El Mundo de Leigh

2008-05-17T08:30:00.001-07:00

Final Summary

I had a wonderful time travelling to New Zealand, then onto Chile and Brazil, for Alex and Karen’s wedding. Then spending longer than expected in Brazil and meeting some wonderful people and making friends with them. I then finally returned to Chile to spend time with both old and new friends. Have some special times to discuss, think and impart my limited knowledge. It was a nine month adventure, having a few ups and downs in all areas, mentally, physically and emotionally. I re-connected with some friends and made many new ones, some I still regularly talk to now, either via electronic methods or via telephone. Hopefully I will be able to repay some of the favours given to me by the people I met and stayed with. I am so grateful to them all, as it is due to their friendship and hospitality that I was able to stay longer and experience much more of Brazil and Chile. To cap of my travel experience I was given wonderful hospitality by Debs, her flatmates and her friends in London, preparing me for the return journey to Australia and the change of cultures from the South American culture to the Australian / Anglo Saxon cultre. I am happy to be home.Now, I can sing the song by Peter Allen and sing it with gusto…

I've been to cities that never close down

From New York to Rio and old London town

But no matter how far

Or how wide I roam

I still call Australia home.

I'm always travelin'

And I love bein' free

So I keep leavin' the sun and the sea

But my heart lies waiting over the foam

I still call Australia home.

All the sons and daughters spinning 'round the world

Away from their families and friends

Ah, but as the world gets older and colder

It's good to know where your journey ends.

And someday we'll all be together once more

When all the ships come back to the shore

Then I realize something I've always known

I still call Australia home.

No matter how far

Or how wide I roam

I still call Australia home.

2008-05-07T05:17:00.000-07:00

London

The flight to Madrid took about 13hrs however it seemed a lot faster than what it was, even though I was in the middle seat, meaning it was harder for me to get up and move around the plane. Basically whenever the guy next to me looked awake, I asked him to move so I could get out and get a drink and move about the plane. It was not long before we arrived in Madrid. This is where the strange things started to happen and I can now understand why South America has so much ‘red tape’ and is so backward in their thinking. All I had to do was to go from my Landing gate, to the train station (the train only went from Terminal 4A to Terminal 4) and then onto my departure gate. Sounds easy enough… well think again. During the process of transferring from one Terminal to the next (you can only get to and from 4A through 4) I had to go through customs. Yes, customs and that was before I left 4A. During the process I ran into a Brazilian couple, who are the parents of Brazil’s #1 female volleyball player. I chatted to them in very bad Portuguese and helped them get through the mess of the airport and even got them to their correct gate just before boarding started. They said I was always welcome at their house in Belo Horizonte.

The next 2 hours went quite fast, but I was also becoming very hungry but as I had no Euro, I could not buy any drinks, and I thought it was crazy to get some money from the ATM when I was going on to England where they use the Pound. Plus, I thought, I can wait and get something to eat and drink on the plane. Good luck with that. They had changed their meal arrangements on the plane and I was left thirsty and hungry on the 2 hour flight to London. They had a ‘you want it you buy it’ deal and I had no cash. Arrh well, I guess I can eat something when I get to Deb’s house.

I had met Deb when I went to South Africa with a Mission group from Church back in 2004. She had been working as a teacher in a school that my group had been doing some voluntary work at. On the last day that we were there, a Friday, it was also Deb’s last day, so the school held a luncheon for us and for Deb. As they said that she was leaving for England and I was going there too, I decided to go over and introduce myself. We exchanged details, caught up in England (that is another funny story) and have kept in contact since. After I arrived at Heathrow Airport, I had to catch the train to Deb’s place in Kennington. Only as it was the weekend, track works were being carried out, so I had to take the scenic route. I didn’t mind. What was another hour on top of 16hrs on a plane or in an airport? The best thing was, as I exited the tube station, Debs was crossing the street on her way home from the corner store. I don’t think she had changed a bit in four years. It was hugs in the street and then a short walk to the house, only 4 down from the same corner.

The remainder of the day, I basically settled in, met some of Debs’ housemates and slept. I woke at about 4 so that we could go to church at Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB), where Nicky Gumble is the vicar and he created the programme called Alpha. London is very cold at night, especially when you have come from the Southern Hemisphere Summer. Church was great and I met some of Debs’ friends and work colleagues, as she works for Alpha, which has its office based at HTB. After church Debs and I caught the tube and went to met up with one of her friends, Alison, who was going to a Pub Quiz, with some of her friends. I was a little out of it, from lack of sleep, but I still put in and helped out with answering some of the quiz questions. We ended up coming second, which I think was a good effort. During the evening, I finally appeased my need to have some decent chips, some good old fashioned deep fried chips. Soon after Debs and I were back at her place and I went straight to bed. I didn’t wake up until about midday the following day.

During my time in London I trued to do a lot of sight seeing. The only thing is, as it is winter the sun comes up about 8am and goes down at about 5. I needed to be quick on my feet, something that I can’t be after being in South America for 9 months and having the mind set of… “If I like it, I stay, if I don’t, I go”. I went and visited a few places of interest, Big Ben and Westminster and the Westminster Abby. Everybody had said how wonderful The British Museum is but I thought it was lacking in some areas, especially Australia and the other Commonwealth Countries and South America. I guess that the Commonwealth stuff may be in the Military Museum down the road. I even walked through Kensington Palace and its gardens, through Hyde Park and onto the Albert Monument. Out of sadness, Old Queen Vic had the monument built in memory of Princey Albert after he died of Typhoid. I also sent time walking along the South Bank of The Themes with Debs and took in a wonderful ‘Fair Trade’ coffee before going onto the Shakespeare Theatre. We also went and to watch a friend of a friend’s band. They were playing in a boat, which was a very strange place to play because as you looked out the portal you saw the water lapping against the boat.

I also spent my time catching up with old friends. The first to be visited was Stephen and Shirley & their latest addition, Ben, who was only a month old. I had met Shirley many years ago, along with her 3 brothers and 2 sisters. She comes from a South American background and lived in Sydney. Stephen is an English lad who met Shirley on the internet, thinking it was another friend of his and they kept in contact, so much so, I was invited to their wedding in Sydney, where they had the reception at the Opera House. It was great to hang out with them and talk about what we had all been up too, the pizzas were great too. We were talking so much, that I forgot what time it was and arrived back in Kennington quite late. I think I woke Deb up when I tried to get my bedding.

I also spent time with Naomi, whom I think I have known for about 17yrs. We met and had a lovely little meal at a place called Leon’s, just up the road from Harrods. It was great chatting and sharing funny stories about adventures we have had. But I guess the most special thing was the day I went to St. Paul’s Cathedral with her and paid the 10Pound entry. It was just fantastic, especially when we were taking the ‘sneaky pics’, as St. P’s don’t let you take photos. I think that all the walking that I did in South America prepared me for the climb to the top of St. P’s. If you are ever in London, just the view from the outside of the little dome at the top, is worth the entry fee. St. Paul’s is very central and it gives you some of the best views of London.

I think over the Easter Weekend, I went to 3 church services, for about a total of about 6hrs of Service.
It started on Thursday night, after my dinner with Naomi and Debbie. Deb and I went to the Maundy Thursday service. The following morning was Good Friday and the services started at 12noon and there were 6 blocks of 30mins. It was designed that people could come and go as they pleased between each block. Deb and I missed the first block but we stayed for the remaining 2.5hrs. It was a great time of reflection and meditation. On Easter Sunday morning, Deb woke me with the words, “Wake up and look out the window”. I quickly opened the window to get the full effect of the light snow that was falling. It gets cold hanging out the window in just your PJ’s trying to catch snow. I had a wonderful morning of just looking out that window, wondering how Easter was going for my family and for all my friends, all over the world, wondering where they were at with their Easter celebrations… some would have been resting, after eating a roast meal, some just waking up like me and others still sleeping and dreaming of what chocolate they will receive and what activities they would undertake on that day. Later that day I went walking with Debs, as mentioned before, and after that we went to church to try and warm up. Fancy that, going to church to get warm…

After church we went out with friends of Deb, whom she stayed with when she went to Los Angeles in America. They were parents of a friend of Debs from church. They were a lovely couple and we shared about many things and I got to share with them about my time in South America. Only after talking about my time there, I began to realise how much I had done, the people I had met and the diversity of experiences that I had had. I was grateful for the time that they spent with us and they offered for me to stay with them, whenever I was to travel to the US. Saying goodbye, was a little hard, as I had said it so often, in recent days, knowing that I would be doing it again in about 24hrs, as I was leaving to go back to Melbourne the following night. On returning to Debs place, I had received notice that Naomi was back from her travels to Wales and was keen to go sight-seeing with me, so we planned to go to St. Paul’s.

After returning from our sight-seeing, Naomi and I had a great cup of hot coffee, which was needed to warm us up, as being at the top of St. Paul’s with the cold icy winds… well you get the picture. It was time for me to complete my packing and do the necessary things before leaving for the airport. Debs came with me, as she was off to visit a friend from Ireland, who was off to Burundi and was stopping over at Heathrow for about 8hrs. It was great to have her company, as it meant that I was not going alone to the airport. Deb and I departed ways at the airport, as she had to go to another terminal to see her friend. I went and checked in my bags and then waited for Debs to turn up. We chatted over a drink for about an hour and I think it was hard to say goodbye, as all goodbyes are like that. I remained positive, as I knew that I would be back in Australia in around 24hrs.

The flight to Australia was one of the quickest 24hrs I think that I have ever had. Sorry about the analogy, time just flew by. Along the way, I changed planes in Singapore and lost my deodorant, as it was over 100mL, so I smelt good on the second leg of the journey. We arrived in Melbourne about 20mins late, but that was alright, as I had told the folks to wait a little longer, instead of being at the airport at 6:30am. I made it through customs with all my bags and entered Australia after about a nine month absence. I looked for the family and saw no-one I knew, so I found a seat and sat there for about an hour waiting for the folks. With no change, I couldn’t call them to see where they were, so I decided to buy a coffee and get some change from a $5 note that I had carried around the world. As I was waiting inline, I saw Mum and Rachel and ran to greet them. It was wonderful to see them in person, knowing that I could discuss all about my trip with them in person. Dad was doing laps of the airport. We drove back to Scott and Katrine’s house to have breakfast. Charlotte had grown so much and little Hamish was not so little.

I was finally home.

2008-04-22T06:12:00.000-07:00

Final Thoughts - Chile

I only spent 89 days in Chile on my second visit for this trip. I had a wonderful Christmas with Paul, Danni, Nati and Danni’s Dad. I also travelled to new parts of Chile and met the rest of Daniel’s family in Villa Alemana. I had some deep conversations with him and other members of his family, all of them at one time or another. I spent NYE in Vina del Mar and Valparaiso and saw a very different type of Chilean, than ones I had seen before. I really liked Vina, but had very little time for Valparaiso, as I thought it was run down and I felt people did not care about their surroundings. I guess that Vina is a little better as it is the more touristy section due to its beaches and number of restaurants and clubs. Travelling to visit friends in the south of Chile was good too. Spending time with Papi at the farm and then with Paul’s extended family in Lican Ray was great. Moving onto LA and spending time with Jess and her family again, gave me so many wonderful memories. My final week in Santiago was one of my toughest for my whole time in South America, trying to decide whether to leave Chile and South America in general or stay for a further 90 days. I am so torn about Chile. It is a place of contrasts, a place at times that I really love and at others a place I cannot understand. In some ways my decision to leave was made for me and one that I have not really regretted.

2008-04-10T05:33:00.000-07:00

Santiago

I arrived back into Santiago, after what felt like a very long bus journey. I am not sure why it felt like that, I just guess I was getting sick of buses. Anyway I arrived at Paul’s apartment and dropped of my bags, had a quick bite to eat and set off for the Qantas office in Santiago, armed with as much paperwork as possible. I was aiming to get home to Melbourne by Easter, so I could spend it with the family. However after discussions with the staff at Qantas and seeing the lack of flights available, I knew that I could not make this happen. I had a decision to make. Should I try and get a second visa for Chile and stay an additional 90 days or make my way to London. I booked the flights to London and went away pondering this question… should I stay longer?

I had spoken to Alex previously on Messenger about my Columbia Ski Jacket that I had left in Brasil. He had arranged for someone to take it to Chile and I could collect it from them. I found out that it was Daniel and Thalia’s Auntie that had the jacket and that she lived in Santiago, not to far from Paul’s. I contacted Thalia and asked if she could help me get my jacket, in between other things that we were discussing. The following morning I went to where she was staying and met her Grandparents and some of her extended family. Thalia’s Aunt drove us to the other Aunt’s house to get my jacket. After 3 months of separation we were together again. Thalia had asked me earlier to meet her cousins and in the process I was asked to stay for lunch. I was in mid conversation with all three cousins when a problem with communication arose, the usual language barrier. I had thought that I had said one thing and Thalia had said that I had said the opposite, but when she repeated the word I said, I got very confused about it. I was trying to say it all in Spanish, but gave up and told Thalia to translate instead. She didn’t want too and I didn’t want to talk in Spanish anymore... so I think it ended the conversation. Luckily we were all called to the table for our late lunch.

The following morning I went to church in La Florida. That is where my new American friends have their ministry. I got up early enough and caught the metro train system and then walked the final 5-10mins. It was great to see them again and be able to share some time in church with them, even if I didn’t understand all that was being said. Listening to an American speak Spanish with an American accent is amusing, same accent but a different language. At that meeting I met Elizabeth Hallyburton. Her parents have been missionaries in Chile for almost 30years, first of all in Concepcion and now in Antofagasta. It was also great to speak to someone that had an Australian accent that was similar to mine (Her family comes from Melbourne) and in language that could be understood by both parties. The Smith’s invited me back to their house for lunch, but as I had been invited by Thalia’s family first, I did the right thing and went there for lunch, indicating that I would come for a meal another day at the Smith’s.

Over the next few days I went to visit the Smith family and have dinner with them. Their house was so different, this time, as there was no boxes and everything look like it was in far better order than during moving time. I also chatted with Elizabeth and I think that we got on quite well. She is studying Music at University in Santiago and is staying with the Smith’s while she studies. A few days later she called me up and we arranged to meet and go to her sister’s house, so I could meet her (once she got home from work) and her 2 nieces and 1 nephew. We had a great time at the supermarket and then swimming in the pool and counting in English with her eldest niece. I had a lot of fun and a very relaxing time.

I also went shopping for last minute gifts in some of the local markets, called ferias. During these outings I would also go shopping for food items to cook a final meal for everyone. I wanted to invite a few people over to say thanks for the memories, as during this time, I had decided to leave Chile and move on to England. I felt, from conversations and actions, it was time for me to leave. I felt that God was telling me that he no loner wanted me in Chile. Plus I think that the small apartment would have been very cramped for space with the arrival of Alex and Karen from Brazil. So, the last night I was in Chile, for the 2007 – 2008 trip, I cooked a wonderful sweet chicken stir-fry and my, now World Famous, Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding. I only had a few people over, as I wanted to share my last night with them. There was Paul, Danni and Nati (of course) and I invited Andres, Thalia and Eli. The 7 of us had a wonderful night, well I think we did and that is all that matters, of chatting and eating and drinking. It was also great to catch up with Andres and share some of my stories and adventures of both Brazil and Chile with him. However, as usual the night did not finish until about 5am and I didn’t get to sleep until about 6. One problem…I needed to be at the airport by 12noon for a 2pm flight, I had to be up at 10. Now that wasn’t the problem, the problem was making sure Paul was up to take me. At 10:30 a taxi was called and I was on my way by 11, after saying ‘Goodbye’ to a very sleepy Paul. Thalia, who had stayed overnight, decided to join me in coming to the airport, so I wouldn’t be alone. It was great that she did, as I never like going to airports by myself, even if I am going to be leaving a place. However once I started walking to the customs booths, I turned to see if she was still there and she was not to be seen. I was on my own again, starting a journey to another country, Happy that I was leaving Chile behind me.

2008-04-10T05:28:00.000-07:00

Villa Alemana

After a 7hr bus ride, with very little sleep, I arrived at the main bus terminal in Santiago. I was to wait here for about 40mins and then take another bus for the 2hr journey to Villa Alemana. There were only about 6 other passengers on the bus, so it was much more comfortable then the trip from LA to Santiago. The bus attendant was asking for tickets and where people wanted to get off, I was not sure what he was staying, so I answered with the central terminal. It was not until I realised that people were getting off earlier, in the main street, so I decided to jump off the bus and walk the shorter distance to the Moder home, the place I had stayed at earlier in Villa Alemana. I walked the short distance and rang the door bell to request entry. Fortunately Thalia had a later start to University that day and was able to let me in or it would have been a much longer wait.

I had a cuppa with Thalia and talked about my adventures in the South. I went to go to bed and sleep but thought it would be best not to fall asleep in Thalia’s bed, as we were talking in her room, but to have a nice hot shower, something to eat and then sleep. This is what I did and waved Thalia and Mirty goodbye, as they left for University. Then I basically found myself on the couch watching TV, a place that I stayed at for the rest of the day, drifting in and out of daydreams. I think that I must have slept a little bit, as I remember having a very cloudy mind and the TV programme that I had been watching was different. I think that this would be the setting for the rest of my time in Villa Alemana, one of sitting on the couch and not doing much more than watching TV.

I think that my predictions were correct as most of the time I did very little other than watch TV. I think it was due to both Daniel and Thalia returning to University studies and the youngest brother Esteban starting his Air Force Training. This meant that I had time to think and ponder about things and asses were I was in life and the sort of things that I wanted and thought about what God wanted for me. One day Thalia invited her friend Pia over to sing together, as they are in a choir together. Now I think that I am not the best singer, but can hold a tune, if required. As they never asked me to join them, even after I hinted a few times that I would like too, I decided to sit and watch TV with a set of headphones on, so as not to disturb them and not to be disturbed by them. Try to do the polite thing when they are singing about 5m from where I was sitting.

I actually went to look for my missing zunga, which I had left at the marina, the time that Thalia and I went Open Ocean kayaking. It was all in vain, as someone had taken them. Now people in Chile don’t wear zungas (they are their version of Speedos), as it is very socially wrong, so I am not sure why someone would want to take them. Ohh well, I hope whoever did take them is getting good use out of them. I also went and did a little shopping to buy a few items for the house and to aid me in some cooking. I wanted to thank the family, properly, for having me but as everyone was so busy and never at home, it was a little hard. I caught the bus back to Santiago in the third day, which was the Friday, as I needed to go to the Qantas office to fix my flights to England. As Thalia had Fridays off from University, she decided to come with me, as she wanted to visit her little cousins and spend some time with them.

2008-04-10T05:19:00.000-07:00

Los Angeles

We finally left the farm at about 3 in the afternoon. It was great to be back on the open road and behind the wheel. I called Jessica at the first available moment to let her know that we were finally on our way and that we were going to be later than expected. I found out later on that they had prepared lunch for us all and I felt very bad that we had not been their, as first planned. The drive went very well and it seemed the 3 to 4hr drive went by in no time. We took the wrong turn off into Los Angeles but managed to arrive at Jessica’s house, after a short stop at ‘Solcito’, a friend’s restaurant in the centre of town. I had met them in my first visit to Chile in 2000.

