May 1st, 2006: A Day Without Latinos and Rally for Immigrant Rights
For the recognition of their right to work,
the education of their children
and medical services.
They are workers, not criminals.
No immigrant will work on this day in the United States, and all latinos and citizens all over the world can support this cause by not buying, consuming, or using any american product on this day, the 1st of May, to show the impact they have.
That means: No Coca-cola, Pepsi, Mc Donalds, Burguer King, Sears, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Starbucks, Crispy Cream, Subway, TGI Fridays, Blockbuster, Cinemark, Radio Shack, Dave and Busters etc. Hoteles like the Sheraton, Westin or the Hilton, supermarkets and superstores like Wall Mart or 7 Eleven, don't fly Continental, United, American Airlines, Panam etc.; don't go to your City Bank on this day, and dont use DHL or FEDEX, and all cable chanels.
Pass the word...
April 24, 2006
April 21, 2006
How to read my blog
For first time viewers of my blog and for the not so internet saavy, here are a few tips for navegating through my blog...
First, you'll note in the dark green panel is a series of links.
Under "links" you will see the link "My Photos" - clicking on this link will take you to my yahoo page where I have online photo albums from the past 6 years or so. Feel free to browse those. Photos from this semester are not yet posted and probably won't be posted untill after my trip.
"previous posts" shows the last 10 posts. When you click on the last post, you will be taken to that post and the previous previous 10 posts will be shown.
Next you will see "archives" - which consists of all my blog entrees archived by the month they were posted. For example, under "March 2005" you will find all blog entrees that were posted in the month of march 2005, which happens to be my 8 days of Alternative Spring Break. The page shows all 8 entrees, starting with the most recently posted, i.e. Day 8. In order to see Day 1, you would need to scroll to the bottom of the page. "April 2005" and "November 2006" contain Brazil Week related postings. Starting in "January 2006" is where you will find everything about my study abroad semester here in São Paulo, Brazil. Everything is in order by month. Again, posts from the beginning of the month are found at the bottom of the page and scrolling up.
Quick note about pictures: if the pictures don't load or you see red x's where a picture should be, don't worry, it is not your browser. the one disadvantage to using geocities to upload photos to my blog is that there is a limit to the airtime of each photo each day. So if the photo has exceeded it's time, it will not appear. Usually if you return to the site the next day, the picture will appear. This won't be an issue once I get my pictures up on my yahoo albums.
Hope this helps!
First, you'll note in the dark green panel is a series of links.
Under "links" you will see the link "My Photos" - clicking on this link will take you to my yahoo page where I have online photo albums from the past 6 years or so. Feel free to browse those. Photos from this semester are not yet posted and probably won't be posted untill after my trip.
"previous posts" shows the last 10 posts. When you click on the last post, you will be taken to that post and the previous previous 10 posts will be shown.
Next you will see "archives" - which consists of all my blog entrees archived by the month they were posted. For example, under "March 2005" you will find all blog entrees that were posted in the month of march 2005, which happens to be my 8 days of Alternative Spring Break. The page shows all 8 entrees, starting with the most recently posted, i.e. Day 8. In order to see Day 1, you would need to scroll to the bottom of the page. "April 2005" and "November 2006" contain Brazil Week related postings. Starting in "January 2006" is where you will find everything about my study abroad semester here in São Paulo, Brazil. Everything is in order by month. Again, posts from the beginning of the month are found at the bottom of the page and scrolling up.
Quick note about pictures: if the pictures don't load or you see red x's where a picture should be, don't worry, it is not your browser. the one disadvantage to using geocities to upload photos to my blog is that there is a limit to the airtime of each photo each day. So if the photo has exceeded it's time, it will not appear. Usually if you return to the site the next day, the picture will appear. This won't be an issue once I get my pictures up on my yahoo albums.
Hope this helps!
