On-the-Road Tales

Marcelo, Carolina and I headed 2 hours south to Sao Paulo for a cultural day. We stopped at the park to see a photo exhibit and I was a but hesitant about lunch. We were going for Japanese and my previous 2 encounters with that food, I was not so impressed. Brasil has the largest Japanese population outside of Japan so there is a lot of restaurant competition. This place was, all you can eat for 15$ which was perfect for me since I could try different things. Turned out to be yummy, even the raw fish and the marinated gunger was amazing. I have decided that is my new favorite spice and I must learn to cook with it. We went to the stadium to watch a football game – Corinthians vs. Palmeira. a bug Sao Paulo rivalry. It is best not to get caught in the wrong section or the wrong supporters side during these games. Unfortunetly, the side we were rooting for lost badly but it was a fun spectacle nevertheless.

We rented the movie Motorcycle Diaries. I had read the book before coming but now after having been in some of the places it was great to watch. Some wonderful quotes in the movie I had forgotten about. Good inspirational travel film.

Headed to lunch and had an incredible garlic carne fillet. I made the mistake of ordering a dark (oscuro) beer to try and it was just nasty. Sweet, like pure soda syrup. Of course Dononvan and Marcelo told me after my first sip how awful they thought it was but I should have the experience myself! Thanks. Ick. I took a Skol to wash the taste away. Donovan, Cecilia and I headed to Cacapava. I went up in a glider with Donovan. Much less disconcerted than the first time I flew in one but it is still kinda crazy. The parachute is like a joke. The chances you are seriously going to be able to unwedge from the cockpit in the event of a problem, extricate yourself from the confine of the cockpit and open your chute wuth enough altitude are slim but hey – you put it on anyway. The instruments are in the front seat only so I had to shout the altitude and airspeed to donovan in the back so he knew when to pull the chord and release from the plane towing us. As the taildragger you are tied to by a rope starts accelerating in front, you get dragged along on the skids behind, bumping over grass with someone holding the wing off the ground. No wheels on this guy. Bc of the glide ratio, you start flying before the aircraft so you are kind of hovering in back waiting for him to get enough lift. As you climb you just hold your breath until you get enough altitude to recover in case his engine quits. All the indication are in meters since it is an old german beast so I was calculating in my head. We separated and soared around for a while. Really very interesting, you learn alot about flying because you have no second chances. You lose too much altitude, too far from the strip and you are landing in some field or in trees if you happen to be on approach. I would not mind taking some lessons just to be a bit more comfortable in them and a little less dependent on having the throttle for comfort in a real airplane!

There was a Barbq afterwards for a kid who had recently soloed. We chowed down on freshly cooked meat and sausages in the hangar and watched the lunar eclipse. It took several hours for the full moon to fully recover from the reddish shadow cast over it. I chatted with some boys studying to be Aero Eng and pilots who rode 1.5 hours each way on their bikes just to come fly! That is dedicated, I wished them luck getting into this crazy industry.

Donovan met me at the security post at Embraer and I got signed in. I finally got to meet some of the people in his division who I had worked with for year by email and phone. We toured around the factory and see where they building the EMB145 and EMB 170s and 190s. We visited the delivery hangar where there were airplanes ready to fly away to their new home. I got to crawl around a new 190 and got my recorder fix by touching not 1 but 2 dual combis. Nice airplane! Airbus better watch out, the competition is gaining. I saw a plane on the tarmac that was Saudi airlines. Someone was telling me the bathroom configuration is all different than standard because of some religious observations. You learn something new everyday…It was nice to talk shop for a bit.

We picked up Cecilia and headed to the Sao Jose Aeroclube. One of their friends is building a UAV in a hangar and working on a commercial venture. Very cool project. We headed to dinner and had the best risotto I have ever tried, yummee…

We picked up Ce

Last day in the big city, U headed to the Cristo Redentor statue. This is the infamous icon you see on all the advertisements of Rio. You board an old cog train and go up through a mini jungle to get to the top of the 400 meter mountain. From here you can get a 360 deg. panoramic view from the hughest point in the city, though I still thunk the view at night from Pao de Acacar was more interesting. I descended and got the local bus number I was supposed to take to the main bus station. I waited and waited and in the 2 secons I was helping some tourists – the bus I needed to flag down passed me by. Ergg, waited again and when ut finanly arrived, ut was the wrong bus number I was given. So I relented a grabbed a taxi. As we crawled along in traffic, the cops on one side of the street were screaming at a motorcyclist on the other side of the street slowing down because of a flat tire. Not sure what the miscommunication was bit the cops pulled out their handguns and were pointing them as they crossed in front of the taxi. Wonderful, I have managed to avoid trouble on the trip so far and I am going to get caught in a crossfire of overzealous cops. They looked at his license, decided they made a mistake and left. OK then. I got my bus and watched the moonlit landscape on my way back south to Sao Jose.

