another day of crazy travelling! i should have mentioned that we were staying in one of the sketchiest hotels of all time in curitiba, at the suggestion of lonely planet. let me tell you about it.
called hotel itamaraty, it was located across from the train/bus station (this should have been our first hint). it looked as though it was built in the 70s, as the entire building was very dark, made mostly of dark wood. the hallways of the hotel are completely unlit - as lights are activated by motion detector lights. so, as soon as you walk out of the elevator into the hallway, it is pitch black. it is almost like being in a horror movie! we had to walk down the hallway, flailing our arms, in order to get the lights to turn on.
in the washroom, there was no soap, and there was only a thin sheet on the bed. the shower door did not close. the only saving grace of us, was that it was right across from the station, and it was easy for us to get up this morning to take the serre verde express.
the serre verde express is a scenic train from curitiba to morretes. it was SO COLD that we were wearing toques! can you imagine, two days ago we were wearing bikinis on a beach, and now we are wearing 10 million layers and toques. and it was raining! unfortunately, it was quite foggy so we were not able to see much of the scenery, however what we did see was quite nice.
after we got into morretes, we took a bus over to pontal de sul, where we boarded a ferry to ilha de mel. we are staying in a place called hostel zorro, which is a hostel right on the beach! unfortunately, it is freezing here too (something like 14C) so there is not much beaching that we can do here. lots of hiking will be done here tomorrow!
the great thing about this island is that there are absolutely no cars - it is also an ecological reserve, so you have to walk everywhere.
btw - i forgot to mention in a previous post that while we were in rio and were at the bossa nova concert, an old brazillian man was yelling at kavitha for drinking beer, because he thought she was under 18! bahahahahhhaa! :D
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
day 6, curitiba
kavitha and i had possibly the most stressful night of our trip yet. we took the REAL bus to the rodiviario (bus station) in rio, and it took EONS. like an hour and 20 mins! anyway, as we were nearing the station with 2 minutes until our bus to curitiba was going to leave, we moved to the front of the bus and looked panicked. a brazillian lady asked us, ^what time is your bus?^ in portugese so i signalled with my fingers, 7-4-5. she then hurried the bus driver to get us there on time. god bless that lady!! the driver ran through a red light and got us there in the nick of time. PHEW!!
our bus ride was semi comfortable. we had the semi-leito seats, meaning that they somewhat reclined. however, as brazilian drivers are rather sporadic drivers, there was a lot of start-stop action, and i felt pretty nauseous! kavitha had a gravol and was fine.
the bathrooms were also a bit of a hoot. you needed to pull with all your might to open the doors, and to get out, you pretty much had to body check it to get it open. well, i did that, and the door went SLAMMING into the wall, and i went flying almost out of the bus. of course, a guy was standing outside of the bus and was chuckling. sigh.
curitiba has been really rainy. we did the tourist bus today and went to the oscar neymeyer museum, which is in the shape of an eye, as well as the wire opera house and a couple other sites (including rua des flores). our neon coloured raincoats came in handy! also, we noticed that there are TONS of cars here - what gives? i thought this was the urban planning capital of the world!
we also stole a fork from a restaurant. :$ in the name of saving money! :$
our bus ride was semi comfortable. we had the semi-leito seats, meaning that they somewhat reclined. however, as brazilian drivers are rather sporadic drivers, there was a lot of start-stop action, and i felt pretty nauseous! kavitha had a gravol and was fine.
the bathrooms were also a bit of a hoot. you needed to pull with all your might to open the doors, and to get out, you pretty much had to body check it to get it open. well, i did that, and the door went SLAMMING into the wall, and i went flying almost out of the bus. of course, a guy was standing outside of the bus and was chuckling. sigh.
curitiba has been really rainy. we did the tourist bus today and went to the oscar neymeyer museum, which is in the shape of an eye, as well as the wire opera house and a couple other sites (including rua des flores). our neon coloured raincoats came in handy! also, we noticed that there are TONS of cars here - what gives? i thought this was the urban planning capital of the world!
we also stole a fork from a restaurant. :$ in the name of saving money! :$
Monday, April 28, 2008
day 5 of the trip.....
