DFW Flight 963

... so I took a little hiatus during my Brazil trip and came home to Texas for a few weeks for a health thing that luckily ended up not being so bad and of course to see my awesome family and friends, of course :)

I figured, in the Dallas Airport as I was getting ready to fly from Dallas back to Sao Paulo that it wouldn't be a bad idea to keep a little journal during my travels... so I did, and I tried my hardest to keep it up-to-date. So the rest of what I write about Brazil is kind of an edited version of what I wrote in my journal. Its red by the way. ... so here we go. Some of its real cornball , so prepare yourself. Cheers!

<<02.09.10>>

I have such a long 24 hours ahead of me, Im in Dallas waiting for my flight to Sao Paulo- with only 20 minutes left to wait... I think.. I hope. Im saving my IPod battery for the 10 hour layover I have in Sao Paulo before my flight leaves for Salvador. Carnaval starts tomorrow in Salvador !! 24 hours and I'll be at one of the biggest festivals in the world! How do you even prepare yourself for that? I think my excitement and tequilla intake in the last two hours has shadowed my fear of flying because right now I'm feeling good, not too afraid. I set up shop at a mexican taco grill for a little bit, hoping to calm my nerves with a few doses of Herradura and a last fix of a chicken fajita taco before I left. This crazy geologist guy sat at the table next to me and immediately sarted talking to me when he saw me reading a book on Brazil... kind of had this crazy silent laugh like Harry from Dumb & Dumber. Real odd guy. He kept insisting that I take his "Eating the Dinosaur" book, so I took it.. I figured it'd be more of a battle to say no than to just take it. So now I have a book with a triceratops on it... cool. Its by the author who wrote, Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs which I heard was good, so we'll see. Not something I'd expect from a geologist. (I actually ended up reading the entire book, not too shabby actually ... and I'm not a reader, so that was huge.)

I feel like my trip just shifted into "real mode" after walking up to the waiting area and hearing portuguese everywhere, even the PA announcments were in portuguese.. in Dallas! I'm ready to conquer this trip! (probably shouldn't have had that last margarita.. "ready to conquer this trip"...really? .. oh it gets worse..) Beaches, nature, fruit, hiking.. bring it Brazil, Baros is Back! haha. Up up and away, they're calling my group!

So Im sitting in my seat and the alcohol is starting to ware off because Im starting to freak. But Im sitting next to a really nice lady from Sao Paulo who seems like shes got a good vibe going which is so nice because sometimes you get stuck next to some pretty interesting characters- like this one time I sat next to this odd Canadian man.. they really do say "Eh!" .. all the time. Ok, the engine's starting! Here we go! Norah Jones has this line in one of her songs that says, "Our fears are only what we tell them to be." So Im just going to keep telling myself that. It's- all- in- my- head, -everything-will-be-okay. deep breath. See you in Sao Paulo ;)

FLORRRIPA!

So after Porto Alegre I booked it up north to Florianópolis, a big island between Porto Alegre and São Paulo. Its the closest "nice" beach really from Argentina, so it was filled with porteños. Its a lively party town, really fun, awesome beach, small waves for surfing and surrounded by huge green mountains. I think there are like 42 little beaches that make up Florianopolis.

I stayed in the part of town called Barra Lagoa by the coast away from the main part of the city in this great hostel- in like a huge wood cabin on the top of this hill that over looked the main beach and a secluded lagoon. Pretty sweet deal. The picture is the view from my balcony.

Ended up staying with such an amazing group of people and had a blast for a week... that pretty much sums up my trip to Floripa... went to the beach during the day and partied at night....kind of exactly like a week at Spring Break.

Huge gaudy tattoos were pretty much everywhere on the beach, so we all did henna-liquid eyeliner gaudy tattoos of our own. When the henna dried and peeled off, the showers and sheets were covered in dried flakes of black henna, the maid was more than angry.

Hope to catch up with yall soon one day! .. in big Oz, Europe or back in the states :)

When in Doubt , go Raw.

Buenos Aires --> Porto Alegre

I bussed 18 sweet hours from Buenos Aires to Porto Alegre. The ride wasn't bad- long- but do able. Crossing the Argentina - Brazil border was where it kinda got a little dodgey . The bus route goes up north to Iguazu Falls then crosses into Brazil, avoiding having to pass through Paraguay. We stopped at customs, everyone got out, showed the passports, got their stamp yada yada.- We got in our seats to cross and all of a sudden the bus doors open, oh I guess we forgot someone... suddenly about 20 questionable characters jump in really quick. They didnt take their time getting in- it was like a 25 second motion . The bus which was comfortably filled was now crammed with people standing in the aisles. Where did these guys come from? Mind you it was like 2am and we were in the middle of an empty parking lot. Oh god, this is where I get robbed, I know it. The bus, for some reason, was pitch black which made it even worse. For some reason I looked back to the last row and all I could see were 3 pairs of wide white eyes staring at me. Its like the eyeballs were glowing. I just sat there, stiff. We crossed the border, the driver gave a little wave and off we went. 5 minutes down the road the bus stops on the highway, lights turn on and they all jump off without saying a word. And that was it.

