Denis’ family has been so nice to us while we’ve been here, so we decided to make dinner for them. They happen to like Yakisoba a lot, and we happen to know how to make yakisoba, so we ended up making that for them, and Brigadeiro, the treats that Gabi loves so much. We had a good meal talking with Denis’ Dad and Jenifer, and then we started packing up, because we were leaving to go to Iguazu the next day. We got into Tiete, the bus station, on Friday afternoon, and found out that we couldn’t get a ticket to Iguazu until Sunday. So we went to the capoeira academy and left our stuff there and walked around Sao Paulo for a while looking for a hotel. We walked all over the place, and it was getting pretty cold, so we stopped in a book store for a coffee and a hot chocolate. This one lady there absolutely loved Gabi. The books there were all shrink wrapped, and she kept opening up new books to show to Gabi. She spent at least half an hour with her, and gave her a polar bear key chain. We told Gabi she could chose one book, and this lady kept showing her new books with sounds and lights and pop ups and all sorts of stuff so that Gabi couldn’t decide what to get. She finally wanted a touch and feel book about animals and colors (in Portuguese) after we got that, the lady still wanted to show her more books, and finally gave her another book, Snow White in Portuguese. We decided to stay in a hotel right next to the bookstore, and went back to get our stuff from the Academy.
The hotel was really nice, with the best breakfast we have had so far, all pizza!! Just kidding, it was the usual stuff, with eggs and pao de queijo as well. After breakfast we met with Andre and went to his house for the night. He made us some delicious pasta and sauce and we watched movies, and Shelley tried to fix our poor dying computer. Then next day we ate at McDonalds, watched Ratatouille, and then made dinner for Dre’s family. Dre drove us to the bus station and then we got on for the 16 hour bus ride to Puerto Iguazu, Argentina.
We arrived in Argetina the next day on Monday around 3 in the afternoon, it was really not that bad of a bus ride at all. We decided that the longer bus rides give you more time to recuperate because we arrived with the most energy after any of our bus rides. We have just spent the past few days(1 and a 1/2 walking around the town Puerto Iguazu) we decided tomorrow is the big day we will go see the big falls. We think it might take two days so we will just have to see, they say you only pay half the second day so if we can not do it all in one day we will extend it for sure. Today we went the point where you can stand and see all three countries from the river(Argentina(where we are), Brazil and Paraguay. It was neat they have little obelisk painted in the colors of the respective country. It was neat, but we are a little sad because we are not sure if we are going to be able to enter Paraguay because they say we need a visa and we are not sure if we are going to spend the money to go for just one day. Well we will update more after we have seen the falls.
Gabi has a few new odd habits. First, she has been saying to us, when we do something she doesn’t like “you can’t do that until Barnyard Dance,” which, along with being a book by Sandra Boyton, is apparently a time of day. This has replace her old thing she did when, for instance we were kissing her, she would say “You can’t kiss me, by Sandra Boyton.” She will also, at pousadas, lay with her head on one bed, and her feet on the other, and when she is face up she’ll say “SpiderMan,” and when she’s face down “SuperMan.” And now she will tell us “I have on question, than I have 3 questions, and then I have 4 questions.” And then she’ll just tell us things, and not ask any questions.
Good luck Katie we are way excited for you and I think tucked in with a belt is the best way to go!
Sorry no pictures the internet here is really slow.
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Jundiaí
1. Shelley and Gabi at the Casa da Baile, a Neimeyer building.
2. Igreja São Francis de Assisi, another Neimeyer
3. Eating Açai with Andre. 4. Talking to Mammu and Grandad on the internet.
After having some breakfast here in Jundiaí, we took the train back into São Paulo to see Andre and to try to go to the bank. Unfortunately, banks are not open here on Saturday, so we met up with Dre downtown and went to the Mercado Municipal, a huge market, like the Mercado Central in Belo. This place is famous for Pastels, fried dough filled with delicious things like palm hearts, mozzarella and sun dried tomatoes, and other stuff. We got a couple with Andre, and some acai as well. Then we went from there to Ave. 25 de Marco, which is filled with street vendors and you can buy just about anything.
