Brazil - a bit iffy

We are becoming less enamoured with Brazil, in fact we are a little bored. We would´t have believed that Brazilian food, music and the cities could all seem a little bland. Though the people are really friendly


On of the problems is its just so big, the east coast is closer to Senagal than western Brazil. Jercorocoara is a famous beach. You get there from Fortaleza and it is advertised all over Fortaleza as a local attraction - Its 9 hours away by bus!. That´s like advertising Ipswich as a good base to visit Edinburgh

Bars and restaurants always manage to find a way of topping up your bill - 10% for service even if you just had a beer at the bar, a cover charge, a music charge or your drinks are bigger than the ones priced on the menu. In one place we asked some people if we could sit at their table. They were very nice and our new friends said heartfelt goodbyes when they left. The only problem was they forgot to pay their bill. The waiter was adamant that we should pay it and it took half an hour of argument in a mix of English, Portuguese and Spanish before a manager intervened and adjusted the bill
A knackered statue man

But worse of all is the disparity of wealth. Street kids are everywhere in the cities. They will steal anything they can get their hands on even your bottle of water. If your table is near the pavement they come begging for any left over food, especially if you have any bones on your plate. All this next to packed supermarkets full of expensive goods including shelves of special imported beer at 12$ a time


In Fortaleza we rented an apartment for a week. It made such a nice change to be able to stay in some nights. It was right at the edge of town, had electric gates, an armed guard outside and
and another inside. They got very upset when our taxi dropped us on the street instead of driving up to the door and even more so when we started traveling by bus. Its something we have noticed a lot - local people over emphasise the dangers of the places they live



You wouldn´t believe how excited Marilyn can get over doing washing




The flat backed onto a small fishing village. I exepect at some stage they could use all the land but now are packed into a few feet of shore line



We took a long ride in to the mountains to get away from the muggyness and humidiity but the rainy season followed us there. To make it worse all the good hotels were shut - they only open at the weekends!

Back to the Amazon

Back to the other end of the Amazon where it reaches the sea.

After 75 long distance bus journeys, 25 of which were over 12 hours, we just couldn't face 3 days on unmade roads. So we broke our rule and took a plane. The flights from French Guyana to Brazil have been cancelled for a month so we had to go back to Suriname.

We really love the Amazon cities. They are slightly disreputable frontier towns full of life. The river here at Belem is massive it takes two days by boat to get from one side to the other.

Markets full of obscure fruits

Fresh brazil nuts - they are juicy

A micro brewery



Every 30 minutes it chucks it down in a very tropical manner and the only escape is in the nearest bar

Another 14 hours by bus took us to Sao Luis which is on the southern edge of the Amazon forest. The city is famous for being the Brazilian reggie capital but true to our bear and anaconda form we did not hear a single bar of reggie music.
The Portugese tlled all their buildings so it makes complete sense to tile the traffic lights as well


Sao Luis is also famous for a national park which is a massive area of sand dunes bordering onto the forest. OK but didn't live up to the hype





One of the problems with Brazil is that it is so big. The sand dunes are considered close to Sao Luis but are 6 hours away by bus.
A dead turtle and friend!
Boat horse power





Bumped into the 3 peace corps guys who had helped us get compensation when the plane was delayed 24 hours in Suriname



Our Dutch friends who were great comapny and acted as translators for us on a trip in Suriname

French Guyana - End of part 4

With our arrival in French Guyana we have each achieved one of our goals.

Marilyn has had a glass of wine in every country in the Americas



I have grown my hair long enough to have a pony tail

The three Guyana's are all very strange. They each have a population mix, African descendants from the slave trade, Indians and Chinese who arrived to work the plantations when slavery was outlawed. But each is still defined by their colonial past

In Guyana they speak English, play cricket, drive on the left, dress their police in 1950s uniforms and sell marmite

Cross over into Suriname they still drive on the left because the Brits used to own it - we swapped it for New York - but immediately from the border you encounter Dutch canals and

architecture and they speak Dutch

Into French Guyana and its all very French, from the croissants in the cafes to the Renault cars which of course drive on the right.

We visited the prison used before prisoners were sent to Devils Island. Papillon was there for sometime and you can supposedly see his name carved into the concrete of his cell

Dutch Holiday

Brian the Bus promises his minibus will pick us up at 3am. It turns up at 4 and then does a tour of the grottiest parts of Georgetown picking up various strange people to share our journey to Suriname. By the time we get going we are so late that we drive at a suicidal rate to catch the ferry.

Another mad drive gets us to the border ferry at 8am. It leaves at 11am. It always leaves at 11am. No one can explain why we had to get up at 2.30 and risk our lives when we had 3 hours to spare.


The drive to the capital, Paramaribo, takes for ever down roads that are more pothole than road. Just as we get to the city outskirts we get caught in a police block. They are looking for Fineman the guy on a murder rampage in Guyana but catch our driver instead. He hasn't got a licence so the bus and passengers are impounded until a driver with a licence can be found.

This quick trip turned into another 19 hour extravaganza.


George Town was dangerous but exciting. Paramaribo is very safe but oh so boring. Its also full of Dutch holiday makers enjoying one of the few places in the world where they can speak their own language. The funny thing is they all look so incredibly Dutch - tall, hiking boots, socks, and often wearing orange.



We had a great trip to one of the Indian villages and to see Greenback turtles laying eggs - a very moving site
CashewNot all turtles make it back to the sea

Met some Peace Corps volunteers who are working with Bush Negroes in the interior. One of the them was trying to undo the damage done by missionaries and to help them get their culture back. The Bush Negroes were originally escaped slaves and their language still reflects the slave culture. They don't have a the word ´or´ or a word for choice.

Suriname is incredibly poor but is one of the richest countries in terms of natural resources. It has oil, gold, bauxite, minerals and is one of the worlds major eco tourist centers. Quite a feat of Government to have all this, a population of less than 500,00, poverty and crap infrastructure.

When it came to leave we couldn't face another long bus ride and decided to fly. The plane was cancelled and we had to spend an extra night in Paramaribo. We joined forces with the Peace Corps volunteers and a Dutch couple to get the airline to refund our hotel costs. The eventually paid us but refused to pay the Dutch couple. Apparently there is still a lot of,unfounded, resentment against the old colonial power.

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