Satori, notes — Stephen on January 21, 2009 @ 12:40 am — 1 comment
- I love that Obama mentioned “non-believers” in his speech. I believe it is the first time that a president has included and validated them as part of the American family.
- It was somehow fitting and satisfying to see Dick Cheney confined to a wheelchair.
- Aretha’s hat, my friends and I agree, was stolen from a drag queen, albeit a fierce one.
- Speaking of hats, none of the major figures get to wear them in that cold (for image purposes, one imagines). Brrr.
Satori, notes, NYC — Stephen on January 12, 2009 @ 10:22 pm — 1 comment
- An absolutely astonishing number of people wear black here. And about eighty percent of them head to toe.
- I hear a lot of complaining about a wide variety of things on the subway. Including the subway itself.
- So far, it seems like a lot of people are nice enough to hold the door for the person behind them, but a much smaller number care to give up their seat on the subway.
- There are a surprisingly large number of dog owners here, and an even more surprisingly large number of them that dress their pets in elaborate winter ensembles.
- There are a number of very good restaurants in Brooklyn.
- Park Slope is called such because the entire area slopes gently downhill from Prospect Park. Go figure.
- Not quite as much as Manhattanites don’t like to leave Manhattan, but Brooklynites prefer, all things being equal, to stay in Brooklyn. But they sometimes have no choice.
- The “R” train is almost always a bad choice (despite it being geographically the closest stop to me).
- Maybe it is the weather or time of year, but beach culture here seems a lot like…beach culture in a lot of places. Ipanema and Copacabana are great and all, but I was led to believe that life on the beach was everything here, and that it was quite a bit different from other places. To me, it is quite similar to places in Mexico, Florida, and the French Riviera. I would love to come back at carnival time and see what effect it has on the beach life.
- It is shockingly difficult to find a restaurant for breakfast in areas that should be crawling with them, like Ipanema. There are several dinner places, just not very much for breakfast. I guess people are still recovering at that hour or making something light at home.
-Speaking of restaurants, there seem to be mostly three kinds: Italian, sushi, and stand up at the counter snack places. Outside of that, we have seen exactly one all you can eat meat place.
- Although I have always heard that Copacabana is not as nice as Ipanema, we took a walk over there today and found it to be every bit as pleasant and in some ways better served than Ipanema.
- A staggering number of adults here have braces. Was there a sudden drop in the price a few years ago? Are people more vain about their smile than they used to be?
- The word for bread, pão is shockingly close to the slang word for penis, pau.
- I just learned a really amazing word in Portuguese, “saudade“
- They have a really odd system of payment here in a lot of establishments that involves getting a card (paper or electronic) that is then filled out (or scanned) with whatever items you purchased for payment at a cashier at the end. If you lose the card, there is a hefty fee. This system I have seen in bars, clubs, bakeries…any place where there are slightly upscale consumables. And most of these places have large menacing guys who look like they will break your knuckles should you try any funny business.
- The Sao Paulo metro is mostly wonderful. The lines are orderly, the service very fast, the stations large and clean. The only problems I see with it are the lack of AC (and it can get hot in the cars), and the price per ride (which at about one dollar US, seems a bit steep vis a vis the average salary).
Here are a few of the things that stand out to me as I make my way around São Paulo:
- Lots of Santas and Xmas decorations. I know it is “the season” and all, but the amount and sophistication of Christmas displays and dueling Santas is surprising. I don’t remember seeing this many in New York even.
- Lots of cars with tinted windows. I am sure this has something to do with security (and perhaps weather) but there are a huge amount of tinted windows on the cars here.
- Cake is amazing. So far, I am very impressed with the quality of the sweets here.
- An extremely high number of people limping or walking with canes. I can’t quite figure this out. Is polio still a problem here? Are a rather large number of people maimed in accidents? The people in question are all ages, all genders, seemingly wealthy and not so.
- Most Brazilians seem to share the classic American trait of not speaking any other language besides their own, although because Spanish is so close, they can understand some (and so can I). I am hoping to have a basic working knowledge of Portuguese before leaving the country.
Satori, notes — Stephen on November 25, 2008 @ 7:02 pm — 3 comments
- Although I was introduced to mate in Argentina, it is clearly much more the national pastime here in Uruguay. I have never seen so many mates and thermoses in my life. And you should know it is not a very handy or easy thing to carry around, what with all the herbs, cleaning the mate cup, the bombilla, the thermos of hot water. And I have seen it being drunk on the bus, walking on the street, sitting in the park, everywhere! It must be a mighty addictive substance.
- Things are more expensive in Uruguay than in Buenos Aires.
- It is 95 degrees and very humid here.
- I had an amazing lomo (steak) at the Mercado del Puerto today, at a place called El Peregrino. My Argentine friends may kill me for saying this, but it was better than any meat I had in Argentina.
- The architecture is a funny mix here. A lot of it looks like Uruguay had a cultural exchange program with Moscow for a few years after WWII. The rest of it looks like smaller scale versions of Buenos Aires. They seem to be remaking the old city center, and it is fairly pleasant.
- Breaking my own rule, I decided to stay at a gay B&B here (La Puerta Negra). It was a mistake. There is no AC, the place is hot as hell, the rooms have no windows, the owners are peevish, it is outside the center in a questionable neighborhood, the rules are different from on the website, and it is overpriced. Oh and they have a bad 80s mix tape on loop with only about 5 songs on it. Belinda Carlisle will be the death of me. The only good thing I can say about it is that the bedding is nice.
- I find it quite shocking that a city so close to the equator and sea level can be so cold. It was grey and overcast and misty yesterday and today, and apparently is exactly like this from May or June all the way to late November. The suicide rate must be quite high.
- It is a surprisingly easy city to get around in. Taxis are everywhere and as we learn to negotiate with them they are getting cheaper. But it is also easy to walk and there seem to be an abundance of buses.
- The people here have been very nice and very helpful, often without being asked. I couldn’t help but contrast this with Mexico, where no one ever goes out of their way to offer any help whatsoever. Here people have been always kind and volunteer much information and service.
- While we haven’t yet seen the historic center (sticking today as we have to San Isidro, Miraflores and Barranco), I have to say that most of the architecture of Lima seems fairly charmless. There are some cute buildings near to where we are staying however, and even the ugly stuff has an overall a scale that is not unpleasant. Overall, the streets are clean with nice sidewalks and planting all around, which makes strolling them quite pleasant despite the lack of beautiful building.
- I can’t believe how easy it was to get a Yellow Fever vaccination here.
Museo de las Culturas de Oaxaca – This place is a must in Oaxaca. The architecture of the restored convent is beautiful and the collection is fascinating.
Big damn breakfast – They seem to eat a lot for breakfast here. Yesterday’s in particular was big and meaty and heavy.
Chocolate – Oaxaca is known for their chocolate and Rocco and I bought some vanilla, cinnamon and almond flavored varietes by the market today.
Atole – This drink is found all over Mexico, but I had the most amazing pecan flavored one at breakfast this morning by the Zocalo.
Mitla -There is still left some pretty amazing carving in the ruins of Zapotec temples that the Spanish prompty destroyed and used the pieces to built a church on the site.
Hierve el Agua – It took about an hour on a rocky road to get to this place of sulfur springs falling over the rocks. Eh. I could live without it.
Los Danzantes – This restaurant was beautifully designed and had fantastic food. The only thing that made it less than perfect was that there seemed to be no actual Mexican people dining there.
