Albania to Montenegro

We arrived in Montenegro, a country I didn't even know existed except on the news, in the late afternoon, after a pretty hectic journey from Albania. The journey was effected with military precision. Here's how we did it!

We were lucky to catch a bus from Berat (Albania) direct to Tirana, the Albanian capital in the morning, then had to haggle with taxi drivers to take us to another station, to catch a minivan to Shkodra, still in Albania. We arrived here around 1pm. By this stage, Belinda was a hungry fiend, but I was keen to push on. However, the next bus to Montenegro was not until 4pm! A man pulled us up in the street, friendly enough fella, and started chatting in good English. Well, he could take us to the border, and then we could walk to the next town, and catch a bus on. All for 10euros. Hmmm. Tempting! I took the bait.

Off we went in his mercedes, to the border, hopped out, stamped into Montenegro, and began walking. And walking. And walking. Where was this bloody town for a bus? Fortunately for us, a man pulled up in his car, and offered us a lift, all in hand gestures. Hmmm. Tempting! I took the bait. He was from Kosovo. Now, Belinda had been reading about Kosovo, and the Lonely Planet had not been too flattering - Kosovo was rough as guts. And the bloke - he was a blonde giant, with a shaved head, and sudden, erratic movements. Lucky Bel was in the back and was not too scared, meanwhile I was in the front, generating small talk - how, I don't know. He was speeding along these windy narrow roads, braking hard to avoid head-on collisions around corners, while I waxed lyrical about the beautiful weather by pointing at the sun and Bel got car sick. But it was all good in the end - he took us for some distance, maybe 20km to the next town, and I don't know what the Albanian guy was thinking, but if we didn't get the hitch, we would have been walking for some time! Really lucky, and I was counting my lucky stars - he even dropped us off at the bus station, and we only tipped him 5 euro. Nice guy - Bel and I like Kosovans now.

I had to feed little Belinda now, so I gave her a banana, and bought myself a chocolate bar, which she promptly ripped from my hand and devoured. We were then lucky enough to catch 2 consecutive buses with good connections up the Montenegrin coast, to arrive in Kotor, our desired destination, around 6pm. It was a miracle! We met a girl from Colorado on the final bus, and asked where she was staying - in the youth hostel in the old city. Seeing that we didn't know where to stay, we followed her, and checked in. Lucky, because the other alternative, which we checked out, was miles away and expensive. Always pays to strike up a conversaion with people! We then sat down for a well deserved dinner - I was quite pleased with my navigation today - you can see it by the breadth of my smile!


Brazil

Well, I survived Rio! Just! Rio is a real party city, and I got very little sleep there, despite being really, really jtlagged. It took me 30 hrs to land in Rio, at midnight! After all the crime horror stories I´d heard about Rio, I was a bit scared of landing in the middle of the night, but it was easy in the end. I got to the hostel, and thought it was deserted - but everyone was out partying! 
Anyway, Rio has to be set in the most beautiful location for a city. Marvellous beaches, beautiful mountain ranges, islands, the lot! I walked along Ipanema and Copacabana beaches, which were nice - the craziest thing was seeing people play volleyball with only their hands and feet. I went to a soccer game as well, as it was pretty mad, with all the singing, chanting, drums and general chaos. There were throwing paper and talcum powder everywhere, and it was a sea of red and green. I got split up from the main group before the game as well, as I was chasing food, which made it a bit hairy, but got talking to a Brazilian guy, who was going off tap in the stands. Eventually found my group after the game, because it would have been a mission to get back on my own! 
However, the best part was going up to Corcovado, where Christ the Redeemer is. This had the most beautiful views, and was where I concluded that Rio has the most pretty setting in the World, bar none. The city seems to nestle on the back of a dragon, which emerges from the white sand and blue sea in coils of green rain forest. It was captivating! I also went out dancing one night, to see what all the fuss was about - it´s pretty crazy out there, because things only start going around midnight. I was out til dawn, which is most, most unusual for me! But I was so jetlagged, that I couldn´t sleep anyway. 
So, I escaped Rio, because I needed my sleep, and went to an old Colonial Town in the mountains, Ouro Preto. This was the town with the steepest streets ever! I took a wrong turn to my hostel, and I had to lug my bags up and down hills to get there. phew! Very hard work! And the streets are all cobbled as well, because they were built during the gold rush, hundreds of years ago. It´s a UNESCO city, because there are so many beautiful old churches, exquisitely carved by Aleijindinho, a mulatto who lost control of his hands, so strapped a hammer and chisel to his arms to work! Unbelievable. He´s known as the Brazilian Michaelangelo.

I then caught night buses on consecutive nights, with Sao Paolo squeezed in. Sao Paolo surprised me, because it has the best art gallery in the Southern Hemisphere, garnered from all that Brazilian colonial gold, years ago. There are Van Gogh, Renoir, Picasso, Monet, Rembrandt, Rubens all side by side in a small gallery. It was extraordinary.
My last few days have been spent in the Pantanal, a wetland half the size of France. There is a lot of wildlife here, so you can see Caiman, Capybara, Armadillo, Tapir. It was an ok tour - but I suspect this a place where you come to realise how grand it is in retrospect. The animals are all there, and it´s only later that you think, gees, did I just see a Tapir?
Now, I´m just recovering in Bonito after the hard travel and sleepless nights. I still think my body is getting used to travel again - I´m getting old! It was a shock to the system, to be completely free to do what I like, to escape the routine. It was both daunting and bewildering - but I´m settling into the routine, and relishing it. I´ve got a River to swim down tomorrow - packed with fish in the clearest of clear waters, then Iguazu Falls to scout on both the Brazilian and Argentine sides. Wow! It may sound surprising, but I wasn´t totally excited about this trip, more trepidation - but I knew once I was on the road, the excitement would explode. YEAH!

Morocco

This was my first night in Morocco. I met a nice couple, Furi from Hungary and Nicolas from the US, as we jumped off the bus from the airport. We spent ages trying to find a hotel, which was made all the more difficult by the touts and hustlers, and the smell of food wafting from the nearby restaurants. Finally, we made it down to the square, Djemma el-Fna, and sat down at a stand with the most locals. We had some lamb sausages, a specialty of Marrakesh.
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