And so onto Bolivia and Chile…
The next part of the trip from the beautiful island of Boipeba, inland, to Lencois.
The next installment of our trip around the world
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Cambodia Cambodia was very short, too short, but beautiful. We took 5 days to visit the famous sites of Angkor Wat. We traveled to the Cambodian border by car from Pattaya in Dada’s and Palida’s company. We reached the Thai … Continue reading
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Fantastic quote by John Thomas ( seriously that was his name) our 84 year old taxi driver, driving at breakneck speed towards Marari:
” my wife, very good cook, not beautiful… but good heart”
As he dropped us off at our home stay he grabbed my hand and felt for my pulse, halfway up my forearm, and said in his very very Indian accent “in two years you rich man, you are healthy, no cancer, your liver good” he then made sure I had his card and told me to call him if we needed a cab tomorrow! He then drove off, hand permanently on his horn, into the madness that is Sunday in Marari.
Indian head shake can mean a myriad of things from: “I don’t know”, “no you can’t take pictures in here” to “yes that would be nice” to “as if I would overcharge you, do I look like a thief?”, add to that “no I don’t know why the internet isn’t working, but it happens all the time so I am used to it anyway”
Unlike the Japanese, who if they don’t know will ask someone, Indians will just make it up
If you ever find yourself in a barbers chair being violently beaten about the head by a short fat man with 70’s hair and moustache, do not fear, this is an Indian head massage. If said short fat man then asks if you want Ayurvedic, a swift kick to the balls should stop the ensuing mint oil fest that will add considerably to your tuk tuk journey home as you won’t be able to hang onto anything as you’ll be completely covered in Ayurvedic oil. At least you’ll smell fresh when they bury you. If he offers you a facial, run.
If you ever go on a backwater boat ride be aware of the following:
When the man in the official department of tourism office says it will be a luxury boat you’ll be thinking aircon, maybe a massage, comfortable seating, maybe a bit of sitar on the sound system and food and drinks, what he actually means it has an engine and should make it all the way around without sinking or breaking down.
When Mr official my arse then says you’ll be stopping at a little restaurant with nice food along the way, what he actually means is you’ll stop at a shack where you’ll ask in a terribly nice way what the gentleman has for lunch, to which the somewhat curt reply will be “fish”, to which you will say “anything else apart form fish?”, “fish” will be the answer, you’re getting the picture here? You will then be given a paper mat, then the food will appear, and all the while you’re looking at the paper mat and waiting for a plate and cutlery. Well wait no more as this is it, the rather large somewhat surly waiter will then pop over, take one look at you and drop your food straight onto the paper mat, he will then depart. It will be at this point that you will look around you and see everyone else is eating with their fingers. Give it a go, what’s the worst that can happen? I’ll tell you what can bloody happen, you end up with food half way up your arms, unlike everyone else around you who, I’m sure, are secretly eating with forks and hiding them every time you look as their fingers and arms are virtually bloody spotless. It is at this point you will invariably remember the golden rule of always washing your hands prior to eating without fail, or you will die!
Tuk tuk drivers in India have lots of things to contend with while driving: dogs, pedestrians and me hanging around their necks.
Indian Tuk tuk drivers do not slow down for rain, pedestrians, cyclists or buses. The only time Claude didn’t even scream when heading straight for a bus was in the back of a tuk tuk as she was too terrified.
The North South divide:
In the the south people just want to know where you come from and your name
In the middle you’ll start to meet beggars and people will try to sell you stuff
In the north sellers expect you to buy stuff
When travelling to India, try spending a couple of weeks in Japan first if you want maximum effect when you arrive. From the sublime to the ridiculous.
There’s a saying that says you can tell a lot about by person by the way they treat people they do not have to be nice to. This is never more evident than in India.
On the Kerala Tamil Nadoo border you can have hours of fun watching cow tennis, this is a great game played by one man and three cows. Firstly the cows will wander over the border from Kerala, only to be chased back across by a man running a stall on the Tamil Nadoo side. Then due to inordinate amount of traffic the cows will gradually wander back across the border, again to be chased back across by the ever angrier man. This can carry on for quite a while until the cows get bored and wander off or the man manages to lead the cows far enough away that they just can’t be bothered to trek all the way back.
Indian safari: take 200 Indians in various forms of attire, all of which are wholly unsuited to a safari. Cram them into ten jeeps, turn the music up so they will be dancing in the back of the jeeps, and send them off up the dirt road to spot animals. An hour later you won’t find any of them on the dirt road any more as they will already be bored as they won’t have spotted any animals so they will have decamped to the restaurant to eat.
Normal safar: wait for all the Indians to leave, have a chai then after about half an hour set off to spot wild elephants, monkeys and giant squirrels. After a while head to the restaurant where you will find more wild animals eating!
Doing a tuk tuk tour: agree on the price beforehand, you will usually have to pay more for the “non” shop tour which is well worth the money as it means you won’t be stopping at every “government” shop on the way round. The tuk tuk drivers stop at these shops with tourists as they get a lunch or petrol voucher every time they bring people. Unfortunately for the unsuspecting tourist, one of these shops is akin to having a randy dog on your leg as the shop assistants will not leave you alone until you buy something. I saw an English couple looking like they had had the life blood sucked out of them by the ground floor, they still had another four floors to go! The more English you are about it the more they will grind you down until you buy their extortionately priced goods.
