EPIC non-sequiter

I saw the biggest waves i have ever seen in my life. i was raised in california on the coast and have never wittnessed waves this huge! they reached about 15 feet. there were about 100 brave surfers sucking it up too! amazing. the sky was orange and violet as the sun was setting and there was no beach left, just foam. so, i watched from the restaurant above. what an epic day.

i have moved in with jujubee and lucy and i know from just one night that i am not going to stay. in a nutshell, i need space, quiet and my own bed that no men will creep into....so, i am going to rent a studio just a few steps away. our neighborhood is small, with just about 10 houses all clustered on a hill with cows and dirt roads. all our friends live nearby. i will essentially be living alone but i can be with my friends whenever i want.

praia do rosa is known for surf and whales. the whales should be arriving soon. every day, we take the binoculars to the beach, rain or shine, and look for surfers. i mean whales. :)

so many conversations i have had are about traveling to other parts of s. america. i was talking with a friend, freddy, who is a 24 yr old prodigy of travel it seems. he has already lived all over, barcelona being the last. we spoke about going to maccu picchu together by train. it goes from brazil to peru and is named "el tren de morte", the train of death. i said, yes, let~s die in maccu picchu together!! but i have to tell my parents first. i can~t imagine why the train is called that, but i can imagine it takes some pretty steep, narrow roads, the kind goofy and mickey took when they were sporting the aerostreaam.

brazil finds a "jeito" or way of doing things other people can~t or won~t do. for example, a poster is adhered to a wall with toothpaste. hangers are made of cut bamboo. cell phone credits are charged at 5 dollar intervals, just like the petrol in cars is added. only 1/4 tank of gas is added at a time. sarongs are used as fitted sheets and bamboo chutes are rolling pins. plastic bags are used to cover food and containers that hold jam and butter are washed and reused as plastic storage containers. brazilians are conservative and they only use what they need. even old bread is mixed with leftover rice and beans to feed stray dogs.

good news.... since my things were stolen, i have been moping about not being able to post photos. well, one day, lucy and i thought "wow, maybe my memory card fits into her camera". we tried it and it fits! so we loaded all my photos onto juju~s computer and saved them to a disc. if i can find an internet that will read those files, i will have a bunch of new photos up soon. let~s cross our fingers.