Winter Snow

Today is the second or third snowfall since we have arrived, however this one is more of a dusting and if the forecast holds it should be mostly melted off by tomorrow afternoon. It turns out that the cold spell that hit in November seems to be more normal than we had thought. Many people had remarked that there is usually a cold snap in November and then it warms back up, which so far has been consistent. Today there is about an inch of snow on the ground, but tomorrow is supposed to be back up in the mid-forties. The weather overall has not been that bad, but it is dry and I have found the value of vitamin D supplements. Staying hydrated is a bit of a trick, in the cold consuming water really doesnt seem necessary, but its a lot easier to forget than I would have thought.

The job search has turned fruitful and I should be employed come January. After taking the law enforcement exam (and winning the local test section physical requirements with first place in the 300 of my heat, max sit-ups and push-ups and first place in the 1.5 mile with an 8:40, very happy with that) I realized that the police gig is just not very realistic. Even if I get called in for the second of 4 tests/interviews, there are only 9 spots available and would be at least 6 months to a year before completed the testing and getting the job. However, completing the personal history statement with a 10 year history of residences and lifetime employment history was interesting and put me in touch with some people that I have not spoken with in years.

But this last week has yielded several interviews, some at places that I wanted and others that would at least be money coming in. I was interviewed at the Boys and Girls club for a Teen Program Coordinator position, and had a second interview today, but turned it down because I had already accepted another position. I interviewed yesterday for a position at an employment worksource company, but that didnt really seem like a move up the ladder. So I accepted a position that was offered at Lifeways, a longterm mental health facility as a Mental Health Specialist. The job is set to start in January. The only downside is that the job is in Oregon, which means a 35-45 minute drive each way. But I am hoping that after training I will be able to either work a 4-day schedule (4/10's) or 4 plus day schedule (4/9's and half day in the middle). That would leave me able to still make it to train fairly often and be able to take care of Ashley at least one day a week. But it looks like we are also going to need a second car and a dog walker to make sure Ashley can get out during the days. I am still waiting to see a copy of the employee handbook, but assuming nothing weird is in it, I will be starting work next month. Time to enjoy my unemployment while I still have the time.

So to enjoy the time I am going to be entering a BJJ tournament Jan 10 in Spokane. I will be able to train until the week before full time and then with the training week I will do what I can to be prepped for the tourney. After that I will have to see how much time I have to make it to the gym. I am hopeful that I will be able to get to the weight room in the mornings before driving to work... but I dont know.

Ashley is also coming along well, but we have several things that need work. I am still not sure how long we could leave her in her crate without issues. When she first got here she had some fairly severe separation anxiety and the first attempt to leave in the crate while we were at the store resulted in her shitting the crate... not how I wanted that to go. So I have been slowly putting her in and leaving the house for short amounts of time, but nothing more than 15-20 minutes. But it does seem to be going better. The other challenge is that since we dont have an area to really confine her while we are gone she will find all kinds of things to chew up. Things I dont think to put away because what is the fun in eating a plastic tape dispenser? But slowly we are getting better (it has only been a month) and she is getting more comfortable and less anxious. The trip to the dog park last week went pretty well and working with her on not getting crazy when she sees another dog, but that is a slow battle. While at the dog park it seemed that she was able to maintain a jog to full sprint for the entire time, about, 30 minutes. I have been repeatedly impressed by her stamina. And she still doesnt bark, so that part is nice. The next test will be christmas.

We are going to be heading to Vancouver to spend the weekend with Marina's family. Going to get to see what Ashely does to the house while we are not there... fun times.

The job search

One challenge that has presented so far has been finding a job. Being a fairly small place, it is not teeming with employment opportunities outside of labor and a few random industries. I have had some luck off the bat and hope that the positions offered are worth while because after this round of searching the next round is going to require a lot more creativity.

This afternoon I went to an interview at gold's gym for a personal trainer spot. I think the job is a lock, but it's a sales and commission based position. So the company could really care less about who they hire. Either you come in and make sales or you don't get paid. They win either way. That is the main reason I haven't been to interested in corporate gyms and one of the main drawbacks at the UFC, people were always trying to sell you on something. While I understand that, it gets old fast and not really what I want to be doing. But if the experience can help lead into the blending if mental and physical health then it would be a good experience. Have to wait until the follow-up interview.

The second promising lead is with the boys and girls club. They have a great program coordinator position available and an interview the Monday after thanksgiving. That position would be way better long term, but if it doesn't come through then personal training may be the best in the short run.

Finally I am set to take the police exam for openings in the Pasco police department Dec 4. That one I go back and forth on, but figure it is with trying out. I have been studying a little and think I am ready for the psych eval at least. From the news recently I know that you always resort to deadly force. So on all the multiple choice I got that one ready. And the physical section will be easy. So at least it will be an interesting day.

In the midterm I need to find things to pass the time. I am looking for a Chinese tutor. There is a larger Chinese population than I was expecting so I am hopeful there. Other than that winter is killing a lot of options. Time to get fit and clean the shit out of the house. Half-marathon anyone?

Thanksgiving in Richland

So now we have a house, a decent amount of furniture and have had our first houseguest. This week will be thanksgiving and the first time that I have not cooked a bird in 7 or so years. I am actually looking forward to enjoying the meal. Usually by the time I am done cooking I want to eat anything so it will be a nice change to see it from the other side again.

Marina is starting to settle into her job, although with the first week of orientation and the second cut short by a holiday, i think it will still be some time before she really gets into a flow at work. Next month will be cut short again, but then it should start in earnest. I however, am still looking for work.

Things are moving slowly on that front, but it seems that it is starting to get somewhere. I have an interview tomorrow at Gold's Gym and another next Monday for a position as a Teen Program Coordinator at Boys and Girls Clubs. So will have to see what comes of those. I would say that I am happy to not be working, but unlike Hawaii, in the winter here there really isn't much to do. I would try to spend more time at the gym, but even the martial arts here are not as popular as other places that I have been and finding classes that run all day has been a challenge. But one way to distract myself while searching for work is playing with our new dog, Ashley.

