Friday 8th - Sunday 10th January 2010

My first weekend in Fortaleza and it was preeeeetty good :)

It started off well with sleeping late and meeting Gui to check out some potential gyms. We then met Mariana for lunch with some of her colleagues. One of which told me how much he loved Scotland.. always nice to hear! This is my favourite place so far.. nice sushi and great salads. It's another self service so you pay for exactly what you want. And everyone knows I like to try a little of a lot. I get bored easy ;)

After lunch we had a wee nap, as always, and relaxed at home and prepared for some partying. We arrived at Orbitz already a tiny bit tipsy, and stupid me was unaware that I needed ID because I look 12. We drove baaack to Mariana's, picked up my ID and headed back to the club. This time I proved my age and got in. The bouncer giving me some free drinks to make up for it. Well, expensive as Brazil seems to be.. it got me and Mariana each a drink - but a delicious one at that! An iced ginger-lemon vodka. DELICIOUS! I asked about 10 times if I was really drinking vodka. Turn out that I was because I got pretty wasted :) I kept saying how I had drank SO much but didn't feel a thing, and all of a sudden, it hit. We spent the night upstairs in our private location and had lots and lots, and lots of fun...

The night ended about 4:30am with chicken balls! Mmmmm.

Saturday morning was strange. I just couldn't sleep late even though I wanted to. At 10am Mariana finally got up and we took Marelia to school. We headed to the beach to chill with some friends and spend a few hours topping the tan. We went to the sushi self-service for lunch again, and it was great, again! Nap time hit, and then pre-carnival! It was a bit mental, the streets FILLED with dancing brazilians and the samba drums beating loudly. We walked and danced with the music and ended up at the stages on the beach. I was carrying my pineapple vodka and took a picture of the stage through goal posts. SOMEHOW.. I managed to trip over a stone and fall on my bum, whilst holding my camera. I then tried to get up without dropping my camera OR spilling my drink, but instead wrapped my leg around the goal nets and fell again. This time sand falling into the lens of my camera rendering it unable to close. Oh man.. I was gutted. I blew every piece of sand I could from the lens, eventually enough so that it closed, mostly. And still worked. Almost broke Sony N1 number 4! Me, Guigui and Marelia headed back to the house to get ready for the club.. and headed off to Music Box.. wooooaaaaaah :)

Sunday we woke up veeeeery late. 12noon. We all felt so lazy and hungover, we headed to the mall and each got a big stinkin' whopper from Burger King, and it tasted goooooooood. We then headed to the movies and saw "Sherlock Holmes". Really fun film. Afterwards a lil shopping and then straight to Sinara's for her birthday. But we were literally knocked out.. we could hardly keep our eyes open, so the party didn't last too long for us.. Oh, but how good that whopper tasted to a hungover belly. Perfection. But I swear i'm not eating another for at least a year!!!!!

Really fun weekend. I'm a lucky, lucky girl..

Thursday 7th January 2010 - Lazy

If you think i've been lazy here in Brazil, I have no idea what you could call my day today! I got up with Mariana at 8:30am and had some fruits for breakfast.. I then relaxed a bit, had some lunch with Marelia and then headed to the beach. I lay there for around 2 hours, listening to some music and then headed back to the house. I THEN had a siesta and showered.. and went shopping. Me, big G, mini G and Bia went to the shopping street and I got myself some sandals and a new Brazilian style bikini! Afterwards we met more friends and did crab night. It's funny, because talking to Mariana for the past few months after Aachen, she always told me, "oh, tonight is crab night with Henrique", and I always thought about joining in when I arrived. I don't even like crabs, but I just wanted to take part :) I had the baby-crab version.. so instead of having an actual crab that i have to rip apart and bash with a hammer.. I got a little bowl of crab meat in a sauce. Maybe by the end of my trip i'll be tearing off its legs and sucking out the meat. (yuuuuukkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!). Although its been a lazy, lazy day.. I feel exhausted. I had some tummy problems too, so after crabs, we're home and taking it easy. Gonna watch a movie now and fall easily to sleep. Tomorrow I'm joining a gym.. let the workouts begin! Chow amiga's!