Andre invited us to spend the night at his place, and since the train is two hours back to Jundiai we decided to take him up on the offer. We had brought a few change of clothes for Gabi but Nate and I were S.O.L. but we did just fine. Acutally when we woke up in the morning we took showers and Nate got outfitted by Dre’s family, he had on an Illinois shirt from Dre but Dre’s mom thought it looked to small. She went and got a nice shirt from Dre’s father. It is a soccer polo from the Corinthians team which is one of the Sao Paulo teams that a lot of Dre’s family works for. He was quite happy about that. The night at Dre’s house we discovered that because Dre and Chris both have Mac computers we could talk online for free see each other. We talked that night for a bit and then realized we might be able to do a three way video chat with Katie too because she has a Mac also. We set up a time in the morning we could chat and all headed to bed. In the morning we tried the three way chat but Dre’s computer was too old so we first talked to Katie and then Nate’s parents again. After getting ready and having a yummy lunch we went to see Gu because Gabi kept asking about him. When we got there they didn’t even really play together but Gabi had a blast with Gu’s mothers family. We are is search for a certain type of Havaiana sandal so Dre took up to a big store with tons of Havaiana’s but we were unsuccessful, so he dropped us off at the train station and we headed off back to Jundiai.
The past few days in Jundiai have been quite dreay, lots of rain and crummy weather. It has kind of kept us inside and we’re getting a little antsy to get moving again. We did make it out to the shopping(mall that is) on our three year anniversary in hopes of seeing Ratatouille but the movie theater here only has it dubed not with subtitles, so we decided against it. We did get some delicious ice cream, and walked around the mall with Denis’ sister. Denis’ family has been incredibly nice too us while we’ve been here, feeding us all the time, and helping us get places. Denis mom doesn’t eat meat much, and cooks a lot with soy, so she has made Shelley some delicious vegetarian things, like soup and meatballs, along with rice and beans. We also read the last Harry Potter book, which was unbelievable. Now we want to read them all from the beginning when we get back.
Gabi has been really good, and she’s been eating so much all the time, that her face is getting a bit chunky. She’s been having a blast with Jenifer though, so that’s good. A new thing she has is that all tennis shoes are called Madeline shoes, because the first pair that she can remember were given to her from my cousin Eva and her daughter Maddy. Also, I had been telling her not to walk on her inflatable bed all morning, and finally I said “how many times do I have to tell you not to walk on your bed?” and she looked at me sweetly and said “Two.”
We’ve only got 3 weeks left of our trip. We’re going to go to Iguacu falls in a couple days, stay there for about two weeks, and then head back to São Paulo before going back home. It’s kind of sad that it’s almost over, but we’ve been making the best of it, and it has been a great trip. I’ve decided that I’m going to start taking classes when we get back, because I want to get a degree in Environmental Science. It’s just going to be at a community college to start off with, but we’ve been looking at other schools in places we want to live for later on. Shelley has a full time job with benefits lined up at the school district where we worked before coming here to Brasil, so she will most likely take that up. We don´t quite know what Gabriella will do, she will most likely go to preschool at Christies for a few hours during the day, and I´ll watch her the rest of the time. I don´t quite know what I´ll be doing for work yet, but we have some ideas.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Pizza Diaries
We had some really great Pizza the other night, I mean, Man was it good. All sorts of stuff on it, cheese and what not, man, Pizza is the best.
This is really a pizza that Shelley ate. It was a ton of arugula and sundried tomatoes on top of a mozzeral pizza! Pizza like this is really popular, and Shelley was so amazed, she took a picture.
ACTUAL BLOG
1. Gabi in front of an old church in Ouro Preto.
2. The show we saw, Jabu´s sister is on the stairs, and Boca is on the stage at the right of the picture.
3. A picture of 2 big churches, taken from beside a 3rd big church
Actually, on Sunday, Boca Rica invited us to go to Ouro Preto with him and a performance group that he helps out. His girlfriend Jabu is part of it, and they do all kinds of shows. They are officially called a circus group, and the two main people do clown stuff. The show they were doing in Ouro Preto was an interactive drum show. They had five people on stage playing drums, and then they had 150 drums in the audience for people to play along with them. Gabi had a really good time playing the drums, and the show was really fun. Before the show we helped them set up, and then had a chance to wander around Ouro Preto, which is also a Unesco World Heritage Site. It used to be the capital of Minas Gerais, and it has lots of cool churches and historic buildings. The city is pretty much preserved as it was in the late 1800’s which is when they moved the capital to Belo Horizonte. After the show we hung out with Boca and the people from the group, and we had a really great time.
On Monday we did a lot more laundry, some of which we have been carrying around dirty since Parati, and then decided to go see Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, which was great. We had dinner with Boca, and a friend of his, and then decided to walk home. But first we walked around for a while looking for an Internet café, and a place to trade in some of our books. We eventually found a place with Internet, but no luck on the book front. By the time we got home, after a stop at a supermarket, we were exhausted from walking around the city.
