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  • Daniël van der Prijt
    Day138

    Day 135: Home is where the heart is

     December 5, 2016 in the Netherlands ⋅ 🌙 1 °C

    The end: this part is for all the followers especially non dutch, I want to show you a little bit of what I call home ;-).
    For me home is where my family and friends are and since most of them are in the Netherlands it's obvious that coming back from a long journey and seeing that a lot of them are waiting for me at the airport already made me feel very happy and emotional. I didn't expect them at all since I was focused on seeing Mariska which I knew would be there. So when my dad said to wait for them to come I was like.... why should I wait here and not with her? It raised the question but when I saw them all even with welcome home signs I was sort off speechless. Everything went quite fast from here and I couldn't remember saying goodbye to everyone but apparently we were heading straight to my home (the place I normally should sleep ;-) . In the car I was thinking about some reasons why we did some things differently than normal, to Maris I said that it also would be nice to have the house for the 2 off us. Somewhere I expected more welcomes somewhere but at my doorstep I checked the street for familiar cars and when I couldn't find them I was already somewhere else with my thought and didn't expect anyone any more. It was also nice and quiet and I was already thinking of what to do next... but when I opened the door to the living room and saw food standing. Suddenly the whole room came alive and confetti popped through the air. Even more people were here than at the airport, actually I asked a few minutes ago if some were at work because they would have been at the airport if they had known ;-). So all the pieces fell in place and so did I. Back in my place and time to party haha. Thanks everybody for the good time.
    Now about the Netherlands being home. It started Friday already with going to familiar places where family worked or lived. Some arrangements for Sinterklaas which is not Santa Claus but a Dutch festivity about a Saint who gives presents to little children. A lot of things go hand in hand with this, especially black Pete which is not allowed to be black by some people :p. But almost everybody helps Sinterklaas by buying presents and making poems for each other which are given around the 5th of December. So that is what we did on Saturday after I tried to settle my stuff at home. The evening was very amusing with even more family around. Sunday it was time for more nice and funny family business and buying a Christmas tree. Decorating this together with Mariska is a good way to spend time together, as was it to go out for diner and to the cinema in Amsterdam next to the Arena were a soccer game just finished haha very busy suddenly. In a very long time I had not visited a cinema, it's not something you do while you travel I guess ;-). Inferno was very good as a movie but better as a book which I read on my trip ;-). Monday normally everybody goes to work but I first have to arrange my stuff and find some work. On my first day off at home I tried to collect all my photo's and movies. I needed tuesday for this as well because I wanted to meet and be with my best friends, so meeting up with them and exchanging stories to get everybody more up to date haha. On monday evening I went back to my rhythm off sports and tried to wield my favourite weapons again: Swords. A thing I missed for 5 months and thankfully still handled quite well. I took it easy to avoid injuries and safe my energy that I needed to not get sick of the cold weather in the Netherlands ;-). After some drinks in the bar I noticed that it doesn't matter how long you go away only a few things change and a lot will stay the same because the concept is just to good to change :D. Tuesday also was a busy day with looking back at the photo's of my trip and looking forward to see my girl again in Apeldoorn. Driving through half of the country to get to her seems for all non Dutchies like a long distance. But this country is only 300k long by 200k wide. 41528 square km with 1700000 people. So when I drove off I made sure that I passed Amsterdam before 17:00 since traffic jams will be a big problem and doubles your time to get somewhere easily. My trip took me only 1 our and 20 minutes and I could be with Mariska again who was so sweet to make diner. I actually had not made diner for a long time, maybe once or twice in New Zealand in the Britz Lightning? I should pick that up soon enough, so far I was lucky with Mariska and my friends wanting to cook for me ;-). I like cooking, I just need time to do it :D. So the evening with my girlfriend is off course non off all your businesses ;-). So Wednesday morning was a morning on the couch watching TV series until the traffic jams dissolved. At home I could finally have an overview off all my photo's and movies. I went through my mail paid some overdue bills and looked a little for work, friend Tedson who took care of my house came by to fill me in on all that happened and with beers and pizza we had a great time also.
    That brings us to today and the end of blogging my world trip.
    You can follow me on Facebook if you're not already doing that. I will come back to you with some nice stories of my world trip and if you were there with me... you will be in the stories :D. This blog will go from public to private very soon because it actually is ;-). So for the non facebookers mail me on daniel.prijt@gmail.com to stay in touch :D. Thanks for everything I had a wonderful world trip :D    Read more

