Hola - Santiago, Rio, Paraty

We've just finished Rio de Janeiro, and are now at Paraty, a stunning colonial town with incredible architecture. We''re safe, though we had a snatch thief try to steal Van's watch. Quite a dumb thief if you ask me. Other than that, we've been quite ok. The language barrier is a lot easier to overcome than we thought, and the people have been really friendly.

One thing I guess I wasn't really expecting is that Brazil can get rather chilly in the winter (now till Aug) and the days are also shorter, starting at about 530am and ending the same time. By 630, it's pitch black. The good thing about the weather is that I don't sweat nearly as much. =)

We've met some interesting characters along the way. I think I'll talk about them now. First, there was Miguel, the owner of a cafe in Santiago, Chile. He was really friendly and easy going.

This next guy is a painter, I can't remember his name, but he's 57 and painting watercolours in Paraty, the quaint colonial town I was talking about earlier. He loves his life, and was on the way to meet his girlfriend when we left him. He was smiling.

And then there were Juliano and Aecio. Juliano is an aspiring club musician who plays the guitar with such aplomb and passion that it's hard not to get caught up just watching him. He was playing in the park by himself when we came along and he insisted on playing different songs for us to get a feel of what tourists liked to listen to. He had just arrived in Paraty a week ago, and had to get up to speed, he said, on the type of music tourists liked. So we were his willing survey subjects.


Aecio is a painter who sells US$2,000 paintings of oils on truck tarpolines. He says that painting on tarp gives is character. The art is beautiful, and speaking with him truly gave us insights into why and how he paints, allowing us to appreciate his paintings even more. We are meeting them for coffee tomorrow night after their work ends. That is just the way the people are here - friendly and laid back. If you walk into a store to browse and don't buy anything, they smile as you walk out and give the thumbs up sign in a crooked kinda way. I just learnt how to and I'm doing it naturally already - I think.

And finally, there's the food. This was batang fish with banana. I think the fish wasn't as fresh as I would've liked it to be, but the banana tasted great with the fish. Food so far has been really salty or really sweet. I hope my kidneys hold.

This was from a real churrascaria in Brazil. They're everywhere and the meat tends to be really salty, but good value for money, because its all pay as you eat, by weight. I'm sure the concept will take off in Singapore if given the chance.


Well, that's my update for now. Quite tired already, time to go to bed - more updates soon! Cheers! Oh and Sam, your camera DIED ON ME. !!!!!!!!

p.s. Capirinhas are S$3 here.

p.p.s miss you...