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Thursday, March 30, 2006

EVEN MORE AMAZING NEWS

Since my Car-Is-Likely-Arriving post generated such interest, I was going to write another post elaborating on things like the make (Honda), the model (Fit), and the driving conditions in Brazil (crazy), but all that is out the window now, solely due to the fact that when I got home from work this evening, there was a Very Mysterious Envelope slipped under my door.

Thinking that it was my phone bill repackaged, I casually slipped it open. Imagine my surprise and shock when I discovered that it was my CPF!!! For those who aren't intimately acquainted with Brazilian bureaucracy (consider yourselves lucky!), the CPF is the equivalent of our social insurance number, except that in Canada, one's SIN is a rather private affair. In Brazil, on the other hand, it is necessary for almost any transaction that one might like to make: go to school, go to a doctor's appointment, vote, buy a fridge, take a bus, rent a video, rent an apartment (although just a CPF is no where near sufficient for this), get a job, take a plane, get a bank account, get a credit card, get a telephone line, get a cell phone, get a cell phone chip, get a job, etc. Essentially, no CPF = no identity, no life. Posts about my previous adventures with my CPF can be found here, here, here, and here.

Although I received my CPF number a year ago (January 2005), the actual card never arrived and even though we tried many times to obtain the actual card, the bureaucracy simply did not acquiesce and I remained cardless. Fortunately, in most cases, it is the number and not the actual card that is necessary and I managed to survive, even though my first attempt to get a video store membership did end in failure due to the lack of an actual card. So I remain perplexed as to why the card suddenly showed up, discreetly pushed under my door, but I won't complain. My personhood has been sealed and in celebration I am heading off to Salvador for the weekend! Hurray!

* the photo above really is my card! How cool is that?

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

AMAZING NEWS

I received a phone call on Monday saying that i) MY CAR EXISTS; and ii) MY CAR WILL ARRIVE IN RECIFE BY FRIDAY! This, as you can imagine is news that would normally knock one off one's dainty feet, assuming one had dainty feet, of course. Since I have neither dainty feet, nor believe anything without seeing it, I remain skeptical. However, the fact that the dealer was able to provide a serial number and the value of a tidy sum of money that I owe them due to the fact that the making of the car was delayed so much that I am now acquiring a 2007 model instead of the 2006 model that I originally paid for BACK IN DECEMBER, is a strong indication that in fact they are telling the truth. For those who remember, the actual process of buying my car started back in November (not including my humming and haaing and series of attempted test drives for several months prior) when I started filling out the required paperwork. Let's see: November, December, January, February, March, ah! who's counting anyway? So my car should arrive on Friday. Then I start the process of ordering my plates. My guess is that I will be driving by the end of April. Anyone else?? Ah! Freedom, sweet sweet freedom!

Tuesday, March 28, 2006

Yet Another Post on Food

This afternoon, I ate lunch here, previously blogged about here. In my first blog about Jardins, I lamented the fact that the food was so good that I found myself eating quite a bit more than my usual lunchtime fare. Well, had I been able to stick to overeating by only 200g today, I would have been rather ahead in the game. Fortunately for me, I don't have a clear account of today's weight consumption since I went back to the scale three (yes, three, trois, três) times, and thus the totals got all smudged and blurred together (obviously things are better this way)! Of course if you consider that lunch was in true latin fashion and you divide the gram consumption by the two and a half hours that I was there (it was a business lunch...), in the end it really wasn't all that bad! Needless to say, Jardins is definitely one of the best por quilos that I have been to in all of Brazil. High praise indeed since por quilos rule the roost here!

Monday, March 27, 2006

It's a bird. It's a plane. It's, it's, it's ...

... What is it?

Is it a demonstration?

Is it security forces gone amok? Is it the end of the world as we know it? No! It's the Recife vs. Recife football game that I went to on Sunday afternoon!

This weekend, two of Recife's three teams were playing one of the final games of the second round of the state championship. Some friends and I decided to brave the crowds and attend. The teams were Santa Cruz, which just recently moved to the top league at the national level [let me just say that the party in the street continued for THREE weeks when that happened!], and Esporte, a team in the second level nationally. At the state level, both teams are in the top league and are essentially battling it out for the state pennant. As things stood prior to yesterday's game, underdog Esporte was one point ahead of Santa Cruz and emotions were running high!

Overall the game was good, the bantering was omnipresent, the fans were emotional but well behaved, and the score ... was tied! This morning's scandal [of course!] was the fact that the ref's decision to not count Santa Cruz's first goal is being called into question.... When I asked a friend if it was due to human error or perhaps to something a little less genteel [I had just been given the whole lowdown on the underside of football -- think drugs, money, politics, and passion], he slowly shrugged his shoulders with the ubiquitous sei la -- who knows!

In any case, lot's 'o fun and two thumbs up for my first football game.