the past two days, we have been doing a lot of errands. yesterday we went to the pao de azucar (sugar loaf) during sunset, and the views were amazing! me and kavitha staked out the best spot in the lookout area for about half an hour, and between us, took about 30 pictures of the sunset (i took about 25 of those. :$) on top of that, we saw our first brown people - a couple from india! SWEEEEEET!
similarly, i also discovered the 16:9 setting on my camera too, so hopefully you will see some nice panoramic shots of rio soon.
at night, we met camilla again for dinner at the lagoa, a big lagoon in the middle of the city. the atmosphere was something like centre island in toronto, with bikes you could rent and lots of carnival and churro type stands. we tried our first caipirinha (a lime alcoholic drink in brazil, or maybe just rio?) and then had a bunch of traditional food: deep fried salted fish balls, brazillian grilled beef, deep fried couscous, mushed up beans with bacon, and camilla made some brigadiero (chocolate + condensed milk). SO DELICIOUS! there is definitely a lot of deep frying and meat in brazillian cuisine. and fruit.
this morning, we got our bus tickets to curitiba (a 12 hour bus ride) and unfortunately we did not get the leita seats (i.e. full reclining seats), we got some semi-reclining seats for our overnight trip. hopefully we will be ok to sleep!
other things - in terms of me and kavitha getting along, i think we are complementary travel buddies. no problems! both of us are not big beach people, we are constant snackers, we are always sweating, and when we are both tired, we are quiet! it works out really well. :D
oh and last thing - there are a TON of vw beetles here, so there has been some major punch buggy action! WOOOOT! (and sore arms)
later, gators!
similarly, i also discovered the 16:9 setting on my camera too, so hopefully you will see some nice panoramic shots of rio soon.
at night, we met camilla again for dinner at the lagoa, a big lagoon in the middle of the city. the atmosphere was something like centre island in toronto, with bikes you could rent and lots of carnival and churro type stands. we tried our first caipirinha (a lime alcoholic drink in brazil, or maybe just rio?) and then had a bunch of traditional food: deep fried salted fish balls, brazillian grilled beef, deep fried couscous, mushed up beans with bacon, and camilla made some brigadiero (chocolate + condensed milk). SO DELICIOUS! there is definitely a lot of deep frying and meat in brazillian cuisine. and fruit.
this morning, we got our bus tickets to curitiba (a 12 hour bus ride) and unfortunately we did not get the leita seats (i.e. full reclining seats), we got some semi-reclining seats for our overnight trip. hopefully we will be ok to sleep!
other things - in terms of me and kavitha getting along, i think we are complementary travel buddies. no problems! both of us are not big beach people, we are constant snackers, we are always sweating, and when we are both tired, we are quiet! it works out really well. :D
oh and last thing - there are a TON of vw beetles here, so there has been some major punch buggy action! WOOOOT! (and sore arms)
later, gators!
Saturday, April 26, 2008
day 3 - continued.....
today has to have been the most interesting day of our trip so far. in the morning, we hit the beach, but after about 1 hour of wading and sitting in the sun we were extremely tired (great life, huh!). the waves at ipanema beach are ridiculously strong and we were tossed around like rag dolls.
afterwards, we talked on the phone with camilla and met her at the sisquiera campos station to head to the favelas. previously, we had booked a tour through marcelo armstrong, however, camilla said that this would be a better opportunity to actually interact with people in the community.
we got off at praca 11 station, and then took a cab with camilla and vinicius (camillas boyfriend) up to the favela. camilla and vinicius are involved with an organization called the FGS, or favela graffiti social, and they are there to engage members of the favela community in beautifying the neighbourhood with graffiti, and also promoting non-violence in their murals. they partner with a lot of well-known rio graffiti artists such as ECO and IRA, and a couple of foreigners. the guy who heads the FGS lives in the favelas, but also has been one of those who has ^made it^ - he is also a rap artist that tours internationally. anyway, so as soon as we got there, we were greeted by several machine-gun wielding men (eeek). but we were also greeted warmly by the residents, and were given a neon green vest to wear to indicate that we were part of the project.
many of the walls in the favela were painted a light turquoise green, and murals were painted on top - it gave the favela a lot more colour outside of the dusty reds and browns.
