Cordoba Update

Hola amigos,

Still in Cordoba, I'll be here for a while yet. Job search is going slow, but let's be real, that's just my own laziness. Hopefully something comes up soon = hopefully I force myself to actually do some job searching soon.

So what have I been up to if I haven't been working? Not much of note, really. Just hanging out, drinking mate, chatting, etc. Last Friday I went around taking pictures with some friends, and we wound up wandering into the Museo de la Memoria - Museum of Memory. It used to be a clandestine detention center, which is really quite shocking to think about since it's literally right next to one of the city's biggest plazas. Here are some photos taken there:

Some of the cells, as you can see, not a lot of room

Leaving the museum is a strange feeling, after seeing what kind of place it was, seeing the faces and names of people imprisoned there...it's weird to just walk right back out into the plaza, where the sun is shining and people are going about their business. Nowadays it's just a museum, but it still retains a somber aura, and going back out into the sun and normal life is almost...offensive. The noise and light of the outside is kind of a shock. Imagine what that would have been like after spending days, weeks, months, years instead of just 30 minutes.

Anyways, after that, I went home and got ready to go see the symphonic orchestra of Cordoba's end of season show with Juli. We both dozed off a couple times, but it was a very good concert. The last two pieces were my favorites, one by Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-lobos and the other by a Cuban composer whose name now escapes me. The theater was beautiful, it's right downtown next to the shopping mall Patio Olmos. Teatro del Libertador San Martin. 

We called it an early night after that because we had to get up early to catch a bus to Villa Dolores, a city in the Sierras where a large part of Juli's family lives. We spent Christmas there with her cousins. It's a beautiful place, right there in the mountains. Most days it was pretty hot. The day before Christmas eve we went to the river, to a place called Baño de los Dioses:

On Christmas eve, in 100 degree weather, we had to go to the centro to buy things for dinner and gifts. Apparently people leave things til the last minute here. Lack of snow and cold makes things easier I suppose. A dip in the pool was necessary, as was a nap. Then we got to work on the fruit salad, finished, I skyped with the fam, and we ate. A LOT. Pizza a la matambre and lots of different kinds of salads. Then dessert. Then all of a sudden the weather changed and a strong wind storm blew through and cooled things off. We kept moving the tables back and forth between the yard and the quincho, and finally had to settle on staying in the quincho. The wind was crazy. 

And then, Christmas day came and went, we had another big meal with another part of the family out in the campo. And now I'm back in Cordoba and I need to buckle down and find something to do with my days.

Hasta luego.

Back in Cordoba

Been back in Cordoba for just over a week now. I'm not really sure what to write about since it's not all new and exotic...but I'll give a brief update.

- I live with my friend Juli and her 11 year old son and dog in a small apartment.
- My friends Belén and her sisters live literally around the corner.
- My little "sisters" from my previous house are now 6 and 10...so big!
- Buses are still old and janky and somewhat unreliable...and I wouldn't have it any other way.
- Inflation is pretty bad...the dollar still goes pretty far, but I don't have very many of those left.
- I don't know where I'll be for Christmas
- Speaking of, it's weird to see Santa decorations in 90 degree weather.
- People in Cordoba talk a lot, about anything and everything. I admire that and wish I knew how to do that as well.
- I need a job.

Last Day in Curitiba

My days in Brasil have come to an end...for now. And what excellent days they were! Let's see, I left off mentioning that I would be going to a samba on thursday night. I did, and it was a great time! One of those unexpected kinds of fun. Crazy story - I ran into the guy I met in Perú a couple years ago again. Completely unplanned. This time, though, we actually got to talk, and he and his friends stuck around and hung out with us all night. I was thankful that I can communicate in portuguese now, that makes it a lot easier to make friends. Cerveja & conversation flowing,I got to talk to a friend of his about forró, a regional brazilian genre of music. This dude really knew his stuff about forró, so I have a lot of names of artists and historical info to look up.
The rest of the weekend was pretty tranqui, did a lot of going out and eating with Luana and her friends, lots of practice for my portugués. Took pictures, watched brazilian soap operas.
Then on Sunday, I went back to the artesanal fair to walk around and pick up a few gifts. It's really an ideal way to spend a Sunday morning. Later that night, Ana Paula and I had dinner at the house, pasta and vino, and then we went out. We went to a forró show, where I discovered that I really like forró and want to learn the dance. It took place in an old social club and it was clear that the people who go are serious enthusiasts. It was one of those places where men & women partner up and dance together to one song, then usually change partners. Sometimes without even saying a word to each other through out the entire song - the point is to just dance. I liked that...of course I would have liked it more if I could figure out the dance! Someday...
Ah and guess who showed up again? The Perú guy, yep. Curitiba's a big city, but apparently not that big. Weird, but I like that.
So now it's monday and I'm getting ready to head to the airport to take off for Córdoba. Spent the morning in the jardim botánico and discovered a whole new area I hadn't seen yet, with a bunch of local plants. Some of them smelled like my first guitar, interesting. And now I'm going to have some tea with the girls and say my goodbyes. Até logo Brasil, I'll be back someday.

