Arembepe

We are now in the small fishing village of Arembepe was brought to our attention by our guide in Lencois - Sparrow. Located 30 km north of Salvador, this small town is known most for the aldeia hippie (hippie village) at the north end of town. In 1967/8, Janis Joplin and Mick Jagger spent time in the hippie village - doing what hippies do best - taking their clothes off and smoking weed. The only difference today is that people wear some clothing. lots of mud and grass huts in between the palm trees and dunes!

The other special thing about Arembepe is that many rare and common species of turtles (tartuga) nest on the beaches here - and for some hundred kilometres north. One of the most dangerous things for turtles is ocean pollution - including plastic bottles, cups, string, polystyrene etc are turtle killers - as you can learn in the turtle education and protection centre. sadly, right out the front of the turtle santuary, the beach is littered with rubbish! briony and i filled a massive bag with plastic rubbish walking less than 500 metres around the sanctuary. i suppose, they don´t have the money to pay people to clean beaches...because the locals certainly don´t understand this concept.

photos

Arembepe has lots of improvised building - both on the inside and outside. Tile mosaics, stucco plaster, pastel colours and murals are common features on the outside. Inside our poussada beach hut, we have learnt to be wary of dodgy wiring, since we have both received strong eletric shocks in the last 24 hours!

















Back to the beach this afternoon.

Then tomorrow into amazonia.......

gregory

*********Numbers*********
Cheese on a sticks eaten: 0
Monkeys seen: 0
Attempted muggings: 0
Camera Obscurae in our bathroom: 0
Times we got on the wrong bus/train: 0
Mosquito bites: 13 (gregory), 75 (briony)
Different Beaches visited: 3
Different Waterfalls visited: 0
Bottles of water purchased: 5
Dominos/Playing cards found: 0

Len-soys (lencois)

Just a brief update.....

Lencois is the gateway city to the Chapada Diamantina- formerly a diamond mining area and home of amazing waterfalls, mountains, rivers and treks. We have been here for nearly a week now - staying at the pousada dos duendes ("elf hostel"roughly translated) and yes, the name fits.



We have met lots of friendly fellow travellers from all over the globe, been on an overnight trek, slept on warm rocks, eaten many plates of rice and beans and swum in many beautiful waterfalls. I am almost all waterfalled out now. A dish in particular comes to mind- tuna with cream, mixed with potato chips and eaten as a sandwich on a bread roll. Perfect for after a long day of jumping over treacherous rocks for hours through a deep moss laden crevasse en route to a waterfall and swimming hole......wearing only a bikini (ok, gregory was wearing swimming shorts...)




















more photos

We leave tonight on an overnight bus back to salvador where we then get on another bus to a small beach town called arambepe. Salvador seems like a nasty dirty memory in comparison to this laid back, herbish and elvish place. No...but really, smaller towns are truly more pleasant to negotiate and generally hang out in. The last thing that happened in Salvador was the discovery that all of my money for this part of the trip had been fraudulently removed from my bank account using a sophisticated card cloning system. Most likely I will get this money back in due course but - what a bitch- better than being robbed at knifepoint though! Luckily between G and myself we have enough to get through our time in Brasil and then I will sort things out when back in the US of A where the said account is based.

Anyhoo, lastly a newsflash. We came across (g actually spotted it) half a 10 of diamonds on the ground outside our pousada in salvador on the day that we left. Jac, what tarot does that corresspond to?

Til next post-

Briony

*********Numbers*********
Cheese on a sticks eaten: 0
Monkeys seen: 0
Attempted muggings: 0
Camera Obscurae in our bathroom: 0
Times we got on the wrong bus/train: 0
Mosquito bites: 4 (gregory)
Different Beaches visited: 0
Different Waterfalls visited: 7
Bottles of water purchased: 9
Dominos/Playing cards found: 1 (domino)