Anaconda River and floating meditation

I'm in Brazil in a town called "Bonito" or the direct translation in Portugease, "Beautiful" and by God is this place beautiful. I now know why its got the name and why its the number one eco tourist site in the country.  We are in the state of Matto Gross do Sul, in the south west of Brazil, home to some of the biggest snakes in the world, the anaconda, they even have a river called Rio Sucuri, or Anaconda River they have so many of them.  Camila and I did a rafting trip while here and we got to see 3 on the river including a 7 meter monster who was quietly hiding in a tuft of grass on the side of the river basking in the early morning sun. The state is home to a number of indigenous tribes, the vast majority of which tourists can't visit, and the land os covered in tropical savannah's that house some of the world's great biodiversity.

Bonito reminds me a lot of Champada Dimentina in Bahia with also some of savanna in South Africa thrown in for good measure. The land had red soil, rolling small hills, sugar cane everywhere, with wide exapnses of land with what look like anorex cows everywhere. The locals look Indian like and they all have dark skin and jet black hair. We arrived here by taking a 1.5 hour flight from Sao Paolo, which was tough, as I had a hangover from Camila's sisters marriage to Rodrigo Bortocceli.  When we got off the plane we were hit with a heat wind which was 39 degrees. Same experience as walking into a sauna. Intense heat straight away hitting your face and letting you know you're a million miles away from home. Despite the farcical airport the infrastructure of Bonito is very good with one main road with a variety of restaurants, souvenir shops and tourism agencies making up the majority of sites.  The city itself is very close to Campo Grande to the north and to Paraguay to the west, which has had a big influence on the place. I ended up getting a shave and haircut for 23 real or 7 euro from a Paraguayan man who married a local girl here from Brazil and has been here for 40 years where he plies his trade with one tiny little barber shop, with one old chair which he says is 80 years old.  When asked why Brazil, he explained in his native Spanish "mucho serviceo", more business.

We're on day 4 of 8 days in Bonito and it has been action packed.  The highlights so far:

• Fazenda Mimosa. An old colonial farm in a vast farm, that boasts 5 excellent waterfalls that we decided to pay a visit to. The trip consisted of 8 people being walked through a forest for 20 minutes getting an explanation of the various flora and fauna on offer then a slow boat down a beautiful river with tiny waterfalls and then a variety of large waterfalls where we all got the chance to swim in if we wanted. The highlight being this amazing waterfall we could swim into a cave behind it called, "Cachocheira Desejo" or the waterfall of desire or wishes, the reason being was that a natural stone formation inside the cave that had formed over thousands of years which looked like a man's penis was inside. Only in Brazil!I'd give the trip a strong 7/10 for value and for beauty
• Floating down Rio Sucuri was excellent. This involved a pick up at our hotel, then a 20 minute drive to another private farm where we went to see the spring of the river and then from there we put on a wet suit and a snorkel and gently floated down the river for 1 hour.  This trip was like a a space walk, except in the jungle, with a river jam packed with exotic fish, with a bed of snails crustaions, white and black stones, fallen trees and branches and a ton of algae and shrubs. What I liked most about it was how beautifully transparent the water was and how we simply had to kick out legs once at the start and then for a solid hour we had little or no work to do but float. The water was maybe 2 or 3 meters in depth at it's deepest and there was  a large variety meandering turns with lots of surprises of different scenes and settings.  I found this a very very relaxing meditative experience, where I could watch a amazing fish, listen to a variety of warbles and chirps from the local birds, while watching my companions enjoying themselves as I figured out in my head some of lives little puzzles and gave thanks for all the great people in my life and for some of the amazing experiences i have had. 10/10 for value and beauty.  It was the nearest think to space I've come to and an amazing way to float while praying and giving thanks.
• I've done something like this before but going to Gruta Azul or the Blue cave was cool. Another trip about 30 minutes from the hotel this time in a group of about 8 we descended down some very slippery rocks to a depth of about 50 meters to see a very nice cave end full of crystal water in a chamber of stalactites and stalagmites.  What was very beautiful for me was not just looking at the water and hearing the stalagmite water drops piercing the blue crystal water but also looking back up the steps we had come seeing the intense bright light descending down the walls and hitting the chamber casting shadows in multiple directions. I thought it was a little dangerous. The groups were too big. There was a lack of infrastructure and easy to slip and annoyingly it was only one way, so you had to wait for other groups when trying to go down and come up. I'd give it a 5/10. I'm not a big cave fan hence the low marks also I'd seen many limestone caves in my day, some of which are as good if not better.
• Not a trip but something I've really enjoyed on this trip has been the wild animals we've seen. The huge anaconda was a highlight, but while swimming in river Sucuri I also saw a small fish no bigger then a sprat or anchovies jumping out of the water to catch little flies that hovered on the edge of the water beside a waterfall. They jumped various times and it was a cool sight to be seen. We met some small monkeys that came out of a sugar cane field while driving to one of the sites and they were very cheeky getting very close to our van looking for food and getting up to no good in general. We also checked out a lazy alligator, the locals called Tom who just seemed to ignore humans and just hung around the dinner areas waiting to scavenge and then just posing for photos at the water edge. We then met a large parrot who for the last 5 years has befriended a woman who was selling cards, jewelery and clothes beside to the entrance of Rio Sucuri, he loved running around after her and also he loved being kissed and also showing off his feathers when she asked him to do it. 
• In our lovely hotel, when we arrived for the first 3 days, while it holds over a hundred people there were only 4 including us. We had the place to ourselves. We got to know a very nice older man down near the pool who put music on for us at night, while he talked to us about why he left the hustle and bustle of Sao Paolo, never to return, for a more tranquil life in the jungle city of Bonito. He also introduced us to an amazing local fruit called Guivera! Wow! I haven't been able to stop drinking it. Seemingly this is the only place you can get it. A lovely light, cross between a melon a lemon and a peach.  To compliment the picanha, manjoica and rice a delight.

