the post of last night (Saturday) - with a delay...

Hello everyone!


It has been a while since my lost post… but here’s my update!!
as indicated in the title, i should have updated the blog on saturday but because of internet problems (and a great hike) i am posting it only now.
Photos could be seen in my Picasa album: http://picasaweb.google.com/itayb2/LatinAmericanExperience

Enjoy...


Since my last update, I’ve been to an island called Itaparika, following that I left Salvador and got to Lençóis (more about it later on) after a long bus ride.

So if I want to continue from last time – Sunny, Itzik & I decided to spend another evening in the lovely area of Pelourinho in order to see some more folklore and local music & traditions. It was really exciting. Later that evening we sat down in a restaurant which was quite abandoned – but not for long. Following us, some more people joined. I ordered there a Shrimps & octopus moqueca (a Brazilian stew, made with vegetables, herbs and coconut milk) – which was the best dish I have had so far!!!
Oh, an important fact about food in restaurants – they always serve the main dish with two side dishes – usually French fries and rice with or without beans. Sometimes one of them changes to mashed potatoes and the other to farofa (a type of flour made of Manioc – a local plant quite like potato or sweet potato)
While we were having fun in Pelourinho, Oshrat and Eyal have been dancing, singing and having fun with all the bands passing the street next to the apartment. 6 days without stop about 10-12 hours a day. Not sure how they got the forces for that.
On the next day, we (Sunny, Itzik & I) decided we want some time off from the huge noisy trucks and that we should find ourselves some quite place. The Itaparika island looked like a great choice. This island is located about 30 minutes ride on a boat from Salvador, in the middle of the ‘all saints' bay.
That's how we found ourselves on a boat heading towards this island. When we got there, we found ourselves a taxi driver with whom I was able to speak some French. He took us to a beach named Conceicao beach. In the beach there was lots of sand (a beach, after all), a restaurant and a hotel. Nothing more than that. After a short walk along the beach we found out the next beach (which is probably the best one on the island) is occupied by ClubMed. So we understood that what is good for the French (and others) is good for us as well. That way we found ourselves in the local hotel (which was NOTHING like ClubMed).
So, after settling down in the hotel and a long stay on the beach and in the very hot water (sea temperature was more than 28 degrees!!) we sat down to eat in the restaurant, where a live band was playing. Sunny ordered a fish-dish, Itzik asked for some spaghetti and I decided to go for the ‘sun meat’ (which later on I discovered was meat dried in the sun).
After about an hour, Sunny got her fish (which was very good, though it was VERY salty). A few minutes later as it seemed like we are not going to get anything else, I asked the waiter and he said – your meat is coming right out. in return I asked what about the spaghetti we ordered, I was answered – ‘oh, we don’t have spaghetti’….
Therefore, Itzik (who fed on the fish) asked for some more rice and fries…
My ‘sun meat’ was nice, though very salty. Cooks…go figure...
Later on that evening we decided to go for a walk on the beach, looking for some party to join. Some music was playing in the beach restaurant, but as it was dance music and not local music (which we were already singing all the time), we decided to skip…
We found in one of the streets nearby, a small truck (like in Pelourinho) with a band on top of it singing and making the people around it sing and dance. We stayed with them for an hour before it was time to get back to the hotel
When we were back in the hotel, we went to play some pool next to the pool. :-)
We were joined by a group of local teenagers who were not so used to foreigners. Only one of them spoke English (Carol, 14 years old, attached to her boyfriend who did not understand why speaks with foreigners twice her age) – she told us that all were visitors from Salvador and that they often come to the island for vacations.
