the beautiful people of rosa

WHAT ON EARTH AM I DOING HERE?

thanks emre!

thanks for the psychedelic turkish music that motivated me to get out of the house in the rain to buy food. despite the wetness, i have to get out. i didn~t go out at all yesterday and although i inevitably will slip on the road, which frequently just washes away, i have to leave the house. i need to get more paper. MUST BUY DRAWING PAPER OR I WILL GO MAD. nothing to do makes regina a dull girl.

sea of tears

last night i cried over lost loves. i imagined i was a giant, so that when the tears fell, they would be so far away, so small and insignificant. but those tears turned into a sea and there was no shore in sight.

caution the road is wet

i have been listening to a lot of reggae during the day because it just fits. the description of the the weather, the pace, having time on your hands, is all too familiar. there~s even a song by bob marley that says "caution, the road is wet. we don~t want you on the ground." yep, that~s my life in a nutshell.

cachaca baptism

i woke up with a migrane that lasted until dusk. i figured it~s because i smoked from a hukkah (?) i don~t smoke anything but for some reason it sounded safe because they were just flavored herbs i was smoking. i will probably never do that again. i did it in madrid once in a morrocan restaurant but i was fine. i wonder what it was this time?? maybe it was my bongo drum circle. maybe it was the cachaca baptism. yes, two friends dumped cachaca (the sugar cane rum everyone here drinks) over my head and said "now you~re brazilian" and laughed. i will get my revenge.

solitaire

it~s amazing how content i am playing solitaire. and i mean that in more ways than one. everyone thinks i am going to fall in love and have babies and live happily ever after. but this morning i was awaken by not one, but two screaming toddlers and i was reminded....wait regina. wait. wait until you don~t want to drown them then go ahead and have kids. besides, i have to find someone equally extraordinary and flawed, and i have yet to meet my match.

FOOD!!!

one of the things brazilians do very well is fresh bread. i went to the local market at night and the man at the counter told me the bread wasn~t fresh because it was made that morning. he wasn~t going to sell it to me until i told him i dind~t mind. jeez, how spoiled, to throw away bread made just that morning! i am used to preserved bread bought at safeway so it~s such a treat for me to get fresh bread daily!

i have also come to adore this cheese spread everyone uses. it~s called cremosa and it~s a white creamy cheese that comes in a glass cup with a tin lid. it~s spreadable, like butter, but has the flavor of cream cheese but less tart. it~s my new substitution for mayonaise.

the other night, julianna made pasta. she cooked onions, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots and garlic in a pan and served it over buttered parmesay cheesy spaghetti. it was really good! and different, considering there was no red sauce. plain wheat bread was served on the side.

there are so many types of juices here. they are hard to explain in terms of flavor. of course we all know what strawberries taste like, and they do a mean strawberry juice. there~s also maracuja, which is a fruit that i confuse with everything, including an avocado (they look the same) and tastes very bitter unless mixed with sugar.

there~s passion fruit juice which is always gone when i go to buy it! my favorite! there~s mango which tastes exactly like mango puree. and the other great ones are goiaba and caju, both tropical fruits. caju looks like a small bell pepper and comes in the same colors. it bears the cashew nut, which protrudes from the fruit like a stem. what makes the juices so good is that they actually taste like the fruit, go figure. there~s not a lot of sugar, preservatives, color and flavor added. it~s simple and delicious, like most everything here.

art

here~s some of my art. i have been drawing like mad.

they are selling for $40 a piece, measure about 8X12" and are unframed and unmatted, shipping included. they are 100% brazilian originals. the quality of the photos are not great... i have few tools to work with.

i accept paypal or direct deposits into my bank account.

let me know if you~re interested!!

the collector

at my house i have floor to ceiling windows both upstairs and down. this is where all animals come to die. i have to sweep every other day because of dead flies, moths and spiders. hummingbirds also like to fly in through the open windows and they get trapped and i have to help them out, to TB~s dismay.

but what i love about this window is it also attracts the most beautiful butterflies! so i let nature take its course and the butterflies eventually die along with the other insects. i feel bad for them because it takes a couple of days for them to die. i found a small wodden box with a glass lid, so when the butterflies die, i am going to clip their wings from the body and decorate my box. i know it~s a little creepy. try separating them yourself. but my tolerance for bugs is rising. i don~t kill them anymore unless they~re dangerous.

what is weird is after i decided to do this and painted my box, i found a book christine left called the collector, based on a man who collects butterflies.

coincidence is everywhere!

last night i watched 7 years in tibet with some friends then walked home in the dark rain.

what stood out was the idea that in the absolute simplicity of a culture, the deep presence of life exists.

what travel means to me 101

i love to travel. i know some of you, especially those who haven~t traveled much, think i~m on vacation. that counldn~t be further from the truth.

