The Blog

Ah, Rio...

I think I'll miss you. But before I leave, I must swim at the beach. *grins*

Catch you guys in England.

Labels: beach, conferences, holiday, rio de janeiro, trip09

Explorations in Brazilian television...

Good evening all.

I'm sitting in my hotel room while most everyone else is at the $200R conference banquet. What this means for you is a running commentary of Brazilian soap operas, because they are awesome. Sadly, I don't know what this program even is, but it's fantastic. First they were doing a "who's the father of the baby?" scenario (the poor actress is about to explode), and now there's a chimpanzee running around some person's house, scaring off burglars and playing with his feet in a tin of paint. I don't get it at all.

HOLY CRAP! The supposed father/boyfriend and the best friend were just walked in on by the expectant mother (I actually thought her friends were driving her to the hospital, but no, they were just giving her a lift home), who is about to go nuts with a broom on them. And now the credits are rolling. :(

Now I know I have to be back by 8pm tomorrow night to watch what happens next, because damn you guys, soap operas are addictive when you don't speak the language. And I know the title, "caras and bocas", which now must be googled. (Ed: And it has, but only in Portuguese, damn it.)

In actual news, there's some big scandal going down where a tv personality / reporter has been arrested and is in huge trouble because it seems he's been manipulating the news to the point where he organised killings so he could be the first on the scene to report them. OMG, Brazil!

Labels: lonely-Cat, missing you, rio de janeiro, television, trip09

Ten things I love about Rio...

I kinda feel like I've been very down on the place, when actually I'm having a great time. So here's a list of things I love about Rio, in no particular order:

• the beaches. They're full of vendors selling stuff, but they are also sandy and wet with pretty waves that curl over wonderfully. In the sun you don't notice the humidity, and in the shade you don't feel the heat.
• the games they play on the beaches. People play all sorts of sports, mostly volleyball and soccer. Sometimes they play both at once in a hybrid called futevôlei, which is no-hands volleyball. It's so much fun to watch.
• the metro. It's fast and clean and not necessarily cheap, and it gets you were you want to be. It runs every five minutes, so you don't have to wait.
• the kilo restaurants. These are buffets where you fill your plate and pay by weight. If you like salad it's cheap, and if you live only on meats it's a bit pricey. The big chains are around $35-45/kg, but smaller local places are around $25/kg. The food is good at the cheaper ones, there's just often less choice.
• Bob's burgers.
• the surf rescue helicopter. They were doing exercises on Tuesday, and it was the most fun thing ever. The guys on board kept jumping into the water from a height, and then the helicopter would catch them in a net, or a harness, or just by hovering over the water until they grab on. Traffic stopped to watch.
• Capirinhas. Crushed lime, sugar, and a local liquor made from sugar cane (it tastes a little like rum). Most people use cheap cachaça ($5/L), but it's drinkable. (For the record, a stella artois costs about $1.79 and the cheap local beer is $0.89/can in the supermarkets.)
• Christos. I've still not been to see him yet, as with only one exception all my free days have been cloudy. But you often spot him over your shoulder, just hanging out up there.
• the temperature. Aside from the humidity (hello boofy hair), I could get used to 27^oC days in winter. I didn't bring enough summer clothes though.
• the markets. They're silly tourist traps, but they're good fun and a perfect source of tacky souveniers for the people back home.

Labels: holiday, rio de janeiro, trip09, yay vodka

Space Frosting...

So, a blog, eh?

Well, I suppose I promised. So, I’ve had a day of conferencing, and several days on the beach, and I’m coming to the conclusion that Rio is a bit of a rip off, mainly because people don’t give you the right change when you go for food. This has happened twice now, and I’m really bummed about it. Yes, I’m stupid for not paying enough attention and not realising until it is much too late, but it’s not nice to take advantage of my jetlag like that. Stupid paper money that all looks the same. I’ll be on my guard from now on.

Anyway, I’m still under budget, so that’s okay. Worse, I bought a loaf of bread and will pack some vegemite sandwiches tomorrow. *grins* But I must be sure not to turn a profit on the trip, because that wouldn’t be nice for the boss.