We finally arrived in Los Angeles at about 7pm. Much later than the expect midday. Yet I had arrived and all were happy to see me again. Everyone was invited in for an afternoon tea and time to talk and catch up. Paul had gone to the neighbour’s house to show Natalia off, so we had to wait for him to return. Danni was organising a few things for her Dad, as he didn’t want to come in. Finally we all entered and sat down for some afternoon tea. I was amazed how much the place had changed. Jessica had spoken about her new pool but the whole back yard had a complete make-over. The garden had been worked on and new grass was being sown. That said Paul and Danni didn’t want to stay long, as they needed to get back to Santiago, still a further 6hrs away. I waved them goodbye, only finding out later that Natalia asked where I was and cried for a long time when Danni explained that they were returning to Santiago without me. I took my bag and went up the familiar internal staircase turning right at the top and entering Jess’ bedroom (which would be my sleeping place for the next few nights or for as long as I was to stay). It was like seeing an old friend again, back in familiar surroundings and being at home.

Later that night Jessica asked me to go with her to collect 2 of her friends. I found out that Jessica had asked some of her friends, from both High School and University days, over for a BBQ. It was a great night of meeting new people and catching up with old friends. As I was the guy from Australia, I was asked many questions about my homeland and also why I was in South America. That meant I held long and detailed conversations about my travels in South America and the differences with Australia. Catching up with Nicolas, Jessica’s friend I met last time (refer to earlier blog entries) was great fun and from then on with him and the others there I was known as Bruce, as in Bruce Lee.

During the remainder of my time in Los Angeles, Jess and I would go shopping, pay bills and just generally hang out in Downtown LA. I went to McDonalds for the first time in a long time and ate a McFlurry with Jess. We talked for a long time in McDonalds about the places I had been and the people I had met. It was good to debrief myself with a good friend. I think I needed it. That said, this was the type of week that I had with Jess and her family. We would hang out, do a few things and have some wonderful discussions about her life and about mine and eat too much. I think that South America’s are very good at hospitality. I think that every night there was a BBQ at Jess’ house because of one reason or another. I didn’t mind, as the meat was great and it meant that I could practice my Spanish.

We even went to Concepcion for an overnight trip to drop Jess’ brother off, as he was going to start studying at The University of Concepcion. Along the way we stopped off at a traditional Chilean restaurant to have a traditional meal. Basically it was 5 different kinds of meats and 4 different kinds of sausages and some green stuff on the side to give it a hint of healthiness. I think that I ate enough meat to last me the rest of the week. We all stayed at the Grandma’s house, which was a very tight fit, but was a lovely thing. The following morning, while Juan-Pablo was being settled in, by his Dad, Jess and I went for a walk to the local pond/lake. We walked around it and chatted as we went, talking about different things. Again there was a subtle hint of travel in her words, which I have felt many times during conversations with people from South America. Life is very hard in South America, unless you have a lot of money, but when you have this money you need to spend a lot on security, as those without it will try and take it from you. That was a very broad statement, but I think it reflects some attitudes. We left Pablo in Concepcion and drove the 2hrs back to LA.

It was a routine of waking up, late of course, having something to eat, then swimming for a little while, as the weather was always hot and sunny, and then having more food doing the necessary events for the day and then it was party time again at night. The parties were either at Jess’ house or at one of her friend’s. I think that there were so many parties, as people wanted to share in the fun times with the crazy guy from Australia. On one such night, we were all at Nicolas’ house (Jess and I, Nicolas and his girlfriend, Danni and my man Borat (that is the nickname I gave him)). Jess received a call from her Mum saying that her Aunty had passed away, leaving her 3 cousins without any parents. Her husband had passed away only 6 weeks earlier from cancer. It was a gloomy end to a once jovial evening. The following morning Jess’ parents went to Concepcion and Jess stayed to look after me, but I felt that I was being a burden to the family, so I decided to leave Los Angeles that night and head back to Villa Alemana to collect some of my clothes that I had left there from my earlier stay. This was becoming a habit with me, as I had left clothes in other places in Brazil. Jess’ X-boyfriend came over to give her support and the three of us sat a chatted and just tried to be as normal as possible for Jess. We ended up having pancakes with manjar (caramel) as a final meal together. They were so good and I ended up eating about 6 of them… I didn’t have to eat until lunchtime the following day. I finally waved goodbye to Jess at about 10:48pm that night and I tried to maintain a happy face, for Jess’ benefit, yet I was sad that I was leaving, not knowing when I would see her in person again, after 2 wonderful visits to her house in LA. They were such wonderful times of strengthening our friendship after 7 to 8 years of only email and MSN. I will miss you Jess. Thank you so much for allowing me to stay with you and your family. Sorry I could not join you and your family in drinking the wines.

2008-03-10T07:46:00.001-07:00

The Farm

We arrived back at the farm at about 10pm to have a small snack, before going to bed. I was a little tired and I think I needed the rest. My friend’s welcomed me back with open arms. The following morning parts of my body were on fire because of the ‘kisses’ they gave me during the night. Damn fleas. Anyway, I tried to take it on the chin and keep my mind on other things, so as I would not scratch my new and old bites. If something was happening, I wanted to be a part of it. The turbine was not generating as much electricity as it should, so Papi and I went and cleaned the water aqueduct to maximise the water flow. Even then it only helped a little. The amount of water in Chile is low. Power prices are going up, as they don’t have enough water to run the hydro-generators at full capacity. We were having the same issue at the farm, a lack of water. I also collected a few apples to go into the collection for making Chicha. It was simple work; just collect the apples that had fallen to the ground. The only problem was, I was not given a basket to collect them in until after I had a discussion with Papi about it.

I also spent a lot of time on the computer, writing text to go into this blog spot. Trying to remember events and details from about 6 weeks before, is a real stretch for the brain but a good mental activity. I got up to date a lot at the farm, as you have a lot of time to think about things and also to write about them. Paul and I also spent a lot of time playing PC games. It was great fun shooting as many bad guys as we could. It was a great way to fill in 2 or 3 hours of the day, when nothing else was happening. I think that Papi got a little sick of Paul and I spending so much time on the laptops, but we were having fun. He was always going on about how we should be spending more time outside looking at the surrounding hills and trees, so we decided to take the laptops outside and play the games, an easy fix to that problem. I even managed to get onto the internet a few times with Paul’s GPRS connection. It was a good enough connection for MSN typing only, but it meant I had a link to the outside world. One night Paul and I sat and watched the lunar eclipse. It was amazing how bright all the stars were once the full moon was out of action.

The last full day at the farm Papi, Paul and I went into Temuco for the day. First of all we went to Gorbea to undertake a few paperwork matters that Papi needed to attend too. Like always in South America, a function that should take 20-30mins took us about 2 hours. This meant that we arrived in Temuco in time for lunch. So we headed to the central market and ate a lovely lunch, after they mixed up the order, took ages to fix, then gave us coffees and teas without hot water and then took 20mins to get the bill to us. That is a thing that is also lacking here in South America, Customer Service that is efficient and friendly. We then went and did a few other things around town before heading back to the farm. Ohh yes, on return I was also made to make Chocolate pudding again. I think that this is becoming way too much of a common theme. But I don’t mind, as I am contributing to the enjoyment of the farm. It was Paul’s request, like a last night feast.

The last morning was similar to the morning we travelled to the South. It was an effort to get Paul out of bed, with the regular "give me another 20mins. This went from 9am until just after noon. By this time, the lunchtime BBQ was well under way and there was more than enough food to feed an army. So the decission was made to stay for lunch and leave shortly after that. Lunch was a great feast. My only concern was that I had told Jessica, my friend in Los Angeles (where I was going to stay for the next few days), that we would be at her house by about lunchtime. With no cell coverage, I could not get a message through, saying we would be late. At 3pm we finally said our goodbyes and headed for the open road. It was sad to leave the farm but also good to know that I was heading back to a more modern environment. I do like the farm, but it is just a little remote, at times. I also said goodbye to Paul's uncle, Harry, but I knew that I would see him back in Australia, as he was heading home in mid April.

2008-03-10T06:47:00.000-07:00

Lican Ray

The drive across to Lincan Ray was quicker than expected, even after we stopped to do a little shopping in Villarrica. The best thing about it was that Natalia slept for most of the way. We arrived just after dark, with the sweet smell of BBQ in the air. The fine Argentinean meat was slowly being roasted over the red hot coals. There are few other smells in this world that arouse such a fast reaction from a man and his now growling stomach. I didn’t think that I was that hungry. Sitting down to a meal with Paul’s cousin, her husband and their 3 kids as well as Paul’s other cousin his wife and their 2 sons and other cousins… I think that there were about 15 of us. The communication flowed and so did the wine. My brain started to hurt after a while, as it usually does when I try to keep up with the conversation in either Spanish or Portuguese, and I was a little tired, so I went and chatted to friends on MSN and sent a few emails. I could hear the conversations well into the evening.

The first activity that we undertook, as a group, was to go Kayaking. We hired 3 and paddled out to an island, about 800m from the shore. There are 3 Islands in the group, but two are privately owned, so no one is allowed on, unless invited. Paul and I were on one Kayak with Natalia, Paul’s cousin and 1 daughter and son on another and Danni and the other daughter on the third. It took us about 35mins to paddle out there, where we then swam for about half an hour in the cool deep waters of this volcanic lake. The water was so clear that it was hard to judge the depths. I would swim down, thinking that it would only be about 3m, finding that I would be down for a few seconds more than expected. The view of the Volcano was fantastic. The paddle back was harder than expected, as a breeze had come up and there was a stronger cross current, causing us to drift and work harder. Paul’s oar broke in the process, meaning we were down to one and a half oars and Nati was getting a little restless, causing an additional headache. We finally made it back to shore, where the guy who hires the kayaks tried to charge us 20,000 pesos (about $50 Aus) because we broke his brand new oar. We pointed out a few things to show that his oar was not new, so he dropped it to 15,000. Paul laughed at him, said that he was happy for him to call the cops and told me to pay him the money we owed for the hire and no more. The cops were not called.

During the remainder of our time in Lincan Ray, I would go to the shops, send a few emails, chat on MSN and do a little site seeing. It was a nice little town, which survived on the tourist trade and the locals that made a living off them. I enjoyed the time of walking, to clear the mind and to think about what was important to me in my life. Where I wanted to go and where I wanted to be. Then I thought… where does God want me to go? What does God want me to be? It is hard, at times to think about such things, especially when you are so isolated, but then again, is that the best time? I enjoyed my time in Lican Ray. The times that we went swimming were great, even though there were way too many rocks and the beach was made of back pebbles. Trying to get a bit more of a tan… something that I think I will always struggle with, with my fair skin. The walks that I took along the beach and the sunsets that I witnessed were such peaceful times, even when I was surrounded by a multitude of people. I think I have stopped to look at the sun setting more times here in Chile then I have before. Also making chocolate pudding, again, was a great hi-light, especially when they demanded that I make it again the following day and instruct the girls how to do it, so that they could repeat it after I left. The mum even asked if she could have the recipe, which I willing gave. I think I am conquering South America with my Self Saucing Chocolate Pudding Recipe.

Our last night in Lican Ray, after staying an extra 2 days was spent having a BBQ with Paul’s third cousin (on this trip) with her husband and 2 children. Again the smell of roasting meat was just too much and my stomach began to growl well before we sat down to eat. Over dinner we discussed various differences in the English language around the world, as well as the differences in Spanish around the world. They agreed that the further you went away from Central America, the poorer the Spanish became. It was still Spanish, but different from the original. A little like how English has changed around the world, especially in the US. It was a lovely way to finish our time in Lican Ray followed by a lazy day and then a short drive back to the farm. It was also great to get a break from my friends, the fleas.

2008-02-29T12:13:00.000-08:00

The Farm

Our planned departure time of 6am came and went. The second planned departure time of 8am also came and went. I tried to get Paul out of bed at 10, but he just kept saying… “Give me another 30mins”. This process was repeated for about 2hours until finally at about 12:30 he got up. We finally had everything packed and everyone in the car but before we could leave Santiago, we needed to collect Danni’s Dad, as he was joining us at the Farm. After 3 stops and a 10hour drive we finally arrived at the Farm near the small town of Lastarria. It was great to be back in the green rolling hills, with all the trees that enclosed the little house. I think that Paul’s Dad, Luis, was happy to see everyone again. I think he loves it when people come to visit and stay. He actually had other guests staying with him at the time and they where Carmen, his old House Maid from the time he lived in Los Angeles, and her 2 grandsons, Juan and Rodrigo. I remembered them from a previous visit to Chile in 2000, and when I asked, they said that they remembered me. I think that they were being nice.

The following day we went to the annual Neumann Family BBQ, at the property where the first Neumann to come to Chile from Germany, brought his family and set up his new life. I was introduced as the Aussie Gringo only for them to respond with “ohh, I have been to Australia” or “I have family in Australia”. They made me an honouree Neumann for the day, as I had blue eyes and looked a little like Paul. We all had a wonderful day of conversation, eating way too much food, drinking to many drinks and of course too much Football. They were all very welcoming to me and were always asking if I understood what they were talking about. I could follow most of it, which I was quite surprised at, as they didn’t really change the speed of the conversation, just because I was there. I also met a guy who was from Germany, who had married a Chilean lady 30 years ago, so we chatted in Spanish, which was quite funny, as he spoke with a heavy German accent. As always, I ate too much food and didn’t have anything to eat before going to bed, which I think was the best thing that I could have done.

We all soon fell into the routine of the farm. My routine was to wake and count the number of new flea bites on my body. I think at a minimum, I had 6 new bites each morning about the size of a 5cent piece. Trying not to scratch them became a full time mind control programme. I would have fun chatting with everyone and enjoy the peace of the farm. I would sit and watch the trees bending in the wind, the pigs scratching themselves, Natalia and Diego chasing the cats and the general comings and goings of a farm in Chile. People would always know when to come, usually about an hour before lunch, so they could do a little talking and then a little work, to ‘pay’ for their lunch. I also went with a car load of other locals to go and collect apples and other fruits. I know why we collected the apples, as we were to make them into Chicha, which is a locally homemade alcoholic apple juice. I’m not real sure why we collect the other fruits, but I think some of it went to the pigs. I know I ate some of them and I think that I got a very sore stomach from them. I guess they were a little green, as I was in lot of pain afterwards. All said and done, they were lazy days.

I also went to Temuco for the day to drop Rodrigo, Juan and thrie grandma, Carmen, off t the bus terminal, so they could return home to Los Angeles. After this, Papi (Paul’s Dad) and I went about town doing various things that needed to be done. Buying food, picking up and posting mail, buying other items for those in the house, who had not come to Temuco, general errands. We also had a visit from one of Paul’s aunties and cousin, who invited us to their place in Lican Ray, a small town on the edge of a lake near Villarrica and Pucon. Paul said that it is a great place to go too, so we decided to go. Paul, Danni, Nati and I jumed into the car and made our way to Lican Ray.

2008-02-29T11:18:00.000-08:00

Santiago

I returned to Santiago on the Monday afternoon, along with Thalia. She was going to visit some American Missionary friends, whose daughter was having a birthday party and she had been invited. We said our goodbyes on the Metro and I continued on to Paul and Danni’s house. It was good to be back in familiar surroundings. It did not take long for Santiago life to return in full swing. Soon I was playing Little Football or pichunga with Paul and his friends. Each time I played, they said that it looked like I was getting better in my skills. I think that they were just trying to be nice to me and encourage me in order to keep playing. One day Thalia came to visit and went shopping with Danni, as Paul and I played basketball at the local park. There were some typical young guys, who thought that they were the next Michael Jordan, and went a little physical. After being smacked a few times, charged and no foals called, I decided to give a little back. I think I started to do a little WWF with one guy, who realised after about 2mins that he was not going to win. I started trash talking to him in English, “Arrrh you don’t like it when someone gives it back. You can give but you can’t take, can you, little boy.” (That was the nice version). I am not sure if he understood. Mind you he soon shut up and started playing a little cleaner, knowing that the key was mine and he was in my backyard.

My plan was not to stay in Santiago too long, but like other sections of my travels, I stayed a little longer than planned. As Thalia had stayed longer in Santiago, she asked me to join her at church. I went with her to the Anglican Church in the southern suburbs of Santiago, where the American family are now ministering. They had been in Villa Alemana on their previous stint. So I met Russ and Heidi again and shared with them in the service. I also met some new missionaries from Sydney, a husband and wife and their 3 sons. It was great to be able to speak in English and hear a familiar accent, even if they were from the Queensland – Victorian border. The American family asked me back to their house for dinner and a swim, which was great, so relaxing swimming in a pool, with the sun shining down. They asked if I wanted to stay overnight, which was a great idea, as it was late by the time I started thinking about going home. The only bad thing about it was that the following day they asked me to help them move from their current house sitting location to their new house, some 25mins away. Moving cupboards, fridges and making bunk beds. I did not mind this, as it was a sort of thank you for letting me stay and it was a lot of fun, but also tiring. I also enjoyed, to a degree, discussing the differences between Australian/British English and what is called English from the US.

I also spent time preparing for my journey back to the South of Chile. I spent time getting in contact with various people I know, making sure that it would be ok for me to come and stay. I like to be well prepared for a trip like this, especially when in a country that speaks another language to my own native tongue. As I was near completion, Paul said to me that he was going to visit his Dad in the next few days, which changed my plans a little. Also my friend Andres quit his job the weekend I planned to visit him and went to Rio de Janeiro. Lucky guy! Wait, didn’t I do the same? Hehe. Anyway, with plans slightly altered, Paul, Danni, Nati, Majen (Danni’s Dad) and I drove the 10hrs from Santiago to the farm.

2008-02-29T10:33:00.000-08:00

Viña & New Year’s Eve

I left Santiago a little later than first planned, as Paul and I went to a party the night before and didn’t get back home until about 6am. This meant that I didn’t get up until about 2 and that was when I forced myself to get up. Anyway, I made my way to the bus terminal, via the metro, purchased my ticket to Viña and after a 20min wait, I was on my way. After about 5mins on the bus, I was gone and I didn’t wake until about 5mins before the bus arrived in Vina. Great timing if you ask me. Danny and his brother Esteban were waiting for me, which was great. However, as I was late, it meant that we would not make it to the 7pm church service for NYE. We walked to the metro station and started heading for Villa Alemana. Danny called his Dad to say that I had arrived and that we were on our way and that we may go straight home, due to the time, 7:30. He answered that the service hadn’t started yet and to still come there. So we did. That night I met his parents and many of his church friends. While in line for Holy Communion, a girl started talking to me in English, asking “Are you Alex’s friend?”. I had no idea who she was and which Alex she was talking about. Only after further discussions with other people, I learnt that she was Daniel’s sister, Thalia.

The following morning we went to Church. The first time I have ever been to church in Chile, all my previous visits included. I was introduced to other members of the church and many stopped to chat with me and I struggled to communicate, as I was still thinking in Portuguese and at Pabs’ house, we only spoke in English. It was great to talk to the Anglican Bishop of Chile, as the Anglican Church in Villa Alemana is his home church, before he became Bishop. Later in the day, the youth of the church went to play football at one of the local pichanga grounds. We had a great afternoon playing and teasing each other. It was great for me, as I got the chance to talk with others, either in my limited Spanish or their limited English.

The following day was NEW YEAR’S EVE. It was also Charlotte’s birthday, so I tried to call her to wish her a Happy Birthday, but they were not at home, so I left a message. Later we all sat as a family and had our final meal together for 2007. We all then prepared ourselves for the different festivities we had each planned for the night. First of all, the men were to go to the northern end of Viña del Mar to watch the fireworks with a bunch of others. So Leo (dad), Daniel, Esteven and I all made our way via the metro and then a bus to our fireworks viewing location. The fireworks were great and they stretched from near we were to the southern end of Valparaiso, some 15km. The whole show went for about 20mins, but I don’t think it is good as some shows I have seen in Melbourne. I think this is due to the vast distance that they need to cover and not just a few kms of Yarra River. All said and done, it was nice to welcome in the New Year with new friends. Now it was off to various parties and events that Daniel had discussed and organised with his friends. I was just tagging along for the night, as I was unsure of where the good parties where, the ones that Daniel had been talking about.