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  • Daniël van der Prijt
    Day134

    Day 134: The last goodbye and 2 flights

     December 1, 2016 in Cape Verde ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    The last day off my world trip a nice way to end this is to travel together with my parents back home. The morning was seriously easy going with breakfast and packing my stuff. After checking out and put the luggage in the luggage room, I went with my dad to the office of Abou to enjoy the last moments together. He also had some customers and that showed us that his holiday was at an end also. Things will not be the same for him and he has something to look forward to as well ;-). We had a nice drink and I had my last beer which off course I took a picture from to put in my Untappd app when my phone is fixed ;-). We would see Abou at the airport so we went back to the hotel for lunch and got picked up by 1300. We had time to shower in the courtesy rooms and at the airport I got reminded a bit about how difficult the travelling could be sometimes. There were 2 rows for the same desk, no hurry but it is just not really organised, only dutch people waiting so we solved it between ourselves.Next thing, my mom her bag wouldn't open and she needed it on the plane so customs would want her to open it anyway. I asked a guy from customs because they should have experience with that... well he didn't but he had a good idea after a while and wiggled it open. So this took some time and at luggage check they checked everything in the case and we waited on that before going through customs passport control. I let my mother go first just to be sure and than I went and you won't believe it but I didn't had a stamp that said I entered Capo Verde so actually I was illegal in the country. How did this happen because I paid 2 times to much for the visa to get in so it had to be good right? Well the lady that gave me the visa sticker and took my money forgot to stamp the thing. So stupid if you think about it that they work so slow and still forget to stamp the damn thing. Since I had the visa and all the documents to prove I came in at the date of the visa the guy believed me but didn't know what to do next. So he discussed with his colleague and after that walked away. I looked at the clock and boarding was already started, when he came back I was pushing a bit more and also showed that I had to board. Than suddenly he stamped my passport and without a word he waved me away. Haha what a strange check out but cool that I had this on my world trip as well haha. I was illegal in Capo Verde haha :D. We found Mom shopping and boarded as the last 3 ;-). It was not even a 30 minutes flight and we sat with a few rows in between us. When we landed in Sal everybody needed to get out and we had to wait less than an hour to board again and this time next to each other. A good flight and I could eat a "broodje kroket" again since 5 months also the chicken sate was nice :D. I did some reading and sleeping while listening to music and we were there in no time ;-). Finally at Schiphol and very close to my girlfriend again, also finally no need of Wi-Fi so easy contact with everybody :D. I walked through customs with a big smile because the check was done in 2 seconds haha and they made a joke to a stewardess that the last 5 from the air plane weren't allowed to enter since they would close at 24:00 haha. I missed that sense of humor. After this we had to wait for the luggage and it came past midnight. So the last day of my world trip was at an end it was time to see my girl ......but she wasn't the only one out there ;-).Read more

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  • Daniël van der Prijt
    Day133

    Day 133: The last day off

     November 30, 2016 in Cape Verde ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    The last day without any travelling starts with playing some tennis again at 8:00 with my dad and Abou, my mom joined later just in time to keep me from melting away ;). Breakfast was welcome and relaxing on the beach also, we walked to the office of Abou on the beach with Abou as tourists because he still had holiday ;-). Went in the sea at some point to see what was floating and when it was clear that it was a really dirty buoy it was time to return to the hotel ;-). We had a relaxing last day and after diner we went to have the traditional "high tea" of Senegal. Abou invited us at his home, and as a wonderful host he welcomed us in Casa su Dia in Boa Vista. The host makes the home and that made his home one of the best. After the good times and a nice sugar rush we exchanged some photo's and got picked up by his friend and colleague Sam. Back at the hotel the holiday was at an end for Abou also and I had the last evening and morning with mum and dad. So one more cocktail to celebrate a nice ending of the world trip and their holiday. (in the picture I show what I brought with me all this time ;-) )Read more