More on Curitiba

11/29

Sitting in the Jardim Botánico, enjoying a perfect sunny day and reflecting on what an amazing life I live.

Still loving Curitiba and my hosts - friends I mean. Luana has taken me to a few of her church group meetings, which is definitely a different kind of experience for me, but they're nice and friendly.
Most of my tourist experiences have been somewhat solitary since the girls work and study (environmental engineering, very cool) and Curitiba doesn't have many tourists. But I've seen neat things and gotten some good photos (very few featuring me...self pics in public places are awkward). I went to the centro histórico alone to take photos and got myself all turned around. Just as I started to despair thinking I'd have to ask for directions (I hate doing that), I found what I was looking for. That keeps happening. Surely there's some deep metaphorical significance to that. I'll consider it later.
Yesterday I took a tourist train to Morretes, a colonial town in the mountains near the bay. 3.5 hours in train, about the same amount of time it takes to get to Chicago from SB. The scenery, of course, blows the ride to Chicago out of the water. There were times it seemed the train was flying as we passed over narrow bridges and viaducts. Solitary again, nobody to chat with, but the ride was gorgeous and it was a good way to spend a day. Morretes is a cute town, a bit of a tourist trap, but I walked around some, got some açai, and spent a while sitting by the river enjoying the beautiful day and a perfect playlist on my iPod. Took the train back as well, and it wasn't as excruciating as expected. I guess that green mountain scenery doesn't get old. Got home later than expected and Luana was on her way to another church meeting. I stayed home with the other girls and we had some cervejas outside the apt. building under the full moon. More my onda. Going to a samba tonight, hopefully that brings some interesting stories.

Curitiba first impressions

11/25 yet again

Current location - Curitiba, Brasil

I'm staying with Luana, a girl I met in a hostel in Iguazu a few years ago, and her two roommates. Practically strangers. They are very nice to have opened their apartment to me considering that. They're also very patient with my portuguese. I barely spoke any in Rio, but here I don't have much choice.
They live right in front of the Jardim Botanico, the place featured on almost every postcard from Curitiba. Beautiful place! The city is very pretty, and a lot calmer than Rio.
Today Ana, one of the roommates, took me to the feira artesanal. It was HUGE! Twice the size of Cordoba's paseo de las artes. And crazy moment - I saw a guy I'd met at a hostel in Peru in 2009! I didn't say hi, because I was kind of in shock, and I wasn't sure he'd recognize me.
The centro histórico, where it takes place, is precious, lots of pretty churches and plazas. And the transporte público is awesome and easy to navigate. If I run out of stuff to do, I can just ride the bus around all day.

