February 2002 Archives

Johnny Cash is turning 70 today and I've been listening to some of his stuff on Eclecticos. I love his voice, his harsh and beautiful songs and the way his cool transcends time and musical genres. My earliest exposure to his music was when I was still living in Czechoslovakia (in the '70s) and I heard his songs performed by Czech country bands - in Czech! Hearing the songs in English sang by that voice of his, deep, rich and full of gravel, made them so much better. I wish the Man In Black many more years in which to create his music.

After getting home, picking up our mail at the post office we went to pick up Homer at Triple Crown. There was a small snafu, because they thought we were going to pick him up on Sunday, but everything worked out. We had a hard time believing that the dog they gave us was the same one we left two weeks ago. Homer seems more self confident, doesn't shy away from people and walks really well on a loose leash. He also learned the "place" command. We need to be sure to reinforce the stuff he learned in keep building on top of that. In any case, I highly recommend Triple Crown and their In-Kennel Training. Our trainer was Kim Kelly (kkelly@triplecrowndogs.com) and we (and Homer) were very impressed and pleased with him.

We also got Homer a Zoom Groom which is a rubber brush made by Kong. The shedding season is starting and the Zoom Groom seems to work very well at getting rid of Homer's loose hair and he seems to like it. It also worked very well when we were giving him his bath.

The flight back from Brazil didn't feel too bad. American handed out little packets with eye masks, ear plugs and even a mini tooth brush and tooth paste. The plugs do make a significant difference - way to go American! We watched Rat Race which turned out to be just as stupid as I expected it to be.

Arriving back was a bit of a downer. I missed all the Portuguese everywhere and the laid back chaos. I also got reminded how focused we are on ourselves and detached from far away places (and vice versa). Coming back and seeing red-white-blue ribbons on flight attendants, and soldiers with guns at the airport seemed like a different world. People in Brazil do not obsess on 9/11 (and I didn't think about it when I was there, either). When they actually played America the Beautiful (the short they seem to play before every movie at the theaters) before we started boarding our flight, I wondered what the people visiting the Olympic Games thought about all this.

So we made it on our flight, made a single stop (yay!) in Brazilia and landed in São Paulo, Congonhas air port. Our flight back to Dallas is out of São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport which is at the other end of the city. No problem, we checked into a connecting shuttle and for R$14 we can get to the other airport. However, the next available shuttle was at 9 A.M. and my watch says it´s only a quarter till 8. There was no way we´d be waiting for over an hour for a shuttle (and how come those Brazilians can´t provide sufficient space!?!). I call our hotel (we are having a very long lay over and planned to take a nap) and they don´t have shuttle service to Congonhas. I check at the shuttle desk again and ask how much a taxi would be and, not looking forward to paying R$70 for the trip we head towards the taxi stands. Luckily we happen to glance at a clock (they are all over the place, even over the shuttle desk) and discover that it´s almost 9 A.M. Ah, right, time zones! So we head back to the shuttle desk, get our tickets and make the nine o clock bus (which has only four other passengers on it). The lesson here is to always check the clock when you land at an airport.

The bus ride took maybe half an hour and after we discovered that we can´t check our luggage until three hours before departure we found the free hotel shuttle (from Guarulhos) and checked into the airport Marriott. Aah, air conditioning, hot shower, a toilet where you can flush the paper, a king size bed, CNN, heaven on earth! And a fairly good lunch and a business center with a high speed connection (relatively speaking) to the Internet. Ever since Manaus we´ve been feeling like tourists again, so I don´t even feel guilty about embracing all things American again.

Still, after two weeks without news (nobody follows winter Olympics in the tropics) and lots of leisure, it´s going to be tough being back home. I only hope Homer still remembers us...

After our last lunch at the lodge we were reading in the hammocks on the porch and I hear Jennifer yell monkeys! Well, it turned out to be a three-toed sloth, a slow dim witted-looking animal that was fascinating to watch as it slowly and deliberately made its way up the tree. Bob (that´s what Jennifer named it) seem to give deep before making any movement and was on display for close to an hour without really doing much of anything except munching on a few leaves.

The other people at the lodge said they had seen some monkeys earlier but we had no such luck. Beside the caiman, the resident macaws were the most exciting thing.

After we checked out and were on the boat back to Manaus we spotted one or two dolphins in the river. They were to far to tell whether they were pink or gray dolphins, but it was still neat to spot them.

On the way back to the lodge we were caught out on the water by one of the many rain showers. Everyone but Jennifer had a rain jacket or wind breaker which meant that I ended up totally wet, since this shower turned into a deluge of Biblical proportions. Throughout our stay the weather was fascinating. Showers and sunshine (or at least dry overcast) alternate fairly regularly. Their was a thunderstorm with heavy rain during the night (which I slept through) and it never was more than two hours without some sprinkle of rain. On our way back to Manaus, a four hour boat ride, we had no less than three heavy down pour alternating with blue patches of sky and sunshine. This makes for humid air (the forest is steaming after a rain) but also for relatively cool temperatures (80´s).