Anyway, I decided to stop in Porto Alegre to break up the voyage. Luckily Bryans family has a friend there so I stayed with him and his family for a few days. Really nice family. Not really anything exciting going on in Porto Alegre- industrious, clean, nice thats about it. I ate chicken hearts- that was pretty eventful. If you eat the heart, do you eat their soul? That has to be morally wrong somewhere. I did some research and apparently its not bad luck to eat the chicken heart, BUT swallowing it raw- THATs where the good luck comes. (according to Kentucky Superstitions) If only I wouldve known....

This is the family I stayed with. It was Silvio's 53rd birthday... hence the the hands.

*by the way, I keep feeling the need to correct my punctuation, add apostrophes , cross my

"T"s, dot my "I"s, but I got to thinking and you know what... this is my blog and I'm not going to do it anymore. There, I said it.

Smuggling Lychees. SOLD.

The blog is back in action. After 5 long months of zero love...

I spent my summer break, (seasons switch when you pass the equator), traveling though Brazil, not to mention, a quick pit stop in Texas. I'm sure you've heard me talk about my summer plans of hiking Machu Picchu, making my way down into Bolivia and then living with an amazonian tribe doing volunteer work. I had it all figured out.. for months - my trip was solid- this this and that... then Rio happened. Morgan came to visit me for 10 days in December. We took a little trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I automatically fell in love with the city - I mean who doesn't right. It wasnt so much the city, the city is absolutely beautiful dont get me wrong, as it was the nature, the green and the abudance of fruit and fruit juice that filled the streets. Am I in my own paradise that Ive dreamt up? Seriously, theres places like this in the world? Trees I had never seen before, fruit growing wild, jungle, mountains, bright colors, vibrant music, green everywhere, fruit, sun, the beach. I mean, granite, this was just basing the entire country of Brazil which is enormous solely on a week spent in Rio, but still.

I went back to Buenos Aires completely amazed by what I had seen, carrying a bag of fruit I smuggled onto the plane.. I couldn't resist they were lychees... plus , they were gone that night as I bore Bryan with how amazed I was by Brazil. Alright cool, moving on, Brazil is cool- got it, I'll go back one day... yada yada, stay on track- Peru- Bolivia- North Argentina, but all I could think about was fruit and nature - and the possible idea of spending an entire summer on some of the most beautiful beaches in the world. Ha- this was a pipe dream for a Texas girl whose beach she best knew was Port Aransas- 3 hours away , brown water, plagued with seaweed and wind that stung your skin. Sold. So, thats how my adventure to Brazil began :) January 12, 2010

The fun you can have with $12

Sol tells us about this zoo in Lujan, like 60 km outside of Buenos Aires, where you can interact with all the animals like pet tigers and hold baby lions. Hmm... where else are you going to have the chance to do this? So, me Bryan and Nathan (Bryans friend visiting from Cali) jump on a bus the next day and start our adventure to Lujan. We had to take a bus to the train station to get to Moreno then a bus to get into the little town of Lujan.. 2 hours later we made it!

We walk in and its for sure the weirdest looking zoo I've ever seen. From the entrance all you can see is like a big dusty field, a graveyard of broken down tractors, a rusty shed, and to the right a big gated bird pond and thats it, oh and ducks walking around everywhere. Big over population of ducks. Cool Sol. Ok, not bad, give it a chance... we visit the ducks and turtles and continue wandereding around walking, kicking dust. It feels like a run-down petting zoo, then all of a sudden, it was like we turned this corner and the whole thing opened up. Its all outside, no sidewalks or anything- just dusty dirt, grass sometimes and big cages of animals spread out over a huge piece of land.

We found the big lion cage- six lions just lounging like lions do- at first you think its just a lion den, then you notice there are three little dogs sleeping next to them like no big deal. The lady told us that they raise the tigers and lions around dogs so they become "domesticated." haha ok.