We finally made our way to southern end of Valparaiso, walking half way and then catching a bus for the remainder. We then walked for about another 30mins up a huge hill. I think I counted about 1,000 steps, as it was too steep for a road. I was thinking to myself, “This had better be some location to have a party”. Maybe it was to be, so high up and so close to the sea, could only mean a great view of not only the city but also the sea. After 30mins of climbing we arrived at a small plaza that was overflowing with people, far too many to count. I asked Daniel, if this was the place and he said it was. There was no DJ, no dance-floor and no bars. I was beginning to wonder if there was going to be an organised party. I think one look and I knew, it was not going to be. Mind you, Daniel and his friends made an effort to communicate with me, in both their poor English and my even poorer Spanish. I even started talking to a girl who had been crying. I think I was feeling the same. Mind you, she had just had a discussion with a guy, who she classed as more than a friend and he had said a few drunkard things back. I think after 6hrs of standing, my back was killing me, so I asked Daniel, if we could go home. We made our way to the bus and then back to the house. I think we arrived at about 8am. I went straight to bed. Welcome to 2008!

It was also great to join in on some church activities. One such event was going to the Beach in Viña for the afternoon. About 8 of us jumped into a mini-van and we made the 45min journey to the beach. It was great to sit and chat and catch some rays. I even went for a quick swim. Mind you the water was a little colder than what it is in Melbourne. I think it is due to the vast deep waters of the Pacific Ocean that wash against the Chilean coast. Thalia joined us later, as she was doing a few things in town and Daniel was being his usual self, trying to get fresh with the girls. It was an enjoyable time, relaxing, talking, walking and playing on the beach. Not to mention, looking at the local ‘wildlife’.

Daniel and I also went camping with 3 of his friends. The five of us loaded ourselves into the car along with the tent, our clothes, food for both dinner and for breakfast and 4 bikes. We made the 1.5hr drive to the local National Park, where Leo (dad) had arranged for our free entry. He works for the National Parks of Chile and it is nice to have contacts. We set up camp and the others went for a ride on the bikes, while I stayed and looked after things. It was a great time of relaxation for me. We all bonded very well over dinner and shared stores and conquests of love. It was very funny. That night I slept in the tent with Danny and Guaton (translates as Fat). I woke up in the morning with the worst pain on my left side. I must have slept on a rock. I was in pain for about a week and could barely move my arm. Luckily we were only staying for one night and not 2. The only bad thing was that ‘Vampiro’ had driven his car home early on the second day and rest of us had to ride home. We left the park at about midday and arrived at the house at about 8pm. I was so tired and my back was in such pain. Mind you, I had a great time, even though I was ready to drink a river and sleep until 2009. Thanks to Thalia, my pain was eased a little with some massage and a cream similar to ‘Deep Heat’. It still took about a week for full movement to return without any pain.

Thalia and I would go to the local fresh produce market on most Wednesdays. I would love this weekly trip, as I could really get a feel of what the local traditional lifestyle was like in Chile. The aroma of the fresh herbs and some spices would fill the air. Thalia and I would have competitions trying to guess which herb it was. Thalia had done a study on the market for her University course and had gotten to know some of the stall owners, so when she asked to certain items, they would tell her to put the one in her hand down and they would give her one from a box behind them. These items usually looked bigger and better. However these trips would usually mean that I would be cooking with fresh produce, on our return to the house. I did quite a bit of cooking in VA and quite a bit of cleaning in the kitchen. I think my sister can vouch that I do not like to have a dirty kitchen. Clean as I cook and make sure the kitchen is better than before I started using it. I left the Moder family with my Self Sourcing Chocolate Pudding recipe, as it was very popular and went down very well.

There were two special events that I undertook with Thalia, within my last few days in Vina. As they say, you save the best for last. One was to go to the last of the opera performances in Vina. We went and saw ‘Carmen’ with the Symphony Orchestra of Chile. We were in the special VIP section, because one of Thalia’s lectures knows the Lord Mayor of Vina, so he organised the tickets for us. It was a great evening, as after the opera, we met up with some of Thalia’s choir friends and we went out for Karaoke. Only problem was Thalia and 2 friends had waited for about 2hrs for their turn to sing. When the music started they looked at each other and said, “that’s not our song” and when they did that, they got the donkey. They sound a donkey over the PA system, if someone is a bad singer or does not sing at all... We left straight after that, with the 3 girls saying it was not their fault, even though they had chosen the song. The second event was to go Kayaking in the ocean. Thalia wanted to treat me to an experience that I had not had before. Yes I had been Kayaking, but not on the ocean. It was such a wonderful experience. I think that Thalia thought I was not liking it, as I didn’t say much at all, but I was, as I was enjoying being in solitude. I felt that it was just God and I out on the ocean, a real spiritual experience. The hot shower after the cold waters of the ocean was just fantastic. I really enjoyed spending the time under the hot running water! Hot showers are always good. Next time Thalia, don’t leave your wetsuit behind and if you see my sunga, please grab it for me. Thanks.

During my time in Villa Alemana, I would have various talks with various members of the family. Sometimes they would be short and others a little longer and more involved. I spoke to Daniel about some of his future plans about studying and also about girls. I also spoke to Daniel’s Mum, as one night she came home and it was just the two of us and she asked if we could talk. A little strange, when you have only known someone for about 2-3weeks, but this is Chile. We spoke about many things, She in Spanish and I in bad Spanish. Mind you, I think the HS was at work, as we were able to communicate and I did far fewer ‘No Entiendo’ as I have done in previous conversations. You know that the conversation is very emotional when you see a grown women cry, but it was a wonderful conversation with her and I think that God had allowed us to have that time alone. It was very special for the two of us. I also had many conversations to Thalia about various things in her life and in mine. Sometimes, I don’t think she really liked what I had to say, but I based everything on biblical references and principals. I really enjoyed our talks, as some of the topics we shared and spoke about were very personal. I just hope that I have helped her. I know that she said a few things to me that started to make me think about things. I guess first impressions can help. Thalia, I hope your walk with God is strengthened and is better from our conversations. Muchos Abrazos. Keep smiling.

I also went and did many other activites in Viña, Valpo and Villa Alemana, which are too neumerous to discuss. I went to several birthday parties (Happy Birthday Mirty and Nicolas), people´s houses, resturants, etc. In gerneral it was a good time, not always fun, but a good time.

2008-02-29T10:19:00.000-08:00

Chile - Santiago

My plane was delayed in Rio by about an hour due to technical issues. They did not tell us what they were, so I guess it was better that they found out what the problem was before we took off and rectified it. This meant that when we stopped over in Sao Paulo, we could not leave the plane, as planned. Planes get very hot when they don’t turn the air-conditioning on and you think that opening doors will. I tell you now, it doesn’t. There were two other passengers from Australia on the plane and they made me embarrassed to be an Australian. I think that they were of an Arabic background from Sydney. They would laugh and joke at the service staff in a mix of English/Arabic and then demand things, with a few 4-letter words included. I felt discussed to be an Australian, the first time for a long time. We were all in the same situation and their actions were uncalled for.

The flight was a little late leaving Sao Paulo, so it meant that Paul, Danni and Natalia, had to wait a little longer at the Santiago airport. I was so thankful that they were collecting me, as I think I was still feeling the effects of my sickness in Rio. It was a week before Christmas, so it was hard not to get my thoughts off my family back in Australia. Being back in Pauls’ apartment was great, as it is my South American home, and I was in familiar territory again. Paul and I went and played Pichunga (baby football) a few times that week. It was great fun, but I realised how unfit I am. Plans were also in full swing for a Chilean Christmas. It is a little different here, as they don’t seem to decorate the streets and shops with such enthusiasm as back in Australia. There are very little Christmas movies and very few Christmas carols. I guess we are a little commercial about it in Australia. Danni and I went shopping a few times for various foods and drinks in preparation for the big night. We would also go out and purchase gifts for various people, most of whom I had never met or knew off. I guess a child changes people’s lives. I mentioned big night before because in Chile the Christmas celebrations take place in the evening of the 24th. I think that most of Europe and Latin America are like this.

Christmas dinner was great! Danni did a wonderful job of preparing and cooking the chosen foods for the evening. I think that Nati got most out of the celebrations and she reminded me so much of my little niece, when she started handing out presents and kisses to everybody. I began thinking of the family back home and realised, with the time difference, they too would be sitting down to their Christmas Lunch or opening presents, like we were. So I decided to give them a call and check in. It was great to talk to them. I tried calling a few others in Australia, but none answered my calls. Not to worry, they were busy with their celebrations. While I was chatting to the folks, the Self-Saucing Chocolate Pudding I had prepared was in the oven. So after the roast turkey and trimmings, we all sat around and ate my pudding with scoops of vanilla ice-cream… I must confess it was good, but not as good as Mum’s Traditional Boiled Christmas Pudding with brandy custard. I really missed it this year. We all shared stories about various Christmas we had had over the years. I also shared some of my stories from my time in Brazil. I guess by talking about them I stared to miss them.

I also got in contact with Daniel and arranged the final details of my planned stay with him in Villa Aleman (German Village, in English), which is about 30-45mins by car from the seaside towns of Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. For those of you who don’t remember, Daniel was the guy I stayed with in Brazil. The family connection is that his Dad is the cousin of Karen, Lorena, Nashi, etc. The plan was that I was to travel there and spend New Year’s Eve with him, as Vina and Valparaiso are the party towns in Chile, when it comes to New Year’s celebrations. So a few days after Christmas, I called Dad to wish him a Happy Birthday, chatted to the family and told them my NYE plans. The following day, I packed my bags again, said my goodbyes to Paul and Danni, and was off.

2008-02-07T20:21:00.000-08:00

Brasil - Final Thoughts...

In general, I had a wonderful time in Brasil. I made many new friends during my time in Brasil, some I will definately keep in contact with and others, well, they have already stopped talking to me, even before I left. Their loss!!!
Anyway, I think I can summarise my time in Brasil into one bible passage...

Ephesians 4:17-32
Living as Children of Light

17 With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they are hopelessly confused. 18 Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. 19 They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.
20 But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. 21 Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, 22 throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. 23 Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. 24 Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.
25 So stop telling lies. Let us tell our neighbors the truth, for we are all parts of the same body. 26 And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27 for anger gives a foothold to the devil.
28 If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead, use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need. 29 Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.
30 And do not bring sorrow to God’s Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption.
31 Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. 32 Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

This passage reminds me of people that I have met, spent time with, spoken too and in some cases still talk too. People make up the country and its culture and with Brasil being the biggest Catholic country in the world, many do not live a life of Christ, even some Christians live an ungodly life. We must be Salt and Light, if we are not how can we expect to win more to Christ. I too was a little angry before I left for South America and after my experiences and conversations with some of my new friends, thanks Kaka, Lore and Nashi in Campinas and special thanks to my friends in Brasilia, espically Mylana, I felt a lot more at peace with myself. I think that as I struggled with the language barrier and as I had loads of time to myself, I read my bible a lot and I mean a lot, which helped me understand God/Jesus/The Holy Spirit (The Trinity) a little more and what I should be doing as a follower of him.

I had many fun times in Brasil, Alex and Karen's wedding was just fantastic and seeing it all come together in the end was just such a relief. (more so for Karen...) Meeting all of Karen's extended family and getting to know them, hoping that they will come to Australia so they can experience life in my little corner of the world... maybe then they may understand this gringo a little better. Travelling with Andrea to Ilha Grande was just so special... I think we watched 7 of the greatest sunsets ever. Going to Foz do Iguacu was such an experience, seeing God's creation in its awesome splender. Travelling by boat along the amazing Amazon River, seeing all its vast waters and thick forests, listerning to Aqua in Portuguese... and running away from my "girlfriend". Spending time with Zilmar and his family in Sao Luis and the morning we went riding on the motorbikes. Sorry Zilmar, I know you love your Buffaloes, but I so did enjoy the ride on the motorbikes. All that said, I must make a special mention of all my friends in Brasilia. You are a wonderful group of people and I miss you all so much. Just thinking of you brings tears to my eyes. I came to you a stranger needing refuge from the storm of my life and you provided it for me, you gave me back my joy and love of life. You all will always have a very special place in my heart. You were to me what the 'Fortress of Solitude' is to Superman.
Eu tenho muito saudades pra voces. Muito Obrigado!!! One day I will return!

Now at the end of about 6 months of time in Brasil, a chapter of Leigh's life ends and another begins... the end of 2007 is approching fast and I am off to Chile. Thinking of what has happened here, what adventures await me in Chile. Will they be all good, all bad or as usual a combination of the two. Time will tell.
Signing off from Brasil for 2007.

2008-02-06T18:52:00.000-08:00

Rio de Janeiro

The bus that I travelled on to Rio de Janeiro, arrived about 2hrs late and after a few discussions with some terminal workers, an internet session, I made my way to Leblon on a local bus. On the bus I got to talking to a the lady sitting next to me, who helped me get off at the right stop (as it was the same as hers) and she also helped guide me to Myla’s cousin’s family shop. I arrived a little later than expected, but once all the greetings, in Portuguese (as none spoke English), were done we loaded the car and went back to their house and met Vanessa, Myla’s cousin. Vanessa’s English was very good and we started to get along very well, even with my strange accent.

It was raining very heavily the night I arrived and all I could say was… it will be better tomorrow, it has to be… I have so many places I want to go and see. Yet again, the following morning it was raining even heavier. I was a little disappointed, as there was also a very heavy fog, which meant you could see about 1km away, but not that well. Not real good for sightseeing and taking scenery photographs, as you do in Rio. So basically I spent the day with Vanessa’s cousin and family, hanging out at home and going to the local mall. He is a real funny guy and we laughed a lot, as he and I shared many things. He is a lifeguard at Copacabana beach.

Later in the afternoon we went to his house in one of the slums of Rio, as we were dropping him off. While there I asked about where I could get a haircut and he said come with me. We walked about 100metres up the road to a local barber. I sat in the chair and he cut my hair for 5Reais. He did a really nice job too. He could not believe it when we told him that I was from Australia. When he asked ‘how much was it to have a hair cut in Australia?’, I told him about 20 Australian dollars… he could not believe it… we would be so rich working there. I then asked him, ‘how much is it to buy a banana, here’ and he replied… ‘oh about 1 Real for 5 bananas’, so he quickly rethought his rich idea when I said you pay about 5 dollars for 5 bananas. Rio is a place of extremes… the haves and the have nothings. The rich live in apartments near the beach and the poor live in the slums in the hills that overlook these apartments. So every day the poor go and work for next to nothing for the rich and every day they look down and see what they do not have. No wonder there is so much violence in Rio. These are only my impressions.

For the first time I saw sunny day in Rio. It was a Saturday morning, so I went with Vanessa to a friend’s house for a prayer meeting. There I met many of Vanessa friends from her church. We hung out for the rest of the day, travelling together by bus to a restaurant, only to go to the local mall to eat. Along the way I started talking to one of the girls in the group, asking the usual questions of does she study or work. She said that she was studying journalism and did some modelling part time. OK, so we chatted a little more… I found out later on that she was Miss Rio De Janeiro State for 2007. She was a very down to earth girl, not like some other pretty girls I have met. The journey back after eating was very funny, with about 10 of us all in a little VW Golf hatchback. Anything goes here in Brazil.

The following morning, I woke up and felt sick… I am not quite sure what I ate to make me sick, but it was the start of my throwing up time… I threw up for about 12hrs. I would sleep, wake up, throw up and then go back to bed to sleep some more. It got to the point that I was thinking that what else could I throw up? I was so bad, that they took me to the hospital. I had an injection and then went home where I went straight to sleep. I basically slept all Monday, only waking to have a drink of juice and some soup. I didn’t do much else. I was leaving on Tuesday afternoon, for Chile, so it was all I could do to pack my bags in the morning. I missed going to all the touristy locations, the world’s biggest football stadium, the Maracana, the beaches of Copacabana and Ipanema, the Statue of Christ and Pao de Acucar. All because the weather was bad at the start of my visit and I was sick at the end of my time in Rio. I just think that I will have to go back again one day to see the sights that I missed out on. Thanks for my time with you Vanessa and thanks for opening your home and family to me. My flight left Rio at 1pm.

2008-02-06T11:43:00.000-08:00

Campinas

I had arranged with Alex and Karen that I would walk from the Campinas bus terminal to Paulo and Loren’s house. I think I walked with a spring in my step, as I was back in familiar surroundings again. It was great to see them again and I was mugged by the three boys, when they returned home from school. I hung out with them all day, waiting for Karen to come and collect me. She was a little late, arriving in the late afternoon to take me to her other sister’s house. When I walked through the door at Nashi’s place and started up the stairs, Sophie, her daughter saw me and threw herself at me, calling out my name. I think I almost lost my footing and almost fell back down the stairs. It was such a great environment to be in before leaving to Rio. I really enjoyed my time with them and I felt part of the family.

In my last night in Campinas, I went out with Alex and Karen for dinner. We chatted about my time in Brazil and what I thought about things and what I had experienced. It was a nice end to a nice stay in Brazil. I stayed at their place that night and stayed with them, as Karen was going to drop me off at the Bus station, so I could go to Rio. There were more people that I would have liked to have said goodbye to in person, but time did not allow. I hope that they read this and see that I was thinking of them, even though I did not say goodbye in person.

2008-02-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

Brasilia

I returned to Brasilia by plane and called Myla to say that I had arrived. As she was at work, I caught a cab to her apartment, dropped off my things and went to Nandinha’s house to say hello and then to go out with her and Dede to the movies. It was a great night catching up with friends and telling stories of my adventures in the north of Brazil. I got home so late, I missed catching up with Mylana.

I spent the week relaxing and catching up with friends. Go out for lunch, eating way to much food again and just being the social Leigh once again. One night I went out to have Pizza with some of the guys from Church, and as a documentary on Australian animals had been on the night before, it was the topic of conversation. I realised that I had missed my friends from Brasilia and I really loved my time back here again. I also arranged my bus ticket from Brasilia to Campinas. I think that hit home to me that I was leaving Brazil soon. It was my first indicator. Myla also arranged for me to stay with her cousin, Vanessa, in Rio, which was just fantastic of Myla once again. I think she would make a great travel agent or PA to any boss, maybe she would make a great boss.

On the Sunday night, I went to church for the last time in Brasilia. Knowing that I was Mum’s birthday in Australia and knowing that I was also leaving for the last time, the following day, made me very sad. It was nice that people noticed I was looking a little down and asked after me. I received some wonderful support and conversation and by the end of the night, I returned to Myla’s apartment, still a little sad, but not as much as earlier in the day. It was a sad day, the day I left, as I knew that I was leaving many good friends behind. I am not sure when I will see some of them again, but I hope it is sooner rather than later.

Saudades em tudo!

2008-02-06T10:55:00.001-08:00

Sao Luis

I arrived at the bus terminal in Sao Luis after one of the worst bus rides I have ever been on. I think that we hit just about every pot-hole there was and the ones we missed, I think the driver went back for them. The road was terrible. I think I only got about an hours sleep in total. So I was not to flash when I arrived and my brain was not working to well, so when I tried to communicate with Myla’s family I was getting all my Portuguese wrong and struggling to understand what was being said to me. That said, I was finally collected by Myla’s and their live in maid.

