Andalucia, Spain - February 2010

Got this package deal from lastminute.com. 6 days, flight, car hire and hotel without food for a very reasonable price.
I am not a fan of package holidays, but was desperate to escape the winter in Germany, which has been rather long and cold.
So booked it. And I am glad I did. Turns out that I am starting new job on 15th March, so could not have gone on holidays straight after.
Arrived in Seville where I picked up my hire car, once I found it… which was a challenge in itself. When I say car, I mean a weird looking vehicle with 4 wheels… It is one of these KIA thingies, not very fast, but when you press the gas pedal really hard, you can just about get to 120 km/h!! Anyway, it gets me around (eventually).

So drove near to Chiclana de la Frontera and tried to find my hotel. I did not know the exact address, and even after phoning the hotel, Mr TomTom was not able to find the place. I got lost several times. It is really in the middle of nowhere, in a very touristy area with loads of hotels. At 9.30 pm I finally arrived.
The Apartment is nice, has a kitchen, bathroom, living room with TV and balcony and a bedroom with ensuite bathroom. More than enough space for my little self!

The weather forecast has not been promising but luckily so far they have been wrong most of time. It was hardly raining so far. Always cloudy and some strong winds, but about 17-20 degrees, which is still more pleasant than 8 or even -2, which they forecasted once again for Germany.

First day I went to Cadiz and met a friend of an acquaintance from Cologne, who lives in Cadiz. She showed me around town and we had a coffee etc. One thing that I need to get off my chest was the following:
We had some traditional fried catfish in a little bar and I went to the toilet. While I was doing business there were some loud bangs on the door of the one and only women’s toilet. So I said in perfect Spanish “esta occupado”!! Another knock and several more, becoming more and more persistent. I mean, which part of “occupado” and a locked door do you not get?? I finished what I had to do, which took only about 3 minutes in total, but these people were insistent and kept knocking! So I finally opened the door and in front of me stood not 1, not 2, no, 4 WOMEN (!), looking at me in disbelief…. ?? Ehm, what exactly were they surprised about? That a WOMAN came out of the “senoras” toilet or the fact that I did not immediately open the door when they demanded?? I tried to explain what I was doing in there, and they replied, “yeah but we knocked…” ? did I miss something here? I found it extremely rude and was a little taken aback to be honest… not sure what I could have done to please these women!!? Open the door in mid-flow?? Anyone,can you explain?

Moving on… Second day I explored the area around my hotel and found a rather nice beach. It was very cloudy at first but the sun came through several times. Me, being a bit naïve did not use any sun block, so I got burnt in my face and neck area. The sun is surprisingly strong here, even in February!

But was so happy to see this yellow, warm, round thing in the sky.. ! Walked for about 2 hours along the beach with a very rough sea. Too cold to go in the water. Although I was temped... I would have looked like one of these mad tourists though, so I didn’t…!

Next I decided to visit Gibraltar, since it was a bank holiday in Andalucia and everything was still closed. Well, as I soon found out about half a million Spanish people had exactly the same idea as me!! And the weather was just gorgeous! Shame there is only ONE road going in and out of Gibraltar!! So a stretch of about 3.5 km took me 1.5 hours to reach! And everyone knows how I just LOVE queuing! Then there was the problem of finding a parking space in rather narrow and crowded Gibraltar. After driving around for quite some time, I found one of the few car parks, which were not “full”.
Luckily it was central and I walked along the main street up to the cable car station. From there I took the cable car up to the famous Rock of Gibraltar. Nice views up there and some cute monkeys living wild, who try to snatch your plastic bags if you carry any.

After walking around up there and seeing the northern tip of Africa, taking lots of photos and enjoying the gorgeous weather, I headed back to the main square of the town.

There, I was suddenly really craving a Guinness. So I had a lovely Special Little Rock burger and a pint of Guinness!! I really enjoyed that while watching the sun going down. And as soon as it was gone, it was getting rather cold. So at around 7.30pm I headed back home, but…. Yes, you guessed right, all the half a million Spanish wanted to return to Spain too!! So another hour queuing to get out of the place, the British policemen in their traditional Bobby outfit redirecting traffic to keep it moving.
All in all, quite an experience, but not sure if I really like Gibraltar or not… it certainly is unique! Worth a visit for a day, not much more to do for a longer stay.


Gorgeous weather followed by whole day of rain… not much more to do than.. shopping and lounging around.

Tomorrow I am checking out a day earlier than planned in order to see some sights in Seville! Hopefully the big city will provide more entertainment!
Hasta pronto!

Trip to Lisbon

Here a few photos from a short break to Lisbon and Sintra. Very beautiful city and gorgeous weather!

Typical Portuguese scenery

Sintra, Castelo dos Mouros

Castelo de Sao Jorge, Lisboa

Scenic Tram 28 route

Elevador de Santa Justa

Padrao dos Descobrimentos, Belem

Pasteis de Belem - yummy!

