This is a first hostel we booked so far in a Brazil: hostel 'Villas Boas':
http://www.booking.com/hotel/br/hostel-villas-boas.en-gb.html?aid=354415;label=hostel-villas-boas-QDKzjBRTduT5GO6Qh84jlwSM59198265669%3Apl%3Ata%3Ap1%3Ap2%3Aac%3Aap1t1%3Aneg%3Afi%3Atikwd-13718473778%3Alp1031453%3Ali%3Adem%3Adm;sid=79ca0c818c2bcdd37a586f886fcbacc7;room1=A%2CA;dest_type=city;dest_id=-626354;m_occ=2
(12€ per nigh one single dormitory). The accommodation is totally recommended: cheap, clean, with a huge breakfast included (fried eggs, vegs and sausage, ham, ricotta and Gouda cheese, cakes, coffee, chocolate, milk).
The staff are very nice and polite, the privacy and space are enjoyable.
Hostel Villas Boas
During the day and evening there is almost nobody around so it's nice to read, write and cook in the gaps between visiting the beaches. The routine is: getting up at 6am, going to the nearest beach (10min walk), 1.5 h yoga practice by the ocean, half an hour swim, 10min run and back to hostel for a huge breakfast until 10am. 10am-1pm admin work while lying on the hammock and then going to a new beach (every day a new place within a week of stay here) until Sun-Sat 7:30pm (swimming, walking, yoga filming).
Praia do Anjos
The Xmas was pretty intense for locals, parties all over as well as in the Hostel Villas Boas.
I went to sleep quite early to be able to get up for my morning sun rise yoga practice. It's been a challenge to fall asleep with the amount of noise made by 20 Brazilians celebrating the Xmas eve in the hostel. Eventually, I got up at 5.30am and went to Praya Grande to film my yoga sessions. I was supposed to record an hour yoga practice with elements of dance and pilates which I do every morning. The setting was perfect: the white sand, turquoise transparent water, blue sky and perfect light for filming with my selfie tripod (iKlip Grip) and iPhone7. The only detail was that as soon as I was about to start filming my self practice after setting up the camera for half an hour I was surrounded by hundred, of little flies.
At first I was reminded of the nightmare in Mexico last year on one of the most beautiful islands - Isla Holbosh. My fate was to be bitten by the most annoying sand flies. Luckily it didn't happen. Those little flies weren't sand flies so they didn't bite me. But they bothered me for two hours of filming while I was sweating like crazy in 35 cell degrees heat, covered by sand and little flies. I loved the idealistic setting so much that I decided to go ahead and try get the most of it. Not worrying about the running dogs and people in the background, which created so many interruptions during my practice. I just wanted a clear image of the sea in the background as I was practicing to create a balance and sense of peace. I ended up with so many clips because of the distractions. Finally, I finished filming, then I dug a hole in the sand to hide my iphone and went for a long, well-deserved swim. It felt like a paradise again.
I've got this project to set up my yoga channel while traveling and encourage others to practice with me in the most beautiful and most extreme conditions. It takes lots of patience and yogic peace to find the right spot and time. So far I've been going through all sorts of obstacles, the last ones were the cars on the beach driving from very early morning like crazy to set up some umbrellas and sun beds. It was a nightmare, my camera was falling off the tripod because of the wind or water coming too close, plenty of people passing by....This time I gave up on filming, just decided to swim and do a short inverted practice, consisting of: forearm, hand, head stands and shoulders stand. Those positions are great for physical and mental balance.
Each beach around Arraial Do Cabo is recommended. The most crowded are the Praia do Forno (amazing vegetation on the way to the beach and the beach is marvellous) and Prainha. The smallest and the most difficult one to access is Praia Brava.
If you happen to be there in the afternoon around 5-7pm you can enjoy some privacy and swim and sunbath naked. It's such a hidden little beach accessible only by foot, maybe also by the boat if the ocean is calm. Not many people can find it, though I found it with my GPS;) It's a paradise.
The most recommended one is Praia Grande with huge dunes. The beach is 45 km long and just at the beginning is crowded. If you go for a long walk you can only enjoy the sea, sand and fishmen. The scenery, colours (white sand and blue ocean) and the space are exceptional. In the evening there are lots of crabs coming to the shore so few fishmen with nets are hunting them. Though I haven't found any shell so far.