So I’m thoroughly jetlagged. I got myself sorted so I was able to stay awake until a reasonable hour, but now I’m waking up at 3am, and by about 7pm I’m so very dead it’s no wonder the restaurant people can rip me off. This morning I made it back to sleep around 5am and it was the most wonderful thing in the world.

Yesterday I went to Ipanema, as there were some markets there that certain parties wanted to see. They were alright; I managed to pick up birthday presents for the people back home, and a few more small things for the family. Ipanema is more of a surf beach than Copacabana, at least in the winter, and the water was full of young people taking their turns on perfectly curled waves.

I love the beaches here, and wish I could go swimming as I think it would be nice (after the first moment of OMG WINTER SWIMMING AIEEE!). There’s something perfect about sitting in the shade of a palm tree, drinking out of a nice ripe coconut and watching the pretty young men play volleyball or soccer. It’s just wonderful.

The conference started today, so there goes my next two weeks. I hope I will have time to do Sugar Loaf and Corcovado this weekend. Otherwise I might have to miss out on some of the official business sessions to get there. Because, you know, it would be a tragedy to miss out on the vote to pass a resolution stating “the IAU members should continue to encourage and support the female astronomers in their communities.” Why can’t they have some controversy on my trip?

Hopefully as time goes on they’ll come up with some sort of interesting thing to vote on. Or at least discuss meaningfully.

***

Think I’m going to skip the politics, as oh my does it sound boring. It’d be okay, but there are at least an hour and a half of speeches before they get to the music and ddancing. And six hours until the drinking. But really, it’s okay.

Went to a fantastic review talk this morning on icy bodies in the solar system, which is the comets and asteroids and space junk out past jupiter (including pluto). It was really good, given by a David Jewitt, who speaks in a manner quite like that of Steve Jobs, and his “powerpoint zen” (keynote really) was fantastic. I think I might get in touch to get his slides, since he had to skip many for time purposes.

So, the next session is starting. Will post more tomorrow.

Labels: astronomy, conferences, rio de janeiro, trip09

Checking in...

Still alive. Have no internet at my hotel, so I can't post from there, but I'll try and write something tonight to post tomorrow. The conference is okay, only nodded off once today (and the boss saw, oh crap!), although they need more coffee stations and food. Oh, and a few more available IP addresses, as I'd rather like to just be able to switch on my internet and have it work.

Labels: astronomy, conferences, rio de janeiro, trip09

Not that I'm bitter or miserable or anything...

The problem with the "always say yes" school of youth hostelling is that sometimes the crowd of people who take you places leave you in a favella (albeit a 'safe' one) without warning at 2:30 am and later state that they looked for you everywhere when you were standing in plain sight by the bar.

Needless to say I'm back safe and sound and will tell the story tomorrow.

Labels: I want to go home now, jazz music, rio de janeiro, trip09

A short blog about Rio...

I don't have a lot of time this morning, as I'm going to go meet up with a new friend (Shari Breen, for those in the astro circle) and take in some of the sights. Or maybe just walk the beach, we haven't decided and neither have any portuguese.

The first thing you notice about Brazil is the smell. A lot of the cars don't seem to have any muffler, or maybe there's something about the fuel they use, but the road is full of smoke and even in the rain (for I've not seen the sun since circling over the airport) does not do much to help. It's not so bad here in Copacabana, I suspect the sea breezes do much to help with that.

The second thing you notice are the Favelas, which I'd heard about but not quite understood until that moment when I saw just how poor those people really are. I'm told that as part of the Olympic bid the authorities are going to try and fix things up, but I'm not sure I trust them not to bulldoze the homes of millions of people in terrible poverty. A number of youth hostels are having a combined party tonight to raise money to redevelop one of the favelas, I might go (if not I'll send a donation with one of the girls who works here). It seems a small drop in a bucket of "this can never be fixed", but who knows, maybe it can. We have to hope.

The third thing I noticed was that Brazilian drivers are even more scary than Sydney Taxis, and that they do the same thing with regards to ignoring lanes. I'm reasonably certain that this craziness is the reason why most of the streets are one way. In an hour of exploring on foot, however, I nearly died only once, so I'm counting that as a good thing.

Anyway, that'll do for now. I'm here, I'm having an okay time, and once I adapt to the climate and the timezone I'm sure it will be even better. I do miss you all.

Labels: holiday, rio de janeiro, trip09