Solace In South America

Man Boobs, Speed Boat and New Friendship

2010-01-09T23:00:00.034+11:00

Date 09/01/10 Saturday 8:30am 7RPQJ4VDUAF4

Today we had become conscious of time as we had to be at the wharf at 8:30am for our day trip to the Rosario Islands. This meant an earl rise and equally early breakfast.

The breakfast was served by the staff who now felt like they were part of our family. As they performed their tasks with such honesty and genuine friendliness. We made it to the wharf and soon we were boarding our speed boat.

Life jackets on, we putted away from the old city and modern Cartagena began to emerge on either side of the harbour banks. Just like in many harbour cities, high rise apartments dotted the harbour foreshore. We left the the old and the new city far behind and it was now time for the boat to show us some speed. The engines started to churn and churn and churn!! and then there was nothing. More spluttering could be heard from the rear of the boat as I tried to position myself away from the direct rays of the sun( as I had fears of transforming into a rock lobster like I did in Rio 5 years ago) Then the one thing you do not want to experience when on any kind of moving vessel, Silence!!. The engines had come to a complete stop and could not be awakened. The passengers began to stir.

Chug chug chug still no luck. The passengers became anxious and worried. Most of the people on board were from Brazil and other latin countries. In fact I thought we were only native english speakers on board(I was soon to be proved wrong on this assumption) Suddenly a man jumped up and demanded to be taken back to shore.

The man appeared to be of Brazilian natyionality whith a German heritage.(not a combination to be taken lightly when fired up) He yelled at the crew as the rest of the passengers were also becoming very agitated and more vocal.

My main priority became sun avoidance . As I slapped on another dollop of 50+ sunblock from head to toe. Still the motors could not be brought to life and the passengers were becoming very angry. Were we going to have our own "Mutiny on the Bounty " in the seas of Cartagena.

Finally the crew made an announcement( of course only in spanish) That it would take a little while to be on our way. A woman who must have seen the confused look on my face then translated to me in perfect english with a slight accent what was being said. We began to chat . Turns out she is a peruvian Australian living in Ballarat Victoria

She was there on the boat with her husband and daughter. The daughter just happened to be sitting next to Michael( It almost amazes me how many interesting people you meet when travelling).

Out of a boat load of nearly 60 people its strange that the five Australians were sitting in close proximity to each other . We started chatting with the daughter who was in her late 20's and quickly realised we had a lot in common( I am one of those people who believe that everyone who crosses your pathway even if only briefly in life does so for a reason) While many of the other passengers were getting angry with the lack of movement from the boat, the three of us sat chatting and quietly laughing at the behaviour of the people, The Aussie "no worries" attitude.

Finally the boat was motioned from stillness into full throttle and we were on our way to the Rosario Isand. The sea was quite choppy. The boat slicing through it with precision. Never having been the best sea traveller in the world I started to feel sick about 3/4 of the way into the trip.

Michael ( always the bearer of good news ) told me " I looked green"( If only he knew I felt more like baby poo brown)to be continued:.....................

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Solace in South America

Day Drifts into Night

2010-01-08T18:00:00.017+11:00

Date:08/01/2010 Friday 7RPQJ4VDUAF4

One of the Great things about staying at the Pousada is that you can have breakfast at whatever time you like. They have a system where they set the breakfast table according to the number of guests being accomodated. As each guest has breakfast, a setting is taken away.

Today as we made it to the table we noticed that only two place settings were left. Yes we were the late risers. We chatted between ourselves and decided to have another day of wandering. Soon we were out in the streets meandering our way through the old city.

We had much pleasure peering into other peoples houses. In Cartagena the living room is at the front of the house and we took a peep into how ordinary people were living their lives.

We saw people lazily outstretched on sofas watching TV, listening to music and quietly chatting. We felt ouselves falling under the spell of the slow, lazy, Carribean lifestyle.

My new camera was certainly getting a workout we took many photos. It was strange capturing this perfectly preserved old city in digital format. We felt lost in time.

In Cartagena a watch is an irrelevant accessory. As it is a place where you eat when you feel hungry and sleep when you feel tired and dance the rhythm of life whenever the moment takes you. We had lunch and made our way back to our pousada for siesta not consciously aware of what time or even what day it was. We were totally relaxed.

Awakening from our afternoon slumber we realized the dark velvet coat of night had fallen across the city. We showered in the open air bathroom, changed, and were once again in the street greeted by the cool trade winds.

The night was ready to take us on a pathway of discovery. We headed for plaza Santa Domingo. There we were captured by the slow rhythm pace . Up unto this time we thought we were the only ones who seemed to be slowly wandering but it was at this point we also noticed that most people were also doing the same. As if under some sort of quiet calm spell. We were having another enchanting night in Cartagena. We listened to singers with guitars serenade young couples and the clip clop of thankfully not thongs but horses hoofs making their way with carriage attached. Taking people around the city. I was starting to feel very hungry and we began to search for a restaurant.

Michael was being his usual indecisive best when choosing a restaurant and I was hungrier by the minute( I must confess that I am not that amicable when hungry). In a moment of irritation I found a restaurant and we entered as two women were leaving.

I have found when traveling it is a good idea to ask people leaving a restaurant if it is any good but in a non english speaking country this can be a difficult task. However tonight I did notice the two women leaving the restaurant had pasty skin, badly dried hair and were wearing clothing from some bygone era( that was not even fashionable then) and had that overly friendly disposition. They had to be English!!

Sure enough my observations about culture and life were again correct. They were English. I asked them for a review and they gave it a thumbs up replying in their best northern accent. They smiled displaying two sets of crooked teeth that the English are famous for( Thank God some sort of of genetic mutation happened in Australia. We all have relatively good teeth or at least we get ourselves to an Orthodontist if we don't) I think they were a little tipsy as they swayed their way into the street in an aura of dowdiness. We entered the restaurant.

