Brazil May 2014

8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/brazil-may-2014 1/16

JUNE 2014

My childhood friend Carlos is living in Brazilnow, as his work was appreciated in that country.

He insisted me a lot on visiting him. After someconsiderations, decided to go, even if I had concernsregarding countries with high crime rate, poverty and tropical diseases. After so many flights in the

last year, wanted probably something calmer, butcareful thinking convinced me that it was a greatidea to be far from the country, from the work, and

from my usual routine. In Brazil could see terrible things and amazing people hungry of life and happiness.

My thanks to Carlos and Ewa. To him for trying me to lie as less as possible. To her for the proof reading and “useful sticky notes”.

“Each drop of my blood will be an immortal flame in your conscience and will up-hold the sacred will to resist. To hatred I reply with pardon, and to those who think they have defeated me, I reply with my victory. I was a slave to the Brazilian people, and today I am freeing myself for eternal life. But this people, whose slave I was, will no longer be slave

to anyone. My sacrifice will remain forever in their souls and my blood will be the price fortheir ransom. I fought against the exploitation of Brazil. I fought against the exploitationof her people. I have fought with my whole heart. Hatred, infamy and slander have notconquered my spirit.I have given you my life. Now I offer you my death. I fear nothing.Serenely I take my first step towards eternity and leave life to enter history”.

— Getulio Vargas

I take the flight to Madrid with AirFrance from Warsaw through Paris. Ileave behind a hellish week at work,investment issues, taxes, bills and soon.

Of course, Air France is delayed. Itook around 8 flights during the last

year with this company and as many as 6 of them were delayed, includ-ing one which left me in Paris whenChristmas finished and had to ask for

another free day at work.So, I arrive in Madrid at 8pm. I

am received as usual by my happy parents. They give me an amazingdinner with the evil purpose of mak-ing me miss Spain and want to comeback. I go to Carlos’s parents to pick up a lot of food which he can not findin Brazil.

Short talk, back home, bed. Don’task why, but flying and waiting at Air-ports is more tiring than going to the

gym.

Fast shopping among other thingsalcohol for Carlos. Sirloin and Mar-ques de Riscal for lunch which tastesgloriously and to the plane. I have anice surprise discovering that Air Eu-ropa leaves more space for the legsthan Iberia (well, subjective impres-sion) and offers quite a generous list

Brazil May 2014 Photos on google+ [email protected]

https://plus.google.com/photos/109485856709687591679/albums/6020033907966358737

mailto:[email protected]



8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


of movies to watch with a screen foreach passenger.

Almost don’t sleep and spend my time reading. A book don’t remem-ber who insisted on me to read called“The House of the Dead” by Dos-toyevsky.

Even if I am already tired of sto-ries regarding Russian prisons, gu-lags, concentration camps and soever,it is still a good book which shows theparticular way of thinking of the pris-oners.

I land in Salvador de Bahia and af-ter committing the error of telling thecustoms that I am carrying food (asasked in the paper I received in theplane) I discover it is illegal (some-thing which Carlos and the consulate

didn’t tell me) and they confiscate theSpanish ham and the cheese, prob-ably the most important food. I amallowed to keep the seeds and otherstuff even tough it is also forbidden. Isave around 10 kg of food in the op-eration playing the victim and blam-ing the consulate.

I wait for Carlos for around 5h atthe Airport as he is coming from Re-cife on a plane. I have time to observethe people while trying not to faintafter 22 hours of being awake.

It shocks me seeing so many obesepeople. Also I see something which I

was already told: People are usually smiling, kidding, being affectionate.

Carlos finally appears and as hehas no money on the phone we mustask for help. Calling from the cab-ins requires a card, which is not soldanywhere (think in those small thingskids, when you go to Brazil).

In the end, somebody gives us hisphone and we manage to call the Ho-

tel to send us a transport. The smallhotel is called "Salvador Paradise".We pass the night fighting with the

heat, the mosquitoes and the soundof the air-conditioner that remindsme of an old soviet car.

In the morning we take a “Cafeda manha”, which is as they call thebreakfast here. There is a lot of fruit,

yogurt, juices, cakes and sandwiches.The girl from the hotel is so nice thatshe takes us to the bus stop by car.

