Final Post

Welcome to our honeymoon Blog.

The content goes from the last post to the first, so you are reading it in reverse. The best way to navigate is by using the "Archives" Links that you see to the right. There is one link per entry. On this page, you can see all the entries from Costa Rica to Brazil. For earlyer entries use the "Archives" Links on the right.

Enjoy!

Our Final days in Rio.

It is hard to believe that our trip is now at an end. Over 140 days of excitement, relaxing and exploring. Our last few days in Rio, we did some new things. Yes, after all this time, it is still possible for us to find somthing new to occupy ourselves. Don't worry, this post won't contain phrases such as "crystal clear, warm, blue water". Those days are over. We will spare you all further torture. Believe me, the water in Rio is cold.

We chose to fill our time with other things, although we did of course, visit the famous Copacabana and Ipanema beaches.

One unique thing we got a chance to do was a favella tour. Here we have been trapsing around the country, going from ideal location to ideal location, when all around us 65% of the population lives in the squallor of the run down favellas. In favellas, which are large portions of the city edges where slums have sprung up, a different set of rules seem to apply. Run by the drug lords and shunned by the government, these self-contained systems are worlds within worlds. We met the only man in Rio who is allowed by the drug cartel to do an actual 'walking tour' of a favella.

All the other tours just drive in and take photos and drive out. Our tour was on foot, where our guide, Richard, who has been doing this for over 20 years, showed us all the different aspects of how the favella functions. Richard is beloved by the people in the favella we visited, named Tabajars. He has raised well over 1 million dollars for the people who live in Tabajars and has done a great deal to educate people like Amie and myself about the injustices that go on every day within this amazing country we are in.

He took us up the winding streets and down the twisting alleys. Everywhere we went, we were greeted by the people with smiles and kindness. We were invited into a home, and offfered drink from people who have nothing. You can see the favella stretching up the hillsides of Rio everywhere you look.

We met some children who were happy to see us and even more happy to pose for some photos as we watched them play in the sun. The smiles on their faces do not seem to relfect the horrendeous surroundings they are forced to live in.


After the tour we did some sight seeing. We went to explore Sugar Loaf, which is the name given to one of the huge rock-mountains that jut up out of the earth all around Rio. From the bottom, we took a series of Trams up to the lofty heights of the rock cropping.



From the top we were awarded with great views of the city around us including many famous beaches and undulating mountains. The weather had been poor the previous few days so this bright and sunny day was perfect for us to spend some time gazing down on the city sprawled out before us.

A few days later, after missing our plane ride and a little too much time sick in bed, we went out for one more night. We went to see a big stage show, Rio-style, to top it off. The show was cheesy in a fun way and the costumes were impressive and grand in a way that would make any Las Vegas show girl green with envy.


Now, it is time for reality. As I write this, we are hours from getting on an airplane. Our trip, all the way from Mexico to Rio, plays out in our minds.


Our bags are packed. Every thing that can be made ready is ready and waiting. Our tans are as dark as they are going to get. Our honeymoon has indeed come to an end.



We will miss the adventure of it all but we will be happy to spend time with our family. Now comes the time to get on with the amazing things that are waiting for us.

The last 8 months have been a dream come true. Thanks to every single one of the people who helped make this fantasy a reality. We will never forget this time we spent together. The first 8 months of our marriage just couldn´t have been more perfect.

From our arrival, in mexico , our fun days in Playa De Carmen, to the change in plans caused by the Hurracain, and the long night that ensued.... From our journey into Belize where we swam with sharks to Guatemala and all the fun we had exploring that amazing country.... Then it was on to Honduras , where we learned the true meaning of crystal clear blue waters. Next came Nicarague . Then we were on the road into Costa Rica where were amazed by the beauty and enjoyed the good life. We forged on to Panama. From the cultural richness in Panama we bounced right into the vast territory of Brazil. Starting in Jericoacoara, we made our way to the Marafolia in Sao Luis and then on to the north eastern coast. Olinda and Salvador gave us a break before we headed back to the beaches of Itacare.

Sad that our journey is at an end, we are comforted to know that it´s only going to get better from here......

Jordan & Amie

Beach Tour

I am sure that by now all of you are sick, and dare I say, tired of hearing about all the spectacular beaches Amie and I are visiting. We often joke that our honeymoon should be called "The Tropical Beach World Tour". It is true we have sampled more than our share of white sand beaches in the last 4 months. Well, get ready, because here comes some more!

