Recycling
This is a something that I don't remember seeing when we lived here 30 years ago. I took this photo from the veranda of our apartment. It shows two women working at rubbish collection; one of them pulling a cart full of rubbish along the street.

There seem to be people who make their living by going round all the rubbish bins and going through them for items that can be recycled. In addition, local residents know when they are going to pass and have items ready for them to collect. So I have seen things thrown down into the street from some of the windows in our apartment block, for these people to collect.

Many of the carts, especially those pulled by men, are piled much higher with rubbish and must be extremely heavy to pull. Since this is a fairly common sight, I assume it must be worth their while to do this in terms of what they can get by selling these items of rubbish.

Brazil and football
You don't have to be watching the television to know when Brazil is playing in the World Cup or what is happening in the match.

First, the streets are absolutely deserted when they are playing - so today at lunchtime there was no traffic at all while the match was on - very peaceful for us since we live above a busy crossroads with traffic lights, which cars and motor bikes scream up to at break neck speed!

Second, when Brazil scores a goal the whole place goes mad. You can hear the cheers in all the houses and bars and everyone leaps out and lights fireworks.

Finally - when the match is over, if they have won, the cars roar around blaring their horns and there are more fireworks.

It is all a very social and patriotic event. Brazilian flags are flying outside many houses and on the morning of a match you can see the men buying charcoal for the churrascos (BBQs) that are going to accompany the event. In addition, the local bars give themselves over entirely to watching the TV and screen all the light out (from shining on their massive TVs) with black plastic - so if you fancied having a drink and a meal out while a match is on - forget it!

It also seems that work is completely abandoned when a match is on. I can't imagine what the atmosphere is going to be like if they get knocked out!

Guarana - the alternative to coffee?
I realise that I have not mentioned this soft drink which seems to be specific to Brazil. It certainly has a very special taste and is probably one of those 'love it' or 'hate it' drinks. It is made from an Amazonian fruit and the websites claim all sorts of health benefits from drinking it, despite its caffeine-like effects.

It is a drink that Brazilians really miss when living abroad and I have to say that as soon as I arrive in Brazil I always want to taste it again straight away - as you certainly can't get it in England, although according to the internet information I have looked at you can now get it in Spain and Portugal.

Burocracia - or the saga of the unpaid bill!
So far - apart from our initial visit to the State police - we have managed to keep relatively free of bureaucracy in Brazil. However, this month (for reasons which I will not go into) we failed to pay our car insurance on time. Does this mean a fine? Yes - eventually - but not before 'being put through it'.

First - you cannot just pay the fine and be done with it - you have to phone a special number - not easy when you only have mobile phones and they don't accept mobile phone calls.

Next - you manage to phone and then find you don't have all the details, forms, data that they ask for over the phone. All this is very embarrassing in the shop where you have asked if you can use their phone.

Then you return to the shop with the correct information, only to be told on the phone, after much difficulty in understanding what they want, that you have to fill in an online form.

Having filled in the online form, you will then have to wait for up to and at least 48 hours for someone to come and look at the car (yes - seriously!) and in the meantime you are not insured. Just imagine what this must be costing the country!

Then - presumably - you will have to pay the fine and will have learned that you never want to be in the position of not paying your insurance bill on time again!!

Alternatively - as a friend of ours told us years ago - you just don't bother to pay at all! I don't think we'll go for this option though. The driving here is just too horrendous to risk it!

Time for reflection
One of the good things about a trip like this (sabbatical or equivalent) is the 'thinking time' that it provides.

Florianopolis is very conducive to good 'thinking time'. There never seems to be enough of this in England.

Recently I have been doing lots of reading on 'leadership' and have been struck by the life and work of Konosuke Matsushita (1894-1989), one of Japan's most successful entrepreneurs - in particular by what he achieved between the ages of 60 and 90, when he established himself as a global institutional leader, philosopher and educator. Here is a link to more information about his remarkable life. http://matsushita-library.jp/en/history/index.html

'Retirement' doesn't seem to have been a word in his vocabulary!

Winter in Florianopolis
We are now officially in winter. This means some cool or even cold days (when the south wind blows) and no more swimming in the sea for now.

But it is still possible to walk 4 or 5 miles on the beach at the end of a working day and enjoy beautiful sunsets!

I'm sure this won't be the last photo I take of Jurere beach at sunset during our stay here!

Safety in Lagoa da Conceicao
In an early post to this blog, I wrote that Jurere (which is where we are now living) is a very safe place - which it is. We can walk out at any time of the day or night without feeling worried and we feel completely safe in our apartment.

