Pleasures of Autumn

Nothing much to report from Bonaire, except that my stay was shorter than planned. Without going into details, I returned to Estonia to take care of some family things. Nothing bad happened, so no need for concern, just had to return (for a few weeks).

So, is the Trip over? I hope not, Buenos Aires is still on for end of November, or possibly some other destination. At the moment enjoying the seasons of Northern Europe - actually nice to have four seasons rather than just a dry and wet period. Wouldn't mind a few extra degrees however, first time during the Trip that I am ill - and it's a typical cold.

Not sure if I will continue the blog while in Estonia, but definitely more stories from the next destination coming up in about 3-4 weeks time. Until then.

Galapagos Islands

Time to write a few lines about Galapagos. Well, I think the highlights from the last entry still hold, even after being here for a week. This is the place for wildlife. We´ve been on a couple of day trips to some of the closer islands and so far done 7 dives. What follows is basically about nature - interesting that 6 months ago, I would never have imagined I´ll be writing enthusiastically about nature.

The islands we saw were Bartolome and North Seymore in addition to Santa Cruz where we´ve been based.

To start off with Santa Cruz, there are some huge tortoises, maybe 300-400kg, basically just roaming around on the island, sometimes blocking some of the smaller roads. I really like these guys, for some reason turtles in general have been a favourite since childhood. These giant ones are amazing to watch - grazing on the fields, usually not being bothered by most anything. At most they'll make a loud hiss and retract the head into the shell if approached closer than 50cm.

The reason they're so huge is called gigantism, basically occurs when an animal doesn't have any natural enemies and there is no competition for food. Tortoises were used for food by sailors in the past, as they can live about a year turned on their backs and are a good source of fat and proteins for humans. This type of hunting is the principle reason why some of the species (different species on each island pretty much, as they are isolated from each other) are extinct or close to extinct. A good example of this is Lonesome George who is kept in the Darwin research station - he's the last specimen of the Pinta tortoise, about 80 years old (possible another 80 to go) and short of cloning will be the last of his species. They keep two females of a closely related species in his area for his entertainment, but he's not been particularly interested for the last decade. There's still a $10,000 award for anyone who can find a female Pinta...

Also on Santa Cruz are a few lava tunnels, I climbed through one yesterday - about 500m long, as low as 70cm in one place, but most of the time a very wide tunnel. Formed by water trapped in lava, the water then vaporised after the lava cooled down. Also a couple of huge craters, called The Brothers formed by collapsing land, also caused by volcanic activity (as most land formations here). There are also many pelicans, frigatbirds, boobies, sea lions, water iguanas etc in the wild and by the harbours.

Bartolome was a very different island, made up from volcanic rock, it's not a particularly good place for stuff to grow. There are some plants that have made it though. The ecosystem is pretty simple with the few plants being eaten by grasshoppers, who in turn get eaten by lava lizards, and water iguanas and snakes who eat the lizards. Been like this for ages and looks like it will stay pretty much like this unless someone brings a cat or dog who will eat the iguanas (this has happened on some of the other islands). What was cool on Bartolome is that it is very clearly a volcano, craters still visible and the 'rocks' are full of bubbles. Snorkeling off of Bartolome we also saw some Galapagos penguins swimming - about 50%-70% of the penguins will likely die from starvation during El Nino later this year (happens every 4-5 years). Been like this for centuries, so global warming fortunately not to blame for this one.

North Seymore, again, very different from the other islands we saw. This one is covered by birds - mostly frigattes. The males blow up a large red balloon under the beak to attract females. Lots and lots of nests everywhere. The eating habits of frigattes are pretty interesting, basically they steal from other birds. The most usual victim are the blue-footed boobies, a smaller bird with bright blue feet and a really stupid look. Basically what happens is that the booby dives into the ocean and catches and swallows a fish. A frigatte will then catch the booby by its feet in the air and shake until the fish is regurgitated. There are also plenty of gulls on the island. In addition of course sea lions (they are everywhere, it seems), crabs, etc. However, perhaps the coolest animal on North Seymore is the land iguana. Colorful big lizards (up to 1.20m) with an enigmatic smile, saw quite a few of them walking around.

So, this much about what can be seen above the water (and I feel like a nature journalist already).
We have also done a bit of diving here with Iguana Diving. Managed to get certified on an advanced level, despite remaining a complete novice. First thing we noticed is that diving here is very different from Fernando de Noronha, because the water is cold - despite being on the equator, the weather here is sub-tropical because of the currents. Thermoclines, where really cold water meets warmer water and forms a shimmering wall, are common. Finally the currents themselves make diving slightly different (read: holding on to rocks for dear life with regulator and mask being almost pulled of by the water movement in some cases).

I'll not delve into all the dives here but write a bit about the three most memorable ones: deep dive to 36 meters, a night dive and Gordon's Rocks.

The deep dive was necessary to get the new certification and it was also the first dive with our instructor here - Claudia, a very good diver and cool person on top, was a pleasure to spend time with her. We had learned a bit about theory of deep dives, etc before the dive. Basically below 30 meters some colors are not visible (red turns brown for instance), you may be affected by nitrogen narcosis (like being drunk) and air and energy are consumed much faster. The dive is memorable, because it is the only time so far that I felt really vulnerable in the water. Basically when we got down to a sandy hill at 35 meters depth and started doing the exercises we noticed a downward current in the water. This is pretty bad and very unusual, Claudia later explained. I also had narcosis and spent an unreasonable time laughing at a bat-fish (a weird bat-like underwater creature). So we decided to ascend, fighting the current (no other choice really...) which is where overexertion kicked in. Basically you feel very tired, completely out of breath trying to pull more air in via the regulator with a feeling of suffocation. Also the knowledge of not being able to get to the surface was a weird feeling. Anyway the only thing to do is to remain calm, stop all activity, hold on to rocks and rest, which I eventually managed to do. Very memorable dive however, definitely taught me a lot (Veiko had a similar experience) - also the feeling when getting out of the water - can't remember when I last felt so utterly tired...

