ZA aka RSA aka Sur Africa or South Africa

Ok folks...so sorry for the long wait, but I really thought the world had evolved to have Internet/WiFi in most areas. Not so true for South Africa. Apparently it's expensive and it's definitely hard to find especially in the more "rural" areas. So let me see if I can give you a bit of a breakdown of the time I've spent so far in South Africa -- but I guarantee you I could fill up a few pages with stories.

1. Joberg or Jozi: I spent 3 days in Jozi at a really cool boutique hotel located in the suburbs of Melville (yeah, all guides/books say Joberg downtown is just too dicey). I took a day to discover the Apartheid Museum (still perplexing how this country allowed racial segregation until 1991), Nelson Mandela exhibit (amazing person and life story...I just picked up his Autobiography to learn more), and Origins Museum which gives a good background on the original Africans and history of the area. The next day I took a guided tour of Soweto, probably the most famous township (ghetto/favela/barrio) of Joberg because it is where the revolution against apartheid started when a school kid (Hector Peterson) was shot by the white police. All visitors are encouraged to only go with a local guide. I arrived at a 34-year old black woman's tiny place (basically a small room with a shared bath amongst 4 neighbors) to start our tour. It was quite an experience including highlights of eating the local food; visiting a local orphanage; entering a local house built with metal sheeting and no electricity/water/gas; and riding the local taxis.

2. Swaziland: Picked up a Swiss guy Philip whom I met from "travelbud" online site to share the trip across the Northeastern coast with someone (a bit too dangerous to do it alone). We entered Swaziland -- a small country ruled by a Kingdom with a polygamous king and all of sudden the barren dry landscape turned into gorgeous mountain ranges and the temp dropped about 10 degrees. Wow! Swaziland turned out to be a gem -- beautiful countryside with wild animals and friendly folks (much less whites compared to RSA (Republic of South Africa)). We did some cool hiking and drives in the reserve parks. Our little Nissan rental (who we named Cindy) had a flat during the safari so we had to change the tire and then we almost got stuck in a 4x4 only zone (we didn't see the sign!) and to this day she makes a grumbling noise every time you accelerate (we say she sounds like a Ferrari and roars like a lion).

3. Next stop was Kozi Bay on the northeastern point of South Africa (just across from the Mozambique border) where we went on a lake boat ride to see hippos and crocs and amazing sunset views. Cindy got stuck in a sand bank here but we managed to push her out.

4. From Kozi Bay we traveled south to St. Lucia Wetland Park Reserve and World Heritage site and stayed in the quaint town where hippos roam the streets at nighttime. We hit the beach for some snorkeling and saw a few zebras and antelopes along the way. The oceans with rock beaches were absolutely breathtaking and hopefully made for some stunning photos.

5. Then we traveled St. Lucia along the east coast down to Durban. Durban is a bit of a grimy urban environment and Cindy, Philip and I got lost more times than we didn't. Still quite an interesting city with a nice beach (we tried to surf one morning), huge modern shopping malls, a brand-new state of the art stadium made for the World Cup and some cool bars/restaurants/hotels (I'm actually writing right now from The Oyster Box hotel which is about as swanky as a hotel can get).

Philip had a family emergency (don't worry, everyone is fine now) so had to leave. But he left me in good hands in Durban where Kennedy has been my local guide. We traveled to the sixth spot over the weekend:

6. Drakensburg/Lesotho. Up up up in the mountains is a tiny country Lesotho completely surrounded by ZA. Only a 4x4 can make it up and the climb is quite the thrill. Waiting for those who make it up is the highest pub in Africa and a small African village with no electricity or pumped water. The people are amazing and it's so interesting to see their way of life preserved (although the plan is to pave the road and that will change everything for these tribal people). The landscape is breathtaking and the trip so worthwhile.

Final leg of this portion will be a 5-hour journey (solo) back to Joberg to fly to Capetown and meet up with my friend Erika! Hope that wasn't too long, but I have a lot more stories and pics!!! I'm loving South Africa.

