Forteleze, Manaus and NOW Margarita Venezuela

26March
I got to Forteleze about 4.30 and to the airport about 5. by 6am I was queuing to board my flight to Manaus. now that was quick. I arrived in Manaus and was trying to decide what to do so sat down to have a juice. then this guy came up and asked for change but I didn't have any. He then passed again and we started to chat. His name is Max and he was reared in the jungle. He worked his way around different hotels and became a guide. He now owned his own company that organised tours of the Amazon and even had a lodge in the jungle. I told him I was not doing a tour now but would on my return to Brazil and took his details. He was whiling away his time waiting for 2 Americans a mother and a daughter.

The mother had been on his tours several time as she brought groups over and now her daughter was going to work with Max and teach the local children and the staff at Max´s lodge for 2 months. He said he was delivering them to a hotel and could drop me off to a place he knew. So I thought ok lets see his if this is for real. It was and the 2 Americans were delightful. We had a bit of a chat in Max´s car and Max invited me to come along with them to dinner.

The plan was to meet at 6 so I sat in reception. At first I met these 2 brazilians one of which was now living in Switzerland but had lived in London. He had worked with a tobacco company but it didn't sit well with him. He had made some money and now was setting up his own company but for something good and that would help people as well as be a business. He had learned to make soap etc from natural products and was now teaching some ladies in the north of brazil how to do the same. He had sought out a particular course which only used natural products and no chemicals. He was very keen to insure his products were pure. It was an interesting concept and very now. Then this American chap, Daniel came along. I ended up chatting to him for over an hour as Max didn't arrive til 8pm. Daniel and I chatted about Zeitgeist and he was telling me about the fact that congress had a private session a few weeks ago only the 4th one in a few hundred years. they were not allowed to talk about it to their public but some felt this was not appropriate and had leaked what was said. it was not good. complete economic collaps of the US economy is forcast in 2008 then civil war because of this and othe things in 2009. if you are interested then... http://www.silverseek.com/quotes/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23656329/ http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aS87YcPKuDDE&refer=worldwide He now lives in mexico for the last 10 months and refuses to go back to the states since the customs stopped him the last time he entered the country and kept him for hours just because he was travelling a lot. They found something on him but he has no idea what and they would not tell him. The same happened a friend of his. He said that the US is not just cracking down on terrorists, they are cracking down on all dissidents or anyone that might offer intelligent criticism. Very dangerous situation there.

Anyway Max then arrived so I joined Vanetta (the mom) and Brette (the daughter), Max and Vanettas brazilian Boyfriend for dinner. We went to the floating international port first for drinks. Then we headed to Porto Negre I think, for dinner. That was so lovely. i had the house/regional speciality, duck in ticipuri or something like that anyway it was stewed duck legs in this soup that was kind of tangy. It was really lovely and it had been sooooo long since I had my fave meat duck. They regaled me of tales of previous Amazon trips they had taken together. And Vanetta knew all of Max´s family etc. Really sweet people. So I think when I come back I will go on Max´s tour. Will see but it sounded marvellous. I think Vanetta had a hand in getting or helping Max with his company too. She is an amazing lady.

27th March
I met Daniel again and he said he knew of a great acai place, so we went for lunch. We then went for a tour of the Teatro Amazonas. This is just this amazing theatre. Back in the Rubber boom days, there was a lot of money in Manaus so it was put into some amazing buildings and culture. Entering the theatre was like stepping back in time. It has been beautifully restored. There is marble from Italy and porcelain from England as well as many fine murals painted by artists of the period. Margot Fonteyn did her final ballet performance of her career in this theatre and left her ballet shows for posterity. All the chairs in the auditorium are the original chairs but have been reupholstered in red velvet. The boxes have red velvet curtains. Daniel thought it might have been the theatre used in the film "Dangerous Liaisons". It did look like it had been. We had a lovely lady give us the grand tour and it really was worth it. She told us in olden days the gentleman went slightly ahead of the lady and the offered the tips of his fingers for her to hold as she descended the stairs. so Daniel and i had to reinact this. IT was funny. However, as a way of getting a guy to her a girl, the girl would often pretend to faint so she could fall into his arms. God how things have changed. I refrained from doing that.

