Rio

I have spent the last few weeks traveling and enjoying the holidays. Sao Joao, a regional festival, just ended, and Thursday is Bahian independence day, so after this weekend things should be back to normal. I am kind of in a funny place right now, but this too shall pass. In the meantime, I am joining a gym so that I can get some regular exercise and I am hiring someone to do some cleaning and maybe cooking as well. I have not decided on the cooking part because I see preparing meals as a kind of spiritual practice and I would rather do it myself. I would rather do the cleaning too, but I kind of suck at it and it needs to be done....

Anyway, here are some photos from our recent visit to Rio..... we did not do as much touristy stuff because I was conferencing, but I plan on returning for the New Year's season so I can ring in 2010 on the beach!!!

On the road to the urban rain forest in the middle of Rio

View of the city

View of O Cristo
F. smelling the lilies (my favorite flower)

Cool tree

I won't chase waterfalls, but I'll stand by them...

Fulbright Limbo Part 2

I am out of Fulbright limbo.....I got the award!!! Just found out that I am now a principal candidate...so I have to turn in the paperwork and then its set....what a game changer....what a blessing....asè!!!!

Some randomness (1)

F. and I have been here for about 3 weeks now (seems like longer than that) and we have not ventured out too much due to my sick episodes and me needing to get some work done. We are heading out to Rio for a week and I hope to do some exploring while there (even though this is a business trip too...I need to travel for pleasure...). I thought I'd share a little bit of our day to day in Salvador....we spend a good amount of time on the beach....

We also spend a lot of time in restaurants....one of my favorite meals is moqueca de camarao with vatapa (shrimp stew with a manioc paste dish)...

I am enjoying getting re-acquainted with my favorite snack food....

Amendoims Japones (Japanese style peanuts...do they eat these in Japan?)

We even made it out to Pelourinho on Saturday and the Cidade Baixa (Lower City) today. We were too busy trying to not step in urine to take pics in Cidade Baixa (they need some porto potties in this area for real), but here we are standing in the area that Olodum performs in twice a week....a nearby cafe serves iced cappuccinos and F. just had to have one....


We ran into the owner of Sankofa African Bar (I met him last year) and he told us that they now serve African cuisine for lunch and dinner...there is also a culinary school that serves Bahian food in the neighborhood, so we will definitely be back...

F. and I are both taking language classes as well. His pronunciation is spot-on, according to the teacher, and I am challenging myself by trying to read "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" and "City of God" in the original Portuguese....Freire's "Pedagogia do Oprimido" is easier than Lins' "Cidade de Deus"....I honestly only half understand the latter, but it feels cool to be reading a novel in a language besides English, lol!!! Its storming now, and my son claims he is starving, so I gotta make some moves....I will try to do something adventurous while in Rio...stay tuned!!!