OK so yeah, due to popular concern, Im safe from the earthquake.. and I didn[t feel a thing. Something is wrong with this keyboard too, and the apostrophe looks like this [. Whatever.
I[m sitting around the hostel tonight because it is in the middle of nowhere. Literally. Usually we have been hanging out inside the hostel as minimally as possible, but the town here is tiny, and after 7, there is no bus that goes there, so i[m here, having fun with the new people I[ve me. A couple American kids and an Aussie-Australians always seem to be fun. The hostel here is really nice-all we need is some warm weather so we can enjoy the pool! Tomorrow will be my last night in Brazil. Such a shame, I love the country and could stay forever. But I haven[t heard a bad thing about Buenos Aires yet, so I[m excited to get there, settle, and try to make some money! I just realized I[ve blown througha lot of if since I[ve been in Brazil, it[s definitely not cheap here!
So with all this rain I[ve had plenty of time to reflect and get introspective. I hate to slow down the pace because I feel like I[m missing out on seeing things, but it is nice to let things marinate a bit. This being my first big trip, I think things are affecting me in a different way than on the shorter trips I[ve taken before. Tonight, we were hanging out with this girl who is really sick, and the group of us were reminiscing about the times we have been sick abroad... my highlights were the time in Mexico when I puked out of Juan]s truck, all over the place, and was in bed for 2 days. And the time in Morocco when I let out the most explosive and satisfying diarrhea of my entire life into a hole I had dug next to a palm tree in the desert. Fun times! It has been a night of reminiscing, as everyone here in this hostel was somewhere for the Carnaval, and we all swapped stories of people we met, things that got stolen, the craziest stories, not fit for the PG audience, that we had. Good fun. The music they[re playing is all samba marches that totally bring back the memories of that week..... god it was incredible.
Natasha leaves Monday, then I[m on my own again, until my friend Kendra finds me in Buenos Aires. I will definitely be making some money by then, and I can[t wait to be able to be in a place where I can really get a grasp on the city and culture. And I[m excited to really GET spanish, with that crazy Argentinian accent. I would love to be putting pictures up on here, but for one it is impossible because I can[t upload them, but I haven[t been taking many anyway. As much as I would love to have them for a rainy day back home, I dont think they can really convey the whole thing-this trip has been so incredibly reliant on all the senses so far that a mere picture would be joke to look at. I[ve been really trying to soak up everything in this short time I have here in Brazil, and then once I get settled in BA maybe I[ll have some more, and hopefully be able to make some facebook albums with what I[ve got. Anyway, this was just a little rant after a few beers, and now I[ll take myself to bed. The prospect of a real bed tonight is soooo nice! I can sleep anywhere, but it[s not the same on a bus. But the dreams I[ve had these past two nights on buses have been insane, totally crazy. Really vivid dreams of ordinary scenes. And I was listening to a song on my iPod i[ve heard a million times, but this time I heard it, the girl was singing about cooking a dinner her boyfriend didn[t like, but he ate it all anyway, and threw up everywhere..... totally weird, I dunno what that might mean. I laughed though, and listened to the song again, just to be sure, and the words I imagined were definitely not the words I heard.
Alright, good night, next update will be after the border jump!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Raining in Paradise
The last 3 days have been such a blur. We left Paraty in the pouring rain for a 6 hour bus trip to Sao Paulo, where we had a half-hour wait for the next 6 hour bus trip to Curitiba. We hit crazy traffic on the way so the trip took a littl over 7 hours, and we got to Curitiba at around 1.30 in the afternoon. I wanted to see it because it has a reputation for being really beautiful, safe, clean, efficient, and we had origially planned to spend a night there, but all the busses were booked so we had 5 hours to explore. Natasha and I put our bags in a locker, talked to the tourist office, and hit the town. A lot of the plazas and streets have German names, and you can tell that there is a persisting German-ness to the place. The bus system is made up of tube-like stations, and although they seem to operate on a Brazilian time table, the layout of the city is really efficient and pretty-big squares, classical style government buildings, nice old cathedrals, and the Oscar Neiemeyer Museum. We walked around for a while, saw some realy cool art at te museum, and then wandered some more to find a place to eat. Chopp is the Brazilian term for draft beer, and a Chopperia is a place to get this, then they have basic food stuff too- a typical plate will be rice, beans, manioc root, whatever meat you choose, fries, and a salad of lettuce and tomato, healthy...
So we found the chopperia that we decided looked best, in front of a really pretty lit-up old building, and camped out there til we had to catch our bus. People in Curitiba suck. I don´t need to go into the story, but everywhere else we´ve been, everyone is so laid back and chill, but this one girl left a bad taste in my mouth about the city. I had heard that people there are more cold and rude, and the reputation seems to be true. Whatever, I hate it there anyway. So we left, and I blew her a kiss good bye, and we got on the bus. Another overnight trip brough us into Foz do Iguaçu early this morning. So for the past two nights, we have slept on busses, then today we went to the falls. They are amazing. Too bad it´s so rainy, and actually cold, but the place is breathtaking... again. Brazil is so full of beauty everywhere´that I´m starting to get jaded. By the way, the keyboard I´m using is a horrible piece of shit, so I´m having troule typing properly.
So basically, around Iguazu is a huge, tri-national area where Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay meet. I am on the Brazilian side now, where you get a panoramic view of the falls. It´s amazing how wide it is, I´ve never seen somthin g like this-the view is so intense but expansive, it´s insane. It hits all your senses but! You feel the mist, you smell the water, you obviously see it, but you hear it with your whole body, there´s so much water crashing around you that it vibrates in your chest..and I guess you could taste it too, if you wanted. We did a little bit of hiking alongside the river leading up to the falls, then got to the top and stood out on a ledge maybe 100 feet from where the biggest fall hits. It´s really something. So that´s the update-two straight days of bus trips, and now one of the most amazing things on the plante-it´s nominated to be one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world anyway.
I hope everyone in NY is enjoying the snow storm! That and the earthquake in Chile, and this crazy rain here........ sounds like the world is freaking out!
So we found the chopperia that we decided looked best, in front of a really pretty lit-up old building, and camped out there til we had to catch our bus. People in Curitiba suck. I don´t need to go into the story, but everywhere else we´ve been, everyone is so laid back and chill, but this one girl left a bad taste in my mouth about the city. I had heard that people there are more cold and rude, and the reputation seems to be true. Whatever, I hate it there anyway. So we left, and I blew her a kiss good bye, and we got on the bus. Another overnight trip brough us into Foz do Iguaçu early this morning. So for the past two nights, we have slept on busses, then today we went to the falls. They are amazing. Too bad it´s so rainy, and actually cold, but the place is breathtaking... again. Brazil is so full of beauty everywhere´that I´m starting to get jaded. By the way, the keyboard I´m using is a horrible piece of shit, so I´m having troule typing properly.
So basically, around Iguazu is a huge, tri-national area where Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay meet. I am on the Brazilian side now, where you get a panoramic view of the falls. It´s amazing how wide it is, I´ve never seen somthin g like this-the view is so intense but expansive, it´s insane. It hits all your senses but! You feel the mist, you smell the water, you obviously see it, but you hear it with your whole body, there´s so much water crashing around you that it vibrates in your chest..and I guess you could taste it too, if you wanted. We did a little bit of hiking alongside the river leading up to the falls, then got to the top and stood out on a ledge maybe 100 feet from where the biggest fall hits. It´s really something. So that´s the update-two straight days of bus trips, and now one of the most amazing things on the plante-it´s nominated to be one of the new 7 natural wonders of the world anyway.
I hope everyone in NY is enjoying the snow storm! That and the earthquake in Chile, and this crazy rain here........ sounds like the world is freaking out!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Paraty Town
Last night Natasha and I landed in this magnificent little town, Paraty. Its center is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and the hostel here is the nicest I´ve stayed in so far. It´s got a deck that hangs over te river that flows through the city, and the design of it is really nice. Our ´plan´ if you can call it that, was to stay here just last night, sight-see today, and catch an overnight bus to Curitiba, but things got complicated.
Today we met this guy while we were eating lunch-an Argentino who has lived in Brazil his whole life. He was going to give his table up so that we could sit down, but I told him to just stay with us because there was room. He was a hell of a nice guy and I decided to use him a little for info -basic questions about what it takes to live here-wages, rent prices, etc, and it´s pretty doable-not like I´m going to do it, just to know! But the main point he was trying to make was that this is the year of the Tiger in the Chinese calendar. Apparently this means that plans will be broken, people will break their word due to changes of fate, and chaos will ensue all year. Sounds good to me. He started on with this because we were talking about the unreliability of Brazilian weather forecasts and I said it was the same in the US, and then I said who are we to predict the things of the univers...half jokingly, then he got into all this kind of stuff. Anyway, I hate plans, I hate structure. Every time Natasha and I have had a plan, we´ve broken it.
Back to the story. We caught the last boat off of Ilha Grande yesterday, waving farewell to our transient friends, just like in an old movie. Natasha had a little bandana she waved, it was such a vintage scene-you could make a t-shirt with it and sell it for $80. Haha. Once we got to the town on the other side, we decided to walk to the bus station. Not a bad walk, but with a 50 pound bag, it wasn´t ideal. I was soaked in sweat. We asked a guy along the way to make sure we were going the right direction and he said we were less than two minutes away. Then once we told him we were going to Paraty, he said óh, you could have caught the bus at the boat dock!´. Son of a.... whatever, it was cool. The bus trip between these places is only about 2 1/2 hours, and it turns out you don´t go by a motor coach. It´s the same type as a city bus, so it pulled in, all the back-packers got on, it was crowded as hell, and the driver was speeding like a bat outta hell. For me it was no problem, I actually enjoyed it (with the windows down and air blasting me to dry the sweat, holding on for life) but Natasha gets car sick. Poor girl. I slept standing up for about half the way, then got a seat toward the end. Then we rolled in here last night, and turns out there are no direct busses to Curitiba, we have to go to Sao Paulo, which we were trying to avoid. The buses are full too, so we have (are lucky enough) to stay an extra night here in Paraty and then move on.
So I hear there is quite a snow storm brewing in New York. As much as I am loving this beach thing, I could use some snow. Skipping winter this year was one of the better ideas I´ve ever come up with on my own, but there´s nothing like a snow storm to keep you close to your friends, or chilling in bed all day....... ahh but I can only think about snow for 5 seconds before I wipe the sweat from my forehead, enough! I hate the cold, I don´t know how long I can stay living in a cold climate. Being hot and sweaty, and wearing next to nothing just makes me feel more natural, like a real, comfortable person. One Brazilian kid I was talking to was saying that people in pictures from cold places look like little presents, all wrapped up in packaging. I thought it was funny, but I guess that´s sort of how it feels...