After Salvador, we moved south a stretch, to the paradise known as "Itacare". A haven for surfers and backpacking slackers alike, Itacare has as many beaches as Salvador had churches. That is to say, more than we could possibly sample in the time we had alloted. Once a small fishing village, Itacare has had a nice tourism boom in the last few years due to its amazing natural beauty and surrounding rivers and jungles. There are about 5 beaches within short walking distance of the little town. When we wake up, our biggest problem of the day is trying to figure out which beach we will go nap on. Sometimes we hit one, sometimes we hit two or more. Each beach is unique in it's own way and for a week we enjoyed sampling them all.

Some are great for surfing, and for the surf illiterate, surf watching. Crowds of tan surfers paddle out into the water to enjoy the reliable surf breaks that these beaches have to offer. The second and fourth beaches have the best waves. All day long, in the town and on the road to the beach, you can see people toting their trusty boards out to the waves to enjoy the days ride.


Other beaches are beautifully isolated and undeveloped. These serve as perfect locations for stealing the occasional kiss with your sweetheart.


Other beaches have chairs and bars set up to make life easier for the lounge lizards seeking to catch some sun as well as a drink or a bite to eat.

You can walk from one beach to the next, as each one is seperated by a small hill covered in rocks and jungle. The walk is quite nice and offers inspiring views where one can sit and contemplate the mesmerizing water.


Mmmmmm... mesmerizing isn't it?

One day we felt we needed a little more beach. We just were not getting enough. So we took a local bus down the coast a bit to explore what beaches lay outside of our lazy grasp. We were rewarded with some of the most amazing stretches of palm tree lined white sand beaches I have ever laid eyes on. Untouched beach stretched as far as I could see. No hotels, no bars, no resorts, just sand, palm trees, and clear blue water.


It was perfection. Pinch me, am I dreaming? We spent the afternoon there relaxing and sleeping in the sun and wading out into the shallow blue waters to frolic and play in the clear waters´ effervescent caress. Life on the world beach tour is good!


You can tell by our smiles that the relaxation factor is very high.

That is all for now. I am sitting and writing this in Rio. Our final destination. We have lots planned to do here and not all of it is drinking and dancing.

But that story comes in a few days.... For now back to the dancing. And drinking.

Olinda and Salvador

Our next stop was Olinda. Yet another charming little town. This one more charming by far than most others. With galleries and art sprinkled liberally throughout the city, it was easy to note the importance that the arts carry in this area. We walked through the town for a few days, admiring the churches and architecture. On one of these days our walk took us to some higher grownd that gave us a vast and stretching view of the town laid out below us.


From this vantage point one could see the churches below and, then in the distance, the blue ocean. People gathered to watch the view change colors with the setting of the sun. The locals began their nightly celebrations early, with a few drinks from the drink carts lining the streets.

As the dusk faded into night, the sound of music in the streets mixed with the laughing of children and the noises spilling from bars. A wondering group of street musicians passed in front of our small hotel and we were happy to be swept up in the following crowds. The band chose a winding route up into the alleyways and thin streets of the town´s neighborhood. The crowds followed in tow, clapping and singing along in growing numbers. We were joined by two girls from England, Rachael and Nina, who we had met in Praia de Pipa and took the Bus to Olinda with us. They joined us in our late night trollop through the city streets as we followed the music and danced in the streets wherever they led.


After a few days of wandering the winding streets and visiting churches we moved on to the next city in line, Salvador. Also encrusted with art and saturated with churches, Salvador battles Olinda for the title of most cultural city in Brazil. Its old city streets have a faded peeling charm that I have grown to love in our past months of travel. The ancient walls in this town have stories to tell and all the time in the world in which to tell them. You can see paint chipped, and below it is another color of chipped paint and so on below that. Speaking of vast amounts of time, these crumbling walls are steeped in rich history.




Our first day there, we enjoyed the view from our room on the seventh floor, convienently overloooking one of the towns many center squares. While we were enjoying the view we heard and then in turn saw, a religious procession parading through the streets. We made quick to grab our cameras and were out the door. Soon we were submerged in the middle of crowds of people in the streets. Yet again. This country does seem to have a way with crowds celebrating in the streets! The procession consited of people in various religious garb carrying two statues of saints through the city. A truck carrying large speakers in turn blasted religious songs and the chanting of a preist who wandered ahead, microphone in hand. They carried the two statues through the city and the crowds sang along and slowly grew in number. The saints were marched through the main squares, one after another until, in time, they were brought one at a time to the churches where they reside.