At the family home, I met the rest of Myla’s family, her eldest sister and husband, Jose and Marcelo, who had lived in the US for a few years, so their English was very good, which made life a little easier for me. I also met Myla’s youngest sister, Sue, and her fiancée and the youngest brother, Marcus. I had a whole guest house to myself, which was great, as I could spread out my things and not worry too much about it, as only I had to see and live with the mess… narh, it wasn’t too bad. The dad, Zilmar, was still at the family farm, so I did not meet him for a day or so.

During the first few days of my visit to Sao Luis, I went out with Sue and her fiancée, for a city tour, at night. It was great to get a feel for Sao Luis and then to eat some very nice pizza. The family also aided me in arranging an overnight trip to Barrarinhas, a local tourist town where they have vast areas of white sand dunes that are dotted with small fresh water lakes. The region is quite vast and quite dangerous in the dry season, due to its lack of water. It just so happened that I was there in the dry season. I also went to a local church in Sao Luis of a friend. I had met Marcus in Brasilia on my first visit and I thought that I would catch up with him at his church. His dad is the pastor of the church and he is his junior. We chatted and arranged to go on a city tour of Sao Luis the following day.

The tour was great, as we walked around the old centre, in its many small streets and lanes, you could feel the history of the place, as Sao Luis is about 400yrs old. We talked about the history and even the modern day issues of drugs and alcohol, as we saw many people who were passed out or throwing up. It was quite sad. Here in Brazil, they have many young pretty ladies trying to sell you things in the streets, such as telephone contracts, in-store promotions, etc… I don’t mind this, but it gets a little monotonous when they always seem to run through the crowd to try and give me their spiel. When I say thank you and that I don’t speak much Portuguese, they just start to smile and stare…even when I have moved on for some time.

The following morning I was collected at 4:30am, by the tour group, to go to Barrarinhas. A cold shower at 4am really does wake you up. Oh, they don’t have hot water in their showers here, as you don’t need it. It is always hot and you use the shower to cool down. Along the way we collected a French couple, who spoke no English, but the wife did speak Spanish, so that is how we communicated. After the 4hr drive we arrived in the tourist town and were dropped off at the hotel. I was told that I had 30mins to settle in before they would be back to collect me for the tour to the dunes. I think about 5 mins later there was a knock at the door. So we were off. The group now consisted of the French couple, 3 Ladies from Sao Paulo and myself. I was changing from Spanish to Portuguese when trying to communicate. I also acted as a very bad translator, when the French lady and the 3 Brazilians were stuck on words, during their conversation. I was really bad at it, as sometimes I did not know the word, so I said it in English or tried to use something that was similar. Anyway, the walk to the one and only lake we could find was hot and tiring, but very enjoyable, as I got to practice some more Portuguese. It was so dry! The sun was so hot! I can see why you would be in a lot of trouble is you did not have water with you.

On arrival at the lake, an hour after we started walking, we all jumped into the water and swam. About an hour later, I was just starting to relax and feel the heat leave my body, when the guide said… “Let’s go. We will return to town for lunch”. I was a little disappointed, but left the water and started to walk. On the return journey I discussed with the 3 ladies that it would have been better to take lunch with us and stay out at the lake for more time, as this was a major reason why we had travelled here in the first place. They agreed.

I had lunch with the French couple, as we had dropped off the 3 ladies at their hotel, which had a great restaurant, which we discovered later in the Lonely Planet Guide Book. Not to worry, as I enjoyed my meal of fresh fish. When we were dropped off the driver was talking about roads and my hotel. I asked him to speak slower to me to help my understanding. He just looked at me, gave me a ‘whatever’ look and kept on talking fast, pointing away from the restaurant. Not really understanding it all, I just nodded and said “Yes. My hotel is that way”. After lunch the waiter started doing the same thing as the driver with me. I looked at the French lady and said, “I think he is your guide for the hotel” and she like me believed that we were to be driven back, as it had said in our programme. I started walking, trying to follow his instructions. Normally I am very good with instructions and directions and have a general good sense of direction; I just do not know what happened on this day. I walked the streets for about an hour, trying to find my hotel. As the name of my hotel was ‘Hotel River’, when asking for directions, I was always given directions to the river. I think wearing my bathers and having a towel around my neck didn’t help… not to mention my poor Portuguese speaking ability (I understand more than I can speak). I eventually went back to the restaurant to start over again… This time trying to remember buildings, trees, etc… and not listening to the directions I was given. I found the hotel in about 15mins. When I arrived I saw the driver, from the morning, and complained about the lack of service, service I had paid for and expected. He was very apologetic.

The following day we all went on a speed boat riverboat cruise. We stopped off at various small villages for a stretch of the legs, photo opportunities and of course the usual purchases of either overpriced snacks or drinks. During the trip I met a girl from Canada who was travelling like me, taking her time, knowing that she had a flight out of Brazil in a month, from Forteleza, the next major city along the coast. She was happy to have a conversation with someone else who was a native English speaker, without a heavy accent… I understood what she meant. She asked when I was leaving and when I said that afternoon, she asked that I stay on an extra night so we could talk a little more and go to the local Jazz club together. I declined the offer and after the boat cruise returned to the hotel, packed my things and jumped onto the mini-van that drove me back to Sao Luis.

The following morning I arranged to go to the farm with Zilmar. First I had the day to relax, so I went to the beach. I walked for ages, just looking at the ocean, finally finding a spot to swim and enjoy the waters, making sure I kept an eye on my things. It was a great time of thinking about things and contemplating others. I thought of many things that day, where I had been in my life and where I was going. My friends, both in Australia and abroad, and especially my family were all thought of.

The following morning, Zilmar and I went to the farm. It was about a 2hr drive, but it was great to be out and about again see other parts of Brazil. The farm is great. I spent my days fishing, reading my bible, walking, looking at buffalo and sleeping in a hammock. It was very relaxing and very enjoyable. Even with the language barrier, Zilmar and I had many laughs, especially when I told him stories of my adventures in Brazil. I met the family that manages the farm when Zilmar is not there. They are a wonderful family and I got on well with them. I struggled to understand the mother, but the daughters and the husband were not as bad. During discussions I heard about the difficulties they girls have because of a lack of teachers. Sometimes they don’t have a subject ofor a whole semester or even a whole year because they have no teacher. This semester it was a lack of Maths and a lack of English teachers. I think that rural life in Brazil is a little harder than rural life in Australia. On the final day Zilmar, his brother and I all went motorbike riding. It was such great fun. I really enjoyed going at top gear, with the throttle on full, not knowing how fast I was going. I felt like I was just flying. It was so much fun.

That afternoon we returned to Sao Luis, as we needed to go to Marcus’ girlfriend’s party, which was being held that night. On arrival at home about 7pm, I thought, I must go and get ready as we have a party to go to. It wasn’t until later that I found out the party was to start at 11pm! Security was high, but when your Dad is the head policeman of Sao Luis, I guess that you can pull a few cops to guard your daughter’s birthday. After we had chatted for a little and had a few cool drinks, we danced and socialised. Dinner was served at 1:30am. Now that is a late dinner. We did some more dancing and then left to go home at 3am. What a different lifestyle. I guess the only party I have ever been to that starts at 11pm, is a NYE party. I was told that that was very common in Brazil. The following morning I arranged my return flight to Brasilia, my stopping point for my return journey to Campinas. I really enjoyed my time in Sao Luis and I have promised that I will return, one day, if they will have me. Zilmar said that he wants to visit me in Australia in the next 2 years. We had made a very good connection, even with the major language barrier we had.

Obrigado Zilmar para tudo. Voce tem uma familia linda e que legal da fazenda.

2008-01-29T11:16:00.000-08:00

Belem

The boat docked at the port and there was a mad scramble by all the passengers to complete their journey and get off. I was a little amazed at how wobbly I was on my feet, after only being on the boat for 5 days. Did I get me ‘river’ legs (not sea legs, as I was not at sea) in such a short time? I think that I must have. The walk to the terminal building was a little strange, as I was with the Argentineans and the French couples. As we walked through the terminal building we were hassled by all the Taxi drivers. One would ask if I needed a taxi and I would answer “nao obrigado” (no thank you) and the next taxi driver standing next to him, who witnessed the previous conversation, would ask the same question. Maybe they thought that I wanted to travel with him, because he looked better dressed? Don’t ask me… One taxi driver even grabbed my arm, pulling at it and asking “Taxi, you wanna taxi, Senhor?” I was not happy about that, so I gave him the filthiest look ever pointed to his hand on my arm and said, very sternly, "Nao Podde!" (This basically means “no can!”)... he quickly let go of my arm and backed off to the other vultures, opps, sorry Taxi drivers…

I said my goodbye to both the couples, as they jumped into a taxi for the bus terminal. I asked a shop keeper where the local tourist office was, only for her to ask a taxi driver, who of course wanted me to get in his taxi, as it was very far away and too far to walk. I told him to go away and just started walking towards the centre of town. I ended up walking past the tourist office, but only realised that I went on the city tour, which I will discuss later. I finally found a travel agent and asked a few questions about Belem and tours. I asked them for directions to the nearest internet café and away I went. I needed to get Myla’s number from my emails, so I could call her and get her cousin’s number to arrange to met me, as I was to stay with her and her family. About 2 hours later, after time on the net, telephone calls and then waiting for Elive to collect me, I was finally on my way to her house, a place where I could have a decent shower, something I had missed in Manaus, due to the humidity, and on the boat.

The fun began. Elive, is just like her sister Danni, Myla’s cousin in Brasilia who I stayed with there. They don’t look the same but they have so many similar characteristics, that when I wasn’t looking at her, I would think that I was talking to Danni. After freshening up and having something to eat, we were off on a tour of city. The funny things was, we all went on the tour. Elive was driving, I was in the front passenger seat and, their live in maid, Preta (‘Black Female’ is her name directly translated) and Erik Victor were in the back. It was dark, but we still went to a number of tourist locations, just so I could get a feel of the city. Even though I didn’t see much, I still appreciated the efforts, as I got to see Belem by night with all its lights on. A city is very different at night. We returned home and I went straight to bed, as I was very tired.

The following day I went on another tour of the city with Elive, Erik Victor and Preta. It rained all day, but I still took loads of photos… We would drive from one place to the next, stopping only for me to wind down the window and take a photo or to be stupid and run through the rain, getting very wet, take a photo or two and then running back to the car. Everyone thought that I was a little crazy, but I was having fun and grateful that I was being chauffer driven. We ended up at the Waterfront area, which reminded me of Melbourne’s South Bank, with all its shops and restaurants. We went to an Ice-cream shop where I tasted over 30 flavours, only to have a huge problem of remembering which three flavours were the best, so I started to try them all again… The attendant didn’t say anything about it and he just kept serving me more ice-cream. I think that you can get away with many things here in Brazil, just because you are a gringo. That said, I think that some take advantage of the fact that they are gringo and the locals take advantage that they are a gringo. $ signs flash and it is Jackpot time.

The last day that I was there, I went on a tour to one of the local parks, where they still have a lot of the local indigenous vegetation and many animals living within that environment. It was quite a big park, as we spent about 2 hours there. My tour guide for the day was the local street guy, Jose. He lived on the street just outside Elive’s house and did odd jobs for the locals, like washing cars and running errons to get a little bit of money to buy the things that he liked or needed. Most of the locals would either offer or give him some food and drink when they saw him. We walked through the park chatting and looking at the trees and animals. We stopped and looked at the fish in the ponds and even the sea cow that was swimming in the 3m x 3m pond. I think that he enjoyed his time with the gringo and made sure people saw him with me. I didn’t mind as he was nice to me and waited while I did the usual stupid tourist things.

I had a great time in Belem with Elive and her family. She opened up her home and family to me and it was great to be able to relax and have fun. It was a wonderful time after being on the road for some time. I will always remember the request that she made of me, to translate, from English to Portuguese, the instruction manual of an instrument that aided in the development of the pelvic floor muscles in women. I know more than what a man needs to know about a women’s body!! I left Belem on the overnight bus to Sao Luis, the home town of my friends in Brasilia, Myla and Dario.

2008-01-01T19:58:00.000-08:00

The Amazon River by Boat.
Manaus to Belem.

I have always had a dream to travel on the Amazon river by boat. I was to fulfil that dream on this trip to the Amazon Region. I boarded my boat in Manaus at 1:30pm on the Friday afternoon, full of excitement and wonder of the coming adventure. I had paid for a cabin, so in effect I had paid for two people to journey on the boat. That said it was better for my own safety, which I will explain later.

Our scheduled departure time was 2pm. So it wasn’t all that bad when we left at 2:30, after all passengers, crew and goods were safely on-board. The port was a little crazy, with people running from boat to boat, trying to sell all the important last minute things that people may have forgotten to buy earlier. Things like sun cream lotion, sunglasses, snacks, water, etc.. I was alright in this department, as I went to the local supermarket earlier that day. When I purchased SPF 50 sun cream lotion, the lady in the store gave me a very funny look. It wasn’t until later that I realised that the bottle was one specially designed for babies. I guess that when you have fair skin, like mine, you need these sort of things. The journey had started, however it was short lived, as we went to another pier to load more goods. This took a further 4 hours, so we left really late. That said, it was still great to be on the water and watching the Amazon River Dolphins play and chase fish.

The main memory of that first night on the boat was one of quiet tranquillity. I sat and watched the city lights of Manaus gradually begin to get less and less and the light of the stars and moon become stronger and stronger. All this time there was the sound of Brazilian music being played and people starting to mingle and make new friends for the journey. Being the only native English speaker on the boat, it meant that I had a lot of time to consider things, places I had been, people I had met, where I had been and where I was going. It was a great time of meditation and a time of getting closer to God. The male passengers also started to play dominos and it seemed to be never ending. Game after game was played. It was almost strange not to hear the smashing of dominos onto the table, as each player took their turn. Each slap had to be lauder than the next.

The next morning the daily routine of waking at 6, eating breakfast, going back to bed to sleep a little more, walking the boat for exercise, sunbaking, lunch at 12, sleeping a little more, eating dinner at 6 and then listening to music (at full volume) and then going to bed at about 9 or 10 night, set in. It was a good routine, as it enabled me to do what I wanted between meals. As I had purchased a fare in a cabin, I was given special treatment, along with the other cabin passengers. Our meals were given to us in another location, not with the rest of the hammock passengers. The area was sectioned off and we could take as long as we wanted to eat, the same food as everyone else, but with the occasional few extras. We would get the occasional look from the other passengers, which made me feel a little uncomfortable, but this is a user pay society and as cabin passenger, we had paid.

The bar on the top level of the boat would play music non-stop from 8am to 12pm. I didn’t mind this, as it was good to have the music going. However it was a little hard to have a conversation with fellow passengers, especially in Portuguese. It was made even harder for me because the people of the Amazon Region have a different accent. On one such occassion, I was sitting minding my own business when one of the female passengers on the boat started to make conversation with me. I think that her name was Milena. This was ok to start with, but as time went by, I became very uncomfortable. To use a quote from a movie, slightly changed to fit the situation, “She was the boat bicycle, everyone’s had a ride” (Austin Powers, for those of you who don’t know). She followed me everywhere on the boat. I would go to the bath room and she would be waiting for me to exit. I would go downstairs and she would follow. I would go up stairs and she would be right behind me. During some conversations with her, as she was hard to avoid, she gave me looks that I had seen on other girls, here in Brazil. Looks where they where asking for a little more that just conversation. “Ohh, you have a Cabin… what is that like? Is it comfortable? It must be nice to ‘sleep’ in a cabin.” At one stage a boy of about 10 asked me if I had a girlfriend and when I said that I didn’t, he said “well, you are single and she is single (pointing to the girl), why don’t you get together with her and be happy on this boat”. I thought it was then time to lock myself away for a few hours, for safety. While in the cabin, reading my bible, someone tried to use the door and enter. I just kept quiet and eventually they left. I waited until she departed the boat before I reappeared.

The Argentinean couple I had befriended, in my bad Spanish, began to joke with me about the girl, asking where my “girlfriend” was, when she was not around. I just shook my head and we all laughed. Even the French couple jested in sign language asking where she was. It was the cabin passenger joke. The Argentinean couple had been travelling for 20months throughout Latin America and they only travelled by bus or boat, accept when they flew to Cuba. They had great stories to tell and were very interesting people. They were my refuge from the ‘bicycle’. Some people on the boat thought that I was the son of the Argentinean couple, as the husband had a fair complexion and fair hair.

Life on the river seemed very hard for the locals. The housing was simple and the people poor. They would paddle out to our boat, hoping that we would throw items of food or clothing to them. It was quite sad. Sometimes they would be able to latch onto the boat and come aboard to try and sell a bunch of 6 bananas for 1 or 2Reais (70cents to $1.50 Aus), just to get a little money. I noticed that no boats used power motors and I guessed the cost of fuel was to great for them. One very sad thing I noticed was the way the river was used as a rubbish dump. People would rather throw their empty beer can over the side of the boat into the river, instead of lifting the lid of the bin, which was right in front of them. It was easier to do this. I soon saw that the Brazilian people can be very lazy at times. I noticed that it was the foreigners who walked 10 to 20 meters to put their rubbish in the bins. There was also the constant smell of smoke in the air and it became strange not to smell it. I even commented to a local, that there were far to many fires and that there was to much rubbish in the river and that one day the forest could possible be all gone and the river no good. I just was given the funny look of “what planet are you from?”. Their attitude is, it’s so big, it doesn’t matter… but I can see that it is gradually getting smaller and smaller…

During the voyage we made various stops in both small and large ports. The better the port, the bigger and better the town. Most were made of wood and held together with either metal struts and bracing. Others like the Santerem Port were well constructed from concrete, steel and brick. We stopped in Santerem for 5hrs on the Sunday morning, so I decided to do a little self guided tour of the town, while I waited for the only store/shop to open, the local internet café. During my walk, I came accross the local Catholic Cathedral, where the locals were hold an outdoor church service. I think it may have been a First Communion Service, as all the children were dressed in white robes. I stayed and watched for about an hour and really enjoyed myself listerning to the upbeat music and trying to understand what was being said. I didn't do a very good job at that, but it was still good. I started to walk the streets a little more, trying to get a feel of the town, but it wasn't all that good. Locals noticed what I was doing and the children started to pose as I took photos. I would smile and then wave in thanks as I took my photos. I finally made it to the Internet Cafe, only to wait another 30mins, as they opened late. They didn't care, but some of the other queing customers were getting a little agitated, banging on doors and talking loadly, hoping their actions would sway the people to open. It didn't work and they opened when they did. After completing my internet requirments, I quickly made my way back to the boat by motor taxi. It is a great way to travel here, as the motorbike riders/drivers are a little crazy.

After leaving Santerem, life on the boat returned to its normal routine of endless river, islands, tropical forest, eating, sleeping and avoiding some people. Some things that stand out in my memory is watching "American Pie, Band Camp" in Portuguese and still laughing at the jokes. At one stage the bar played "Aqua's - Barbie Girl", but it was in Portuguese. However I say along in English and remembered being at Bron and Jarrod's place that night after church, with Will, Asha and Emily. It was very enjoyable. The last thing that I remember is the boat rounding the heads near Belem and seeing Belem for the first time. It is a much larger city than what I thought it would be. There were the usual loads of appartment buildings and high rise office blocks. I was quite surprised. I had heard that Belem was not a very safe city. Time would tell.

2007-12-27T13:20:00.000-08:00

Manaus - The AMAZON.

