30.12.15 - Deu 5 minutos em mim

Hallooo!

Good to speak to you the other day, and hope you all made it back home safely by various methods. The festive season went off here without a hitch - had a lovely Christmas Eve bash at Eduardo and Susy's, complete with lifesize Santa doll, a roasted chester (half chicken, half turkey, half pig), the giving of many a present (including a Star Wars jigsaw, which I was very happy with, and a much sought-after tin of baked beans from Brenna et al), and more pudim than I knew what to do with.

Got very worked up on Christmas Day morning, despite it not being so much of a thing here, and relentlessly serenaded Gaby with "We Three Kings" and "The Twelve Days of Christmas" until she had enough and we went to Ridaut and Adny's for yet more food/pudim, mince pies, the assembling of said Star Wars jigsaw and general holiday decadence and debauchery. The next few days were spent in a haze of Boxing Day football, even more food at Gaby's grandma's and of course actually going to see Star Wars, which received rave reviews from my inner 11-year-old.

Then on Monday morning we hit the road, only to have the road hit back with about four hours of gridlocked traffic on the way to the coast - fortunately I'd stocked Gaby's iPod with over 24 hours of TUNES beforehand (and then tried to pass it off as a Christmas present, to my shame - I also got her singing lessons at the nearby Liverpool Studio, as well as guitar lessons at the nearby Fred Studio), so we were sorted.

Arrived in Ilhabela by ferry around 5:30, checked out our rather cool hotel and pool (with jacuzzi! and coconut trees! and an endless descent to the sea which nearly ended us on the climb back up), got roped into a long conversation with a tedious and slightly racist couple from Curitiba, and headed into town, only to be hit by a downpour of biblical proportions which nearly carried us all out into the bay. Eventually it blew over and we wandered round the old town, eating pizza and ice cream (tiramisu flavour! my new favourite...), watching bats chase fish off a pier and grooving to a Brazilian Bee Gees tribute band in the main square, as you do. All very quaint and colonial, reminded me a bit of Nassau, dahling...

Then yesterday we breakfasted on the deck overlooking the sea and went off in search of beaches (& ho's), locating a rather nice one off the Isle of Goats (Ilha das Cabras) where all sorts of scuba diving and snorkelling was going on. Had a dip, checked out the southern beaches briefly for good measure, had a tour of a pier where Gaby was thinking of having the wedding (looked a bit small and shanty-town-ish though, as the owner's son's friends were staying over and had set up mattresses everywhere), hit the pool and went back into town for more awesome food, weird cover bands and nighttime frolicking. 

Today we're going to check out a waterfall with some of Gaby's friends from school, who also happen to be here, and tomorrow we're off to a swanky beachside NYE party which will either be amazing or awful and Jersey Shore-ish, I haven't decided yet. But it's rather lovely to be here and very relaxing, etc. 

Until the next time, I leave you with a New Year's Eve-themed mini-compilation (https://play.spotify.com/user/freddypowys/playlist/60XnoSPMN12KvFkI5o0tTC), and the above saying, which is a way of saying that you took leave of your senses and flew off the handle for a bit. Will send more updates and photos next week once noses are back to the grindstone, etc.

Speak soon,

Frod