We go to the other side of thecity by bus with all the luggage. Mustleave one suitcase at Carlos friendsplace. We cross Salvador by bus, look-ing at favelas everywhere. It is rain-ing terribly and we don´t know very

well how to reach their place as wehave never been there and have nophone to call. Impossible to find aplace were to buy a phone card.

After asking different people andtaking a cab for the last part, wereach an island of tall blocks sur-rounded by walls and security. We arereceived by a very nice couple who,as my friend, work in art. They areplaying good music in old LPs andserve us water in jars. Carlos explainsme later that in this country every-

thing is recycled. And why not?We leave them after a short talk

(where I don’t understand any wordand my friend Carlos a half as I amtold latter) and by cab we go to thebus station. Somebody who iswait-ing at the bus spontaneously helps usto put all our luggage in the trunk.The taxi driver is a funny young guy

whose phone is constantly singingthe word "taxi" (when I mean singing,I mean singing, like a song) each time

he receives a call or sms.We take a bus to Chapada Dia-

mantina, and to be more exact to

the city of Palmeira. The bus is re-ally comfortable and allows to cer-tain sleep (for the people who can of course). At one of the technical stopsI try coconut Tapioca. Carlos is con-stantly looking at the landscape, fas-cinated with so distant fields where

many peasants work like slaves grow-ing sugar, corn and so on.

When we reach Palmeira, we look for a private transport to Vale do Ca-pao, our final destination. We go ina van, identical to the ones used by the hippies in the sixties, as Brazil

was producing it until very recently.No wonder why so many hippies visitthis place or even stay for good.

In the van there is an Americanof Asian origins and three marvelous

blonds. They appear to be high (thegirls) as they are constantly singing,shouting and so on. They even wantus to sing and try also to sing some-thing Spanish for us but we can notfollow them. They confuse mexicansongs like “La cucaracha” thinkingit is Spanish and want us to singthe Spanish anthem (which has nolyrics).

In any case, they shout so muchthat I am concerned they will dis-tract the driver who is driving at fullspeed on a dirty road full of stones,people and small vehicles. But thedriver doesn’t care so much, he isalso singing his own stuff. Sometimeslooks back but that is all.

We reach the camp-site of SeuDai. Later we will discover it is a man.The kitchen is ramshackle so are theshowers and toilets. The blonds aresuddenly very calm and don’t say anything. We put up the tent in themiddle of the night and sleep quite

bad. A guy from Martinique shares his

dinner with us.






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


Vale do Capao. . .

After having breakfast in therestaurant which belongs to an Ar-gentinian guy (crepe of Nutella forme, tapioca with cheese, tomato and

oregano for Carlos. Next day I willforget about Nutella and Carlos will

want it) we go to visit an amaz-

ing waterfall called Cachoeira da Fu-maca.

As we don’t have maps or any-thing, we try to follow the pathway but we get lost a couple of times. Wemeet a charming couple and proceed

together but continue getting lost. A guide who is walking not so far,

shouts at us to come to him and gives

us the right directions. We reach theriver which will end in the waterfall,cross it using a rope (not really nec-essary but just in case) and reach theupper part of the waterfall lookingat the immense Valley and spectacu-

lar sights. One of the most wonderfulthings I have seen in my life.






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


On the waterfall. . .

There we meet the guy from Mar-tinique (Yannick)again and a guy from Budapest (Greg). Both are com-puter scientists by the way. They allare taking pictures on the rock ledgeover the void. We come back all to-

gether and take pictures of the amaz-ing sunset. Can’t stop thinking in themovie “The Mission” after being atsuch waterfall.

Yannick tells me that 4 peopledied in this waterfall. It is believedthat two of them were high.

The night catches us in the tourist

information place, still a bit far fromthe town but with a normal road al-ready. The Brazilian couple has a carand wants to take us to the town. But

we are too many so we say we go walking. Yannick and Greg go with

them by car.Then, when walking down to the

town, through the dark road (nolights anywhere except some carsor motorcycles) we see a car whichstops in front of us. It is the Braziliancouple who came back for us. We stillcan not believe that. In this country,

day after day, we just find kindnessfrom local people.