Myla was great a drove me to the Airport, as Danni was sick and Jacki was going to sit an enternace exam for university. While I waited for the plane, I purchased a coffee and some cake. Wosrt coffee and worst cake ever. I think I have turned into a coffee snob, but I think that there are those out there who already think I am one... While I sat at my gate, a guy who had had to much amber ale, kept asking me if this was the flight to Manaus (in Portuguese) I said yes and that I was a foreigner and didn't speak to much Portuguese. That didn't stop him. I think it was more of an invertation for him, in his mind. He started to tell me his life story and how he was a Federal Police Officer and that he had been a member of Interpol. Mind you the occasional "Is this the plane to Manaus?" question thrown in... I think I answered that question 5 times in 30mins... the plane was delayed. He was sitting 2 rows behind me... great...

Anyway on the flight he met some lady and then introduced me, as if we were two of his long lost buddies and we should know eachother. She was visiting family and told me stories of the Amazon. She also asked where I was staying and how I was getting there. I said a hotel in the centre of town and I was going by bus. "NO! You are not going by bus, it is to dangerous and being a Gringo, you will get mugged." So I did the most stupid thing I have done in Brasil, I accepted a ride from her unmet sister and nephews. Now I was in a strange place, in a strange car, with 4 complete strangers. I felt a little uncomfortable. Sorry M&D for not telling you about it earlier, but I thought it best not too. After all that, they finally got me to my hostel all safe and sound. She actually ended up being a Christian and was starting an evangulism routine, when I said, "It's all good, I'm a Christian too". Load cheers and 'Praise the Lord' statements were said. So, I guess in the end, it wasn't to bad.

At the Hostel, I checked in, found my bed and started to met some of the other people who were staying at the place. There were a few from Germany (3 girls and 1 guy called Udo), a Frenchmen (Bastian) who lives in Canada and a guy called Rob from England. That night we all went out to dinner to a little resturant and ate to much food. The waitress asked if we liked Forro and as no one else knew what it was I asked if she had any DVD's to play. A big smile with a gleam in her eye followed and the DVD was changed. Everyone else complained, as they were liking the current playlist of music, until the Forro music got swinging. History lesson - Forro started in the North of Brasil, by the British, of all people. It is called Forro (pronounced Foho) as the local Brasilians tried to call the dance by it's English name "For all" and as their pronunciation was bad, it was called Forro by the locals. It was a lot more of a nicer dance in the old days but like all things here in Brasil, it was made sexual. There are a few bad conitations that go with Forro because of the way you dance it. Maybe when I next see you, I'll show you what I mean. (I'll only dance with the Ladies, Guys can watch).

I mainly hung out with Udo and Bastian. Udo had grown up in the Black Forest and had been kicked out of home at 14. He was always telling stories about various holidays he had taken, as he works for 9 monthsof the year and then travels for 3. Bastian hadgrown upin France, but didn't like French people, especially those fromParis. He lives in Canada and I think is studying. For his birthday, his friends had all chiped in so he could go to the Amazon for a month. He loves Insects. Nice friends... They were great guys to hang out with and it seemed that everywhere we went, it turned out to be an exciting adventure. I guess the saying "never a dull moment with the Leroy" is true. We went on a self guided city tour together, by bus. That's because we caught the wrong bus, the 120 and not the 121. So we went all the way out to Ponto Negro. That is where there is a big beautiful beach on the last bend in the Rio Negro (Black River) before it goes on to join with the Rio Salamonies, which when combined form the Rio Amazona. We had actually been trying toget to the Military Zoo, so we where a little off. At Ponto Negro we saw some locals in action... Working hard, as most Brasilians do during the middle of the day. Check out the photo above...

We finally made it to the military zoo. We started walking arround checking out the animals, when we saw a vet section of the hospital. I asked a solder if we could enter and was given a stern, "NO". We just watched as some staff helped a young family take Christmas photos with some Sloths anda baby Jaguar. One of the female Doctors came over to us, and we asked her if we could take photos. It wasn't long until we were holding and patting these animals too. It is amazing what some Brasilians, especially the girls, will do when you say in broken Portuguese that you are from overseas and love their country and could we have photos with the animals. Check me out with my little buddy... At zoo, met a girl from Switzerland. Renata. She joined our little group and we were now four.

Later that night all four went to the Amazon Theatre to watch 2 movies for free, as it was "O AMAZONAS FILM FESTIVAL - MUNDIAL DO FILME DE AVENTURA"(rough translation... The Amazon Film Festival - World of Adventure Films). The first one wasthe Brad Pitt movies, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Note...This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen) & the second movie was a real old one where an American Family move to Brasil and the son is kidnapped by Indians and grows up with them. He parents are always looking for him and they find him and then the dam he was building gets washed away in a big rain storm. I can't remember the name of the movie, but I remember watching this movie when I was about 10. We finally arrived home at 1am, only to need to be up the next morning at 5 to catch the 6am bus to Presidente Figueiredo. P.F. has a lot of small rivers / creeks with waterfalls. We had arranged with one of the guys at the hostel to wake us at 5, as that is the time he gets up.

I woke at 5, out of luck and lay in bed waiting for the guy to turn up. 5mins went by and no sign of him, so, I woke Udo and Bastian and we left, no sign of the guy. Anyway, we arrived at the Rodoviaria (Bus Station) and caught our bus. It was a 2 hour ride and we thought that we could get some sleep, yeah right, this is Brasil. The guys sitting arround us talked the whole way and at the top of their voices. I think that there is no real sence of respect for others. On arrival, at P.F., we found the local supermarket and brought some supplies. We made our way to the tourist office, only to find out that it was all to be in Portuguese, No English... That's ok... been there before. Basically it was a pay everywhere you go place... We went to arrange a taxi and had a driver tell us that it would cost 30Reais. We knew that it should be more like 20. Anyway we did a little talking and we were soon on our way for 20. There is the usuall attitude of "Gringos... Money, let's double everything..." I am getting sick of arguing down prices all the time... The best experience was listerning to a local get something for 10Reais and then when I asked how much it was in my Portuguese, I was told that I had to pay 25. I laughed at the guy and then told him off and asked why I was to pay 25, when the other guy got the same thing for 10? I soon paid 10. Anyway, the waterfalls were great, just annoying that every waterfall you go to, you need to pay 4 or 5 Reais, as each location is owned by a family, who do nothing to try and preserve the environment that they live in... they sit arround and wait to collect the cash.

We had been told that there was a really good Grota to go and see, which was about a 30min walk into the jungle. The tourist office had told us that we needed a guide and that it would cost us 40Reais. After hitching a ride to where the trail starts, we couldn't find the trail enterance. We asked a local who asked us where our guide was? We said that we didn't need one and asked where the trail started. She was not happy that we didn't have a guide, but showed us where the trail started. We started our jungle walk and after 50m noticed that there were markers every 10m, indicating the distance to go. Who needs a guide for that? We arrived, were impressed, took photos and then walked back along the trail. We saved ourselves 40 Reais. We signed the visitors book and started to walk back to town. After about 30mins and several tries later, we managed to hicth a ride back to town, get some food and then jump on the bus for the return journey to Manaus. All in all it was a great day of Sun, Water and Jungle walks...

I also did a self guided tour of Manaus. I went back to the Teatro Amazonas, for a guided tour and then went onto the Catherdral and the various Markets that are about town. I was careful in some of these places as I was doing this solo. The Catherdral gardens looked like they were the local Prostitute station and the markets had people moving everywhere. I finally made it back to the Hostel,where I paid my bill. I had noticed that the owner, a fellow Aussie, was always on everyones case about paying the right amount. One guy got charged for an extra 6 hours, as he was leaving after 'official check out time'. When I said that I wanted to settle my bill and store my bags, he told me that I didn't need to worry about that. It was a little strange, I think. He was a bit of a strange guy. I felt he only cared about people paying their bills. When asked about tourist information or locations of places, it was like getting blood from a stone and that we were asking the worst questions ever. The hostel and location was great, just not the people. Soon after I left and headed for the River Port to catch my boat and home for the next 5 days. I was to cruise the Amazon River to its mouth and the city of Belem.

2007-12-26T18:17:00.000-08:00

Brasilia.

The first stop, on my trip to the Amazon, was Brasilia (my second visit). I planned to stay in Brasilia for the weekend, but it ended up being a little longer. I had caught the overnight bus, which was late from Sao Paulo, due to the heavy rains. The bus also arrived late in Brasilia, about 3hrs late. I went and had lunch with Mylana and Maura and then went and settled into Myla's appartment, the same one as before. It was great to reaquaint myself with all the people that I had met from my first trip to Brasilia.

Word quickly spread and a BBQ was arranged with about 3hrs notice and most of the friends that I had made before, came. It was great fun, just chilling out with people. I even danced a little Forro, which was great fun, even though I am not that good at it. Jacki had dubbed the BBQ as "Leigh's Party" and told everyone that it was my birthday. It was a little hard trying to explain to people that it was not the case. I received a few strange looks. I also hung out with a guy called Robson. He is the son of a Pastor and is the church office administrator. He took me to a Churrascaria, one of the all you can eat meat resturants. Ohhh, I think that I ate to much, but when the food is good, what can you do... Later on that day we went to a Sports Club and went swimming in the pool there. Before I could swim, we need to go shopping for some new bathers, as they do not allow people to swim in shorts... Yes, a pair of 'speedos' were purchased. It was a good thing that we went swimming, so I could try and work off some of the food that I had eaten. All the Sports Clubs here a private. When I said that we have public swimming pools in Australia that you pay a few dollars to enter, it was like I was talking another language. It is just not done here in Brasil.

That night, the church was involved in an Artistic Night. Various churches were getting together to dance and praise God through various styles of Dancing. Now I usually don't like this kind of dancing. I never really have. The first people to dance were those from the Church that I go to, here in Brasilia. They were represented by Fernanda and Anderson. They danced with passion and enthousiasm. It was not until Fernanda sat down, that I could see the happiness and joy in her face, that I realised how involved people can be in worship through dance. I think that I am beginning to change my mind on the matter. The wheels move slowly. After the dancing was done, it was off to have Pizza, at an all you can eat Pizza resturant... I think that this is becomming a theme, for returants here in Brasil. I also chilled out a lot during my time here. Going to bed late and getting up late.

I hung out with Jacki and Dany, as Myla was at work. So when the girls went places, I went too. It was great fun to experience their lives. One night, we all went to Pontao and had dinner. I ate way to much ice-cream, but it was hot and I didn't care. I was having fun. One of their friend's Kelly brought her Guitar, so we all sat arround and sung songs, next to the lake. It was great. A very relaxing night and it made me think of all the sings that we normally sing on a Sunday night, back in Oz. I also watched loads of DVD movies. It was a great enjoyable and relaxing time. I really needed the time to stop and rest.

On one of the weekends here, I went on a Church Camp. I have always felt at home here at this church, from the first service I went too during my first visit to Brasilia. Everyone has been just so warm and welcoming, even when they know that there is a language barrier, they still come over, smile and give a hug and say hello. Anyway, the camp cost 20 Reais (about $14 Aussie Dollars). There was some great teaching (if Myla translated correctly) and loads of singing and dancing. I just enjoyed being involved. I got involved in the soccer game that was played and although I didn't score a goal, I gave off a few good passes, which set up a few. I was happy with that. As all the guys were now so hot, it was swim time. They had a pool there, which we swam in for about an hour and then we all walked to a waterfall the swam some more. That night some of us played 'WAR' a great game of luck. I ended up winning, which was a first for me at WAR. All in all the weekend away with the church was great. The only down side was that we orded some bad food and a few people got sick, well most of the girls and a few guys were visiting the toilet often. It was a shame that this happened, but no one really complained about it.

So many more things happened in Brasilia, to many to write about each. It was like the Gringo had arrived and everyone wanted to show me off to their friends and to show others that they knew someone from Australia. I went bowling with Robson and Andre. I went to a family BBQ with Laura's family. Thiago, Gabi and Raphael also came, which was great. As a group from church, we went bowling (at a different location) where the pins were on strings. It was one of the strangest things I have seen. I was also invited to have Fondue at Gabi's house. Fondue is a big thing here in Brasil. It seems that everyone loves it. I also went to Fernanda's house for her Mum's birthday. I was asked 20 questions by various family members and I gave my responses in Portugues. I thought that I was doing well until I heard Fernanda repeat my answers with a few more Poertuguese words thrown in and in a much better accent. It saw the funny side of it, as I guess I have done that with people speaking their broken English here.

My last night in Brasilia was spent at the Tagutinga Shopping mall, as I needed to buy my plane ticket for Manaus. I had been a little lazy in going earlier to purchase it. I didn't care all that much, as I was spending the evening with friends. My farewell dinner was Pizza and red wine... We needed to keep a check on on person, to make sure they didn't have to much, as they were driving me home. Anyway the night was full of great conversation, sharing of moments and statements of how they plan to visit me in Australia. I will miss them all.

2007-11-11T07:26:00.000-08:00

Campinas – Danny’s farewell.

I arrived back in Campinas after a very long bus journey. I think it was about 24hours in total and I travelled on 4 different buses. The walk from the bus station to Paulo and Lorena’s house was one of the fastest I have ever done. I think it was due to the looks I was getting from various peoples and the questions I would be asked along the way. I think one guy asked me for money and when I said I didn’t understand him he gave me a very angry look. He followed me for about 100m, but I think his friend called him back.
It was great to be back in familiar surroundings. The boys were happy to see me and it was great to be able to spend time with Danny before he was to return to Chile. He had been here learning Portuguese, as he wants to study Medicine at University and to be able to do that in Brazil, you need to be proficient in Portuguese. He was returning to Chile to sit an Examination in both written and spoken Portuguese. (Post writing: from what I hear he went quite well). I think it will be sad to see him go, as he has been a companion for my time here in Brazil. We have talked most nights until late, as we have almost always slept in the same room, hung out, spoken about things, even the differences he notices with the culture of Brazil and how it varies from Chile. At first I thought that they were very similar, but as time goes by, I have noticed the differences. Honestly, I think some here can be very two faced, they say one thing, while thinking and doing another, and they can turn on you in the blink of an eye. However, I think that is similar to people in the rest of this world… human nature and not God nature!
We had a “Goodbye Party” for Daniel, were most of the family came to eat and drink and spend time with him before his departure. Something that I find a little embarrassing here is that everyone gets a chance to say some positive and negative thoughts about the person leaving. I am not sure why you would say bad things at someone’s going away party, but you do. Basically everyone spoke about how they had noticed some changes in Daniel from when he first arrived in Brazil, how he had matured in his thoughts and actions. I just know that I will miss our times of talking and discussing various issues from family to love lives to what we would do when I visit him in Chile. I know that I had difficulties understanding him at the start of my time in Brazil but I think that we have developed a good friendship over the time.

Saudades Amigo!

I drove Danny to the bus station at 4am and made sure that he was on the bus by 5, as he had a flight at 9am. The airport in Sao Paulo is terrible, so you need to allow 3hours to get through check-in, security and customs and then your plane may be delayed because of the Air Traffic Controllers and you have to accept it. I have heard stories of people spending 3 nights in the airport because their domestic flight has been delayed. It was a lonely drive back to the house, a feeling that I had not had for some time.

I had also met another guy a few weeks earlier and he had become friendly with Daniel too. His name is Raphael and his Dad is English and his Mum is Brazilian. We started to hang out a bit, which was great, as I could speak to another native English speaker and not have to choose my words, as he understood what I said. I met some of his Brazilian friends in a bar one night, as he is in a church group that is reaching out to non-Christians, through discussion groups and pub visits, meeting with them, at their level, like Paul in Athens. I guess it is an extension of the concept of ‘Counter-meal Friday’. It was great to be able to chill out and talk about differences in culture, as he can see it from both sides, having a mixture of both in his own family. After discussions with his Mum, it turns out that she is 2nd cousins with the parent’s of my friend Mylana in Brasilia. It is such a small world. She actually started to describe Mylana and her family in detail. It is a small world.
During this time I also branched out and spent time with some local Brazilian people that I had met. Hanging out and having ice-creams, juices, going to the various Shopping Malls around Campinas (note: people use the Shopping Malls for social gatherings as they are safer than meeting in the streets. There is less of a chance of muggings, theft, etc.) We would also went to the centre of town, where I had my watch battery changed and a new wrist band put on, all for the price of 7 Reais, about $4.50 Aust. Now where can you get that done in Australia?

I also went to the local theme park, called Hpoi Harry, with Alex, Karen and Andrea. I had a load of fun, but as I am a little scared of heights, ohh, some of the rides were not good for me. There is one rider, where they strap you in and you go vertically up for about 70metres, very slowly. Once you reach the top, you are there for what seams to be an eternity, when they just let you go. You fall for about 2-3 seconds reaching a top speed of about 90Km per hour. I am still trying to find my stomach and all my muscles are still aching. I dreamt for a week that I was falling and would wake up in cold sweats... However it was a very enjoyable day. That's a photo of the tower.
I also spent time researching information for my upcoming trip to the Amazon, the North and the North-East regions of Brazil. I like to be prepared, especially when you are travelling solo. I wanted to make sure that I had the right information before I left, so I cross-checked the facts that I found. Some was a little bogus, while others, it seems, was spot on. I can’t wait! It has been a dream of mine for many years to travel to the Amazon, to go to “The Lungs of the World”

2007-11-11T06:09:00.000-08:00

The Pantanal.

After Foz, I caught the bus to Campo Grande, with Stewart. We had spoken to the 2 Irish guys about their time there and had the heads up that we should only need to pay 300 Reais for our time there. The bus was long and tiring. At one bus stop, at a local take away store, the owner’s niece was suggesting to her uncle how to ask, in English, what countries we were from. In my bad Portuguese, I said, “ Eu soy Australiano e meu amigo, Inglaterra.” Which basically means, “I am Australian and my friend, England”. Like I said, bad Portuguese, I should have used the word ‘Ingles’. However people here love it when you try and speak Portuguese. They look at you funny and then they smile and repeat what you said, but in the correct form.
Anyway, we arrived in Campo Grande just after 10am and we were very tired. As soon as we got off the bus, we were mobbed by tour operators wanting to sell us their package, as it was in this newspaper or this travel book and was the best in the area. They were surprisingly polite about it and each one took their turn to talk. We had already decided what we were going to do. We were going to check into the Youth Hostel, eat and shower and then spend time in Campo Grande sight-seeing and looking at what all the packages cost and include. We got the spiel from the guy who owned the Youth Hostel, as he had a tour package as well. After his spiel he said 350Reais each… Stew and I looked at each other and said, we will have a look around because some other guys told us 275 (it was actually 300, but you need to do this to get the right price). He said “ok, 325 final price”. We said OK, we will go and talk to other operators, see what they have and we may come back to you. We went to our rooms to get our wallets and as we were leaving the Hostel were told that the guy wanted to talk to us again. 300Reais it is and we get the night in the Hostel for free. Not bad, but we already knew that the night for free was included from the Lonely Planet Guide Book. That done it was off to walk around town. We watched a local fair, which I found out, was actually “international, no use your car day”, so people were playing music and dancing in the streets and there was also a soccer game being played…typical Brazilians… We found a place to have lunch and a little later I had a haircut. We then went on a guided tour of the city on an open air Double Decker bus. It was all in Portuguese, so I tried to do my best to say a few things to Stew about what we were looking at and why. I don’t think I did a very good job, as I started to chat to the 2 Brazilian girls that were sitting behind me. We later went and had dinner with them. Steward said that he was a little frustrated because of the language barrier. Not to worry, we were off to the Pantanal the next day, which is one of the biggest wetlands in the world.
We spent 3 days there in conditions that were worse than the very bad scout camps that I went on as a kid. My tent never let in bugs the size of small dogs and mozzies. Anyway, the food was good and the conditions were not all that bad. It was actually quite relaxing and reminded me of the times that my family went fishing by the Murray River, as a child, where the farmer’s house was in much the same condition as this place. We had a full itinerary for the whole time we were there. We went on a boat cruise, which was just a metal dingy with an outboard motor. The good thing was that we got to see a wild Jaguar. Another big cat struck off the list of cats to see in the wild. No, I am not a cat lover, I love dogs, but the ‘big cats’ a different. I even got to touch a wild anaconda on that cruise, as well as swim with what I thought were Piranhas biting me, which was confirmed when I asked the driver of the boat. We also went on walks and Jeep Safaris, which happened to be the same thing, they drove us to one place, we then walked a few kms and then were driven back, so that was our Safari. We also did a little fishing for Piranhas, which was exciting, as they just suck the meat off the hook, they don’t really bite it. After catching one, I think I just was really feeding the local population, as I had no more luck. I think the one I caught was a fluke, as he was hooked near the eye and not even in the mouth. I caught it and it was the first one caught, so I’ll claim it… On the morning of the day we were to leave, we went horse riding. It was very slow and very tame. I could imagine the first white people on horseback exploring the country, killing everything they saw or being killed by what they saw. It is very unforgiving country. For a wetland area, it was very dry but then again they had not had rain for about 3 months. I had told the operators that I needed to be back in Campo Grande early, so that I could catch the bus back to Campinas, that night. Like always, ‘Yeah no worries, all is under control, no problem’. Well, the mini-van driver, who we were told would take us all the way to Campo Grande, only took us half way. We then had to organize another bus, which got me to Campo Grande about 5mins before the Bus to Campinas left. So I ran like the wind, paid for my ticket and jumped on the bus. I had to change buses half way, at about 3:30am, but that was alright. I finally arrived in Campinas about lunch time and walked the 5kms to Lorena and Paulo’s house. I was back in Campinas, ready to say goodbye to Danny, who was about to travel back to Chile.

