last day of training (on Resende beach /praia)
Saturday, March 28, 2009
flight from salvador - march 18
so the blurb about salvador airport is a real security nightmare can me termed a great misnomer!
We set our alarm for 5:30AM, got in the taxi, skedadled to the airport for a 7:50 AM flight - They hadn't even opened the security yet when we arrived... after a hot dog, ice cream, and all the 6 stores open, we exhausted our opportunities and sank into the uncomfortable seats with the other waiting passenges... What wasted time.
Monday, March 23, 2009
50
50 years is a really long time. My son is 5 and he already knows how to do almost anything... so whats the rest of the time for? sitting around reading? but i already forgot the books i read. and every time i start to read, i want to write my own...
Friday, March 20, 2009
We're home...
yeay. so incredibly comforting, no matter how good the trip - to finally get = HOME. your street, your house, your kitchen, your BED! I have incredible saudade for my bed.
the whole way back from salvador was like living life in reverse. same terminal arrival as departure, same stores, same walks, even the people looked the same. It was sort of like undoing a month spent in brazil. I couldve kissed the ground in my house when we arrived... yeay!
Z wnt to school today. all the kids were so happy to see him and him them!
the whole way back from salvador was like living life in reverse. same terminal arrival as departure, same stores, same walks, even the people looked the same. It was sort of like undoing a month spent in brazil. I couldve kissed the ground in my house when we arrived... yeay!
Z wnt to school today. all the kids were so happy to see him and him them!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
getting around
ok. so this is how we got around. granted it wouldve been better to walk everywhere, but why?
zak was so insistent on using his seatbelt feb 18 when we arrived (and i was glad). OUr drivers laughed... as eva always tells me, kids adapt fast. in no time, zak was jumping in and out of cars with no thought of a seatbelt. Terrified of motorcycles, he always ran to the side of the road with the sound of any approaching. This continued thruout, but Salo rode us around on his motorcycle and i decided that a scooter would be advantageous.of course the scooter starter was a piece of wire, which i asked, couldn't anyone duplicate? but apparently, the itacare mafia are notorious enough to not warrant the consequence... of course, I did lose the damn thing once and Salo had to make it out of the garbage we found at the beach.
zak was so insistent on using his seatbelt feb 18 when we arrived (and i was glad). OUr drivers laughed... as eva always tells me, kids adapt fast. in no time, zak was jumping in and out of cars with no thought of a seatbelt. Terrified of motorcycles, he always ran to the side of the road with the sound of any approaching. This continued thruout, but Salo rode us around on his motorcycle and i decided that a scooter would be advantageous.of course the scooter starter was a piece of wire, which i asked, couldn't anyone duplicate? but apparently, the itacare mafia are notorious enough to not warrant the consequence... of course, I did lose the damn thing once and Salo had to make it out of the garbage we found at the beach.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
saudade
ok. i just want to go home. i've had enuf. seen what i wanted to see... done all i can in the time i have. i spent yesterday trying to figure out our way home and getting impatient to go... actually started when i broke the statue in front of the bathroom (which i knew i was going to do sooner or later).. and tried to find superglue but instead was left with epoxy with which i epoxied everything, (the table, the knife, my hands), except the statue. another huge frustration is bananas... The trees around here must be filled w/ bananas but for some reason, the only kind i can find are the ones you cook. no big deal i suppose except u hafta cook them and zak duzn't like them. Also, no "supermarket" (corner grocery) has everything you need, so you hafta go to several and wait in line in each to get your shopping done. more flaws in paradise, huh? The man in the store from Sao Paolo told me in english "baihanos are lazy"... i miss my walking group, i miss my telephone, imiss my bed and Zak duzn't stop asking when he can go to Eva's house..
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
the complacency of beauty
Concha beach at sunset was magical. The water shimmered rose, violet, and azure reflecting the pink puffy clouds and blue sky. We were going toward “por do sol” / sunset point… Mirante/ponta do Xareu where everyone goes to see the sunset. This is also where Salo and I are looking to buy the property. I was talking to a beach vendor (of earrings/jewelry) asking him what Xareu was. He said it was an ancient indigenous word for a fish which used to be abundant here. Two dogs bounded with us toward the point and every vista was magnificent with the one catamaran sailing about. Of course, I had decided today not to shlep around my camera and video recorder!!! I couldn’t believe how many fab pics I missed today. But, perhaps cuz my mind was observing rather than recording, I decided to call our live entertainment joint – “Sunset bar”.
festa, samba, roda- finalmente!
