And a few more...

Ok so, an extra camera showed up. And extra cameras mean extra pictures. Another toy for the blogger happy meal.

Salvador Shopping! Finances lifestyle!
Live in the slum [pictured behind], no worries!
Simply pay for your new tv in 72 installments and your ready to go!

At the tree house sipping on a brewski.

What! You didn't know I had a kid!
Ok, ok, so the little one's not mine.
But at least I can say we are pretty people.

So dinner at a millionaires place affords
fun fu fu opportunities. This
I do believe was some kind of strange
candle holder that I turned into a
massager.

Gordo! Obeso!

My Brazilian family. Cheers to them.

Look down shall we?

God's country.

My visitors get the royal treatment. So much fun we had, no!

Chapada

Ahhhh, rejuvination. So good to breath again.

I find myself liking Brazil yet again. A seven day vacation will do that to you. As much as I love the diversity of Babylon, there are times when I simply must get away. Witness.

Chapada is a place of marvels. If you come to visit Bahia, you must go! Call it a prime directive. It is a massive national park, full of jungle, and waterfalls, and green plains that stretch on for miles. This is a photo of our drive into the village, which is situated about an hour out of Palmeiras. You have to rent a rickety old transport to get there. The trucks run on propane, and you pray the whole way that you are not going to explode. This is a pic of our driver changing out the propane tank about half way there.

Capão

The village itself is quaint, quirky, and full of Brazilian hippies living the good life. There is a real artistic flavor to the town, including a full permanently situated circus out in the mata.

My friend Sheee's and I stayed at local artists house for the week. The very nice and accommodating owner was a fellow angoleira, a poi player, and wonderfully eccentric on all levels.

When we arrived the town was busy preparing itself for its highest tourist week, with hundreds of Salvadorians flooding into the town for the Sao Joao holiday weekend.

Local bar art. Enough to make any wall happy.

Chapada has enough trails to keep one busy for a year. There are 15 day guided hikes, reppelling adventures, and as we discovered, loads of waterfalls and mini-hikes in the nearyby surrounds.

Up.

Up.

And away.

This is Fumaça, which I was told is the second tallest waterfall in the world. True or not, approaching the thing and the drop off was almost maddening. Gave one the same majestic feeling as staring at the Grand Canyon, except it was the greener Brazilian version. Awesome!

And then there were places like Rio Vermelho--waterfall paridises that spewed out red water from its source. Jump in cold water, watch people play guitar, sit and contemplate how beautiful life is.

Sunday market in the square.

And the night life. Six consecutive days of Forro dancing, a kind of folksy music and step from the interior of Bahia. Spent the nights drinking aged liquors made from fruit, drinking hot chocolate, and scoping out the social scene.

The town kids ran around having fire cracker wars. No safety precations here. No parents freaking out that there kid might loose an eye or offend a passerby by exploding light objects near their face. Chaos has its wonders, upsides and downsides.

All I can say is, God's kingsom.

And I had a very nice time. It was great to see a different side of Brazil than the city. People were concerned about where they threw their trash, what the recycled, and the quality of food they put in their bodies. Fresh air, on a parched and poor mind, can really do wonders.

Before I Go

So I'm off to the green mata on a seven day excursion, to celebrate my birthday, the visit of a friend, and escape the city. I admit to being busy with school assignments, and neglectfully ignoring my blog. So before I go, thought it would be best to entertain the folks with a few random pics.

Here lies the good hill I call my home. Behind me is the steps up to the morro. I've been enjoying my experience here in this bairro popular, though going a bit mad at times at the ignorance that permeates this level of society (i.e. people trying to destroy my ears with all hour of the day and night fireworks, sound pollution, and general hatred toward my gringo kind). Normal things I suppose.

Oh and didn't I tell you. I found Jesus. No joke. I woke up one morning and rubbing my sleepy eyes, stared out into the trash heap that is my front yard. To my utter amazement, I see Jesus' floating head amidst the trash pile.

Look for yourself. Can you find the Christ? This was the picture I took before jumping around my apartment like a ninja, trying to retrieve the head that appeared at my doorstep. My neighbor on the floor below saw me descending the hill, and with his mouth dropped, I grabbed my plaster head and screamed "I found Jesus!". He shook his head and continued to stare at me. Haha. Not going to forget that one.

So it is that Jesus has become the patron saint of my apartment.

I was saving this goody for another post, but ah well, who has the time. So remember my girlfriend (i.e. motorcycle) in the States? I admit to having great "Saudades" for her. In the U.S. any time I got lonely, pissed, or generally depressed I would work on my bike. She was black and yellow and too pretty.

Well, now my reality is different, but who says I can create a little home as I go along. This is my bike after a couple months of work. She his loud as hell, and bright as a bee or wanabee for that matter. This translates, on Brazilian roads, into people generally avoiding colliding into me. All and all, the customization was really cheap. I traveled to some of the poorest neighborhoods to get her painted and fixed up (custom paint job cost me about $50 in total). This is Brazilian economy. The bike (technology) was expensive as hell, but the paint job (service) was beyond cheap.

Let me leave you with this little tidbit. Robadey....family name....rare as hell from a little known corner of the world (i.e. back country Switzerland). Very few of us still around, even though it is a 400+ year old name. So as it turns out, there was a emigration of Robadeys to Brazil many many moons ago. I am determined to root them out. Check out this pic I found on the web, of a little white girl on Robadey hill. Not a bad start if you ask me.

Back in a couple weeks with pics of greenery and relaxation.