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Trip Start
May 23, 2005
1
9
36
Trip End
Mar 25, 2006
Sao paulo,
Brazil
Monday, August 8, 2005
please check out tysontrips.com for a much better travel writing interface!!!
Well, the endless, frozen Brazilian winter has finally come to a close here in Sao Paulo. That was a brutal couple of weeks, as daytime temperatures dipped into the hi-sixties/lo-seventies! Recently, the mercury has risen to its proper position in the low eighties. The weather tells me time for me to get out and travel. I am ready. I feel like I am about to explode because I haven't left the city limits of Sao Paulo but twice in the 11 weeks since I arrived at the Sao Paulo airport in May. Not that leaving the city is easy. It requires at least a one hour, 30 km bus ride in any direction to get out of Stankvegas. I have hardly written anything about my experiences in this city. There are several reasons for this, all of which I will not discuss here, other than to say that I had a job to do here and I did it.
When I did manage to get away from Sao Paulo it was on a stress-relieving trip up the picturesque coastline to Rio de Janeiro. So picturesque was the journey that I took quite a few pictures, many of which are viewable via the 'photography' tab. Yes, this entire entry is a shameless (and pointless, due to the fact that you are already here) plug for my website. Essentially, the only non-Brazilians I have come into contact with in the last 3 months are Tara, the Ivey and Susan, the Hall, who visited from Birmingham for a 10-day jaunt up the tropical, mountainous, jungle-covered Brazilian coastline.
Susan's brother, Joe, and his girlfriend, Kemen, joined us in paradise as we ferried out to idyllic, vehicle-free islands which were ringed by empty, powdery, white sand beaches. This was such an easy hassle-free time that I am struggling to even recollect any difficulties we encountered. Well, there were these little garotinhos, some street kids, who tried to rob us in Rio. But they didn't get anything, except maybe a fistful of Joe's hair as we drove away in a taxi. Much more innocent-looking, but irksome and insidious, were these nasty insects I had never seen before called borrachudos. Hardly noticeable, they lurk on the beaches of some of the islands just waiting for innocent gringo legs such as ours to feast upon. These tiny guys seem as harmless as fruit flies, slowly fluttering around in the sand. But they are vicious, bloodthirsty sons of whores. Their bite is not painful, so we pranced around on the desolate tropical beach with not a care in the world. But soon enough we noticed trickles of blood appearing on our legs, which were soon accompanied by quickly growing lumps. These bites would itch like hellish torture for weeks.
In 10 days that was the worst event which took place. And the way I figure it, if that is the worst thing that happens to me in 10 days, things are going pretty damn well. Eventually we met up with my formerly American friend, Adam Hoffman, and his girlfriend in Rio. When I say my formerly American friend I don't mean that he is not my friend, rather that he is not American. Any man I grew up with who can now keep pace with a native Brazilian dancing samba and forro is no longer American in my book.
As for tyson's trips, they begin this Friday. I am headed south toward the Uruguayan border. Whether or not I cross that border is still an unknown. One that will probably be resolved by men with badges and uniforms who will shake their fingers in my face and point me back toward Brazil. I depart armed a battery of tools: a compass, maps, travel guides, a passport, the almighty dollar, a weak grasp of the new language I speak - a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish called Portaņol, and the most important thing you can bring with you - an open mind. That is so cheesy I think I will just have to leave it in. Enjoy your trip...