The only orderly queues we ever saw were outside bottle shops, no wonder Kerala wants to become a dry state!
The further north you go the more aggressive the beggars, guides and crap sellers become
The guides will ask where you are from then will regale you with the few words they know:
French: “bonjour” followed by “ooh la la”
Italian: “ciao”
Once you have become life long friends through this wonderful connection you now have, they will then expect you to want their guided services and will take it quite personally when you say you do not require their vastly overpriced services.
The crap sellers:
“Hello sir” whilst shoving a variety of things under your nose “nice necklace, only one thousand rupees”, when you politely decline they get more insistent ” why you no want? Nice necklaces” and so it will go until you finally get into your taxi, but they will still be tapping at the window as you drive away.
Beggars:
Will just say “naaaaa” “naaaaa” at you a lot
Once hotel porters find out you’re a bit of a tipper, when you arrive, you will find yourself with three porters putting your two bags in the boot of the taxi the following morning. When you give then 100 rupees they will have no problem pointing out that there are three of them, then they will stand there looking indignantly at you holding their hands out.
Airport security is bad enough, but when it is run by the army you’re asking for trouble.
India is becoming a first world economy but with a third world mentality
When boarding a tuk tuk always negotiate the price beforehand, although this does not mean the rate is not up for renegotiation once the destination is reached due to: “it is 700 rupees not 500 as I have to go back empty” “it was 14 kms”
On average airport announcements, in India, will make twelve “absolute final” announcements for late passengers before finally giving up
The Hindu times is only beaten to second place by the daily mail in its ability to distort reality to suit its articles.
In India a tourist and his money are soon parted
Singapore – 25-28/08/14
The highlight of our stop over in Singapore was meeting our friend Marine and her children Eugene and Armance, a very old school mate of Alex. The kids were very close friends, 4 years ago and we were very pleased to get to see them again, especially as it was just as we had left it!
We stayed at Marine’s place, a beautiful traditional black and white Singaporean house. Although we had big rains everyday, it was still around 30 degrees and the showers were welcome to cool us down. When it was not raining the kids played in the garden or in the pool and they pulled comics and board games when outside was not an option. Alex discovered sway board which he was very good at very quickly, whilst Eugene was teaching Max how to build a zip wire in the garden. One day we left all the kids with Evelyn, the house maid, who took them to the water park; in the meantime, Rj and I took time to walk around Singapore city. A very modern city with lots of beautiful ultra modern glass buildings. Around Marina Bay, a new building looks like a boat on three towers, another looks like a lotus flower, one like a hedgehog. In town we saw some beautiful Chinese temples, we visited the renown colonial Raffles Hotel. In the city the people are young, smiley and polite but unlike Sydney, Singapore lacks personality and vibrancy. It is an odd thing to feel. Above the offices, below the shopping malls and food halls.
At night, the city lights up, the bars become lively, in Orchard Road, very loud music is played whilst lots of little restaurants provide European and Asian food in typical merchant houses. The street gets madly busy later and the centre on the drinking hub at later hours apparently…we don’t know, we are heading home to the kids!
Singapore also have a lots of beautiful green spaces and jungle forested areas. With the kids, we visited the Botanic Gardens a massive area with numerous themes such as medicinal plants, palms, historical plants as well as a discovery Center for kids where we saw yam, coffee, coconuts, bananas, papayas, and many more. We had a great time with our friends, but Singapore is not for us, a little like an Asian Switzerland.
Malaysia – 28/08 to 7/09/14
We had planned to reach Kuala Lumpur by overnight train from Singapore. Sadly the train was fully booked and we had to do the trip by plane intead, a short 45mn flight with Airasia. We booked the Pyramid Sunway hotel, recommended by a friend. Sure of the quality of the recommendation, I did not check the reviews or even the location, so what a surprise when, as the taxi drove through the road to the hotel, we found ourselves in the middle of a Disney-like world, with lots of fake carved statues of lions and mermaids. The big water park could be seen in the background, to the boys extreme delight. For us, it was our idea of a nightmare!
The lobby was huge, and decorated with brown marble and gold plated accessories. The room was of decent size but the carpet was dirty and when we found out that we had to walk to the hotel next door to access the pool and for breakfast, we considered reviewing our choice. As we exlored the area, in search of the pool and breakfast room, we discovered the partner hotel Sunway Resort & Spa, and were seduced by the more polished service, the easy access to pool and breakfast and their Club room offer (including afternoon tea and evening aperitif). And this is in this very oasis that we spent the next 4 days…The following day, we headed to the water park, to Ranj and my despair, but as a promise to the boys who had been so good at following us in our treks and adventures for the last 2 months, without complaining once. Thus, we spent the entire day, going down water slides, massive water funnel, speeding down water lanes, etc. To our great surprise, Rj and I had much fun and luckily we didnt feel too sick until the end of the day when our stomachs clearly had their share of abuse.
