. Ruth pulled some strings and we are paying next to nothing to stay in a very nice 'pousada' with a pool, internet and..drum roll please...a kitchen!! Gone are the days of the very unhealthy nutella sandwich lunch, bring on the real food! We've been eating fantastic breakfasts, lunches and dinners – it truly is a wonderful thing to have a kitchen. Jason even made hand squeezed orange juice for breakfast the other day...yum!

Guess what type of fish Pete is?!

Jason in the kitchen

Ruth and I cooking up a storm!

The one thing I've noticed in Brazil is that everything and I really mean EVERYTHING has MSG in it. It's an ingredient in potato chips, sauces, spices, it's even listed as an ingredient in the salt...what's up with that?! For a girl that normally tries to eat organic, preservative free food, this is quite a shock. Anyone out there have any idea what MSG is used for and why it's supposed to be bad for you? Although maybe don't tell us until we are back in Canada as we can't really avoid it right now. We'll just continue to eat our healthy MSG meals in peace and ignorance!

The other bit news is that Pete's met his true love. Yes you read that right, he's fallen in love with a beautiful little 'bitch' (mum that's what a female dog is called, I'm not swearing!)

Pete's true love!

She belongs to the Pousada owner and really is one of the sweetest little dogs ever! We found out that she's a Pincher and that they come in three sizes. She loves to cuddle on your lap, nibble your toes and chase you around. For people that generally prefer larger dogs, Lupita sure has captured all of our hearts.

We've been able to get our bar fixed in Cumbuco, although it's taken a few trips to the repair guy and a few more malfunctions. Luckily (for me) Pete was riding each time something went wrong and has been a real champ about all of this. He's had to do three deep water pack downs in the last week and a half. This involves having to secure your board, wrap up your lines, create a sail with your kite and make your way back to shore. All of this happens while you are floating in the ocean, miles away from shore. Things seem to be fixed now and fingers crossed that everything holds up for the next two weeks.

We were in Cumbuco over a Brazilian holiday that our Pousada owner, Sonya, told us is similar to labor day.  Needless to say, the people watching was top notch!

Can you spot the Fabio look alike?

Day Trip to Icarai de Amontada

Icarai de Amontada is a small fishing town about an hour drive from Ilha do Guajiru where we are currently staying. After a plummet-from-the-sky-and-long-swim mishap due to breaking one kite control bar, and completely wearing through another bar, we decided to go and explore.

We weren't expecting much as an American that we had met who was prospecting for land had been through a few days before and didn't really have anything great to say about the town. It is all a matter of perspective I guess - what do you think?

Pristine beach at Icarai de Amontada

Monica and Ruth going for a stroll on yet another endless beach in Ceara

This airplane flew daringly close to the windmills

Yes, apparently there is such a thing as too much kiting!

We have managed to have some bush repairs done on one of the kite bars by stitching some rope together. The sad reality is that we will have to work our way back down the coast and hope that there are some spare parts that we can pick up along the way. If not, we have started exploring the idea of somehow getting up to the Amazon for a poke around. Although, to put it in perspective, the town we need to get to is 4055km away by road. That is 150km short of driving from Vancouver to Toronto! Airmiles anyone?

And then there were two...

Monday started the same as Anyday. I awoke to unfamiliar surroundings and two other people in my room: Travis and Monica. However, today things would be different. Instead of the usual chirping of birds and natural light, the sound of a desperate someone pumping up his kite woke me up. It was 6:30am and a mere mouse fart of wind was blowing through the window. I suppose it was a forgivable offense assuming that he may have been leaving Brazil that day. 

The usual Brazilian breakfast (complete with cake) was a prelude to packing up for what promised to be another hellish drive into Fortaleza to drop Travis off at the airport. It was sad to see Travis go, and not just because he was really good at sharing the blame for my stupidity. If you compare the below to his initial arrival, you will note that he is now a slight shade of pink.

Which superhero am I?

We only got lost once getting out of Fortaleza this time, excluding the fact that we at one point found ourselves on the highway heading south towards Rio, instead of north to Taiba.

For the most part of the week, we were in Taiba. Reading, sleeping in hammocks, kiting on the lagoon and a noted lack of trips to the pharmacy since Travis departure. A real treat was doing a downwind kite trip from Taiba to Paracuru to discover some beautiful sections of deserted beach for riding and two "secret spots".

Secret spot number 1

Although sad to see it go, we left Taiba for Ilha do Guajiru to get in some more flat water riding and visit our friends at the Windy Addiction Pousada.


Monica has been progressing every day, and has been keeping her calm as I wildly gesticulate unhelpful kiting tips from the beach. We have generally just been chilling out and enjoying the slower pace of life over here. That and another amusing mishap when Monica found out that the peanut butter and jam toast she had this morning was in fact Brazilian meat jam!? Tasted delicious!

Fisherman never seem to use their boats, and most can't swim either. Instead, they put on a life jacket and bob around in the water dragging a fish net behind them, and then hope that the tide brings them back to shore.

Buy me so that I can finally be used to go fishing

Today we also got the chance to visit a Brazilian farm, where Monica got to sample a fresh Caju fruit, and we got to see a small  sample of what the non-touristy Brazil really looks like.

Mmmm

The farm house - I didn't get a chance to photograph the inside, but thought the dish was a great touch.

Monica  is fascinated by paw paw trees

It also happens to be a special someone's birthday tomorrow, and if you really want to help make it a special day for her, then you can post your wishes here, and maybe say something about how amazing she is to you, so she can find it here in the morning.

The Birthday Girl!