Argentina Bella

Wow...I officially love Buenos Aires. Amazing architecture, good city design, beautiful people, excellent food, fun nightlife and interesting culture. What more could you want?

While I did some of the tourist stuff in BA (I had been before in 2002 so didn't feel it necessary to do too much), my real joys came from cutting into the tenderest pieces of steak I've had since 2002, strolling down Palermo Viejo streets window shopping (and occasionally entering to test the strength of the dollar ;)), or just interacting with locals.

For example I met a really cool guy named Martin Gonzalez (no relation...that we're aware of!) at the airport when we both couldn't pull out cash from the ATM. I later met up with him and his friends and I taught them how to drink Mezcal before we went out for some empanadas and beer. Another encounter at a spa led me to a dinner invitation from the owners at a special art exhibit/culinary experience (very weird actually...I don't recommend The Pale Blue Door if you ever get invited).

I actually delayed my trip to S Africa just a couple of days to spend the weekend in Buenos Aires (and will have to go back when there is a Boca Jrs v River Plate game!).

Some Random Argentina Musings:

1. So many dogs. Which I'm a fan of; except in this town very few owners actually pick up after them. So just walking down the sidewalks you have to constantly look down to avoid turd piles. So gross...and I just didn't get why it was such a burden to pick up after your dog poop. Then I was told that every building tenant/owner is responsible for the sidewalk outside of their home/business so I guess dog owners just pass the buck.

2. Despite mate being the national drink (and you really do see it everywhere with the silver straws), you can't actually buy it anywhere. Several people explained that it's because everyone makes their mate differently, but I couldn't help thinking, how has a Starbucks-type of store not found a market for making mate?? And I actually never had any this trip (last time I was here we got invited by a family to have mate at their house).

I'm writing this from my hotel room in Johannesburg, South Africa after a long flight following very little sleep. But I should have some cool photos up soon for South Africa and will happily share with my growing number of followers ;)!

Brasil Musings

Some random takeaways from the Brasil portion of my trip attached.

1. Why does the country have a reputation for being corrupt but you can’t buy your way out of a random alcohol stop? Why can you run as many red lights as you want and you won’t get stopped but you have one drink of alcohol and you are fined $1000 and your license is suspended? I guess it is safest to keep all drinkers off the street, but I also wonder why the law is applied with such randomness.

2. The characters you meet while traveling always have interesting stories, but a few are worth highlighting:

- Character exhibit #1: In Rio, Dana, KJ and I went to eat at a local diner and were debating sharing some local cuisine. We asked the waiter who then solicited the language skills of an older English white male (maybe in his 50s). The English man proceeds to recommend dishes and then buys us a round of caipirinis. So we chat for a bit and he unloads on us that he used to live in south Brasil and it was there that he married a 22-year old local prostitute in the hopes of saving her from her desolate lifestyle. But, as our boy Biggie Smalls once said, “You can’t turn a ho into a housewife.” So after he battled pimps (had his face cut up and his fingers crushed), found out his wife was still “working” while he was setting up his businesses and dealt with other inconveniences of being married to a whore, he decided to flee the state…and country, determined to never come back. But his oil business put him back in Rio and lo and behold he found true love (this time not with a prostitute but with a woman who he endearingly refers to as “pit bull”) and has made Rio his home. He had racked up over a 250 Reia bill at the restaurant and apparently does it often. Beat that story!

