Looked out the window, and what did I see...?

MONKEYS!

Early yesterday morning, from the living room window of Chez Calé. There was a family scampering across the roofs, but they also took a few minutes to sun themselves and do some nit-pickin'. As monkeys are wont to do on a sunny morning. Excellent way to start the day.

...hug?

When i first looked at this picture I immediately flashed on Dr Evil with his son in the "give your father a hug" scene from Austin Powers. Is that wrong?


Dr. Evil: Can I have a hug?
Scott Evil: No.
Dr. Evil: Give me a hug.
Scott Evil: No way.
Dr. Evil: Come on. Let's go. Pronto.
Scott Evil: What are you doing?
Dr. Evil: I'm with it. I'm hip. Well, don't look at me like I'm friggin' Frankenstein! Come here and give your father a hug.
Scott Evil: Get away from me, you lazy-eyed psycho!
[Dr. Evil shuffles after him with his arms out]
Dr. Evil: Hug, hug, hug.


Amazing views though, which clarify the geography of the city very well. This is the lagoon and Ipanema. Copa is to the left out of shot, more panoramas on flickr.

Jazzed-up mucking about with Dali

On the way to hang at Ipanema Beach today, I stopped by Dali's phat pad to see if he could come out to play. He's kind of my Rio Felix Leiter now and has been invaluable to the mission, but today was sunday and all cariocas hit the beach on sundays. He was in the middle of entertaining so couldn't come out, but I stuck around long enough take this amusing video. (I spent about an hour trying to do the music edit right at the end, so I hope you enjoy it.)



This is for Juliana and Dali's friends worldwide.

Brazilian birds

Taken at Ibirapuera Park in Sao Paulo on the day before I left last week. Beautiful park - lots of kiddies and kissing couples and sunshine bouncing off water. And many birds.





More new pics, including new graffiti and Sampa street scenes, at Trip do Brasil.

Pug bowling

Last night I got to hang out with Dali the pug at his phat pad in Copacabana. I wanted to play some pug bowling with him, but we didn't have the right equipment.

Stage four underway - Rio: The Return

Back in Rio now, and lovin it. Sampa is an amazing city, but I've decided that I'm definitely a Carioca rather than a Paulista. In the final stretch now, the mission is approaching its denoument...

Graffiti treasure trove

There's a street in Villa Madalena, a neighbourhood in western São Paulo, that has been given over to graffiti artists. The work there is extraordinary - orginal and striking, with identifiable elements of the art's roots mixed with Brazilian sensibilities of sex, politics and nature. My favourite mural at the site, a kind of triptych, incorporates all these themes into its imagery and even manages to fully incorporate an actual tree. The first picture below is from the middle section of the piece, and I've added a few more below that. There are about 25 pics of other works in the Trip do Brasil flickr set.

Brazilians taking the piss out of Zidane

I was in Praca de Se in central São Paulo on Friday and heard a cheer rise up from a crowd gathered in the plaza. I went over to investigate and found a TV crew that had set up a dummy in an Italian football jersey, and was inviting locals to headbutt it. It was very silly. The director saw me laughing and came up to ask me if I spoke Portuguese but I had to say no - to think I came this close to being on Brazilian telly nutting a mannequin. Anyway I filmed a few efforts and threw the vid up on youtube (to at least one person's consternation, according to his/her comment). At the very end the put-upon dummy even has a pop of its own at the cute presenter, who was quite aware of the absurdity of the scenario.

Sampa, with a bonus ninja

Here's a small selection of São Paulo pics from my first two days here. First of all, as I mention below, it's absolutely feckin huge. It's not really possible to capture this in a photo but these two below were a stab, taken from one spot in opposite directions. Notice that there are towering buildings as far as the eye can see in both directions, and that I'm on a road above a park. There are views like this all over the city.




There's also a big homegrown hiphop scene in Sampa and all kinds of street art and graffiti everywhere, much of it pretty good. There'll be more of this coming - there's some excellent burns in Rio too, but I needed better light for good pics.




