Hb Sequoia Residence Sao Paulo

... Sau Paulo´ is not really set up for tourists... We made it to a market in a slightly rough area but the meal I had was nice. Then back on the bus and for the last 4 hours had to sit as part of a young family gathering. Which I enjoyed even more when the youngest child started vomitting...

Still now in Paraty and it is beaches and hot weather all the way...

... in the southern hemisphere (11 million, 23 million in the wider metropolitan area), after wrestling a couple of knife and machete wielding terrorists looking for a United Ireland - I think I knew them - but frankly the uninterrupted continuation of my travels is more important than our noble cause so I took them out. Alas, the flight was, of course, unremarkable in its incidents of a terrorist nature - indeed there was hardly even any significant turbulence ...

... Tisch serviert. Wir hatten sogar das Glueck die einzigen im Restaurant zu sein. Unsere Gastgeberinen in SP sind eine WG um Mariana, die wir vor einigen Wochen mit Claude und Michi zusammen in Algodoal kennengelernt haben und uns nun sofort in ihre kleine Familie aufnehmen. Am naechsten Morgen muessen Tobi verabschieden, der eigentlich nur einen Tag mit uns zusammen ...

... grocery store". Hopefully his beer takes off... it looks like 2 other breweries opened in the town, but the beers do not look as good as his (one is a "wine-beer" & just looks gross, the head is pink -- vomitous!!). We went and grabbed some food last night at a local Churrascaria (brazilian BBQ) place. We had deep-fried bacon (won't be eating that everyday), hearts of palm & quail on a stick. So that's ...

... We managed to attract the attention of the locals probably because of Sarah´s braids and of course our lack of Portuguese but everyone seemed friendly enough. Nice to see. Next day there was breakfast first (we´ve chosen a lot of places on the basis of free breakfasts) which was an interesting mix of bread rolls, jams, jellies, cake, some fruit, fruit juice, coffee and tea. Cake and jelly?! Anyway we decided to book a tour to see the sights but this ...

... stop was the Pinoceteca art museum. Not art aficionados, we found the building housing the art more interesting than the art. Our opinion may have been influenced by the lack of English text. This was accentuated the fact that Sao Paulo is not anglo-friendly. Hungry, we headed to an incredible food market located in the historical building Mercado Municipal. We ate some delicious codfish fritters and a Sao Paulo specialty, a ...

... she talks to them all the time. While this is to be expected, she calls them both "gostoso" - which means tasty. I havent asked her about it because I have difficuly forming sentences with verbs other than "to want" and "to be" but as I gain skill perhaps I will do so. She speaks only Portuguese, which means we do not communicate very well all of the time, but usually the message gets across! The cats are pretty chill. They stay out of my room, not by choice, but because Cleide has ...

... the opponents' vehicles, breaking all the windows and probably screaming every known obscenity in their state of intoxication. Now that's unity. As for us, after parking about a mile away and jogging all the way up to the gates, we stopped outside the now full stadium to grab a quick beer to calm our nerves. The anxious anticipation of kickoff was in the air. And this could even be felt outside the stadium where the crowd had left deserted hundreds of folks with carts selling jerseys ...

... we *rrived with. Most of them were be*utiful blonde model types *nd looked like they belonged on * runw*y somewhere. And without knowing the culture too well I might go *s f*r *s to s*y m*ny of the p*trons of this Vil* Olimpi* club I would consider to be just * bit snobby. Some less-well-to-do P*ulist*nos h*ve since confirmed my notions. A word on snobiness: In some w*ys I c*n symp*thize with the w*y the upper cl*ss *ct in L*tin Americ*n countries. It is dishe*rtening to see ...

... down and become more in tune with the surroundings. The speed slows but time still marches on. When this transition of relative time takes place for me I can take a 36 hour bus ride or wait all day for a train (or spend 3 days in airports) without batting an eye (whatever that means). Pain Don't Hurt Another relative concept is pain. Nearly all of us reading this are economically privileged, whether we admit it or not. Especially relative to those in less fortunate areas of the ...