- In a close second is Character exhibit #2: Mark, the home owner and rental guru of Floripa hailing from San Diego. You see, Mark used to own nightclubs in LA…and according to him did the drug Extacy daily for 3 years straight. If you wonder if X has any long-term effects, he might be a good study point (only we didn’t know what he was like beforehand). First of all we tried to negotiate the price of the villa on the phone before we went and he just said, “Come on over and see the place. We’ll work it out.” Well, we ended up negotiating and agreeing to a price on the phone. Then we met him at the local gas station in Lagoa and he just kind of starts yelling random words. He asked us “Did you guys the Olympics game? SWOOSH! AMAZING!” Then he just moves along the conversation, like it’s natural, to ask, “Do you know how much they charge for a chicken here? FUCKIN EXPENSIVE! Eight dollars for a chicken. And the gas? It’s like $4 a gallon. This isn’t SAUDI ARABIA! They have gas in their backyard.” He goes on to give us a tour of his place and says something like “You guys are going to have a blast here. ORGIES! If there isn’t some serious partying I’m going to be DISAPPOINTED.” He basically tried to hang out with us for the majority of the trip, stopping by the house at random intervals. In the end, he was just a lonely washed up 50-year old living in Brasil with plenty of prostitutes in his black book.

3. Brazilians never heard of even temporary infrastructure. I mean, you know Carnaval is going to happen, you know many people are going to visit, you know those people are going to celebrate by drinking, and you should therefore know that drinking excessive amounts of liquid produces two very likely results: (1) makes one urinate; and (2) produces a lot of empty cans, bottles and cups. But, nobody has the wherewithal to put up some temporary trash containers and port-a-potties? After a few hours of carnival every single small street/alley smelled like piss and had currents of water running down the sidewalk gutters which were filled with empties. According to locals, however, it is more environmentally friendly to throw your empty beer cans on the street since a poor person will pick them up and return them for money.

4. Airline booking on-line. Most Brazilian airlines state the rates of their flights on their websites, but then when you go to book them they ask you for the local equivalent of a SSN, which of course a tourist does not have. So then you call the number listed on the website, but they say they will only take a Brasilian credit card too. So do the airlines here just NOT want to sell tickets to foreigners? Wouldn’t that just open up a whole new market? You would think…And while I'm at it, the airlines here are even worse than the ones in the States for customer service. Everything took hours to do and was never done correctly the first time. Ahhh, the frustrations of traveling.

5. Something else you would think: In the Rio de Janeiro international departure terminals you would expect to have a sit-down restaurant or even a bar. The SINGLE only option for hot food is a tiny bar upstairs that offers the following choices: hamburger, cheeseburger, ham & cheese sandwich, French fries. Yup, that’s about it. And, for even more of twist…the burger costs 5.50 Reias but for a burger + fries you are looking at 12 Reias. Who did the pricing for that restaurant? Or is the burger really that bad/fries that good? Let’s just say they both were awful (add the jelly-like ketchup to the list while we’re at it). I sure hope that at some point the airport learns that there exists a completely trapped market of travelers for food/drinks while waiting over 2 hours for an international flight.

6. Why are the napkins in this country so thin and useless? Almost all restaurants have paper thin napkins that essentially spread grease because they don’t absorb any of it. When you finally find a normal napkin you are soooo grateful.

7. Torta, as most Mexicans would think, is not a sandwich. We all ordered lunch one day and Oscar wanted a sandwich so ordered the torta. When he asked her for a recommendation of a torta the girl said which one and he ordered it despite understanding that she mentioned something about chocolate. Adrian and I cracked up when she brought him a chocolate pie. It was good, but definitely not the “torta” he expected!

Overall, Brasil has such a great culture where people are so free and balance life/work/fun well. I truly enjoyed my adventures in Brasil and met some really cool people along the way.

And the travels continue...on to Argentina!!

Iguassu Falls

Iguassu Falls, for those not in the know, is a incredible set of natural waterfalls located on the border of Brasil, Argentina and Paraguay. In the guide book it quotes Eleanor Roosevelt as saying that Iguassu makes Niagra look like a kitchen faucet.

Oscar and I had to do a rapid tour since our flight landed on the Brazil side at 2AM and I had a flight out from the Argentina side at 5PM. We woke up around 7AM from a call from the receptionist saying that he found us a cab that would take us to Brasil falls, Argentina falls, Argentina airport, Brasil airport...but we had to start at 8:30AM to get it all in. We did...and it was spectacular. Pictures can't capture the sound and the feeling of being so close to these powerful falls (remember the movie "The Mission"? it was filmed here), but below are a few.