Domingo – 3/9
Festa de Jamaica for someone leaving back to Scotland. See videos. Monday was hard cuz of my foot. Stayed home til 2:30 – well ran around returning and renting the same scooter… then trained with taped up foot and sneakers. Netto (contra-mestre) trained w/ us w. ninho, expatriot now living in Norway w/ wife and bb – a huge adorable guy living up to his name… looks like the mulatto version of bambam… The roda was hard for me cuz of my injuries and pains now. On Jamaica’s urging I bought zak the white capoeira pants and dressed him w/ white shirt. When I was able to drag him away from the Xbox video game (only bcuz his grand theft auto game was over), he got to play in the roda. I’m very lucky cuz the roda is two “stores” down from the xbox place so I can leave zak there while we drum, play and sing and he can come find me when it’s over. Everyone knows him/us now if he needed anything. True to his astrological sign, the first thing he asks when he leaves the roda is " can I play again???"
Training is something else. It’s on Resende beach at 4pm. Just amazing, training capoeira outside in the sea slapping sand shaded by palm trees. It’s one of those absolutely beautiful moments that you unfortunately get used to like the vista in zsuzs’ new house in Inverness CA. on entering the beach today, a woman asked if Z was the capoeirista from last nite and how long he's been training... He's famous!
After the miniscule training I was able to do today, we went back to concha beach to look for zak’s white shirt which was taken by serai do mar earlier this afternoon as it dropped out of my hands and a wave grabbed it up like a hungry dog after a steak. The tide had been so high, it was above the level of the plastic tables. Salo had told me how annoying these tables were and I didn’t notice at the time, but at high tide like this, you cannot walk the beach due to the plastic furniture strewn forward, I suppose to attract customers.
Festa de Jamaica for someone leaving back to Scotland. See videos. Monday was hard cuz of my foot. Stayed home til 2:30 – well ran around returning and renting the same scooter… then trained with taped up foot and sneakers. Netto (contra-mestre) trained w/ us w. ninho, expatriot now living in Norway w/ wife and bb – a huge adorable guy living up to his name… looks like the mulatto version of bambam… The roda was hard for me cuz of my injuries and pains now. On Jamaica’s urging I bought zak the white capoeira pants and dressed him w/ white shirt. When I was able to drag him away from the Xbox video game (only bcuz his grand theft auto game was over), he got to play in the roda. I’m very lucky cuz the roda is two “stores” down from the xbox place so I can leave zak there while we drum, play and sing and he can come find me when it’s over. Everyone knows him/us now if he needed anything. True to his astrological sign, the first thing he asks when he leaves the roda is " can I play again???"
Training is something else. It’s on Resende beach at 4pm. Just amazing, training capoeira outside in the sea slapping sand shaded by palm trees. It’s one of those absolutely beautiful moments that you unfortunately get used to like the vista in zsuzs’ new house in Inverness CA. on entering the beach today, a woman asked if Z was the capoeirista from last nite and how long he's been training... He's famous!
After the miniscule training I was able to do today, we went back to concha beach to look for zak’s white shirt which was taken by serai do mar earlier this afternoon as it dropped out of my hands and a wave grabbed it up like a hungry dog after a steak. The tide had been so high, it was above the level of the plastic tables. Salo had told me how annoying these tables were and I didn’t notice at the time, but at high tide like this, you cannot walk the beach due to the plastic furniture strewn forward, I suppose to attract customers.
little israel and copper starter
So another interesting thing in Itacare (now at least) is that it’s filled with israelis. One very cute Israeli, Tal, helped barter Zak’s and my abada (capoeira pants). Wish he was there when I rented the scooter for fortune! On our way back, he asked me, or stated, “so you’re 29.” Made my week! – perhaps made up for the broken scooter which had to be started by a piece of copper wire. Although this was somewhat exciting and romantic at first, it soon became tiring looking for this 1 inch piece of copper wire in the black insides of my fanny pack. Of course, I lost it once and Salo made another for me from street wire, having the guy who charged me R$2 to park there help him strip the wire. Of course this wire was way too tricky and long and took eons to maneuver to start the bike. Even if it did start, it would fall out and stall. All this time of course the carrying compartment didn’t lock. One day they came to the house and took the bike to replace the start w/ a key. While I was skyping zsuzs, they threw the key up to me. After this, I could no longer OPEN the carrying compartment. … All this, I paid R$40… (which I had talked him down from $50)… I was really going to give the bike back Tuesday, but bcuz of my foot, I decided to keep it and talked him down to R$30/day… I think that’s a lot and I’m so horrible at bartering, but I havent’ found a single other place. i guess i should b happy for the lesson in how to hotwire a vehicle.
my own lecture- why not?