Menus in hand, seated in a restaurant with a glass leadlight wall on one side and hard stuccoed wall on the other and tiled floor under feet we selected our food. Usually this design of a restaurant of a restaurant back home would be a recipe for a night of noise induced torture but here in Cartagena people spoke quietly and there no problem with noise. Michael had a bland chicken dish and I had Cajun food which I have always found too bland and here in Cartagena this was no exception..

We paid our bill to a woman who looked remarkably nurse Von from “All Saints” and were on our way to a nightclub to go dancing.

Climbing the stairs after entering the club, we came to a large white room with a bar at the furthest end and seating around the room. The music was American commercial dance music and the club had no energy in it. We left and decided to call it a night as tomorrow we would visit an Island.

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Solace in South America

Headache, Columbian Hospitality and the Healing Powers of Cartagena

2010-01-07T18:00:00.007+11:00

Date:07/01/2010 4:20am 7RPQJ4VDUAF4

For me headache was becoming a common reality. This morning in Bogota was no different. I made my search for the Panadol that had become all too familiar. Two panadols later I was ready to face the day and check how Michael was.

He was waking as if out of some induced coma, I wondered what was in that needle the night before. Maybe I needed one. I did have to stay conscious to get us organised and on our early morning flight too Cartagena.

Michael was very dizzy and I was not much better. Maybe we had dizzy queen syndrome?. Some how we managed to get ready and consume breakfast. Michael's tummy was feeling a lot better. We farewelled the kind people at the hotel and were on our way to the airport.

The road to the airport was lined with the military(yes those machine guns made a reappearance). As this was early in the morning and the sun was just coming up it looked like this military presence was an overnight custom in the Columbian capital. Eventually we made it through the military check points and were ready to board our on time Avianca flight for Cartagena.

The first thing we noticed on landing in Cartagena was that it had a distinctly tropical feel.
In a short time we were snaking our way through the streets of the old city known as Centro.

The Taxi came to a halt outside a white stacoed wall with a double wooded door in the middle. We were motioned to press the buzzer close to the door. As the taxi driver began to unload the luggage.

A few moments later I could hear the clip clop of thongs on a tiled floor coming from behind the door( Yes the dreaded world invasion of the hideous rubber thong had made its way to Cartagena). In the top right hand corner of the door appeared a small slot ( that upto this time I had not noticed) The slot was pulled back and behind it peered a pair of mysterious eyes through a metal grate( How Indiana Jones is this).

We must have appeared ok as soon half of the right hand door was being opened. We obviously had been permitted entry. Luggage made its way through the small door and we were greeted by the owner of the eyes. A small pretty girl brimming with the natural Columbian Hospitality that we had become accustomed to.

Stepping our way through the dark reception we made our way to a charming light filled internal courtyard. The heart of these type of Casa's as it allows not only light but ventilation. It was still early morning and we were informed our room would not be ready until 12:00 midday.

Leaving our bags in a secured area we left the Pousada and ventured off on foot to let the Travel God take us to wherever there were areas of interest. We headed out of the old city and headed to a spot where we saw people milling. The city was wakening from its slumber. At this spot we noticed a shopping centre called “Centro Uno” and thought this must be what all the fuss is about. We went inside and quickly realised this must be the most boring shopping centre in the whole of South America!!. The crowd was definitely not here as we could wander around in isolation. The centre had a few dowdy clothes shops, a hairdresser and a couple of electronic outlets. The shops on the two upper levels had closed down and were up for lease.( I thought who would rent them in this ghost town?) The centre did have one redeeming feature, a toilet. Which we made use of and made a quick march for the exit.

Once outside we decided to just follow the throng of the crowd. This lead us to a series of alleyways accessible only by foot. We passed through a number of small market type stalls selling everything from clothing to mechanical parts for cars. At the end of these alleyways was a wonderful place of fresh food.

There was a abundance of fruit, vegetables and fresh meat, Chicken and fish that looked like it had just come out of the sea. Here people were closely inspecting the produce. We felt like we were part of the crowd as people approached us to purchase. ( I think they thought Michael was one of the local community members).

Most of the local residents like Michael are of mixed race. A Unique combination of African Indeginous Indian and European ancestry.

They are a very handsome group and have a strong sense of spiritual well being. We came to the end of the markets and decided to make our way back to our pousada.

On finding our Pousada we once again pressed the buzzer and the “thongs” were on their way. Inside we took refuge in the internal courtyard and were informed our room would be ready shortly. The Casa Boutique Veranera advertises itself as a boutique hotel, but so far it had the feel of just a nice Pousada. I thought it best to cast my final judgement after I had seen the room.

Finally our room was ready and we were taken up the stairs of the internal courtyard to our accomodation. We had already been told we would be staying in the green room. ( was this the place we stayed before appearing on Columbian TV?) There was nothing boutique about the room but it had a nice comfy bed, aircon that worked and a functional bathroom. As expected the Casa Boutique Veranera was just a nice Pousada not a boutique hotel. The staff had been so welcoming and professional that we were prepared to overlook the misleading advertising.

“Only Mad Dogs and English Men go out in the Midday Sun” and seeing that we were neither of the above( thankfully) we decided to have Siesta. Both of us drifted into a deep hazy sleep. Michael was still not quite 100%. We woke about 7:00pm and decided to go out for a stroll.

We exited the pousada through the wooden door and were ready to take another adventure through the streets of Cartagena. Only this time at night. The streets were lit by old fashioned lamps stuck to the wals of the Casas and restaurants that lined the streets. columbian and Cuban music drifted from the different bars, restaurants and casas. A refreshing breeze peppered its way through the streets bringing a cool calmness with it. We were starting to feel refreshed and revitalised. Cartagena was working its magic with its healing powers.