2007-11-09T03:15:00.000-08:00

Foz Do Iguaçu.

On the Sunday night I caught the overnight bus to Foz do Iguaçu (The Iguassu Falls). It took about 16hrs on the bus and I even managed to get a few hours sleep. The buses are comfortable here, but you can pay more and get an even better bus, where the seat becomes a bed, I think for the price of these buses, I would rather fly. I left at 7pm sharp on the Sunday and arrived at about 11am on the Monday morning.
I caught a local bus to the city terminal and then another bus to the local McDonalds where I then walk about 5 minutes to the HI Youth Hostel, which would be my home for the next few days. Thank goodness Mum suggested that I take ear plugs with me, when I traveled, just in case. I needed it being in a room with 7 other guys. We were a very multicultural bunch. 2 Aussies (me inc.), 1 x Englishman, 1 x Swiss, 1 x Frenchman, 1 x Spaniard and 2 x Brazilians. The Frenchmen, Antonio, and I got on very well. I think that it was due to this reason... There was an Australian (me) who naturally speaks English, a Frenchmen, who naturally speaks French, both in Brazil, where Portuguese is the official language, communicating with each other in Spanish. Go figure that one out... Antonio´s third language was English, so I guess he enjoyed talking to me about things, that the others could not understand. We also had similar thought patterns and ideas on certain social things. He told me that he travelled around parts of the world for 6 years, taking photographs of himself and friends on motorcycles for a Magazine in Europe, to help pay the bills. He now lives in the South of Spain, hence why his Spanish is so good. We also went out for a meal one night to a Churrascaria, where we were joined by 2 Irish lads and a guy from Finland, who told us stories about how he has fun with his mates. Sitting in a Sauna, at very high temperature, drinking beer and then running out into the snow and jumping into the hole in the ice, swimming around for a minute only to run back into the Sauna to drink more beer. This is done naked…with male friends…hmmm, not really my idea of fun when you do it for a few hours on end…
While in Foz, I went to Itaipu. This is one of the largest Hydro-electrical power generating plants in the World. It supplies 95% of the energy requirements for Paraguay and 25% of Brazil’s power requirements. This place is huge. There are 20 turbines in operation and they have enough space and water to add more, if and when necessary. Yes, they are buses in the photograph attached. They also built an artificial water course for the fish to migrate and they have a whole education programme that revolves around the artificial stream and the plant and animal life that is around it. I think that it is a wonderful display of man’s imagination and determination to obtain electricity in a more environmentally friendly manner, even if they did put a lot of forest under water in the process.
I also traveled to Paraguay for the day and I felt a little more comfortable, even though I was in a much more dangerous environment. Security guards here carried automatic machine guns, pistols and batons. I wondered what the police carried, if they were the Security Guards. I also felt comfortable because I was with the English guy, Stewart. Now Stewart is from up near Yorkshire, he is about 6 foot 4 and is a bricklayer. He is traveling South America, before he catches up with a mate in NZ. They will then work in Australia for 6-12 months. Cuidad del Este, which is the Paraguayan town over the border, is a market town. It thrives on the Brazilian tourists who come and purchase cheaper products. This is due to the high taxation rate that the Brazilian Government puts on technical items and other goods, to protect the Brazilian manufactures and IT companies. Not a bad idea, but when the tax is about 30 – 40%, you can see why the tourists like to visit Paraguay. I even purchased a T-shirt in Paraguay and got searched by Brazilian customs because of it. I was on the bus looking out the window with the T-shirt in a plastic bag on my lap, when all of a sudden I felt someone grapping at my T-shirt. He was about to get a knuckle sandwich, as I thought he was getting a little too familiar, when I realized he was a Customs Official and decided against any form of ‘retaliation’.
The main reason why I travelled to Foz, was to visit The Iguaçu Falls. I had seen photos of these falls in books when I was little and remember seeing them in the movie, The Mission. They were fantastic. Awe inspiring… I can´t express what they were like in words. All I can say is, if you get the chance to go and see this work of God, then you should go. I hope that some of these photos do justice to what I saw. I also went on a boat ride and got very wet. My advice is to go and spend more time on the Argentinean side of the falls. I think that their National Park is far superior, with more things to do and see, for free. The Brazilian side charges for everything, I think even the air you breathe.

2007-11-09T02:42:00.000-08:00

Campinas.

I returned to Campinas, by bus, and with my limited Portuguese was able to get the bus driver to stop and let me off close to Karen and Alex’s apartment, at Shopping Campinas. It is about a 5mins round trip from their place, instead of the 40mins to the main bus station in the centre of town. MickyD sundaes taste really good when it is stinking hot. Just thought I would let you know that… I had one while I waited for Karen to collect me.
I stayed for a few days with them, helping out around the apartment, watching a little TV and doing a few other bits and pieces. It was a bit of a relaxing time. We went to the Movies, to the "The Simpsons", in English. Other members of the family went and saw it in Portuguese, and we had to explain a few things to them, such as when Homer is swinging between the Rock and the Hotel called “A Hard Place”. Makes perfect sense to the English speaker, but try explaining it in another language... it looses something in the translation.
Basically my time in Campinas was just chill out time. I went out to the movies, went for walks in the park, ate to much cake and sweet foods… just the usual sort of thing. I went to church where Alex translated for me, which was great or I would have understood only words here and there, as the pastors usually speak loudly and at a very fast rate, when they get excited about what they are talking about. We also went to Sao Paulo for the day, as it was a long weekend and the street markets were on. The main street was packed with people selling and people buying. You could buy all manner of toys, clothing, pirated games and DVD movies… anything you wanted. It was good fun, but I made sure I was in constant contact with my camera and wallet, I didn’t want them to go off walking without me…
I also went to ‘Wet and Wild’, a water theme park, which is similar to the one on Queensland. I think the Aussie one is better. That said, I had a great day in the sun and water. I went with Paulo and Lorena and the family, along with good family friend’s of theirs. All day I went without my T-shirt and surpissingly I didn’t get burnt, I did use a lot of sun-tan lotion, so I think that helped. It was a great day running from one water slide to the next and jumping into pools and eating overpriced food and drink… It was a very relaxing day and I was very tired in the end.
Danny (the cousin from Chile) and I rode the push bikes around town and even got into trouble for ridding the bikes around Taqarual Lake. The police didn’t like us. One guy was really going nuts at me, even after I said “Eu não falo Portuguese”. I don’t think he cared, he was power tripping. The other cop, who Danny was chatting to, was a lot nicer and once Danny told him about our situation, he explained that you could walk your bike but not ride it in the Park. It is just another little adventure in the life of Leigh in Brazil. During this time I also did a little research for my up-coming trip to The Iguassu Falls.

2007-10-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

Ilha Grande

After being in Campinas and saying goodbye to Ana and living a weekend without a change of clothes, it was off to São Paulo to my friend Andrea’s house. I stayed overnight there, meeting her Parents and her Grandfather. They were wonderful people and really tried to help me fit in with their family. Andrea had asked the parents to speak in Portugues very slowly to me, to aid with my understanding, but I think they were a little excited and spoke at their normal rapid pace. That said I still had loads of fun.

The next morning we started our road trip to Ilha Grande. It would take us about 5 hours to get there, stopping a few times to change drivers and to get a bite to eat. I even had the chance to drive. At one point I was driving through the mountains on very windey roads, with loads of fog and rain. I think I was getting a little carried away with I was imagining I was a rally-car driver. I think Andrea got a little nervous when I started talking like it... 30m, 90 right, 25m Hairpin left... I was having fun... It was the first real time here in Brasil that I had a little fredom and was able to drive a car and get a feel for how it is done here in Brasil.

We crossed the main straight on the only boat of the day. While on the boat, a guy approached us to tell us about the hostel that he ran. This is very common in Brasil. When we got off the boat, we were mobbed by other hotel owners/operators trying to get you to stay at their hotel/hostel. Some included breakfast, other didn’t. Andrea, being a local Brasilian, did all the talking so that we could get a better deal. It worked, as others (foreigners) were being charged 10-20 Reais per night extra. It pays to travel with locals here. We finally decided to stay at the hostel where the guy had approached us on the boat. He wasn't a pushy as others and was very laid back in his approach. We were able to watch DVD's (as they had a huge library of copied DVD's - standard her in Brasil) and the breakfast were good. Cake, Fresh fruits, breads and spreads, coffee or Tea. The usual sort of breakfast that people have here in Brasil.

This was our daily routine. Get up, have breakfast. Walk to the beach of the day, sunbake, swim, eat, sleep, sunbake...I think you get the idea. It was a very tranqual life. We also went on boat cruises to various parts of the island to see some of the natural attractions. Some I would reccomend to others and some I would not. Even the locals were saying that some were not value for money and when they say it, it must be bad. I think it was one of the most restful weeks I have had here in Brasil. How much more restfull can it be, sitting on a beach watching the world go by? Hopefully the photos can show some of the sites and delights I had on the island. I had never really enjoyed the beach in the past, but as I didn’t get burnt, I think that my attitude may just have changed. Mind you, it was winter and not summer...

I also saw loads of wonderful sunsets, which got even better every day. It is even better when you are sitting by the beach eating freshly cooked fish and chips, while watching the sun go down. It was great!

This is me standing next to a palm tree on the island. Yes I am only a dot next to it... I think that this tree must have been planted when the church was built. The church is about 300 years old, so my guess is the tree is something similar, only because of its size.

2007-10-01T05:47:00.000-07:00

Alright, I am a few weeks behind now on my blog page. I think it is eight, so I will have to just skim over the events of the last few weeks and just give the main details and not the little funny stories that go with them. This looks like it is becoming a common theme…

OK!

Brasilia

After the national park, I stayed with a friend of mine in Brasilia. Her name is Mylana and I met her in Sydney through my friends there. Anyway, I returned from the national park and managed to get dropped off at her apartment by the driver, who was a really great guy to do it for me. I would have been completely lost if he hadn’t.
I went to church that night with Mylana and her flat mates, Jacki and her cousin Danni. Three great girls. Mylana translated the message for me and I really felt God’s presence. The next day was one of the funniest I have had in Brasil. Asking a lady for directions to the tourist information centre in three languages, English, Spanish and Portuguese and getting nowhere was just the best. She still didn’t understand me, but I think that has to do with bad pronunciation and the lack of vocabulary. When I pointed to the security guard, it was like someone had turned her lights on… No doubt I will tell it many times… but it is funnier to Portuguese speakers, who understand English. It looses something in the translation.

I also met one of Mylana’s friend’s, Dario. I stayed at his house for the rest of the week. The joke there was that I went to the Bahamas every time I went to Dario’s place… That was the name of his apartment block. I think that we hit it off right away. However, Dario being a policeman meant that I had to hit it off with him or end up in goal… joke. We would chat in the morning before he would go to work and I would walk the streets of Brasilia. People her could not believe how much I walked around town. I walked everywhere and saw just about all the sights within the centre of town. I had to walk to the observation tower 3 times and 3 times I was unable to go up and take photos for various reasons. On the 4th visit, Mylana, Dario and I all went up and it was worth the effort. All in all my time in Brasilia was great. I started to branch out on my own and started to use the very poor Portuguese that I have picked up. I struggled, but it was a good test to put myself through.

I said my goodbyes and caught the bus to Goiania. A town about 2-3hrs away, where my friend Caroline lives, she was the girl from the plane.

Goiania.

Things here didn’t start off well. I was a little late on the bus and had written down the wrong mobile phone number. After calling the wrong number and chatting to some random guy for 5 mins, I hung up and went and found an internet café and realized my mistake. I called Caroline and arranged to be collected. I think I caused her to be late to a meeting in Caldas Novas that night. She was to have a meeting at 6, but we didn’t get there until 7:30… my bad. Anyway the 2 hr drive to Caldas gave us a chance to get to know each other a little better.

Once we arrived, Caroline told me that we were off to visit her parents in Uberlandia the following day. Ohhh, just another place to visit, here in Brasil. Uberlandia is about another 2 hrs south of Caldas. I had a great time talking with Caroline’s family and her parents were really interested in my photos from East Africa. It turns out that Caroline’s father is the pastor of a local church in Uberlandia. I even went to church with the family on Sunday and Caroline translated for me… I think that is becoming a common theme here in Brasil and I really do appreciate it. We went out one night and I met some of her friends from Uberlandia, which was great. We also went to a local bare called "The London", which I think was one of the worst night outs I have had for some time. The venue was great and the setting was good too, just the music was shocking. I think that they need to re-think their choice of bands. Even Caroline said it was bad.

We returned to Caldas Novas, where I spent most of the time sitting in a hot pool. That is what Caldas Novas is famous for, hot water springs. We also chatted and walked the local parks and really started to form a good friendship. It was a very relaxing time for me and it was something that I think I needed and that is why I think God brought us together. The same attitude was taken to Goiania. I think I just enjoyed my time walking around parks and shopping centers. Quite relaxing, even if you do order one thing and get another at Bob’s Burgers and then try and explain to them that you have received the wrong item. Meeting Caroline’s friends in Goiania was great too. I even got to chat in English with some of them. Most people here understand English and can speak a little, but a nervous to do so. We went out one night to do a bit of ‘Forro’ (pronounce foho) dancing. Forro is a traditional dancing style from the north of Brasil and of course you need to be close to your partner, or it doesn’t look good at all. I had never done it before, so I got a few quick lessons and in no time, I was strutting my stuff on the dance floor. I wasn’t that good, but at least I was giving it a go.

I had a great time with Caroline and I thank her for looking after me for the week. I really enjoyed being able to chat and watch movies and sit in the hot pool and talk. Very relaxing. Caroline also helped me get onto the bus to return to Brasila, which was a great help or I could of ended up in Lima, Peru.

Brasilia and Campinas

I returned to Brasilia and sent my last 2 nights at Mylana’s house. We had great fun talking and watching movies and going out with friends. It was good to be able to spend time with her and her flat mates, as I couldn’t when I was there beforehand, as they were working. I think it was one laugh after another…
The only sour note was that I was my first ever pedestrian be hit by a motorbike. For me it was bad, but I think it is a common thing here in Brasil. Dario was with us when it happened, so he jumped out and took control of the scene, until the ambulance turned up. It was the lady’s fault for crossing the street between stopped cars and not at the pedestrian lights.

I then returned to Campinas, as Ana, Alex’s Mum was returning to Chile in a few days time, for a little while and then onto Australia. I wanted to return to say goodbye and wish her the best for her travels, in person. I think it is nicer to do these sort of things in person. It was a tranquil week, spending it with Karen (Alex’s wife but you should know that now), Danny, the cousin from Chile and of course Ana. I guess it was just a matter of trying to spend as much time with someone before they leave, as you don’t know quite when you will see them again. It was a bit of a strange week, as I think with Ana leaving, it made me think of Family and friends in Australia and other places in the world yet to go to on this trip.

Karen and I drove Ana to the Airport and said our goodbyes. It left us both with a bit of a hollow feeling, but that was soon fixed by buying chocolate in gridlock traffic and driving up the emergency stopping lane, just to get closer to our exit. I think we had fun doing this type of activity. Karen said it was the first time she had driven the emergency stopping lane. We went to her friend, Carol’s apartment in Sao Paulo, where Alex came too and we all had Noodles for dinner. We got back late to Campinas, so I stayed at Karen and Alex’s place. Only to miss out on collecting my suitcase from Karen’s sister’s house, as no one was home for the weekend and I was going to be staying at Karen’s other sister’s house. This makes for a funny story.

Vinhedo

Alex and Karen dropped me off at Natasha’s house where we had lunch. I was to stay there for the weekend. However, as I said, I had no change of clothes, as my suitcase was at Lorena’s. I didn’t even have a toothbrush with me, so Alex gave me his new one he was taking away with him for the weekend. Well I managed to survive the weekend without a change of clothes. I just washed them at night, so they would be ready in the morning. Mind you, I only had a pair of shorts, a t-shirt, jocks and a pair of thongs (flip-flops, for the non-Australians). I got a little cold at night. It made for a laugh when Natasha asked why I hadn’t changed my clothes.

Going to church on Sunday night was even funnier. It was all hands on deck to work out what Leigh could wear to church. I ended up wearing the following.
T-shirt from Luis (Natasha’s Husband)
Jeans from Danny about 2 sizes to small
Socks from somewhere
Shoes from Victor (Natasha’s eldest son)

The only thing that was mine, I was wearing was my jocks. I didn’t really want to wear anyone else’s jocks… it’s a personal thing.

I think that these sorts of stories just add to the fun of traveling and you look back on them with a smile. I know that I will.

On the Monday, Natasha drove me to Lorena’s house, where I was able to get access to my suitcase and get a clean change of clothes. It was also the same day that I was to travel to Ilha Grande with Andrea, one of the girls from the group that went to the National Park north of Brasilia. I first had to catch the bus to Sao Paulo.

2007-09-01T08:43:00.000-07:00

National Park - Chapada dos Veadeiros
Sao Jorge, Goias (Brasil)

This was the first week that I spent travelling by myself in Brasil. I had left my comfort zone and entered the real world of Brasil, well sort of… Going to a national park like I did is not an everyday thing for Brasilians. Ok, the national park is about 250km north of Brasilia, the capital of Brasil. It has the same sort of beginning as Australia’s capital, Canberra. Sorry for people out there who thought it was Sydney. It is surprising how many people from outside Australia think that Sydney is Australia’s capital. Anyway, Rio was Brasil’s capital until about 50 years ago, when the President of Brasil, at the time, Juscelino Kubitschek or JK to the locals, decided to move the capital to the centre of Brasil and build a city from nothing. Basically it is the same idea as Canberra, after the capital was moved from Melbourne. OK, enough of the history lesson… I flew into Brasilia, with Guiletta (Lorena’s friend) and where we were met by the tour operator and other members of the group. Quick introductions and we were on our way to the park, some 3hrs drive away. The countryside is so dry here and it reminds me of being around Swan Hill, never ending paddocks of dry grass with the occasional hill and valley. I think it is beautiful country, but many here don’t like it as it is to dry. Here is a map of the state of Goias, showing the Federal District and the National Park to the north.

