Chris and I ran along Recife’s 13 km beachside boardwalk but did not venture into the water, heeding the warning signs for sharks. We visited the old city, which was celebrating yet another festival. You can sense the trend that Brasil has many holidays. It was the festival of Saint John the Baptist with a street fair and fireworks.
We saw the first Jewish mosque in Brasil, KM 0 of Pernambuco State, a mall with an ice rink and the culural center.
It wasn’t hard for Meli and Andrea to convince us to join them in Pipa near Natal. We swam the waves with dolphins at Dolphin Beach and enjoyed watching the sun set behind the forested hillside. You would never know Pipa were on the coast because of this vegetative barrier. We deecended back down to the water at Love beach, which had a lot of surfers. I rented a board and suit for an hour but the waves got the better of me. Some of the locals were making it look easy to walk on the sag line. I gave it a try but could not find my balance to go any further than 3 steps. I had a fun time trying, though. Before going out for the night, we made caipirinhas to preparty a little and take with us, since it essentially is a big street party. We walked up and down the street moving to the side to let the occassional car through and poped into a few bars and clubs to dancing in different clubs.
This was my 7th year not being in the USA to celebrate our independence on the 4th of July, fleeing the country shows much patriotism I know. But fear not we celebrated early on July 2 in Salvador, the independence for the state of Bahia, which begins the history of Brasil giving rise to the great cultural ttaditions celebrated in the country. The portuguese first arrived in 1510 when Diogo Alvares (Caramuru) established the settlement of Sao Salvador da Bahia da Todos os Santos becoming the first seat of Brazilian government in 1549 under Tome de Souza. The wealth of exports from this region inticed the Dutch to invade Bahia in 1624. They occupied Salvador for a year until a Portuguese-Spanish alliance forced them out. Salvador remained the capital of Brasil until 1763, when it moved to Rio de Janeiro. Brasil won its independence from Portugal in 1822 with the exception of Bahia, which came over a year later on this day in 1823.
And what a celebration it was, Salvador, known as the capital of joy, is the birthplace of Carnival and they know how to throw a party. The streets of Salvador’s historical center, World Heritage Site, were decorated from bottom to top in many colors. Stands were set up with people selling food, drinks and souveneirs. Chris came to the conclusion that a lot of these vendors must work for the same business because they had the same signs and that beer was restocked by push cart from convenience stores. People stood outside on the balconies of colorful houses looking at the street party below. It’s just like what you see in The French Corner of New Orleans, or rather the other way around, since Salvador was likely first.
We watched performances of capoeira, candomblé, brass bands and dances. It would be interesting to have a battle of the bands between Brasil and a US university. The party continued well into the night with many live concerts.
candomble – http://youtu.be/jeDOZO8SDgE
brass band and dancers – http://youtu.be/ffzonCMP8Gw
concert – http://youtu.be/Snyfg2vxHlM
Salvador’s Lacerda Elevator links the old city and new city. Below in the new city we browsed through arts and crafts and foods in Market Model, the not-so-scenic port and the desserted downtown district. We walked back up enjoying the views of the Bay of All Saints, which reminded me of the Meiterranean coast.
We finished our self guided sight seeing tour visiting Terreiro de Jesus, Pelourinho, and Iglesa Senhor do Bonfim.
The principal purpose in Brasil was to experience the World Cup, so Colombia was a nice warm up to the futebol festivities and sights awaiting in Brasil. I met Chris at the airport in Bogota where we flew to Leticia, a small jungle city in the middle of the Amazon bordering Tabatinga, Brasil. In Tabatinga we would board a boat for a 3 day and 3 night voyage to Manaus. Of course international travel wouldn’t be an adventure without some hiccups. First we had some difficulty figuring out the migration process, which requied a couple repeated trips between Leticia’s airport and Tabatinga’s port. Also, Chris’ backpack had not arrived with our flight, so we waited in great anticipation for the airline to deliver his bag to the boat. And with a great sigh of relief, just 15 minutes shy of sailing off (figuratively as it was a motorized boat) she arrived on her moto with his bag and set off.
We slept in hammocks, strung 2 across on 2 levels of the boat. We were served 3 meals a day, consisting of carne, pasta, frijoles y arroz, which I’ve acronymed ‘CaPaFriAr’. Needless to say CaPaFriAr was a bit blah as it was meant to feed the masses, so to spice things up Chris and I added peanut butter on our breakfast toast and his Belicen hot sauce with our lunch and dinner plates. The boat would dock at small jungle villages to drop off and pick up passengers and provide supplies. It was entertaining to watch the exchange of money and flying stalks of bananas from canoes that paddle up to the boat with their fresh cuts of the day. We took advantage and explored a bit of the villages, buying avocados, tomatoes and bananas from a market to add some more variety to our meals. It caught the attention of some other travelers on the boat who gave us a thumbs up of approval. As it turns out Colombians don’t know peanut butter, so we had the priveledge of introducing them to the tasty, nutty spread. And they liked it! Possible business venture?
