So this is what we have been doing since the last post (which we realize is a while ago, sorry!)-
*Blitz trip across Bolivia including back-to-back overnight bus from Cochabamba to Santa Cruz and overnight Death Train from Santa Cruz to Corumba, Brazil.
*Being questioned about the Dengue Fever outbreak in Santa Cruz when we arrived in Corumba of which we were completely oblivious and are luckily Dengue Fever-less.
*An introduction to Brazilian buffets (a very popular phenomenon in Brazil) and an early evening boat trip into the Pantanal where we saw some HUGE herons and a crocodile!
*Bus (another one!) to Campo Grande on which Cate lost her sunglasses, we found a highly recommended pizza restaurant and, much to the waiter's disbelief, polished off a large pizza with lots of strange toppings including boiled egg.
*Had our first American food meltdown and went for chocolate shakes at McDonald's which was more luxurious than any McDonald's in the US and was highlighted on a Campo Grande postcard (clearly there wasn't much to do) although with more time and money Campo Grande and Bonito nearby are both good jumping off points for Pantanal adventures and pink dolphins, etc. Next time!
*One more overnight bus, just for good measure, to Sao Paulo.
*Trek through morning rush hour in a city of 11 million people to a farm outside of the city (area = Mogi das Cruzes) via subway, train, bus, a nice old farmer named Euripeydes who put Cate's pack on his bike (and still thinks we're French), and a car full of bananas and kids that took us the last few miles up a quite steep dirt road, and a hike up a mountain (still with bags) to what looked like an unfinished building with no electricity or plumbing.
*Said unfinished building became our home for two days and we loved it.
*Sitio Sao Francisco is the permaculture farm of friendly Brazillian farmer and civil engineer, Felipe Pinheiro. We found it through WWOOF, a website that sets people up with free room and board on organic farms worldwide in exchange for work.
*Krista, an Egyptian dive instructor named Raheen (I'm not sure if this is how you spell it, but he thought my name was Jane the whole time!), and I jumped in on Felipe's life and helped out where we could, painting beams for an office under construction, consulting on sign placement, meeting his suburban parents, filling in holes in the dirt road, organizing two rooms of the house for a workshop he was having the next week, and our personal favorite, cooking for the group with the weird and wonderful ingredients (mostly grains we'd never heard of).
*Highlights of the farm - eating honey straight out of a hive, Krista (initially afraid of bees, having to move said hive out of living room when bees swarmed it), showering in a freezing stream, Cate using a composting toilet for the first time (discovering that composting toilets are more sanitary than all the toilets we used in Bolivia), surviving a midnight ant march across our bed (Raheem's genius solution of water bowls at the foot of the bed), AND eating fruit that drops straight off the trees!!!!
*Krista's birthday where we were rewarded with a trip to the beach! Felipe's parents had a beautiful house and with the forecast calling for good surf it was easy to convince the boys to leave work behind.
We swam - the water was warm like South Carolina, but the waves were huge.
We ate - We cooked a whole fish on a banana leaf (with the eyes still in) and were pretty proud of how it turned out, (also made a choc cake!), and then Felipe's friend, the Russian fisherman,
showed us to really cook a fish the next day. It was by far the most delicious seafood Krista and I have ever had.
*Headed back to the farm with a dinner stop at the roadside "Corn Palace", serving all things corn: corn on the cob, mashed corn, corn JUICE (gross), etc, etc.
*Sadly left this idyllic farm to brave SAMPA, the bustling metropolis where we, pretty bushwacked, were picked up by dad's lovely friends Claudia and Christian.
*Spoiled rotten by Claudia and Christian for two days. Lived in one of their daughter's lovely rooms with lovely shower(!), ate so well - mostly buffets and to a famous Churrascaria where Krista proved her worth as a carnivore, went to the MASP (Museum of Art Sao Paulo) and the Ibirapuera or SP's Central Park, and hung out with their oldest daughter and boyfriend who showed us where cool kids drink and gave us a brief car-tour of the city!
*Flew to Casablanca via Paris, trained to Marrakesh (had running after train, leaping in moment) and spent four blissful days in Marrakesh at Riad Doha.
*Seduced by the souk (or market) we bargained very hard for Berber carpets, colorful lanterns, leather bags, and some beautiful boots.
*Choosing to spend travel money on stuff, rather than food, we ate in the Jemaa El Fna, the main square, every night where at six pm about 40 food stalls set up and sell traditional Moroccan dishes like tajine, couscous, snails, and sheep's brain (mostly sticking to the first two!)
*We took a day trip to the Atlas Mountains where we visited a traditional Berber house, a women's cooperative producing Argan oil products, and hiked up a waterfall in the Ourika Valley (a popular getaway destination for people from Marrakech because of the cool air and beautiful views).
*Visited the beautiful Majorelle Gardens, made famous by Yves St Laurent and ate a fateful piece of street coconut.
*Packed our bags (which had pretty much doubled in size) and made our way to Casablanca for the night.
*Cate spent night puking up everything eaten after fateful coconut while Krista tried to sleep as the next day was our biggest travel day yet. Such bad timing.
*Tried not to puke in taxi to airport, success. Tried not to puke at check in line at airport, success. Tried not to puke when explaining to airport pharmacist about ailment, failure.
*Got diagnosed with septic stomach (sounds worse than it is) and got pills, I'm mending.
*Made it to Paris, rushed through airport to make last boarding call for flight to Amsterdam.
*Arrived in Amsterdam at exactly 4:20 and giggled.
*Spent the night in a lovely hostel called Flying Pig Downtown.
*Had delicious vegetarian meal by the canal and a nice stroll home.
*Managed to wake up at six (Thanks to lovely Will's wake up call) and get flight direct to Cape Town where Mom met us. Yay - a mom!!
*Just so mom could get a feel of what Krista's been going through, I managed to puke one last time our first night in Cape Town. hehe
*We had a lovely day at Pringle Bay at my godmother's house. Jumped in the freezing cold ocean, had tea with mom's friends from childhood - very enlightening!!
*Had Krista's first proper South African braai thanks to Uncle Trevor!
*Got day-tour of beautiful Cape winelands, lunch at Franschooek, drinks at Buena Vista Social Cafe, and a round of drinks and life advice at Uncle Trevor's bar.
*Brunch at Rhodes Memorial and a topless bus tour of Cape Town (the passengers weren't topless, just the bus), a stroll along the Victoria & Albert Waterfront, tea with Granny Mac, and one last family dinner.
*Said bye to mom this morning, got to sleep in (finally!), and are headed to the pool now that we've updated you people!
Much love and promises to be better. Sorry for the lack of updates. There was a lot of travel, puking, not much internet in Morocco, and really, really confusing Arabic keyboards!