The next day we met up with Boca again, and went to the Mercado Central, a huge collection of shops selling just about everything. They had all different sorts of restaurants, produce, meats, cheeses, souvenirs, pets, clothes, everything. We got all the stuff we needed to make dinner there, and then went back to Boca’s house. Shelley and I (mostly Shelley) made Yakisoba (stir fried noodles) and stirfried vegetables, with chicken on the side, and Boca made rice. Jabu came over, and we all ate a ton, and watched some of the Pan American Games. After dinner we made popcorn for Gabi, and then she sat there and made Jabu feed it to her one piece at a time by moving Jabu’s arm from the bowl to her mouth and back. It was pretty hilarious to watch. Boca also showed us some movies of the kids he works with with Capoeira. He has about 70 kids that he works with that have CP, Downs Syndrome, Autism or other handicaps. They all love capoeira, and it was great to see them playing with Boca, and how much fun they were having. He also works with about 100 kids from ages 3 to 7 in a regular school and they were all really cute doing capoeira.
On Wednesday we decided to go to Pampulha, an area of Belo Horizonte that was designed by Oscar Neimeyer, a famous architect, and landscaped by Burle Marx, a famous landscape guy. It was really pretty, set around an artificial lake, with some cool buildings. There is also a zoo at one end of the lake, which Gabi really wanted to go to. Unfortunately it was at the opposite end of the lake from where we started, so after at least 4 or 5 miles of walking, we got there. Shelley and I were completely exhausted when we arrived, but Gabriella, who had slept in the sling the whole time, was rarin’ to see some animals. She got to see Giraffes, which she kept saying were ”the biggest and tallest ever all the time just like me,” and Maned Wolves, which she was really excited about, because they are in Deigo, one of her favorite shows. We only had an hour there, and when we got ready to leave, we told her the zoo was closing. She got really sad and said “I want them to open it back up, because I have to see more animals.” But she got over it because we got to take a bus trip back to the center of the city, and she loves her bus trips. She got to eat Club Social crackers, so it was all good. As we walked back to the Pousada, we got a churro that was filled with Doce de Leite, which is pretty much the best thing ever.
Our last day in Belo, we hung out at Boca´s house after saying goodbye at the pousada. They were quite sad to see us go, and had gotten used to hearing Gabriella´s talking all morining long at breakfast. We got some more churros, and watched the Pan American Games. That night we were really excited, because our guide book said there was a mexican restaurant not far from us, and I have been jonesing for Mexican food. Unfortunately our guide book is 3 years old, and it had closed. So we had, you guessed it, Pizza. Really, and some fries, and sausage for Gabi. Then we said goodbye to Boca, and hopped on a bus to São Paulo. 10 hours, a bus, three trains and a taxi later, we were at my Capoeira Mestre´s family´s house in Jundiaí. We´ve been hanging out with his 14 year old sister, who is really fun, and great with Gabi. We also made a really good book trade, 3 books that we had read for 5 new ones, so that was quite exciting. We are hopeful these books will take us to the end of our trip!! Only three and a half weeks left we can´t believe how it is flying.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Belo Horizonte
We had a couple days left in Salvador, so before heading to the Mercado Modelo we went to a book store and got some more books. I got the 3rd Harry Potter, we got Gabriella a kids book in Portuguese and we got 3 English books for Shelley. She read one the first night, the Beach House by James Patterson. She’s now reading Windy City Blues by Sara Paretsky. At the Mercado we ran into a lady we had met while Gabi was getting her hair braided, and talked to her for a little bit and traded email addresses. While out I also tried Acaraje, which is dried shrimp and spices in a batter fried in palm oil, and I didn’t like it. Gabriella tried it too, which was surprising, but did not like it. We all also tried Coconut water, which is huge here, people sell it everywhere and you can get it in all the stores. The vendors all have huge piles of coconuts, and they just chop them open, poor out the water into cup, or sometimes just put a straw right into the coconut, and then you drink it. Neither Shelley nor I liked it, but Gabi said she did.
Tuesday we went to a pool at a big apartment building. Sergio knows the people that work the door, and he had them let us in. It was really nice, it had a huge adult pool and a pretty big kid pool too, that Gabi could walk around all by herself in. We hung out there and swam laps and played around with Gabi for a while, then went back to Sergio’s to start packing up to leave on Wednesday. We also made fried rice for dinner, which was really good.
It was sad saying good by to Sergio, because Gabi liked him sooo much. She would always run and hug him in the morning, and play with him all the time. We made it too the airport Wednesday with about an hour to spare, so we grabbed some quick food and rushed over to our gate. We needn’t have worried though, because our flight was delayed two hours. Eventually we got on the Fokkerprop 50, and took off for Belo Horizonte. It was a 3 hour flight, and it wasn’t too bad at all. It was cool too, because it was such a small plane, we got on and off on the ground, instead of in a tunnel right into the airport. We got into Confins airport, which is about 45 minutes away from Belo Horizonte. We took a big bus in, and then we were picked up by Boca Rica, a Contra-Mestre in Cordão de Ouro, my Capoeira group. He took us to a pousada near his house, and we conked out.