I was stupid for bringing 4 pairs of jeans-they are slowly being massacred-yeah, I made cut-offs. I know there has to be some eye-rolling and OMGing going on, but hey, whatever. It´s hot. In all senses of the word. I don´t look like a hipster or anything though, they´re just regular length cut jeans. I had to do it, and I´m glad I did.
Today we walked around the historic center (it´s an old Portuguese colonial port town) and that´s it. It´s not big, but it was hot enough and we spent enough time out to work up a huge appetite. Natasha is a great travel partner because both our minds operate similarly-and when they don´t, one compensates for the other. She´s good at planning, and we both look for the cheapest, most authentic food we can find, and I´m good at questioning what she´s doing but following her. Lunch was great. Big plate, really cheap, finally got some fish that I had been craving for the past week, and we met that Argentino I mentioned. Also, the guys that worked there were really funny, so we laughed at them for a while. Then I went in search of some CDs, and finally got some Samba and Funk-the only souvenirs I needed. As beautiful as this country is, the thing I´m enjoying most is meeting the people. No one cares about anything, and everyone is so nice. I love it. I´m going to buy something to drink now, and take a nap. This hostel is like a real vacation resort again, so I can actually take time to read here without the pressures of seeing everything-because there´s not much around.
Today we met this guy while we were eating lunch-an Argentino who has lived in Brazil his whole life. He was going to give his table up so that we could sit down, but I told him to just stay with us because there was room. He was a hell of a nice guy and I decided to use him a little for info -basic questions about what it takes to live here-wages, rent prices, etc, and it´s pretty doable-not like I´m going to do it, just to know! But the main point he was trying to make was that this is the year of the Tiger in the Chinese calendar. Apparently this means that plans will be broken, people will break their word due to changes of fate, and chaos will ensue all year. Sounds good to me. He started on with this because we were talking about the unreliability of Brazilian weather forecasts and I said it was the same in the US, and then I said who are we to predict the things of the univers...half jokingly, then he got into all this kind of stuff. Anyway, I hate plans, I hate structure. Every time Natasha and I have had a plan, we´ve broken it.
Back to the story. We caught the last boat off of Ilha Grande yesterday, waving farewell to our transient friends, just like in an old movie. Natasha had a little bandana she waved, it was such a vintage scene-you could make a t-shirt with it and sell it for $80. Haha. Once we got to the town on the other side, we decided to walk to the bus station. Not a bad walk, but with a 50 pound bag, it wasn´t ideal. I was soaked in sweat. We asked a guy along the way to make sure we were going the right direction and he said we were less than two minutes away. Then once we told him we were going to Paraty, he said óh, you could have caught the bus at the boat dock!´. Son of a.... whatever, it was cool. The bus trip between these places is only about 2 1/2 hours, and it turns out you don´t go by a motor coach. It´s the same type as a city bus, so it pulled in, all the back-packers got on, it was crowded as hell, and the driver was speeding like a bat outta hell. For me it was no problem, I actually enjoyed it (with the windows down and air blasting me to dry the sweat, holding on for life) but Natasha gets car sick. Poor girl. I slept standing up for about half the way, then got a seat toward the end. Then we rolled in here last night, and turns out there are no direct busses to Curitiba, we have to go to Sao Paulo, which we were trying to avoid. The buses are full too, so we have (are lucky enough) to stay an extra night here in Paraty and then move on.
So I hear there is quite a snow storm brewing in New York. As much as I am loving this beach thing, I could use some snow. Skipping winter this year was one of the better ideas I´ve ever come up with on my own, but there´s nothing like a snow storm to keep you close to your friends, or chilling in bed all day....... ahh but I can only think about snow for 5 seconds before I wipe the sweat from my forehead, enough! I hate the cold, I don´t know how long I can stay living in a cold climate. Being hot and sweaty, and wearing next to nothing just makes me feel more natural, like a real, comfortable person. One Brazilian kid I was talking to was saying that people in pictures from cold places look like little presents, all wrapped up in packaging. I thought it was funny, but I guess that´s sort of how it feels...
I was stupid for bringing 4 pairs of jeans-they are slowly being massacred-yeah, I made cut-offs. I know there has to be some eye-rolling and OMGing going on, but hey, whatever. It´s hot. In all senses of the word. I don´t look like a hipster or anything though, they´re just regular length cut jeans. I had to do it, and I´m glad I did.
Today we walked around the historic center (it´s an old Portuguese colonial port town) and that´s it. It´s not big, but it was hot enough and we spent enough time out to work up a huge appetite. Natasha is a great travel partner because both our minds operate similarly-and when they don´t, one compensates for the other. She´s good at planning, and we both look for the cheapest, most authentic food we can find, and I´m good at questioning what she´s doing but following her. Lunch was great. Big plate, really cheap, finally got some fish that I had been craving for the past week, and we met that Argentino I mentioned. Also, the guys that worked there were really funny, so we laughed at them for a while. Then I went in search of some CDs, and finally got some Samba and Funk-the only souvenirs I needed. As beautiful as this country is, the thing I´m enjoying most is meeting the people. No one cares about anything, and everyone is so nice. I love it. I´m going to buy something to drink now, and take a nap. This hostel is like a real vacation resort again, so I can actually take time to read here without the pressures of seeing everything-because there´s not much around.
Monday, February 22, 2010
What´s up, Beaches!
Tonight I went out around this tiny town on this huge island with some of my new hostel friends. It´s crazy how transient the whole situation is... I always thought of people in NY as transient as everyone is coming from somewhere, staying a while to accomplish some goal, then vanishing as if they were never in your life. But going through hostels is expectedly a bit more intense than that. You have a friend for one day, then they~re gone. Half the time I don´t know the names of the people I´m hanging out with. I´ve never thought names were important anyway-it doesn´t matter what a person is called whether you´re enjoying them or hating them. But I usually remember the names of people I hate more easily than the ones I like.
Anyway, just sitting here at the computer by the reception desk, people are constantly coming and going. They are all close to my age, mostly a bit older in their late 20s or early 30s, doing just what I´m doing. I was thinking about it today, and how fitting is it that, at this age, while we´re wandering through the things of life anyway, we choose to wander through life in a foreign place, seeking the same adventures and experiences as everyone else we seem to come into contact with? I love the back-packing/hostel-hopping thing, it´s really fun. I´m sick of mosquitos though, one thing I didn´t anticipate before I came on the trip. Malaria isn´t big here, so that´s not a problem, but there´s something in me that makes those blood suckers crazy.
Today we hiked to the beach. It was a beautiful hike through the forest. I guess I said jungle in my last post, but to be fair, it´s more of a forest... a tropical forest. The trees are incredible, and I kept wondering how the huge boulders along the path came to be placed the way they are. They´re huge and round, and it´s almost as if they´re floating, just resting maybe 5 feet above the ground on smaller rocks. We took about 3 hours to reach the beach, stopping off at the smaller beaches along the way to exchange sea water for sweat. At the first beach, there was this rocky point that my monkey-boy spirit couldn´t resist. I swam over to it to find a place to dive off of. The first thing I did once I reached the rocks was fall and ram some barnacle shell into my thumb. Great way to realize I had to walk lightly, because that shit was sharp! I climbed up, saw some really cool bugs along the way, and found the high-point of my destiny. Much like the Chattahooche River that I grew up down the street from, the water was clearly a bit shallow to dive into, and had a rocky bottom to boot. But whatever, I decided to do a shallow dive, and now my left hand looks like I ran a cheese grater over it (at least I´m a righty, HA!). The rocks one the bottom where covered with the same sharp shells, and the slightest pass over it ripped me up! I was thinking about my friend Ryan, who would have been shaking his head and telling me how stupid I was...and I already know how stupid I am, but the image in my mind was funny.
Then we hiked and hiked and hiked, ate and hiked, drank, stopped, and hiked finally to Lopes Mendes, the beach that everyone had been raving about. The water was as clear as the air, the sand as white as sugar, and the densely forested mountains all around the cove gave an enchanting backdrop, better than the Corona commercials..´Miles away from ordinary´. Even sitting on the beach you dont get the full effect. Once you go out into the water, surrounded by the cove, you can see the breaks in the trees where the shear rock face has no soil, and the little irregularities that make each jungle-mountain unique. I just stayed there, floating around, for about 2 hours.
As beatiful as this quaint island is, mosquitos are tearing me up right now, I have to get into my tent!
Anyway, just sitting here at the computer by the reception desk, people are constantly coming and going. They are all close to my age, mostly a bit older in their late 20s or early 30s, doing just what I´m doing. I was thinking about it today, and how fitting is it that, at this age, while we´re wandering through the things of life anyway, we choose to wander through life in a foreign place, seeking the same adventures and experiences as everyone else we seem to come into contact with? I love the back-packing/hostel-hopping thing, it´s really fun. I´m sick of mosquitos though, one thing I didn´t anticipate before I came on the trip. Malaria isn´t big here, so that´s not a problem, but there´s something in me that makes those blood suckers crazy.
Today we hiked to the beach. It was a beautiful hike through the forest. I guess I said jungle in my last post, but to be fair, it´s more of a forest... a tropical forest. The trees are incredible, and I kept wondering how the huge boulders along the path came to be placed the way they are. They´re huge and round, and it´s almost as if they´re floating, just resting maybe 5 feet above the ground on smaller rocks. We took about 3 hours to reach the beach, stopping off at the smaller beaches along the way to exchange sea water for sweat. At the first beach, there was this rocky point that my monkey-boy spirit couldn´t resist. I swam over to it to find a place to dive off of. The first thing I did once I reached the rocks was fall and ram some barnacle shell into my thumb. Great way to realize I had to walk lightly, because that shit was sharp! I climbed up, saw some really cool bugs along the way, and found the high-point of my destiny. Much like the Chattahooche River that I grew up down the street from, the water was clearly a bit shallow to dive into, and had a rocky bottom to boot. But whatever, I decided to do a shallow dive, and now my left hand looks like I ran a cheese grater over it (at least I´m a righty, HA!). The rocks one the bottom where covered with the same sharp shells, and the slightest pass over it ripped me up! I was thinking about my friend Ryan, who would have been shaking his head and telling me how stupid I was...and I already know how stupid I am, but the image in my mind was funny.
