Adventures by the Dozen!

Well, it's been quite a while since I've posted! I think that means I'm having fun :) Now, lets recap (this is a little long, if you want read half now and save the other half for the next time you're wondering if I've gotten around to posting yet):

1. Museums!
São Paulo is the New York of Brazil, and the museums did not disappoint. MASP, the Museu de Arte de São Paulo, had a number of neat exhibits going on, including the modernist Bible interpretations of Candido Portinari, one of the most famous Brazilian painters, and an epic display on the history of the portrait. The Museu de Arte Sacra was a fascinating tour Christian art over the last 4 centuries, mostly from Portugal and Brazil, though there was an incredible display of Nativity scenes from around the world. I was fascinated by the many sculptures of St. Anthony (I think...) holding the baby Jesus in one hand and a cross in the other. Baby Jesus and the cross... Lastly I got to see the Museu Afro-Brasil, a gigantic museum documenting the history of African culture in Brazil, with some of the most powerful art I have ever seen. Particularly the photographer Walter Firmo is worth checking out!

2. Sé

This massive cathedral in the old center of São Paulo was just like the cathedrals I've seen in Europe. I guess I've never really been to cathedrals in the States, perhaps they're the same...Anyway it was amazing to see, and then to walk around the old center to see the immense variety of architecture used over the last 400 years here, and PoMo blend of ancient churches, capoeira dancers, juice bars, and infinite street hawkers celling cheap plastic crap.

3. CCSP

The Centro Cultural de São Paulo was quite a find on my second to last day in the city. I went to see a play (see #4) but got so much more! If I lived in São Paulo, CCSP is where I'd be...There's a big library downstairs, and a whole bunch of open area upstairs with a cafe, tables, etc. In one section are the chess players (including one blind player who had a really neat special board so that he could rub his hands over all the pieces at once without knocking them over). Then, interspersed throughout the rest were, get this, Role-Players! Dungeons and Dragons! That's right! It was Brazilian geek heaven. Top it off with the theater crowd that night, and clearly it was my scene...

4. The Play!

It was called 650 Mil Horas (650 thousand hours), which is the average life expectancy for Brazilians (72 years, I think). It was billed as part of a mime festival, and I was quite excited about the philosophy of the studio that was putting it on, because of the emphasis on the body and physical theater. Unfortunately the good stuff was in Portuguese (which I understand about 25% of) and the physical theater felt fairly amateurish. But it was a great experience, and I wish I could have seen more theater in São Paulo, it's supposed to be the best in Brazil.

5. Unitarian Universalists

I don't remember why (I think it was in a conversation with my mom), but before I came I looked up on the UUA (Unitarian Universalist Associate, for those non-believers out there, wink-wink, nudge-nudge) website, and saw that there was a Brazilian UU group in São Paulo. Well, I remembered this while I was in São Paulo, and managed to get in contact through...drumroll...their Listserve! That's right, they have a thriving yahoo listserve! I took the train to meet up with them in a suburb (of course) of São Paulo, where I participated in a New Years ritual (typically a week after New Years) with 5 UUs. It was remarkable just how UU it was. Like, from the ritual itself--which included singing Come, Come and Go Now in Peace in Portuguese, writing things to let go of on paper and burning them, and the lay leader's reflection on New Years--to the fact that in the couple who were hosting us, the man was a computer nerd and his wife was an herbalist, former tarot reader, and that the lay leader explained to me that they were more esoteric and new age, and that he and Bruno, the other lay leader, were more humanist. And our conversations outside of the ritual? Science fiction and board games. It was clear that I shared more culture through our common religion (however that happened...) than I do with many Americans...

6. Back to Rio!

I took an overnight bus back to Rio, where it was delight to reconnect with my little community here. I spent a few nights sleeping the hammock, a few days reading and lying on the beach, and used CouchSurfing.com to find the next adventures!

7. River Rafting in Petrópolis

I wasn't sure that I was going to go until 15 minutes before I left. I threw my stuff in a bag and rushed down the hill to meet a bunch of strangers from the internet, jump in their car, and drive an hour and a half up to Petrópolis, a beautiful rolling town outside of Rio. Me and about 15 other couchsurfers crashed in one generous couple's house, then woke up early the next morning to drive out to the Trés Rios meeting point. We were served breakfast, suited up, and bussed out to our starting point. 

After the truck with the boats got stuck in the mud, we hopped into the river a little early. The rapids were smaller than the times I've gone in California and Oregon, but it felt a whole lot more dangerous. In part maybe because the guide was speaking Portuguese, in part because the river was deceptively strong, and mostly I think because there were low-hanging trees on both banks and often in the middle of the river, and we were continually ramming into them as if on purpose. But despite getting sucked the wrong way several times, getting stuck in a few different trees, two of our crew getting stung by hornets, and a rain storm finale, we finally made back to our starting point and were served a hot lunch. Well worth it!

7. Cachaça Room

Ok, it doesn't really deserve it's own entry, but at the river rafting place was a room full of cachaça bottles, and some to try. Couldn't resist the photo op :)

8. Pizza

Way cool pizza place that night. For a fixed price, you eat all the pizza you want. The waiters just keep coming around with different types of pizzas, and give you a slice of whichever ones you want. While most of them, of course, have mounds of meat on top, they had a few that don't, including Rúcula, arugula with sundried tomatoes, which has become my favorite thing to eat here.

9. Serra dos Órgãos

The next day we went hiking in this extraordinary rainforest national park. It had the grandeur of Yosemite but a 100 times greener.

Our hike culminated in getting to a gorgeous waterfall. Classic travel experience accomplished!

