Out into this massive beast of a city we go...

We woke up a little late for our own desires. We had hoped to get an early start, but we had no obligations. We got out on the main street from Karin´s apartment and we got going down hill. We figured that that was the only way to go. Eventually we found the Metro. A cop, clad in bullet broof underwear, helped us find which route we should start out on.

We took the purple line out from Giovani Gronchi to Sao Amaro, and we hooked up the blue line to Osacsco, then the gray line to Julio Prestes, then the Red line to Se, which is a main hub in the city. We had great plans.

We set out on a scavenger hunt to find a hat that Josh left on the bus on his way to the beach. It wasn´t there at the bus station´s lost and found, but we had fun trying to find it. He was bummed that it wasn´t there.

We found a coconut stand and we drank the milk of glorious coconuts. Once we were done, I communicated that I would like him to cut the shell in half so I could eat the meat inside. He understood. He cut it in half and also cut me a spoon-shard from the shell so I could scrape the meat out. Oh, how delicious!

I was full and we continued on to look for Josh´s friend from the Peace Corps in Paraguay. I didn´t realize we were looking to find her until my feet were worn sore. We wondered all over, with a juice brake in between. We kept getting lost and found a little resturant to play Backgammon in while we had a beer. We also had a map by then, and we felt a bit more comfortable to make our way to the hostel.

We tried again, got in a cap once getting lost, and found it with the help of a semi-trained professional. We had dinner with Josh´s Paraguayan friends. One of these nice ladies paid for most of our meal, because we didn´t roll out today with enough cash. Thanks darlin´! We will see her again in Salvador and we can buy her dinner there. So after dinner we rushed to the Metro. We heard that they close the Metro around 10p.m. so we booked it to the closest stop. It took about two hours to traverse from the center to our neighborhood stop, and then another 30 minute walk on our lonely boulevard. We got home around 12:30 and had sweet dreams about not getting locked out of the Metro or Karin´s apartment.

A day along the beach...

So... to start out, to hell with this blog site, or maybe to hell with these Brazilian keyboards. I was just about to finish this day on the blog and it all got erased. But alas, I am trying to get over the aspect of loss. Feeling as though I was someone special for losing things set me back many a years....

And to start again...

We woke up early, like before 11a.m. We headed east along the beach we called home. We made our way along the beach until we came upon a little river that lead into the ocean where babies fell down and floated into one another. They liked it, don´t worry. We continued along a red, clay path of earth that held our foot prints. We descended a path that lead to a secluded beach that was practically for ourselves. There were two other people there, opposed to the two thousand people that were at the beach we had just come from. I went snorkeling with the tools we brought, and then everyone else followed into the reef. I retreated and found a throne of my own to look out and act like a lizard.

We left and kept heading east on the same clay road until we found a brick road that lead to the next town and into the beach. We found a snack stand where most all of us got an ice cream or something freakin tasty. I had a chocolate ice cream cone. And then it was time to embarass all of the locals.

It was like my birthday all over again. Luckily I had a photographer to capture the purity of my expression. I coated my celestial sandpaper with the exfoliating medium at hand. I was a natural art piece without any inhibitions. I was meant to inspire, but I believe that the masses didn´t understand what I was going for. My honesty was unseen, and so we left that modest beach.

We headed back to our home and caught the sun setting on the bay of our proclaimed home. It was shimmering like a new born baby. We got back in need of several coconuts. I came across a woman named Ivana who had several planks of jewelry that she had made of feathers and beads and glass and found objects and more. I could no longer follow Karin and Josh for the coconuts. I sat with her in the sand and tried to understand what she said in Portuguese. We sat there in the sand for some time just sitting and looking at the waves and at her jewelry, which was so wonderful. Tyler, you would be in love with her style. She had just recently recieved chemotheropy and she was still weak, but she was remarkably joyous. Before I even communicated to her that I wanted to buy one of her earings for Jalie, she gave me something to wear around my neck. Her boyfriend, Fernando, came along to join us, as we all ended up sitting in the sand together. They tried to teach me some more Portuguese. Ivana left to get some fruit, and then she came back soon after. We all went to a local bar where Fernando bought the two of us a couple big beers to share. While we sat there in the open aired bar, Ivana´s youngest son came along with his friends on bikes. They were 14 year old beach punks looking to stay out past curfew, so it seemed to me. I couldn´t really understand, but I think that the body language and the tone of voice at that age and for that reason are pretty much universal. It seemed like he was going to stay out as late as he wanted once he took off on his bike. So we took off to our my compound to get some money and so we could meet up with Josh and Karin.