We adopted Ashley from the shelter last week and she has gone in today to be spayed. We know very little about her history, although from her behavior I would guess that she had a rough go for a while as she can be very timid around people. overall she is very friendly with everyone, althouhg we are going to have to work on the jumping up on people. A good size (38 lbs) and while we dont know her age, young probably between 1-2 years. She is working on basic commands, sit and stay would be good and they are coming in pretty quick, only a couple days and she is starting to sit before be asked when coming in or before getting the ball thrown. 

Time to pick her up from the vet, more to come.

Settling into Richland

We arrived last week in the Tri-city area of eastern Washington and have started to settle in. We went through a mad dash to try and secure housing before our placement at the guest house for PNNL was up. After getting a feel for the area and figuring out that we wanted to try to be closer to Marina's job so she could bike to work freeing up the car when possible we decided that north Richland was the place to be. We ended up moving on a duplex with a decent size yard. However, like all the properties we saw, it was bare, included no washer or dryer. There was also the fun of waiting to find out until the last minute if our application was approved because of several complications. First the credit check got held up because the job for Marina had not technically started so we had to prove that we could actually afford the house. Then once that was cleared it was veteran's day, so the background check was delayed another day. But it was resolved with 24 hours to spare. So as soon as we were approved to move in there was another mad dash to get furniture in the weekend before Marina starts work.

There are still many things needed to make the house more comfortable. We are going to be testing out amazon as there are at least 20 plus packages set to arrive in the next couple days. It will be like 8 days of Christmas except at this rate it will likely run for more than 8 days... but our kitchen will be fully stocked before we know it.l

The other thing that we have been trying to do, now that we have a place, is get a dog. Which has proven a lot harder than we thought. There are plenty of dogs for adoption, but finding one the right size and temperament has been tricky. The ones that we have seen and really liked were of course snatched quickly by other assholes who also liked the amazing dog. Part of the problem was that in our excitement to find the right dog we started looking before we had a house and didn't know if we would be dealing with breed restrictions (most apartments have all kinds of restrictions and Kennewick has restrictions on pit bull ownership). Now we are checking the lists to see what comes in so we are ready to swoop in a get the best dog possible before anyone else.

Time to run... have to run and get an air mattress for our first guest coming one week after we moved in...

Driving Leg 2

After the return from Brazil it was time to get back on the road...but have to say, starting to get tired of being on the road. We are now in Portland and not sure if we are going to be heading to Richland or making a slight detour to Seattle while waiting for the housing to be arranged in the Tri-Cities...

Driving Leg 1

Part one of the road trip. After Austin there was a slight (35 day) detour to Brazil, but at least we got a break from driving.

Pictures from Brazil

Trip summary... so far

South Pasadena, bought a car
Monterey, CA. went to the aquarium
San Francisco, met with James and Lisa went to the Jelly Belly Factory
Lake Tahoe, a night of camping and a day of hiking
Sandy, Utah, time with family, some good jiu-jitsu
Moab, Utah, a night of camping and some awesome trail riding
Denver, CO, Riot Fest, hiking St Mary's Glacier, great to see Pablo and Kristin
Plainview, TX... dont bother
Austin, TX, time with Phil and Maryann...Brazil prep
Sao Paulo, cold and rainy. The city is overwhelming, but Brazil is great.
Curitiba. Met up with Nilson and had a fun time in the city, first Brazil BJJ
Florianopolis. One of the best places I have been. Surfing, BJJ, beaches, great people and food.
Iguazu Falls. an amazing waterfall but a very underwhelming city
Salvador, the food, the beaches, beautiful city, some good bjj... time well spent.
Trancoso, sleeping resort beach town, warm water and endless beaches
Arraial D'ajuda, good people, more going on, Marina gets food poisoning.
Rio... one of the most amazing cities. so many sites, great food 24 hours, fantastic BJJ, beaches, surfing, dancing... it just goes on
Arraial do Cabo...crap town, great diving. saw a sea horse, didnt get to ride it, happy to dive, happier to return to Rio.
Rio 2, more BJJ, food and dance class, but sadly, time to leave
Austin 2, rest, relax, train and head to finish the loop
Albuerquerque... used a UPS store to send some documents... good waffles
Grand Canyon, cold and raining, but made the hiking far more pleasant than hot and sweaty.
South Pasadena... back at the start. Muay Thai, BJJ, food and movie, family time and then back on the road to (hopefully) the final destination.

Coming full circle

Now back in South Pasadena we have come full circle from the start back in August, but there still is more to go. Marina was able to score a solid job in Washington State, so now we finally know where we are going. After making it all the way from South Pas to Brazil and back, we are going to start the trip again along the same route, making some of the same stops for the first day or two before continuing north to Portland and on to Washington.

Before making it back to South Pasadena we stayed a few days in Austin to rest and get used to the states again. We were able to get in a good roll at South Austin BJJ, a great and very welcoming school that I look forward to going back to next time in Austin.

After leaving Austin we headed to the Grand Canyon for a couple days of hiking and camping, at least that was the plan. The first day we pushed to Albuquerque and finally got hit with cold and rain. Winter is going to be a rough adjustment from Hawaii. The next day we arrived at the campground inside the national park at the Grand Canyon, it was cold. Apparently, they were experiencing colder than usual temperatures and we did not have cold weather camping gear. After setting up the tent we put in 4 extra sweatshirts, a couple jackets and anything else that we thought might keep us warm. It turned out to not be enough.