There are a number of things I'd like to report that have been frustrating about Brazil, some of them the old faithfuls:

• The traffic in Sao Paolo is terrible.  Really congests. It seems to have got worse since last i got here. You can literally be caught in traffic for hours with sometimes 100s of kilometers tail backs.  The crazy motor bikers also like to take their fair share of risks darting in and out of traffic. What has been a pain is also the large number of protests going on in the country, which I totally agree with, the people fighting corruption and trying ti increase the quality of their overall health, education and infrastructure as well as much more, but it has grinded traffic almost to a halt in some streets I've been on
• While the euro is strong at the moment at 3.1 to the real, it is still expensive here and importation tax is everywhere. Here in Bonito, the trips we are doing are great but they often charge up to 3 euro a photo when you finish a trip - which is expensive for us but exorbitant for the locals.
• The heat! Some of the nights have been hot! 

Japan - Snaps

Japan - Snaps

The Arrival of Fausto - Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris and Ibiza

The last 3 weeks have seen me rambling with my brother in law Fausto Morales. It was his first time to Europe and he took in plenty new experiences for his first time here:

• A fresh pint of Guinness in Dublin
• Listening to melodic harp playing hippies at the Cliff's of Mohar
• A medieval banquet where you had to eat with your hands and bring plenty of "mead" in Buntarry castle
• A refreshing swim at Newton Cove, Tramore
• A tour of the Heinkeen brewing factory in Amtersdam as well as a tour of the infamous red like district and innumerable coffee shops
• A photo with the Mona Lisa in the Louvre
• A tour of the Eiffel tour in 38 degrees of stifling heat
• A history class on Napolean's tomb
• A bopping, thumbping, fist punching techno night never to be forgotten in Cafe Ole, in Ibiza's Space discoteque from 1am to 7pm
• A Facebook check in and plenty of snaps at the world famous Cafe Del Mar, with one of the best sun sets we've ever seen
• Eating mouth watering watermelon at the turquoise and azure blue beachs of Formentura

On the 2nd half of the journey his girlfriend a federal policewoman from Port Alegre visited as well as the well as Camila tagging along for good measure. 

Just like my trip around the world a few years ago I felt the rambling spirit inside myself come to life again. Although not as long as my trip 7 years ago I found the 3 weeks very liberating. I thoroughly enjoyed going from city to city meeting friends, eating and drinking good food and wine and checking out what existed around the corner of calles, ruas, boulevards, streets, rows and lane ways. 

