State of Mind, Travels Ending

Writing on my iphone ay 23:40 as i wait for the overnight bus from Lencois to Salvador.  Soundtrack for tonight's contemplation: death cab for cutoe's "the photo album" - old school classic.

I'm having a hard time believing that I'm coming back to the united states on saturday.  Even after only 3.5 weeks away, the reality of being back in he US seems unfamiliar and distant. I think this is what happens when you pack in so many different experiences. I've become addicted to trying new things, being rewarded with learning and friendships,and wanting to repeat the process again and again. There are many reasons why I live traveling like this, but perhaps my favorite is... the unpredictability of what will happen and the expectation (informed by past experience) that something special will indeed happen. On this trip, Chapada Diamantina was the big reward. Hiking for four days with a guide that turned out to be a great partner throughout the whole trek - I never imagined that I would do anything like this. At the end of my four days, I found myself wanting more just to see what would happen. Before I go to sleep, a few random thoughts from Chapada...

The vista is more beautiful after a difficult climb. Yes, it's a platitude, but I learned this lesson over and over again in Chapada. Very difficult uphill hikes with vistas of valleys, waterfalls, and plateaus was the theme of the past four days. After wearing myself out during the day (I just tried to keep pace with my guide Nito), meals and skunky beer never tasted better, a rock hard bed never felt better, and candlelight or my headlamp were more than sufficient to do some journaling before bed. Its funny - when I'm in the States I easily succumb to stressing about the little things... What to buy, what to wear, etc. After days of trekking, my mind couldn't have been further from these small worries. Instead, my mind turned to appreciation of what I have. Even though I may not have a comfortable bed, it was prepared with care and will help me get rest. The meals prepared by the families in Vale do Paty were phenomenal, so I can't say I was roughing it in that regard, but you'd better believe that I appreciated all the food I was served. For mid-day meals, ham and cheese and juice hit the spot.  Coming back to my hostel in Lencois feeling beat and after making a few travel mistakes that morning... But then getting a welcome hug from 3-year old Floraluz made it all better.  Anyway, the feeling of not being dragged down by the unimportant things was liberating. This feeling is easier to capture when you're traveling and have  less responsibilities to yourself and others, but how do you capture the feeling in day to day life?

As much as I've enjoyed this trip, I'm very, very glad to be going home. My own bed, not living out of a backpack, television, and speaking my native language are things that I'm really going to appreciate very soon.





And... travel lessons of the day...
- Many people say dont go into a restaurant if its empty... a sign that it is sketchy.  I say go in.  You could have a very personal experience and chat it up with the server or owner who will appreciate your business.
- Bring something for kids.  Tim, one of Daves friends from college, brought a small plastic bag of plastic dinosaurs.  Gary carried a bag of small rubber snakes.
- Carry photos of your family and where youre from.  I showed a postcard of Barack Obama to the kids in the first (very remote) place I stayed in Vale do Paty, and the 10-year old immediately said Obamas name.  Hostel owners are usually interested to see where you come from.  I have a few family pics, the Obama postcard, and a postcard of the Birmingham skyline.  I need to update for next trip, though.

That's it for now. Im going to sleep.

 

Wedding in Paraty, Eyes Opened in Lencois

It's just about sunset and I'm sitting in a house on a hill above the town of Lencois, which is an old diamond mining base near Chapada Diamantina in Bahia, Brazil.  Except this house is a bit different than most.  It is owned by an ex-pat couple, Gary and Kathleen.  Needless to say, this place is NICE.  My friend Jess is reading a book on a hammock, we just had fresh mango juice, I'm sitting on a newly refurbished back patio (actually, the entire house is newly refurbished), and am looking up at a third-floor lookout which peers down onto the small town.  Some fireworks are going off in the background (today is the penultimate day of the Brazilian holiday for Sao Joao - Saint John), and some kids are playing in the yard next door.  This is... a nice life.

Interestingly, I've been slightly uncomfortable with the nature of things in this town.  But before I expound on that thought, let me rewind the past week...