i still have problems and everything is not perfect. i travel for education. it is more valuable than any class, anything i could read online or in a book.

traveling feeds my sould and fulfills me, gives my life depth and meaning. it~s all i want to do and it is vital for my peace of mind. traveling exposes me to myslelf, meaning, i get to know my limits, strengths, comfort zones. it educates me about other cultures, about the spirit of pepole, our differences of which there are few. it allows me to use all my senses to find something new in every day.

traveling is not to get away. travel for me, is an unwritten understanding among a large group of people, and a way of life that is constantly challenging, terrifying, unique, beautiful and lonely.

but beyond the lonliness, which is so trivial when i get past it, is a wide eyed girl chasing and embracing change, destiny and meaning.

rainy day fun box

so tomorrow, christine leaves. it~s amazing to be in a place with no ties because everything is new and i am forced to be a part of this culture, which is challenging at times because i am content as a hermit at home.

what do i do at home? well, i write, draw, paint, read, and there~s lots of solitaire and music. and drinking cachaca.

i could really use my rainy day fun box. it was the best toy my parents ever bought me. it was a box, about 8.5 X 11" and 5" deep, containing all types of games, puzzles, quizes and drawing paper. so when it was raining and i couldn~t go outside i had something to do.

days like today, i need that box. it~s not raining but i~m raining on the inside knowing that my friend will be gone tomorrow.

running

today i~m missing s.f. i~m not sure why. i think it~s the people, the ones i love and want to be with. it may also have to do with missing conveniences. everything in the states just works. i have bought two flashlights and they both stopped working after two uses. the knives aren~t sharp, the internet doesn~t always work. the toilet paper dissolves in your had (if there is any) the ketchup and salt have half the flavor, and the list goes on.

but what i miss is the familiar. i know this will pass.

when i was in europe about 5 years ago, i was eating in a hostel kitchen and a guy sat next to me and asked "are you running away or running to?" i said i didn~t know. but looking back, i was separated from my then husband for 5 months and i know now that i was running away. but this time, i am running to. when i am running from, i am always looking back but running to has limitless possibility ahead.

shedule or no schedule?

christine and i, along with lucianna and julianna, our friends here in rosa, took a bus to imbituba, a neighboring town. it is larger and more city like than rosa, having its own gas station, grocery store and paved roads. but we headed straight to the beach, praia vila.

it~s a grassy beach, closer to something you would find on the east coast. there were two islands within a short boat ride from the shore, and people were wind surfing, surfing, snorkeling and fishing, but the beach was mostly desolate.


on our way home, our bus was packed with screaming jr. high kids. i don~t remember being that obnoxious but i probably was. the bus driver was hauling ass, people were literally hanging from the grip railings, and christine had a migrane. to make things more interesting, the bus driver comes within centimeters of an oncoming flatbed truck and SLAM! the sound of shattering metal and the driver side mirror is out. but nothing is reported. both drivers assess the damage from within the vehicles, give each other a thumbs up and we are on our way.

life is different here.

last night, we went to our neighborhood bar around midnight to meet up with frineds. people still weren~t there!

we were told people start around 2 a.m. and go until 7. i don~t know how they do it or how to get used to this schedule but i have to. i live here now. i have never been good at taking naps and today i feel quiete good considering my gettnig home at 5 a.m.

people here wake up early, run on the beach, go home, eat, go back to sleep, wake up and have a late lunch, go to the beach again, then go home, have a few drinks, mess around wasting time doing their hair and alistening to music, then eat a very late dinner and head out to the bar around 12 or 1 a.m. this is how people live! people here are very healthy in the body and mind and spirit. it~s very important for them to do something healthy for themselves each day. for me, it~s walking on the beach.

i will inevitably have to be comfortable with this schedule (or lackthereof)and for some reason i don~t think i will have any problems.

i AM an artist!

i was going back through old photos in my computer and came across my art folder. as i clicked through each image, i saw them for the first time, as if they were not made by me, and i legitemately loved each piece. i had forgotten that i painted those pieces i had sold, given away or stored.

it brought tears to me to think that all along, i have been making these colorful, luscious paintings and i never gave myself credit for any of them, constantly dismissing their value and my own worth as an artist.

for the first time since i was in 6th grade and knew i would be an artist, i remembered i AM an artist.

i am who i wanted to be when i grew up, and i am in love with myself and the world around.

getting inspired

i bought canvas! let the painting begin.

we went to garopaba beach for the first time. it~s more of a fisherman~s beach. people talk about moving there because of its city-like amenities, but i don~t know if i will ever be able to choose garopaba over rosa. i like having the beach to myself and although it~s a hard walk, i don~t tire of the value of that walk.

i have noticed my body becoming stronger, tone and tan and i love it! i am in my element. i can finally start to paint instead of just working with oil pastels and pencil. i do like to sketch but there is too much color here not to paint. the bugs are beautiful.

