fionaistravelling

It's Saturday 23 December and I arrived yesterday in  Lençóis, which is 250 km or so inland from Salvador - in the Chapada Diamantina national park area, surrounded by gorgeous waterfalls and mountains. I'm sitting outside my room in our friend Maiza's pousada (hotel), listening to birdsong and crickets chirping ...  So.... on Thursday night I came here to   Lençóis, to a hotel run by Maiza, a friend  of Jen's who she met when she was living here eight years ago. Maiza found me most of my interpreters for the 'For Dom, Bruno and the Amazon' conference that I organised in Lancaster last year.  So it was lovely to arrange to come and spend time here on the edge of the national park. I came with Agnieszka, a friend from the Nomad Cruise, and we went swimming by a waterfall yesterday - absolutely amazing experience.  (here's a beached whale played by me, surrounded by wonderful nature) Today was time to put up the Hannah Frank exhibition which is opening tonight

Since we’ve arrived in Salvador it’s just been a constant assault on the senses – mainly sound and sight, with amazing art and colours everywhere, and drumming, music, samba drumming, costumes,  more samba, more drums from 9 a.m. sometimes, capoeira in the street from first thing in the morning....  We’re in Pelourinho, right on top of the historic centre, from our window there’s a constantly changing art gallery attached to the railings of the medical school building across the road, drumming, processions.... It’s Christmas in Salvador, sponsored by cocacola (!) so there are loads of lights, stalls, reindeer, unicorns on little roller skates that you can pay to put your baby on, Father Christmasses (!), sleighs to have your photo taken with ..... And another sense is taste – which I can’t give you an indication of here, but the main thing I can say is that everything in Brazil comes as a surprise – you expect sweet and it’s savoury, you see ‘cheese’ but it tastes AMAZING – you see ice

A floating conference!  At Sea!   With around 400 "Digital Nomads" travelling with   Nomad Cruise .... From Tenerife to Salvador.  On board not just a cruise ship but a full scale Art Gallery with hundreds of pieces of specially created art - paintings, prints, sculptures...   and gourmet food ... and swimming pools....  what's not to like!  Such a good experience to see every inch of the sea from there to here... imagining the old ships that didn't even know where they were going, what they would find when they got there...just going with the wind....some beautiful sunrises  out of our cabin, and some sunsets too... Met some lovely people who I'm going to be keeping in touch with... and my Portuguese is coming along nicely! (ie I can understand pretty well if someone's talking directly to me and wants me to understand.  If it's two Brazilians talking together, pretty much no chance, but you take what you can!)  Some of the presentations were absolutely fa