The 1000 Day Holiday

396 Days down, 604 to go…
01/02/07 Slow boat to Manus. Hammock Time,
02/02/07 Slow boat to Manus.
03/02/07 Slow boat to Manus. Meeting of the waters! WOW!!!! Lost my hot sauce!
04/02/07 Sunday in Manus. Day 400.. woot
05/02/07 Jungle Trip – Kissing Pirahnas
06/02/07 Jungle Trip – Patting pink dolphins, RIP headlamp eaten by croc
07/02/07 Jungle Trip – Shaving a sloth
08/02/07 TAF: Fly Manus to Salvador. 600 Reais, Oucha and they lost my pack!
09/02/07 relocated to Barra
10/02/07 Malaria check up. Beach bum for a whole day!
11/02/07 Flamenco Beach north of salvador, watching kiters…
12/02/07 Barra Beach
13/02/07 Party in Pelourinho. Samba to the drumming
14/02/07 Confirmed Malaria Free
15/02/07 Carnaval, Salvador
16/02/07 Carnaval, Salvador
17/02/07 Carnaval, Salvador
18/02/07 Carnaval, Salvador
19/02/07 Carnaval, Salvador
20/02/07 Carnaval, Salvador Fat Boy Slim Rocked!
21/02/07 Morro de Sao Paulo. Carnaval after party….
22/02/07 Morro de Sao Paulo – party on beach 2
23/02/07 Morro de Sao Paulo – party on beach 3
24/02/07 Morro de Sao Paulo
25/02/07 Salvador – its dead compared to during carnaval!
26/02/07 arrived in Porto Seguro
27/02/07 Arraial d’ Ajuda
28/02/07 Arraial d’ Ajuda

Relocated via overnight bus to Porto Seguro. Lovely wee spot where the guest houses all have pools and theres some great beaches..

Trying for some detox, but the people here like to party too!

flying to Sao Paulo on the 2nd.

Well carnaval has finished. Fat Boy Slim played last night and it was absolutely banging!

Caught the 5am ferry to Morro de Sao Paulo, a bit harsh when drunk and the boats bouncing around, lots of people being sick… But thats ok, since this is where the post carnaval party continued for another 5 days!!

Now its time for a detox!

WOW!

A week nocturnal crazyness. everything kicks off properly each day around 2pm. But even before that theres stuff happening everyday. Sleep was usually 8am-12 noon. and maybe a power nap around 7 :) 

The grand finale was Fat Boy Slim playing on the last night. He mixed in all good sorts of tunes and the bloco was huge.

We spent the whole week as pipoca (popcorn). This is what you are called if youre outside the ropes of the bloco with everyone their dog.

Any semblance of a normal diet is discarded, with lots of street food being consumed at random hours of the day. 

Celebrations. I’ve made it to 1+ month free of Malaria.

Which now makes me Malaria Free according to the CDC…
No cover for Malaria on my travel insurance for the next year tho.. so will have to be extra careful.

Im quite glad i didnt read too much about what happens in your body when you have it.. Some of the research Ive come across:

Falciparum malaria: The most dangerous type of malaria. Red blood cells infected with the parasite tend to sludge and form microinfarctions (small areas of dead tissue due to lack of oxygen) in capillaries in the brain, liver, adrenal gland, intestinal tract, kidneys, lungs, and other organs. Treatment is in a hospital setting, using intravenous medications.

Looks like I would have been classifed as having Severe Malaria. As I had Thrombocytopenia. on the 15th December my platelet count was 24,000

In an adult, a normal count is about 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter (x 10^–6/Liter) of blood.

URGH!

Arrived 1am this morning after the plane ride from hell. Well it stopped in Belem, Fortaleza and Recife on the way, so it was slow going. Hit some huge turbulence too, people screaming, holding onto seats and trying to not hit the ceiling! so that kept it interesting.

They also lost my bag! however they did find it and deliver it at lunchtime so I wasnt travelling light for all that long.

Now going to try and find some locals who kitesurf to fill my days pre carnaval. fingers crossed.

Woohoo!

Although I just said that to Jen, and she was like, wow.. thats almost halfway. Hmm maybe have to make it a bit longer?

Also, looks like ive got me a yacht from NZ in April to Southwest pacific or french polynesia.  woohoo. Joys!