in my room, i found a butterfly with a black and white design on the wings toward the body that looked like a knot in wood, only black and white. then on the tip of each wing was a bright red triangle. the inside of the wings were black with a light silvery blue triangle. absolutely gorgeous!

communal living

last night we went to a pizza party at our friend lucianna~s house. well, lucianna, togi, ana and others live there. it~s like a commune where everyone helps each otehr out. an argentinian couple who live there, make drums out of these gourds. the file them so they are very smooth, pound out rebar for the securing of the skin, and finish them so they can sell them.

another couple makes jewelry, and some work at local bars, restaurants and surf shops. i will be the one who teaches english.

it~s really great to witness people working together and with their own talents to be able to live the easy life they do. people don~t have a need to consume here. we live by supporting each other. don~t worry, i~m not turning into a hippie. i just appreciate how each person contributes something and life runs pretty smoothly, from what i can see.

some day toward the end of may...

christine and i went to a new friend~s house. it~s a beautiful stone home on the mountain about ten minutes from our place. he is a man named ivo (pronounced ee-voo) from portugal, who worked for richard branson and gave up his office life to live in brazil. he is retired at 33. we woke up to a beautiful view of the ocean and jungle.

i have been, between our long walks all over town, trying to just relax and get used to the pace here. it~s finally sinking in. there~s no urgency and i don~t expect things to happen today if at all. i have no street number on my house and some streets are not even named. so, things just get lost in the mail. most of the time, you have to go to the post office to pick up mail if it shows up at all. for this reason, brazil doesn~t have many of the conveniences of 1st world countries.

we don~t have mac computers, other electronics, sharp knives, etc. the people here just get used to it. well, i guess they don~t have to if that~s all they know.

in spite of this paradise, there is a reality and the day i recongnize that will be the end of vacation and the beginning of the rest of my life. i am learning things about rosa that don~t make me want to leave, but alert me. for instance, there have been house robbings in the past month, which is unusual. people here are really into money. they do shady things to maintain their standard of living. the landlords will break leases if not signed by the court, just so they can rent your house out for a higher price during high season. it~s just survival for them, but making that dollar during the high season is more important than honoring their word and that concerns and saddens me.

i will learn little by little that rosa is like any other place. i have to stick to my hopes and dreams and forget about plots and schemes.

safety

we were invited to a friend~s house the other day and he says "before you walk down the path, watch for the snake. she likes to come out at night". we say, "what does it look like?" he says it~s red and black with some white. we ask if it~s dangerous and he says, "only the most dangerous outside the amazon. if it bites you, you die because there is no ambulance nearby". great.

then christine sees a huge black spider and our friend vladimir says it is poisonous, and if it bites you, you~ll be really sick and probably die. i found one in the bathroom this morning and quickly sprayed it with bug killer.

then we were walking home last night and our friend julianna says "watch out for scorpions and snakes on the road at night. they like to hang out on the side". i am reconsidering living in havaianas.

this was my day yesterday:

woke up around 10. layed in bed til 10:15 or so, went out on my deck with a glass of water, played with tb.
went downstairs, made breakfast, showered then headed to the beach.
layed out for a few hours, walked to the internet place and had dinner, which was a burger with an egg, ham, cheese, peas and corn, lettuce and tomato with fries and bacon. yeah they put peas and corn on everything here. then i walked home, rested and read. got up and started drinking cachaca. around 10:30, christine and i walked to our town center and were immediately invited to a party. we walked two blocks and were at a restaurant slash bar, and all of our friends were there... dancing, smoking, kissing, hugging, laughing, talking....drinking. it~s absolute heaven! everyone here is soooooo freaking cool and laid back. many many travelers.. most from argentina, have come here and never left. they are all my age, and yes, very very beautiful and healthy in the body and mind.

there are a lot of surfers (yummy) and hippy travelers but all super cool. everyone just gets along. i hear it~s a little clicky. but i have not experienced any of that yet. the women here are insanely beautiful. even after babies, their bodies look like god touched them with his finger and left them on the beach.

it~s just rad. people live for like $50 a month. it~s crazy. they only work half the year and spend the other half on the beach. we go to parties and people just show up playing drums, guitars, singing....everyone dances and passes their drink around. everyone is just happy. i was going to leave the party last night and like ten people came outside and asked me not to go. it was so sweet!
i love the women here. they are totally not catty at all, and they love us. the men a great too. i have one friend who is really protective like an older brother.

it~s just great to be able to live this way. it is quality adn i feel i am becoming healthier too.