They thought that I had gotten lost on the beach. Really? Me? Lost? ON A BEACH? What? Am I a first time traveler? NO. If I got lost on a beach, I would not be me. We all met up as they were on their ´rescue Macon´outreach program, and we got stoned looking at the water.

We headed back to the compound and said good bye to my new friends. We took off to Sao Paulo a little after sun set. We got home and Karin went to sleep, since she had to teach early. Josh and I had broke into my duty free bottle of Jameson and stayed up laughing quietly into the night.

Meeting up with the O-Man!

cheers to capirinas on the beach!





Once again, I slept in super late. Everyone else got up super early. Odolpho went surfing three times before I even left the compound! I got up in the dark cave of a room around 1pm, fixed some coffee, ate some small, golden bananas, some leftovers from dinner, and sat outside on the patio making art and listening to people pass by on the street. Their voices were so joyous and tonal at times that it would startle me. Still, I enjoyed listening from inside my private courtyard, slowly waking up with my collage materials. Odopho returned, and then Karin and Danny. By the time they got home it was time to walk out to the main road to find my dear friend Josh 'O Man' Owens!

Josh and I have been friends since I was a freshman in high school. He was then a somphore and we met on the Lacrosse team. We would drive all over Texas following our favorite bands when we were in high school! There are many a good stories between us, and he is a main reason why I even decided to plan this trip when I did. He just got out of the Peace Corps from Paraguay. I hadn't seen Josh in three years, and now he was somewhere in the same little, Brazilian beach town as me!

We found him at the little skate park next to the beach. He was probably looking at the little kids in awe that anyone could have so much coordination. Josh has trouble clapping and walking similtaneously. We snuck up on him and I asked him how much? And sweet embrace! We walked back to the beach compound to drop off his stuff so we could get to the beach. We did just that after a little chill session. He was already carrying his little Man-kinni from previous trips to Brazil. I went into the ocean in my big floppy shorts. And I was the spectacle?

We had a nice Brazilian drink with freshly blended pineapple, blended by hand in a manual blender. It was good and strong and we had them looking out into this pristine cove that we called home for the weekend. We soon got hungry. But before we ate, we went and got 12 beers to take home as an appetizer. s

The three of us went and got a couple plates of fish and some beers. The fish was delish. We topped off the meal with an espresso, and walked home for a nap and beer dessert. I laid down and was out quick. When I woke up soon after, Karin and Josh were both asleep in hammocks outside. So I played darts till Karin woke up, and she played against me till Josh woke up. He finished his previously opened beer, and threw it at me. Good ol' Josh!

There was a band playing down the street that we could hear from our abode. The drunk saxaphonist was sitting in with them from time to time, and he got us in for free. They were playing mostly cover songs, as far as I could tell. Their American songs had a great twist of Bossa Nova intertwined into them, and this made them much more palatable for me, being that I am a music snob.

We sat there till late, and walked around the streets buying beers from street vendors. There were still many people out on the prowl. We made it home to play Backgammon till we couldn't stay up any longer.

Off to school and then to the beach!

They were playing the Star Wars theme song and a song from Harry Potter!



This is the weave that I felt inspired by. I enjoyed thinking on what noises it would make if it had a desire to make noises. "Olllaphuriieeefffthththieghzzzzz!"

I woke up early so I could go to school with Karin. She is a photography teacher at an American school here in Sao Paulo. So we show up and she gives me a quick tour of the arts building. We go and talk to the orchestra teacher and unbeknowst to, they have planned for me to talk to his first period class about what it is like being a professional musician. Ha! So I had a while to hang out with Karin in her photography class. They have a phenominal dark room equiped with 14 enlargers and 20 some cameras for the students to take home for the year.