Wednesday 6th January 2010 - Culture

Today was a really nice day. I got to sleep a little later than usual and took Ralphie to the beach. Ralphie is our dog here at 400F11, and he is the most cutest, yet troublesome little thing you could imagine! We were out for about 1.5hrs and the entire time was an embarrassing hell. He wrapped himself around my legs at any opportunity, pooped in the WORST places and sometimes just decided he didn't want to budge. Jesus! Pure hell.. never again! On a good note, I did get a little tanning done :)

Afterwards I had some lunch with Marelia and Ms Gomes at the house and took a siesta with Mariana for an hour or so til around 3pm. We woke up, freshened up and took a drive to the Cultural Centre here in Fortaleza. When I say we drove, I mean iiiii drove. Again! It would be fine driving around if I just knew where I was driving to. I haven't got my bearings on this city, AT ALL! I'll get there.. i'm sure. When we arrived we went to a coffee shop that had the coooolest toilets I have ever seen. I loved them. The also had a great couscous with carne de sol and cheese. After a munch and energy shot, we visited some museums that were around. The first was a contemporary exhibition which was just weird! You have to go into a dark room and drag your hand along the wall to walk around, and Mariana got a tad scared and screamed whilst running out saying, "but what if someones there and you cant see them". It was a lil freaky..

I also got to see a museum for childhood toys and for Brazilian cowboys. Mariana knew a lot about the things too and filled me in on all the info. It was really fun. and the first cultural stuff we did since I arrived. But I have 2 months.. I have loooads of time ;) It was around 7pm and night had just settled, so we picked an outside bar and had a vodka with passionfruit in a really nice location listening to some easy tunes. John Legend was one of them.. so relaxing there. An hour passed and it was time to head back..

We freshened up and went off to a bar having a quiz. Well.. there was absolutely no point in freshing up because the bar was friggin TOASTING. It wasn't indoors, so there was no air conditioning. And it was extremely busy. The combination was almost unbearable.. well, until 2 or 3 caiparinha's later when you don't really care anymore! We all got a bit drunk and headed to a small club to shake it. The tunes were cool and it was a tiny place, so we spread across the dance floor and shook it til the cows came home!

Tuesday 5th January 2010 - Beach Day

After such a hard day yesterday, walking around the mall and eating endless amounts of sushi.. we desperately needed a relaxing beach day. It had been 2 whole days since we were last at the beach.. ;) I, misswalker.com, drove with Mariana to pick up Monique to then drive to the beach. It was very weird using your left hand to change the gears, but its easy to get the hang of. My only problem was noticing the red lights telling me to stop! Whoops! I got us safely to the beach where we met some more of Mariana's friends. (She has quite a few!). Whilst the Brazilians sat under the shade, I had myself a little sun longer and soaked up every ray I could. We had some lunch there and I tried Palm Tree for the first time. I didn't even know that palm tree had anything you could eat?! I didn't love it.. it's a bit squidgy and reminds me of seafood. That might have been because Mariana and Vivi were munching on oysters and crab right next to me and the smell was whooshing right up my nostrils! We spent quite a few hours there then me and Mariana left to get our nails done. This time I got a beautiful French manicure and it took 2 hours!!!!!!! and it cost me £5!!!!!!!!! Toes AND hands!!!!!!!!!! This is by far one of my favourite things. So cheap, so cheap. Everything else seems to be quite expensive. Gyms, eating, drinking, shopping.. everything. That's probably my biggest surprise! At the salon was a funny little boy, only 3 years old, and he was the son of the lady doing my nails. He listened to me and Mariana talk English to each other and asked, "mum, why are those girls talking so quiet that I cant hear anything. Do they not want me to hear?". Mariana tired to explain we were talking another language, not whispering, but it's quite a hard thing to describe to a 3 year old. After we got our nails done we freshened up and headed off to a bar to drink some beers and hang out with some friends. Again.. quite a tough day here in Fortaleza.. :)

Monday 4th January 2010 - Fortaleza

My first day in Fortaleza! Mariana had to be in work by 8am, and woke up around 7am. So I ended up waking then too and staying up. I took the morning to unpack all my things and properly move in. Guess I should if im here for twoooo whole months! Spent some time on the phone to Phil too :) Mariana came home quite early and we hung out til lunch time. We met Gui and Vivi and visited Wasabi - an all you can eat sushi restaurant. It had a lot of everything.. which is why we spent quite a bit of time there! Afterwards we picked up Bia and Mini G and headed to the Iguatemi mall for a look around. We had a nice brazilian coffee and went back to Marianas and chilled together. Some of her friends came around and we did a little slideshow of our new years party. You know I like to take photos? ..Well the slideshow was quite long :-P (500 pics in 3 days!).