Some of the stand out memories.

• Checking out the medieval toilets of Bunratty castle and sipping the sweet honey whiskey on offer. I'd recommend the banquet, for 50 euro it's a good night out, with lots of story telling, songs from the old days and plenty of belly laughs. The food was very basic but the atmosphere and entertainment made up for it. A pint around the corner in Ned's pub was well worth the visit
• Fausto's face after he jumped into the Irish sea for the first time. Like a dog fetching a piece of wood thrown into the water. It was a case of jump in, scream, search for the ladder and get the heck out of there, hyperventilating along the way! Brazil's are made of soft stuff... they need to toughin' up a bit! :)
• Enjoyed a very nice barge cruise around the canal's of Amsterdam and enjoyed taking in the massive bicycle stand and canal boats. For those uninitiated to Amsterdam life, the amount of bikes flying around and parked everywhere is crazy. Think Beijing in the good old days and you won't be far off. The canal ride was 11 euro and took an hour and a half. Well worth it. House canals of which I believe there are about 2500 in Amsterdam range from the weird and wacky to the ornate and beautiful. You can get a good selection here to see what I mean.
• In Brussels we visited the externally impressive Atomica monument which was great to look at but a real let down inside. If you go, don't bodder going inside, save yourself the 12 euro and just take some snaps from outside. There is some museams inside but they are really really poor. What I enjoyed the most from out 2 days there was seeing the world famous peeing boy statue dubbed "Mr PeePee".. well worth seeing him at while eating a tasty waffle from the shop beside him. 
• Paris is Paris. This time the sun was a blazing 38 degrees roughly all of the 4 days we were there which made it uncomfortable. On more then one occasion my hand fan had to come into use. On this occasion the Eiffel Tower was majestic as ever. The queues were a disaster. We spend 50 minutes queuing outside to get in. 1 hour to go from the 1st to the 2nd level and 15 minutes to come down. The light show on the hour at night was as impressive as ever. When we where ther there was 10 models for some glossy magazine posing for an hour doing cover shots. For the first time ever I saw the tower being out photoed by a barrage of tourists who seemed more impressed by the even leggy catwalk models.
• I've never been to the Lourve, and for 10 euros it is fantastic value. One of the best you'll get at any museam in the world. It is massive and would take at least one full day to check it out properly, and at that at a rush. This time as well as the seen the black haired fair lady herself we also got to see Napolean's quarters. One hell of a party room and some incredible gold platted oranate rooms full of the decorations of war and triumph.
• Versaille, the French palace a mere 45 minutes by metro and train outside of the capital were well worth a visit. This is where the old kings of France lived in ridiculously lavish surrounds which massive perfectly manicured garden grounds and a huge palace that is hard to fully comprehend once your inside it's so big. Reminded me of visiting the Vatican. 
• Ibiza was all about beach and top clubs. I saw Seb Fontaine and the amazing soul brothers in Cafe Ole, Armin Van Burren and the disappointing Paul Oakenfold in the world's biggest club Priviledge, a really great set from Calvin Harris in the impressive outdoor Ushia and then Eric Morillo in the equally impressive Pacha. Ibiza for me was overall a bit of a let down. Maybe I'm getting old and cranky a bit and becoming a bit of a travel snob but the cost of things was bordering on a joke. Fair enough, we paid 50 euros to enter the nightclubs, to see some of the best DJs in the world but 18 euro for a Red Bull and Vodka, followed by 12 euro for a bottle of beer was taking the piss! Also, for the first time in my life I got charged 3.50 for  a bowl of ice to put into our fizzy drinks at a restaurant.  Spain currently has 25% unemployment in total and 52% unemployment under 25's. Desperate times in Spain and you could sense it in the way the taxi men were looking for every little cent on their clock. It the trip cost 7.15, they wanted the 15 cents. Also, the food was very expensive and it looked like people were out to charge for everything.

Anyhow, great to be back home as usual and here is some of the photos so you can see what it was all about.

