Adventures in . . . Fife

My husband and I went to Fife for a few days over our wedding anniversary, to stay with some of my friends who I did my gap year to Brasil with (they have featured in a few previous posts too: Old Adventures . . . Climbing Maraguape & Old Adventures . . . in Brazil)

It was a great few days and we were sad that Alison was unable to make it but perhaps another year?!

Here are some of the highlights...

...at St Andrews...

Us with the Brazilian flag at St Andrews

Chariots of Fire beach at St Andrews

St Andrew's golf course

...the view from our room...

Beach :)

...crossing the Forth Road Bridge (may be for the last time as they're building another bridge)...

Forth Road Bridge map

The blurry railway bridge from the road bridge

The road bridge

Old Adventures . . . at New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

FELIZ ANO NOVO!!!

As the previous post on Christmas Day, we travelled to Salvador, Bahia for the New Year and this photo was taken at sunset on New Years Eve.

Across this bay at mid-night the whole shore was alight with fireworks & people celebrating the incoming of 2006, it was an amazing experience and I can safely say the finest New Years Eve ever!! 

New Years Eve Sunset, Salvador, Bahia, Brasil

Old adventures . . . of Christmas in Fortaleza, Brazil

FIRSTLY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ONE AND ALL!!! 

PRIMEIRO, FELIZ NATAL A TODOS GENTES!!!!

Christmas 2005 was spent in Brasil in the city of Fortaleza, before going on holiday to Salvador for a few days. It was strange that it was so hot and sunny over Christmas and we actually spent Christmas Day on the beach :)

We were working with a church in Brasil, so as part of the children's work we arranged that they do a nativity play in the church at one of the Christmas services...Mary got stage fright, so it went a bit pear-shaped.

Mary, Joseph & Baby Jesus in a Brasilian Christmas Nativity - Igreja Batista Alianca

Brasilian's are not into Christmas as much as they are New Year, but there were, a few decorations up, these are a few in the square in the city centre. Looking carefully there is a star above the clock tower and a white Christmas tree to its right, which was lit up at night.

City Centre Christmas Decorations

Old Adventures in . . . Mercado Central, Fortaleza

Mercado Central is the Central Market in Fortaleza, a city in north-eastern Brasil. I spent 6 months in this city during 2004 and 2005 as part of my gap year. I loved coming to this place which sold handmade products and brought many nice Brasilian things home with me, as souvenirs.

It was so colourful and there were always so many people about that it had a great atmosphere and was just a great place to come and "hang out". The architecture was very interesting.

Mercado Central, Fortaleza, Brasil

Old adventures . . . in the favelas

Fortaleza, Brasil - the favelas (slums) and rich tower blocks

This photo was taken on my gap year in Brasil in 2004-5. We wanted a photo which showed the great extremes of poverty next to wealth and this was just perfect.

The favelas are the slums, built with whatever they can find right up to the beach, ready to get washed away at the next rainy season and further around the bay is the tourist area with the rich tower blocks of nice flats, hotels and offices.

This photo was taken about a 10 minute walk from the area we were living in, Carlito Pamplona.

Old adventures . . . with Projeto Sao Pivete

Projeto Sao Pivete

On the Old Adventures blog posts previously I have mentioned that I spent my gap year in Fortaleza, Brazil.

Well, the above photo is some of the children from one of the projects I worked with out there, Projeto Sao Pivete. We ran afternoon children's sessions there twice a week. The children were quite a wild bunch but we had great fun with them. This photo was taken whilst playing a game with water balloons.

Old adventures . . . chillaxing the Brasilian style

This photo was taken in my friends flat in Carlito Pamplona area of Brasil in 2004. This was Edson's way to chilax on an evening after work.

Oh how I miss swinging in my hammock whilst reading a book.

Edson chillaxing Brasilian style!

Old adventures... drinking fresh coconuts!

Another photo from my Brasilian days...

...we often enjoyed our days off on the beach, it would get very hot especially in the middle of the day so we would be refreshed by the fresh coconut milk!!! Not bad for 20p.

Praia do Futuro, Ceara - enjoying a fresh coconut on the beach!

Old adventures... in Prea 2

This photo was taken at Easter 2005, just before my return to the UK from Brasil. Prea was a small fishing village built on the beach and sand dunes, it was on the main highway to the very popular touristy destination Jericoacoara. Yes, this beach is the main highway!!!!

A few weeks ago we saw a photo of this same beach at sunset. It was such a beautiful place, I needed to share another photo with you.

Prea

Old adventures... climbing Maranguape

From the city Fortaleza in Brasil there is a mountain on the horizon which is called Maranguape.

Towards the end of our stay in Fortaleza in 2005 we challenged ourselves to climb it with a guide in the 30+C temperatures, and this is our triumphant picture once we reached the top!

At the top of Maranguape!

Old Adventures in... Prea

This is photo taken in a small village called Prea on the north-east coast of Brasil. The sea and the clouds created this amazingly atmospheric sunset. We were visiting the small church in the village for a few days at Easter 2005. 

This beach is actually the main highway for tourists wanting to get to the very beautiful village of Jericoacoara...

Old adventures... in Brazil

This is the start of a new theme of blog posts about my "Old adventures".

I have travelled a lot in the past and want to share with you a photo some Wednesday's of my old adventures.

The inspiration for these blog posts has come from a good friend, Helen. Helen was one of my beautiful bridesmaids and she also blogs regularly. She has regular posts called Wednesday Remembering where she posts photos of her past travels.

I am going to start this post with a very special place in my heart...Fortaleza, Ceara, Brazil!

Brazilian flag hammock - Scott, Alison, Jennie & me! (Oh and Anderson's head popping out the side)

I went to Brazil from October 2004 until April 2005 with the charity BMS World Mission on their Action Team gap year program. I was in a team with 3 others, Scott, Alison and Jennie. We had an amazing time and great adventures together.

The painting of the Brazilian flag is on a hammock which we bought whilst we were out there.

A lot of people sleep in hammocks in Brazil and they're great to chill out in whilst reading a good book.

You will probably see many more photos of our time in Fortaleza throughout this series of blog posts.