two residents took us around the labyrinthine favelas, with all its back alleyways and makeshift infrastructure. there were electricity cables all over the place, and bulletholes dotting ceilings, walls and windows, reminiscent of a less peaceful time. kids were fascinated by the indian and chinese girls that had suddenly invaded their area! overall, they were extremely appreciative of the graffiti in the neighbourhood, and as we passed people they would ask when they would get to be involved with it.
the other thing that amazed me was the speed that information travelled in the favelas. and, the fact that many people are connected to the internet (and use orkut!!! who knew!)
after today~s tour, i think kavitha and i were glad to have such an intimate tour of the favela..... so super interesting!
afterwards, we took a cab down to santa teresa and went to vinicius~s friends house. it was in this HUGE portugese mansion that must have been 300 or 400 years old. it had definitely seen better days, but boy was it gorgeous! lots of mouldings, high ceilings, wooden floors, and heavy wooden doors.anyway, vinicius~ friends are in a bossa nova rap group and were doing some recording, so kavitha and i sat around awkwardly, and it could be best described as colon pipe.
and then we went for dinner in cafeiana in copacabana, almost got lost walking back, picked up a popsicle at la zona sul, and we are now back at our hostel trying to cool down.
afterwards, we talked on the phone with camilla and met her at the sisquiera campos station to head to the favelas. previously, we had booked a tour through marcelo armstrong, however, camilla said that this would be a better opportunity to actually interact with people in the community.
we got off at praca 11 station, and then took a cab with camilla and vinicius (camillas boyfriend) up to the favela. camilla and vinicius are involved with an organization called the FGS, or favela graffiti social, and they are there to engage members of the favela community in beautifying the neighbourhood with graffiti, and also promoting non-violence in their murals. they partner with a lot of well-known rio graffiti artists such as ECO and IRA, and a couple of foreigners. the guy who heads the FGS lives in the favelas, but also has been one of those who has ^made it^ - he is also a rap artist that tours internationally. anyway, so as soon as we got there, we were greeted by several machine-gun wielding men (eeek). but we were also greeted warmly by the residents, and were given a neon green vest to wear to indicate that we were part of the project.
many of the walls in the favela were painted a light turquoise green, and murals were painted on top - it gave the favela a lot more colour outside of the dusty reds and browns.
two residents took us around the labyrinthine favelas, with all its back alleyways and makeshift infrastructure. there were electricity cables all over the place, and bulletholes dotting ceilings, walls and windows, reminiscent of a less peaceful time. kids were fascinated by the indian and chinese girls that had suddenly invaded their area! overall, they were extremely appreciative of the graffiti in the neighbourhood, and as we passed people they would ask when they would get to be involved with it.
the other thing that amazed me was the speed that information travelled in the favelas. and, the fact that many people are connected to the internet (and use orkut!!! who knew!)
after today~s tour, i think kavitha and i were glad to have such an intimate tour of the favela..... so super interesting!
afterwards, we took a cab down to santa teresa and went to vinicius~s friends house. it was in this HUGE portugese mansion that must have been 300 or 400 years old. it had definitely seen better days, but boy was it gorgeous! lots of mouldings, high ceilings, wooden floors, and heavy wooden doors.anyway, vinicius~ friends are in a bossa nova rap group and were doing some recording, so kavitha and i sat around awkwardly, and it could be best described as colon pipe.
and then we went for dinner in cafeiana in copacabana, almost got lost walking back, picked up a popsicle at la zona sul, and we are now back at our hostel trying to cool down.
day 3 - rio de janeiro
additional ethnographic observations:
5) brazillian people do not sleep.
6) brazillian people do not care so much about noise.
7) brazillian people are not strict on time.
8) brazillian people eat really late, if at all. (is this what gisele bundchen does?)
kavitha and i found this out in somewhat of the hard way yesterday. after spending the morning at corcovado mountain and eating our stolen sandwiches, we came back to the hostel, showered, and waited an hour and a half for my friend camilla to show up.
when she did, we took a really lengthy bus to centro for a free bossa nova concert in a square (similar to a free concert in nathan phillips square in toronto). i don~t think we saw one non-brazillian there, but we DID see one asian! WOOOOT! i think the asian count is up to around 6 now. sweet. brown people count = 0. (except for the one that may have been at the GOL airport counter. but he was more west indian.)