I spent four nights and three days in Paraty.  On Friday (one week ago), most of the American side of the wedding invitees chartered a boat to take us around to a few beaches around Paraty.  Later that night we had the rehearsal dinner (where the Brazilians, unaccustomed to the rituals of rehearsal dinners made very... longwinded toasts about Dave and Cassia), then saw a great upbeat jazz band (Paraty was hosting a 3-day jazz festival).  On Saturday we woke up late to prepare ourselves for the all-night wedding ahead of us.  Then the wedding.  The wedding party took a 10-minute boat ride at 3:45 to Ilha Kontiki, an small private island off Paraty that houses an upscale restaurant.  Dave and his groomsmen met everyone on the dock, after which I spent the first 30 minutes on the island looking around and saying to myself "what the hell IS this... ridiculous."  My vocabulary failing me in the midst of my incredulity, I walked around the island and just admired the scenery at dusk (I'll post photos later, but here's a photo and the website.


The wedding ceremony started at 5:30 or so, and was more of a spiritual ceremony rather than religious.  Cassia's "guru" presided (guru - a term that doesn't quite capture the importance of this woman to Cassia), and some ethereal music played while Dave and Cassia exchanged vows, etc.  As they were walking away after the ceremony ended, the music started playing.  And by music, I mean party music (the second song was Bruno Mars' Nothin on You, to give you a sense).  Apparently this is Brazil style - music and dancing for a full two hours before dinner is served.

Dinner was buffet style, and the caipirinhas and Flying Horse (a poor man's Red Bull that became a great joke) + vodka were flowing.  We all noted that once you took a couple sips of your wine, the waiters would immediately fill up your glass to the brim.

Dave and Cassia had a few surprises for us.  First was their gift to all the attendees...  Havianna sandals (ubiquitous in Brazil).  Second, at midnight Dave processed in with a 10-15 piece drum corps, in true Brazilian style.  The drum corps proceeded to play for 30 minutes... I had never seen anything like it. 

Anyway, the party didn't last as long as we thought it would, and I was on a boat back around 2:45.  Jake and I went to see a band for a few minutes, then headed back to the Pousada.  All in all, the wedding was one of the most unbelievable (in the literal sense) experiences of my life.  I mostly hung out with Jake, Josh, and Lisa (the Fuqua crew) and Tim and Kaitlyn.

On Sunday I took things slowly and we watched the US soccer game using the projector from the wedding.  Bedtime came early for obvious reasons.  Quick rundown of what happened next:

• Monday: transfer with Dave, Cassia, and Dave's family back to Rio.  Jake and I were dropped off at a hostel, and we met Matt, Josh, and Lisa at this churrascaria: Porcao.(travel lesson: don't go to the "best restaurant in town."  Porcao and others like it are good, but they cater to tourists, which means that they're not as good as they could be).
• Tuesday: hung out with Matt, then took it easy, read, and packed.
• Wednesday: the long and short... early morning flight to Salvador.  It took me two hours to secure my rental car, which I would split with Jess (Dave's older sister) and drive to Lencois.  When I go down to the car rental booths, there wasn't one for Sixt, the rental company.  Nor had anyone heard of the company.  I called the phone number of the company, and the number had been disconnected.  Bad news, and I was afraid that I was the victim of a scam, and a non-existent rental company.  I bought an international phone card and called the London office of the company.  I told them what happened, and they said they'd check on it and get back to me (which means I would have to call them back).  After two hours of this, a guy randomly comes up to me with "Sixt" written on his bookbag.  At that moment, Jess walks up.  Apparently the London office called the local office and told them to come pick me up at the airport.  Sixt's local phone was broken (I have a great photo of the "phone" on Sixt's wall with cords hanging everywhere... totally broken).  Anyway, Jess and I go through much traffic and arrive around 11:30 at night.  BUT our adventure wasn't over.  I kid you not - at the exact moment that we arrive in the Lencois town square, the car dies.  Caput.  In front of what's probably the entire town, we push the car to a safe place, walk up to Gary and Kathleen's place, and get to bed.

