Brazil day 1 - Party like a braziliero

My laptop is telling me it is only 10:35, but it’s actually 1:35 in Manaus, and I am exhausted! Today started at 3:30 AM in Miami (or 1:30 AM Ft. Collins time). I was at my terminal by 4:30 and in the air by 6:45. The flight was uneventful and I probably slept for about 3 hours. The flight landed around 12:45 (but was only a 5 hour flight thanks to the time change). I was a little nervous going through customs because of some hoops we had to jump through to get our visas. Basically we had to come up with a reason to be in Brazil other than a conference/work, and I hoped I could be convincing that I was just visiting a friend. Julio … I don’t know his last name. Perfect. I wasn’t even sure if it mattered. Maybe it didn’t because things went fine. I got my passport stamped, caught a taxi, and got to my hotel around 2 PM.

Here are some things I noticed on the drive: 1. Lane lines are merely a suggestion. It’s perfectly okay to have three cars abreast and even a motorcycle in a two-lane road. 2. Manaus is kind of hilly and has pockets of forest here and there. 3. It is kind of smoky, maybe it hasn’t rained in a couple of days? 4. Most of where we drove looked like the industrial side of many towns. Just a little unattended to looking, and kind of dirty. 5. We drove by some nice houses and 12-ft tall walls topped with barbed wire surrounded them. The driveways were barricaded with pretty heavy-duty looking gates.

Once at the hotel, I waited for Ian and Lixin to get back so we could go out for dinner, and that didn’t happen until 7 PM. I was glad for some downtime but ended up getting pretty bored and very hungry. In the meantime, I read my Lonely Planet guide to Brazil (caught up on some of the history and worked on some Portuguese phrases), read a few chapters of For Whom the Bell Tolls (I just started it yesterday but I like it a lot so far), did some stretching and core workouts (lame), and painted my toenails (girly). When I got hungry, I had a guarana soda, which was really good, and a snickers bar, which was really healthy.

Finally my comrades showed up, along with Julio Tutto, who is collaborating with Ian and Lixin and taking us to an observation tower over the weekend. We headed off to the Beir Haus – actually a microbrewery! How incredible ☺. I had a pilsner (easy to drink) and an esturo (not sure what that means but it was dark. I liked it better than the pilsner. One guy said it was like Guinness and I think he was off his rocker – it wasn’t that good). I also had a caparini – it is made with cane sugar liquor, more sugar, and lime. It is a pretty strong drink and reminds me of a sweet mojito. Sugar is kind of a big deal in Brazil, according to my Lonely Planet book. They use it to make ethanol, and it is apparently eight times more efficient than using corn. Way to go Brazil. Oh yeah, I also had rice with some squid, shrimp, and clams in a yummy sauce. And I had some bread and cheese, and some sort of pastry filled with cheese and meat. Yum!

Eventually more people joined us at the restaurant. They all either work with Julio or are also attending the conference next week. The fun started when a band took the stage and people started dancing. After about two hours of dancing and really working up a sweat, it finally dawned on me that I am in Brazil! I am not a great dancer but I had a blast. I hope we go again while I’m here. The restaurant didn’t have walls on the front, it just opened up to the night air. Also, it was very spacious. But it was pretty hot and really humid, so after just a little dancing I was really sweaty. But so was everyone else and no one cared. Every one was just enjoying the music and each other. How nice ☺. I actually feel like I got a workout tonight. My legs are pretty beat.

Ok … time to sleep! Thanks for reading, I took some pictures tonight that I can put up later. Don’t expect an update until after the weekend – we will be staying in the rainforest tomorrow night! ☺ Oh yeah, and I do have cell phone service here (it’s the network), but I am roaming. Seems like that could get expensive so I’ll be avoiding the cell phone as much as possible. Goodnight!