I bought some stuff from a pharmacy for my leg. I put it on and now I have a big purple/violet stain on my leg. I dont know which was worse strawberry red or purple. Very attractive... I see people staring at it and it does start conversations...

I then went off to the bus station to see if I could get the bus to Porta de cruz, I had to rush a bit as it left at 6pm. I was on my way out of Brazil into Venezuela.

28March
The journey is supposed to be 32 hours, so it is going to be a long one.Well the border crossing was a piece of cake. The bus took us to Boa vistaand about 11am, I was at the border. I thought I would have problems with the Brazil side because when I came to Brazil, the customs man asked me how long I was staying and I said I had a flight for 13 March but I may stay less. Famous last words... He said something about 35 days and at the time I didn't think about it, as I had just missed my connecting flight to Rio and had queued for over 2 hours in customs and was wrecked tired. But as I stayed in Brazil 30+days after the possible allotted 35, I thought I might have problems or be charged a load of money for each day I went over. But nothing so it may mean that they had given me the 3 months or that because they were using a book not a computer at the border crossing, the problem was not flagged. Either way I sailed through. phew...At the Venezuelan side, my lonely planet mentions something about tourist cards but the lady at the hostel checked with someone and the bus company also said I only needed my passport and yellow fever vaccination card. Again it was a piece of cake. The only bummer was the cash machine didn't work so I had no Venezuelan Bolivar. So no food.

29March
I arrived about 5am in to Porto De Cruz after 34 hours, and had to be woken up as was out for the count. I stayed in the bus station for a few hours til dawn, then procured a taxi to the Port for the ferry. Well of course I had to get some money. That was a bit of a mare. I had to try 2 banks and only one my cards worked but I got some.

I got the 8am ferry and landed in Isla Margarita without any more issue. Got a taxi to the hotel where Patricia and I are to stay and booked in. I was a day early. I went to bed after dinner and a little walk around the town. IT is tiny and is just really a few hotels and restaurants all catering for windsurfers and kitesurfers. Was so tired, I went to bed early bliss.

30 March
I spent most of the day updating my blog. About 7 hours. Patricia arrived about 7.30 just as I was coming back to the hotel. perfect timing.
Patricia has been to several holidays with this company. This is only my third. Basically, there are 3 sites this company uses for windsurfing holidays. Vassiliki in Greece, where I have been twice and had many a mad night and some of the best holidays I have ever had. Often we have come back with sore stomachs and are never sure if it is all the windsurfing or from laughing so hard. We have had some stories...

Patricia is Spanish and lives in Dublin. She has been to all three of the sites. Dahab in Egypt, Vassiliki/Greece and now Margarita/Venezuela. It is funny when I talk to PAtricia, I think now she has a tiny bit more of an Irish accent than I do. She comes out with sayings or phrases that I have lost which is a shame. She knows more about Ireland now and what is happening there than I do. Bizarre eh...
We chatted, dined and went to bed early shattered.

31 March.
Isla Margarita is a quiet place (well where we are) much more chilled and less of a heart to the club than in Vass but its nice and small. We are in El yague beach. We had our first lesson today. Oh god I have forgotten how to windsurf. Although by the end of the day, some of it was coming back. However the wind here starts early in the morning not like Vass, which picks up in the afternoon but is mild in the morning. So the wind is hard on us. But I have a great instructor called Amy and the team here are pretty ok. It is good to be on a board again. We dined and went to bed by 11. Patricia is jet lagged and all the exercise is also tiring us out.

01April
Happy April fools. My god this must be the first year janet hasn´t tried to pull an april fools joke on me. whey hey...
My lesson started out badly. I couldn´t get the sail up, the gusty wind was rotten but I eventually got going. When I get going its great but tacking/turning, oh dear lets say it needs some work...
This afternoon was better and was really sailing nicely at times, so I decided to try a beach start. Bad move. I stepped on some sea urchin spines. Thank god it was dead but now have about 12 spines in my foot that I cant remove. I do seem to be rather disaster prone the last few weeks. What the hell is going on??????