Rio de Janeiro, 2pm or so. june 25, 2005

We leave for the airport in an hour -- and another trip ends. Yesterday we went to the blue lagoon. It was your normative lazy day on a boat with a little bit of snorkeling in between. For the past couple of days I have been very sick. So much so that my usual verbosity is very stifled. A few thing I wanted to note before I forget:

Ilha Grande was a prison colony like Alcatraz only 10 years ago. They think tourism will blow up very soon. I'm pretty happy that i was able to go before it becomes like Bali or something like that. While the nature conservancy was still pretty lack a few Europeans actually bought small islands and built houses on them. There are about 365 islands surrounding Ilha Grande. Pretty soon it will become an island resort for the rich. One German man bought this small island near the blue lagoon and made a clearing on the beach front to build his house. However, they changed the building laws right before he started. Now he owns this small island with nothing on it. Supposedly he just camps on his beachfront. The coolest thing about having an island is being able to tell people "this is my island!" But outside of that it doesn't seem that cool. Anyway, I'm feeling lightheaded. I'll see all of you soon I'm sure.

Ilha de Grande, Brazil. June 23, 2005. 11:22PM

This is our third and final night on Ilha Grande. It is a tropical island off the coast of the continent. It looks like Jurassic Park, except with bigger dinosaurs. Today we went to Praia Lopes Mendes, one of the three most beautiful beaches in the world, or so they say. I will post pictures, and you can judge (as well as you can from photos) for yourself. To get there, we took a boat from the village to another side of the island and then hiked over a hill to get to the beach. It was incredibly desolate. Our boat was the first wave to arrive, and the stretch of beach (about a mile long) was completely deserted. One incredible moment was walking through the dense jungle that eventually opened out to the beautiful white sand beach. However, in the thickest part of the trail, we could still hear the thundering crash of waves. It was quite intimidating. There is a line where the jungle ends and sea begins, and it seems that the few feet of dry sand is the DMZ where the two areas call their truce.

The waves were incredibly large, and like a fool, I rented a surfboard hoping to learn -- I failed, miserably. It's hard enough to get out with a board, but these waves were endless. The only thing more frightening then the height of the waves was their power. Someday I will be able to add "surfing" to my list of interests in facebook. That day is not today. After being pummeled for 20 minutes, I gave up and went swimming. Just as humbling of an experience, if not more. I consider myself a strong swimmer, but today was the first time I have ever been afraid in the ocean, that I might not be able to swim back up to the surface. This entry is evidence of my survival, but my ego lies somewhere at the bottom of the sea.

This was the most uncommerical beach I have ever seen. There weren't and stands, chairs, or umbrellas. The long view provided no evidence of permanence. Only the perpetual crash. Upon our departure, there is little evidence that people even frequent that beach. Footsteps and attempts at sand architecture vanish within minutes. Dilapidated shacks seemed swallowed by the jungle, or mangled into driftwood. On our return trip we wondered if Ilha de Grande will be the same in 25 years; we weren't optimistic. Ironically, this very xanga entry and my presence here on the island are contributing to the steady crawl of man's encroachment on all things.

Tomorrow we will either be visiting the blue lagoon or the green lagoon. I'm unsure of which color I prefer. I somewhat wish that the names were a little more descriptive. Or at least colors that weren't so interchangeable. Is it more of a blue-green? Or more of a greenish-blue? The decision would be easier if it was the blue lagoon versus the brown lagoon. Anyway, after we will take a ferry back to the mainland, then a bus to Rio, and hopefully end up in another all you can eat churrascaria (Brazilian BBQ). BTW, here is my official national bbq preference. First Place: Brazil/Argentina (unsure of origin). Second Place: Korea. Champion: My sister's girlfriend's Korean-Brazilian dad. Okay that's a stretch. Moving on.

It's thundering outside. Sounds like murky brown lagoon to me.

Yesterday it rained. I was very depressed. We spent the day in bed talking. At night it cleared up a little. I finished -The Joke- by Kundera and went for a midnight swim. The full moon lit up the sky, and I kept expecting it to be dawn. During the swim the clouds kept covering the moon. As I stroked out towards the sea I felt that the truth of my life was ultimately impermeable, and the heaviness slowed my strokes.

Lastly, my favorite thing to do at the beach is to float facedown within the surf. I let my hands drag in the sand as the waves pull me backwards and the push me forwards again. Do I desire this lack of agency, or is this a representation of the randomly determined course of life?