They were then placed back in the churches and the crowd would flow into the awaiting church and the people would sing and dance and raise their hands up to the gilded rafters above. The crowd would press close and reach out a hand to touch the hem of the raised saint for good fortune.

Our days in Salvador were spent, like in Olinda, wandering the town and admiring the churches and the charm of the city. Around every corner was another type of music being played in the street. On every block there were paintings and music for sale. Crafts and art were on display everywhere you laid eyes to rest. Salvador had more churches than any other town I have seen so far. From the birds eye vantage point of our hotel room, I counted no less than 9 churches. Tall impressive luxurious affairs with high bell towers complete with gold encrusted interious. Each one packed full of boroque paintings and sculpted cherubs. Quite a sight to behold.




The days being filled with such wonderful sights were followd by nights of equal splendor. Music owns the night in Salvador. Drum groups marched through the streets, cafes sport musicians playing guitar for drinking and chatting groups of people. Once again Amie and I would pick a wandering band of musicians and follow them through the city as their pounding drums bounced off the city walls around us.


Once the nights´ festivities wound down, we would stumble back home to the waiting comfort of the hotel. There, perched on the seventh floor, we would look out at the city below as the sounds of the party began to fade.


One of our daytime forrays led us to a familliar sight. Once again, I was standing before a scene I knew well from one of Amie's photographs - another of her images from her Tropicalia series. And, this was one of my favorites. Taken right at ``Amie Time`` (the ten minute span of time just after sunset, when the sun has sunk below the horizon yet a rich dark blue light still covers the sky), the image is of a tower adorned with flags that spread out from it. We stopped there and did a little self portrait, as we are want to do, to remember the moment.



So far our time in Brazil has been very varied and productive. Desert and tropics, sand and water, cobble stone and dirt streets, we are enjoying every bit. But there seems to be a light at the end of this amazing tunnel. And it approaches faster than we think. Already, as I sit and type this, it is Novemeber. We leave in only a handfull of days. Rio grows closer and so does the time of our departure.

Still we have much distance to travel. To recap lets take a look at this map.


The dotted line, marking our flight from Panama, goes first to Sao Paulo and then bounces up to Fortaleza. Then we went, via land, a short ways up to Jericoacoara where we enjoyed a week of amazing sunsets with a backdrop of windswept sand dunes. Then once again moving leftward on the map, we went to Sao Louis where we enjoyed the festivities of Marafolia. Then the line breaks and goes back to the south and east. This marks a grueling 29 hour bus ride. The longest of our trip. This was were we stopped in Praia de Pipa. Then we go south again a ways to Olinda. Then again a short (by short we mean relatively, as these bus rides average about 9 hours) ride to the last dot on the map that marks Salvador.

Rio, our end destination is far south, near where our first flight landed in Sao Paulo before we connected and flew back up to Fortalaza. You can barely see a penciled in dot that marks Rio.

Check the blog again in a week or so. We are in a loveley beach town (imagine that!) that I will tell you about. But you will have to wait.

Ciao for now.....

Going Native

Like a sponge, we are soaking up Brazil. Our tans are thick and dark. Our portuguese sounds more like portuguese and less like a drunk frenchman speaking spanish with each passing day. We are relaxed and enjoying the no stress vibe that Brazil has to offer. We walk the walk. We talk the talk. We eat sleep and breath brazil.

We are going native


After leaving Sao Louis, we went down the coast to "Natal". We landed ourselves in a nice pousada right on the beach. The next morning we scheduled another buggy tour. We just can't seem to get enough. Seems this country has no zip lines for us thrill seekers so the buggy tour will do in a pinch. The tour itselfe was fantastic. Along beaches with waves lapping at the tires, and into remote bits of desert and of course we visited some nice lagoons as well.


We spent the entire day on the buggy tour. Making our way from beautiful location to the next beautiful location. My favorite parts are when we enter the remote areas of the desert where all signs of civilized life are erased from your view. Like a blank canvas, all you can see is emptiness and more emptiness. The sand stretched before you like the deserted floor of a deep ocean. The warm colors match the warm feel of the find sand as it makes it's way through your toes. It is a very surreal landscape indeed.




