But, first I need to talk about the paradise that was an ORGANIC VEGETARIAN ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT BUFFET that Haley and I discovered today. I was starting to become convinced that Brazilians just like to poison themselves everyday, and was painfully letting my food groups stray from whole grains, vegetables, fruits, etc. towards azucar, queijo, e carne (sugar, cheese, and meat). As it turns out, eating healthy, just like consent (as I learned at carnaval), can seem like a Berkeley luxury.
Today was a new day! Haley, Sam Koch, Mackenzie, Justin, and I embarked down a narrow hallway, where we came upon a marble buddha fountain in a misty foyer. A mahogany staircase floated us upwards, spiraling towards a feast of foods forgotten. Avocado halves as vessels for vegetables and tofu. Zucchini noodles. Squash piled high. Spinach packed injera rolls. Grainy rice with black beans, funky mushrooms, and 'meat'balls interspersed with sesame seeds. Banana, fig, and brazil nut dessert sushi. A 'tranquil sounds of nature' soundtrack lulling me into a food coma, and I realize I'm stuffed silly for the first time in Brasil, which is otherwise a normal occurrence for me. And all for 18 reais, which is like $11. Ohhh baby.
Ihla Grande. Last Wednesday night, Haley and I went to capoeira in 'fantasia,' which is costumes for carnaval. Afterwards we went out with some of the capoeiristas, which is always fun until it gets exhausting. Which is fast for me with all the trying to understand and speak portuguese and drinking only beer when I just want water and foood. When we get back at 4AM, Haley checks her facebook and sees that one of her friends organized a trip to Ilha Grande, which is off the coast of Rio. They're meeting up in 3 hours, but we decide 'vale a pena' (it's worth it) because it was a good deal for a 4-day escape from the exhausting (both vehicular and pace of life) Rio. And we'll be on an ISLAND. So we get a wink of sleep, clean the house until it looked like carnaval never happened, pack, and meet up with a goofy, eclectic group of kids in Haley's program. With Bob, our still-bitter-about-losing-Survivor-12-years-ago guide and Annapoala, his smokin-hot-tattooed-perpetually-high-maniacally-laughing wife, 14 of us go to Angra dos Reis, where we then take a boat to the island. Oh, and there is also this 'camera-man' that is afraid of the water. On the boat I ask him 'Todo bom?' (Everything good?) And he just says 'No.' Poor guy. He turns out to be an interesting character who wants nothing to do with any of us and awkwardly films us when we're eating. And it's frustrating because we can tell he's a cool, or at least interesting guy. Justin overheard him talking to these really friendly physics teachers we met, and he said 'In real life I know no one, but on the internet I'm huge!' Huh.
The next morning I watched the sunrise (epic), and then we ate crackers, corn flakes, jelly, rice pudding, chocolate milk, and IOWASCA for a breakfast of champions of sorts. Iowasca, Bob explains, is a special tea made by shamans that you take when you have a special question or are looking to be healed. He says we can drink some as long as we have no ghosts, and only a little so we don't vom. I was mostly confident that I didn't have any ghosts, so I had a few sips. Then about half the group and I set off on a longer hike than the rest of the group/guides wanted to do. I never had any spiritual epiphanies, but the day was beautiful and filled with pit stops at beach coves, navigating around huge spiders in their elaborate webs, rock scramblin', rugged rainforest, ascensions, descensions, etc. By the end of the day, I was exhausted, hungry, and slightly moody. Bob had given us snack packs that consisted of sugar cookies, candy, and sugar-coated granola bars that weren't doing much for me. But there's something to be said about not always having all of your needs satisfied, I've decided. It's like yoga, where you have to breathe through 'powerful pose' and other uncomfortable positions before your 'final savasana,' simply lying down, can be absurdly wonderful and appreciated. Being sleep-deprived, kind of sick, hungry, and trucking along drenched in sweat for a day leading to a deeply felt appreciation for my usual existence, which is underlied by comfort and convenience, is the same idea. We finally got back to camp at 7 that night, and ate some damn good beans and rice with farofa. Then we had a campfire where we talked to this guy named Chico. I asked, 'Que significa su camiseta?' And he said MST, which turns out to be a really cool-sounding political group that's focused on rural land reform and addressing income inequality. Plus they're part of Via Campesina! Which is an awesome international movement that is big on family-farm-based sustainable ag and empowering rural and indigenous communities etc. How 'bout that :)
K, I think that's all that needs to be said about Ilha Grande. Except the next day we went to a surreal beach that had sifted flour sand and I played capoeira with Annapoala. And there was this beautiful African family and the husband and wife made the most beautiful jewelry that I can't remember why I didn't buy. Oh yeah, cuz I'm spending reais like it's going out of style.
Even after drinking the miraculous agua de coco, I am spent and need to go to sleep. Amandoim (means Peanut and is the nickname of the beautiful black man who instructs capo when Nestor isn't there; when he plays, I'm pretty sure I can feel the entire circle orgasm) WORKED us. Spending about an hour on your hands before actually playing is muitas dificile, and this is coming from a girl who spent a good part of her early years in a handstand.
Boa noite!
