Oh, friends, you have GOT to check this out! My good friend Mark, who I met the very first time I came to Brasil, is starting a new music and dance group called Six Mo’ with five other Brasilian guys: Anjo, Kassius, Cello, Kimus, Logullo and Vaan Loo (Mark). Jokingly, they are calling themselves the new Boy Band Brasileiro. Except that they are all men (not boys), professionals in their field (dancers, singers, performers) and are developing everything themselves! One guy wrote the lyrics, another did the music, Mark did the choreography…and they are fantastic! Check out their [View Full Entry]

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A Remembrance of Things Past - In RIO! In the interest of economizing blog space (since when?!), here’s a summary of all the stuff I did in Rio that was not related to social project. Or at least these experiences were “social projects” of a different sort! Lots of photos - get psyched. So in Rio I stayed in this great little hostel called Botafogo Easy Hostel right near the Botafogo Metro. Botafogo is north-ish of the chic and touristy beaches of Ipanema, Copacabana and Leblon. (Sorry Dad, it’s true). And it has easy [View Full Entry]

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Projeto Morrinho Today the “Tour of Justice” continues with a visit to Projeto Morrinho . Projeto Morrinho is located in the favela Vila Pereira da Silva, close to the neighborhood Laranjeiras, where coincidentally the seat of CDI is also located. (Note: I’ll be coming back to CDI this afternoon to meet with Rodrigo Baggio - stay tuned!) My friend Carlos co-owns a bed and breakfast network in Santa Teresa called Cama e Café with his friend João, and between the two of them they know everybody in town. So, Carlos agreed to take L [View Full Entry]

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That means “they said I came back ‘brazilianized’”. Thanks, Carmen Miranda . My dad is back in the States and I think he has officially been “Brazilianized”. Cachaça and caipirinhas, [url=http://www.portaldoscantinhos.com/tarefas/2004/maes/cg/marcia_regina/marcia_regina_arquivos/image001.jpg] shrimp in a pumpkin , pão de queijo, agua de côco, cake and fruit and, of course, brigadeiro (basically, chocolate frosting bal [View Full Entry]

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CDI - Rio de Janeiro This morning, bright and early at 8 am, Dad and I headed over to the center of Rio de Janeiro to meet up with Maurício, director of CDI - Europe, and Marisa, one of the RJ metro area coordinators, to visit two EICS (Citizenship and Information Technology Schools). Right now, CDI is having its semi-annual international meeting in which coordinators from all the countries in which CDI operates come for a retreat, of sorts. CDI is also in the process of strategic planning for the next ten years so the meetings have been rather intense. Scheyla [View Full Entry]

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After a long day of travel we headed to the closest town, Pão de Açucar, to spend the night. Carlos took us to a little pousada in the center of town - apparently the only one reliably operating. Pão de Açucar used to be a tourist destination for its colonial architecture and its location on the São Francisco River. In recent years, however, lack of maintenance of historical buildings and of economic opportunity have caused the town to crumble, literally and figuratively. Very few restaurants are open in the evenings, many pousadas have closed, and the once-festive beach-front area is [View Full Entry]

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Our mission today is to visit Projeto Àgua Solar, located in Traíras, about 20 minutes upriver from Pão de Açucar. Another project of Eco-Engenho, this one uses solar energy to pump water from the São Francisco River up to cisterns on a hilltop. The water runs down through a series of hoses to drip irrigate one hectare of land. Little holes are punched in the hoses so a tiny amount of water provides continuous irrigation without overwhelming the soil During the rainy season, the system can be shut and the water stored for later. The farm where the project is [View Full Entry]

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Instituto Eco-Engenho Instituto Eco-Engenho was founded by José Roberto Fonseca in 2001. The goal of the NGO is to use technology for sustainable development, taking advantage of renewable resources and innovative solutions oriented toward the needs and capabilities of marginalized communities. The program we visited is called H2Sol, whose goal is to use “micro-irrigation systems to produce high value-added products with the use of renewable energy to generate income in remote communities of the semi-arid region of Brazilian northeast” (from Eco-Engenho). The pilot project is l [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Maceió late this morning from São Paulo. Maceió is a mid-size city on the northeastern coast, north of Salvador and south of Fortaleza. Apparently none of the U.S.-published guidebooks consider it worth mentioning. Brazilians and Europeans, however, have long traveled here for its location, amazing beaches to the north and south of the city, the food, and its not-overly-urban character. At least the beach part feels like a sleepy beach town with cabanas lining the shore and coconut palms sticking out of the sand. Maceió is an old city with buildings and churches dating bac [View Full Entry]

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São Paulo has a big traffic problem. 12 million people and 5 million cars (not counting the entire metro area) make for nasty traffic jams, even on a Saturday afternoon or Sunday morning. One of the few positives of spending so much time in traffic is the opportunity for good conversation with car-mates or taxi drivers. On our way from the Hípica Paulista to Praça Benedito Calixto, Laura and I had a really interesting conversation about the Green Building Council of Brazil and the green architecture and design movement here in general. She is doing a lot of preliminary research [View Full Entry]

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