That evening, Dada & Lida surprised us with a visit and stayed in Kuala Lumpur with us for the following 4 days. 4 days in good company, of indulgence and laziness, spent relaxing by the pool, enjoying the delicious and copious multi cultural buffet breakfast, in the Club room, enjoying scones with cream and jam or little sandwiches and fruits or finally working out at the gym, trying to compensate for the over eating…We didnt see much of Malaysia over these few days especially as it coincided with a big bank holiday and massive celebrations taking place in town, making the center very difficult to access to. On our visitors last day however, we decided to hire a car and pop into town. We had a quick glimpse at the old railway station, the national Mosque and parked up to see the famous Petronas Twin towers. We enjoyed an overprice cocktail at the Sky bar of the Traders Hotel situated right opposite the towers to enjoy the sun doing down on the city and the towers lightning up in the dawn of the day. We finished our Day in Chinatown, as it was recommended to us. There must have been a nicer part in the area but we only found the popular market and its stalls of Chinese food and fruits and vegetables and cheap handbag replicates. Amongst those, the canteen like restaurant for which we finalise succumbed by lack of alternative. Although Rj and the kids had strange bowel movements for the next couple of days, we made it.
On Wednesday 3rd september, we drove Dada and Lida back to the airport, swapped for a smaller car and headed North for an expedited discovery trip of Malaysia.
The road takes us through thousands of kilometers of coconut tree plantations. Palm oil is the main revenue of Malaysia. We aimed for Pangkor Island, the closest nice beach resort to KL it seemed. We found very few reviews of the place but the pictures of the island looked good. With no hotel prebooked and a vague idea of how to get there, we switched on Tom Tom and headed adventurously. As we got to Pangkor ferry jetty, we found out that the ferry is for foot passengers only and that the rental car would not be of any use there! We debated what to do, reviewed our options and decided to leave the car behind. We hopped into the first and last ferry crossing for a mere 8 GBP return for all of us.
Pangkor must be about ten kms long and 5 wide. The Eastern side closest to mainland is where the little town is. Not europeanised at all, the community, to the image of the country, is a fantastic mix of colours and cultures: the Malay, the Indians and the Chinese cohabit harmoniously. We saw, sat side by side in the food halls, the fully covered muslim women, the indian women dressed in sari, the chinese dressed in Occidental clothing, all speaking the same language, Malay, English and Smile. The Malay are amongst the nicest people we have ever met, extremely polite, very helpful, all smile and extremely caring. They thank you with their hand on their heart, the smile with their eyes and heart, they are truly special people.
During this visit to Malaysia, I could not help but thinking of that plane that mysteriously vanished above the Indian Ocean and that simply shot down by the Russians in the recent months. Indeed we’ve noticed the soar left to the Nation by these two tragedies: the big yearly celebrations that take place end of August weren’t as big as usual this year as commemoration to the lost ones. People have mentioned it here and there, subdued to the idea that they will never know or understand what happened. I feel upset, knowing that these people, so kind and giving, have lost so much and that the World does not seem to care…
So we stayed in a small hotel on the Western side of the island. The only “proper” hotel on that side, it provided us with simple but pleasant accommodation. Most of all, we were a stone throw away from an beautiful white sand beach. Very similar to the Brazilian beaches we already know, but tidier as already more exploited for tourism. However, we were there mid week of a non holiday period and the speedboats and sausages were safely tucked away leaving the quite white sanded beach to our single use. The waters are turquoise blue, the sand beach curves and soon turns into a rocky water side where massive boulders sit on the white sand. Two small islands covered in palm trees and jungle are in proximity, amongst which Pangkor Laut, a privately owned island with one of the most exclusive resort in Asia. Following some fishermen that I see sneaking through the boulders and the jungle, we reach a pristine creek, with the clearest waters, the whitest sand, the roundest boulders, the most beautiful beach I have ever seen.
From there we decide to swim across to the neighbouring island, approximately 500m away. The water is as warm as bath and is see-through for the first 20m. It take us a little while as the current slows our progress but we reach the small island easily. We were so impressed by the boys and they were extremely proud of themselves! We play there for 45mn, looking for shells and corals and decide to head back to main land the same way we came but this time the current is in our favour and we get back much faster. The taxi driver had told us that only the English swam across to the islands!
In the evening, we enjoy a candlelight alfresco dinner on the beach: Daddy’s Restaurant, the only restaurant on the beach serves cocktails and fresh watermelon juice, beautiful Malay food with curries and fresh seafood. Perfect!
We finish our mini trip through Malaysia by a quick visit to Cameron Highlands where a windy road takes us through the jungle. We see beautiful little villages tucked away by the side of the road, fruit merchants selling mangosteen, wild mangosteen, rambutans, coco juice, etc. Cameron Highlands is well known for its strawberry farms but we will not reach them as we are running out of time. Time to head back to KL tomorrow we have to catch our flight to Japan!
We landed in Sydney with no great expectations. We had heard Australia was a nice place, some of our friends completely fell in love with it but we didn’t think it would be for us. The main reason for our quick stop over was to see the Opera House as this was Alex’s main request for this trip. It is also the only way for us to travel from South America to Asia. But it is winter here and we knew it wouldn’t be the best time to visit the country.