So, Gary and Kathleen are friends of a friend of Jess in Portland.  They bought a place in Lencois a few years ago, remodeled it, and now spend half the year here.  They're very, very nice people.  The first day in Lencois they took us on a 4-hour hike (basically up and down a waterfall/river/rock slide thing).  Yesterday we went on a bouldering/waterfall hike (7 hours).  There are more examples, but this seems to be the way things go in Lencois.  Gary and Kathleen are well-known in the town, and say hi to people wherever they go.  After each of our hikes we went to have a drink in the town center, and inevitably the same people would join us (and remember both Jess and my names), offer us drinks, food, etc. 

Over and over again, people emphasize that relationships and community are more important than money here.  Normally I'd be skeptical of such a sentiment, and of course this place isn't without rivalries.  But more than just about any other place I've been, this principle seems to hold true.  My hostel owners (Rodrigo and Patricia) have given me the "mi casa es tu casa" green light.  For example, this morning I hung out with Patricia, Sari (another American backpacker), Patricia's 3-year old daughter Floraluz (who claims to be six and is hilarious), and other town kids.  Patricia bought us a coffee.  Another example - last night we started at a small square where people have a local appetizer.  Then we moved onto a pizza place where the same crowd followed.  The night before I was invited to two dinners for the Sao Joao holiday.  Anyway, this is how things go around here.  It's a tourist town and people are well off here.  This makes a difference in the mentality of the place.  I admit - it's nice.

So, back to why I'm a bit uncomfortable.  It's uncomfortable not having something on my to-do list.  To sit at a cafe with only more sitting and socializing ahead is a bit of a foreign concept to me.  It makes me a bit nervous.  But to a certain extent, the people of Lencois have earned it, and this is what they want.  Certainly Gary and Kathleen have worked very hard and planned to be in this position - and they are incredibly generous with the world they've created for themselves in Lencois.  Is this something that I want for my life?  I don't know... time will tell.  For now, it's enlightening to see this side of life.  To get up, hike, swim in a natural pool, come back to town and sip caipirinhas... its not bad.  I'm very thankful for the generosity of Jess, Gary, Kathleen, Patricia, Rodrigo, and everyone else on my path here.

FINALLY, my penultimate adventure in Brazil.  Dave hooked me up with Nito, who is his guide when he comes to Chapada.  Nito is an african rasta guy and lives in Capao - a hippie town near the park.  Nito speaks zero English and only a few words in Spanish, but we're going to spend the next three days together.  Tomorrow morning I'll take a 4am bus to Palmeiras and a car to Capao to meet up with Nito.  We'll buy supplies for the next few days, and start hiking the Vale do Paty.  Instead of camping, we'll stay at the houses of people who live in the valley.  There are about 12 families left in the valley, and they don't have electricity (other than a solar panel for refrigerators and small appliances.  The families cook you dinner and breakfast, and give you a room to stay in. 

Check out these pictures.  Yosemite Valley is probably the most amazing natural phenomena I've ever seen.  Paty is more subdued, but I'm looking forward to its own uniqueness.

Anyway, I have to go pack and go to bed.  I find all of these experiences hard to believe, so they probably sound kind of ridiculous when I speak about them.  I need to reflect on what has put me into this situation - flexibility, great friends with great recommendations, and a bit of risk taking.  Very thankful.
 

In Paraty

I meant to post this last night...

We just arrived in Paraty (6:30pm). The drive from Rio was five hours and we passed by some striking costal scenery. I thought that rio's topography was unique, but the sight of large rocks/small mountains jutting out from the ocean and larger mountains inland extends down the coast. There were many small towns that occupied little inlets as well. Really beautiful stuff.

Our bus carried 15 gringos - all if Dave's friends from high school, college, an Fuqua. An interesting bunch. One girl worked in the same building that i did in dc (1717h.. She works for chemonix), a few were intrigues by fsg,  one guy moving to Laos to to de-mining stuff, a couple bankers who knew where my brother worked. And dave's sister who is a riot and definitely fits in portland. Good crew. 
Anyway, our rooms were messed up (then fixed), so my negotiating genius got us all free caparinhas. 


