The Dream is Over

The tears fall as the last two standing sit here in Madrid, Spain writing our last Fantasia blog entry. The two left (Ainsley and Jaxs) hit London tomorrow (14 April happy birthday Jules and Si!) for about a week. No doubt many of you will be happy to hear that the holiday is nearly over for us and we have to find our self jobs (well, its the money bit we actually need!). Speaking of which, those of you who know us well will be incredibly surprised to hear that we have become obsessed with budgeting, to the extent we even write down every little brazilian real we spend. You wouldn´t recognise us.

In the meantime, back to Brazil. After eventually picking up the pieces after the split from Team Fantastia member Jane, the unemployed bums headed off on a Brazil Beach Tour. Before the tour started, we flew from Florianopolis up to Sao Paulo - massive city where it rained and we shopped. First stop on the Beach Tour was Paraty, then Trindade, Ilha Grande, Arrial de Cabo and last stop Buzios. Given that we spent our time sunbathing, reading and a substantial and unnatural amount submerged in water, there is not a huge amount to say as such! The best way is to describe the typical day for you along with illustrations:

11am to 11:30am: get out of bed.
11:30am to 11:45am: maybe eat something - likely to be a bread roll with ham and cheese (we sure have had our fill).
11.45am to 2pm: hit the beach - spend hours either lying horizontally or floating in the water. Some days we might go out on a Pirate boat and do some snorkelling and create floating bars (if ya lucky and its in the budget!).
2pm to 2:30pm: potentially get out of the water and sunbathe. If the budget permits, may eat something or maybe even have a beer. We are on the beach diet you see (you can eat or drink anything they sell on the beach).
2:30pm to 3pm: maybe get back in the water? It is pretty hot remember - 30 - 35C.
3pmto 5:30pm: repeat the above at our leisure.
5:30pm till bedtime: have some dinner and make some caprianhas (great potty mouth drinks). Note the "make" = budget!

Some days had little added extras : there was the day we hung out with a turtle (`Turts´) for an hour or so; many times we found ourselves swimming in rips; one day some Aussies introduced us to a game called ´whats in that package´ which was fun for hours on speedo filled beaches; some days we had to walk to get to the beaches; and our last place on the Beach Tour even had a pool (which increased our daily floating hours substantially). Our life was very exciting you see.

First stop: Paraty, better from the pirate boats than the shore.

Lopes Mendes Beach, Ilha Grande : allegedly the best beach in Brazil. Our expert opinion : its definitely up there, clear water, white sand, great floating potential.

Floating Bar. Combining two of our favourite pastimes - floating and drinking

Jacky and a pirate ship

Water. Great for snorkelling and, of course, floating

The beach on Ilha Grande where we met Turts. He was camera shy though.

Everytime a coconut at Praia Grande, Arrail de Cabo. No thats not Arrial the mermaid, its Ainsley (floating).

Beaches at Buzios at Easter. Brazilians going nuts for their supposedly last summer holiday

By the end of the Beach tour we learnt to pose like Brazilians (but luckily for you, we do not do it in our thong bikinis). And check out all the floating aids in that pool - dreamy.

The Brazil Beach Tour had to come to an end sometime - remember, all good things have to at some stage. Last stop in Brazil was Rio for a few days. Splashed out on our own apartmento - cable TV = yes! Then it was off to Madrid, Spain. Spending a few token days here. Went to a token art gallery. As such, below is a token photo taken in a room with trippy lights. Note the extensive clothing worn (ie, long pants, sleeves AND shoes), we are very unimpressed at the 20 degree temperature drop Madrid has given us. Off to London tomorrow, there better be sun.

Its been a journey guys - thanks for sharing it. But now the dream is over. We may not have jobs, but at least we have tans. Ciao ciao