update from rio de janeiro

greetings from Rio. happy early new year!
its been an interesting couple of days.

finally got to see some familiar faces. it is great to have friends in town. we have been out two nights in a row. first night was in ipanema/leblon, and the second night was in leblon/botafogo/lapa. its crowded here. big weekend celebration or something. anyway, some highlights:

• if a place as described as "seedy" then you might want to pass on it.
• do not expect a cab driver to know, or even have heard of, a street. many of them are from the somewhere else and dont know rio at all. this can be frustrating. it helps to write down cross streets, and also bring a map. (the cabbies usually dont have maps, either).
• went to a huge street party in Lapa. very local, very busy. but not as crowded as usual because a lot of people have been staying off the buses. it was very cool. we had a friend of a friend as a guide. though brazilian, his name is doug. and he looks like Fred Couples.
• the speedo or "poser pants'" (as the english call them) are acceptable in almost any situation during the day. jason remarked that you see guys walking around in the speedo several miles from the beach, just because.
• boardshorts are also popular here. theres so many tourists in town for the weekend that theres no way to get a feel for how rio is on a regular day. advantage: we dont stick out as much. disadvantage: you dont get a true feel for the place.
• rio food so far has been okay. its hard to find places to eat since you dont always know what you are ordering. the buffet is my friend.
• at the beach, its cool to put your chair/umbrella adjacent to or on top of someone elses chair/umbrella. we got a picture yesterday of ipanema beach and you couldnt see any sand. just umbrellas. at first it feels awkward, but then you embrace it. the beaches are packed with people. it gets to be a bit much. you cant even play a game of catch, never mind a game of touch rugby.

big night tonight w all the nye blah blah. we'll take some pictures.

next update will be more interesting. and funny.

love you,

-c-

 

update from florianopolis, # n+1

greetings from the southeast of brazil.

after a few crummy days it looks like thigns are looking up.

p(there is a one second lag between wheni hit the keys and when the stuff appears on the screen, so ignore typos. i don~t have time for this shite internet connection - im too good for it).

 

some observations and life lessons courtesy of isla de santa catarinha:

• the hardest of the hard core wear a speedo and a ring of 50 spf suscreen i mean sunscreen around their face, across thier nose and on the cheeks. thats it. its a locals only thing. about half the dudes wear speeds and the other half trunk it. girls wear bikinis only. if you~re a grandmohter of 8 then you can wear a 1 piece. or a bikini. whatever suits you.
• the sun in the sub-tropical summer (near the tropic of capricorn o rcancer, i think) is intense. its like a blowtorch. and we just had the summer solstice, which is the most direct sun day of th eyear. so when the sun is out, it is hot.
• the sun has not been out very much. its rained off and on since i got here. summer in the tropics. it happens.
• i wold pay whatever they asked for a computer that works like it is supposed to.  
• when you get on the bus, have exact change ready. or be prepared to feel like a jackass.
• when you get on the bus, expect it to leave as soon as your back foot hits the first step. door still open? so what! if youre not ready, you might fall into some people and feel like a jackass.
• expect all drivers to be in training to become the next ayrton senna. all drivers. buses, taxis, trucks, cars, motorcycles, and whatever else, they are driving it like they stole it.
• just because its an atm machine in a major metropolitan area does not mean that it is connected to a network that will take your card. so you have to carry around loads of cash in places where every guide, tourist, book, and travel resource tells you not to carry loads of cash. makes sense, no?
• best meal so far: lunch at praia mole, watching the surf, eating a crepe, drinking coconut water fresh out of the coconut. they put them in ice water overnight, then punch a hole in them so you can drink the sweet ambrosia with a straw. finally a deal: cost about 3.50 US. total. and it was just as good as the fish i had for lunch the previouis day at 10x the price.
• i stick out like a sore thumb here. i am embracing it.

 thanks for checking out the igazu falls pix. they took forever to upload. more photos fo follow, pending internet connection and etc.

from here i go to Rio to meet some friends for NYE. bitchin.

love you.

-c-

 

cachaca 1, casey 0

i would write a funny, insightful email about brazilian cane liquor, but i drank too much of it (im on vacation) and i am hung over. blah.

 

i took a lot of pictures, some of them good. i~ll email you when i get them uploaded.

 

okay then.

gave up urban for the sticks - humid times in Foz de Iguacu

writing to you now from a janky internet connection in the city of Foz de Iguacu. it is in brazil.

new place = new faces and new keyboard. we are all portugese all the time now, so maybe i~ll get used to it. the apostrophe key has swapped with the tilde. so that~s sweet.