From Natal we continued south. In time we found ourselves in "Praia De Pipa". A small quant village with more bars and boutiques per square inch than you could imagine. We found a nice place to stay with a garden lush and green. Here we took our tranquilo levels up a notch and did some serious chillaxin'. We continued to "go native" and we both bought new nathing suits that helped us not only walk the walk but look the part as well.

After all, when in rome......


Pipa has many beaches to offer and our feet tread upon them all at leasure. We saw the black and white rock formations on the praia de amor. The cliffs that are all along this secluded little treasure of a beach look like something from another planet. Just another magical location for us to soak in.


... and the cool languid waters of the beach on the opposite side. We shared some tender moments on some pristine stretches of sand where our only company was the occasional palm tree.


Time slowed down a bit and the rush and bustle of the city of Natal was a fading memory. Here we could bide our time relaxing and reading book in the sun. Spending nights out meeting people and toasting to new friends. Then waking up for yet another tranquil walk down the beach perfecting our new relaxed and native looks.


After a few days we decided to up the ante even higher. Last time Amie was in Brazil, she had stumbled onto one of the beaches and had alwayse wanted to return to one of the plush resort hotels perched up above a perfect beach. So we opted to make a dream come true. Its what we do. So we moved into the luxurious resort that over looked the beach below complete with dolphins swimming in the water just off shore.


In time as is alwayse the case we needed to make a move on. We have a date with Rio De Janero that we need to keep. SO we packed up all our stuff, put it once again on our back´s and began our exit.


That is how we look for a large portion of this trip. Pretty nice fashion statement I must say.

The next stop would be "Olinda" and then "Salvador", both of which compete for the title of most cultural city in Brazil.

But that is another story

- Jordan

Marafolia

After our amazing stay in Jeri, Amie and I headed up the coast a bit to a city called "Sao Louis". There we experienced first hand the amazing spectacle of "Marafolia".

Marafolia is Sao Louis' off season carnival. 3 nights of music and unrestrained partying in the streets of the city right on the beach. Marafolia is part carnival, part concert and a pinch of Burning Man thrown in for good measure. The city closes off a main street that runs along the beach for the party. Huge semi trucks that have been turned into giant mobile stages\art-cars, with bands on top of them provide a moving concert of sorts that the crowds follow through the street. These huge decorated mobile stages flow slowly up the main drag as the people around follow it up the main drag to the final destination of a huge stage area with bleacher seating.


People form what is called a "Blocco" around the moving stage. These bloccos consist of a huge roped in area that surrounds and follows the truck as it crawls up the road thumping its music out into the vast crowds. The people within the blocco all wear a T-shirt with the bands logo and name on it and you must be wearing this shirt to be inside the roped off area, the blocco. The majority of the crowds at these events are wearing a shirt to support their favorite band. Some times they wear one shirt, follow the blocco up the street and then pull another shirt from their pocket to be able to follow another band up the street.



Truck after truck, band after band cruise up the street late into the night with the crowds following along either inside the blocco, or in the case of Amie and I, following just outside of the roped off area with the rest of the revelers. Every kind of music you can think of is represented so everyone has something to shake their groove thang to.

The bands on top of the mobile stages play the crowds favorite songs, whipping the bouncing crowd along into a non-stop frenzy. Huge speakers adorn every spare inch of space on the stage on the music blasts out over the heads of the crowd as the band above sings and dances throughout the night.


The crowd was made up of all locals, as it seems not many tourists have caught on to the off season carnival experience. Amie and I got more than a few stares from people wondering what two tourists were doing lost in the mass of pressed dancing bodies. People would come up and offer us a smile and show us they appreciated us being there. We saw very few other tourists for the 3 nights we attended the event. The local Brazilians proved that they are born to party. They drank until they could not walk and then often passed out only to wake up a while later and continue saturating themselves with potent drinks. There were times when the crowd got a bit out of control but Amie and I kept our collective cool and just kept our eyes open and aware. It was a party unlike anything you would see in the states. The music is in their blood and they party as if there is no tomarrow. We made it through three nights of this eclectic electric experience and the only downside was I was pick-pocked the first night somewhere in the pressing crowd. We never bring much money out with us so I didnt loose much. But I did start using my money belt (given to me by the ever thoughtful Bobbie Potsic) more often.

