mais adoro Rio de Janeiro

I think I made a very good choice. I started with Sao Paulo, and then went to Rio. Should I have done the other way around, I might not have liked SP. Rio is just gorgeous. Not only has the sea and beautiful surroundings. It also has very nice historical buildings, and just something in the air that makes it vey special. I definetely add it to my list of top three (the other two are Saint Petersburg and Barcelona). You may wonder about favelas and insecurity. Well, I saw some favelas in certain areas, but most of the city is pretty safe. There is police in the streets, but even when there is none, people walk quite boldly. The same thing I saw in SP. And I noticed quite a number of wallets and handbags easily accesible for pickpockets. So either there aren't many thiefs around, or people are overconfident. Or well, maybe the pickpockets are not the most important kind of crime. Police and civil servants can be quite corrupt too. Just an example: our Sao Paulo-Rio coach was stopped by the police, and after keeping us there for a while, a policeman came in and said that "he was under the obligation" of charging us a certain tax of aprox. 1 Euro per passenger. Just, it turned out that our tickets were saying that the tax had already been paid, so he could not charge it a second time. He tried though, and spent some time negociating with the driver. Some passengers started to get nervous, and even one of them took the drivers seat and started to horn. In the end they just let us go without paying anything.
In Rio I'm staying with some friends of my mother. This is another Galician that emigrated to South America -I told you that there are plenty around- and that has spent here most of his life now. So he is actually more Brazilian than Spanish, although his son-in-law said that he was too serious to be a real Brazilian. In any case, he is being extreamly nice showing me around and I'm also getting the chance to practice my Portuguese. Just they were a bit dissapointed when they learned that I wasn't so keen on footbal. The team you support is one of the first things that your are asked when meeting some Brazilians.
For the rest, I will continue to walk around the city today, and go to at least one of the museums in the afternoon. And next week I will head to the Amazonas. I already got the ticket to Manaus.

Eu gosto de Sao Paulo

I jumped in a plane yesterday and I landed in the city of Sao Paulo. I was welcomed by a winter afternoon of 24 degrees (centigrates, of course), wich was a nice change from the cold (12) in Foz de Iguazu.
Sao Paulo is a megametropoli, home to more than 1.5 times the Belgian population. But despite its size, it doesn't look that messy. A clean underground and reasonably moderm buses run round the clock. Cars practice some creative driving, but tend to respect the trafic lights and speed limits. And much less horning than in Madrid, by the way. From what I've seen, the city is full of "normal" people of all races. I say normal, because I haven't seen neither too much ostentation (megarich) nor very poor. Some of all kinds, of course, but the majority seems sort of middle class. Most cars are quite new, although still small (corsas, clios, 206s ..). But nothing to do with the old models of Porto Alegre, and of course Montevideo or Buenos Aires. The city is huge, as I had the chance to see yesterday when I went to the theatre. I was supposed to take a long combination of metro + bus + train, but seeing I couldn't make it on time I decided to take a taxi. The taxi driver didn't know the street name nor the neighbourhood, so he stopped to ask some other taxi drivers. They didn't know it either, but he could borrow a SP guide which helped us find the way. Just, we were running really late by then, so I earned the right to enjoy slalon driving through 9 lanes urban motorways and also through much smaller streets... you can imagine. We finally made it on time, and I could buy my ticket 1 minute before they closed the ticket office. The play was not quite what I expected, but I still liked it. I think I could understand about 80% of it, which was good. For your info, Peter, I understand beter the Paulistas, which makes things easier here. On my way back I took another taxi, and the driver decided to give me a treat: an extra touristic trip for which I had to pay. Still, I appreciated it, as I could see some other parts of the city, but of course he lost his tip.
Something that called my attention. About one in three of the ads in the street are about studying: universities, masters of all kinds, languages, ... In Montevideo one in two where about getting credits. You have an idea of what the people are asking for.
There's only one thing I miss in Sao Paulo, and they are the cafes from Buenos Aires. But maybe I'll get to see some tomorrow as I walk in the real centre. I also expect to see a different face of the city during the working week. Maybe it will not be as friendly as it's been so far.
About your concerns on my pictures, it's not always easy to find the software to reduce their resolution and upload them. I'll see what I can do. Finally, for Judith, most of the time I write my posts off line and type them whenever I find a computer. You see strange times because the blog is configured with Brussels time, and I am in a different time zone, 5 hours behind. Don't think I'm going to bed that late; even here I still keep healthy habits.

