Not to mention his use of Youtube, Twitter, Myspace, Facebook, and the list just goes on…

GOBAMA!!!

[Link]

The day started out interesting. Ever since I arrived one thing that stood out to me was how close people parallel parked their cars. I had a suspicion that people left their cars in neutral and simply pushed them into place. Today I got my confirmation. That is indeed exactly what happens. It’s crazy. And of course, I had to snap a video. After all, how often do you see someone parallel park their car by pushing it? Enjoy.

After watching the Flinstone powered parking, we ventured back to one of my favorite places in Brazil; Ipanema Beach. Today was different though. Not only was it more crowded than it had been on any other day since my arrival, there were also superheroes on the beach playing soccer … no futbol .. err volleyball. Well, I’m not sure exactly what they were playing, but it sure was entertaining (and simply amazing). I could describe it in words, but that wouldn’t do this sport justice. You have to watch this video. Seriously. This was by far the most impressive thing I saw my entire trip. I was absolutely dumbfounded by the talent/conditioning of some of these people.

After spending a few hours on the beach watching fulleyball (that’s what I’m calling it … back off!), it was time to go pack and get ready for the long trek home. Sad.

Before we boarded our bus however, I was treated to a nice little cake with candles (yeah, I’m still young enough to blow out candles … what?). A birthday in Brazil … now there is something I never thought would happen. I can say this though, I sure am grateful that it did happen and I couldn’t think of a better way to start another year.

Photos:

Photos:

Later that night we took a quick bus ride to Lapa. In short, Lapa is absolutely crazy. Imagine a club. Scratch that, imagine 40 clubs, half of which feature live bands and garage door size openings. Add a few thousand people walking around from one club to another, a few handfuls of beer (per person), and that’s what Lapa is like. Only bigger.

The only bad part of Lapa was that I forgot my camera at home so I couldn’t snap any photos. If you really want to see some more, check out the steps Snoop Dogg is sitting on in his Beautiful video.

Photos:

Photos:

Again, we weren’t supposed to take photos in the Favelas. I asked one gentleman (I hate to sterotype, but he was probably part of the trafico. He was just way to clean cut. And, he was sitting in front of a storage room filled with gas.) to take a photo, but he gave me the no-no wag. Oh well. I managed to snap a few photos in the Favela. I especially like the one of the bricks (these are the bricks a lot of the houses are made of). Interesting.

Once out of the Favela, we ventured to an occupation. The story goes something like this. The government left a few buildings abandoned when they moved the capital. Some lower-class citizens noticed the building was abandoned, and decided that they should live there. It’s a big building, with electricity, water, but no elevator.

The residents pay a monthly fee to the community for food, but everything else is free (water, electricity, rent, etc.). I felt bad for the residents. That was, until we got a tour of a few apartments (they’re basically offices that people sleep in). They had new refrigerators, new dishwashers, new TVs, and computers. The place is not luxury by any means, but the residents are living a decently comfortable life.

To live in the building residents have to make less than a certain salary. However, I couldn’t help but look at a shiny new 36″ flat screen TV and think to myself that some of the residents could move out if they wanted too. But, if I could live rent/mortgage free with free electricity and water, I’d probably do it too.

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Anyway, to get to the top of the mountain you have to take a cable car (two actually). Nothing like being suspended a thousand feet above the ground by cables. And if traveling up mountains by cable wasn’t exciting enough, the wind was blowing something fierce the day we went. It got so bad they actually stopped running the cable cars for about 15min. Oh lucky me…

Once you’re at the top of the mountain, there’s a few things you can do. Shop, eat, look down, go back down the mountain, go to the theater / museum, or catch a helicopter ride for a closeup view of Christ the Redeemer. Other than that, there’s not much up there.

The helicopter ride costs about $200, so that was not an option, and the theater / museum building was closed, so my options consisted of shopping, eating, and looking down. Fortunately for me, the view is absolutely gorgeous. Even better than the view from Corcovado Mountain (in my opinion). Enjoy the photos.

