Postcards from Brazil

I have neglected my blog for far too long, but what an interesting post to get it going again! I’ve just got back from a 2 week trip to Brazil, spending Christmas and New Years in and around João Pessoa which is on the north east coast. Brazil looks large on a map, but when you start travelling around from city to city, you realise just how HUGE the place is!

We spent the first few days visiting a small resort called Pipa’s Bay which a few hours drive north. We went dolphin watching, sand dune buggy racing and ate some delicious fish and seafood! I would have pictures to show some of this but unfortunately my camera was stolen while we were on a beach later on in the holiday! So I had to make do with my iPhone4 camera; in good light the quality of the photos it produces are surprisingly good. Here are a selection of shots that I took throughout the remainder of the holiday:

Getting ready for takeoff at Lisbon Airport

An aerial shot from the plane plus a view over João Pessoa from the apartment!

We drove through a favela near to where we staying and you soon realise how lucky us Westerners really are. These shots are pretty blurry as I was using my iPhone; it wasn’t really safe to open the car window especially as the car was moving slowly down the street.

One of the many stunning beaches along the coast of Brazil

João Pessoa is a mixture of old and new. The coastal areas of the city are full of new apartment blocks for the wealthy to live in. However to the west of these new builds you can find the old town, an area full of aging buildings well in need of repair. These shots were taken at various locations at the top of a hill overlooking the surrounding countryside and the source of some fantastic sunset shots.  A lot of the buildings are in a poor state (unlike the one above), but you can imagine how they would have looked in years gone by.

We also travelled a few hours inland to the small countryside village of Inga. These are shots of a mysterious prehistoric stone with unknown carvings on it. Many consider it the most important prehistoric site in the Americas! In the surrounding area many fossils have been found, some of which are shown in the small museum next to the site. A giant ammonite and dinosaur bones are among the exhibits.

Behind the monument in the streambed, there are what the locals call the “moon rocks” – big glossy bolders, apparently eroded by the waters in a pattern that recalls the craters on the moon.

A quick stop off at the local zoo to see some wildlife in action!

This is a wonderful Catholic church that we visited after the zoo. It had just finished raining as the sun was setting. The light was amazing; there was the sunset plus a rainbow at the same time! I just wish I had my Canon 5D to capture some of the shots, but the iPhone didn’t do too badly!

A hint of a double rainbow!!!

These are the very friendly tour guides who showed us around.

A guy on the beach selling popcorn to eat while watching the New Years Eve fireworks!

And finally no holiday trip would be complete without a selection of sunset shots 🙂