After that, back in the room, we turned on the TV in order to catch a glimpse of the carnival in Rio. This was something totally different and amazing by itself. Lots of dancers and actors dressed up in customs dancing and moving to the music in a big stadium in front of the crowd. One of these groups will win a trophy and will show up again on Saturday (yesterday, actually). Next carnival – in Rio.
The next morning we went to beach just to see that the water went far far away from the beach and only small ponds were left nearby. This was a time to take a walk on the beach and see locals getting a sun bath or playing soccer (football).in the early afternoon it was time for us to leave the beach and go back to the ferry to Salvador. We (actually it was Itzik) helped pushing the taxi a little as it stopped working on the way.
An hour later we were back in Salvador, ready for the last night of the carnival.
Just before that, we had late lunch in a restaurant which is a type of buffet where you take whatever you want, and they weigh it and you pay the price according to the weight of the food on the plate. This type of restaurant is quite common around Brazil.
On that last evening, trucks with all the same singers on top passing again. By now, we know half of the songs by heart (well, not the real words, but the ones we gave them. Itzik is an expert for that!).
The day after more trucks appeared in the morning and woke us up (around 10). These were the last ones, just to say goodbye and sing some more songs.
During that day all the streets were cleared from all the mess and temporary shops and stands that were there for a week. Was amazing how they cleaned everything that quickly – and then in the afternoon – like nothing happened during the last week.
As our stay in Salvador was at an end, it was time to decide where to go next…
Eyal had his ticket back to Israel on the next day – so he just had to take a flight to Sao Paolo.
Oshrat had a flight to Porto Seguro where she planned to spend the rest of her vacation.
Itzik was hesitating at first what to do, but as soon as he heard of a big football match in Rio he went and booked a flight there.
I thought about it quite a lot, and at the end decided to go to Lençóis which is an old diamond-mining town, in the middle of a huge park called ‘Chapada diamantica’ about 6 hours west from Salvador.
Sunny decided to join me there.
So we went on a walking-trip to the bus station in order to buy some bus tickets. Spent about 4 hours (shopping, messing around, etc) just to understand this was not the right bus station for us and we could not find any tickets there. At least now we knew where we had to go.
On our last evening in Salvador we decided to go to Pelourinho again, this time with Oshrat & Eyal who were not there yet. We spent some time in the picturesque streets and squares until it was time for dinner. I went for the same Moqueca as last time, but it was not the same (though not bad at all!). After dinner the waiter from the restaurant joined us for desert, coffee and a long talk in a nearby restaurant. This guy was Brazilian who lived about 10 years in Colombia & Argentina and had many stories to tell. And he also had a crush on sunny…
When the waiters in that restaurant showed signs of ‘we want to go home, it is late, and why are you keeping us here?’- It was time for us to leave…
Next morning we woke up in order to ask the building keeper to call for us and ask about the bus. There were available seats on the 11:30 bus so we (Sunny and I) ran to the bus station (after saying goodbye to all the rest). The bus was already full so we got tickets to a later bus and sat down for a 3 hours wait.
Many Israelis have passed in that bus station. Including one who told us about his 52 hours bus ride from Iguassu falls (I will get there sometime soon) to Salvador. This time, he had only 28 hours ride from Salvador to Rio. Lucky him!
At 13:00 we got on the bus for our 6.5 hours ride…. Quite a long one, but it is fine, now that we are in Lençóis.
From the bus we went directly to the hostel recommended by Oshrat (she has been here 3 years ago), where they are supposed to have the best breakfast in Brazil. I wouldn’t confirm that, but the breakfast is not bad at all….