I stayed near by Praia do Anjos where I practiced yoga every morning. This little beach is very pretty with little boats, some locals. It was peaceful in the morning and during the day to have a walk or go for a swim. I liked it a lot, it had its own charm and privacy.
The only disadvantage of those beautiful bays is polluted water. You have to go for a long swim far a away from the shore to be in the transparent water away from the trash. It's a shame that those places are not protected and the access of engine boats is not prohibited. The garbage is all over...
Following up my morning adventure in Praia Grande after my yoga practice (6.30-9.30am), now I'm resting in a new place in Buzios - Lagoa Beach Hostel (25€ per person in 8 beds dormitory). It's located only 50m away from the nearest beach - Praia de Geriba where I went for my morning practice.
The other beach is away only 400 m - Praia da Ferradurinha. I was supposed to skip Buzios as I've been told that's too touristy and visit only the previous destination - Arraial Do Cabo. Likely I met at Arraial do Cabo an Italian student of architecture from Rio de Janeiro and she recommended me Buzios. She said 'You can not leave Brazil without going to this magnificent place'. So I did. The archipelago of Buzios consist of 17 beaches. The place I'm staying is near at least 4. Buzios is only 1 hour away from Arraial do Cabo by the public transport. The most convenient way to get there from Arraial de Cabo is to catch the bus to Cabo Frio (4.95 R$\1.5€) and then another one to Buzios (the same time and price as for Cabo Frio). Buzios is much cleaner and prettier, it's just a tropical truistic destination with some good taste. I'm glad I came here and would recommend it to everybody. The residential area where I'm staying is quite, immersed in the middle of the nature with a very rich vegetation and hilly landscape. http://www.booking.com/Share-mXDJQz (Lagoa Beach hostel: Rua Vieira Camara, 31, Búzios, CEP 28950-000).
I did here some yoga session filming not quite successfully...
https://magis.to/19u0hw3y?l=vsm&o=i&c=c
The Gerida beach near where I'm living is beautiful but very crowded. Only very early in the morning manageable with few walkers and runners. Thought still very noisy with some cars passing by and setting up the beach facilities for tourists. It's nothing comparing to the terrible conditions during the day with a huge crowd.
The other beach which is much less crowded because of the reduced beach's space is Praia de Manguinhos on the other northern side of Buzios Archipelago. It's very large with lots of fishing boats, some locals jumping in from the pier and lots of turtles surrounding them. The water wasn't very clear on the day when I swam but I saw some turtles from the pier. They heads appear only for a fraction of second and they suddenly disappear underneath the water.
I found the fish market in the shore and bought 3 lobsters (50R$/15€) for New Year's Eve ;) Around the Manguinhos bay were few coffee shops and restaurants. It is a nice beach, the water on northern side of Buzios is much warmer than on the southern side. Because the beach is very narrow there are only few tourists which definitely is a benefit of it.
Definitely one of the most famous destinations in Buzios is Armacao dos Buzios where a famous Brigette Bardot stayed. The beach is very comparable with the previous one Manguinhos with limited beach's space. Apparently it is one of the biggest diving destination in Brasil. The water wasn't that clear to see much but maybe with the less currents the visibility would be much better and then I could judge the quality of the natural park of this corral rives. At the very end of the beach towards the west side it was quite and the vegetation was remarkable. I think the whole bay was like that in the past but because of the need of commerce the beach was taken away and replaced by shops and restaurants. The standard of the centre is pretty high. It doesn't feel like being at all in Latin America, it feels more like being in Miami Beach. The centre is very crowded especially in the evening. So if anybody fancies a more conventional holiday, then Amaraco beach is probably the right destination. I wouldn't recommend it for back packers where they would feel claustrophobic and out of the place. For back packers I would definitely recommend area around Praia de Geriba/Praia da Ferradurinha.
Praia de Ferradurinha, actually the following one - the beach just after Praia do Namorados, is definitely my favourite one around here in Buzios.
A Cristal transparent water with little turtles, a little bay surrounded by the rocks with a reach vegetation around. In fact I took a long walk the other day to go all the way up for the panoramic view and I ended up on the other side of the mountains. After a nice walk in the rain forest in an hour I ended up on Praia Ferradura. It's not quite the same as the little one the Farradurinha but still found my little quite spot in a shadow and peace.
The bay is like Porto Cervo in Sardinia. The water is warm and turquoise. It's a paradise. The beach is busy but the little one which is separated by the rocks is cosy and not too crowded.
