ugh...home

I spent about 24 hour total in transit since I left my hotel in sao paulo and put the key in my own lock at home.
I'm spent, but I can't sleep. I don't know what clock my body is on buy I'm exhausted but I can't go to sleep. I'm sure I'll pass out eventually.
I wasn't really into this trip for the first few days but getting into the colonial towns brought me around. The slower pace and tremendous artwork got to me.
One thing that caught me by surprise on this trip, was something the brazilians did. Subtle but really charming.
I got stuck short of cash at the post office. I thought I would just go to the ATM and pull some cash but it turned out to be more exhaustive, but anyway, I told the lady behind the counter I was short and I would go, get cash and come back. Rather than roll her eyes or have security throw me out, she looked me dead in the face gave me the slightest nod and gave me the thumbs up. Not a dufus, grinning thumbs up you get in the states but her fist was firmly clenched, thumb tight against the index finger and with that look and the gesture I felt connected. She was telling me, "don't worry, we'll make this work."
I thought this might be just a moment with a lady who had some kind of character, but this gesture and attitude was everywhere in Brazil. A bum was hassling me at lunch and the cook came by and got rid of the guy. I told him thank you in portuguese and he gave me the dead eye stare and the thumbs up. The same one.
It's a very unique kind of dynamic I wish I found more on this side.
Anyway, that's one of the best things I got from this trip.
I"m home so no posts for a while unless some weird shit happens or a wild hair grows.
later all
Your humble narrator,
P

Se

The sun is back. It rained a little last night and when I got up this morning it was hot. Brazil hot! So hot after walking two blocks I had to buy another shirt hot.
I went to the sao paulo art museum. Saw some interesting artwork hada little lunch . A little coffee...a little dessert. NIce little afternoon trip before I catch my plane.
I shot this video before I went to the museum. Se park is pretty cool.
I~m pretty comfortable here . I like sao paulo. this city has a lot of character.
I^m off to shower and catch some bbc before the airport.
See you on the other side.
P

sao paulo rain

So the first half of this trip was HOT! Hot, muggy and sticky. Last few days it's been raining.
I wanted to go out today. Tomorrow I catch my plane in the evening so I wanted to wander a bit more an see more of the public art. There are sculptures in the parks and the subway stations have local art.
I bought a $4 umbrella and walked around. This city has some great looking buildings and in the 30's it must have been amazing. Alot like Egypt. Now the buildings are dark, dirty and patched up to function. A little sad but what can you do. it~s expensive to maintain infrastructure.
I stopped off at mcdonalds so see if the coffee tastes the same here as in the states. They have apple AND bananna pies here. Fried, but no coffee at this mcdonalds. NO COFFEE! WTF!
OK, not a big deal. I stopped by bakery around corner from my hotel and got a coffee to go and watched BCC and ate my pies. Very nice.
The bananna was basically a bananna and cinnamon filling in a crust. My first hotel in rio had sliced bananas with cinnamon served as part of breakfast. It~s simple and tastes great! How did I never think of that at home?
I~m still out wandering. The pies will not last in my system long and I'll need to find real food sooner or later. I'll check my book and see what they recommend.
I'll see what's around tonight. I'll see if there are any music clubs open during the week
later

iguazu

I wasn~t too sure about this spot for my birthday as the day approached but Ive had good instincts about these things in the past so I went with it.
Flying in getting a hotel, then booking everything was a hassle but only moderately so.
The day started with a bus ride which almost took me to argentina but turned around and got to the brazilian side of iguazu. I got in the park and the first stop was a boat ride into the falls. IT WAS AMAZING! We were in the falls! Unbelievable! the boat ride was fun too....
After the boat I went repelling and walked the trail to the observation point at the devil's throat.
The trip was totally worth it!
I flew in to sao paolo last night and will be here for a couple of days before I go home.
Í'm wiped out and I have no clean clothes left.
Brazil has been nice, but hot!
The brazilains I've met have been pretty friendly and the food is pretty good. I've been sticking to simple stuff and walking alot. I^m trying to keep my weight in check so I have to be mindful of what I'm eating. This portuguese keyboard takes some getting used to. My powers of punctuation have not failed me, things are different here.
One thing I have learned about brazil. They use very little material in making their toilet seats. Everwhere I~ve gone, top to bottom the toilet seats have been the absolute structual minimum in material. They must replace these things with regularity or our building standards in north america are radically overcompensating for something.
Anyway, I walked about sao paolo today. Saw the musueum of modern art and wasn~t really impressed. Ate some good feojada and walked all day.
My hotel has a good view of the city but only gets bbc in english. I killed two mosquitos watching tv this afternoon. I hope I got them all.
I~ll write more tomorrow.
later....

