Brazil trip 2017

After teaching yesterday there was no more work for the day so I decided to go and check out the "Museu de Arte Moderna" (Museum of Modern Art).     However, there was a strike in Rio DJ yesterday and pretty much all the 'attractions' were closed so I wandered around town until I found the "Mercados do Centro" and did a little gift shopping.  Cidade do Centro is full of Portuguese Colonial style and wire spaghetti.     Feeling a little footsore I decided perhaps I'd had enough so I returned to the hostel knowing I had plans to go to a samba club later that night with a couple of the girls from the hostel.  However, due to the strike and general unrest, we were warned against going to the place we had planned and instead went to a live concert somewhere else.  I had no idea this was a hip hop artist famous with the teens and young adults.       My first real night club experience I have to say!  Crushed!  Although I was glad to ...

I've been into the favela, Rocinha (pronounced hoh-see-nya) twice now.  I'll be assisting primary school aged kids who need a bit of one on one with their English classes, to help them hopefully catch up.  In between classes I'll be doing a bit of work with the graffiti art team and perhaps helping out with the agriculture project in one of the other favelas.  One of the young men volunteering is from the first established sustainable almond farm in California and he and I got talking about permaculture (he'd never heard of it).  He's interested in adapting sustainability to small scale projects and I suggested permaculture would be something to look into.         It's difficult to describe the ramshackle nature of the constructions.  There have been collapses in the upper favela, after which the government drew a line (real or imaginary I'm not sure) and moved everyone above the line into some purpose built apartment blocks.  You cannot...

  One benefit of staying in a hostel is the opportunity to meet other travelers and explore the city together.  This is especially beneficial when you are travelling on your own!  I met Wassan at the hostel and she, also traveling alone, invited me to accompany her to a the Samba Festa at Arcos de Lapa on Saturday April 22 .   At night this area is buzzing, people spilling out onto the streets   , music pumping out of every doorway (mostly samba, but also some western pop/rock cover bands and reggaeton or rap).  The energy is electric.  People dancing everywhere.  The photo on the left doesn't really do it justice, but we were in an area where I had to be careful not to have my phone/camera out whilst in the street so I didn't get the best photos of the scene! The music and dancing was pure joy to me  and Wassan and I stayed for a few hours dancing to the samba band and the reggaton DJ.    It was incredibly loud and took a...

(Friday night April 21, 2017) I fell in love with Qantas again. I never want to fly with anyone else ever, ever again.  Unfortunately I had to. Latam Airlines from Santiago to Rio DJ. No doubt my opinion was somewhat effected by the fact I just came of premium economy back to cattle class with cold soggy cheese & tomato sandwiches as the flight meal.  Santiago Airport seriously needs a facelift but was efficient. I hadn't thought about needing pesos.  But during my transit there I had a few hours to fill and NEEDED COFFEE.    RDJ International Airport is very modern and efficient. Time from disembarking plane to outside was not more than about 40 minutes. Travelling light does help expediate this process.    Once ensconced in my hostel I set about unpacking. It's awkward you know - trying to stack & hang everything in one locker which has one  hanging rack and one coat-hanger. Then there's the inevitable overstuffed bag of stuff to...

  One year ago I was lying in bed trying to get to sleep and I thought of the picture of a piano I had put up on my pantry a few years ago.  I sighed and said, "God, when am I going to be able to get a piano?"  Immediately into my head popped the answer, "What about those shares?"   Shares?   Oh!  That's right!  I was a member of NIB when they floated as a public company and I got shares.  "Probably worth a couple of thousand by now, I guess," I mused.  Maybe enough for a basic small upright piano.  Nothing fancy. Early that same year Ian Miller, the senior pastor at my church, had prophesied to me, "just you wait and see what God's gonna do for you this year!"  Number 1: a long desired piano!  Thank you Lord.   As it turned out, I had several thousand dollars left over from the purchase of the piano.  I wondered what to do with this money.  Re-invest?  Put it into the mortgage?  Hmmm....