I arrived in Rio de Janeiro yesterday afternoon after a 30 hour long bus ride from up north. I didn´t really plan to come to Rio at all since usually big, touristy, fake cities aren´t really my thing, but I decided to stay another month or so in Brasil and the only way to change my paper ticket to South Africa was to go to an office in Rio.
So, tearfully I had to part ways with my beautiful family--Rosa, Meiu, Raul and Gabi--in Lencois. Kellie and I had been staying in their house, and Rosa was absolutely lovely. She was helping us learn Portuguese and taught us how to make beijus. When she left, she and our other friends in Lencois all asked when we were coming back. I wanted to tell them I wished I never had to leave!
Now, in Rio, it sucks. I arrived and it was raining and the travel agency was closed. I found the first semi-close inexpensive hostel and it was pretty bad and FULL of Israelis (generally this is not a bad thing, but when you are kept awake from loud conversations in Hebrew and are bombarded by huge groups of Israelis traveling after their service in the military, it is ANNOYING!). I did meet a nice Argentine who happened to know a better hostel that I switched to today (also full of Israelis, but it is cheaper and much nicer).
It is beautiful outside today, but I have been wandering around, getting lost, and trying desperately to find the travel agency again. I finally had to take an expensive taxi, only to be told by the travel agent that he a) can only change one half of my ticket (I fly to New York, then South Africa, and he can only help the New York leg) and b) that there is nothing available until after April 9th. He said all of this as if he didn´t really care, which he didn´t, and when I asked for the nearest internet shop so I could call my travel agent in the states, he just said he had no clue and bye. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!
I hate Rio so far, and as soon as I change my ticket, I think I will leave!!
Monday, 25 February 2008
Tuesday, 19 February 2008
A trekking we will go!
I just got back from a two day trek in the jungles of Chapada Diamantina where I not only climbed waterfalls and hiked to one of the most beautiful places I´ve ever been, but also managed to come back with a sun burn and some nasty blisters.
The trek was amazing! It was Kellie and me, three Dutch guys and our two Brasilian guys, one of which spoke no English. That ended up working in my favor, since he agreed to only speak to me in Portuguese and I understood everything he said with the exception of a few words. My Portugues, at least comprehension, is getting better every day, and I keep managing to make friends with locals who get a kick out of my limited Portuguese and the occasional slang words I spit out.
Our guides were crazy, and smoked pot every time we rested. However, they also cooked the best meals ever and carried most of the equipment from all of us in their own packs. In total we ended up hiking about 18km (I think that is around 11 miles), but much of it was straight up the side of the mountain or hopping from rock to rock up a river. I noticed this trip that I was a lot less squeamish about being dirty, stinky, getting eaten alive by every type of bug other than mosquitos, and drinking red/brown river water. I don´t even jump at cockroaches anymore!
I can´t really describe how beautiful the past two days have been. The jungle is probably a lot less lush than you´d think and the waterfalls twice as incredible. I´m still trying to harass Kellie to put her photos on the web so I can snatch them.
Anyways, Bob Marley and a nice cool drink are calling from the central square. Ciao!
The trek was amazing! It was Kellie and me, three Dutch guys and our two Brasilian guys, one of which spoke no English. That ended up working in my favor, since he agreed to only speak to me in Portuguese and I understood everything he said with the exception of a few words. My Portugues, at least comprehension, is getting better every day, and I keep managing to make friends with locals who get a kick out of my limited Portuguese and the occasional slang words I spit out.
Our guides were crazy, and smoked pot every time we rested. However, they also cooked the best meals ever and carried most of the equipment from all of us in their own packs. In total we ended up hiking about 18km (I think that is around 11 miles), but much of it was straight up the side of the mountain or hopping from rock to rock up a river. I noticed this trip that I was a lot less squeamish about being dirty, stinky, getting eaten alive by every type of bug other than mosquitos, and drinking red/brown river water. I don´t even jump at cockroaches anymore!
I can´t really describe how beautiful the past two days have been. The jungle is probably a lot less lush than you´d think and the waterfalls twice as incredible. I´m still trying to harass Kellie to put her photos on the web so I can snatch them.
Anyways, Bob Marley and a nice cool drink are calling from the central square. Ciao!
Sunday, 17 February 2008
Oh where, oh where has my ficante gone?
Before leaving for Itaparica, Kellie and I went to an internet shop run by a Nigerian and ended up talking to another Nigerian man about Salvador and Brasilian social relationships. He briefly told us about the relationship between Carnaval and other Brasilian festivals with those in Africa and how well Bahia in particular has preserved some of its African culture. He also told us all about ficar, which is basically a sexual relationship with someone with no strings attached--a noncommittal affair of sorts (he related the concept of ficar or ficante through a pretty nasty story including a married woman and death threat!). As such, he explained, Brasilian men seem to ooze passion and spit out 'I love you' without any thought to the meaning of the phrase, and both Brasilian men and women tend to be very possesive and jealous. I wish I had known about ficar sooner. It would have explained all the offers of marriage and tempts to slip in a tongue kiss when I met new Brasilians!