So I went to the orchestra class, and it was a very informal interaction with the students. The teacher asked me some compelling questions. One of the students was originally from Denver, so that was a good connection. Later in the class, this same girl asks me if I have heard of Paper Bird! This blew my freakin' mind! It brought tears to my eyes, and it made my day as well as hers. Her name was Jessica, just like my beautiful sister. I felt like all the kids in the class didn't think of me as some bullshit bum after one of their class mates knew my band. Gettin' some Sao Paulo private school cred!

So I hung out and had lunch at school. The teachers get free food for lunch. It is good food too. I got a good portion for myself. Yum. Then I hung out for Karin's classes for the rest of the day. There was a really neat weaving in the hall way that was very inspiring to me. At 3:45 we took off straight for the beach town of Maresailes. That is how I am going to spell it for now.

The drive didn't take all too long to get out of the city. We were on the road for about 2 & 1/2 hours and we got there at dusk. The road along the beach gave us great views from time to time as we careedned through the jungle. It was like paradise seeding dusk reflect on the ocean. And this was the Atlantic we were seeing! I hadn't seen the Atlantic in a long while, other than from a plane 8 months ago, and that was on the opposite edge near Europe.

We stayed with Karin's cousin and her boyfriend, Danielle(Danny) and Odolfo. They rent this one room every weekend at an enclosed, ramshackle bungaloo run by an older, drunk saxaphonist, Edwardo. We took a walk down to the beach, and got our feet wet in the ocean! Danny was cooking some dinner and we headed back for the meal. I played darts with Karin for a while, and ended up staying up much longer than everyone else. I went back to the beach and sat there by myself for nearly an hour. I listened to the waves with my eyes closed and meditated on the percussive sounds it offered. The half moon reflectred a soft light. The coast was still and seldomly saw a person walking along the waters edge. I was still and unseen. When I went back to the shelter, I stayed up and made drawings and collages till late.

Lazy Dayz of Cultural Study: Part 2

Thursday August 27th
So another day of waking up late. Feeling like staying in to veg again. It has been a while since I had the chance to sit in silence without the feeling to rush off and do thirty other things, so I took the chance to soak it up. I didn't leave the apartment until Karin came home from work again.

This evening I started my cultural study by getting a pedicure! I was the only man in the whole joint who was kicking my feet up. There were only two other men there, and they were employed to open the door for all us ladies. I only got a minimal foot job. It cost me around $11, and it was worth it. Karin had a manicure done as well. I had one woman working on my feet, while Karin had one on her feet and one on her hands. Some women in there had up to four women at once, feet, hands, and two on hair. It was a bona fide beauty factory, and I was right there in the middle of it, beautiful as ever!

Karin went on to another place where I was not allowed to continue my study. She went on to get the famous Brazilian wax, in a dungeon where only women are allowed. (So she dropped me off at a cafe near her house where I bought little balls of cheese bread and I commenced to wrap them in prosciutto! Good God what a treat. I had what was left over for breakfast the next morning!) This was a pretty minimal follow up to the Brazilian beauty aesthetics, but it was essential in seeing the full flux and importance of being beautiful in these modern times here in Brazil. Every one is getting ready to strut their shit at the beach, including me! That's right Mankinni, eat my shorts. My beauty is on the inside.

We finished up the night by eating some damn fine pizza and having a bottle of wine with it. This was at a really great pizza joint. Karin's dad had a coupon for a free pizza and we redeemed it. Yummers.

Lazy Days of Cultural Study: Part 1

This is Karin, some dude, and Leslie. They are the Brazilian sisters that I met in Cuernavaca ten years ago. I probably won't see Leslie again until her wedding on the 19th. She is busy getting ready to domesticate herself.

So the first and second days I was here in Brazil, I didn't wake up till 1-ish. Neither days did I feel the need to leave Karin's apartment. She was at school working during the days, and I had her whole apartment to make leisurely breakfast and coffee. There is plenty of floor space to draw, and for my markers and pencils to roll all over her wood floors. She lives on the 12th floor of an 18 or so story building, so I have a pretty fantastic view from just about any window I choose to look from.

The first two days of my trip could be seen as my cultural study pertaining to Brazilian cosmetic aesthetics. This first study will be split up into two parts over two days.

