Happy 2012, Let´s jump through those waves!

Oiii there!

Last year for Christmas, my Brazilian sisters Mari and Cacau brought me a few Brazilian gibis - children's comics - as a gift, and I just fell in love with them (the gibis, I already love Mari and Cacau, of course). I was never someone who read a lot of comics, but I just loved those, like a child. And what a great way to learn and practice Portuguese! These are the Turma da Monica comics, or the Class of Monica (they're basically about a bunch of kids getting into trouble and playing all kinds of tricks on each other). My favourite character quickly became - and still is - Magali, a cute little girl in a yellow dress who has an unending (and rather voracious, actually) appetite. For my birthday in the summer, the girls sent me a few more copies of the newest gibis. Needless to say, I'm hoping for a new batch in the new year :)


What does this have to do with anything right now? Well, it's almost the end of the year and 2012 is approaching fast, people are making all kinds of plans for New Year's Eve... I remember that I learned from the Christmas edition of the gibis last year that in the coastal cities and towns of Brazil (and that's some 8000 km or something!), there is an NYE tradition of jumping through the first seven waves of the sea in the new year (I guess ideally at the countdown). This is then meant to bring good luck for the whole year. I remember seeing the photos of one of my Brazilian friends taken during the NYE in Rio last year... well, all I can say is, it sounds like a fun thing to do to welcome the new year! Something I'd definitely like to do sometime :D

Whatever your plans are for NYE and whatever your New Year's resolutions may be... Happy New Year! :)

Bejios e vamos pular gente!

'Let me take you to Rio, Rio...'

Hi all,

I remember that just before Christmas last year, I wrote some entries reflecting on my time in Brazil and how music and lyrics shaped my experience... all the cute little Brazilian songs I learned from my friends in Juiz de Fora (and other places) and sang them around :) A couple of days ago I heard a Brazilian sertanejo (a kind of folksy music genre) song on Dutch radio - and it has been played again since then. It went something like, 'Nossa, nossa, assim voce me mata' - 'Oh my god, oh my god, in this way you kill me', well this text is to be taken romantically, of course. I guess...

Last Christmas I had a couple of Brazilian guests in house, my dear host sisters from Juiz de Fora. And to think that a year has passed since they were here..! 2011 has flown by so fast.. and yet, on the other hand it seems a year ago was a long time ago, after all, much has happened since then. For me, and in the world. Rough year, right? But then there were also some great times, and some surprising news - what to make of the second large protest against the government in Moscow this past weekend! Now I'm interested what's going to happen next in Russia, ey! Perhaps some political changes are on their way...

I remember coming back from Brazil and feeling as if I was a different person from the one who left five months earlier. Now, once again, I feel like I'm a different person from the one I was a mere year ago (or a little different, in any case). Does this mean personal (and professional) development, or I am dreaming this up or something?

I read a couple of days ago that Brazil is now the 6th economy of the world, while China is the 2nd, with the US still at the top of the list. Honestly, didn't know this about China, though can't say I'm surprised. The way things are going though, it seems in a couple of years I better make sure to be there for the World Cup in Brazil! Well, a year and a bit ago I already had in mind to become something of a contested professional by the time the World Cup rolls in, as to be invited to be there for someone else's costs so I can partake in festivities as part of a super cool job. Hahaha... well I didn't see this tough economic year coming up, but I hope that the rough part is largely behind me now. And that I will be there in 2014 for the World Cup, that I know for sure! 'Let me take you to Rio, Rio...' Talk about music shaping one's life! This one's from the movie so adequately named 'Rio'... :)

In the past couple of months, Amsterdam held a Brazil-themed festival, with all kinds of performances and such taking place around town, most of which trying to go beyond the stereotypical idea held about Brazilian culture (i.e. samba, football, Carnaval). When we headed off to the annual Amsterdam Museum Night (a night when something like 45 museums in the city open their doors till early morning hours accompanied by DJ's and parties), we visited the architecture museum which had a special workshop by a Brazilian dance teacher. After finally having a caipirinha (with forest fruit.... mmm) placed into my hands by the barman, I went to join the little circle formed around the lady teaching the basic steps to... forró! haha :) A traditional Brazilian dance in two's; when I hear the beat and the rhythm, I often have to remember the first time I learned the basic moves in our tiny apartment in Shanghai... to the sound of sertanejo, I believe. Yep, the same genre that I recently heard on Dutch radio... what goes around comes around!

Yesterday, I went to see the musical Zorro in a large theater in The Hague. It's been going on for almost a year and finally I got to booking the tickets. It's so interesting because - as far as I am aware - Zorro was not a musical before this, but was made into one, and it's full of music and dancing next to all the swashbuckling. I grew up watching Zorro (various versions of it, old and new) and I read Isabel Allende's book (of course), but I never imagined I'd see it with that much singing and dancing, too :) Sometimes it even felt like a flamenco show; it's too bad we haven't got snow this Christmas, it would be a great way to warm up your soul (and feet, for the dancers)... well, it does anyway. I think Zorro is one of those stories of which not many people know anymore what exactly the original tale was, but with a bit of creativity you can get the adventure going time after time in various versions. Without getting too philosophical, it's a bit like life, full of adventures and some moments of deja vu, but I guess things never quite repeat themselves, but take their own spin. I guess we can learn from Zorro... how many swashbuckling adventures must he have been on in all his many lives? :)

Well, I think I will leave it there for now and pick up asap... this was probably already random enough!

Thanks for reading!

The time is now

Hey there,

Today, the Dutch evening news began with the coverage of the political protests in Russia. Thousands of people across the country have come out in the December Russian cold to protest against the government and demand fair - and honest - elections. Young, well earning, iPad holding people - this last bit according to the NY Times report. It's one of those somewhat rare moments actually when I can feel a glimmer of hope for Russia's future, and indeed, a bit of pride. Is change actually coming? Being such an unusually large protest in Russia, it's all over the international news - and to me, it also seems like one of those few times when the news actually gives a rather positive view of the Russian people (if not politics, of course, but that's the point).

It's funny because I haven't visited my own home country for over three years, and sometimes feel as if I am a bit out of the 'loop', if you can call it that. In fact, I have seen much more of the world outside of Russia than within it (ok - Russia is huge though). Sometimes it almost feels like, well, who am I to talk about change and society in Russia. But what the heck, of course I am and I can, haha! And right now, there lies a book on my shelve written about Russia by a UK journalist traveling through the country. It's time to take a look at what he has to say - it's ironic isn't it how you sometimes use the work of outsiders to help you to stay in touch with your home country, when it is no longer your home base. So many books have been written in the world about everything, and many of them very subjective of course, so it can be hard to keep an objective view yourself. However, I can appreciate that someone writing the book has traveled the country through and through - more than I have, in this case! - if I am to spend my time reading and learning from it. What the book brings and if I actually agree, remains to be seen.

I have just finished reading an anthropological study about the life of women living in a favela in Rio de Janeiro. It was published almost ten years ago as Lula was entering into his presidency - and thus much has changed since then, but it is still a valuable insight into the Brazilian social structure, and gender and race relations. The ironic thing here is that it is a book I once (partially) read for my anthropology class back when I was 18 - but it didn't mean so much to me then... if someone had told me back then that in a few years I'd be re-reading the book after having lived in Brazil for five months myself, I'd have thought, what?

Well, that's how it goes. This has been mostly my blog about Brazil - with a few random entries in between. It's crazy, more than a year after coming back I am still writing about it, and there are still a few things I want to add about my trip in a couple more posts - just bear with me. But I have also tried to include references where possible to the current things happening that might be relevant as well... I enjoy writing my blog and about my experiences, even if someone might wave their hand and think or say, why read this if it all took place 'so long' ago already... well, I can only hope that my readers have enjoyed the insights and experiences I have shared. Time has passed, but memories remain seared into my mind. Where a writer such as Gabriel Garcia Marques - whose 'Love in the time of cholera' I am also reading at the moment - is able to describe places and events in uncomparable and colourful fashion, I hope I have been able to provide just a little taste (at least) of the explosion of events and impressions that Brazil has been (and admittedly, has stayed) for me.

But, it's almost time - as the year 2011 is coming to its end, some new ideas and thoughts have been buzzing in my mind lately, so it is soon time for a new start. Yes, new year, new opportunities to seize, new action to take. I'll be putting what I've learned and what I'm learning - not little of it as a result of struggling against the tough economic market at the moment - into new and positive stories and reflections, as I believe there might be just the market out there for it.

Now, on with it! :) I will be writing more about Brazil soon, and also more about... well, many other things, too.

Thanks for reading!

