Still here...Brazil is addictive!

Well, we're still here in Barra Lagoa.....still in the Backpackers hostel. It's a deadly place, I have to say! Obviously everything is pricier here in Brazil, but we've cooked for ourselves a good bit, which is taking the sting out of the tail. The hostel's great fun, and we've met some really nice people. This American guy, Glenn, is our main man here in the hostel. He's 34, and a huge Red Sox fan, so we've been watching the World Series with him and Christopher, a fellow Yank who works at the hostel. It's funny, because Glenn is very 'dude' himself, in that he's a big surfer and bit of a beach bum (he's been living footloose and fancy free for many years now, and is currently a resident of Costa Rica), but Christopher and him are polar opposites - Christopher is like the ultimate California guy, and Glenn is probably one generation away from the toughest guys in Boston - which is saying a lot! They're probably come from fairly different social spheres, and you can kinda see it in their mannerisms! I like to think of it in terms of Glenn being me, and Christopher being a southside girl - with the inherent class issues that brings. But, basically, Christopher is harmless, and he's been really good to us - taken us out hiking across the hills over to another beach, Mole, with some vicious waves. So it's between him and Glenn, really - I like them both a lot, so I'll keep out of it!!

Actually, some Ozzie guys came that day to Mole too, along with me, Mac, Bones and Al, and so it was a 'dude' fest, but the beach was great fun. The waves were actually a bit too big - as I discovered when I hit the sea for some swimming.....talk about getting caught in the washing machine! It was fairly rough!! But great fun, all the same! Christopher also took us across loads of rocks yesterday, and we found a beautiful little cove with big rocks all around, so the water was pretty deep directly below you. Chrisphopher and Welly jumped off a big rock into the water, and I climbed up, because I've always wanted to do that - and a cliff dive is one thing I'd really love too! But it looked so high when I got up there!! Alan got up too, and he jumped off, feet first, but I really wanted to try diving, so I plucked up some courage (knees shaking!), and dove off. Not the most graceful thing ever! Smacked into the water!! But I did it, and that's the main thing! We hiked across more rocks, and got some great views across the water to the other side of the island. Great day!

Me and Alan got up before brekkie yesterday and went boogie boarding together - very romantic - then after brekkie, we all went for a swim. It was a great day! Then we headed for pizza with two sound Dutch blokes, and a strange Swiss girl. Nice. We watched the world series last night after our day out in the sunshine, and there was a massive lightening storm, with really heaving rain. Very dramatic! The Red Sox won the series, so Glenn and Christopher were well chuffed! It didn't finish until 2.30 in the morning, though, so I'm wrecked today!!

We went out a couple of nights ago to a club, which was good fun, but very pricey. They give you a card on the way in, so you don't pay for drinks while in the club, they mark your card, and you pay your amount on the way out. This is quite dangerous because you end up drinking more than you can afford, if you're not careful! Luckily, there was a cheesy 80's rock band playing, so I was too busy dancing to drink too much!!

The hostel has an honesty system, whereby no money exchanges hands until you leave. There's a big blackboard in the common room, with everyone's name and room number on it, and if you take a beer from the fridge, or a soft drink or water, or packets of Doritos, or homemade brownies and choco sambos, then you just mark the code next to your name, and it's all totted up at the end of the night, and added onto your daily bill. Very nice atmosphere here, indeed!!

Anyway, that's all the news for now! We're basically just chilling out here fairly aggressively! I'd like to leave soonish, though - I loved Argentina, and I also loved how little money I spent there, so I'm itching to get back there, and also get down into Patagonia and do some actual hiking! Don't want to vegetate too long....

Also, the big news is that our friend EJ, who's spending a year in Canada, is coming down to meet us for three weeks for Christmas! What a nice pressie, eh?!?!

I'm missing home a lot - but I guess that's normal! Gonna miss being there with all the kids for Halloween - I haven't missed a trick-or-treat with them in years. I'm informed that some of the costumes on show range from Spiderman (Ben), to ghostly spirit (Cambo), to dalmation (Rose, of course)!! Can't wait to see the photos.......!!