Aymi’s Adventures

All the volunteers 

Still loving it here in Olinda but will be going to Salvador for 4 nights on Monday with Kirsty.  Really glad I have a travel companion, it will make the 12 hour bus journey go a lot quicker.  It’s weird how quickly you make friends in a foreign country, I feel like I have known Kirsty and Sejal for years – hopefully we will stay in touch after Brazil, i’m pretty sure we will.

Loads has been happening since my last update, mainly with the volunteerbrazil.com company.  If anyone is thinking of volunteering in Brazil please speak to me about it first!!!  Cant really say much more about it on the internet but will fill you all in as and when.

Four new volunteers have arrived, two staying in the hotel Costeiro with me, Liz & Joy and the other two staying in a homestay near to Kirsty, Megan and Natalie.  They are all really nice so have been going out with them a bit and had more people to have dinner with at night etc etc.  I feel like I really know Olinda and it’s people now, we have made loads of Brazilian friends as well as other volunteers.  The best parts are going to Alto De Se at nights, especially Friday’s and Sunday afternoons and evenings to watch all the preperations for carnival.  There is frevo dancing, capoeira, maracatgu drumming, processions, loads of artisanata’s, capiroska’s and just a generally great atmosphere.  There is a huge group of us that all meet up there on Sunday nights for a few drinks and to join in the huge congregation of people having fun!

Partying at Alto De Se

Anyway my time here is drawing to a close, I leave on Monday 13th Feb to go to Salvador for 4 nights with Kirsty and then I will go onto Rio on my own for the Rolling Stones concert on the 18th and then meet Kate on 22nd.  I cant believe how gutted I am to be leaving, I definately want to come back here next year and spend carnival here, I am going to miss everyone so much.

Edwardo & I

So having another leaving party on Saturday night (my one in the UK feels like years ago now) which should be a really good night.  All our friends are coming so there should be about 30 people if everyone turns up, just have to work out what food were gonna make now!

Feeding time at the zoo – literally! 

So i’m still in Olinda and working at my project, but i’ve got into a bit more of a routine now. I can go to work in the morning or the afternoon (or both if i really wanted too, but that would kill me in the heat) I usually go in the afternoon. So my days consist of getting up, having breakfast of cake and melon at the hotel – sometimes a cheese and egg s/w aswell if i’m really hungry, going to the beach / lounging by the pool / wandering around Olinda’s shops. Back to the hotel at 12 for a yogurt (or whatever snack I have in my fridge – usually lots of chrisps and chocolate!) and to replenish my water supply then off to the bus station to my project. Or I might go to Tacaruna (my shopping sanctury – there is Macdonalds and everything there) first or do something with the other volunteers and just get the bus straight to the project for 1 ish. I usually get there for about 1 have some lunch with the kids – rice or spaghetti and beans (unfortunately not baked beans – they are nice though, well sometimes anyway!) they usually have some sort of meat as well – I never touch it, it looks rancid! and there’s always juice of some sort the best is something they call vitaminado (or something like that anyway) which is basically a really nice thick banana milkshake – scrummy!

Jackson, the first kid whose name I remembered – wonder why?

They LOVE sugar over here (probably something to do with sugar cane being their biggest industry!!) they put 5 teaspoons of sugar in a small glass of juice – and no i’m not exaggerating. They also have bottles of liquid sugar everywhere which is called low cal but it aint really, its just pure sugar, 1 drop is like a heaped teaspoon of sugar. Their native drink is Caprioska which is Vodka sugar and lime – very STRONG but you soon get used to them, they are much nicer if you ask for them with the liquid sugar instead of normal sugar but trying to get them to understand what you mean is pretty hard with gestures! They also have capifrutas which is the same thing but mixed with any fruit of your choice in a blender – doesnt taste quite as strong like this and its really nice.

The twins – how cute are they!

After lunch we usually take the kids to the Marinha or the park and play for a few hours, they play with balls, skip and whatever else they have. At the Marinha there is a Jambre tree (nice Brazillian fruit) so they spend ages getting the fruit off the tree to eat, I was helping them to start off with and then I got told off, they are supposed to wait until it has fallen off – oops! There are sometimes these really cute little monkey things (saradinhas or something) that live in the trees, the kids give them gum and its well funny watching them chewing gum and staring at you. Then we go back to the project and the kids have an early tea between 4 and half past, I never normally have anything just because there is never enough to go around as it is and I feel really guilty if I eat and the kids are hungry, even though they would give you their food straight away if you wanted it. It is not how I expected it to be at all, I thought they would all be hard nut scary threatening guys but it’s just not like that at all – which i’m glad about! Then we tidy up and the kids all seam to vanish into thin air, so I get the bus back about 5ish and either go to the internet cafe or shopping on the way back (water and internet are gonna be my most frequent expenses this year – beats petrol anyway!).

The main guy from the project, never did quite get his name!

Get back to the hotel & shower – usually feel well manky by this point then go for dinner (or fall asleep first and go for dinner after). Some nights I will just stay at the hotel and chill out with a beer and then watch a film on HBO, other nights I meet up with Sejal and Kirsty, two other volunteers and go out somewhere. Weekends are spent at the beaches during the day and Alto de Se in the afternoon / evening where there is loads of preperations for the carnival going on. There is Maracatu drumming, frevo and all other kinds of dancing, all in bright costumes, capoeira and lots of drinking. The streets are rammed, it is so hard to walk anywhere it is so busy and cars are trying to push through as well but its such a good atmosphere. Sundays are the best and there is a huge group of us that all meet up there which is really nice.

I am now used to the Brazillians spitting everywhere, their constant hissing kinda like a really loud psssssst to get people’s attention, eating lots of rice and beans.  I am used to being stared at all the time because i’m different, can annoy me at times (like when it is old ugly men), but is also a bonus when it comes to attracting fit young men!  Used to all the kids being really pretty and the fact that you can just go over and make conversation with anyone and they are all really friendly.

Still not used to the heat during the day and I still have to be so careful and wear loads of suncream, but I am used to the heat at night now.  I still hate mosquito’s – they are the evilist things alive, there is just no need for them to even exist, I cant see that they have any purpose in life! Still amazed how ALL Brazillians can dance, do Capoeira and play loads of different instruments – they are sooo talented.

 I LOVE BRAZIL!!