Blue Tree Millenium Porto Alegre Hotel

6 December 2009

I made a mistake by uploading the entry of 24.11.09 into my travelpod titled 'The Longest Drive'. It is now installed in its rightful place in ‘North to Alaska’ with the correct date. I have also uploaded some extra photos to this entry.

Please see ‘I didn’t hit a cow today’ on 24.11.09

2.12.09

Porto Alegre


Today we made another trip to the Hypomoto Motorcycle Shop to pick up Des's new, summer, riding jacket. By sheer good luck and coincidence (as there are thousands of little red, manual, taxi's here in Porto Alegre), we got the same driver as we had on the way out to the motorcycle shop yesterday. He recognized us (I wonder how) and said

"Hypomoto?"

"Si, Si" we both chimed.

Beto was most ...

... rain and so we were a tad damp when we hopped on the bus. It won’t be the last time I’m sure.



1.12.09

Our first impressions of Porto Alegre were that it was an old city, but it’s not really so old, by historical standards. It was teeming with people and bustlingly busy in the city centre. It reminded us a little of India with its density of people in a small area. The many poor people in the city were busy collecting ...

... Ardil 22 in Portuguese) which I snatched for R$10. It´s a bit advanced for me but since I´ve read it more than once in English, I think I´ll be able to understand most of it.

Anyway, there is not much to do in this city and I didn´t plan on staying more than two or three days, but I met some good people so I decided to stick around until tomorrow, when I´ll catch a bus to Uruguay (my first border ...

... de lá.
Participei de uma reunião de grupo familiar e que contou com a presença da Cassia, Tavani, Raquel, Aziz e outros.
Tivemos uma reunião de homens na casa do Márcio e Viviane, quando ela estava fora. Foi muito legal participar de um encontro de machos. rs.
Tive a oportunidade de ir na igreja onde Marcio e Viviane congregam e conheci o pastor deles, um homem que tem o oração para missões.

... chimarrao, but I don't feel bogged down, like I usually do when I'm surrounded by people everywhere. There's space to move, and to breath. The city has one of the highest standards of living in Brazil, and it shows. People are very stylish, but it doesn't seem vain, or extreme. There is tons of awesome shopping, and there are parks and trees everywhere. The city is well worn, but it doesn't seem dirty, or grungy, and it doesn't smell. It's a very ...

... stomach. Under the guidance of Bruna's godmother, the story and history of the dish was related to Jools and I. And just when we thought the food was done, an incredible selections of sweets appeared before us. After two hours of food-digesting and a church service in Portuguese we visited a flea market and then on to the highlight of the day: watching the Internacional soccer team play in the semi-finals at the local stadium. It was an impressive display and the home team came ...

... in the hands of very few landowners, and the majority of families who work the land own very little, or none at all. The families of the MST fall into the latter category, and have come together to form a cooperative which allows them to share and enhance their political, social, and economic resources. They all share a piece of land loaned to them by the government, on which they live, learn, produce, organize, and survive. Makeshift homes constructed out of wood, recycled ...

... what will happen to us. Eventually some decisions will need to be made and Chelsea and I will have to talk about them. But for now nothing can really be done, so we should just hang out and talk. So like my brother Oli says 'fun and communication.' I think I am gonna cruise out of here tomorrow. Don't feel like there is enough really to occupy my time for another day really. I haven't decided where to yet. I don't ...

... impossible for me to attend to any match... But as I had already decided to travel, it was not hard for me to decide the next destination: Europe! It has always been my dream to come here and to discover if what I knew was real or just a media product or something of that sort, so the decision was not hard at all! Well, to the trip now. My flight was booked for the morning of Thursday, April 14th, and I had to work during the night, from midnight to 08a.m ...