Post 10hr fast cramped boat to Tabitinga on the border of Columbia, Peru & Brasil I was looking forward to some jungle expeditions or at least a funky town.

Alas, Tabitinga is liken unwanted growth. A town that exists soley because theres a decent town in Columbia, and in fact theyre joined, no real border between them if youre not going any further afield.

Thus Tabitinga doesnt have a centre, so it sucked as a place to get around and try and organise anything. So With the Slow boat departing the next day at 2pm, and only 2 a week leaving. I was on it.

Like a floating hammock refugee camp, we floated down the river to Manus. We got to the boat early and claimed our hammock space.  It quite a spiffy boat in all, very proper looking.  As departure time approached everyone turned up. Always space for more!

Ended up being hamomck city, and if you left your hammock while in port you would find someone moving into the “space” beside you.

the first 24 hours seemed to drag, the food being  not so crash hot. What appeared to be pigs trotters and snouts in a stew. Chilli sauce saves the day tho!

And Im sure they loved messing with us gringos, The kitchen nazi wouldnt let us in if we turned up 1 minute after the finishing time of service.  But check it out. Breakfast 6am – 7.30. Lunch 10.45 – 12 and dinner 4.45 – 6.30.  Crazy considering brazillians normally eat lunch around 2pm and dinner around 9 or 10!

the other 3 days flew by tho, getting into the swing of the hammok. Now in Manus. Sorting out a jungle trip so I can pat some slots, kiss a jaguar and ride a pink dolphin.

Stay tuned.

365 Days down, 635 to go…

01/01/07 NY Day, got home 8am! fun party fun
02/01/07 Salta, Hanging around
03/01/07 Salta, Hanging around
04/01/07 Malaria Free!!!
05/01/07 Bus: Salta – Villazon – Tupiza, Bolivia
06/01/07 Tupiza Fiesta.6 person ferris wheels
07/01/07 Salar Tour delayed by rain
08/01/07 Salar, Snowy alpline passes and stuck jeep
09/01/07 Salar, Lagoons for everyone
10/01/07 Salar, Hot pools and nite party
11/01/07 Salar, 5 flat tyres, salt flats, abandoned jeeps
12/01/07 Share Jeep: Uyuni – Potosi
13/01/07 Potosi, Mine tour, Playing w dynamite
14/01/07 Potosi, exploring
15/01/07 Sucre, exploring
16/01/07 Sucre, exploring
17/01/07 La Paz, exploring
18/01/07 La Paz, Bolivar Vs Strongest
19/01/07 La Paz, result from Malaria checkup..
20/01/07 La Paz, Party Party
21/01/07 Bus to Cusco, Peru
22/01/07 Explore Cusco & Horse Trek
23/01/07 Train to Aguas Calientes
24/01/07 Gay Mountain
25/01/07 Machu Picchu
26/01/07 Fly Lima, Day exploring, Fly Iquitos
27/01/07 Exploring Iquitos Belen and the markets
28/01/07 Outdoor Concert, Pickpocketed 🙁
29/01/07 Exploring ‘amazonian villages’ by water
30/01/07 Fast boat to Santa Rosa (border) 10hrs
31/01/07 Slow boat Tabitina to Manus. Port snout & trotters stew for dinner

So I guess it had to happen.

Ended up at a concert in Iquitos tonight. Was funky fun and all good stuff.

My wallet was pickpocketed while I was at the bar.  I realised within 10 seconds. But what can you do, everyones looking at me, since Im 12Inches taller than the other 5000 People there! Seriously!

haha.

Oh well. Guess it was lucky/karma or that I had withdrawn money today and knew I was going out. Thus cleared out my wallet totally. Otherwise I would have had my main ATM card in there too (plus a whole lot of other stuff tghat would have been missed).. and the $250 that I withdrew.

So all they got was approx $10AUD and my cracked aussie license.

Now all I have to do is get into my hotel. A gringo the security dude has never seen says:

Im staying in 3 0 3. my amigo has the key.. haha he wouldt let me in.. DOH. hmm.. I know my roomies name is Marcel. HA!  And its 4.30am.

So either way. Not so bad.. /long..  and look at what goodies the internet pumps out when you need them  (see next post)