Taking a ride in Buzios

I have to say that Buzios probably has the most idyllic beaches I have visited... don't get me wrong, for I loved Ipanema and Copacabana in Rio (Ipanema beach is probably one of the downright most beautiful places I have seen), but Buzios, in the depth of Brazilian winter, was warm, lively and beautiful, without having to think too much about the usual precautions you hear about the beaches in Rio. Look at his - tell me if this isn't breathtaking!

But well, the 'perfect day' in Buzios has already been described. Although I must say the following is a good contester! Have you ever driven around town in a super-awesome car that makes everyone around stare at you? Have you ever felt the childish need to take photos of yourselves in the same car while parking? Well, then you must know what I'm talking about.

Fernanda's aunt who we were staying with in Buzios took us, three ladies and her son Vinicius, on a ride to a fancy beach in such a car. Black and shiny, open, a classic example of something that comes right out of a movie or such. As we were driving through Buzios to a beach somewhat further away, we could feel passers-by looking our way. I can't say I blame them, take a look at


this black beauty! But seriously, only on a select few occasions must it happen that one day you're riding around a beautiful rich-and-famous-people's resort in this sorta ride, and two days later you sit yourself comfortably onto the back of a motorbike that flies you up to the top of the largest favela in South America. True or false?





And, by the way, no I don't drive! ;)

Well you can imagine the usual fun at the beach with a fun little fella - of course, little Vinicius was covered neck to toe in sand, while we laughed around and took photos, admiring the surroundings. There was a lot of kids-type-of-fun that afternoon, for upon returning we also played with the kids of the man who takes care of the house, and guess what - there is a whole mini-playground in the garden of the mansion where we were staying. It's amazing though how simple it is to amuse children (and, khem, adults). I know this for certain because then a large - I mean, large - piece of black plastic sheet was brought out and laid across the modest hill in the garden, which then served for a slide for all of us, aged two to twenty-something.

The next day it was time to leave beautiful Buzios... we still made some time to go to the beach nearby, take a dip in the swimming pool and take more photos, and have lunch - all at the risk of actually almost missing the bus back to Rio. Which we didn't though... but that's how we ride!

Buzios is that sort of idyllic place that captures your imagination (well, it captured mine) for a long time. I mean, come on, if Brigitte Bardot, who was most likely used to the rich wonders of places like Saint Tropez and Paris, fell in love with what back then was probably a more modest little town of Buzios, what are common mortals like us to do, anno 2010, when the city is a thriving beach spot surrounded by beautiful nature? Well, there you go.

As we got on the bus back to Rio a new adventure was about to begin. I will continue shortly, this time supplied with some commentaries from the present day and time. There's more on favela's, Brazilian modernity and mind-boggling contrasts. Stay tuned!

PS I believe I previously skipped a part where I bought a bikini on the beach in Buzios, from one of the ladies going around with large bags and a line of bikini's displayed. A bright red and colourful one that I refer to as my 'Brazilian bikini' - because it is. But no, it's not completely like a Brazilian bikini you imagine - if you get the drift. (If you don't then I guess that's not what you imagined... can't imagine what that might be instead though). I remember when the sale was done, and the lady was moving on, she commented on how it was nice to run into such fun, lovely girls... brings a smile on my face to think about...

On a day like this...

Waking up in a beautiful mansion in Buzios, Rio de Janeiro state, meant greeting the sun and blue skies, which came as a great welcome after the non-stop tropical winter rain of the day before (which possibly also came as a welcome in some respect, it's possible). It meant heading out to explore the beaches, the rocks and the crashing waves, with a gorgeous line of houses on the opposite shore adorning our one billion photos in all this gorgeousness. And waving around Brazillian beach towels, because why wouldn't we, especially on a day like this.

And when you return after a decadent day such as this one, what's better than getting into the pool at the beautiful house where you're staying and being handed a beer to drink up? Now that's one of those days when you think later, I wish I could re-live that again! One could say that I'm painting a pretty and yet shallow picture, but admit it, everyone should be allowed a day like that once in a while to reminisce about, right?

I remember that night we dressed up and took photos around the house in modellesque (am I making up a word?) poses. And it was that night that we watched little Vinícius, Fernanda's nephew and co-owner of the mansion, performing another of his Michael Jackson hits, which had us laughing and entertained to tears. There were quite a few, things are starting to get a bit blurry, but I will never forget his 'Thriller' and the way he tried singing, but few of the actual lyrics came out correctly. But he had the rhythm and the moves down, allright!

The night before, you could still feel the rain in the air, but that evening, we could head out in our short skirts, as is tradition in Brazil, without fearing the chill factor. Was it that night that we looked around at that little market in the center, around the taxi stand, and where I bought those flashy earrings that I never really wear, because of their weight and amount of jingling? But they're a crystal green colour, and I thought, wow check that out, they match my eyes...

I believe we've quite adorned the streets at the Rua das Pedras that night, and Chez Michou where we stopped again for crépes and Brahmas, and that little street samba party (which, it turns out, took place the second night in Buzios, not the first, yep things are getting a bit blurry in my mind but nothing that a few (hundred billion) photos shouldn't be able to resolve).

Oh, there we are, in the photo on the very left, with Fernanda, practicing our samba moves. And it was actually Fernanda who taught me the correct way to dance samba... who knows what I'd been trying to do with my feet before (though I'm not saying I danced it entirely correctly after this either, but I was getting there).

That was quite a day and a trip indeed that, despite little things here and there that have blurred a little, has been seared in my memory since.

At the Rua das Pedras she sits watching the sea...

Dressed in everyday comfy (but as always, classy) clothes, she sits facing the sea at the port of Buzios, a little Brazilian town a lá Saint Tropez, which she had 'discovered' some years before (in the 1960s, as may be the case). A seemingly modest but proud bronze statue of Brigitte Bardot, who must have fallen in love with the place, as many others have done after her. What's not to love? Great climate, beautiful scenery, washed by the warm waves of the sea, gorgeous houses and holidays mansions of the rich... and sometimes famous.

We were lucky enough to stay at such a beautiful mansion, just five minutes walking from the beach, where we explored the shore, the water and the rocks, watching the waves crash against them, taking a million photos of ourselves and the startlingly beautiful environs on that clear-blue day. (And to think that the day before we arrived at the afore-mentioned mansion among thunderous tropical rains, and entertained ourselves with painting each other's nails... until the rain cleared that night and we could get ahead into town, to show ourselves off walking down the fancy streets of Buzios, and to take photos with Brigitte).


Just a bit further from Brigitte resides the former president of Brazil, Juscelino Kubitschek, who half a century ago had the idea of building the new capital of the country in the middle of practically nowhere - now it is called Brasilia. He sits relaxed in his chair, waving at... well, supposedly, the crowd. It was around his chair that we did our little happy dance and took pretty poses. Fernanda taught us a little song then made up by someone once to celebrate his eagerness to build Brasilia - but all I remember now is 'Jusca tá na pila...'

We walked around, taking photos with statues of animals and trying to learn the correct basic steps to dance samba, and even ran into a small but cozy street samba party... but there was more waiting in the centre, as we now got into somewhat more deserted areas. So we returned to Brigitte, who sits gazing out at the sea at the start of Rua das Pedras, now the main street in town, adorned at every corner and on both sides with countless beautiful (and unaffordable) clothes shops and restaurants. I don't know if it has something to do with the French spirit present around there, but the place we came to love and where we came to love to eat was Chez Michou, which serves mainly beer and... crépes. And has a television screen, always showing a music DVD from a famous Brazilian artist. I say always because we returned there a couple of times afterwards and they kept up the tradition, at least in my time there. This is where Fé taught me to sing 'O amor... é um calor... que aquece a alma... O amor... é um sabor... pra quem bebe sua agua'. Timeless! And those crépes and Brahmas at Chez Michou (three times over) will certainly be in my memory for many years to come, let's hope always.

Back at our new house, we settled to sleep in our beautiful beds, with dreams of a blue sky and softly crashing sea waves, which became reality the next morning. And who can forget in this story the little boy who with such soul performed 'Thriller' and 'Billie Jean' for us? Intrigued?

Stay tuned.

Among the tropical winter rains of Cabo Frio

Hey!

You might remember from my travel ramblings earlier, that in mid-July 2010, Bryley and me set course for Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, and also visited the 'golden city', Ouro Preto. Back in BH in the evening after our stay in Ouro Preto, we boarded the night bus to make our way to the coast side of the Rio de Janeiro state. Actually, I don't remember much of the bus trip.. which must mean that I did manage to sleep at least a bit, which is quite a feat for me to do on a bus. (All I remember is taking pictures of ourselves wearing the identical Brasil top.. but then again, we have photos of that, haha).