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  • Daniël van der Prijt
    Day132

    Day 132: Wreck Exploring & Dune Jumping

     November 29, 2016 in Cape Verde ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Diving is done because Max has to fly home today... so what is left? Tennis :D let's play some tennis and because it gets hot here we do it early morning. From 8 to 9 I could catch up a little bit of this sport that I used to do every week and now only did once in Early beach. It went all right but I miss the nice gravel courts at home. After breakfast and some relaxing at the beach we said goodbye to Max and Rineke again. The second time that I say goodbye to Max in one world trip haha, he must be thinking that I just like to stick around haha. Well it's only 2 more days. After lunch we had another excursion. Lead by our one and only Abou Dia who showed us a very cool Wreck at the beach. At the wreck you could go in to the water to experience the sudden deep water within 1 meter is dropped down several meters and the current also showed up to pull you through the wreck which is a bad idea to do haha. Here Abou asked me to run a little bit back to my Mom, it was only 500meters and at the count of 3 Abou was gone a lot quicker than me haha. I could give it a little push to catch up to 4 steps (10meters) behind him but I had no chance of winning from this trained athlete haha. I was happy to see him catch some breath so maybe on the long run I have more chance ;). After this he showed us a little town that showed us a little bit of the culture side of Boa Vista. From here we went Dune Jumping like my family did before I arrived so I had to make some nice airborne shots haha. I jumped with Abou until we were tired and had enough cool shots, even did a little roll that ended in a big cloud of sand haha.
    To enjoy the evening in style we had dinner in the hotels African restaurant and it was again very good. To finish off with the cocktails and some texting with loved ones at home made the day an even better day ;).    Read more

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  • Daniël van der Prijt
    Day131

    Day 131: Let's dive and quad around

     November 28, 2016 in Cape Verde ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Off course we go nice and early to see the bottom of the sea. If you can, you just do it, right? So at 7:30 we had breakfast and almost an hour later we were in the boat heading to Shark point. We were keeping an eye out for Bullsharks that could be around. Maybe they had seen us but we didn't see them, we were to busy with diving underneath a rock bridge. A lot of life out there and the dive was much more relaxed than last one, everybody went his own way and kept an eye on the dive leader. We saw some lobsters, nice big schools of fish, a blue snail, some eels of which one was yellow and we could follow it for a while snaking between rocks. Nice footage from 2 angles ;-). After this dive we went to a wreck and allthough it was quite big you couldn't really enter the ship it was to molested inside. It was a nice view from outside and it blocked the current a bit. The tidewaves pulled you back and forth so we had to watch were you swam. Some metal pieces could be a piercing spear if a wave threw you on it. The wreck was an old fishing ship, the hole for the fish was in tact and all the equipment around it showed the purpose of the ship. A lot of fish and crawling creatures gathered around these things because it is perfect shelter for predators :-). During the dives I made some nice gopro movies and when I looked at one I was filming a blow up fish (koffervis) and suddenly I saw that I had an octopus and an other creature in the picture as well. I never noticed them under water but they are definitely there haha awesome.
    The boat dropped us at the beach, well almost, we had to swim the last 50meters. Fine with me and as the first I could clean my stuff also quite quickly. I got my bag with my phone that I left on the boat back after this and we had lunch. When I came to my room after this I noticed my phone came wet out of the bag. Waterproof as it is I dried it but it was shut down. So I checked the battery and sadly there was water inside also. This was the end of my world trip and the end of my phone grrr.. thankfully most data is stored on the sd card but some apps run on local storage and don't synchronise online.
    Bad luck but distraction was at hand. We had planned a quad tour across the island. The cabdriver was annoyed because he planned to much and our delay did not fit his schedule. So we got another and drove to the quad dealer. With all the papers signed we were ready to go on 6 quads 1 for each and the guide with Abou our personal guide ;-). We had a great time and I already started drifting around but had to stay in line also. So I watched the guide and when he did not look I tried my weird stuff that I learned in Greece ;-).
    We visited nice beaches and a cave with Abou, we went through small villages and over very smooth and steep dunes. Awesome to gain some speed on the beach and overtake Rineke and my Mom ;-). After this cool quad trip we were looking like very tanned criminals and got our stuff together to go wash the filth of our faces. My father tried to bring the borrowed helmet to add to the criminality and when I warned the tour guide about his cunning plan we had to laugh when the guide asked if he was aware of his actions by making a joke about 1 head to much in the car pointing at the helmet. Haha it's funny if your head is somewhere else and the head you are holding is someone else's haha. After showering it was finally real cocktail time and we could drink some more because there was no diving tomorrow ;). Yesterday's diner was at the Chinese / Japanese en today it was at the main restaurant so food was even more diverse ;-). I fixed my old phone so I had something to keep in contact with and after our evening drinks it was time to rest and be thankful for this great day :D.    Read more