After that, we went into the baby lion cage! They were so cute like the size of big thick puppies. The trainer was this intense lady who LOVED lions. Not gonna lie, I was kinda freaked out by the baby lions haha - it wasnt really until one of them stretched in front of me and yawned and then BAM! his claws just like shot out- and Ive never really even had a cat so I was kinda like ughh...

They only two months old and she said that if they bit you it would just be like the bite of an oversized dog. Soo kinda freaked out still- one saw my toenail polish glissen in the sun and then he crouched down behind a tire staring at my toes like he was planning to attack like you see on the Discovery Channel when they pounce. haha so I was like trying to hide my toes. Anyway, after a while in there we left and as we were leaving the lady told us if we go to the big cage by the gray van, we can touch the big big tigers.

Ok, so the BIG tiger cage. It was this huge cage with like 7 tigers sleeping and one pacing back and forth across the front of the cage by the door. The trainer- whos like 18 and not experienced at all- was like, do you want to go in with me? Me and Nathan looked at eachother and were like ehhh no , not really. Then Bryan's like, "Yea man, I'll go in." just like no big deal. Sure. So Bryan goes in with the tigers and walks up to this one tiger laying on a higher platform. The trainer tells him to go up behind the tiger and pet it on the back, not the head. All the guy does to distract the tiger is squirt milk on his paws. He says they aren't drugged, just "domesticated." haha. Then the tiger realizes Bryan is there and turns his big head (like the size of three big watermelons, thats the only thing I can think to compare it to) towards Bryan and the trainers like uhhh maybe you should go to the other side. haha so Bryan gets his pictures, hangs out for a while and then leaves. Then Nathan goes in with some other kids and is alright. Check.

Im the only one left. Okkkk , I'll go! In and out. No big deal, just big cats. Big kitty cats. Everything is okay. The trainer tells me they can smell fear which seems legit because dogs can. I walk in, and automatically breakout into a full sweat, my heart is pounding, everything I hear is in an echo batteling the sound of my heart, adrenaline is pumping. SO SCARED. haha. I kept telling myself, "I am not afraid, this is fun. I - am -having - fun." I get up to the platform where Bryans tiger was... and the big cage has suddenly shrunken drastically and the tigers are huge.. I just see the big tiger pacing back and forth out of the corner of my eye. Im freaking out out on a whole new level now because now you're in and there's no turning back. The trainer can see it in me and is just laughing. I made Bryan come for support, so he has my camera and is like ,"Its ok Elise, touch the tiger." So Im standing there with my hand like half a foot away from the tiger pretending to pet him- like "Okayyy Bryan just take the picture, take the picture please" and hes like ehh "Nope, not til you touch it. Just touch it." I cant do it. "Bryan just take the f***ing picture, Ive got to get out of here" The trainer is laughing (which at the time wasnt funny at all) He looks over at the pacing tiger and is like "No! Natalia No!! Stay!! " which freaks me out even more and in this panicky yell I say," Why are you saying no! Why are you saying no! " He just laughs, obviously getting a kick out of this whole ordeal. I can feel the terrified tears starting to come, it was just a matter of if they were heavy enough to fall or not. haha. So I finally touch the tiger. Feels like a horse actually. Bryan gets the picture- although fails to get a picture with the tigers head in it.. just a striped body. Anyway, not the point. Then Bryans like just walk in front of the tiger and look at his face. So I do, and it is such a beautiful animal. Really. So so beautiful. After seeing the tigers face and look in his eyes, a lot of the fear left and it was more of like a stunning "wow you are so beautiful" feeling.

In my cowardly defense, you know, the 18 year old trainer (who isnt a trainer at all, just works there for some cash during the day) says they're domesticated- but you always see big cats like that turn on their trainers and they have instincts and they can snap at anytime. And I guarantee if a tiger started attacking me the trainer wasnt going to be like, oh wait Ill save you! The zoo's kinda idealology (is that the wrong word?) is that if you're in a cage with any animals and they attack you; it's kinda your fault, the zoo is not responsible.

Then, we came across the sea lion pool- which was like a huge hot tub surrounded by a cement sidewalk and then the gate. Next to the cage was a bucket of raw fish one of the workers had forgotten about and just left. So... I mean, we've already pet tigers, held baby lions, we might as well feed sea lions dead fish! Haha it was so fun! There were three of them and I would throw one and they would race to catch it diving into the water and then swarm the gate again yelling for more. This is one of the videos from it:

We washed our hands from the smell of fish and went back into the baby lion cage, after petting the tiger- holding the babies was nothing. They were so so cute! and kinda just like puppies. Oh and you know what they feed the big lions and tigers... raw meat. Im not sure what kind because it was in the middle of the big lion cage - but it looked like half a thing of raw bloody cow ribs covered with flies, just hanging out on this platform. So safari of them. (You can see it in the picture)