But somehow we fell in love with Sydney straight away. A beautiful young, dynamic, creative city, with sun and sea. A perfect version of London! We stayed in an airbnb near Hyde Park. The area was full of funky little cafes and restaurants. We quickly discovered Buster Brown on Crown Street, where we met Dominic, a French chef that never went back home. We walked everywhere and our first stop was the Opera house. Alex was delighted as this was the one sight he had asked to see during this trip. He was however somewhat disappointed when we found out that we couldn’t get in to visit as it was closed. We walked to Darling harbour, one of Sydney popular hot spot and, on some passer-by’s recommendation, we found a great little playground with water games for the boys. We visited Sydney aquarium, which is I must say the most impressive one we’ve ever seen: the sharks tunnel is the best we have come across and there were plenty of animals to be spotted and even touched! We visited the little zoo, own by the same company but were very disappointed: beside a massive alligator, there was not much to see there. We walked to The Rocks, an old part of the town and down the commercial streets where we discovered beautiful old little galleries, amongst which the elegant and nostalgic The Strand and further on the Victoria’s Building, a beautiful building dating from the late 1800’s . In fact, everywhere in the city, we found beautiful remains of British architecture, like the Old Hopital, the Old Government House, Hyde Park barracks, ….
It was winter in Australia and the weather was not great but this didn’t stop us from walking everywhere. Armed with our umbrellas we strolled through Hyde Park, walked to the bridges. On the nice days we stopped for coffee on the steps of the Opera House and a light lunch on the parade along Darling Harbour, what a pleasant city!
We decided to extend our stay and to stay an additional three days and took the opportunity to go and visit the Blue Mountains. We rented a car and did a three hour drive west of Sydney. We visited the delightful little town of Leura and checked into the Three Sisters Motel in Kattoomba. Ranj had a flash back and recalled his trip to America as a young man. The following day was grey but we decided to go an see the Three Sisters, a three-peaks rock near the small town. The fog was so dense we could not see further than 20 meters and we decided to head on a small trek instead. We ended up walking for over three hours: we walked down a eight hundred step steep staircase leading us to the bottom of the valley from where we headed to a waterfall. At the bottom of the cliff, the Valley is a true jungle and we walked amidst the tall trees, bamboos, giant ferns and eucalyptus trees, following a little muddy path running all the way along the bottom of the valley. One part of the walk was under the suspended rock of the mountain, and we felt like proper explorers. After 5 kilometres or so we reach the busier side of the valley, the Scenic World, where a cable car and a funicular are available to go up and down and across the valley offering a beautiful of the 3 peaks.
After the beautiful little trip out of the city, we made the most of our rented car and headed to Watson Bay, the furthest bay on the Sydney Eastern side. Recommended by our friend Julie, this place is a little jewel of a hideaway: a beautiful beach, surrounded by coffee shops and seafood restaurants, with a little park and a view Point where you can see the 2 sides of the bay. We had fresh seafood at the deck of the famous Doyles restaurant, on a gorgeous hot summer day, with everyone nibbling on seafood or sipping on a cool drink whilst enjoying the park and the beach. The perfect ending for our Australian stay!
We landed in Santiago late at night and straight away we appreciated the modernity of the place: the motorway was immaculate, the road side clean, tidy and decorated with beautiful flower beds. The signage was modern, the road was light up! What a radical change between two neighbouring countries!!!
We settled at the Directors hotel in an area of Santiago called Vitacura. The first day we took a taxi to the centre, in the middle of the old city. The town is full of historical buildings, beautiful architecture. I loved the art museum which is a building copied from the Halles of Paris. The Plaza de Armas is full of beautiful old buildings, nearby is the Catedral Metropolitana, full of stunning paintings and sculptures and the magnificent Palacio de la Moneda. We walked in the little back streets of city, full of merchants selling cheap clothes and accessories. We walk through a little city park which was full of families with children as it was bank holiday that day where we found a beautiful and very expensive little French Cafe. We strolled through the art market as night fell and headed back to the hotel.
The second day we took the city bus, that took us all over the city, we find that these buses give you a good overview of the city as well as interesting commentaries. On our way to the bus stop we discovered the area of Vitacura, a gorgeous, very well off area full of trendy coffee shops, interior design and furniture shops, Designer fashion, etc. we felt like in Los Angeles as the roads were wide, the houses large and the front loan perfectly manicured. It was so confusing having moved front such extremes in less than 24h! How could 2 neighbouring countries can be so utterly different?
That day was very hot (we had gorgeous weather throughout although it is winter here), as the bus stopped in Bellavista, we decided to walk up Cerro San Cristóbal and trekked for 2h. Our lungs, still under the effect of living in high altitude for 10 days, were strong and we pretty much ran up the mountain. At the top we found ourselves in the city’s sports hubb where everyone is running, cycling just like in Hyde Park or Center Park! We took the famous vintage cable car down to , which was fun and saving a bit of the few precious hours left in Santiago. Here again, our stay felt far too short, once here we discovered that there is a million things to be done in the area and that the Chilian landscape is stunning. Again we promise ourselves to return to Chile to explore, one day, this gorgeous country.
