Halloooo, and may I add Happy New Year!
We're back from Ilhabela having spent a lovely week doing very little except strolling from one beach to another, occasionally stopping for lunch, admiring the view and lazing by the hotel pool when the afternoon rain set in. Except for one day when we climbed up a three-part waterfall, and another when we were almost drowned and had most of our possessions swept away by the sea in quick succession. I also read the whole of the Existentialist Café book, which was most enjoyable!
On New Year's Eve we ordered a bunch of food from one of our favourite haunts, picking it up just before the heavens opened and the island ground to a halt, and had a candlelit dinner by the pool, complete with complimentary bottle of champers and fireworks next door.
The vibe was a bit different from previous trips, obviously, but the promised shutdown of non-essential businesses on Jan. 1st didn't materialize, no one apart from us really bothered with masks or social distancing (not even the cops), and life went on pretty much as normal when it wasn't raining. I even got over the lack of a self-service cake bar at breakfast pretty quickly.
Normal service has now been resumed back here, we've been reunited with the cats, the drilling has picked up with a vengeance, I've made a mixtape, and my phrase of the day ("perrengue chique") basically means "first-world problems".
It's also the handle of an extremely entertaining Instagram account which reposts home videos of people trying to enjoy their holiday in exotic and luxurious locations in Brazil and around the world, only to be thwarted by queues, thunderstorms, flooding and other intrusions (the tidal wave at our local beach and ensuing carnage featured prominently).
Until next time - speak soon!
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