anyway, the concert was fun, we met up with camilla~s friends, who at this moment i can~t remember the names of, but they were all musicians and in a bossa nova/samba band together. and, they were selling beers at the concert (skol and antarctic brand, the latter of which had penguins as their logo)
afterwards, we went to a bar in centro, and wandered through some back alleyways of the buildings which were really neat - they were very historic and all of the alleys were filled with tables and tables of people drinking and eating. definitely not something we would have done if camilla wasn~t around. kavitha and i were itching to take our cameras out to take pictures, but didn~t want to be mugged. DOH!
after that, we met up with a couple of camilla~s friends at a little patio/restaurant/bar, and learned a couple of important phrases:
a) CHOPP! (with pointed finger into the sky) - the short form for ordering a beer.
b) BOLHA! - bullshit! said in an endearing fashion.
her friends were quite a hoot, even though kavitha and i were kind of lost/out of it for about half of the time between the multiple conversations and yelling and photo taking and chopp drinking and us being ravenous.
on a very unrelated note - the day we got to sao paulo, there was a 5.0 richter scale earthquake, the first since 1948. and the day we got to rio there were some intense waves (which the brazillians called a tsunami) that were 4-5m high (that didn~t sound so high to me). apparently we are bad luck to this country! oy.
after that bar, we walked over to lapa, the big party area of rio. we had dinner at cafe guanabara, which included this GYNORMOUS appetizer of what appeared to be brazillian tater tots, carne seca (dried meat?), and what appeared to be deep fried couscous. it was yummy, albeit a bit heavy. and a pizza, which i unfortunately was unable to partake in due to the cheese factor, but kavitha said was good (accompanied by a thumb up). in the restaurant, there were lots of backless shirts, and odd couples (i.e. really young women in their teens and old men about 40, 50 years of age) and people wearing costumes (harry potter, batman, wonder woman, minnie mouse, a bee). very curious scene. on the street there were people doing capoeira (a brazillian martial art that is somewhat like dancing).
and, after that, (by this time, it was about 1AM) we were pooped, but the brazillians insisted on continuing the evening. our feet were exhausted too (even ballet slippers and flip flops lose their comfort over 8 hours). we went briefly to a bar/club called the hole of the mouse (?) and left because it was too crazy. and then after that, everyone wanted to go to a snooker bar, and me and kavitha were ready to posse out. when we did, we had to get a cab to go home, and kavitha was not feeling so hot! (ps. on a thomas parental note, kavitha is now feeling much better after getting some rest) it took us about 10 minutes to inch out of lapa (of course, there were people outside the window that were like ^CHINA!^ and slanting their eyes upwards. i love travelling. :S
we finally got home, hit the hay, but in the middle of the night our roommates came back, and turned on all the lights. then two people were having a conversation. and then one new guy was snorey mcsnorerson! all 7 of us wanted to asphyxiate him with a pillow. :@
so needless to say, we woke up this morning, and are going to hit the beach. later on today, we will head to the favelas with camilla and her boyfriend~s NGO group. should be interesting! until then!!
5) brazillian people do not sleep.
6) brazillian people do not care so much about noise.
7) brazillian people are not strict on time.
8) brazillian people eat really late, if at all. (is this what gisele bundchen does?)
kavitha and i found this out in somewhat of the hard way yesterday. after spending the morning at corcovado mountain and eating our stolen sandwiches, we came back to the hostel, showered, and waited an hour and a half for my friend camilla to show up.
when she did, we took a really lengthy bus to centro for a free bossa nova concert in a square (similar to a free concert in nathan phillips square in toronto). i don~t think we saw one non-brazillian there, but we DID see one asian! WOOOOT! i think the asian count is up to around 6 now. sweet. brown people count = 0. (except for the one that may have been at the GOL airport counter. but he was more west indian.)
anyway, the concert was fun, we met up with camilla~s friends, who at this moment i can~t remember the names of, but they were all musicians and in a bossa nova/samba band together. and, they were selling beers at the concert (skol and antarctic brand, the latter of which had penguins as their logo)
afterwards, we went to a bar in centro, and wandered through some back alleyways of the buildings which were really neat - they were very historic and all of the alleys were filled with tables and tables of people drinking and eating. definitely not something we would have done if camilla wasn~t around. kavitha and i were itching to take our cameras out to take pictures, but didn~t want to be mugged. DOH!