After a quick breakfast we went walking around the city. I really really like it here. It reminds me a ton of Chicago, and the weather, a little cool, but really sunny, made me miss Chicago. We went to a huge park, Parque Municipal and walked around for a bit. Gabi really wanted to go on a "Merry Round" that they had, so we bought her a ticket and plopped her on an Elephant. She was okay for about half a turn, than she just burst out crying. Shelley even walked around the thing with her, but she wouldn’t stop crying, so the guy stopped the ride and then she got off. Afterward she kept saying that "something happened on the Merry Round, and then I wanted to get off" What that something was is a mystery, because I was watching her as she came around and went from kinda happy to crying for absolutely no reason. We think it was just the ride itself that scared her. We went to Boca Rica’s house later that day and hung out with a Capoeirista from Israel, Gavião. who was staying with Boca. We hung out and watched Capoeira videos and talked for a while, and then had some food when Boca got back, before heading out to a rehearsal for a Samba Bloco, a drum group that does Samba. They were really cool and fun to watch.
The people at this pousada, Pousada Piauí, are super nice and helpful. They let us use their washing machine, and we spent all morning Friday doing laundry. Some of the people that work here were talking to us while we did it, and Shelley had a conversation about taxes and poverty and stuff with the people who didn’t speak English, and everybody understood what everyone else was saying. I was quite proud of her. We talked to the owner of the Pousada that evening, who is really nice, and her son ended up driving us to an area of the city, Savassi, with lots of restaurants and shops. On the way into Belo, Shelley had said how she really wanted to go to a Pizza Hut for their pizza buffet. We laughed because neither of us had done that since grade school. We had told the pousada owner and her son that we felt like pizza for dinner, and they said that there were a bunch in Savassi, including a Pizza Hut. We walked around Savassi for a little while and then finally saw the Pizza Hut. Brazil was for Pizza Hut what going to a new school is for a dorky kid, a chance to reinvent themselves. If this Pizza Hut we saw was in the US, people would say "Pizza Hut, who the heck do you think you are, acting all fancy and stuff?" It looked like a fancy Michigan Ave. restaurant, but with the same logo. And the pizzas were ridiculously expensive. You can get a really, really good large pizza for around R$20 most places, and Pizza Hut was charging at least R$30, for the smallest size, so we ended up going somewhere else and getting a really really good pizza for about R$20, and watching the opening Ceremony for the Pan American Games, which are here in Brazil.
Saturday we met up with Boca, his girlfriend Jabu and Gavião around noon, and then going for lunch to an Arab place, another thing that made me miss Chicago. But the food was really good, and then Boca took us to Parque das Mangibeiras, a huge nature park, that also had a lot of cool playground stuff that Gabi loved. And we saw some cool animals Kuati, which look kind of like Raccoons, but were way used to people and came right up to us when they saw that Gabi had popcorn. We played around at a playground for a while, and saw some really great views of Belo Horizonte.
Tuesday we went to a pool at a big apartment building. Sergio knows the people that work the door, and he had them let us in. It was really nice, it had a huge adult pool and a pretty big kid pool too, that Gabi could walk around all by herself in. We hung out there and swam laps and played around with Gabi for a while, then went back to Sergio’s to start packing up to leave on Wednesday. We also made fried rice for dinner, which was really good.
It was sad saying good by to Sergio, because Gabi liked him sooo much. She would always run and hug him in the morning, and play with him all the time. We made it too the airport Wednesday with about an hour to spare, so we grabbed some quick food and rushed over to our gate. We needn’t have worried though, because our flight was delayed two hours. Eventually we got on the Fokkerprop 50, and took off for Belo Horizonte. It was a 3 hour flight, and it wasn’t too bad at all. It was cool too, because it was such a small plane, we got on and off on the ground, instead of in a tunnel right into the airport. We got into Confins airport, which is about 45 minutes away from Belo Horizonte. We took a big bus in, and then we were picked up by Boca Rica, a Contra-Mestre in Cordão de Ouro, my Capoeira group. He took us to a pousada near his house, and we conked out.