When coming back, we eat a bitexpensive dinner in a Pizzeria. Theowner comes to talk with us. Is from

Canary Islands and learned to makepizzas when he was living in Italy.Later he lived in Africa and came toBrazil by boat (if I remember cor-rectly). As he said, he got childrenhere and had to stay. Still He travelsto Europe to prepare pizzas at every musical festival where he can.






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


Emmm, just a sunset. . .

We take some moto-taxi which will take us to some waterfalls where we can take a bath. Without helmetand through wild roads like real ma-chos. There is a very strong Sun and

we happily take a bath in this water-fall of red waters called “Cachoeirado Riachinho”.

We come back eating sun anddust. After coming back, we eat in arestaurant with traditional food with

meat, even if of lower quality it tastesgreat (“prato feito com carne de sol”,

with farofa of madioca, rice, meat,beans, tomato, salat and somethinggreen).

Carlos blackmails me to go withhim to the main square of the townto drink a beer, making me feel guilty because I want to sleep instead of drinking with him, so moved my assand go with him. We meet again

the three gorgeous blonds but ignoreeach other. They stopped being ascool as in the car.






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


Another waterfall, but this one with a swimming pool. . .

Even if it is difficult to believe,hippies still exist and they are allin this town. Mi camp-site is full of Psychedelic Pictures made by the vis-itors over the years. Also you can

find everywhere Dream catchers. Ev-ery two meters you may find shopsand locals who offer you yoga, Bachflower remedies, massages, trinketsfor hippies and so on.

Sitting down in the main squareof the town and having a beer means

watching a parade of dreadlocks,drop-crotch pants, “craft” sellers, sin-gle mothers and other enemies of thestate and social parasites.

Today we decided to take a

bath at another waterfall called “Ca-choeira da Purificacao”. Greg, Yan-nick and a new brazilian couple joinus. We advance surrounded by theforests, cross the river many times,

jump from a stone to another andreach a fantastic waterfall, of icy-cold

waters. After three hours of walking,avoiding gigantic spiders and snakes

we are glad to take a bath. No won-der why the Conquistadores called it“The Paradise”.

After testing our manhood under

the waterfall of icy water (and thegirl her womanhood) we go back tothe town marching quickly. We makea short stop were we can try somepie made of “Palmito” (palm heart),

which tastes as meat and tastes great.

We take for dinner a brown ecolog-ical pizza (Did I tell you kids, thatin this town, plagued by hippies, al-most everything is vegetarian, whole

wheat, New Age and blessed by theGoddess?).

“ Let it burn, they may come for me, but I want it toburn!

”– Favio

When finished we go to the only tavern with the hope of finding thethree blonds. There is only the owner(Favio). A Brazilian macho, whosechest inflates when talking about

women. He stayed 10 years in Spainstudying cinema and doing different

jobs. He complains that he couldn’tstudy at Pompeu Fabra’s University (Barcelona) because he didn’t speak

Catalan. And the same in the Basque

Country as he couldn’t work in the lo-cal TV because he didn’t speak the lo-cal language.

For different reasons Favio endedup in this town with 2000 souls, fig-ured out what it lacked and began to

sell it through his tavern. And as hesaid, there is no lack of work. Thissmall town has become very popularbecause of its national park, water-falls, caves and rivers and probably because of all the hippie shit.

He tells us, how he has already been fighting 6 years to do a movieabout the “Universal Church of theKingdom of God”. One of many protestant variations which bleedsthe wretched of the earth. Its owner

lives in a Palace bathed in gold andabandoned one of his ministers inNew York when he discovered that hehad AIDS. About this former minister

would be this movie.

The movie will be about the ex-treme poverty in which he lived andhow he survived becoming a gangsterand drug dealer. And about how thisguy is still alive.

When I ask Favio if he is notscared about the consequences this

movie may have on his life. He says,






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


“Let it burn, they may come for me,but I want it to burn!”. And then

laughs.He convinces us not to go “Aguas

Claras” by foot. There are no trees,

only a terrible sun, Scorpions and“Cobras” (they call Cobras here every snake).

Greg playing with Carlos’s camera. . .

