Round the World 2008

The weekend in London was great.  I was able to meet up with people who I met on tours this past year who live in the London area.  Nat and Zoe from the China trip, Marco, Lexy, Anika and Shreena from the Japan trip,  Andrew and Marnie, who I met in Bolivia last fall, and Jolie who I traveled with in Mongolia.  It was fun hanging out in London restaurants, cafes and museums and catching up with friends.

Yesterday at 2PM I got on the Tube and 29 hours and 4 flights later (stops in Paris, Rio, Brasilia) I was in Sao Luis, on the Atlantic coast in the northeast corner of Brazil.  My hotel is on the ocean and I was able to get a brilliant sunset my first evening here.  I came this far up the coast primarily because I wanted to see Lencois Maranhenses National Park, which is supposed to be one of Brazil’s most beautiful natural attractions. It’s pretty inaccessible if you want to go on your own so I booked 2 days with a guide which I’ll do later this week.

Sao Luis is a couple of degrees below the equator, so I’ll have some nice tropical weather, and it has a population of about 1 million.  While I’m here I’ll go into the historic center of town which is supposed to be an attraction in itself.  Over the next few weeks I’ll work my way down the Brazilian coast spending time in the cities of Fortaleza and Recife.

Lisbon has been just the right place to relax after the Iceland adventure.  It’s a nice European city with lots of charm and character. I’ve spent the days exploring the city ’s streets and museums and also planning my upcoming trip to Brazil.  I’ve decided against the intensive Portuguese classes in Brazil since I find that I’m getting along fine here in Portugal speaking Spanish.  Instead I plan on exploring Brazil’s northern coast and working my way down to Rio where I’ll meet Audrey and Carole around Oct 10th.  This weekend will be busy in London where I plan on meeting many new friends from the UK that I’ve met along the way on this trip, and then I’ll leave for Brazil on Monday.

I’m staying in a small guesthouse in an old apartment building in the center of Lisbon which is very comfortable and accessible to most attractions in the city.  There are hills all around Lisbon where there are great city views.  The weather has been perfect.  Warm days and evenings are getting chillier now that fall is approaching…which also means I´ll be home soon.  A little more than a month left on this trip.