The week was full of fun and I think that I have seen enough waterfalls to last me for some time now. That said, I am planning on seeing one of the world’s biggest and best, Foz de Iguaçu. (The Iguaçu Falls, for the English speakers reading this…). Being the only non Portuguese speaker in the group, I had a bit of trouble understanding what was going on, but it is surprising the number of people who can speak English in Brasil. All in the group could, I think even those who said they couldn’t speak English, could still say a few words. However I managed to get by and even managed to understand what was being said about the plants and landscape at by the end of the week. It is amazing how much your brain will understand, when put to the test. Some in the group thought it was very funny when I started taking off the tour guide. I hope that you enjoy the photographs of me either in or next to water.

While at the National Park, we stayed in a small village called Sao Jorge. Now SJ has a constant population of around 500 and most of the time they are either in 1 of 3 states… 1. working in a local shop or acting as a tour guide (working), 2. Sleeping off the effects of No.3. and the last state of 3. high on the wacky tabacky… They are an “alternative lifestyle” community. About the only sane ones in the community are the Bomberios (Firefighters and Lifeguards from the Park, as they have to be switched on.) That said, it was a lovely little town with dirt roads, small restaurants that catered for a maximum of 20 people and little hotels and not to mention the small craft market. They also had a musical festival while we were there, but I think the local acts were a little off key and they went late into the night, which meant I caught up on sleep next to the pools… what a life…

During the week we had a standard routine of getting up, breakfast of cake and coffee and various fruits and fresh fruit juice. (I left the bread, cheese and ham alone, but the breakfasts here are just great. After breakfast it was on the road or should I say track. We would walk for a couple of Km’s, take a few photos of ourselves, waterfalls, plants, etc. and then all jump into a natural pool in the river for about an hour. This would be repeated 3 or 4 times per day and by the end I was just about running between pools, as it was so hot and the pools were so refreshing. I didn’t get sun-burnt either and this photograph shows why… Stupid Gringo…hehehe

Enjoy the photos, as they tell you more than I could.

My traveling group...

2007-08-31T07:33:00.000-07:00

After the wedding – Week 2
Campinas (Brasil)

Alex and Karen returned from their honeymoon and we were treated to a session of viewing photos from their time away. Very nice. It is very tropical in the north of Brasil, somewhere I think I would like to visit. I think seeing the photos made it more clear to me that I should go, if I get the chance. We, as in Nashi plus Sophie, E with Victoria and Michael, Lori, Alex, Karen, Daniel and I (maybe one or two more), also spent time at a small village near Sao Paulo, called EMBU. It is a small artest village, where there are loads of stalls, arts and crafts and of course food and drinks. We also spent an afternoon at a doctors resort near Campinas, where we swam, played tennis and just chilled out. It was a lot of fun.

What else did I do for the week….

I was staying at Paulo and Lorena’s house and it was a full house. There were people everywhere. Alex and Karen were downstairs, as a few more things needed to be done at their apartment, Ana in one room upstairs, Daniel and I in another and the three boys wherever they could find a place to sleep. It was a very multi-cultural house, people from Brasil (of course), Chile and Australia. Fun times… I think I was the butt of most of the jokes, as I didn’t quite understand what everyone was saying. We also went out for Ice-cream and it was great. Yoy take a bowl and help yourself to as much ice-cream as you can eat. The catch is, you pay by the weight, which is a typical way of paying for food here in Brasil. That said, it was fantastic ice-cream.

I was introduced to a friend of Lorena’s, who was travelling to the north of Brasilia, the capital of Brasil, for a week to go walking in a national park. I was asked if I wanted to go, I was given 10 seconds to think, like the TV show Temptation (Aussie viewers would know what I mean). I think I even heard the chime sound. An answer was given and I decided to go. Get out and see a bit more of Brasil. It is just a little bigger than Australia in land size, so there is a lot to see here.

We also celebrated Andrea’s birthday. (Andrea is Karen’s sister, one up from her). It was a lovely night at the folk’s house and Rogerio, Andrea’s fiancée did a wonderful effort of organising things. He made it a very special night for everyone and the food was great. I think that this is typical me, always remembering the food that I ate. They make these fried cheese balls, which are just delicious. If you ever get the chance to eat them, you must, even if you are on a diet. However, be warned, once you start eating them, you can’t stop... take it from me…

I also organised my trip to Brasilia with the travel agent, all in very bad Portuguese. So now it's off to Brasilia.

2007-08-29T11:26:00.000-07:00

After the wedding
Campinas (Brasil)

Alex and Karen were on their honeymoon and I was able to spend a bit of time with Paul, Danni, Natalia, Papi and the boys before they were to return to Chile. Brasil was playing Chile in the soccer, Copa America, which is a very good competition. You have all of South America playing, plus all of North America. It is a very good competition. So we went to a local pub to watch it and had fun giving and taking banter from some locals, who were supporting Brasil, of course. It was good fun, even if I did struggle to understand what people were saying.

I also had to do some work at Alex and Karen’s Apartment. Someone had fixed the plumbing for the upstairs apartment’s shower and never repaired the hole in the ceiling. A hole about 50cm by 60cm in size and right in the corner, which makes it harder to repair. I had spent a bit of time with Alex buying some items to repair the hole and Karen’s sister, Lorena, had a few other bits, so in total we should have had it covered, but as always, there was a few key items missing, which always makes a job harder to finish. Not to worry, Daniel, Karen’s cousin from Chile, gave me a hand to get things going and after a day or two, we had the majority of the hole fixed. Here is Daniel and I working.

I even managed to get out by myself and go for a walk around the local park, called Parque Taquaral. It is a bit of a tourist attraction for Campinas. Apparently they have big rat like animals (they have a special name, but I don’t know what it is) that live in the park, but I haven’t seen any, so I don’t have any photos. I enjoyed my walk, as it gave me time alone to think and ponder life. It was also the first time that I had been alone in Brasil and I really enjoyed the space. I had a wonderful time walking along the paths, seeing people running, walking, talking and sharing a kiss or two. There was even a homeless guy, who wanted to have a chat with me. I think that the people here know the dangers that could fall upon a gringo, but I think I know when to walk fast and when to shut up.

So all up, it was a bit of a quiet week. I even went to Sao Paulo for a day visit but I think I would have preferred to stay in Campinas and relax. Go and have coffee with new friends, instead of going to a big city of something like 15-20 Million. Ohhh Yeah, I even went out and ate FROG!!! I think I may just be the first in my family to eat frog. I can tell you that it is a mixture between Chicken and Fish. (I just kept saying, it's only chicken...)

2007-08-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

Wedding - Campinas (Brazil)

Yes, I have been a little slack with my Blog updates. So all you people out there who are complaining that you haven’t received your latest fix of El Mundo de Leigh, well here it is…

The Wedding… What a wonderful day/night. We had gone through rehearsals about 2 hrs before and things were starting to shape up. I was partnered with a friend of Karen’s from University, whos name is Gabi. The photo here is of her and I at the end of the ceremony. We didn’t say much to each other, as I think that both of us were freighted by the language barrier, plus being introduced as the Gringo who doesn’t speak any Portuguese doesn’t help. I found out later on that she understands a little English and can say a few words her and there.

OK, less about me and more about the wedding, what it looked like and how things went.

Firstly I must state that Karen did a fantastic job at arranging everything, with a little help from those around her. Various people running garden lighting cables, wiring up BBQ houses, building platforms over pools, Wait, that was me….Sorry Focus…
The girls helped out with the tables, chairs, flower arrangements, fire poles, screens, etc… Although this picture is a little fuzzy (night shot) it gives an indication of what the scene was like.

The wedding party was large. I think that there were 10 couples, 5 on either side. On Alex’s side were his parents (Luis & Anita), Paulo and Lorena, Paul and Danni, Gabi and I and Coki and a cousin of Karen’s from Chile. On Karen’s side were her Parents, Her eldest sister Natasha and her husband and 3 friends from University and partners. Her other sister, Andrea and her brother Alex performed musical items. They are all very talented. It was a lovely ceremony, even if I understood 1 word in 10 (my Portuguese is bad, but getting better and it is a lot different to Spanish. I now understand 2 words in 10). Karen’s little nephew, Andre was the page boy and her niece, Sophie, did a little dance to Guy Sebastian’s “Angels Brought Me Here”. Being part of the Party, means that I don’t have to many photos, but I hope the ones here do justice. Hopefully if I get a few more from other sources, then I will add them to my blog.

I think that the photos of Karen and Her Father tell the story of what the night was like. By describing her dress, I would only do an injustice, so I hope the photograph tells the story. Even Alex scrubbed up for the event and looked the part. Everyone looked great and I think that everyone enjoyed themselves. I know that I did. Check out Anita (mami) and I. Typical me, am I ever serious???

It was a lovely evening and I even had to give a speech, with 5 minutes notice. I gave it in English and Karen translated for me into Portuguese. Thinking back, there were so many other things that I wanted to state, but just did not think of them at the time. Karen said that she thought what I had to say was perfect, but I know I missed a few topics that I thought were important. I met a lot of wonderful people at Karen and Alex’s wedding.
Please click on the following link for more photos of the wedding, www.akneumann.blogspot.com

2007-07-08T13:15:00.000-07:00

DAY 13 - DAY 21.
Santiago (Chile) to Sao Paulo (Brazil) to Campinas (Brazil)

I few out of Santiago on Friday the 22nd of June on the 2pm flight with LAN. I flew with Ana, as she had changed her ticket so that we could fly together and make it easier for people to collect us from the airport. The flight over was a very enjoyable one and I wondered around the plane and chatted with Ana and Caroline (the girl from my Temuco flight). I think that Ana was very excited about the flight, as she had not been to Brasil for about 20 years, I was excited because I was going to Brasil for the first time and had heard so much about it. The flight over is about 4 hours long, but the most difficult section is the section crossing the Andes. It was a little bumpy.

We arrived in Sao Paulo about 30mins early and got through customs with very little fuss. However the customs officer was a little gruff. I guess that happens when there is a communication barrier. I had arranged with Alex to meet us the airport, so it was good to know that I would be alright on the other side, but thanks to Sao Paulo traffic, he was late. Karen’s parent’s house, near Campinas, is about 1.5hrs drive away, depending on traffic. Now in Sao Paulo, it can get very bad. 15 Million (Basically Australian’s population in one city) all trying to get around on the same roads can lead to a lot of traffic jams. It’s a regular occurrence. As we were flying over Sao Paulo, the city just kept going and going… we came in on sunset and it was just one huge light show… Alex and Karen were late because traffic on a Friday night is just the worst. I didn’t care, as it meant I could just relax a bit after the flight and get my first taste of Brazil. In Brazil they have what they call Bread Cheese. It’s basically bread infused with cheese and eaten heated. It’s great, but not good for people with that gluten disease (lucky I don’t have it..!!!)

The drive to Karen’s House was just amazing. Cars, Buses and trucks changing lanes everywhere and no one was fussed about it. One good thing is that truck and buses always return to the far right hand lane (they drive opposite to Oz), which I think is great and should be enforced in Australia. Alex was driving and doing the same, it felt like we were racing car drivers and racing along the freeway. I think that everyone here thinks they are Aryton Senna or Rubens Barrichello. Ohhh, they have tolls here too, with the strangest values. I always ask, “Why the 30 cents, or 90cents, why not make it a round figure?” I just get strange looks from people.

Karen’s parent’s house is beautiful. It’s in a ‘country’ estate, where the blocks are bigger than average, but your neighbours are still right next to you. It’s about the same size house as my parents place and I felt at home straight away. I have noticed that houses here have a lot of marble or tiles on the floor. There isn’t much carpet and I think that it’s because it gets real hot here in the summer. The days here are averaging 20-25 deg C. so I am loving it. I met Karen’s parents, one of her sisters, Andrea, and the old lady that lives with them, they call her Grandma, but I don’t think she is. The next day we had a bbq and most of the rest of the family came over. There were kids everywhere, then I realised the extent of the family. The parents have 5 daughters and 1 son. The 3 eldest married daughters have 8 kids between them and the son has 1. Andrea has a boyfriend and Karen has Alex. It is a big family, but I love that, as I grew up with a big family too (just not as big as theirs).

They are building a bbq house on the property and have engaged a builder, who knows his stuff, but he’s just very slow. It looks like he was half done when I arrived and he had been at it for 3 weeks. Something like that, Dad and I would have had finished in that time. However I guess it’s just they way things are done. I did scratch my head when he kept asking Manuel (Karen’s Dad) for tools. Sub-contracted workmen in Australia always have their own tools. The electrical wiring fell to Alex and I to do. Now this is something I don’t understand. They run 2 power sources here in Brasil, 220Vac and 110Vac both at 50Hz (I think). They say to get 220Vac; you just add 2 phases of 110Vac together. Now I always thought that power on different phases, where on different phases and couldn’t be added together (maybe I’m a bit rusty with my electricity knowledge). I think that they are using the wrong term in ‘phase’. I think that they are the same phase, just a different source. Maybe someone can send me an email to clarify it for me. I confess that I am a little confused about that one.

Alex and I had a list of things to build or wire to get things right for the wedding. Wire the BBQ house, wire the garden for lighting and build a decking over the swimming pool, etc. The deck was for the wedding ceremony so that Karen, Alex and the 2 Ministers (Pasters) could stand on it for the ceremony. It just seemed that nothing ever was struck off the list, as new things kept being added and focus was shifted. Focus people… Please!!! Alex and I also drove to Sao Paulo for the day to drop off an ultrasound machine for repair for the Mum (she is a Doctor) and for Alex to go for a job interview. I was the navigator with a street directory that was valid for 1995. After his Interview we had 4hrs until we needed to be at the airport to collect Paul, Danni, Natalia, Papi, and the boys from Los Angeles (the guys I met in 2000). So Alex and I put the road map book away and ‘went for a drive’. Where we were going who knows…. Turn left, now right… go straight… now right…. “Where are we?”, “who knows who cares!!!!” It was a fun 1-1.5hrs…We then thought, it’s time to go to the airport.. Where is the sun? Ok to head north, keep the sun to our left and eventually we will hit the freeway we need for the airport. Great fun… even when we got wrong directions from other drivers. I love this kind of activity.

As a group, we also went to a Churrasqueria for lunch. Now this place is a restaurant where it is all you can eat and they bring the meats to you. You only need to get the salad. Most people don’t eat the salads. Different meats form different animals, one after the other. It never ends… You basically point out the slab of cooked meat you want and they cut it right there and you just keep eating. I was getting more meat on the plate than what I was taking off. So much for the diet… What diet, you’re in South America, you don’t need to diet, you need to eat… It was a lovely meal and I think that it only cost us about $10 Australian dollars each, which included our drinks.

All said and all activities undertaken, we got the job done, with about 5 minutes to spare, just enough time to have a shower and a shave and to get dressed into my suit for the wedding. I will put more info about the wedding on my next entry.

2007-07-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

DAY 11 - DAY 13.
Santiago (Chile)

I arrived back at Paul’s apartment in Santiago to be greeted by Ana, Paul’s Mum. Ana had arrived from Australia 2 days earlier and was really enjoying the time with Paul, Danni and little Natalia (her first grandchild). It was Paul’s birthday, so it was hugs all round and birthday wishes. It was a lazy afternoon catching up with Ana and Paul. Hearing all the stories from Australia about the folks and family as well as sharing some of my experiences in the ‘South’. I think that Ana is really happy spending time with her family, a family she rarely sees due to distance. I think that Natalia is also enjoying the added attention from Grandma. She is similar to my own Mum when it comes to her and my brother’s family. You can see the joy in their faces, both Grandma and Grandchild.

That night we had a birthday celebration for Paul. The dinner was beautiful. We had Pastel de Coclo, which is like a Shepard’s pie, but instead of mashed potatoe you use mashed corn. I think that it is a traditional meal for Chile. It also contains boiled egg and whole seeded olives. I think that you should try it some time. We also had a cake and this is where the fun began. We put a load of candles on the cake and lit them all up. Now after we had sung happy birthday in both Spanish and English, Paul ‘tried’ to blow out the candles. Every time he did, they came back to life, but they were not the party candles. There was so much smoke in the place, I thought we were going to set off the fire alarms and have a visit from the guys in Red, well here in Chile, I think they wear grey. The cake was delicious. It was basically 20 pancakes stacked up on each other with orange marmalade as the ‘binding’ agent covered in icing. Check out the photo... Hmmmm very nice. They really know how to make things sweet here in Chile. It was a quiet night and a time of reflection and story telling about growing up, family, friends and the dreams of tomorrow. It was a very enjoyable time.

I just spent the rest of my time in Santiago trying to keep warm. The only part of me that felt cold was my feet; the rest of me was fine. However, when my feet are cold, I am cold. Ana was enjoying the time with Danni and Natalia. I think that it is good for the three of them. They were in and out of that apartment like it had a revolving door. I even went to a meeting with Paul for some work related issues. It was a wonderful experience of going to a business meeting and listening to the conversation in Spanish with the occasional words of English thrown in. I did understand some of it, but it was good to have Paul do some clarification translation or I would have suggested using 1,000,000 metres of cable instead of 1,000. (In Spanish 1 mil = millones and 1k – mil. Ok they look a little different but when you say them with an Australian accent, they sound a little similar to the listener. Opps…). It was enjoyable and I had realised how much I had missed being in the action, after only one month… What am I saying!!! Get back to holiday mode….!!!!!!

So on the 22nd of June, I packed my bags in Santiago and began my next leg of the trip, my trip to Sao Paulo, Brasil. Ana had changed her ticket, so that the two of us could fly together. When we left the apartment, little Natalia realised something was happening and the water works started. I guess that is little children, when only an hour before, she was helping me pack, by throwing things into my suitcase, laughing and then pulling everything out again… Charlotte was the same when I was packing for my African trip 6 months ago and also for this one. Paul was left to mind Natalia as Danni was going to see us off at the airport and then catch a bus back to visit her father. The taxi ride over was enjoyable, but a little squashy, having 3 suitcases and 2 hand luggage bags. I only had the one case and was travelling longer than Ana, so it was going to look strange if they asked me to open a suit case in Brasil to only find women’s clothing and shoes. It was due to an issue with Ana’s ticket. But hey, I’ve been told I look good in a dress (Sorry Rachel…you never wore that dress again, did you?).

My time in Santiago was peaceful and it was great to be able to spend time with Paul again. I guess some people think it strange that two best friends could live on the other side of the world, not see each other for some time, but still feel as if it had only been a week since our last time together in person. I guess it was good that the girls were out so often, it meant we could do a few blokey things and not worry about who was about or listening…. You know…guy stuff…

Goodbye Santiago and Chile and Hello Brasil…. Oooo Lay O lay O lay o lay, feeling hot, hot hot….

2007-07-01T07:02:00.000-07:00

DAY 9 - DAY 11.
Los Angeles (Chile) to El Campo (The Farm - Chile)

It was a case of getting up this morning and rushing, as I usually do. Jess actually woke me up and got me going, which was a good thing, or I would have missed my bus to Gorbea. As we were driving to the bus terminal, some Brazilian music was playing and it was a very emotional time, due to the music. It was quickly changed. The drive over was a quick one and it seemed a little strange. This small country town flashing by, with daily activities continuing as per normal as my life was beginning to slow down. At the bus terminal I said my goodbyes and said to Jess that she now needs to come to Australia, as I have been to her house twice now. She said that I was welcome at her place anytime. I was sad to say goodbye, but know for every goodbye, there is a hello coming soon.

