So in December Tyler had said he would love come down and visit but it just wasn't going to be possible. Then I think that a combination of an overwhelming amount of snow and of exams in Vancouver took their toll and he agreed to come down for a South American visit. He wanted to meet in Rio, however, had I stayed in Rio any longer my body would have shut down and I was already planning to be in Buenos Aires by the time he had reading break (yes, that is what we call it at UBC). Problem was, although BsAs is a spectacular city and a delightful place to spend a subtropical vacation there is, contrary to popular belief, no beach. Argentina isn't really renowned for its beaches either. Neither Tyler and I had ever considered going to Uruguay (I actually looked up Uruguay on the map about 6 weeks ago while reading Shake Hands with the Devil... one of the main characters is Uruguayan) but I kept hearing they had sweet beaches... half a day's travel from BsAs.
Tyler arrived on Sunday and proceded to have the best meal of the trip, perhaps of his life (at least the best steak of his life...). I guess we forgot to save the best for last but we didn`t realize it would be THAT good. We went to a place called Cabrera on J.A. Cabrera in Palermo... about five blocks from where we were staying at Ale's place. (A quick aside about Ale... anothe couchsurfing friend who I had met originally on the beach in Rio - a spectacular host who inspires me and furthers my belief that it's possible to be a lawyer and still be really cool. She has a beautiful apartment in Palermo which she graciously opens to visitors almost everyday of the week and best of all a turtle, or perhaps a tortoise, named Jules who is 22 and whom she has had that whole time. He has free run of the place and acts more like a dog than a tortoise. amazing.)
So back to the restaurant we sat for over two hours just drinking wine and trying to breathe enough to stuff our faces with an amazing huge pasta, a gargantuan steak and a bunch of sides... we did it. Well, I didn`t quite finish the pasta but Tyler, the trooper that he is, about did the steak. Eventually I will put the photo, it is spectacular. After that we went back for a quick but much needed nap before attempting to go see a Boca game... but only expensive tix were left (just wondering around amid all the craziness, people in the streets shouting and police and riot gear was still really cool). We did get to see a River game before we left... River and Boca are BsAs' two biggest soccer teams. It was quite cool though I think slightly more tame than Boca because it is in a nicer neighborhood. The neighborhood that we stayed with Simone, Caroline and Lynn actually. They have a beautiful place and are great sharers: mate, fernet (they taught us ALL about what to do, and not do, with fernet - argentine liquor of choice).
They also had all the luxuries - hair straightener, Orbit gum (gum in SA is a joke... the texture is awful), the Office downloaded on a laptop, AC... man it was like an oasis.
We all went out dancing (twice) on Saturday and danced and danced and fought with glowsticks and I got escorted by the cops to an ATM because we ran out of cash.
Tyler and I had a great time and I am so glad he came. I think he agrees, minus the sunburn.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
CARNIVAL!
so it has been a long time since i`ve written in any sort of computer compatible form, meaning that everything i have written has been for my eyes only. not necessarily because of the content but because of the lack of cut and paste... it makes it more difficult to write on the computer when the time i feel like i have the most of is on the bus and whatnot. god i just realized that i am really really thirsty. i am going to plow through this for a bit more and then go get some water and go to bed.
nevermind i got up and found water already.
so rio... i think i already mentioned that rio was the most awesome and also most filthy time of my life. alena thinks these two things are contradictory or at least have a tenous relationship. i disagree. day in and day out were the blocos... morning noon and night. when i arrived cc (oh cc, the best thing that ever happened to anyone is knowing her: she made everyones carnival) told me two things: 1. you can sleep when you are dead. 2. forget about day and night during carnival, it is going constantly and you just rest when you absolutely cannot go on.
so these blocos... dancing in the street, following a band. the largest ones are listed on a website, locations and times but some of the most fun were impromptu people with instruments that transformed into blocos and took over streets, closing them down in true carnival spirit. traffic really had no place in carnival.
i danced more in one week than i had the previous 4 months... hell, the whole year, combined. i danced until my feet were sore, my head was sore, my ribs were sore. and drank just enough so that i wasn`t quite drunk but only felt sore upon waking up... never after more than a few hours of sleep.
i could write about carnival for days... the sights the sounds... the sweat. living off of adrenaline, beer, a rare pizza slice or bowl of acai... the bloco in santa theresa... we arrived exhausted, partied in the every increasing and inescapable heat through narrow streets surrounded by colors, sweating and smiling and moving and loving the music and the man with the too long dreadlocks that kept sticking to me... oh how awful. people coming out with houses to apease the begging dehydrated masses that sambaed past their homes.
the bloco in the botanical garden where i went to the bank and somehow miraculously found my friends again amidst a gigantic crowd. oh and the story of the impromptu bathroom... three girls between a car and a ruined cell phone that turned into a line around the block which we should have charged for.
the superbowl during carnival... filthy and hooliganizing at the marriot. ridiculously amazing.
cc and her endless parade of costumes. thor who actually participated in the sambodromo. going to the sambodromo and watching the parade... just like on TV. (cheap tickets!) elina who was to become my travel partner in the time to come.
okay... that was carnival in a nutshell. i mean, i dont know. you should go.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Sao Paulo!