The night dive was amazing due to the obvious difference that the water is pitch black. Also different animals to be seen underwater. Sleeping huge green turtles, one woken up by our flashlights and slowly swimming away. Lobsters are active, many sea cucumbers as well. We turned off the flashlights at one point to see the fluorescent algae - like a starlit sky, but 10cm away. And - lots and lots of rays of different kinds (diamond, sting, and some others) swimming around somewhat drowsily.

The third dive site worth mentioning is Gordon's Rocks. This one is a bit more advanced due to currents and surge, but since Claudia recommended me to the divemaster I could go along despite lacking a little experience (Veiko was heading back the same day, so couldn't make it). Well, there was currents and surge - pretty difficult conditions and not too great visibility. However, saw what everyone who comes to Gordon's Rocks comes for - the hammerhead shark, and a big one, about 4-5 meters long. Amazing creature. Also golden rays that swam with Jose and me for about 7-8 minutes, green turtles (two mating ones - or "happy turtles" as the guides call them), sea lions playing with the divers, morays, parrot fish and many other types of fish.

Overall diving's been great here. My personal favourites are (guess!) - turtles and rays. Didn't see a manta ray yet though. Sea lions are also cool, very curious animals, biting the fins of divers and playing - blowing bubbles etc. Sea lions are playful - they are known to catch water iguanas by the tail and use them as a ball, throwing the poor iguana to each other. Would like to see this, but haven't so far.

You also meet interesting people when diving, it's been good to get to know Claudia, Pablo and Jose from Iguana Diving. Also met a cool married couple from Slovenia - Bostjan and Barbara, they're in their second year of travels and have been to many (diving) places all over the world (and still ranked Gordon's Rocks in the top five!) and provided a lot of inspiration regarding diving, traveling, life - lots of discussions during one dive trip together and over drinks later. The question is how to have sufficient means and sufficient free time - basically freedom. Can see how to achieve each separately, will need to figure out a way to combine the two :)

That's pretty much it from Galapagos for now. Tomorrow is election day (seems like we're following elections across South America), so no alcoholic beverages sold for a few days and annoying propaganda trucks driving around with loud recorded messages. Looks like Rafael Correa is the most likely new president - something of a mini-Chavez, but quite popular here. Lots of poverty and huge differences between the rich and poor probably go a long way in explaining this rather sad fact.

Heading to Quito on Sunday and on the Bonaire on Monday. Will report more from there and in the mean time will try to add some pictures (connection here is too slow).

Change of plans, arriving on Galapagos

Some news regarding future travel plans. Things have changed somewhat over the last few days, as Veiko unfortunately will return to Estonia next week due to family reasons. Really sad to be without such a good travel buddy, but he´s made the right decision in the circumstances. Will be missed though...

At the moment we´re on Galapagos, but Veiko´s flying back on the 12th, so I´ve been contemplating what to do after his departure and think I´ve figured out an initial plan.

The new masterplan contains a slight change of focus away from South America. Rather than travelling on my own in Venezuela or Columbia, I´ll invest some more time in my new hobby - diving - in the Caribbean. Specifically I will go to Bonair in the Dutch Caribbean just north of Venezuela. The place has several attractions, one of the better places for diving in the Caribbean, and also a good spot for kite-surfing, which is something I´d like to learn as well. I´ll stay there until beginning of November and then potentially cut the trip roughly a month short compared to the the original plan and head back to Europe.

One thing that has been especially anticipated, however, is Spring in Buenos Aires (end of November onwards, or so), perhaps it will still be possible to make it there somehow, but more on this to follow later on. However, Venezuela, Peru, Bolivia and Southern Ecuador are for the time being out of the picture, but hopefully some sunny day...

---- Back to the Trip:

The beginning of the week was spent in Quito, the initial grand plan for Spanish courses did not materialise, instead a lot of time spent in Internet cafes for research and organising the trip to Galapagos. Also, as you may have read in the previous entry, there is no air in Quito. This continued to be the case for the week. Additionally the lack of air means hangovers are bad, really bad.

Eventually after a lot of time spent in Internet cafes and travel agencies we went for a short trip to the Otavalo market a few hours from Quito. Lots of handicraft, ponchos, pipes, hats, jade figures, textiles, etc. Some very nice things, and prices much lower compared to what we are used to. I got a few souvenirs, Veiko did the same and also a poncho - true, will be cold in Estonia soon...

On our last night in Quito we went to dinner with the honorary ambassador of Estonia in Ecuador (and Cuba and Peru). Dr. Gustavo Ponce and his wife were great company and we found out a lot more about Ecuador. Also about Estonians in Ecuador. Not too many of them here, but some students and a few tourists have been in prison for drug offences (many foreigners caught - penalties harsh, with 12 years typical). Prisons are not too bad however, as the Estonians have chosen to serve the time there rather than back home - some get married and stay (they only spend the night in jail, free to wander during days. Believe similar system in Sweden). Dr Ponce invited us to their family´s country house in the Ecuadorian jungle, but unfortunately we had already planned Galapagos - however, if opportunity should arise and I´ll be back in Ecuador I will remember the invitation. It sounded like a really nice place, with plantations, jungle, lakes etc. Very nice of Dr. Ponce to find time to meet with two random travellers!

On to Galapagos on Friday. As the currency in Ecuador is USD, we had used up our emergency USD cash on living, not bothering to go to an ATM before necessary. This proved to be a mistake, as on they day we were headed to Galapagos, no ATM would accept any of the 7-8 cards we have with us between the two. So with the prospect of arriving with about USD15 (and banks closed for a long weekend) after the tourist tax, we boarded the plane. Things soon turned out for the better however - the ATM on the island worked. Viva Banco del Pacifico! Phew...

I´ll not write a lot about the islands today - just a few first impressions. And the very first impressions are absolutely fantastic - the wild life here is amazing. Animals have no fear of humans, as there are few natural predators. It is possible to observe birds, reptiles, sea lions, etc on a really very close distance.