I was feeling a little peckish after hours of walking. So we begin our search for a nice restaurant. It was not long before we were entering a nicely decorated Italian Restaurant. with a direct view of the old wall of the enclosed city.

A wall that had protected the city well from invasion and pirate attack. Perhaps it was also in some strange way this same wall that had kept Cartagena safe from the effects of the bloody civil that had ravaged much of Colombia in the past. Life in Cartagena went on fairly much uninterrupted during this period of civil unrest.

Michael decided not to have anything to eat as he was still worried about his stomach, He also was virtually falling asleep at the table. I ordered my food. Ate a delicious meal and soon we were on our way back to the Pousada. Passing a doorway we heard wonderful music. I said to Michael that the music sounded live. Michael as always took the negative option and said it was recorded. Curiousity got the better of me and I ventured into the doorway. Sure enough I was right and there against the wall was a Band playing the most glorious Music. Soon we were inside the Bar enjoying its surrounds and the music of the Band.

Listening to the traditional Columbian/Cuban Music took Michael back to his childhood in India and he was very overwhelmed. For me I had always had this fantasy of listening to Columbian/Cuban music live in a strange foreign place close to the sea. Tonight was a special night for us both. The magic of the music and the night surrounded us. We floated back to our pousada on an absolute high.

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Solace in South America

It's All About Altitude

2010-01-06T18:00:00.007+11:00

Wednesday, January 6, 2010 7RPQJ4VDUAF4

We woke early, Michael feeling a bit sick and myself a blinding headache. A couple of Panadols later and we were at breakfast. Before we began our morning tour of Bogota.

One of the guys from the Hotel was going to give us a private tour of Bogota. This was a good idea as we had limited time and would not have to endure the arduous rigour of a group tour where people take hours unloading and reloading. We also thought we would not have to waste time looking at things that would not interest us. This was certainly going to be the case with the gold museum ( boooooringgg)!!.

Driving through the neighbourhoods of Bogota we noticed how the city was on the move. Lots of construction and revivals of old neighbourhoods. Our first stop was in the old part of the city

We wandered around admiring the beautiful old buildings and enjoyed the spirit of the neighbourhood. Dogs resting in the shade, Old people quietly chatting, young children playing contently.

The next place on our agenda was the Fernando Botero Gallery. One of Colombia's finest artists and a national Icon. Boteros work celebrates an exaggeration or “fattening” of people. His works salute those on the chubby side of life with dignity and humour. He predominantly used two mediums, painting and sculpture. Some of the sculptures reminded us of friends back home.

Next stop for the day was the Plaza de Bolivar which houses the presidents house, The Mayors house and the most famous of Colombian Churches the Catedral Primada(you know the one you see in every tour brochure of Colombia.

We marvelled at the shear size of these structures as we avoided the flying pigeon's and machine guns through the main square. Security in Bogota is extremely tight with the Presidents house in such close proximity, the zone we were in had an even higher level of military presence than we had become accustomed to on the streets of Bogota.

The President is one of the few political leaders in South America that lean to the right of the political agenda. He has a no nonsense approach to security and the eradication of lawlessness is high on his agenda. Colombia now rebuilds, democratically, after years of tyranny, corruption and a bitter civil war.

The Gold Museum was the next place for us to visit. We entered and very soon realized this was not a place for us. Hundreds of people peering into glass museum cases. We could not see anything. We exited so fast that we would have left “Miss Speedy” in a wind tunnel( It was outside after our rapid exit that we started to feel our hearts beat fast, and a weird breathlessness. My head began to throb and Michael was feeling more queasy than ever. Yes we were feeling the effects of Altitude.

Sitting on a seat in a square outside the Museum we rested and watched people going about their daily business( I just love to People watch).
Feeling a little better from our “workout” at the Gold Museum we ventured back to the car for a trip to “Monserrate” A mountain that dominates the city centre of Bogota. On top of this mountain is a Church and monastery accessible only by cable Car(for tourists).

The Queue for the cable car was long but soon we were on our way to the top. At the top we were greeted by a sandstone path that was to lead us to the church and the monastery. We were now well aware to avoid another “workout” so we tottered up to the church like two old pensioners. We were spellbound by the beautiful view. Bogota lay outstretched before us.

We inspected the church and the Monastery and marvelled in their majesty. It was at this point at the highest altitude that either of us had ever been to. That we really fell under it affects.

My head began to throb, Michael was now feeling a lot more that just a little queasy and both of us were feeling dizzy,(but both us have been referred to as dizzy queens before). We made a slow snail like retreat to the cable car and descended to a lower level and a quick return to the hotel.

At the hotel Michael became more ill. He lay in bed sleeping as if he had some sort of weird drug. I did some writing after taking another panadols and decided to tint my beard. It was at this point ( as I was trying to trying to turn back time and halt some of the years of ageing) that Michael zoomed past me giving me an almighty bump on the way. As he had to make it quickly to the toilet.

In nearly 30 years of togetherness I have never seen him so sick( Its usually me with the expertise in vomit and diarrhea) He was desperately ill. I decided to call a doctor.

The doctors arrived promptly and within minutes Michael was being diagnosed. The conclusion was that he had a virus. Nothing to do with Altitude.

Wilson, one of the staff at the hotel went and got Michael's prescription medicine. What outstanding service. He promptly returned and Michael began the treatment.
Michael had been given a needle by the the doctor and lay fast asleep. I laid there wondering if Michael would be well enough to make our early morning flight to Cartagena. Being the eternal Optimist I thought everything would be OK.

