Round the World: September 2006

Iguazu Falls, Brazil/Argentina

After a lot of messing around with flights, we finally made it down to the dodgy borders of Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. No time to visit Paraguay, but lots of time to see the beautiful waterfalls that border Brazil and Argentina. The most spectacular view is from the Argentinian side but a more panoramic view can be had from Brazil. These pics don´t do the falls justice, but we hope you enjoy them anyway. Cheers!

Us at the Devil´s Throat

Baikinman enjoying his day out

Argentinian side of the Falls

Coaties searching for a snack

The Rainbow Connection

The Brazilian side of the Falls

Morro de Sao Paulo, Brazil

The craziness of Salvador made us feel the need to take a few days to soak up some of the Brazilian sun on the beautiful island of Morro de Sao Paulo. A well needed rest. Here are the pics.....

The streets of Morro de Sao Paulo (no cars allowed!)

The festivities to celebrate Brazil´s Independence Day

A nice picture

Salvador, Brazil

Viva Brasil!! Oi! Here we are in the land of caipirinas, capoeira, beaches, samba and other fun stuff. We stayed in Salvador, Bahia for about 3 weeks keeping ourselves very busy doing most of the above...and more! Big thanks to the very cool people at Nega Maluca Guesthouse for making our stay very chilled out, hassle free and fun! We spent the majority of our 3 weeks learning the Brazilian martial art of capoeria, which apart from being really good exercise and a lot of fun, has a very interesting history. Drumming lessons at the same school with Birra were excellent and helped us understand a lot more about Afro-Brazilian culture. Through Edi (the man about town), we were introduced to a great bunch of kids also studying percussion. We volunteered to give them some English lessons during their free time and they really seemed to love it! Very sad to say good-bye to all of them. Edi also invited us to take part in an important Afro-Brazilian ceremony called candomble. A first time for all of us, we found it extremely interesting to witness people take on the spirits of their African ancestors. Tuesday nights in the Historic Centre of Salvador, Pelourinho, come alive with stages set up everywhere and groups performing all types of music from samba to reggae, and even stuff we´d never heard before. Following massive groups of percussionists around the streets in the form of a parade, was something we´ll never forget! Must make mention too of the closest thing we could get to taking part in Carnaval....the annual "Viva Gay Parade" in Salvador! Loads of semi-trailers set up to resemble night clubs with bands/DJs playing on top amongst scantilly dressed dancers, cruised around the streets while people followed behind dancing, singing and pickpocketing (don´t they Amelia?!). Good times in the Salvador. Enjoy the pics!

The Jesus Square in Pelourinho

Kids doing capoeira in Praca da Se

The crew of Nega Maluca Guesthouse

After the candomble ceremony

Derek and the kids of Energia Positiva school

Chilling after a big night in Pelourinho

Capoeira lesson at Mestre Bimba Academy

The staff and students of Mestre Bimba

Derek learning how to play the bidembau (instrument used in capoeira) from Udi.

Luiz Fernandez, Priscilla, Anderson, Alison & Rafael at our last English lesson

Good-bye party!

The Republic of Ireland

Moving south! Here are the next lot of pics from Galway and Dublin. 2 lovely Irish cities that we really enjoyed. The music was particularly good in both places, and we spent many an hour sitting in pubs, enjoying a guinness or Irish coffee while listening to live musicians jamming away in the corners. Good times! Also good were the international buskers in the streets, entertaining crowds with anything from funky drum beats to traditional jigs. Such lively cities! The bus rides in between the cities (and Northern Ireland) were sooooo green! Almost suffocating!! So definitely living up to the name "The Emerald Isle". Enjoy the pics!

Our favourite pub in Galway.

Guiness Galore!!!

Banging out all the old Irish favourites...the whole pub was singing along!

Being silly in the hostel.

These guys rocked until the cops kicked them out. Boo!

Famous Irish folk.

Old flute guy and the Mad Fiddler (Brad Pitt posing as an Irish musician).

Outside the Guiness Factory.

Northern Ireland

Hey!
Finally we`re catching up on the posts! The next is from Northern Ireland. Most of it spent in and around the wonderful city of Belfast, where Derek`s mother is from. We also made a special trip to Bangor where his father is from too, as well as many other trips to cool places in the area. We were lucky enough to have a great place to stay...with Derek`s family; his Aunt Maureen and Uncle Jim. They made us feel very welcome, spoiled us and fed us great Irish tucker. They also drove us to many of the country`s beautiful attractions. Enjoy the pics!

A white pebble beach along the northeast coast.

Uncle Jim at the pond near Ballypatrick forest.

Us at Giants Causeway...Derek had a few flashbacks to when he visited there 20 years ago!

Dunluce Castle.

Derek, Jim, and Maureen having tea with Dad´s favourite cream cookies from the bakery.

On the lawn at Belfast City Hall.

Up the Shankhill.

One of the many murals of Belfast.

Scotland #2

More pics....yay!

Edinburgh Castle

Derek, Fraser and Manjit after a few good beers

Crazy juggler/comedian at the Fringe

This guy did this ALL day!!!!!

One more of Hamish the Highland Coo!!! We love you, Hamish!

Scotland

Hello!
We don´t have a lot of time to comment on our trip to Scotland (internet time is limited here in Salvador) so here are some highlights:

In Dunfermline:
* Meeting up with Fraser after so long for Derek
* Meeting Fraser´s lovely parents and staying at their home
* Hamish the Highland Coo (featured left)
* Trying haggis (???)
* Seeing the William Wallace monument
* Walking around some lovely Scotland lochs
* A fun night out in Dunfermline (GoKurtGoGo!)
* Tour guide and historian Fraser
* Seeing the old bridges
* Meeting up with Manjit and Greer (crazy coincidence)

In Glasgow:
* The bagpipe competition in the square
* Trying to understand the Glaswegian accent
* Seeing the diversity of Glasgow

In Edinburgh
* Seeing Jamie again for Vanessa
* The vibe of Edinburgh Festival!
* Meeting Jamie´s sister Joanna
* Yummy meals!! (Japanese, Moroccan, Vegetarian)
* The Comedy Show!
* The buskers
* 3am guitar jam and drinking session
* The picnic by the river near Rosslyn Chapel
* Scottish banter

Thanks to everyone for making it such a great time!! Enjoy the pics!