Then the boys rode a camel and we rode an elephant and decided to go home because we were still two hours from home. Sol told us you could hold baby bears, but we didn't find the bear section. And after talking to some people about the zoo, we found out that two months ago it was prohibited to interact with the animals because some lady got her hand bitten off or something by one of the lions I think. Now, its like nothing ever happened and everything is back to normal at the zoo- crazy. I think before the hand biting situation, they used to let you ride the lions which just seems wrong. Some people are trying to get the zoo shut down because its really not that safe and its not normal for people to ride lions. But, Im glad I did it! Very glad! And that... was our trip to Lujan :)

Game-Day Shirt.. CHECK! Game-Day Face.. ON!

RED RIVER RIVALRY:

UT vs. OU - as a longhorn fan, you know thats one of the biggest games of the season. I searched and searched trying to find some magical sports bar that for some reason was showing American college football. Then, I found Shoeless Joe's , this American Sports Bar open 24 hours a day. Can't get much better than that right, pretty on target. On game day I was SO pumped, had my game day gear layed out the night before and everything.. haha the big decision was which UT shirt to wear... I drug a couple friends with me to watch the game. I figured if I was lucky it'd be me and 3 other fans watching the game, maybe. We walk in right after kick off and there it was... a sea of burnt orange!!!! My people! Not gonna lie, my eyes gotta a little watery out of pure excitement!

The only downer was that the Wisconsin game started before the UT game- so the entire restaurants surround sound was set on the Wisconsin game until the 4th quarter of the UT game, but it didnt matter. Ah it was such a great day! UT ended up beating OU :)

FUTBOL ARGENTINO:

Argentina wasn't doing too hot in futbol (soccer) and they were in 4th place to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Out of the South American bracket, only the top 4 teams go. They still had one more game against Uruguay and they was only a point behind Argentina. So they had to either beat or tie Uruguay in order to advance. Anddd Argentina won! Maradona cried. And also got new gotti diamond earrings after his other ones were seized by the Italian government to help pay off his debt he still has back from when he played in Napoli. Maradona sucks, well his attitude and macho- joe coolness annoys me. I was glad Argentina qualified because we'll still be down here next year while the World Cup is going on - so it'll be more fun getting to sport my blue and white.

"Arte por Dentro y por Fuera"

Last night we got invited to a social art charity event at the Park Hyatt by our friend Katia who works for the Crear Vale la Pena Charity. Didn't really know much about it except that it was at a nice hotel and it said "cocktail" on the invitation- thats always a plus. We got there and the hotel was so so beautiful! The first guess I see is an overly tan lady wearing a huge furcoat and a diamond necklace... theres so much to be said about that, it's not common to wear diamonds down here so that automatically means its a nicer event and although fur coats may look nice, 600 chinchillas to make one jacket is...

As we walk in, we're greated by a little man in a tuxedo and a silver tray who serves us champagne, we continue going down the stairs into the event and there's painted wine barrels spread out throughout the entire room. Twenty different local artists painted wine barrels and they are being auctioned off for two weeks online through Mercado Libre (Argentina's ebay). This was the kick-off event to start the bidding. The champagne served that night was also from the bodega who donated the wine barrels.

There were servants spread out throughout the event with little appetizers on trays and people refilling your champagne glass when it got low. Of course me and Bryan hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we a picked a very "convenient" spot to stand... kindaaa right outside the kitchen doors-ish, we had first dibs on the different appetizers that came out. haha. But! doing that, we got to see the chef come out and look around. Turns out, he's this famous argentine chef we see all the time on the "El Gourmet" channel (their Food Network). It was so cool! I think it made the food taste better just knowing that. We watched him make Thai food last week.

The event was a lot of fun, the wine barrels were really cool, the food was good, the champagne was great and they even had live music! I think we were among the few actually looking at the wine barrels though, most of the people just came to show their face. And the hotel was so beautiful, $700USD a night to stay in the cheapest room.. yikes. I wanted to take pictures of the event and the barrels and the hotel, but I didn't. This one couple did and a lady actually frowned at them. I took one of me and Bryan right when we got there, but that was it. I found pictures online, so that works too I guess :)

Thennnn I went to class after that which sucked, but it was sports marketing so it wasn't too tough. My teacher brought in a guy from the Miami Dolphins marketing team who kept preaching to the class about how Dan Marino was the best QB ever... uhh Vince Young? helllooo.. haha just kidding. (Rosebowl 2006, anyone?)