Hi Folks:
We are sitting in beautiful Sao Paulo, Brazil waiting for our plane tonight to Chicago, with an onward flight to Dallas. This city is really spectacular, clean and very ärty¨. We are on Avendida Paulista, one of the main streets and it is really a must see street. The architecture is marvelous and every building seems to be having a display of art of some sort. We are hoping to get back to the MASP (Museo de Arte Sao Paulo) this afternoon which has the greatest collection of great paintings that I have ever seen. But more impressive is the obvious delight of `Paulistas´in their art. We have trouble getting down the street without discovering a new display. The cars are another thing that surprises me, as all the cars here are small, almost without exception. That doesn´t mean that they are not new and expensive, in some cases, but they are just consistently small. Given the high use of bio-fuels, I guess that that shouldn´t surprise me, but it does.
We spent three relaxing nights in the Patanal and so now I can say that I fished in Brazil, like my good buddie `The Fenceman´. Of course, I was only fishing for Piranha. It was a great time looking for animals and birds. Lots of photos and a lot of heat. Most unique sightings were of a pair of Giant Otters and Joy´s sighting of a Giant Armadillo. The birds are impossible to describe as I lost count of the types of parrots that we saw and the various storks, cranes, etc. Many hummingbirds (some quite large) and at least 3 kinds of Kingfishers. Lots of pictures to show. My favourite was a flock of bright green parrots which landed in a tree right in front of me and promptly disappeared. Who knew that bright green was such a good camoflage!
The real highlight of the trip to the Patanal was the young folk that we were touring with. We had 1 Irish, 1 German, 2 Isrealis, 1 Monacan/Belgium/? and met a variety of others from many different corners of the world. They would bounce from serious discussions of appropriate revenge for rape, to the foolishness that one might expect of young people on holiday. Some had jobs to return to after a year while others were between military and school, or between degrees, or just hadn´t figured it out yet. But what grand people and what a great hope for the World. They are not afraid of any issue and talk very frankly about what is going on in the World. Most of all though they like each other for themselves and accepted the 2 old folk. Great cervasa talks on the houseboat that doubled as our dining room and bar. We will never forget them!
Now to Texas.
Jim
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Still Alive
Hi Folks:
Sorry that there has been a gap in the postings lately, but we have been in the Patanal and away from the internet since we stepped on the ¨train of death¨ on Friday.
I must tell you a funny about me and Spanish that happened before we left Santa Cruz. I had found the Ïrish Pub¨on the main square and convinced Joy that a liesurely lunch was in order. In addition to a tendancy toward rum, I also like cervasa with a little colour and taste to it. Tough to find in Bolivia, but I knew that one company did produce it occasionally. So, I asked for it in my best Spanish using ¨rojo¨for red like Marco taught us. The woman seemed to understand and left with a big smile to bring my cervasa rojo. Things went a little off the rails when she proudly presented me with a newspaper! Back to the regular ¨Huari¨ cervasa!
The ¨train of death¨is written up in ¨Lonely Planet¨as a terrible experience with no AC, mosquitos, frequent delays, crowded cars with so much contraband and luggage that people ride on the roof, etc etc. Well, outside of the road-bed being a little rough during the first half, we were very comfortable in semi-reclining seats and Air Contitioned comfort. Everyone had an assigned seat and there was no luggage much in the car and certainly no one rode on the roof. The only time that I was a little concerned was when a small troop of police came on board and we started going backwards. They proceeded to do a very thorough search of the cars and I believed that we would stop going backwards when they were finished and dropped off. But we kept going backward until I was convinced that we were returning to Santa Cruz for some reason that no one was talking about. I finally figured it out when we stopped in Puerto Suarez about and hour later. Apparently somehow the train backs for the last 1.5 hours to the border and shortly we were at Quijarro. The border crossing went fine except for a long slow line-up at the Bolivian border for our exit stamp. This is solely to prove that we left and seems to have limited purpose. Even more interesting because they did not have a customs check, which would seem more important if the issue of drugs and contraband is that important.
Joy had decided that we had enough time for one more adventure before heading for the plane at Sao Paulo. So we met up with a tour and headed for the Patanal. More on that tomorrow.
Jim
Sorry that there has been a gap in the postings lately, but we have been in the Patanal and away from the internet since we stepped on the ¨train of death¨ on Friday.
I must tell you a funny about me and Spanish that happened before we left Santa Cruz. I had found the Ïrish Pub¨on the main square and convinced Joy that a liesurely lunch was in order. In addition to a tendancy toward rum, I also like cervasa with a little colour and taste to it. Tough to find in Bolivia, but I knew that one company did produce it occasionally. So, I asked for it in my best Spanish using ¨rojo¨for red like Marco taught us. The woman seemed to understand and left with a big smile to bring my cervasa rojo. Things went a little off the rails when she proudly presented me with a newspaper! Back to the regular ¨Huari¨ cervasa!
The ¨train of death¨is written up in ¨Lonely Planet¨as a terrible experience with no AC, mosquitos, frequent delays, crowded cars with so much contraband and luggage that people ride on the roof, etc etc. Well, outside of the road-bed being a little rough during the first half, we were very comfortable in semi-reclining seats and Air Contitioned comfort. Everyone had an assigned seat and there was no luggage much in the car and certainly no one rode on the roof. The only time that I was a little concerned was when a small troop of police came on board and we started going backwards. They proceeded to do a very thorough search of the cars and I believed that we would stop going backwards when they were finished and dropped off. But we kept going backward until I was convinced that we were returning to Santa Cruz for some reason that no one was talking about. I finally figured it out when we stopped in Puerto Suarez about and hour later. Apparently somehow the train backs for the last 1.5 hours to the border and shortly we were at Quijarro. The border crossing went fine except for a long slow line-up at the Bolivian border for our exit stamp. This is solely to prove that we left and seems to have limited purpose. Even more interesting because they did not have a customs check, which would seem more important if the issue of drugs and contraband is that important.
Joy had decided that we had enough time for one more adventure before heading for the plane at Sao Paulo. So we met up with a tour and headed for the Patanal. More on that tomorrow.
Jim
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