Soul of Salvador

Junkie in a doorway
Kid beggars roam the street
Alcoholics loll in gutters
Starving homeless under feet

Palms upward and reaching
Compassion reaching back
Lifeless hopeless staring
My breaking heart reaches back

'Leite, Leite por favor'
Mum points at starving babe
Milk powder for her baby
The game she so well played

Their craft, to get my money
Hear string tugging finely tuned
Puppy dog eyes and desperation
By a ring leader groomed



I don't want to become hardened
Apathetic to the need
Yet scams and lies abound here
How do I give whilst taking heed

Musings in Salvador

The beat of percussion resonates, permeates the hot afternoon.
A lazy thick atmosphere rushes with a fast paced urgent vibe.
So much to attend to - people surging, attractions pulling.
Junkies sit on church steps in the 'Terreiro de Jesus'
Hawkers dripping with beads approach and bestow ribbon tied blessings on us with one hand
All the while reaching for our wallets with the other - wearing me down, testing my resolve.
Authentically dressed in fake tourist pleasing garb - photos for sale, authenticity turned cheap.
Barefoot children run amongst the ankles of baton weilding security guards - all keeping an eye on the tourists - eager to please - eager to sell.
A false facade desperately trying to market the real heart of this nation - a sell out, an up sell.
Jesuits and hoodoo, cocaine and crack oozing, dripping mixed with the sweat of passionate Samba dancers.
Friendly looks and eager conversations belie desperate survivors all looking for a handful of change.
Blue eyes in black skin captivate, yet urgent grip and posessive attention yield the motive - a dance, a gram, a favour owed.
To taste the reality, one must bite thru the flavoursome skin and into the core - the broken, damaged, dog eat dog spirit of this beautiful culture rich city...
My bitter sweet Salvador love affair.

Red Hot Samba - Salvador

Hash, blow, crack, smack
A full blown Salvador attack.
African, bright, rough, raw
Samba pulsating through a festering sore.
Innocent children, innocent eyes
Swollen nappied bellies with knives inside.
Salvador blessing, ribbons and tat
'Welcome to our city, now gimme that'.
Swing, grind, sway, heat
Hustling cocaine, begging to a rhythmic beat.
Fast paced, hearts race
Jungle-esque living hits me square in the face.
Hips, shuffle, shake, feet
There aint no such thing as a friendly meet.
Heady, throbbing, pounding, ache
Salvador slowly grinds still and the dawn brings safe.

WELCOME TO SALVADOR

YAYYYYY WOOOP HOORAH just made it to Salvador this morning
Slept for the duration of the bus ride, had a glorious ferry trip from Bom Despacho to Salvador and are now getting ready to go and explore
We are in the area called Pelourinho and it is the night life and music centre.
Two blocks away is the Centro Historica and 15 minutes away is the beach! Muito Bon!

We are safe and sound!
will write more soon x

Where is Moo

OI!

Today is our 2nd day in the BLISSFUL paradise island of Arrail d'Ajuda just across the river from Porto Seguro.
A colonial island town bustling with tourists, African culture and amazing tropical beaches!
The journey here was not without its share of glitches (but as I'm learning, this is the fun of travelling NOT the stress! hehe) - we left Rio at 9pm (not 4 as anticipated) on Monday and arrived 24 LONG hours later...complete with 5 hour road side breakdown, three bus changes, overflowing bus loos and mad locals! it was tiring but on arrival here we quickly relaxed and have spent two days beach side soaking up MORE sun!
It is getting hotter the further north we go (obviously) and more pristine.  We are leaving tomorrow night for Bom Despacho where we will sail to Salvador! I CANT WAIT!
We are planning to be in Salvador for two weeks so I can finally get some volunteer work under my belt (hopefully Baihia is more organised than Rio!) and learn Capoiera and Samba!

Our fourth amigo arrives on the 26th and we will then plan our next move! At this stage it looks like we'll be arriving (by boat!) into Colombia on the 1st of May

Travelling has quickly (and surprisingly) become a natural way of life and my organisation skills are definitely improving! With three strong personalities it has its moments but we are all good communicators so no major issues to date.