30 years ago we lived in a small wooden house (fairly primitive by today's standards) on the edge of Lagoa da Conceicao. It was an exceptionally beautiful spot and we never even considered our safety. Then it was a fishing village, with a small and friendly local community.

We considered living again in Lagoa this time, but it seemed to us when we visited it at the beginning of our stay here in April, that it had been over-developed and spoiled.

Evidently it is also no longer safe. We have now read in the papers and blogs on the internet about 3 recent cases where american and australian tourists have been assaulted by thieves armed with guns. This must be a horribly frightening experience.

I am really pleased that we didn't try to relive the wonderful experience we had of living in Lagao da Conceicao all those years ago and decided to try living somewhere new.

Work and play
For anyone who is reading this blog, it might seem that I am on an extended holiday. To set the record straight, I have now completed two fairly extensive pieces of work and have started on a third. All this work has been done 'at home', on my computer.

Working as an online education consultant has been ideal for this trip. I am a 'free agent', able to organise my time exactly as I wish. I did have the opportunity to work for a Brazilian organisation, but decided that for 6 months it would be great to be more of a 'free agent'.

I know that making this decision has meant that I have not integrated as much with Brazilians as I might have, had I been going out to work. But I still have Brazilian friends from 30 years ago, so for just 6 months I don't feel the need to re-integrate myself into a new group.

This time here has made me realise that for this 6 months at least, it is possible to have a really stimulating life, a lot of fun and very interesting work with no stress. I am 'making hay while the sun shines!'

Half-way reflections
We are now half way through our stay here. It is amazing to think that we have been here 12 weeks. The time has passed extremely quickly.

It is 30 years since we last lived here. It is difficult to evaluate whether Florianopolis has changed or whether it is that we have changed - which obviously we have.

Despite the numerous developments, Florianopolis is still an extremely beautiful place. On other blogs, people describe it as 'paradise'. It also feels more prosperous - or is it us who are more prosperous?

I think the thing that has struck me most is that I don't feel as cut off from all that I know and understand as I did 30 years ago. This might be because this time we arrived already speaking portuguese - but I think it is more because the world really is - for the most part - a smaller place. We can speak weekly or daily if we wish to family, friends and colleagues, via Skype. We can share experiences through, blogs, flickr photo galleries and websites. We can watch TV programmes in English.

There don't seem to be such obvious cultural differences as there were 30 years ago. We hear 'English/American' music regularly and fashions/the way people dress are very similar.

30 years ago I felt as if I stood out as English. I found the culture 'hit me in the face' and it took 2 years to feel fully integrated. 30 years ago I wrote numerous letters which took ages to reach England and ages to receive replies to. (This is still the case. The post is a lost cause). I kept a paper diary and took photos that have faded with time. Phone calls were just too expensive and difficult and we didn't have personal computers. Now communication can be instant.

I'm not sure if it is a good thing or a bad thing that different cultures seem to be merging. It must be good for Brazil that it is more prosperous, if indeed it is, but I hope it holds on to the unique aspects of its wonderfully rich and diverse culture.

Sand dunes
For me there is definitely something special about sand dunes. There are extensive dunes between Lagoa da Conceicao and Praia Joaquina. It is possible to walk from Lagao to Joaquina beach via the dunes - about 3 kms - very good exercise! Walking in sand dunes certainly gets the leg muscles going. Not only is the walking great, but the light and colours are fantastic. Each way you turn they are different and so vivid.

I have walked on these dunes many, many times in the past. In the spring there are many unusual dune flowers. Even coming into winter as it is now, there are some flowers.

What is different about the dunes now, is that they are very popular with sand surfers. This is a new activity. Years ago, the only time you ever saw anyone on the dunes was at Easter time, when they held the passion plays on the dunes. The dunes form wonderfully natural shifting open air theatre settings. Unfortunately they no longer do this.

In this photo, if you look carefully (and double click on the photo to enlarge it) you can just see some figures on the skyline. This gives an indication of how extensive these dunes are.

Time warp
Yesterday, we ventured onto the mainland for the first time since arriving here and visited Santo Amaro da Imperatriz. This is an area of hot springs about 35 kms south west of Florianopolis in the middle of the mountains.

We went there from time to time when we lived here 30 years ago and it hasn't changed at all. It felt like a really old-fashioned place 30 years ago and still does. This entrance hall to the hotel says it all!

I have put some information about the area in the Links section of my website. The surrounding mountains and vegetation are very impressive.

Here is another flowering tree, but I've no idea what it is.

Tulip Trees
These beautiful trees are in flower at the moment - covered in large orange/red flowers. The trees are not easy to photograph as they are so tall and the flowers are right at the tips of the branches. According to the information I have found about them, these trees flower all the year round, but with peak flowering times. Now seems to be such a time in southern Brazil.