April 20, 2006
Candy Popcorn and Yakkisobi
Everyday from 8 in the morning until about midnight, a row of vendors pull up along the sidewalk in front of PUC to sell jewelry, clothes, magazines, you name it. Everyday around sunset, a white van pulls up and out pops the Yakissobi man and his wife. They set up shop and get to work making Yakissobi...chinese noodles with cabbage, chicken, and beef. For 2 dollars you get a "small" serving (which is really huge) of the most delicious lomein to be found around a college campus. This guy will never run out of business.
Right next to the Yakissobi man is the popcorn man who sells red candied popcorn and regular popcorn will little bits of fried provolone cheese.
As i leave class thursday nights the sweet aroma of caramalized popcorn hits first and then the yakissobi. The smells that will forever transport me to the sidewalks of PUC.
Right next to the Yakissobi man is the popcorn man who sells red candied popcorn and regular popcorn will little bits of fried provolone cheese.
As i leave class thursday nights the sweet aroma of caramalized popcorn hits first and then the yakissobi. The smells that will forever transport me to the sidewalks of PUC.
April 17, 2006
11-15 April: Buenos Aires, Argentina
The lovely thing about being young, in college, on financial aid, and participating in a study abroad semester in South America is that it allows the opportunity for spontaneous travel. Last week was Semana Santa, i.e. the week before Easter, which was yesterday, Sunday 16 April. We got half the week off because of the holiday, so i decided to go visit Alonzo in Buenos Aires. Darien, one of my CIEE friends here in São Paulo, decided to come along for the trip. I'm really glad she tagged along because the three of us (me, her, and Alonzo) make for a funny trio. I definitely got my laughs in for the year, hehe. We planned everything just 3 days before the trip (because that's pretty much when we found out that we had practically no classes the following week).
Tuesday, first Day in Buenos Aires...
I spent the night at Darien's and we took a taxi around 4AM to arrive at the airport in time for our 6:20AM flight from SP. At the airline counter, the attendant scared Darien telling her that she might get deported when she tries to get back into Brazil...because she didnt have the little piece of paper with her picture on it that showed she had registered with the Federal Police. The little piece of paper that is the product of our day (or in Darien's case, two days) of waiting endless hours on foot at the federal police station just to get fingerprints. So, the lady told her that they wouldn't even wait to question her as to why she doesn't have the paper with her. They'd just mandate her immediately for deportation..."it's like that in response to the way Americans treat Brazilians when entering the States."
I love how when we travel, we all of a sudden become representatives of the government and lawmakers of our land. Whatever bad that has come from the US imperialism in Latin America over the past bagillion years is automatically transferred on every American Citizen, like the original sin that is somehow genetically inherited by all. Forgive me for stepping up on a soapbox for a second, but although we grow up with the influences and lessons learned in previous times, we are not what our parents or grandparents or great great grandparents did years ago. We aren't the ones that made the laws and declared the wars. Just to illustrate my point, did you know that the Argentinos are still mad at the Chilenos for betraying them in war?? How many years ago??? All of this just blows my mind. I mean, seriously, i know that within each border of each country thrives a different culture and way of life...different ideas, ways of governing, ethics, etc - but that adds to the richness in this world. There is only one earth and we humans are living on it. I don't understand how certain people rise up and start claiming areas of land as their territory, and then forbidding people from entering that territory. Who are we? Land is not a human possesion. We certainly didnt create it. So i don't understand how war and suffering is started over it and in the end just breeds prejudice in all parts of the world. Ukh!
The Baha'i Faith explains that all that's going on in the world today is part of some Divine plan, and as many catastrophes we see happening around us/to us (caused by nature or mankind), there are stronger spiritual forces at work. So we just gotta try to remember that and see the wisdom behind things instead of getting frustrated...which is something I'm obviously still working on. Beaurocracy frustrates me in any country.