With the couple of the previousday, plus Yannick and another brazil-ian guy who is a Capoeira master, wego to the closest waterfalls (AguasPretas) of the town. Before leaving,one of the Rastafari who of course

lives off selling crafts tries to sell me

also all kind of drugs. Later peoplesay that stereotypes are disgustingand so on, but almost everybody Imet here is taking drugs in one way or another.

After one and a half hour of walk-ing we reach some great waterfalls

with pools bigh enough to even swim

lengths. The Capoeira master, is theonly brave one to take a bath as Godcreated him, even though there are

women close.Today is the most relaxing day,

more focused on meditation. Weread, we play cards or sunbathe.






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


Long stair of waterfalls called Rodas. Here Carlos broke his camera while walking on the wet rock totake a great picture.. . .

One our way back a colourfulsnake crosses our path. We let hercontinue her way. It is a shy girl.

After some beers in the square(what a special sensation, drinking in

the street not being scared of the po-lice, like in the old times) and talking

with different people (some friendsof Carlos came also to the town to sellcrafts) we go to the camp-site.

I am with my thoughts and don’tpay attention to what occurs aroundme. There is a car with very loudmusic starting the engine. Suddenly I listen Carlos raising his voice andshouting. I hear a dog barking in pain

when the SUV reverses. The driver

doesn’t hear Carlos shouting or thedog in pain. She mercilessly runs overthat dog.

Finally she stops and movesstraight. Too late. The dog managesto run a few meters while continu-ing the scream. Carlos and Yannick approach to talk with her. I don’tknow well why. The woman is clearly moved. The dog whines and bleeds.

When Carlos comes back heblames himself for not shouting be-

fore. Everything occurred in three

seconds, but he takes it personally. Hegot a dog that he felt attached to andempathizes with the animal.

In the surroundings other dogshowl. A kind of act of solidarity es-

corts us during the last moments tothe camping.

The time left, while Carlos cooks, we stay in silence until we go to thetent.

It rains cats and dogs during thenight and there is a strong wind. Theeffect is increased while being insidethe tent and I am scared I will notfind the roof in the morning neither

all my clothes which were hanged on

a rope between the trees. Still don’t want to go out to check in the middleof the night.

In the morning, we go to havebreakfast to the Argentinian guy

restaurant. As always I take the marvelous Maracuya juice (which is filled with a lot of sugar or wouldn’tbe drinkable) and a “Completudo”

which is a vegetarian hamburger withcheese and egg. It really fills you upand is usually our only food until thenight.

The Argentinian guy explains usthat the snake we saw is the Coral. Itspoison can kill you in one hour, butthere are people who survive around

12 hours. He breaks some myths re-garding this. For example, it is not agood idea to suck the poison from the

wound and then spit it. You may havesome small wounds in your mouthand then the poison will kill youfaster. Also making a cut with a knifemay spread the poison to other veinsproducing a worse effect.

He says that some natives havedeveloped a tool to pump part of thepoison from the wound, but still you

must run to the hospital. The prob-






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


lem is that the hospital is around 7hours from here, so your chances are

very low. He also tells us that a locallizard, similar to Iguana, when bittenby this snake runs to a plant, digs upthe roots and eats them. One womanfrom the town, observed that and cre-

ated a home antidote which saved asignificant percentage of the victims.But there are still people who con-tinue dying.

As it is constantly raining westay in the camp-site. I talk a lot

with Andre (the guy from the couple which took us yesterday to the wa-terfall). As we both speak Romancelanguages, when speaking slowly anddoing an effort, we understand eachother.

He confirms what Carlos told mebefore. That there are around 30 mil-lion people in Brazil living from 70reals per month (3 Reals=1 Euro).2 small pizzas and 2 beers in therestaurant of the guy from Canary Islands more or less. And if you goto the shops you discover that many prizes are very similar to the ones youfind in Europe.

The genius of the School of Chicago and the Washington Consen-

sus used Brazil as a good example of the greatness of their thinking, whenthere was a huge growth which only some people benefited from, whilekids were shot to death in the Fave-las.

Andre continues saying that a lotof people which receive those 70 Re-als from the state (one of the starreforms from Lula) stop working.Where he lives (Salvador de Bahia)there is a lot of work that nobody

wants to do.