At the end of our first trip, we stopped at the hut of a local Indian farmer. It was a family with six children and a plot of maybe 500x1000 yards. The people were quite short but seemed healthy and leading a nice life on their little homestead. They grew different fruits, nuts, lemon grass, manioc, coffee and other crops and they had a cute pig roaming the premises. We got to taste fresh Brazil nuts - the individual nuts come in a pod that looks a little like a coconut, although smaller and with a thicker shell. Fresh Brazil nuts taste more like dried coconut meat and are much better than the ones you buy in the US. We also learned how manioc and tapioca flour are made (they come from the same plant) although we didn´t get to see the process, since it wasn´t the right season. We bought some handicrafts (Jennifer wouldn´t let me get a blow gun) which are quite inexpensive.

The next day after our jungle hike we visited the Village of the Lady of Perpetual Sorrow. It consisted of a small church (with a lovely mahogany ceiling that would cost a fortune abroad but was inexpensively made from local wood) a school, community hall, a small clinic, a soccer field (of course) and a bunch of small houses. The village is a kind of show village that the tourist lodges take their guest to to see the locals and buy handicrafts. For that reason they provide the village with a generator and pump. I bought a carved macaw relief for the house. After hiding in the local bar from the rein and admiring a six yard long anaconda skin we headed back to the lodge.

The next morning we left a little after eight for a hike through the jungle. We took the canoe to the beginning of a trail and then hiked the trail for a couple of hours. Krishna, machete in hand, described many of the plants we saw and their uses. A lot of the trees in the jungle provide spices for cooking or ingredients for perfumes or medicine. We saw cinnamon and clove plants whose bark smells like the spices. We saw a tree whose bark had a refreshing citrusy aroma used for making perfumes. We so the Milk of Magnesia tree whose sap is sometimes used by the natives to feed orphaned babies and that can be processed into Milk of Magnesia that you get at the local drug store (although that one is probably synthesized). The Vicks' Vapor Rub tree has a sap that smells just like the ointment and is used for the same ailments. There was also a tree that produces tar (smelling exactly like asphalt) when heated and that the locals would strip of its bark, set afire and then collect the tar to seal boats and roofing. We also saw mahogany trees, small and large.

Walking through the jungle was not too strenuous. It was wet and humid but not too hot. We were also sheltered from the rain. Regardless whether it poured or there was sun shine, on the jungle floor you have an occasional drip coming from the canopy of trees. While were were walking and trying not to trip over some liana or root, Krishna and Caraca made tiaras, crowns, stars and grass hoppers out of leaves that they had chopped off some palms.

After dinner we went out in the dark on the canoe to go find some caimans. Our guide Krishna was in the back by the engine and the driver Caraca was standing up front with a huge flash light. Caraca was sweeping the light along the shore looking for reflections from a caiman´s eyes. sure enough, after a while we could see an evil red dot on the distant shore. The boat headed in that direction and after Krishna cut the engine we coasted to the spot where the light was seen. It´s really difficult to make out anything under the water. In the darkness the trees simply reflected in the inky water and sometimes it was difficulty to even make out where the reflection ended and the real tree begun. Anyway, as we arrived at the spot I think I saw the caiman with only its eyes and snout out of the water, but he disappeared as soon as Caraca tried to catch him.

So it was back out on the river and continuing our search. We´d sight a caiman eye´s reflection every five minutes or so, head for the reptile and inevitably it would disappear before we arrived or as soon as Caraca tried to grab him.

Eventually we turned around heading towards the lodge again, but still seeping the light for caimans. We saw another reflection and when we got close to the spot, I could see to caiman a couple of feet from the canoe. To our surprise, instead of grabbing the caiman from the boat, Carac dove into the pitch black water and almost immediately came back up clutching a thrashing reptile. We greeted him with applause - the caimans here are pretty small and thus not very dangerous, but Caraca could have impaled himself on something in the murky water.

Once out of the water we got to admire the caiman from up close. He (yes, Krishna checked) was about three feet long and maybe a year and three months old. A very cute critter with small but vicious looking teeth. We got to touch him (I have a photo of me holding him) and Krishna explained about the differences between different reptiles and some of the attributes of the caiman. They have two sets of lids, one of which they use under water so that they can see clearly above and below surface.

Eventually we let him back into the water and he shot away into the darkness. This was our closest encounter with a wild animal during our stay, but quite memorable.

We arrived at the Acajatuba Lodge around three in the afternoon and were greeting with some local liqueur. Lodge consists of a main dining room/building and 25 huts, each divided in two rooms. All the buildings are circular, build with native materials and covered with thatched roofs. The setup is pleasingly primitive. You have electric light but no air conditioning or hot water (OK, that wasn´t that pleasing, but not a big deal). The screened windows in the huts and open walls in the main lodge kept everything breezy and bearable. The buildings are connected with elevated wooden walkways. There is a tall observation tower which also serves to hold the water tank and communication antennas. Three or four pairs of Macaws roam the premises.

Apparently we arrived in low season. Right now the rivers are high and it rains a lot. The places we want on canoes are not boat accessible during the dry season and you are likely to see more birds then, too. So when we arrived, there were only four other guests there. Jennifer and Ann May (?), two laid off Silicon Valley managers who´ve spent last year traveling all over the world, and their friends Tigger and Elizabeth. They had arrived the previous day and were staying longer.

