Incognito
Topic: Brazil
I need the smallest excuse to buy clothes and I have been starved of shopping opportunities on this trip as I can't carry any more. In order to blend in more in Bahia, I naturally needed to hit the malls. Women here dress in things that are tiny, tight and very trashy. All my sensible travel clothes make me look positively puritanical in comparison. The shopping trip was great fun, a real chance to re-invent myself as a Brazilian beach babe. I did draw the line at some items including a skimpy t-shirt with the following words written across the chest (in English): "You can't be first, but you can be next". Can you imagine wearing that!

As we were walking to the bank one day with me kitted out in one of my slutty new outfits, I commented that no one would ever recognize the trashy new me - especially those more used to seeing me in a suit. The words were barely out of my mouth when I heard "Hiya Jo". It was Andy, a friend from Dubai. I was so surprised to see him I didn't speak for a full minute and he thought I didn't recognize him! It turns out he is on holiday and is staying just up the road from us. So much for being unrecognizable!

Later that day, we bumped into a couple we had done the Inca Trail with in December. They filled us in on their adventures in Chile - a path we had considered in Puerto Montt but gave up on because the transport seemed too unreliable. It turns out, it is, and tried the patience of our friends. It was interesting to hear about it though, it could have been us in a parallel universe.