Photos:

Photos:

Photos:

So while I’m standing there, these guys come and block off an entire intersection. I could explain further what they were doing, but I got a video instead. Enjoy:

Yeah, I thought that was crazy too. Wrong. Wrong! That was nothing, because for their next act they pulled out knives. Go figure:

After the little show by the laundry mat, we walked a couple blocks to “Big Rock” on Ipanema Beach. Big Rock is just that, a big rock. Well, several big rocks. It gives you some great view of Ipanema Beach and the city.

Apparently the sunsets are supposed to be amazing from Big Rock, but no luck on seeing one of those today. We have a futebol game to attend. Futebol!!!

We hopped a bus to the game. Buses are an interesting thing in Rio. Most of them are privately held, there is no schedule. A bus simply shows up when it shows up. Fortunately that tends to be about every 15min or so. Another interesting thing is that the bus loads/unloads wherever convenient. So getting off the bus in the middle lane happens, often.

Once we arrived at the stadium, you could see the craziness. There were folks lined up everywhere. The craziest part, is that we went to a small game. The Flamengo’s (the favorite team in the Ipanema area) were playing against some nobody team whose name I don’t remember. Still, people were out in full Flamengo gear ready for the game.

Inside the stadium is even more interesting than the outside. The seats are old concrete looking seats. You can tell comfort was not a priority when they were built. Fortunately, nobody sits down, ever. People are standing, chanting, and waving flags, the entire time. It is absolutely insane. Well, I thought it was insane. Then they scored. Triple-Insane. Wow:

Side Note: No people were harmed during the making of this video. However, a styrofoam box and at least one shirt was destroyed. Crazy!

On the way home, we traded in the bus for a subway. It took us a good 20min to walk to the subway, since someone kept taking photos (me), people kept stopping to buy jerseys, hats, scarfs, etc., and someone else had to buy a bottle of water to wash the mud off her feet. Wonder who that was?

The subway ride was pretty basic. Hop in at one location, get off at another, wait for another train, rinse and repeat. It did give me an opportunity to take some nice photos though, so no complaints from me.

In conclusion, the futebol game was absolutely amazing. If you ever make it to Rio, you have have have to go to a game. You won’t be sorry you did.

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The lunch in Santa Teresa was ok. The food was excellent, but the service was slow. Extremely slow. The restaurant did have a live band playing, so the wait wasn’t too painful. That and we played some intense games of hangman. Because the food took so long, we didn’t get to see much of the City. Sad.

Getting to the top of Corcovado is an adventure. You buy your ticket, hop in a van, and then zip up the windiest roads ever paved to the top. It feels like a roller coaster ride. Once at the top, you venture up the steepest steps ever built until you get to the man. And he’s big. Scratch that. Enormous. Pictures simply can’t do the size of statue justice.

Side note: The trip down the mountain was insane. We hopped in the van with a bunch of drunk Brazilians, who spent the entire trip singing as loudly as they possibly could. And, the driver got into it a bit, so he started speeding down the mountain, taking corners way faster than necessary. I tried to get a video of the ordeal, but the battery died. Dangit!

Photos:

Photos:

The trip started out ok, with everyone meeting bright and early. Naturally, everyone was running about 15min too late. Once everyone arrived, phone calls were made to ensure it was safe for us to enter (think City of God), and we loaded into the buses; almost.

Unlike most field trips, everyone who could go on this trip wanted to go on this trip. This meant the buses were jammed-packed and there was not spot for yours truly. Luckily, one of the program directors was able to convince a taxi-man to follow the buses. Apparently Favelas are so dangerous that taxis don’t even enter. Go figure. The damage? 25 Reais (about $15). It would have been 50 Reals but my airport partner (the other Seattle-ite) was signed up for the trip, so me and her split the bill. Niiice.

Once we got close to the Favelas, our tour guide came to give us the necessary warnings: don’t wear sunglasses, don’t point, and don’t take pictures. Most importantly, don’t take pictures. So after the taxi-man removed his glasses and rolled his windows down (I guess you have to roll your windows down so the people know you’re not police. That would be bad), we entered.