(While on the subject of ninjas, I want to give a shoutout to Ask A Ninja, his latest screed against 'Pirates of the Caribbean' which is nothing short of genius, and his new business initiative. Best of luck to the man in black.)

The SP Metro system is excellent too, clean and efficient. You can also buys books from machines on the platforms, and check out those titles on the bottom row.

Yes that really is Machiavelli, Engels and Nietzsche. It's hard to find Engels in a bloody bookshop in the US. Extraordinary.

Meanwhile, back in the 'real' world...

My free internet access here has allowed me time to catch up on some news from the US, and there are a couple of gems from the past week or so. This one about "terrorist targets" is a follow-up to a post I wrote back in June.

New York Times - It reads like a tally of terrorist targets that a child might have written: Old MacDonald’s Petting Zoo, the Amish Country Popcorn factory, the Mule Day Parade, the Sweetwater Flea Market and an unspecified “Beach at End of a Street.”

But the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, in a report released Tuesday, found that the list was not child’s play: all these “unusual or out-of-place” sites “whose criticality is not readily apparent” are inexplicably included in the federal antiterrorism database.

The National Asset Database, as it is known, is so flawed, the inspector general found, that as of January, Indiana, with 8,591 potential terrorist targets, had 50 percent more listed sites than New York (5,687) and more than twice as many as California (3,212), ranking the state the most target-rich place in the nation.

The database is used by the Homeland Security Department to help divvy up the hundreds of millions of dollars in antiterrorism grants each year, including the program announced in May that cut money to New York City and Washington by 40 percent, while significantly increasing spending for cities including Louisville, Ky., and Omaha.

“We don’t find it embarrassing,” said the department’s deputy press secretary, Jarrod Agen. “The list is a valuable tool.”

You know what else is a valuable tool? Jarrod Agen.

And in a further sign of America's happy descent into a theocratic irony-wormhole, a replica Statue of Liberty - half the size of the original, no less - holding a giant cross and the ten commandments went in Memphis for July 4. Perhaps this holy erection will hit the DHS terror target list soon too. Some background and extra links on the "Megachuch mega-lawn ornament" here.

Bahia roundup

So I'm in Sao Paulo now, and it's massive. I mean huuuuuge, on a scale that even I, a seasoned gentleman spy and international man of mystery, have rarely encountered. It is the largest city in Latin America after all, but damn it's a big place. Anyway, more on that later. For now I have free internet access at my hotel, so it's a good time to put up some of the pics from the week I just spent in Bahia. All 70 of them are on the Trip do Brasil flickr set, but lack context.

In Salvador I stayed at Pousadar Ambar, a very sweet wee guesthouse in the Barra district, a couple of kms south of the town centre. They have this bottle-top cleverness hanging in their front window.


The historic center of Salvador, the Pelhourinho, is all narrow cobblestone streets and plazas. On my last day there I came across this fairly revealing indictment of the Brazil football team's performance in the Copa do Mundo. Ouch!


I also took time to explore some of the historic roots of capoeira, including a short visit to the school founded by one of the early pioneers of the Regional style, Mestre Bimba. It's now run by his son, Mestre Bamba, and I was fortunate enough to drop by while a groups of tiny kiddies were in class. Watching people no more than 3ft high play capoeira is something I highly recommend. This is the view of the street from the school itself.


As part of the research I'm doing here (the parts of it that don't involve cats that look like Hitler) I visited a hiphop school in the neighbourhood. On the wall at the entrance are a series of words that are good to know in Portuguese, and not too hard to figure out.


This is a cat I made friends with, who clearly bears no resemblance to any dictator.


I needed to get away from the city for a couple of days, so I took a bus up the coast to a small eco-resort called Praia do Forte.


The town has a famous giant turtle reserve there, so every business has a comedy turtle on its front sign. Here is an example, followed by actual turtles. The tiny ones grow into the massive ones in about 15 years, assuming they survive the various slings and arrows hurled at them.




And so I bid goodbye to Bahia, as Sao Paulo beckons and the mission enters stage 3.