Rio´s metro system is easy and efficient and it dropped me a few blocks from Copacabana. Yes, 3 days technically speaking on a beach in the span of a week? Must be a record for me, the sun-shunner. I walked along the water as far as I could go to Leme and then back the other way. In Ipanema, as I was taking a photograph – I was approached by a man with a Walmart bag gesturing wildly with his disposable camera a clicking motion. I said in perfect english, (I can not imagine he thought I was brasilian appearing ghostlike pale on the sand) “would you like me to take your photo?”. We got to chatting and turns out he lives in a van in California, showers at the local gym and goes on to save up his money until he has enough to travel to the next destination. How cool – I think he has things figured out. No rent, no worries and he goes off and spends a month in Rio or Australia etc when he can. We walked the length of the beach to leblon and I peeled off to find some shade from the brutal sun.

I jumped a cab to Pao de Acucar or Sugarloaf in Urca. You have to take 2 cable cars to ascend to the 400 meters to the top of the gneiss rock sticking out of the water. At the first station, I watched the sun drop behind the Cristo statue and illminate the sky with all sorts of neat colors and cloud designs. As I went to the second station to go the rest of the way up, I stopped dead in my tracks – there in front was the infamous Sugarloaf with the almost full moon rising to the side and the water alive with city lights reflection. An awesome spectacle. I could have stayed there all night. I am not one for cities but Rio certainly has it all – mountains, rock formations, beaches, cablecars. Too cool. It was dark by the time I got to the top but the view of the city sparkling, the beaches glowing and the lit Cristo floating in the sky was great. Of course to make things better, the domestic airport Dumont was off to the side its runway surrounded on both ends by water so it was interesting to watch their takeoffs as they flew by the mountain.

Good stuff – I recommend seeing Rio once in a lifetime at least. I had an awesome Esphina de Frango (chicken thing) and headed back to Catete.

So, I hopped on a bus and headed north to the city known for Carnival and beaches. I heard sketchy things about Rio and was on guard like Lima but I am happy to report – not even a single bad encounter. I stayed in Catete and headed downtown upon arrival to walk about the city. The centro has a cultural center and I was able to catch an exhibit with some Kandinsky and Picasso. I can actually appreciate it due to Marcelos art indoctrination last time we were in the MOMA in NYC, otherwise I would write off the squiggly lines and not full appreciate the works…Lots of architecturally neat buildings, parks and churches in the business section. That evening, I took the tram to Santa Teresa. So not an OSHA compliant operation. As soon as we pulled out of the station, already overloaded with commuters haniging on the sides – street rides jumped on to joyride as we climbed the hills to overlook the city. I extracted myself from the rolling transport and enjoyed a caipiringa staring out onto the old neighborhood mansions.

OK the days are blending together here. This weekend, in an effort to escape the 39 degree C heat, we headed northeast to the coast. The side road we took to the coast is incredibly curvy, steep and not so level but as least it was downhill. The views of the bumpy hills that make up the coast panaroma is worth the honking necessary around every turn to warn oncming traffic to share the road as you descend. Trinidad is a small town not far over the Sao Paulo-Rio de Janeiro state border. The formally dirt road there is now paved but you still have to drive through a river to get there, literally through a small stream that descends from the mountains into the ocean. The place itself is just a strip of inns, eateries and beach dwellers not different than some small getaway on the eastern shore.

We stayed at a small pousada (bed and breakfast), and I mean really small. I have been to cheap motels in Wildwood New Jersey for a beach weekend where you could hardly swing a cat but this place was 8 feet by 8 feet! Yes, I marvelled at the efficient use of space and I m an engineer and – so I measured it. There was a ladder going into a loft with a bed, a fridge, closet and a futon. A couple more square feet with a shower/toilet and you had a holiday happy home that slept 4. The room was in a courtyard where the owner had pet parrots which sang the national anthem and a turtle roaming which I was sure would get stepped on sooner or later.

We headed to the beach to swim in the warm, pristine blue-green waters. Not hard to believe Brasil is credited with some of the most beautiful coastline in the world. I got to make castles in sand with Maria and explore some cool rocks. Marcelo and I hiked to a natural cove sheltered my massive boulders and teeming with tropical fish. I was slathered in SPF 50 and with my tee shirt and shorts on trying to combat the 39 degree C sun blaring down, had more clothes on that half the people on the beach put together. Brasilians are more comfirtable with their bodies than any other culture I have spent time with – sand and sun are their natural environment and when at the beach getting formal means adorning their speedos and bikinis with some flip flops. It is a refreshing attitude although amusing after coming form a place where they wear 3 layers of colorful wool skirts, tights, long sleeve blouses and head veils.

Before heading home, we stopped in Paraty for dinner and a stroll. This is an old colonial portuguese town with cobble stone streets and bright contrasting colored doors and windows. I tested out some delicious fried manioc and a fish stew from the north of brasil cooked in clay pots with a coconut milk and spices. Nothing bad can be said against Brasilian cuisine. They have more unique fruits than most other continents combined. Time to go try some more…