Things started ok, it was cold but we got the fire going and had some dinner. Then is started to rain. Light at first, but it picked up and stayed consistent. We moved into the tent, watched some TV on the laptop (camping just isn't that hard anymore) and then after a couple hours and the rain not stopping decided to call it a night. Unfortunately we did not have enough warm gear and the night was pretty miserable. Marina froze going to the bathroom and I couldn't sleep because I refused to get up and held it all night. Needless to say we were up early the next morning.

We set out on a hike down the Kaibab trail and made it Skeleton point, 3 miles down the trail. It was an amazing hike with stunning views and lots of mule poop and mud. Everything you might want on a hike. We made it down and back in 3.5 hours with a 30 minute stop for lunch. When we got back we realized that it was supposed to be a 6 hour or so hike. I think our legs would have preferred if we took our time. 6 hours later on the drive to South Pasadena our legs were hurting...hiking and then driving are not a good combo. After the hike we decided that it was not worth camping our second night and got on the road.

After a 7 hour drive we were back at our starting point in South Pasadena and happy to not be cold through the night. Now its time to prepare for the last leg... to Washington.

Back to Rio

Last days in Rio
Return from Arraial, traffic. We caught the bus out from Arraial do Cabo without incident and were on the road pretty much on time (which for most things here is not the norm. Brazilians, like Hawaiians, have their own sense of time, punctuality is not really part of that system). However, as we got close to Rio traffic started to back up. Even though it was midday on a weekday, a 3 hour bus still took close to 5 hours to arrive. We covered the last 10km in about an hour to nintey minutes. But after arriving it was nice to be back in Rio. It is night and day between the smaller places around. There are so many small cafes open till midnight or 24 hours, something is always happening, and you can find pretty much whatever you need. Except socks.
Marina bought some boots when we arrived in Sao Paulo because the weather was a lot colder than expected or a least that was the pretense. But because she didnt have any with her, she also didnt have anything besides sport socks which were too thick. After a brief search in Rio, we started to realize that they just dont sell socks. We started looking at women's feet to realize that no one was wearing anything, footwear wise, that required socks. It was all flip-flops and sandals. I guess it just doesn't really get cold enough to warrant foot condoms. So we spent the morning of one of the last days on a mission to find socks, someone had to carry them. After about 6-8 stores we arrived at a C&A, European chain, that had what she was looking for. Some things are hard to find even in Rio.
We also hit up a final Churrascaria, although I know I butchered the spelling. These are the true Brazilian steakhouses. All you can eat meat being paraded around the restaurant on platters. It just keeps coming. At least 10-15 different kinds of BBQ'd beef, chicken, pork and seafood along with a buffet of salads, sushi/sashimi (although pretty much only salmon), and the sucker foods. Sucker foods are the fillers they want you to eat so you cant eat your share of meat. I learned that before coming so I was prepared. But that also means that you eat until you are sickeningly full. The two times that we went out to an all-you-can-eat, I didn't eat again for about 12-18 hours. Just not hungry. And usually need about 3-4 hours to digest enough to feel like moving. But the BBQ is amazing and the variety impressive.
We were also able to go to one last BJJ class the night we arrived back in town. Over the weekend while we were off diving, there was the Rio Open BJJ championship which several of the guys from the gym competed in. One of the white belts took second, a purple belt (who was annoyingly good and composed while rolling) took first, and a black belt took first in both gi and no gi. Impressive given the quality of BJJ that we encountered while in Rio.
On Wednesday afternoon, after stuffing ourselves at BBQ, we went to Parque Lage. It's a park that is open to the public but seems to be maintained by the school for visual arts. It makes it interesting because the center piece is an old mansion that is open to the public, but also is an active classroom/studio building. There are art exhibits on display as well as students working on their paintings in a large courtyard that shares its space with a cafe. So you can sit, have an espresso and watch as the students work on their paintings. The building is scattered with little exhibits and classrooms, with class in session. The grounds are eclectic and well maintained and also contain the trail head to hike up to Christo Redento, which had we known would have been better than the train, but what can you do. Too much in Rio to know it all ahead of time.
The last thing we did was squeeze in a Samba class. Now, I cant dance. But I really cant dance Samba. Marina had a good time, both dancing and watching me fail at it. It's hard and they move their feet so fast in such small little steps. But the instructor was patient and there were only 3 of us in the group class. And the other guy was having a more trouble than me, so at least I took second (out of 3). I am not opposed to going out dancing more often and I think when we settle in the next location the plan is to go more often than every 6 months so at least I dont have to start each class back at the beginning and can hopefully remember something to build on each time moving forward.
Rio was great. It is hard to imagine that I am writing this at the airport in Sao Paulo waiting for check-in to open so we can go through customs for our flight back. 35 days went fast. Real life is going to start again soon...