He also tells me that English is notbeing taught in most of the schools(only very basic one) and I can con-firm that as it was very difficult forme to find anybody who spoke thelanguage.

My final conclusion after talking with him is that the only way to liftpeople out of poverty is the Educa-tion.

Still raining. In the meantime Italk with the people, each of themlooking for something. I discover thatone of the guys participated in an in-teresting ritual, where they take thelocal drug which is in some drink.Then, during the day, for many hours,they somewhat meditate or pray. Asfar as I understood it is a mixturebetween local pagan traditions andcatholic ones.

I was really eager to do that, butsomewhat scared and Carlos was alsonot very interested especially for thereligious part. In the end we didhealthier things.

During the night we go the

square. An argentinian guy, who car-ried Carlos and Yannick to Palmeirato take some cash from the ATM,approaches us to talk. A very cul-tured man, defends Spanish colonial-ism and the values of Christianity.He admires the Spaniards as a brave

country. I try to counter argument re-minding him the civil war, the fas-cism, the stupidity which led to loos-ing everything because of religious

wars.

He also admires Spain for the self criticism, before I open my mouthhe uses the example of Bartolomede las Casas, saying that British andother colonialists, don’t have such ex-amples of people who described thecrimes committed by the invaders.

We talk (well, he talks, becausehe can not stop talking, like FedericoLuppi in Aristarain’s movies) aboutpopulist governments in Argentina.I try to quote some of the people Imet in Buenos Aires talking about thegood things regarding the last gov-ernments, but he can not see any pos-itive in them. In any case I was listen-ing fascinated, because I had some-thing to learn. Talking and discussingdon’t usually allow for that.

Later we go to a jazz concert inthe square. Carlos is an expert in thisfield and I am completely shocked heloved it, as would be difficult to ex-pect high quality in a small town, sofar from anywhere.






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


One of the constant jumping visitors of the camp-site. . .

As a goodbye we decide to comeback to the “Cachoeira da Fumaca”,but this time we will go to the rightside of it. Carlos also wants to take a

bath, so we go a bit up of the river,

to avoid all the visitors. The place wefind for our bath is great, and full of exotic insects. Just when we are fin-ished Andre and his girlfriend showup and tells us this place is called the“pool of maternity”. It appears that

a girl decided to have her child in

these cold waters (probably the God-dess told her so). After our bath, wego to the right side and take somegreat pictures (well, mostly Carlostakes them while I try not to look athim when he is so near of the empti-

ness).






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


Worth coming?. . .

We take an old Land Rover back

to Palmeira, filled with twice the peo-

ple which should be there and of course without any seat-belts. Thedriver goes fast through those wild

roads and there are many emotionsduring the short trip to the biggertown. In any case, it is funny.






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


From there, we take a bus which will carry us for at least 7 hoursto Salvador de Bahia. We arrive atnight. From the bus station we mustgo to Carlos friends placeto pick upthe luggage full of food and alcohol Ibrought from Spain.

When we come we don’ t knowexacly how to find a place to sleep,and after making some calls, we finda cheap place in a private house,close to the airport. The girl, helps usto find a taxi, as she insists is not agood idea to move through the city by bus during the night. We find ataxi at the oil station and negotiatethe price.

“ During these days, all people we met were honestand tried to help, this guy

just stole us 5 Reals and isa taxi driver. I really can

live with that

”– Somebody who

doesn’t give a shit about 5Reals

He drives like hell through thecity, overtaking other cars as if it wasa race. Finally we find the house andthe taxi driver charges more money than agreed. Carlos enters in a strongdiscussion with him, but the taxi

driver doesn’t agree (funny thing isthat the difference is of 5 Reals). Butstill Carlos is very pissed off as hedoesn’t like to be cheated and thenegotiation was clear and betweentwo Brazilians. When the taxi goes,I just smile and say “During these

days, all people we met were hon-est and tried to help, this guy juststole us 5 Reals and is a taxi driver.I really can live with that”. He agreesand we go to the house. The ownertries with all his efforts to help us tofind a taxi which will take us very early in the morning to the Airport.We barely sleep few hours. The dogsand the family watching tv, don’t helpso much.