SOooooo, we flew from Brazil, on Lufthansa, a german airlines, to Argentina. Never have i been in such a state of total lingual confusion, hehe. You never know whether to say Danke Shein, Thanks, Gracias, or Obrigada. The flight attendents start out speaking to you in german, then maybe throw in a little portuguese, and then see the confused look on your face and resort to english. It was a little less than a 3 hour flight to Buenos Aires, but we almost divereted to Montevideo, Uruguay, due to heavy fog. After circling above the city for half an hour, the pilot decided to try landing. Imagine your normal landing: the plane flies on top of the clouds for much of the flight and then when it begins its descent, you go through some brief turbulence, clear through the clouds and can see the city from however many miles up you are. then it usually takes another 20 minutes to hit ground, right? So we go through the whole turbulence, clear through the clouds thing and 2 seconds later, we hit the ground. The general reaction on the plane was: "What??". That's how bad the fog was folks. incredible. i dont know how the pilot did it, but everyone else must have been impressed too because the whole plane clapped upon touchdown.
Alonzo met us at the airport and we took the bus to his neighborhood to drop of our bags. Buses in Argentina, (and pretty much EVERYTHING for that matter) are much cheaper than in Brazil and the States. Our bus to Villa Crespo (about a 1.5 hour ride) cost 1,30 pesos...i.e. less then 50 US cents (a 20 minute taxi ride to the airport in Nashville costs 30 bucks!!) A bus within the Capital Federal is 80 centavos, which amounts to less than 30 US cents. We got to his place, dropped off our bags, went to lunch at a local pizzaria, and then hit town for a tour of the city. We visited Avenida 9 de Julio - the widest avenue in Buenos Aires, where they have their own version of the pencil monument we have in DC.
Then we went to Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada (their White House, where the president stays). The Plaza de Mayo has an amazing historical tale and has been an active ground for political and social protest. During the military dictatorship in Argentina during the 70s, a group of mothers joined together to form the Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo ...group of mothers in search of their children that "disappeared". They would gather in the plaza with diapers wrapped around their heads as scarves in protest of the repressive government. That explains the white panuelos painted on the floor of the plaza.
The Plaza de Mayo is a touristic site, but it still remains an active area of protest. In December of 2001 there was a protest of unemployed leftists, and some of them were gunned down by the police.
Next we visited Puerto Madero - the chiquier side of town. There are so many painted cows there. What I initially thought to be a strong affinity for cows turned out to be an international movement called the CowParade. No, I'm serious. CowParade is an international movement that creates about 250 life-size fiberglass cows, has local artists paint them, has them exhibited for a few months and then has them auctioned off and the money goes to a selected non-profit organization in the region. that's so nifty! dont you think?
According to this article i read, to be able to have the CowParade pass through, your city has to have a large population (around 20 million in the entire metropolitan area), a "cosmopolitan" character, and a highly developed visual arts traditions.
Apparently "the cow was chosen for its inherent nobility: it provides milk and meat and the various products derived from them, while asking very little in return. Since then, more than 4,000 painted cows have "grazed" the streets and parks of cities like Stockholm, Chicago, Johannesburg, New York, London, Prague and Tokyo."
The first exhibition in Latin America was just last year in São Paulo (a few months before i came), and subsequent ones took place in Mexico City and now in Buenos Aires.
Also famous in this part of town is the "Puente de la mujer" - that lovely white bridge you see in the background of some of these pictures.
After exploring town a little more, we headed back home and cooked dinner. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm slightly (or very much so) kitchen-challenged. I'm so kitchen-challenged that i managed to mess up mashed potatoes over winterbreak. I didn't think it was possible. I still blame the potatoes. But i'm pretty sure Paul blames me, hehe. He even drove to and from the supermarket to get the milk...and then made a second trip to his house just to get the gravy packet! SO this fine evening in Buenos Aires was nothing short of a miracle. Leah Chaya Lewis cooked chicken stroganoff. it's a common dish in Brasil - soooo tasty (and happens to have the simplest recipe, which is probably the only reason i was able to make it...but that's besides the point!). This is quite possibly my favorite dish here. When we were in Rio and the Council took us to the same chique Churrasco place for 3 meals straight, i got chicken stroganoff every single time. And now I'll be able to make it whenever I want! (unless this was just a lucky stroke...)
Wednesday, day two in Buenos Aires...
