sol, araya, ondas!!!

That pretty much sums up our last few days. Sol = sun, Araya = sand and Ondas = waves. We are currently in a nice little town called Saquarema, where we are staying with a nice guy named Jose, who runs a small guesthouse only 100 M from the beach. Mira is with us now and has been for the last week and a half. She is leaving tomorrow, sadly. However, our trip with her has been very fun and we are going to be sad to see her go.

First we went to a town called, fittingly enough since Mira is here for her Spring Break, Paraty. It is a nice little colonial town which sits right on the ocean and is surrounded by, as the Lonely Planet states, some 300 beaches. We went to a nice one called Trinidad. Next we headed out to one of the islands, Ilha Grande, which boasts as having the most beautiful beach in Brazil. Ilha Grande is great; it doesn't have any cars and really only consists of one town and maybe a dozen beaches. We were there for a holiday, Tiradentes Day, so it was a little bit crowded, but not too much so. I think the normal population of the island is about 1200 people.

Next, we headed to Rio, which was very beautiful and a great time, but SOOO expensive, so we only stayed a few days there before heading here, to Saquarema, where we have been relaxing and soaking up the sun ever since.

Next stop, I dont know where....we leave tomorrow, but there are so many good places I have not yet been able to decide where I am going to go!

I am still slacking about putting photos on the internet, but Chris has been keeping up with it pretty well...You can see his photos here.

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Forget The Gym - Just Move More Often

When it comes to the time to burn off some calories, most people think of heading to the gym. But do you know that the so called "free" (meaning no need to pay for a fee) exercises such as doing houseworks can also help to burn off that FAT?

Many fitness experts now believe that the simplest and most sustainable way to keep fit is what known as an "integrative exercise" - it simply means just "move around more often". A Britain's chief medical officer advises that one should exercise to raise the heart rate for 30 minutes five times a week.

Here are three ways to achieve the necessary exercises without heading to the gym:

• Break it down. You don't have to do 30 minutes all in one go. Studies show that several five to ten minute bursts of activity throughout a day will improve your cardiovascular and respiratory health, lower the risk of diabetes and other diseases.
  
  
• Doing your houseworks more often. Vigorous housework or gardening or brisk walking all count when it comes to integrative exercise. Activity breeds activity, the more you move, the more you will want to move everyday. Make this a habit.
  
  
• Take your dog for a walk. As mentioned all activities such as housework, running for a bus, gardening can help raise your heart rate and improve health. But, overall the single most valuable free exercise you can do is "brisk walking with your dog". So go and get a dog :-)

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3 Amazing Flat Belly Exercises That Most People Don't Know About

If you want to discover 3 flat belly exercises which can shape your abdominal muscles and additional body regions simultaneously, then you've found the right article. Because among the most effective ways to form the abdominal muscles is to perform resistance training of separate body parts with workouts which work on the abdomen indirectly.

What do I mean by working the stomach indirectly? With each exercise, you have the primary muscles and you have supporting muscles. E.g., when you do press-ups, you are more often than not working your pectoral muscle, yet your shoulder muscles and triceps act as supporting muscles and also get pumped up. The stomach acts as a supporting muscle for numerous exercises. Doing these exercises means that you are flattening out your stomach simultaneously whilst you're working other body parts. And it is frequently more efficient than doing conventional stomach exercises.

Here are 3 workouts for a flat stomach which I recommend you start doing now:

1. Pull ups - the pull up is a solid exercise. It generally works the back muscles, except whenever possible get a friend to place his or her hand on your abdominals while you are doing it, they will tell you that it is solid as steel. That's because the abs are tensing like mad. Even doing 5 pull ups is more of an effective method than ,for example, a stomach exercise routine of 50 sit ups .

2. Push ups - whilst you're doing push ups you must make certain that your stomach is tucked in. That way, your abdominals are working hard every throughout the push ups. Regardless of the type of push up that you try: horizontal, elevated, or counter elevated, the abdomen is still shaping. Push ups work your total upper body and they are a major exercise to flatten out your stomach.

3. Pull down - this is executed by pulling down the pulley cable and is actually an easier variation of the pull up (yes I realize it sounds strange but they do similar things). Whilst you pull the cable down from above your head down to your waist, you upper body goes through a whole extension which means that your abdomen muscles are tensing. Once again, the abdomen acts as the supporting role, However it does not mean that it is not straining.

Practise these 3 flat belly exercises and you'll witness results throughout your upper body, not just your abs.

To read more about how to get flat abs, and the 5 facts you MUST understand if you're ever going to see yourself with a flat stomach and sexy six pack abs, check out my website, http://www.secretsixpackabs.com/truthaboutabs

Ultimately, and if you've read the facts over at my website, you'll understand that although these exercises might do some good for getting a flat stomach and possible six pack abs, there is no way that you'll get to that point with these exercises alone, and the good news is that it's not all about doing more exercises! It's ultimately about doing things smarter, not always harder...

You can shave years off your hard work by knowing the secrets to fast six pack abs. Because ab belts, ab-rockers, ab-loungers, and other infomercial ab-gimmicks... they're all a complete waste of your time and money. Visit Truth About Abs and you will discover that YOU CAN get your own sexy six pack abs , but only if you know our best kept secret...