I will stop here for the moment.
Will update some more soon, after a few more treks in here…
some caves, some waterfalls and some terrain vehicles ride are still waiting.

Good night Lençóis.

Wow Salvador!!

Party party party!!

Here's a small explanation about what is going on here - on two main roads pass the big trucks with singers on them. The trucks are surrounded by ropes which mark a territory around the truck – to this restricted area, only people who got the right T-shirt could access. For each different truck on each day there's a different shirt, and each costs between a few dozens of Reals to a few hundreds of Reals (1 USD is about 2 Real)! Usually you can find thousands of people surrounding each truck in this restricted zone.
Other than that, in almost every building on those roads, they build these balconies (a type of VIP lounges – called 'Camarote') so people could come and be more relaxed than on the street – and of course, that cost a few hundreds of Reals per night – usually with free food & drinks.

So last night we (Sunny, Itzik & I) decided to go to the old city of Salvador (an area called Pelourinho) and see what is going on there. We took a taxi in that direction (about 20 minutes ride). On the way, we stopped on a traffic jam – just to find out it was created by a big group of gay people wearing pink and harassing every man and woman around them. We were no exception, no matter that we were in a taxi. Was soooooo funny!

After that we got to Pelourinho, to see some colorful groups prepare their shows. We marched around in the beautiful old city – and everywhere we could hear music and see people dancing or singing. When we got to the main square, a few groups were dancing there, making many kids happy.
We went around the area – and saw many more groups, each group is dressed differently, probably according to origin and to neighborhood.
Many of these groups were men dressed in women clothes. some just for laughs but some were probably gay, harassing us with different types of sex-toys and in other ways…
After a few minutes around we met the Mayor of Bat-Yam (which was probably released by the police – if he's here for the carnival).
This type of carnival is very different from the one Salvador is known for, and I have to say I liked it much more!

After a few hours around the center we decided it is time to get back to the apartment and so we did. After a few minutes in there, with all the noise down stairs – we decided to go down and join the crowd so we did that as well. About an hour later (was already around 12:30) it was time to get back up to the appt.
In the lobby of the building we met the owner of the place, who called us three and asked if we want to go to the party in the building's Camarote. Of course we did not refuse. Then he gave us the right T-shirts and access badges.
So there we were at the VIP lounge in our building's Camarote. This was so much fun…… free champagne (well, a type of bubbly) free beer, free food, free caipirinha (which was finished just as I came to the counter… probably he knew what was going to happen…) – and very important: all the singers on the trucks passing by give most of their attention to the people in those balconies…. We had 3 more hours of fun, until all trucks of the evening finished passing and called it a night. We agreed it was a good idea and went back up to the apartment.

In the morning……
After waking up, I heard from the bathroom window loud Israeli music (Come to Rio, by Judith Ravitz) – which reminded me that today there are audition for 'Kochav Nolad' (the Israeli Star Academy, American Idol, etc) – on the roof of our building.

So I went up to the roof to see more than a hundred Israelis gather around and making lots of noise (singing with the loud music), together with the production, the host and the judges. After one audition, one of the big trucks came near (on the road below) and made so much noise they decided to stop the auditions.
I understood they went on later that day.
In any case, when we tried to get out of the building – it was almost impossible. Hundreds of Israelis were standing outside the building's doors – trying to get in.
when we got back from breakfast, we made them let us pass between them, and they just looked at us amazed how we could pass the security of the building without any problem…

In the evening, same as two days ago, huge trucks party….
one of them was Bob Sinclair, which I believe is the only none-brazilian artist performing here… he makes really nice music, and it felt like one of those house-clubs back home (not that I go there J )…

It is about time to finish this day.

Three more party nights ahead, and then 3 more months of endless partying !! J

Good morning Salvador!!

On the last post I told you how I left Rio. Now it is time to hear a little about Salvador!

But jest before that – when I finally got to the airport in Rio, 45 minutes before departure, after standing in the long line – I got to the counter where they told me my flight was overbooked!
so of course I complained about it – telling I got a confirmation and even a seat number in my reservation! After another 30 minutes (when time was already after departure time) – they removed someone from the flight (or so they said – well, they said he volunteered to get down) and I got my place, 20 minutes after original departure time – only to wait 30 more minutes in the airplane on the ground.
In Salvador – again, no one waited with a sign with my name – so I took a taxi to the apartment hotel where I was supposed to stay for the carnival.

Here, I met with Sunny, Oshrat, Eyal & Itzik who are the nice Israelis I am going to spend the next 10 days with! Half of them are already carnival veterans, coming back again and again to Salvador.

We are staying in a neighborhood called Barra (pronounced Baha) – which is on the edge of the city (which is V shaped) – one side on the Atlantic ocean and the other on the 'Bay of all saints' (a huge bay, which the state is called after - Bahia). On the edge on the V – there's a light house.

The apartment is situated on the street just on the Atlantic Ocean shore and we have ocean view from the window and not only that – one of the parade routes (the better one) is on the avenue just below our window!! You just couldn't expect more!!
Well, actually you could – on the roof top, we got a swimming pool… :)

Another day has passed, and in the evening it was time to go and say hello to Beyonce!!!
but before that – Ivete Sangalo – a Brazilian singer, full of energy, made everyone jump for an hour and a half. She sang some brazilin songs that even I know J and at some point she even got Xuxa on stage (and made her sing 'Ilarie')!!
after this excellent show, everyone waited another hour for Beyonce to come up, and what a show this was!!!

