Me in Brazil

Well, folks, this is your humble blogger shown within touching distance of a lovely latin lass deep in the heart of Brazil at carnival time. I resolved to go native and make whoopie with the revellers but my english reserve got the better of me and I felt more like an observer making a mental record of the partying locals. Still, there I was mixing with the natives, as it were, and, thanks to my mediterranean roots, looking like one of them, as long as I kept my mouth shut.

Needless to say the carnival frolics continued well into the night thanks to a hard core of ever-present merry-makers determined to whoop it up until they dropped. And they were helped by ample booze that flowed and the loud syncopated music that boomed out. The processions of effigies known as 'bonecos' had run their gauntlet among the crowds and now, as the night deepened, scattered groups of die-hards toughed it out in the streets under the watchful eye of the police.

And here is your humble blogger in more sedate moments, when the sights and sounds of Brazil could be savoured at a more leisurely pace in a seaside 'pousada' situated in a verdant setting far from the "madding crowd" and where the simple pleasures of sun and sea could be enjoyed in restful surroundings.