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Good Instructions To Gaining Muscle Mass

Muscle mass building is a hard effort and and also a high challenge. Society usually think you by your appearance let it be beautiful or ugly. Of course good looking persons obviously have good advantages over certain things in the society. So if you started already going to the gym and you already have your diet, you are good to go. You should focus on compound exercises if you plan on gaining weight because they are the best muscle gaining exercises, because you don't only work with targeted the muscle mass, but also with all the small ones that aren’t developed yet and will grow fast.

Building muscle should be enjoyed. You can build up muscle mass if you use a set plan and follow the instructions with as much high attention to detail as you can. You must set your goals and focus to these goals. It is significant to achieve the goals. Without the goals, you will have big difficulties in building muscle mass. Setting your goals and keep your motivation on the schedule. Make sure to do not set unrealistic goals and follow them in your routine.

Here are a few tips you should keep in mind when starting your muscle gaining:

Start weight training

Of course you want to have a large variety of fitness machines, then joining a gym that have them. For anyone who cannot follow any extra efforts but still want to build the muscle mass, you may to try with push-ups, pull-ups and dips. You can get hundreds of fitness exercises information trough the internet accessing. What is really good about it is that you don not need to incur high cost for the building muscle mass. You will be surprised how cheap exercises are at your goals.

Take lots of protein

The main food for muscle mass building is high protein. Beef, turkey and chicken are the most choices for the muscle mass and with great reason, they are both high protein. Important factor to how much protein you should consume is the type of activity you participated in and how often you do the activity. Good sources of the high protein foods you can get for your fitness exercises such as beff, fish, turkey breast, eggs white, skim milk, low fast cottage cheese, and protein powders.

Get enough rest

You need the ideal hours amount of rest. This way is not only includes getting between six to eight hours of sleep in a night but also includes using the amount of hours in workouts for the same body part.

You may do exercises in 3 days per week to build the muscle mass, for example Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Do an easy warm up step to get the blood flowing. Then take moderate exercises and do 2-3 sets of 20 reps for each one. You must remember that any muscles don not grow when you are lifting. They usually grow when you are resting. And avoiding aerobic exercises. This way is important if you want to build the muscle mass. Because the aerobics burn glycogen and will create slow down the process of building muscle mass.

For more information about food supplements that needed for muscle mass, please visit to Muscle Building Supplements and Building Muscle Mass. To get weight loss, please visit to Fast Weight Loss.

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The Pyramids

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Wow. Huge blocks (2-15 tons) made at a rate of one every two minutes for 23 years. It's amazing to walk in the shadows of the only remaining monument of Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The Great Sphinx is also in the complex.

Pyramid and sun.. imagine when the top was gold!!

See The Pyramids for more details.

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Egyptian Museum

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An awesome collection of Egyptian Antiquities

The Treasures of King Tutankhamun was the obvious highlight, amazing how much stuff they pulled out of a little space.

See Egyptian Museum for more details.

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Khan al Khalili

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The busiest, craziest, loudest place we've EVER been. Absolutely insane to think that this is how they shop here. They must burn out their horns in a week.

See Khan al Khalili Market for more details.

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Gallipoli: Remembering Lives Lost

Today, April 25, is ANZAC Day when we remember the fallen at Gallipoli during the First World War. Two BSA students were killed during the campaign (see "BSA Deaths in the First World War"): Lieutenant George Leonard Cheesman, Hampshire Regiment, fell on 10 August 1915 during the surprise attack on Chunuk Bairun, and Captain William Loring, 2nd Scottish Horse, died of his wounds on the hospital ship Devanha on 24 October 1915. Loring's brother, Captain Ernest Loring RN, also served aboard ship at Gallipoli; two further brothers, Lt.-Col. Walter Latham Loring, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, and Major Charles Buxton Loring, 37th Lancers (Baluch Horse) had been killed on the Western Front in October and December 1914.

At least two other former BSA students took part in an intelligence role (see "BSA Students and the First World War: Harry Pirie-Gordon"). Lt. Commander David Hogarth RNVR, working for the Arab Bureau in Cairo, was at Gallipoli in August 1915 interrogating Turkish prisoners of war. Lt. Harry Pirie-Gordon RNVR (Magdalen College, Oxford, like Hogarth) arrived at Gallipoli at the start of the landings but was evacuated on health grounds ('ptomaine poisoning') in May. He returned in the autumn and worked with Captain Ian Smith of the Royal Engineers (his former colleague from 1911-12 when they surveyed the area round the port of Alexandretta) on interrogation. Among the prisoners was Sharif Muhammad al Faruqi, an officer of the Ottoman army, who was interviewed in October 1915. Faruqi was recruited for the Arab Bureau operating as ‘G’, and serving as a go-between for Cairo and the Sharif of Mecca.

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Cairo Egypt

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KT's Birthday in Cairo, an overnight train ride brought us to this crazy city. We'll explore more in the coming days, today we relax and enjoy the gift to the world that is KT!!

See Cairo Egypt for more details.

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Felucca Ride

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Crazy to think we'd want to go sailing again, but it's the Nile afterall! A light breeze (and sometimes paddling) carried us around Elephantine Island on a 2hr Nile Cruise.

Felluca Sail

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