Alonzo had class so Darien and I explored the neighborhood a little bit (i.e. leather shops!) and then headed to La Chacarita Cemetery where Juan Peron (past president of Argentina) and Carlos Gardel (famous tango singer and actor) among other famous people are burried. The thing is, with the exeption of the time Mike's brother took me to the Nashville cemetary for a driving lesson with the philosophy that i wouldn't be able to kill anyone because "everyone's already dead", I never set foot in a cemetary before. I was kinda hoping there'd be some sort of map...or at least a guide saying "A-J burried over here, K-Z burried over there", or something of the sort. We had no idea where the grave was and were afraid to ask someone mourning for their lost loved one if they could please direct us to the grave of their ex-president because we traveled all the way from Brazil to see it. So we roamed around for a good while and then came upon a statue of Evita...makin progress. She's actually barried in another cemetery with the rest of her family. An elderly guy, later to identify himself as Miguel Angel, an aspiring poet, saw us looking around and guided us to the mausoleum we were searching for. Then he introduced us to his other graveyard buddies, one of which is an aspiring tango singer.
Thursday, day 3...
The following day i went out a little early to get my haircut and buy my leather jacket. I just wanted to get my ends trimmed because with curly hair, split ends split faster than...whatever happens really really fast. Plus haircuts in argentina are about 10 pesos...that's less than 4 bucks for a haircut - good deal! I advise Alonzo that it's gonna take 20 minutes MAX, because i'm only cutting the ends, and then i'm gonna go buy my jacket and head back to the house so we can passear for the day. So i sit in the chair and the lady asks me what i want. She layers it in less than 15 minutes and then says other stuff really fast and i'm like "yeah, okay, sounds good" (i thought she was asking if i wanted to rinse my hair before leaving). Next thing I know, I'm sitting in one of those chairs with that plastic helmet hanging over my head getting my hair "deeply nutritioned." My 15 minutes turned into an hour and my hair felt like steaming spaghetti when you just drain it from a pot of boiling water. I think i have communication issues...or just HEARING issues...or maybe lack of comprehension denial syndrom...issues. At this point i'm sure Darien would force me to tell the stories about the rico gordito and apple pie, hehe.
"Manzana es mas natural"
It all started because i had to use the bathroom. There was a coffee shop right next to the ice cream place were were at, but the restrooms were only for customers and I couldn't bring myself to go and then run out of the store. So we grabbed a table and looked over the menu. Alonzo leaves his order with us as he left for the men's room. The waiter comes to our table and I ask him for a green tea. Then he speaks superfast...and i hear: "......manzana....mas natural". So I'm thinkin he's talking about flavors of green tea, so i respond, "esta bien"...Alonzo will take whatever. Alonzo get's back, and soon after the waiter returns with a tray and we all look up with questioning faces "what's that???" and then all eyes turn to me and the expression on my face pleas innocent and denies having anything to do with the big slice of apple pie that appeared with Alonzo's green tea. Meanwhile, the waiter's still standing there with the tray, as we sort out the confusion, hehe. "apple"..."more natural"...now i get it. But in what universe does a more natural apple pie go with green tea?!
"Que rico el gordito!"
Las Palmas is a Mexican restaurant in Nashville. Erica, Jefferson, Gilmara and I went there for one of our last dinners together since it was good food and close to campus. As i was finishing my plate the waiter comes to our table and asks me "te gustó la comida?" (well, that's what I heard) and I respond all enthusiastically: "si, si! me gustó! bien rica!" Except what he REALLY asked was "te gustó el gordito?" !!!! Because i had glanced behind me to look at the margarita pitcher Erica was pointing out (we'd never seen margaritas served out of a pitcher before) and one of the waiters (the so called gordito) thought i was checking him out. Oh brother. That explains the glances and grins el gordito was shooting over to our table, haha.
Anyway, digression closed.