Then we hiked and hiked and hiked, ate and hiked, drank, stopped, and hiked finally to Lopes Mendes, the beach that everyone had been raving about. The water was as clear as the air, the sand as white as sugar, and the densely forested mountains all around the cove gave an enchanting backdrop, better than the Corona commercials..´Miles away from ordinary´. Even sitting on the beach you dont get the full effect. Once you go out into the water, surrounded by the cove, you can see the breaks in the trees where the shear rock face has no soil, and the little irregularities that make each jungle-mountain unique. I just stayed there, floating around, for about 2 hours.
As beatiful as this quaint island is, mosquitos are tearing me up right now, I have to get into my tent!
Ilha Grande
OK, I´m finally out of Rio! As much as I loved it, I love even more to be gone. The trip was a magical combination of good luck and perseverance, and Natasha and I ended up at this great hostel... well, outside of it, in a tent. It´s beautiful.
We left Rio on the bus yesterday at 2, and figured we´d be here in time for the sunset. That was my goal the entire time of planning this leg of the trip anyway. Ilha Grande means big island, and that is just what we´ve planted ourselves on. There are a few bars, a ton of hostels and inns, and a tiny little town, on this massive island surrounded by beaches. So anyway.
The roads on the way here are really nice and you don´t do quite so much winding through mountains as between Rio and Sao Paulo, but there are still enough hairpin turns that, when the driver is trying to make record time, make you feel like you´re in a Formula 1 motor coach race. We were laughing saying that the driver had the same sense of urgency as us to see the sunset, so he was chasing it for us. I ended up sleeping almost the entire way then we got here just after 6. The last boat was meant to leave at 6, so we had to figure out how it was that we were going to get to the island. Turns out, the boat was leaving late, so we caught a taxi that sped us through the town on the mainland to the boat dock, and caught it in the nick of time. At that point, the sun was glowing that bright orangey-yellow it gets as it´s on its way down, so we were thanking the winds of fate for our luck in catching it! The boat trip was longer than expected, and absolutely beautiful. At a certain distance, mountains become indistinguishable from clouds in the misty haze from the salty humidity of the air, and when the sun was setting, the entire expanse of our view came alive in pink, purple, blue, orange..... ahhhh it was so perfect! The sea on the way here is incredibly cool looking, dotted with tiny islands along the way, and the coast line is really hilly, making for some really cool views.
Our original plan was to go from Rio to Sao Paulo, then we decided the night before we left that we didn´t want to go to SP again. Natasha said Ilha Grande, I said OK, and niether of us knew anything about it. So the morning before we left, I met this girl outside the hostel who had just come from here, and she recommended this particular hostel to us. It the last possible place on top of a hill, and the streets are pretty sandy so we were treking like mules in flip flops, sliding around a little, carrying our bags and sweating, haha. We were lucky enough that they had only 2 vacancies here, in a little tent close by. So we got settled, went out to find some companions in the hostel, then we hit a bar. It was a really cool outdoor bar with live music. The island is basically a tourist island - the kind of places I try to avoid when traveling, but it´s not a tourist TRAP, it just happens that you don´t come to an island full of beaches unless you´re on vacation. But we found some really good Brazilian music, one guy singing with a guitar and some others doing samba-beautiful. We´ve meet a cool couple-a Greek guy and Polish girl, a french guy, and this morning an Argentinian pair. We´re hiking 2 hours to a beach today. We could take a boat, but we thought you can take a boat anywhere, but you can only walk through the jungle to the beach here, so we´re walking.
So anyway, everything is beautiful here, surrounded by the jungle which is surrounded by the ocean. It smells like a salty jungle, I love it. I´ve got too many people waiting to use this to keep pecking away, so I´m gonig to be considerate.
We left Rio on the bus yesterday at 2, and figured we´d be here in time for the sunset. That was my goal the entire time of planning this leg of the trip anyway. Ilha Grande means big island, and that is just what we´ve planted ourselves on. There are a few bars, a ton of hostels and inns, and a tiny little town, on this massive island surrounded by beaches. So anyway.
The roads on the way here are really nice and you don´t do quite so much winding through mountains as between Rio and Sao Paulo, but there are still enough hairpin turns that, when the driver is trying to make record time, make you feel like you´re in a Formula 1 motor coach race. We were laughing saying that the driver had the same sense of urgency as us to see the sunset, so he was chasing it for us. I ended up sleeping almost the entire way then we got here just after 6. The last boat was meant to leave at 6, so we had to figure out how it was that we were going to get to the island. Turns out, the boat was leaving late, so we caught a taxi that sped us through the town on the mainland to the boat dock, and caught it in the nick of time. At that point, the sun was glowing that bright orangey-yellow it gets as it´s on its way down, so we were thanking the winds of fate for our luck in catching it! The boat trip was longer than expected, and absolutely beautiful. At a certain distance, mountains become indistinguishable from clouds in the misty haze from the salty humidity of the air, and when the sun was setting, the entire expanse of our view came alive in pink, purple, blue, orange..... ahhhh it was so perfect! The sea on the way here is incredibly cool looking, dotted with tiny islands along the way, and the coast line is really hilly, making for some really cool views.
Our original plan was to go from Rio to Sao Paulo, then we decided the night before we left that we didn´t want to go to SP again. Natasha said Ilha Grande, I said OK, and niether of us knew anything about it. So the morning before we left, I met this girl outside the hostel who had just come from here, and she recommended this particular hostel to us. It the last possible place on top of a hill, and the streets are pretty sandy so we were treking like mules in flip flops, sliding around a little, carrying our bags and sweating, haha. We were lucky enough that they had only 2 vacancies here, in a little tent close by. So we got settled, went out to find some companions in the hostel, then we hit a bar. It was a really cool outdoor bar with live music. The island is basically a tourist island - the kind of places I try to avoid when traveling, but it´s not a tourist TRAP, it just happens that you don´t come to an island full of beaches unless you´re on vacation. But we found some really good Brazilian music, one guy singing with a guitar and some others doing samba-beautiful. We´ve meet a cool couple-a Greek guy and Polish girl, a french guy, and this morning an Argentinian pair. We´re hiking 2 hours to a beach today. We could take a boat, but we thought you can take a boat anywhere, but you can only walk through the jungle to the beach here, so we´re walking.
So anyway, everything is beautiful here, surrounded by the jungle which is surrounded by the ocean. It smells like a salty jungle, I love it. I´ve got too many people waiting to use this to keep pecking away, so I´m gonig to be considerate.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
A Short One
I´ve only got a few minutes left of my internet time, but here´s a little update. I´m still in Rio! I was meant to leave the 15th, then Natasha´s flight got delayed a full 24 hours, and I like it here, so we´re hanging around!
Last night I spent in Lapa after doing some touristy stuff during the day. It was my first day of actual sight-seeing, since during the Carnaval all the stimulation around attracted all my attention away from the beauty of the city. It´s not the prettiest city ever or anything like that, but Rio is impressive. After we walked around downtown, we caught a ferry to Niteroi, a NJ-like suburb of Rio. Nothing was there, but it was a fun boat ride.
I got a new roommate in my hostel dorm. Her name is Sandra, from Dublin. She embodies everything you think of when you think of an Irish girl, I love her. We eat and drink together, and are the few left standing of the huge crew that was staying here last week for the partying. My last pair of roomies was Athena and Jonathan, and I knew I was driving them a little crazy. They didn´t know Carnaval was going on when they booked their trip and were expecting a chill vacation, but I wasn´t about to let it happen. I´ve had soo much fun with so many people I´ve met, I´m going to miss this whole bouncing around hostels ordeal! Every day you meet someone new, and someone old leaves, I love it.
Lapa was nuts last night. This is my kind of town for going out though-you don´t go home until the sun comes up, and even then, you can slowly make your way, talking to people along the way. We went last night with a couple of the kids who work at the hostel to finally get an insider scoop on what goes on, but it turns out we hadn´t been missing anything. It´s a crazy, crazy place-the street is just packed full of people, and clubs are all there, right next to each other, playing their music out into the street to entice people in. For each step you take, you can hear Brazilian funk, electronic, hip hop, samba, salsa, reggae, rock... wild.
Yesterday 3 of the kids I´ve been hanging out with went to get tatoos. I wanted one SOOO badly, but decided not to. I have an idea for my next one and can´t just jump into it in one day, so I resisted the temptation. Plus, it would kill my beach time a little bit, trying to keep it safe. Speaking of the beach, I´m headed off there now. Besides any gory details of the night out, there´s not much to update on - Rio is fun, but I´ve seen all the stuff, and it really does feel quite sedated after the whole carnaval event. I could stay here and go to the beach every day for the rest of my life though!
Ipanema!
Last night I spent in Lapa after doing some touristy stuff during the day. It was my first day of actual sight-seeing, since during the Carnaval all the stimulation around attracted all my attention away from the beauty of the city. It´s not the prettiest city ever or anything like that, but Rio is impressive. After we walked around downtown, we caught a ferry to Niteroi, a NJ-like suburb of Rio. Nothing was there, but it was a fun boat ride.
I got a new roommate in my hostel dorm. Her name is Sandra, from Dublin. She embodies everything you think of when you think of an Irish girl, I love her. We eat and drink together, and are the few left standing of the huge crew that was staying here last week for the partying. My last pair of roomies was Athena and Jonathan, and I knew I was driving them a little crazy. They didn´t know Carnaval was going on when they booked their trip and were expecting a chill vacation, but I wasn´t about to let it happen. I´ve had soo much fun with so many people I´ve met, I´m going to miss this whole bouncing around hostels ordeal! Every day you meet someone new, and someone old leaves, I love it.
Lapa was nuts last night. This is my kind of town for going out though-you don´t go home until the sun comes up, and even then, you can slowly make your way, talking to people along the way. We went last night with a couple of the kids who work at the hostel to finally get an insider scoop on what goes on, but it turns out we hadn´t been missing anything. It´s a crazy, crazy place-the street is just packed full of people, and clubs are all there, right next to each other, playing their music out into the street to entice people in. For each step you take, you can hear Brazilian funk, electronic, hip hop, samba, salsa, reggae, rock... wild.
Yesterday 3 of the kids I´ve been hanging out with went to get tatoos. I wanted one SOOO badly, but decided not to. I have an idea for my next one and can´t just jump into it in one day, so I resisted the temptation. Plus, it would kill my beach time a little bit, trying to keep it safe. Speaking of the beach, I´m headed off there now. Besides any gory details of the night out, there´s not much to update on - Rio is fun, but I´ve seen all the stuff, and it really does feel quite sedated after the whole carnaval event. I could stay here and go to the beach every day for the rest of my life though!
Ipanema!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Happy Lent.........yeah right
OK it has been a crazy week! There are no amount of words, pictures, stories, videos... anything, that can describe the intensity of what I´ve been through this past week. I have to say that the Carnaval, without question, has been the single most fun week of my entire life. I´m not saying it´s been the best (for some of those who get jealous about weird things like that) but it has been so incredibly stimulating and fun. As worn out as I am, I´m bummed out that it´s over!