JACKPOT!!

today was an eye opener. people live here for nearly free. we were on the beach and a friend who invited us to a party last night showed up. we start talking and he~s a 24 yr old traveler from argentina. he just waits tables where he has traveled to get by, but here, in rosa, he only works 6 months out of the year...just like everyone else.

see, you buy a lot, build a house and you are a landlord. the people here only pay for electricity, gas and water! there are no taxes on food, property, businesses. in fact, most of the businesses are closed 6 months out of the year fow low season. so people live in praia do rosa for somewhere around $50 a month. it~s incredible!

i found the loop i~ve been looking for. this is not to say that i would only work 6 months a year, because i would be teaching english. but i can say that i will be able to do what our friend did today. wake up, go swimming in the lagoon, walk on the beach, lay in the sand, eat a big dinner, go play on the internet, walk home, take a nap, wake up, drink some cachaca and go out to a bar where i find all my friends dancing and hugging me. this is the life. i~ve hit the jackpot!!

NKOTB

not much news here. we went to the beach yesterday and today. it was a bit windy but there were TONS of surfers! here, four and five occupy one wave. the swell was about 15 feet, and we counted over 40 surfers in the water.

i am learning some new things about brazil:

the men here don~t beat their women. they go to jail if they do.
they also don~t cheat on their women. i was told by a brazilian woman 8 years ago the contrary and have believed it until now.

they don~t have change. i guess the banks have change seasonally, so where ever you go, you always have to provide change. they look at you like you just smacked them if you don~t have change. this confuses me. if i give a vendor change, he has it. doesn~t it reciprocate? or does it just fall into a black hole?

apparently, here in praia do rosa, during high season, landlords kick people out of their homes. literally, their stuff is on the front porch. so i will need to work out a lease, also to make sure my rent is not raised during high season.

i was happy to be told i~m not a tourist. i live here now. people recognize me when i go out, and i recognize them, but i still feel like a new kid on the block.

TB is on my shit list.

i came home to a puddle of cat pee on my new blanket, pillow and sheet.
i told christine i was going to let the stray dogs eat her but she reminded me how much i had to pay to get her here. so she~s lucky today.

definitely an outdoor cat now. get used to it.

on a lighter note, i found an internet that actually recognizes the photos on my camera. here is the link:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?id=505286166&aid=93539

Lost in Translation

first of all, some photos are up on my facebook profile. i~m going to do it that way since it takes so long to upload photos on blogger.

oh my my my,
things just are not communicated when two people don~t understand each others´languages.

we thought we were going to gather mussels, buy fresh fish and mix them with octopus and squid so our friend, vladimir, could make us a delicious moqueca seafood stew. he offered.

well, we arrive at his house and he is nowhere to be found. he appears around 2, an hour late. tomorrow regina, tomorrow. i keep reminding myself. then i have to help him pull his buggie out into the muddy road and get inside and pop it while he pushes. the adventure begins.

we head out to buy fish and he takes us to a stand where they sell frozen fish. now i am confused because we passed a fisherman fresh from the beach on the way to the store. we buy frozen fish and head to a far away beach, which i assume, is where we are going to gather mussles. i was wrong. he just wanted to drive 45 minutes out of the way to show us the beach... a valuable experience and a sweet jesture, but by this time, we are dying of hunger ^morrendo de fome^.

we head home and didn~t realize he wasn~t cooking at his house. it had rained so our bbq was out of commission, but he seemed surprised that we couldn~t bbq and said he would prepare it in the oven but it wouldn~t be the same. then we told him we didn~t have an oven and he looked blankly at us.

so he had no alternative but to use the stove, which of course, was not the right way. so he grabs a pan and starts melting butter. i notice it~s a pan i hid away on a high shelf because it is corroded and had rat poo in it. i couldn~t throw it away because it belongs to the landlord. so i tell him the situation and he says, oh that~s ok. he pours the butter outside, brings the pan in, runs some boiling water over it and continues to use it. this is how our standards are different. at this point, i refuse to watch him cook, or say anything at all.

3 hours later, he~s just getting started on the rice and christine and i are DYING. we sneak little slices of salami from the fridge when he is not looking because we don~t want to insult him. 6 hours from the time we arrived at his house, the dinner is finally ready. i am excited to taste the fish, and then i do. it was so fishy and there were so many little bones, i had to spit my food onto a napkin to find them. i choked the food down so as not to offend, but let me tell you, it was not easy. i know, i guess i~m spoiled. next time, i~ll buy a fresh fish and have the fisherman fillet it for me.

after all that, he keeps drinking out of my glass, and although it~s a custom at parties with friends here, to have a communal drink, i don~t want to share a glass with someone all night. he won~t leave and the more drunk he gets, the louder he gets, the more impatient he is, constantly interrupting. christine and i eventually tuned him out, and i went to bed when i wasn~t even tired, just to get rid of him.

i have to say it was really nice of him to take us out and make the meal for us but everything was so confusing and irritating... i would rather have done it myself. it~s also common for people to come over to your house and drink you liquor and eat your food, as guests, and not offer anything in return. things are just different, and i am learning something new every day. tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow. if you arrive at my house like a stray dog, BYOB, BYO meat and leave when you see me yawn.