So I got into Sao Paulo after staying between Albany and New York for about 10 days (thanks Chris and Schwabbie). It was so good to be in Albany again, so many things I had missed. I wish I could have stayed like a month and just chilled with everyone but I did see a lot of people including a very pregnant Steffa - I can´t wait to meet the baby! LeavingJFK I had thought I´d better take a good look around at all the effeciency and soak it up because I would be leaving it - I couldn´t have been more wrong. The airport in SP (at least the one I was at, GRU) was supernice and easy to navigate. An hour later I was at Vivian and Priscilla´s place where they insisted I sleep in a bedroom so they wouldn´t wake me in the morning. They gave me the keys and let me sleep in and hang out in the morning before I went off exploring. They live in a really kind of hip neighborhood of Sao Paulo, safe but fun. The streets are busy day and night - with 17 million people someone is bound to be out I suppose.
So my days have passed between mornings to my self with a cup of instant coffee or tea, some yogurt and some reading or emailing. Vivian has a huge library of music on her computer, stuff I know and stuff I don´t but all good. (stuff I love like belle and sebastian and louis attaque - I need to tell Leah that). Thursday night both roomates went home for graduation parties. I decided to stay at a hostel in the neighborhood, O de casa. It was really cool and small scale and everyone very friendly. We all went out to the bday party of one of the boyfriends of a girl who works there. It was at some bar that was a lot farther of a walk than we thought but we had fun, stopping for a drink along the way. I walked over there with an English girl named Clare who I really should have gotten contact information for, a girl from Sweden named Sonya and an Irish guy named Steve. They played Marvin Gaye and other assorted soul music all night and it was great. The drinks were 80% alcohol, thankfully I only had one and stuck to beer, I still slept until 12.30 the next day.
Sophie, who was in my dorm when I woke up, and I headed down to the Parque Independencia for this free show (it was Sao Paulo´s birthday, 454 years - apparently there was some 454 meter cake but we never found it, damn -). The show was cool it was picking up though as we left around 7. Kind of like a festival but they didn´t sell anything within the gates which we were both miffed by. We enjoyed it though. That night Vivian got home around 10.30 and called. I said I would be by in an hour but she fell asleep and no amount of calling or ringing the bell would wake her (sound familiar to anyone from the week before?) So I went back the hostel (all very close) where we stayed up until 6 playing ´celebrity head´ as Sally calls it but I think that sounds like oral sex, and told her so. (the game where you have the name of a famous person on your head and you ask yes or no questions when its your turn until you get it) - 8 hours of fun provided, apparently. Sonya and I crashed on the couches for a few hours as they were out of beds. I got breakfast and spoke to Vivian midmorning - she was worried. She and I went to a barbeque and the house of a friend she works with - it was fun we ate and ate and drank ´chopp´- draft beer from about 12 until 8 or 9. I couldn´t fully appreciate it though I did have a bite of steak - it´s was good, I´m sure, but too meaty for my liking though I did manage to swallow it and say thanks but no thanks. There was so much meat, sausage, steak, chicken but also bbq cheese which rocks. And lots of other things. And beer, did I mention? Everyone was super friendly and really patient with the fact that I speak very little Portuguese ´´nao falo bem portuguese´ is a huge part of my repertoire... but I am going to take a class tomorrow and one on Wednesday I think.
After the bbq we went to the hostel because I had the key to a locker in my bag. We drank some beer for a few hours and talked then Vivian decided to head home but she insisted I stay out if I wanted. Despite the no sleep I was wired (i think i had pushed through being tired and running on adrenaline) I stayed out with the hostel crowd and we went to a club called Vegas at like 1.30 - very odd for me but apparently common here they give you a card when you come in and you charge your drinks to it - potentially very dangerous. It was pretty expensive (for my idea of what clubbing in SA should cost- apparently SP is the most expensive place in Brazil to go out) cover was like $20us. But whatev, we had a great time dancing on two floors and lots of laughing. When we fell into a cab it was daylight and then I slept until 4.30pm - I thought my clock was wrong but Vivian confirmed for me! She and I rented a movie last night and just chilled, I read a lot.
This morning I woke around 8.30 and had breakfast with Priscilla who had just arrived from Minais Gerais where she was at the world´s largest graduation party thrown by all the universities (her cousin had graduated). She said she was out til 8am and slept all day Sunday (I am not the only one I guess).
Well, I´m off to see if I can find Sophie and I think tonight I will meet Vivian´s English teacher and after we will all go to dinner at a Mariachi place - funny Mexican restaurants in Brazil - I´m excited. Tomorrow I believe I will go to Simone´s for dinner - her mom is making gnochi - made me think of Julie.