On August 12th, we arrived in La Paz bus station at 2pm. The express bus that did the trip from Puno only stopped for the Bolivian border. The Bolivian border crossing has a very bad reputation and we had dreaded that stop . We had heard and read lots of comments on blogs and website on how the bolivian custom agents can find ways to extort your money, hold you back a number of hours or find something wrong with your paperwork; we were on our guards. We had to get down the bus and go into the Peruvian side to get our exit stamp, walk across the bridge/border together with hundreds of locals carrying stacks of mobile phone boxes, toilet paper packs, soft drinks, and all sort of black market products loaded on hand karts. On the other sides we queued for 1h to enter a very sad building, with an overwhelming stench of pee, and where old ladies, were squatting down begging. Thus were the corridors of the Bolivian border offices: a reflection of what was about to come? Getting the stamp was straight forward, no questions asked, no luggage search, we were through, safe and sound for now…
We got to La Paz around 2pm that day, we had 3 hours before our next bus: a nightbus to Uyuni and the salt lake. We had decided to go at the last minute. We had given up on the idea and thought it would be too much of a rush, but after meeting Marina in Brazil and then Benjamin in Aguas Calientes who had been raving about the place, we decided to go for it. We only had 24h but we would visit the salt lakes of Uyuni. With the help of Lipiko Tours, a travel agency based in La Paz, we booked an overnight bus trip to the little town, we will be there at 6am, have time for breakfast, take a day tour to the lake, the train cemetery, the Cacti Island, be back for 5pm and take the return night bus to La Paz the same evening. I was wondering if the boys would cope.
So here we were in La Paz at 2pm, met with the travel agent, got the vouchers, and just had time for a lovely lunch at La Casona’s Cafe, a gorgeous little café on the ground of a gorgeous hotel. Perfect refreshment stop.
At 5pm we were back at the bus station. We expected a luxury bus to spend the night in. Instead we settled in a not so clean, tall bus deprive of all luxury but offering reclining seats. To our avail, a thick blanket. We were about to spend the next 10 hours in the bus.
We hit the road Bolivian style, the bus forcing his way through the thick traffic, turning 3 lanes into 4 leaving merely a couple of inches between vehicles.
We reach rough roads soon after leaving the city, which hardly slows down the bus. Soon the rough road turns into mud roads and for so it will be for the rest of the trip. As night fell, we fell asleep with the rocking and roaring of the bus. As at night went by, the temperature dropped and the path used as road was full of holes and bumps, sharp turns, with no lighting or signage! It felt like a roller coaster ride in the dark!
As dawn rose, we woke up from our shaky sleeps to find frost all over the windows, the temperature over night reaches -10 at this altitude. The sky filled with beautiful colours and as the first rays appeared the air slowly warmed up. The land is arid, a moon like surface, a yellow desert with mud houses. Rock, sand, earth surrounds us as we reach the little town.
We got to Uyuni at 7am and walked through the deserted town in search of a cafe. Once refreshed, and our stomach lined with food, we walked in the fresh air and the warm sunrays towards the travel agency. The place was already buzzing with tourists -Europeans mostly- getting ready to go. With the chaos, we seemed to have been forgotten and our departure was delayed nearly 30 mn. An old man was allocated as our driver/guide, which wasn’t an issue until we realise that he couldn’t see well and instead of following the path of the other cars, he would take a wider, safer route. Our first stop was at the train cemetery, an area where old relics of trains were left to rust. Not of must historical interest but certainly an interesting landscape to photograph. Our driver, who was also due to be our guide, left us half a mile away from the spot, pointed at the site and told us we had 10mn, we expected a little more from our driver / guide and decided to return to the agency to get a proper guide. We had called the agent in la paz to tell him so by the time we got to the local agent, the lady in charge was clearly unhappy. As we asked for a younger driver/guide we were straight away accused of discrimination. Our queries turned very quickly in accusations and before we knew it, she was threatening to call the police, the one thing I would avoid in Bolivia. As we challenged her with this, we called the agent in La Paz who could hear the screams and hysteria in the background, the woman now accusing her to hit her (an entire desk was separating us), and as we smiled at her hysteria and exaggerations, she carrying on saying we were abusing her! After a light night sleep, this is not exactly what we had in mind. She called on to her 2 colleagues as witnesses and as I could see the situation was getting dangerously twisted, we decided to leave straight away.
We had to wait a couple of hours before another guide was sent to us, but it was worth it. Our new Guide was very gentle and kind and was a proper guide. She managed to squeeze the program of the day in half one, although still a little shaky about the whole experience.
We reached the lake, dry at this time of year, very quickly. It is dry season here so the ground is dry and has a honeycombed pattern to it, which is due to the expansion of the salt as it dries. Absolutely amazing. hundreds of square kilometres of the beautiful landscape, and this 6m deep! We visited La Isla Pescado, or Cactus Island, an island covered in cacti, an impressive sight in the middle of the lake; The Salt Hotel, a beautiful piece of architecture exclusively made with salt bricks and wood; a salt family factory, and it was time to head back!
