Bikinis: I give in

Praia do Curral, Ilhabela

I'm English, ok.  As a result, I don't feel comfortable wearing a bikini unless I have what is known as a 'bikini body'.  I don't have a bikini body.  Far from it.  Actually, before I went to Ilhabela the other week, I didn't even own a bathing costume because I'm that insecure about showing skin.

Anyhoo, my girlfriend managed to convince me before hitting the beach to at least buy a sports bra, a vest and a pair of bicycle shorts.  One trip to C&A later and I was sorted.

We spent the entire day on the beach on the first day and that experience brought me to the following conclusion: a bikini is the only way to go in Brazil.  I was very hot the whole day and Kelly spent the whole time pointing out women the size of whales wearing bikinis.  "See? She's wearing a bikini... so is she... and her.... I'm fat, I'm wearing a bikini," she said.

It was about 28 degrees and I was uncomfortably hot, god help me in the summer when it hits 40 on a hot day and I'm wearing bloody bicycle shorts.

Cachoeira da Toca, Ilhabela

P.S. DO NOT GO TO CACHOEIRA DA TOCA.  The mosquitos are total bastard and the citronella oil makes no difference whatsoever. And the waterfall isn't particularly impressive.

Been a while!

Right, I haven't posted for ages because I've been busy with a new relationship and being all lovey-dovey and all that boring romantic stuff that gets in the way of writing blogs.

I have done a few things that warrant blogging, but they're ages ago now and I like to write about things when they're fresh in my mind, so I'll file them away for another time.  Probably worth blogging on Parada Gay, though.

I'm very happy and settled.  I've moved in with my girlfriend to Gayville, SP.  It's like Clapham Common without all the green stuff.  My Portuguese is coming along slowly.  According to my girlfriend (Brazilian, also an English teacher) I'm a Basic 2.  This means I make horrific mistakes when I speak but I can communicate and make myself understood.  I understand most things said to me.

I have been slacking off, so I'm trying to start a '1 hour a day minimum' for speaking Portuguese with my girlfriend and I've got a book that I intend to start studying soon to help with the grammar and vocabulary, etc.  I watch some Brazilian TV programmes (I still don't get and can't stand Brazilian soaps) and if there's a film on that I've seen before, I watch it in Portuguese with Portuguese subtitles incase I miss something.  I watched the whole of Pan's Labyrinth that way and I understood everything.

Business is a bit slow because of the school holidays, but it's starting to pick up.  I need to push for more private students so I can save for the next holiday period in December/January/February which will be completely dead.

Anyhoo, normal service shall resume in the next few days.  Future posts will probably lean more on the observational side because I'm not a tourist anymore and I'm now more ensconced in Brazilian culture than I was before.