Blogs from Brazil, South America - page 589

Ulisses' brother Augusto works for Pfizer and implied that he could score me some Viagra. I learned this as he drove us around Pampulha, a really nice lake area that features its own church called São Francisco de Assis, but unlike the one in Ouro Preto, it wasn't painted up by a cripple. And to cap off an afternoon of looking at pretty things, we noticed Playboy Magazine being sold in a supermarket at child-eye level, which led to a discussion about Brazil's refreshingly laid back approach to sex, which in turn led to a discussion about the USA's irritatingly uptight approach to sex, subsequently leading into the USA's confusingly laid back approach to violence. (Specifically, I referred to a story I'd heard about the South Park movie: When the filmmakers submitted it to the ratings ... read more

English Trancoso There are places where, once you set your foot on, you feel like somebody has cast a spell on you. It has happened to us in Trancoso. It might have been the contrast with the hectic Rio, it might be due to the particular moment and the particular way we were feeling while we were there, it might be that if we come back we will not feel the same magic, but, somehow, in that place everything looked perfect. Far away from the civilization, back to the time where the rithm in the human lives was given by the light of the sun... it is incredible to think that only 18 hours by bus, a small boat ride and another hour by bus were enough to reach Trancoso from Rio. Usually paradise is said ... read more

Salvador and All That Jazz Ok peeps. It is that time again. I have finally sort of managed to catch up on my blogging. So after the 11 hour bus ride which was not that bad actually, we finally got to Salvador. Was not sure where exactly to stay. There are two main districts for accomodation. Pelorinho and Barra. I stayed in the historical center which is basically Pelorinho. My first impression of Salvador is that it is really laid back and people sure love to dance. The first night we got there the local school was playing in the streets advertising their music which was percussion. The beat is really catchy and next thing you know there are dozens of people following the band around the streets and dancing behind them. It was quite fun. ... read more

We are now very close to Salvador, staying on an Island Ilha de Itaparica at a place called Sacatar in a town called Itaparica. To get here from the airport after our 2 hour flight we got on a bus and stayed on there for a VERY scenic trip into Salvador which took at least an hour and a half, went down a VERY cool elevator (Elevador Lacerda) that has at least a 100m drop that leads onto the point where we caught a wooden boat for about 45 mins across the waters to the Island.. from there we jumped into a combi van (the local budget taxi service) to the town of Itaparica which again was at least another hour before arriving at our final destination. We were met by Mitch and Taylor who are ... read more

We were, in fact, the only two guests left in the Albergue de Juventude Brumas Hostel. Breakfast, eerily, was for us and only us. And as of noon, there was nobody left there, and the employees were finally free to walk around naked without offending anybody. Before hopping the bus to Lavras Novas (about which I'll go into further detail below), we decided to check out one last church in Ouro Preto. Saõ Francisco de Assis has people buried in its floor. Saõ Francisco de Assis is covered in paintings and sculptures of cartoon characters. I can't explain the part about the people buried in the floor, but the cartoons are easy: The artist, Antonio Francisco Lisboa (1738-1814), became known as Aleijadinho, which translates to "Little Cripple." Due to a disease which might've been leprosy or ... read more