Thurs 14th of May

we are going out today to gather mussles from rocks with a friend. we are going to buy some octopus and fish and squid and he~s going to make this delicious sounding creamy seafood stew called Moqueca.

people here buy lots and build on them. then, they rent out the houses during the high season, when all the surfers and whale watchers are here. then, do minor repairs the other 6 months of the year. that is how most people make a living here. our new friend offered to build if we were to buy a lot together, then we would pay for water and electricity. people are really nice like that here, but i have my wits about me. besides, i hardly know him, the town, or how i would even afford to buy a lot. but things are coming together.

my landlord is a 33 yr old swedish (i think) surfer is an english teacher in sao paulo and owns a business that sells organic skate wear. he is interested in starting a school together when he returns to rosa in a month. this could generate a good income for the both of us, and provide the town with a venue to learn english. apparently, the town has really grown in the last 30 years. our friend, vladimir, who is taking us to gather mussels today, said when he was little, the town was covered with vines and leaves and you had to use a machete to get places. wow! so i should be grateful for the muddy unpaved roads that are the bane of my existence.

It rained all night and there is not a dry place to sit outside, so i guess i will stay in and listen to bob marley and play solitaire.

wed. may 13th DOGS

I woke up to sounds I had never heard before. It was like a flock of birds squawking like seagulls, or a flock of geese. yeah, that was it. There is also a bird that screams in the palm tree outside my window. It literally screams like a little girl. It~s pretty hilarious.

Another great day started out with a fried egg and potato mash followed by a shorter walk to the beach. We finally found a shortcut! It shaved about ten minutes off our normal route. After a couple hours of having the beach to ourselves, we walked back and grilld up the meanest, most delicious cheeseburgers! We made potato salad then ate outside. It~s another beautiful night but TB is still afraid to go outside because of Mange, our local stray, who tried to eat her a few days ago. We have been naming all the dogs here:


1) Verona (our neighbor) owns a dog we call D.O.G. (pronounced dee-oh-jee). He~s a black lab who walks with us when we go out at night to the internet and waits for us at the market, then accompanies us home at night. He~s a good dog, but he likes to sleep on our front porch, which TB doesn~t like at all.

2) Mange. This is the one who tried to eat TB. He~s some stray who seems to belong to our neighbors but doesn~t have a collar and needs a bath. Badly. He~s black and scary looking but I try to keep him out of our yard.

3) Mango. A red dog with white paws who is the town wimp. He was chased off the beach by a couple bully dogs, but follows us around with his tail between his legs.

4) Then there~s Bangs, a funny looking large white and grey standard poodle-looking thing with curly stuffed animal-like fur everywhere except for his straight shaggy white bangs. It~s hilarious!

5) I can~t forget Lady and the Tramp! It~s a collie and a mut who bark at us and come running down their driveway but end up running down the dirt path in front of us, together like a couple.

We just met a dog we call Mosquito (Quito for short) because he bugs! He~s a little dog that likes to lay right next to you on the beach, taking up personal space even though there is sand everywhere. Mango does this too.

and my favorite....Gordo.
He~s a little grey dog that is old and looks half pug in the front and duschound in the back. When he walks, his front paws kick out sideways while his fat grey body waddles and bounces and his toungue hangs out of his mouth. He~s a cutie and seems really happy. He likes to accompany us to the beach too.

There is a big bloodhound who guards his property that sits about half way to the beach but we have not come up with a name for him yet. He scared the life out of us but he~s a big baby so I think I may call him OZ.

Tonight there is lightning and wind. Leaves are rustling, windows and doors are slamming and I just realized my laptop isn~t working. Not turning on, in addition to the $200 American dollars I hid from myself and can~t find.

And these have been our daily adventures.

tu es. may 12th ----EMPTY POCKETS

i~m lisening to christine~s indian music while she cooks chicken adobo. we went into a nearby town, garopaba, to do some major shopping. i had to find a blanket, sheets and a pillow since the house is only eequipped with a couple of gross mattreesses with spider eggs. by the way , have i mentioned the kedyboards are fucked up here?

oh, to have a clean bed! i also got some drawing paper . .

i left my jacket on a bus on the way into town. whaaaa.

it~s going to storm tonight. it~s really windy. yes. lots of rain to come.

i bought two basil plants that will grow like crazy.

i also figured out a few importatnt details..

1) $250 is a good deal for a rental by american standards but i~m getting ripped off by brazilian standards. so i am going to look around for something around $ 100 per month.

2) i can hold english classes at my house and charge R$40 per hour, per person. that~s $20 per hour and you can do the math. 5 people at once....

apperently there is a huge demand for english teachers and people have the money and will pay. my neighbor already knows 5 people off the top of her head.

there are zero americans here. i have been asked many times ^what are you doing here? how did you find this place?