At 6am the next morning we arrived in Cabo Frio, a well-known beach spot in the state of Rio, extremely popular with Brazilians themselves during the summer months. At least, everyone was always talking about going to Cabo Frio.. but there we were, in the middle of the Brazilian winter, arriving at the bus station, with the tropical 'winter' rains descending on the city. Luckily, our friend Fernanda was kind enough as to come pick us up at this early hour; without her it might have been just a bit more difficult to find our way to her place in all that rain ;)

And by rain I mean a downpour! From what I remember (but don't take my word for it, it's been a year... haha), we took a taxi to her apartment, down by the beach, anyways :) Once settled in her cozy place, we all went to sleep again for a couple of hours... after all, it was still pretty early haha, and whatcha gonna do otherwise with all that rain? haha.. But later in the day, we did actually brave the weather to go outside, flapping in our havaianas over the water running down the streets.

There's how much rain there was!


Since there wasn't much point going that way, we didn't even try braving the beach (although we did get a live glimpse of it from the street... and on the TV weather monitor in Fe's house, but the view wasn't encouraging), and set out for the city, hidden under big umbrellas. What we did find was a great havaianas shop, where we all managed to find a good pair for a discount price :) Oh, and the shop assistant guy was totally into Fernanda, hahaha. (Yes, Fe, he was ;-))


In the summer (or likewise weather), Cabo Frio would be a really cool spot to visit. It's got a really cute harbor, with cool boats, pretty houses and green hills on the other side of the water, and all these cafe's and restaurants along the waterside. The city center itself is like any other town (from what I remember of it), but down by the harbor the atmosphere in the summer sunshine must be of party-till-sunrise, haha, as Fernanda was also telling us about... so obviously, I have to come back to Cabo Frio in the summer! ;)

Dancing in the rain in Cabo Frio :)


Despite the weather, we still tried to make the best of our day, buying havaianas, flirting with shop assistants (khem, Fe! hahahaha), dancing with our big umbrellas in the rain down by the harbor, with palm trees as tropical decor in the background... :p

After a while of exploring the city, we came back home for another drying-up break and hanging around. But not for long!



Dancing with Fe :)


Come evening, the weather actually dried up more or less, and it was windy and a bit chilly rather than anything else, so we dressed up (I borrowed Fe's dress... she had the cutest beach clothes with her) and went out to have dinner back by the harbor again. Too bad we couldn't sit out admiring the views of the harbor, as the restaurants were all covered up, but we had a great time having dinner and caipirinhas, of course :) On our way back home among the rather deserted streets of Cabo Frio - the locals were probably not as brave as us to take on the chilly evening - we even stopped by a local cafeteria to have some frozen acaí with granola, Brazilians' favorite sweet-tooth dessert ;) (As much as it is kinda funny to eat something so frozen in such 'cold', haha).

What's a meal without a caipirinha or two? ;)


Well, dreaming of what Cabo Frio would be like in the summer, and especially during Carnaval, we made our way to Fe's apartment, to then continue our journey the next morning to Buzios, to stay with Fe's family there. But what happened there you will find out next time!

Thanks for reading!

Um beijo :)

'Onde está a praia?'

Hey all,

Already a few weeks ago, I thought it would fun to write a short blog entry on this (but didn't get to it yet): languages and, in my specific case, Portuguese. A language that, despite not having just fallen into my lap (I did actually have to make some effort to learn it and still do.. ;)), has made itself present in my life in a more long-term way than I could've imagined back in the day... before I made myself ready for all those overseas adventures, that naive soul, haha..!

Recently while surfing the internet I came across a video of Shakira, the famous singer, giving a short press-conference in Brasilia after meeting with the president of Brazil to discuss the latter's new plans about education for young children. And to my amazement, Shakira was speaking about all these development plans and her enthousiasm about it in... fluent Portuguese!! I did briefly read somewhere sometime ago that it's among her lingual talents, but I didn't actually pay too much attention to that then. But when I heard her talking in Portuguese for several minutes non-stop, with a slight accent of course, but a complete confidence, I was like, woah hang on a minute!! hahaha...

Exactly where and how Shakira, whose native language is Spanish, learned Portuguese as well, I don't know (but would be interested to find out), but coming across this video was in any case like an extra little boost for me that learning Portuguese might actually be really useful! Ok, it's not one of the 6 main UN languages, but I can already tick off 2 of them anyway. And considering Brazil's incessant economic growth and BRIC position, as well as its dominant size within South America, I'd say that it's in fact almost a surprise that Portuguese isn't more popular already. Chinese is, after all, already extremely popular to learn among many people whose eyes are set on the Far East... but why should Portuguese be lagging behind? ;-)

Mid-June, the new University College alumni magazine arrived at my doorstep. This year I wrote an article to be published in it, and guess what it's about? Yeeees, learning a new language, haha! Actually, I wrote up a little personalized guide as to how one might be able to learn a new language in another country in a short while, based on my experience in Brazil. And I philosophised about it a little, too... well, all I've got to say right now is I hope people enjoy(ed) reading it, and who knows it might come in handy for someone someday =)

In fact, I find that knowing Portuguese comes in handy - and funny, in the case below - at rather unexpected moments. For example, a couple of weeks ago I tuned in really randomly to Shania Twain's website (yes, another famous singer), and found a live streaming of a press conference she was giving - but no, not in Portuguese, hahaha! In English... but next to the video there was the twitter account running busy with all these people around the world watching the video at the same time leaving comments. And I found, to my surprise, that it was basically full of Brazilians, some of them even exchanging messages back and forth about the video, all in Portuguese. Some rather entertaining stuff. That was just the randomest thing ever though! I never realized that of all the places, Brazil in particular would be so big on Shania ;)) She's like one of my fav singers from way back in the day, when I was still living in Russia even (so that's at least 10 years!!), and to go to her website and find all these Brazilian Portuguese comments in the twitter thing was just really hilarious for me.

Well, I've come to the end of my post at the moment. I'm not entirely sure what exactly my point is here, I just wanted to babble a bit and share some funny and curious things here on my blog hahaha. And I guess, for me the point is to reinforce and reassure myself of learning Portuguese further, which I will do sem duvidas ;)

Thanks for reading! Hope you'll come back again to check out my blog =)

PS As for the title, it's a word play on the UC alumni magazine's illustration for my article, which had a dude in swim shorts and an iPod, with 'donde esta la playa' written in the speech bubble, hahaha... and as I'm still going to write about some Brazilian beach adventures here soon, I thought, why not head in that direction already ;-)

In the city of black Brazilian gold

Hello there!

I promised last time to write about Ouro Preto, a small but famous town in Minas Gerais, a couple of hours' ride from Belo Horizonte, the capital of the state. Ouro Preto, along with places such as Mariana, Congonhas, Tiradentes and Sao Joao del Rei, are all towns which prospered back in the Portuguese colonial period and are to this day adorned with colourful, picturesque architecture, most notably churches. These can be found spread around the towns, their Portuguese colonial style looking particularly beautiful against the backdrop of the green hills and a variety of other colonial architecture around. Ouro Preto is possibly the most visited of these towns, thanks to its proximity to Belo Horizonte.

I wrote a little bit about Tiradentes and Sao Joao del Rei a while ago, where I went along on a day trip with Saci, the school where I worked in Juiz de Fora. Ouro Preto (literally, 'black gold' - it was one of the mining centers back in the industrial period of Minas) is probably around the same size as Tiradentes, but as far as I know (or rather, have seen), can boast of more churches adorning its steep hills - and those hills are certainly steeper than in Tiradentes! Nowadays, Ouro Preto is actually known as a hippie/student town, and from my own observations, I can testify to that!

Beautiful Ouro Preto, the city of 'Black Gold'

We arrived in Ouro Preto in the middle of the day and at that point the skies looked like they were about to open up and spill out on our heads. Luckily, despite the dark clouds still hanging around in the sky, the sun rays managed to break through a little later and make our photos brighter and much happier looking. Indeed, the first photos on our cameras are quite dark, with menacing clouds above.. and much brighter and nicer later that same afternoon!

In Ouro Preto, we stayed in a hostel of the same owners as those running our hostel in Belo Horizonte (it's not really a coincidence, we booked our hostel in Ouro Preto through them), whose logo has a cute little green alligator. Luckily, the town is small and we didn't need to go far to get to and from the hostel - walking around on the old stones and cobbles of Ouro Preto requires good shoes, and is potentially lethal to shabby suitcase wheels.

