Last days in Brazil and home again
One question I got asked was did I think the Christos' eyes were opened or closed. My host thought closed to the sins of the world. Looking at the view, it seems too hard not to look at it.
After the seminar and the trip to the Christos, we went to a bar in the bohemian district of Rio for Brazilian pub grub and dancing. The music was from the Northern part of Brazil and the band played for about 2 hours with no discernible break in the music.
The dancing was very fast paced and complex, looking like a mixture of a samba and swing. Lots of complicated cross-steps, spins, and turns in it. The bar was an old building done up like a Prohibition speakeasy, and the folks next to us were a party in 1920s dress. People watching was the best part, and it was kinda fun to have strange women wave at me to come dance with them. After the bar, we stopped on the beach for coconut drinks...
The next day we went to the University of Rio to spend the day with the professor who hosted the seminar.
While there, we went out to lunch and had frogs cooked in oil and garlic, flounder, chenne (a deep water fish), and rice with broccoli for lunch. The frogs look more like roasted pixies than what I expected.
We went out to the old section of the city for dinner and found a capoeira school. I wasn't so rude as to take any shots inside but the only place I've seen people move like that was at Mestre Acordeon's place in Oakland years ago and those were his Brazilian players. The art really seems to compliment a women's movement too. Like the samba, it is very very distracting to watch.
I flew home late that night and after a 29 hour travel mess, got back to Texas. The next day I woke up craving Brazilian coffee with milk. What I saw of Brazil is an amazingly rich in resources yet in some ways still a poor country. People talk of it as the next China and it may well be. The resources are there and the infrastructure is coming along. The people are optimistic and friendly to Americans,but not as fond of our government. I came home with some fond memories at least...
After the seminar and the trip to the Christos, we went to a bar in the bohemian district of Rio for Brazilian pub grub and dancing. The music was from the Northern part of Brazil and the band played for about 2 hours with no discernible break in the music.
The dancing was very fast paced and complex, looking like a mixture of a samba and swing. Lots of complicated cross-steps, spins, and turns in it. The bar was an old building done up like a Prohibition speakeasy, and the folks next to us were a party in 1920s dress. People watching was the best part, and it was kinda fun to have strange women wave at me to come dance with them. After the bar, we stopped on the beach for coconut drinks...
The next day we went to the University of Rio to spend the day with the professor who hosted the seminar.
While there, we went out to lunch and had frogs cooked in oil and garlic, flounder, chenne (a deep water fish), and rice with broccoli for lunch. The frogs look more like roasted pixies than what I expected.
We went out to the old section of the city for dinner and found a capoeira school. I wasn't so rude as to take any shots inside but the only place I've seen people move like that was at Mestre Acordeon's place in Oakland years ago and those were his Brazilian players. The art really seems to compliment a women's movement too. Like the samba, it is very very distracting to watch.
I flew home late that night and after a 29 hour travel mess, got back to Texas. The next day I woke up craving Brazilian coffee with milk. What I saw of Brazil is an amazingly rich in resources yet in some ways still a poor country. People talk of it as the next China and it may well be. The resources are there and the infrastructure is coming along. The people are optimistic and friendly to Americans,but not as fond of our government. I came home with some fond memories at least...
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