There’s a lot one could say about Favelas, but the main that comes to mind with me is third-world. One of the first things you notice is that infrastructure is almost non-existent. Some buildings are made of cement, while others are nothing more than a stack of bricks. Most looked like bricks. Many houses don’t have doors or windows, just cutouts where a door or window would be. Some buildings have electricity and water, some don’t, so giant buckets (they look sort of like a backyard swimming pool for kids) are kept on roofs to provide running water. It is simply unbelievable.

The second thing I noticed is that government is completely non-existent. There is no police force, no schools, no garbage pickup, and no public transportation (they do have buses, but these are privately run). The last government sanctioned presence you see is at the entrance. This is where the police sit and do randoms checks on people entering and leaving the Favela.

About 10min into the Favels, we reached our destination; a community center. The center was nice. Really nice. So much so that it looked out of place. We received a tour, quickly looking at the clinic, dental office, futbol field, and pool. Yes, they had a swimming pool. It is amazing what a few motivated people can accomplish.

After the tour, we had the opportunity to play a quick game of futbol with the local team. I could go into details, but I’m sure you know how that ended. Winners? They weren’t American. I will say this, the level of talent in those kids is ridiculous. Every one of them could easily (very easily) be the star athlete on any high school soccer team in the States. Video time:

Once the match was over, and I was out of breath, we ventured back into the center and up to the second floor for a quick demonstration of Capoeira. Amazing. Next they snagged a few of us off the wall (myself included) and gave us a quick and dirty lesson. Next up? A little show. They paired us with one of the locals, and we performed Capoeira for the audience. Video time (again):

After the demonstration, it was time for a Q&A with the tour guide and center administrators. One interesting tidbit we learned was the lack of government presence means the entire Favela is run by the Trafico de Drogas (drug lords). They are the law, they are the jury, they are the police, they are everything. Oddly enough (well, actually it’s not that odd), we were told that for small crime (theft and such) we were safer inside the Favela than we were outside. The reason is that the trafico hands down some harsh punishments to people caught stealing. How harsh? How about losing a hand harsh. Now that’s a deterrent.

Next on our agenda was a quick walk around the corner to take a look at a huge mural that was being painted. The mural was being painted on a huge staircase and consisted of fish swimming down the stairs. We took a trip to the top of the staircase and shot a quick clip of the view. Amazing:

My words can’t do justice for what these people are trying to accomplish and what they have to deal with to accomplish it. Fortunately the painters have a blog: FavelaPainting.com. Go there, after you read this.

After the mural, it was time for a quick bite to eat a local restaurant just outside of Favela territory before heading up-hill to Santa Maria Maior. It’s a church. A huge church. So huge in fact I saw the darn thing from the window while flying in. It sits atop a huge hill and provides some amazing views of Rio. From the looks of things, the church is no longer active and is only a tourist attraction now. I could be wrong about that though. Go figure.

So after walking up 381 (yes, I counted!) stairs to see the church up close, and then back down 381 stairs to get back to the bus, it was time to head home for quick trip to Ipanema Beach before the sun went down. All in all, a great day.

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I left early in the morning on June 1, 2008. Flew to Atlanta, sat in the airport for 8hrs (my apologies to my family in Atlanta for not calling sooner), flew to Rio, sat in the airport waiting on my luggage, and the taxi’d it to the hotel. Total travel time door-to-door? Just a pinch over 24hrs. Wow.

Of those lovely 24hrs, two experiences are worth mentioning. The Atlanta to Rio plane ride, and the drive to the hotel.

Out of all the plane rides I have had, this one by far was the best. To the left of me I had a window. I typically don’t get to take full advantage of the window seat since I fly mostly at night (hey, it’s cheaper). This time however I touched-down in Rio at roughly 8am. The sun was up, the clouds were non-existent, and Rio at a couple thousand feet is an amazing view. Sorry, no photos.

To my front, I had a nice little screen. I’m guessing it was about 7″ or so. Perfect for watching movies. The best part, it was all on-demand and the movie select was pretty current. You could also listen to music, but blah. I used my 10hrs of airtime instead to watch National Treasuer: Book of Secrets (3 stars), The Bucket List (4 stars), and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story (2 stars). Not a bad lineup. +1 for Delta.

