Well, almost no one speaks English here. How refreshing! Every one should be required to spend time where no one else speaks their language. And yet it really has been quite easy to get around and find what we want. Almost every time that we´ve ordered two beers, which is often, we are delivered three. Three really is the new two.

The night before last we stopped for beers and bad service at Garota de Ipanema and admired pictures of Jobim and Moraes with Heloisa Pinheiro. Yesterday we walked down Copacabana Beach and had lunch at the famous Copacabana Palace Hotel before taking the cable cars to the top of Sugarloaf. Today we hiked up to the top of Corcovado and dined on Granola bars and Skol cerveja.

Time for a cold shower....

Are you spending any time in the northern part of the country, Bahia?

When I was in Rio, practically every Brazillian I met spoke better English than I did, LOL. (at least in the cities) That was embarassing when they asked me to come and teach conversational English at the Yazeege language schools. That is when you just converse with the students. Since Portuguese is not recognized by the UN as one of the 5 International Languages, they teach secondary languages (secondary to their national language which is Portuguese) in the school system from an early age- usually Spanish, English, French, about in that order, then Chinese or Russian. Those are the 5 International Languages.

I walked up to Corcovado (from the bottom of Santa Theresa Canyon) one night, dressed in white and up near the top just past that high bridge I was singing, Oh Darlin' the John Lennon song- best singing performance I ever did. Really loud too, I'd like to duplicate that performance again someday.

It sounds like you are in a hurry, that's too bad or I could possibly direct you to something of interest, some out of the way places perhaps, beautiful places where jewelled streams paint pictures of angels, cosmic places, maybe even some ETs and a space ship ride. Those are secrets, like the Ancient Pyramids of Egypt have those little keyways into the stars.

On the way to Brasilia you'll see some neat anthills, not much in Brasilia when I was there- shoe-boxes architecture. I had alot of adventures down there, pretty exciting, international intrigue and spy stuff.

Anyhow, so whatcha doin' down there? I didn't catch that part.

~V~

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Originally posted by Scott Jacobs:
Quero o cervejeria, por favor!

Well, almost no one speaks English here. How refreshing! Every one should be required to spend time where no one else speaks their language. And yet it really has been quite easy to get around and find what we want. Almost every time that we´ve ordered two beers, which is often, we are delivered three. Three really is the new two.

The night before last we stopped for beers and bad service at Garota de Ipanema and admired pictures of Jobim and Moraes with Heloisa Pinheiro. Yesterday we walked down Copacabana Beach and had lunch at the famous Copacabana Palace Hotel before taking the cable cars to the top of Sugarloaf. Today we hiked up to the top of Corcovado and dined on Granola bars and Skol cerveja.

Tomorrow we head for Brasilia. More later...

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Originally posted by HowardR:
Ok, let's get down to the important thing here.... Brazil has the most naturally beautiful, sweet, and exotic women on this planet (IMO). If that's not inspiration for the amazing music that Brazil has gifted to us, then I don't know what is.

Time for a cold shower....

Are you spending any time in the northern part of the country, Bahia?

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Man oh Man I thought I was in Heaven and I was in a complete DAZE for the first 3 months. It would take alot more than a cold shower to get out of that daze- like maybe being entombed in a galacial ice pack, but I did finally come out of it enough to be able to function. You know, It is more than just the women it is the beauty of South America and the Stars of the Southern Hemisphere, all adding up to one of the most beautiful and enchanting places I have ever been- There is something more than just the physical beauty, don't you agree?

I know Bahia, stayed on the Island of Itaparica for awhile, visited a medicine man there, but not on medicine man business- (quite) per se
Mostly in Salvador, Bahia.

Boy, I could tell you some stories, but I ain't gonna.

Anyhow, I'll butt out- I'll write about my stories in some creative writing projects in the future. It has been a long time since I was in Brazil.

Capoeira was pretty impressive and I've long wanted a Birimbao.

If you see candles on the beach at night it might be some pretty Macumba ladies. I encountered one of them one night, and wow, one of the sexiest women I've ever seen.

Enough from me, I've been up all night and should get off of here.

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you'll see some neat anthills

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Anthills?!!!! Anthills?!!!!! You wanna see anthills? I left a half eaten banaana out on my counter last night.

Oy vey! Later for the anthills....

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Originally posted by Phangeaux:
Man oh Man I thought I was in Heaven and I was in a complete DAZE for the first 3 months. It would take alot more than a cold shower to get out of that daze- like maybe being entombed in a galacial ice pack, but I did finally come out of it enough to be able to function. You know, It is more than just the women it is the beauty of South America and the Stars of the Southern Hemisphere, all adding up to one of the most beautiful and enchanting places I have ever been- There is something more than just the physical beauty, don't you agree?

I know Bahia, stayed on the Island of Itaparica for awhile, visited a medicine man there, but not on medicine man business- (quite) per se
Mostly in Salvador, Bahia.

Boy, I could tell you some stories, but I ain't gonna.

Anyhow, I'll butt out- I'll write about my stories in some creative writing projects in the future. It has been a long time since I was in Brazil.