It actually really kills me that I have no documentation of the week other than my memory (which I don´t think will fade too much) because I so wish I could have shared the experience with everyone! A basic day during the Carnaval went like this. I woke up around 9 or 10, went up for breakfast to see who was still alive from the night before, ate then planned the next step. Day-planning did not exist, we always just planned one thing at a time. Typically we would get to one of the beaches by noon, lay around and swim (the waves are insanely intense) and soak up the sun, then around 3pm you can hear the parades starting up. By then, we would be tired of the beach and go grab something to eat, then grab some beers from one of the hundreds of people walking up and down the esplanade selling from cooolers, and join the parade. Then we´d be home by around 7, eat again, then sleep til around 11 and go to Lapa. The neighborhood is full of bars and clubs, and from what I hear, every Friday is a street party. During the Carnaval, every single night was a street party. It was always packed with musicians, street food stalls, cooler stands for beer and water, and then stages were scattered around in every square in the area. You could literally follow your ears (or your nose, with the smell of piss in the street) to a party no matter where you were.
All day, every day, busses would go by, packed with people in costumes, with drums, playing a samba beat and swinging out the windows yelling and singing at passers-by. People walking down the street would just bust out into samba for a few seconds, the music would pass, then we were all just walking again. I actually learned a bit of samba and funk-the collective mentality of the crowd was to embrace the foreigners and they were soo happy to show us what was up and help us with anything at all. On Sunday, a few of us went to what´s called the Terreirao do Samba, outside of the big venue where the samba schools perform all week, despite the warnings of the hostel workers. They said it was more dangerous, but we needed a change of pace from Lapa. It was actually the only place that one of us didn´t get ´knicked´as the English girls put it, and we met some really cool people, and danced all night. Every hour or so, a huge fireworks display would go off and just add a new beat to what they had going on already. We got there around midnight, and didn´t realize we were all completely exhausted until the sunlight started creeping around the silhouettes of the downtown skyscrapers. By the time we got home, I had time to sleep for about 3 hours, got woken up to go to the beach, and did the same thing again.
Now I´m waiting to meet Natasha. She gets in tomorrow, and I´m so excited to have a travel buddy for the next couple of weeks. Not to say I haven´t loved traveling alone, I think I made the best decision ever in doing this. I have met so many cool people and seen so many different mind-sets and mentalities that I know it will all have to marinate and I won´t feel the full effects of the experience until later. I have been designated the spokesperson of the group, as everyone is under the impression that I speak Portuguese since I can buy a pack of cigarettes and a pineapple juice with no problems, but I just throw in some Spanish words when I can´t figure out the Portuguese and generally it works out.
So now I get to see what Rio is really like, taking out the whole party vibe. The Metro has been running all night during the Carnaval, but last night it shut down, giving us problems getting home. I´m staying with some Brazilian kids right now, further out in Rio, so it was basically like trying to get to Washington Heights with no subway. The kids were asking a cop why the metro stopped, he looked at the clock tower, and said ´sorry girls, it´s ash wednesday´. I didn´t draw the similarities between mardi gras and carnaval until then, and now I feel like an idiot. But anyway, the party´s over, as they say.
I just got a DVD burned for me from this guy who lives at this apartment where I´m at, because the music is the only thing that will be able to instantly bring me back to the memory of this week. You don´t hear much Samba or Brazilian funk at all in the U.S., so it helps that all the memories associated with that music have been formed here. I will have to come here again at this time of year, because it really is the most incredibly amazing feeling ever. Everyone is so involved in the party, it´s so light hearted, even the bad guys running around stealing stuff can´t ruin it.
Last night, thanks to the locals I´ve picked up, I got the translation of one of the songs I´ve been hearing all week. It was one of those things where you know it has to be a great song by the way it sounds, but everyone knows it and sings all the words every time. I had been thinking all week how much I was pining to understand this music, so I was elated when it came on last night and I was surrounded by these kids who told me, it says(more or less):
live and don't have shame to be happy
sing, sing and sing the beauty to be an eternal learner
say that life could be much better, and it will be
but it don't stop me from saying
it's beautifull, it's beautiful and it's beaultiful
Of course the language difference prevents fully communicating the feeling inspired by the song, but I love it! And the crowd really imparts a great vibe during these things, it has really been incredibly amazing. I owe something to Brazil forever. The people have been so beautiful in every way, and I don´t want to leave! I´ll come back some day and stay for long enough to learn Portuguese, then I´ll emigrate. (maybe). Happy Valentines Day to everyone, if you´re reading this silly blog then you´re someone I love and miss dearly. Ciao!
It actually really kills me that I have no documentation of the week other than my memory (which I don´t think will fade too much) because I so wish I could have shared the experience with everyone! A basic day during the Carnaval went like this. I woke up around 9 or 10, went up for breakfast to see who was still alive from the night before, ate then planned the next step. Day-planning did not exist, we always just planned one thing at a time. Typically we would get to one of the beaches by noon, lay around and swim (the waves are insanely intense) and soak up the sun, then around 3pm you can hear the parades starting up. By then, we would be tired of the beach and go grab something to eat, then grab some beers from one of the hundreds of people walking up and down the esplanade selling from cooolers, and join the parade. Then we´d be home by around 7, eat again, then sleep til around 11 and go to Lapa. The neighborhood is full of bars and clubs, and from what I hear, every Friday is a street party. During the Carnaval, every single night was a street party. It was always packed with musicians, street food stalls, cooler stands for beer and water, and then stages were scattered around in every square in the area. You could literally follow your ears (or your nose, with the smell of piss in the street) to a party no matter where you were.
All day, every day, busses would go by, packed with people in costumes, with drums, playing a samba beat and swinging out the windows yelling and singing at passers-by. People walking down the street would just bust out into samba for a few seconds, the music would pass, then we were all just walking again. I actually learned a bit of samba and funk-the collective mentality of the crowd was to embrace the foreigners and they were soo happy to show us what was up and help us with anything at all. On Sunday, a few of us went to what´s called the Terreirao do Samba, outside of the big venue where the samba schools perform all week, despite the warnings of the hostel workers. They said it was more dangerous, but we needed a change of pace from Lapa. It was actually the only place that one of us didn´t get ´knicked´as the English girls put it, and we met some really cool people, and danced all night. Every hour or so, a huge fireworks display would go off and just add a new beat to what they had going on already. We got there around midnight, and didn´t realize we were all completely exhausted until the sunlight started creeping around the silhouettes of the downtown skyscrapers. By the time we got home, I had time to sleep for about 3 hours, got woken up to go to the beach, and did the same thing again.
Now I´m waiting to meet Natasha. She gets in tomorrow, and I´m so excited to have a travel buddy for the next couple of weeks. Not to say I haven´t loved traveling alone, I think I made the best decision ever in doing this. I have met so many cool people and seen so many different mind-sets and mentalities that I know it will all have to marinate and I won´t feel the full effects of the experience until later. I have been designated the spokesperson of the group, as everyone is under the impression that I speak Portuguese since I can buy a pack of cigarettes and a pineapple juice with no problems, but I just throw in some Spanish words when I can´t figure out the Portuguese and generally it works out.
So now I get to see what Rio is really like, taking out the whole party vibe. The Metro has been running all night during the Carnaval, but last night it shut down, giving us problems getting home. I´m staying with some Brazilian kids right now, further out in Rio, so it was basically like trying to get to Washington Heights with no subway. The kids were asking a cop why the metro stopped, he looked at the clock tower, and said ´sorry girls, it´s ash wednesday´. I didn´t draw the similarities between mardi gras and carnaval until then, and now I feel like an idiot. But anyway, the party´s over, as they say.
I just got a DVD burned for me from this guy who lives at this apartment where I´m at, because the music is the only thing that will be able to instantly bring me back to the memory of this week. You don´t hear much Samba or Brazilian funk at all in the U.S., so it helps that all the memories associated with that music have been formed here. I will have to come here again at this time of year, because it really is the most incredibly amazing feeling ever. Everyone is so involved in the party, it´s so light hearted, even the bad guys running around stealing stuff can´t ruin it.
Last night, thanks to the locals I´ve picked up, I got the translation of one of the songs I´ve been hearing all week. It was one of those things where you know it has to be a great song by the way it sounds, but everyone knows it and sings all the words every time. I had been thinking all week how much I was pining to understand this music, so I was elated when it came on last night and I was surrounded by these kids who told me, it says(more or less):
live and don't have shame to be happy
sing, sing and sing the beauty to be an eternal learner
say that life could be much better, and it will be
but it don't stop me from saying
it's beautifull, it's beautiful and it's beaultiful
Of course the language difference prevents fully communicating the feeling inspired by the song, but I love it! And the crowd really imparts a great vibe during these things, it has really been incredibly amazing. I owe something to Brazil forever. The people have been so beautiful in every way, and I don´t want to leave! I´ll come back some day and stay for long enough to learn Portuguese, then I´ll emigrate. (maybe). Happy Valentines Day to everyone, if you´re reading this silly blog then you´re someone I love and miss dearly. Ciao!
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Caaaarnavallllll
Last night was our first foray into the Carnaval, and it was everything anyone ever said it was to be. Just a million people milling about the streets, packing in near the music, breaking up in the street to breathe a little bit, buying food, beer..... lots of things. It´s awesome. There wasn´t as much dancing involved last night as I expected but it was still a great time, and an amazing crowd.
Walking through, I ended up meeting a lot of locals, just nice kids who spoke either English or Spanish that just wanted to talk to the tourist. The group I went out with last night was about 20 people strong, it was kind of ridiculous! But once you´re in the crowd, that number means nothing. Everyone I talked to said to be careful. The warnings were warranted - this is the first time on the trip that all the scary talk is not being exaggerated. But it´s like they say, be smart, be aware, and you´ll be fine. A girl we were with got her necklace stolen off her neck. A fight broke out and one of the guys we were with got his wallet lifted out of his back pocket. They say don´t wear jewelry or carry a wallet. No joke, eh? So I´m doing what I´m told and the only thing that´s happened to me is that I´ve met some really nice people. I´ve ended up hanging out with some beautiful girls, so we get a lot of male attention - typical aggressive latino shit - but usually everyone ends up being awesome and telling us where another good party is.
So I have an agenda of partying laid out, it´s going to be a craaaaazzzzyy weekend!