And to my right, a pretty brazilian local. She had just gotten married to some guy in Atlanta and was heading back home until all the paperwork and such cleared. Oddly enough, she didn’t sound too excited about moving to the States. She liked the States, but she loved Brazil, and it showed. I got the impression that she planned on moving the hubby to Brazil before too long.

Once I arrived in the airport and got my bags it was through immigration and off to the hotel. Immigration is an interesting / nerve-wracking thing. As I sat in line waiting my turn, I wondered what would happen if for some reason they denied me entry. Would I be placed on the very next flight home, or held for two weeks until my purchased departure. These are the odd things I wonder about…

I had the luxury of sharing my taxi with another Seattle-ite. She was coming to visit her husband, who is in the same program as my girlfriend. It made the drive easier as the taxi-man didn’t speak English; Portuguese and Spanish only. I shouldn’t call him a taxi-man though, he was actually a chauffeur. Nothing cooler than arriving somewhere foreign and seeing someone holding a sign with your name. Gotta love it.

The entire ride was pretty interesting. There are lanes on the road, but I would say they are nothing more than recommendations. There were a few stretches of 3-lane road that quickly turned into 4 or 5 lanes. Also, motorcycles are free to ride the white lines. Basically, what I came to understand, is that if you can fit, you can go. Very interesting, and efficient (from what I could tell).

There was also plenty of scenery on the way to the hotel. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what all of it was. Our chauffeur tried his damnedest to explain different parts of the city to us, but mostly to no avail. I have to give him credit though. He was very patient and tried really hard to explain what various buildings were to the stupid Americans who were too lazy to pick up a little Portuguese before visiting. And to think, he was in the car with us for almost an hour. I wish I had patience like that.

Once at the hotel, it was lights-out. I took a few naps during my travels, but sleeping in airports and on airplanes never leaves you feeling refreshed. Time for some serious shut-eye.

. . .

A few hours later and it was time for a quick and dirty introduction to life in Brazil before the sun went down for the day. The hotel (actually it’s a condo, but whatever…) is called Ipanema Sweet and located just a few blocks from the South Atlantic Ocean (click here). Niiiiiice.

The weather was shabby at best, leaving just enough time to grab a bite to eat, snap some photos of the surrounding stores, take a brief trip to the beach, and grab a snack. I think the snack was called a Sugar Apple. It looks weird as can be, but it’s good. Too bad I can’t bring fruit back.

Photos:

Do yourself a favor, and click play.

Sheraton Buckhead: I like the room. It was decent, close to Lenox Square Mall (directly across the street close), and had the basic necessities (comfortable bed, quiet neighbors, iron). The Sheraton seems targeted primarily at business customers and has a free WiFi hotspot in their lobby. Internet access from your room will cost you a few pennies though. They also have a shuttle service that will take you to any destination within ~2 miles. Nice!

Georgia Aquarium: The aquariums website boasts that it is the largest aquarium in the world. Perhaps it is, but I just didn’t see it. It was nice, and it was big, but it didn’t seem like it was biggest in the world big. In fact, it seemed that a good portion of the space was used as a lobby. Admission will cost you a solid $24, and you will get to see some neat species (my personal favorite was the Moon Jellies), but after peaking through about 30 windows, I just felt like there should be more. Maybe my expectations were simply too ‘big’.

The New World of Coca-Cola: The most interesting fact about this place is that you cannot bring competing products labels into the building. You can keep your water, your Pepsi, your Snapple, or whatever else you have, but that label will get ripped off before you enter. I was shocked when it happened, but in retrospect it makes perfect sense. Once inside, you are bombarded with Coke. They have advertisements, commercials, facts, fiction, and everything else about the company dating back to the secret syrups creation. It is all slightly interesting, but the real joy is the “secret ingredient” and “tasting” exhibits. I won’t spoil the fun and say much, but if you get a chance to go make sure you give ‘ol Beverly a taste. One tip, she hangs out in Europe.

