Que voce recomedaria...

What do you recommend? 

Yup, still can't say it correctly. Luckily that didn't stop us from trying some traditional Brazilian foods.

Cafe da manha

Brazilian style

Papaya, mystery melon, pineapple, cheese, cold cuts, and bread, bread, bread. Sweet bread, cheesy bread, sliced bread, bread rolls. And these divine fried, sweet bread donut things. They have it all. And under the bread category was cake. Not like coffee cake that in a sugar-fairy world can count as breakfast, but sliced and diced, no-pretending-about-it-cake. Chocolate cake, coconut cake, lemon cake. But since there was no frosting, I was ok with eating if for breakfast (not that extra sugar has ever stopped me
before).

Almoco

This was at our first self-service (aka buffet) restaurant, even though we ordered a meal at the table. This is some Brazilian beef dish. And yes, that's a whole hardboiled egg in there. Warm and delicious, it was the perfect way to pass a rainy afternoon in Manaus, especially with a Brahma beer.

 Jantar 

In Manaus, our guide recommended two restaurants. We went to the first (the self-service above) before the tour, and decided to try the second after the tour to try the fabled Tambaqui (it's a fish). Apparently, restaurants in Brazil don't even open before 7 pm. So when we went there at 6:00ish, it wasn't open. No problem, we turned around and returned to our neighborhood bar for a capirinha while we waited. We arrived shortly after 7 to find ourselves the first, and only customers. An old man greeted us. After awhile, an older woman came to take our orders. When we asked for a recommendation (again, not so good with the Portugeuse), she told us she didn't speak ENlgish and went to get her son. Turns out her son was about 16 or 17, spoke excellent English thanks to Bon Jovi and Pearl Jam, and I wouldn't be surprised if he snuck into our suitcases to come back to America. He talked to us how about how Brazil is so corrupt and full of lies and he wanted out. His father returned during dinner with Jack Kerouac's On the Road. It turns out this fmaily had read every American classic. When we asked our new Brazilian friend what was good, we ended up with the Tambaqui and another mysterious fish. And this was where the manioc saga began...

In the jungle, we had learned about cassava, called manioc in Brazil. It's a very common crop that can be used to make flour, beer, and in several dishes including flavored with onions etc and called farofa. When I saw manioc on the menu, it was time to try it. I was excited. It was listed as a side dish, and I tried to ask our waiter friend about it. He said most visitors don't like it, it's too dry and plain. I asked how it's supposed to be eaten. He said it's usually mixed with rice and he'd bring some to try. Well he brought A LOT to try. Imagine crunchy, unflavored, dry bread crumbs. Really crunchy. Like grapenuts. And we had plain white rice to mix it with.

Yes that bowl in the middle is the manioc, and Robin is attempting to mix it with the rice.

Abd the restaurants in Manaus were even health concious and looking out for our health. We listened to their plea to reduce salt, and washed it down with a beer.

Manioc: take 2. The conference hotel was in Barra do Tijuca, which had probably 5 restaurants within a 10k spread, and two of them were in hotels. So when we found a restaurant that was fresh, open 24 hours, and had a great vegetarian selection for Leon, we found ourselves there twice. On the second night, I had a real Brazilian dinner. Chicken, rice, beans, and manioc! This time it was better.But it was still a pile of dried breadcumbs. At least this time they had some flavor. And the best part of our "favorite" Rio restaurant was the Acai. Known as Oprah's superfood, this frozen purple treat is divine after a hot, humid day. And it's even better when we had seen the acai palm trees where it comes from.

On the last night, I did finally have some real farofa/manioc on the streets of Ipanema. It was mixed with veggies and other things and wasn't dry at all. We also had some manioc pancake things (best when filled with a fried banana). I guess it's not all crunch and breadcrumbs.

Sobremesa

This Brazilian chocolate thing was the most delicious, melt in your mouth, rich chocolatey yumminess. Don't be deceived by the chocolate sprinkles. It was high class all the way.

Beber

And no holiday would be complete without sampling the local beverages. We sampled aged cachaca, some more caipirinhas, Brahmas, and even an aqua de coco.

 

Those things on the left are some authentic pastels, pastries will all sorts of fillings. Don't ask me what was in mine. The menu was in Portuguese of course, and I picked the most confusing one.

 Saude!

Rio from Below

Along with the Great Wall of China, Machu Picchu, and the Taj Mahal, Christ the Redeemer is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. And as I mentioned, standing up on Corcovado in His shadow, looking down on the city of Rio below, is an astounding view. But alas, what goes up must come down. We came down from the views from heaven to experience seven wonders (or at least some of the memorable features according to Erin) of Rio de Janeiro circa April 2014.

 It was still a beautiful view looking up from below.

 
1. Contrasts.

 

A favela on the road up to Cristo Redentor

 

 A favela can be seen twinkling over Ipanema at twilight. Things look different in the dark.