After a quick breakfast we went walking around the city. I really really like it here. It reminds me a ton of Chicago, and the weather, a little cool, but really sunny, made me miss Chicago. We went to a huge park, Parque Municipal and walked around for a bit. Gabi really wanted to go on a "Merry Round" that they had, so we bought her a ticket and plopped her on an Elephant. She was okay for about half a turn, than she just burst out crying. Shelley even walked around the thing with her, but she wouldn’t stop crying, so the guy stopped the ride and then she got off. Afterward she kept saying that "something happened on the Merry Round, and then I wanted to get off" What that something was is a mystery, because I was watching her as she came around and went from kinda happy to crying for absolutely no reason. We think it was just the ride itself that scared her. We went to Boca Rica’s house later that day and hung out with a Capoeirista from Israel, Gavião. who was staying with Boca. We hung out and watched Capoeira videos and talked for a while, and then had some food when Boca got back, before heading out to a rehearsal for a Samba Bloco, a drum group that does Samba. They were really cool and fun to watch.
The people at this pousada, Pousada Piauí, are super nice and helpful. They let us use their washing machine, and we spent all morning Friday doing laundry. Some of the people that work here were talking to us while we did it, and Shelley had a conversation about taxes and poverty and stuff with the people who didn’t speak English, and everybody understood what everyone else was saying. I was quite proud of her. We talked to the owner of the Pousada that evening, who is really nice, and her son ended up driving us to an area of the city, Savassi, with lots of restaurants and shops. On the way into Belo, Shelley had said how she really wanted to go to a Pizza Hut for their pizza buffet. We laughed because neither of us had done that since grade school. We had told the pousada owner and her son that we felt like pizza for dinner, and they said that there were a bunch in Savassi, including a Pizza Hut. We walked around Savassi for a little while and then finally saw the Pizza Hut. Brazil was for Pizza Hut what going to a new school is for a dorky kid, a chance to reinvent themselves. If this Pizza Hut we saw was in the US, people would say "Pizza Hut, who the heck do you think you are, acting all fancy and stuff?" It looked like a fancy Michigan Ave. restaurant, but with the same logo. And the pizzas were ridiculously expensive. You can get a really, really good large pizza for around R$20 most places, and Pizza Hut was charging at least R$30, for the smallest size, so we ended up going somewhere else and getting a really really good pizza for about R$20, and watching the opening Ceremony for the Pan American Games, which are here in Brazil.
Saturday we met up with Boca, his girlfriend Jabu and Gavião around noon, and then going for lunch to an Arab place, another thing that made me miss Chicago. But the food was really good, and then Boca took us to Parque das Mangibeiras, a huge nature park, that also had a lot of cool playground stuff that Gabi loved. And we saw some cool animals Kuati, which look kind of like Raccoons, but were way used to people and came right up to us when they saw that Gabi had popcorn. We played around at a playground for a while, and saw some really great views of Belo Horizonte.
Monday, July 9, 2007
The weather here in Salvador has been less than optimal. It’s been cloudy and rainy just about everyday, so we haven’t been doing too much. Thursday we had to go to the bank to get money, which was a long trip, but we got to go in one of the cool elevators that they have here. The city is divided into the Cidade Alta, the older part built up on bluffs overlooking the bay, and the Cidade Baixa, the newer part down at sea level. There are a bunch of really steep roads that connect the two, but there are also a couple elevators that go straight up and down between the two. After the bank we were a little hungry so we went to the Mercado Modelo, a cool indoor market that used to be where slaves coming into Brazil were kept, and then auctioned off. Now it is a tourist market, with lots of souvenirs and handicrafts and stuff. But we only stayed for a little bit to get lunch, which ended up taking forever. We ordered two drinks and a plate of french fries. We got the drinks right away, but the french fries took about half an hour to come out, and then it took a long time to get the bill too. For Dinner we went to a kinda goofy little Pizza place/Internet café, which was okay, but not as good as the place in Arraial.
Friday was an in day. We tried something new though, and it was really exciting. One of Gabi’s favorite foods here in Brazil has been Pipoca (popcorn) which they sell on the street all over the place. When I was at the grocery store I saw a bag of Kernels and grabbed it to try and make it at home. Having grown up in the microwave era, neither Shelley nor I had ever made popcorn on the stove. It’s really super easy, and Gabi loves it, because she gets to help with everything, putting the oil in, measuring the popcorn and then she gets to listen for all the pops. We also made pasta that night for us, Sergio, his neighbor Lucas and two girls from Capoiera class that Nate went to and managed to hurt his back again. The girls were from France and Switzerland, and Gabi took well to them.
We were going to make lasagna but we couldn’t find ricotta cheese or spinach, so we made pasta instead. The plan was that we all were going to go to an island in the bay where Sergio has a house early Saturday morning, but when we woke up the island was gone, it was so cloudy we couldn’t even see it, so we didn’t end up going. Instead Nate and I decided it would be a good day to go to Shopping Barra, which was huge. We shopped a bit and got Gabi and new bikini and a few postcards and ate some lunch and they headed back to our place. On the way out of the mall, I saw a really big grocery store so we went looking for lasagna makings again, but were still unsuccessful. The store was called Bom Preco and we found out it is a divison of Walmart. We can’t go anywhere without Walmart following us. We hung out with the everybody again that night, and Gabi entertained everyone with her dancing and goofing around.