When i finally got back to the house with a haircut and a new fire-resistant leather jacket (the salesguy convinced me when he took a lighter to my arm...so i thought, "oh, this is wonderful...now i have a flame-resistant jacket for the winter), we headed out to Caminito, in el barrio de la Boca - a very touristy place full of lots of artesan crafts and souvenir shops. We roamed around the area for a bit, ate lunch, and then headed to San Telmo, another part of the city....best compared to Pelourinho of Salvador da Bahia. It's a convserved older part of town...very nice. We looked around the open market for a bit and then headed home.
My justification (as a college student with VERY limited funds, there is ALWAYS a justification, at least that a I make inside my head, for spending large sums of money) is the following: when else am i going to go to Argentina? or have the opportunity to travel there? God Willing, whatever career i have in the future will permit me to return again and again to South America, but even so, i wont have such felxibility as i do now as a student. So that's that. Taking advantage of opportunity. Next, it was a good deal considering Alonzo allowed us to stay at his place for the 4 nights we were there. So no money spent on hotels. Third, we spent practically no money on touring the city. Alonzo showed us the BEST time, taking us to many touristic sites, tango dancing, to eat empanadas and carne, etc. The best part of staying in his neighborhood was that we got to see everyday life in Argentina and not just the beautiful downtown and flashy lights at night.
Tuesday, first Day in Buenos Aires...
I spent the night at Darien's and we took a taxi around 4AM to arrive at the airport in time for our 6:20AM flight from SP. At the airline counter, the attendant scared Darien telling her that she might get deported when she tries to get back into Brazil...because she didnt have the little piece of paper with her picture on it that showed she had registered with the Federal Police. The little piece of paper that is the product of our day (or in Darien's case, two days) of waiting endless hours on foot at the federal police station just to get fingerprints. So, the lady told her that they wouldn't even wait to question her as to why she doesn't have the paper with her. They'd just mandate her immediately for deportation..."it's like that in response to the way Americans treat Brazilians when entering the States."
I love how when we travel, we all of a sudden become representatives of the government and lawmakers of our land. Whatever bad that has come from the US imperialism in Latin America over the past bagillion years is automatically transferred on every American Citizen, like the original sin that is somehow genetically inherited by all. Forgive me for stepping up on a soapbox for a second, but although we grow up with the influences and lessons learned in previous times, we are not what our parents or grandparents or great great grandparents did years ago. We aren't the ones that made the laws and declared the wars. Just to illustrate my point, did you know that the Argentinos are still mad at the Chilenos for betraying them in war?? How many years ago??? All of this just blows my mind. I mean, seriously, i know that within each border of each country thrives a different culture and way of life...different ideas, ways of governing, ethics, etc - but that adds to the richness in this world. There is only one earth and we humans are living on it. I don't understand how certain people rise up and start claiming areas of land as their territory, and then forbidding people from entering that territory. Who are we? Land is not a human possesion. We certainly didnt create it. So i don't understand how war and suffering is started over it and in the end just breeds prejudice in all parts of the world. Ukh!
The Baha'i Faith explains that all that's going on in the world today is part of some Divine plan, and as many catastrophes we see happening around us/to us (caused by nature or mankind), there are stronger spiritual forces at work. So we just gotta try to remember that and see the wisdom behind things instead of getting frustrated...which is something I'm obviously still working on. Beaurocracy frustrates me in any country.
SOooooo, we flew from Brazil, on Lufthansa, a german airlines, to Argentina. Never have i been in such a state of total lingual confusion, hehe. You never know whether to say Danke Shein, Thanks, Gracias, or Obrigada. The flight attendents start out speaking to you in german, then maybe throw in a little portuguese, and then see the confused look on your face and resort to english. It was a little less than a 3 hour flight to Buenos Aires, but we almost divereted to Montevideo, Uruguay, due to heavy fog. After circling above the city for half an hour, the pilot decided to try landing. Imagine your normal landing: the plane flies on top of the clouds for much of the flight and then when it begins its descent, you go through some brief turbulence, clear through the clouds and can see the city from however many miles up you are. then it usually takes another 20 minutes to hit ground, right? So we go through the whole turbulence, clear through the clouds thing and 2 seconds later, we hit the ground. The general reaction on the plane was: "What??". That's how bad the fog was folks. incredible. i dont know how the pilot did it, but everyone else must have been impressed too because the whole plane clapped upon touchdown.