Around Iguazu

Interesting to read some of your comments.

Thanks Gustavo for your suggestions, but I've already filled my days with other kind of activities here in Iguazu. I started visiting the Brazilian side of the waterfalls, and they turned out to be really impressive. The good thing about them was that the experience is progressive. First you get a good view from a distance and say, ok, they look nice. But as you get closer, the buzz becomes a roar, and in the end you are right there watching from a few meters thousands of hectoliters flowing a stone's throw away. I spent there about an hour, took some 150 pictures, and ended completely soaked. By the way, I bought a digital camera right before coming from Belgium, so I can send you some pics.

For the evening I'm staying in a youth hostel out in the country side, so as usual in this kind of places, you meet a lot of interesting people. A number of European students on holidays, an Estonian oceanography professor, a clown from Madrid, a Belgian doctor working on HIV in Mozambique, and a group of 4 basques (basques, not Spanish, as they said) making a tour of South America by bike.

Today I went with the Basques to Ciudad del Este, a bordering town in Paraguay. The experience there was more what I expected to find in South America. A big mess, people buying and selling in the streets, passengers getting on and off runing buses, and moto-taxis carrying people, boxes and who knows what across the border.

For tomorrow I have scheduled a view of the Argentinian side of the waterfalls. I will be able to judge then, as Brazilians and Argentinians don't seem to agree on which side is nicer.

About Merche's question, my family in Uruguay is an uncle of my father who came in the 50s and his son. He got married the day before crossing the Atlantic, and spent 40 years here without going back to Spain. He worked here as a baker.

Sixto, Willy Fog era un poco más bruto que yo. Se recorrió el mundo en 80 días. Yo sólo Sudamérica en apenas 60. Y bueno, aún no he encontrado a ninguno de esos personajes. Sólo a Lula y Kirschner, pero a nadie más que tu conozcas. Por cierto, que Rafa se va para Espanha. Felicitadlo si os acordais.

Porto Alegre

So, finally I left Uruguay behind. In total it was a 5 day visit, and I think I managed to see quite a number of things. From very poor areas to the super posh Punta del Este, where celebrities of the neighbouring countries come to spend their holidays, and a coffee can cost as much as in Brussels. I spent most of the time with my family, which was nice, and the Uruguayian exposure even included a visit to a notary (escribano in the local jargon) with my cousin. Interesting to see that they also inherited the Napoleonic code, so things are pretty similar to Belgium or Spain.

Anyway, I am in Porto Alegre now, my first stop in Brazil. I came during the night by coach, so I couldn't see much of the landscape. Only in the morning, as we were arriving: green wetlands, very very pretty. I'll try to see if I can visit them tomorrow. About the city, not much to say. It seems that the standard height for constructions is 12 floors, so you can imagine how it looks like. Lots of tall buidings and only a few old lower ones and some parks scattered here and there for a change. By the way, most of the nicest buidings belong to -no surprise here- one of the many banks. You see who has the money.

And a few random observations: the most popular shops seem to be lotery shops, and the taxis are Fiat Uno this time - called Fiat Mille down here. I took one and paid 2 Euros for a 10 minutes ride. Not bad.

The best, so far, is the people. Shop assistants are ready to smile and make jokes as you talk to them.

Not so nice: to my disappointment I see that my Portuguese is a bit rusted. I have troubles to understand some of the "sutaques" (accents) if they speak fast. I hope this gets better in the coming days.

And I think that's all for today. Tomorrow evening I'll continue towards the Iguazu waterfalls. I may write some more stuff from there in a few days time.

Finally, thanks for all your comments, both private and on the blog. I may not answer to all of you, but I certainly read you.

Uruguay

I arrived in the country through Colonia del Sacramento. This is a nice town on the coast with some Spanish and Portuguese houses and ruins. The weather was almost like Belgian summer, so I could eat in a terrace and have a good walk around.
I continued then the trip to Montevideo. On the way I saw lots of fields and thousands of cows. Farming is the first industry of the country, so this is not surprising.
About Montevideo, I'm staying with an uncle of my father (another Gallego emigrant). I've also been with his son and grand children, so this part of the trip is more of a family visit. But anyway, I also had the chance to see some things I wouldn't see otherwise. His house is somewhere out of the city centre, and the bad economic situation is very visible here. A number of houses for sale (locals are leaving the country), old businesses abandoned, roads and sidewalks in bad state, dirtiness, grilles in every window, and very old vehicles and donkey charriots together with some newer cars (we are very democratic here, said my cousin. We allow everybody to go on the road). I'm sure I'll see worse, but this is already a good introduction to the many problems of South America. I'll stay here until Sunday, as my family convinced me to stay a bit longer. The city doesn't have much to see, although hopefully I'll go again to the centre this afternoon. I say hopefully because the weather has changed and it's pouring here. I expect it will be better in Brazil, my next destination for next week.