Rio de Janeiro part 2

11/25 still

So after my exciting afternoon at Ipanema, I decided that if I was going to go to the beach alone again, I'd better stick to Flamengo, a much calmer, neighborhood beach. When I got there, I noticed that lots of people were there alone, and even left their stuff on shore while they took a dip. Much different onda from Ipanema. So I was just sitting there, alternating between reading and people watching, when some young guy came up to me and asked if he could leave his shoes with me while he went for a quick run. I thought it strange, considering the tranquilidad of the beach, but when I saw that he didn't go very far and made a point of running past me, it became clear that it was an excuse to talk to me. Cool, I was getting tired of being wrapped up in my own head anyway. Sure enough, when he came back for his shoes, instead of leaving he told me his name and asked if he could sit down for a bit. We talked about interesting things, travel and stuff like that, but he interrupted every few minutes to tell me I was pretty. Cheesy, but who doesn't like to hear that? Gets old after a while though. He asked if we could hang out again the next day, same place same time. I said sure, I wasn't that into the idea, but I had nothing else to do.
After that interesting encounter, Ty and Miguel and I went to a mexican restaurant for an improvised version of Thanksgiving dinner. Food was good and the vibe was interesting. There were mariachis playing a bunch of cuban songs and an actor dressed in revolutionary garb selling tequila shots. Definitely not a typical Thanksgiving celebration...memorable though. So then I told Ty and Miguel about the boy on the beach and they loved it and begged me to please show up for my "date" the next day.
I wound up going, and we spent a while chatting. Another new friend for the Facebook. Cheesy as all get out, but nice. Then the next day it was time to take off and head to Curitiba, my current location. It was a short visit with my bbf, but we had fun, as always. Hopefully we'll meet up again before I leave the continent.

Rio de Janeiro

11/25 - written in Curitiba, Brasil. About Rio.

I spent 10 days in Rio de Janeiro visiting my bbf Thais. Had a lovely time catching up and seeing how much we've grown in the past few years (her more than i). Didn't get out much the first few days due to rainy weather. Fortunately I got all the tourist stuff out of the way last time I visited. Once the sun came out, I ventured out on my own a few times, since Ty was working and studying. Walked around Santa Teresa one day, taking pictures. Turns out that gets boring real fast.
Then I decided to head over to Ipanema one day. That was certainly an eventful day. I went with the hope that I might meet other travelers since it's a pretty touristy place. But I was fine hanging out alone, too. I sat in the sand, took in the views, people watched, read my book (Gabriela, Cravo e Canela - working on my portugués). Then I decided to lay back For a few minutes. Not to sleep - who sleeps alone on the beach? Well apparently some guy saw me and thought that's exactly what I was doing. I noticed him sitting way too close to me out of the corner of my eye and I thought that was very strange, but I didn't react right away. If that ever happens again, I'm gonna kick them in the head. When he got up just a moment later, my suspicions were confirmed. I jumped up after him, saw that my bag was open, and started to go after the guy. Two beach vendors were passing by so I tried to get them involved, cause a scene, but they were like "so what?" So I shoved past them and kept up the pursuit. Honestly I didn't have much money on me, and the camera was an old, close to broken one, but hey, that's my stuff. I was pissed, mostly because the guy thought of me as just another clueless gringa. Then a strange thing happened. Suddenly the guy took off his clothes and left them bundled up on the shore and got into the water wearing only his speedo. At that point I was confused and began to question whether or not I was even following the right guy. I asked some Argentines who were sitting nearby if they'd seen anything. They hadn't, but they helped me calm down a bit and walked over to check the abandoned pile of clothes with me. By this time the guy I'd been following was long gone. I stopped following him once he left his clothes because I had the feeling that my stuff was there, even though I started to doubt myself. Sho nuff though, we walked over and picked up the clothes and there was my wallet and camera! Woo hoo! The Argentines and I celebrated the recovery of my things with hugs, high fives, and mango. Happy ending, got my things back (scared the guy I think, he didn't expect me to go after him) and made some new friends. The official story, of course, is that I kicked some dude's ass on the beach cause he robbed me...who knows, it coulda happened ;)

Small World

Writing from a small mattress on the floor of an apartment full of students in Curitiba, Brazil. Trying to sleep, but it's not going so well because there's a bug flying around, a mosquito. Just one. I can hear it but I can't find and kill it. I think it's bitten me twice already, and now I'm itchy. Don't get the wrong idea, it's not hot and sticky here, it's rainy and chilly. But I also can't sleep because I keep thinking about how awesome this all is. Being on the road again, friends opening their hearts and homes to me, meeting new people. I'm a lucky girl, sho nuff.
I was worried about leaving when I did. Missing the holidays with the family is going to be strange. Maybe I should have stayed and worked longer, saved up more money, done more precise planning. But now things keep falling into place, strange little coincidences insinuating that I'm doing something right.
I'd keep writing, maybe come up with some really deep travel insights, but this mosquito is driving me nuts. If I can't find it I'll roll up like a burrito in my blanket and hope it dies or something. Stories from Rio de Janeiro coming soon, stay tuned.