Alonzo met us at the airport and we took the bus to his neighborhood to drop of our bags. Buses in Argentina, (and pretty much EVERYTHING for that matter) are much cheaper than in Brazil and the States. Our bus to Villa Crespo (about a 1.5 hour ride) cost 1,30 pesos...i.e. less then 50 US cents (a 20 minute taxi ride to the airport in Nashville costs 30 bucks!!) A bus within the Capital Federal is 80 centavos, which amounts to less than 30 US cents. We got to his place, dropped off our bags, went to lunch at a local pizzaria, and then hit town for a tour of the city. We visited Avenida 9 de Julio - the widest avenue in Buenos Aires, where they have their own version of the pencil monument we have in DC.
Then we went to Plaza de Mayo and the Casa Rosada (their White House, where the president stays). The Plaza de Mayo has an amazing historical tale and has been an active ground for political and social protest. During the military dictatorship in Argentina during the 70s, a group of mothers joined together to form the Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo ...group of mothers in search of their children that "disappeared". They would gather in the plaza with diapers wrapped around their heads as scarves in protest of the repressive government. That explains the white panuelos painted on the floor of the plaza.
The Plaza de Mayo is a touristic site, but it still remains an active area of protest. In December of 2001 there was a protest of unemployed leftists, and some of them were gunned down by the police.
Next we visited Puerto Madero - the chiquier side of town. There are so many painted cows there. What I initially thought to be a strong affinity for cows turned out to be an international movement called the CowParade. No, I'm serious. CowParade is an international movement that creates about 250 life-size fiberglass cows, has local artists paint them, has them exhibited for a few months and then has them auctioned off and the money goes to a selected non-profit organization in the region. that's so nifty! dont you think?
According to this article i read, to be able to have the CowParade pass through, your city has to have a large population (around 20 million in the entire metropolitan area), a "cosmopolitan" character, and a highly developed visual arts traditions.
Apparently "the cow was chosen for its inherent nobility: it provides milk and meat and the various products derived from them, while asking very little in return. Since then, more than 4,000 painted cows have "grazed" the streets and parks of cities like Stockholm, Chicago, Johannesburg, New York, London, Prague and Tokyo."
The first exhibition in Latin America was just last year in São Paulo (a few months before i came), and subsequent ones took place in Mexico City and now in Buenos Aires.
Wednesday, day two in Buenos Aires...
Alonzo had class so Darien and I explored the neighborhood a little bit (i.e. leather shops!) and then headed to La Chacarita Cemetery where Juan Peron (past president of Argentina) and Carlos Gardel (famous tango singer and actor) among other famous people are burried. The thing is, with the exeption of the time Mike's brother took me to the Nashville cemetary for a driving lesson with the philosophy that i wouldn't be able to kill anyone because "everyone's already dead", I never set foot in a cemetary before. I was kinda hoping there'd be some sort of map...or at least a guide saying "A-J burried over here, K-Z burried over there", or something of the sort. We had no idea where the grave was and were afraid to ask someone mourning for their lost loved one if they could please direct us to the grave of their ex-president because we traveled all the way from Brazil to see it. So we roamed around for a good while and then came upon a statue of Evita...makin progress. She's actually barried in another cemetery with the rest of her family. An elderly guy, later to identify himself as Miguel Angel, an aspiring poet, saw us looking around and guided us to the mausoleum we were searching for. Then he introduced us to his other graveyard buddies, one of which is an aspiring tango singer.
Thursday, day 3...
