21

OK so am writing this with very little enthusiasm as I had just finshed blogging when i closed the window by accident without saving the damn page but here we go again.

Right so after a coughing frenzy or two in her sleep- poor Beanie, Pieter turning off the fan and me mistaking Beanie's earplug in the midst of her coughing attack for a piece of watermelon we eventually awoke to another beautiful day in Jeri. Delighted by the fact that none of us looked anything resembling a watermelon we celebrated with breakfast one and two. The first at the hostel- we finally made it to one as a collective and the second being an Açai just to start our 'team' day right. Today we allocated sandcreation building and 'no time' as our challenges . So all kitted up in our aviators, havaiianas-Br styles and our Brazilian flag bandannas...God forbid anyone mistook us for foreigners or we momentarily forgot where we were!!! Design in hand we scuttled into the market in search of 'C' for serious tools. Emerging with an industrial strength 10L bucket, clay sculptor and 'brush n pan' pan(think shovel), we were all geared up and with ´ganas´(desire/enthusiasm/intention) we made it onto the beach . Choosing a neat little position near the bottom of the sand dune and miles away from the water - the fact that it was low-tide didn´t really help either, we set to work. Pieter on drawing the outlines and me and Bean following orders. As we scurried between fetching water and digging up sand our initial approach was to loosen the sand with the clay sculptor and then throw in into the middle thus giving the creature definition. However after the clay sculptor suffered a casuality and the handle broke we had to resort to the very malleable plastic pan and our hands. We must have looked quite the sight in our matching accessories, bikinis and down on all fours covered in sand. The fact that the wind was blasting us to smithereens was rather painful and unneccessary but did take away the full effect of the heat and make no mistake it was SCORCHING.
So the creature I speak of was to be a 'three-headed sphinx' - It´s all about the trio!! However at this point the ´thing' was growing rather lumpy but progress is progress. Feeling like we had bitten off more than we could chew and without a clue of time we put our backs into it . As I said before ganas is essentially a matter of "where theres a will , theres a way" Not without the usual sprinkling of passer-byers- on foot, motorbike, buggy or jeep they all came by stopped stared and wondered. Hah granted we either looked really cool or really stooopid- but curiosity killed the cat. TAKE A FOTO IT LASTS LONGER!!!

So at some point after the ´sphinxy´started gaining some form , i.e hipbones, nice childbearing hips and very 'sliceable' backside Beanie and I moved in the direction of water to rinse. With three options a puddle of water=tooo hot, a very shallow estuary(flounder-able but not worth it) and the ocean which felt like a good kilometers walk but the winning option. We made our way back only to return just as encrusted as before. Subbing with Pieter we continued defining paws and awaited his return so we could make smallwork of our creation. Beanie took to the tail as only she would- delivering a masterpiece and Pieter and I invested our skill and genius in creating three heads. After various attempts to solidify the sand we realised we would just have to let go of our three head illusions and settle for one. The final result being a somewhat meek looking cat...with a fantastic behind. We however were every part the proud parents- typical you think the best and most of that which you give birth to. A few more people finally grasping our intentions passed and played some guessing games..."yes well done it´s a cat!!!!"
Anyway after various snapshots and videos we made our way in search of fresh flowing water. Finding two showers and the a whole beachfront restaurant full of disapproving looks we de-crusted ourselves and our tools(possibly the cause of the weird looks and murmurs) and sat down with the intention of ordering ´coco's´. Fifteen mintutes of writhing for attention later we huffed our way out of there and found a similar setup where they served us with a smile and fooooood. Blessed with the entertainment of a group of hippies selling jewellery, one with a baby in a stroller wearing nappies and backpack with what looked like leopard fur, I might add!- WHO`D DO THAT? Almost satisfied we found some ice cream and waddled back to the hostel still none the wiser about the time but oh so thrilled with our accomplisments for the day. The hammock and I bonded while Beanie and Pieter took to the net.
After a frustrating session of trying to burn CDs of photos we left the hostel after a shower in search of dinner. We ended up at a pizza restaurant where salad was the winner..followed by caipirinhas down at the stands were we met two guys from Estonia - Enn and Reno. ESTONIA!!?? Random - I think they are the first Estonian people we have met. This could be due to the fact that the country only has 1.5million people and it was a former part of the Soviet Union. So after bonding over Kiwiroskas, Maracujaroskas (passionfruit) and the all-endearing classic lime caipirinha we took our torch and hiked up in the dark to the sand dunes. Drinks in hand we watched the starry sky..Beanie seeing 3 shooting stars, Riki nil. After running down the dunes we headed to the supermarket and back to the hostel to pick up our friend the industrial bucket to make our own caipirinhas. We stopped at the supermarket and then went and sat round the unswimmable pool due to cleaning at the Estonian's hotel while they tried to teach us an Estonian card game. Kind of along the lines of 500 mixed with Old Maid. Hard to teach easy to play apparently. After various attempts we all gave up and decided on a swim in the sea in the pitch black and then headed back to the hostel swinging our dear empty friend the bucket all the way home.