Sunday was another rainy day in the morning so we just hung out and around noon it cleared up a bit so we headed to the beach, with the European girls. We all had a good day at the beach and Gabi had lots of fun, she really likes the water now. She also did a good job playing in the sand by herself. At the beach Nate and I trade off going in the water so someone is always with our stuff and with Gabi too. I was in the water and I keep hearing someone yell “Amiga, Amiga” and I just ignored it then I turned around to find out why no one was answering and the guy was calling to me, he asked me “Quer compania”, which means, if you can’t tell, do you want company. I said no and ran back to Nate as fast as I could, but all in all it was pretty hilarious. I mean who ask someone if they want company??
Today is Monday and the day is crummy yet again, I am starting to get sad because this is the last place we will be with a beach and none of the days have been good beach going days. We have stayed in again today and are going to head to the Mercado Model again so we can actually look around after we use the internet. We leave Salvador on Wednesday and are flying to Belo Horizonte, from there we are going back to Sao Paulo, but are going to stay in a little town outside the city called Jundiai. This is where Denis’s mother and sister live. Denis is Nate’s capoeira teacher. From there we are going to head to Foz de Iguazu and then back to Sao Paulo before we head back to the states.
Friday was an in day. We tried something new though, and it was really exciting. One of Gabi’s favorite foods here in Brazil has been Pipoca (popcorn) which they sell on the street all over the place. When I was at the grocery store I saw a bag of Kernels and grabbed it to try and make it at home. Having grown up in the microwave era, neither Shelley nor I had ever made popcorn on the stove. It’s really super easy, and Gabi loves it, because she gets to help with everything, putting the oil in, measuring the popcorn and then she gets to listen for all the pops. We also made pasta that night for us, Sergio, his neighbor Lucas and two girls from Capoiera class that Nate went to and managed to hurt his back again. The girls were from France and Switzerland, and Gabi took well to them.
We were going to make lasagna but we couldn’t find ricotta cheese or spinach, so we made pasta instead. The plan was that we all were going to go to an island in the bay where Sergio has a house early Saturday morning, but when we woke up the island was gone, it was so cloudy we couldn’t even see it, so we didn’t end up going. Instead Nate and I decided it would be a good day to go to Shopping Barra, which was huge. We shopped a bit and got Gabi and new bikini and a few postcards and ate some lunch and they headed back to our place. On the way out of the mall, I saw a really big grocery store so we went looking for lasagna makings again, but were still unsuccessful. The store was called Bom Preco and we found out it is a divison of Walmart. We can’t go anywhere without Walmart following us. We hung out with the everybody again that night, and Gabi entertained everyone with her dancing and goofing around.
Sunday was another rainy day in the morning so we just hung out and around noon it cleared up a bit so we headed to the beach, with the European girls. We all had a good day at the beach and Gabi had lots of fun, she really likes the water now. She also did a good job playing in the sand by herself. At the beach Nate and I trade off going in the water so someone is always with our stuff and with Gabi too. I was in the water and I keep hearing someone yell “Amiga, Amiga” and I just ignored it then I turned around to find out why no one was answering and the guy was calling to me, he asked me “Quer compania”, which means, if you can’t tell, do you want company. I said no and ran back to Nate as fast as I could, but all in all it was pretty hilarious. I mean who ask someone if they want company??
Today is Monday and the day is crummy yet again, I am starting to get sad because this is the last place we will be with a beach and none of the days have been good beach going days. We have stayed in again today and are going to head to the Mercado Model again so we can actually look around after we use the internet. We leave Salvador on Wednesday and are flying to Belo Horizonte, from there we are going back to Sao Paulo, but are going to stay in a little town outside the city called Jundiai. This is where Denis’s mother and sister live. Denis is Nate’s capoeira teacher. From there we are going to head to Foz de Iguazu and then back to Sao Paulo before we head back to the states.
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Salvador
1. cool church in the Pelourinho, Salvador.