Already missing those waters. . .

The taxi driver who picks us up,is completely honest with us and weeven give him a tip. We enter theairport and the mess makes that wedon’t see each other after the po-lice control. When I see the last call,I think Carlos entered the airplane(as he was before me in the queuefor the police) and enter. I discover

very scared, that he is not there. I try

to contact him by phone, but thereis no way my polish phone providerconnects with him (we couldn’t fixthat issue yet). When finally he en-ters the plane, he wants to kill meas he was looking for me through theterminal and couldn’t find me. He al-most missed the flight. The explana-tion is that he was stopped by the po-lice longer than me because he car-

ried a nail tent. When I didn’t see

him I looked back, and didn’t see himso moved on. Happily the situationended without more issues.

We land in the city of Recife, fa-mous for its beaches full of Sharks.Carlos told me there are some funny

videos of stupid people who decidedto swim in the beach when every-

where there are banners telling aboutSharks.

We carry our heavy luggage






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


through the city to reach the metrostation. A nice old lady tells us thebest way to reach our destination,even useful tips to find the trainempty and sit down as she sees wecarry too much luggage. We waitsome time at the bus station, then

a couple of hours to Joao Pessoa inanother bus with extreme air condi-tioning and from there, a local bus

which will take us to the hostel of Marina, a close friend of Carlos, whohelped him a lot during these monthshe couldn’t find a place to live.

We arrive covered in sweat andtired after so many eans of trans-port. Marina and her mother whoalso manages the hostel, receive us

with open arms and I feel treated like

it is family thanks to the love they feelfor Carlos. Ludmila and Carlos went

to buy fish and prepared an amazingRisotto. Later we could walk alongthe beach, almost empty of people.

She gives me a place in her hos-tel, but recommends me to use a dif-ferent shower because the one of my room has only cold water. Never in

my life I was so happy to take a coldshower, which is not even cold. Butthat day, just cold water was what Ineeded after fighting for breath in themetro and the bus, while trying not tofall down.

Marina is not only a good host-ess but she really tries to show allthe interesting places of “Joao Pessoa”and improve the tourism in the city.She is even studying a postgraduateto improve her skills in the tourism

field. She gives me a list of placesI should visit. For example the Inga

Stone 1, and we talk for long timeabout Brazilian history, local culture,politics, crime and so on openly and

without nationalistic reactions as Icould find in Poland when you no-tice something which is not great inthe country (and especially in the

Church).

Visit to the city center with somecurious buildings (one of the from themasonry which you can even visit),nice churches, a monastery. Carlosalso wants to show me the crowdedplaces, where there are shops, bars,places where people eat and havefun...

Love has a price <- and it is that way ->. . .

Later we go to the natural park (which was renamed as botanic park to tell the people that the city has abotanic park, even if there is just apiece of jungle with no plants fromother places of the country or the

world). A very nice girl (students do-

ing training must show us the jungleas we are not allowed to enter alone)tells us many interesting things aboutthe nature, the giant spiders we may found.

1Inga Stone


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inga_Stone





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inga_Stone

8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


Also about an embracing treefound in this jungle. The plant growson the upper part of another tree andits roots fall down to the ground, em-

bracing the host. Sometimes killingit. The legend says, a beautiful girlfrom a rich family, the owner of that

jungle, fell in love with one of theslaves. The father when discovered

that, went to kill him.When he shot, she embraced the

slave, to protect him and the bulletkilled her. For the locals, these treeaexist to honor them.






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


Embracing tree. . .

During the night Marina insiststhat we go to a contest of amateur po-etry representations. They mix some-

what music, theater and verses fromBrazilian poetry. I must admit that Idon’t understand anything, but must

recognize some of the compositions where really interesting. Even took some videos.






8/12/2019 Brazil May 2014


Mostly this day is dedicated toshopping, as I am tired of taking thebus everywhere, which is an oven

with crazy drivers who think the busis a Ferrari.

As Carlos told me, there is a very good craft market, where you canfind many things made of leather,cotton and so on. Poor Carlos hatesshopping (me too) and suffers sto-ically trying to help as much as hecan.