Off to eat and then to drink...



This morning josh and I went for a 25-minute run, and now we are about to go rent a schooner for the day and hop from island to beach and so on. This place is surreal.  It's a very small town - population 30,000.  The town of Paraty doesn't have a sandy beach, but there are about 50 beaches around here that you can take a boat to.  The historic center (a UNESCO World Heritage site) is blocked off to cars, and has massive cobblestone streets. The old buildings are populated with mostly expensive restaurants and artisan shops.  This weekend there's going to be a jazz festival in town.  


Here's a couple pics from Google Images (I tried to pick images that are pretty true to life).

Raining in Rio

I´m sitting near an open window at the Cafe Rio hostel in the Larenjeiras neighborhood.  An hour ago I had planned on moving from this hostel to another hostel in Ipanema, but it started pouring rain.  So now I´m sitting here getting caught up on the news, answering emails, and looking for places to live in San Francisco.  Here´s a rundown of the past few days...

I got on a bus in Ouro Preto at 10pm on Friday, and arrived at 430 am on Saturday morning... 1.5 hours before what I had expected.  If I had arrived at 0600, I figured it would be safe enough to take a city bus to my hostel.  However, 0430 is still the `madrugada`(same word in Portuguese and Spanish), which basically means the very early morning when people are still up partying (today I learned about the Galo da Madrugada, a massive rooster that people party around thats part of Carnival).  Anyway, I decided to go ahead and make my way to the hostel.  This involved asking a series of questions to the friendliest people I could find, and my pointing to an address.  After a few questions and a few missed directions, I found my bus and rode 25 minutes to Cafe Rio.  The overnight bus was not of the Argentine quality, and the´interstate` to Rio was bumpy to say the least (not to mention, curvy), so I was tired and promptly took a nap in my new hostel.

I woke up with enough time for breakfast, then took a bus down to Leblon and Ipanema beaches in the afternoon (see photo from previous post).  Leblon and Ipanema are two of the nicest (probably THE nicest) neighborhoods and beaches in Rio.  Its Winter in Brazil (highs of about 75 degrees farenheit), so the beach traffic was pretty tame (no hordes of bikini-clad women, although there were more than a few dudes wearing speedos and playing soccer volleyball).  I walked all the way down to a rock formation jutting into the ocean, where there happened to be a Nike `jam session,`which was basically a rock/surfing/skateboarding expo.  Kind of stupid, but it lit up the rocks, so the beach was pretty crowded and therefore safe. 

A note on the safety in Rio.  Many people told me horror stories of the bad stuff that happens in Rio.  My friend Lloyd was held up at knifepoint at night on Copacabana beach.  My dads friend took a cab from the airport, and the cabbie took him out to the country, robbed him, and left him there.  Another friend was mugged and had the glasses stolen off his face.  However, there are also stories like that of my friend from Fuqua, David, who has only been mugged once and has lived in Rio his entire life. Even though I do well to avoid obviously sketchy situations, these stories spooked me and I wasnt sure what to expect from Rio.  After a few days of being here, my conclusion is this: Rio is like DC or NYC or Bogota... cities that have had reputations of being violent in the past, but that are now much better.  The same refrains apply: dont be stupid, dont go to the beach at night, dont brandish your iphone or expensive camera.  Ive taken the bus everywhere in Rio, and its been totally fine.  You just have to proceed with a mix of confidence and awareness.

Anyway, when I got back to my hostel after the beach, I met a hostel-mate from Brunei (300K population, turns out) who is a ship navigator who gets 5-month breaks after 5 months of working nonstop (his route is boring... from Brunei to Japan.  Every week.  Nonstop).  After a minute of knowing each other, we decided to go out to Lapa, the `going out` district in Rio (the other option of the night was to go to a Vasco de Gama soccer game... Juninho´s return match... but the game was sold out).  The hostel owner recommended a samba club, which we went to (charged a cover, but probably worth it).  We then walked around the district, ending up in some pretty interesting places.  Im very glad I went... it was good to see this side of Rio on a Saturday night. 