Arraial do Cabo

Arraial do Cabo
Our trip to Cabo did not start out well.  The initial bus was delayed about an hour by something, accident or who knows on the highway just outside of Rio. Once we arrived, the taxi took us to the right number for the address, but unbeknownst to us, the wrong street. However, there was a hostel/hotel/pousada at #440 so we jumped out thinking it was the right place. We quickly learned otherwise, but fortunately is was only one street over. So we walked over and found...nothing. All of the homes tend to have large fence/walls around them with gates for the car and walking in. However it means that you really cannot see what the inside looks like at all. Some could hovels, others could be mansions, but all equally hidden away by their outer gate. We had only seen interior pictures so we had no idea if we were at the right place. And no one was responding to our knocking at the gate. We returned to the original hostel and they were nice enough to let us use their wifi and were soon able to get in touch with the person in charge of our accommodations. After getting into the room, we realized that we had been pretty spoiled by really good airbnbs leading up to this place. It wasn't that bad, but the standard had been set so high that it felt like a let down. There was a nice outdoor kitchen area, but no pots/pans, matches to light the stove, or even sponges/soap to wash the nonexistent dishes. There was a coffee maker, fridge, microwave and plates, but again no way to clean them. The internet didn't work. And the next morning there was no water in the bathroom. There was a housekeeper, very nice, but she didn't speak english, and the owner was not to arrive until the next day. All of these problems were solved to some degree, but it was a change from the amazing service and preparation in the places that we had stayed previously.
Things got much better the next day as we started our first of two days of diving. While the water was a little colder than we have become accustomed, the flora/fauna was plentiful and easy (to some degree) to spot. The first dive we probably saw the most, but each of the dives was fun. We got a little lucky as they had been forced to cancel several of the previous days due to high winds and bad weather. It was still a factor, but at least our dives were not compromised. Visibility was a bit poor, if you weren't careful it would be easy to lose the group, which we did at one point. But the sites were easy to navigate and finding the boat at the surface was no problem.
Across the 4 dives we were able to see a seahorse (first time outside of a tank), eels, batfish, a snake eel, skates, lots of fish, spider shrimp, some local corals, nudibranchs, puffer fish, turtles, a rock fish and many false flyers. Overall, it was good diving and nice to see some different species from the stock that I had seen often in the Pacific. Next time, whatever is the recommended wetsuit/warmth protection we are going to need to ask for more, cold was the only challenge. But people were great, the boat was a diverse international mix and overall awesome.
The last day we decided to go on a 3-hour tour, boat tour of the outer beaches and islands. The tour ended up being about 6 hours, so for about $12-15 (USD) a person, it was a good deal. The weather was good, but the wind was still very strong and mixed with cold waters, we did not spend much time swimming. The trip took us out to see a local lighthouse and then back to a beach with an interesting unloading/loading procedure. The beach was located on an island that could only be accessed by boat. The tour boats would get as close to the beach as they could and discharge whoever wanted to go ashore (most would swim about 10-20 meters). Some of the larger boats had small inflatables that would ferry people in and out. However, our boat had someone who not only couldn't swim, but also had two injured fingers she kept in a waterproof iPhone case and held above her head as she went ashore. Both on arrival and return someone from the boat with additional flotation devices had to help swim her across. All the time the boat is trying to hold as close to shore as possible with several other boats and inflatables around it, strong winds and a few rocks nearby. At first I was rather nervous, but then realized, 1) its not my boat, 2) shore is close, and 3) nothing I can do right now so just enjoy the show. She got on fine and the boat went to our last stop, a floating restaurant.
The restaurant was a floating platform of plastic barrels with wooden planking holding it all together. About 100 meters away was a mussel farm that seemed to supply the specialty food for the place. For about $US 7-8 we got a huge bowl of mussels that were delicious. And as you are on a floating restaurant away from everything else they have a pretty captive clientele. Thankfully the food was good and it was a comfortable way to end the day. We finally got back to our room, cleaned up and pretty much passed out from 6 hours of fun in the sun.
As I write this know we are on the bus heading back to Rio. 2 days left before returning to Texas. It looks like Washington might be the final destination, but it is still pending. Should have more info actually around the time we get back to the states. Which is good, because we need somewhere to go...  

Rio 2

Rio 2
After our long morning at BJJ and with Christ we were pretty exhausted and went back to our now travel staple home cooked meal of pasta with either tomato or pesto sauce. Once again we made a shit load and spent the next several days trying to eat it all before leaving town. By the way, grating tomatoes with a cheese grater to make sauce, pretty awesome.

The next morning we set out on what would end up being about 10K worth of walking around the city. First stop was to Dios Armois (spelling may be all wrong) or two brothers. A small park on the south end of the city where Leblon beach ends. It is a nice hike up to the top and made even better by the way the natural setting erupts out of the urban landscape around it. The views were nice and there were some monkeys that we are starting to realize are pretty much everywhere. They are pretty ugly fuckers and are more like the Brazilian equivalent of squirrels. They look like if they were larger and you gave them wings they would be helping the wicked witch of the west as her minions.

Next stop, after more pasta and some rest, was to Santa Teresa, the Escalaron steps, Lapa and some other sites I cant spell. Santa Teresa is an older neighborhood in the more central part of the city. It has many small hostels and lots of the reviews claim the best food in the city. In the center is a large (250 steps) staircase covered in mosaic tiles. It was commissioned by someone to be really cool and they did a great job (all questions see wikipedia). The walk to the top was slow and hot, but at the top is an old convent that does not seem to want visitors. Around the way is an old mansion that has been converted to an art exhibit. Sitting at the top of a hill it has amazing views of the city from a central tower that looks about 270 degrees across downtown. Not as good as Christo Rendento, but free. The house itself is an old mansion that has been donated to the city and renovated, to a degree, and now contains art and sculptures. A fair amount of the house has not so much been repaired, but had metal and glass sections built into the rubble to complete missing walls. It gives a very cool airy and open look to a beautiful old stone mansion that if restored would feel closed off, cold and claustrophobic.

There is also an old aqueduct in the area and its cool, but kind of random. After that we were exhausted and headed back to the house.

The next morning it was up and out again. This time out of town to Barra de Tijuca (that is also spelled wrong) to look for surfing. We found some, but not much. The stranger thing was who we ran into. Marina found a listing for a surf school and we located it pretty easily on the beach. The conversation went something like this; "The surf instructor there asked where we were from. Hawaii. Oh cool I am going there to surf later this year. Do you know Caveirinha? Yes, we trained BJJ with him a few times. Oh he is my brother-in-law. No shit." Took a photo and turns out sure enough we met Za, Caveirinha's brother-in-law, randomly on a beach outside of Rio.

Surf wasn't great, but it was a nice beach and fun to be in the water. We headed back to town, got in another BJJ class and headed home. The next morning we packed up and took the bus out to Arraial do Cabo.

