SAUDADE
last night, adrian took off back to san francisco. this is the first day in over a month that i’ll be on my own again (first gabriel, then adrian were passengers). there are some obvious pros/cons to being on my own again, but more cons than pros. one surprising advantage is NOT having a navigator (…sorta). naturally, if i had the option to use a skilled navigator (or gps), i would…..but i feel that i can understand the city layout much better if i navigate myself (because i’m forced to learn it).
as i left rio this morning, i realized that it had really grown on me. it’s not just the beautiful people and environment, or hanging out with my family in their apartment across from the beach in one of the nicest neighborhoods in the americas, or having delicious food day after day….well, i could go on, but the point is that when you’re there, you just feel relaxed and happy. if i were to move to rio, i’m quite certain that i would live a very happy life. so why not move there? i dunno…maybe i will? but for now, i think that i might not find the professional fulfillment that i currently desire (mech eng R&D is much less developed here than in the us).
BELO HORIZONTE
from rio, i drove to belo horizonte…..a very large city about 5 hours from rio. i haven’t seen much of it, but it seems to have a lot of tall buildings. i’m staying at the house of some family friends who are putting me (and ushi) up in a beautiful apartment in very nice neighborhood here. this afternoon, we walked to the bakery, which had a bunch of delicious bread options to choose from.
later, this evening, i walked around the neighborhood. it’s very pleasant and there were quite a few people jogging. it’s nice seeing women jogging at night. for that reason too, but mostly because it usually means that the neighborhood is very safe — i think the only other place that i saw women jogging alone at night was in chile. also, my 6 month search for the allusive nespera (loquot) finally ended tonight! nesperas are not that rare (they even grow in the bay area), but it seems that only a fraction of the population knows about them. in the states, they don’t sell them in the markets (i have to steal them from people’s yards); and even in brasil (where they are sold), many people have never heard of them.
aside: in the united states, traffic lights are typically placed pretty far from the crosswalk (on the other side of the intersection). in many (all?) places in brasil, they’re placed at the crosswalk. the result is that cars must stop before the crosswalk, or they won’t know when the light is red/green. it’s a very simple, yet effective approach at keeping the crosswalks clear of cars.
i’m starting to get bored of travelling (who knew the sentra would last so long?), so am hoping to plan my exit over the next few days. if anybody feels like taking the reigns of the sentra and continuing the journey, shoot me an email (beto [at] sentradiaries [dot] com or sentradiaries [at] gmail [dot] com)