After dinner we went on a motorized canoe tour where we got pretty close to the local flora - most of it was over land that´s only flooded during the rainy season. We saw some cool black-yellow birds (I don´t remember the name) that build their nests next to (rather large) was nests. They feed their chicks wasp grubs and if their nests are disturbed they flap their wings to agitate the wasps to chase away any intruders. Luckily we didn´t get close enough to see this behavior.

We saw lots of interesting trees and plants. Wild rice growing in the water. Rubber trees from days past when collecting rubber from wild trees was big business. And spiky trees that you have to pay attention to if you want to avoid a serious infection.

After we saw the confluence, we went up the Rio Negro towards our jungle lodge. We were told by Oswaldo that we might be able to see some of the dolphins that live in the Amazonian rivers. Both gray and pink river dolphins are present in the river, alas we didn´t see either on our trip up river. The only pink think that happened was the sun burn I got on my face while we were hanging out at the bow of the boat and than under the "shade" on the main deck. The weather was alternately sunny and over cast and spending five hours on water without sun screen (the one day I forgot to put some on) was enough to make my face glowing. Three days later I still look like a lobster.

We began our trip towards our lodge by going by the meeting of the waters. The Amazon river begins at Manaus where the Rio Negro and Rio Solimões join together. The Solimões river originates in Peru and has a silty creamy color. The Negro originates in Colombia and due to all the rotting wood that its tributaries flow through, its color is somewhere between that of tea and coffee - quite lovely, actually. The the water of the Rio Negro is also slightly acidic which prevents mosquitos from breeding in it making for a much healthier environment along its shores.

The confluence of the two rivers is simply amazing. When they meet, their waters flow next to each other without immediately mixing. There is a stark separation between the light, creamy color of the Solimões and the dark, rich color of the Negro. I´ve read somewhere that the distinction can be seen for miles beyond Manaus. The other impressive thing is how huge the rivers are. Where they join together to form the Amazon the river is about four miles wide. When the water is high (and the river level changes by many yards, based on the season) the middle of the river can be almost 300 feet deep!

A side note - at the Tropical Hotel we managed to tune into Fox Kids - english with adds in Portuguese - and got to watch Iron Man. It´s a cheesely animated comic (basically comic book illustrations with moving mouths) that looks straight out of the fifties (the voices and the soviet evildoers). I actually fell asleep before the episode was over but it was a memorable thing, none the less.

At the airport we were picked up by Oswaldo (I believe it´s a common name here and that his parents didn´t have anything against JFK) who took us to our Hotel. Oswaldo was our guide on the boat the next day, too. He´s a 22 year old from the coast who taught himself English - and quite well!

We were unloaded at the Tropical Hotel Manaus which is very different from Hotel Jangadeiro in Recife. Hotel Jangadeiro was inexpensive and frequented by Brazilians. The Tropical Hotel is a resort that´s frequented by foreign tourist, rich Brazilians and host conventions. When we checked in, we had to walked through huge halls through a couple of buildings, a football length each, until we got to our room. The whole thing was rather gothic, we very tall ceilings, hardwood floors and hardwood built in furniture. The pricing was also three to four times as high as in Recife and we really felt like tourists.

All this luxury was a bit too much, since we spent less than 12 hours here - Oswaldo picked us up at 7:30 next morning right after breakfast.

Once we got it back to the hotel we wanted to go to the beach for 45 minutes or so - our hotel was at the beach but we never actually went to it. As soon as Jennifer lubed up, we got a call from Doug that the TAM people called him that we had seats on our flight and to get to the airport ASAP to make sure we didn´t get bumped. To Jfer´s chagrin beach was off and we hastily finished packing, checked out and hurried to the airport. There we got our tickets (with a $75 penalty which we happily paid) and after having a late lunch at Bob´s we got on the bus that took us to our plane, a fairly small Fokker (I love the name).

After four(!) stops and as many dinners (well, we only ate two or so) we landed in Manaus around eleven P.M.

On Tuesday after our stint at the Internet cafe we walked about a mile in stifling heat towards the City Bank branch that might have an ATM that took out cards. We had a general idea where it was and found it pretty easily. The ATM had a fancy color monitor and held a polite conversation with you. It first asked which language to use and then it went something like this:

• Please dip your card into the slot
• OK, now enter you personal card number
• Working...
• OK, now select which account to use...
• Good, now select how much many to take out...

We got about R$ 350 and walked all the way back to the Hotel to go to the beach.

It´s 1:30 A.M. local time in Manaus and we´re waiting to board our flight to Sao Paulo. They have Internet access here, albeit on some weird Windows iMac clones (Qrium?) with a painfully slow connection and tiny keyboards where the keys are in all the wrong places. Still, it´s better than napping.

Brazil is incredibly tropical and vibrant and full of interesting and mysterious fruits. The breakfast at the Hotel is often one of the highlights of our day. They rolls and ham and cheese and all sorts of cakes. They also have fresh fruit like water melon, mango (sliced, thank god), papaya (I think) and pineapple, which is Jfer's favorite.

They also have fresh fruit juice and it changes every day. Most of it is from fruits I've never heard of (cajá ?!?) and though of as "juice" fruits (cashew). Many of the fruits aren't sweet so you add lots of sugar to the fresh juice. But it is all soo yummy!