Ipanema Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 11:15 am Karisma Hostel

I am waiting for Chris and Elaine to return from exchanging their money at the bank, and then we will head off to the bus station to catch our ride to a port city -- i forgot the name. From that port we will ride a ferry to ilha de grande. I'm excited. But the longer this entry means the longer I've been waiting for them, and if we miss this bus, we miss the ferry, and can't go to ilha until tomorrow. For my sake, I hope this entry ends soon. I always try to exchange a good amount of money when I first land in any country. It just wastes time to exchange more money later. Of course one would like to save money, but I've gotten better at estimating. Although, I have spent way too much money as it is. It's the addiction to diet coke that's really gotten me. Well, that and the drinking. My mother is going to be very unhappy with me. Mom, you're probably reading this right now. Sorry.

For the rest of the trip we won't be in any city areas, and the best things in naturey places are always free. I hope to go hiking and at least try myhand at surfing. Okay, they just came in and weren't able to exchange money. NEVER EVER USE TRAVELERS CHEQUES. I've never been in a situation where that has been helpful. If it isn't a really remote place then just use an ATM. Otherwise use cash. Just put it in a money belt and watch yourself. How annoying. Oh well, this is gonna get interesting.

As for Rio, my highlights are as follows: reading Kundera on the beach while some weird photographer guys tells15 year old girls to model, and the all you can eat steakhouse. It tastes better here I swear. Rio is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever seen. It has these beautiful steep hills that overlook this fantastic beach. It's no wonder that they built the giant statue of Jesus here, overlooking paradise. On that note, people here are incredibly beautiful too. It's sort of like NYC nightlife in a beach town. It's also very superficial seeming. But I haven't left Ipanema so who am I to say?

Time to go.

Buzios, Brazil. Friday June 17, 2005. 6:35 pm.

Tonight will be our third night in Buzios, Brazil. It's a small beach resort north of Rio de Janeiro. Buzios is more of a penninsula, and so it looks like an uncurling index finger with lots of little coves and small beaches. Each beach has a distinctive feature and name. It's reminiscent of my experience on the island of Santorini. Thus far it's been what I've come to expect from a beach town. Beautiful water (not even close to Cancun though), tourist economy, and lots of drinking. My favorite thing about the town has been the people, both those I'm traveling with and the people we've met. I told Chris that I wanted to start getting tattoos of amazing places I visit, because it would be a souvenir I'd never forget. We passed by a tattoo parlor today and he said that I should get one. I told him that the only thing that I could think of to tattoo would be elaine and his face, because that's what's been most memorable. My favorite thing about Buzios is that it's not as touristy as the Mexican beach towns that I've frequented when I was younger with the family. There are always fishing boats and locals swimming around. Today a local "marine biologist" showed us around this little beach. Apparently, he had a crush on Elaine so me and Chris got to see cool stuff while Elaine got hit on. Traveling with girls is always a good idea. Anyway we went kayaking, if you can really call it that. It was more like me rowing, and both Elaine and Chris screaming to go back to shore. We let Elaine row and we nearly ran over this person swimming. When we got back, we let our 50 year old scientist friend continue flirting with Elaine while Chris and I tried to stand up in the kayak and throw each other off. That didn't work very well either. The most interesting thing was watching the biologist gut open a sardine with his bare hands and explain in Portugese the body parts and good meats. We really didn't understand a damn thing he said. We just nodded our heads a lot. He was nice after all, besides he wasn't trying to kiss me on the lips.

The best part of the day was climbing over this rock formation over looking our cove to watch the sun set. It was pretty spectacular. Because of the formation of the penninsula one can see mountain ranges in the background of the ocean. As the sun was setting over this tiny island in the middle, one could see brilliant colors in the clouds that covered the mountains in the back. I'll post pictures as soon as I get back. The biologist couldn't stop taking pictures of Elaine. There were local kids playing guitar and singing while watching the sunset. It sounded very similar to Jack Johnson. I felt pretty envious of their lives. Often times I find working and wanting this incredibly complex life full of stress, etc. But I think I might just be happier being a "marine biologist" in some remote beach town hitting on 20-something expats.

More thoughts later. Tomorrow morning back to Rio, and then it's of to Ilha de Grange -- a national park. It's pretty much what I came for. Hopefully I'll find something worth tattooing, besides Chris Yap's face on my ass. 

Besides those things, I've gotten drunk a few times and fallen asleep in different places. Oh, also everytime I go to a new country I find some cheap ethnic food that I love. In Greece it was gyros. In China it was the street food, etc. Here it's been the empanadas. So good. Now it's off to find a churrascaria, I hope.