 

here~s a brief rundown of the last 24 hours.

1. wrap up my last night in BA with my new international friends. we stay out late. i get up early to check out and go to the airport.
2. i go to the wrong airport.
3. i pay for another taxi and go to the right airport.
4. i don~t have a ticket because they canceled my flight.
5. they re-book my ticket. i get on the plane.
6. plane hits weather in planned destination. re-routed to nearby airport. after 2.5 hours in the air, we land, disembark.
7. wait 3 hours in airport so small it feels like we stopped by someone~s house unexepectedly, only to find they have stepped away. but it is an airport.
8. We fly back to Bs. As. why not? no explanation is offered.
9. as soon as we land, they tell us they will fly us back to our orig destination if we wish. i say, yeah, lets do it. get my ticket, splash some water on my face, use the bathroom, and the plane LEAVES WITHOUT ME. on the ticket it said it would leave at 1030, it leaves a HALF AN HOUR EARLY. i had no issues throughout the day, but i got very angry at this point. its now midnight. i~ve been doing airport song and dance for 12 hours, and i~m no closer to my destination than i was at the start. i did get to visit posada international airport. i don~t recommend it.
10. i get a hotel room in BA, but i don~t get there until 1. my wake up call for my early flight is at 5. i get to airport on time, but my morning flight is 2.5 hours late. so i catch some z~s on the bench.
11. board plane, fly, land in FdI. OUTSTANDING! i need a map. i ask the aggressive tour booking guys if they have any maps. just the one on their desk. of course. so i ask the rental car companies if they have any maps. surely avis provides their customers with a map when the rent them a car? how else would they know WHERE THE HELL THEY ARE GOING? sorry, Avis says. no maps. That was good for a laugh, anyway. thanks, avis. way to try harder and lie to my face.  i ask the hertz guy, he apologizes, says he has only a photocopy, will that do? i say fine thanks, i~ll take it. so he gives it to me. then he says, i forgot we had brochures too. here you go. and he gives me 4 brochures with maps in them. for free. literally, un regalo, a gift. restoring my faith in the human race one good deed at a time. it lasts exactly 12 minutes, which is how long it takes for the cab driver to try and give me the shaft.
12. cabbie works overtime trying to sell me on a hostel he gets a kickback from. i say, great. i~m going to the hostel i told you about. you might remember it because ITS IN BRAZIL, and the hostel you are trying to sell me on IS IN ARGENTINA. this goes on for about 12 minutes. i say no thank you. no thank you. etc. so the asshole ignores every word i~ve said and tries to pull into the parking lot of the hostel he is selling me. we had a tense moment in the car when i alerted him to the fact that i did not appreciate his sales strategy. and i finally made it.

more info on rural brazil, waterfalls, and the effect of loss of sleep on one's disposition in tomorrows issue. im off to shower so i don~t hit a new pb on the INOASq.

xo

narrating Bs.As.

Happy Christmas!

Today is my last full day in Bs.As. flying to iguazu falls tomorrow.

here are more life lessons and generalizations from the southern hemisphere.

• any time you are in an argentine grocery and you use the words 'tabasco sauce is too expensive' then you need to adjust your priorities. i overheard some american girls say it when i was wandering aimlessly, wondering if i could learn to like dulce de leche as much as I like peanut butter. (i cannot)
• you know that thing where people raise their voice when speaking their native language in the expectation that it helps non-native speakers understand? yeah, it doesnt work. ive been yelled at in restaurants, on the street, at a shopping mall, etc. not in a mean way, but after a while its easier to pretend i dont understand a word of spanish. its good practice for when i get to brazil and dont know 3 words of portuguese.
• if the argentines can cook an entree without 8 sticks of butter in it, then i havent seen it. officially, the travel books recommend you avoid salads and uncooked veggies, but how long can a person go without some greens?
• the xmas decorations around town are holly and tinsel, just like home, with the odd xmas tree (including snow) mixed in. plus lights and stuff. they dont do much in the way of decorating.
• if you like dark haired people, this is the place for you. almost everyone has dark brown to jet black hair. lots of exotic (to me, anyway) skin tones and eye colors. i stick out like a sore thumb since my hair is a) not black, and b) not worn in some kind of shaggy, messy mullet.
• highlight of yesterday was the 5 a side soccer game we played against the hostel staff. it was competitive. i scored a goal. YEAH THATS RIGHT I SCORED A GOAL!!!!!!!! i had to pretend like it happened all the time, been there before, etc. but i was pumped. the shaggy, mulleted argies ended up winning, 4-3. it was fantastic fun.
• supposed to play touch rugby today with some english guys. that should be interesting. i heart adventure.