in transit

all is going according to plan. I took the overnight bus from ouro preto back to rio. 7 hours on the bus and I smell terrific! It's drizzling here, weather in iguazu looks good. I'm back at the hostel I stayed at last week. The internet is reliable and they don't mind me hanging around until my plane leaves.
I feel pretty good. I've been walking as much as I can and ouro preto was really hilly so my knees and stomach are burning.
My plane leaves at 3pm so I have a lot of time to kill. I'm dying for some coffee. I've had a couple of nice cups here. You have to watch what you order. just coffee gets you the little bitter cup, and I prefer the large smooth drink, like in the states.
Anyway, Im off to find some coffee and consume my left over cookies.

ouro preto

So I got here last night, tired, filthy and a little annoyed because of the scheduling but this place was completely worth the effort.
Its like tiradentes but on a much larger, grander scale. Everything is closed right now but just walking the streets and taking in the views I~m emersed in the town.
My posada is terrific. Wide plank floors, art work, exposed beams. Spectacular.
Make the effort to come here if you can!

rain!

I had to catch a later bus from sao joao to ouro preto. I went for a walk and BOOM! Rain! The clouds have been threatening for last few days but here it was.
I ended up making ouro preto at about 1030PM

sao jiao

I got up early to tour a pewter shop in town. I wandered in yesterday after tiradentes and talked to the guy. He invited me to see the factory and see some of the new pieces they were making. It was pretty interesting.

I went into the main part of sao jiao del rey. The churches here was spectacular. This has been the best part of my trip so far. These little towns are much more relaxing and theraputic than the grafitti riddled bigger cities.

I got back to the bus station and tried to get an early bus to ouro preto but the only bus I could get was at 530. The puts me in ouro preto at about 9pm. Too late for pretty much anything but sleeping.

Hopefully tomorrow I~ll tour the city and off to rio.

I had a great cup of coffee and a small chocolate cake/tart thing. It~s the first really good coffee I~ve had here. I had a terrible cup of coffee after the pewter shop tour and I didn~t want that to be my lingering impression of Brazilian coffee.

No usb port here at the bus station so more pics and video have to wait.

later

tiradentes

the book 1000 places to see before you die says tiradentes was an amazing place.
I don~t know if I had to see it before I die but I did get the feeling about an hour in that I was probably the furthest away from LA that I could possibly get.

the town is hundreds of years old. Dotted with churches and authentic buildings. The govenment designated tiradentes an historic area so the buildings, materials and colors have to be authentic.

So you have rustic buildings, stone roads and sidewalks, surrounded by jungle and mountains. The sound of cars in around but horses walk the streets and kids run around between the buildings. Its difficult to describe the feeling.

I shot a video but can~t load it from my location right now. I may try again later.

I came in by bus from belo horizante where I just flopped for the night. I~m planning on ouro petro tomorrow. Another must see colonial town.

The trip is getting better. The heat makes doing a lot difficult so I~m paring down my itinerary accordingly.

I~m still on track to make the falls on my birthday.

I need a shower and to unload. I^m still carrying my feojada from when I was in rio. I know it~s coming. I~ve been hoping it wouldn~t demand an exit while I was on a 7 hour bus ride.

I have a good spot here in sao jao del rey. I got lucky. It looks like it~s a brand new posada. The operator seemed very happy to see me and to give me a room.

People have been very friendly. I was worried about the crime and I have heard of some but not experienced anything bad.

Because of the heat I~ve only been out at night once and I~m pretty careful in general regardless.

I heard a guy got his camera stolen and he had to pay just to get the memory card back. He was at a whorehouse but still it can sour an evening.

And the general fights and stolen wallets from guys at bars.

I´m pretty sure I miss a lot of the danger since I don~t drink. Alchohol seems to be an important ingredient when things go bad.