When out on town or the beach I often buy a fresh coconut (R$ 1 or less) that they keep in ice chests and cut open right before you eyes. They server it with a couple of straws and it provides a most refreshing drink.

One benefit of missing our flight was that we got to go to dinner at Luciana's mom. Dona Tereza lives like many upper class people in a high rise building. Her apartment spans the entire floor and includes quarters for the maid (actually they currently have two maids since Luciana's grandmother is staying with Dona Tereza and her maid is there as well).

The apartment was very spacious with a huge, shady balcony. I could definitely live that way, especially if I had a maid.

During dinner, the power in the entire quarter went out. It got totally black outside, but then the buildings' generators kicked in and the emergency lighting (stair wells) and elevators became operational again. This doesn't happen very often but everyone is prepared for it. It took the city about 15 minutes to restore power.

OK, I suck big time. Yesterday (Monday) afternoon Doug and Luciana took us to a liquor store so we could bring something to Dona Tereza's dinner. While at the shopping center he suggested we drop by the TAM office to confirm our flight. We didn't have our tickets with us and they could not find us on any flights to Manaus! So we raced to the Hotel to check on the tickets - my conviction that we were to fly on Tuesday slowly fading from 100% to about 75%. At the hotel, the elevator didn't work (again) so I raced up the stairs, dug around and found our tickets for Monday! For 4:30pm and it was 5:30 already!

I had to wait a few minutes for the rest of them to arrive, trying to prevent the heart attack that was approaching. Once they got there, Doug and Luca got on the phones trying to figure out options. All the flights for the day were gone and the today's flights are full. Still, Doug drove us to the airport and got us on a waiting list with TAM for today. We went back this morning (still no cancelations) and also got on waiting lists with some other airlines, If we can't get onto TAM but manage one of the other airlines, it's going to cost us another $700-$1000 and we may be arriving in Manaus around 3am.

So now we're preparing to pack and head out to the airport and hope - really, really hope.

The nice things is that we have Doug and Luca to help us, since most of the airport people here do not speak English. It also helps tremendously that Doug worked for American for long time and travelled extensively, so he knows how to work the system. Still, we may be here yet another day and not see the Amazon after all.

The other sad thing is that Luciana's ailing grandmother's health has taken a turn for the worse, so she has that that casts a shadow over the beginning of their marriage.

BTW, Jennifer looked pretty calm and claims she still loves me, so I guess she's passing this test ;-)

We went shopping again and have stuff for ourselves. At Brennand's we got some tiles as coasters and Jfer got a chalice to hold her pens at work. At the mall we got a Caipirinha kit (the same that Doug and Luca got as a wedding present) and we plan to get cachaça at the duty free shop on the way out and will be mixing our drinks in style when we get back to Austin (the Brazilians actually prefer Caipiriska which is made with vodka). We also have some Carnaval shirts.

As far as souvenirs for our friends go, we still have to work those out.

On Monday morning we visited the Ceramics Atelier of Brennand, a renown local artist, with Doug's brother, mom and grandma. The Brennand factory produces (fairly pricey) tiles but its best known for the artist Francisco Brennand whose family owns the place. The factory is about 45 minutes outside of Recife and is surrounded with lush trees and meadows. Cows and bulls are roaming the premises.

Inside the factory is a huge exhibition of Brennand's work. Most of it is slightly abstract - I like the statues but I especially like the wall frescoes made out of tiles. Brennand happened to be there while we were looking around and Jennifer and I took a photo with him.

There seem to be a pharmacy on every block. There are at least four within three blocks of our hotel. Jennifer had forgotten her antibiotics (a dentist thing) but luckily Luciana is a doctor so she could prescribe her some. Apparently that's not needed. You just walk to the pharmacy and ask for your drugs. Jennifer got her amoxicilyn and I got some creat against heat rash that Luciana told me about without a prescription, even though the drugs have loud red labels that say "by prescription only". The drugs are dirt cheap, compared to the US. My prescription co-pay would cover pretty much everything.

Luciana said that pharmacies only really ask for prescriptions for narcotics and such and I easily believe her.

I always thought that after Ash Wednesday carnaval celebrations would be over and everyone would return to the daily routine. I was wrong. Carnaval here is celebrated for weeks before and after Ash Wednesday, just with less intensity.

Today there was another Carnaval parade on the Boa Viagem, the street in front of our hotel that runs along the beaches. Doug said that dis was the police parade since they were working overtime during Carnaval proper and didn't get to play. The whole road was blocked starting early in the morning but the parade didn't really hit it until three or four in the afternoon (I do not know for what time it was planned). There were tens of thousands of people along and on the road and the parade consisted of ten or so blocas. They are hug trucks (sometimes semi trailers) that consist of stacks of huge loud speakers and a big platform on top (there are variation on the theme). On the platform is a life band, a singe or two and severak samba dancers in skimpy outfits. The band is playing into microphones and the music is amplified and blasted out through the speakers. The trucks are moving very slowly and are surounded by spectators that sing and dance along. They are also folowed by herds of vendors hawking food and drink.

When we got back to the Paradise Club they had a sea food buffet dinner prepared for us. The shrimp gratin was awesome but the lobster salad was mostly salad and almost no lobster. The fruits were, as always, excelent.

