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Free & BrEasy - Start of the End



We are now just over 4 days out of Salvador, on our way to Forteleza, 750 nm up the Brazilian coast from Salvador. We have been motor sailing continuously, using both engines for the first 24 hours, as we bashed our way into strong head winds, and therefore gobbling up our precious diesel. But don't think that life has been dull. The rough conditions induced a certain state of queasiness even in some of us intrepid circumnavigators. We have been so used to being gently coaxed along with light tail winds typical of trade wind sailing in a westward direction that it was a shock to start sailing straight into the gnashers of a north easterly wind. We were also treated to a fantastic sound and light show. For two hours in the dark we motored through a big thunder and lightning storm. Lightning flashed all around us every few seconds and at one point a bolt of lightning hit the sea about half a mile away, temporarily blinding us and giving us the fright of our lives with the immediate deafening thunder clap.

It seems impossible that only a few short days ago, we were partying with 2 million people in Salvador. After pipoca-ing (dancing like popcorn) our way along two of the parade routes (Circuitos Osmar and Batatinha), we decided to walk the 6 km to the Circuito Dodo, which was along the sea front at Barra. Starting in the afternoon, the first 2km walking took us along a very hot and busy coastal route where a lot of young people appeared to be living rough and brought us to the main park (Campo Grande). We were just in time to see Cherio on top of a Trio Electrico truck starting on the Circuito Osmar. Cherio de Amor is a lovely young lady with a powerful voice who wore a tight fitting sequenced costume. In the middle of the afternoon, we were pulled along behind her truck and amplified band with Cherio strutting her stuff 10 feet up. We resisted the strong temptation to follow Cherio to the ends of the earth and turned off to walk the remaining 4 km to the beach and the start of the Ciruito Dodo.

The party there started much later and we walked past a dozen or so Trio Electrico's that were lined up near the beach front emitting occasional percussion growls like metal monsters waking up from hibernation. With the sun beating down on us we sat ourselves against the walls of the light house at Farol da Barra a few hundred yards away from the start of the Circuito Dodo, by which time the metal monsters were waking up and starting to turn up the volume and crawl along the beach esplanade looking for human flesh to vibrate into pipoca. With half the sound travelling outwards to the sea rather than being reflected by buildings in the streets as on the other circuitos, we could actually appreciate the music and the samba or rumba rhythms! We lost track of time and soon it was dark so, with every nerve and muscle twitching to the powerful bass guitar and drums, we walked along the beach, avoiding the crowds lining the street, and again enjoying the music at a distance with the beach dancers! Twenty or so small boats had the same idea and were anchored just off the beach to catch the music.
With the night progressing, it was time to start the walk home. We did not fancy returning along the coast route so it was back to pipoca-ing through the vibrating crush on the Circuito Osmar, past Trio Electrico's and their hordes. All this was hard work so we finished off the evening with a plate of Fejoada, a typical Brazilian stew of beans, every bit of a pig that you can think of and perhaps did not want to eat, washed down with beer.

Roger had been hard at work giving the water maker membrane a make over but after several days of alkali treatment, there was no improvement. We would need to continue to conserve fresh water for the next month of passages up the Brazilian coast! What could we do but cheer ourselves by celebrating pancake Tuesday with savoury and sweet pancakes cooked by our favourite Italian chef, Marco!

The next day we walked the Circuito Osmar in the morning to a supermarket for provisioning. The party was over! The big clean up had started. The hundreds of portable loos were being removed and the barricades in front of shops taken down. The Trio Elecrtico's had been herded back to their peaceful pastures for another year!
That afternoon we carried out the last few emails and skype calls and cast off Free & Breasy in the early evening. By then the sky scrapers were resplendent with their lights and we had a magnificent coastal passage past the Farol da Barra and the Circuito Dodo where we had enjoyed the Salvador Carnival music at its best.

After thirteen and half months of circumnavigation, sailing mainly in a Westward direction towards the setting sun, we were suddenly sailing in a North Easterly direction into the wind. The new compass bearing marks the start of the last leg back up to the Caribbean and home. It was the Start of the End and we were going 'up north' to finish the circumnavigation and start a new period in our lives - 'Life after Circumnavigation'. What that will bring, many of us are still uncertain but for sure a big big memory will be the Salvador Carnival.



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