It was pleasant to awake early to exercise in the cool breeze and glowing warmth of the rising sun at the top deck and stand at the helm of the helm of the boat watching the sun setting to a starlit night. Yeah, it was that poetic. We saw lots and lots of trees and huts speckling the riverside. It is actually the flood season, with water stages rising up to 7 meters higher than in the dry season, so the water was right up against these huts, which would normally be far away from the water. As far as wildlife we didn’t spot any jaguars, anaconda, kaimans or monkeys, but I’m certain they were camoflauged somewhere out there. While docked at a village we saw a family of dolphins. Only the Amazon is home to these fresh water dolphins. Sorry I don’t have a picture, as I appreciated the moment. We saw plenty of birds fly overhead, but none I could recognize.
I had to pinch myself to make sure I was really in the Amazon! But seeing the splendor of the same passing landscape got monotonous. To pass the time I would I sometimes play captain and take out my compass and binauculars. I even showed a shipmate how to use them. Luckily the boat had satelite so we could entertain ourselves gathered around the small TV watching the World Cup matches. We also talked with other travelers and made new friends. Chris got nicknamed Clark Kent, because of his haircut and glasses.
Having docked in Manaus, our first order of business was to find internet and get in contact with Jessica, whom Chris arranged to be our couch surfing host. She and her mother were very gracious and welcoming, this being everyone’s first time using couch surfing. We introduced eachother to new foods around the dinner table and conversed In a mix of English, Spanish and Portuguese, sharing a lot about eachother’s jobs and education, travel experiences, family and culture back home. They introduced us to tapioca and exotic fruits and prepared a typical black bean, rice and meat meal. We introduced them to peanut butter and even managed to bake a couple apple pies.
Jessica acted as our tour guide and took us to various sites and some of her favorite hangouts. She dropped us off at Parc do Mindu to run through the jungle-like trails.
We cooled off in the mall with her favorite fruit serbert treat and chocolate covered fruit bon bons.
We walked up and down the most decorated street for the World Cup, where neighbors combined effotrs to draw chalk art on the streets and walls and hung colored streamers across the road.
We then got our toes wet in the Amazon River at Porta Negra beach before going to her favorite bar area to eat plates of whole fish and drinks.
Her best friend Ana joined us for a night out in town, dancing to a mix of latin, brasilian and music at the US Supporters Party. We had after-party drinks at The Cachaca House, where I was overwhelmed by the selection and varity of Cachaca. There are over 4,000 brands basically stemming from 2 types being white and gold (aged) from numerous regions across Brazil with the most well known being Minas Gerias. The national spirit is distilled from sugarcane commonly used to make Brasil’s national drink, the Caipirinha as well as batidas (with fruit), Quentao (warm spiced winter drink) and in marinades with the premium liquers drinken neat or over ice.
We wrapped up our stay in Manaus, visiting The CIGS zoo to see the snakes, monkeys, tortoises, birds, leopards and jaguars that we didn’t see from the boat.
Six years ago I had the opportunity to visit Brasil, a country whose people welcomed me with arms wide open and whose sounds, flavors and sights left me in amazement, hoping to return. That trip was spurred on by a challenge to become IronMan and a 3 month sebatical to travel between graduating College and starting my carreer. So what spurred on this trip to realize my hope of returning to Brasil? It started with a run of course! Chris and I met for a run during which he told me about his plans to travel the world for 16 months. It would be a dream come true, but at the time I did not believe I had the time and money.
Then, in September I was involved in a car accident, leaving my Subi and the Honda in a total loss. Thank Jesus no one was injured and that my friends were there to immediatley provide assistance after the Tornado’s Cross Country Relay. Wilmer and Whitney waited with me to file my report with the police and drive me back home. I was at fault and very pleased with how Allstate Insurance worked everything out. It was a freightening experience, leaving me a bit lost and confused. I decided against purchasing a car and relied on commuting by bicycle. I had always wanted to live in a city where I didn’t need a car, so this was my chance and I could save some money.