Rio 1

Rio, 1
We arrived in Rio to a little bit of cooler weather and light rain after so many days of strong sun in Bahia. It was a nice change, especially since it lasted about a day before clearing. Today, the weather is still cool and slightly overcast, but comfortable. The apartment was easy to get and great overall. So far the best shower and some of the fastest wi-fi that we have had since we got  here. Now we can stream a show and get frustrated with lag time and turn it off after a few minutes. Marina seems to have recovered from her bout of food poisoning as well so after a slow first day things are moving well.

After an early evening we went for a walk on Monday along the Copacabana to explore the area. Two blocks away we found two BJJ schools and a Muay Thai school. So far we have already gone to the BJJ school twice as it is close and they have a lot of classes. Everyone has been great. I think now that Marina is feeling better, we might check out the MT place later today.

On the walk along the beach it was pretty empty because of still intermittent rain, but one local vender definitely marked us for tourists and made his move. He was clearly pretty destitute, clothes dirty, not looking to great, trying to earn a buck shining shoes for tourists. However, it seems that he boosts his business by dirtying your shoes first and then offering to clean them. I noticed him make a b-line from across the street toward us, walk past and in front for a minute and then turn around and point out that I "had shit" on my shoe. He said shit in several languages to make his point and then offered to clean my shoes. I looked down and sure enough I had a streak of bright yellow across my shoe. However, it was pretty clear that it was mustard and the little had sprayed it there on his walk past. Give him credit for good aim and craftiness. Later when we got back while wiping off my shoe a quick sniff confirmed, French's yellow mustard... We have been very careful with bags and how much cash and goods we carry since.

Monday night we went to check out Pedro do Sal, the old salt and apparently slave market that now houses a lively samba and dance ...party I guess, every Monday. Although there wasn't any Samba going on, there were Samba bands playing live music, various groups dancing and a couple streets of outdoor food and drink vendors, little tables with small crafts, and what not going on. It was pretty fun and we were able to make use of the Metro to get around pretty easily.

This morning after dropping in for the 7am BJJ, we headed to the Christo Redento, Christ Redeemer, big ass statue that looks over the city of Rio. While I could really care less about the statue, the views from the top are pretty amazing. The crowds all vying to take their selfie with god really get annoying fast, but when you walk to the areas out of the direct frontal assault, i mean view, the spaces open up and you can look out on the vast and sprawling city of Rio. It is pretty amazing, between the beaches and forests, the city is really carved out of a beautiful area and has done well to merge the urban with the landscape.  Now its back to the apartment to rest for a bit before heading back out to the next stop on the Rio exploratory tour.

Trancoso, Arraial d'Ajuda, to Rio

Trancoso
After spending a couple days in the city of Salvador, the next stop on the trip was to Trancoso. A small, coastal town, just a few streets, nothing paved and not a single stop light. The town is a retreat for the rich to come and pretend that they can live in the country. The beaches are beautiful, water is warm, and the town is very quaint. But it is also lacking in things to do. The area is oriented around a central square or quadrado with an old church at one end and restaurants all around. The only catch is that no one who lives in the town could ever afford to eat or play in the town they live and work.

We stayed in a guesthouse on the property of an Italian couple who lived on the outskirts of town. Again called a chalet, but I think people are using the term a little loosely. It was a nice place, although it could have used some curtains. The main house was very interesting and had an open floor plan. The majority of the home seemed to be centered around a central patio with couches and hammocks. The only drawback was that it is a good 40 minutes to an hour walk from the town center and to the beach. However, once we got the hang of the moto-taxis (motorcycle taxis) getting around was much easier.

We were able to spend several days lounging on the beach and body surfing. It was also nice to be able to cook for ourselves, something we can continue at our current stop in Rio. The last day we went up to Arraial d'Ajuda a slightly larger town to the north and closer to the airport. The plan was to spend one night there and then be able to get to the airport the next day. The town was nice and we spent some time with a good host who showed us around and took us to the beach. The town came alive at night with shops, music and tons of restaurants. However, Marina didnt fare to well and may be suffering from a severe-ish bout of food poisoning.

We have made our way to Rio and so far things are going well. Although the weather could be better, it looks like it is going to clear in the next couple days. We found a small BJJ school around the corner and were able to walk the Copacabana. But there are so many sites to see it will be hard to get it all done in time...

Salvador

Salvador to Trancoso
We are now in Trancoso after spending the last couple days in Salvador. The contrast is impressive. They dont seem to have much of that internet here, although we were assured that it might come back at some point tonight or tomorrow.

Salvador was an amazing city, but also had the feel of a city in ruins. Walking through the historic city center we were able to see many of the historic sites for which the city is known. There are endless cathedrals and small churches that have been decorated in the baroque style. To me that seems to mean that every inch has to covered in gold and nothing can left without some kind of ornamentation. It looks like a gold mine vomited all over the inside of the church. If the sunlight hit it directly the whole congregation would be blinded in an instant. But it also makes for really cool churches and they provide great variety.

Most impressive to me are the mass murals painted on the ceilings. I tried to paint the ceiling of my apartment once. I gave up after like an hour. Between craning my neck and dripping paint either in my face or on the floor, it just wasnt worth it. I am sure they may have had better technique than a paint brush and tilting your head 90 degrees, but still, 60 square meters of ceiling space would take some time.

One way to reach the city center is to take an elevator from the harbor level up to the historic district. There is a steep hillside that rises up a couple hundred meters from the sea, steep enough to prevent anything from being built on it. which is in itself impressive because it seemed that every inch of the city had been claimed for some sort of building. At harbor level there is an elevator that you can take up for $R .15, like $US .03-.04, or you can walk several kilometers around. Or you can take a taxi or bus... you take the elevator. One day we did do the walk as there are several stops along the way including a museum of modern art that although it said it was open, when we got there the only thing we saw was some kind of live art display that without labels or the ability to speak Portuguese made no sense. Later that night when reading the guide book we saw that it said, "at no time should you take the path along the water, it is dangerous at all times of the day" or something like that. I can see why. It borders a couple favelas and several of the people we passed had an overwhelming air of desperation. And there is poop everywhere, some seemed not feline or canine... But we didn't have any problems.