After the concert, we and 40,000 more people went out to the highway in order to catch a ride back into Salvador. The traffic on the highway stopped because of all the people jumping on every car willing to take them part of the way (even for money)!

Finally we took a taxi on the opposite direction, which has taken us back to our place. At about 3am…

Next day, first Carnival night! But before that…. In and out the pool on the roof top, catching lots of sun! Later on, we went to the market – full of antics, African statues & masks and lots of clothes!! 'Experience' !

Around 5 in the evening – carnival starts!!!!!!!!!! So what is it like here in Salvador?
60 years ago, a guy went out with his truck out to the streets playing loud music – and it just worked. Today, every evening you have 2 dozen trucks from 17:00 till 03:00 passing in the streets playing music – like singers & bands – and everyone is singing and dancing around the trucks! Everyone is colorful, jumpy & happy!

So has our building is just on the main street where the trucks pass – we just have to stand at the window or on the roof top and see all this amazing happening! But it is much more fun to go down and join the crowd!!!

This last evening (first evening of the carnival) was great! I am sure the next to come will be even better!!!

Good morning Salvador, good night Israel!

Three days in Rio

Good morning !!

Three amazing days have passed since my last update …

First one was quite boring. Waking up in Madrid late in the morning, running to the airport in order to catch my flight. I got to the airport 50 minutes before the flight had to leave.

No one really wanted to check in my baggage. Until I finally found someone who let me pass the line and has registered me.

I ran to the airplane, just in order to wait 1.5 hours on board until take off. Flight was long and boring. In the evening, in Rio airport, no one waited for me with sign with my name on it L so I took a taxi to the hostel. It was already around 11PM local time – time to go to bed.

In the morning (around 8), I was awakened by the noises made by my new room-mates who have just arrived.

In the afternoon, I went with Sunny (my Israeli friend) to visit the statue of Jesus on top of the Korkovado mountain. The view is amazing and you can see the whole city from above!

One of the stories about this statue (mainly told in Sao Paolo) – tell that the day the people of Rio start to work, the statue will start clapping!
well, actually, this huge statue (30x28 meters) was built for the 100 years celebrations of Brazil. it is located on the highest mountain in town and it is a symbol of god (the statue) on top of the universe (city of Rio).

You could actually see this statue from almost everywhere round the city and far beyond it!
at night, it is lit so it looks like Jesus is glowing and floating in the air!

Following that, it was time to go to the beach… CopaCabana beach!
Amazing beach, great water, soft sand and many gorgeous people.

Later on in the evening, we joined two Israeli friends going to a Churrascaria. Nice food, good meat and you can eat as much as you want.

Next morning – time to go Hang-gliding !!
Even though I had to wait about 4 hours in order to 'jump' – the 25 minutes hovering above the city and the beach were amazing and made me forget everything else!

In the evening, i found 'Acaraje' in one of the street carts. it is a local dish made of something like a doughnut which is filled with many sauces and small shrimps (not a must) - this is simply delicious!!!

At night – a boat party!!! One of the best parties I've been to (and I am sure there are more to come!). First hour, they closed all the women on one deck and gave them free drinks. After the hour has passed – time to mingle.

Party has ended at about 5 (back to the harbor) and a taxi back to the hotel – to bed – to sleep!!

4 hours later – a wakeup call – time to try and squeeze all my things again into the bag.
This is because I am leaving Rio :-( But just in order to go to Salvador !! :-)

So I got to run, got a flight to catch (and this time - not with a glider)!!

See you on the other side!

Last day in Madrid

Friday in Madrid

Today was a calm day, spent mostly in relaxation.
In the morning Churros and coffee in the local Churroseria.

(look what they do to dogs in here)

In the afternoon, I headed towards the 'Palacio Vistalegre' – home stadium of Real Madrid in Basketball, but they were not at home (probably b tecause of the loss to Macabbi last night!!) – so I stayed to watch a concert.
Outside the stadium, from the 'north gate' was a huge line – which I followed. It went all around the stadium back to the south side (!!!). what I noticed was that 30 meters behind where the line started was the southern entrance to the stadium which was empty!!!! Took me 1 minute to be inside, seated on my new seat for the evening (guess I am too old to jump around on the floor with the teenagers – at least with a band which is not in my top 10).