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  • Daniël van der Prijt
    Day130

    Day 130: Finally in Boa Vista

     November 27, 2016 in Cape Verde ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    A good morning in Praia, a bit cloudy but that made it not too hot. Breakfast opened at 7 and our cab also leaves at 7.... here that means that we are not allowed to touch the food or the drinks that is already been put on the buffet. Typically for here they don't take a single step faster than they need to. But the good thing ;-) the Cab also came to late haha. At 7:40 so that gave us change to have breakfast. When the cab was on the move he even took a de-tour to get some supplies haha. Why not... we leave at 9:00 and maybe will be later also if it's like everything here ;-). But actually we arrived at the airport and got our boarding tickets in our hands even before we were in a queue. Straight through customs they scanned my bag 2 times... but all was good ;-). Only an half hour to wait and it was not landed yet. It landed and it had to be an old school air plane with propeller engines which my brother knows all the details off. Really hot and small from the inside ( it was already filled when we boarded) from the 40 that had my cancelled flight I think only 5 of 6 were left and going to Boa Vista like me. You actually feel like friends travelling together haha. At 9:20 we took off and instead of air conditioning they spray some sanitiser everywhere in the air. It was only a very short flight because in 30 minutes I arrived at Boa Vista.
    Within another 20 minutes I already could give my family a hug before I could get my bag. So when my backpack came I said goodbye to my fellow travellers and grabbed my backpack and really could go with the whole family. To the last hotel and an all-inclusive one to finish it off in a bit more luxury. A cocktail in the hand and a few stories to start off with. A quick look at the beach and a good lunch but not to much rest because we had a dive planned at 14:00 haha. A nice way to start exploring ;-). The dive was a bit messy due to the bad visibility and the over concerned divemasters. The dive for the rest was perfectly fine, but actually being under water is always a awesome feeling so I really enjoyed this especially with my brother as buddy :). Nice and tired we arrived back on the beach and we had a little show of how Cape verdean bring a boat to shore. They just go full speed and surf it 10 meters through the sand almost in the Dive shop haha. Crazyyyyy.
    Now it was time for tea and a few cocktails after this but not to much for diner and the dives tomorrow. It's wonderful to eat with family again and to share nice stories with loved ones back and forth. After all this talking eating and drinking they had a funny show in the hotel and after that it was time for a very relaxing sleep :D.    Read more

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  • Daniël van der Prijt
    Day129

    Day 129: Stuck in Praia, Santiago

     November 26, 2016 in Cape Verde ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C

