http://blogs.bootsnall.com/MosesGates Parte due, dois, deux, dos, dva, y dwa Tue, 11 Nov 2008 22:32:58 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Like captain Ahab, we all have our particular White Whales we chase.   Mine is an abandoned bridge in Buenos Aires.   I can't explain it.   You're either one of the small subset of people who see this and drool at the thought of climbing it, or you're not. I first encountered the ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/MosesGates/the-white-whale-lives.html I'd spent a lot of time in Buenos Aires my last trip to South America.  I can't say I was really that enamored of the city, but there were some things I wanted to do there that I'd missed the first time.   Instead of going straight there from Sao Paulo, ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/MosesGates/back-to-buenos-aires.html Nowadays, abandonment is vastly different in different cities. In economically strong cities like the New York, abandonment is generally simply a transitional phase - it's only a matter of time before the building is either restored or torn down to make way for something new. In ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/MosesGates/abandonment.html On my last day in Sao Paulo I decide to head up one more observation deck, the Edificio Italia downtown. The Edificio Italia was erected by Sao Paulo's Italian community (hence the name), and has both a restaurant and an observation deck at the top. Contrary ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/MosesGates/tightrope-on-top-of-sao-paulo.html I've been frustrated with observation decks in New York for some time now. There's about a dozen buildings or structures that used to have public observation decks that are now closed, or used for private space. I've managed to get up a few of them, but ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/MosesGates/above-sao-paulo.html He is a well-dressed fellow, tall and somewhat balding. Somewhat nervous, he speaks fluent English with a clipped Portuguese accent. He pretty much resembles a successful Brazilian businessman, which he is, running an import-export shop. He does not look like the type of guy ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/MosesGates/kindred-spirits-in-sao-paulo.html It's the weekend before carnival. I am standing among thousands of Cariocas jam-packed into this no-name street in a no-name neighborhood. It is pouring rain. I am wearing nothing but a black negligee. I am having the time of my life. "Oh man. ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/MosesGates/ah-a-ha-so-de-jacarepagua.html From La Paz, it was over to Lake Titicaca and Peru. I met up with my brother, blitzed the Inca Trail, and since that wasn't enough, climbed a almost 20,000 foot mountain. Bungee Jumped in Peru, Paraglided in Chile, and made my way over to Santiago ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/MosesGates/last-quick-update.html I was going to skip Rio de Janeiro. I'd been there before, seen the town. I couldn't get ahold of my friend or my professor who both live there. It wasn't on the way to where I was going. I had a ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/MosesGates/retorne-a-la-cidade-maravilhosa.html Time moves on. Cities change. As they change, people tend to get nostalgic for what used to be. Today, nostalgia for the "bad old days" of the NYC of the 1970s, 80s, and early 90s has almost reached the level of kitsch, it's so ... http://blogs.bootsnall.com/MosesGates/nostalgic-for-80s-new-york.html