after that, we met up with a couple of camilla~s friends at a little patio/restaurant/bar, and learned a couple of important phrases:
a) CHOPP! (with pointed finger into the sky) - the short form for ordering a beer.
b) BOLHA! - bullshit! said in an endearing fashion.
her friends were quite a hoot, even though kavitha and i were kind of lost/out of it for about half of the time between the multiple conversations and yelling and photo taking and chopp drinking and us being ravenous.
on a very unrelated note - the day we got to sao paulo, there was a 5.0 richter scale earthquake, the first since 1948. and the day we got to rio there were some intense waves (which the brazillians called a tsunami) that were 4-5m high (that didn~t sound so high to me). apparently we are bad luck to this country! oy.
after that bar, we walked over to lapa, the big party area of rio. we had dinner at cafe guanabara, which included this GYNORMOUS appetizer of what appeared to be brazillian tater tots, carne seca (dried meat?), and what appeared to be deep fried couscous. it was yummy, albeit a bit heavy. and a pizza, which i unfortunately was unable to partake in due to the cheese factor, but kavitha said was good (accompanied by a thumb up). in the restaurant, there were lots of backless shirts, and odd couples (i.e. really young women in their teens and old men about 40, 50 years of age) and people wearing costumes (harry potter, batman, wonder woman, minnie mouse, a bee). very curious scene. on the street there were people doing capoeira (a brazillian martial art that is somewhat like dancing).
and, after that, (by this time, it was about 1AM) we were pooped, but the brazillians insisted on continuing the evening. our feet were exhausted too (even ballet slippers and flip flops lose their comfort over 8 hours). we went briefly to a bar/club called the hole of the mouse (?) and left because it was too crazy. and then after that, everyone wanted to go to a snooker bar, and me and kavitha were ready to posse out. when we did, we had to get a cab to go home, and kavitha was not feeling so hot! (ps. on a thomas parental note, kavitha is now feeling much better after getting some rest) it took us about 10 minutes to inch out of lapa (of course, there were people outside the window that were like ^CHINA!^ and slanting their eyes upwards. i love travelling. :S
we finally got home, hit the hay, but in the middle of the night our roommates came back, and turned on all the lights. then two people were having a conversation. and then one new guy was snorey mcsnorerson! all 7 of us wanted to asphyxiate him with a pillow. :@
so needless to say, we woke up this morning, and are going to hit the beach. later on today, we will head to the favelas with camilla and her boyfriend~s NGO group. should be interesting! until then!!
Friday, April 25, 2008
day 2 - taking to the streets of rio
mak and i just got back from a day in the city! we woke up around 9am - in time to get the hostel b'fast which actually wasnt half bad. i loved the fact that instead of OJ we get mango juice (yum!!!) and mini bananas (also yum!) ...the rest was typical hostel menu (buns, jam, ham). Heather and i were crafty and made ourselves sandwiches for lunch (thanks mom for the ziplock bags :)
so we set off to see to Corcovado (Christ Redeemer statue) ...took the local bus for a mere $2.10R - bargooons! it was about a 30 mins ride to the mountain. we stopped in at a pharmacy to get water -- they were highly amused by Mak and I... we got free nail files - SO random! Then we took the tram up to the top where the humungous statue was - of course we took the typical touristy photos in front of the statue, wandered around a bit and then ate our lovely little lunch on a bench. we re-lathered ourselves in sunscreen and mosquito repellent (did i mention its 32 degrees here!!!!) then took the tram back down. we hopped on a bus that said `ipenema` - it got us back to our neighbourhood no problemo! i think by tomorrow mak and i will be able to give tours of ipenema! the neighbourhood is sooo clean - its actually quite amazing.
apparently i can pass for a Brazillian because people come up to me and start rattling off in portuguese... of course after i stare at them blankly and say `eenglesss` they figure out that i'm a tourist!
update on ethnographic observations...