The return trip felt even more epic that the way in as we were sat right at the front of the bus, thus witnessing the madness of the driving. Rj felt sick to his stomach at the site of the road and hardly managed to sleep as if every bent and down hill was an eminent danger, but we got ‘home’ save and sound once more and pleased to have got out of this incredible experience. A beautiful day that will not be forgotten!
We spent the following 3 days in La Paz. A mass of concrete, sat in a pollution cloud, jammed inside a valley and crawling up the hillsides all around it. The traffic is mad, the city is busy and from above must look like an ants nest. The side streets are narrow, often steep, and twirly. But La Paz has a lot of charms and Rj falls in love instantly.
We stayed in a hostel in a central popular area in town. Nearby is the beautiful San Francisco church, lots of tourists shops where you can buy extremely cheap Bolivian textiles, alpaca items and antiques and relics. A couple of streets from us is the famous witch market: narrow cobbled streets lined with little shops where straw baskets and wooden tables display the oddest items: dried alpaca foetus, dried alpaca legs, herbs, shells, claws, bottles with strange mixtures, sweet looking foods in fluorescent colour…The little shops wall are covered with shelves full of mixes and potions, boxes with unknown contents and on the tables outside are displayed some ‘packages’ on offer: a gift wrap containing a selection of fake food, fake money, a bottle (of alcohol?), an alpaca leg…These gifts seem to be made to measure to make the perfect charm, depending on what you want to wish the receiver, good or bad! There are queues in some of the shops, people coming to have their potions made: for health, for love, money, success…
A couple of streets down the road, to satisfy our taste for non touristy spots, we venture in the popular food market, recommended by a local guide for the best local food available. It is a big building with 4 floors, completely open, like a car park. Inside 2 little alleys follow the sloppy road up the building, alongside which hundreds of little stalls serving local dishes (soups, fried meats, eggs, rice) and all sort of simple but delicious food. Others offer cut fruits, some fresh juices, we are spoilt for choice. We finally settle (we have 4 opinions to take into account which make decision making tricky sometimes!) for a little place offering a noodle soup. As we sit down on the benches amongst the locals already eating, the lady brings us a massive soup bowl, as well as a plate full of rice, fried egg and panned beef. We are so full! All that for £1.2 each.
As we stroll through the streets, we come across an old lady squatting and relieving herself on the edge of the pavement, her long traditional black skirt hiding her privacy. What a sight! The boys found that hilarious!
We didn’t venture much further in La Paz or Bolivia, by lack of time, sadly. As we left La Paz we flew above the Atacama desert, the sights were amazing and we would love to go back and take time to visit the country, maybe one day….
The trip from Lencois to Maceio took 18h by bus. Although very long, the journey was pleasant: for the first part of the trip, we travelled through the lush green Bahian valleys where massive rocks are scattered randomly, as if they had just fallen from the sky. We then jumped into a luxurious (although standard) night bus which was a further 10h journey to Maceio. With fully reclining seats, we were ready to spend a pleasant night, until the driver, spotting the tourists, tried discreetly to warn us about a certain danger ( we didn’t quite get it as he spoke so fast and mumbled his words to keep quite) after which we were not so reassured anymore and slept with one eye open!
We got to Maceio at 6am the following day and to our surprise, a very pleasing one, our friend Jarvas was there to welcome us. Brazilians are wonderful hosts and as usual Jaravas, his wife Sida had prepared a beautiful buffet of traditional food to welcome us. After catching up with the family and stuffing ourselves with feijouada, fried cheese, baked plantain, manioca couscous, fruits and juices, we headed to town to rent a car and headed to the village of Paripueira where were going to stay for 10 days.
Paripueira is a small and very modest village, 30kms north of Maceio. There is nothing to do there but to enjoy the pool and beautiful beaches. We therefore spent 9 days resting, enjoying the pool and exploring the local beaches of Tabuba, Praia do Frances, Praia do Gunga and many more. The area is still very wild and undiscovered; the beaches although untidy, are kilometres of white sand lined with coconut trees whilst the sea is of different shades of green from turquoise to lime green. A mile into the sea, a coral barrier protects the beach from the moods of the ocean and creates natural swimming pools full of bright coloured fish.
We all had a very relaxing time, enjoyed cooking our own food and eating as many fresh fruits and vegetables as we could. We started home schooling after 3 weeks of holidays and the kids were happy to comply! With no internet access, we made it our mission to find the local bars or restaurants with free wifi and we discovered a great book shop in the recently opened shopping Center in Maceio, with a coffee corner and coffee shop. It felt like home!!!
The city and the coast are changing very quickly, the Brazilians are only just starting to discover the area and the government has begun working on the infrastructure to develop tourism. We like it as it is, untouched and wonder what the future will be made of for our little village…
En Francais!