The rest of our time in Sao Louis we spent recovering and wandering through the ancient cobble stone streets admiring the look and aged feel of the colonial buildings that are scattered through the city. As in many other places we visited we were astounded by the crumbling beauty of these old buildings and peeling walls.


Our hotel had a great view that looked out over the city. Red tile roofs faded in the sun stretching off into the distance. A patchwork of colors and sounds that never seem to end.



Amie took me to parts of the city where she had taken some of her photographs from her "Tropicalia" series. It was wonderful for me to see the actual locations of some of these images I have grown to be so familiar with over the last months


After Sao Louis we wandered south to the city of "Natal". Then on to "Praia De Pipa" and "Olinda".

All that and a photo of Jordans arse will be covered in the next installment of the honeymoon blog.

Ciao for now....

Jordan

And now for something completely different

We have come a long way. Thousands of miles have been travelled. Jungles have been explored. Our feet have walked on ancient lime stone and fertile soils of the cloud forests. Now we find ourselves experiencing something new. Something different. Because Central America is behind us.

Now for something completely different!



Brazil

Our long flight from Panama took us to the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. There we changed flights and continued the long day of travel, flying up to the city of Fortaleza in the state of Bahia. This way we will be able to work our way south and finish up in Rio.

Our stay in Fortelaza was breif. We rested from our days of travel and then we moved on. We had something fun in mind for our first week in Brazil. We took a long bus ride and then changed to a large all terain bus that took us down the sandy coast and through a desert, eventually arriving in the remote and magical location of Jericoacoara. This is one the the amazing places we have found on this trip that I know we will be returning to. Jericoacoara (hereafter to be known as `Jeri`) is hard to get to. There is no road and you need to take a buggy or some kind of all terrain vehicle to get there. The road is long and bumpy and once you are there, there is no Bank or ATM. All these things tend to help Jeri keep it`s magic.

We arrived with the setting of the sun. The bus dropped us off and we saw our new home in the golden light of the setting sun. I looked towards the beach and past the palm trees was the water.



It was perfection. I looked left and saw a giant sand dune on the edge of the village. It`s huge bulk rose up from the ground as a towerring white mound. A perfect curve. And upon it, sillhouetted against a red sky were people. They were climbing to watch the sunset from on top of this wind blown dune. I knew then we were somewhere special.



We wandered around town and found a Poasada (hotel) that was good value for the money. We are no longer in a spanish speaking country so communication is difficult, but we eventualy sorted out the price and settled in to our new home. We explored the small town, which is made up of 5 sandy streets in the middle of a desert. We ate some food and then went off to see the nightlife that Jeri has to offer. Word on the sandy street is that everyone gathers down by two clubs, `Sky`, and `Planeta Jeri`. We were arriving on a wednesday night, which as luck would have it was one of the more liveley nights in the deserted little town. Wednseday night is `forro` (foho) night. Forro is a local Brazilian music popular here that has a dance that goes with it. So on Forro nights, Wednesday and Saturday, all the locals come down to drink and dance to the Forro sound and meet up with their friends. Crafty locals wheel carts out that are small mobile bars, and line both sides of the street with them so you never have to go far for a drink. These carts offer potent potables that I could not recognize, much less prounounce, which turned out to be sweet and strong. Things get going late at around 1am. People show up in droves and dance until the sky is tinted blue with the promise of a new day.

That night we made two friends who we would spend much of the next week with. Nadia and Chris are two amazing ladies who have spent much time in Jeri. It seems that many people come here for a few days and are never able to break the spell Jeri casts over them. Both Chris and Nadia have been here several times and stayed for months on end. Nadia acted as our tour guide for our stay and she showed us the good cheap places to stay, the internet cafe with the good prices, where to get the best juices... All the things we would have never figured out had we not bumped into them. So we drank and watched the ocean, and eventually Amie took me to the dance floor where I attempted with some success to dance to the Forro music. Nadia also mentioned that she was going on a `Paseo de buggy` (dune buggy tour) the next day and she invited us to come allong.