The following day i went out a little early to get my haircut and buy my leather jacket. I just wanted to get my ends trimmed because with curly hair, split ends split faster than...whatever happens really really fast. Plus haircuts in argentina are about 10 pesos...that's less than 4 bucks for a haircut - good deal! I advise Alonzo that it's gonna take 20 minutes MAX, because i'm only cutting the ends, and then i'm gonna go buy my jacket and head back to the house so we can passear for the day. So i sit in the chair and the lady asks me what i want. She layers it in less than 15 minutes and then says other stuff really fast and i'm like "yeah, okay, sounds good" (i thought she was asking if i wanted to rinse my hair before leaving). Next thing I know, I'm sitting in one of those chairs with that plastic helmet hanging over my head getting my hair "deeply nutritioned." My 15 minutes turned into an hour and my hair felt like steaming spaghetti when you just drain it from a pot of boiling water. I think i have communication issues...or just HEARING issues...or maybe lack of comprehension denial syndrom...issues. At this point i'm sure Darien would force me to tell the stories about the rico gordito and apple pie, hehe.
"Manzana es mas natural"
It all started because i had to use the bathroom. There was a coffee shop right next to the ice cream place were were at, but the restrooms were only for customers and I couldn't bring myself to go and then run out of the store. So we grabbed a table and looked over the menu. Alonzo leaves his order with us as he left for the men's room. The waiter comes to our table and I ask him for a green tea. Then he speaks superfast...and i hear: "......manzana....mas natural". So I'm thinkin he's talking about flavors of green tea, so i respond, "esta bien"...Alonzo will take whatever. Alonzo get's back, and soon after the waiter returns with a tray and we all look up with questioning faces "what's that???" and then all eyes turn to me and the expression on my face pleas innocent and denies having anything to do with the big slice of apple pie that appeared with Alonzo's green tea. Meanwhile, the waiter's still standing there with the tray, as we sort out the confusion, hehe. "apple"..."more natural"...now i get it. But in what universe does a more natural apple pie go with green tea?!
"Que rico el gordito!"
Las Palmas is a Mexican restaurant in Nashville. Erica, Jefferson, Gilmara and I went there for one of our last dinners together since it was good food and close to campus. As i was finishing my plate the waiter comes to our table and asks me "te gustó la comida?" (well, that's what I heard) and I respond all enthusiastically: "si, si! me gustó! bien rica!" Except what he REALLY asked was "te gustó el gordito?" !!!! Because i had glanced behind me to look at the margarita pitcher Erica was pointing out (we'd never seen margaritas served out of a pitcher before) and one of the waiters (the so called gordito) thought i was checking him out. Oh brother. That explains the glances and grins el gordito was shooting over to our table, haha.
Anyway, digression closed.
When i finally got back to the house with a haircut and a new fire-resistant leather jacket (the salesguy convinced me when he took a lighter to my arm...so i thought, "oh, this is wonderful...now i have a flame-resistant jacket for the winter), we headed out to Caminito, in el barrio de la Boca - a very touristy place full of lots of artesan crafts and souvenir shops. We roamed around the area for a bit, ate lunch, and then headed to San Telmo, another part of the city....best compared to Pelourinho of Salvador da Bahia. It's a convserved older part of town...very nice. We looked around the open market for a bit and then headed home.
Marcelo, Alonzo's host dad, invited us out to a Milonga - a tango club. The place was called Tango Ideal and that night there was a popular band playing, so it was a great opportunity. The band featured was: Orquestra Tipico, Fernandes Fierro - a group of young guys, maybe in their 20s and 30s playing their heart out in tango. absolutely beautiful. I wish i had bought a CD. After that, we headed to a salsa club that was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! (when can you ever go wrong with salsa?) Argentinos are incredible dancers. Wearing heels wasn't such a hot idea though.
Friday, 4th day...
We gave ourselves the luxury of sleeping in a little and got up for the next rondeveau of our trip: a visit to Recoleta Cemetery, best known for being where Eva Peron is burried. We walked around Paseo Recoleta and went out to dinner for our last night in Buenos Aires.
Saturday we went to lunch and then caught a taxi to the airport.
Bye bye beautiful Buenos Aires...
We had no problems at the airport and Darien didn't get deported.
a nice layer of smog blankets São Paulo
On the bus ride from the airport in São Paulo to the Metro Station, as i sat watching the sunset, listenin to slow spanish love songs from the music mix i asked Mike to make me, and munching on a bag of peanut m&ms (i'm an addict), i couldn't help but smile inside and thank God for bringing me to where I am today.