On the steep streets of Ouro Preto

Spread around its green hills are the many (twelve? thirteen?) colonial churches, usually seating proudly at the peak of the actual hill, from which you can admire the view of the town from a whole variety of viewing points, as we have. Being prepared to climb the afore-mentioned steep cobbles of the city comes with the visiting ;-)

I won't describe every church we went to take a closer look at, because even in the less than 2 days we had there we still managed to check out quite a few (though many were closed at the time, so we just admired the outside part), or every other architectural high-point of the city, because basically the whole of Ouro Preto is very beautiful and therefore worth visiting. What did catch my eye right away though, and has remained with me throughout our stay, is the strange combination of this old colonial city architecture, with the steep streets paved with cobbles, and... the many cars around, either parked or driving (sometimes blocking good photo opportunities). Really, traffic congestion in Ouro Preto is pretty astonishing - something you would imagine in a city like Sao Paulo or Rio, sure, but not in this small historic city, surrounded by mountains on all sides. But I guess that's how modernity goes.

Our first afternoon in the city, we explored the main square, with its important-looking buildings and the mountains forming the impressive background landscape (don't forget the dark menacing clouds! haha); cute and colourful little streets around the center, with the artesanato shops selling all kinds of hand-made artifacts, clothes, and jewellery (of course, we couldn't quite stay away from those), restaurants and the locals' and tourists' homes (aka hostels and such). We also had lunch at a rather expensive restaurant (my bad! didn't look at the menu properly) whose expenses obviously mainly went out on the great location and image, rather than cuisine.. oh well. At least Bryley got to hang out of the window and take more pictures of the cute little street.


One of the cute streets of Ouro Preto: judging by all the nametags and notices, a busy one!

We were also lucky to catch some beautiful views of the town lit by the rays of the setting sun, starting with the church on top of the hill, down to the streets below. We caught some amazing views from atop one of the higher points in Ouro Preto, next to a local museum. From here, we could see the hills with the houses built around them (I think, that was a kind of local favela, actually), a number of beautiful colonial churches, the central square and the steep streets and corners. Ouro Preto bathed in the golden rays of the setting sun.. how romantic! ;-)

Among our great discoveries in Ouro Preto was also the awesome market next to one of the churches (well, everything is nearby a church in this town.. but this one really was next to it), where we spent almost a couple of hours searching out little souvenirs, gifts and jewellery. Really, they had so much stuff, including things you could also buy in BH (and I did), but here they were a lot cheaper!! There was a lot of choice in particular of all kinds of souvenirs made out of stone, polished, carved and painted into numerous beautiful things, such as jewellery boxes. Apparently, a Minas/Ouro Preto specialty.

We (that is, I mostly) also bargained with a few sellers for a number of cute earrings for us, too. That must have been funny: two gringas, one speaking English to her gringa friend and consequently bargaining in Portuguese to the seller. But we got our way :)

After all that effort, we sat down for our deserved evening meal of the typical mineira food: salsicha (a kind of sausage that mineiros claim isn't actually sausage) and mandioca (I think it translates as 'yam'.. and I always thought tastes a bit like potato), washed down with some Brazilian beer of course. We were sitting at this cute cafe at a street corner of the main square, if I remember it well, decorated inside with photos of Ouro Preto and Minas Gerais, with a terrace outside, and some good live music by (probably) one of the local musicians, for whom we clapped enthusiastically. I remember the place must have had a rather European atmosphere, because Bryley and I were discussing that this kind of European-style cafe life is still of course the best :) How great that you can find it all the way in Brazil, too.

The next morning we started our sight-seeing down a different street from our hostel, exploring a few other shopping and photo-taking opportunities. Later that afternoon, we were leaving back to BH to set off on our trip to Cabo Frio (in Rio state) to meet our friend Fernanda, from Saci. So, we didn't have much more time to enjoy Ouro Preto, and we had to make sure to do it all! And so we put our most sturdy shoes on (hmm, All Stars in my case) and headed up all those cobbled streets.

It's funny to note that with the multitude of churches in Ouro Preto, it's difficult to say which the most famous or beautiful are, as they are similar in style, and each one is very nice. There is a well-known image of the city: a church on a hill, surrounded by red-roofed houses all around, and I think that's the one we saw in the city center the night before.. but who knows, maybe not. In any case, we headed to one of the churches on top of another hill we haven't seen up close yet, and that was quite a walk up indeed! Luckily, it was along the streets with many more cute little shops, restaurants, and a multitude of soft colors as everywhere else in Our Preto.


Yep, that was quite a walk up to the beautiful old church! And parked just nearby, a Beetle car, one of the many in Ouro Preto.
On our way there, we also encountered a large hostel with a veranda and great photo opportunities (though I didn't have the sense to put my sunglasses on on this bright day so I'm squinting like an idiot in all the pictures). And on our way back, we stopped by a small restaurant run by a sweet local lady who provided us with some lovely simple lunch (and much cheaper than the day before) and great hospitality. With the place almost empty at that time of day, we could eat out on their small cozy balcony, with the view of one of the biggest churches and the houses around right before us. And the lady even helped us by trying to take a good photo (but it was too bright to get a really good one).

Well, that's about it for now about our journey to Ouro Preto - we didn't have much time there, but as the town is so small (but still takes enough effort to see, trust me, with all that climbing), we got a pretty good idea of it, I'd say :) But hopefully, I can still go back again when I'm the area once more. As I said, that night we were back in Belo Horizonte, and got on the night bus to drive for nine hours back to the south, to the summer resort of Cabo Frio to be exact. What happened in Cabo Frio and Buzios is going to be up next! :)

Thanks to all of you still reading! It's been a long journey... but I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog to this point. We're almost there, at the end of this particular adventure.. ^^

Beijo!

In the splendor of Belo Horizonte

Hey!

Well, here I am again! Once again I've had another period in which I just didn't get to writing on this blog - things have been busy and not always very butter-smooth, but I really will try to write much more often here than I've done recently. A promise I've made many times, haha, but don't always follow up on.

And a year since my Big Brazilian adventure, there is still more to write about it - this is still more or less my Brazilian blog after all, so I will continue until I'm out of words hahaha (out of words? Hopefully that's never going to happen). And this time I will write about Belo Horizonte, the capital of Minas Gerais, where I stayed in Brazil.

I've written a tiny bit about BH (as they call it for short) before, not long after I've come back from Brazil. I've been there twice: once with the other trainees from Juiz de Fora (all guys!), and once with Bryley, in June and July respectively. It's funny because the first time I was in such a male company: I went with three other guys, and we stayed in BH with a guy (Joao from AIESEC BH, who so kindly took us all in... though he only knew Kevin, I think). That's so not like me, either... hahaha. But the second time I went with a female friend, and we stayed at a hostel, and did girly stuff like going shopping at a market.. but I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyhow, very different, but cool in both cases.

Since I've written a bit about my first stay in BH already, this time I'd like to write about my second trip there. BH was the first place Bryley and I went to on our twelve-day trip around, and we left the day after the final football game between Holland and Spain (the great weekend in JF I've described before, full of birthday and football parties). We only ended up having 1.5 days in BH though, as we soon embarked on the trip to Ouro Preto, a small colonial town two hours from there, and then back down south to the coast to meet my friend Fernanda for our stay in Cabo Frio and Buzios. After that we hit Rio again, as well as Niteroi. All in twelve days... busy bees, right? So now I'll devote the next few entries to this trip, before getting to what will probably be my last entry on JF itself (for the moment), as I know I've promised a while ago.. (Luckily, I've already done Bahia hahaha).

Belo Horizonte, as I said, is the capital of Minas Gerais and the biggest city, I guess about 3 million in all? It's easy to notice that it's a metropolis just by the avenues, which are really wide, with loads of traffic. But they are beautiful, too - with lots of trees around, many of which were blooming when I was there (either the first or second time.. or possibly both, maybe the trees took turns for me ;)). In BH we stayed at a nice hostel in a central area of the city, and actually when we searched, I don't think we even found that many hostels. BH isn't really very touristy, either, even though it's a very beautiful city, and definitely has enough to see and do.

At the Praca da Liberdade in the heart of Belo Horizonte.. anyone else is reminded of LA? ;)


Well, I don't want to sound like a tourist guide though.. the night we arrived we didn't get up to too much other than going out for some food and drinks with some people from the hostel in the area around. And the next morning we had a lovely breakfast out on the terrace in the sun :) As we pretty much just had that one day to explore the city, we got going to see some of the more famous sights, such Praca de Savassi, Praca de Liberdade, where we took lots of photos, and the Mercado Central, the central market where they sell pretty much everything, from food to jewellery to flower baskets (and also lots of things made out straw and wicker..). Being in the company of only men, I didn't actually make it to Mercado Central last time, haha. And it was so funny because though it was around 28 degrees during the day, most Brazilians around were wearing long sleeves and some even light jackets and such, while Bryley and me were dressed for summer. Ok, it was actually during a Brazilian winter, but it certainly didn't feel like one! So we got many stares from the locals who probably thought we were two crazy gringas to be walking around like that in the winter. Tank tops, shorts and a pair of the same All Stars (yes, we bought the same ones). See, in our European winter, that would be crazy, but in Brazil it was pretty normal.


