30.8.11

Around Town. Well...sorta.

So now that I've given you the picturesque beach, ocean and palm tree view of Boipeba I guess it's about time to share some of the photos I took in "town". When I say town I mean Velha Boipeba. I refer to a town with ONE cobblestone paved road. I refer to a town that has no cars and moves their goods from one side of the island to another by horse and cart. I have to say that I'm very disappointed in myself for not documenting more of the peoples story in Boipeba. But I really have anxiety about being a tourist. It's odd being a white girl in South America. There's no hiding. Every day I leave the house I feel like I've just showed up to a rodeo in a suit and tie. On top of that, being a white girl with a fancy camera? Well, I'm just begging to be heckled. I really didn't want to invade these people's lives. I didn't want to make it seem as though their way of life was a novelty to the rich white girl who was there for 2 weeks pretending to speak Portuguese while getting a tan. Having said that, my photos do not have many people in them which, I feel, ultimately makes them less interesting. So, sorry I let you down. I know you had SUUUCCHH high expectations for my next post. I plan on getting better at this once I can speak more of ANY language other than English. Beijos.
Walking through the interior to get to the beach.


Main road that goes from one side of the island to the other.


Velha Boipeba

Majestic donkey on the side of the road

Velha Boipeba

Velha Boipeba

Majestic horse on the side of the road

Velha Boipeba

Velha Boipeba

Velha Boipeba

The Church of the Holy Spirit of Velha Boipeba

The Church of the Holy Spirit of Velha Boipeba,
This is our dog Lois. You will see more of her later. She was a lonely island dog that just showed up at our house one day and decided to take us as her owners. She want every where with us. She even swam out to the tides pools and waited there all day by our bag. <3
Lois

23.8.11

Right near da beach BOI-EEE!

Not much explaining needed for this post. Just beautiful images of all the beaches we spent 2 weeks exploring. The whole island of Boipeba is about 6 miles long and about 2 miles wide. There are no cars on the island just tractors and horse drawn wagons. So to get form one side of the island to the other you must walk through the interior or you can chose to walk the miles of beautiful coast line. We took both and I must say neither were disappointing. When walking through the interior I liked to imagine I was in a super happy not so frightening version of 'Lost'. And instead of an ominous black mist chasing us there was a fine glowy sea mist kissing our skin. My favorite beach by far was Praia da Cueira. When I walked onto this beach I felt like I had just walked into someones Window's desktop photo. Coconut groves and huge waves. <3 My second favorite were the tide pools. Sea creatures galore and crystal clear water. The only reason this was not my favorite spot was 1: we didn't have snorkels and 2: coral and rock are NOT as fun to walk on as they may seem. Also, a crowded day at the beach in Boipeba meant you saw max 10 people. We really were on a deserted island. Feast.
Tide Pools

Tide Pools

Praia Da Cueira

Canoe. Tide Pools.

Beach Ballin'.

Donkey. Praia Da Cueira.

Praia Da Cueira

Boca Da Barra. I watched this man make this net by hand a few days before.

Velha Boipeba. Low Tide.

Our sand fishy we made with sea shells.

20.8.11

Paraiso em Boipeba

Boipeba is a tiny island off the coast of the state of Bahia in Brazil. A paradise that, if you are poor, is hell to get to. For the rich, there is a plane you can take from Salvador straight to Boipeba in about 30 minutes. For the poor (us) the trip goes as follows: A 10pm, 3 hour flight from Sao Paulo to Salvador. A 4 hour wait in the Salvador airport. A 5am, 1 hour bus ride through some not so comforting parts of Salvador to the ferry. A one hour ferry ride to Itapirica. A 2 and half hour bus ride from Itapirica to Valença. A 2 hour lunch and intermission (waiting for bus 3) in Valença. An hour and half bus ride through the back country and pot hole filled roads of Bahia. This bus ride will forever be carved into my brain as the most painful vehicle ride of my life. The pot holes were the size of the Asiatic cows that grazed in the fields lining the road of death. This bus transported us to the final lap of our trip, a one hour ferry ride to the Brazilian utopia, Boipeba. There are plenty more posts to come regarding this island, so as much as I would like to give away the details of our trip now, my lips will remain sealed. This is my documentation of our hellish trip there and a few sneak peaks of our stay at the end of the video. After 2 weeks cut off from the world; no internet, no cell phone, no tv I'm SO happy to be back in touch with the world. NOT.