Nous sommes arrives a Maceio après un trajet de 18h en bus depuis Lencois. Bien que long celui ci fut plaisant: nous avons d’abord traverse les plaines Bahiennes dans les quelles se trouvent d’enormes rochers parsemes ici et la comme s’ils etaient tombes du ciel. Une fois arrive a Feira de Santana nous avons pris un des bus les plus confortables que je n’ai jamais pris, avec des sieges s’inclinant a 160degres, promettant une bonne nuit de repos. Malheureusement, le chauffeur, remarquant notre presence, et voulu bien faire en nous prevenant dans un portugais demi etouffe pour ne pas etre entendu des autres et a grand debit, d’un certain ‘danger’ a bord. N’ayant pas compris ce dont il parlait (il y avait effectivement plusieurs jeunes hommes parmis les passagers relativement impressionants par leurs carrures, tatouages et regards noirs profonds, mais rien que nous n’ayons jamais vu auparavant), nous ne e que d’un oeil cette nuit la, pourtant berces par les ballotements du bus.
Bref, nous sommes arrrives a Maceio a 6h du matin et a notre grande surprise furent recu par notre ami Jarvas, membre distant de la famille. Quelle agreeable surprise: il nous conduit chez lui et a leur habitude, Ils nous traiterent comme des rois et avaient prepare un buffet de nourriture pour notre arrivee. Après avoir revu tout le monde, nous nous nous dirigeames pour recuperer une voiture de location et partames vers Paripueira ou nous passerons les 10 jours suivants.
Paripueira est un petit village costal tres modeste a 30 kms au Nord de Maceio. Il n’y a rien n’a y faire, pas de tele (pas chez nous cela est, beaucoup de petites maisons de terre et de bois disposent cependant de grosses paraboles et immenses ecrans tele!), pas d’internet (c’est déjà plus genant), Juste une belle piscine et beaucoup de tres belles plages.
Nous avons donc passe 10 jours tres calmes soit au bord de la piscine, soit a explorer les plages locales de Tatuba, Praia do Frances, Praia do Gunga et bien d’autres. Toutes sont de magnifiques et gigantesques etandues de sable Blanc fin et a l’eau variant du vert tres pale au blue turquoise, longees par des avenues de cocotiers. Au loin, la barriere de corail protege la cote des violences de l’ocean atlantique et creer de magnifiques piscines naturelles, refuges naturels pour la faune marine.
Les enfants, tout comme nous, ont eu le temps de se poser, et de se reposer. Nous avons apprecie pouvoir cuisiner nos petits plats et devorer autant de fruits et legumes frais que nous le souhaitions. Nous avons passe des heures dans la piscine, d’autres a se balader sur la plage.
Nous avons nettoye la maison des fourmis et termites qui s’y refugient en notre absence (les termites se regalent, heureusement que nous n’avons que peu de bois dans la maison), appris a partager la maison avec des petites grenouilles dans les salles de Bain, les geckos aux movements sacades, une chaise souris de passage et de nombreuses moustiques (beaucoup moins plaisant!)
Nous avons entame les cahiers de vacances, point de depart des revisions de l’annee scolaire passee. Pour pouvoir continuer a prevoir notre voyage, nous nous refugions dans Les restaurants locaux avec acces a l’internet. L’avant dernier jour nous avons trouve une Librairie tres sympa a Maceio avec un coin cafe et acces internet! La ville change a vue d’oeil, se modernise, devenant de plus en plus sofistique. C’est agreeable et pratique mais nous nous demandons a quelle vitesse cette modernisation prendra pour atteindre notre petit village et surtout les consequences que cela aura. Nous aimons la simplicite de cet endroit. En Esperant que ce soit pour le mieux…
Le 19 juillet, nous reprimes la route, direction l’Amazonie, au grand plaisir des enfants!
Boipeba virgin beaches of Boinema and Morere
We’ve just spent 4 amazing days on the island of Boipeba.
This little island is located south of Salvador, close by the more known Morro de Bahia. A real paradise! Still untouched because so remote and difficult to access to (the trip itself would put you off: ferry, bus, speed boat, taxi and eventually tractor – or horse or donkey if you don’t have as much luggage as we do!) The island is protected by Unesco and has no access for motorised vehicules.
We got to our pousada Casa Bobo after a 5h trip from Salvador and we found ourselves in stunning little wooden lodges in the middle of Brazilian wilderness. Myriam and Nilton who built and run the pousada are an amazing couple, very kind and caring and extremely Eco and health conscious. The pousada is immaculately decorated, in an elegant yet simple and traditional manner and all details have been carefully thought off. Although the island is solely covered with fine white sand, they manage to grow their own vegetables organically and fed us the best home cooked food we ever had in Brazil. We discovered, manioc cake, cooked plantain (balata de terra), moqueca (typical bahian dish with either fish, seafood or chicken, coco oil, beans, and more cooked in a terracotta bowl) – delicious!
Boipeba is simply stunning: long wild white sand beaches naturally ornate with palm trees, little trails running through the mangrove, natural swimming pools filled with clowns fish and other stunning species; lots of gorgeous humming birds swiftly flying around, large bright butterflies and multicolour birds and crabs, the island is a true paradise. It is also home of hundreds of sea turtles protected by the Tamar project.
One evening our hosts took us to visit the native village of Monte Allegre, where the villagers were celebrating the inauguration of a community Center. The youngsters were dancing samba and demonstrating their skills of Angolan Capoueira to the beat of the drums and local instruments: the atmosphere was nothing like anything we’ve ever seen!
