bday surprise

i am sitting alone in my house watching tv and doing my nails because my friends told me i can~t hang out with them. it~s the night before my bday and everyone is preparing a "surprise" which they describe as a brazilian tradition and that i~m screwed. i am imagining the worst. we went grocery shopping and i wasn't allowed to see what was in the cart but i heard the words mayonaise, eggs and flour. are they going to cover me with gooey food? or worse, are they going to make me eat some disgusting concoction? they think it~s hilarious that i~m kind of shitting my pants. they love to torture me. i told them if they make me eat feces and stip me and leave me in the middle of nowhere, i will never speak to them again. anything other than that, i can handle.

i don~t know what to expect and it~s killing me! i~m receiving no relief from ivo. he says, "oh yes, you~re screwed". honestly, i kinda like the attention.

Now that the idea to travel to the Amazon has been threatened due to my great regard for my father~s wishes, I am wondering what I am doing in Brazil, if not for travel. Am I here to work and live? Find my birth-mother? Bump into love? Write a book based on my knoledge of traveling and living abroad? Am I just here to learn? To be introspective, to grow? To live a simple life of service? Is it just one long vacation? What on earth pulled me here and keeps me here? How did I arrive here and where am I going? And do these questions really matter?

waiting

not much news....just waiting ... again.

ivo came to me last week and said "let's go to the amazon tomorrow". as always, i exclaimed "yes! with bells on!" i went home and packed, cleaned the house for a new tenant and gave all my food to the guys. now ivo says he doesn~t know if he can go.

i don~t know that it is safe or wise to go to the amazon alone. but i may just do it anyway. it~s an opportunity that i cannot miss.

blah blah blah

so i~m pretty pumped about my new havaianas. my old pair finally broke after two years (not bad for a piece of rubber). my new havaianas are classic. the only colors made in the beginning were black and blue, with white on the top of the sole and the color on the straps and bottom of the sole. i have the blue.

in other news, i must look pretty local by now. on my way to the internet, i was offered a ride by a cutie. i said thanks but didn~t accept, as it has been engrained not to take rides from strangers regardless of how safe it is here in rosa. also, i was approached by an elderly argentinian woman who asked me for directions to the beach. i must look like i know the way. how far i~ve come from day 1.

i have two friends who want to visit in december. one is a brazilian with whom i traveled around brazil 8 years ago. the other is a turkish friend from san francisco. we met in sign language class. we may do some traveling together while he is here but he~s not sure about the duration of his stay.

and for mom anmd dad, my friend rodrigo wants me to tell you that even though i live alone, i am safe. there are 5 friends who live within talking distance of my house and we all take care of each other. he is always looking after me. he carries my things and makes sure i have everything i need. he~s like a big brother.

TB has finally made a civil union with the dog that protects me and my house. she can walk in front of her and the dog doesn~t do anything. this is a milestone! tb is the neighborhood cat and the dogs don~t bother her anymore. it~s like they know she~s mine.

i have memorized the world map. hey, there~s a lot of time and nothing to do when it rains.

i will post some more exciting news once i start my treck to the amazon. more adventures to come!!

The Death Train, etc.

Traveling on the death train to Machu Picchu is becoming less appealing to me. I have been reading peoples' blogs about it and it has been described as a mosquito and cockroach-infested bomb that takes a shoddy rail network through the mountains. Its traincars slam into each other at each stop (of which there are many) waking you up in the middle of the night with a terrifying feeling of derailment. If I were on autopilot for self destruct, I would consider the trip. People say to take the death train for a more "real" expérience, but I have enough reality to deal with. They say the rich love to do things the hard way and the poor prefer to relax and when given the choice, choose the easy way. I think this comes from always having to work. My time in Brazil has not been work in the sense of labor or time spent in an office, but the negotiations and sacrafices made in final moments of frustration tally a heavy sum.

But I have not given up on traveling. Ivo and I are leaving for the Amazon at the end of the week. My death train will have to wait. Bugs, many many bugs and creatures I have yet to meet are calling for me.

p.s. I didn~t take this photo of the death train but see how it~s close to running someone over on the tracks? I haven~t even seen it and it scares me.

I'm on a road trip to Curitiba then Porto Alegre

see you back on Monday

unidentified food

after surviving a hangover that could have killed hercules, i am finally able to get out and use thie internet. but i discover my new internet place is closed for a while for repairs (?) so i decide to go to the grocery store instead. on my way home, i stop at a roadside stand to buy rotisserie chicken, one of my favorite foods in any country. a few middle-aged men are inside drinking beers and eating some appetizers. one man dipped what looked like a piece of sausage into *farofa and handed it to me on a toothpick, asking if i knew what it was. but before he could get the name out in portuguese, i had already shoved it in my mouth, excited to try something new. the piece of inards was not a heart but a liver or perhaps tongue of some animal, probably a chicken, soft, dissolving in my mouth with a gamey flavor. it was probably the worst thing i have taasted since the fish eyeball. it stuck in the corners of my gums and teeth and i couldn~t get the flavor out of my mouth. but what is travel without trying new things?

*farofa- dry manioc flour, much like cornmeal but finely ground. sauteéd with butter and onions and used as a topping for meats and beans.