10. The Ride Back

This was maybe the scariest car ride I have ever taken. That whole, it was a dark and stormy night thing...Well, it was definitely dark, but I don't think stormy really gets at the experience of torrential rain constantly rendering the windshield opaque while crazy Brazilian drivers swerve around each other on windy hilly roads and freeways without lane markings. Sorry moms!

11. Obama Day

It was a great day to be an American. I saw a couple others, as I ducked into an Irish pub to just miss the inauguration. We'd ask each other, are you american? And then give a long knowing nod when we'd say yes. Everyone, the my brazilian friends, my british housemates, people on the streets, was celebrating the moment, but it was something unique to be an American on that day, to tell Alice, I got to vote for that guy.

12. Sick Weekend, Pressure Cooker

Well, I got sick, with a nasty cold, but I think it might be at the end now. I watched movies (Doubt is excellent!) and listened to my audiobooks (the Twilight books are absolutely terrible!), and bought a pressure cooker to make brazilian style beans with. My first go was fairly successful, but a little overcooked. I'm excited to try again, but we've run out of gas for our camping stove, and we don't yet know how to get more (the original was a gift from a friend). I've got three excited leads on places to work with kids that I'll be pursuing this week, so more on that front soon!

Beijos e Abraços!

In São Paulo

Wow, I'm traveling alone! I've never done this before!

I've just arrived in São Paulo after spending a few days in Campinas (a suburb of São Paulo) with my friend Juliana from Vassar. It was great to see her, and lovely to relax in the luxury of an upper-middle class home, family meals, swimming pool and doting parents included. I've been enjoying reading, which I haven't really done in a year or two (just audiobooks). I read Hannah Arrendt's On Violence, and now I've started Freire's Pedagogy of Freedom. I'm remember how fun it is to read great books, and it's surprisingly easy to get back in the swing of it. I feel like I'm training a bit to get back in shape for school next fall!

Arriving in São Paulo this evening, I realized that only once before in my life have I been alone in a city where I don't know anyone (and that was just the happenstance of being caught overnight in Las Vegas when I didn't make my connecting flight). I'm staying in a youth hostel for the first time in years, and it's sweet to hear all the languages washing over me as I write this. I'm planning to do some museum visiting tomorrow. I'm particularly excited about the Museum of Sacred Art, housed in an old monastery.

I'm still trying to figure out the difference and appropriate uses of tudo bom and tudo bem (which cover a wide range of english phrases such as "how's it going" "everything alright?" "it's all good" "what's up" "you cool?" etc). They are unfortunately not interchangeable however, because I've been corrected more than once. If anyone knows, please tell me...

I'm not sure my next plan. I may go to a beach town to spend a couple more days with Juliana and her family on vacation, or I may go Santos to crash a few days of the Warriors without Weapons training conference. Or, I may head straight back to Rio. The uncertainty feels fun tonight, but it may feel scary tomorrow. I guess once it feels scary, I'll just need to decide. :)

Well, I'm hungry so I'm going to see if I can find some food before everything closes. 

Beijos,

Marcus

p.s. I've really enjoyed hearing from people, so thank you so much. Please keep it coming...in two sentence comments here, in short or long emails, or telepathic messages if you can manage. Also, I've got a Skype telephone number now...it allows me to make unlimited calls to U.S. landlines and cell phones, and to receive calls to an east bay phone number. Lemme know if you want it.

I could talk about...

I realized that I’ve been delaying posting because I want to convey something deep and meaningful about my experience here, and it’s quite hard to do that. I keep imagining titles for pieces, so I decided to take a page out of the interplay playbook and let you know all the things I could write about, without actually writing in depth about them. Maybe sometime I will...

I could write about kids sleeping on the streets.
I could write about people partying every night in Lapa.
I could write about humidity, and what it does to cars, to houses, to people.
I could write about the Rio dialect, and turning every s into sh.
I could write about couchsurfing.com, the nature of friendship, social awkwardness, and loneliness.

I could write about climbing sugarloaf, and watching the sunset.

I could write about the most dangerous city and the largest urban forest in the world.

I could write about depression.

I could write about fireworks on Copacabana beach.

I could write about not kissing anyone on New Year’s Eve.
I could write about setting up a hammock on the deck.
I could write about half-broken internet connections, and skype calls that keep getting interrupted.
I could write about hopes for tomorrow, and next week, and next fall.
I could write about playfully covering my face when I confess that I am an American.
I could write about old men telling me I’m like God, and about being told I can be a Brazilian because I speak eight words of Portuguese.

I could write about telling myself what I should do, and promptly proceeding not to do it.

I could write about the three kids who tried to steal my friend’s purse because we didn’t give them money when they asked, and about the eyes of an eight year old as I glared and made him run away.
I could write about waking up sweating every morning.
I could write about an idealized version of myself, who is excited by every new experience.
I could write about the German consol who lives next door.
I could write about lying on the beach reading Hannah Arendt.

I could write about the signs telling us how many people died or were injured on a street.

I could write about rituals, a sea-goddess, wearing white, and all the reasons to drink alcohol.
I could write about a dread-locked artist on the beach who made me a guitar bookmark and told me he wanted to be friends before asking for a donation.
I could write about collecting cans that are thrown onto the ground.
I could write about the botanical gardens created by the Portuguese royal family.

I could write about wondering whether to take a bus at night.
I could write about the price of an apple laptop, and the average wage in Rio.
I could write about emails that never get returned, and emails that I never return.

I could write about the largest image of Christ in the world, arms spread open and uncrucified, visible from every part of the city.
I could write about the way you walk to look tough and aware, and the way I walked before I turned twelve, and before anyone told me to walk differently.
I could write about wanting to adventure and missing home.