There are apparently two tracks to reach the Praia Ferradura from Praia Ferradurinha. One through the mountains 1h which I did with a beautiful panoramic views and another one 15min walk on a flat surface. I would recommend the mountains track if you don't suffer from a high attitude.
I forgot to mention that I have met again a professional photographer from Argentina-Oscar Ruggiero who was staying in the same hostel - Lagoa Beach. When he saw me recording yoga in the morning by the pool he proposed to take some pictures in the nature. In fact the perfect spot was by sunset on this little beach near by Ferradurinha and just after Praia do Enamorados. The light was not so good to have a clear image of the person and the sea in the background but perfect to have the siluates and from the other side - the beautiful nature like marrow tree, bamboo and cactuses.
The session was successful and he turned out to be a good photographer even if he only started taking professionally pictures a year ago. He is also a journalist back home in Argentina. After his great success as a photographer earning 3000$ a month in Argentina and Dominican Republic he decided to make his career in Brazil. After a couple of weeks freelancing and taking pictures of tourists on the boats he decided to come back to Argentina. Apparently Brazil is not a good place for a photographer. Everything here is much more expensive than in Europe and the rest of Latin America therefore people don't have money to spend on a pleasure such as family picture by the sea in the sunbathing suits.
I really enjoyed Oscar's company, he is a modest and humble young guy who is half Argentinian and half Italian, looking forward to get his Italian citizenship so he can stay a bit in Europe. He loves Naples.
We shared dinners with him while enjoying the chat about Latin America and influences from different counters. Apparently Brazilians prefer talking rather in English than in Spanish while they talk to other Latinos. Spanish is so similar to Portuguese but still there is a prejudice about using the Spanish language in Brazil. There are so many Argentinians running businesses in Brazil. May be this is the reason why - nationalism. But I don't want to go into politics. It is better to leave it to who is part of it.
On the New Years Eve day we climbed up the mountains on the east side of Praia de Gerida. The track was very challenging as it looked like a wall. Eventually we stoped in the middle of this crazy mountain and while being stuck there, we've been thinking 'should we stay or should we go?'.
Eventually we gave up as we weren't sure what was out there, we doubted if we were on the right track to cross the mountains to another beach.
We came back to our favourite little beach near by Ferradurinha - Praia do Amor.
The New Year's Eve was amazing on the Geriba's beach with hundreds or even thousands of people gathering together, dancing, drinking and enjoying the sea, music and fireworks. The experience was great. People were dancing on the beach all night long. I went to sleep at 2am. In the morning on 1 Jan when I went for my morning run and swim on the Geriba's beach I saw all the garbage and public cleaning services looking after the place. It was such a great New Year's 2017 celebration. There were a few different concerns on the beach playing different type of music. People were well responding to the good vibe and spirit of a New Years Eve!
https://magis.to/19u0hgem?l=vsm&o=i&c=c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS2OJXaO-RU
The next day on 1st Jan 2017 we were ready to go to Porto Seguro (North East). We were hitchhiking as there weren't too many buses going from Buzios to Cabo Frio. Eventually we managed to find somebody who dropped us to the Cabo Frio Rodovia (station) 45min 5B$ each. From Cabo Frio was no transport to Porto Seguro. The only way to get there was to go back by bus (3h/70B$) to Rio de Janeiro where we came from 2 weeks ago. So we did and after another 4h of attending at the busy station of Rio, finally we got on the direct bus to Porto Seguro (19h/250B$/80€).
I made the booking on Airbnb for a week in Arraial D'Ajuda. The host wanted to charge me more money for linens and towels use. I cancelled the booking and told her that it's very unethical to make people pay more after they have already booked.
She wanted to charge 40€ per day for two plus 10€ each a day for linen and towels use. I thought she was joking but apparently not. Anyway it was a destiny to end up finally on the beach doing a free camping.
The place was perfect for that - Arraial d'Ajuda - Praia dos Pescadores. The beach was 10min walking distance from the town. To reach the town there is a shortcut which is quite impressive made of hundreds of stairs all the way up to a little and a very simple yellow church. The view from there is mind blowing. Actually you can see our beach and also the rest of the coast in Arraial D'Ajuda. The town at the beginning seemed to be very tinny with a little square, a few restaurants, shops and a local market with a nice and cheap traditional fast food. My favourite so far is the Acaju...(10B$/3€).