Capoeira was pretty impressive and I've long wanted a Birimbao.

If you see candles on the beach at night it might be some pretty Macumba ladies. I encountered one of them one night, and wow, one of the sexiest women I've ever seen.

Enough from me, I've been up all night and should get off of here.

-- 
[simple]Vincent Phangeaux
BadBadBlues[/simple]

[This message has been edited by Phangeaux (edited 07-16-2005).]

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Did you hear about the tornado/water spout near Punta Gorda yesterday? On CNN, it looked like there wasn't any property damage.

John

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Originally posted by Scott Jacobs:
Not much time to post right now but in the mean time here´s my idea for some new South American Superheroes to compete with The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Capoeira Capybara! Talk amoungst yourselves but remember that it was my idea.

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LOL, Scott,

If you get the opportunity be sure to visit a zoo or two. I went to one in Belem (near the mouth of the Amazon River)

I saw this shallow pool shaped like a race track with a little island in the middle and huge eels 4 feet to 6 feet long (1.2m to 1.8m) swimming around the island in one direction. There was a wrought iron railing around he pool, it had just rained a bit and the everyhing was wet. I was barefoot standing in a bit of water and holding the wet iron railing.

I was fascinated with these eels and wanted to reach down and touch one as it swam by. I wondered if these were electric eels. I read the sign and translated it said 'Amazon River Eels'. I thought to myself, well it doesn't say 'electric eels' on the sign, and I presummed further that electric eels must be salt water eels requiring salt water as an electrolyte and these Amazon River eels are fresh water, so they are probably not electric eels.

So, as I said, I was standing barefoot in some water holding onto a wet iron railing. I reached down and touched one of the big eels as it swam by. I received an unbelievable jolt of electricity, that could have knocked me down if that particular eel had not been of friendly temperament, I'm sure. Up to 600 volts I learned later, it was a pulsed DC current at a low frequency and more powerful jolt than you would get sticking you finger in a 115V light socket.
It was the lower frequency of the pulses that gave the jolt such a powerful kick.

I later learned that these eels can electrocute a large alligator and have seen film footage of them doing that. I can't think of many creatures that are tougher than a big alligator. The beauty and mysteries of nature never cease to amaze me and Brazil is certainly a place to encounter some of these.

So I learned that day that Electric Eels don't need salt water as an electrolyte. :-)

I was in Brazil back in 1974 and 1975. I could have stayed there but I came back to the USA for only one reason- to advance my education in an English speaking country, and then I planned to go back to Brazil and/or other countries in S. America and stay there. I did more than enough of the education thing, and not able to go back to S. America now, but I will keep it as a possible plan when I am able.

Your post brought back alot of memories, thanks, and enjoy your trip

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Originally posted by HowardR:
Ok, let's get down to the important thing here.... Brazil has the most naturally beautiful, sweet, and exotic women on this planet (IMO). If that's not inspiration for the amazing music that Brazil has gifted to us, then I don't know what is.

Time for a cold shower....

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I´m sure I would spend more time noticing all the beautiful women if I weren´t traveling with one.

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Originally posted by Kurt:
Scott, who is "we?"

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IGS Seattle 2004 Alum, Alexandra Syphard.

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Originally posted by Phangeaux:
Anyhow, so whatcha doin' down there? I didn't catch that part.

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I´ve been accompanying the beautiful and gifted Dr. Syphard to the SCB (Society for Conservation Biology) Conference at The Universidade de Brasilia. I´m most honored to be promoted to the role of her personal secretary and escort.

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Originally posted by Phangeaux:
When I was in Rio, practically every Brazillian I met spoke better English than I did, LOL. (at least in the cities) That was embarassing when they asked me to come and teach conversational English at the Yazeege language schools. That is when you just converse with the students. Since Portuguese is not recognized by the UN as one of the 5 International Languages, they teach secondary languages (secondary to their national language which is Portuguese) in the school system from an early age- usually Spanish, English, French, about in that order, then Chinese or Russian. Those are the 5 International Languages.

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Its interesting to note how little cross polinization of cultures have occured. While I´m certainly not the most experienced traveler I can´t think of much Brazilian influence on U.S. Culture besides musical styles like Chorro, Bossa Nova, and Samba. I can´t think of any English words off the top of my head that have Portuguese derivation and I don´t remember ever eating at a Portuguese style restaurant. You get the feeling that the Brazilians are fairly uninterested in U.S. Culture as opposed to the disinterest one might experience in say Quebec. The people here are amazingly friendly, helpful, and social. And while the U.S. prides itself on its cultural diversity and being a melting pot, its pretty apparent that these concepts are more fully realized in Brazil; so much so that it makes these concepts in the U.S. seem like only "wishfull thinking."

Tomorrow we head to the Cerrado. According to a lecture we attended today, the Cerrado covers over 20% of Brazil. Deforestation in the Cerrado is occuring even faster than in the Amazon and its predicted that if things don´t change it will completely disappear by 2030!

