I’m packing to go to Buenos Aires in a few moment, putting some last minute text files on my iPod. But that reminds me, I have a problem with my iPod on airplanes. As soon as the cabin pressurizes, my iPod freezes. I did a cursory search on the Internet and can’t find anyone else with the same problem. The whole device makes this terrible grinding sound and the display stops working. There is a little flashing broken iPod. Then as soon as the cabin pressurizes, when we land thank god, the things starts working again. It is really weird.
Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
iPod on airplane.
Sunday, June 8th, 2008Buenos Aires and the Music of the MRI machine.
Friday, June 6th, 2008I’m gong to Buenos Aires on Sunday with a friend from London. I’m going to be there for a week, eating and site seeing and stuff, and hopefully catching up with some old amigos.
Curious how the Spanish is going to work out now that the Portuguese has eaten up the space in my brain.
I had an MRI on my knee today (another pinche injury, but I think this one is minor). I had heard a lot of complaints from people about how it is noisy and scary to be put in the machine. Truth be told, it was kind of relaxing. I got to lie down and was inserted into a tube. Then the sounds of the machine were kind of musical. A sort of Philip Glass meets Basement Jaxx. The beats were interesting becasue they were in off time, grinding sounds, whirring sounds, clicking sounds and a timer as well. The sounds would overlap and stacking, creating dissonance, etc.
I am going to look for mp3s of MRI machines, and if there aren’t any, then I should create them. It is an medical-industrial symphony. I think it could work on a let of levels.
Returned from Uruguay
Monday, March 24th, 2008We had a really nice trip to Uruguay. We went to a beach town, called “Punta Del Diablo”. It was very unspoilt, without any high rises, and it was surprisingly dreadlock-free.
I’ve put up a few pictures.
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| Punta Del Diablo, Uruguay |
Uruguay
Friday, March 21st, 2008I think we are going to go to Uruguay in a few hours.
I’ll take pictures and try to hack out some Spanish. It is so rusty that it sounds like I am speaking some kind of pidgin (or perhaps Galician).
But it is a long weekend here and we are excited to get to see a bit more of South America.
Uruguay sure has a happy flag:
I did a lot of training this week in BJJ and started the University course in Portuguese at UFRGS.
Back to Brazil.
Monday, March 10th, 2008I will be back home in Porto Alegre on Friday. At least, that’s the plan.
Our summer vacation.
Friday, February 8th, 2008I’ve give myself with this incredibly daunting task of trying to sum up a three-week summer vacation in a couple of paragraphs. And this was a trip in Brazil, which is a huge country with a lot of stuff to do. And each part is very different.
We started in Manaus, in the state of Amazonas. This part I felt like I had a bit of a point of reference. It is sort of like the Everglades, but without the Army Corps of Engineers. Oh and it is huge.
It was a river system that used to run to the Pacific until the Andes rose up, making it the world’s biggest ditch. It now slowly flowing to the Atlantic. The river only drops 180 feet over the 1,262 miles from Iquitos to Manaus. So it is pretty flat territory.
We spent about a week in the forest near Manaus which was great. We saw a bunch of sloths, monkeys an otter, and slept in the jungle. Fished for piranhas, and saw pink dolphins. This was near where the Rio Negro and Amazon meet in a swirly black and white pattern that you see recreated as metaphor all over Brazil.
Then we went to the dunes at Sao Luis, and the beach and Olinda for Carnaval. Oh and I got to surf some little tiny waves in Porto de Galinhas in Pernambuco.
Well, let’s say it was a great trip and an experience of a lifetime and we have lots of photos if you ever want a slide show.
I kept some notes while we were traveling, if there is anything legible maybe I’ll copy it.
Away for a bit…. at Carnaval!
Saturday, January 26th, 2008We are travelling in Northeast of Brazil right now and are getting ready to go Carnaval tomorrow in Olinda.
So if I don’t respond quickly to any emails, I might be dancing my wonky Samba in street, instead of sweating and cursing in an un-airconditioned Internet cafe.
(And the only training I am doing is running around on the beach.)
Back from Rio.
Saturday, January 5th, 2008We returned from Rio today.
It was a lot of fun, and no crime to report. The only thing that was remotely dodgy was the fireworks on Copacabana. There was a small explosion on one of the barges offshore from which they launch the fireworks and then the fireworks started to shoot into the crowd.
It was chaos. It felt like a war zone, large colorful explosions, lots of smoke, screams, and stampeding. Susi, completely unperturbed by the whistles and booms was packing her bags. She obviously couldn’t hear me as I tried to yell over the screams, “Just leave it!”
We met up with a number of different friends from London and spent a lot of time on the beach. I also went with Roger to train at Gracie Barra, which was great, but a bit humbling. There were more black belts than any other belt and they were all really friendly and helpful, as they smashed you. (Roger’s Mom wrote a book about Carlos Gracie, to be released in March, which I am looking forward to reading. In Portuguese, gulp…)
Rio is a great city. I think by far it is the most beautiful in the world. The natural landscape is breathtaking and the people are really nice. I’m sure that we will go back to visit again soon.
I’ll put up some pictures soon.
Off to Rio…
Sunday, December 30th, 2007We are packing to go away for a few days for New Year’s. There are all sorts of weird customs that I think we might have to partake in, and I am excited to finally go to Rio de Janeiro. I’ve been wanting to go for so long.
Of course, we have been warned numerous times about the crime etc., and we will be careful. So Happy New Year to everyone. Next post, 2008! (Yikes.)
Holiday Update
Monday, December 24th, 2007Tomorrow is Christmas, and it has been a bit hard to get into the spirit, mostly because it is HOT.
There is no snow, and for santa to wear his suit he would have to be loco. But we have been eating a lot of meat to put on the mandatory holiday pounds and are going to go to Rio on the 31st for New Year’s Eve. That should be a lot of fun.
We are going to meet up with some friends from London and see the fireworks on the beach. And hopefully… go surfing. Then we are going to go on our trip to the North and to the Amazon.
I’ll write more when I have some specific things to report.