Yes, they really sell everything at the Mercado Central!

Of course, at the Mercado Central, we got caught up in a jewellery store, and I think we must have bought quite a few things there. It was also quite a good place for gift shopping.. and Bryley got me a pair of earrings with a Brazilian flag that I still wear quite a bit :)

After browsing through the market, with its foods, arts and crafts, we had a late lunch on our way back. We stopped real quick by our hostel and then rushed off to see the sunset at Mirante, near the Parque das Mangabeiras, a famous viewing point in the city, up on the hill, nearby a very rich and classy area that a friend of mine calls Beverly, and with good reason. The houses along the road on the way to Mirante are incredible. And they get the view, too!

I remember we had quite a ride on the bus on our way there. It was this small thing that rambled up and down the steep BH hills, at quite an impressive speed. Even Bryley, who's taken long bus journeys in India, was slightly freaked out by the bus trip, I think more than me. Sure, there was a slight chance you might fly out of the seat on the way, but luckily neither one of us did, and we managed to get to the endpoint unscathed. Unfortunately though, the bus didn't actually get us all the way to Mirante, but stopped at a little square, still a 5-10 min drive from there. So we had to catch a taxi and actually only managed to see the sunset through the back seat of the car as it was rushing up the hill.. by the time we got to Mirante, the sun had just set and we missed all that sunlit glow across the city's towering modern buildings. Well, I myself have seen the sun slowly setting over BH before as I've already been to Mirante during my first visit, but I guess Bryley was slightly dissappointed.

But not to worry, we still had a good time, having our coconut drinks and watching the natural light fade away after the sun and the little twinkly golden lights spring up around the buildings of the city. They call Belo Horizonte that name for a reason for it means 'beautiful horizon', and it really is. And as the last of the light fades and the sky turns dark, the city is a shining mass of gold.

The golden horizon of Belo Horizonte at night time


At Mirante, we also ran into some of the guys from the hostel that we already met the night before. We didn't stay with them too long though, as we headed out to meet a friend of our friend Gabriella who lives in Belo Horizonte and gladly agreed to meet us in the city. So we went together to a really cute, colourful bar decorated all around with artsy-craftsy items, with even a small corner where you could buy some of those.

At the bar, we had a great time getting to know Barbara, Gabi's friend, who's also spent a year in Holland herself years before, when she was still in high-school. But as this was not yet enough for us for the night, we met up with her friend William (whom she lovingly calls Lilly...) who then drove us to another sight-seeing spot above on a hill where the view of the city at night was just... amazing. Although Bryley's camera has great night functions and has captured part of the splendor (a little alike to the photo above), looking over that modern city spreading out in all directions at night time can't quite be compared to a photo.. now it's just in my memory.

Together with Barbara at the supercute bar in BH

Barbara and William also took us to this supposedly famous 'bar on a corner' in BH, where even on a Tuesday night the typically Brazilian scene of plastic chairs, tables and beer holders (with the small cups) was full of people enjoying the above mentioned beer. So did we together with our new friends :) And I swear I remember as we came and went there were quite a few male stares in our direction. Lol!

Well, the next day around noon we went off in the direction of Ouro Preto, a small but famous city two hours from BH. And Ouro Preto will be my next stop here, and it will be soon!

Thanks for reading!

Beijo

Rio 2.0 - on a big 3D screen, that is =)

Oi!

When a famous Hollywood film studio decided to make an animation film called 'Rio', they probably didn't have people like me specifically in mind, who greatly miss the flamboyant scenery and atmosphere of this city (and country), but it was of course a great pleasure to watch! Taking a 3D ride through Copacabana and Ipanema, Lapa, flying (together with the birds, the principal characters of the movie) past Christ the Redeemer, and even speeding it away up and down a favela on a motorbike... it brought back so many memories of this city! I've written about Rio on several occasions already, but with the movie out and slamming, I thought I would briefly write about some impressions once again. And thanks to the Brazilian director of 'Rio', though clearly aimed for a large mainstream international audience, the film still to a large extent has an unmistakable Brazilian spirit. Oba!

When I arrived in Brazil, I was probably just as lost and disoriented as Blu (the bird in the movie) and his owner when they came to Rio de Janeiro... haha. But with such breath-taking views and up-beat Brazilian tempers around, how do you not warm up to the Brazilian spirit? (In both my case and that in the movie.. not that I am trying to draw parallels here or anything! ;-))

For one, I thought it was awesome that the film takes the viewer around the city, from the glistening Ipanema beach to the favela, and from the Christ figure to the world-famous Carnaval parade (of course! haha). And the 3D animated images of the city were so life-like! Three cheers to the modern animation technology! And naturally, it makes you want to go back. Now, right after the movie! Haha. Mmm, the animated evening image of the view of the Ipanema bay with Sugar Loaf Mountain in the center seen from the slopes of the favela will stay with me for a while, I think. Just as the real memories of seeing these contradictory features of the city will, of course. And not to mention going up the favela on a motorbike! Just as we did, when the scene in the film came up, I was like, no way did they actually include that in the movie. How awesome :)

And the música! I've written about my love for Brazillian music on my blog before, so you can imagine my thrill. It was a little funny to hear some of the samba songs in English, but it still had lots of great up-beat music... anyone ever thought of having a dance-in movie? (You know, instead of a drive-in, hahaha). Because I would totally be dancing it out to this one. Together with the super-cool funky Rio birds. Vumbora!

Of course, the popularity of Rio and Brazil in general will continue and keep growing as we draw nearer the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. Until that time (which I will hopefully spend in Brazil for both occasions, hehe), there might be several more such delicious reminders for me of my (first) experience in Brazil. I sure look forward to it!

Together with some lovely ladies in the heart of Rio de Janeiro, Lapa

Well, that's just about it for my observations for the moment. Just wanted to share some personal thoughts inspired by seeing the movie. But I figured I won't bore you with a long text this time ;-)

Beijo!

Mouthwatering Morro de Sao Paulo, pt 2

Hey!

I think it was yesterday or the day before that my mum commented that it's been a while since I'd written on my blog (she checks it these days with surprising frequency). And it's true, it's been already almost a month since I wrote here last, so I'm going to break the bad habit now. I guess I just got a bit busy, what with my role as sales assistant at a large Dutch department store, and starting an internship as copywriter at the communications department of Fairfood International, an NGO based in Amsterdam. And, if you check out their website once in a while (fairfood.org), you might notice one of my articles, as I will also be writing for the blog as part of my responsibilities. So, even if new entries don't appear on this blog as often as they should, you can check out the Fairfood website to see if something I'd written recently had newly appeared on there :)

Well, as my readers residing in Holland would know, we've been having quite some summery weather lately, it's incredible. Today, I went into town clad in a summer top and skirt, and havaianas. Unbelievable! With weather like that persisting outside, it's time to go back to the Brazilian island of Morro de Sao Paulo, as I'd promised to make your mouths water with the story of the most perfect breakfast and 11 caipirinhas shared by three garotas. (Actually, I will probably just make my own mouth water from it. lol)

The breakfast from a dream
(... but I know it was real!)

I'd told you much already about Bahia, Salvador and Morro de Sao Paulo, though even as an (inspiring) writer, sometimes (ok, quite often) I find it difficult to express exactly what it is I feel or have felt about something in words. Expressing what you think is in this respect much easier... but as always, I'm going to keep trying, hoping that my readers will keep coming back to the blog.

So, the first morning we woke up in our lovely pousada in Morro de SP, we were greeted by the hotel owner with trays of what is the most loveliest breakfast, really. See the photos below as proof that I'm not lying, as writers may have the tendency to exaggerate things now and then.

Yep, there were plates of exotic fruit: papaya, oranges, pineapples, bananas, my favorite watermelon, and the small little red fruit the name of which I can no longer remember... it probably grows in the Amazon, like acai (can someone help me with the name?? haha); orange juice and coffee; cheese and ham (Brazilian must-haves); rolls, croissants and chocolate brownie-type cakes, and of course white bread rolls (another Brazilian must-have at breakfast, haha). All that served on a platter, and consumed on a nice terrace with the view of the sea in the background, and the feeling you have when you've got a day ahead of you where you don't really need to do anything, rather than explore the island and relax. Sounds good, don't it?

Actually, I remember that when we went off exploring the beaches (as you may recall from the previous entry, there are at least four main beaches on Morro de SP), the sun was hiding for much of the time. Even so, it was still warm (Bahia, duh), and we could lie on the beach with our coconut water (for those of you wondering about that, yes, it comes in a real coconut, they call it agua de coco in Brazil... yum! I wish they had that here in Holland, too, it would greatly complement the nice weather. But I guess that's one of those special things you get so easily in tropical countries and can't get in this part of the world).