Fogo De Chao: This place is it! One giant smorgasbord of all you can eat meat. Yes, I just said “all you can eat.” It’s crazy, absolutely crazy. You walk in, you are seated, and within minutes you are literally attacked from all angles with choices ranging from Ribs to Sausage to Top Sirloin to Filet Mignon. It’s absolutely insane. The price is steep at ~$50 per person for dinner, but of all the things I did on this vacation, eating at Fogo De Chao left me with the most sense of satisfaction and bang-for-buck. And to seal the deal, this place has the best Filet Mignon I have ever had in my life (the girlfriend seconds that motion). Oh, did I mention it was all you can eat?

Phipps Plaza: If you want to get a glimpse of how high-life celebrities shop and live, stop by Phipps Plaza and hang out for a bit. Gucci, Versace, Jimmy Choo, Louis Vuitton, Coach, they all have stores there. They are a bit out of my price range, but it was fun to “window shop” for a few minutes. Oh, and do not be surprised if you see a Bentley or Maybach in the parking lot.

Marta: The Marta is Atlanta’s well designed and cheap to use train/subway system. On our trip we opted to skip the rental car route and bus/walk/taxi/etc it wherever we needed to go. In the end, we only needed the train (and our Hotel shuttle for the Fogo De Chao trip mentioned above). Their light-rail system is just that nice. The trains run every 15 minutes, hit s the major spots (Downtown, Uptown, Touristy, Airport, etc), and will only run you $2 one way regardless of the destination. So when it came time to depart, we hopped the Marta, paid our $2, and traveled the 19mi in about 30min. Now why can’t Seattle have something similar?

Today, while doing my not-so-daily trek from the gym, I was stopped by two bicycle cops. Serious! The problem? Well there were a few … lets take a glance at them:

1. Crossing-over. I was riding in the bike lane. The light was green, but the walk sign was red. As I approached the intersection I swayed into the cross-walk lane (to give myself some distance from the traffic) and went through the green light (red walk sign). Apparently that was bad. According to the cop, I have to be either in the bike lane (following car traffic signals), or in the pedestrian lane (following pedestrian signals). I cannot pick and choose. Sounds a bit picky, but I kind of understand; I guess.
2. No bike helmet. Pretty self-explanatory. I always thought bicycle helmets were an option?
3. Listening to iPod. I only had one headphone in, but according to the good ‘ol police man, that was a no-no. What is strange is that it would have been OK if it was a hands-free set connected to my phone. Sounds a bit unreasonable to me.
4. No reflector lights. I am supposed to have one “white” light on the front of my bike, and one “red” reflector light on the back. This all occurred during the daylight, but they figured they’d mention it anyway.

The end result, a fine of $81 for each offense. Sounds a bit ridiculous to me. I can’t believe each of those carries a fine of $81, so I checked. According to the City of Kent website on Bicycle Safety:

• Always ride on the right side of the road in the same direction as traffic.
• Try to use bicycle lanes.
• If you must ride on a sidewalk for safety-you must be courteous to walkers.
• Watch traffic closely for turning cars or cars pulling out of driveways.
• Stop at all stop signs and obey traffic (red) lights just as cars do.
• Be careful at intersections.
• Always walk your bike across busy intersections using the crosswalk and following traffic signals.
• When riding with friends, always ride single file.
• Never change directions or change lanes without first looking behind you and using the correct hand signals.
• If you ride your bike after dark you must have reflectors on your bike and a working headlight.
• Only one person should be on a bike at a time. DO NOT have a friend sit on the seat behind you or on the handle bars.

And from the City of Kent’s official City Code:

A. Any person who violates any provision of this chapter shall have committed a traffic infraction punishable by a monetary penalty in the amount of twenty-five dollars ($25).

Hmmm, $81 sure is a long ways away from $25. Easy mistake I guess. And I couldn’t find any information regarding riding with headphones in, but I didn’t really do that thorough of a search. I guess lucky for me I was let off with a warning. It’s sad, but needless to say that will probably be my last trip to the gym via pedal power. I guess that is what I get for trying to be active. Grrr.

Do these bicycle laws sound a bit absurd to anyone else, or is just me?

[Update: 2007.04.08] I got a few questions regarding my ticket, or lack thereof. To be clear, I did not get a ticket, merely a warning. The ticket ‘would’ have been $81 for each offense.