As the saying goes, I arrived at a fork in the road of my life. I am 28 years old. I assessd the many great experiences of my past, my present situation and my future. I could continue down this promising civil engineering carreer path and buy a house, move elsewhere to settle down, or seek higher education. Then I remember the conversation with Chris. I could save money for a trip of a lifetime! Holding a Professional Engineering license with a year’s experience, I felt comfortable putting my carreer on hold. This was a long thought process, which I shared with my sisters and friends. I had their support and felt confident in the idea to break the news to my parents and work.
I consider the Texas Ironman in May to be the prelude of my 1 maybe 2 year sebatical. I was glad my parents were on hand again but this time I was on home turf and had the added benefit of friends competing with me and friends lining the course. Finishing with a Personal Best seemed like a fitting way to take on the world and return to Brasil, which was waiting with arms wide open.
Before the start of this World Cup, I slated Germany versus Brasil for the Final match, however the bracket lined up such that they met for the semi-final match in Brasilia. Chris and I were at Fan Fest in Rio de Janeiro on Praia Copacabana to watch the match. The Scratch were without their star player Neymar who suffered a spinal injury versus Colombia in the Quarter Finals. I was divided, pulling for my ancestral home of Germany, but also Brasil being the home team. Things got crazy as a storm rolled through. We heard a clap of thunder, pop of some firecrackers, then after Germany scored their 5th goal we heard a gun shot! We all froze, looked around for 2 seconds and heard what we thought was a second shot. After the first person made a run for it, everyone followed and a few minutes of frenzy ensued with drinks flying and sand being kicked up. I think they were just shots fired in the air, but it was scary. Police are everywhere, so things settled down rather quickly but needless to say, we didn’t hang around for the second half.
The next day Chris and I came prepared with drinks and mixers for Rio Fan Fest, but the Argentina x Holland match was more low key. They had only one big screen showing the match so we walked down to a beachside bar to watch on their flat screen tv and mix our vodka and guaiava. We were able to drink the bottle by the time the match was won by Argentina in penalty kicks. Afterwards we joined a group for some sand soccer under the lighted beach. We could not keep up with the mix of talented players from Brasil, Germany, Holland, Colombia and Mexico (again, Mexicans are everywhere!), but we had a lot of fun.
By this time there were already thousands of Argentians in Brasil and tens of thousands more made the trip across the border to support their team in the final. Many came to Rio and camped out in their cars at the Sambadromo.
First up was the third place match for which I joined the Fonsecas to watch at a bar in Leblon, Rio. The Futebol rivalry between Argentina and Brasil runs deep, so even though Argentina was not playing Brasil in this match, the Argentinians on hand sang a chant for their greatest player,
‘Brasil decime que se siente tener en casa a tu papá. Te juro que aunque pasen los años nunca nos vamos a olvidar que Maradona gambeteo, el Cani te vacuno, estas llorando desde Italia hasta hoy. A Messi lo vas a ver, la copa nos va a traer. Maradona es mas grande que Pele’.
And the Brasilians retaliated with a chant for their greatest player,
‘Mil gols, mil gols, mil gols, mil gols, mil gols – So Pele, so Pele – Maradona é cherador!’
It kept the atmosphere alive during the match. Unfortunately there was no Pele to score for Brasil and they endured another humilitating defeat from Holland, matching their previous worst loss of 3-0 to France in 1974.
The next day Caio wore his lucky Germany cap to the match at Maracana. I went to a World Cup Finals party at Marinha Gloria to watch the match and party afterwards. It was the best place to be! 2 big screens and dozens of TVs with loudspeakers to watch every second. Argentina got the ball in the net twice, but both were called back and Germany failed to shoot the ball into the net, forcing the game in extra time. Germany finally scored in the 2nd period of extra time and 1-0 would be the final score, earning Germany its 4th title, joining Italy (4) and Brasil (5). The German players gave ‘muito obrigado’ to Brasil for hosting a great World Cup and (in the words of Podolski) showing that ‘Deutscher Fussball ist geil’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyk1dMLSG20
For Brasilians, that was the best outcome, as it would have been salt in their wounds if Argentina being their Futbol rival were to have been champions in their house, they would never hear the end of it. Brasilians are very proud and passionate, happy and friendly people. I think the general feeling is that of shell shock and sorrow but not anger. The Scratch could not find their rhythm during their final 2 games, suffering a German assault, including 4 goals in 6 minutes! Sure it’s their house but they want to see good Futebol and have the best team win. I had tons of fun at The World’s Greatest Sports Spectacle and glad things went smoothly. I’m already excited for 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia; look out for a stronger team from Colombia and Messi to return determined to win with Argentina! Until then, let’s continue partying Lepo Lepo style
The Schwiet Life 