"Mais uma?"

As this isn't an exact account of all activities we did on the island, it should suffice to say here that we had a lovely relaxing day on the beach, and the sun came out later in the afternoon after all (with the unwanted effect that it burned Bryley's legs while we were walking back.. quite badly); and we had a big lunch at a restaurant on the beach closer to home and when some small rain drops were felt, we could hide under a cozy wooden roof, where we read some magazines and chilled out on the wooden - but cushioned - benches; and Bryley had a tereré done by an elderly lady, basically a Brazilian dreadlock made up of multiple colours.

And I just remembered what we actually did that night! Haha. We have some photos posing all together with the four of us (Bryley, Yuen, Silvana, and me) on the deck at the sea, but honestly I was just wondering a minute ago, so what came after? There seems to be no photographic evidence. But now I know, we went to this random party (I think, just me and Bryley, as Silvana and Yuen were too tired) with a few people we already knew from Salvador who were on the island at the same time (one of them recommended to us we come there in the first place). We stayed around at the party for a while, but weren't really feeling the vibe, and we - girls - knew that the minute we'd get up to join the people on the dancefloor there'd be a large amount of guys swarming around us. Just as was the case at Pelourinho in Salvador, the local male population present at the party also seemed to think much of themselves... hahaha. On a similar note, I remember we also noticed a few dark-skinned women with small children of mixed complexion that we kind of figured came as a result of white tourists visiting the island with such frequency.. well, enough said. Just something that popped into my head just now as an interesting observation we made, especially that night.

The next morning Silvana, our friend living in Sao Paulo, had to get the boat back to the mainland, which made it the three of us again. That day we chilled on the beach, basically lazing around. But what I've been promising to tell about is the night of eleven caipirinhas, which came that evening. The three of us girls dressed up in our best outfits (Bryley in my long beautiful dress from Rio de Janeiro which I never find the occasion to wear in Holland) and headed to one of the restaurants along the main street, where we sat for hours, enjoying good food, great live music practically next (door) to us, and, well... the caipirinhas. Ok, in our defense, the caipirinhas were quite small, but we still managed to make it to round 3 (round 2 for Yuen, she was lagging behind a little, which you wouldn't expect of her, but true, hehe), after which I was feeling giddy and happy. LOL. At which point we paid our bill, including the 8 caipirinhas. But since we ordered so many, the waiter offered us a round on the house, so how could we say no? Except that the fourth caipirinha turned out to be a little more difficult to consume. Which in the end I managed almost to the end, and Bryley ended up drinking her own to the bottom plus helping Yuen with hers. Really. Hahahaha.

The guilty little caipirinha ;-)

As we left the place, it actually began to rain, so we had to run home along the streaming sandy pathway. This happened on a Monday night in early August, and someone had told us that Mondays were party nights on one of the bigger beaches on Morro. So, as Bryley insisted we go check it out and it had dried up by then, we left the already dreaming Yuen at the pousada, and headed to the beach (while I felt a bit of a brain freeze after all the caipirinhas, haha). As we half-expected though on a relatively cold and rainy night off-season, the party was kind of there, but not really, since there were a few bar stalls around selling drinks, a few people, some music, but otherwise pretty deserted. We stayed a little while anyways, and I had trouble convincing the random guys around that I was a mineira (that is, from the state of Minas Gerais). Especially the guy we talked to who turned out to have spent some time in Holland, caught me out. I blame the caipirinha-induced brain-freeze. Haha!

Palm trees and natural skin lotion

The next day we were leaving the island to go back to Salvador, but we couldn't leave without trying out the famous mud bath of the island. For this, we walked for almost an hour along a narrow beach side off the mainstream tourist way, dodging big boulders in the way, sometimes walking ankle-deep in the sea to make it around them (the beach was that narrow and the boulders that big at some points). But it was beautiful scenery, with blue sky, many palm trees and almost jungle-like vegetation along the coastline. And as we finally made it to the rocks that exude this natural muddy skin lotion, we saw that quite a few other people had the same idea, you almost had to line up for the treat. Nah, kidding, we could totally relax in the light-pinky soft mudbath for a while, after which we took lots of silly pictures covered with mud. No, they're not going on here, hahaha!

Going around the big bolders on the beach on the way to the mud bath :p


Well, only a few more words to say about Morro de Sao Paulo now. As our boat took off from the shore later in the afternoon, we had some truly beautiful sights before our eyes (and cameras) from all around. Beautiful sky, lit with softly changing colours of the slowly setting sun, moving waves around the boat that always make me muse, and the charming island we were leaving behind, with a pretty sandy shore and a jungle green just behind it. There were also some small cute boats strewn about, and pretty colourful houses along the shore and also higher up among the green sides. It was a beautiful sight to have for the beginning of our trip back to Salvador. I have a photo which especially makes me miss the trip and just Brazil in general, though it actually hasn't got anything specific to do with me, but for some reason it just does. A bunch of local boys playing soccer on the beach on an island in the Atlantic ocean, somewhere of the coast of one of the most popular destinations in Brazil... what's so special about it? :-)


Getting a Brazilian tereré

After a rather long trip back, we made it back to Salvador and checked into a hostel in Pelourinho, where the host was tipping off all the girls to go see that folkloric Bahian dance show with the half-naked capoeira guys, of which I have written before. That Tuesday, we attempted another go at the busy Pelourinho night, ending up at a very random party at a big dirty outside club where none of us felt quite comfortable I think so we didn't stick around; and as usual of course we had hordes of local guys after us, causing havoc and making us run (well, not really, but some of them got a little too excited about the gringas, but what can you do). Oh, and again I tried to pass for a mineira, and this time there was this random Brazilian guy in the crowd who actually complemented me on my English, when I said I was from Minas. My English! Lol :)

The next day we explored the shopping possibilities at the busy market in town, where we bought some jewellery from a Chilean guy living in Brazil, including the birthday gift for our host sister Cacau, and my super-colourful acai beads that I love and love to wear. Also, this is where I got my own tereré (dreadlock in my hair), custom made from Brazilian colours only, that is, green, yellow, blue and white. It was beautiful, my tereré, and I still have the actual dread itself. It was a shame that already after a couple of weeks it started disentangling and I had to take it out. Next time in Brazil, I'll be sure to get another one :)

Perhaps also funny to note is that that night we had our dinner at the pub of our own hostel owner, where we were presented with a menu consisting of food from all corners of the planet, so we chose a meal of Indian, Moroccan and Thai cuisine, which was random but very good nevertheless, and it came in these cool ethnic-looking plates. Yes, I fall easily for this kind of stuff :p At the same time, each meal had a fair offering of rice on the side, so they actually looked kind of alike.. haha. Not to mention that rice is actually one of the integral parts of the Brazilian cuisine as well ;)

At this point, the story of the trip to Bahia comes to an end, and I applaude you if you managed to get to the end, in one go in any case. I feel like I've written a whole novel! In any case, I hope you have enjoyed reading about Bahia and that this isn't the last time I'm writing about it, and look forward to the next trip there =)

Obrigada!

Mwah!

PS Just wanted to mention that after taking the night plane back to Rio, Bryley and me still managed to spend a few hours in Rio before heading back to Juiz de Fora, so we were basically awake and on the road for... quite a while. A day, maybe? But it was worth it, even missing the bus because of the traffic and waiting an 1.5 hours to change our tickets for the next bus ;) But we made it back home that evening, right on time for Cacau's birthday party :)

'La isla bonita': Morro de Sao Paulo, pt 1

Hey!

A few weeks ago I began writing some stories and impressions of mine from the trip to Bahia that Bryley, Yuen and I went on last August (yep I know it's been a while! Time flew by). When you arrive in Salvador, the grand capital of Bahia, it's inevitable to be struck by its natural environment (i.e. the sea, beaches and palm trees), its colonial architectural beauty in Pelourinho, its confident, attractive population; as well as its modernity and poverty, both of which stare you straight in the face. Salvador is, similar to Rio (though perhaps not to the same level), full of such contrasts, where the streets of the city are home both to great cultural heritage as well as many homeless people the society seems to turn their face away from as they pass. The city is a popular tourist playground, and you can find gringos from everywhere all year round. It's a place worth visiting, but perhaps one you have to prepare yourself for beforehand.