On the eve of Stage 3 - Sao Paulo

Taking care of some loose ends in Salvador tonight before heading to Sao Paulo, or Sampa as it's known to the locals. I spent the weekend away from the city in an 'eco-resort' called Praia do Forte, a little way up the coast. There's a famous turtle reserve there so everything in the town has a happy turtle on it, although none of them were of the ninja variety unfortunately. They are massive beasts though, and quite friendly. I also saw more monkeys - very wee ones indeed, scampering along a telephone wire. Smaller than a squirrel, with wide furry faces and ringed tails. Needless to say such animal antics quite made my day. I'l get some pics up when I can.

Ok, and yes, a grudging well done to Italy. The street outside this NetCafe might as well be in Roma for all the noise the local imports are making, blaring their horns and trying to get their hands on every female that happens by. Zidane's fall from grace was shocking, although the impulse to headbutt the odd Italian is one we can all relate to, I think. Shout-outs to Ano, Sebba, Lele, the two Marcos - you unbelievably lucky bastarrrrrrrdos.

Lessons in "go away"

(Blogger is all in Portuguese right now, which is just a wee bit confusing but I'll soldier on...)

Last night I was sharing large bottles of beer and stories with a fellow who's lived in Salvador for about 16 years now. He runs a record shop and is looking to start producing local acts that perform Samba de Roda, or what he calls "the original samba". He used to live in New York, where for a while he managed a Gambian griot - a kind of West African minstrel that spreads news of other places in the form of songs - that played with Herbie Hancock. Cool guy.

Anyway, we were pestered by people wanting stuff from us (our beer, for the most part), and he taught me exactly how to put a stop to this, in Brazil at least. Here it is: you avoid eye contact and give a firm wag of the finger. This, he assured me, would do the trick where my "No, really, thank you" would not.

And sure enough, today I stepped out of the bus at the historic district's Praca de Se, was immediately accosted by a chap of dubious character, deployed the finger wag like an old pro, and he stopped in his tracks. Beautiful. No more crackhead tourguides for this gentleman spy on a mission, oh no.

Cracos touris

After making such good friends with, and in, Rio, I'm now flying solo in Salvador. I've already established one or two new contacts, although the town itself is a little harder to get to know. Tuesday is the big night out here so I saw about five different bands playing in the street, and an all-girl drum ensemble making a fantastic noise. Didn't take my camera though, as crime is pretty rife here. I've already taken for a few bucks by what one of my new friends here calls "cracos touris", loosely translated as "crackhead tourguide". I'm sure he'll use the 10 Reais he got out of me on milk for his kids like he said he would.

These pics are from earlier in the day, the first of the harbour and the second of Rua Joao de Deus in Centro Historico. Saw my first capoeira games today too - Bahia is where that all started, of course.

Initiate Stage 2: Salvador de Bahia

Leaving Rio tomorrow morning, following up on a key break in the mission (now codenamed 'The Cats From Brazil', see earlier posts for clues).

Yesterday began with the England match. Good effort, entirely predictable result. Still, I had an adrenaline stomach-ache for a couple of hours at least. No time to wallow though, as Agent Calé and I immediately hotfoot it to Racinho, the favela where we watched the previous Brazil game. Alot happened that day and I can't get it all down yet, but - it involved a lot of very loud firecrackers/explosives that were used in flagrant disregard for any safety instructions they might have come with; a generally good-natured acceptance that their team lost because they played really badly; piles of yellow and green plastic decorations torn down by kids, so big they could jump into them and roll around; a ginger gentleman with a pump-action shotgun, which is always a dodgy combination anyway; a street party that was pretty impressive given the events of the day; and an astonishing collection of photographs taken by a small gang of 7-9-year-old girls that kept begging me for my cameraphone, running off with it, bringing it back to me to reset it back to camera mode, then demanding it back again. Two hours this went on. I haven't figured out how to get 20 photos from my phone on to a computer yet, but I'm working on it.

Jimi

On the path that runs round the lagoon.


The flat neighbourhood on the left is Ipanema. Rocinha occupies the whole other side of the mountain to its right.

Loser Saturday

Shit.