    I woke up in the air above the Cape verdean Islands and the funny thing was that I heard the Captains call that we were going to descent for landing and at that moment the Stewardesses came by to give us breakfast. A quick meal I could use and I must say, I never seen those ladies work that fast, respect for them.
    My arrival in Praia, I can really notice that this is Afrika. You are not allowed to take photo's at the airport I already got a warning.Than after walking over the airfield they send me in the wrong queue, so I stepped to the right one myself because I knew I needed a visum.
    More people came after they were send away when they checked the passports.
    It took 4 minutes per person what took all together 40 minutes to get to the visa desk
    I had to pay 40 dollars for a visa sticker when it had to be around 25 euro's... and they had no change so it became 50 dollars suddenly. Well keep the change grrr. Typical and after 5 days it got worse (I found out that they forgot to stamp the visum).
    My luggage was looped so no worries for that but at customs they asked me this stupid questions and started discussing if they should check me or not. Thank god they didn't, all these checks only to prove they have authority here. From here I went to the Capo Verde office and believe it or not, they were prepared. Buses stood ready to transport us to the hotel.
    First they wanted me in the 1st bus, than I checked my name on a list and got in the second. 5min later they wanted me in the third. After waiting for almost an hour finally we were full and ready to go... but no... it's like Afrika ;-) we drove 10meters and stopped again. 3 persons could fit in extra... yeah why not. So totally packed we moved through the center of Praia and going out of the center again. I think this was the party area since after checkin in I heard actually good music and tried to find it but after seeing more and more thugs and villains I decided to get some sleep and fast forward this day ;-). My hotel had free lunch at 2 so I joined that and heard they had rehearsals for the party tonight. That explained, I went for dinner at 9 with Guillaume who was from France living in Dakar and had the same cancelled flight. We were having some beers somewhere in a dark corner of Praia because the club that was already open but did not start before 12. They didn't even like to sell us a beer at 10:30, so why are your doors open and why are they not thinking about earning some money. They stick to stupid rules everywhere not thinking or walking a millimetre faster than they have to.
    We called it a day and got safely back around 11:30. I rather went to sleep than to wait for a an empty party to start, the day was exciting enough and I looked forward to see my family again and this includes my friend Abou Dia who has nothing in common (except colour ;-) ) with these few Cabo Verdeans that I met that stick to rules and are so short sighted. The music started when I got to bed, with only hearing these nice beats I fell a sleep in no time :D.    Read more

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  • Daniël van der Prijt
    Day128

    Day 128: Stuck in Brasil, could be worse

     November 25, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C

    A day extra in Brasil, it's not too bad to have a flight cancelled if you know that a solution is ready (and doesn't cost you anything extra). I rather be (and could have been) with my family at the moment, but waking up in a hotel on the beach with perfect weather is quite all right ;). I did enjoy the free breakfast and went out for a walk along the beach and in to the old center of Fortaleza, It was a nice walk along the beach and finally into the city. It was a bit to warm for comfort so I returned when I saw the highlight. A beautiful catedral that was a lot bigger than I expected. On my way back I bought some food and drinks at the supermarket. When I walked outside this guy sitting on a bucket asked me if I had some water. If people ask for money, you actually don't know what they are going to buy with it and if you really help them. But a person that asks for water... can't say no to that so I gave him the whole bottle. He was happy and I was happy. I went to the beach for a swim and did some reading with a beer and after the sun had disappeared behind the skyline of Fortaleza it was time to find a courtesy room in the hotel to take a shower. I had some food after that on the beach at a place with the name Sate-hut. Run by dutch people haha, I had missed the Chicken Sate with peanut sauce. ;-). The place was very nice and a lot happend, there was this guy that sold me a nice puzzle which he did in a very nice and smart way. I loved that he spoke dutch also haha.
    Furthermore there was this Brasilian girl who didn't hide that she liked me, I was glad that she sat 2 tables away, so there was only the long distance flirting. It made it easy to leave and get my Taxi to the airport to try again to get out of Brasil ;-).
    Way to early at the airport at 2130 because the taxi was to early and they scheduled him also to early what made me wait for an hour to see the first employee of Cabo Verde.I already was trying to get through customs but this whole section off the airport wasn't even open. I checked in at 22:30 this time not to keen on waiting for people to check in the luggage because I just needed a sticker on my boarding pass. I thought I didn't even need that, I found out on my own with a coincidence of being at the service desk at the right time (it was open for 5 minutes). It was a messed up chaos at that airport with Cabo Verde and no wonder things go not as planned. Ok they arranged a new flight and after the checkin in and waiting for customs to open I found out that they used an Euroatlantic to solve their problem. The 30 to 40 people that had my cancelled flight were added to this flight and didn't even fill it up. I think the rest of my previous flight were going to Recife and this one came directly from Sao Paulo (I guess) going to Fortaleza, stopping at Praia for us and moving on the Lisbon in Portugal haha. What a flight. Ok there was space enough, but I sat in front of this guy that was singing his lungs out out loud. When I said that everybody wanted to sleep he didn't get a word I said or my meaning. He was a dumbass with a bad attitude witch I solved with my headphone and really loud music that cancelled out his stupid singing and before I knew it I slept the whole 3 hours that took us to Praia haha ;-)    Read more

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  • Daniël van der Prijt
    Day127

    Day 127: Why to Fortaleza?