If you want to do a low budget traveling then you can have a fresh mango or passion fruit juice (2.50B$/0.8€) and a piece of some coco cake for only (3BR/1€). My favourite more elaborated dish served in the restaurants is Moqueca. It's kind of soup or sauce made of meat/vegs or fish served with rice and salad. The amount of food is equivalent of 4 dishes (70-100-160B$/20/30/70€ depending on the location).
I had so far one with fish and shrimps. It was very nice but I would recommend to order it with the Fish fillet rather than fighting with amount of bones to get rid off.
While walking farther down the charm of a little northern Brazilian town was gone as the place turned out to be a very commercial destination for tourists. The amount of cafes, restaurants and shops was impressive more or less like in the centre of Buzios. The cost of Pausadas and hostels was much lower: 70B$/20€ but could rise also up to 100B$/30€ and more. We were lucky of having our own tend and just camp on the beach in front of the turquoise ocean.
I met on the bus Rio De Janeiro- Porto Seguro an Argentinian girl Paula who has been traveling for 1 and half year across South America: Argentina, Chille, Peru, Equador, Columbia, Venezuela and eventually ended up in Brazil. She was a heart broken as she only split up with her boyfriend few days earlier. She was left with no money and lack of motivation to work.... Our ways were supposed to cross.
I stayed with her in the tend, while my bf A was sleeping in his sleeping bag under our beach umbrella which we bought in Rio. The next day we bought a bigger tend so, our old tend we could give to Paula https://www.facebook.com/paula.lopezpeano?pnref=friends.search
I asked out of the curiosity at the travel agency how much are the flight tickets to all the destinations across the north-east Brazil which we were visiting on the way to Amazonia. Apparently if you book flights in advance they are cheaper than the bus tickets. By omnibus it takes approx 15-39h to get from one place to another one, by plane it is only 1-2h flight. The prices of flight tickets varied from 20-80€, while those of omnibus from 50-300€ and more. We purchased 6 flights to reach following destinations: Recife/Natal/Fortaleza/Sao Luiz/Belem. We also bought one return ticket all the way from Manaus to Rio de Janeiro (4h).
The line of Brazilian coast is 9000 km long and we were also going to Amazonia. Therefore the total amount of km we are making is approx 7000. This shows how big is Brazil. It's immense.
Our itenerary:
If you think that the only flight ticket from abroad to Brazil is the most expensive expense of your trip so you are wrong. To travel across Brazil you need to spend a lot of money to visit and enjoy different places. It is the most expensive Latin American destination. If you are travelling on low budget and free camping then you need approx 1000€ a month. Staying in the hostels also is not a bad idea if you have breakfast included and you cook meals by yourself. Choosing paid camping is not such a good idea as you pay the same as for the hostel and have less comfort.
As we stayed on the beach by Arraial D'Ajuda our family was increasing. One young Brazilian man came over and joined us. As well as our Argentinian friend Paula - Lucas was making his own artesian and selling it while he was traveling https://www.facebook.com/lukinhas.pereira.1
https://www.facebook.com/lukinhas.pereira.1
Trancoso
He learned in one month how to do this job and decided to go around Brazil for next 5 years. I'm not surprised, I would do the same to visit the most of this mind blowing country of size of a continent.
The next day after a night of Brazilian Foro music Paula introduced us to her Brazilian friend from Sao Paolo - Diego. All together we decided to move on to Trancoso (1h bus /8.5B$/2.5€). We found a wonderful spot for free camping. As usual in front of the little fishman boats and next to a very local and cheap restaurant (15B$/4.5€ for a full meal: meat or fish with rise and salad). In shade after palm trees in front of the ocean.
Trancoso beach is far away from the town (15min by bus) and all the restaurants around are quite expensive but this spot is very local and authentic. It's on the right from the main entrance to the beach in Trancoso, 5 min walking distance.
On the left from the entrance there are some beautiful Lagunas and rivers made of sea water. Further on there are some cliffs from Praia da Barra all the way up to Arraial D'Ajuda. In fact it's approx 30km walk along the coast from Arraial D'Ajuda to Trancoso.
In the evening when others went to the town to buy some water Paula and I met a Brazilian guy who was working in one of the restaurants by the coast. He invited us for a dinner. We spent a nice time sharing stories with him and another Argentinian guy. He was living 6 months on the abandoned boat by the shore. In the winter when the boat sinked he was sleeping in the restaurant (outdoor). He had his laptop, the wifi and he was chatting on FB. He was around his 70'ies. This is more or less the life style of people who are not scared of traveling around the world without money and adopting to each circumstances.