Some random thoughts on Brazilian football vs. Canadian hockey:

Accessibility: Tickets for games go on sale the day of or a few days before, and the cheapest tickets cost R$7 (CAN$3.50). Very democratic and accessible! Hockey tickets on the other hand....

Security: Brazilian football games have a few additional security measure over our hockey games: the refs get escorted off the field by a swat team (full gear) following each period; men in uniforms with rather large German Shepards stand around the perimetre of the field facing the stands; and the fans of the losing team exit the stadium first while the fans of the winning team wait a half an hour prior to leaving.

Fan Participation: At the beginning of the game, when the players enter the field, they come running on with a gang of pint-size fans [three year olds +]. Apparently parents can pay a small fee to have their kids run onto the field hand in hand with the players. It is an very cute sight! The kids get to run around a bit and play prior to being called off for the game to start.

Fan Seating: Stadiums in Brazil have specific sections reserved for the fans of the opposing teams. Lord help anyone caught unawares on the wrong side of the fence!

Occupational Health & Safety: Football games can be stressful! Apparently there is at least one heart attack per game!

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL

Sunday, March 26, 2006

First Loves

I am finally back online after a trip to visit my first love, a true Latin American gem. First loves are a funny thing and after this particular trip, I believe the saying to be true -- that one always holds a special place in one's heart for first loves. Of course, back then things were simple and lacked complexity. Not like now when even seemingly easy tasks like buying a car or household appliances tend to bog down a relationship.

I met my first love in 1993 and over the years, we have spent many many months in each other's company and have had quite a series of adventures together. Being in the company of one's first love after so much time has passed leads to a lot of nostalgia. The memories, the smells (diesel?), the tastes, the familiar music, the sounds, the colours, the tucked away restaurants and courtyards that added to the allure, and the beauty all converge in one's mind.

It's then that one realises that the reason one moved on to new loves wasn't for any inherent breakdown. Rather, paths diverged, new opportunities opened up, and we moved on. Even though I could tell that my first love had changed quite a bit in the intervening years, the magic was still there and I was enchanted. It seemed like hardly a day had passed. But enough of the saudade, without further ado, I introduce you to my first love:

Guatemala!

My first time in Guatemala was in '93 when I volunteered for a Canadian NGO way up in the western higlands of the country. Since then, I was back several times over the course of 95 and 96, and then again in 99, 2004 and now, 2006. This time around, I had the luck of being sent there for work meetings. Hurray!

Taking advantage of the opportunity, I arranged to meet up with a friend -- also heading to the same meetings -- to travel for a few days prior. We met up in Guatemala City and headed out to Rio Dulce, a five hour bus ride from the city heading towards the Caribbean Sea/Atlantic Coast, a third of the way to Tikal. Even having travelled through Guatemala many times before, I had never made it to Rio Dulce or the Atlantic Coast. We stayed at the relaxing Hacienda Tijax, and enjoyed poking around the area by boat and kayak. This picture is from a little island near the lodge which was a haven for herons and cormorants.

Our treks also brought us face to face with a lot of kingfishers, which was also rather neat!

After spending a few days on the edge of the jungle listening to the birds and monkeys, relaxing, and filling our bellies with tasty food, we headed back towards Guatemala City and our final destination of Antigua. The original capital of Guatemala until an earthquake in the late 1700s destroyed it one time too many, Antigua remains a treasure of Spanish colonial architecture and romanticism. Touristy? Incredibly so. Even more so than it was thirteen years ago, and thirteen years ago it was already very movimentado. Guatemala and Antigua have always been touristy destinations, particularly with Antigua's hundreds of high quality Spanish language schools, but this attraction has only continued to grow in the last decade. Although I can totally understand the reasons why -- beauty, charm, accessiblilty, colour, flavour, nature -- it is incredible to see so much change and "progress", not always in favour of all.

Between bouts -- or perhaps thanks to the bouts -- of nostalgia, I spent every spare moment between meetings soaking in the atmosphere, eating in all the best spots [hurray for per diems!] and browsing the myriad of markets [I suspect that some lucky vendor's kid will be heading off to college due to my spending...]. Sadly, as all encounters with the past do, my time in Guatemala came to end and I commenced the long journey back to Recife. Fortunately, this current fling has much to offer, including Olinda, Brazil's answer to Antigua, and I slipped back rather easily into my present arrangement with Recife none the wiser!

Now, if I could just get the car thing sorted out for once and for all ....

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

While the World Ate Pancakes

To keep everyone entertained while I run off to join the circus, I've made another quick montage of the final night of Carnaval (Tuesday), which we spent at the Patio de São Pedro in downtown Recife. Although no less central, the Patio was not one of the polos do Carnaval that was bombarded by people. I have no idea why since the party there was amazing! Stay tuned for more. Até pronto!