9.6.2000

Okay.

Finally managed to get 10 minutes away (well, I hope it will be that long). Time to fill you all in on my adventuring.

Flew in to Rio Monday night and arrived about 7:00 pm. Getting from the airport to the hotel was a cinch. The Plaza Cobacobana, as it was called, is not directly on the beach, but it's only a block and a half away. I dropped off my gear and headed out into the wild world of Rio which wasn't too wild, but it was certainly pretty busy. I went down and said hello to the Atlantic, as I haven't seen it since I was 9 and in Florida, save for the cup and Sou'wester that J and Trees gave me last year (Yay infamous LaPierre Girls!). I tool a long walk on the beach and then found a little place that faced to water to dine at. Ate Frango Cubadense (Cuban style chicken), which was really yummy and fried bananas which are very popular down here... and which I've come to adore.

Rio's a much prettier city than São Paulo. Where Rio has lovely green strips of trees and long expansive tiled boardwalks and incredible beaches, São Paulo is an industrial monolith. There's an Expat here that spent 9 months in Rio before being placed in São Paulo and ceaselessly bitches about it. I understand the dissappointment, but being sequestered away in Caminas, and soon to be sequestered in Macaé? I don't sympathize. I finally got to see the Corcovado (The Christ the Redeemer statue) that hovers above the city. I had thought it looked much bigger from the waterfront city proper, but at night it hovers on the top of the mountain brightly lit up, and really does appear to be descending, open-armed to greet the citizens of the city, or perhaps just take a dip in the ocean. ;)

The architecture of the city is absolutly scrumptious. Buildings nestled together with glass filled fronts edge all of the beach area. Deeper inside the city the buildings are tall and decorative with plenty of mouding and gargoyles. Very European in descent but wholly Brazilian too. It's lovely. Fountains, Gardens all line the paths. How did I see so much, you ask? well quite simply, I got lost. I stayed in the Plaza that night (the room was blech though, only one little tiny window in a single room that looked no where near the beach) and in the morning I gave instructions to the front desk to go to The Metropolitan so I could meet the bus to Macaé. She told the bellhop, he told the doorman, the doorman told the cab driver... an architypal Carioca, and off we went.

It's hard enough to wrap the brain around Portuguese, but people from different sections of the country have different accents, and my ear is not attuned to Rio's rhythm. We establised early on that we did not understand each other, but he seeemed to know where we were going. After we drove for 20 minutes, I started to get dubious, but after 45 minutes when most of the city had dwindled away to hillside favelas and residential streets? I was pretty panicked. I tried to explain to him that we wern't going the right way, but he didn't understand and just kept telling me ten munutes more. He took me out to this place in the middle of nowhere that is The Metropolitain Theatre. My cell had died, his wasn't equipped with the right card and we got to a payphone where he called a friend that spoke English, to which I wholeheartedly blathered at over the phone with much soggitude... and then he understood to call my Expat co-ordinator in Rio, who I'd never met.

I'd missed the bus. of course, and my boss was frantic and we were two hours late, but I finally ended up in the right part of town and we headed the 2.5 hour trek to Macaé. This city is really small. about 90,000 people, beautiful beaches and nothing to do. Apparently, there is a single movie theatre in town. At least that's something. I had my meetings and then headed to the Plousada Macamae for the night. It had some interesting window work andstuff, but no English channels on TV, no 110V power no phone, and no hot water for this morning's shower (muito, muito frio!). Kinda sucked. But I awent for a long walk found a restaurant which had some great grelhado and stopped at a roadside crepes maker for Crepes com Doce do Leite é Chocolate - oh wow, oh yum, oh yes. I sat on a penninsula of rock to eat it while the waves roiled around me, and thought about life the universe and everything. Eventually I went home, watched Bewitched in Portuguese and passed out halfway through it (9p.m. or thereabouts). A quiet, but good night.

I head back to Rio tonight, though I'm not sure if I'll stay or go on to Campinas. A decision I have to make soon. Blarg. I'd like to hit a tour tomorrow. Maybe up to Sugar Loaf or the Corcovado, maybe the favelas... or maybe I'll take a deek into Buzios.

So many options, so little time.
posted by The Mo of Space and Death 12:03 (her time) @

Septembrina says...

My god, is it September already? Tired Monday morning here as I went away to São Paulo for the weekend for some fun. There was a birthday dinner on Friday at a devine little Italian place near the flats (But not nearly as devine as Palazzio's). Then drinks in the Café Maria until 3... though of course drinks for me meant diet cokes and keep'm coming. Up death early for work on Saturday where I got to sit in on Brenda's Portuguese lesson with Fabiolo who is so far the front runner in the Craig given quest. He taught me so much in an hour including a whole lot of questions I had about conjugating verbs and whatnot. He also taught us what Brazilian handsignals mean and how to swear properly. ;)

Then grocery shopping and dinner and a long heart-to-heart with Brenda (she lost her dad 3 years ago and we were comparing trauma) and talked about work and business and consulting in general, and she gave me lots of good advice. We were planning on going to Embu on Sunday but it pissed down rain - oh yes (Oh.. I spoke too soon. there is a rainy season in Brazil and it's right now). We went to this fabulous glass store on Lorena that is Italian descended Brazilian art full of bright Brazilian colours and then to this little clothing store that makes the most beautiful silk clothes. As Henri (the owner) said: "There is no such thing as an ugly model or an ugly woman, there is only clothes without her true heart". I bought a beautiful silk/cellulose shirt and a faboo jacket and spent way too much money.

So we stayed at home that night cause we were tired and the rain was drizzley and talked some more and then went to O'Malley's for dinner... the only Irish pub in São Paulo. It was great. The inside looks so much like a typical in-Ireland pub, if you looked around, you wouldn't even know you were still in Brazil. The weather, cold and damp as it was could have been in Ireland too. But the music was decidedly Merkin - a whole eighties mix that was fabulous. For a while I was convinced it was the Reality Bites soundtrack, but no... The fish an chips was nummy.

After we went to a bar not far from the hotel for an after dinner drink (mmmm Bailey's com gelo) and then went home. Didn't get to sleep until 2 or so, but the weekend was worth it. For the first time, Sunday evening, walking around in the Jardim, I felt like I was in my neighbourhood. Even if I don't live in São Paulo at the moment. The city is as big but not as threatening as they drill into your heads. People, in that neighbourhood anyways are pretty friendly. I feel more in my element, more roots, and less up in the clouds in my apartment.

Off to Rio this afternoon and then on to Macaé in the morning. I have two days off later this week and I'm trying to decide what to do with them. I could stay in Macaé and enjoy the beach, go to Rio and take some tours or go back to Campinas and explore. I have an open ticket, I think, so I figure I'll play it by ear.

Oh yeah... the reason for this blogisode's title? Victoria, the other designer at the stop found out that my birthday was on Independance day and told me that if I was a nordestera (native north-eastern Brazilian) my name automatically would have been Septembrina - in honour of Independance.

She told me she was glad I wasn't a nordestera, I agreed. It's actually quite funny, the Brazilians always assume that my name is an aboriginal Brazilian name... but they pronounce it Maueerrra (you have to roll those R's). The surname though, confuses the heck out of them. :)
posted by The Mo of Space and Death 15:06 (her time) @

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