1) people wear realllly tight pants
tonight we're meeting up with heather's friend Camilla... hitting up a concert and then hopefully heading to a samba club! stay tuned....
so we set off to see to Corcovado (Christ Redeemer statue) ...took the local bus for a mere $2.10R - bargooons! it was about a 30 mins ride to the mountain. we stopped in at a pharmacy to get water -- they were highly amused by Mak and I... we got free nail files - SO random! Then we took the tram up to the top where the humungous statue was - of course we took the typical touristy photos in front of the statue, wandered around a bit and then ate our lovely little lunch on a bench. we re-lathered ourselves in sunscreen and mosquito repellent (did i mention its 32 degrees here!!!!) then took the tram back down. we hopped on a bus that said `ipenema` - it got us back to our neighbourhood no problemo! i think by tomorrow mak and i will be able to give tours of ipenema! the neighbourhood is sooo clean - its actually quite amazing.
apparently i can pass for a Brazillian because people come up to me and start rattling off in portuguese... of course after i stare at them blankly and say `eenglesss` they figure out that i'm a tourist!
update on ethnographic observations...
1) people wear realllly tight pants
tonight we're meeting up with heather's friend Camilla... hitting up a concert and then hopefully heading to a samba club! stay tuned....
Thursday, April 24, 2008
day 1 - getting to brazil
kavitha and i have had a crazy time getting to brazil. let me recount the occurrencesÇ
andy came up from buffalo and dropped me off (AWWWW!), and kavitha~s parents dropped her off (AWWWWW!). so scary that we won~t be seeing our friends and families for the next two months. holy schmoly!
our flight was at 10Ç45 (excuse the Ç, i don~t know where the colon is on these portugese keyboards) on a new boeing 767 jet, which was kind of nice! customized movies, flippable screens, etc. except my screen started malfunctioning midway through the evening. on top of that, i had about 1.5 hours of sleep because of a man constantly coughing behind me. as soon as i drifted into sleep, COUGH!!! curse you, coughing man. the funny thing about this flight also was that i opted to order an ^oriental^ meal, which for dinner meant ^vegetable lo mein^ (there were tons of mushrooms in it) and for breakfast, it was a ^tofu scramble^, which had the consistency of a rubber glove. i have another oriental meal to look forward to on the flight home from peru! oy.
after we finally landed (an almost 10 hour flight) in sao paulo, we had about 4 hours to kill before heading on a gol flight to rio. so we wandered around the airport, exchanged some money, picked up some stamps, and ate lots of fruit leather, plantain chips, and clif bars (shoutouts to my sister, her bf, and my mom for picking these up!) well, as it turns out, our flight was delayed for 2 HOURS, so as you can imagine, we were fermenting in the airport. by the time we got to rio, it was about 6pm, and by the time we got to our hostel, 8PM. so you could say, with about 2 hours of sleep over the past 24 hours, we are a bit tired.
until tomorrow, mes ami(e)s!
ps. some ethnographic observations we noticed todayÇ
a) people are really into platform shoes and backless shirts in brazil.
b) people are super into the public displays of affection. me and kavitha were going to the departures section at the sao paulo airport, and this couple was full on making out. kavitha stared at the ceiling while i awkwardly gazed at the keypad.
c) the word for ^thank you^ is ^obrigado^ for males and ^obrigada^ for females.
andy came up from buffalo and dropped me off (AWWWW!), and kavitha~s parents dropped her off (AWWWWW!). so scary that we won~t be seeing our friends and families for the next two months. holy schmoly!
our flight was at 10Ç45 (excuse the Ç, i don~t know where the colon is on these portugese keyboards) on a new boeing 767 jet, which was kind of nice! customized movies, flippable screens, etc. except my screen started malfunctioning midway through the evening. on top of that, i had about 1.5 hours of sleep because of a man constantly coughing behind me. as soon as i drifted into sleep, COUGH!!! curse you, coughing man. the funny thing about this flight also was that i opted to order an ^oriental^ meal, which for dinner meant ^vegetable lo mein^ (there were tons of mushrooms in it) and for breakfast, it was a ^tofu scramble^, which had the consistency of a rubber glove. i have another oriental meal to look forward to on the flight home from peru! oy.
after we finally landed (an almost 10 hour flight) in sao paulo, we had about 4 hours to kill before heading on a gol flight to rio. so we wandered around the airport, exchanged some money, picked up some stamps, and ate lots of fruit leather, plantain chips, and clif bars (shoutouts to my sister, her bf, and my mom for picking these up!) well, as it turns out, our flight was delayed for 2 HOURS, so as you can imagine, we were fermenting in the airport. by the time we got to rio, it was about 6pm, and by the time we got to our hostel, 8PM. so you could say, with about 2 hours of sleep over the past 24 hours, we are a bit tired.