A few points I thought are especially interesting about Galapagos:

1) It´s 1000km from the nearest coast, and the islands are relatively spread out with several hours boat trip between them
2) Oceanic volcanic group of islands - so all flora and fauna has come "by accident"
3) This has yielded a very interesting spot from an evolutionary point of view. Relatively few species, no mammal predators. Most famous probably for tortoises and turtles (this is where the name comes from), water iguanas, albatrosses, blue-footed boobies, etc, etc
4) Animals don´t fear humans and basically ignore you most of the time - incredible and great opportunity to observe
5) Many of the species exist only here
6) Important place for Darwin in formulating his theory on evolution (Darwin´s finches etc)
7) Slightly more active place than Fernando de Noronha. About 10,000 people in the largest village

So far one day spent here and already very happy we came. Some tours and diving to look forward to, will tell you more after these.

Photos added

Added photos to the posts from Fernando de Noronha and onwards - check them out. For even more pics have a look at Veikos posts at www.raiminsoam.blogspot.com

Second thoughts on Amazon, arriving in Quito

Time to summarise the week Amazon rain forest, some first impressions are also in the previous entry.

Firstly about the lodge - have to praise the owner Jacques: he's building a nice place out there (still adding to it), in the middle of the rain forest. Conquering the jungle is not easy, but he has done a nice job and put together a meaningful program for visitors. Also good food, friendly personnel, things happen most of the time when they are supposed to happen etc. The guides are also a lot of fun, experienced in the forest and speak good English, in addition to several more languages each. Our main guide Kristoffo and Joseph were both a pleasure to be around and very funny. We had lunch in Joseph´s house one day - he lives on the Urube river with his wife and four kids, as well as some chickens, parrots (like the one in the picture - very friendly and curious birds, we had one in the lodge as well, called Laura) and a couple of dogs. It is about an hour from the nearest village. During lunch the "school boat" arrived bringing his two oldest kids back from the day in school - different from any other school transportation system. We had a lot´s of fun with Kristoffo and Joseph.

The days following our walk (and getting lost in the forest) were mostly spent on the various rivers surrounding the lodge, but also visited a local village with about 600 families living there. Simple hospital, school (9 grades) a lot of posters again for the upcoming elections. We saw two churches of the 5 in the village - one catholic and one protestant, but Kristoffo claimed the people are not very religious, because the church don´t approve of beer and partying. All houses, even the poorest-looking ones, have a satellite dish - even on the river, where electricity is generated on spot. The dish is pointed straight up, this is the equator after all.

Most of Wednesday and Thursday the Urube river, which is a black water river (there are three types. Black, which is acid (PH4), not very rich in sediments, white, which carries a lot of sediment flowing all the way from the Andes and thirdly clear water rivers).

The nice thing about Urube was that it is very close to the forest, indeed at times we were passing through it on water, with trees covered in water (and during rain season when the river is about 10 meters higher you literally are travelling on the forest). It is also possible to swim in this river unlike the Amazon, which is polluted and has some dangerous small fish that enter your body and eat from the inside and out. Another interesting thing was a rainbow that made a circle around the sun, no ground contact - never seen this before.

This black type of river is rich in fish and we did spend a lot of time fishing (no pole, just the line), catching two tucunares (one of the best fish for eating, pirarucu being the best one, they were about 7 and 5 kg) and piranhas. Actually saying 'we caught' is not entirely correct as Kristoffo caught the big fish and I managed to catch a piranha. I got close though, but cut myself fighting a big one (15kg at least!) and it got away into safety under some tree trunks. It's possible to actually lose your finger when fishing using just a line, so perhaps I was lucky. Using live bait, the main annoyance was that piranhas kept eating the bait - in about 10 minutes they could easily kill and eat half of the bait fish while avoiding being caught.

Guess which one I got!

Perhaps the highlight of the two days on the Urube was the night we spent at a local fisherman's floating house. His wife cooked some excellent tucunare, we slept in hammocks outside and didn't even notice the fishermen leaving the house at around 4am. Since we slept outside we could observe a large number of bats operating in total silence and with great precision (not wearing IPods, or else they'd be screwed).

The third river day we spent on a different black water river leading to the mighty Amazon. Before heading out though we saw a couple of fields being cleared up for agriculture (trees chopped down, then burned, producing a field that can be used for about 10 years, depending on which crop is grown), the fields we saw were used to grow pineapples, but bananas numerous other fruits and manioc are also grown (manioc is a type of root that is used for flour, basically the only source of carbohydrates in the rain forest cuisine).

Have to say - the Amazon river is powerful, more than 30 km wide, more than 3000km long and in some places more than 100 meters deep. It's a powerful natural phenomenon and does affect the surrounding forest and people a lot. For instance, it rises 6-12 meters in the wet season, covering trees and plains, feeding them with rich sediments for the next dry season. Our canoe was very small on this river. (No pictures because of the heavy rain.)

This time we had four more people join us (the fist couple of days just Veiko and myself). A very friendly couple from Chicago (nice to meet you, AJ and Daphne) and a couple of Belgians, Eveline and Steve. It was raining heavily in the morning, rain in the dry season is not very common but heavy when it occurs. There is not a lot of cover in the canoe so unlike our friends who had brought rain jackets Veiko and me used the opposite strategy of wearing as little as possible. Worked also but was a little cold. Still remember how hot the water in the river seemed when comparing to the temperature outside (I think it has to be around 30C in the river, given that's the temperature in the air year round).

After seeing the Amazon we headed back along the smaller river, changed into some dry clothes in another floating house, warmed up with coffee and cachaca (crazy Eastern Europeans in the opinion of our companions) had some lunch, got some garbage bags to use as isolation from rain (rain jackets sold out, so had to be pragmatic) and continued our trip. Saw a lot of dolphins (grey and pink), interesting and beautiful sight in a river... Of course some more fishing on this river as well, this time intentionally for piranhas - very aggressive fish. The best way to attract them is to splash in the water with the fishing pole, the bait is meat. Also spotted several birds, hawks, parrots, vultures, canaries... After dark Kristoffo caught a cayman (alligator) with his hands - pretty incredible, basically you blind it by pointing a torch at it and then push it and grab the jaws. It was a small one perhaps 60cm long and two years old, but there are many caymans in the river - their eyes glowing in clearly visible bright dark red when hit with light from a torch.