I am loving the local people, the African culture, vibrance, music and overall attitude is so welcoming, laid back and fun that I have already met a lot of people here and have added this to the list of potential places to come and work at the tail end of the trip.

Until we reach Salvador I have little to write - the past three weeks have been pretty relaxed (aside from the travelling!) and more like a long summer holiday! I am itchy to get immersed into some proper culture here and base myself places

LOVE YOU ALL and I will post the link to more photos!
Mum and Dad you need to get facebook cos uploading photos on here is nigh on impossible!

xx please keep emails coming!

UPDATE

Oi Tu De Bem? (Hi How are You)
Well we are back in Rio for the day before embarking on an 18 hour bus ride north to Porto Seguro.
I was disappointed that the Favela work fell through here :( but am still in contact with the people and hope to get it when we come back through Rio in September. 
The new plan is to get into it pronto when we reach Baha and Salvador in a couple of weeks.
We had a blissful few days in Paraty and I have been offered work there in a hostel for the summer (Oct - Jan) which is kinda exciting but I haven't gotten close to deciding!
It is expensive in Brazil and I'm finding it a bit stressful at the moment, especially when we have so far to travel between places! This is definitely a place that needs a few months to really explore (and LOTS of money!)
I am homesick today for the first time - i miss my friends/family but I have to keep sucking it up, because I'm in BRAZIL
Last nite was a testing time - we caught the bus from Paraty to Rio and arrived after 11 pm to a chaotic bus station with hundreds of people lining up for taxis...we decided to skip the queue and managed to flag one down (only 1/2 an hour wait thankfully) and high tailed it (at break neck speed thru lightening, thunder and torrential rains) to our hostel where the wonderful people here remembered us and had dinner ready! so great!
The others are asleep and I'm booking us for the next few days!
I will update as soon as we arrive in Porto Seguro :) xx

Link to new photos

http://www.facebook.com/mary.batchelar?cropsuccess#!/album.php?aid=168925&id=643592670&ref=mf

Re-Routing

hello :)

wll after a rather stressful trip to Sao Paolo, three exhausted heads have decided that to get to Iguazu and then back to Salvador for March 27th is too far  - we are spending roughly 4 - 6 hours daily on a bus and only getting half a day per stop...not enough! and it is so expensive!
So we leave Sao Paolo today and are heading back to glorious Paraty for 4 nights...we are going to visit less places but get proper time in each stop

here is some info on Paraty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraty and http://gosouthamerica.about.com/cs/southamerica/a/BraParaty.htm

update to come in few days xx

MORE PHOTOS UP - click this link

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=167922&id=643592670&saved

From Ihle Grande to Sao Paolo

WE ARE IN THE BIG SMOKE!
After two blissfully glorious days on Ihle Grande we have arrived in Sao Paolo - somewhat of a culture shock after being island bound in carribbean-esque heaven.
Ihle Grande is paradise...an island of stunning beaches, sand bound villages and colour all of which made it very hard to leave and tempting to go back and stay for a good month.
We spent Sunday trekking up the mountain thru the jungle and to the other side of the island where we visited the three main beaches - funnily enough all they did were remind me of home and make me realise we have the most amazing ocean landscape I've ever seen...and possibly ever will.
Sunday night we sat on the beach, sipping Pina Coladas (sans alcohol cos I am already afraid of Cachaca!!) listening to live Brazilian music at an outdoor bar...so amazing!
I am still finding it hard to get used to the NO FLUSHING LOO PAPER rule (it all goes into the bin here!) and the dogs who have total freedom to roam the streets

Yesterday we spent on a bus (7 hours) heading down the coast to Sao Paolo on our quest to reach Iguazu falls by Monday...it's costing a LOT of money to travel here but will be worth it and once we leave Brazil it will be cheap.  We arrived in Sao Paolo, navigated the subway, trudged around for an hour trying to find our hostel (which we walked past four times before we discovered it isn't sign posted, AND there is no apparent logical numerical flow when it comes to house numbering here) by which time we were all fracticious, hungry and a bit grumpy...it is certainly testing the dynamics atm but that is to be expected.