3) praia do rosa is one of the safest places i have ever been in my life. people don~t lock cars. or roll windows up! they dont~even sell bike locks here. that i know of.

people just park and go. no stress, no worries.

4) brazil is one of the most racist countries i have traveled. they don~t like dark skin and they also are classicisit, meaning they treat poor people like shit.

5) i bitch and complain about 2 things and i can~t seem to control my behavior....

a. when things don~t function properly
b. physical pain.
the poor people who travel with me have to listen to this shit, every day . i~m sory. i~m a priss.

i am very fortunate to be here and be accepted and to eventually make a living and contribute something valuable to the people here

there are tons of argentinians here so i am learning both portuguese and spanish. my neighbor, verona, is from argentina, and the woman is so sweet!

after having a child , totally ripped. she says it~s from all the walking . seriously, it~s impossible to be fat or out of shape here. it~s too much work getting around to be lazy.l i suppose if i lived here long enough, i would buy a car or scooter. so i didn~t have to rely on my neihgbor or a bus to get to town.
they drive lots of vw´s here. my kind of place! each day just seems to be getting better and better.

although i seem to be on an extended vacation, i do miss everyone and hope that through writing, i can share my adventure with you and shed some light on a gloomy monday.

don~t let the rain gather in your pockets. life is good! it~s teaching me how to do absolutely nothing very very well...

monday may 11th

beach. salad and fries, drinks, sleep

sunday may 10th

we got up early and spent the good part of the day at the beach. i got some serious sun. we came home, sat on the balcony and ate homemade fried chicken with spicy mayo, and fell asleep early.

to those of you who want photos and to chat, i~m sorry but things just don~t work the same way as they do in the states. i have had horrible internet connections and an even worse time finding a computer that will recognize the photos on my camera and on disc. sorry but when i come to the internet, it~s all business. send me an email if you would like to chat.

cheers!

Saturday May 9th

today was a good day. i drew. the ground was so wet from the rain. on my way home from the market, and i know this sounds like your granpa~s story, but i had a hard time.

just imagine: 4 bags of groceries, uphill, in the dark, in flip flops, in wet sand and mud, wtih mopeds and cars splashing in the muddy puddles beside me. then i walk down our stairs to our house in the dark (where i fell last night and dropped my only flashlight which now doesn~t work) gripping the fence so as not to slip on the narrow wet steps again.

do you feel sorry for me yet? :)

there is a tree in our yard that ants seem to occupy. i watched them for about 20 minutes. there was a parade of tiny green leaves in procession down the trunk of the tree. i feel like a kid again. i also like to look straight out at the sand at the beach and see in my peripheral vision, all the big crabs sneak out of their holes and sit in the sun. their big black eyeballs and little pinchers so still, and their color matching the wet and dry sand so perfectly that unless they skitter sideways, the go undetected......so much so that christine and i were laying out with our shirts over our heads and i was awaken out of my sweet slumber by her screaming like a little girl. right in front of her was that three inch bastard with his antennae eyeballs projecting over his creepy crabby body. they creep me out!! i wonder how they taste.

photos of the house

some people have been asking for photos of the house. i thought i already posted these but i guess not.

i will have my own up soon

http://www.viviun.com/AD-125069/

friday may 8th the good stuff.

today i made a few drawings. i am thinking i will do one a day so at the end of my stay i will have a lot to look at. i don~t know where to find canvas and it is probably best so i don~t have to travel with paintings or ship them.

i am such a far cry from my life in s.f. and so happy i am not living with my roommate who left hundreds and hundreds of photos of him holding his erect penis on my computer (which by the way, i couldn~t delete without his authorization). he says it~s cause he shared his itunes library with me. let me never share itunes with anyone ever again. ever. i was traumatized. i digress....
and to think, that was just a little over a week ago.

tb was almost eaten by a dog today. she had to climb two stories up a palm tree and up to our balcony. it was pretty funny but not really. i realized she is prey out here for stray dogs. they like to come onto our porch and sleep at the front door at night. if we leave the door open, they just walk into the house.

tonight we went out to watch some live acoustic brazilian music. a one man show. then we walked home and were rained on the entire way. i slipped and fell twice, getting pica pica all over me (a tiny furry green, oval-shaped pod that sticks to everything like velcro). the rain doesn~t seem to be letting up so i think i~ll draw and listen ro reggae tomorrow. maybe eat some left over feijoada, drink some goiaba juice and watch the rain.

sidenote: a couple different things about brazil

there seem to be two kinds of salt: salty and extra salty.
they can~t break larger bills which makes no sense. if people carry small bills and change adn give it to venders at local stores, where does it all go?
they don~t touch their food. they eat french fries and pizza with forks and knives.
they never seem to have toilet paper adn are stingy with napkins and paper towels even though it only costs 50 cents at the store.
sun block cost $30. tampons, razors and dental floss are all more expensive than in the states.

let me remind you, it takes literally ten minutes to upload 4 photos, so i have been dying to post photos but have had problems each time i come to the internet. it~s all trial and error, and i promise to have ^the good stuff^(also the name of my last roommate~s special photo folder) UP soon.