Wednesday, Aug. 26th
I stayed in till Karin gets out of work. We go out to her gym. We just swam laps for a while. Before I got into the pool, the instructor who was training Karin for her laps gave me a queer glance. He didn't understand why I was swimming in my bathing suit. Apparently, even at the gym pool, men are suppose to wear their Man Panties. I have since been told that I will have to buy my own suit of only inches of spandex if I want to hit the beach without glances of curiosity and disgust. I told myself that I don't have to conform to the cultural standards. Who knows? Maybe I will be strutting the junk huggers in no time?

I got out of the pool before Karin, I showered, and I waited in the cafe for her to finish her laps. Next to the cafe was an enclosed room, like a quadrupled racket ball room, where a group of women were trying to follow the fluid motions of their male instructor. Their arms flowed left and right like a line of loose clothes in the wind, while their hips thrust at an imaginary lover or perhaps they were making love to their own images in the mirror. It was a cross between belly dancing and pole dancing. The glass walls of this studio opened up to the cafe on one side and the gym's weight room on another side. Everyone was watching from every angle. The need to be seen was as apparent as it is in the US, but it is more accepted here and celebrated at that. This study of improving the physic had come to a close, and we went out and drank beers at a couple different bars in Sao Paulo.

Men watch women, women ignore men. Waiters bring beers before you can finish the one you're working on. They rest a coaster down for each beer in some places to count up the beers when it is time to count up the damage done. Other places have cards that every person gets: a punch card or one that swipes like a credit card. The punch cards have to be watched. I nearly got over charged for an expensive beer that I never drank. And they really like about half a glass of head on their beers down here. The draft has one spout for beer and another for foam. They do this intentionally, for several reasons I can assume. I won't go into that, as you can decide for yourself.

Farewell/Hello!

Arriving to a new continent for the first time is like no other feeling. Even though I feel the ground through the shocking bounce of rubber tires colliding with the gray asphalt of a run way, I still very much feel the physical connection with a new slab of earth below me. That just can't be denied. What is 'It' that can't be denied, I must ask myself: It is the unavoidable embrace with the unknown. It is the amazement of how far one can travel in such a short period of time. It is the curiosity of what kinds of food will be my first meal.

And these thoughts bring up other questions: How large and cheap are the avocados, and how close are they? Where will I take my first night of sleep? Which direction will I rest my head? Who is the first friend I will make? When and where will I first get really, really lost? Will I go north or south along the coast first?

All signs point to north, right now. It is warmer that direction. I have been told that it would be most enjoyable to head to the north eastern states of Bahia and Minas Gerais. Though, I am not in the least daunted by the weather here. Being that it does not rain enough while I am in Colorado, I am willing to stick around in the drizzle for several days. And this is their winter now. Pretty mild for what I am used to. Feels like a Houston winter, which isn't much for temerature swings.

Karin's dad, Ron, picked up myself and Karin's mom, Marlene, at the airport today. Marlene got in a couple hours after me. It took us a while getting through the city, the freeway snaking along a river slightly lined with plumerias, oleander, and grafitti. Motorcycles race between cars on the move. I was told that atleast one person on a motorcycle dies every day in Sao Paulo traffic. This is not surprising after seeing their attempts to pass the cars and 18 wheelers. Not to mention, there are more than 20 million people here in this city, and with that kind of human density one death a day on a motorcycle is pretty much expected in my book. Ron nearly got into two accidents and he is a fairly good driver. I am glad that I don't have to get behind a wheel while I am in the city.

I was fed twice today by Ron and Marlene and their house keeper. Lunch felt like dinner and dinner felt like a dream. I am very excited about the many pastries and desserts that I will be trying down the street from Karin's place over the next 5 weeks. We stoped in for some bread and I was assaulted by the array of sweets that lined the walls and counter tops! Tomorrow will be a good day of taste testing. I will do my best to control myself..... from controlling myself. And yes, the avocadoes are huge, freaking Huge! And cheap, super Cheap! I will try to include a picture some day.

I am going to sleep on this long sofa cusion that is now an extra here at Karin's apartment. The school she teaches at pays for her apartment, and I get to sleep in this room on my curved, worm-like, C shaped bed at though I were meant to inhabit this space. And I guess that I am meant to, because this is my home base for some time to come. Sweet dreams everybody.