I am not homesick but I wish I had all of my awesome friends/family here to see this with me..
I will upload more photos today for you to get an idea of where I am :)
xx

This is where i am today!!

http://images.google.co.uk/images?um=1&hl=pt-BR&tbs=isch:1&q=ilha+grande&sa=N&start=40&ndsp=20

PARADISE!
with crabs so big they look more like lobsters and threaten to eat toes off at any moment as they share the pavement with the peeps!

My brazilian love affair continues...

Ola!

Time for an update...I am currently on Ihle Grande - a Jamaican-esque tropical paradise! (google it and check it out) it is pouring with rain (no surprise) but hot and delicious and we have have just spent the evening walking barefoot thru puddles eating Acaci berrie sorbet and listening to the local music...
Paraty was amazing - a beautiful, rich little town on the coast that reminded me of what I would imagine Italy in the 50s to be like with its cobbled uneven narrow roads and white plaster and teracotta buildings. It is a sleepy town during the day but at night it comes alives with lots of live music and its all surrounded by tropical forest.
Yesterday we went body sliding (on our backs) down a rock face waterfall which was amazing! I sat in a cave under a waterfall, we walked for two hours thru the forest and then went and bought dinner from the roadside stalls and danced the night away!
I am looking forward to getting stuck into the volunteer work side of things...and have some great contacts back in Rio and Salvador for when I get back up the coast in a couple of weeks.
This past week has been amazing and overwhelming!
I,ll be on Ihle Grande until Monday then head to Sao Paolo then Urutuba before doing a long trek down to Iguacu
Hope you are all well...
PLEASE email me x
xxxxx

Farewell Rio and Welcome to Parati

After four days in Rio we escaped with our lives, purses and belongings in tact, all feeling a tad stressed and tired but are now relaxing at Parati (google Parati in Brazil) ... 300 local beaches, safe and cosy and quaint!
I am having uploading issues with photos so if you click on this link you can see what I've been doing so far (on a very reduced scale)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=166525&id=643592670&saved#!/album.php?aid=166525&id=643592670

time for coffee so will write in detail after we've spent the day adventuring!

raining all the time - reminscent of Auckland!!

PHOTOS OF

 RIO

Day 3...

HOLA!
Right some more detailed blabber about Rio...

things here are cheap as! but more expensive than rest of brazil - we leave rio in the morning to go to paraty (a beach town 4 hours south with 360 beaches!)

the food is good so far - we are havin lunch wit some locals this afternoon so that~ll be real portugese fare!

We have been exploring the city on foot - walked 5 hours yesterday round Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon and back to our amazing hostel! had a crazy ass taxi driver on the way home who kept saying ´surprise surprise´whilst driving breakneck speeds round the place

he took us to a whole lot of sights and let us get out and take photos

was MENTAL!

the rain has stopped so we just did the local markets in the nearby suburb of Lapa - Gemma arrives tonite at 8pm so we are going to do Sugar Loaf and Statue of Christ tomorrow morning then jump on a bus

im havin the most incredible time! taken tonnes of pics but they not uploading for some reason!

the whole city is ruins surrounded by new buildings...street sleepers in amongst the suits

its got a funny smell that already is imprinted as RIO smell...

I wil upload photos as soon as possible! spent three hours trying last nite but the connection here is not working!
righto heading off to the city
xx love to all!!

 

MADE IT TO RIO

I MADE IT! woot
after a 36 hour debarkle just to get to Rio, I´m glad to report we (Neil and I) are warm, dry and stayin at a hostel in Rio (http://www.riohostel.com/).
It took an hour to get from the airport to the hostel and it was the most eye opening, insane drive I´ve ever experienced! The favelas are never ending...children walk barefoot in the rain up and down the highway thru the traffic selling food through car windows...it was heart breaking.  The whole city looks like it´s been bombed and not rebuilt...buildings are in ruins, narrow streets and people everywhere. 
I could never have anticipated the poverty and the chaos! It is exhilerating but moving beyond comprehension...It´s pouring with rain here which is a bummer so we will leave on Thursday once Gemma arrives and meander down the coast.
I am about to go to bed as I´m exhausted but full on cheap pizza from a place up the road and ready for a long sleep before fully starting the adventure tomorrow.
<3 xxxxxx