On Sunday I woke up late and headed down to the beaches again to see a craft fair.  I ended up finding an antique fair and spend a couple hours perusing the goods, then sat down for a sandwich and an `acai bow`,`which is kind of like a smoothie plus frozen yogurt.  Acai is huge down here... they love it.  Theres also a ton of juice bars around the city... serving all kinds of healthy frozen drinks, vitamin infused stuff, etc.  Its a nice touch.

Anyway, I took the metro back from Ipanema because the hostel owner (Jaques) offered to take me and two other travelers (a very cool couple from MN, but who had also lived in Alabama) to a Botafogo game vs. Curitiba.  The stadium is 3 years old and beautiful, but there were only about 15 thousand people there.  They were definitely rowdy, but I had the same reaction as I did when I went to the Bernabeu, River Plate, and La Bombanera - in terms of atmosphere and crowd participation, DC United acquits itself very well.  I asked a few Fogo fans what they thought of US soccer, and got the typical reply: once the US has a better club system with academies, theyll be much better.  Brazil fans dont think we will ever be dominant though.  Jaques liked my Clint Dempsey jersey and asked about Benny Feilhaber.

Monday - I woke up feeling a bit under the weather, so took it easy.  I went up to Christo Redentor.  Its quite something.  The day was a bit hazy, but I could still make out everything below.  I had tried to go on Sunday, but the line was literally 3+ hours long.  On Monday I walked right in with no wait.  From the Big Jesus, you really get a sense of how beautiful Rio´s topography is.  After an hour at the top, I came down to have a smoothie + sandwich and read my Keith Richards book.  I still wasnt feeling well so I went for a run (up a hill, then down). 

Later that night a group of Indian university students checked into the hostel, and we hung out for a while.  They indoctrinated me on the legend of Indian film star Rajinkanth.  They were going nuts.  To them, Indian movie superstars like this guy are a source of embarrassment (`why the hell do we like this guy?  he´s so cheesy`) and complete, unadulterated adoration (there are websites that have Chuck Norris-like jokes such as Once Rajnikaant signed a cheque… and the Bank bounced``).  Ive got to say, Im hooked.  Its hilarious to watch these young Indian guys get so excited about a 60-year old movie star.  Theyd ask me ´dont you adore Al Pacino, Brad Pitt, etc. like this?´).  Nothing comes close to the Raji phenomenon.  He´s definitely going to be my new obsession.  I simply cant believe it.  The Indian guys talked about Rajikanth´s `signature moves`that hes famous for.  Heres a few videos...
http://youtu.be/7tAFZR5C_i0
http://youtu.be/siGP1pVFA10

Look up more on your own.  Im hooked.

Ok, gotta wrap up this post and get to my next hostel.  Today, Tuesday, I wasnt feeling well either so I just read a bit, did laundry, and walked around the neighborhood.  A few closing observations...

I really like the Keith Richards autobiography, especially the music stuff.  He talks a lot about how he and Mick were way into blues, and how the Stones began.  I once took a summer class at UCSD on the Music of the 60s and wrote my final paper on the blues origins of the Rolling Stones.  One of the coolest àcademic`experiences Ive had.
Conversations about the state and future of the world.  I had a few of these.  One was with the couple from MN (both getting their PhDs.. one in neuroscience and the other in International Education Policy).  We talked about things like whether China will actuall overtake the US in economic power, political might, etc.  Admittedly, Im not as up to speed on these issues as Id like to be.  In school the past two years, these conversations were few and far between, which is unfortunate.  I made a lot of friends from different countries and would try to have conversations (e.g. ask an Indian what he thinks of Indian democracy), but they didnt happen with frequency.  With the Indian guys last night, we talked about Indias future, Indians´´complacent attitude of `thats just the way its gonna be` and why this attitude is holding India back in many ways), and some other things.  I enjoyed this.
Cafe culture.  I really dig these small cafes that are all around the city.
As a traveler, you have a choice.  You can do all the tourist things (no harm in doing that), or you can try to feel like a local... get to know the place.  Today I reached the point where I got a feel for the Laranjeiras neighborhood.  It comes when you do normal stuff.. laundry, run, have a lazy day, go back to a restaurant for the second time.  I prefer this style of travel.  It requires staying in one spot for a few days, though.
I have concluded that Rio is a very livable city.
My Kindle is amazing.  Great device.  I really like the note-taking and underlining feature.  You can underline, then the notes are consolidated for you, and you can easily share your notes.  It makes reading more efficient.