until tomorrow, mes ami(e)s!
ps. some ethnographic observations we noticed todayÇ
a) people are really into platform shoes and backless shirts in brazil.
b) people are super into the public displays of affection. me and kavitha were going to the departures section at the sao paulo airport, and this couple was full on making out. kavitha stared at the ceiling while i awkwardly gazed at the keypad.
c) the word for ^thank you^ is ^obrigado^ for males and ^obrigada^ for females.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
giddy up!
well it's 30 mins before I head to the airport... so I figure I should contribute at least once to this blog before setting off on our journey. Despite my six days of 'vacation' at home, it has yet to hit me that we're actually fully, truly and completely done with school. kinda insane. perhaps it'll hit when we're trecking up machu piccu.
so here goes nothing.. 8 weeks of adventure!! (eeeek!!!!) i love the fact that my backpack weighs TWICE as much as Mak's. i have no idea how she did 9kg - very impressive. knowing me i'll be calling cheryl, arti or bossmat (or all three) in 10 days and telling them to bring me more stuff from home. i already have my list of things to do before my next trip: laser eye surgery and shave my head - it would seriously cut back on 1/2 my baggage.
alrighty.. time to lock 'er up and head out to meet Mak at Pearson.
giddy up!!
so here goes nothing.. 8 weeks of adventure!! (eeeek!!!!) i love the fact that my backpack weighs TWICE as much as Mak's. i have no idea how she did 9kg - very impressive. knowing me i'll be calling cheryl, arti or bossmat (or all three) in 10 days and telling them to bring me more stuff from home. i already have my list of things to do before my next trip: laser eye surgery and shave my head - it would seriously cut back on 1/2 my baggage.
alrighty.. time to lock 'er up and head out to meet Mak at Pearson.
giddy up!!
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
T-1
holy schmoly, intense packing today. we have a whole bevy of climates to work with, ranging from 30C to -10C. super intense! i have laid out all the stuff i want to bring, and am hoping to get rid of 1/4 of it before tomorrow to lighten the load. aiming for yet another 7kg backpack of stuff! :D
another thing that has been frightening me and kavitha a bit is rio de janeiro. the gun crime, the dengue fever... eek! however, over the past week or two, i had quite a bit of reassurance that everything is ok there.
1) i met three brazillian brothers in my environmental auditing class last week who live in rio, and they said that dengue fever is restricted to sketchy parts of town (not so much the wealthier ipanema and copacabana areas.... unfortunately how the world works :( )
2) i remembered that my friend camilla from my central st. martin's packaging course lives in rio, and lo and behold, i emailed her and she has been enormously helpful in orientating us to the city. she emailed a map of sketchy areas in rio, and we even have social plans for the weekend! sweet!
so, rio seems a bit less daunting now! cross your fingers for us!
Monday, April 21, 2008
there you have it. T-2 days
all of us girls are now finished our MBAs and ready to rock and roll to south america! hooper and gal are coming for the last 6 weeks of the trip and davda is making a brief cameo for two weeks of the trip. this is totally muy exciting!
yesterday, me, kavitha and cheryl had an msn meeting, and booked some stuff. we did the same thing this morning, and we're hoping that by tomorrow, we'll have everything set to go.
i have yet to finish packing, although i went to mountain co-op on the weekend with andy and picked up a thermal moisture-wicking shirt for when we are in high altitudes and we're freezing our bonbons off.
i'll be using the same backpack as the one i took to europe. cross those fingers that the backpack is big enough to hold everything - clothes and food. apparently we are going to be bringing 4 days worth of food in our backpacks too for when we go to easter island, hoping that that works ok!
until takeoff on wednesday.....
yesterday, me, kavitha and cheryl had an msn meeting, and booked some stuff. we did the same thing this morning, and we're hoping that by tomorrow, we'll have everything set to go.
i have yet to finish packing, although i went to mountain co-op on the weekend with andy and picked up a thermal moisture-wicking shirt for when we are in high altitudes and we're freezing our bonbons off.
i'll be using the same backpack as the one i took to europe. cross those fingers that the backpack is big enough to hold everything - clothes and food. apparently we are going to be bringing 4 days worth of food in our backpacks too for when we go to easter island, hoping that that works ok!
until takeoff on wednesday.....
