Christmas

This has by far been the weirdest Christmas I have ever spent. Part of it is because I am in the southern hemisphere and it doesn't feel like Christmas at all, part of it is just the sequence of events. I went to Trinidade with the Aussies and back, and it was mad because they were meant to get a 7pm bus to Rio, and we got back to Paraty at 6h50. They left two of them at the bus station with me, whilst the others went on a mad dash to pick up their bags from the hostel, pay, and come back in time. I was there to stall the bus driver and was getting really stressed out coz he kept saying to me "I can't wait I have to go, I have to stick to the timetable!!!!" but all was well in the end because they made it back in time and jumped onto the bus and off they went. That was the end of the Aussies! Then I got an email from Magia telling me to come to Ilha Grande coz they were there. So the next day I packed my bags and headed off to Ilha Grande. The bus from Paraty to Angra was amazing because the scenery was SO beautiful. It was just driving along the coast, seeing beach after beach, and it was a lovely sunny day too. Reached Angra which is indeed not very pretty and got on the ferry. Magia had told me to meet her at 8pm in front of "the church" so when I reached the island I had some time to spare and I sat at a cafe on the beach with my mochilao and chilled. Then, when the cafe had kicked me out to close and I had settled on the beach using the mochilao as a sort of bench/pillow, I saw Magia out there on the beach. Her and her mum, and her stepdad were just sitting down to Christmas dinner. So I joined them there, dressed and looking like a traveller, with my huge backpack, and we sat and ate Christmas dinner on the beach with Max, a friend of Magia's, and his dad and his sister too. It was really nice, even though it was a bit random to just land in the middle of all of this! The strangeness does not end though, because of the accomodation arrangements. Magia had told me that in Angra they were planning on renting a house, and the decision to come to Ilha Grande was so last minute I just assumed something was sorted. So I landed, and then it turned out that actually they were staying in a hotel the three of them together, and I had nowhere to stay! So I had to crash their bedroom for the first night. That made me feel a bit bad, but it was nice of them to allow me to crash. Weird! In the end I stayed out with Max until 3am anyway, just roaming about. We met some french guys, well, they were brother and sister and they were really young: 16 and 18. But they were in the mood for partying so we hung out with them for a while, me acting as translator. There was actually quite a lot of people in the street partying for Christmas eve, more than I had expected to see anyway, and a whole group of hippies sitting on the pier singing songs and playing guitar: Weird!

The next day we all went on a boat trip. Rory (Magia's stepdad) had bought some tickets for a boat trip and luckily there was one for me! I think it was originally meant for Max but he stayed with his father and so I managed to go on the boat ride with them. Didn't feel like Christmas day at all but more just like a regular day in Brazil. We got on the boat and there was a bunch of other people with us too. A british guy called Andrew who was by himself but we decided he was going to be our Christmas friend. Everything was a Christmas thing. Christmas boat trip, Christmas swim, Christmas family spat. ha ha! There were also two Brazilian guys, and three young students: Suve, Maria and Patrik. Suve was Finnish, Maria half Finnish half Venezuelan, and Patrik was Swiss. The boat basically took us around various spots around the island and stopped for us to dive. It was sad that the weather was not very good and occasionally raining, but it was still warm enough for us to swim. There was a lot of snorkeling which involved seeing fish and starfish and sea urchins and stuff like this. At one point we went to a diving point where there is a sunken helicopter and you can go and see it under water. I think the story was that it had crashed somewhere else and then they went and put it there in the sea to attract the fish. I went coz curiosity got the better of me, but when I reached the area where it was I felt suddenly freaked out and uncomfortable. It was really eerie knowing it was there and seeing it. I didn't like it...Then we went to another diving point where there were turtles, and you could swim with them and see them. Sadly, I didn't see one under water, but I still managed to see one from the boat so I guess that was already good. We stopped off for lunch in a small beach restaurant, where we had the most untraditional Christmas lunch. Guarana, caipirinhas, and fried chicken. We ended up having a political debate with Andrew which unfolded into a political debate with everyone else. It was great! When we got back I felt ill though and in the end couldn't join in for dinner except for eating bread and drinking fizzy water.

It's funny because Magia is just so eccentric, this is the only way to describe her: eccentric! It's cool because with her everything is just great, and happy. It's hard to explain but I suppose it's a sort of live the moment philosophy where you don't know what's gonna happen next except that it's going to be cool. It's all an adventure and all's well that ends well. I'm excited about being in Rio with her and discovering Rio in a different light than I reckon I would have otherwise, even though I have no idea where I will be staying there. In the end I managed to sort myself out another room here on the island in a hostel I found not far from where Magia and her family is staying. It's really cool being here, even though sadly the weather has gone back downhill again, but it was so nice to have company for Christmas in the end. And Magia and Max are cool. I feel like the next week or so is just going to be one big adventure. I can't really find the words to describe it. Right now I am sitting on the bed and I still feel like I'm on the boat and so the bed is rocking. It's the weirdest sensation ever....I think this is all I have to say for now, even though I know there is lots more I could say I can't recall it, and not in the way I would like to tell it. The adventure is not over though, and it's going to be amazing!! More soon :-)

PS I think I should mention we all developed a cool friendship with Andrew. It was funny coz it mainly involved Magia bullying him into renouncing his political opinions, and later vaguely threatening to push him into the water. All in good spirit though. Later it happened that Max also hopped on the bandwagon of what can only be described as bantering with Andrew, suggesting that he should adopt a puppy from the island. I have no idea how we reached this point about the puppy but nonetheless it came around. The next day as we were walking down the street what did we see but three lovely puppies! THEN, random thing, we bumped into Andrew! Max ran back to get the puppy but it had gone so instead we bought him a wooden figure of a puppy. Hilarious! I think he loved it. I also kept trying to convince him to do the local bus ride experience but he was not convinced at all. Funny though. I think he thought we were all mad young ones but whatever, the more fun the better it is! Anyway I better leave off now, but I felt that the puppy incident was definitely worth a mention.