2. Shelley with her new hairdo.
3. Gabi in a hammock in our room at Sergio´s.
4. Gabi´s new hairdo.
We cut it pretty close getting to Porto Seguro, so we decided to give ourselves plenty of time leaving there. We had our last breakfast at the pousada, swam for a little bit, then went to the bus station. We got there around 1:00 in the afternoon for a 4:00 bus. We had plenty of time, and it turns out we had plenty more. We had misread the tickets, and our bus didn’t leave until 7:00 that night. So we got to sit at the bus station for 6 hours. Tons of fun. Luckily for us the VIP room for the bus line we were with opened at 6:00, so we went in there and talked to the guy running it for a while. He was a big fan of American rock music, and when we told him we really like Brazilian music, he thought we were crazy. He was a really nice guy, and Shelley taught him some English words, and I helped him with his pronunciation of the names of rock bands.
The bus ride itself was easy, except for that Shelley and I both felt sick most of the time, but we got some sleep, and Gabi slept the entire time. They showed two really bad American movies dubbed in Portuguese, but one of them had English subtitles, so I watched that for a while, it was something about snipers in Panama, really awful. We arrived in Salvador, Bahia around 7:00, and were picked up by a friend of the guy that we’re staying with, who is a friend of a friend of Andre’s. The guy who picked us up, Marcio, has a taxi, and was cool, telling us about all the stuff we were driving past. The guy we are staying with, Sergio, has an apartment by the center of the city. We got in and went immediately to the room, and took some naps. When we got up it was time for lunch, so we went out looking for food. July 2 is a huge holiday in Bahia, because it’s Bahian Independence day, and just about everything was closed. Luckily for us the food court at a nearby shopping was open, and we finally caved in and got our first Brazilian McDonalds. I don’t know if they have it in the U.S., but they have a McVeggie sandwich that Shelley got. I got a big mac, and Gabi got chicken. It tasted just like McDonalds, the fries and everything, which was kind of comforting. We capped it off with Bob’s milkshakes, which we are going to miss when we get back.
When we were going back to the apartment, there were a ton of people outside, and it was for a parade. So we stayed around for it. It was kind of funny, because two military marching bands came by, and they were just playing your run of the mill military marching music. They were by no means great, and after they passed by, there was nothing. So we waited around for another hour or so, and then the rest of the parade arrived. When I asked what had taken them so long, I was told that some politicians were walking with the parade, and they would stop to talk to people, and hold everything up. But when the parade arrived, it arrived. It was the nonstop parade of just about every marching band in Bahia. One of the better ones was a Boy Scout band, lots of drums, and they were playing Brazilian music, not just marching music. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good marching band, but when I see a marching band in Brazil, I don’t want Sousa, I want Brazilian music. Gabriella, though, loved every band, and would get really upset if they stopped playing, or if there was a break, or if we took her down off our shoulders and she couldn’t see. After maybe two hours of non stop marching bands with no end in sight, we decided to walk back to the apartment. We passed one band that had decided to stop and have their own party, and they were playing Samba and there were a bunch of people dancing in the street. We listened to them for a while, and then finally went back. Shelley and I were completely exhausted, but Gabi was rarin’ to go and do stuff, so we traded off resting and playing with her until bed time.
On Tuesday, we went shopping for food in the morning, and then went to where Sergio works. Sergio is working with this really cool project where he teaches people with physical handicaps rowing, and takes them to competitions and stuff. When we went there were 4 blind people (whom Sergio directs by radio as they row), a couple of people with one leg amputated and a couple of people who maybe had cerebral palsy. Some of the people from the project are in Sao Paulo now for a competition, and Sergio is taking a bunch to Germany for the world championships there. It’s a really cool job, and he’s super passionate about it. He even stops people he sees on the street, like this one 14 year old who only had one leg, and told him about the project and tried to recruit him. People with handicaps in Brazil don’t have a lot going for them, and Sergio says that rowing gives them something that they can use to help themselves, and give themselves confidence. One of the guys gave me a lesson, and it was really hard. You have to have good coordination and rhythm to get going. They do the training at a huge park with a lake on the Atlantic side of the city. It was incredibly pretty and we had a lot of fun walking around, and playing on a playground with Gabi. That night we made rice and beans for dinner, and an actual Brazilian (Sergio) thought it was good, so we must have done something right.
On Wednesday we went to the Pelourinho, the main historic, touristy place to go in Salvador. It was really cool, with lots of old buildings, and tons of people selling stuff. There were people braiding hair in one of the main squares, so Shelley got hers done, and we had Gabi’s done too. They both look very pretty, and Gabi was a star while she had hers done. Some other people came by to get it done, and they ended up taking pictures with Gabi and absolutely fawning over her. A huge tourist group came by too, and they all thought she was great. We also made some plans for our next stop, which will be Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais. We bought plane tickets (sorry Mom) for next Wednesday, leaving in the afternoon. It was not too much more expensive than the bus, and instead of a 24 hour ride, it’ll be about 3 or 4, with transfers. I also got the second Harry Potter book on our way back home. We didn’t want rice and beans for dinner again, so we had beans and rice instead.
