Capoeira Dudes at MaracajauOriginally uploaded by mgharris
Yeah, I know! Hot guy alert…
We stepped off the launch from the snorkeling platform to find this terrific capoeira demo. Sadly I didn’t have my camcorder on me but I caught a couple of snaps with the BlackBerry.
The trials I go through to research my novels! It’s just exhausting…
Btw if you are taking the time to comment, thanks! But I have no Web access until a week from now…so I’ll be a while replying.
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Fishermen in Maracajau, BrazilOriginally uploaded by mgharris
Or depending on your perspective, bunch of mass murderers pulling innocent sea creatures out of their home…
One of our six-year olds was upset by the sight, whilst the other crouched to watch the men sort the fishies and pack them into ice.
She was hoping to pick one up for ‘making a potion’.
A student of the dark arts in the making? Or just a biochemist like her Ma?
This was blogged in situ as I wait for the diving boat to take us out to the reef…
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Everybody takes their own version of this picture at the sand dunes near Natal.
What a day! We hired a couple of heavy-duty dune buggies and expert drivers, took a ride up north of Natal where we:
No seat belts, no safety nazis, no washing hands before lunch at the creek, cheerful Brazilians everywhere.
This is a great country.
Ponta Negra beach, Natal, Brazil
You’d think that a grown woman with two kids and a lifetime’s experience of sunny holidays would have some clue how to avoid getting a painful sunburn the first day of a holiday.
Tragically, no. It’s been so long since we’ve been anywhere genuinely sizzling. And the equator is a few hundred miles north for goodness sake, you’d think we’d have borne in mind that the power of the sun was FAR stronger than we were used to. You’d think that we would have remembered that a refreshing sea breeze is the very devil of temptation, enticing you to stay out just a bit longer.
For some reason though, first day in the holiday that I catch some serious sun, I always burn. And then days of pain.
Moan, gripe, whinge; I sound like my eldest daughter.
Natal, Brazil is a laid-back resort, very peaceful right now and with a huge, practically deserted beach. The ocean is blue-green and WARM, lovely long waves that surfers can ride for ages before they wipe out. Very little undertow, so perfect for swimming too. And the beach vendors keep the caipirinhas and ice-creams flowing.
Therein lies my sunburn cure, by the way. I plan to spend the next day or two under the affluence of incohol, as my brother-in-law Paul says.
For purely medicinal purposes, naturally.
I’ve only once been to a booksigning. My favourite authors hardly ever visit Oxford (two of them, never, what with being deceased). When they do it’s probably as an honoured High Table guest at one of the colleges rather than a humble book signing session.
But once, I did have a chance to meet a literary hero, none other than Douglas Adams, author of “The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy”.
I may have mentioned before what a total fangirl I am and always have been. I was actually a member of ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha, the HHGTTG fan club, once… (John Lloyd, producer of the original radio show and later, via QI.com, a customer of my IT company, gave me a hug when I told him that!). So when I had my chance to have Douglas Adams (or as he’s known to the fan community, ‘Bop Ad’) actually sign his latest book, I of course included some obscure reference to the BBC radio show. And asked him to sign my copy of ‘So Long And Thanks For All The Fish’ with the words:
With deep anger and resentment.
Well, it won a smile from dear old Bop, who was kept busy all afternoon that day in Blackwell’s.