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 access to public transportation. It was adorable, relatively quiet, very clean and awesome, young staff. So any of you who plan to backpack around Brazil - stay here. Tourism Day: Wednesday Checked out the Museum of Contemporary Art in Niterói because it ... read more

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 balls rolled in sprinkles). Not to mention his growing vocabulary of Portuguese words, which includes basic yet indispensable phrases such as: * “super legal” (very cool) * “obrigado” (thanks) * “oi” “bom dia” “boa tarde” (hi, good morning, good night) * “tudo bem” (how’s it going? And, it... read more

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 shuttered by nightfall. It is worth mentioning that Pão de Açucar’s big tourist attraction is its Corcovado. That’s right - a big Jesus. Just like in Rio de Janeiro! According to Carlos’ friend Milton, who ... read more

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 located in Baixas, in the municipality of São José da Tapera, in the interior of the state of Alagoas. H2Sol receives funding from the Fiorello LaGuardia Foundation, Fundo de Microcrédito de Alagoas - FUNCRE, United States Agency for International Development - USAID, E3V - Environment Energy and Enterpr... read more

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 down here to see if it might be an area of focus for her PhD. I’m sure this point will elaborate as the two of us get more time to chat, but here are some ... read more