Eric Hos Blog on RealTravel

Lencois journal: 3 day trek - National Park of Dimantina

Thu, 17 May 2007 10:29:06 GMT

arrived monday morn 6am after the night bus ride on the real express bus. after finding a cheap but comfortable pousada with a family for 15 reals ($9 canadian) which includes the best breakfast spread i~ve ever had in brazil to this point, we rested for the morning. The breakfasts include papaya, melon, watermelon, steamed milk, authentic and amazing brazilian coffee, mango juice from 100% natural fruit (blended fruit only), eggs, bread, etc. you can~t move after eating a Lencois pousada breakfast. Washington was the name of our guide. a really funny and cool guy...a 22yr guy with a 2 yr ...

Parnaiba journal: Paranaiba

Wed, 16 May 2007 13:44:51 GMT

2 nights in Paranaiba. We arrived by a van type bus from Camocim. The ride was fine, just long because we were overly exhausted from partying in Jericoacoara. We got dropped off right on the corner across from the bus station in Paranaiba. We found a hotel no problem and found that it was 25 reais for 2 people including breakfast. so cheap! that's less than $8 Cdn per person. we walked around the main street after napping. got some mosquito afterbite stuff called Caladrex (calamine lotion) after asking several people and jumping over the language barrier. all part of the adventure & fun. we ...

Sao Luis journal: Sao Luis - last city before the Amazon region

Wed, 16 May 2007 13:24:04 GMT

hit up 4 museums, old churches, a massive Forro outdoor party in the 23 celsius weather.

also walked around the historic area which was somewhat rolling (up and down a bit) and interesting. could see the Atlanatic and an old fort. Also ran into protitution problems (big surprise) and met some interesting people from France and India in the hostel.

Belem journal: Belem - mouth to the Amazon

Wed, 16 May 2007 13:09:16 GMT

arrived in Belem in the morning. T.T. booked and took a boat that same day for his 5/6 day boat ride to Manaus. I stayed in a hostel for $12 Reais per night. stayed only 1 night because I flew out of Belem the next day at 1pm to Manaus. Visited the big market where they sell all sorts of natural medicines, fresh produce, fruits ($1 reais for an abacaxi (pineapple), fish, meat, etc. Also went to the riverside of....THE AMAZON! it was a muddy dark brown colour, nothing beautiful really, but it was the Amazon and it was extremely wide. i could barely see the trees on the other side. by the ...

Fortaleza journal: stop over in Fortaleza

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:03:43 GMT

9am to 6pm stopover in Fortaleza: in order to meet time restrictions for future cities and towns to see, we decided to just skip this city....unfortunate. Brazil is a beautiful and massive country with too much to see. you would need about 6 months to do Brazil thoroughly.

we walked around Centro (downtown) after leaving our backpacks with the luggage lock up place. looked at numerous markets and malls/merchants. found a great "Mercado Mall" with many beautiful salesladies and a cheap and pretty decent kilo restaurant on the 2nd floor.

breakfast we had fruit salad with this sweet ...

Olinda journal: Recife & Olinda

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 16:35:40 GMT

spent 3 days in Recife & Olinda. we chose Olinda because it is quieter and safer apparently. and the spot is along the atlantic (Rua do Sol) in Olinda. day 1 we wandered the historic area of Olinda and had $1 (Cdn) beers and tried abacaxi (pineapple) and mangbarra ice creams. the owner was very friendly; he gave us a large plate of olives and salami on the house, and chatted with us about canada, our travels, Carnaval in Olinda, etc. at the top of Olinda I got a nice view of the city, as well as Recife (twin city) [think Kitchener - Waterloo] but way better --- old architecture, ...

Salvador journal: Return to Salvador

Fri, 20 Apr 2007 15:45:38 GMT

went to this overpriced spot called Bohemian Music Bar with few women and expensive cover & drinks. $30 reais for cover and $5 reais for drinks. the day was much better: met this gorgeous Brazilian girl Maria from Rio de janeiro from the pousada (HI hostel) in Barra. she was medical science grad student studying in Salvador for 2 week course for her PhD. hit the beach with her & this cool friendly and attractive English girl 'Amandine' and her friend. Maria spoke english which was helpful for actually being able to talk to her. she helped with recommending good spots for "samba" and ...

Lencois journal: Lencois

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 14:33:00 GMT

we arrived at 6am Monday morning by a 6 hour bus ride. Lencois is a quiet small town used primarily as a base for treks to the Dimantia national park. it is famous for waterfalls, caves, natural pools, etc. after relaxing in the morning and washing my clothes (in the old traditional style of tub and basin), we walked around the town and tried to find the natural 40 foot waterslide but instead of finding it, we got some cool pics of the red landscape,etc.another cool aspect was seeing two flocks of vibrant yellow and green birds and green and blue butterflies as I was washing my clothes. ...

Salvador journal: Salvador

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:42:00 GMT

our flight arrived somewhat late and we found a taxi to take us to the historic district for 60 reals.the cab driver was a bit off as he was driving at 40km in a 70 km zone. seemed a little slow. anyhow we arrived there with no problems. until we stepped out of the cab. the instant we were out a couple bums approached us yelling and hollering. we didn~t really understand them as we don~t speak portuguese. i asked the military police who are there for tourist safety where to find this hostel. we ended up finding it but as the bums tried to get money from us, the 2 military cops shoved them ...

Salvador journal: hostel

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:40:05 GMT

good kitchen. dorm is average. quieter location in the historic district. 18 reals per night. 12 cdn.

Rio de Janeiro journal: Rio

Fri, 30 Mar 2007 11:22:25 GMT

The flight arrived in Rio at 7am. got a little lost in the airport, but probably due to looking at the surprisingly high number of beautiful women in the airport. after a few taxi drivers tried to hassle me, I got help from a green eyed brazilian girl working at the information tourist booth. she was a great help as she called the hostel and told me which bus to take.

The ^"Real" bus took about 2 hours to get to Ipanema beach but along the way i got to see some favelas (ghetto areas), how crazy traffic is in Rio, and had 3 conversations with Rio citizens. they are very friendly and ...

Brazil journal: Brazil 2007

Fri, 23 Mar 2007 09:17:13 GMT

Welcome to my travel blog - 6 weeks in Brazil!! I needed a vacation from working at EY and the gorgeous beaches, rain forest covered islands, and colonial towns will just be the beginning of this adventure.