The rhythm of Afro-Brazil

After our unfortunate incident in Belem we moved swiftly on, catching a flight to the coastal city of Natal, pretty much on the eastern corner of South America (the spot geologists will think of as fitting snuggly into the armpit of Africa!). Natal was a lot bigger than we had anticipated, and we had already had our fill of big cities, so we headed up the coast to the small village of Maracajau, which was much more to our liking. We spent a couple of days relaxing, walking in the sand dunes, and snorkelling on the reef several kilometers out to sea. It would have been nice to stay a little longer, but unfortunately our Brazilian AirPass has us on a tight schedule, so we had to head back to Natal to catch our next flight to Salvador.

Salvador was the main slave trading port during the Portuguese colonial era, and as most of the slaves came from Africa, it has a strong African flavour. Bright colours and lots of loud drumming well into the night provide a real party atmosphere. Unfortunately it works the image to the maximum and is a bit of a tourist trap. Nice to wander around the cobbled streets of the old town for a day or two, but we needed some time out from the constant hassling of touts etc., so we caught a ferry out to the island of Itaparica in the bay, which was much more relaxed. Although maybe a bit too relaxed - public transport was a bit slow, especially on roads that are more pothole than tar. As a result we only had an hour or two on the island before heading back!

The next item on the agenda was a visit to the church of ´Nossa Senhor do Bonfim´where people bring ´votives´as a sign of thanks for blessings received. The number and variety of these votives is amazing. The walls are lined with photographs of people who have been blessed - usually healed in some way. The ceiling is strung with models of hands, feet, arms, heads and any body part that was healed. Quite a moving sight!

Yet again our Airpass dictated that we move on, and we caught our final flight to Brasilia - the purpose-built capital of Brazil. The only point of interest in the city was the bizarre addressing system. None of the roads have names, but the blocks of buildings are numbered. Numbering starts at the centre of the city and increases outward in a very complicated manner that left us standing on a street corner for ages trying to figure out how to find our hotel at Quarto 703 Bloco N Casa 34! Brasilia was just a jumping off point for our overland journey to Campo Grande, over 1000km away, on the edge of the Pantanal (huge wetland area similar to the Okavango) where we plan to spend several days birdwatching and looking for Jaguars!