dilemma

Since I wrote last, I've toured the capital, gone to a 3day electronic music festival where the trance music never stopped in the middle of a national park, gone on hikes to waterfalls, and spoken nothing but Portuguese. I'm currently in Manaus, which is the gateway to the Amazon. From here I have to take a 36-hour boat roat along the Rio Negro westward, deep into the Rainforest, to go to one of the best ecotourism spots in the world, the Mamiraua Reserve.

The dilemma is that on these boats you need to have your own hammock and rope to tie it up with, because that´s how you sleep. There's no beds, no chairs, just hammocks that you need to bring and tie up to the posts in the boat. My dumb ass didn't read the part of the guidebook where it said to bring a hammock and I didn't think to ask. Now its about 5 AM, none of the stores are open, and my boat leaves at 7. I don't know when the stores open or even where they are. I know there's some by the boat station so in a few minutes I'm gonna hang out outside one of the stores and wait until they open. The only drawback is I have everything with me-- my huge backpack, and everything in it, so it's ridiculously heavy.

This may sound crazy, but this type of adventure and problem solving is what makes us more equipped to deal with things in our day to day lives. Imagine this fucked up situation! I know it'll all work out. You'll hear about how this turned out once I get back from the AMAZON!!! AHHHHHHH!!!

No Rio de novo (In Rio again)

Being here now feels like I´ve never left but at the same time that I´ve grown up so much since I´ve gone back to the United States and come back here. On my way to the apartment that I´m staying at, the one on Rua Farme de Amoeido that I lived in when I lived in Rio before, I took note of all the things I was noticing again, that I had forgotten about before in the city. This is my list:

-palm trees
-kombis (cheap van taxis)
-beauty of the lush green mountains in the background
-the small cars
-the dilapidated infrastructure of the poor neighborhoods called favelas
-strong revolutionary messages written in graffiti

Leaving as a college student and coming back as an adult has a lot to do with the switch in perspective for me. Now, I feel more independent because I'm not tied to PUC-Rio, the university I studied at. I know only one other gringo here, so this whole time I've only been speaking portuguese, unless I'm talking to Eve. Relearning the language has been interesting-- I've forgotten a lot of words, but slowly they are coming back to me. Every day that I'm here it gets easier and easier. Luckily Eve's portuguese is really good, so if I need a word,, she's there to help me out. I find it easier to remember the word though if I look it up myself in a dictionary. I tried speaking Spanish to a hippie colombiano on the praia (beach) and it was really hard. I started in Spanish and ended every sentence in Portuguese. The languages are very similar so you have to pay a lot of attention to every word you, at least at first. It'll be easier speaking Spanish once I'm in a Spanish speaking country in a few weeks.

Otherwise, I'm loving being in this country, the people are so happy and friendly and warm, not to mention gorgeous. I've been eating salgados every day and I ate at a churrascaria on Thursday after I went to my friend's graduation ceremony. I can see how people get targeted here for crime, and luckily I think I'm blending a little better this time than I did last time.

I'm leaving for the capital tomorrow, but tonight it's all live samba at this nightclub called Melt.

Beijos!!

Anthony

No Promises

When it comes to blogging habitually, it becomes a pain the ass. Taking time out of a travel experience to record what's being done can be a daunting task for me, but I know that it needs to be done in order to have the memories last. In light of this, I entitled this entry "No Promises" because even though I'm leaving to go back to South America in a few hours and would love to blog about everything I do there, I'm not making any promises :-) .

So yes, I am leaving at 3:00 PM, eastern standard time, to go back to Rio de Janeiro. I have a short layover in Houston, and will arrive in Rio at 8:10 AM. SWEEEET! I have an agenda planned that shall unfold as the blog does.

Some highlights:

-Catching up with old friends,
-the Amazon,
-a crazy hippie electronic music festival in a national park,
-an indigenous flower festival in Medellin, Colombia
-the Angel Falls

But, like I said, no promises :-).

I love you all, and don't be afraid to show some encouragement! I know a lot of you read my blogs and never leave comments. Don't be a silent stalker.

A