Chile has a very good bus transportation network, being that it is the shape of a pencil. People travel large distances by bus, unless you can afford to fly. Some buses are better than others, but all are of a high standard, as I find that people take more care of other people's property and know that they would like to find it the way they left it, so to speak. Here is a photo of the bus that I caught for the 3.5hrs trip from LA to Temuco and then onto Gorbea. Gorbea is the home town of my friend's (Paul) Mum. We stopped at various little towns along the way where 4 or 5 would get off and the same number would get back on. The same happened at the main stop in Temuco (Which is next to the Crematorium), however more got off than those who got on. So our numbers dwindled the further south we went. During the trip "Papi" (Paul's Dad) called me on my loan mobile. I confirmed that I would be arriving in Gorbea at 2pm. I think there was a bit of confusion on the phone, but it was alright.

The bus arrived 10mins early and there was a guy I recognised from my previous visits. He was wearing a "MANTAHUE" cap. Mantahue is the local indian name for the area. We discussed about Paul's dad and then I realised where the confusion was, we was sending this guy to meet me, in case he was going to be late or I was going to be early. Not long after Papi arrived in the 4x4 Ute and we were all on our way to the farm, another 40mins along access roads for the logging tracks, as people grow trees for the paper mill as a source of cash income. We chatted most of the way, talking about how cold it was, how it was good to see him wearing his Aussie Scarf and hat. Just general chit chat. It was good to see the farm again and notice the little changes that have been made to help with the running of the place. It is still a pictures place and a place that I find very relaxing, even though last time I was driven mad by fleas. I think the dog was the problem, but he is no longer there.

On arrival, it was the start of the feasting season. I think that since being at the farm, I have put back on all the weight that I had lost over the last few months. I don't think that I stopped eating or if I did, it was to sleep. Anyway it is a peaceful place and a place to just chat with the neighbours, drink a cuppa and watch the trees grow and the sun go down. BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! Well, that is basically what I did on the first day at the farm. Not much. I did play with the little boy Diego, who is the son of the house girl. He would be about 4 and she would be in her mid 20’s, if not younger, as a guess. She is the daughter of the guy who met me at the bus terminal in Gorbea. She is a single mum, which is common in the more remote parts of Chile, who lives in the house above the kitchen with her son and works from the moment she gets up to the moment she goes to bed.

The next day, 19th of June, was Papi’s birthday. I didn’t ask how old he was, but it is somewhere in the sixties. Being a Tuesday (I think), it was just like any other day. Got up, had breakfast and tried to stay warm. The sun did shine, which was good, so I took a few photos of the place, like this one here. Don’t you just love the rolling foothills of the Andes with all the trees and the little farm house with the smoke coming out of the chimney. Some of the locals came over to visit, the guy from the bus stop and one of the old farm hands from years ago. They basically do a bit of work for the old man, who pays them with either smokes or bottles of the local brew, Chicha. It’s basically an alcoholic apple cider, without the bubbles. I tell you what, it isn’t a Strongbow. The professionally made stuff is really good, but this stuff is just not so sweat tasting coloured water. However the local guys love it. Fact: A lot of the locals are from German decent and the German they still speak here is from the 1900’s. I think someone from Germany once came to study them. Well that’s the story I’ve been told.

Once the guys herd it was Papi’s birthday, then they had to stay and help him celebrate it with the roast meal and a few glasses of Chicha. I stayed with the Coke. Wow, was this meal fantastic. I ate way too much again, but thought that I would walk it off later. I never did, as I couldn’t move once it was finished. Can I just say that the caramel cake they make here is just fantastic. I hope the photo does justice. Not much else happened other than a million phone calls to Papi from family and friends wishing him a Happy Birthday. It was a very tranquil time in the country. I even had conversations with Diego and I think enjoyed having the company too.

On the 20th of June, Paul’s birthday, we had to leave early, so we could drive to Temuco, so 80km up the road. Now my flight wasn’t until 11, but it took us 45mins to get to the main road and then another 15 to Gorbea. From there we could get onto the main Highway and drive the 40km to Temuco. Plus the rain had been bucketing down all night and the roads may have had issues. It was a quiet drive to Temuco, but I think Papi was surprised when I asked for clarification of the issue they were discussing on the radio. It was the same as last time, Peru wanting the most northern region of Chile, which Chile won in a war against Peru and Bolivia about 100 years ago. It was controlled by Spain after the 3 countries gained independence, but they pulled out without indicating who was in control. I think that they are arguing over it because think that is where one of the worlds largest copper mine is. Run by BHP, I think... At the airport Papi and I shared more stories and generally discussed Alex’s (his other son’s) wedding, the one I am in South America (Brazil) for. It was great to spend the time with him again and he too had thought that communication would be difficult, but in the end it wasn’t too bad.

The flight up was great! I don’t know what it is like for you, when you fly, but I never get to sit next to someone I want to talk too, unless I already know them. Well, this girl wanted to talk to me, which was great, as it helped pass the time. I found out that she was from Brazil and that she would be on the same flight to São Paulo on the Friday. I think that I had just made a friend. One thing I have noticed about South American people, they are very easy to become friendly with and they are very open to conversations. I think that it was made easier that she spoke Portuguese, English and Spanish. Sorry people, only a photo of the plane I travelled in. I love planes...

2007-06-21T09:17:00.000-07:00

DAY 5 - DAY 8.
Los Angeles (Chile)
On the 14th of June, I few to the 'South of Chile' to a city called Concepcion. My destination was Los Angeles, a small city on the Southern Highway on the way to the far south regions, which include the region of Patagonia. Anyway, I flew LAN for the hour, but was 3hrs late for my friends waiting for me. Change of schedule from the time I brought my ticket and finally flew. The other issue was that at the last moment we were asked to change gates at the airport, due to technical issues. This added about 30mins to the lateness of my flight.
Upon arrival, I was met by my friend Jessica and her Dad Antonio. I hadn't seen them for about 7 years and it was like no time had passed. Yes, we were all a little older and time had physically changed us, but we were still the same people.
On the right here is a little photo of Jessica and I. As usual my eyes are half closed. Initially it was difficult to communicate, as my Spanish was still rusty and Jess doesn't get to speak English with a native speaker all that often. I just told her to relax and we'd get through it with a load of laughs. She then produced her best friend for the next week, her Spanish / English Dictionary. The drive from Concepcion to LA was great and the three of us chatted for the whole 2hrs. It was a good test for me and made me work my 'Spanish' brain.
Jess' home town of Los Angeles has a population of about 200,000 and is a local hub for tourism and farming, both crops and lumber. Lumber is required for the local paper mill, which, I think, is about the 5th largest in the world. So nut bad for a little town. Jess lives is a 'suburb' of LA known as Villa Santa Fe, which is located to the North West of LA, as indicated in the Google Earth photo, with the yellow box.
The houses here remind me a little of Europe, where there a rows of houses that are basically identical, only the tree in the front yard and the car in the driveway is different. That said, it is a very comfortable neighbourhood where a security guard rides his bike around just to make sure all is going well. I think he may be a little slack at times, as people still have their homes broken into. To the left is a photo of me in front of Jess' house. The Lounge Room, Kitchen, Bathroom, Dinning Room and Master Bedroom downstairs and two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs.
I met loads of Jess' friends and those of her parents. One guy, Matthew, grew up in Sydney and is employed as a translator at the mill when foreign guests are looking over the plant. I also had dinner one night with some of Jess' family's friends. One of the couples is involved with Jewelry and I'm not sure about the other, but they had their twin daughters with them. I think I did ok during general dinner conversation when you can explain the events at Cronulla last year. Not bad when you have a limited vocab. One thing I found too is the stigma of hanging out with your folks and with your friends is not here either. I suppose that it is something I am used too, but it's not the norm in Australia. One night Jess, her boyfriend, an old school friend, her Dad and I all chilled out chatting, eating, playing Jenga, etc. It was a great night, until Nicholas (School friend) spilt the drinks over the table. I guess that happens when you tell stories in a very animated way, specially ones about 'Chillian Rodeo', where you are the local champion.
The days were very restful, as the nights were jam packed in LA. On Saturday night Jess and I drove out to her friend Nicholas' house. It was just going to be the three of us, which was good, as I think that 1 girl and 3 guys would have been strange in dynamics. Anyway we shared stories of both current and x-girlfriends, school holidays, trips abroad, etc. Jess didn't say much about x-boyfriends, maybe it's just a girl thing. It was a wonderful night in front of his open fire and I had finally started to feel warm again after a week of being cold. To the right is a photo of Nicholas and I, sharing a moment for the boys... At about 12, I got my second wind and convinced the others that it was time for the Disco. Arrrrh, I think now I will highlight the night by saying, I had a nice chat with some of the girls who serve the drinks, more chatting with Jess and Nicholas and had a great time dancing with Jess, South American style. Ask me about it some day, that's if I don't (guys only...!!! hehehe). Well Jess and I returned home at 6am, knowing that we had to get up get going soon for lunch at a friend's house for Father's Day.let's just say that I think Jess and I made the family a little late for lunch.

I must say that people here in Chile know how to eat. I don't think I have stopped since getting here. I wake up and have breakfast, then an hour later I have a cuppa tea with bread, cheese and cold meets, then an hour after that it's Lunch. Lunch is at about 2pm, so we have a light snack at 5 or 6 and then main dinner at about 9pm. I don't think that I ever stop eating. Anyway, Lunch on Father's Day was no different. The spread of food was huge. Jess and her family (4) plus couple 1 and 4 Daughters...(poor Dad) and then the host, his wife and the twins. Oh...me makes 15. I was still a little tired from last night, as was Jess, so we didn't say much during lunch and I was told to 'eat, eat. take more...' The food was lovely, I just couldn't eat. Plus the red wine with lunch was just perfect. They heat the red by the fire until it is warm and better to drink. I was so tired I kept zoning out and I think that Jess realized this, so suggested that we go to the other room to get warm by the fire and chill a bit. I think she was feeling the same. It was a great start to the my last night in LA. Jess and I chatted the night away. I spoke about my recent trip to Africa and she asked to see my photos, which I have on my external HDD. We also spoke about our dreams of the future and about life and family in general. She asked about my x-girlfriends and I told her the stories. She and I have similar stories and I think therefore a special bond. It was great to chat with her like this, but also sad, as I knew the next day I was leaving to go further south to visit Paul's Dad, just south of Gorbea.
My belief, that two people from different cultures, who speak completely different languages and can communicate with patience and laughter, can still be Very Good Friends, has been strengthen, once again... Siempre Jess, yo pienso tambien! Muchos Gracias por tu tiempo cuando yo viva en tu casa! Un beso para ti y tu famalia! Mucho amor. Leigh

2007-06-14T06:06:00.000-07:00

DAY 3.
Santiago (Chile)
To the left is a photograph of the standard view of Las Condes. This is a picture of one of the main roads in Las Condes, it's called "Avenida Presidente Kennedy", I think that you can guess what that is in English... Like I said before, High-rise apartments line the streets with a few parks dotted along the way. Oh yeah and the driving is on the opposite side to Australia, so I get a little confussed every now and then, but just for a split second and then it's back to reality.

Well I have basically done nothing on Day 3. I think I sat arround the house, tried to read one of the chillian newspapers "La Tribuna" (guess it's translation...), watched a little TV (laughed at Homer and the family spoke Spanish for the whole show. It was about the one where the Simpsons join a cult. I guess it's ammusing when you have seen it a few times in English...). I think that I needed the rest and I just enjoyed doing nothing for a day. Eventually Paul and I went to the local shopping centre to look for a new microphone and headphone set, for his computer, and to but some new soccer boots and runners. Purchasing the head set was fine, but the shoes was another story. I don´t that that people here know what customer service is. First you need to get their attention...This doesn´t take long when you walk right up to them after looking at them for 5 mins and they are looking at you... Then you ask them to try on a size. They get come back, give you the box (take the shoe out if you are lucky) and walk away... you try it on and then go through the attentio'dance' again until they take the old shoe away and bring you a new one... Sometimes this dance takes you to the other side of the store, as all the attendants are talking away from customers... Very strange, when people in Australia want to sell items to you and generally don't leave you alone while you are in their shop. Just a different way of doing things, I guess... Anyway, as you can see I had a nothing day, if that was my high-light...!!!

DAY 4.
Santiago (Chile)
Again Day 4 was a lazy day. However, after getting up late, I went supermarket shopping with Danni. To get there we walked to the local 'colectivo' stop. Now colectivo's are taxis that have set routes, like buses, but they are cars and you pay the same amount if you are going one stop or 50. A maximum of 4 people per car and everyone just jumps in. Most people are happy to start up a conversation with fellow passengers...which can be hard when they speak to fast, which is my problem... so laughs all round when they ask wehre am I going and I say that I am an Engineer from Australia and I love being in Chile... Yo estoy mui estupido, pero no siempre...
Now, when I say supermarket, I mean SUPER. This place was huge... This of a Coles and K-mart combined. Sort of like the set up at Coles/K-mart Northland, without the wall inbetween. That said, the clothes are of a better than K-mart and there is a greater selection of food items. Awesome! I think we finished up with 2 full trollies. Fresh cheeses, meats, bread, seafood, the list goes on... and did I mention chocolate... Hmmmmm chocolate...We then caught a cab back home, which cost us about $5 Aus. to travel about 5km, so it was a bit of a bargin. That's something I have noticed here, some things are really cheep, most things, but every now and then you get a doosie or is that because I'm a gringo?

I did very little for the rest of the day, which I am getting used too. I think I like this idea... That was until Paul said that one of his mates was coming to collect us to go for a game of Pichunga (I hope I spelt that correctly) it's basically soccer on a smaller field, so that you can hone your skills, without having to run too much... Well I think I did Australia proud. I started on the bench... (Due to an odd number of players and I didn't want to show up my hosts. That was my thinking...) Anyway another guy turnd up, so now it was my turn to 'strut my stuff'. I played a defensive mid-field role and did it well. Made a few runs up the right wing and gave a few passes for felow team mates to convert. Like always, the goal scorer gets the glory. I was having fun in the 2deg C temp. I then went into goal keeper, as everyone must have a go. I must have done ok, as that's were I stayed until the end of the game. Made a few saves and the crowd went wild, well my teammates said a few things and the bird that flew by made a noise. All in all, it was a great time of hanging out with the guys. I really enjoyed the run, but no doubt will feel it soon.
That's been about the sum of my activities of late. Not much, but a good introduction to life in Chile. I am currently writing this blog at my friend's house in the south of Chile, a place called Los Angeles...yes, they have the same name. But I´ll write more about that later. Until then, Adios muchachos!

EL MUNDO DE LEIGH

2007-06-11T11:02:00.001-07:00

This will be an account of my travels from Australia and then back again.DAY 1 & 2.
Melbourne (Aust.) to Auckland (NZ)

Well, my travels started in 'sunny' Melbourne on Saturday the 9th of June. I was awoken by the house alarm going off, as Mum and Dad entered the house. They had offered to drive me to the airport. It was probably a good thing that they did wake me up when they did or I would have been late, which is not a good thing when flying internationally.

I was inline in Melbourne for about 30mins and it was lovely having Charlotte with me. After checking in the bag, it was off to the departure gate. Mum, Dad, I did turn around and wave, but you were already walking and it was probably a good thing.

I flew QANTAS from Melbourne to Auckland. However at one stage, I didn't think that the plane would take off. We had taxied out and had just fired up the engines when a split second later, the Captain cut the power and it was back to the gate to get a part changed. An hour later and it's back to take off.

I landed in Auckland at about 5 and not the scheduled 4:15. There I was met by my friend Paola. That's her on the right and it's not a photo taken in a cop car, it's a back of a cab. I met Paola when I was last in Chile at the start of 2004 and we have kept in contact since then. It was good to catch up, as I didn't get to see much of while she was visiting in January, as I was sick from my Africa trip.

We went back to her place and dropped off my bags. While doing this one of her Brazilian friends, Sislania, came over. The three of us went to the Auckland water front and ate a wonderful dinner, which included a lovely Scotch Fillet.

I told a few NZ jokes to the girls and they loved the one about the price of lamb in NZ. I had to tell them very quietly as I don't think I would be alive now, if I said them out to loud.

We then danced the night away at 'SOUL', having a great night. I received a few funny looks from th guys standing around us, as I was dancing with 2 South American girls. Hey, I was having fun...

The next morning Paola and I went driving around Auckland, checking out the local shopping center and the view of Auckland from Mt. Eden (yes that is a volcano opening I am standing next too) We also drove to a small 'village' called Mission Bay. It was such a lovely little place. I really liked it's atmosphere. Again I was late in leaving for the airport, because of the laid back attitude I was having. Plus the Latte was too relaxing. Thanks for the experience Paola.

I arrived at the airport at 4:30 and my flight was scheduled to leave at 5:50, but again there were delays and the new time of departure was 7. Joy! as I could now look at cosmetics with Paola in the duty free section of the airport... I soon said my goodbyes and it was off to the departure gate for my long flight to Santiago.

DAY 2 (extended).
Auckland (NZ) to Santiago (Chile)

The flight from Auckland to Santiago is a long one. It takes over 12 hours and there is nothing too see, as it is at night and over the vast South Pacific Ocean. Let's just say that I did get a little sleep, I think about an hour or two, but most of the time I watched movies, short TV shows or played tetras. After leaving Auckland over an hour late, we made it to Santiago about 30mins late. So, why can't they fly that quick all the time? I know, faster spinning engines require more fuel...etc...

Now to enter Chile, you do not require a Visa, however you need to pay a reciprocal fee of $56 US or it's onto the next plane and you're out of there. That's the first cue you need to stand in and then it's the customs cue. The customs cue took over an hour and then it was off to wait 30mins for the bags to arrive. Then it was like being back in Nairobi, with guys running at you screaming out 'Taxi, Taxi, Senor?' There were more taxi drivers than passengers.

I finally found an ATM, took out some cash and looked for a 'Transfer Bus'. Of course non were available, so I had to get a cab. It cost me $14,000 (about $30 Aus.) to go from the airport in the Outer Nth West of Santiago to Las Condes in the Mid North East. Hopefully the picture on the LHS here is suitable for people to get an idea. That's the suburb that Paul lives in. The taxi ride over was great and made me use my Spanish, which surprisingly isn't as bad as I thought it would be. Thinking about it, I managed to avoid unwanted taxi drivers, find and use an ATM (in Spanish), take out some money, ask the information counter directions to the 'Transfer Bus' office and then chat to the driver for about 30mins in my semi-broken Spanish. Not bad after 24hrs with very little sleep.

Las Condes is the up market area of Santiago, a bit like Toorak.There are loads of high rise apartments, that have high fences and guards at the door. Every morning there is a procession of older women walking into these buildings, to either look after children, clean the houses and cook food. These ladies get paid about $20 a day and they work from 9am to about 8pm. (i.e. once the evening dinner is cooked and cleaned away. I feel sorry for them, but it is a source of income for them and helps with their family income and survival.

It was great catching up with Paul and Danni and meeting their daughter Natalia for the first time. She is 18months old and reminds me of Charlotte. I think I almost feel asleep a few times during conversations, but I survived until about 9 and then crashed. It was such a strange feeling being back in Chile.

For now it's "Asta la vista".