1st - 3rd January 2010 - Pipa

The first day of the new year.. what to do? Well.. lets have breakfast! The breakfast buffet at the hotel was great.. lots of fruits, eggs, bread, meat, cheese, juices. yumyum. I always start with melon.. my new favourite. I want to eat it all the time! But the thing with watermelon is that it is a holiday fruit, you know? Everytime I bite into it I remember im on holiday! Ah, what a feeling! After breakfast we took a drive to Praia de Madeiro which is a looovely beach that serves even lovelier carne de sol with macaxeira. We swam, relaxed, sunbathed, ate, drank, then headed back to the hotel for another swim. (its the only way to refresh and cool down!!!). After swimming we walked around the town for some fresh juice and all a lil tired from the sun, went back for a siesta. Im getting used to napping in the afternoon now. Love it! We had an easy evening of Thai food, relaxing, hanging outside the hotel and chatting.. tough life, i know!

Day 2 of the new year was perfect! I got to speak with Phil properly for the first time this year, which was a nice start to the day :) We then headed to another beach, this one called Praia de amor which translates as Love Beach. This one is my favourite. The landscaping is gorgeous with rocks and cliffs and beautiful turquoise waters. The water was quite harsh, but there was a small lagoon where you could sit and enjoy the warm ocean. aaaaah! After a few hours, we headed back to the main street and me and G shared a salad.. we then walked around and did a little shopping before heading to another spot to catch the sunset. We ate crepes by the sea in a wooden decking, and drank some caipiroska's to start the night nicely. Around 8pm we headed back and got ready for some partying. I hit the vodka quite quickly and was suddenly quite drunk! :) Walking around the party streets was, for some reason, hilarious. This was the night of Gui-with-a-beard. No need to know what that's all about. It was just FUNNY :) aaanyway, you get the idea.. drinking, walking around, laughing.. with the addition of a 5 minute rainstorm giving off that holiday smell. oh how I love the holiday smell.

Day 3 was a long drive back home.. we left around 11am and stopped for lunch in a self service. We arrived back at 8pm to my missing suitcase! It had been dropped off at the house.. yeeeey. Very, very happy to see my things again :) and to check my emails.. what a looser!

30th - 31st December 2009 - New Year @ Pipa

Waking at 4:20am wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be. Maybe because it was around 8am in Scotland, so it was a more normal time for me. We showered, packed and jumped into the car for the long 9 hour drive ahead. Marianas car had Marilia (her sister), and Vivi (her crazy fun friend). We drive to the nearest petrol station where we met all the other cars and people. There were 17 of us in total heading off to Pipa.. a little beach town that turns into party town for New Year :)

We stopped in Natal for lunch at a self-service place called Mangai where you can top your plate with almost anything and to any amount. I tried a little of everything, my favourite being "carne de sol". Its the tastiest sun dried beef cut into small strips and cooked with onions. OMG! YES! We arrived in Pipa a little late after taking a wrong turn and driving one hour away from the village! Tss! We arrived around 5pm - yes, 12 hours travelling!!!!! After some relaxing by the pool in the dark, we all headed off for pizza.. again. We drank a little and walked around the town..

