Hotel Embaixador Porto Alegre

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 ...

... of the two operators of the taxi, one I recognized was of the current driver. The trip from the hotel to the Hypomoto cost R$21.60. We gave the driver R$25 and everyone was happy.

We were met at the shop by the owner Beto Marshall, who is also an avid rider. Beto broke both his wrists on separate occasions within 3 months of each other, a year ago, just by "stop and drop" incidences, like mine. We selected 2 jackets, a yellow one for me and black for Des ...

The night bus from Blumenau to Porto Alegre was my longest one yet (about 9 hours), and I didn´t sleep much, so after arriving at my host Bayard´s place I took a nice long nap. The apartment is very small, but cozy, and we share a room.

Residents of Rio Grande do Sul (or Gauchos as they are called) are a (very) proud bunch and I was lucky to be able to experience their culture a bit over the next few days ...

... 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.

... things from the market, or jog, or just sit and drink chimarrao with friends and family. It's just such a happy city. Even when it's raining, people are still out and about, and the atmosphere still seems light. Anywho, I'm on my way to Brasilia, right now, and from there, I have one flight to Manaus. I have 2 days in Manaus, and then I'm home. I'm actually looking forward to going home. It will be nice to see people I know, and to get on with the things I need to get going with.

... because DAMN. I was told, before I came here, that Porto Alegre had the most beautiful women in Brazil, but I figured it was a myth, just like the "all Brazilian women are hot" thing. Newp. But that really just brings me to the second reason why I love it here. Everyone is so active, and healthy, and happy. There are hardly any vastly-over-weight people, unlike the rest of Brazil. There are people everywhere, working, and walking, and shopping, and ...

... Brazil, at least we are away from the cold Canadian winter. There is not much to say about Porto Alegre, except it is a true Brazilian city, where streets are busy during the day, deserted at night, people walking, eating, drinking, and sitting around all day, everywhere. Life is slow here, probably due to the heat. So we took a relaxing three days to ...

... that I am, that I uphold. There are some high red rocks, the wild air of a thousand hands made them edified structures. The blind scarlet rose from the abyss and these rocks became copper, fire and strength. America spread out like a buffalo skin, galloping through the light and clear night, toward the starry heights, I drink your cup of green dew Yes, through acrid Arizona and knotty Wisconsin to Milwaukee raised against the wind and ...

... McDonalds has separate ice cream/dessert only stands. Ate a pastel (like a kalzone but deep fried) for lunch. There are cameras on the major roads to catch speeders. Turns out this is a horrible idea because drivers see them coming and then slam on their breaks in the middle of the highway. I saw three traffic accidents just on the way there. I think the cameras were unrelated. Brazilians are just crazy, bold drivers. Women only drink water from a ...

... be for a much longer time. I got the night bus to the border, and I couldn't hold my excitement as soon as my first foot touched the entry steps. Loads of thoughts permeated my mind, I was focused on Central America, heading to the land of the Maya and the Aztecs. But very soon I was asleep, the soft humming of the engine and the balance of the bus is a strong narcotic. The travelling plan was: - head up to Quito, where I would get a flight to ...