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
the problems with curitiba.... or should i say curitiBAAAHHHHH!
kavitha and i have been trying to make plans in brazil post-rio, which includes going to curitiba. however, curitiba is posing a gynormous problem in booking accommodations. why? there are only two hostels, one of which is downtown and has had terrible reviews (i.e. no heat, staff are rude, showers are cold, etc.) and is completely booked. the second hostel is out in the middle of nowhere, hard to get to, pretty much in a forest, but apparently is beautiful. the other option is to stay in a hotel, of which they are either shady or expensive. what are some penniless students to do?
i am trying to revisit the reasons why i want to go to curitiba. first of all, i wanted to see firsthand the efforts of former mayor jamie lerner. i have been completely consumed with seeing and using the city's public transportation system (apparently one of the world's most efficient), and checking out its alleged urban planning genius. as the story goes, the mayor, who was an architect, saw that the city was falling into the doldrums, and urban sprawl and pollution were increasing. so, he ordered roads to be ripped out, and gardens be planted in their place. of course, there was an uproar at first, but almost instantly, people returned to the city and it is now one of the safest, greenest, and most pedestrian friendly cities in brazil, if not the world. ok, i hear you snoring!! but i think it's super cool.
in addition to that, curitiba is the base point for this serra verde express train, which apparently creaks through some beautiful scenery. and the base point for going to iguazu falls.
something tells me that we'll have to bite the bullet either way we slice it. oy!
i am trying to revisit the reasons why i want to go to curitiba. first of all, i wanted to see firsthand the efforts of former mayor jamie lerner. i have been completely consumed with seeing and using the city's public transportation system (apparently one of the world's most efficient), and checking out its alleged urban planning genius. as the story goes, the mayor, who was an architect, saw that the city was falling into the doldrums, and urban sprawl and pollution were increasing. so, he ordered roads to be ripped out, and gardens be planted in their place. of course, there was an uproar at first, but almost instantly, people returned to the city and it is now one of the safest, greenest, and most pedestrian friendly cities in brazil, if not the world. ok, i hear you snoring!! but i think it's super cool.
in addition to that, curitiba is the base point for this serra verde express train, which apparently creaks through some beautiful scenery. and the base point for going to iguazu falls.
something tells me that we'll have to bite the bullet either way we slice it. oy!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
three weeks until takeoff!
yesterday, i made reservations to our accommodations in easter island (chez oscar). the only comments i can make are:
1) holy moly, is my spanish bad. "BINGTY UNO MAYO Y BINGTY CINCO!" i yelled into the phone. thankfully, the guy on the other line knew a bit of english, enough to know that we were arriving may 21 and leaving on the 25th. phew.
2) easter island only has one flight coming in a day.
3) easter island's airport is so small that it's right beside the town.
another worry as of late has been the dengue fever outbreak in rio. in addition to the wonderful rain coat, is this jacket a bit too ridiculous?
:|
in the meantime, i am not sure if using my sister's backpack will be good or not. she is the purveyor of outdoor wares in the mak household, with all sorts of water bags, backpacks, hiking sticks and pots and pans. because she is much more petite than i am, the backpack i took with me to europe was super uncomfortable. part of me is wondering if i should get my own, or just brave it out for two months. hum. three weeks to decide!
1) holy moly, is my spanish bad. "BINGTY UNO MAYO Y BINGTY CINCO!" i yelled into the phone. thankfully, the guy on the other line knew a bit of english, enough to know that we were arriving may 21 and leaving on the 25th. phew.
2) easter island only has one flight coming in a day.
3) easter island's airport is so small that it's right beside the town.
another worry as of late has been the dengue fever outbreak in rio. in addition to the wonderful rain coat, is this jacket a bit too ridiculous?
:|
in the meantime, i am not sure if using my sister's backpack will be good or not. she is the purveyor of outdoor wares in the mak household, with all sorts of water bags, backpacks, hiking sticks and pots and pans. because she is much more petite than i am, the backpack i took with me to europe was super uncomfortable. part of me is wondering if i should get my own, or just brave it out for two months. hum. three weeks to decide!
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