Some snaps of the day

Paradise Islands

Lone Swimmers @ Sun Set

Day Trip Boats

Cheese On The Beach

Ice Deliveries on a Jet Ski

Sun Sets

A snap of a snap

little Portuguese churches shot from a speeding car

Ilha Bela

I'm now off the coast of Sao Paola at the eponymous Ihla Bela or "Beautiful Island". Interesting place and I'm enjoying investigating what it has to offer. To get here it took a 4 hour drive from Sao Paolo before we came to the ferry stop that took 30 minutes of waiting in line in our car and then 15 minutes to cross over to the island. Ihla Bela is about 6km by 3km wide, 5km of the coastline and has in the region of 30 tropical beaches all spread around a number of spiky mountain tops covered in forest and clouds. It is a place where the rich of the rich come from Brazil to vacate and it received millions of tourists each year, most coming from Sao Paolo, Rio and Buenos Aires.

Today, we took the car along the north side of the island passing by about 8 different beaches. We decided to descend down a forest path with a small river covered in stones to get down to a tiny beach about 500 meters wide that was situated by a very small farm. Down there was 5 people already and an old women selling beer, water, sun tan lotion and crisps. It was an idyllic hideaway and across the water ways you could see two cruise ships in the water, a man paddling effortless on a kayak and some threatening rain clouds in the town of Sao Sebastian which was in the distance.

I immediately jumped in the warm water when I got the beach. On entry there was no cold sting just warm water. I stayed in there for 20 minutes flapping around in the brown green water with a few waves occassionally disturbing my mediation on the coconut trees and forest slopes that were all around.

After I came out of the water the guy who was kayaking had come ashore and was talking to Camila. He had rowed about 6km to get to the beach and was spear fishing for some local fist to eat. He too was from Sao Paolo, he ended up telling us all about the island, the types of dangerous snakes and spiders that exist in the centre of the island but no where near the beaches. He explained to us that a wind coming down from Rio was causing a certain type of small frequent bumpy wave that was hitting the west of the island today. He went into a lot of detail why Ihla Bela is famous all over the world for kite surfing and wind surfing due to its unique winds that are a regular feature of life on the island. From his colourful and passionate discriptions it was clear to see why so many people come here and it explained why we were seeing so many marinas with a huge variety of paddle boats and all types of powerful jet boats that were anchored in nearly every beach we saw.  He went on to offer to catch some fish and cook for us and he gave us his address on the island where he has a house of his own. He gave me his flippers and snorkeling mask and insists I take them to explore some of the dives to the east of the island which I hope to do Monday. Nice guy.

Today we are also trying to book a boat ride to two of Ihla Bela's most famous beaches. We'll get up at 9am and come back at about 5pm. We'll go by boat but come back by jeep through the forest with a couple of dives in between. So far the best quote we got is about 150 reis which is about 60 euros which ain't too bad so we'll go with that. The jeep ride is supposedly worth all the money alone with a number of water fall stops also taking place where we can dip our toes. Only problem is that the weather is forecasted for rain which may scupper our plans.

One thing I noticed today as well is that a lot of Brazilians now have smart phones. This wasn't the case two years ago. The prices are still ridiculous. It is more costly for me to call Camila's mum's mobile from a Brazilian mobile phone then it is to call her from an Irish one.  The prices are really high, and inter state additional charges exist. A lot of Brazilians have been travelling abroad in the last couple of years, especially to the US, and you now also see a lot of the latest iPads knocking around in beaches and in airports.  The prices for normal day thinks have also gone up. I reckon about 15% since last I came here. That's a big jump. The economy is still doing well, and reminds me of 2005 back in Ireland. They've also this month officially surpassed Britan as the 6th biggest economy in the world. 

Some of the other highlights so far:

-Watching a young man yesterday, maybe 20 years of age, playing Vivalidi on his violin for 20 minutes on rua de meio with tons of kids staring at him in awe like I was

-Visting the Irish bar on the island that was the first Irish bar i've visited abroad with no Guinnesss

-Climbing a mud hill to get up from a secluded beach and meeting a goat half way up who seemed to be kneeling down and watching beetles go by

-Looking at a man standing on a surf boat, fully upright, paddling out to his jet boat about 150 meters off coast. 