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Solace in South America

Goodbyes, Piranha on Plane and Kangaroo Paw on Balcony

2010-01-05T23:00:00.016+11:00

Date:05/01/10 Tue 09:35 SP Guarulhos Int'l Apt T1 7RPQJ4VDUAF4

Radio Colombia
Goodbyes always come too quickly. Especially when you know that the friends that you are fare welling will not be with you for a long time. This was deep in our mind as the Brazilians(Our Dear Friends) arrived at our hotel to take us to the airport.

Once again we all piled into the "little black Peugeot" that had served us so well and were on our way to the airport praying that it would not rain.

Sao Paulo is known as the city of rain and as we had experienced over the last few days. The problem is the drainage in this city is so poor that every time there is a deluge the road to the airport gets flooded.

Thankfully the rain held off and we made it to the airport on time. We said one final goodbye to our friends and started our search to find the AVIANCA check in, for our flight to Bogota Colombia. Thankfully we did not have to endure another Aerolineas flight( at least for the time being).

Slowly we passed through check in ( after all we were in Brazil ).Then made our way through customs where a loud mouth british person was complaining about not being able to take liquids on board. Where had he been been living? Had he not heard about the plot to blow up six planes simultaneously en route from Heathrow to various American Cities using liquid explosives?
What a stupid man. The Brazilian customs officials smiled and extracted the liquids from the mans clasp. Then they made jokes about how stupid the man was. You could imagine Australians having the same reaction to such stupidity and also making jokes. Humour ties Brazilians and Australians together.

As we sat at the gate lounge_6 I surveyed our fellow passengers. Just making sure there was no "Shoe Bombers" in sight or other suspicious characters. My eagle eyes came to the conclusion that all was OK. An announcement came across that our flight was ready to board and there was that mad rush to queue before boarding. I never quite understand this mad rush, its not as if there wont be a seat, but then I thought back to the "Aerolineas Experience".

Seated on the plane we were ready to enjoy the "Avianca Experience", we had already noted a number of key differences between it and Aerolineas.

Firstly there was an air of professionalism, the plane did not look like it was about to break into a thousand pieces at any moment and the flight attendants were elegantly groomed and under the age of 40. Positively youngsters compared to Aerolineas.

Avianca Flight AV86 was ready to take off and on time. Such a welcome change from the Aerolineas never on time approach to aviation. Take off was smooth. We rested for a bit. Exhausted from our go go go days in Sao Paulo. We awoke just as breakfast was being served. A very curvaceous and beautiful flight attendant was coming down the aisle quickly flicking trays of food to passengers. She was so fast she left her colleagues on the other side of the plane performing the same task about 14 rows behind.

One of the things I liked about the "Avianca Experience" was the flight attendants came in all shapes and sizes. Obviously there was no "Stick Insect" recruitment policy here as there are on so many other airlines.

It was at this time that I began to observe the other flight attendants, as miss speedy flung the breakfast tray at me. Coming up slowly on the other side trapped in the wind tunnel that Miss speedy had left behind her was this odd looking flight attendant.

Now look I don't want to be unkind but this poor woman now struggling against the vortex of wind looked like well..... a Piranha. You know high cheek bones, swept back hair, beady eyes and gnashing teeth. (I thought there was an obedient silence from the passengers on the other side and now I knew why they were scared).

An astropolis adult, a noisy child, a crying baby could all be stopped with just one look from flight attendant Piranha. I thought to my self what a good idea to have a person of this calibre on board keeping the badly behaved in check.

If only we had this sort of quality flight attendant on one of my recent flights from Singapore to Barcelona then I would not have had to put up with the collection of unruly passengers.

We doze again and woke to see miss speedy heading towards us armed with more food. We know this is not Aerolineas( They actually feed you on this airline).

Avianca is a good introduction with its professionalism and friendliness to what we hoped to be a good trip to Colombia.

Quickly we were cleared through customs after being interrogated for about 5 minutes as to our intentions in Colombia( No I am not a relative of Pablo Escobar)

The airport had a little bit of a "police state" feel to it. It reminded me a little of Athens circa 1969 when as a small child I remembered the armed military presence that greeted me all those years ago, machine guns clicked and ready to go.

Bogota airport is ordered Kaos. We began our search to get money and find a taxi. We did both and were on our way to the hotel.

Within moments we felt we were somewhere unique. We could already feel the friendly spirit of our driver and the music on the radio was Colombian and free spirited, not some turgid America Pop singer worbling away as we had found to be the case in Brazil.

Pulling up outside our hotel we were greeted by the staff and ushered to our room. We opened the door of our room to climb a spiral staircase to where we would sleep.

Our room was beautiful, crisp with modernity but not sterile and a terrace balcony with a direct view over the Andes. On this terrace sat a little round pot with a beautiful Kangaroo Paw Plant( Native to Australia) in full bloom. How nice was this. We felt in high spirits.

We now had the task at hand of trying to cash the dreaded America Express Travellers cheques. After touring most of the surrounding Cambios and a visit to CitiBank we were getting a negative response. Finally we went to the bank of Colombia. There we came across one of the friendliest and most professional bank tellers any where in the world who also spoke English and informed us that they do cash them but the teller who is authorised had just gone to lunch. Mind you this was 3:00 o'clock in the afternoon. I thought to myself that's dedication.

We were informed to come back just before 4pm. We did and the authorised officer called us down. After much paper work and being finger printed we had cash in hand ready for our time in Bogota.

The staff left a lasting impression of how friendly and professional they were. This was fast becoming a feature of the Colombian people as the staff at the hotel were also naturally friendly and very professional.

We went back to the hotel, had a rest and went out about 7:00pm to the main shopping restaurant precinct. We quickly looked through the shops which we were a bit over after Brazil and went for dinner at a nice restaurant. Later we strolled around the neighbourhood listening to Latin music coming from the bars. We really felt like we were somewhere truly different, Truly Magical

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Solace in South America

Spirit Of Friendship, Affordable Shopping And Our Last Night In Sao Paulo

2010-01-04T18:00:00.005+11:00

Date:04/01/2010 12:30pm Monday 7RPQJ4VDUAF4

We had a sleep in after the big night out. The Brazilians arrived at our hotel about 12:30. We went on foot to a nearby shopping centre after cashing some travellers cheques at a nearby Citi Bank.

