Buenos Aires!!

The last days in Natal was nice with one fabulous day at the beach with oysters, caipiroska, espitinhos(shrimps on a small stick) and beers! Even my brother´s friend Kent(from Sweden) with his brasilian girlfriend Rosie joined us. After the beach we did a football-barbecue at our house, celebrating the opening of Champions League. Of course we all cheered for Ibrahimovic and Inter, but it did not help that much, the game ended up 0-0 against Manchester United.
The barbecue turned out perfect and we had a long night filled with laughter and music.

The last day for me and Jacob, we finally got the Acai once again and we also got time for some brasilian Caipoera. There was a show at a restaurant by the beach. These people are so strong and have such control of their bodies, it´s amazing.

At 3.00 between Wednesday and Thursday the flight took us to Sao Paolo.

Then we waited for five hours before we took the next flight to Buenos Aires.
We had learned that there was a local bus that could take us to central town and it only costed us 2 Argentinan pesos each(5 sek/0,4 euro).
It was easy to find the hostel that I booked from Natal called Telmotango Hotel Suites. The hostel is lovely! Nice personell, clean and it seems to be in a good location.
Last night we found a nice little bar/restaurant that served us homemade pasta and beer.
We will now explore Buenos Aires for a couple of days before we head west.

Hasta luego!
/Tina

Last week in Natal

Last Tuesday it was also my brothers birthday and we celebrated it the Brasilian barbecue-way. My brother took my mom and my sister to the biggest supermarket in town to make the grocery-shopping... My mom barely survived it but they came home with execellent food (den fantastiska oxfilén kostade 50kr/kilot!!!!).

My sister and my brother made the fantastic food.. It was potatoe salad, aioli, guacamole, salsa... marinated meat and shrimps... All the food and drinks were taken down to the grill-area of our apartment-community and the barbecue started (after a bit of a struggle with the fire...). A lot of my brothers brasilian and scandinavian friends came by for a fantastic birthday barbecue and some drinks; we were nearly 40 people and the food was very appreciated!! My brothers girlfriend had gotten a big birthday-cake so the party was complete.

The next day we took a two-day-trip to a small village (70 kms south of Natal) called Pipa. It is known for it's dolphin-bay, but unfortunately we did not see any dolphins... I hope I will see some in New Zealand!! Pipa was nice and calm... we lived at a luxurious lodge-hotel with rooms just by the pool. We ate some good brasilian grilled meat with the right side dishes (rice, beans, farrofa, onions, salsa) and we also finally tried the great Acai. This is a berry that is prepared with ice, like a frozen yoghurt with bananas and some sweet müsli. It is sooo good!!!

After Pipa we returned "home" and spend some days with my brother by the pool and by the beach. The remaining days we will concentrate to spend with my brother and his family. So I guess the next post will probably be from Buenos Aires... can hardly wait to actually get started with our back-pack-journey!!

Até logo, Natal! Hola, Buenos Aires!

/Tina & Jacob

Futebol

We have now been in Brasil for over a week, and we're slowly starting to adapt to the Brazilan way of life ... Lots of fresh fruit in the morning, beer and grilled prawns during the day, and Caipiroska (like Caipirinha but with Vodka instead of Cachaca) and late dinner on the evening. Life could be harder :-)

On Sunday, we looked at the district championship final (Norte Grande) in Futebol, a derby between the Natal teams Americas and ABC. The stadium was far from packed, but the atmosphere was still great, with lots of singing and jumping (all simultaneosly), resulting in a nice "swing" of the entire stadium. There were lots of police/militaryon site, but there were no real problems. The fans stayed calm this time (the has been casualties the last three derbys) ... Oh yes, the result ... We were cheering for ABC but since we were placed in the middle of the Americas sections, we couldn't cheer as much as we wanted. Americas started best with a high tempo and some great technical moves, but then ABC took over but they couldn't really produce any good chances. In the middle of the first half, Americas scored a pretty lucky goal. In the 85th minute, Americas scored again and many thought that the game was over, But only two minutes later, ABC scored with a bicicleta and the game was alive again ... ABC tried really hard to get an equalizer and some good chances but they couldn't put it in the net ... 2-1 to Americas. Technically, the game wasn't that exciting, but we'll be sure to remember the game for the superb athomsphere among the fans!!!

That was the fotball ... We'll soon enter a new post with a summary of the adventures of the last couple of days!

Cheers!