-Drinking a fresh water melon smoothie with a plate of calebresa and incebola onions fried with some golden sizzlingly olive oil

-Eating freshly baked potato crisps on the side of the road with a coconut ice cream

-Listening to Brazil's answer to Christy Moore, Jorge Ben Jorge, singing "Moro em pais tropical" - I live in a tropical county, says it all really!

-Met the owner of the hotel we're staying in, 6ft -7 German man who worked from General Motors, didn't like it, when he met a Brazilian woman on holidays decided to come down here and live for good!

Buzios and Dune Surfing

I'm back in Brazil the state of Rio De Janeiro in Buzios and I'm very happy to be here! I'm spending 3 weeks with my Brazilian family and once again enjoying all that this amazing country has to offer. As normal, like clockwork, despite my best efforts, I'm getting a little burnt despite using factor 50 and a Panama hat. The short sleeve t-shirts are on and flip flops and swimming togs are the order of the day. Scarfs and gloves and such items are non existent and if you showed them to the locals they probably wouldn't know what to do with them. 

Buzios is a very special place. It's rare to hear non Brazilian's talk about it and I have a funny feeling the locals are trying to keep it as much of a secret as possible and rightly so. It is a lush peninsula eight kilometers long with 23 beaches of all different shapes and sizes. Yes, you heard it right. 23. It is about a 2.5 hour drive from the city of Rio and it's well worth the effort to get here. It's one of those local gems that most tourists either don't know about or decide to ignore because they want to focus on the city of Rio.


So far I've been to 3 of the beaches and what stands out to me are some of the dunes they have, which they rent skiing equipment to skillfully slide down and also the fact that the water is kind of cold and fresh water rather than very salty and warm like I'm used to when swimming here. 

For me swimming in Waterford conjures up names such as the Guillemene, Newtown Cove, Dunmore East, etc, down here the names of the beaches or completely different: Geribá, John Fernandes,  Horseshoe, Ferradurinha  and Manguinhos. Beach life is central to being Brazilian and central to the Christmas and New Year holidays. The Brazilians in their droves leave their cities and head for their coastline which is a massive 7000 kilometres long.  Buzios is one of the country's favourite destinations, especially since Bridget Bardot the famous French actress came here in 1964 and revealed to the world the beauties the then small sleepy tropical fishing village had which is now a booming tourist destination which has 28,000 annual inhabitants that swell to 200,000 this time of the year with tons of jeeps, buggies and bicycles criss crossing around the peninsula from beach to beach.

Click here to see some images of what's on offer to get a better sense what I'm talking about. 

Like many of the urban Brazilians I left the city to come to the beach. In my case Camila's family and I left the chaotic ugly metropolis of  Sao Paolo's and its 20 million + inhabitants to get to Rio. We took a one hour plane ride from Sao Paolo to Rio and then got a private bus to bring us here. I'm travelling with Fausto, Camila's brother and his son Victor Gabriel, Carolina, Camila's sister and her fiancee Rodrigeo and we also are with the energetic Cidinha who is Camila's gregarious mother. My brain has switched into Portuguese mode and with the exception of Cidinha who has no English, we are also chatting in English as rest of the group are very eager to practice while I'm here.

Like all my other visits to Brazil the trip has been a continuous education and adventure rolled into one. These days i've coined a new term for it "Edu-ventures". It started with Christmas preparations as we arrived on the 23rd of December. The trip to get here wasn't the best. We were hit with a security guard strike in Paris which meant we had a 12 hour delay in our flight. When we got here, my sister in law's car broke down in the busiest road in Sao Paolo, and when I mean busy think of a 5 lane motorway that is 30 km's long and which has huge heavy lorries laden down with oranges, tiles, piping, electronics, etc and thousands of cars and motor bikes zipping by belching out smoke from exhausts and constantly beeping as they jockey for position. Carolina's car broke down in the middle of all this and it sat still bang in the middle lane for 5 minutes before we got some help from some of the other drivers on the road who helped us push it to the side before we got it going again. It was interesting to see the truck drivers were the ones who helped and with military position started to direct the traffic behind us as some of the others who had stopped help push the car. 