Salvador - Valenca - Morro de Sao Paulo

As we happened to go to Bahia in the depth of the Brazilian winter (read: it's still close to 30 degrees during the day but sometimes it rains and gets just a tad chilly at night), the place we headed to from Salvador was far less busy in that period, also as the winter holidays just ended, but would normally also be bustling with tourists - the beaches of Morro de Sao Paulo on the island of Tinharé. It's pretty quick and straightforward to get from Salvador to Morro de Sao Paulo if you take the more expensive, smaller boat that makes a direct journey in a couple of hours (but apparently is likely to leave you quite sea-sick). Instead, the three of us girls and our new friend from the hostel Silvana (resident of the actual city of Sao Paulo), took the cheaper, sea-sick-free, but longer and more complicated journey which involved getting a big ferry in Salvador across to the island nearby, where we were lucky to just catch the bus heading for a town called Valenca, where we arrived an hour and a half later. In Valenca, we had to wait a half hour to an hour for the speed boat to take us and a few other tourists to Morro de SP. I can no longer remember how we actually managed to figure all this out!

So, the journey took a little longer but I have to say that the bus ride from the place which name I no longer remember to Valenca was really interesting, because it went past beautiful countryside, with lush tropical green on both sides; and at the end of the bus trip we drove through what seemed like the central street of a small village, where you see somewhat depricated houses on your both sides, with elderly people sitting out beside their houses, and children running in the street; in other words, a place full of local life, and where everybody knows everybody else (as well as all the latest gossip ;-)). I suppose the kind of picture you would imagine to encounter in the countryside of a big, quickly developing nation... It must have been Valenca itself, even though from the tourist guides it would seem like a bigger, more modern place. Something to look into! In any case, Valenca is a proud host of a small local port, where we got on the speed boat to speed us off to the island. Heading for the same destination, we shared both our bus and boat with a Dutch family, which proves that you really do find Dutch people everywhere. And perhaps a funny detail to add is that the family consisted of one of those ultra-cool Dutch women in their forties with a pre-teen child and a younger boyfriend. Haha, awesome.

Yuen and me on the boat from Valenca to Morro de SP: it got so windy! :p



An hour or so later, we were on the island, a pretty little thing in the midst of the deep blue sea around. Ok, Tinharé is not actually that little, and we only visited a small part of it probably, the four (or five? six? help!) beaches that make up the now famous Morro de Sao Paulo. Or in any case, gathering that fame at a fast pace. From the shore, we had to climb up the steep but luckily short hill to reach the central square of the area, which leads on to the beaches so simply and unpretensiously named beach one, beach two, beach three, beach four... haha. Each has its specific characteristics and may appeal to various visitors in different ways, from what I remember beach one was kind of a normal beach with some bars and shops, beach two was the party beach, beach three quieter and more relaxed, and I don't even remember about beach four anymore. I do remember visiting all four of them, though our pousada - bed and breakfast Brazilian style, basically - was near to beach one, so pretty much at the 'front' of the island when you arrive, so to speak.

Oh yes, I was talking about climbing up to the central square: so that's the first thing you see when you finally get up with all your luggage (a small Eastpack, lol... but there are also lots of island boys who earn money from carrying tourists' luggage up and down the hill). The square is suuuuper cute, with a sort of Caribbean atmosphere, beautiful, colorful houses around, bars and restaurants, and in the evening it was full of life, with women selling lots of things such as jewellery, and children running around joyfully, while we sipped at our capeta's... oops, I got a little fast-forwarded there ;)

The pousada and the capeta

From the square, as a visitor you are likely to take one of the two ways, one along the 'main' street between mostly restaurants, hostels, pousadas, and shops; or the street parallel, which is basically the beach. Yes, one, two, three, four, one following the other. Life on a island is simple, isn't it? :*** As we first had to actually find a place to stay, we took that first option, and quickly found ourselves staying at a really cute pousada owned and run by a nice Brazilian couple in their thirties or early forties, where we had lots of space actually, as we stayed two to a room, with a whole terrace (including awesome hanging lounge chairs and a hammock) which we shared only with one other couple from New Zealand during our two-three day stay on the island. For some reason we were doubting at first how long we were gonna stay at this pousada, but I don't know anymore why, since it was actually pretty royal. Also, one of us mentioned that the pousada owner said that after we see the breakfast, we won't wanna change to another hostel or whatever, and that's so true. The breakfast was the most f* amazing I've had in Brazil, hahaha. But about that a little later.

Once we settled in at our pousada we explored the nearby area a little, though it was already getting dark, and then decided to have dinner at our own pousada, which has a small balcony, and seemed like a good option for the night for four hungry travelers. It was so funny when we got there because on that same balcony was an adolescent couple busy admiring each other, who looked at us like we were a little crazy when we arrived, as if they were thinking, 'someone actually came for dinner? ooook...' So they had to retreat to the neighbouring kitchen and start working, and the guy was our waiter for the evening - the restaurant was pretty much to ourselves during that time, as it's really small, pretty much just the balcony from what I remember. The food was really good though, with some of that Bahian-style palm-oil prepared sea food (why didn't we take a photo??), yum.

The pretty square at Morro de SP, bustling with local and tourist life


When we left to go to Bahia, Mariana, my host sister, tipped us off to try the Bahian capeta cocktail, which consists of vodka and liquid chocolate I believe, and proudly and justly bears the name 'little devil'. As we sat down after dinner at the aforementioned square to admire the evening atmosphere around, we couldn't miss the opportunity to try it :p It was very devilishly good, hehe.



Enjoying the Bahian capeta's

Well for now that's it as I don't want to make this post so long you won't get to the end, and I will write more about Morro de SP in part two soon!! :) (And the promised story of the breakfast and the 11 caipirinhas, which will leave you hungry and thirsty, hahaha).

Thanks for reading!

Beijos!

Quando na Holanda... about receiving Brazilian friends in Holland :)

Oi oi!

I guess when it comes to seeing the wonderful friends I made in Brazil again on this European side of the ocean, I'm quite lucky. In December and January I played host to my lovely Brazilian host sisters Mariana and Cacau for two weeks (including the trip to Paris), and was sad to see them go - it seemed so weird not to have guests in the house anymore! Someone to take care of from morning to evening, hahahhaa... never thought of myself as a house wife per se (still don't), but I guess I don't make such a bad (host) zusje. Yay for that! :-)

And just a couple of weeks ago (actually, I'm a little lazy and late with this post, hehe) another very special friend from Brazil came to visit me in Holland, Vico. Though he was only here for two days (despite my very elaborate but unfulfilled plans to detour him from getting his train back to Paris...), it was enough for him to fall in love with the country, so now I'm sure he'll be coming back again before too long. There's so much more to still see and do! I'll be waiting =)

In these two days, I was happy to receive Vico at my house too, where he could meet my mum and speak some Russian, take in all the Matryoshka dolls around and get comfortable at my 'cute house' as he called it somewhere on facebook (I spied it in Portuguese, lol). After a little misunderstanding beforehand, he realized once he was here that my house actually isn't in some far off strange place (as it seems I described it, haha), but is actually in quite a nice neighbourhood, hehe. It's no surprise that after seeing my house, taking a tour of Leiden under the almost-professional guidance by Bryley, and a night- and day take on Amsterdam, Vico left so enamoured with Holland ;-) The two days flew by so fast, it was like lightning. Luckily, we had some time to explore many charms of Amsterdam both at night (including the Red Light District :p) and during the day, when the sun was so kind as to shine for us the whole day. That was beauuutiful!


Together in Leiden, with the key image of Holland in the background: a true-life Dutch windmill!

Although Vico was only here for two days, it seemed strange at first after he left to go back to the normal routine (though a couple of days later I started a new job, so not completely the old routine actually). I had the feeling again as if there is something missing from the picture - where the Brazilian friend to take care of? Haha. *Sniff*!

And what was also really great is that Vico got to meet some more of my friends - and vice versa! Now when I keep talking about Brazil to my friends as well as my mum, at least some of them will be able to put the actual person they met to the story I'm telling. Particularly as all my friends who met my Brazilian friends liked them all, and the other way around! (And it was so hilarious because Vico spent a month in Russia before this visit and so he kept putting in phrases in Russian into his conversation that he learnt there... while my friends in Holland are more or less hopeless at understanding it, hahaha).

Now there's been three Brazilians who came to visit - so I hope the number will keep on going up, and those who've already been will come back again. As for me, life has once quite unexpectedly sent me to Brazil, so let's hope it will do so again soon enough! To help me with my Brazilian saudade, Vico also kindly brought me some gifts from Juiz de Fora, which warm up my culturally-torn heart, while they decorate my table and play on my iTunes. Rsrsrs :)

(NB Hahaha, that stands for risos, which means 'smiles' in Portuguese, and is one of the ways Brazilians express their emotions on internet lol. I thought it was weird at first too.)

As I promised before, there's still more to write about my experiences in Juiz de Fora and traveling in Brazil, with Morro de Sao Paulo in Bahia as the next story destination. I haven't forgotten - and I hope you won't forget to check it out, because it's coming soon!!!

Beijo!