Cashing the cheques was an ordeal in itself. I think the teller must have worked in the KGB in a previous life. As I was interrogated before encashment. The expression "don't leave home without then" should be changed to "American Travellers Cheques, do Leave without them" as they were becoming a real pain in the ass trying to encash them. Now with "REAL" in hand we ventured to the shopping centre. First stop was was the optical shop as I had broken my glasses the night before and they needed repairing.

As it turned out the first shop as we entered the centre was indeed an Optical Shop. We dropped off the glasses and were instructed to come back in 1 1/2 hours. My eyes panned around the store looking at the expensive frames and wondered how much they would charge me for the repair. After all this was Sao Paulo where everything was triple the price of anywhere else.

Venturing through the centre we perused many different shops all of which as we had become accustomed to "Hideously Expensive". When suddenly out of the corner of my eye I spotted a Menswear store that did not require one to take out a second mortgage to purchase a shirt or two. I was like a little oasis of affordability in a desert of expense. Excitement filled the air and we became obsessed with purchasing just like these crazy people you see on TV on the first day of a David Jones sale. One pair of pants and two shirts later we existed the store satisfied with our purchase. We were now on a hunt to capture more bargains which meant another trip to yet another shopping centre but first it was back to the optical store to pick up my glasses. They were ready to collect and surprisingly no charge.

A Taxi was ordered to take us to the new shopping centre and soon we were inside the air conditioned comfort. Finally on our last day we were in a centre with affordable prices. Two pairs of pants, one belt and a shirt later we were on our way back to the hotel to take our dear friends to dinner. They had been so kind and generous over the last few days. We greatly appreciated their hand of friendship.

Dinner was consumed at a singularly unimpressive restaurant and we chatted with our friends about our hopes and dreams for the future. We parted company with the Brazilians and headed back to our hotel to pack for our early morning flight to Bogota Colombia.

Me and Michael talked much about how much our Brazilian friends meant to us and we would miss them dearly but took solace in the knowledge that the spirit of friendship spans the oceans.

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Solace in South America

Sao Paulo Brazil "City Of Lights"

2010-01-03T18:00:00.004+11:00

Date: 03/01/2010 10:30am 7RPQJ4VDUAF4

The time was approaching 10:30am and we were once again in the back of the "little black Peugeot" on another day of adventure in Sao Paulo. Our first stop was the major park of Sao Paulo.Parque do Ibirapuera (Images)

Here we enjoyed watching families having fun. Kids riding bikes, roller bladers doing unusual stunts, and people just generally enjoying themselves. This Park is also home to the Museu Afro Brasil

The Museum tells the story of the links between African culture and Brazilian culture and how the two are interlinked. There was also an interesting exhibition "I Have a Dream: From King to Obama" a stunning exhibit of photos of the Civil Rights Movement through the campaign of Barack Obama.

On leaving we side stepped our way around roller bladders, bike riders, and joggers on our way to the car. We left the park and were on our way to what was to be the most expensive shopping centre in Sao Paulo if not the world. Iguatemi Shopping Centre. Our mission this afternoon was to see the Film "AVATOR".

We travelled through the centre aghast at the high prices. I thought I had been conditioned by the "furniture experience" the day before but I was wrong. We made our way to the high altitude level where the cinemas were located( Why is it that Cinemas in Shopping centres are never easy to get to ?). Our ears had popped and we were at the box office to purchase tickets when I heard one of the Brazilians exclaim "22 Reais for a Ticket"!! Yes you guessed it we were now at the most expensive cinema in the world!!.

Finally we were in our seats empty handed ready to watch the film. We did not go near the candy bar for fear that a box of Pop Corn and a couple of drinks may have used up our remaining 15 days budget in one hit.

The Verdict by the four professional critics was that AVATAR was a bit of a dud although it did have some good moments. I just knew that if David Stratton ( Supposedly famous Australian film critic) liked it, I would not.

We left the Cinema/Shopping centre bankrupt and penniless but still managed to laugh about the experience. Brazilians like Australians find great humour in irony. So we laughed and made many Jokes. "I think I will go have my hair done. It will only cost 3,000 Reais " Yes I think they have a special on nails", that's 2,000 Reais per nail.

One good thing about shopping in Sao Paulo is that everything is so expensive. You end up not buying anything. So it turns into a cheap trip.

The daytime activities had finished. We went back to the hotel for siesta and reconvened about 9:00pm for dinner. After dinner we went dancing.

The dance club was a lot of fun. A great variety of music was played and we danced the night away.

About 2:00am we spilled out onto the street and decided to go look at the Christmas lights on Paulista Avenue. This major artery of Sao Paulo was transformed into a night time wonderland of beautiful lights. Even the tallest Sky Scraper was dressed in Christmas lights.The spirit of Christmas still lingered days after the event.

We took many photos and enjoyed the experience like excited children. We exited Paulista Avenue for one more visit to where our day began at the park. Here, a giant Christmas tree in all its flashing glory beckoned us. The area was deserted and isolated as it was now 3:00am.
Cautiously we exited the car aware that possible danger could be seconds away. We happily snapped away until we heard movement in the bushes. Quickly we snapped our last photo and headed straight back to the car. Driving away from the Tree of Lights it descended into darkness. There was a blackout but we were grateful that tree had held out until we had taken our photos and had allowed us to enjoy its magic, creativity and splendour.

We had a great day made even more enjoyable by being able to share it with our Brazilian friends and as we departed company in the early hours of the morning we silently knew the dread of saying "Goodbye" was just a little more than 24 hours away.

