Brasil meu Brasil Brasileiro

"Dadinho e um caralho meu nome agora e Ze Pequeno POOOOOOORRRA!!!" (cidade de deus)

This is a little out of order but it is what it is when it is supposed to be. I am currently home but I wanted to share my thoughts on what it was like to go back to my country of origin after 14 years of being away.

The first thing was the Portuguese rushing back into my head as we started to enter the country from the south and travel from Chui up to Florianopolis. Since I have been living in the US I did not get a chance to practice my Portuguese because my family is entirely from Chile and so at home we spoke CHILENO and out of the house we spoke ... English. I was having this entire identity crisis because in some way I feel like I am Brasilian and could connect with Brasilians in their jokes and the way they play futbol :) but at the same time my entire family is Chilena and ive been in US for sooo long that im almost entirely a gringo now. wow! if you understood any of that more power to you.

Brasil like the US is such a big country that it should really be several countries. There are the different regions such as the south, the northeast, the north, that are all quite different from each other. The people are different and yet they are all still Brasileiros. But one thing that they all have in common is that they are all quite happy when carnaval comes around and all are dancing and coming together to dance and party days away.

But how can I generalize and begin to talk about a country when Nick and I only stayed there a few weeks. The only thing that I can say for sure is that I loved every moment that I was there. I would love to live in Brasil some day where things happen and people know how to enjoy themselves.

Now I am back home trying to piece my life back together. Not that it was entirely well put when I left but now being back to the place where I once lived seems like such a foreign place right now. It is a strange feeling but I hope to learn from this as well.

Un beso a todos, this will be my last entry as I move on with my life, digest everything we seen and did, and well look for a job cuz im BROKE!

-ric

AMAZON BOUND!!

"Well I taught the weepin willow how to cry, and I told the clouds how cover up a clear blue sky, and the tears I cried for that woman are gonna drownd you big river, and I´m gonna sit down here until I die!"
-Johnny Cash

I a bit sad and depressing but I´m starting to think of songs that are about rivers because the time has come for me to ride the amazon for 5 days straight against the current!
I left my dear buddy of 5 months of traveling in America del Sur back on the 15th as he headed back to Chile and I headed up north 21 hours on the bus to Fortaleza. Luckily I came on a Saturday and there were still the sounds of Carnaval blasting through the streets as I searched for a hostal. Later that night I headed to the Praça Dragoa do Mar where frenzy of people were gathered to hear the sounds of pagodi, bossa nova, forro, axe, and rock and roll! And I didn´t even have to go into one of the numerous clubs! Simply live music of all kinds in the praça (plaza) for all to hear and dance to. I met random group of folk who danced in the plaça and enjoyed to question the random, lone, American about culture and life and all in broken portuguese (me) and broken english (them). Then it was stop at Habib´s (the largest middle eastern fast food chain in the western hemisphere) and a quick stint of learning how to dance to the latest song "creo". Basically the song starts slow and then ends up speeding up to the level of the spanish "r" in the beginning of words. Think of the "chicken song" on steroids!

There was a thought to stay for another night since I had only been in the city of Fortazleza for one night but alas I had a ticket for Belem the next day and I had to catch my boat on the 19th!

And that brings me to my current adventure!
I leave for the boat in less than 2 hours and then "set sail" at 18:00. It´s my 25th birthday and I can´t think of a better way to celebrate the event than to be on a boat for 5 days with 300 people in 50 degrees celcius heat with nothing but trees and water. While all that might be true, I really want to do this because I have a side passion for biology and I´ve learned about the amazon ever since I was in Grammar school! It has 10 times more volume than the mississippi and there´s a point in the middle where 2 rivers meet (the "black" and "white" rivers) and don´t mix until miles later so you see them side by side!

So right now I need more river songs than my depressing Cash song (though I really love that rythm!) so send any ones you know and reply on the blog!

I love everyone out there and I hope you all have an amazing day on my birthday!

Nicolai