Walking through, I ended up meeting a lot of locals, just nice kids who spoke either English or Spanish that just wanted to talk to the tourist. The group I went out with last night was about 20 people strong, it was kind of ridiculous! But once you´re in the crowd, that number means nothing. Everyone I talked to said to be careful. The warnings were warranted - this is the first time on the trip that all the scary talk is not being exaggerated. But it´s like they say, be smart, be aware, and you´ll be fine. A girl we were with got her necklace stolen off her neck. A fight broke out and one of the guys we were with got his wallet lifted out of his back pocket. They say don´t wear jewelry or carry a wallet. No joke, eh? So I´m doing what I´m told and the only thing that´s happened to me is that I´ve met some really nice people. I´ve ended up hanging out with some beautiful girls, so we get a lot of male attention - typical aggressive latino shit - but usually everyone ends up being awesome and telling us where another good party is.
So I have an agenda of partying laid out, it´s going to be a craaaaazzzzyy weekend!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Ipanema!
I finally got my first beach day of the trip! I´ve been anticipating the beach in Rio since almost a year ago, and I´m just elated to have gotten to do it. It´s not as intimidating as the pictures make it look - there are ugly people mixed in too, and not everyone wears the skimpy little shorts. It was an amazing site though. Looking out from Ipanema, the few rocky islands in front of you are the only things blocking the view of the horizon. Then, looking to the right is Leblon, then a huge, beautiful, densely forested hill with a favela at the bottom. Behind you are the hotels and expensive aparments, and then to the left is more beach; a big rock ends Ipanema and the land cruves and you´ve got Copa Cabana. So anyway, there was plenty of fun to be had on the beach. I went with the same English girls I met yesterday and we just tanned, swam, stared, and burned a little bit. The only thing I´ve burned is my scalp, (un)lucky enough. I´ve never done that before.
Last night we got a group together at the hostel and went in search of an advertised street party. It was pretty awesome. The official start time was 7pm and we thought that was outrageously early, so the English girls, a new guy from Kentucky, a Canadian couple and I went out to find it around 9. We had directions to a point, and were told to follow your ears from there. On the way, there was this wild, spontaneous parade of people in outrageous outfits..... imagine the sesame street wardrobe shaken and poured over a group of people. Oh, and imagine a few drag queens fell out of the mess too. They had drums and stuff, and we joined the parade which stopped traffic when they decided to have a dance party in the street. No one honked or anything-busses, cars, trucks, just waited, then when we all moved, they waved and yelled funny things that I couldn´t understand. We didn´t make it to the street party, we went to a club instead, which was really fun anyway. Usually back home, the music breaks up at points into something that you don´t want to dance to so you can stop sweating for a second, but at this place that was not the case. The music is so good! So we shook it up all night. The girls had a bit much to drink, but I actually maintained a little buzz and not much more. Normally, that statement would be a complete and utter lie. The truth is, I didn´t even want to drink because it was interfering with dancing, not out of some moral obligation to be responsible. Thanks to the humidity, my shirt was still soaked this morning when I woke up. A disgusting indication of a night well spent.
So that´s the rundown for Rio so far, I´ve made quite a bit of headway in the two days. People here are really friendly and helpful. The guy who sold me the map yesterday showed me where we were and laughed and corrected me every time I pronounced something wrong. My neighborhood is Catete, pronounced Catetchy, more or less. I was saying ´Catetch´ and he thought it was really funny. Then this random girl walking next to us yesterday gave us some advice for Carnaval. Basically, be careful and dance your ass off. You can´t go to a bad party. Everyone on the beach is nice, to the point that you don´t know if someone is flirting with you or just being cool. I could get used to this!! So I´ll probably buy a hat so I can go to the beach again tomorrow. I can´t believe I burned my scalp, how weird is that? It really hurts! We all just stopped off at this cafe, and I think the girls are headed to Copa Cabana - we figured we HAD to go drink some caipirinhas in Copa, ya know?? And we´ll be singing that song the entire time.
Last night we got a group together at the hostel and went in search of an advertised street party. It was pretty awesome. The official start time was 7pm and we thought that was outrageously early, so the English girls, a new guy from Kentucky, a Canadian couple and I went out to find it around 9. We had directions to a point, and were told to follow your ears from there. On the way, there was this wild, spontaneous parade of people in outrageous outfits..... imagine the sesame street wardrobe shaken and poured over a group of people. Oh, and imagine a few drag queens fell out of the mess too. They had drums and stuff, and we joined the parade which stopped traffic when they decided to have a dance party in the street. No one honked or anything-busses, cars, trucks, just waited, then when we all moved, they waved and yelled funny things that I couldn´t understand. We didn´t make it to the street party, we went to a club instead, which was really fun anyway. Usually back home, the music breaks up at points into something that you don´t want to dance to so you can stop sweating for a second, but at this place that was not the case. The music is so good! So we shook it up all night. The girls had a bit much to drink, but I actually maintained a little buzz and not much more. Normally, that statement would be a complete and utter lie. The truth is, I didn´t even want to drink because it was interfering with dancing, not out of some moral obligation to be responsible. Thanks to the humidity, my shirt was still soaked this morning when I woke up. A disgusting indication of a night well spent.
So that´s the rundown for Rio so far, I´ve made quite a bit of headway in the two days. People here are really friendly and helpful. The guy who sold me the map yesterday showed me where we were and laughed and corrected me every time I pronounced something wrong. My neighborhood is Catete, pronounced Catetchy, more or less. I was saying ´Catetch´ and he thought it was really funny. Then this random girl walking next to us yesterday gave us some advice for Carnaval. Basically, be careful and dance your ass off. You can´t go to a bad party. Everyone on the beach is nice, to the point that you don´t know if someone is flirting with you or just being cool. I could get used to this!! So I´ll probably buy a hat so I can go to the beach again tomorrow. I can´t believe I burned my scalp, how weird is that? It really hurts! We all just stopped off at this cafe, and I think the girls are headed to Copa Cabana - we figured we HAD to go drink some caipirinhas in Copa, ya know?? And we´ll be singing that song the entire time.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
I only have 15 minutes free and I´ve used half that already, so I have to mae this fast!
I´m in Rio now, its totally different than SP and I love it too. The bus ride over here was incredible. I woke up sometime during the middle of the 7 hour trip and we were winding through a narrow mountain road on this huge, double decker bus. Rounding each curve, the view opened up with rolling hills then mountains far in the distance. It was storming and you could see the wall of rain and lightning striking what had to be 10 miles away... huge, thick bolts, it was so beautiful. Arriving to a city by bus gives you a much different impression than arriving by plane. The city sort of creeps up on you as the area gets more developed, then BAM! You´re in the worst parts of the city you´ll see the entire trip! But here I am. I was under the impression that I was staying in Copa Cabana, according to a map I looked at before I left, but no, I´m in Catete. Better, actually. The streets are really busy with bars and restaurants and it feels much better than the reputation Copa has.
Today I had my first little hissy fit, but it didn´t develop into the kind I´m known to have (when I punch a wall or break an electronic thing). I was alone, I had left the English girls I had met at breakfast to do my own thing. I have no map, no book, and at that point, I had spent all the cash I had on me. My one saving grace has been the Banco Real - the only bank that I can withdraw money from. I left them at the Pao de Acucar, Sugarloaf, and figured I´d take out some cash, buy a map, and walk to somewhere I knew. I have 3 minutes to finish this. Rio´s nickname should be the city with no map. No one sells them! I went to a gas station. No. A big, touristy, coporate hotel, no. Went to Banco Real along the way and couldnt get cash. Then I was pissed. What huge city has no maps!!!!????? Then I stumbled upon a Citibank next to a newstand. 2 hits at the same corner. I was found again. So I bought a HUGE pineapple juice, sat down, and planned my trip.
My mohawk is gone and I miss it! Rio is awesome, now that I have a map. The city is less aesthetically stimulating than Sao Paulo but the people are wayyy more so, if you catch my drift. Time up!
I´m in Rio now, its totally different than SP and I love it too. The bus ride over here was incredible. I woke up sometime during the middle of the 7 hour trip and we were winding through a narrow mountain road on this huge, double decker bus. Rounding each curve, the view opened up with rolling hills then mountains far in the distance. It was storming and you could see the wall of rain and lightning striking what had to be 10 miles away... huge, thick bolts, it was so beautiful. Arriving to a city by bus gives you a much different impression than arriving by plane. The city sort of creeps up on you as the area gets more developed, then BAM! You´re in the worst parts of the city you´ll see the entire trip! But here I am. I was under the impression that I was staying in Copa Cabana, according to a map I looked at before I left, but no, I´m in Catete. Better, actually. The streets are really busy with bars and restaurants and it feels much better than the reputation Copa has.
Today I had my first little hissy fit, but it didn´t develop into the kind I´m known to have (when I punch a wall or break an electronic thing). I was alone, I had left the English girls I had met at breakfast to do my own thing. I have no map, no book, and at that point, I had spent all the cash I had on me. My one saving grace has been the Banco Real - the only bank that I can withdraw money from. I left them at the Pao de Acucar, Sugarloaf, and figured I´d take out some cash, buy a map, and walk to somewhere I knew. I have 3 minutes to finish this. Rio´s nickname should be the city with no map. No one sells them! I went to a gas station. No. A big, touristy, coporate hotel, no. Went to Banco Real along the way and couldnt get cash. Then I was pissed. What huge city has no maps!!!!????? Then I stumbled upon a Citibank next to a newstand. 2 hits at the same corner. I was found again. So I bought a HUGE pineapple juice, sat down, and planned my trip.
My mohawk is gone and I miss it! Rio is awesome, now that I have a map. The city is less aesthetically stimulating than Sao Paulo but the people are wayyy more so, if you catch my drift. Time up!
Monday, February 8, 2010
Pre-Carnaval Mayhem
Next week is the magnificent, the legendary, CARNAVAL!!! This weekend in Sao Paulo, you could feel the energy building. Friday night I just chilled out because I was tired. I went to a bar to say bye to the Norwegian kids I had met, then just went back to the hostel and slept. I think I´m allergic to the pollen here, I´m such a baby. One guy said it´s impossible because it rains every day, but I don´t feel sick and I think anything is possible, so I´m saying I´m allergic. Saturday was a little crazy, but once again I stayed a bit calm, despite my biting urge to do something craaazy. On my walk back from site-seeing, again a sweaty, exhausted mess, the streets were beginning to come alive. It was around 7pm and the market I had seen earlier was closing down as the restaurants and bars on the periphery of the square were packed full of people. My pal decided to rest at the hostel, so I dropped my stuff and went back out. Our little symbiosis has been really great-he speaks Portuguese but can´t read a map for shit, while I always know where we are but am a total dumb ass with the language. Anyway, off I went.