For Marcel and Jaqueline

Dear Jaqueline and Marcel,
Here are Some photos from our trip in the jungle. Enjoy! Bisous,
Anita

The final Week! From Fortaleza to Porto de Galinhas/Recife

CANOA QUEBRADA

Paraglider...not me this time!

Sunset over Canoa Quebrada

PORTO DE GALINHAS

choose your lunch...

these are just for looking!

Seahorses

just nice!

beach buggy - not the fastest vehicle

RECIFE

Bye Bye, Brazil!

I am already back in London and did not have the time to finalise my blog. Working life has caught up with me, but I must admit my mind is still somewhere in Brazil...

So here a few pictures of the last week in Brazil which mainly consisted of beach, sun and sea and caipirinhas.

I flew from Manaus to Fortaleza. But since it was a big city I did not stay there long but made my way down to Natal via a a nice small fishing village called Canoa Quebrada. It was very relaxing and had a hippe-feel to it, so I stayed there a few days in a Danish-run pousada. Big sand dunes lining the beach, a very tranquil village.

Then moved on to Natal, from there to Recife, all by bus. My last long bus journeys, thank god! Recife is quite nice, but again a big city so travelled from there to Porto de Galinhas (only 2 hours) for my last week. There you can spend your days snorkelling, beach buggy driving, bathing in the sea, eating and just relaxing.

It was a great end to a fantastic 6 months and I wouldnt have wanted to miss a single minute of it.

My message to the world: Go out there and explore!

Amazon jungle adventure

Rainbow over Rio Negro

cute little frog

can you see the sloth?

piranha teeth!

piranha fishing

evening meal in the jungle

meeting of the waters - black rio negro and muddy Amazon river

I flew from Salvador to Manaus which lies on the footstep of the jungle in order to explore the fantastic Amazon region. I booked a 5-day tour with Eco Discovery to the Mamouri Lodge on the Rio Negro.

Instead of buses we were now using small boats to get about. The activities included Piranha fishing, alligator catching, jungle trekking and spotting several animals like sloths, monkeys, birds, poisonous frogs, snakes, spiders (!) and pink dolphins. I was luckily spared the sight of a tarantula since it didnt want to come out of its hole, it was raining too much!

Our excellent guide Antonio showed us several medicinal plants and explained about the use of these trees and plants.
We stayed 2 nights in a camp in the jungle which consisted of a tarpaulin and hammocks to sleep in and a campfire! The mosquitos loved us!
It was a very nice experience but I wish I stayed a bit longer to be able to go deeper into the jungle and see more wildlife. Who knows, I might be back one day?

Morro de Sao Paulo

After a rough 2-hour catamaran ride from Salvador we arrived in Morro de Sao Paulo. It is like paradise there, no cars and no proper roads, just sand and beaches everywhere. We were greeted by luggage carriers with wheelbarrows who wanted to carry our luggage for a tip.

There are 4 main beaches in the village but our hotel was located in "Praia do Encanto" which is further up the island, 6km out of town and only reachable by truck or by a 2hour walk along the beach. But it was nice and quiet up there. The hotel luckily had a regular shuttle service we could make use of.

Bianca and me had some great beach and pool time and were not doing too much, just one excursion with the catamaran one day. It was finally time to RELAX!

Praia do Encanto

Deserted beach

lovely fruits for cocktails

pool time

walk on the beach

hammocks are very comfortable!

Salvador da Bahia

Bonfim church - one of many in Salvador

sunset over Barra

trying to play the Berimbeau...

Capoeira Angola

Not a bad view from our hotel, eh?

Traditional Bahian dress

Bahianita serving Acajare (dress doesn´t look as good when you´re white)

View from the cidade alta

My friend Bianca and me left Rio de Janeiro by bus to Vitoria, form there to Salvador. It was a 20-hour bus journey, hopefully the last one of its kind! Quite tired from travelling, we decided to treat ourselves a little and checked into a posh hotel with swimming pool and beach nearby. We met John there who came from Brasilia and stayed with us another couple of days, then he left for home and colder climates on 1st March.

Salvador is a very colourful city with lots of culture and music but is also very poor. There are always people coming up to you begging or trying to sell cheap jewelery,which can get quite annoying after a while.

We visited Capoeira schools and saw 2 styles of Capoeira, the "Capoeira regional" which is very fast and more for show purposes but still very impressive, and the "Capoeira Angola" which I learnt in London, which is much slower and more of a fighting game and happens mostly on the floor. It was also good to see Capoeira in the street, however, you have to distinguish between a proper "roda" and the street show performers, which is just another way to rip off tourists as they are asking for money.

The Bahian food consists mainly of shrimps or seafood, and a lot of it is cooked in palm oil which can be very rich. Then you have got a dish called Acajare, which is made of manioc flour, fried with some shrimps and sauces on top. Quite tasty!

On to Morro de Sao Paulo!