After our talk with our new Nigerian friend, we agreed to meet him at an African bar for some salsa later that night. We ended up dancing all night and leaving the bar at five in the morning! I also was asked by the bar owner to marry him and have his children so he could treat me like a queen. Hmmm.....ficar anyone!?
We slept through our capoeira lesson the next day and immediately left for Itaparica to visit our friend. He was meant to meet us at the bom despacho, and since I was really just coming along to experience some real, non-touristy Brasilian life, Kellie had been trying to coordinate our meeting. We waited for an hour and a half at a restaurant near the bom despacho, or what we thought was the bom despacho before realizing there are two boat launches on the island and we were at the wrong one! Luckily our friend was still waiting for us at the correct bom despacho and we managed to make some new friends at the restaurant.
Itaparica was nice, slow and local. We were maybe the only two gringas in that part of the island, which tended to have more people who were less well off than around the marina part of the island. The whole island also uses a natural spring (bica) as their water source, so water was free but a bit of a hike from where we were staying. It was interesting getting a new feel for what Brasil is like. Many of the people on Itaparica that we met either couldn't or didn't want to leave the island, and our friend showed us (good heartedly, though) the contrast between the rich and poor all over the island (as he and his friends said: 'we are not hick (rich), we poh (poor).'
Now, I am in Lençois, in the Chapada Diamantina, and planning on leaving for a two day trek tomorrow to a waterfall. It is very beautiful here and has an artsy homey feel.
I am starting to have panic attacks about leaving (literally, my chest seizes up and I get a shortness of breath) and keep worrying that I only have about a week left and still haven't even taken a samba class yet. I have a friend in Rio de Janeiro that I wanted to visit, and some more costal towns to stop in, but I have no time! AHHH! I don't want to leave yet!
After our talk with our new Nigerian friend, we agreed to meet him at an African bar for some salsa later that night. We ended up dancing all night and leaving the bar at five in the morning! I also was asked by the bar owner to marry him and have his children so he could treat me like a queen. Hmmm.....ficar anyone!?
We slept through our capoeira lesson the next day and immediately left for Itaparica to visit our friend. He was meant to meet us at the bom despacho, and since I was really just coming along to experience some real, non-touristy Brasilian life, Kellie had been trying to coordinate our meeting. We waited for an hour and a half at a restaurant near the bom despacho, or what we thought was the bom despacho before realizing there are two boat launches on the island and we were at the wrong one! Luckily our friend was still waiting for us at the correct bom despacho and we managed to make some new friends at the restaurant.
Itaparica was nice, slow and local. We were maybe the only two gringas in that part of the island, which tended to have more people who were less well off than around the marina part of the island. The whole island also uses a natural spring (bica) as their water source, so water was free but a bit of a hike from where we were staying. It was interesting getting a new feel for what Brasil is like. Many of the people on Itaparica that we met either couldn't or didn't want to leave the island, and our friend showed us (good heartedly, though) the contrast between the rich and poor all over the island (as he and his friends said: 'we are not hick (rich), we poh (poor).'
Now, I am in Lençois, in the Chapada Diamantina, and planning on leaving for a two day trek tomorrow to a waterfall. It is very beautiful here and has an artsy homey feel.
I am starting to have panic attacks about leaving (literally, my chest seizes up and I get a shortness of breath) and keep worrying that I only have about a week left and still haven't even taken a samba class yet. I have a friend in Rio de Janeiro that I wanted to visit, and some more costal towns to stop in, but I have no time! AHHH! I don't want to leave yet!
Tuesday, 12 February 2008
Capoeira Capoeira
Morro de Sao Paulo was just like any other uber touristy island getaway--the Brasilians just have smaller bikinis, browner booties and more Capirinhas! There are no cars on the entire island, and the power went out completely about four times in the few days we were there, which meant no internet nor atms...funny how reliant most of us still are on modern technology!
I managed to get one game of beach volleyball in before my travel mate, Kellie, and I high-tailed our freshly brown booties out of there. I couldn't wait to get off the island, and kept feeling like I was wasting precious time there.
When we got back to Salvador we managed to find an apartment for the same price as a hostel for a few days before we head to Itaparica, a small quiet community, to visit a new friend we made in Morro de Sao Paulo. I ran into Jonatas, a capoeira friend of a friend, and we arranged to have capoeira lessons earlier today. They were quite expensive (we had no clue what the price should be and only now just found out it should be about half as expensive!) and quite strenuous. I was dripping sweat as we learned how to ginga, esquiva, meia lua de frente, armada, and queixada. Not that I can tell you what any of that really means and whether or not I'll be able to do it tomorrow, but it was fun!
Later Jonatas dragged us around to meet up with his friends to practice capoeira on the beach. Really this consisted of a bunch of fit brown men doing cartwheels, flips, handsprings, aerials, etc. on the beach. Afterwards, Jonatas passed us off to some other friends that were headed to drum practice in the original house of Olodum. We listened to them for hours completely in awe.