The sun sets late here, so I had a good hour and a half of day light left. The crowded bars were a bit less than inviting to the lone wanderer who doesn´t speak the language, so I walked past. I turned down a street that looked lively enough, and started to hear music. Some guys had opened up the front of a guitar shop and set up a drum set, bass, guitar, and a rack of clarinet, sax, and a trumpet. They plugged the stuff and and made an impromptu concert in the street. A crowd materialized in seconds, the corner store turned into a bar, essentially, since drinking is allowed in the street here, and it was a little dance/jazz/chill-out session for about a half hour. I love that kind of stuff. First off, drinking in the street sets a really chilled-out vibe and is wayyy better than being stuck in a crowded bar. Plus, this was just a random gathering of passers-by:moms, dads, kids, teenagers, old people, random hippie guys and girls...... just really really nice. So after that, I came back, cooked some dinner (saving money where I can) and hung out. I took another walk later to check out this club that the hostel owner told me about, but it was to no avail.
Last night was when I got to really let off some steam. We went to a Samba school practice. Sounds tame, but it´s not. Being the week before Carnaval, this is their last chance to rehearse before they go. The school is just a school, but this `practice` was really a huge outdoor performance. The street was closed, there was a massive stage, food stands and people with coolers full of beer, soda, water, cigarettes, and candy were all set up outside the make-shift wall framing the venue. You have to pay to go in, and it´s definitely one of those places that made me glad I didn´t have anything on me except a few reis in my swimming trunks, but it was absolutely incredible. We were somewhat early, and maybe an hour after we got there, it was jam packed. The samba dancers were insanely awesome, and this country seems to have an infinte amount of talented percussionists that make it impossible not to be moving. I was intimidated about being surrounded by Brazilians dancing, but in the crowd, there was no rule as to what you´re supposed to do, it was just a free, do as you please, vibe. Everyone is drinking, smoking, eating, laughing, and dancing. Kids are running through the crowd, parents are holding their babies up, it was just a huge, awesome gathering. If this is the teaser before Carnaval, I can´t imagine what the real deal will be like! Long and short of it, we made some Brazilian friends in the crowd, had a crazy drive through the city to go other places, and just had a great night! One of the Brazilian guys we met warned me about Rio, but he also was talking about the huge rivalry between Cariocas, the people from Rio de Janeiro, and the Paulistas, a bit more clear in its meaning. But he said it´s dirtier, poorer the people are arrogant, the beaches suck...... I have to take some of it with a grain of salt, considering how, from Atlanta, we talk shit about every other southern city, and from new york, we talk shit about every city. I´m totally not ready to leave this place yet, but tomorrow is my last day! After Rio, I´ll have to drag Natasha back here for a couple days. Anyone would love something about this city, despite the incredibly bad rap it gets.
I´ve managed to not blow my budget here, but it´s a constant fight to resist the temptation of the insane amount of nice restaurants, bars, and clubs that are constantly making me drool. Like, I will walk past a clothing store and have to go in because A) I like the nice clothes, but also B) because of the amount of attention they pay to detail in the architectural design. Everything is beckoning you to go in, even more so than in New York. Then the restaurants, it´s the same thing. So many design elements go into these restaurants! They´re not grossly expensive compared to what I´m used to, but more than I would like to pay. The bars also. The one we went to the other day had a regular-width bar that just wound through the entire room, so wherever you´re sitting, you would be at a somewhat open angle to other people there that you are not with. Everyone ends up facing each other. The design is supposed to faciliate meeting new people, to oppose the tendency of going to a crowded place to hang out exclusively with the people you came with (shout-out to Annie :) Very cool stuff, anyway. Alright, I´m going to go reheat some of the food I made the other night and figure out what´s going on tonight. 2 nights left in Sao Paulo, then Rio or bust.
The sun sets late here, so I had a good hour and a half of day light left. The crowded bars were a bit less than inviting to the lone wanderer who doesn´t speak the language, so I walked past. I turned down a street that looked lively enough, and started to hear music. Some guys had opened up the front of a guitar shop and set up a drum set, bass, guitar, and a rack of clarinet, sax, and a trumpet. They plugged the stuff and and made an impromptu concert in the street. A crowd materialized in seconds, the corner store turned into a bar, essentially, since drinking is allowed in the street here, and it was a little dance/jazz/chill-out session for about a half hour. I love that kind of stuff. First off, drinking in the street sets a really chilled-out vibe and is wayyy better than being stuck in a crowded bar. Plus, this was just a random gathering of passers-by:moms, dads, kids, teenagers, old people, random hippie guys and girls...... just really really nice. So after that, I came back, cooked some dinner (saving money where I can) and hung out. I took another walk later to check out this club that the hostel owner told me about, but it was to no avail.
Last night was when I got to really let off some steam. We went to a Samba school practice. Sounds tame, but it´s not. Being the week before Carnaval, this is their last chance to rehearse before they go. The school is just a school, but this `practice` was really a huge outdoor performance. The street was closed, there was a massive stage, food stands and people with coolers full of beer, soda, water, cigarettes, and candy were all set up outside the make-shift wall framing the venue. You have to pay to go in, and it´s definitely one of those places that made me glad I didn´t have anything on me except a few reis in my swimming trunks, but it was absolutely incredible. We were somewhat early, and maybe an hour after we got there, it was jam packed. The samba dancers were insanely awesome, and this country seems to have an infinte amount of talented percussionists that make it impossible not to be moving. I was intimidated about being surrounded by Brazilians dancing, but in the crowd, there was no rule as to what you´re supposed to do, it was just a free, do as you please, vibe. Everyone is drinking, smoking, eating, laughing, and dancing. Kids are running through the crowd, parents are holding their babies up, it was just a huge, awesome gathering. If this is the teaser before Carnaval, I can´t imagine what the real deal will be like! Long and short of it, we made some Brazilian friends in the crowd, had a crazy drive through the city to go other places, and just had a great night! One of the Brazilian guys we met warned me about Rio, but he also was talking about the huge rivalry between Cariocas, the people from Rio de Janeiro, and the Paulistas, a bit more clear in its meaning. But he said it´s dirtier, poorer the people are arrogant, the beaches suck...... I have to take some of it with a grain of salt, considering how, from Atlanta, we talk shit about every other southern city, and from new york, we talk shit about every city. I´m totally not ready to leave this place yet, but tomorrow is my last day! After Rio, I´ll have to drag Natasha back here for a couple days. Anyone would love something about this city, despite the incredibly bad rap it gets.
I´ve managed to not blow my budget here, but it´s a constant fight to resist the temptation of the insane amount of nice restaurants, bars, and clubs that are constantly making me drool. Like, I will walk past a clothing store and have to go in because A) I like the nice clothes, but also B) because of the amount of attention they pay to detail in the architectural design. Everything is beckoning you to go in, even more so than in New York. Then the restaurants, it´s the same thing. So many design elements go into these restaurants! They´re not grossly expensive compared to what I´m used to, but more than I would like to pay. The bars also. The one we went to the other day had a regular-width bar that just wound through the entire room, so wherever you´re sitting, you would be at a somewhat open angle to other people there that you are not with. Everyone ends up facing each other. The design is supposed to faciliate meeting new people, to oppose the tendency of going to a crowded place to hang out exclusively with the people you came with (shout-out to Annie :) Very cool stuff, anyway. Alright, I´m going to go reheat some of the food I made the other night and figure out what´s going on tonight. 2 nights left in Sao Paulo, then Rio or bust.
Friday, February 5, 2010
Just a Quickie
This hostel is awesome. I can´t get my phone to work so far, so sorry for not calling anyone. But obviously I´m fine. This city is so much cooler than I had imagined, especially considering the amount of bad things so many people said about it! The neighborhood where I´m staying, Pinheiros, is pretty well-off and I spent a good amount of time in Jardims today, which is definitely more chic and swanky than what NY has to offer. I bought some flip flops for the scorching heat, and started to get tan... more like red.
Last night, with a little bit too much indulgence over a bottle of tequila, I met a bunch of kids at the Hostel. A pair from Norway, a guy from Peru, a few Australian girls (there are so many Australians everywhere-doing the tours in NY I met more of them than anyone else. Like roaches! But not in a bad way, they´re just everywhere!) and a guy from Berlin who is Portuguese-Italian - not that I like to talk about people in a utilitarian manner, but having a friend that speaks Portuguese is awesome. So me and this kid hung out all day today, and whenever I had any trouble he was able to jump in and help me out. Perfect. The Peruvian guy was insane. Me and him were going at the tequila like Jaws at that fishing boat. He spoke so many languages I wanted to puke on him. Pachuco, the International, he called himself. A bit extravagant, but it was a great time. So I went to bed late and woke up like a monster this morning. Breakfast here is nice though. They actually have really good coffee, unlike any coffe at any accommodation I´ve ever stayed at. This is Brazil, so I guess if they didn´t have decent coffee they would be being inappropriate. I was thinking about the part in Pulp Fiction at Quentin Tarantino´s character´s house. [I doñ´t need you to tell me it´s good coffee. I spend extra money at the grocery store for this, so I know it´s good. I don´t need you to tell me it´s good]. I expressed my joy to the Norwegians but kept my mouth shut otherwise.
So today, Ricardo (the Portuguese-Italian-German guy) and I walked 50 miles. The city is certainly huge, but there is so much to see! We started just before noon, walked through Jardims and saw some really cool shops - all the designer stuff, but the architecture is just amazing. It´s so so contemporary, and that architecture mixed with the tropical plants and trees is gorgeous. Then we went downtown. It could have been a downtown anywhere in North America. Basic mess of congestion, bad guys, good guys, office workers and police, in the midst of a beautiful theater and the tallest building in Sao Paulo, the Bank of the State of Sao Paulo. Then we hopped the Metro back to the Avenida Paulista and rested a bit. Then it started to rain. Apparently it rains every single day between 4:30 and 5:30, like clock work. It´s amazing how much rain falls, the streets turn to streams, the watter draggin any loose items it finds - garbage bags, shoes, whatever is hanging around the street or loosely attached to one´s foot. There aren´t really a lot of bars or pubs here, you have to search like hell for them. Instead there are juice bars. Stocked with melons, pineapples, coconuts, passion fruit and a dozen other things, you order what you want or any mix of options, and bam, fresh fruit juice. Tastes great in this hot weather.
I just got back to the hostel from this bar that was recommended-we decided to grab a little drink to finish off our journey. I had a couple caipirinhas with lime and passion fruit. Delicious. Due to the amount of fluids I lost today from sweating, I feel a little loopy from just that. Now everyone is asking where I´m going out tonight. I am dead. But it´s Friday night, it´s almost obligatory to go somewhere. I´ll see what happens.