Anyway back at the top of the elevator you can look out across the buildings that make up the more business-ish district of Salvador. What you notice is that while they all have these amazing historic facades, a good number are missing their roofs. Above the first floor a great number of buildings are in shambles, or straight up ruins. The majority of the trees that we saw in the city were growing inside buildings that had roofs that either collapsed years ago or where removed. I say removed because looking in it didn't look like the roof caved, it just looked like it wasn't there...

The area around the hotel we stayed was really nice. It was down by the water and couple of nice beaches along a recently refinished ocean front promenade. On Saturday and Sunday there was live music, street performers and many people out enjoying the nice weather and a grassy knoll by a lighthouse that separated two beaches. It felt safe, many good cafes and restaurants and we even found a martial arts school that offered classes in muay thai, bjj, karate, capoeira, kung fu, boxing, wrestling... it keeps going and to honest seemed a little much. But we dropped in one day for a solid 2 hour workout.

The hotel itself was run by a French woman, Stephanie, who was amazing. Borderline annoyingly nice, but gave great recommendations, was very accommodating and helpful at every step.

The only downside to our stay we learned was that the city comes alive on Tuesday nights, the day that we were planning on heading out. We were able to see numerous churches and museums, a few capoeira demonstrations, ate some great food (moqueca, acaraje, and bohlinos are all really good) but if we go back we will have to make sure it includes a Tuesday night.

Our departure on Tuesday was via 12 hour bus that took 13 to Porto Seguro, a quick ferry across the river to another bus that took about 1.5 hours to reach Trancoso. The contrast between the two places (I started to write cities, but calling Trancoso a city is not right) is night and day. Trancoso is a sleeping beach town that Marina read is where rich Brazilians come to pretend they are poor. It has a beautiful coastline with white sand beaches that seem to run several miles in each direction, warm shallow waters and quiet town dominated by a central quadrado (square) that comes alive at night with ritzy restaurants and locals trying to earn a living selling anything they can. 

Iguazu Falls

We have finally left the island paradise that is Florianopolis and moved on to Iguazu falls. It is an immense difference. The falls is remarkably similar to Niagra falls, bigger, but really only an attraction because of the natural feature. Without the falls, the town would be a tiny border crossing into Argentina without a reason for visit.

Unfortuantely the size of the falls has in many ways made it almost unreachable. To protect the area from tourists and tourists from the area, everything is heavily controlled and scripted. The pathways are paved, all the tours through the park heavily monitored and guided. There is no way to get away from the groups and actually take in the majesty of the landscape without a child, tour group, selfie stick pushing its way into your view. (although on an unrelated note, I was pleasantly tickled to see that selfie taking had surpassed shark attacks in causing human fatalities on the year).

But the falls is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world (depending on which list you look at) and we are here. So we went with the throngs of tourists, took our pictures and enjoyed the day. Fortunately, on the tour that we decided to take, it ended up being only the 2 of us with a guide. So that ended up being somewhat pleasant. We biked several kilometers along a dirt road, did a little kayaking, and a short hike. We were able to see a couple monkeys and an alligator or two. A couple other animals dashed off before we knew they were there. With the spike in the dollar to real exchange rate and having a private tour for 20% off, it was the best way to enjoy the area given the choices.

Today we are going to explore the town. It doesnt seem to have much to offer, at the moment changing money and a buddhist temple are the planned highlights for the day. But tomorrow we are off to Salvador and the coasts of Bahia as we make our way to Rio.

Brazil

So far it has been a great trip. The people that we have met have all been exceedingly helpful and nice. Each airbnb has been clean and the host very helpful, some ridiculously so. Waiters and shopkeepers have worked with us despite a complete lack of Portuguese and it has been great. However, all of that has been tempered by almost daily reminders from travel sites and our Brazilian friends about the dangers that are around. It still feels odd, because at no point have I felt unsafe, but we have been a little more careful than not about where we are.

Nilson told us that he has been robbed several times in Sao Paulo. He also made it clear while we were driving around that he wanted to avoid certain streets at night that looked deserted and stuck to the main, well-lit roads to avoid a possible car-jacking. I have seen news stories about parts of major cities where they turn off the traffic lights late a night so people dont have to stop their car and risk being robbed.

Yet despite all this, everyone that we have encountered has been incredibly nice and helpful. It is hard to imagine that the courtesy and for lack of a better word, Aloha could be matched by violence and fear of certain areas or people. I realize that poverty can create challenging situations, but throughout Asia I never worried about my physical safety and the level of poverty is equal or greater than here.

Hopefully we do not have to experience the other side of Brazilian culture. The hospitality and aloha that we have been shown so far has made the trip better than could have been planned. But at the same time it is unfortunate to know that you always have to be a little careful about where you are and where you are going. 

From Florianpolis, 1

We are now Florianopolis (Floripa), the Island of Santa Catarina in Southern Brazil. It is a beautiful place and we have been very lucky to have found an awesome private cottage with a guide. We have been surfing pretty much everyday since we got here. We also went to do a BJJ class with an instructor who used to live of all places on the North Shore of Oahu for 7 years before moving back to Brazil. I guess there really arent that many amazing surf areas in the world and it is a pretty small community.

Floripa is a small island about a third to quarter the size of Oahu and I can tell that in the summer it would be a true paradise. However, the seasons seem to change here more than Hawaii, so at the moment it has been a little colder and rainier than perfect, but still very nice. Thankfully the weather has been improving since we arrived and I am going to chance it and say that we may not have any rain today.