So the next day we got an early start and Nadia showed up in a dune buggy with our driver for the day and we were off to explore the desert. The buggy cruised down the beach in the shadow of the giant sand dune, until eventualy we came to a river. Groups of people were waiting here with small rafts to take us over the river. So we drove the buggy up onto the raft and watched as we were pushed to the other side with long poles.

Once on the other side we continued our drive into the heart of the desert. We were truly now in the middle of nowhere. All around us was sand. White dunes rippled all around us like an ocean of milk frozen in time. The buggy crawled up them and down, and in between. The views were enchanting. This was unlike anything we had seen on this trip so far.



We cruised through the desert for much of the day, watchig the landscape go by.

Our eyes were wide and our jaws dropped open for much of the time. The landscape was just breathtaking. We would park occaisonally to admire the magic surroundings and take pictures.


`I love you on top of a deserted windswept sand dune`.

We stopped at one particularly tall dune to slide on small hand made sleds down the front of the dune. It was like sledding on snow but instead it was hot sand. Amie proved to be quite adept at this and I could hear here cry out for joy as she slid over the edge and off into the distance down the front of the mountain of sand.

Eventually we moved on and came in time to our destination. I had often heard the term `oasis` used and had wondered what such a thing might look like. Well now I know. We arived at a lagoon surrounded on all sides by white sand dunes. We parked the buggy and stopped here for lunch. It was a dream.


Small shacks were set up for shade sitting in the water. Chairs and tables were in the shallow water in the shade so you could cool off your feet as you relaxed. There were hammocks hanging in the water and floating platforms with beach chairs so you could lay back and relax in the sun. The water was cool and in no time at all Amie and I were swimming in the desert lagoon, looking around us with unbeleiving eyes.

It was a very good day. We did another buggy tour the very next dat to visit two other lagoons. The first one was called `Lago Pariso` and was indeed a paradise. The water was clear and perfect. The second was called `Lago Azul` and the water was an unbeleivable blue color. The wind would hit the water and send the reflected sun into shimmmering waves accross the surface of the lagoon that had me hypnotised. We swam and held eachother in the perfect water. We wandered the shoreline taking photos and soaking in the magesty of this amazing place.

Back home we began to settle into a routine that would become our way of life for the next few days. Rise and eat the breakfast our hotel would offer and then decide what amazing distraction we would entertain ourselves with all day. Meet Nadia for dinner. Then as the sun would begin to set we would go to the beach to watch the `Roda` (hota) which is when a group of people all in a circle perform the brazillian martial art of Capoiera to the music of the drum and the birimbow.

Capoiera classes take place on the beach in the late afternoon and when they are done people all gather in a circle. You can hear the sounds of the birimbow as you arrive on the beach near sun set. The birimbow looks a bit like a bow and arrow and has a gord on the bottom which amplifies the sound.


People begin to play these insturments and all the capoiera teachers gather one by one and begin to form a circle and sing. Soon the circle in complete and the capoiera itselfe begins. In brazil´s past, before they had their independence, they were not allowed to practice martial arts or train any military whatsoever. So the people created the martial art of capoeira. Capoiera is done to music and was created to look like a dance. In this way the Brazilian people could practice their martial arts and it would only appear like they were singing and dancing. The martial art itself is very impressive. It looks like part dance, part gymnastics, and part fightig. Flips and spins and cartwheels in a fluury of activity as two people would face off in the circle. It was no contact and never did I see a blow land but there was definite power and amazing strength and agility of the moves that were being performed.

Amie and I would take photos, and often Amie would sit at the far end of the circle and videotape the whole session with our video camera. In time, as we did this night after night, the locals would begin to show off for the camera, giving us an amazing show. When it was over, like clockwork, the capoeristas would approach Amie and gather around to watch what she had video taped. We made many friends this way including the local capoiera master who was known as master serae. Master serae eventually invited us to his home to entertain us with his birimbow and local songs.

We met up with Nadia on one hot afternoon to take a hike down the coast. We followed the coast for a few rocky miles that reminded Amie and I of the coasts of Monterey in California. Eventually We came to our destination, which was a rocky archway on a secluded beach.


This is the spot we had seen on all the post cards advertisig Jericoacara. We spent the afternoon there and then wandered back home taking the high road that provided us with a great view of all of Jeri sprawled out below us.


Our time in Jeri will be long remembered and I am pretty sure we will be back. The sunsets, the capoeira, and the giant sand dunes will all be waiting for us until we return.