Some day when I´m rich, I´m buying a place here. If only it was closer to the beach!
Last night, with a little bit too much indulgence over a bottle of tequila, I met a bunch of kids at the Hostel. A pair from Norway, a guy from Peru, a few Australian girls (there are so many Australians everywhere-doing the tours in NY I met more of them than anyone else. Like roaches! But not in a bad way, they´re just everywhere!) and a guy from Berlin who is Portuguese-Italian - not that I like to talk about people in a utilitarian manner, but having a friend that speaks Portuguese is awesome. So me and this kid hung out all day today, and whenever I had any trouble he was able to jump in and help me out. Perfect. The Peruvian guy was insane. Me and him were going at the tequila like Jaws at that fishing boat. He spoke so many languages I wanted to puke on him. Pachuco, the International, he called himself. A bit extravagant, but it was a great time. So I went to bed late and woke up like a monster this morning. Breakfast here is nice though. They actually have really good coffee, unlike any coffe at any accommodation I´ve ever stayed at. This is Brazil, so I guess if they didn´t have decent coffee they would be being inappropriate. I was thinking about the part in Pulp Fiction at Quentin Tarantino´s character´s house. [I doñ´t need you to tell me it´s good coffee. I spend extra money at the grocery store for this, so I know it´s good. I don´t need you to tell me it´s good]. I expressed my joy to the Norwegians but kept my mouth shut otherwise.
So today, Ricardo (the Portuguese-Italian-German guy) and I walked 50 miles. The city is certainly huge, but there is so much to see! We started just before noon, walked through Jardims and saw some really cool shops - all the designer stuff, but the architecture is just amazing. It´s so so contemporary, and that architecture mixed with the tropical plants and trees is gorgeous. Then we went downtown. It could have been a downtown anywhere in North America. Basic mess of congestion, bad guys, good guys, office workers and police, in the midst of a beautiful theater and the tallest building in Sao Paulo, the Bank of the State of Sao Paulo. Then we hopped the Metro back to the Avenida Paulista and rested a bit. Then it started to rain. Apparently it rains every single day between 4:30 and 5:30, like clock work. It´s amazing how much rain falls, the streets turn to streams, the watter draggin any loose items it finds - garbage bags, shoes, whatever is hanging around the street or loosely attached to one´s foot. There aren´t really a lot of bars or pubs here, you have to search like hell for them. Instead there are juice bars. Stocked with melons, pineapples, coconuts, passion fruit and a dozen other things, you order what you want or any mix of options, and bam, fresh fruit juice. Tastes great in this hot weather.
I just got back to the hostel from this bar that was recommended-we decided to grab a little drink to finish off our journey. I had a couple caipirinhas with lime and passion fruit. Delicious. Due to the amount of fluids I lost today from sweating, I feel a little loopy from just that. Now everyone is asking where I´m going out tonight. I am dead. But it´s Friday night, it´s almost obligatory to go somewhere. I´ll see what happens.
Some day when I´m rich, I´m buying a place here. If only it was closer to the beach!
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Bom Dia, Brazil!
Ahhh Sao Paulo. Its reputation precedes it, but a reputation is just that. People tak a lot of shit. As soon as you walk out the doors of the airport you instantly feel like you´re in a massive, cosmopolitan city. Mexico City is weird in that, despite being one of the hugest cities in the world, it doesn´t feel that way at all until you´re sitting in traffic.. which was always. But here you get a great feeling. For as big of a city as it is, it is very clean and pretty. And the plants and trees everywhere are gorgeous. And the 85 degree weather! This is a great second stop.
I talked to the girl at the tourist desk at the airport for about a half hour so she could tell me things. She kept laughing at me because she thought I was stupid. Then I got on a bus which let me off on the Avenida Paulista, I guess it´s like a combination of Park and 5th Avenues. Beautiful. Then I walked to the hostel. It was a verrrry long walk. I started to hate myself but didn´t want to spend money on a cab. I was embarrassed because I was sweating profusely (people here don´t sweat) but then it started to downpour. Only on those summer days in Georgia when the rain makes the pavement sizzle have I ever been more glad for a storm. But now I´m here and it´s a really nice hostel. I couldn´t get in for a minute because no one was there to buzz me in, but then this other guy came who was also trying to get in and we talked and he was really nice... we had a decent conversation in Spanish. That´s going to be my saving grace because I don´t understand shit of Portuguese but I´ve been able to pass through with Spanish. In New York, I considered myself quite accomplished with Spanglish, then Mexico helped, and now I´m about to create my version of Spaniguese... or whatever gets me by.
The hostel is insanely nice. Clean, new, artsy, the owner is one guy and he told me everything I need to know. Luck is on my side so far. The neighborhood is really nice, and there´s a great square around the corner that has a market Saturday and he told me the best places to go out every night of the week. All I need now is some friends. It´s a hostel for my people, which I didn´t know when I booked, but how about that luck? I need a shower desperately because we didn´t have hot water yesterday in Mexico so I had to use a bucket, so I don´t feel sufficiently bathed. That plus theovernight flight, plus all the sweat it took to get me here, I´m a pig. The rain helped a little but now I smell like I used to smell after working at Nani and Papa´s warehouse.
So that´s that, I love Brazil. Everyone has been so nice so far, and everyone is good looking... or maybe I should say there aren´t a lot of ugly people here. However you cut it, it´s great. Awesome first impression, I know I´m going to love this city. Now I start the countdown to Carnaval and meeting with Natasha.
I talked to the girl at the tourist desk at the airport for about a half hour so she could tell me things. She kept laughing at me because she thought I was stupid. Then I got on a bus which let me off on the Avenida Paulista, I guess it´s like a combination of Park and 5th Avenues. Beautiful. Then I walked to the hostel. It was a verrrry long walk. I started to hate myself but didn´t want to spend money on a cab. I was embarrassed because I was sweating profusely (people here don´t sweat) but then it started to downpour. Only on those summer days in Georgia when the rain makes the pavement sizzle have I ever been more glad for a storm. But now I´m here and it´s a really nice hostel. I couldn´t get in for a minute because no one was there to buzz me in, but then this other guy came who was also trying to get in and we talked and he was really nice... we had a decent conversation in Spanish. That´s going to be my saving grace because I don´t understand shit of Portuguese but I´ve been able to pass through with Spanish. In New York, I considered myself quite accomplished with Spanglish, then Mexico helped, and now I´m about to create my version of Spaniguese... or whatever gets me by.
The hostel is insanely nice. Clean, new, artsy, the owner is one guy and he told me everything I need to know. Luck is on my side so far. The neighborhood is really nice, and there´s a great square around the corner that has a market Saturday and he told me the best places to go out every night of the week. All I need now is some friends. It´s a hostel for my people, which I didn´t know when I booked, but how about that luck? I need a shower desperately because we didn´t have hot water yesterday in Mexico so I had to use a bucket, so I don´t feel sufficiently bathed. That plus theovernight flight, plus all the sweat it took to get me here, I´m a pig. The rain helped a little but now I smell like I used to smell after working at Nani and Papa´s warehouse.
So that´s that, I love Brazil. Everyone has been so nice so far, and everyone is good looking... or maybe I should say there aren´t a lot of ugly people here. However you cut it, it´s great. Awesome first impression, I know I´m going to love this city. Now I start the countdown to Carnaval and meeting with Natasha.
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Adios, Mexico
Today I fly out of Mexico. It´s a sad last day. It´s raining and a bit cold. It was snowing when I left NY. It seems like, for as long as I can remember, whenever I am leaving a place there is some sort of precipitation. Maybe it´s some cosmic sign of something. I´ll miss Mexico but I´m ready to move on. I got an email from my hostel in Sao Paulo asking what time I was arriving, and I realized that I booked it for tonight... but I fly out tonight so I don´t get there til tomorrow, duh. Whatever.
Yesterday I woke up somewhat late and went with Juana to the market where her husband, Juan, and son, Miguel, work. It is like a garage sale for 20 square blocks. Holy shit it was the biggest market I´ve ever seen or could imagine. It´s all recovered stuff from the trash at the front, then there´s new stuff as you get further in. The people selling new stuff set up closer to the center because the police are constantly walking through looking for pirated and stolen stuff. So I ate tamales and drank atole with Juana, then bought some hair gel.... I felt like a true Mexican. Everyone uses so much gel here. I knew that before I came, but it´s still a noticeable thing... EVERYONE uses so much gel.
Yesterday also happened to be one of the biggest festival days during the year in Mexico, it´s the festival of the nino dios. It´s a very holy thing and despite all the explanations I still don´t really understand it. Much like the Catholic Church. So anyway, as a result of this festival, I was bracing to face two of my greatest fears last night. I like to consider myself a rational person and I´m really not afraid of much of anything... not in a tough-guy way, just in the way that I can reason through things. But if there´s one thing in this world that scares the absolute shit outta me, it´s a carnival or fair. The type with games and dangerous rides and clowns... oh my god. Make that carnival a facet of a celebration in the Catholic Church and forget it. I mean, I went to mass as a kid and I can stumble my way through the Catholic things, thanks to my grandparents, but it´s just one of those huge entities that I feel lost in. So in the afternoon I went with the kids and their mom to the church, which was actually absolutely beautiful - every surface was covered with flowers, from the floor to the roof. It wasn´t just church, it was a cathedral. Amazing. But on the way back, we wound through the streets where the carnival was being set up and my stomach starting twisting. No way in hell I wanted to go back there. It´s like a county fair but in the streets of Mexico City. Terrifying. But I couldn´t bring myself to explain that I have this totally irrational phobia of carnivals to a 4 and 6 year old who were just dying to return. So I sucked it up. I know there´s a God because it started to rain. It was a freaking monsoon, so I knew that I was reaping the benefits of having gone to church earlier.
Juana and I went later on in the night, even though the kids had cried for not being able to go. We went to see the band and the party and it was great. Micheladas as big as movie-theater sodas, and all kinds of Mexican food was out, and we just passed through the part with rides and games pretty quickly. I was wishing I was with someone my age because the party was great... everyone was drinking and dancing and it was just one of those big, crowded things that you can´t not enjoy. I´m trying to think what I´m missing, but I´ve covered the highlights so far I think. I have to be rushed here because Im´at the internet cafe and am keeping the others waiting. But I just had a great last lunch - ox tongue stewed with guajillo chiles and some black beans. They made it last night and it smelled so good. I managed to stay healthy the entire time here, and I´m soo so happy for that.