April 3, 2006
31 March - 2 April: Rio de Janeiro
This past weekend, the Council took us for a trip to Rio. We met at Barra Funda (metrô) at 6AM and arrived in Rio around lunch time. It's about a 6 hour bus ride, but there was an accident on the way, so we arrived there a little before 3PM. Our Hotel, the Ipanema Inn, is located between Ipanema and Copacabana...right on the beach :o). the only problem with the weekend was that the sun refused to shine!! But that's okay...Rio is a beautiful city, even in the clouds. I still hope to get the chance to go back before returning to the states (on a weekend when there's sun!)
Upon arriving, we went straight to lunch and thereafter visited Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf). It's a famous tourist location surrounded by tropical vegitation (and monkeys!).
Here's a picture of Copacabana Palace - where all the famous rich people stay in Rio, and right outside a demonstration of MST (Movimento dos Sem Terra), one of the most famous (and controversial) organizations that fights for land reform...another example of the contrast.
Upon arriving, we went straight to lunch and thereafter visited Pão de Açúcar (Sugar Loaf). It's a famous tourist location surrounded by tropical vegitation (and monkeys!).
"According to the historian, Vieira Fazenda, the name Pão de Açúcar or Sogarloaf in English, was appointed to the mountain by the Portuguese during the extraction of brazilian sugar canes in century XVI and XVII. After the sugar canes were boiled and refined, the sugar blocks were placed in mud containers of a conical form called sugarloaves for transport to Europe. The shape of the containers bore a strong resemblance with today’s Sugarloaf..."
Mind you, we all woke up around 5AM (some people just didnt sleep) to be able to get to the metro on time and got little sleep on the bus, so that explains any ruggedness in appearance, hehe.
Day 2 we got up early for our tour of the historic center of the city with a Prof. José from USP (he has acompanied the CIEE Rio trip for the past 5 years). He was amazing...whenever he talked about an important site or building or aspect of the city, it was never too complicated to go over our head and never too watered down. I came away learning so much. We visited about 5 different Churches, a Casa de Chá (tea house), and took drove by favelas, middle class, and rich areas of Rio.
This trip has only confirmed the fact that Brazil is a country of contrasts. The biggest favela in Rio (Favela da Roçinha) is side by side one of the chiquiest malls in the city.
Here's a picture of Copacabana Palace - where all the famous rich people stay in Rio, and right outside a demonstration of MST (Movimento dos Sem Terra), one of the most famous (and controversial) organizations that fights for land reform...another example of the contrast.
Ipanema & Copacabana
Before dinner, some of us went to the beach with our bikinis, wrap-arounds, and of course, HOMEWORK. It wasn't sunny, but the ocean, the waves, the Pão de Açúcar, the favela rising up the base of the mountain, and the city buildings in the background...make for a breath-taking view.
That night we went to a musical titled "Marilia Pêra Canta Carmen Miranda" at the Teatro João Caetano. The piece featured Marilia Pêra, a famous actress (that appeared in Central Station...she's the friend of the lady that sells the boy) who impersonated Carmem Miranda, and Carlinhos de Jesus, a famous dancer (who did the choreography for Mangueira, one of the Samba schools, in this years desfilo). It was basically a musical medly of various songs by Carmem Miranda. Fun costumes, funny scenes, great dancing, AMAZING show. I loved it.
Day 3 we got up early to visit Corcovado, the well-known mountain that has the statue of Christ on it (Cristo Redentor). Corcovado, literally means hunchback, and the statue of Christ the Redeemer was built in honor of Princess Isabel. They built a railroad up the mountain so the workers could get to the top to build the statue, and now the same line runs as a tourist train (It's about a 20 minute train ride up through all the forestry). The view from the mountain is amazing, but nothing really came out in my pictures because it was very cloudy.
That afternoon, we did check-out at the hotel, had lunch at the amazing churrascaria place we'd eaten for lunch and dinner the day before, and then started our journey back to São Paulo.
till next time...
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