This has been a huge blog post, and it has stopped raining.  Off to Ipanema and LightHouse hostel.

Ipanema and Leblon photo

I took this during my first day in Rio.

Another OP photo

And here's a photo of one part of the city. Looks like Guanajuato, doesn't it?

Photos from Ouro Preto

Here's a photo of me in front of a chuck designed by the famous Alejadinho (to give scale, Tim is posing in the background).

Another overnight bus

I'm typing this out in my iPhone at 22:00 on Friday evening, but it wont post until the next time I connect to wifi.

I just boarded an overnight bus from Ouro Preto to Rio. Ill get there at 06:00, take a bus to my hostel, drop my bags off (I'm hoping they'll be nice and let me take a shower), then probably head to the beach (and then promptly take a nap once I can check in). This is the third overnight bus I've taken in my life. The first two were in 2007 in argentina - cycling between buenos aires and Mendoza. This bus is nice, and my front row seat reclines to about 150 degrees (or 30, depending on your perspective). Not as nice as the double decker argentine busses though, which reclined 180 degrees and had a legit hostess who even led a few bingo games. Anyway, the bus will do, I'm listening to Ben Harper's "Fight for your Mind" - a rhodes college flashback - and two beers to help me go to sleep.

Yesterday the crew drive to Ouro Preto and walked around for the bulk of the day. Dave and Cassia left in the evening to go back to BH, while Tim, Caitlin and I stayed the night in OP. A huge rainstorm hit the town around 8, so we stayed at our pousada and read books. When the rain stopped, Tim and I went out for a beer.

OP reminds me a lot of where I lived in Mexico - Guanajuato. A couple centuries ago, the area around OP produced 90% if the world's gold (which in turn went straight back to the Portuguese motherland). So OP, in the
middle of some very hilly country, got built up with lots of baroque churches, cobblestone streets, etc. It's very pretty. OP has 60,000 residents (smaller than Guanajuato) and a university. The vibe is much more low key than Guanajuato. I'm glad I stayed the night.

[as I type, ben Harper's "burn one down" is playing... Great song]

On Friday morning (today) we got a late start (why rush?) and walked around the whole day. The highlight of the day was walking a hell of a long way up a hill to a cross perched outside the city. After a dinner near the town square and the aforementioned beers, tim and Caitlin walked me to the bus station. they'll stay another two nights before heading to rio.

I really enjoyed hanging out with those two over the past couple days. Tim is one if Dave's friends from Bowdoin (sp), and they live in the San Juan islands where tim is a biology researcher and Caitlin is an emt. They're good people, and are relaxed travelers - we were perfectly content to take time in the evening to read, and time in the morning to sleep.

Ok, my hands are getting tired from typing on my iPhone. A few random observations before I go:
- Brazilians have this delicious cheesy rolls everywhere. Someone could make some money by selling them in the states.
- I've learned I can speak Spanish and the Brazilians understand me, but when they respond in Portuguese I only get about 5% of what they say.
- sitting at cafes and listening to live acoustic guitar is something I should seek out more. Love it.
- The US soccer team plays panama tomorrow, and I'm sure that nobody around here will care at all. Regardless, I'm going to wear my Clint Dempsey US jersey and try to find the game on tv.
- I'm reading Keith Richards' autobiography. That guy did a lot of drugs. I mean, a lot of drugs.

