This time I will try to add to the blog at least once a week rather than twice. There will be some personal stuff but I will try to keep it all fairly general. The plan is to comment on anything in Brazil that strikes my fancy. The country’s affairs are not well reported in Europe and I hope to give a view from a European perspective. As this is my first week I will be more personal than usual while I find my feet in the Brazilian way of life.

Back together

The journey was about as good as you can hope for. I flew TAM because they had the best deal.  My previous journey with them was full of problems but this time everything worked perfectly.  My luggage was a few kilos over the limit but the checkin at Heathrow did not mention it. In São Paulo they tried to charge me R$72 extra which they finally waived.  It took 21 hours door to door which was very tiring.
It was very good to see Flavia again after three months apart. Skype is very good but but no substitute.

My first impression was the weather.  It is fairly humid which intensifies the feeling of heat. The actual temperature is around 28/32C which is much less than in Málaga in the summer. In short the heat is not a problem for me so far and it is going to get a bit cooler as the summer is now over.  Of course the rain is another thing. It has often been quite cloudy and most evenings there has been heavy rain, often accompanied by thunder and lightning.

Some of the guests

The Sunday after I arrived was Flavia’s birthday and she held a churrasco (barbecue) in the grounds of her apartment. There were twenty people most of whom I already knew and it was good to see old friends. It was very nice to have a maid and a cook to do the hard stuff on the day. We will be eating the left over food for the next month. Sadly we have finished all the beer.

My proxy server in the UK was running well but is suffering from some sort of glitch which needs sorting out.  It allows me to access BBC iPlayer which only admits people who connect via a UK computer. It can also access all sorts of other UK sites which have the same policy. This is another plus for Linux as it is very easy to do and is free.  Talking of computers (again) I have spent a couple of days re-installing Windows Vista Home Edition on Flavia’s computer. It is my first good look at Vista and it really is as bad as its reputation. I will also add Ubuntu Linux in the hope that she might be tempted to see how a proper operating system works.

Only three candles?

On Sunday we attend the wedding of Flavia’s cousin who is marrying an Englishman so there will be an unusual concentration of Brits in Vila Velha. It will be interesting to see how Brazilians celebrate weddings.  The first good thing is that the male guests are not required to dress like waiters.

To close here is a nice thing about life in Brazil. Since my last visit I had my 60th birthday; this gives me all sorts of concessions here. Post offices, banks, lottery shops, chemists etc must either allow me to go to the front of the queue or have a separate queue. Also people who are handicapped, pregnant or with very young children have the same rights.  Another bonus is that I receive half price entry to cinemas, museums and various other tickets. All I need is someone who gives half price hair transplants.

On a technical note I have been forced to make people log in if they want to add a comment.  This is because I was receiving over 20 spam comments every day all of which have to be manually deleted. If you want to add a comment please register a name and email address. You can fake both and remain 100% anonymous if you want.

On Saturday morning we went to the city centre to visit the Cathedral which did not impress me at all.  It looks like a giant command module of an Apollo space craft. Star Trek fans will know what I mean when I say that it comes from the Klingon school of architecture.  The inside was better but I found the place very depressing. In fact I preferred the distorted reflection of the cathedral on a neighbouring office block.

We then took the Santa Teresa Tram to the same area that we had lunch yesterday.  It is probably as near to a favela that a tourist can go in safety. This was a wonderful ride and is not to be missed. Do not be put off by the tram’s dilapidated appearance and the poverty of some of the passengers (I kept a close grip on my valuables). This is daily transport for many people and is not a tourist attraction. The European Health and safety people would have a nightmare with the open sides, overloading and passengers jumping on and off the moving tram.

The tram is supposed to be limited to 32 people; in spite of going considerably over this number the schedule of a tram every 30 minutes means that there can be long queues.

A couple of hours was spent wandering around various cultural  centres and a stroll around the Rua do Ouvidor area where we had a drink and listened to a samba band playing in the street. Yet again I was struck by the fact that hardly anyone seems to dance. The customers of half a dozen bars listened to the music,  eating and drinking while the shoeshine boys and other hustlers looked for an opportunity to earn a few Reais.

Around 4pm Rafael and his girlfriend Claudia picked us up and we went for lunch in Bar Lagoa restaurant overlooking the lake Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas. Three had perfectly cooked and very tender fillet mignon and Rafael went for the steak tartare. I do not object to eating the meat raw – even mixed with raw egg and other ingredients. What put me off is that the large plate arrived with nothing other than the tartare. It would have been much more appealing half the size but with some french fries and salad.  A couple of hours later we left having damaged our wallets severely.

After a rest and a change of  clothes we hit the Santo Scenarum, this time a different building very close to the one we went to on Thursday. We arrived at 21.30 and found that we had to pay $15 dollars admission at the weekend. Three drinks each and the bill for two came to $55 – we are moving in the fast lane.  In fact it was not that bad value.  This place was twice the gigantic size of the other branch. Two seven member tango bands rotated and there was a very large disco area. Someone said that there were 800 customers there and 180 staff. The decorations did not have the religious theme but were just as surreal.  The value for money was confirmed when we left at midnight and discovered a queue four deep stretching 500 metres.

At the bottom we went for a long walk along the Pista Cláudio Coutinho which is a small peninsula which doubles as a military base and a nature reserve. It appeared to be a circular route but the path stopped at the halfway point and we retraced our footsteps. It was very quiet and peaceful but with excelent security so we felt quite safe.

Rafael picked us up  in the afternoon and we explored some of the hills. We wandered around and he showed us all sorts of interesting places. On one of the hills we came across a lake surrounded by tropical jungle. A lot of these areas are protected as part of a National Park. Travelling around the city is not nearly as difficult as you would think as a lot of the hills have tunnels going through them more or less at sea level.

In the Santa Teresa area are a number of simple but very interesting restaurants offering food from the Bahía area. We had a very good lunch there. At first sight the prices looked a bit high but on enquiry the waiter agreed that a single portion might be enough for three. In fact the three of us could not eat it all and Flavia and I did not eat again that day. These portion sizes are fairly typical so do not be shy about ordering a single dish between several people. You can always order more if it is not enough.The problem is finding a dish that all of you want to eat.

We spent a quiet evening and had an early night.

More large meals!

So has she but I will not tell you how much. We both enjoy eating and drinking and have been taking less exercise than we should.  Just the wedding last week must have added a kilo. Things must change! The start of the Tour de France has inspired me. Put your money on Oscar Freire to win the points competition.

In fact I have already started and have lost a kilo. No alcohol on at least three days per week and a lot less food. In theory we walk around 6 km every evening. In practice we usually do it two or three times a week. I will try to get that up to six times a week. Flavia’s daughter Jana has lent me her bike and my first three rides have been 6, 9 and 12 km. I will increase that  to 20km most days.

The bike is a fetching shade of pink. As Brazilians are so keen on everything being colour co-ordinated I think I will probably have to buy some matching shorts and top like this. Maybe I should go for the hat and sun glasses too. The bike will be very good exercise as half the gears do not work and it is a bit small for me and is very hard work.

The problem is the Brazilian food. It is wonderful, I love it!  It is also high meat content, high fat and high calorie.  It is too much to expect me to show self-restraint when I go to an Aladdin’s Cave of a self-service restaurant. There are so many new things to try and different  ways of preparing them. And, of course, lots of European dishes to show Flavia. It is a shame that fruit and salad take so much time to clean here.