The night we spent in a jungle house about 2km from the lodge, to hear sounds of the night in the jungle, and they are different from daytime for sure. Since it had rained a lot during the day there were a lot of fogs around. These guys are loud! Also we had some of the cachaca we had bought after the rain after the rain and had a few drinks in the dark jungle with AJ and Steve - lots of discussion about US politics, none of the Americans we've met so far like Bush (guess the other half of US don´t travel or don´t publicly proclaim their political views), and AJ was as fierce an opponent to him as any I've met. But quite an interesting discussion, followed by another night in a hammock.

Next day was our day off, I spent it studying a little Spanish (last chance before Spanish-speaking environment) reading books about the rain forest, history of the colonisation and listening to music (you miss music if you only hear sounds of nature for almost a week). Very chilled out day. Completely out of the blue I spotted two toucans just by our house - they were around for about 10 minutes, so got a few pictures as well. Possibly the highlight of the day - don't have to venture deep into the forest when sometimes it helps just being a little lucky.

Sunday a quick tour of Manaus (which was one of the riches cities in the world during the rubber boom, before vulcanisation was invented and large rubber plantations common in Asia and elsewhere). We also saw the meeting of the rivers where Rio Negro and Solimoes meet to form the Amazon. Negro is black and Solimoes is white, because of different temperatures, composition and weight the rivers don't mix immediately, but run parallel for about 6 km. Quite a sight - multicolored river. Sunday was also election day in Brazil and it's a pretty big deal there - voting is mandatory with fines and prohibitions of running a business and even travelling for those who fail to vote. Turnout is in the high 90s, most places are closed on the day, public transport is free etc. The Americans though a similar system might benefit their country, while the Belgians saw nothing strange in it - voting is mandatory also in Belgium.

Sunday was also Veiko's birthday, so we celebrated in Manaus international terminal. We very really hungry, alas the international departures area consists of two souvenir stands and a (initially closed - election day) snacks bar. We managed to convince one of the girls from the souvenir stand to get someone else to open the snacks bar. Beer and microwaved pizza haven't tasted this good for a long time!

Overall have to say that the Amazon was a worthwhile week, saw some animals, birds and met some good people - both local and other gringos. Still I think the jungle is a bit extreme in climate to be very enjoyable, but it is possible to get used to it and the rivers add a lot of variation so would definitely recommend visiting to friends who are into nature.

Eventually the flight took us to Panama, where the connecting flight was nine hours late, so we were taken to a hotel in town so we got to see a little of Panama City as well. Would actuallty not have minded staying longer - seemed like a nice city (possibly the only such city in Central America) and country, but couldn't change the tickets unfortunately. Picture showing some of the ships waiting to go through the channel as seen from the plane.

Arrived in Quito around 7 in the morning today, the air is really thin here (3,000m above sea level), but it seems like a friendly enough place. The plan is to hang around here for about a week, take some private lessons in Spanish (at $6 and hour it seems a bargain) and plan the next weeks of our trip. I'm quite tempted to head to Venezuela or even some Caribbean islands for some diving and more Spanish, but could potentially also end up going to the Galapagos islands off of the Ecuadorian coast if we find a good deal that fits with the schedule. The planned part of the trip is over for now - the next deadline is making it to Buenos Aires by the 20th November.

More to report in a few days - hasta luego!

Mixed feelings in the jungle

Some first thoughts on Manaus and the Amazon. We arrived from Recife with an 8 hour flight making 5 stops along the way - never felt that much as being in a bus while being on an airplane (although Easyjet comes close), with the difference that you can't go out for a cigarette during the landings. Once in Manaus at 2am things quickly got better, our host Jacques from the Amazonat lodge had booked us into the Tropical hotel (great place, many swimming pools, own zoo and orchid garden, excellent facilities - has accommodated Diana, Pele and all kinds of other royalty and politicians, etc - in other words a nice place, over the top actually). At 2am it meant a bed in an air condition room, which was great!

Next day Jacque, the Dutch owner of Amazonat, drove us to the lodge, about 200 km from Manaus (which by the way is a 2m population city, grown from 300,000 in the 60s). During the way lots of discussions about Lula, Chavez, Morales, etc. First look at the lodge - very nice, small houses for the guests and a restaurant (with pretty good food). Also has a small library with books about the Amazon (but being renovated at present, we got to borrow some books nevertheless). We met our guide-to-be for the coming days, Kristoffo, who is an Inca Indian from Peru, but has lived in Brazil for 28 years. (Funny also, we were discussing the low birth rates in West during our trip - Kristoffo is from a family of 16 kids and has 5 himself).

Anyway, to the main point which I've been contemplating for a couple of hours (evening of 26th, might change the entry later, or maybe not) - I don't like the rain forest much!

We went for a couple of hours walk in the jungle (rain forest, more precisely) today and our guide got lost. So rather than arriving at the campsite around noon, we got there at 3.30 having walked for slightly more than 6 hours. I don't think I like the forest here - the moment you walk into it you're completely soaked in sweat and humidity, it's difficult to walk, have to cut down branches as moving along, you can see about 10m in each direction, surrounded by branches, trees. There are sounds which our guide pointed out, but there's relatively little wildlife to see - got a glimpse of some monkeys, and saw a tarantula, which was interesting. But the main feeling I had was of being in a dense forest (vosa, in Estonian), with same old trees surrounding you all the time, most of them have thorns, it's really hot, thirsty all the time, the ground is covered with rotting leaves and tree trunks, feeling of life all around you, decaying or growing, eating and being eaten, making noise. Getting slightly frustrated and bored, then the guide begins to act as if lost - and it's still hot, life all around you, decaying and growing... Then, he shows you the paw prints of a jaguar and says he can smell it close by. No panic, actually just a bit tired and it's still so hot you feel as water is covering the whole body. Not much excitement, just a wish to get to a shower.