In many restaurants and clubs anything you order is marked off of a tab that the customer keeps. At the end of your visit you give the tab to the waiter, they calculate what you owe and you pay at the cashier. We (Jennifer and I and Chris and Bekki) made the mistake of combining two people on one tab! Aparently this has never ever happened before since when check-out time came the waiters were all flustered and the huge comotion took a manager, Doug, Luciana and Dona Tereza to resolve. I don't think they charged me for one of the mixed drinks so I ended up stiffing them a couple of bucks rather than risking another delay of our departure by pointing out the discrepancy.

Doug had planned a boat trip for the day after the wedding. A chartered bus took us north of Recife, past Olinda, to the Paradise Club where they initially considered having the wedding. There we boarded a boat that was to take us to the "J" island. Since the tide was low, we had to wait at a sand bar for half an hour to make it out of the estuary and we got to walkd through the sand and shallow water (the tides here are quite strong and the scenery changes dramatically based on high/low tides). [Moron next to me is being loud again, sigh].

We made it to the island and spend some 45 minutes there, going for a walk and getting something to drink and then it was time to head back. When the boat passed the sand bank, we only recognized it by the posts that warned the boat traffic. The whole delta which was mostly sand in the early afternoon was now covered in water.

After the wedding we tried to go to the pool on top of our hotel to wash off the sweat. Unfortunately it had been locked for the night - we could have climed the gate but it would have been perilous. Luckily Chris is a skilled lock smith and Bekki, his wife, usually had hair pins in her 'doo. It didn't take very long for us to be ilegally swimming in the cool water.

We were impressed with the number of photographers and video people at the wedding, even given its size. The reason was that local media was taking part in the event. Apparently this was one of the more important society wedding ins Recife this year and some dignitaries were present. Doug told us that when the first person in the receiving line shook his hand, Dona Tereza (Luca's mom) whispered to him that he was the vice president. "Vice President of what?" asked Doug and was told "Of Brazil". This explained the secret-service looking guys.

Dona Tereza later elaborated, saying that since the real president was traveling outside the country, the Veep was acting president at the time of the wedding.

Jennifer was disappointed that we didn't get to meet him - she said she would have asked him for a dance.

Doug and Lucianna got married on the bulwak of Fortaleza dos Cinco Pontos the Fort of Five Points. It's a dutch fort from the 16th century with a great inside court with huge palm trees. The ceremony started forty minutes late (also known as on Brazillian time) but mercifully did not include a full mass. It was mostly conducted in portuguese although Doug said his woves in english and his god father did a reading in english (which Doug's father repeated in portuguese). Although Luciana is Catholic they had an Episcopalian ceremony (Doug's confesion) because Catholics won't let you marry outside a church (I'm now trying to convince Jennifer to switch, but I'm not holding my breath).

For the wedding Doug wore his kilt and scottish jacket and looked quite dashing (although I still don't like the colors of the McLean tartan). Luciana wore a beatiful dress with a short train but very long veil and looked lovely as can be.

After the ceremony we descended into the court yard of the forts where a huge tent overlooked the huge buffet filled with appetizers. There were over four hundred guests (maybe forty of them from Doug's side) and food and drink a plenty. They had a live band which played continuously, starting with American classics (New York New York, etc.) and progressing into Brazillian stuff. They only took a break during the increadibly drawn out speach that Kurt, the best man, tortured us with. We were actually a bit disappointed since were hoping to play the CDs we prepared for Doug, alas we were thwarted. The sound guy did play a cople of songs of our CDs - he played Mambo # 5 at least four times and cut everything else short.

The selebration came to a close around 1:30 in the morning. By this time most of the guests had left but the dance floor was still packed. Luciana's mom was still dancing to the last song and it seemed that her aunt Fatime never left the floor.

During carnaval you could see a lot of kids selling drinks and food, along with pretty much everyone else. Even outside of carnaval you see them selling Tic-Tacs or attacking cars with water and squeegees at intersections. In Olinda, Luciana ran into a social worker who was shooing kids of the street. She told us that the government pays parents to keep the kids from working and going to school (apparently only with partial success). The social worker knew pretty all the kids by their name and was upset whenever she saw one.

When Jennifer and I went for a stroll in Recife Antigo we saw a group of people holding signs and herding a bunch of kids enclosed with a rope (like some of the samba schools do) and the were handing out stickers saying that "Child labor is not legal". It's become one of our favorite expressions whenever we see a working kid.

I forgot to pack my shirt for the wedding so we had to go shopping on Friday morning. Jennifer packed a couple of dresses but since "she's got nothing to wear" she wanted to shop as well. We walked to the local mall (locally called "Shopping") which is about siz blocks from the hotel. We took a circuitous route (Bekki was leading us but didn't read the map well) that took us under some huge ficus trees. It's neat to see your living room plant in its native environment - I sometimes wonder if on some other continent people have a puny live oak in a flower pot in their living room.

The mall was pretty big and consisted of a lot of small stores (smaller than in an American mall) and four or five anchor stores, one of which was selling groceries. It seems that half the stores here are selling bathing suits - the brazillian kind which mean tiny string bikinies that put everything on display and give the ladies a vedgie and only cost a few dollars. This makes for great views on the beaches but not much shopping by the American tourists (Stephanie said there was no way she'd wear this at a south Austin pool in front of her kids). Jennifer is still determined to buy a bathing suit here, so I'm waiting and anticipating.

