Obrigado Brasil!
I am in Brasil and immensely happy! Shit, I can´t begin to describe the harrowing journey here, harrowing because I got food poisoning again. It was definitely something I ate on my last day in Bolivia, probably airport or airline food. So I will forever remember Bolivia as the place I entered with the runs and left with the runs. Thankfully it didn´t hit till after I was in my shabby hotel across from the bus terminal in Asuncion, Paraguay (pretty dodgy place anyway), but I spent the whole night on the toilet, with the owner of the hotel giving me looks of sympathy everytime I left my room and headed to the bleak, cold, fart room. On top of being hella sore from the mountain bike ride, I had to deal with diarrhea. I was not a happy backpacker.
But it lasted only that night, thank god. I am currently in Foz de Iguacu and am leaving to Florianopolis/Ilha de Santa Catarina on the coast. The Foz de Iguacu are giant waterfalls in a large protected tropical forest, 60,000 square km of which sadly remains from the original 1 million sq km. I visited the Argentinean side of the Falls, since it gives you a much closer, upfront view, with the highlight among them the Devil´s Throat cascade. After my previous night perched on the porcelain bowl, all I could compare the massive fall to was the manic flushing I had endured. But no matter, I felt at one with the forest, with its humid, hot breath and soaring sun... minus the hordes of tourists though. It was a slight Disneyland experience (in Florida, not CA), but I was content watching thousands of butterflies flit through the forest and contemplating nature. And I was wrong before -- these falls aren~t actually the highest in the world, they actually fall as the 5th highest or so. But impressive nevertheless.
Brasil is so bloody expensive compared to Bolivia and Argentina that I´m sort of freaking out about it. Here, in the south, you visit the region in order to do activities -- go deep into the Pantanal (swamp land) to see animals, swim with fishes and visit caves with aqua blue, shimmery water (Bonito), stay on the best beaches and go snorkeling (Ilha de Santa Catarina, Ilha do Mel, Parati, Ilha Grande). In the north, it´s more of a cultural place, where you sit and enjoy the town as it is and don´t necessarily need to spend money on doing things in order to get the feel of the place. So already I´ve blown my $30 a day budget. Plus, there is all this great shopping here. I found a shirt with a giant screenprint of Axl Rose that I HAVE to buy. Plus, it~s so hot and humid here that my one pair of shorts are not going to cut it. It´s a joke almost for me to look at all the alpaca legwarmers and mittens I bought last week in Bolivia, which I have to schlep around for the next few months!
And the food in Brasil is awesome so far. I am so happy that the juices here are natural, meaning they don~t add water or milk to them like in Bolivia. I had an incredible meal yesterday night -- all you can eat pizza, but Brazilian style. Have you guys heard about churruscarias? They´re a distinctly Brazilian invention. You go into a restaurant, where there~s a double sided card at each place at the table. One side is red, the other green. Flip yours to the green side and you~ll be inundated with waiters carrying plates of barbecued meat, which they~ll cut and give you as much as to your liking. After you~ve had your fill, flip it to red to let them know you don~t want more. Flip it back to green when you~ve properly digested your serving. This is all for one price, buffet style. Well, take this idea and spin it with pizza. So there I was, waiter after waiter coming up to me with pan fulls of different pizzas. I ate garlic pizza, egg pizza, pepperoni pizza, spinach pizza... I can´t even remember what other versions I gorged on. I ate 8 to 10 pieces -- no friggin joke. I thought I was going to vomit, I was so full. But that wasn~t the end. Then came DESSERT pizza. I had heard about this before from two America Peace Corps workers I met in Bolivia who wanted to bring this pizza churasscaria idea to San Francisco, but I only half believed them. The waiter brought out a fruit pizza. Really, it~s just that -- a pizza with cheese and fruit (cherries, pineapple, other unidentified fruit) on it, hot. And then he brought out a banana pizza. Slices of banana on cheese, on dough. And THEN chocolate pizza -- a thick layer of chocolate shavings on cheese on dough, warm and crunchy. At that point I was really on the verge, but you know me so well -- I really have no self control when it comes to this oral fixation of mine. So I had that slice too, which I am not sure tasted really good because I had eaten myself into food shock land by then. Food at that point in the meal was no longer a method of sustenance or enjoyment, but instead an inhumane experiment on toleration and suffering. A true method of torture. In the end, I consumed how many slices of cholesterol? 15? With potato chips and Coke on top of that? I rolled home, 10.50 Reals lighter (the all you can eat pizza was only 8 Reals, with the other 2.50 Reals for my Coke).
I am sufficiently recovered now though. With my own bathroom for the last two days and a decent shower and TV, I think I am ready for more. More gorging, sun, food and all!
