Nottinghill Carnival - London

The Event: As the biggest European street party attracting over a million people to the streets of Nottinghill in the space of two days, the Nottinghill Carnival is a must. With the history of the carnival beginning with West Indian immigrants in London in 1966, the carnival is now a full blown Carribean carnival including Jamaica, Trindad, Bermuda, Barbados, Dominica and others. Also appearing in the carnival are Brazilian Samba bands and other festive groups who know how to party.

Some highlights: The floats and masquerades are spectacular. The streets are lined with Carribean treats like Curry Goat and Jerk Chicken and the all important Reggae Reggae sauce. There are stages set up all around the carnival music where DJ's and dancers keep the party loud and crazy. Steel bands play their Calypso tunes and Samba bands keep the rythm going in between the masqueraders.

Lovebox Festival - London

The Event: In East London went to check out Saturdays Line up at the Lovebox Festival.

Some Features: Amongst alot of cool and wierd things going on around the festival enjoyed watching some pro skaters and BMX's on a 13.5 ft ramp.

Of the bands really enjoyed The Black Seeds, Groove Armada and, being by far the best concert I've seen, MANU CHAO!! Manu Chao were awesome - loads of energy and the crowd was going mad for them, lots of fun!

Getting Dirty - England

The Event: As part of our 'helping hands' initiative at work, spent a day in Three Bridges cutting down invading birchwood and bracken to restore the natural heath. Nothing like a good day of physical labour!

Brighton - England

The Place: In South East England close to the cliffs of Dover lies the arty town of Brighton.
Some features: Loads of musos and artists roam the streets busking or showing off their creations. Funky cafe's and juice bars, some with wierd names (Wai Kika Mu Kao). Fun fair sitting at the end of a peer. Pebble beaches??.

Paphos - Cyprus

The Place: Built on the city where Greek goddess of love, Aphrodite, was born, this was a meaningful spot for Martin and Becky (from a Cypriot family) to get married.

Some features: Spent a great weekend with Martin, Becky and their friends. Paphos is a centre for tourism and offers loads of places to go out and party, aswell as beaches and mountains a short drive away. Being total kids went on a banana ride behind a boat on the sea. Was actually a really cool way to sea the Cypriot landscape, primarily white and yellow cliffs dropping off into the sea, sparse white land dotted with fruit trees and small bushes. The wedding was in an amazing spot secluded from the bustling tourist hangout with great views of the mediterranian hills and seaside.

Cornwall - England

The Place: To where the few English surfers exist, went on a trip to Cornwall with my capoeira group.

Some features: Camped on a hillside that eventually drops off down steep cliffs into the sea. Trained on the beach both Saturday and Sunday. Went to watch and take part in the Batizado of the Cornwall part of our group.

Itacaré - Brazil

The Place: In Bahia lies the small one street tourist town of Itacaré.
Some features: Beautiful beaches including one 'secret' beach called 'Prainha' which takes 45min to get to by trekking thru dense forestry. Capoeira every day as detailed below. Great surfing or at least body surfing for me. Also a great place to meet and hang out with other like minded people.

Amigos do Itacaré - Brasil

Good people: Top pic shows Mestre Jamaica on the left of me, Richard on the right, and some of the other capoeiristas. Together with Rich (from my capoeira group in London) took five portuguese classes (one a day) with profesora Márcia and got a great crash course in the language. Met some great people from other countries - Steve (aka Camarão cause of how burnt he got or 'Irish' cause, yep u guessed it), Liz (from Australia, who was given the nickname 'Risadinha' by Mestre Jamaica which means little laugh), Cole (an actor from Canada), Hana (from Brighton England), Captain Justin (from Canada who organised a legendary braai with chicken garlic and vegetable skewers for the hostel), Andy (Melbourne), and Ben and Shelley (from Perth whose claim to fame is getting held at gun point on Concha beach in Itacaré for 20 Reiais (+-£6) - silly gringos - heh heh). Good times.

Capoeira de Bahia - Brasil

The Place: In Itacaré (Bahia) watched some brilliant capoeira of the group ´Tribo´ run by Mestre Jamaica. Played in 4 of the rodas. (Which they have almost every second night). Trained daily on the beach with Mestre Jamaica which was a great experience, doing the movements facing the trees, seeing palm trees instead of walls, and ending the classes by practicing back somersaults into the soft sand.

The Rodas: Was first intimidating to play against these guys. As the pics show the brazilian capoeristas start from a really young age, in fact they even encouraged a baby of one and a half to play in the roda! In Itacaré alone ( a one street town) there are at least three capoeira schools. As a result the older guys are ripped and really good, jumping into spinning kicks (parafuso´s, fulhasecos (excuse spelling), and au sem mãos (cartwheels without hands)). But their style is not as aggressive as the Rio groups which means more time for showing off and less fear of being struck down, so playing was great fun! Saying that tho I did get a meialua to the chest playing one guy whose capoeira nickname means bullet.

Ilhas de Paraty - Brasil

The Place: With 50 main Islands and 43 main beaches (excluding the beaches on the islands), Paraty is a great place to travel by boat, which is what we did. Spent a sunny day going from island to island, snorkelling a bit to see the huge starfish, collecting coconuts to drink their milk and messing about with dives, jumps and somersaults off the top of the boat into the clear sea water.