First stop, Buenos Aires

After a long and troubled journey, I finally made it to Argentina. We were stuck for 4 and a half hours at Heathrow Airport after interrupting the take off procedure twice. We had several technical anomalies, including some petrol leak (fire brigade had to come, empty the tank, have it repaired, fill it again) and two passengers in a panic, one of whom jumped out of the plane leaving her luggage behind (and which of course had to be removed). And finally, to make the trip longer, we made a stop over in Sao Paulo, a fact of which I was not aware.
Anyway, I'm in Buenos Aires now, and I had the chance to walk around the city centre -"minicentro"- for a few hours. My first impressions, after a short visit, are the following: Argentinians are noisy, at least much more than the Belgians. But that is not difficult, is it? A lot of things reminded me of Spain. Maybe is the language, the Telefonica logo everywhere, some street and houses, ...and definitely the cafes. There are as many as in Spain, they have a similar look, and they make the same kind of noises (dishes, waiters talk, coffee machine...), and I could even order a "cortado".
Anyway, other things I didn't like: the pollution caused by a lot of old cars and buses (by the way, one third of the taxis seem to be the old Peugeot 504. Remember them?) I also saw a lot of old and new things coexisting not necesariously in harmony, and I got the impression that salaries must be pretty low here. All businesses seem overstaffed. You simply could not afford it in Belgium. In the evening I also saw a lot of people opening the trash bags in the street and looking for some stuff. Not very nice.
Ah yeah, and two more things. I saw a surprising number of bookshops (although books are not that cheap), and there are many more men wearing a beard than in Europe. I must say I liked that.
Well, that's enough for today. Tomorrow I will take a boat to Uruguay, where I'll continue my trip. I hope to spend some more time in Buenos Aires in September, and discover other parts of this lively city.

Historias de gallegos

(Gallego = Galician = native from the Spanish region of Galicia, just like me)

Buenos Aires, beginning of the 20th century. A Galician young man works delivering goods for a grocery shop. A few days before Christmas he is asked to carry a certain lot to a particular house, but in the rush of the season he drops a few bottles of wine. “Estupido gallego”, what do you think you are doing, complained the angry client. The maid, a charming Galician young lady, helps cleaning up the mess and establishes a certain complicity with the embarrassed compatriot. Love sparked after that accidental encounter, and the couple got married and went back to Spain. They happened to become my great grand parents.

Some thirty years later, another Galician young man tries to build a future in Argentina. He works hard, earns some money, and manages to start a business in the town of Salta. But an unexpected revolution in the area makes him loose all his fortune overnight, and is left without much. Forced to start again from scratch, he moves to Buenos Aires, hoping to have better perspectives there. But jobs are scarce, and my grand father has to end up begging in the streets of the city. He asks for some help in the Spanish consulate, and he is literally kicked in the ass. Eventually he manages to find a job and save some money for a trip back to Spain, only to find out that a civil war breaks up soon after he arrives. But that’s another story …

These two examples just to show one of the reasons why I want to visit Argentina. Like many other Galicians (close to 1 million emigrated there), my forefathers tried their fortune in this country. A bit like those Americans that come to Europe to find their roots, I will be searching a little bit of mine there, trying to discover a country, and more in general a continent that was so much shaped by the Spaniards and Portuguese until not so long ago. Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. A backpack, the Lonely Planet, and two months ahead. Lots of things to see, experiences to live, and people to meet. You are very welcome to travel with me through this blog.

MBA ball

Exams are finished, and we had yesterday the MBA ball. Great to see you a number of you there, and to celebrate the end of this year. Despite the busyness, I’m sure I’m gonna miss it. It was a great experience, and it has allowed me to meet a lot of cool people like you.

Now I'm waiting for the grades, hoping that everything will be all rigth. And then, off to South America in 8 days time. Stay tuned!