But it lasted only that night, thank god. I am currently in Foz de Iguacu and am leaving to Florianopolis/Ilha de Santa Catarina on the coast. The Foz de Iguacu are giant waterfalls in a large protected tropical forest, 60,000 square km of which sadly remains from the original 1 million sq km. I visited the Argentinean side of the Falls, since it gives you a much closer, upfront view, with the highlight among them the Devil´s Throat cascade. After my previous night perched on the porcelain bowl, all I could compare the massive fall to was the manic flushing I had endured. But no matter, I felt at one with the forest, with its humid, hot breath and soaring sun... minus the hordes of tourists though. It was a slight Disneyland experience (in Florida, not CA), but I was content watching thousands of butterflies flit through the forest and contemplating nature. And I was wrong before -- these falls aren~t actually the highest in the world, they actually fall as the 5th highest or so. But impressive nevertheless.
Brasil is so bloody expensive compared to Bolivia and Argentina that I´m sort of freaking out about it. Here, in the south, you visit the region in order to do activities -- go deep into the Pantanal (swamp land) to see animals, swim with fishes and visit caves with aqua blue, shimmery water (Bonito), stay on the best beaches and go snorkeling (Ilha de Santa Catarina, Ilha do Mel, Parati, Ilha Grande). In the north, it´s more of a cultural place, where you sit and enjoy the town as it is and don´t necessarily need to spend money on doing things in order to get the feel of the place. So already I´ve blown my $30 a day budget. Plus, there is all this great shopping here. I found a shirt with a giant screenprint of Axl Rose that I HAVE to buy. Plus, it~s so hot and humid here that my one pair of shorts are not going to cut it. It´s a joke almost for me to look at all the alpaca legwarmers and mittens I bought last week in Bolivia, which I have to schlep around for the next few months!
And the food in Brasil is awesome so far. I am so happy that the juices here are natural, meaning they don~t add water or milk to them like in Bolivia. I had an incredible meal yesterday night -- all you can eat pizza, but Brazilian style. Have you guys heard about churruscarias? They´re a distinctly Brazilian invention. You go into a restaurant, where there~s a double sided card at each place at the table. One side is red, the other green. Flip yours to the green side and you~ll be inundated with waiters carrying plates of barbecued meat, which they~ll cut and give you as much as to your liking. After you~ve had your fill, flip it to red to let them know you don~t want more. Flip it back to green when you~ve properly digested your serving. This is all for one price, buffet style. Well, take this idea and spin it with pizza. So there I was, waiter after waiter coming up to me with pan fulls of different pizzas. I ate garlic pizza, egg pizza, pepperoni pizza, spinach pizza... I can´t even remember what other versions I gorged on. I ate 8 to 10 pieces -- no friggin joke. I thought I was going to vomit, I was so full. But that wasn~t the end. Then came DESSERT pizza. I had heard about this before from two America Peace Corps workers I met in Bolivia who wanted to bring this pizza churasscaria idea to San Francisco, but I only half believed them. The waiter brought out a fruit pizza. Really, it~s just that -- a pizza with cheese and fruit (cherries, pineapple, other unidentified fruit) on it, hot. And then he brought out a banana pizza. Slices of banana on cheese, on dough. And THEN chocolate pizza -- a thick layer of chocolate shavings on cheese on dough, warm and crunchy. At that point I was really on the verge, but you know me so well -- I really have no self control when it comes to this oral fixation of mine. So I had that slice too, which I am not sure tasted really good because I had eaten myself into food shock land by then. Food at that point in the meal was no longer a method of sustenance or enjoyment, but instead an inhumane experiment on toleration and suffering. A true method of torture. In the end, I consumed how many slices of cholesterol? 15? With potato chips and Coke on top of that? I rolled home, 10.50 Reals lighter (the all you can eat pizza was only 8 Reals, with the other 2.50 Reals for my Coke).
I am sufficiently recovered now though. With my own bathroom for the last two days and a decent shower and TV, I think I am ready for more. More gorging, sun, food and all!
posted by Chocolat at 6:27 AM
3 Comments:
PC, I hope you have a great time in Brazil again!!!
Boa Viagem!!!
Yan
have fun out there PC! that pizza idea sounds really good - something i need to try one day.
btw: i spent the weekend partying it up in Rosarito, Mexico... so technically we were both south of the border at the same time!
p.s. i hope you shit solidly for the rest of your trip!!!
-sy
hi lady i miss your voice. has it changed now that you have solid food in your system. haha. tell me when you are on skype. im taking it easy the next few days and will either be at home or in the pickford office. so lets try this bad boy out. miss you baby.
love you
dianne
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