After a couple of nights spent in Trancoso we moved to Caraiva. It's around 2 hours bus trip from Trancoso (15.50B$/4€). We took a little fish boat to get to another side of lagoon where we decided to camp for a couple of nights. We found the spot on the beach on the left side from the huge restaurant/pousada - the biggest one there.
Caraiva so far is the most beautiful place I've seen in Brazil after one month of traveling. The village is by the sea and the river. They both are united when the river reaches the sea. When you enter the river and line down, the current takes you all the way to the ocean. The water is saulty in both. With the low tight you can cross the river which requires quite strength in your legs and ups as the current is so strong. It's blocking you from stepping forward. Of course later on in the evening the tight is high so you have to swim to the other side where in fact we've been camping.
The camping in busy places like this is not allowed in Brazil therefore you can only open the tend during the night for sleeping while in the morning you have to pull it down. As we ended up in 4/5 people with three tends, therefore we were pretty visible. We had to pull the tents down during the day. Somebody would always watch them during the day while in the evening while they were already opened we would go all together to the town.
As we were traveling on the low budget after one month of living like a queen and king, we did some shopping in the supermarket to have some sandwiches with roasted chicken, mortadella and vegs. We had some water, fruits and bisques. The whole budget for two days was 15B$ /4€ per person. Indeed you can live with very little here in Brazil if you want. More north you go is much cheaper. Sao Paolo and Rio de Janeiro are the most expensive cities.
Coming back to Caraiva. If you have a very limited time and decide to go to Porto Seguro, then this is the 'must' place to go. It has a wonderful sea coast from one side with lagoons, hot water springs, mountains and on another side the ocean. It takes approx 4 hours of walk both ways to reach a magnificent beach - Praia de Espelho.
It's definitely worthy to do such a walk. Make sure that you are well protected from the sun. There are some springs with fresh water so you don't really need to bring one with you. It would be great if you had a waterproof camera so you can take it with you while you crosse the river of Caraiva. The views are definitely worth to be photographed and/or filmed. I didn't have one so all memories will stay with me. I can share with you all the rest I recorded by still or in motion imagines.
How to get to the Praia de Espelho?
At the end of the coast line which you can reach by foot, there is a track in the mountain which you need to follow in order to cross it over on to the other side (half an hour walk). The nature, vegetation, coco trees, rivers, sand and ocean will give you such a mind body healing experience.
The style of the Caraiva village is very hippy and 'tranky' (cool). Lots of bag packers and nature lovers. If you are a party person you can also find some spots in the night to have party until the sunrise. We were comping near the place which was quite loud during the first night. The music was mixed with the wind and the ocean sound therefore it was easy to sleep.
I found a perfect spot and light to film my yoga session which I hope to share with you sometime.
On the third day we took a little fish boat (5B$) 6.20am to catch the bus to Balsa (Porto Seguro: 18.50B$/5€). The bus was about to leave while we were crossing the river (5Min) so as soon as I got off the boat I started running and shouting to stop it. Finally we made it and got on it, ready for the next stage of our trip from Porto Seguro to Santiago.
It took approx 4 hours to get from Caraiva to Porto Seguro with one short breakfast break at the local Caffe on the road (caffe + cake 4B$/1.20€). While you arrive to Balsa you need to get on ferry (5Min) for free which takes you to the coast through the river. We had all day before our next bus to Santiago.
We stopped by the square slightly outside of the centre where we had some lunch and camped with our Rasta friend, for a few hours. Of course during this time I sorted out some cash which I was running off.
The 24 h cash point in Porto Seguro which foreigners can use to cash is located in the centre at the shopping centre. There is always a cue everywhere you go so you have to be patient before you get some cash;) It's quite easy to reach as you walk around the coast following shops and restaurants line and eventually once you see more crowd you need to turn right or left to get there depending where you are.
It's a very good area to do some shopping if you fancy some nice and cheap beach clothes. In fact I bought some shorts/hot pans which can be used as bikini or just for yoga practice and other sports activities. Bikini or shorts cost here around 30/40B$/8/10€.