Anyway, getting back out felt great. We saw some interesting stuff - trees that Indians used for communication (powerful echo sound), different medicine plants, heard a snake flee from our path, glimpsed monkeys, heard toucans, saw a tarantula. Veiko argues this was a 'real' experience, and I don't argue with him there. But I couldn't help comparing this to diving, which is pleasant, nice temperature, a lot more wildlife to be seen, boat is waiting for you. Maybe I'm a bit spoiled westerner now, but I don't love being in the rain forest, while don't mind reading about the evolutionary aspects at play or seeing some of the wildlife in a zoo.

Anyway, we're going on the river tomorrow, so let's see what that brings. Different from the forest I'm sure and more to see probably as well.

Diving, turtles, beach - Fernando de Noronha

Long time no entries in the blog... This is not, as some readers would think, because the initial enthusiasm for writing has passed but simply because we have lately been in areas with limited/slow/expensive Internet connection with the added factor that there has been a lot to do (yes, can also happen on a vacation).

Today, for instance our guide got lost in the Amazon rain forest and was at the same time smelling a jaguar making circles around us (not a very pleasant positon to be in, by the way, but nice to be back behind a computer screen).

As you gathered, we are currently in the Amazon region, to be more precise about 200 km east of Manaus in a jungle lodge called Amazonat - this is our base from which we'll make different trips almost every day for the coming week. 'We' is now just Veiko and myself, dad left about 5 days ago.

This current entry will be about Fernando de Noronha, however, which is where we spent the last week. The Internet connection is via satellite and quite slow, so I'll upload photos at some later date, perhaps together with a few from the Amazon). Fernando de Noronha is a small island about 350km east of Recife in the Atlantic ocean - it's main structure is the airport, which is huge, seems to take up at least 10-15% of the whole island's area from air (built during 2nd world war, as Fernando was a somewhat important strategic point). Today, it's a natural park with very few inhabitants and surprisingly few tourists as well - however most Brazilians we have mentioned it to know of it and either have been or want to go.

The island does have excellent beaches (a dozen or so) - best I've seen, excellent diving and snorkeling, lots of buggy-s (real cars really not needed and couldn't drive on some of the bumpy mud roads anyway), and also some interesting nature outside the sea. Very safe and small place, so quite a contrast to Salvador in many ways. Accommodation is arranged in small pousadas or family houses, however there are a few hotels with bungalows as well (expensive, about EUR 600 per night and the one we checked booked solid for two months ahead - so we were in a more reasonable pousada).



The main reason we went to Fernando de Noronha was to learn to dive - and indeed this was also the main attraction during our days here - reading the theory, doing first confined water dives in the port and later four open water dives in the sea. Well - I'm a fan of diving at this moment and we're seriously thinking about making a few changes to our traveling route to incorporate some more diving spots. To readers who have not dived, it's difficult to describe the pleasure of floating weightlessly under water while observing rays, turtles, unknown fish or underwater landscape in clear blue waters. To those of you who dive - I finally get what it's about.

I thought the course was pretty good (PADI Open Water), a bit American and commercial in the setup and study materials, but gives good opportunities to practice and some ideas about the theory anyway. Also our instructor (thanks, Gustavo!) was excellent and we were the only students (dad also joined in , so the three of us) in the group, so a got a lot of practice. For instance, how to switch to a buddy's air source in an emergency - or simply swim up. Turns out it's pretty easy to swim 9 meters straight up while continuously exhaling (so the lungs don't overexpand, but the added benefit of decompression is that there is more and more air in the lungs as you ascend, so never feel out of air).

I found a new hobby in diving on Fernando de Noronha and this does not happen very often, so definitely one the highlights during the trip so far.

Saturday we flew back to Recife to spend one night there and continue to Manaus. Felt good to have a few bars around for drinks, live music, etc - additionally of course celebrating Toomas Hendrik Ilves' victory in the Estonian presidential election. Recife was a much needed stop in civilisation before heading to the Amazon on Sunday.

Recife rock´n´roll

Passing through Recife on our way to Fernando de Noronha. Yesterday was Friday night so we went to the centre for some food and drinks. Spent a few hours walking around a maze of streets filled with shops and stalls (similar to Hong Kong, dad thought), tried to buy some mp3 CD-s with Brazilian music, but the they only had Western stuff, Madonna, Tom Jones, weird selection... No tourists in sight in this neighborhood.

Then on to Rua Bom Jesus, where most pubs in the centre are. Attempted to ask for directions in a stall, Veiko and dad having beers and me a Coke. Somehow the language barrier created a situation where the lady became convinced that I was trying to tell her about the love of Jesus. Managed to clarify with the help of a map and got directions.

The pub we were recommended became pretty crowded around 11, people mostly in their late twenties, quite a few election campaigners in uniforms of some sort. Positive - street vendors actually took no for an answer - pretty different from Salvador. Live bands playing everywhere around the area. The one in our pub played sixties and seventies rock music, with very long guitar solos (decent quality). Later came to think that few in the audience could actually understand the words anyway. The Beatles, however, are everywhere.

Wiches, drums, favela

Seems like I really like this blogging thing, looked at the old posts today adding pictures - check them out if you so wish! Also a new entry about Salvador today.

The final one and a half days in Salvador were in retrospect spent in activities with the common theme of trying to experience different parts of local people´s lives. The basic presumption probably has to be that this is impossible in a foreign place, since the observer always influences the observed (or so I was taught in some anthropology class). This is especially true in Salvador. The main attractions here are very commercialised, including the ceremonies of the Candomble religion, which we attended in the evening with a tourist group.

I thought the ceremony (which took place in a poorer area of town) was quite interesting, despite the obvious over-representation of white people, most of them not wearing white clothes as would typically be appropriate in such a ceremony. I will not describe the religion here in any detail - better overviews are easily available on the web. However some things that I found interesting are that the religion is quite positive in spirit and less restricted than others I know of. 60% of blacks here (who make up 80% of the 3 million inhabitants of Salvador) practice it in some form. The concept of sin does not exist; reincarnation and more than 20 gods (orixa-s), each with special attributes; syncretism; marriage does not exist (catholic marriages even for believers); monogamy is preferred but having lovers is quite common and not really frowned upon. In some ceremonies animals are sacrificed, but not in the one we attended.