I did eventually buy a shirt and tie but it took a long time. The one shirt I really liked was not available in my size in the color I liked. The other shirt that was pretty cool was 100% polyester and I didn't want to deall with that. And all the ties here are pretty conservative and boring. I ended up with a blue cotton dress shirt and an OK tie. I'm sure I looked smashing ;-)

Jennifer did not buy a dress. The on she tried on was too big and way too expensive (and possibly an old-lady dress, but I'm not sure). She did buy a cool necklace and matching earrings that she wore to the wedding and that look lovely with her "old" blue dress.

On Thursday night we went with Chris, Bekki, Stephanie, Russel and Roberto to Sopa Quente, a tiny dive lauded to high heavens by both Luciana and Doug. It's a soup place in a less savory part of town and completely invisible from the street, since it's at the end of a side alley. Doug and Luciana gave our cab drivers directions in excruciating detail and we didn't have any problems finding it. The restaurant only had seats for less than 30 people but it didn't take too lung for us to get a table.

We went through the portuguese menu and ordered soups with ingredients we thought we recogninzed, but it didn't really matter since everything there was excellent. My favorite was a creamy shrimp, tomato and pumpkin soup. I think Jennifer liked the corn and chicken soup the best.

After we were there for ten minutes or so, Luciana's brother Ricardo showed up and sat with us. We ended getting a ride with him back to the hotel.

Thursday afternoon was spent with a local barbecue at the Yachting Club. The wedding party had a rehearsal in the morning and the afternoon was a rehearsal dinner of sorts. The club had a very nice large pool with two really cool slides. The larger one that everyone was using made three or four 360 degree turns before spewing you into the pool. I rode it in all possible positions (luge-style, skeleton-style, etc.) and some people even went down sitting a spinning around the verticle axis.

The churrasco grilled food was very good (they know how to grill here) and they served a wonderful fruit salad/coctail with the dinner.

Afterwards we went on a boat ride to take a look at the city from the water. We went out of the port, up one river and down another one and admired the architecture and landmarks. Recife has many firsts in (this part of?) Brazil. First permanent long bridge, first highrise aparment building, etc. One of the cool things we saw was people living in a bridge. They are fishermen and tie up their boats under the bridge. There are ladders hanging from the underside of the bridge into the water and the use the space between the support beams as platforms for living! I guess they get all the shelter they need and since it never gets cold here it pretty bearable - they even have electricity.

A lot of the art seen around the city is by the local artist Benard(?). We saw a building that dispays one of his earliest works and got to see the statues and tower on the wall that protects the port from the ocean. We plan to go to his museum tomorrow or on Tusday - it's a must see.

On Wednesday night some of us went out to a dance club. Apparently everyone else has been spending nights at dance clubs when carnaval stuff wasn't going on and we decided to join them.

[Mutli Link, the internet cafe we're using is mostly populated by gamers that play networked games against one another. Annoying music is blaring all the time and the imbecile sitteng next to me bellows loudly every time his character gets shot - it makes it difficult to concentrate.]

We got a couple of taxis and drove to "Downtown Pub" (I think) but it looked rather dead so we decided to go to the Fashion Club (most clubs were closed right after carnaval since presumably people were recovering from the revelries). So after another cab ride across town we arrived at the FC. There was a huge line to get in and the security was much more stringent than at an airport. I almost didn't make it in since I was wereing sandals which are apparently a no-no (noone warned me) but I claimed ignorance and made it past the fron-door screeners. We then checked out bar-coded cards that you charge your drinks on and were frisked and metal-detected before being allowed into the sanctum. The club itself was pretty big and nicely laid out. A large corved bar along one side with small soft charis and tables and a decent sized dance floor. It was populated by pretty people and was incredibly loud. The techno dance music was continuously blairing at high volume sometimes with and sometimes without the giant sub woofers making our organs rock. Fog and strobe lights also seemed an important part of the whole experience. It definitely is not my coup of cofee but everyone else was having a good time.

Jennifer and I left around 1:30 (she took pitty on me) and on the cab ride back we doscovered that we were just a few blocks away from the hotel. We later learned that there is supposed to be another room that plays '70s and '80s music at a bearable level, alas not until a couple of days later.

On Ash Wednesday we took a break fom Recife and went to the beach in Porto de Galinhas. Eight of us chartered a bus for the 1.5 hour ride. I was told that galinha (chicken) is an old slang term for "slave" and that this place used to be a port where slave ships from Africa landed. Now it is a small colorful village centered around beach tourism.

The drive to the Porto went through hilly landscape with lots of sugar cane and coconut palms all over the palce. The entire coast was lined with coconut trowes and everything looked very tropical.

We spend most of the day hanging out at the beach, being constantly served by the staff of a beach restaurant. Jfer and I ordered a grilled fish for lunch and received an entire huge fish served with rice and beans. Very delicious and more than enough for three people. We also wen snorkling on the reefes about a hundred yards off shore but they weren't too impressive. Due to all the sand and the waves the water wasn't very clear and we didn't see any interesting corals.