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Poverty, Vulgarity and Art

2010-01-02T18:00:00.004+11:00

Date: 02/01/2010 9:00am 7RPQJ4VDUAF4

The day began in its usual way when on holidays. Wake, shower, dress and Buffet Breakfast by 9am. We had not planned much and waited for our Brazilian friends to pick us up at 9:30am. The main objective of our trip to see Sao Paulo was to be with our friends who had also left their hometown to come to Sao Paulo to be with us.

On our friends arrival we discussed what to do and I suggested I would like to see some Brazilian Furniture. (Queens around the world love to look at furniture). So off to the furniture Mega mall we went.

Along the way we were confronted yet again with the blinding poverty that is Brazil. It had already welcomed us at the airport with Favelas lining the runway. It was morning and people were beginning to emerge from their cardboard existence, lodged under freeway overpasses, doorways, anywhere that could keep them dry as in Sao Paulo it rains a lot. The plight of the poor and homeless is an aspect of Brazilian Culture that saddens me deeply.

Our friends like so many good and kind Brazilians appear to have become oblivious to the poverty of the nation. Perhaps it is because they know it only takes a loss of a job or a prolonged period of ill health that they too, without family assistance can fall into the poverty trap. After all self preservation is a basic human instinct. Yet still in this great Country there are many who choose to do nothing.

This lack of caring is what holds Brazil back from becoming a truly first world, great nation. Brazilians dont seem to understand that by growing the wealth of the poor by even a small percentage will benefit the whole society.

The rich would ironically benefit the most from the eradication of poverty. No more life behind electric fences with 24/7 Security, no fear to walk the streets no matter what time of day or night, but most of all that fellow Brazilians were free from the chains of poverty.

Many Brazilians think that this is not possible but just like many Australians they only think in the now. With solid planning and good economic management this could happen within a 10-20 year time frame. Just look at what Countries like Korea, China, India and most importantly the neighbour to the south, Chile have done improving the standard of living for all in relatively short periods of time.

It was not long before we were entering the car park of the furniture mega mall (I did tell you that everything in Sao Paulo was mega) and looking at the different styles of Brazilian furniture, fresh with images of the "Cardboard People" still in my mind.

Many fine examples of Brazilian Furniture were to be seen with price tags that were extreme. I have never such expensive furniture anywhere in the world ( my mind quickly flashed back to the homeless and their despair) Then took another look at the price tag of the dining chair I was admiring. Just one chair was $1200 Australian Dollars!!

We continued through the mall $7,000AUD for a dining Table, $10,000AUD for a lounge, I was left speechless.( which believe me does not happen often). I then thought to myself if there is a whole mega mall of this overpriced furniture there must be a whole class of people who are prepared and able to pay for these overpriced symbols of status. Yes consumerism has hit Brazil. I wonder how the homeless person under the freeway would feel sitting on a $8,000AUD Lounge chair? I also wondered if the same chair really makes the purchaser all that happy? I guess this really displays the disparity between the wealthy and the poor. It also to me displays rather vulgar behaviour.

Soon we exited the Mega Mall car park and were on our way to the heart of modern Sao Paulo. "Paulista Avenue". Brazilians would have you believe that this is the Champs-Élysées of Brazil. It is not. It is a pleasant enough street with a splattering of ageing shopping centres and a truly beautiful park but nothing special. Here we found the The São Paulo Museum of Art which had a spectacularly unimpressive exhibition of photographs. We sped through the exhibition and found another exhibition in a tent outside the Museum by a Brazilian Artist( Sculptor) "Abelardo da Hora" and the exhibition "Amor e Solidariedade 60 anos de arte" This in contrast was spectacular celebrating the curvaceousness of Brazilian women and oddly enough sculptures that told the stories of the impoverished.

It was these sculptures of the impoverished that left sombre memories of what life is like for some in Brazil. Children abandoned by their fathers, women trying to feed malnourished babies when they themselves have not enough to eat and a woman trying to bring her dead child back to life. The sculptures had an angst of sorrow.

We left the exhibition in a sombre mood. We headed back to the hotel for siesta before heading out to dinner about 9:00pm.

The day had left us thinking about life in Brazil and how fortunate we are. It made me more determined than ever to help those who are less fortunate. Even is it is only by raising other peoples awareness

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Solace in South America

Aerolineas Rations

2010-01-01T23:00:00.019+11:00

Date:31_12_09 4:00 PM 7RPQJ4VDUAF4

Here we are New Years Eve flying across the pacific to BA. the flight is already three hours late as per my Flight Itinerary and Aerolineas Argentinas is living up to its reputation for not being punctual

We got the best seats on the plane right next to the toilet. Being in row 29 gives you an excellent opportunity to view all other passengers as they come and go throughout the flight. Have already spotted some badly bleached blondes and encountered an astral traveller from Perth, funny how people want to talk to you before spending a penny.

One great thing about Aerolineas is that everything is old, the plane, the flight attendants, the passengers( except me ). This means the unless you are over 80 you will be able to enjoy a youthful experience.

The flight attendants on the trip between Sydney and Auckland( That City where Passengers and referred to as “PISSengers”) looked like they had been recruited from Recoleta cemetery, some had tried to turn back the hands of time by dyeing their hair black, this on a corpse like face is not a good look.
We have had a change of crew at Auckland and one of them even has a sense of humour. I guess he must have been reminiscing about the “Peronist Years” when he had been about 45.

The food between Sydney and Auckland was a gastronomic feast, one dehydrated mixture of bread ham and cheese mashed together and a piece of Woolworth's carrot cake. I have never enjoyed a piece of Woolworth's carrot cake ever so much.

