World cup Final week

Picking this up on the 3rd of a 5 day stretch in Porto de Galinhas, the time was spent leisurely, getting the most out of the beautiful beaches the east coast of Brazil had to offer. I think the town's pace of life could set record lows, it was like walking in slow motion half the time, very enjoyable, definitely the flipside of what life back in the UK is like. We gladly joined in and soaked it up.

Whilst Bren went surfing I spent a day walking 3km up the main coastline, stopping regularly to sunbathe and divulge in the odd coconut. Time stopped that day and everything in life back home just seemed so beautifully insignificant.

As evening approached I swung by the town to grab a few gifts for the family, met Bren and went to a local bar to watch the Germany vs Brazil game. Game of the tournament in so many ways for me. 

The build up was just Neymar Neymar Neymar, everyone was talking about it, it seemed evident, especially when Luiz & Cesar held up his shirt whilst singing the anthem before KO that the team's focus was elsewhere. They certainly underestimated the drilled German force. 5-0 at half time and the bar just emptied, the people who did stay for the second half were full of acceptance, clapping the 6th and 7th as they knew they had just witnessed the biggest humiliation in world cup history. Ouch.

The next day we took a coach upto Recife to spend 4 nights before flying to Rio for the final leg.

Our host Marcus was extremely accomodating, we ended up with a single room each which was a pleasant change! 4th floor flat in a 15 story building. Big place with 4 bedrooms.

The first full day was spent scoping out the place and walking along the beach front for a few miles. A perfect urban beach, aligned with classy high rise buildings across the road. 

The next evening came and Marcus' mate took us out for a few beers in the main drinking area, a maze of streets buzzing with all kinds of people and bars. Most of the streets had live music going on, whether it be a quartet of drummers or a typical band. After wondering and nipping into various places for a quick beer to soak up the vibe of place we settled oustide a cool bar with maybe a hundred people listening to this awesome band play. Consisted of an extremely talented guitarist, base player, drummer and a dude with some bongos. Worked really well. Played some classic stuff, singing in both Portuguese and English. The best part for me though is that if this was set up in the UK the band would be on a stage further back from the crowd and would be over-organised. This was just like they threw their kit on the street oustide a bar and just starting jamming, occasionally stopping to go for a piss and grab a few beers! 

Was a privilege to be part of that, wicked night.

The following day it was more of same, and we finished off with a 2 hour Muay Thai training session, first time for me, Bren had some decent experience but I got through it. Really enjoyed it actually, great workout for the whole body although after 5 weeks of doing naff all I felt it massively the next day! Would recommend it to anyone.

Watched the Final yesterday, nothing much of a game really, the Argies had their chances to go 1 or even 2 up, but with some Gotze magic the deserved team came through in the end. A fitting end to a team and a country that's world class, both on and off the field.

I read somewhere today that the Germans came to Brazil 6 months ago, paid and built their own training complex, hiring only the Brazilian locals. After the cup they will hand the complex over to that community for sports facilities and a school. All paid for by Germany. That's the sort of thing that makes you worthy winners. 

Just about to board the final Internal flight to the last destination, hoping time will stop once more. 

All for now.

Alex x

Amazonas!

The last evening in Sau Paulo was the Brazil vs Cameroon game, winning 4-1 with Neymar bagging 2 more goals and a star man for my dream team. 1st place in all 3 leagues.. for now!

Went to a club/bar/dance venue to watch it. What an atmosphere! At half time the lights dimmed and a wicked mix of dance tracks came on.. everyone got up and started throwing some shapes! Much better than listening to some old dudes talk about how brilliant Neymar was!

There must have been a few thousand heads in there and I can honestly say I've never seen so many stunning women in one place.. jaw dropping ! After the game finished, it turned into a Massive dance night, DJ's tearing it up like a night in Ibiza! Brazilians definitely lived up to the party stereotype this evening, amongst many!

Left earlyish, had a mission of a flight the following day upto the Amazon in Santarem, consisting of 3 flights. Left at 4pm, 14 hours later we arrived at the hostel in Alter de Chao. 25th June.

Day one has been a predictability now, purely to explore the place. Can see the Amazon river from the Hostel, spent an hour chilling on the hammocks they have hanging up, looking straight at it. The place is fairly quiet, not many signs of tourism, which is a positive.

As we were walking through the main town, which consisted of maybe a dozen shops, food shacks, restaurants & bars, we chanced it and grabbed a bowl of what can be only described as translucent slime with kelp juice and prawns. We both ate about half and politely declined the rest. Always open to trying anything once and wanted a taste of what the locals eat. Fuck me it was a struggle, did our best but there was only so much we could eat before heaving!

We booked a mornings boat ride up the Amazon for the following morning, the guide picked us up from our Hostel around 3pm. He took us though some narrow waters in a motorised canoe with a makeshift roof, after stopping off at a local bar on the river we swapped into a 3 man canoe, which was a third of the size. Using a paddle he took us much deeper into the Amazon, winding inbetween trees and shrubbery!

After about an hour we had completed a loop and were on our way back to the local bar we swapped boats from. Overall I was taken back from the purity of nature the Amazon can only give you, an extremely humble experience.

So we got to the bar and after having a cold frosty one we spent some time throwing ourselves into the river via a rope swing. Pretty decent. The next day we booked a trek through Amazon jungle. Left around 9am, after an hour hooning it down the River we finally got to our destination.

There were ten of us, mostly from Canada and the U.S, good bunch of lads. Two guides walked us through the Jungle for about 3 hours, stopping occasionly to inform us of interesting sights. He cut into one tree and explained the white powder that seeps from under the bark helps treat chest infections, it tasted like weak paracetamol! Awesome.

After asking about another tree that had diagonal knife marks on it, he explained this tree is used for extracting latex from. He pinched a small piece from the tree and stretched it out about a meter, pretty cool.

We had passed the secondary section of the jungle and into the primary (dense and basically untouched), we passed the half way mark and the heavens opened.. thunderous heavy rain just anialated us all, but I quite liked it, not every day you get to experience this. For once I wasn't that bothered about it raining!

The rain stopped shortly and a small opening appeared from the dense forest, revealing a breathtaking view over the Jungle and the connecting Amazon river. Simply amazing.

We got back to base around 4 hrs after we left. Had some lunch cooked for us by the locals, chicken rice and salad. Muito Bon (very good). Headed back to the hostel after lunch and wiped out after a hot shower. What a fantastic day.

Just finished watching Brazil qualify to the Quarters,  the Amazon has just erupted, what a finish!
Plus I had £2.50 on Brazil to win on penalties at 20/1 when they were 1-0 up, Bosh!

Looking forward to seeing Neymar & co in Fortaleza for the Quarters!

Until the next time.

Alex