O que o baiana tem?

Hello there! :)

Last Sunday I saw a performance by a Brazilian singer called Alessandra Leao at the Tropentheater in Amsterdam. Coming from the state of Pernambuco in the Northeast of Brazil, she gave a great show with the support of three percussionists and three guitarists, and, not to forget, her amazing voice. Her music is meant to combine the traditional and modern elements of the Northeastern Brazilian music, and gorgeous as that theater is, I wish I could just dance to her music, I think I wouldn't have sat down for the whole hour and a half.

I've never been to Pernambuco, though I would love to travel through more of the Northeast of Brazil, but till now the closest I got to there was Bahia, just to the south of Pernambuco. It would be difficult for me of course to draw comparisons between the two states as I haven't been to Pernambuco or the rest of the Northeast, but I believe that having sampled some Bahian culture I can imagine a bit of what lays in store if you venture up north from Salvador, the capital of Bahia. Alessandra Leao's performance being the starting point for this post, I would actually like to talk a bit more about Bahia, which is an extremely popular place to visit among the travelers to Brazil, and I've been lucky enough to be among them.

Salvador, the fast-beating heart of Bahia

Salvador da Bahia is a city that leaves a lasting impression, similar in that respect to Rio de Janeiro. It has fascinating history as it was the first place in Brazil to have been colonized by the Portuguese, and for many years it was the center and capital of the newly emerging country under European colonial rule as well as the center of the slave trade. The majority of the residents of the city have African roots, and the city is bursting with the Afro-European influences of its past. It has a beautiful, extremely colourful city center called Pelourinho, with the buildings and churches built in Portuguese style adorning the steep cobbled streets. (They are so steep and cobbled that walking up and down wearing even havaianas was a challenge, let alone the heels the Brazilian girls fancy so much). Pelourinho is famous for its Tuesday party nights, when the best percussion band in the world, Olodum, takes on these very steep cobbled streets to beat out the kind of rhythms on their drums that won't leave you standing still (despite the cobbles). Olodum are accompanied by a couple of dancers who show the rest of the crowd how to dance to the music, and there are several lines of locals and tourists following them. Do you remember Michael Jackson's video for 'They don't care about us?' Yep, that's Pelourinho, and it's Olodum.

Salvador is no less famous for its amazing shows of capoeira; one night we went to see a Bahian folklore dance show in Pelourinho, and it was absolutely smashing. It wasn't just capoeira, but also candomblé, which is a popular Brazilian religion (like a cult I suppose), and some samba too, I believe. But omg, the dancing was amazing, and so was the capoeira. And well, those young capoeira guys sure know what they're worth, which was easy to tell just by the way they stood outside after the performance. Tall, dark and handsome (literally), and amazing dancers in addition, their testosterone levels must be particularly high after each performance, especially as they can see the girls eyeing them afterwards. (As a note, the guys perform without shirts for much of the time. A week later, when we were back in Pelo, our hostel owner kept encouraging all the girls to go see the show because of all the male performers).

Yes, Bahia is a magnificent center of culture, music and dancing. Quite a few famous Brazilian writers and musicians come from Bahia, including Jorge Amado, one of the best known Brazilian writers (whose most well known work 'Dona Flor and her two husbands', which takes place in Bahia, is waiting on my book shelf for me to be read), and Ivete Sangalo, the queen of Brazilian axé music, and as many of you would already know, one of my favourite singers now ;) Ivete's music is known to boom out at Carnaval, and I could honestly dance to her music for four days straight, as they probably do in Salvador, to which she seems quite faithful when it comes to Carnaval. Some of her songs, too, specifically refer to Salvador, especially with relation to Carnaval and dancing at Pelourinho; for instance in one song she sings, "Come, my love, come to Olodum, and let's dance together at Pelo"... can you guess that she's a proud baiana (Bahian woman)?

Somewhere I heard, or read, that except for Rio, where samba is the deal, the rest of Brazil dances Carnaval to axé, so it's no wonder that Ivete has such musical status in Brazil. Some of her music plays in the Brazilian film Ó Pai Ó, which takes place during Carnaval in Salvador, the film I saw at the Amsterdam open-air film festival in August last year, a week after I was back from Brazil, and only recently after the trip to Bahia. Imagine what it was like for me to watch that film, recognizing all those cobbled streets and colourful buildings in Pelourinho, with all that music and dancing...


One of the central, and steepest, streets of Pelourinho :p


There is a lot to say about Salvador, Bahia, and our trip there in general, and I don't want to sound like a tour guide. But certainly, this is a place worth visiting in Brazil, though as a foreign girl you have to prepare yourself, because it's not just the handsome capoeira boys who show off high testosterone levels in Salvador. At times the male attention was quite intense, actually, even though there are so many other gringa's around, as the place is such a tourist bomb, that you'd think the men wouldn't bother you much. Not that I was particularly bothered, but after being touched by random men in the streets a few times, with the accompanying 'Ei, lindaaa' (hey, beautiful), you think, huh. In another place, like Holland, I'd be like, 'why are you touching me??' but in Brazil, after a while I just kinda got used to being ready for almost anything of that sort ;)
In Brazil, you can expect much attention from men as a girl, and in a city like this it is particularly true as the men did seem to think quite a bit of themselves, hahaha. Oh, and did I mention that their women are really beautiful, and their curves would make even Beyoncé jealous? One of the most culturally rich states in Brazil, no wonder there is a saying that goes along the lines of 'Que o que o baiana tem?' (What oh what does a Bahian have?)

About playing 'fortress' on the beach

And of course, there are the beaches in Salvador, too :p It's a big city, with at least a million people, and Pelo is just a small part of it. Much of the city is very modern, surrounded by beaches as well as high-rises in addition to the old colonial center. One afternoon, we took a bus along the city coast in the opposite direction from the city center, to check out this apparently great beach an hour's ride away. I suppose the beach itself was pretty great, but once we actually arrived there after an hour on the bus, the darkening skies have opened to leave us little choice but try to find a place to hide in one of the beach restaurants. As you can imagine, many people had the same idea, and Bryley, Yuen and I ended up fashioning a little beach umbrella fortress out on the deck of the restaurant, with the kind help of one of waiters. And actually, that was fuuuun, like playing house, or in this case house caught up in a (small) storm on the beach, as little kids :) And since we haven't had lunch yet, this was the perfect time for it, so we ordered this huge oven-prepared fish with a bunch of side-dishes. It was a pretty good afternoon given that we rode out to this beach a million light years away from the city, got caught in the rain and didn't actually get to lie on the beach or swim. And the trip back on the bus was also accompanied by rain. But I did enjoy the trip there anyways, because most of it takes you along the seaside, which is a great way to see more of the place.


Our awesome little fortress on the beach!! :)


Caipirinhas vs. football

Bryley, Yuen and me traveled to Salvador with the three of us and first stayed in a hostel near the beach in the neighbourhood called Barra for a few nights, including a forró dance party at a club we went to with a bunch of people on a bus they arranged (I don't remember anymore exactly how they arranged it or who was in that group), which was fun but ended up with two of the super-drunk French guys leaving the place before us and there was this whole issue at the door because the security wouldn't let us leave because of it since they hadn't paid. Luckily we could go before it got too long, and the next day the guys turned out to still be alive and unharmed after all (as they stumbled out so drunk and just went off in a random direction at night in Salvador, which isn't recommended).

By the time we got to this trip, I had developed a sort of habit of having a caipirinha almost daily (at least when traveling!!), without which something seemed to miss from my daily ratio (oops!). But think about it, it's like the French and wine, isn't it... hahaha. Don't worry I've dropped the habit a long time ago. But in Salvador, too, we went out with the three of us girls to have some cocktails at a bar in a whole bar-party area a walking distance from our beach hostel, where we joined all the many Brazilians whose eyes were on the game between two Brazilian football teams. I remember having a caipirinha with strawberries that night... OMG, so good! And it's just so much fun to be out at a bar sipping your caipirinha during a game, with all these Brazilians going crazy supporting these - to me, random - teams. Somehow I never have this feeling when there is a TV on with a football game at a (usually Irish) bar in Holland.

Oh, and there was this random party that we ventured into one of the nights, where the thing that springs to mind first was that one of the guys that was circling around us wouldn't believe I was from Minas Gerais, because apparently I 'don't look Brazilian'. Whatever happened to the Brazilian ethnic and cultural variety? Melting pot, and all that? Boo. Oh well, haha.

We spent a few days in Salvador after which we headed to a nearby island called Morro de Sao Paulo with our new friend Silvana, returning back to Salvador for a day at the end of our trip. But I will tell you about Morro de Sao Paulo next time, as well as the night of eleven caipirinhas... as a result of joined effort, mind you! Haha ;)

Beijo!