Old city, new city, beach resort and favela. Rio (and Brazil at large) was a city of stark contrasts and disparities between those with the reais and those without.

2. Traffic.

 

Riding buses and taxis, it often felt like we were looking for the exit sign. Gridlock, insanity, and people selling biscotos on the freeway. Needless to say everyone experienced a cab ride from hell (with some less trusting gringo tourists debating if they would need to jump over and take the wheel at times).

 Saida=exit.

3. Portuguese.

 My Portuguese can be summed up in one word. Obrigado (thank you). Yup, that's as far as I got. My limited Spanish/Spanglish didn't help me much either. Luckily Robin was willing to have a go with our handy dandy Brazilian Portuguese phrasebook. We probably tried "Voce pode recomendar um restaurante" 5 times without receiving a recommendation. And we practiced guarda volumes (luggage locker) only to never find one. But the phrasebook did teach us some valuable phrases that we will try out the next time we're in Brazil (once we have a little longer to practice.)

Posso te dar um beijo?

Por favor use uma seringa nova. 

Nao deveria nunca ter deixado voce chegar de mim. 

see if you have any Portuguese skills :)

But even when the languge barrier breaks down, there are creative ways to get a message across. We became pretty good at bilingual charades, though acting out there's a leak in the bathroom of my hotel room and there is a large puddle of water was a little tricky. My favorite strategy was to just keep repeating the exact same thing, each time a bit louder. Because I didn't understand the first time, I'll get it once you're shouting. You can also be rescued by some very nice women who speak English and recognize that the two gringos with luggage do not fit in and appear to have no idea where they are going. And since we're living in the 21st century where iPhones and Wifi abounds (except when you happen to leave an iPhone with one of those crazy taxi drivers) there's Google translate.

4. Futbol! 

 

 Those are soccer balls in the air in the background.

On in the beach, on the television, in the park, in the bar. Futbol (translation: soccer) is everywhere. Which brings me to the excitement in Rio currently, the 2014 World Cup starts on June 12th. I can hypothesize that it's going to be a mess (partially due to the above mentioned reasons).

5. Beaches.

Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking 

Barra da Tijuca, Copacabana, and Ipanema. Tiny bathing suits, soccer volleyball, coconuts, and cold water. Not a bad backdrop for a work conference.

6. Samba.

Oh yeah, the conference. I missed going to the samba school and a night out in the Samba club, but luckily, our conference organizers brought the samba to us! The drum beats were infectious and the costumes were bedazzled. It didn't take long for the International Congress on Physical Actvity and Public Health to become an international dance floor. Trying to lurk and observe the shaking and jiggling from the outskirts, Robin and I may or may not have been pulled through the crowd out onto the dance floor by a festively dressed dancer. Unfortunately, no one saw nor can confirm these speculations.


7. Caipirinhas. A little ice, a little lime, a little sugar, a little more cachaca (sugar cane liquor), and you have Brazil's national cocktail. Best sipped outside along the ocean sand or killing 9 hours before a flight. But that just leads to a whole lot more to say about Brazillian food...

Disclaimer: yes, I stole some of Robin's pictures.

Rio from Above

I debated whether or not to include this trip in my blog. After all, it's not ponderings of Perth. Nor even ponderings about Australia. But if I've learned anything since being here, it's that the rest of the world (outside of Americans) loves to travel, and flying 24 hours around the world is just another holiday. 

I made sure that when I accepted this job in Perth, the most isolated city in the world, that I wouldn't be completely isolated. Especially at a time when I'm supposed to be networking and linking with colleagues to build my career. Leon (if you forgot, he's my super awesome boss who thought it was a great idea to pay for my to travel half way around the world despite having only been in Australia less than a month at that point) said there would be funds to travel to one national and one international conference a year. Before I got here, I knew which one I wanted to go to: the International Congress on Physical Activity and Public Health. Everybody who's anybody in my research area would be there, plus this really cool guy, Dr. Robin Shook, would be making the trip from South Carolina. And guess where it just happened to be this year...

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil!!!

 

 When spending 24 hours in flight time (plus a stop over in Dubai), I just had to take a little extra time to explore the future site of the World Cup and the Olympics. With a little persuasion, I convinced Dr. Shook to not only attend the conference in Rio for a week, but to take an extra week for an Amazon adventure. Perthfect Ponderings will thus be going South American for the next few entries (because there was no way to fit two weeks into one blog entry!) 

PS. You should really check out Dr. Shook's awesome pictures, because he's practically a photography major. Check them all out here: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/123393968@N03/sets/72157644078933763/.

Brazil Blast Blog #1

The most iconic feautre of Rio is no doubt, Christ the Redeemer. Perched on the perfect peak, above the city, watching over all. Yes, from far away, it just looks like a stick on a hill, but up close, it is truly quite awesome.

