I got back to London this morning after spending the past 7 weeks in Brazil. I had an amazing time visiting Rio de Janeiro and Salvador da Bahia. I learned a lot about the country, the culture and got some great surfing in at the same time. I am hoping to put up some photos on my flickr account and make a DVD about the trip as well.

It feels a little funny to be back, I am spaced out from the flight and lack of sleep and feel a little confused as a result of flying across the Atlantic. Things are also still pretty raw after breaking up with Elise last weekend, I find when I am on my own or have a moment to stop and think I still miss her lots. But I am determined to throw myself back into London life and set myself some new goals and objectives for the next 6 months. Already thinking of planning the next surf trip, something to look forward to!

This morning Chad and I interviewed the 8W surf crew on the beach and got loads of good footage of the guys out in the surf. We then hit the surf about 12.30pm and did a solid session for a few hours. Chad then got out of the water to have a breather, and as I was about to head in, Yanis paddled out, so I surfed for another 2 hours solid.

I am now absolutely knackered after 4-4.5 hours (back-to-back) in the water, but it is a good kind of tiredness, a feeling of achievement. I also got my first cover-up/barrel today and had plenty of opporunity to practice turns, holding the rail and all sorts of other manoevers. All in all a positive day after a shaky start thinking about girls and stuff.

This evening we are gonna play a little cards, drink a few bevies and maybe pop round to the fav to interview the surfers again. I am looking forward to putting together the new DVD when I get back, hopefully I will be able to top the WST06 effort from last year!

I woke up this morning to a greyish Rio and have this kinda homesick feeling in my stomach today. I have enjoyed my trip here (apart from breaking up with my ex) but now feel it is time to return and achieve some stuff with work, friends and building a new life back home. It is quite weird still being in Brazil knowing that Elise is only 2 hours away up the coast, but we are leading different lives now (I wonder if she still thinks of me at all). Things here do remind me of her, so I am looking forward to getting that feeling out of my system hopefully when I get back with a change of scene etc.

It will be interesting to see if I enjoy London more this summer being single. As last year I was constantly pining after her and wanted to be in the USA. So this time around, hopefully I will get more involved with the London-scene and have a lot of fun and be happy. Fingers crossed for a scorcher of a summer and good times in London with my family and friends!

The past 2 days surf have been pretty intense, I bought 3 more fins: 2 mini ones and a big 6 inch single fibreglass fin. I have been experimenting with different set-ups to see how the fish would respond. It has been pretty interesting, especially in the bigger surf (5-7ft) we have been having over the past few days. I have got some pretty big rides and also suffered some pretty big wipeouts. I also managed to cut a 1 inch chunk out of my foot today with the new 6 inch fin and left a small trail of blood that followed me up the beach.

Tonight I went out for some food and a few beers with some friends from the hostel and had a good laugh. Hopefully tomorrow will be a repeat of today in terms of weather and surf, but without the wipeouts. I feel a lot better today than I did yesterday about everything, hopefully by keeping busy, things will continue to improve, although when I stop and chill for a while I tend to think about Elise and miss her.

Anyway time to hit the sack and think good thoughts about scoring some more waves tomorrow!

So today was my last day in Salvador, after a month spent up in Bahia in little my apartment in Morro do Gavazza. I had a great time in Salvador, saw some great sites, ate great food, surfed nearly every day and had the opportunity to spend 30 days with someone I cared about a great deal.

Unfortunately Elise and I broke up the day I left. I was totally gutted to both say goodbye to her, and to finish our relationship. We had discussed the situation quite a few times and due to various circumstances, we decided that right now it just wasn’t going to work. What was even harder was the fact that we both had such an amazing time and had got even closer and still loved each other, then to be forced to say goodbye was really upsetting. I got on the plane feeling really low and just wanting to turn round and run back after her, but I knew I couldn’t.

Over the past year I have learned a lot about myself and about dealing with a long distance relationship, and although at times it was really hard, I am glad that Elise and I were together and will have some really good memories to look back on.

The past few days in Rio have been pretty damn hard to deal with. The first morning I woke up here, I had a low, sick feeling in my stomach and just felt lonely and down. I have been pretty strict with myself and tried to just be positive and look forward. Surfing has really helped and I have been out in the ocean for 7 hours over the past 2 days trying to get stoked and help clear my mind and move on.

Who knows what the future may hold, maybe we’ll give it another try later on down the line, hopefully after a little space we’ll be able to become at least good friends.

I hope I can keep the same positive attitude when I return to the UK, I am sure I will get lonely at times and miss her, but I just need to look forward. At least it will be summer when I get home. For now I am just taking each day as it comes.

Here is a random list of things that I dig that I’ve discovered during my Brazilian tour (in no particular order):

1. Acai (a berry from the Amazon that is made into a desert/drink)
2. Warm (or more like hot) water surfing
3. Cheap surfboards
4. Weird and wonderful (and very cheap) fresh fruit
5. Daily smoothies
6. Scantily-clad Brazilian women on the beach (peaches and cream baby!)
7. Sunshine
8. Caipirinhas
9. The $BR7 meal
10. My apartment in Morro do Gavazza with it’s sea view

Pat and I hit up the Farol this morning, and after a choppy start we ended up getting some pretty sweet waves. The wind turned to almost offshore and for about 30-45 minutes the sets we coming in with nice clean faces and some tasty walls.

We both got a good dozen or so rides and came out of the water stoked. I am now wondering whether to go to the mall to do some shopping or hit up the beach again and get a few more rides in. I think it has to be the mall though, the wind got up earlier and I don’t think the afternoon waves will be as good as they were this morning.

Last night I was treated to an evening of Candomblé, an Afro/Brazilian religious practice. We witnessed a ceremony where people dress up in traditional clothing, dance and sing, and offer various sacrifices to the gods. Some people end up getting possessed and kinda get into the zone and have to be taken out of the room to chill out. The performance lasted about 3 hours and personally after a while I found it a little intense. But it was a great experience all the same to see another part of Brazilian culture.

This afternoon I hung by the people, read Da Bull and caught some sun. I then headed down to the Farol to check out the waves and ended up catching quite a few big rides, both front and backhand.

Tomorrow I am due to surf with my buddy Pat up at Stella Maris, will probably be the last time I make it up there before I head back to Rio and then the UK.

So Elise and I (plus 30 yanks) went to watch a traditional Bahian dance/ballet/arts performance in Pelourinho in the Cidade Alta a few nights ago. It was a combination of folk dancing, some Candomble and Capoeira. It was put on by the Bale Folclorico da Bahia. The performance was amazing, especially the capoeira, the strength and skill of the guys doing these crazy moves was just awe-inspiring, so much so that I might look into taking a few classes when I get back to the UK.

So a 3-4m storm swell hit Salvador overnight, the wind was really intense, from what I can make out from the Portuguese website, a cyclone was hanging over SE Brazil sending some serious winds and waves our way.

I didn’t go out today as I was chilling with Elise and munching on various bolos (cakes). But from the looks of the surf and the guys out at Porto da Barra it was intense. I am tempted to go out tomorrow and get some nice cross/offshore rides, but I might have to make it out with the old faithful 6′4, as the waves are too big for the 6′0 fish to handle.

If I don’t make it back, yes Richie, you got the dibs on the mitch, haha!