WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GETS GOING

We arrived in Brazil after three months non-stop travelling and tiredness had gotten the best of us. Even though we had decided to take it easier, it did not happen. Everything seemed a little bit more difficult and the Brazilians not very helpful. Feeling ill did not lift our spirits much either and I started to feel ready to go home. The constant repetitive conversation with other tourists about ´wherehaveyoubeen´, ´whereareyougoingto´and ´whereareyoufrom´were boring me and I was looking forward to more personal connections.
Now that the actual returning date is nearing, the opposite is true. Feeling well helps a great deal to enjoy the surrounding. We have been having a great time since Salvador!

We visited a small island in front of Salvador, called Morro de Sao Paolo where we just lazed around on the beach.
We visited Lençois after that, which is the best thing we have done in Brazil (so far, with just a few days left). Lençois is a small village with freshly painted houses and cobblestone streets. The locals, who all work in tourism, do not have that much to do in the evening and are more than happy to hang around with tourists. OK, being two girls does help, as it was mostly male attention..I will need to adapt again in Europe, by far most guys here are dark, muscled and good dancers...nothing wrong with white,skinny and stiff, but still...;-)
We did not come for Lençois, though. We came for its park: Chapada de Diamantinha (Plateau of small diamonds), which is almost as big as Holland and where diamonds used to be found. We took a three day hike, during which we visited several beautiful waterfalls, including Fumaça the second highest (400 meters) in South America. I found the hike pretty tough, often having to use both legs and hands as we were climbing over rocks. I think all hikes we have done were not easy, but they were all the highpoints of our stay. I am sure there is a lesson in that!
Our 9 persons strong group consisted mainly of Israelis and they annoyed me, as they were like a lot of Israelis we have met: noisy, impolite and only into their own.
However it is wrong to generalise that much, as in the beautiful town of Vila Rica de Ouro Preto (rich village of black gold) we met some cool Israelis who took us to a republica (student dorm) where we witnessed a band practice for carnaval (still a little deaf) and where locals and tourists happily mixed. As this town thrived on former goldmines, we visited one. Impressive how complicated finding gold is! (and how many slaves were abused to do so).

Tonight we are off to our last stop: Rio de Janeiro, even if we are contemplating about whether we should stay longer or not.