May 5th (a little out of order)

we went to praia do rosa today. we ate at a restaurant and had a beet, carrot, tomato and heart of palm salad and fries. delicious! the ketchup here is weird. it looks like jelly and doesn~t have much of a flavor. they like mayonaise on everything. the beach was really clean and the sand, fine. so you could squeeze it and it kept its form. we were befriended by a stray dog we named mango, after being followed by another last night who we call mange. oh, i can~t leave out our adventures from last night!

we decided to go on a walk and ended up at our local market about 15 mns. away. we met a couple of locals who invited us to a party where there would be fish. we accpted, went to a beach house and met some of the friendliest people on earth! we ate fresh bbq-ed fish stuffed with shrimp and tomato and garlic! we were there to celebrate the first day of the 72 hour party for someone~s bday. tonight~s party, which we were also invited to, will have many many more fish NS vour 50 people so we~ll meet more locals.

the bday boy ended up playing the guitar while everyone listened then sang in portuguese. we danced to bob marley and there was an awesome torsoise shell hanging from the ceiling. surreal! we met some really nice girls and they made me cry with their kindness. they told me they would always be my friend and if i needed a place to eat, sleep, drink or cry, i could come over any time. it~s amazing. 5 hrs after arriving here, i meet ten of the coolest locals and now have a family and a home here in praia do rosa. . . a paradise for creativity which i have chased every day of my life.

thurs. may 7th

today we went to the beach. it was a bit cold but we were the only people within visibility for most of the time. we stayed for about 3 hrs and christine took a photo of my back which has been raw meat for all the bugs in rosa.


the road we took back was arduous. we tried the way people told us was the quick way. we immediately discovered we wanted the easy way, not the quick way. covered in dust and sweat, we return home after about an hr of walking an rest our bones as the sun sets. i make feijoada, brazil~s national dish of black beans and meat, then fix myself a shot of cachaca (white sugar cane rum) with a chaser of goiaba juice (local friut).

i love how everyone knows everyone here. we went to buy bathing suits today and ended up chatting with a couple older women for a half hour. everyone just sits around, talking at a different pace i~ve come to know as ^tomorrow^. that~s when things get done. and that~s all there is to it. welcome to rosa.

Day 1, May 6th, 2009

Today we hitched a ride with Verona~s husband in his VW bus, yellow and white, to the central market. We bought all kinds of food. Meat, fruit, bread, the fixins for feijoada, oh yes.

Then I kicked it at home while Christine went to find a new bikini. I am soaking the beans for the feijoada tomorrow. You have to soak them overnight. Then add meat, bay leaves, and let it go for another day.

We swept out some major spider webs and nest eggs. Our refrigerator , we finally figured out how it works. And I banged my head on the stairwell on my way up to my room. So we are working out the details. There are some broken planks on our balcony se we cover it up with a bench so we don~t fall through. The kitchen had rat poop all over the shelves where the dishes are kept (and some landed in the dishes) so I did a full clean of that area. The shower is great! Hot! There is a tub that is kept on the roof that keeps water warm from the sun.

Christine is a MaGIVER. She figures things out and fixes everything. She figured out how to use my camera battery charger to power the radio here. I~~m just retarded in that arena. The beans are soaking, we had our first meal of steak, rice and farofa, digesting now. We are drinking caipirinhas and chillin~.

TB (my cat) is infinitely happier as an out door cat. I haven~t seen her since this morning. She has been eating plants, stalking birds and just laying around mostly. OH, she has killed a moth. Cheap rent here. At night, it~s her world so I leave her alone.

I sit in a chair at a table placed in front of a ceiling to floor corner window. This is where it all happens (in my journal, then I go to the internet cafe to reproduce...)

If one cannot be inspired here, there is not much hope. This is exactly what I wanted and needed to feed my soul, and it is mountains, miles and eons more than I expected.

The town is small (2000 population) and our house is so remote that the market in town offers their delivery service for a fee. You can call them in the morning and they will have your goods for you by the afternoon. Genius. We will definitely utilize that service since the main larger market in town would be an hour and a half walk each way. I don~t know much about the town other than its fame as a surfing and whale watching beach town. Tournaments are held here every year and loads of people flock to the beaches. Fortunately I arrived at the end of high season and the beaches are almost empty, except for a few stray dogs that have already established their territories.

I look forward to knowing the locals, learing more of the language, which is already happening quickly. I also need to find a way to make a living. I think things will just fall into place. I ate my first fish eyeball today. Chewy and fishy. Hmmm... not so much.

