Sorry its been awhile

hello everyone and despite the title we are doing fine. since leaving sao paulo it seems like the time has flown by. the first stop was to ubatuba, a small beach town inside of sao paulo state. within a short busride from the town there are around 75 beaches to visit. we finally got to relax but not for long. craig was a little sick but me and darrell were having some drinks at a bar and were invited to an open bar party at a beach house. some younger people roughly 25 years old were throwing a birthday party at their friends house. we bought tickets and partied with the rich kids all night. the house was amazing, and our good luck continues. after that we went to paraty another small beach town this one in the rio de janerio state. our bus was delayed at the border because a truck had crashed into it. we had to wait for the fire trucks and ambulance to come and pry the doors off and resuce the guy, somewhat scary. another example of great brazilian driving. we arrived safely found some beautiful beaches, rented a boat with a capatian for a day and met some more locals who really enjoyed to party with us. see the reoccuring theme, not alot of sleep. we then arrived in rio which is by far the coolest city i have seen. now it was time for darrell to be sick. we slept the first night but after that we met so many people through the hostel and there is so much to do in rio i think only darrell got some sleep. we went hanggliding, to a concert, to parties in the streets, to the christ statue, sugar loaf mountain, a flavella tour and a football match. whoo what a ride. the football match was great. we left the tour with our big scandanavian friend a partied with the locals. they are beating huge drums all game and singing so loudly. fireworks and people running around are normal. when our side tied the game they shot the fireworks onto the field and the police stormed our section,pretty wild. so after rio we flew to salvador which is in the north. in salvador there is lots of african-portugese culture due to the slave trade. there is drumming in the streets and the music never stops. darrell was still pretty sick and craig was catching it again. i however am cursed with invincability and therefore am obliged to go out everynight. the downside to salvador is the poverty. the first night there we were mobbed by beggars and children, shocking and frightening. subsequent nights were not as bad but it is still tough thing to see and deal with. we are currently on and island off the coast finally taking it easy. we´ve checked in. nothing but sleeping on the beautiful beach and reading at night on the balcony in the hammock. quite a few roaches in the room though. its been nice to take a break i really needed it. craig got another flu that has been going around this area and has been in bed all day. according to the locals its really just a 24hour thing. we have booked our tickets for manuas and leave salvador on thursday. sorry there is no pictures but it takes roughly 20minutes to upload one and it gets kinda expensive, especially up north were things are poorer and technology is harder to get at. if anyone wants to leave an email address it might be easier to send pictures directly. love you all were off to the jungel, we start malaria medication tommorrow, sweet dreams.

brad