     November 24, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    This morning I left Rio, an arranged shuttle took me at 8:15 right on time and also nice to have this for free as I expected a ride to the hotel when I arrived.
    Said goodbye to the nice views in Rio and Sugar Loaf looked very beautifull. I was ready to go to Fortaleza. Why Fortaleza of all places? Well it's the only logical way to get to Boa Vista (in the Cape Verde Island group) and let me explain what is logical. There are almost no flights from South America to Afrika since they have almost no connection in language or history. What the connection is comes from Europe so most flights go to Europe directly from both continents. There is a connection from Johannesburg to Sao Paulo if I am correct and than there is my flight. So after waiting 5 hours at the airport I really wanted to check in early to ensure a seat in front of the airplane. Since my brother arranged an earlier flight to Boa vista on the 25th instead of the regular on the 27th. The challenge was that I had 1hour and 40 minutes to catch it and I had to get a visum, go through customs, maybe get my backpack, check in, go to customs again and board 30min before take of. So 1 hour 10minutes remained but check in would close 40 min before so 1 hour for the formalities in an African country 😉. Let's do it... so in line for check in 4 hours early there already was a qeue of 30 ladies with each 1 full cart of luggage. What the ??? Ok I waited in line and after 30 minutes I saw really bad news on the screen "Flight cancelled". Well here we go, after 127 days 1 changed flight out of 20 flights... it had to happen haha. Also this flight was already rescheduled 5 times in the past 5 months so I wasn't surprised. But... what to do now? Well ask the desk of Capo Verde which was unmanned for the whole day already except 5 minutes before check in. So wait in line like everybody already did. They actually checked in the luggage so I grabbed an extra shirt at the last moment checked in and fired my questions. They couldn't or didn't tell me when I would arrive in Boa vist but they promised me i would haha. Huh??? Yes not to much info there 😂. I showed my printed ticket that ( I well prepared as I was printed in Rio) showed I would miss my connection (the one my bro arranged). Because I did this I got a hotel in Praia with transport and free food ( which I didn't now at this time) a good present from my brother after all ;-). So Cabo Verde arranged a new flight in 24 hours and 2 hotels plus transfers... not bad, not bad. I was in Fortaleza in no time and it had some nice decorations on the way. Looked like Christmas was coming haha. Some food and a drink and time to rest and enjoy the extra's ;-).Read more

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  • Daniël van der Prijt
    Day126

    Day 126: Mais que nada

     November 23, 2016 in Brazil ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    More than anything or more than nothing, in both ways it feels like the world trip is at an end. Only there is more than nothing left, I am just going in the direction of home 😉. I have done so much in the last months and in Rio I did so many things yesterday that today was going to be more relaxed. I planned the busy day because I knew the weather was going to change and it had. Clouds everywhere and they covered all the nice peaks and views. There were some drops but not to stay inside for. So after breakfast and some exploration from the rooftop to see if there was some clear sky (not really) I went to the beachfront and walked to the Military fort to see what history they had to show. The view was good on Copacobana also so worth the walk. When I was back near my hotel I did some more workouts on the beach and on a home trainer. After the neccesary shower it was time to try and find some food and a place where they dance samba. The food was easy, the burgers at the yellow M are easy to find, buy and digest 😉. The Samba was harder, I went to Bip Bip for some local live music but I was to early. Mas que nada came on my path and was starting up and this was really nice because more people came in but all seem to now each other and played allong is this group that produced brazilian samba sounds. Very nice, though even in this place were the music was right for it nobody danced the Samba 😯. I left after a while and passed allong Bip Bip again and that looked like an older people gathering sitting outside with no movement at all except the musicians inside 😉. This meant bed time for me ;-).Read more

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