– after practicing capoeira for 1 year in 1992, Tisza was the first woman capoeirista I ever saw in Boston. I was stunned, amazed and enthused, wanting to emulate her and be mentored by her. Unfortunately, the first thing she said to me when I did an “au sem mauns” /aerial, was “the boys just want to see your underwear”. I was disappointed to say the least, but enthused nevertheless to see her thrilling capoeira, maculele with real machetes sparkling on contact in the dark shows and other expertise. I thought she would amount to more in supporting and promoting women in these arts… it would have been beneficial in contrast to the ultra male and macho environment, filled with constant seduction, power plays and betrayals.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
capoiera and lectures
Z and I (planned to get up) early yesterday to go to Tisza and Cabelo's kids percussion class in Serra Grande. I rented the car by 9:30 and we sped off (well, putted off with pieces flying off the car like the flintstones, the car was so flimsy).
Of course, we and the Swedish guy were the only ones there by 10AM.. Tisza and Cabello got there about 10:30… (or later). About 8 kids were there and we did some sound percussion, then instruments. By this time Z had to poop and we were both a bit tired/hungry, and our ears were shot so I took Z to the “praca” looking for Helena where her daughter said she would be ☺ Never found her but got Z a hamburger and went to Itacarezinho… a private and even more breathtakingly beautiful beach with a small warm waterfall to rinse off with after the foaming ocean. Of course, I climbed the waterfall and when I went to lift z onto a higher rock, I crashed down on my butt/bunda/tuchus like a magnet to iron with z safely on my lap. After the shock of the fall, verifying Z was alive and well and scanning various parts of my body, I realized the fall actually felt great for my back. Unfortunately, a few seconds later my foot was pounding and I had sliced it in two places. (I’ll spare you any pics). My first thought was – oh no, how am I gonna train capoeira on the beach ???
Well we enjoyed itacarezinho nonetheless but couldn’t get any service there for food (since there’s an entry fee and they have a monopoly) they’re not only slow, but expectantly horribly expensive. So we trotted off in our little vagabundo car in search of food... and ended up in a place called “Casa de Valter” in one place and “Casa de Walter” in another… basicly a house/farm with a “restaurant”… we had a blast there and saw the nastiest looking crickets ever that Jasmine told us the name of. We had an “ok” mocqueca and lots of fun, but best of all, he knew cabelo and tisza and told us exactly where to turn to go to their fazenda (farm)… (after the bridge and before the omnibus stop.) Tisza’s direction was at Km 39, but unfort, there are no km markers, so that is moot…
Once I found the entrance, memories flooded me on how horrible the path had been and how we got stuck last time we came, even with the 3 time brazilian kickboxing champion, native from para and cross-country driving us. Z immediately observed “this is like a ride on space mountain!”
After going to someone else’s house in the middle of nowhere (following a little arrow sign) we backtracked (with the car nearing empty) and found their fazenda and the lake and the roda in their beautifully constructed Ouro Verde. We observed the roda til Cabelo asked if I would play/join. I showed him my foot, but he said to enter anyway, so I put pants on and zack’s white shirt (mustve looked funny, but I didn’t have to see it).
Jamaica’s words came back to me how much more exciting Regional is than angola… of course watching Cabelo play, it’s equally exciting. I played a game and as expected, totally forgot about my foot while playing. Had an ok game but got really really tired and a huge bruise in the middle of my palm from something? The cement floor? Dunno… the sky was turning brilliant colors indicating it’s decline and Z wanted to go diving off the bridge.
The roda ended and Cabelo began reprimanding folks for not having respect by coming late and not asking permission to enter the roda. I thankfully was saved by z wanting his water wings… This totally reminded me of Deraldo arriving late for everything and the one time he arrives on time, reprimanding everyone for arriving later than him… I dunno why cabelo was giving this lecture, or why capoeiristas feel like lectures are a necessary part of their business?