Although we felt like intruders, for them it was an honor to have visitors from the outside!
We did long walks on the fine sandy beaches of the island, the kids played in the sand for hours, we snorkelled looking for sea turtles (no luck there), large shells, bright coloured fish… I got bitten by a sea snake and although most are venomous, mine-which I didn’t even get to meet- wasn’t, so all is well!. The boys played football with the local kids on the beach, we watched Brazil v Colombia is the smallest -yet the fullest and liveliest improvised street cafe ever, we fell asleep to the beat of Brazilian rythms…
We are living the dream!
En Francais:
Après Salvador, nous venons de passer 4 jours fantastiques sur l’ile de Boipeba. Cette petite ile situee au sud de Salvador dans l’etat de Bahia. Un vrai paradis! Nous n’y avons passe que 4 jours mais 4 jours d’indulgence pure au milieu de la nature Bresilienne.
Longue de 40km, cette ile est protégée par l’Unesco et sans acces aux vehicles, elle est encore tres sauvage et peu exploitee.
Rien que d’essayer d’y acceder peu vous dissuader: depuis Salvador, il faut prendre ferry, bus, taxi puis bateau. Le tractor et cheval ou ane sont les seuls moyens de se replacer sur l’ile. Donc eviter, non comme nous, d’arriver avec trop de baggage!
L’ile est couverte de sable blanc fin, de cocotiers et de ‘mangrove’; Elle est entouree de coraux et offre donc de magnifiques piscines naturelles pleines de poisons exotiques mais aussi de nombreuses tortues d’eau protégées par le project ‘Tamar” un project …malheureusement nous n’avons pas reussi a en voir, il faisait trop chaud et elles ne sortent que tard le soir.
Ces temps ci, une polemique derange le calme habituel de l’ile: 7 petits proprietaires ont recu une offre d’achat par de gros exploitants qui veulent developer un resort exclusif impliquant le defrichage de plusieurs hectares afin de developer terrains de golf et helipads. Les indiens, d’abord seduits par l’argent, ont maintenant realises (grace a l’aide de quelques gringos – ‘etrangers’- ecolo vivants sur place et ayant choisis cette ile pour sa virginite ecologique) les consequences nefastes de tel developement sur l’equilibre naturel de la region.
Le village de ‘Cova da Onca’ (un village descendant directement des colons hollandais, ou les gens sont blonds aux yeux bleus) disparaitrait completement, tand dis que les indiens du village de”Monte Allegre’ qui vivent encore de nos jours casiment entierement peche, chasse et cueillette (dont coco), souffriraient de l’impact sur la nature. Le Tamar project et les tortues de mer seraient aussi irradier bien que protégés par Unesco. Un tel project semble bien illegal mais l’argent achete bien des choses et la famille italienne derrière tous ces nouveaux projets semble avoir les bonnes connections!
Nous sommes rester a Casa Bobo, une magnifique petite pousada ecologique geree par Myriam et Nilton. Ce couple espagnol-bresilien a installe la residence en hauteur dans la brousse de Boipeba, surplombant la plage de Morere. Construites de maniere tradionnelle, les loges ont un toit fait de tuiles de bamboo, les murs sont faits de baguettes de bois couverte de boue (case de Taipa) et fibre de coco, le tout peint de blanc et recouvert de resine.
Myriam et Nilton (se pronounce Newton) sont super sympa et nous ont accueilli les bras grands ouverts; super zen, tres centres sur la Sante et le bien etre en harmonie avec la nature, ils etaient aux petits soins. Nilton cuisine merveilleusement tous les produits ecologiques qu’ils reussissent a faire pousser dans ces terres sableuses ainsi que les fruits de mer fraichement peches, les plats a la farine de manioc, la ‘batata de terra’ (plantain) etc, nous nous sommes regales.
Pendant ces quelques jours, nous avons fait de longues promenades sur les plages desertiques de l’ile, visiter des piscines naturelles par petit bateau et nager parmis les poissons clowns; avons nage a la recherche des tortures et navigue au dessus de l’epave d’une caravelle sur la plages des Castellanos (sans succes mais ce fut l’occasion pour moi de me faire mordre par un serpent de mer! Belle morsure, heureusement d’un serpent non venimeux, la plupart le sont!).
Nous avons eu aussi la chance de pouvoir assister a une presentation de Capoueira Angolaise et de samba par une association pour les jeunes dans le village natif de Monte Allegre. Les seuls etrangers, nous nous sentions assez intrus tandis que pour eux, c’etait un honeur d’avoir des visiteurs interesses dans leurs traditions. Nous avons aussi rencontres Marina et son mari ainsi que leurs 3 garçons. Une super famille avec la bougeotte, qui gere une ligne de vetements d’enfants (www.waddlers.co.uk) tout en vivant une vie nomade en Amerique du Sud, quelle inspiration!
Et tout cela en 7 jours a peine! Nous avons l’impression d’être partis depuis si longtemps! Nous n’avons pas eu Le temps de regarded en arriere. Nous sommes lances, et pour le moment , ce sont comme des vacances prolongees. Les enfants sont calmes, heureux, nous vivons le reve…
A little tour around the World 