The bus ride itself was easy, except for that Shelley and I both felt sick most of the time, but we got some sleep, and Gabi slept the entire time. They showed two really bad American movies dubbed in Portuguese, but one of them had English subtitles, so I watched that for a while, it was something about snipers in Panama, really awful. We arrived in Salvador, Bahia around 7:00, and were picked up by a friend of the guy that we’re staying with, who is a friend of a friend of Andre’s. The guy who picked us up, Marcio, has a taxi, and was cool, telling us about all the stuff we were driving past. The guy we are staying with, Sergio, has an apartment by the center of the city. We got in and went immediately to the room, and took some naps. When we got up it was time for lunch, so we went out looking for food. July 2 is a huge holiday in Bahia, because it’s Bahian Independence day, and just about everything was closed. Luckily for us the food court at a nearby shopping was open, and we finally caved in and got our first Brazilian McDonalds. I don’t know if they have it in the U.S., but they have a McVeggie sandwich that Shelley got. I got a big mac, and Gabi got chicken. It tasted just like McDonalds, the fries and everything, which was kind of comforting. We capped it off with Bob’s milkshakes, which we are going to miss when we get back.
When we were going back to the apartment, there were a ton of people outside, and it was for a parade. So we stayed around for it. It was kind of funny, because two military marching bands came by, and they were just playing your run of the mill military marching music. They were by no means great, and after they passed by, there was nothing. So we waited around for another hour or so, and then the rest of the parade arrived. When I asked what had taken them so long, I was told that some politicians were walking with the parade, and they would stop to talk to people, and hold everything up. But when the parade arrived, it arrived. It was the nonstop parade of just about every marching band in Bahia. One of the better ones was a Boy Scout band, lots of drums, and they were playing Brazilian music, not just marching music. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good marching band, but when I see a marching band in Brazil, I don’t want Sousa, I want Brazilian music. Gabriella, though, loved every band, and would get really upset if they stopped playing, or if there was a break, or if we took her down off our shoulders and she couldn’t see. After maybe two hours of non stop marching bands with no end in sight, we decided to walk back to the apartment. We passed one band that had decided to stop and have their own party, and they were playing Samba and there were a bunch of people dancing in the street. We listened to them for a while, and then finally went back. Shelley and I were completely exhausted, but Gabi was rarin’ to go and do stuff, so we traded off resting and playing with her until bed time.
On Tuesday, we went shopping for food in the morning, and then went to where Sergio works. Sergio is working with this really cool project where he teaches people with physical handicaps rowing, and takes them to competitions and stuff. When we went there were 4 blind people (whom Sergio directs by radio as they row), a couple of people with one leg amputated and a couple of people who maybe had cerebral palsy. Some of the people from the project are in Sao Paulo now for a competition, and Sergio is taking a bunch to Germany for the world championships there. It’s a really cool job, and he’s super passionate about it. He even stops people he sees on the street, like this one 14 year old who only had one leg, and told him about the project and tried to recruit him. People with handicaps in Brazil don’t have a lot going for them, and Sergio says that rowing gives them something that they can use to help themselves, and give themselves confidence. One of the guys gave me a lesson, and it was really hard. You have to have good coordination and rhythm to get going. They do the training at a huge park with a lake on the Atlantic side of the city. It was incredibly pretty and we had a lot of fun walking around, and playing on a playground with Gabi. That night we made rice and beans for dinner, and an actual Brazilian (Sergio) thought it was good, so we must have done something right.
On Wednesday we went to the Pelourinho, the main historic, touristy place to go in Salvador. It was really cool, with lots of old buildings, and tons of people selling stuff. There were people braiding hair in one of the main squares, so Shelley got hers done, and we had Gabi’s done too. They both look very pretty, and Gabi was a star while she had hers done. Some other people came by to get it done, and they ended up taking pictures with Gabi and absolutely fawning over her. A huge tourist group came by too, and they all thought she was great. We also made some plans for our next stop, which will be Belo Horizonte, in Minas Gerais. We bought plane tickets (sorry Mom) for next Wednesday, leaving in the afternoon. It was not too much more expensive than the bus, and instead of a 24 hour ride, it’ll be about 3 or 4, with transfers. I also got the second Harry Potter book on our way back home. We didn’t want rice and beans for dinner again, so we had beans and rice instead.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Katie and Tebben
Hey, my little sister is getting married, and she has a blog!! This is kind of old news, but I thought I would link up my page to hers. So now you can see both of our adventures. Now Matt, and Christie and Troy need blogs. Everyone should get a blog. They´re great! Okay, that´s all for now.
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