When we arrived at Auckland Airport( malnourished and dehydrated) we made a b-line for the food. This presented a challenge in itself as Auckland airport has been turned into a “Fun Park” where one must navigate a series of obstacles, mazes, and tunnels to find food. I guess this is what happens in a “Hunter Gatherer Society”.

Anyway one really good thing about the flight is that it is not too full and for the best part of the trip the passengers have been well behaved, no mad Brazilian, no white trash and no Indians ( as in subcontinent) except for my beautiful darling.

So you may ask why I have called this blog “Solace in South America” ?,
I have been traveling to South America for over ten years and in this great continent I find comfort, spiritual healing and opportunity for soul searching.

This last year has been one of those years. Not only for me but those close to me as well. My mum has deteriorated before my eyes, she has drifted to a place that none of us understand, my aunt who is like a second mother has health problems and I myself have become aware of my own mortality. So here I am again on the the plane to the great continent I love so much full of Hope Joy and Soul. Ready to experience the splendor of South America

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Solace in South America

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Missionaries in Buenos Aires

2010-01-01T22:00:00.007+11:00

Date:31_12_09 11:59 PM BACK IN TIME AGAIN 7RPQJ4VDUAF4

Here we are flying over the International Dateline and New Years Eve feels like it has been going on forever. We celebrated both New Zealand and Australian New year on the Plane.

The Aerolineas Flight attendants got excited for a moment but not too excited as at their age too much excitement can lead to, well you know....

I did think I could hear the song "The Monster Mash" coming from the back of the plane, the line "it was a grave yard smash" was particularly appropriate for the crew on board.

Met this very nice Brazilian girl at Auckland Airport with guitar in hand. She reminded me of "Sister Bertrille" from "The Flying Nun". She was on her way her was to São Paulo or so she thought she was.

Maybe she could sing as we endured the "Amelia Airhard" experience aboard Aerolineas. Thankfully we did not follow the same fate as poor Amelia and we arrived safely in Buenos Aires 3 hours late due to the ailing argentine airline.

We caught a taxi at 6:30pm from the building that was once and international airport and still tries to be but looks more like a factory that should produce Scrap Metal. Finally we were on our way to the Hotel Reconquista Luxor located one block from the famous Obelisk on Avenida De Julio

As we made our way through the city it appeared strange. The city had closed down. No people on the streets, no shops open, nothing. It was if life had ceased to exist, and this was New Years Eve!!.

Suddenly we were in front of shiny glass doors and a sea of Marble could be seen beyond. The taxi driver gestured that this was was our hotel.

Inside we were greeted by a charming and beautiful woman. We breathed a sigh of relief that all the people of BA had not been kidnapped and there was at least one person left standing. We chatted a little and told the lady how we loved BA and the Argentinian people and told a few jokes as well.(Obviously a generation far removed from the Aerolineas Crew)

It wasn't long before we were wisked away to our upgraded executive suite on the 9th floor with its own balcony and a view of the Obelisk.

My Bantor had paid dividends, we opened the door to a truly luxurious suite. We collapsed exhausted and fell asleep. We rested for a couple of hours in preparation for a night of feasting and enjoyment. I had already asked the lady on reception to make us a dinner booking.

We awoke, showered and changed and in were reception ready to go out. This time the reception had changed focus and we were greeted ( I use that word very loosly)by a surly young man. Mr Surly informed us that a booking could not not be made and sent us in a direction for something to eat. I had visions of eating Macdonalds for New Years Eve but even they were closed!

We ventured to Av Corrientes that looked desolate and abandoned as if there was an impending milatary coup about to take place( you never know in Argentina).

On the corner of Corrientes and Suipacha I could see a flickering light and a milling of what must have been the last remaining inhabitants of Buenos Aires. We made a hasty forward motion towards the light. The rations that Aerolineas had given us before landing had long since worn off and we were starving.

The flickering light beconed us and we were in front of a nice looking red coloured restaurant called Il Gatto Tratorias that was very busy. We went inside and asked for a table for two. The lady looked at the long list she had in front of her and asked if we had a reservation, I said "no but did say that we would be very quick if she could fit us in". She must have taken pity on us as we looked emaciated and gaunt and she said "one moment please"( I have learned that this is a very good expression in Argentina.

In no time flat we were being escorted by the friendly owner of the restaurant to a table for two. He chatted to us in spanish and we nodded with enthusiasm and laughed appropriately when he was telling us a joke.
We were seated, the very cute friendly waiter took our order and dinner was on our table in no time We chomped away happily. It was somewhere between melon and the proscuito and the Beef which were delicious that I became aware of the Americans talking away at the next table.
Not being a shy person I said hello and wished them a Happy New Year, we got talking and asked "where are you from" The reply was "Bolivia" I retorted " what do you do in Bolivia" "We are Missionaries" I thought how 1930's Africa is this. It turns out that June and Brad were second generation missionaries, funny of all the people I choose to talk to I get ot spend New Years Eve with Missionaries in BA.

We farewelled the Missionaries, went back to our hotel, watched fireworks from our hotel balcony, kissed and wished each other A Happy New Year. Tomorrow is a new decade and who knows what it will bring. We have been informed by Mr Grumpy at reception that no taxis will be available to take us to the airport. So who knows if we will have another opportunity to enjoy the Aerolineas experience.

One thing is certain though as long as we can get the taxi at 4am and survive the plane trip. Is that tomorrow we will be with our dear friends Gil and Nando in my spiritual homeland Brazil

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Solace in South America

Frustration, Friendship and Spiritual Awakening

2010-01-01T07:00:00.007+11:00

Date:01_01_10 3:00 AM 7RPQJ4VDUAF4

It is 3am , neither of us can sleep. So we decide to get up and get ready for our 6:50 AM flight to São Paulo.