After dinner we made our way to Recife Antiga, the old Recife where we enjoyed carnaval at night. Again lots of crowds and lots of loud samba bands and people in cool costumes. It was fascinating watching people pass by. Brazil is a very ethnically mixed country. Many of the people look European - both northern but mostly Mediterranean - but you also have native American and African influences. It all results in quite a beautiful mix. I don't know whether ethnicity correlates with economic and social status, but I think in the US the cultural boundaries between ethnic groups are stronger than here.

I'm curious if when we get to the Amazon the makeup of the population will be much different. I suspect that the aboriginal blood will be more visible.

Even at night, carnaval is better behaved than what you see in New Orleans. While people drink (mostly beer) we haven't seen anyone truly shit-faced or rowdy in the Bourbon Street style that is so common at many celebration in the U.S. (we haven't been to a soccer game here, so we really haven't seen a truly passionate Brazilian event). Still, there are no beads and you don't see drunks yelling at women to show their stuff. Really, the image of carnaval that we have is not what carnaval appears to be in Brazil, at least not in Recife.

Rio is probably more showy and touristy, but here, even though Recife is a sizeable city and its carnaval famous, carnaval seems to be a local affair and you rarely see non-Brazilian tourists. Still, it is a time to let lose and people apparently do. I've heard that the health department hands out millions of condoms before carnaval and you see big public-health posters all over the city admonishing people to use the "camisinha" (little shirt). Speaking of which, we saw a brand at the convenience store called "Blowtex" - would this make a good souvenir?

Last night we went out for dinner to Porcão - a Brazilian grill house. You sit at a table and a constant stream of waiters with grilled meats on spits come by and give you a slice of anything you desire. It's like a buffet where you don't have to do any work. A kind of Brazilian dim sum. Except it's all you can eat and we could and did eat a lot. The drinks and desert were not included in the price but it ended up being about $16 a person (in Texas this would have been $40+).

Everything during carnaval seem to cost um real - R$ 1.00 is about $0.43. A can of coke, a bottle of water, a beer, bus ride across town, a fresh Cocos nut - everything is um real (except that you can get three beers for R$ 2.50). Streets at Olinda are lined with stalls hawking all sorts of goods - mostly beverages and grilled meat and cheese and the um-real-chants are constant.

I've gotten over my resistance to eat street food, since all seems to be cooked fresh and smells so good. Today I had tapioca which is also sold at many stalls. It a flat bread made out of tapioca meal and filled with cheese and other things (mine had bananas). The whole thing is then folded over and it is more or less the local pita or taco equivalent. Oh, for a change, this was R$ 1.50.

We noticed that many of the girls we saw had bright band-aids over one of their eye brows. Luciana explained that when high schoolers are finishing school, they take many entrance exams to different universities. When girls get an acceptance letter, their friends and family often corner them and shave off one of their eyebrows - guys supposedly get all their hair shaved off, but we didn't really noticed any boldies - maybe they don't get accepted as often. So the band-aid is just a badge of honor for making it into a university.

I made it to breakfast at a quarter to nine - the buffet was quite good and I ate at Bekki's table. Jfer didn't make it down until everyone was leaving so we grabbed her a piece of cake. Our group of seventeen consisted of Doug and Luciana and their American friends. We took a bus to Olinda - about 40-50 minutes north of Recife. We got off the bus and the new people in the group bought Super Soakers - very important at carnaval - and we headed into town. Olinda, at least the part we were in, seem older than Recife. Most of the buildings and churches are probably at least a hundred (an possibly several centuries) old and often show it. Still, the buildings are painted in pastels and there is greenery everywhere - lots of banana plants and cocos palms.

Carnaval here is less like Mardi Gras but more like Eeyor's Birthday Party in Austin (sans the pot :-). There are people everywhere, often crowded closely together. Many but not all are wearing all sorts of costumes. We've seen tens of nun and nurses, super heroes and cave men. Anything skimpy goes. Lots of people are carrying water guns and water fights break out all the time. They also cans of annoying white foamy stuff (no, it's not silly string) that gets messy when sprayed on you.

[I'm at an Internet Cafe in Recife and I hate having to use an ergonomic Portuguese keyboard - where the hell are the quotation marks?!?]

Saturday was one endless day. We started off with our tennis lesson (we'll miss the last two, but c'est la vie), on the way home stopped by REI for Jfer to get more travel clothes. Then we picked up Homer at home and hurried to Hutto. When we arrived at Triple Crown we discovered that the office had closed fifteen minutes earlier. Damn! Luckily our trainer was around and eventually checked Homer in. It was a bit traumatic for us leaving him behind locked in his kennel. He didn't seem to mind, but of course he had no idea he was being abandoned for two weeks. We hope he'll remember us when we pick him up and doesn't hold this against us. So we made it home barely in time. I fought with Illustrator and printed out the cover for Doug's CD - Illustrator seems like a really cool program, but it's a bad idea trying to learn it in fifteen minutes. I think I was still in the shower when Elizabeth showed up.

It was long, long trip. Elizabeth drove us to the airport and we made it past security without major incidents (they did make Jfer take off her shoes, though). Flight to Dallas was uneventful and the flight to Sao Paulo was long, but no uncomfortable. We were on a fairly new or renovated large American Airlines plane, so we had some legroom. We arrived in Sao Paulo around nine AM. Landing in S.P. you see a continuos city for miles and miles - simply amazing. Went through customs. We declared our prescription drugs (because that's how Jfer interpreted the directions on the form) which seemed to confuse the customs agent. He went looking for the "health department" guy, didn't find him and so let us through.