Praia do Rosa, first impressions

The house is magnificent. Like I described in the past, it is a tree house, all wood and brick and stone. It^s a two story, the upstairs room and balcony accessible by steep wodden steps. The downstairs holds the living room, and the kitchen is a few steps down from the living room. It has a feel of what Hemmingway must have lived in. You could easily write, paint, drink, smoke, eat, and create for years, producing some of the best work of your life here. There is natural beauty everywhere. Flowering trees, bugs, plants that look like animals, smells of jungly green, fertile soil and BBq-uing meat. Every so often, while on my balcony that looks onto the red roofs of the village and its mountains, I hear a cow or a dog. It~s quiet besides the sound of small bugs, ang it~s still except for the flutter of moths outside my door at night.

still getting there....

The travel to Brazil was long and tested my patience, of which I have little.

When we arrived in Rio, we expected to take a connecting flight to Florianopolis, then a bus from Floripa (as locals call it) to Praia do Rosa. Well, we arrive in Rio and are informed by Gol airlines that our flight has been cancelled due to mechanical difficulties. BULLSHIT. The next flight out would be hours later and hours longer. We were also informed that the cat who had to go in with the cargo needed a hard carrier (not the soft like I have). I asked why their website didn~t specify and they said the soft carrier doesn~t exist in Brazil. Apparently nor do hours of business or speed. They called the pet shops and of course they were closed because guess what? It~s their labor day. Banks were also closed. It was Friday so we are stranded in Rio until Monday with little cash.

We ended up, after 3 hours of negotiating, cancelling the flight they automatically booked us and got a confirmation number for a refund, and decided to stay in Rio for the night and leave the next day on a bus.
The bext day, we went online and were not able to find any info on ticket reservations. We took a cab to the bus station with all our suitcases, bags, and cat, hoping to find a red eye. Well, after standing in line watching the attendants flirt with each other, I got to the front of the line and was told the only bus to Floripa left 2 mintues ago. TWO MINUTES!! So we cabbed it back to the same small hotel where we were laughed at. We spent another night in Rio and ended up in Floripa the next day after 18 hours on a bus.

After Floripa, we took a bus to a small town and transfered to another bus to get to Prais do Rosa. Then we were picked up in a car by our lovely landlord~s neighbor, Verona.

Finally, a real person with smiles!!!

and that is wher our time in Prais do Rosa begins.

Getting to Brazil

photos to come, yes yes. Ir takes a long time here to upload them.

Anyway, Something cosmic happened on my last trip out the door in SF. I was dragging a standing closet down the stairwell of my apartment and as I tipped it toward me, a small photo flew off the top and onto the ground. It was a photo of me as a baby, on the lap of the woman who cared for me before I was adopted. I cried my eyes out, wondering where it had come from, since I hadn~t seen it in years, and conincidentally, at the most appropriate time, upon my move to Brazil, showed up out of nowhere. That was a good omen.

On the flight from SFO to Houston, I sat next to a Puerto Rican woman who had a blackhead on her nose and I couldn~t stop looking at it! . . . that, and her mustache growing out, and the cloudy eyes that old people get around the iris.... But beyond that, she was one of the most earnest and genuinely amiable people I have met. I had conversations with her and at the end of the flight, she was inspired to live the life she always wanted to..since her son was now a 24 yr old adult.

I turned my phone off for good, which was a milestone since I have lived with and relied on my phone for 2 years for both work and social agendas.

18 hrs of sleepless travel and I am about to arrive in Sao Paulo, only to continue on to Rio, then take a connecting flight to Florianopolist, then a 1.5 hr busride to my final destination, Praia do Rosa.

Christine is sleeping and my cat has been very quiet up to this point. Now, she is pissed and wants out of her pet voyage.

I wonder what Christine~s first impressions of Brazil will be. I am watching a wild show on the plane about lions and it is on silent. They^re killing wild boar, zebras and gizelles. He takes down a baby zebra by grabbing the back end with his claws, then imobilizing it with a quick clamp down on the neck.

The patterns on the ground seen from the sky are spectacular. Above the US, I saw circles, nested in squares, divided into quadrants with ripples of higher ground, sand and salt deposits, snowy mountains, and patches of green, red and yellow rectangles dividing farming properties . As the sun rises in Brazil, flying over the interior, there are green patches and reflective rivers and lakes dividing areas of natural growth and man made fields.
I am anticipating a nice light continental breakfast since I avoided eating all of my beef and pototo airplane dinner. It tasted like dogfood.

Flying into San Paulo is like nothing else. Tall white apartment buildings are stacked like legos, rows of colored boxes with a million windows stretch for miles. We~re still sailing to our final decent and there is no vanishing point for this extra-terrestrial metropolis.