Then Cabelo asked if Tisza had something to say and she started… I helped Z jump in the water the first time from the bridge, then returned to hear her telling that Mar 8 is Dia dos mulheres and how important it is and how she is one of the only women capoeiristas making money from capoeira and how she has two busted vertebrae and her internals all gone bcuz of her dedication to capoeira and how other women should be so moved…. This kind of self-pity oration really disturbs me… besides me, whom she’s known for over 17 years (and also has 2 busted discs and other ailments associated with an active life) there was another woman capoeirista from Sao Paolo… Not only was this disturbing and I guess from an egotistical standpoint insulting, but totally ignorant rantings… of course capoiera is male dominated. So is boxing, martial arts, and other fighting arts. It’s difficult for women by the nature/definition of the interest… much like you don’t find a lot of male ballerinas. I don’t understand why Tisza has never embraced and celebrated the women who ARE performing and HAVE devoted decades of their lives??? It’s too bad.
Z was done swimming by then, and the sky was ominously filling with moon and stars, sun sinking way too fast. I “asked” cabelo for my leave and bounded off w/ zack on the space mountain, through the underwater bridge which minutes later would become invisible, and curvaceous mounds on the ever ascending/descending road out to the main drag.
Of course, we and the Swedish guy were the only ones there by 10AM.. Tisza and Cabello got there about 10:30… (or later). About 8 kids were there and we did some sound percussion, then instruments. By this time Z had to poop and we were both a bit tired/hungry, and our ears were shot so I took Z to the “praca” looking for Helena where her daughter said she would be ☺ Never found her but got Z a hamburger and went to Itacarezinho… a private and even more breathtakingly beautiful beach with a small warm waterfall to rinse off with after the foaming ocean. Of course, I climbed the waterfall and when I went to lift z onto a higher rock, I crashed down on my butt/bunda/tuchus like a magnet to iron with z safely on my lap. After the shock of the fall, verifying Z was alive and well and scanning various parts of my body, I realized the fall actually felt great for my back. Unfortunately, a few seconds later my foot was pounding and I had sliced it in two places. (I’ll spare you any pics). My first thought was – oh no, how am I gonna train capoeira on the beach ???
Well we enjoyed itacarezinho nonetheless but couldn’t get any service there for food (since there’s an entry fee and they have a monopoly) they’re not only slow, but expectantly horribly expensive. So we trotted off in our little vagabundo car in search of food... and ended up in a place called “Casa de Valter” in one place and “Casa de Walter” in another… basicly a house/farm with a “restaurant”… we had a blast there and saw the nastiest looking crickets ever that Jasmine told us the name of. We had an “ok” mocqueca and lots of fun, but best of all, he knew cabelo and tisza and told us exactly where to turn to go to their fazenda (farm)… (after the bridge and before the omnibus stop.) Tisza’s direction was at Km 39, but unfort, there are no km markers, so that is moot…
Once I found the entrance, memories flooded me on how horrible the path had been and how we got stuck last time we came, even with the 3 time brazilian kickboxing champion, native from para and cross-country driving us. Z immediately observed “this is like a ride on space mountain!”
After going to someone else’s house in the middle of nowhere (following a little arrow sign) we backtracked (with the car nearing empty) and found their fazenda and the lake and the roda in their beautifully constructed Ouro Verde. We observed the roda til Cabelo asked if I would play/join. I showed him my foot, but he said to enter anyway, so I put pants on and zack’s white shirt (mustve looked funny, but I didn’t have to see it).
Jamaica’s words came back to me how much more exciting Regional is than angola… of course watching Cabelo play, it’s equally exciting. I played a game and as expected, totally forgot about my foot while playing. Had an ok game but got really really tired and a huge bruise in the middle of my palm from something? The cement floor? Dunno… the sky was turning brilliant colors indicating it’s decline and Z wanted to go diving off the bridge.
The roda ended and Cabelo began reprimanding folks for not having respect by coming late and not asking permission to enter the roda. I thankfully was saved by z wanting his water wings… This totally reminded me of Deraldo arriving late for everything and the one time he arrives on time, reprimanding everyone for arriving later than him… I dunno why cabelo was giving this lecture, or why capoeiristas feel like lectures are a necessary part of their business?