The family is so worried about me leaving. Juana thinks I´m insane. Mostly because of my jacket. Whenever I put it on, she just snears at me and rolls her eyes. She wouldn´t let me wear it anywhere, but I´m a little bit insane so I fought her enough throughout the week. She kept trying to give me this huge hoody so that way the raterros wouldn´t look at me or touch me. I hated it, haha.
Alright so this is the end of Mexico. I´m ready to let my Spanish marinate for the few weeks while I´m in Brazil. Hopefully the Portuguese will help to nail home some of what I´ve learned, because I feel like I know less Spanish now than when I started. That can´t be true, but it´s how I feel.
Good bye, Mexico, hello Sunshine!!
Yesterday I woke up somewhat late and went with Juana to the market where her husband, Juan, and son, Miguel, work. It is like a garage sale for 20 square blocks. Holy shit it was the biggest market I´ve ever seen or could imagine. It´s all recovered stuff from the trash at the front, then there´s new stuff as you get further in. The people selling new stuff set up closer to the center because the police are constantly walking through looking for pirated and stolen stuff. So I ate tamales and drank atole with Juana, then bought some hair gel.... I felt like a true Mexican. Everyone uses so much gel here. I knew that before I came, but it´s still a noticeable thing... EVERYONE uses so much gel.
Yesterday also happened to be one of the biggest festival days during the year in Mexico, it´s the festival of the nino dios. It´s a very holy thing and despite all the explanations I still don´t really understand it. Much like the Catholic Church. So anyway, as a result of this festival, I was bracing to face two of my greatest fears last night. I like to consider myself a rational person and I´m really not afraid of much of anything... not in a tough-guy way, just in the way that I can reason through things. But if there´s one thing in this world that scares the absolute shit outta me, it´s a carnival or fair. The type with games and dangerous rides and clowns... oh my god. Make that carnival a facet of a celebration in the Catholic Church and forget it. I mean, I went to mass as a kid and I can stumble my way through the Catholic things, thanks to my grandparents, but it´s just one of those huge entities that I feel lost in. So in the afternoon I went with the kids and their mom to the church, which was actually absolutely beautiful - every surface was covered with flowers, from the floor to the roof. It wasn´t just church, it was a cathedral. Amazing. But on the way back, we wound through the streets where the carnival was being set up and my stomach starting twisting. No way in hell I wanted to go back there. It´s like a county fair but in the streets of Mexico City. Terrifying. But I couldn´t bring myself to explain that I have this totally irrational phobia of carnivals to a 4 and 6 year old who were just dying to return. So I sucked it up. I know there´s a God because it started to rain. It was a freaking monsoon, so I knew that I was reaping the benefits of having gone to church earlier.
Juana and I went later on in the night, even though the kids had cried for not being able to go. We went to see the band and the party and it was great. Micheladas as big as movie-theater sodas, and all kinds of Mexican food was out, and we just passed through the part with rides and games pretty quickly. I was wishing I was with someone my age because the party was great... everyone was drinking and dancing and it was just one of those big, crowded things that you can´t not enjoy. I´m trying to think what I´m missing, but I´ve covered the highlights so far I think. I have to be rushed here because Im´at the internet cafe and am keeping the others waiting. But I just had a great last lunch - ox tongue stewed with guajillo chiles and some black beans. They made it last night and it smelled so good. I managed to stay healthy the entire time here, and I´m soo so happy for that.
The family is so worried about me leaving. Juana thinks I´m insane. Mostly because of my jacket. Whenever I put it on, she just snears at me and rolls her eyes. She wouldn´t let me wear it anywhere, but I´m a little bit insane so I fought her enough throughout the week. She kept trying to give me this huge hoody so that way the raterros wouldn´t look at me or touch me. I hated it, haha.
Alright so this is the end of Mexico. I´m ready to let my Spanish marinate for the few weeks while I´m in Brazil. Hopefully the Portuguese will help to nail home some of what I´ve learned, because I feel like I know less Spanish now than when I started. That can´t be true, but it´s how I feel.
Good bye, Mexico, hello Sunshine!!
Monday, February 1, 2010
Mexico!
So my first stop along the way has been great. Since I´ve been here once before it feels somewhat homey, and I´m staying with Marisol´s family who won´t let me do ANYTHING!!!!! They´re so scared for me. I flew in and immediately her aunt, Juana, asked me ´how crazy are you, wearing expensive shoes and an elegant jacket?!´ Whatever, it´s not as bad as they say. This internet cafe is actually the first place they let me go alone. I make it sound like it´s bad, but it´s really awesome. I´m eating like a king. My diva status has earned me 2 more birthday parties here, in addition to the 7 I had back home. I´m sleeping between Juana´s house and her parents´ house and there are millions of family members and kids and babies I´m seeing again... it´s really nice, actually.
Last time I was here, I got really sick. This time, no. I´m eating too much and my body´s telling me so, but it´s really rude (apparently) to refuse anything at all, even 4th servings, so when I start to feel like throwing up, I just put my napkin and any trash from the table in my plate. It´s the only way. Yesterday, we loaded up the truck and went to the zoo at Chapultapec. The highlight was a brief wandering through Polanco, the super swanky side of Mexico City that is an entirely different world from the rest of the places I´m seeing. What keeps smacking me in the face here is how insulated we are from the normal realities of sustaining a population.... That´s to say you watch your food die then you eat it. You throw trash away, but between your relatives´houses, you drive through the landfill. Parks are built on top of old landfills - I was thinking, yeah they do that at home too... in Staten Island! The water doesn´t come during the day at Juan´s house, so they have a cistern to store it for the daytime. There are hundreds of people that work in the landfills recovering stuff to sell at markets.... it´s so GREEN and sustainable!! Really though, I love this country thanks to the people hosting me over here. And the food, there´s no close second.
Yesterday Angel, one of the little kids of the family, got sick on the way home from the zoo. He puked everywhere. It was vivdly reminiscent of the last time I was here, in the same seat of the same truck, puking out the same window, it was even the same color! Poor kid, but better him than me! The first day I got here I was dead tired thanks to the amazing last-night-in-NY I had, and was thinking for about 5 hours that maybe this trip would be a good time to kick a nastly little smoking habit I´ve somewhat recently picked up........ but it feels soooo GOOOD to have a smoke after a huge meal that Mexico is a place that makes it impossible to stop.
Today I went to Tepito in el Centro, then to Merced. Both are huge market...areas is the best word, I guess... I bought some CDs in Tepito (I wasn´t allowed to wear my jacket there, according to Juana) and then in Merced the guys sell a lot of candies from stalls. And the girls sell goodies too, on the corners. It´s a really exciting and stimulating place but you can´t help but thank Juana for all the blessings she´s constantly saying. Police will go by in trucks, 4 in the back and 2 in the front... and the guys are like my age and look like boys with toys, only their toys are assault rifles. It looks crazy but Juan say´s they´re clowns. Juan is THE MAN. He is Marisol´s uncle and was with us the entire time last time I was here. He knows everything, can do anything, never gets mad and always has a plan. I´m about to go have a few beers with him, actually.
I´ve been sleeping perfectly because I´m totally surrounded by Spanish (what a surprise, I though all Mexicans spoke English...) as opposed to last time when I was with my friend Michelle whose family I am staying with now. It´s the best way though, considering what I´m doing, but it makes my brain tired as hell by the end of the day. I watched Terminator 3 last night, and it´s equally bad in Spanish as it is in English. Again, no surprise. The surprise was that you don´t need to understand everything they say to know exactly what´s going on.
I have to end the ramble. I´m having a great time so far, my feet are wet and I´m ready to dive in... I actually can´t wait for the new scenery in Brazil, if ya know what I´m saying. Juan must be waiting for the beers...
Last time I was here, I got really sick. This time, no. I´m eating too much and my body´s telling me so, but it´s really rude (apparently) to refuse anything at all, even 4th servings, so when I start to feel like throwing up, I just put my napkin and any trash from the table in my plate. It´s the only way. Yesterday, we loaded up the truck and went to the zoo at Chapultapec. The highlight was a brief wandering through Polanco, the super swanky side of Mexico City that is an entirely different world from the rest of the places I´m seeing. What keeps smacking me in the face here is how insulated we are from the normal realities of sustaining a population.... That´s to say you watch your food die then you eat it. You throw trash away, but between your relatives´houses, you drive through the landfill. Parks are built on top of old landfills - I was thinking, yeah they do that at home too... in Staten Island! The water doesn´t come during the day at Juan´s house, so they have a cistern to store it for the daytime. There are hundreds of people that work in the landfills recovering stuff to sell at markets.... it´s so GREEN and sustainable!! Really though, I love this country thanks to the people hosting me over here. And the food, there´s no close second.
Yesterday Angel, one of the little kids of the family, got sick on the way home from the zoo. He puked everywhere. It was vivdly reminiscent of the last time I was here, in the same seat of the same truck, puking out the same window, it was even the same color! Poor kid, but better him than me! The first day I got here I was dead tired thanks to the amazing last-night-in-NY I had, and was thinking for about 5 hours that maybe this trip would be a good time to kick a nastly little smoking habit I´ve somewhat recently picked up........ but it feels soooo GOOOD to have a smoke after a huge meal that Mexico is a place that makes it impossible to stop.
Today I went to Tepito in el Centro, then to Merced. Both are huge market...areas is the best word, I guess... I bought some CDs in Tepito (I wasn´t allowed to wear my jacket there, according to Juana) and then in Merced the guys sell a lot of candies from stalls. And the girls sell goodies too, on the corners. It´s a really exciting and stimulating place but you can´t help but thank Juana for all the blessings she´s constantly saying. Police will go by in trucks, 4 in the back and 2 in the front... and the guys are like my age and look like boys with toys, only their toys are assault rifles. It looks crazy but Juan say´s they´re clowns. Juan is THE MAN. He is Marisol´s uncle and was with us the entire time last time I was here. He knows everything, can do anything, never gets mad and always has a plan. I´m about to go have a few beers with him, actually.
I´ve been sleeping perfectly because I´m totally surrounded by Spanish (what a surprise, I though all Mexicans spoke English...) as opposed to last time when I was with my friend Michelle whose family I am staying with now. It´s the best way though, considering what I´m doing, but it makes my brain tired as hell by the end of the day. I watched Terminator 3 last night, and it´s equally bad in Spanish as it is in English. Again, no surprise. The surprise was that you don´t need to understand everything they say to know exactly what´s going on.
I have to end the ramble. I´m having a great time so far, my feet are wet and I´m ready to dive in... I actually can´t wait for the new scenery in Brazil, if ya know what I´m saying. Juan must be waiting for the beers...
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