1. [The problem with blacks is they have no good black leaders.]
This comment is offered frequently as the reason why blacks still struggle. It is also typically followed by statements about either Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton as examples of poor black leaders. This is all arguably true, but should not be accepted without first realizing why there are currently no strong black leaders.

Positive black leaders get silenced. There are no influential (aka positive) black leaders in America because so far in history all influential black men have been killed or imprisoned. All of them. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Huey P. Newton, Tupac Shakur, etc, etc. All of them were jailed and/or killed, and all of them were positive black leaders. Now whether or not the previous mentioned is defined as a positive black leader is up for debate, but all of the above mentioned were about mobilizing blacks into doing for self, which in my opinion makes them positive. In addition , they all had the means to speak to masses. They had their individual approaches, but their messages were all fairly similar. And as stated, they have all been silenced.

2. [... well look at how they dress.]
These statements, supported by both blacks and whites, are usually an effort to justify someone (often police) mistreating a perfectly law-abiding black citizen. In essence, the perception is that if the individual didn’t want to be treated like a criminal, then they shouldn’t dress like a criminal. Therefore, the individual is asking for the negative attention and asking to be profiled.

The flaw in this argument is that historically blacks are not discriminated against because of their appearance, they are discriminated against because they are black. The generation prior to the current one did not wear baggy clothes, yet they were still discriminated against just like the generation prior to theirs, who also did not wear baggy clothes. Therefore, to think that if all black men started to wear suits they would be discriminated against less, is to think a bit unrealistic. Instead, the likely outcome of such a mass change would be for a new stereotype to arise in its place.

3. [...one of my good friends is black. He doesn't act like a thug.]
I have found that statements such as these are often the pleas of whites in an attempt to illustrate that they are not racist, and/or separate themselves from the potentially racist. They are typically well-meaning statements, in that they do not serve to do harm or discredit someone’s feelings. Unfortunately, these statements are actually counter-productive to their intentions.

In short, the statement in and of itself has a touch of racism. As an example, a white person stating how their black friend is a great shining example of how blacks should be because he is not like ‘those’ blacks, is the equivalent of old white slave masters decrying all blacks, except for the one that he let live indoors, as lazy and ignorant. Sure the wording may be different, but it still splits blacks into two groups; good ones and bad ones. The good ones being the few who get approval and are befriended by a white male, and the bad ones being the ones who don’t.

4. [Slavery ended over a hundred years ago, when are they going to get over it?]
This argument is used to silence the black communities voice about current day struggles. It is often followed by the “race-card” and “reverse-racism” labels that everyone loves these days.

The problem, is that slavery is not the only issue. If discussing things such as reparations, then yes, slavery can be the only issue. For things such as equality, employment, and education however, racism and segregation play a much larger part than slavery in and of itself. So yes, slavery ended over a hundred years ago. The blacks struggle however, did not end with slavery.

In fact, government sanctioned racism (aka Segregation), was only outlawed in 1964. 1964! That means that a good portion of the people reading this have parents or grandparents who were born into segregation and are still alive today. In addition, the segregation generation is also the one currently holding the majority of the CEO titles at top companies. And remember, it was outlawed at the federal level in 1964. That means that de -segregation didn’t really hit the local communities and start to be OK until late 60s early 70s. That’s a big BIG difference from a hundred years.

5. [...racism doesn't exist like it used too.]
You hear this frequently when someone is attempting to highlight how things are drastically better today than they were yesterday. The thought, therefore, is that blacks should be quiet, not complain, and feel lucky that they live in America. In essence, they should ignore any wrong doings because hey, things are better than they were. I have heard this numerous times, and it is an absolutely absurd thought.

In short, Racism is Racism. What racism was 50 years ago, racism is today. Just like murder 50 years ago is still murder today. The definitions have not changed. Maybe it is dressed up differently, and maybe it is called something different (profiling, stereotypes, insecurities, etc.), but racism is still racism and it is still prevalent in todays society. It could be argued that crimes based on racism do not happen as frequently as they used to, but that argument would prove that race based crimes do still occur, which therefore would prove that the blacks continued struggle/uproar is not only justified, but necessary.

Thoughts?