Specially I torture him choosing adress and a hat for somebody who isspecial for me. The hat is quite easy,but with the dress there are many chances to fail, specially with thesize. Asking through Facebook about

her measurements spoils the surprisebut the funny thing when we go tothe shop is that the girl says laconi-cally “S,M,L”. After checking picturesand discussing it long with my friend.We choose S.

Rest of the shopping is focusedon my family. Food and other ex-otic things. Don’t buy for friends as

wouldn’t have luggage for 15 peopleat least.

In the evening, Carlos fulfills his

dream of introducing me to hisfriends and making me drink. Hetakes me to a tropical bar close tothe University called “El Contorno”,

where we meet a mixed group of Spaniards and Brazilians. After twobeers I break my shyness and beginto say stupid things and later even tosing.

We go to a party inside a house which is showing some kind of al-ternative documentaries about mu-sic, while they sell beer. There is one

funny scene when I am discussingsomething with Carlos and one Span-ish girl walks past between us. As

we are gesticulating in the discussion,by mistake we hit her. Both, at thesame time almost say “Sorry, grab thisbeer” to calm her down. She begins tolaugh.

Coming back to one of his friendshouse, we take a disgusting video of ourselves singing, which will neversee the light and is in my and Carlos

possession for blackmail only in case

one of us becomes famous.Carlos was pleased next day with

my stupid behavior and the impres-sion I gave. Still I am not braveenough to watch the video. . .

Went to the beach for the firsttime in years and reminded child-hood games. Marina and his mothersaid goodbye fondly. Carlos came

with me to the bus station and gaveme a big hug before I left to the bus.

One Brazilian guy, when he sawme, asked if I was going to the Air-port of Recife. We agreed to take acab from the Recife bus station andsave money.

During the trip we talked a lotabout Spain and Brazil. Surprisingly he agreed about the shame of this

world cup when so many people livein poverty, even if the football culturein this country is like a religion.

We took a crazy taxi driving likeif it was a race. No wonder why, forme it was funny even if I didn’t man-age to find the belt and my death wassure in case of small touch with an-other car.

Later he stayed with me in the Airport until it was my time to go. A very nice guy who wanted to stay in touch, like so many I met in thiscountry.

Took my flight to Salvador deBahia and got crazy trying to call tothe hotel using the card I bought orfrom my mobile. In the end, a girlfrom a Pharmacy helped me to call

with the card, even though she alsohad to try a couple of times.

Slept like a baby in “Salvador Par-adise” Hotel, until some idiot decidedto use the washing machines at 7 amclose to my room. Still I could eat adecent breakfast and one of the guysfrom the Hotel took me to the airport.

He was Italian and we talkedabout the Beppe Grillo movement. Hetold me he knows him personally, butdoesn’t like what he is doing. He is

against populism, which is of com-

mon sense, but I insisted that preferpopulists at least to refresh the air inthese countries controlled always by the same families, like in Spain.

Stayed in the Airport until theevening, trying to read as much aspossible. Without any issues took the

flight to Madrid where a strange dou-ble check by the police on the stairsof the plane delayed us (no wonder

why Brazilians are angry with Spain).Didn’t sleep so much during the nightflight to Madrid, but that was ex-pected.

Family quality time and the mostradical vote I ever made in Demo-

cratic elections. Didn’t have time forso much else. Of course fixed com-puter issues, as each time I sleep atmy parents place.

Delayed flight to Paris (with AirFrance of course) and from there toWarsaw. I arrive around 22 home, ex-hausted and preparing for the visit I

will have this weekend.

Met good and interesting people,saw exotic places and was somewhatfar from civilization with its good andbad things. What an experience. Theonly handicap I see is the time spentin so many planes, buses, trains andso on to reach such distant places

which somewhat reduces a bit theprimary intention of resting, but fills

the one of disconnecting of all thethings which may trouble you.

Such trips always make a call forchanging something in your life andtest your friendship when you haveto coexist for so long time. The only thing I can say about that is thatmy friend Carlos did everything hecould to show me something differ-ent, to entertain me and spent money he didn’t have just to make my stay more comfortable. For that I can only

have gratitude.






Brazil May 2014

Documents

Transcript of Brazil May 2014