The person that we are renting the house from is a former ASP pro surfer who has been awesome, taking us around the island to different surf spots. He has provided wetsuits so we dont have to rent, boards for us to use, and connections at local shops so that we can rent different boards when we go to other places by ourselves. That along with having Nilson here for a couple days when we first arrived has enabled us to see almost all of the island in a short time.

Before Nilson headed out we went to an all you can eat Brazilian BBQ and gorged for lunch. The food was amazing and they just keep brining you so much perfectly cooked meat. Different animals, different cuts, it just keeps coming. They try to throw you off by providing an awesome salad bar and dessert table, but the real draw is the meat. We had that for lunch and didnt really eat a full meal for another 24 hours.

Today we tried surfing at Jaoquina (spelling?) beach, but it was a little tougher than we expected. Because of the geography, the surfing here is pretty much all shore breaks. That means that there are constant waves only a short paddle from the beach. But that also means that it can be shallow and there are constant waves breaking on you trying to push you back to the beach. Trying to clear the break to get to open ocean can be hard. Today Marina and I both were not really able to get through the surf. After an hour or so of trying we decided to call it a day. However, as we had some food the weather and waves started to change and it looked a lot cleaner, little smaller, and more manageable. So I think we are going to try and head back tomorrow a little later in the day and hope the afternoon swell treats us better than the morning swell today.

Sao Paulo 2

After a couple days in Sao Paulo we headed down to Curitibaba (where we are now) and were able to meet up with an old friend who lives in the area and I met in China years earlier. Nilson was able to pick us up at the bus station and get us to our next airbnb. I will right more at our next stop. A heads up, the place in Florianapolis does not have wifi, so connection and getting online will be somewhat limited. I am sure we will find a cafe or somewhere nearby that we can get online, but if we are slow to respond... deal with it.

Sao Paulo

The flight from Dallas to Sao Paulo was excellent. We were able to get the first two seats in the first class cabin and it was like flying in a different world. You have everything from slippers to full pajamas. In your I want to say cubicle but that sounds unpleasant, its more like a private flying suite, you have a desk, the seat rotates and folds to a full length bed, your own tv and your own set of noice canceling headphones. The food wasnt all that great, but it was served on a full size fold out table with table cloths, drink service, several courses and dessert. It was the best 10 hour flight that we have taken. However, that all being said, we were both still extremely tired when we arrived, no matter how comfortable it is, I think flying still makes it hard to get a good nights sleep. On the way back we are thinking that we might go business class, its a little cheaper and as long as you can stretch out, have a table cloth for dinner really isnt that important.

Getting from the airport to the airbnb was really easy. The taxi dropped us off and we were able to go right into to meet the person we were renting from. It turned out to be a hotel, not sure if the person worked there or what, they told us to not mention that we rented off airbnb. But either way the room was really nice, had a kitchen and was in the heart of one of the nicer parts of the city. We were able to walk to several museums and markets, went to the large park which I can not spell for the life of me but was like Ibueriar park.

The only downside was that it was cold. When we arrived the first night it rained really hard and the next morning it was about 15-18 degrees C. Quite a change from Hawaii and 95-100 in Austin. We did a lot of walking, tried to find a BJJ school, but kind of struck out on that one. Sao Paulo was nice, but I think it was a little overwhelming and when you have in the back of your head that you have to be careful not to go into a bad neighborhood, we ended up taking it easy and staying close to home.

Leaving Texas

We are sitting now at DFW waiting for our flight to Brazil and wondering whether we will get the cushy first class seats or not... but I realized that I have not posted up anything about our time in Texas.

The last week has been a good time as we explored Austin and rested up for the upcoming travels. This is going to be out of chronological order, but oh well.

Barton Springs. A natural swimming hole with chillingly refreshing water. For the hot days in Austin, the watering hole with its 70 degree ish water was a welcome relief. After jumping in and letting the body go numb it was quite nice. There was also a small sculture garden nearby, but like several other things we encountered, it was closing right as we arrived. Fortunately we did not have to pay the entry fee for our 15 minute walk around.

We also went with Phil and Maryann to Longhorn Caverns. A natural cave about 1.5 hours away. It was an interesting place and nice again because inside the cave the temperature does not go above 70 or so (a recurring theme you will notice is ways to avoid the heat). The cave had interesting history a as speakeasy during prohibition to a large scale public works project during the depression. Our guide did his best to ruin the tour with terrible grammar and a complete lack of scientific knowledge. Each of us latched onto something he said, but beyond that it was an interesting site. Examples include, please dont touch the rock formations as you will kill the rock. The place was used as a fallout shelter in case of nucular (not sure how to spell the fake word) attack. The crystals on the wall would glow and absorb energy when light was shown on them. And of course the constant "more brighter".

Marina and I were also able to explore a couple martial arts schools in the area. The people at South Austin Gracie Barra were awesome and the head instructor knew the head instructor from a school that I had visited in Honolulu. We were also able to box at Austin Kickboxing Academy despite their lack of air condititioning. We tried to go to the South Austin Gym, but a $25 drop in for a one hour class seemed a little too much to be worth it. Along with a few runs and trips to the UT gym, were finally able to be a little more active than earlier parts of the trip.

One of the first runs we went on took us to the Congress Bridge in the evening which is known for the flying of the bats. Apparently there is a large bat population that lives in the bridge and comes out most nights at sunset. We joined the throngs of people waiting and saw a very large group of bats (like a scene out of batman) come flying out at sunset.

Around the house there were a great many interesting food trucks and shops on south Congress st. They ranged from a smoothie shop to artisan grilled cheese, a burger place with hours wait in the evenings, great pizza, an amazing costume shop and a candy store with more choices to the point of overwhelming the senses among other stops on the strip. It was fun to explore and nice to be able to walk despite the overbearing (at times) heat.

The candy shop was a particular favorite for Marina who is now carrying several bags of candy and I am feeling a little sick from eating too much of mine.

