Salvadoooor

Hello dearest friendlings. I write to you from Salvador or as they say in Portuguese Salvadooor :). It is warm, very warm but nicely so. Last night we nearly got set upon by some fruit. I like it already. Speaking of fruit, Brazil seems to be home to the humble Umbu - also known as yummy yummy sour fruit that Mario loves now. I also had some pineapple soaked in lime juice last night, I could really get used to the place even if it was only for the fruit, but enough about food! I've met up with my other travel companions, incl my bro who was good enough to come and collect me in my semi conscious state from the airport - saved me thinking which I always like :) and the lovely Amber and Christine (sorry if I spelled your name wrong!) who so graciously fed me with plantains, potato and other choice foods when I arrived. The coffee is also excellent and not at all like the acetone flavoured Tesco finest Brazilian blend .
Perhaps I should explain the fruit attack. We were sitting by the promenade, I eating papaya and sipping Agua de Coco and the others sipping and supping on other lovely foodstuffs when a storm, which had been threatening with it's flashy displays for some time, arrived. Rather suddenly. It blew a large parasol onto the beach some 30-40 metres away and started a concerted assault against terrace dwellers by means of fruit. Luckily we didn't stick around to be brained. Seems fruit will be an important theme in Salvador :)
I will stick the pics up now and you may wonder at the lovely view from our 9th floor apartment . I think I'll leave it there for now. More adventures with foodstuffs to follow. Watch this space! Oh and it looks like I needn't have worried about the supplies, I have all I need except a phone that works! Damn you thieving meteor! If anyone wants my o2 no. email me.

First contact - Lisbon

Lisbon, city of light, city of magic (or is that Mournhold?). Turns out Lisbon is where the Clangers went. I was awoken from my siesta this afternoon by a sound only describable (sp?) as a clanger whistle. I thought of course that it could be some sort of half dream but upon hearing it in my fully woken state I could confirm. Clangers still exist and they live in Portugal. I did not see the being emitting this noise so I can't guess as to its purpose. The fact that I found a Hello Kitty emporium has also added Lisbon to my top destinations list. I think the look of wonder on my face convinced the shop assistant I was a no good shoplifter. That and the fact that I kept pawing at my handbag due to my severe paranoia about pickpocketing. Portuguese is a strange and misleading language. Sounds like Russian, written like Spanish. I'm convinced now that the lonely planet language guide exists only to fool unfortunate travellers into making a fool of themselves and provide a cheap laugh for tourist trappers in Portugal. One example - restaurante. Is it like the French or English pronunciation....NO. It is pronounced hestoroch. Why? Lovely to listen to, impossible to learn in 4 hours. In short my little trip to Lisboa has gone well and without a hitch that I can remember though my memory is limited to 5 minute bursts at the moment due to the 6 hours of sleep I've had since Friday night. It's Monday. Gragh. A more coherent post will follow soon. Boa noite!

Mario's pre leaving freak out

Argh, only a week and a half to go and suddenly all those things I was getting to prepare have to be gotten now, I have to buy a large bag, a pair of walking boots, a new phone to have my old crap one as a spare (also because I hate my phone and I think I'm due an upgrade :)) some special travel towel thingies, maybe some sort of water bottle thing, insect repellant, a sleeping bag cover, raincoats in bags, some sort of small shampoo, a pair of swimming togs (hopefully ones that necessitate minimal shaving, urgh!) etc etc etc. I know a week and a half is ample time for such but I get nervous about such things. Suddenly realising, standing in a spanish colonial church in a german speaking town in Argentina, that I've forgotten my extra sim card could be a nervewracking experience! Realising I didn't bother to even so much as bend my ear to some crap portuguese pop to get my head around their bizarre pronunciation and perhaps even learn how to tell some young lady to show me her bikini has also left me a little regretful. I may never need to ask a young lady for such a thing but I think asking where the toilet is and if that dish comes without entrails could be good, much as I like some entrails. I must away now and stop wasting time writing in my literature replacement pod and try to find these necessaries. It doesn't help that I'm trying to apply for courses next year either although that's pretty much fixed up. Yay! Next time I post here I'm sure I'll actually not be in the country anymore which will make it infintely more interesting :)