After very limited food consumption during last week (sandwiches/Vegas/fruits), I ate two ice cream sets (half price 4B/1.20€). The prices across Brazil vary but everywhere you can find cheap food, just you need to look for it. The prices for tourists are at least 3 times higher than for locals.
After a few hours of break, between transfers, finally we've got on the bus leaving from the Porto Seguro bus station (Rodoviaria) 18:20 (110B$/32€;12h). After a non stop ride without any food break we arrived at Despacho 5am to get on a boat at 6am. Arrived to Morrio de Sao Paolo in 2.5h (175B$/50€ return).
The island of Morro de Sao Paolo is stunning, the water is turquoise and very warm. It seems to be in the hot springs. The only issue is that this is a place of corral reef which doesn't allow you to swim. The low tight is impressive so you can see how many corrals are around and close to the shore. The only problem is that those corrals are dead because of sea coming and going.
We found a great spot for free camping - walking from the beach 3 to the right. The place where local salesmen and horses riders get some rest.
There is a nice 1 h walk from the beach 4 to Praia de Encantado. The only walking, distance beach. Alternatively there are some tour operators which take you to other beaches around the island (30€). We tempted 3 times to reach Guanaba beach on foot but it was impossible. Up to 2pm there is a low tight, therefore you can easily reach Praia Encantado. Then you would need to enter the jungle. At the end we didn't do it as we weren't sure where to go. When we decided to ride a hourse up to the Guanaba beach (35€ each/4h) I've got a food poisoning and couldn't move for a couple of days. We spent the whole week by the beautiful coast line either with the sea or desert.
You are a prisoner of the island as there is no public transport to move around. All the private transport is quite expensive. Then you reach the other beaches by private transport and you'll find them crowded.
Morro de Sao Paolo is a nice spot to visit but max for 3 days. It is a mainly family holiday destination with Brazilians, Italians and Argentinians. With a low tight you can walk 1km towards the ocean and enjoy lying down in the warm water of the ocean as it was a hot spring.
Praia de Encantado
Yoga in a hot water - 30 cell-degrees
Our future home
Cycling along the Encantado beach is the best and most economic way in Morro de Sao Paolo
Our free camping spot in front of the ocean - beach 4 - Morro de Sao Paolo
Our view from the tent. A under umbrella
One week of long walks along the beach in Morro de Sao Paolo
Sunbathing in the middle of the ocean at low tide
The water's temperature during the day is slightly lower than the outside temp 35 cell degrees. It reaches up to 30 cell degrees. If you get up at 5am as I do you can go to swim straight away from the beach without having to walk 1km to the sea line. From 9am up to 2pm there is no water in 1km distance from the ocean line. In the afternoon you can swim as much as you want without hitting the reefs. For he whole week there was a full moon, therefore the tights were indicated by that.
Beside the family destination it is also the youth destination to party all night long. Every night there was a full moon party which I skipped as I was going to sleep as usual 8/9pm to catch up in the morning with the sun rise swim and yoga practice.
To leave the Morro De Sao Paolo island we took a private transport straight away to the airport (40€: 6.30-10am). In this way we avoided the hustle with searching for the accommodation in Salvador one night before leaving for Recife. At the end it would cost approx the same: taking another boat (2.5h) to Salvador and renting the room.
Salvador is not a very inviting city to stay, it's much nicer to spend more time on the island of Morro de Sao Paolo.
I've got better after my stomach problems and we were ready to leave the next day by sun rise. We had to walk from our free camping spot on the beach approx half an hour up and down to reach the harbour.
Likely we took a trolley taxi driver who took our baggage to the harbour (10€). It saved us time and health. If you happen to arrive on this island with a baggage, be aware that you will have to struggle for half an hour to climb up and down with a hit to get to the sea. I would recommend to take the trolley taxi driver both ways. We didn't know what we were going to expect so we didn't do it on the way to the island. On the way back of course we did it. The fee you pay is all worth it, believe me.
I forgot to mention about the jelly fish. I've been stunk only once but it was such a painful experience, likely I didn't have any allergy. Another wired thing happened to me while I was swimming in the night, some animals got stuck to my skin and sucked it. It was a new experience, it happened once in Caraiva and now the second time in Morro de São Paulo. I still haven't quite figured out what it was...it's a bit scary while you are sailing in this idyllic place with a fool moon above you and suddenly something get attached to your skin and you have difficulty to get rid of it. I haven't swam again during the night at least there.
On the way to Recife.