We saw a purification ceremony, where many orixa-s were addressed. The ceremony consists of drums, chanting (in this case old, very energetic women with loud and high-pitched voices - singing and making sounds like "iah!, iah!"), dancing, trances, drinking different alcoholic beverages and smoking cigars. Also participating were a few middle-aged ladies, a huge young man, some teenage boys, kids, a young mother. No wonder our guide explained that unlike western religions candomble is quite popular among young people, because of all the parties. All of the tourists were also individually purified and asked for contributions to the temple.

After the ceremony we were driven back to Pelourinho (Old Town) with quite heated debate over the issue weather the whole ceremony was fabricated for tourists or somewhat real. My conclusion was that it is as real as any museum (objects displayed in unnatural ways), so worth a visit.

Today we went to a drum class in the morning for half an hour with Professor Macambira - since we were the only people who showed up for the first slot in the morning we had a private lesson, which I enjoyed quite a lot. Mostly we tried different versions of samba with various percussion instruments, the prof´s skills were pretty amazing, but the gringos managed to put up some reasonable background noise to his solos as well. So, overall not too bad.

Later I went with dad on a stroll in the "dangerous" part of Salvador (i.e. about 300 meters from our hostel). Well, it didn´t feel unsafe at all, prices were about 80% lower than on the hill, there were suddenly no beggars and people seemed somehow more content - getting on with their activities. We also went to quite many art galleries on our way back and some some pretty good paintings (and a lot of crap as well).

In the afternoon Louis, (the same guide who took us to the Candomble ceremony last night) showed us around town. We drove to his neighborhood and went to a place where people used to live on the sea in houses built on poles. Actually, this was what we wanted to see most of all, based on some paintings in the galleries, but apparently there are no real areas like this left, since the government has moved the people out. Anyway, it was good to see the real Salvador - apparently much fewer true favelas than in Rio, despite being in a relatively poorer part of country. Our guide said it is because lower hills (still very hilly, but granted that the hills are smaller than in Rio) and partly also because of Candomble that the social fabric is actually decent, despite the poverty. He also said that the danger stories are ghost stories made up by guides who want to make money (like himself) so tourists will not venture to town on their own - according to Louis it would´ve been perfectly safe for us to walk around in the hills on our own during the day. Who knows, people in our hostel lost money and cameras to pickpockets and robbers, but - granted - mostly around touristy areas.

Another thing relating to the more physical way of life in Bahia and Brazil was Louis´ observation that people don´t like TV and cinemas here - they prefer to dance, play football, etc. Interesting. He was a bit sad though that kids don´t like school and don´t study much either, and this is related to candomble in some ways as well - no written tradition etc. Pluses and minuses.

Anyhow, this is pretty much it for Salvador - can´t say I´m not happy to move on from here. Some highlights in the city, we met Marcelo, saw some interesting things, but overall the place was quite tiring, with many beggars, salesmen and tourist to be truly enjoyable.

Tomorrow we´re flying to Recife and the following day to Fernando de Noronha for diving - this is if our flight works, we have tickets with the bankrupt Varig airline, but they do still operate some domestic flights, so hope we´ll at least make it there - less important to get back on schedule...

Flying in Rio, arriving in Salvador

Time to conclude the Rio entry in the diary, we left it a couple of days ago and continued to Salvador - more about that later.

The days in Rio continued in the same excellent manner as they started. On Friday we went out to Lapa, among other places the CEU club - very cool place, live music and incredible salsa dancing. Couple of the guests were professional dancers (at least with T-shirts from a samba school), and what they did on the dance floor is beyond description. Whirlwind comes to mind... Continued for a few more drinks in different places in Lapa - great night out.

On Saturday hang gliding. Really cool, adrenaline kick, view, flying. The take-off is from a 520m high peak, perhaps the most exciting part of the flight. Feels surreally natural to run in full speed towards the edge of the cliff and continue running until there is no more ground under the feet. The flight itself was about 15 minutes after which you land on a beach. Incredible feeling, would definitely go again...

We had a few beers and talked to the instructor, Chico Santos, afterwards. Turned out he has been the Brazilian champion in distance gliding four times, going more than 360km in 8 hours. He also told about a time in California, when he climbed to 7,500 meters from a 4000 meter peak - apparently the temperature differences in the desert make this possible. You need an oxygen mask and warm clothes though, -25C up there.

Later we had a long dinner with about 8 beers discussing genetics, education, editorial systems etc (you can tell my dad´s around) and then to another bar for a few more drinks.

The last day in Rio was pretty much used up on washing up, packing, chilling. Day of rest, but in the evening went back to the bossa nova place from the first day - again really chilled out evening with bossa and samba music.

The flight to Salvador, Bahia, which is the most African-influenced part of Brazil, with the colour of the skin of people definitely darker than that in Rio. It is also a poorer part of the country, which unfortunately has the effect that the number of street vendors and beggars is a lot higher than in Rio.

However it used to be the capital of Brazil until late 18th century and is also home to the second most important carnival in Brasil, the centre of capoeira, axe music (drums, drums, drums), a centre for the the candoble religion. Pelourinho, the old part of town, contains many churches, cathedrals, museums etc.

Getting to the hostel, etc took up the better part of Monday. In the evening we met Marcelo, who Veiko knew via another friend. He´s a really friendly Brazilian guy from Rio, and has spent the last few days together with us in Salvador. Marcelo has also been in Estonia (good-looking girls have made a lasting impression), even to Tartu, so unlike most people here he knows something about my small home country. Nice to have someone local around (he´s from Rio, so also a tourist in Salvador, but already knowing Portuguese helps get rid of some of the often pushy street vendors, so some practical benefits as well).

There was also a moment that made me feel ashamed about my home town when Marcelo was telling me how he was approached by some punks in Tartu who yelled ´white power´ - fucking idiots, living in a bloody periphery of the world with pretty much homogeneous people and think they have the right to talk to visitors. Really made me angry to hear this thousands of kilometers from home.