We sadly vacate our luxury suite and lob into the “sea of marble” about 4am. We know our first goal of this new year is to find a taxi to take us to the airport. We ask “Mr Hospitality Plus” if he has managed to organize a taxi, of course as expected his reply is “no”. So out in the street I venture to find one. Suddenly I turn around and find Michael is behind me also looking for a taxi. He had been previously been instructed to look after the the luggage(in South America you do not leave your luggage unattended, even if it is in a bank vault)so off he goes to stand guard and I resume my search.

The streets are now so deserted that any vehicle using them takes advantage and starts practicing Formula 1 racing. This makes it difficult to differentiate between taxis, cars and the occasional bus as they whiz past in blurred oblivion. Not one to give up I now find myself waving at any vehicle that passes in my direction, "The Formula 1" drivers must have thought that I was a crazy loco.

I was getting desperate when on the horizon appeared a taxi going slow enough for me to actually identify it. I waved frantically to get its attention and received a corresponding headlight flash (this was not a sign of joy not so long ago. As often people would disappear in the middle of the night by getting a headlight flash and taken away to who knows where during the period of the Military Junta). Thankfully this was not the case and soon we were packing our luggage into our Saviour from the horizon and on our way to the airport.

We arrived at the airport, had plenty of time. Made sure we were well watered and fed before the flight. Previous experience had taught us to be prepared for the “Aerolineas Famine”.

After eating enough food to get us through the next 24 hours we thought we should check the departure time of our flight. “Shock Horror” the plane was actually running on time.

Clearing immigration and customs we found ourselves waiting outside Gate B for our flight when suddenly I spotted the nice Brazilian Girl with Guitar in hand, whom we had previously met at Auckland. She told the story how she missed her connection to São Paulo due to the late Aerolineas flight from Australia as no planes fly out of BA after 6pm on NYE.

So she along with all the other people who missed their connection would be joining us on our sojourn to São Paulo. All the display boards still state that the plane was on time, so all was good.

An announcement was then made in regard to our AR flight that is would be now boarding from Gate A. So Brazilian Girl with guitar , Michael and myself traipsed our way to Gate A.

At Gate A our boarding passes were torn and we were ushered down steps to be confronted by shuttle buses which were to take us to our plane for departure, “How Provincial” we tottered up the steps onto the plane and kind of reveled in the whole old fashioned experience. It was at this moment we, “well we” made a shocking discovery, 2 of the flight attendants were under the age of 50!! We recovered from the shock and made our way to seats 11E & 11F. All was well or at least we thought it was.

Another group of well behaved people boarded the plane and all was looking good until we noticed that there were a number of people at the back of the plane not seated( this is not unusual in South America as people like to talk to to friends on the plane), it later became apparent that the were not enough seats for the amount of people who were on the plane. Our flight was overbooked.

This sent the younger flight attendants into a flap( they had not had the experience of their older colleagues) We were stranded on the tarmac, abandoned and forgotten.

Customer service and communication are not one of Aerolineas's strong points, so me, Michael and Brazilian Girl complete with guitar and 133 other passengers were left wondering what was going on. Left in the hands of the “flappers”.

Finally after an hour had passed and announcement was made informing us of the situation. A decision was made to change planes.

So all passengers disembarked, got back on shuttle buses to the terminal, whilst all our luggage was unloaded below, We waited to be called through original Gate B. Eventually we began boarding onto a different plane, same procedure as before. This time there were enough seats. We were finally on our way to São Paulo Brazilian Mega City.

We touched down in São Paulo. The international airport is a little depressing yet functional. We were 2 ½ Hours late. We did all the formalities and were greeted by our friends
on the other side. As soon as we met our friends the frustrations of the day quickly dissapeared. It had been 2 years since we saw them both and we had much to talk about.

All of us made our way to Gil's car for the trip to the hotel. The only problem was that our friends had been waiting for us so long that they had completely forgotten where they had parked the car. Our first tour of São Paulo was the Car Park of the International Airport.

Luggage in Toe we searched for the car. Eventually after examining nearly every little black Peugeot we found the one that belonged to our friends. We were then presented with out next challenge of the day, how do you fit 4 queens and their luggage into a little black Peugeot.

After much juggling and laughter we were all strapped in and on our way to the Hotel Sonesta São Paulo Ibirapuer Located at Avenida Ibirapuera, 2534, Moema

São Paulo is a vast Metropolis surrounded by Favelas, It is a very vertical city, this verticalness spreads a span of more than 30 kilometres

With check in completed and our room inspected the 4 of us went to lunch. I consumed my my first Brazilian Buffet of the trip and decided after lunch that we would drive around the city.

The four of us drove around looking at this never ending metropolis when I remembered reading about the old part of the city and suggested we visit. In many Brazilian cities the old part is neglected and allowed to fall into decay. Sao Paulo was no exception. We stared in awe at the unique and beautiful architecture and visited the point where Sao Paulo was founded. We wandered around the the area cautiously, (as there are many homeless people and danger is ever present )when we came upon the Church in the center of Sao Paulo called the Catedral Metropolitana, or Catedral da Sé de São Paulo

This church stretches high into the air ( as I guess most of them do) but this church felt uniquely spiritual. An aspect of places of worship that I do no usually feel. We entered and New Years Mass was just beginning( How lucky were we).

The choir began to sing transcending into angels as if somewhere from the spiritual world. Bringing to us the joys of their beliefs. The priest gave his sermon about compassion humility and worship ( I guess aspects of life that all of us could take guidance in ) The congregation were deep in the moment. Many different people of all races and nationalities were brought together in this moment of worship. The rich, The poor and everything in between, " The Melting Pot of Brazil. All four of us were very overwhelmed by the spirit we could feel.

United in spirit, friendship and love the four of us wandered back to the car feeling enlightened renewed and grateful. What a great New Year's Day

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Solace in South America