We were also able to take in a cultural event, attending a speech by Robert Rietch (not sure on the spelling). There was a plan to explore the LBJ library at the same time, but was closed before we arrived. Another time perhaps. The speech was interesting, but could have used more detail as he mainly covered the pop ideas that are seen in the news without the substance to explore how they could really become reality. But was still interesting and he is a funny speaker despite his vertical challenge.

I should also state that this is being written on my new ipad mini tablet, which despite a current browser glitch with the page jumping around as I type is quite nice. Hopefully it will resolved itself and make writing a better experience in Brazil. Now we are waiting to board, updates from South America to follow.

Traveling selfie montage

as much as I hate to do this, I thought I would share some photos that we have taken along the way...

Hiking Vancouver 

And more hiking Vancouver

Jelly Belly Factory

5 Lakes Trail, Tahoe

Dead Horse Canyon, Moab

Biking in Moab

More biking in Moab

Arches Nation Park

Inside an arch at Arches National Park

leaving Denver, 9/1

9/1

Time to head out of Denver and on to Austin. As we left Denver we headed toward Garden of the Gods out side of Colorado Springs. We made a slight detour to walk through the park and the rock formations were pretty cool. It was interesting to see the difference between Garden of the Gods and the formations at Arches (not quite comparable really, Arches make Garden look like a small town public park) between the type of rock in the parks and the way that it was formed.

After the park we went to an Ethiopian restaurant for lunch. It was…ok. Nothing great, flavor was really mild and somewhat bland.  The just 400 miles down toward Austin. We made it just south of Amarillo before deciding that we had covered enough and called it a night.

Sandy, missed this post before...

Sandy; 8/26/15

After getting up a little late and taking an easy morning we went to check out Unified BJJ. It was really close and they had a class from 12-2 that fit perfectly along with everyone else’s schedule. The school was really good and paired with the elevation it was quite the workout. It was nice to see quite a few of the high level students in class, including at least 3 black belts. The class itself only had one white belt and the rest comprised a group of about 20 blue to brown belts. Covered a little x-guard for an hour and then spent about 45 minutes rolling. After about 45 min, we looked at each other and were both in agreement that we were done. Everyone else kept on going, but dry air and elevation had finished us off a little early.

We headed back to Dave and Sylvia’s, did some laundry and it was time to get ready for dinner. Fortunately Ryan and Darin were able to join us for dinner. Afterwards we dropped by briefly at Ryan’s house to see Shae and introduce Marina and Natalie. Hopefully next time we meet up with them we can have more time.

It was a nice relaxing day and spent a little time with the Utah contingent of the family. It would be nice to have more time, maybe a camping or ski trip sometime in the not to distant future.

Up to St Mary's, 8/31/15

Marina and I headed up to St Mary’s Glacier, which is really more like a snow pack at this point. It was a pretty easy hike, but the altitude didn’t help. The top was cold and the wind had some real bit coming off the snow. It was cool to see one person skiing in August on the glacier and several others heading up with ski’s on our way down.

The rock areas around the glacier were covered in chipmunks, ground squirrels and we briefly saw a marmot before it hit in the rocks and stared at us while we tried to talk it back out…didn’t work.

After that and brief stop at Wilderness exchange we headed back to the house. I had an interview with the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless. Figured I would at least get a job interview done while on the road. They are a really interesting group that works with the housing first model to get the homeless off the streets and into sustainable housing. They are part of a large coalition (somewhere around 500 employees) in a range of services that work with the underserved in Denver and around CO.

After the meeting, Marina and I went to meet a former grad student that Marina went to school with who is now teaching in Denver. The plan was to head after to see my old MMA coach and try to train for the evening, but it didn’t go as planned. We weren’t able to get a hold of him ahead of time and so we just headed to the address on the website (which hadn’t been updated in at least a couple months to years). When we got there we learned that he had headed up to the mountains to go hunting. So instead we headed back, found a 24-hour fitness, ran 2.5 miles there, worked out and ran/walked home.

Lazy Sunday, 8/30/15

After a long night it was time for a lazy day. Sunday we went to REI and then realized that we should have been shopping across the street at Wilderness exchange (used and affordable gear).

In the evening we met up with some of my college friends for drinks at Nallen’s Irish Pub. Matt (Reddog), Matty, and Trevor, along with Danielle (Trevor’s GF) came out and met Marina, Pablo, Kristin and I. It was really good to see them all doing well and talk story for a while about fun (stupid) shit that we did in college.

Riot Fest

8/29/15

After a good nights sleep we headed with Kristin to Moe’s bagels and got some good food that we had not been able to find in HI. After breakfast the three of us drove over for a quick stroll down DU memory lane and capped the tour with a stop at Ben and Jerry’s.

We met up with Pablo after lunch and went to a dispensary to see what CO has been smoking since legalizing the marijuana. The dispensary was a like candy store crossed with a doctors office. They had everything I could think of and ton more. Normal pot, but then everything edible from gummy bears to lollipops and all baked goods. Even lotions and tinctures to apply topically. Oils for your skin, sodas, you name it and they have put pot in it. It is interesting to say the least, and at least from the place we went to, incredibly professional looking.

That night we went to see Riot fest in North Denver at the National Western Complex. A good show, but really dusty and nowhere to sit. Some people who had been there earlier had some really awesome farmers tans going. It appeared that one of the earlier shows had sprayed something into the crowd like red dust and people were covered. People ranged in get up, dressed in all kinds of things including one guy with a tail. We went to a food truck and I had one of the best gyro’s I have had, but it may have been enhanced by our stop earlier that day.

The bands were really good and the crowd wasn’t too bad. Was able to win a rose for a Marina at one of the dart throwing carnival game stations. The line up we were able to see was: Cold war kids, The Bunny Gang, Alkaline Trio, Run DMC, Pixie’s, and Modest Mouse