Anyway, Marcelo took it with easy and continued clapping his hands at the sight of beautiful Estonian women, so it´s not all bad in that cold and strange country.

Salvador so far has contained a lot of talking and eating. Marcelo has introduced us to some of his local friends and we´ve been to several nice restaurants, discussing the differences between this country and old Europe etc. We´ve also done some sightseeing, visited a market where we bought some drums, whistles, etc after having tried these out for about half an hour in a improvised session (stupid gringos having fun) with the salesman. He was so happy about selling all this stuff to us that he took as around in the market house, showing the prison where slaves were kept in the old days, and some spots with good views.

Old town (Pelourinho) has also been very nice. Most memorable perhaps is the atmosphere, which is the mixture of a very nice old colonial town, mixed with crowds of street people, trying to sell one thing or another, beggars etc. It´s very easy to feel like a tourist here... However, yesterday over dinner we saw a local old drunk joining the band (invited by the guitarist´s girlfriend) and playing some incredible music on his tambourine. Afterwards both the singer/guitarist and the old man joined our table (thanks to Marcelo, his love of music and command of Portuguese) for a few drinks and some food. One of the least touristic experiences here in Salvador.

One of the most touristic experiences, on the other hand, was the visit to the Capoeira school - saw some incredible moves, but it is clear that it was made for tourists to get money. Better to look at capoeira on the beach or squares, it seems to be everywhere around here.

One cool place was one of the main churches (have to check the name) - it´s full of gold, all walls seem to be covered by golden carvings. There were also pictures of five types of Angels (male, female, hermaphrodite, pregnant and children). Jesus was hugging St Franciskus on the main altar (haven´t seen this anywhere else). In the court yard where 37 scenes from Roman mythology with texts in Latin, with quotes such as ´Death is the only certain thing´, ´Virtue conquers all´etc. Very relaxed place this courtyard, spent some time walking around and reading these quotes and looking at the pictures.

I find Brazil a fascinating place, and it´s been very useful to talk to Marcelo to get a better understanding of the place.

One observation about Brazil seems to be that people here are much more physical than in Europe - football, samba, salsa, capoeira - also at the beach usually they play sports. Could be that my sample is biased, but it seems a different and healthy way to live.

They don´t smoke a lot, which surprised me a bit, was expecting everyone to be lighting up (poor country, etc), but really fewer smokers than in Europe. Also, gambling seems to not exists in a very visible way.

It´s a huge country, 4,300 km by 4,300 km (yes same height as width) and 160 million people. Funnily it´s election time here (i think beginning of October), so a lot of cars driving around with local election candidates faces - also many flags and posters on the streets, and a lot of people doing campaign work (paid or not, I don´t know. To judge by the faces - paid and minimum wages). Anyhow, it´s interesting to see such active political participation here - and ironic to again think back at Estonia, where the presidential election seems to be fought by the power of few over the many and twisting rules to their advantage (way to go Savisaar, etc). Lula seems quite sure of being re-elected as president here - by Brazil´s people.

After being here a while, I feel like getting more fit, maybe smoke less, strange feelings :)

Thanks if you managed to read all of this long entry in the blog :)

Rio continued

Some highlights from the last two days in Rio.

Went to see the huge Christ statue on Corcovado mountain, some 700 meters high (the statue is about 35 meters or 12 stories tall building, visible from much of Rio). Actually we wanted to go to the Sugarloaf Mountain, but the taxi driver confused things and took us half way to Corcovado and was surprised when we pointed at the quickly dimishing landmark of Sugarloaf Mountain. So, the decision was made for us to go to Corcovado instead - wanted to see both anyway.

The drive up the mountain is really cool, cars can go all the way up via small streets and serpentines and it is a long way. People bicycling and walking up the hill, crazy...

Corcovado was great - cannot say much more, difficult to describe a great view in all directions (even more difficult to capture on camera). Makes you realise how big Rio is... It´s really a special city, like it a lot. But its not just the view, the huge statue of Christ the Redeemer makes the place strangely calm. Very cool experience overall.

In the evening we saw Botafago vs Fluminense at the Maracana stadium - as I am lazy and Veiko is a bigger football fan anyway, check out his blog for details (www.raiminsoam.blogspot.com).

Today - Sugarloaf Mountain (Pão de Açúcar). Very different day from Corcovado, despite also basically spending it on a city peak. Sugarloaf is much more relaxed, more room to move around, cafeterias etc, it was also perfect weather - about 25 degrees and sunny. To get up to the peak we used cable cars that carry people up via another peak (Morro da Urca). The original cable cars built almost a hundred years ago - impressive, the new ones are from the seventies, however.

I think we spent about 4 hours on the two tops, having snacks, talking, walking around, a few beers - really chilled out place. Veiko was looking for some girl in bikinis, as in the song of Singer Vinger (Estonian band). None around. Also saw some amazing parrots of different minerals on sale. Really nice works of art (would like to uploads photos here, will figure out how one of these days), too heavy to carry along on the trip though and a bit steep ($7,000 or so).

So, time to go out for dinner. Friday night here, so going out to Lapa later, will check out CEU and Rio Scenarium - thanks Silja for suggestions in your comment :)

Arriving in Rio

Finally in S. America - Rio. I landed yesterday evening around 7pm (proud of not having needed any nicotine chewing gums that I had bought especially for the trans-atlantic flight) and it was completely dark outside. Realised it is winter here.

Winter here however is quite pleasant, about 20 degrees today - good for sightseeing, but fewer than expected girls on the Ipanema beach. The weather can turn very quickly here though, from rain and 15 degrees to sunshine and 30 during a day, and supposedly it´s getting warmer now, so we´ll see towards the end of the week.

Met up with Veiko, he had got us a hostel in central Ipanema, pretty good price for this part of town and decent place. It´s run by a french guy so a lot of frenchmen staying there. Went out to dinner with a couple of them last night, and then to a small bossa nova bar for a few caipirinhas to officially start the trip (and finish off my birthday celebrations).