I Want to Stay

One day into my Brazil trip, and I'm already thinking about staying another week. It didn't take long for me to get into the travel groove. On the flight down (which was only 75% full, allowing me to lay out and sleep the entire 8 hour flight), I met a Brazilian woman who offered to take me to my destination. She wasn't a scam artist (mom, don't worry) - things like this happen in Brazil... very friendly people, especially in Minas Gerais. But it was easier for me to take the bus, so that's what I did. I expected to be able to use my Spanish to compensate for knowing no Portuguese, but it has helped minimally so far. At the airport I had a few stare downs with Brazilians at ticket counters, and had to resort to hand gestures and very simple words. I was immediately reminded of how travel oven equals failure (I think I posted about this yesterday). Because travelers are naturally ignorant, they make mistakes. The key is to be resilient and resourceful. For me, that's a hell of a lot of fun.

Dave and Cassia picked me up from the bus station, drove me to Cassia's house for a quick shower, and then we (plus two of Dave's friends) went to an outdoor modern art museum/park in the middle of nowhere. The three friends walked around while Dave and Cassia took wedding photos. Really cool park, and we got to see a very local (and somewhat country) side of Brazil.

We left the park in early evening and drove through a few small towns on our way back to Belo Horizonte. Thirsty, we stopped for some coconut water (straight from the coconut) and some of those cheese-tasting onion ring-looking snacks that are everpresent in South America. Driving through the towns reminded me of one thing I love about Latin America - how everyone is out walking in the streets when the day ends. There's so much activity - schoolchildren, people getting off work, people heading home or to bars. Of course, tonight the temperature was about 75 degrees farenheit all day, so the evening had a pleasant feel.

We decided to spend the evning at Cassia's house to rest up for the next few days. For dinner (really a "merienda"more than a dinner) we had ham sandwiches, a fresh fruit salad, and some local cheese + dulce de leche. The house reminds me of where I lived in Mexico - it's nice, simple, has a small patio, and is very "open air." I've got my own room, and it's very comfortable. I brought a photo book of Alabama and some BBQ dry rub for Cassia's parents, which they seemed to appreciate. A rooster will wake me up tomorrow (in Mexico, I was woken by the guys screaming "gaaaas"and "aguaaaa" before the lazy roosters, which usually started crowing at 9:00am). Tonight I'll read a bit of the Keith Richards autobiography (hilarious thus far... that guy did a lot of drugs. Seriously. A lot of drugs) then go to bed early. Tomorrow we'll drive to Ouro Preto, an old colonial mining town in the hills. Dave and Cassia had planned to spend the next two nights with us, but Dave has to take care of some stuff in BH. So, I'll either tag along with Tim and his girlfriend Caitlin, or go off on my own - either to Rio or to a random small town. Minas Gerais (the state we're in) has a bunch of small mining towns that are probably all similar. I think it would be cool to pick a completely random place to spend a day - probably just walking around, eating, reading, and feeling anonymous.

Oh, and I want to extend my trip in Brazil. I miss traveling. I'm good at it. It's invigorating. At this transition point in my life, I want some time away to experience something exciting, and to have the time and space to reflect on my transitino. Just as important, when else am I going to be in Brazil?

Destination

I will spend the next three weeks in Brazil. My goal for this trip is to not just enjoy myself, but rather be joyful in the moment instead of concerning myself with the destination. However, at this moment I just want to get to Brazil. I'm about to board in Miami after a long day.

I wrote this around 5:00pm today...

I just woke up from a nap on the floor of a friend's office in Miami. What am I doing here? Well, I should be in Brazil right now. I went to the airport yesterday at 2:00pm - plenty of time for my flight to Miami (then to Sao Paolo, then Belo Horizonte, Brazil). All set to check in, I was informed that the flight to Miami left two hours earlier. Apparently I had read my ticket wrong and mistook the arrival time for the departure time. Hm. Ok. What the hell.

(Colin, I still think your experience of going to DCA instead of IAD and missing your flight to the Bahamas is a more ridiculous story)

After the American Airlines guy scrambled to figure out my options (there was a good chance that I would have to forfeit my very expensive ticket and rebook everything) I had the option of driving really fast to Atlanta to catch the last flight to Miami, or come back today at 4am and do the whole thing again. Option two cost significantly less (I didn't have to pay for an entirely new ticket), so here I am in the midst of a 12-hour layover in Miami. Luckily I've got a few friends here. I'm at my friend Daru's office, and we're about to go have dinner with Andy Ransford and Patrick Betar, two really good friends from Rhodes. I haven't seen Betar in about 6-7 years... Gonna be fun.