Day 1 in Pipa, and my first proper day in Brazilian sunshine, we headed to the beach.. of course :) First of all we hit Praia de Pipa, which is the main beach at the village, (theres lots of them). We bathed in the ocean and then took a boat trip to the dolphins. It was hot, the scenery was beautiful and we dove into the ocean from the decking. What a cracking day!!! And it was only 1pm ;) We all went for a swim in our pools and then headed out to lunch. Mariana and I had another self service, but this time just a small salad and some veggies. We then took a little siesta til 6pm and walked over to Gui, Vivi and Marelia's place.. stopping off for a coffee and some shopping on the way. I bought my first haviana's! Whoopie! Me and Gomes (Mariana), started off the drinking for New Years and had our very exquisite New Year's meal - Cheese and Tomato Toast! We then headed down to the beach to meet the others. I was carrying a litre of vodka.. her with the big green bottle of Guarana. Sexy!! We got to the beach and there was soooo many people. But everyone had their own space which was cool. It was nice to be somewhere that was really busy but where you still had space to be beside all your friends with your things. It was perfect.. we drank, laughed, danced and pee'd til the fireworks exploded over the beach at midnight. We made some videos, took a lot of pictures, danced some more, and eventually headed back to the streets to party some more...

Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaappy New Yeeeeeeeear, all! Feliz Ano Novo!!!!!

29th December 2009 - First day in Brazil

After arriving at the airport, we all headed back to Mariana's place for some lunch. Some Brazilian foods, including: Farofa, which is a type of flour. You can mix it with some beans and it tastes yummy. We also had some sausages, salad, rice etc, and each filled our bellies to the rim. Straight away I dumped my bags and we headed off to the mall to get me a brazilian sim card, and to pick up some booze for our New Years trip. Vodka, for example, soooo cheap. For a 1 litre bottle it was about £5. So we bought a few.. to drink with this delicious Brazilian soda: Guarana. Its a little like a lime soda, but really refreshing. Might miss it when i'm gone.. :)

After some shopping, me and Mariana headed to the beauty salon. Ahhhhhhhhhh. Heaven. One of my favourite things so far. We got waxed from head to toe and then our hands and nails cleaned, stripped, massaged and painted. Its incredible, it was £20 for EVERYTHING.. and we were there for about 2 hours. I was a very happy girl :)

After being pampered we relaxed at Mariana's place and started to pack for our trip. Unluckily for me, all my beach clothes were still somewhere in Europe in my lost suitcase, so I had to wear most of Marianas stuff. But at least I wouldn't get the Brazilian fashion wrong ;) Her friends came around to meet me, we ate pizza, talked English, a lil Portugese, and by 10:30pm I was exhausted. Completely pooped! So off to bed it was.... my first half day in Brazil and I had already tasted their food, seen their malls, been treated like a princess and met loads of lovely people.

Kinda crazy to be here.... :)

28th December 2009

My trip to Brazil started pretty well. I was all packed up and ready to rock before the taxi arrived. I had 15mins to drag my 3 suitcases down the 20million set of stairs we have at 4F1. Perfect timing as I opened the door to the taxi pulling up. He kindly told me to step aside and took care of all my luggage. (Possibly because I was panting from already lifting them down the 20million steps....)

The taxi driver took me to the bus driver who also saw all my luggage and jumped out the bus, lifting everything on, asking where I was off to and for how long. Incredible! This never happens! This niceness continued all the way to my destination and was lucky enough to be sitting the 12hour flight from Paris to Rio De Janero with a really cool German guy. We got on like we had known each other for donkeys.. was hilarious. He even stayed with me for 2 hours at Rio til I went through security for my connecting flight. What a gem.. "Safety First!!".

The stop in Paris however, was quite long. With almost 7 hours waiting, a €12 salad and water (that tasted rubbish), and a lot of boredom, we were on our way to Brazil! The flight to Rio was reasonably comfortable and fun with my new German friend. We swapped seats half way too, to allow for maximum comfyness.. (sitting in the same spot just hurts after 8 hrs).

I arrived safely in Fortaleza around 11am, with only 2 of 3 pieces of luggage. TAM lost my suitcase somewhere. Whoopie. I exited passport control with my 2 luggages and as soon as the doors opened, I heard screaming and saw Mariana racing toward me! "AAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH". As expected, I just cried a lil and gave her the biggest hug. It felt so strange.. I had imagined that moment a lot, but I felt completely overwhelmed, almost numb. I was in BRAZIL!!!!! Monique, Marilia, Bea and Marlon were there to pick me up too.. couldn't stop smiling :)