thats it for now. thanks for reading. i took a couple pictures but they are boring. ill send pix when they add value. if you want to know what Recoleta cemetery looks like, look it up on the interweb. google: headstone.

love you.

my kingdom for some peanut butter

greetings from the southern hemisphere.

i forgot to check if the water swirls in a different direction when you flush the toilet. i{ll get on that immediately.

 

it's alternating between blinding hot and pissing down rain here. nice.

three things i miss the most:

• peanut butter
• the gym
• my guitar

i think i can find a gym here. so that{s good. you would think i could find peanut butter, but no. 23 kinds of dulce de leche, but no peanut butter. bust. and the bread is really good too.

 

so if youve never been here, they have this thing where you don{t flush the toilet paper after you use it. you throw it in a trash can adjacent to the toilet. whether you{re going numero uno or dos, and irrespective of any gastrointestinal distress, that is the procedure. it takes some getting used to.

 

so when i moved into the hostel i was assigned a top bunk. that sucked, so as soon as the guy underneath me vacated the bunk i promoted myself to the lower bunk. they cost the same, so why should i get the crappy elevated position? the next guy they put in the room, he got the top bunk. turns out the move was fortuitous, because when i got back last night the roof was leaking into the bunk above me. taste it, bearded euro packpacker guy. that is bad luck. it happens. maybe they refunded your 6 euros? i{ll never know. he left before i got up today.

 

more later.

-c-

 

day one so far

yeah i'm reprezenting the oc like a mofo. at least people know where the oc is. kind of.

early returns on BA are good. lots of touristy stuff to do.

best part of the day so far: a 30 oz beer costs about $2. including the tip.

starting a new deal called the In Need of A Shower quotient, INOASq for short.

the possible scores are:

 

mild - typical, end of day shower need.

moderate - light workout at the gym need a shower, not really sweaty or smelly.

severe - sweaty and gross. get a shower immediately.

italian subway in the summer - call in the hazmat team. i'm awful.

 

right now i'm on my way to the shower, so i'm going to give myself a 'severe'. yuk. \

 

thanks for reading. \=c=

and I'm off...

Hooray for summer in December.
Blog posts will be infrequent and travel-related for the next couple months. I'm going to spend some time in Argentina and Brasil (I leave on 13 December, get back in February.)
I'll post as often as time and internet availability allow. Once or twice a week, probably.
If you want to do some google mapping on my itinerary, i'm going to the following places:

• Buenos Aires
• Foz de Iguazu
• Florianopolis
• Rio de Janeiro
• Buzios
• Porto Seguro / Arraial d'Ajuda
• Salvador / Morro de Sao Paolo
• Fortaleza
• Jericoacoara
• then back to Fortaleza, on to Rio, and home.

see you when I get back. and, as always, thanks for reading.
love you.

gift cards: when you care enough to say you don't care very much; plus, new idiot HOF entry

I love gift cards, because they say so much. Mostly what they say is, "I couldn't be bothered to get you a real gift; how about I just write you a check?"

it's become increasingly popular to hand out gift cards in lieu of an actual present, esp. at gift exchanges. I know one guy that has an awkward gift exchange with his family every year ($10 max- don't spend it all in one place). A couple years ago every single person brought a gift card, and more than half (of ~9) were from blockbuster. wow. so everyone just kept trading their blockbuster cards back and forth. you kind of had to be there, but I promise it was funny, in an awkward, depressing sort of way.

don't get me wrong, the gift card is an acceptable intermediate solution for someone that lives far away, but it's not a thoughtful gift. if you don't know someone well enough to get them something, why buy them anything at all? instead, get yourself something nice. you'll both be happier in the long run.
--------------------
in other news, Ben Johnson, who freely admits to being on drugs when he was stripped of his gold medal back in '88, says that the drug he tested positive for is not the same as the drugs he was doing. but he says it in a much more believable way. to wit:

Number one, that day the drugs that they find in my system was not the drugs that I was using. Number two, Ben Johnson was sabotaged in Seoul. Somebody set me up.

you said it BJ! You deserve that gold medal, since you didn't test positive for those drugs that you were taking! wait... what?