Tomorrow we are going to try capoeira again (although obviously ask for a better deal) and then we're off the quite little town of Itaparica to visit our friend. My time here is going way too quickly, and I'm thinking it's time to consider changing my plane ticket to stay longer so I can see more than just Salvador and get some afro-brazilian dance classes in.
I managed to get one game of beach volleyball in before my travel mate, Kellie, and I high-tailed our freshly brown booties out of there. I couldn't wait to get off the island, and kept feeling like I was wasting precious time there.
When we got back to Salvador we managed to find an apartment for the same price as a hostel for a few days before we head to Itaparica, a small quiet community, to visit a new friend we made in Morro de Sao Paulo. I ran into Jonatas, a capoeira friend of a friend, and we arranged to have capoeira lessons earlier today. They were quite expensive (we had no clue what the price should be and only now just found out it should be about half as expensive!) and quite strenuous. I was dripping sweat as we learned how to ginga, esquiva, meia lua de frente, armada, and queixada. Not that I can tell you what any of that really means and whether or not I'll be able to do it tomorrow, but it was fun!
Later Jonatas dragged us around to meet up with his friends to practice capoeira on the beach. Really this consisted of a bunch of fit brown men doing cartwheels, flips, handsprings, aerials, etc. on the beach. Afterwards, Jonatas passed us off to some other friends that were headed to drum practice in the original house of Olodum. We listened to them for hours completely in awe.
Tomorrow we are going to try capoeira again (although obviously ask for a better deal) and then we're off the quite little town of Itaparica to visit our friend. My time here is going way too quickly, and I'm thinking it's time to consider changing my plane ticket to stay longer so I can see more than just Salvador and get some afro-brazilian dance classes in.
Wednesday, 6 February 2008
Carnaval Carnaval!
The last night of Carnaval ended with a big bang--dancing until dawn, getting chased and kissed by hoards of Brasilian men, and having beer poured all over me. That is only a taste of what the biggest party in Brasil has been like.
The first night I arrived here in Salvador we went to Pelorinho, the historic district of Salvador with old colonial architecture and cobblestone pedestrian streets. Its also the most touristy part of town and the center for capoeira and other Bahia arts. The first night there were marching bands and dancing on the street, and I finally felt like I found some local culture. A woman took me and a friend aside to show us how to move our hips and dance and we danced all night. Funny as well, a friend back in Seattle had given me the contact information for Jonatas, a guy who could hook me up with capoeira lessons and an apartment if I needed. That first night in Pelorinho I was dancing with a silly dreadlocked guy who said his name was Lopez (whenever I say my name is Jennifer, all Central and South Americans immediately respond, 'oh, Jennifer Lopez') when he introduced me to his friend Jonatas. It turned out to be the same Jonatas I was to contact--small world!
The next night was the first night of Carnaval. Salvador is the ultimate street party--nearly two million people are dancing until dawn from January 31 to the 5th of February. I danced so much every night that my legs still feel like jelly.
On the second day of Carnaval I also went to a festival celebrating the goddess protectorate of fishermen, Yemanja. People dress in white and put flowers on boats to be sent out as an offering to the sea. There were loads of capoeira groups around and I even got to see some Candomble, a sort of traditional Brasilian voodoo. Practioners are possessed by the gods and dance orixas in the likeness of the gods.
And now, I am recovering in a penthouse apartment with a swimming pool on the roof with a bunch of other random travelers and a few Brasilians--no joke! I haven't really been roughing it during this trip! I'll try to find some non-incriminating photos between all the folks in the apartment and post them.
The first night I arrived here in Salvador we went to Pelorinho, the historic district of Salvador with old colonial architecture and cobblestone pedestrian streets. Its also the most touristy part of town and the center for capoeira and other Bahia arts. The first night there were marching bands and dancing on the street, and I finally felt like I found some local culture. A woman took me and a friend aside to show us how to move our hips and dance and we danced all night. Funny as well, a friend back in Seattle had given me the contact information for Jonatas, a guy who could hook me up with capoeira lessons and an apartment if I needed. That first night in Pelorinho I was dancing with a silly dreadlocked guy who said his name was Lopez (whenever I say my name is Jennifer, all Central and South Americans immediately respond, 'oh, Jennifer Lopez') when he introduced me to his friend Jonatas. It turned out to be the same Jonatas I was to contact--small world!
The next night was the first night of Carnaval. Salvador is the ultimate street party--nearly two million people are dancing until dawn from January 31 to the 5th of February. I danced so much every night that my legs still feel like jelly.
On the second day of Carnaval I also went to a festival celebrating the goddess protectorate of fishermen, Yemanja. People dress in white and put flowers on boats to be sent out as an offering to the sea. There were loads of capoeira groups around and I even got to see some Candomble, a sort of traditional Brasilian voodoo. Practioners are possessed by the gods and dance orixas in the likeness of the gods.
And now, I am recovering in a penthouse apartment with a swimming pool on the roof with a bunch of other random travelers and a few Brasilians--no joke! I haven't really been roughing it during this trip! I'll try to find some non-incriminating photos between all the folks in the apartment and post them.
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