A couple of notes from the trip: (1) the food on the Argentina side was the best meat we had all trip. Sorry if I offend any Brasilians, but their food does not compare to Argentine food which has undoubtedly earned its reputation as the best steak in the world; (2) poor Oscar who later recounted to me that his flight from Iguassu was delayed and he had to sprint in the airport to make his connection flight back from SP to Dallas. We had a miserable time dealing with TAM airlines...and it reinforces the experiences I had with Brasilian airlines when I was trying to fly out of Olinda. Which reminds me...my next post (now that I'm out of Brasil) will include my "random musings" for the country.

Enjoy the pics...one day they'll be hanging on my wall!! :)

Floripa!

Our next stop after Sao Paolo was Florianopolis...an island just south of SP that has become the hip beach, especially for Paulistas and Argentines. The island has a lagoon in the center so makes for a perfect spot for water activities and has gorgeous views from the multiple high points. The nightlife is supposed to be great as well.

Unfortunately every piece of advice we got from locals and people who had been there seemed to be contradictory (we later learned that it all depends on the "season" and we arrived just after high season when everything was good). So we were a bit confused for the first few days and just couldn't buy a good break: the first hotel we stayed in was "rustic" (more like so cheap and under maintained that the light fixture exploded upon our entrance, just missing Oscar's head by a few inches...and of course they never replaced it, just swept up the glass pieces); so we moved to a really classy resort in Jurere but it was Monday and Tuesday and everything on that side of the island closes during the week :(; then all the days but one were cloudy and raining.

Despite these shortcomings, we still managed to have a great time. We learned some Portuguese ("chama la policia"; "me lizensas" (the z is really a "c" with the trailing squiggly mark, but I can't seem to get my keyboard to cooperate); "falla espanol?"; various fruits: abacaxi, manga, morango, acai; "frango" (pollo for the uneducated); and "obrigado" (thanks)) -- we still had trouble communicating well with locals but we managed with a combination of Spanish/English.

We also spent an afternoon sandboarding. Yep...essentially like snowboarding but on sand dunes. And we timed it just perfectly before a huge thunderstorm rolled in. We also had played some paddle tennis on the beach (much better equipment than our first hotel's rackets!). We also drove around much of the island to discover many beaches. Oscar had a bit of a rookie move and forgot to reapply sunscreen during the one sunny day...poor guy had to feel heat emanating from his body for the next few days. And, of course, we partied.

Sao Paolo

I arrived back to Brasil on Feb 25th along with brothers and Doctors Oscar and Adrian Martinez. After various hours of traveling (Adrian had to fly Austin - Chicago - Sao Paolo), we all met up in the Sao Paolo airport. We spent three days/two nights in Sao Paolo and really maximized our nightly activities. The restaurants and bars were all very nice with modern cool architecture and vibe. We had Middle Eastern, Japanese and Brasilian food and sampled many different cahprifrutas. Highlights included poledancing (not me!), early AM food runs, jamming to "Rap das Armas," and just making each other laugh hysterically...like we always do for those who know us.

A small pause in world travel

Life sometimes throws curve balls. The curve ball came on the morning of February 17th when I got a call from my father that his mother (mi abuelita) passed away after 92 years of life. While we all were very sad to see her go, we also realized that she led an incredible life and the sacrifices that she made have helped shaped my family and future generations to come. She was an extremely giving, loving, caring, and very funny woman who cooked amazingly and had a very modern view of the world (she always encouraged me to travel, not get married too young and not let work control my life). She outlasted my grandfather by 14 years and really became an incredibly independent and confident woman who inspired many people in her neighborhood to get involved. She will be missed.

I flew back for her services in Monterrey to be with my family, so I took a week off from Brasil but it was definitely worthwhile. I dedicate the rest of my trip to my abuelita whom I will always love and cherish for the rest of my life.