I~m off for a shower. I need it.
later

maracana

Flamengo beat Americana 3-1 and I was there. I~ve heard about atmosphere at a soccer game in brazil. this was apparently tame. Only about 10,000 people were there because americana is a second tier team and they really didnt put up much of a struggle in the game.
Big flags waved and there was non stop drumming and singing all over the stadium. It was really pretty cool.
I went with a group from my hostel. The guide kept us in a safe area but it was all pretty much safe since americana didn~t have one fan in attendance as it seemed.
I had a hot dog and coke, as is my habit at a game. Venders were all over us since we were clearly foreigners and loose with our money.
There wasnt a fight and the game was ok.
I~m staying in rio a little longer than I planned so I can arrange my trip to iguazu.
Next stop belo horizante.
later

meat!

Yesterday I got a lot done. I rode three buses. Picked up my Hard Rock pin, Walked on the beaches at Impanema and Copacabana and had dinner. NOt just any dinner. The local thing on saturday is Feiojada. The book said its a local favorite so...where do you go for feiojada, but ...casa de feiojada....
I walked around all day so I was hungry. I knew it would be lot so I paced myself for the experience.
The waiter brings a small bowl of beans ...as an appetizer. This bowl is like a shot. You drink it then the mean comes. Cool, I guess..but then THE MEAL COMES!
A bowl of meats simmered in beans, a bowl of beans, rice, seaweed, fried...potatoes, banana, jicama...I still don~t know what it was but it was all good.
I~ve been watching what Ive been eating for weeks and now...MEAT! Meat of all kinds in this bean-meat war in this bowl. It was all really good but too much for one man, and they kept wanting to fill the meat bowl and the rice plate....I was going to panic, but I kept my calm.
I ate as much as I could...relaxed. Drew a little. and left.
The owner sat me next to two women. New yorkers. After they found out I was from LA, the first thing. "you know you people can walk you know...." People indeed suck.
Anyway, they left...I ate...then I left.
Now for breakfast I had an omlette and fruit and juice and coffee.
When I travel one of the keys to success is managing my digestive system. With the breakfast I had and the freight train of fat and protein moving through me I was in a dangerous situation.
I walked about three blocks to catch the bus and across the street I saw two buses waiting, and I thought....Hmmmnn....should I shit now or wait until I get to the hotel. I realized in this moment, it~s the same question as if you say to yourself, should I break up with my girlfriend now or wait for things to get better.
1) If you have to ask you need to and 2) if you wait things are only going to get messy.
I searched the street. Down at the end ...five blocks or so...Mercure Hotel...5 star...nice shitter....to my left....brazilian hotel....2 maybe 3 star...Id be rolling the dice...but I~m a gambler.
I went to the local hotel and asked in my worse portuese for the toilet...it was clean but so small I had to literally shit sideways. Unfortunately my deposit was so foul I flushed twice and felt like leaving a tip and an apology.
Instead, I calmly left and without making eye contact said...Obrigado....
I^m at a hostel today. This environment is much much nicer than the hotel. Cool people around. NIce music and I~m going to maracana stadium to see soccer! What could be better.
later!

The tram

I just came back from corcavado. The tram ride up was nice but when I got to the top the place was filled with tourists. Dozens of people trying to take their picture with their arms stretched out. It was nauseating. I hung out for a while and headed down. On the ride down there was a five man samba band working for tips. They were pretty good and really picked up my mood. I~m smelly and sweaty again. back to the hotel for a shower. It~s another broiler today.

Rio

16 hours on the plane. I went LA to DC, then DC to Rio. I've had long plane rides before but that one seemed longer than it was. When I came back from China the last time I was wedged against the window by two three hundred pound women. THAT!, was a long trip.
Anyway, we landed and everything went as I planned. I found the bus in to town fine. Got on the subway and found my hotel.
My room has a great view of the bay and the air conditioning works, THANK GOD! Yesterday had to be 90F and humid. I was soaked and smelling by the time I got to the hotel. They moved up my check in time because....I was ripe!
I went out last night when I got up and had a acai drink. It's a local thing. Made from an amazon fruit. It wasn't bad. I'd have it again.
Got up this morning for the sunrise and the comp breakfast from the hotel.
I'm going to the park then up corcovado to see jesus.
later

airport

Leaving for the airport in about an hour.
I couldn't really sleep all night.
I was lucky to pick up my visa and passport on Monday, ahead of schedule so everything is set. I'm not as up for this trip as I usually am, but having caught up on work and leaving it all behind is definitely coming just in time.
I have a new camera that I'm not sure will do everything I want so my pictures and videos might not be as I want them to be.
Two weeks and I'll be back.