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I´m sure I would spend more time noticing all the beautiful women if I weren´t traveling with one.

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Sorry, that's not a valid excuse......

Now, if you were run over by an ox cart, had a bad hangover from too many batidas, were being persued by a tribe of disgruntled natives, or had your eyes pecked out by a macaw, that would be exceptable....

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Originally posted by mr mando:
Regarding musical styles, it's Choro (only one R), the style with the two Rs is Forro. Are you going north where they build mandolins after the conference??

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I believe that Forro has had even less of an impact on U.S. Culture than Choro. We attended the SCB "Brazilian Party" but left before we got to hear any real Forro. We did stay to see some Capoeira by "Grupo Candeias." I loved the audience participation and communal aspect of music making by this group but was disappointed by their obvious exclusion of Capybara from these activities. The next night, while looking for hammocks in the mercado around the giant Torre de Televisao, it just so happened that the Forro group that we missed was giving a well attended concert on the lawn at the west side of the tower. On our walk back to the hotel we had a small scare as a local with a crazed look on his face ran straight towards us, kind of, sort of, not really, across the eight busy lanes of the Eixo Monumental. It turned out that he was stone drunk and was truly worried for his life! So were we considering how they drive in Brazil!

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Originally posted by Scott Jacobs:
The night before last we stopped for beers and bad service at Garota de Ipanema and admired pictures of Jobim and Moraes with Heloisa Pinheiro. Yesterday we walked down Copacabana Beach and had lunch at the famous Copacabana Palace Hotel before taking the cable cars to the top of Sugarloaf. Today we hiked up to the top of Corcovado and dined on Granola bars and Skol cerveja.

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I forgot to mention the amazing long snouted tree dwelling racoon like creatures at the top of Corcovado. We got some great pictures as they scavenged for food tossed by tourists. Our brazilian guides later told us that these animals are similar to skunks in that they are known for using a similar defense when threatened. At the top, under the giant Christo Redentor monument, we were treated to some impromptu samba by a roving young vocal group with a cavaquinho and drums. A few nights before we had seen a similar walking vocal group but with a banjo ukulele like instrument instead. We decided to ride the train down back down and were treated to some communal singing by the extremely social and vocal brazilians. Never before have I seen this kind of behavior at any major tourist destination in the U.S.

While we loved the views at the top of Corcovado, in comparison we found the views at the top of Sugarloaf and Urca just as breathtaking. A perfect afternoon could be spent with a wine and cheese picnic lunch sitting at one of the many tree shaded benches on the top of Urca.

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Originally posted by mr mando:
Are you going north where they build mandolins after the conference??

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We didn't make it north but we heard some amazing things. I did look for a cavaquinho but only found a few cheap ones at the mall near our hotel in Brasilia. It looks like I'm going to have to order one on-line.

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Originally posted by mr mando:
Greetings from the ornery bastard to both of you! I really like the topic of Alexandra's paper: "Simulating The Effects Of Frequent Fire On The Distribution Of Dominant Plant Functional Types In Southern California Shrublands." Hopefully she'll point out that frequently and at regular intervals happening man-made fires reduce the biodiversity by far more than episodically happening wild fires and therefore should not be used as a bio-management tool.

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Drop her a line and tell her yourself. I don't really understand all of that stuff and am quite happy to admit that she's the smarter one of the two of us.

After reading the travel warnings from the health department we were a little hesitant to get too adventurous with our dining habits but we were blown away by the purple fruit juice called "uva." Why hasn't this stuff found its way to the US. yet? And the same thing can be said for the ginger ale like soft drink called Guarana. Fresh Guava and Coconut juices were also wonderful. We did sample some Caprinhas at the Carlton but never got brave enough to try one of the ones served in a coconut by street vendors. Alexandra has been doing her best to tempt me to become a coffee achiever but the café com leite with sugar kicked a$$! We also both tried manioc for the first time and I sampled Feijoada and Salgadinhos every chance I got. The Sobremesas were so amazing that its surprising to me that Brazilian/Portuguese style cooking hasn't become more popular in the U.S.

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Originally posted by Slider:
You're right - Dr. Syphard is a cutie!

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Yep.

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Originally posted by Corn Dog:
Sounds like a great trip so far Scott. I'm listening to some choros written by Dilermando Reis, played by Paulo Bellinati, as I write this. Look for some of Dilermando's material while you're there if you don't already have it. Also some sanfona material from folks such as Dominguinhos.

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Cham, had I had more time to prepare I would have reviewed some of your previous postings on Brazilian music. I didn't get much time to shop but I did bring home a few DVDs. I brought home a bossa nova guitar DVD by Toquinho but so far its a tad cheesy. Still, I think this will help supplement my baby steps into bossa nova. I also brought home a great Gal Costa concert DVD that features some amazing arrangements of Jobim standards. The band really swings and the DVD also allows the option of Portuguese subtitles. I'm looking to expand my Portuguese vocal repertoire. I did look for some Jacob do Bandolim on DVD but struck out at this particular store.

What an awesome trip! I can't wait to go back.