Did some sightseeing today, but left the most important parts for later (my dear father is arriving tomorrow...), so we went to the bohemian part of town called Santa Teresa. One of the few mountain areas that are really safe to visit, no favelas there, but more local crowds and great views of town. These very old trams go uphill, people jumping onboard during slower parts of the way. Pretty cool place overall.

Had lunch in a fish restaurant on the hill and a local guy asked us not to smoke. Which was cool with me (and Veiko who doesn´t smoke and probably was happy that I couldn´t). Anyway, this led to a conversation with this intense guy, whose name is Daniel. He´s a movie director living in the area. He´s been travelling quite a lot and had some interesting views on world affairs. He knew Estonia, which is pretty impressive and talked about Soviet Union and wondered if things are getting better etc. Also spoke about Nietzsche and Castaneda etc... Pretty much how you´d imagine a director trying to make his first feature film anywhere in the world... Cool to meet him in Rio though, might hook up for some drinks later in the week.

Tomorrow migh be football at the Maracana stadium with about 70,000 seats and record attendance (legal and illegal) of close to 200,000 in a game against Paraguay - should be an experience. Also seriously considering hang-gliding, perhaps if there´s a sunny day during our stay.

Til next time - Oliver

Birthday in Madrid

Today´s my birthday and also my last day in Madrid before flying to Rio de Janeiro tomorrow. Haven´t got any big plans for the night, but someone told me that spending the birthday alone is actually a good thing - at least that´s what the shamans figured.

The last couple of days have been fun (and still very-very hot). Met with Inigo from London for dinner on Saturday and drinks after that. It was fun to meet him and his Spanish friends, but the food was Italian :)

Otherwise been reading and sightseeing.

Went to del Prado, a truly amazing art museum. Velazquez, Goya, El Greco, Titian and a temproary exhibition of Picasso´s works and many others. An additional benefit is that it is relatively cool inside, which probably extended my visit by a couple of hours. It was also a very different setting compared to Descalzas Reales on Saturday, not sure which one I liked most - the authentic setting or the grand works.

Still, even a few hours is a short time in a large museuam, but a few paintings made an impression. Picasso´s Lovers (very simple but somehow complete drawing) made me long. Velazquez´s Meninas and Christ on the Cross were also amazing. Goya´s and Anton Rafael Mengs portraits of the Spanish royalty I liked also, didn´t know much about Mengs before. I´m not usually into art all that much. However, an excellent museum, the heat outside and a lot more time on my hands than usual all helped create a pretty cool experience in del Prado.

After the museum I spent a couple of hours in del Retiro, a large park just behind the museum. Watching the park, people in it and reading.

Finished one book (one down, nine more to carry) called Happiness. Relatively interesting ideas, but the suggested grand societal changes probably were naive in the end. How do you measure and compare happiness between people, if a reasonable political goal were to maximise happiness in the society? Some answers were suggested, but were not entirely satisfactory. One interesting observation however was that happiness as reported in interviews hasn´t increased in Western societies in 30 years, real income however has increased by 50% or more. Seems like we get used to better standards very quickly (absolute), but are happy only when better off than the neighbours (relative). Maybe if everyone cared a little bit more about what they do have, rather than looking at what their peer group has got they would smile a bit more often. Fat chance of that happening though :)

Next post should will be from Rio. Less discussion of art and literature and more to report from the beach, nightlife, caipirinhas, etc I would guess.

Oliver (27, dam´)

Beginning - Tallinn to London and onwards

The day before yesterday I left Tallinn flying to London for a one-day stop there. About one hour from plane touchdown I finally got my back-pack (which I thought was rather big, but is actually about half the size of Veiko´s - hope I´m just being more clever).

London was fun - met Ülle and Kairi and spoke to others on the phone. Dinner in Pappardella, which all of you who visited me and Veiko in Earl´s court will know, was delicious as always and the waiters still remember... During the evening everyone agreed to come to Buenos Aires in
November. That would make for a few great weeks, so hope at least some will make it.

Veiko was in London also, so we had a chance to discuss some practicalities. Seems like all flights in Brazil and on to Equador are booked now, so the trip definitely has some structure. We´ll meet in Rio on the fifth, continue to Salvador, Recife, Fernando de Noronha, Recife and Manaus. Manaus (and the Amazonas) will be the last stop in Brazil and from there we´ll make our way to Equador.


On to Madrid where I am now.

-- Skip this section if not interested in frustrated travel details. -- After 1.5 hours of waiting in Heathrow security I was rushed past everyone, because my flihght was on Last Call, then another 50 minutes waiting on the plane because more people from the flight were stuck in security. Anyway, liquids and lighters are now forbidden through security , but I managed to smuggle one that I had promised to keep. Landed in Madrid and waited 1.5 hours for the luggage. So about 3 hours later than planned I was in Madrid, which probably will seem like a minor detail when comparing to trains in S. America, I bet. Not that I´m in any rush, just need to get used to that.

It´s hot here in Madrid. Been doing some sightseeing and will meet up with a few people I know from London hopefully in the evening. Best sight so far was a Descalzas Reales, a small monastery in central Madrid. A very simple and calm building, but contains some quite incredible art and relics (a lot of bones, most have arrived as gifts so some origins are not certain). I didn´t understand the Spanish guide, but didn´t mind much, it was cool in there and very relaxing - will see if I can post some pictures, didn´t find any good ones on the web.

In the afternoon stroll I found a bookstore with English books, being slightly paranoid about the accessibility of literature during the trip I ended up buying four more books, which brings the total to about 8 or 9 now, including guidebooks. Far too many for back-pack trip, so need to read fast and get rid of a few - guess my few remaining days of solitude here and the long trip to Rio will help.

Pretty much it for now - tomorrow I think I´ll rent a car and drive to Toledo slightly to the south and back up north to Salamanca. Monday possible hang around in Salamanca and return to Madrid in the evening or maybe continue further north, to the coast. Just realised Monday is my birthday... Looks like no big party this year

Until the next post... Enjoy the weekend and summer, if there´s any left.