Praia do forte / Aracaju / Maceio

My travel speed has decreased to that of a elderly, infirm, hungover slug travelling backwards through honey. I have been gradually making my way up the north east coast from Salvador. The great thing about this stretch of coast is that it is just one giant beach with crystal blue waters, palm trees and the inherent risk of falling coconuts putting an abrupt end to ones travels...

Praia do forte is a beautiful small beachside town complete with humming birds and small monkeys just north of Salvador. Aracaju is nothing special, but the owner of my hostel in Rio was there on holidays and had invited me to come and stay with them in their parents apartment. Gift horse, mouth etc., so I wasn´t passing up on the chance of a free nights sleep. I arrived at the apartment and realised straight away that it wasn´t your average middle class Brazilian family. The apartment wasn´t one of many on the 4th floor... It WAS the fourth floor. Probably about 200m2, in the downtown area, overlooking the river, 3 balconies and enough space to swing an ocelot. When I woke up the next morning, everyone was out of the house (parents, brothers & sisters etc.), but there were not one, but TWO maids in the kitchen. One fussed about me and lead me to the dining room where a 12 seater table was set for one. So I dined on fresh bread rolls, scrambled eggs, cheese & brazilan cold cuts, fresh fruit salad and pineapple, all washed down with some freshly brewed brazilian coffee served in a fine bone china cup. Somehow it didn´t fit in with my whole living on stale bread and water, sleeping in drains world traveller image (hey I was sitting on their finest mahogony chairs wearing the same boxer shorts I had on for the previous 2 days...), but life is hard and one has to be flexible. So I "Ahemed", asked for more coffee and retired to the living room to watch TV... 2 well fed days later I bid (bade?) farewell to my family (I was getting to used to the luxury thing) and headed up to Maceio, which has some of the nicest beaches in Brazil. The first day there I duly sunscreened up my whole body but somehow omitted my face. The next day I looked like one of those monkeys in Japan that sit and fart in hot springs all day. Onwards ever onwards (this time in a group comprising of an Englishman, an Israeli and a Guatemalan - anyone got a joke handy?) towards Olinda, the first capital of Brazil. A street party or two later and I had to leave - I was having fights with the Israeli. He was inclined to walk 4 kilometers out of town to save 50 cents on his food. I tried to explain that the energy we would lose just by walking all the way would be more than the money we saved. He just growled at me, so with his 3 hear SAS style military training in mind, I fled towards Natal.