From language student to dog-walker and house-keeper

There´s been rather drastic changes in the role of the not-so-long-ago freshly arrived tiny, non Portuguese-speaking language student you saw walking the streets of Barra. What´s become of him is your image of the standard, sweaty macho Brazilian playing frescoball on the beach. And the jelly, sticky stuff that you´ve seen his body drenched in (which you thought was sun-melted butter) is in fact coconut tanning oil applied abundantly to enhance the phenomenal topography of the torso.

Well, nearly all of that has happened ;-). Since Silvia left for Europe three days ago, I have had the apartment to myself. And the dog. So, if only for a week, I get to experience being an apartment-owner and dog-keeper in Brazil. Participating in Brazilian body culture will have to be a future task.


Regina, Rafa, Silvia, Sofia and I


Me & Sofia

The corner next to where I live, is inhabited by five or ten rather seedy figures. These homeless young men of Brazil will annoy, incommode, tire or even scare you with never-ending "amigo" calls. When you don´t respond, the calls turn into loud curses and body movements around the waste (where a gun can be hidden) intended to scare the shit out of you. As great as these mens indifference to human life might be, they hold animals in high esteem. You will see them feeding the neighbourhoods street-dogs with the very food they´ve acquired from hours of begging and hustling.

Silvia picked up Maria - the dog I´m now the proud walker of - from that very corner. The men revere that dog and thus also the woman that´s taking care of it. Because of that, walking the streets of Barra is now a great pleasure. I get good chats and happy faces from virtually everyone and don´t need to feel unsafe at night. It´s even worth having to clean up her xixi (pee) from the kitchen floor every morning! (Mark, Susan and Miles - you better copy these lines right away - for future evidence purposes - before I change my mind and remove it all!).


Campo Grande, Vitória and Barra - neighbourhoods by the sea


Me - by the beer


Nature´s best


Chillin´w/ the Swedes

Kristoffer and Claire

Word up

Last week I went to a paradise island called Morro de São Paulo. It´s a mere two hour boat ride from Salvador. I loved the place and learned that incredible craziness makes a perfect match with white-sand coral beaches, particularly so in form of dusk-till-dawn parties on the beach, abundant in alcohol (and other substances too, if you wish). Met a bunch of Swedes at the pousada. Good old Gothenburg fellas, plus two lads from Helsingborg. Good times.

In order to get back in time for class on Monday, I decided to go back with the Sunday afternoon catamaran. The friendly Argentinean guesthouse owner helped me reserve the ticket. Thereafter, a handful of (co-)incidences made me miss the boat. It sunk. 128 passengers managed to get life vests on before the boat capsized. They floated around for four hours uncertain of if rescue was under way. One person never got on the coast guards´rescue boat that night. I´m one lucky son of a bitch.


Ivan w/ friend

Acaí: Brazilian fruit, Caribbean style


Matt and Claire -
traveling the world

Beautiful Etilme


Henke at dusk


Blending fruits

I´m nearly done with my Portuguese classes. It´s been very intense and I´m looking forward to have some time to let everything fall into place. In fact, I´d like to have much more than four weeks for that process before going home. Aconteça o que acontecer - whatever happens, happens - is still my approach to the possibility of an extended stay in Brazil. I´ll keep you posted.

Christmas will be a calm event. On Friday I´m headed to one of the beaches north of town. There, Sheila and I are going to kick back for two days or so. On the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, I get on a plane bound for Rio de Janeiro. The Marvelous City. I can´t wait, Rio is the type of city that you make your home and since doing that two years ago, I´ve been longing to return. This visit will be spiced up with New Year´s celebrations on Copacabana and through meeting up with old friends. You will hear more as whatever happens continues to happen.

Until then,

Joakim

By the way, the blog entries are now open for comments also for non-members. I´d be very happy if you dropped a line. Swedish, Spanish and Portuguese works, too ;-)