Status Natal

It was my mothers birthday on friday and it started off with a fantastic breakfast! Then we went to a beach club a 20 minutes drive from Punta Negra. It was perfect! Close to the ocean with pools and good food. Mom was exstatic!
Then we went back home and prepared for the night out. My brother found a very nice restaurant to celebrate the important day... it was perfect! And little Noah joined us as well... although a bit tired after a day by the pool. (God, he is precious!!).

Today we are going to a fotbol-game in the afternoon... I´m afraid it is going to be hot... but still nice to see the local teams on the field. We found a great bakery a bit from where we live, finally we got something else than the white bread they love here... So... soon we will get you some pictures... but we have some tecnical problems... hopefully solved soon.

Now, I have to go for some oysters!
Cheers!
/Tina

On site in Natal!!

After a long journey we are finally here!! Four flights and a lot of hours waiting we arrived yesterday in Natal. It was really hot!! The trecking-shoes was checked-in in Sao Paulo, but still.. what a heat. My brother picked us up and actually drove the car himself(did not remember that he had a drivers license in Sweden...). We went to see his son and then went for a cold beer by the pool where he is living, that was a really good one!
When we got to the place where we are staying, my sister, my mom and my aunt was there welcoming us. We live in an penthouse-apartment on the 23rd floor with a tiny pool on the veranda. We unpacked, talked and rested for a bit.
At eightish we went out to go to my brothers food-place. Of course, we got stuck in the elevator... but without panic we waited for the nice entrance-man to rescue us... it took only 10 minutes. We got to my brothers place where he makes pizzas, sandwices and other small dishes. The pizza was delicous!!! After a couple of beers and pizza we were all tired and went back to the apartment. My brother joined us and we ended the night with a glas of wine by the pool.
A good night sleep with nice air-condition followed and now we have done a day by the beach eating oysters and small sticks with shrimps. At the moment we are lacking energy due to the warm weather(30 degrees) and not that much food.
Jacob is trying to call home since it is his mothers birthday today(Grattis Ing-Britt och tack sa mycket for en harlig helg!).
Now we have to go fill up the energy-level... talk to you all soon!
/Tina

Take-off

Finally, I got some time over to enter my first blog entry! Hopefully I will be able to be more productive once the trip has actually started ... =)

I've really been choked with stuff to do at work and with things to prepare for the trip at home. That's no excuse really, since Tina has been in the same situation (if not worse). Anyway ... Today, the day before we leave Gothenburg, we think that we have everything under control *fingers crossed*. The TODO list has finally become quite short and it feels like we haven't missed out on any important things (like bookings, vaccinations, jobs, the apartment etc.)

Yesterday we drove up to my parents place i Vänersborg, where we're now fixings the last few things while spending some relaxing time with my family. Today we went walking with my parents, and as you can see (picture below) we have snow here ... What a contrast it will be to land in sunny Brasil on Tuesday! We're slowly starting to realize that we're actually going on a world-wide trip starting TOMORROW! Jesus ... But at the same time, we can't wait to get going! I dreamt of doing such a trip for a long time now ...


So tomorrow morning, we start the four-legged flight from Gothenburg to Natal in Brasil (via Stockholm, Madrid and Sao Paulo). We will probably both sleep quite a lot during those flights; we're both pretty tired from the stress of the last couple of weeks. But we'll have plenty of time during the first couple of weeks in Brasil to "re-charge the batteries"! I can imaging that we'll spend quite some time at the beach (at least the first week, until I can't stand the tranquile life anymore and I've to do some thing more "active") ... =)

Next blog post will hopefully be from a internet café (next to a beach) in sunny Natal! I hope you're not the envious kind ... =)

até logo!

Jacob

Snart på väg....

Vi har provpackat! Jacobs ryggsäck vägde inte mer än 13 kg inklusive myggnät och alla Lonely planets. Jag ska nog försöka väga min väska idag... spännande. Det känns bra, vår lista som verkade så lång i början var nog ändå rätt bra... Jag ska bara förhandla med Jacob om jag får med ett par ballerina-skor... dom väger ju inte så mkt....
Börjar känna lite res-feber, men nu är det bara härligt!! Längtar så mycket efter att få se lillebror också, det ska bli fantastiskt. Det är ju ändå 1,5 år sedan jag såg honom...
Nu ska jag fortsätta fixa med musiken i Itunes så att jag får en perfekt Ipod när vi åker...