Christmas is celebrated at midnight Christmas eve in Brazil. Christmas day is not like ours in Ireland and is mostly for the first half used to recover from the night before. They have a meal at about 10.30pm and for us consisted of Turkey, Pork, carrots, salad, rice and potatoes and an assortment of fruit for starters and desert. Presents are given out at midnight and then cousins, aunts, uncles and friends start visiting from 12.30am to around 2.30am. Most people are in bed in Ireland when the Brazilians are only getting going. As normal, a lot happens in Brazil in what they call the "madrugada" hours which are from 12 to 4am.

It was great to experience Christmas in hot weather, this is only the 2nd time I've been away from home. The last one being in 2004 when I was in Thailand when the infamous tsunami hit. It was great to be in shorts and t-shirt and getting a chance to get away from the Irish weather for a short time to get some heat and light. For me the light is as probably more important in terms of satisfaction rather then the heat. Like Ireland there is something magical about a blue sky, a wide azure blue sky, that makes people smile, sing and dance.  We didn't have it all our own way, but the times when the sky was blue and the sun bombarded us with its rays of golden sunshine and shot darting shadows all around us when the odd cloud in the sky blocked its view were delightful to watch. As ever I was very appreciative of it having come from a rainy few days in Waterford and Dublin. It was worth the airfare alone. 

It's the 1st of Jan and I'm being called to go to lunch so I better go. Let's see what 2012 has to throw up, I hope it goes well for you and yours. I'm going to get a glass of pineapple juice or"abacaxi" as they call it by their local indian translation and ponder on what lessons 2011 had to reveal which I will bring with me into 2012 as we look to some new objectives and goals I hope to reach.

Feliz Ano Novo! Happy New Year. 

On the hunt for gout!

Last week was such a great week. It was a sojourn to Porto to explore the wonderful maritime historical city and its enchanting river Douro where the finest port in the world is produced. For many years I like a hot port in the winter with my newspapers on Sunday. Typically, it was a glass of Sandyman but over the years I've enjoyed quite a number of other brands: Fonseca, Grahams and Foleys. I was spoiled when I saw the variety in Porto. I typically drink red but after a friend of mine gave me some white, Lagrimas (translated to "tears" appertivo port) I was also converted to it!

Our first stay was Hotel Palacio which a Portugese native who works with Camila, a lovely guy called Daniel, recommended. I booked it for 99 euros a night on hotels.com and while a small 10 minute ride out of the city it was worth it. The welcome we received was as good as any I've had in other hotels, with a couple of free glasses of port and an enjoyable 20 minutes being given by the women booking us in with a map of porto and the region and telling us what to see, do and eat.

After a couple of days checking out some of the local river haunts including a decent churrascaria where I got my fill of picanha and Camila also got some bacalchua, we took a two hour train to Regua in the heart of the douro to another recommended hotel, Acaporou which was excellent but expensive at 220 at night. Unlike others I've been in this was deep inside a vineyard and hugged the river Doruo itselt with an excellent view. We stayed for 3 relaxing days and toured around the local "quintas" or farms tasting all types of wines and cheeses. The trip was made even better in that we had a chance to meet our French/Portugese friens Liza and Al who spend a night hanging out with us!

We'll be back, I'd recommend mid Sept, as that is when the fun is to be had with the harvest of greats being prepared.

San Fran, Sydney, Mumbai and Rome

The last few months since joining LinkedIn have been a whirl wind. Very long hours coupled by the steepest learning curve I've encountered.

Random highlights from recent trips:

• Bumping into an old work colleague on George Street, Sydney as I went for a 7am run. Small world.
• Meeting a blind man in Mumbai with 10% vision who was bursting with excitement after marrying a beautiful women who has 30% vision. The humblness in which he told his story will also stay with me.
• Street children begging at your taxi window
• Experiencing the mania of cricket world cup in Mumbai, only comparable to the soccer world cup in Brazil. Thousands and thousands of Indian kids bringing cricket bats with them everywhere.
• Lawless, fearless, 3 wheeled, rickshaw drivers in India
• Rome with Joe and Dad. Priceless. We should have done it years ago.