Then Cabelo asked if Tisza had something to say and she started… I helped Z jump in the water the first time from the bridge, then returned to hear her telling that Mar 8 is Dia dos mulheres and how important it is and how she is one of the only women capoeiristas making money from capoeira and how she has two busted vertebrae and her internals all gone bcuz of her dedication to capoeira and how other women should be so moved…. This kind of self-pity oration really disturbs me… besides me, whom she’s known for over 17 years (and also has 2 busted discs and other ailments associated with an active life) there was another woman capoeirista from Sao Paolo… Not only was this disturbing and I guess from an egotistical standpoint insulting, but totally ignorant rantings… of course capoiera is male dominated. So is boxing, martial arts, and other fighting arts. It’s difficult for women by the nature/definition of the interest… much like you don’t find a lot of male ballerinas. I don’t understand why Tisza has never embraced and celebrated the women who ARE performing and HAVE devoted decades of their lives??? It’s too bad.
Z was done swimming by then, and the sky was ominously filling with moon and stars, sun sinking way too fast. I “asked” cabelo for my leave and bounded off w/ zack on the space mountain, through the underwater bridge which minutes later would become invisible, and curvaceous mounds on the ever ascending/descending road out to the main drag.
skypeing Zsuzs
We skyped Zsuzs the other day with an insy weensy teeny weeny internet connection we’re “borrowing” from our pousada neighbor. It was way cool, tho afterward, I thought of all the things I could have shown her (none of which come to mind at the moment) otherwise, we were just looking at each other while talking, and frankly , she had her beret on and looked identical to her static picture so I need to learn how to take the video off.
Live Bait
3/6 – Live Bait
what’s the worst waking nightmare a person can have? To be sleeping under a mosquito net with a number of mosquitoes in it. But there’s more… while searching the white net under the fluerescent light bulb to murder the little bastards, you see none other than a tick – inside the mosquito net with you, inches from where your head had lain minutes ago. Paradise has its flaws.
Speaking of paradise, I finally was able to investigate and participate in the capoeira class I liked – basicly Jamaica’s. His class is on Resende beach at 4pm. I investigated it w/ zak wed and played in his roda that nite… other than badmouthing angoleiros, his class was awesome. We even did backflips! Zak enjoyed the beach and after an hour came over and watched. The night before in the roda, he did not get asked to play, so he was very disappointed thinking Jamaica did not like his capoeira game Monday nite and didn’t ask him…. Very interesting.
So we’ll go again today at 4pm. I abandoned the casa do boneco idea because they overcharged me for so many things as well as the classes they were going to have for zak (first private lesson for R$20, then with all the kids for R$25 and the pants I bought – used! R$30 for a kids, then they charged R$50 for the adult pair!) … so we won’t be going there. Hopefully the R$80 for the pants will help them accomplish their goals and be less scalping in the future…
what’s the worst waking nightmare a person can have? To be sleeping under a mosquito net with a number of mosquitoes in it. But there’s more… while searching the white net under the fluerescent light bulb to murder the little bastards, you see none other than a tick – inside the mosquito net with you, inches from where your head had lain minutes ago. Paradise has its flaws.
Speaking of paradise, I finally was able to investigate and participate in the capoeira class I liked – basicly Jamaica’s. His class is on Resende beach at 4pm. I investigated it w/ zak wed and played in his roda that nite… other than badmouthing angoleiros, his class was awesome. We even did backflips! Zak enjoyed the beach and after an hour came over and watched. The night before in the roda, he did not get asked to play, so he was very disappointed thinking Jamaica did not like his capoeira game Monday nite and didn’t ask him…. Very interesting.
So we’ll go again today at 4pm. I abandoned the casa do boneco idea because they overcharged me for so many things as well as the classes they were going to have for zak (first private lesson for R$20, then with all the kids for R$25 and the pants I bought – used! R$30 for a kids, then they charged R$50 for the adult pair!) … so we won’t be going there. Hopefully the R$80 for the pants will help them accomplish their goals and be less scalping in the future…
Sunday, March 1, 2009
New House!
We have a new house in Itacare... v nice! near a calm beach - that is so amazingly brazilian. I remember when we were in Newport RI and my (ex) said the beaches in US were nothing... I couldn~t really understand what he was talking about... the beaches here are - absolutely awesome for divertisse ... guys play soccer, people surf, restaurants line the shore with your toes in the water til your food comes, unless you~re zak and i then we~re totally in the water and swim up to eat our \Muqueca. absolute paradise. today i was able to tear zak away from the video arcade to go to the beach - had to bribe his friend Anderson to come w; us too. ended up eating over w; Tiago's spaghetti and .... (not feijada but ground meat etc) sauce... I~~ll start to look for capoeira classes and sign him up for drumming (i hope) tomorrow.
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