We had about six hours to kill in S.P. so we jumped a buss into town and got of an Paulista Ave. by the MASP museum. They had some huge Pele exhibition so we passed, but went to the lovely park across the street where we hung out and napped. The park was very clean and full of tall and shady trees and palms. It was pleasantly warm and a breeze was blowing. Eventually we got on another shuttle and back to the airport.

We got to our gate with plenty of time to spare. Our flight wasn't being announced and Jfer discovered they moved it to another gate. No problem to get on. We started our hopping way towards Recife. We got dinner and soon landed in Rio de Janeiro - the city is surrounded by a bunch of cool jagged mountains but we did not see the Jesus statue. Next dinner and stop in Salvador. It was dark and I napped through our stay. Another dinner (I passed) and another stop. We were getting off the airplane and checked only to discover that this was not yet Recife. So another take off, napping and landing in Recife.

We were picked up by Luciana's mom in a carnaval costume and sent on our way to the Hotel. There Doug said hi and took us to our room where we collapsed - close to two AM. Oh, and I did get to see the Southern Cross. It's not all that impressive, sort of a crooked kite in the sky, but hey, I can see the friggin Southern Cross! How cool can you get?

According to this site, Recife is almost 5000 miles from Austin. Of course, we fly via Dallas and Sao Paulo, so that'll add a few hundred more miles. The flight from Dallas to Sao Paulo alone is ten hours long! And the we have a nine hour lay over and we won't get to Recife until almost midnigh on Sunday. Compared to this, flying to Europe is a piece of cake.

Anyway, I should be packing and doing all those other things on my todo list, so I'm logging off. I hope to hit an Internet Cafe when in Recife so my next entry should be from south of the equator. I can't wait to see the Southern Cross!

Jennifer gave me this cool propane torch as an anniversary present (along with a set of ramekins). Of course we now have to prepare crème brûlée on a regular basis.

This gift, BTW, was perfectly targeted at me. It combines my personal interest in kitchen gadgets along with every guy's innate love for fire. You fire that thing up and that blue flame looks deliciously vicious. Yeah baby!

I, on the other hand, did not have an anniversary present ready. I was going to get flowers on the way to Jennifer's work, but my favorite florist was closed and I was already running late. She had to console herself with the $12 glass of "house" wine. I did think of a cool present today that I know she wants really badly, but it'll have to wait for another occasion.

Until yesterday, the weather here has been awful. Temperatures in the 30s and 40s and drizzle or rain. So when I noticed that I was running low on gas a couple of days ago, I just couldn't force myself to pull over and tank up the car. Yesterday I meant to get gas on the way to work - but forgot. No big deal, that yellow light can usually be on for a while. After our night out yesterday, I told Jennifer I'd be getting gas one the way home, but cruising on MoPac on auto pilot I missed the exit for the gas and so figured I'd do it this morning. A few blocks from home I felt the car sputtering a little, but thought it was because I was going up the hill and decided that I would not patronized that overpriced station on Metric and Gracy Farms.

Still, I asked Jennifer to stick behind me this morning, just in case. Well, I drive less than fifty yards from the house and my car stutters to a halt. I back it up a little (I'm facing up an incline) and Jennifer stops behind me, valiantly protecting my car with her cruiser. Luckily I have a cannister of ancient gas for my lawn mover in the garage (not the premium stuff I feed my baby, but at this point I don't care). There was only a cup or so in the cannister so I poured it all in and returned the cannister back to the house. Tried to start the car - nothing! Hmm, I figured that because of the incline the shot of gas didn't make it to the engine (I'm not very technical). So I had Jennifer steer the car while I pushed it backwards toward level ground. She perfectly wrestled the power-steering-less car into my side street and after a couple of tries the car finally started up.

I made it to the closest gas station, holding my breath all the way, and filled 'er up with good old 95 octane premium juice. I had to buy 17.42 gallons. The tank holds 17.5...

When I take Homer in his morning and evening walks, we usually walk in the park behind the house towards Metric Boulevard. The park is bordered by back fences of other people's houses. Since the neighborhood is from the early '80s, many of those fences are lacking integrity (mine included). Some of the fences have missing planks and one in particular has quite a gap in it. Holes in fences have an incredible attraction for Homer. More often than not, when we go by the fence with the gap, he disappears in that back yard, hangs out for a couple of minutes and then catches up with me - often bringing some thing or other he finds on their compost heap (bones, lobster shell, that sort of thing). I always wondered if the people in the house ever notice him in their back yard - the gap is hidden from their view by a bush but they are probably aware of it.

Yesterday morning on the way home on our walk Homer did his usual side trip to the secret garden. This time, however, I heard a man's voice saying something and then Homer shoots out of the yard like a bat out of hell, barking up a storm. He really seemed upset that some stranger violated "his" yard!.

By today he obviously forgot about his "traumatic" experience since his usual visit - this time without anyone encroaching on his domain.

So yesterday was our two year anniversary. As is quickly becoming tradition, I took Jennifer out for dinner and a show. We ate at Lou