My Portuguese translators: Leon and Robin.

Almost everywhere in the city, we could spot this imposing figure.

But my favorite part of Rio, is that the city is absolutely spectacular from above. The rugged peaks are interspersed with the ocean and sandy beaches, and the city fills in every inch of flat land.

 

 

  We coudn't help but gaze out over the breathtaking views.

Our bird's eye views weren't limited to Christ the Redeemer (I prefer it's former name, the Pinnacle of Temptation), but we got spectacular views taking the cable car up to Pao de Azucar (Sugarloaf)...

 

 

And from our first hotel on the Ilha do Governador while we had breakfast...

And from the conference hotel, overlooking Barra de Tijuca (the new part of the city).

Even the marmosets took in the views.

 

But of course Rio is much more than picturesque panoramas...

Intermission

 Happy Easter!

No, I haven't retired from blogging or disappeared into the outback (or at least not yet!). The travel bug has bitten! After 2 weeks in Brazil, I'm back in Australia and headed up the coast to Broome. I will have plenty of ponderings to share when I return.

To row or not to row?

I revel in individual sports. Mostly running. I like it because I can do it alone, and I like to do it alone. Yes, I did play team sports in high school and an adult women's soccer league. Back in South Carolina, I did join a couple running relays, but that was only 32 hours of team running (insert shout out to team Howie-licious this weekend!) 

Then my friend Mary convinced me to run with a running group every once in a while. This was a big step for me. It involved running not alone. And I didn’t mind it, though mostly I only talked and ran with Mary (and her friends because unlike me, she is a social person). It was a good way to meet people with things in common who are also obsessed with running and don’t mind talking about chaffing and the upcoming racing calendar. So upon moving to Perth, I considered (though never got to the point of actively pursuing), joining some type of running group. Leon introduced me as a “triathlete”, so I had a few offers to join triathlon clubs. But in my head, all Aussie athletes are mini-Craig Alexander Ironman champions, so needless to say I was a bit intimidated (not to mention the whole anti-social runner thing).

When I moved here, I decided this was my opportunity to try new things. Snorkel with manta rays, roast kangaroo on a campfire under the Southern Cross, and drive a ute across the outback. While I’m still working on some (or all) of these things, I have tried to say “yes” to new opportunities that present themselves and to search for new things to try.

One of these new endeavors has been rowing. Cycling and running along the Swan river in the early morning, I could see the rowers gliding across the water, and figured that if I was ever going to learn to row, this was my opportunity, living in the land of eternal summer sunshine and being in a location where I’m able to see the river (and almost the boatshed) from my bedroom window. Fortunately for me, with only a little research necessary, I found that the West Australian Rowing Club, Perth's oldest rowing club, has a Learn 2 Row program for newbies (aka me).

 

 

The deck from the balcony.

Now the most important thing that I have learned about rowing is that it starts EARLY. I guess I always knew this, but had never given it much previous thought. While I enjoyed the summer sunrises, it is now dark for the first half of our sessions, and is only going to get worse.

 The boat shed at dawn.

 

 Can't beat these sunrises on a quiet river.

For five sessions we met our fearless coach Jimmy at 5am. Several mornings we arrived only to be greeted by a white-capped swan river, and because we have no idea what to do with an oar (let alone what “stoke side” “check” “backing” or “tapping” is), we stuck to the ergos (rowing machines) indoors.  But we did get on the water. Coming from a completely individual sport (running), I must say it started out frustrating being part of the crew, where you are completely dependent on the rowers behind you and in front of you. If the person in front can’t row at a steady rhythm, too bad, you have to follow them. It the rower behind you can’t, too bad, you end up with an oar in the back. Not to mention the need all work together to balance the boat (which we still haven’t figured out).

After Learn 2 Row, we moved on to the Development Squad. 

 

John, John, and John (aka BJ: Big John, LJ: Little John, and OJ: Other John) of Dev Squad washing down the boat.

  

There were about 12 of us who came from various Learn 2 Row sessions under the wise expertise of Coach Debbie. Mondays and Thursdays we rocked up (like that Kyla?!) to the boatshed to learn which of the 13 parts of a stroke we were doing wrong today (usually all of them). She even started a chart for us to track our progress.

And the Westies rowers are great. Quite a social, thirsty bunch. Peope have their bad days, but what can you expect at 5 in the morning?

My Learn 2 Row crew NOT at 5 am.

I must say I have learned a WHOLE lot and grown to appreciate anyone who calls themselves a rower. I have calluses and blisters. We’ve seen beautiful sunrises, lightning bolts, rainbows, and dolphins (once all in the same morning!). My “last” session of summer rowing was today. The competitive season starts April 1^st, as we head into the winter of potentially dark, cold mornings. Now it’s time to decide if I want to join for the year and race. I’m not sure yet. Am I ready to call myself a rower? 

What do you think?

Because water like this is made for rowing...