I head to Rio on Thursday I believe. I will try to write more often and less extensively and to put up photos.
Please comment or email and let me know what you are up to
peace,
bobbi-jo
So my days have passed between mornings to my self with a cup of instant coffee or tea, some yogurt and some reading or emailing. Vivian has a huge library of music on her computer, stuff I know and stuff I don´t but all good. (stuff I love like belle and sebastian and louis attaque - I need to tell Leah that). Thursday night both roomates went home for graduation parties. I decided to stay at a hostel in the neighborhood, O de casa. It was really cool and small scale and everyone very friendly. We all went out to the bday party of one of the boyfriends of a girl who works there. It was at some bar that was a lot farther of a walk than we thought but we had fun, stopping for a drink along the way. I walked over there with an English girl named Clare who I really should have gotten contact information for, a girl from Sweden named Sonya and an Irish guy named Steve. They played Marvin Gaye and other assorted soul music all night and it was great. The drinks were 80% alcohol, thankfully I only had one and stuck to beer, I still slept until 12.30 the next day.
Sophie, who was in my dorm when I woke up, and I headed down to the Parque Independencia for this free show (it was Sao Paulo´s birthday, 454 years - apparently there was some 454 meter cake but we never found it, damn -). The show was cool it was picking up though as we left around 7. Kind of like a festival but they didn´t sell anything within the gates which we were both miffed by. We enjoyed it though. That night Vivian got home around 10.30 and called. I said I would be by in an hour but she fell asleep and no amount of calling or ringing the bell would wake her (sound familiar to anyone from the week before?) So I went back the hostel (all very close) where we stayed up until 6 playing ´celebrity head´ as Sally calls it but I think that sounds like oral sex, and told her so. (the game where you have the name of a famous person on your head and you ask yes or no questions when its your turn until you get it) - 8 hours of fun provided, apparently. Sonya and I crashed on the couches for a few hours as they were out of beds. I got breakfast and spoke to Vivian midmorning - she was worried. She and I went to a barbeque and the house of a friend she works with - it was fun we ate and ate and drank ´chopp´- draft beer from about 12 until 8 or 9. I couldn´t fully appreciate it though I did have a bite of steak - it´s was good, I´m sure, but too meaty for my liking though I did manage to swallow it and say thanks but no thanks. There was so much meat, sausage, steak, chicken but also bbq cheese which rocks. And lots of other things. And beer, did I mention? Everyone was super friendly and really patient with the fact that I speak very little Portuguese ´´nao falo bem portuguese´ is a huge part of my repertoire... but I am going to take a class tomorrow and one on Wednesday I think.
After the bbq we went to the hostel because I had the key to a locker in my bag. We drank some beer for a few hours and talked then Vivian decided to head home but she insisted I stay out if I wanted. Despite the no sleep I was wired (i think i had pushed through being tired and running on adrenaline) I stayed out with the hostel crowd and we went to a club called Vegas at like 1.30 - very odd for me but apparently common here they give you a card when you come in and you charge your drinks to it - potentially very dangerous. It was pretty expensive (for my idea of what clubbing in SA should cost- apparently SP is the most expensive place in Brazil to go out) cover was like $20us. But whatev, we had a great time dancing on two floors and lots of laughing. When we fell into a cab it was daylight and then I slept until 4.30pm - I thought my clock was wrong but Vivian confirmed for me! She and I rented a movie last night and just chilled, I read a lot.
This morning I woke around 8.30 and had breakfast with Priscilla who had just arrived from Minais Gerais where she was at the world´s largest graduation party thrown by all the universities (her cousin had graduated). She said she was out til 8am and slept all day Sunday (I am not the only one I guess).
Well, I´m off to see if I can find Sophie and I think tonight I will meet Vivian´s English teacher and after we will all go to dinner at a Mariachi place - funny Mexican restaurants in Brazil - I´m excited. Tomorrow I believe I will go to Simone´s for dinner - her mom is making gnochi - made me think of Julie.
I head to Rio on Thursday I believe. I will try to write more often and less extensively and to put up photos.
Please comment or email and let me know what you are up to
peace,
bobbi-jo
Monday, January 7, 2008
getting ready to go + phone number
packing is threatening to drive me insane. (and by packing i mean putting everything i own in cardboard boxes and taping it minus about 30L worth of stuff which i will take - very much traveling light for me). please don't call 509 430 9370. not only do i not have it, my mom does. thanks.
this blog, bobbijo.dobush@gmail.com or my skype bobbi-jo.dobush are the best ways to get ahold of me. i might get lonesome on the road so feel free to write whenever.
i'll be in new york thru jan 22 if anyone is in the area send me an email.
this blog, bobbijo.dobush@gmail.com or my skype bobbi-jo.dobush are the best ways to get ahold of me. i might get lonesome on the road so feel free to write whenever.
i'll be in new york thru jan 22 if anyone is in the area send me an email.
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