So begins my three week trip to Brazil. A good friend from Fuqua is getting married to a Brazilian woman down there, so I figured this would be a great excuse to take an extended vacation. Most of my b-school classmates are going on world tours this summer... Mostly to Asia. Although I'd love to go spend a couple months traveling (when else am I going to have the chance?), three weeks will satisfy me. I've got a damn good job waiting for me in San Francisco (not to mention much needed paychecks), so I planned for a three week trip, then about two weeks in Birmingham, then on to California. Next on my travel list are North Africa, the Middle East, and New Zealand. Too many places to see.

My itinerary in Brazil:
Fly to Belo Horizonte, which is where my friends fiancée is from. I'll meet up with Dave, Cassia, and one of Dave's high school friends and go to Ouro Preto and Lavras Novas for a couple days (two old mining towns + some nature/hiking). If I hadn't screwed up my flight yesterday I would've been able to spend a night in Belo Horizonte with Cassia's family and friends.

On Saturday I'll break off from the group and take a 4-hour bus to Rio. This will be my solo time. In Tuesday a couple more friends arrive in Rio, so until then I'm going to do my own thing. Since I'm staying at a hostel in Ipanema on Tuesday and Wednesday, I booked a hostel that's in a more residential neighborhood. I may regret this, but I figured it would be a different experience than what the typical beach crowd has (although the first thing I'll do after getting to rio will be to walk around the beach). Plus the owners of the hostel got great reviews, so I hope they'll be able to direct me to some off the beaten path music venues and cafes.

After 4 days in Rio, the wedding attendees take a shuttle from Rio to Paraty (http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paraty) - 4 hours south of Rio. The wedding is on Saturday on an island about 15 minutes off the coast. While we're in Paraty (until Monday) there's going to be a big arts and jazz festival in town... Really cool stuff.

After Paraty I'll either head to Buzios for a day (the "Brazilian Riviera"), go back to Rio, or stay around Paraty for another day. Whatever I do, ive got to be at the Rio airport on Wednesday morning to fly to Salvador. From there, I'll meet up with my friend Matt, and with Dave's sister (Remember... Dave is the guy getting married). The three of us will rent a car and drive six hours to Lencois, which is the entry point to the Chapada national park. Dave has spent over 60 days hiking in Chapada and claims it's "like Yosemite times ten.". We'll see... I'll be there for five days. While in Lencois, we will probably meet up with other friends of friends (Americans) who have a house in Lencois. There's also a big festival that's going on (Brazilians will be on holiday), so the town will be jumpin. We plan to do a bunch of hiking to waterfalls and things like that. After five days, we drive back to Salvador. Matt will go on to Sao Paolo, Jess (Dave's sister) will head back to Portland, and I'll stay in Salvador for 3 days. I might go to nearby beach towns... I'm intentionally leaving this part of the trip completely unplanned.

Whew. That's my itinerary. Obviously, it's going to be an active three weeks. But, I think I've done a good job of building in some downtime. Aside from enjoying the moment, I want to come back refreshed and satisfied. A balance of partying (it's Brazil... Parties are inevitable and welcome) and days to myself.

One thing I'm thinking about right now - I despise the people in first class. Call me a player hater, but I resent their comfort. Contrast: me, shlepping a massive backpack everywhere and staying in hostels (and one nice pousada in Paraty). This has been the way I've traveled for the past ten years, and I wouldn't have it any other way. The struggle of traveling teaches you things... It does. Having to figure things out on your own and make a ton of mistakes in the process is how you learn - to take care of yourself and be resilient when you screw up. But, my 31-year old bones are telling me that this may be the last big trip I take in true backpacking style. We shall see. The people you meet when traveling this way always make it worth it.. No doubt about it.

Plane about to leave and there's an empty seat next to me. Thank goodness. Bedtime.