Articles in Próxima Estación – Esperanza
Brazilian Carnaval In Paraty (2)
Every night, the Carnival started around 10:00, to finish around sunrise. Blocos all over the place were leading people in the old town and there were always some drummers getting ready somewhere.
Brazilian Carnaval In Paraty (1)
A bloco had gathered on Roberto Silveira, the main avenue. A trio-eléctrico (huge truck with speakers, a sound system and singers on top of it) was blasting cheery brazilian music and the drummers behind were setting up a rope-off area. The truck started moving, the drummers started playing and we all followed in the street of Paraty, dancing all night long to the sound of the samba of the Carnival.
Colonial Paraty
The owner of the internet café was Brazilian. He asked us where we would spend the Carnival, and at the time, we were not sure. He told us to check out Paraty, a small city four hours from Rio de Janeiro. We did not know anything about it. Yet, we went… and we were not disappointed.
Easing Into Brazilian Culture
In Brazil, my mind is perpetually trying to make sense of of things, using languages that I speak. “Nome” is “name” in English, and of course “nom” in French. “Peixe” equals “pescado”, from the latin “pesci”, also “poisson” in French, and “fish” in English. “Cafe da manhã”… okay, “manhã” looks like “mañana” in Spanish, and “cafe” is obvious. So “morning coffee” is… yep, breakfast. “Hoje” is close to “hoy”, although not the pronunciation — but it still means “today”.
Looking For The Brazilian Border...
¨Everybody gets off! For the immigration office, walk two blocks that way, turn left, then right, and then you will see another street. Well, it´s not that one, but the next on the right.¨ What the fuck? ¨Oh¨, the driver added, ¨hurry up because you have to take the Porto Alegre bus at 1:00 pm… from the other station¨.
Beach Bumming In Uruguay
Resting on lovely Uruguyan beaches before the big Portuguese-speaking country!
Old Montevideo
Montevideo was much quieter and much smaller than Buenos Aires, but a great place to relax. The city center, where we stayed, had a lot of colonial buildings, some falling apart, some wonderfully restored. The seaside was equally nice: we walked along the shore, looking at people fishing and kids playing in the water.
Crossing To Uruguay
Not yet tired of Buenos Aires, its huge steaks and great nigtlife, we nonetheless decided to travel further, to Uruguay, a country we had never been to. Montevideo was supposed to be a great capital, small and safe enough to be traveled easily, yet very nice to visit.