So now, the concert begins. First – Mystery Jets (?!?!), a nice band seems to be British.
But then, the Arctic Monkeys came. Nice band who makes lots of noise!! But you probably know a song or two by them (though you don't know it is them!)
In the crowd, I inhaled LOTS of cigarette smoke, beer was spilled over me and this drunk girl fell over me a few times. even though all that – I survived.

Following that, got back to the apartment and started packing my bag, as tomorrow noon I got the flight to Rio de Janeiro!!!
Took me a while to fit everything in the bag but I succeeded.

Now it is time to go to sleep, as I got about 6 hours sleep. Hope I'll catch some more during the flight.

Good night Madrid.

Second day - Toledo (and some more Madrid)

Finally – some sleep!

But then it was over. Just like that! only difference - i woke up in Madrid and not in Tel-Aviv.

So I decided to travel today to Toledo. A very nice city, sacred to the three religions – and not too far from Madrid.

I got to the station 8 minutes before the train leaves – and guess what, they don’t sell tickets 10 minutes before departure. This gave me an hour and a half – which I decided to spend on some culture.

Reina Sofia Museum is just across the street from the train station – so this is my selected destination.

In the museum I understood I could tell which one is Picasso and which one is Miro. But I guess that is it.

So 1.5 hours are enough to see lots of art and even understand some of it (can you really understand art??)!

And then – Toledo.

I was asked to say hi to Avi, but I didn’t see him around. So if any of you does – say hi.

Toledo is a nice small town, about 1km on 1km (or so they said) with many slopes. The city is surrounded by walls and by the Tajo river and full of small alleys. It is full of attractions, like many museums or the house and tomb of 'El Greko' (the greek) – a famous (greek? Spanish?) painter who used to live in Toledo, it also has great view and two synagogues.

I do not remember when the last time I visited a synagogue was, not to mention two of them – especially ones which charge money for entrance!!!

Well, actually both are types of museums nowadays, so maybe they have the right for that. In one of them I got a discount after showing my TLV university student card(don’t ask!) in the second there is a fixed price with no discounts. No even for poor Israeli students…

(Toledo at night - from outside the walls)

In the evening, back to Madrid, where I decided to go and drink (once again) the best Mojito in town. It cost me 7 Euros (!!!) but worth every cent of it!

After that, it was time to go and get myself a ticket for the 'Arctic Monkeys' concert tomorrow. Which I did. So monkeys, wait for me!!

Later on, it was time for some tapas. Found myself an excellent place (been there before), where they projected the basketball game between Macabbi Tel-Aviv & Real Madrid.

I believe I was the only Macabbi fan there!

14 seconds before the end of the game, they changed the channel…. Didn't let me see how it ended (though it wasn’t hard to guess then –Macabbi had 7 points lead). I guess they don't like losing.

Seems like my Spanish is getting better, but I know I still have some time to improve it.

And again, it is quite late for me, so I am going to sleep.

Rio is closer than ever!

Two more days to go.

Good night…

First day - Madrid

Hello there,

This is the first time i write a blog. hope it will be as good as my adventures!
at this very moment, i've passed 39.5 hours without sleep. so i think this concludes the first blog.

Well, ok, i will continue and try to reach 40!

Anyway, to keep things short: got a message from work that i am no longer wanted there - and following that decided to have my 'after the army trip'. where to? carnival in brazil and the rest of south america!!
departure date: 3/2/10
first stop: Madrid.

last night, been working hard in order to finish clearing & cleaning the appartment before my trip (huge thanks to Omid who helped me all night).
when that was finally finished (at 03:25) the taxi was waiting outside to take me to the airport.
on the way, we (the driver and me) picked up Sunny and straight to our flight.
Flight was full so we had to seperate. got myself an emergency exit seat (woohoo).

After the flight, in Madrid, got a ride from Jose to the town center, where i strated to wonder for about 6 hours.
Madrid has not changed mych since my last visit (a year ago) though i could update that works at Plaza del sol were finished!







In the evening, two tapas-bars with Romina & Jose. lots of good red Spanish wine with excellent mussels (moules!) as well as other tapas.

(see how tired i am!!)


Now, it is time to go to sleep (finally)