Changeable weather
The sun doesn't always shine in Florianopolis.

At this time of year it can be hot, sunny and with a cloudless sky one day and overcast and wet the next.

They say you don't enjoy the sunshine so much unless it's broken up with a bit of cooler, wetter weather. I'm not so sure!

Lunch breaks
A lunch break here can often involve a walk in the sun. Today was a glorious day without a cloud in the sky. In a week's time it will be the official start of winter, but hopefully we will continue to get days like this.

The intensity of the blue sky makes you understand why people build modern white houses and plant palm trees in front of them. They look stunning on a bright sunny day with a cloudless sky. I have posted some more photos in the Photo Gallery on my website.

Understanding what is said
Speaking portuguese has made me realise that what I understand depends on a lot more than just knowing and hearing the words.

I found myself in an interesting situation with a Brazilian friend recently where I understood everything that had been said in terms of the words, but at the end of the conversation, I realised that I had completely failed to pick up on the cultural issues, gestures, tone of voice etc. that was intended to give the conversation a completely different meaning.

This sounds obvious, but I do wonder how much this happens with our own language without us really realising it.

Jose Cipriano da Silva
If you want to see an artist's work here, you phone up and ask if you can visit him at home, where he has his studio and his paintings hung on the walls. We have one of Cipriano's paintings at home in Burton (given to us by our friends Leonardo and Miriam) and I was keen to see all his other work.

It was a treat to visit his house and see his work - all influenced by Florianopolis. He is 71 years old, self-taught and still experimenting with new ways of working. He didn't even start painting until he was 62.

I particularly like his more traditional work depicting local scenes as they are. He uses such wonderfully bright clear colours. The sun seems to shine out of his paintings and his paintings are so 'clean'!

He will have an exhibition in the city next month and has invited us to the opening. I think I will be buying another painting before returning to England!

Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, Maria Bethania and Gal Costa
These are names from the past. Four musicians that we used to listen to a lot when we lived here 30 years ago. They are all from Bahia. Maria Bethania and Caetano Veloso are brother and sister. 30 years ago all four were a force to be reckoned with (either on their own or together) as the words in their music were strongly critical of the political and social situation. In the 70s, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil - the composers - had to leave the country and live in exile in London for a few years. 30 years ago Brazil could be a dangerous place to live in. You had to watch what you said, where and to whom and it was not uncommon for people to disappear.

I was reminded of these 4 musicians, as they were interviewed together on TV the other night. A fascinating programme showing them working together again after all these years. Gilberto Gil appeared to be joined at the hip to his guitar - a fabulous musician and it was wonderful to listen to how easily they all harmonised with each other - such complex harmonies too - and great rhythm.

Good samba is hard to beat!

Festas and Boi de Mamao
There seem to be so many festas in Florianopolis this month. There is Festa da Laranja (orange festival), Festa de Espirito Santo (a religious festival), Festa da Tainha (which I have mentioned a few times), Festa da Junina (June festival) and Boi de Mamao.

Today we were lucky enough to see a genuine (i.e. not for tourists) Boi de Mamao in Lagao da Conceicao. I took some photos which I will post in the Gallery, but they don't convey how lively it was - lots of traditional live music, dance and interaction with the audience. In addition the players in the dance (who were all children) were so active that it was very difficult to catch photos of them before they had danced past!

It was a real treat to see this again. It has always been a favourite of mine. This photo shows the dance of the Boi (the bull).

Tainha (grey mullet)
Since it is well into the tainha season, we thought it was about time we tried this. This photo shows how it was served in a beach restaurant we went to for lunch today.

This is tainha a brasa (i.e. cooked over coals). It is difficult to see the fish as it is covered with mango, melon, guava, carrots, potato wedges and limes - but the fish is laid on a banana leaf in a wooden bowl.

Delicious!

Copa do Mundo (World Cup)
Well it's started. There are green and yellow balloons and banners and brazilian flags everywhere. A friend has told me that it's not worth trying to do anything on Tuesday which is the first day that Brazil plays - because the whole of Florianopolis (and presumably Brazil) will grind to a halt.

Our local bars and restaurants have all installed large TVs and I am expecting Tuesday (not to mention succeeding days) to be a very noisy day with loads of fireworks, car horns etc. if Brazil win. When asked by Brazilians which country we will be supporting, we diplomatically say that if they will promise to support England, we will promise to support Brazil!

I do wonder what effect all this has on the economy!

Corujas
In an early post I wrote that I didn't think that the vocabulary in Harry Potter (for example the word for owl which is coruja) would be one that I would need very much. Since then I have seen owls nearly every day and a number of them every day.

I think the owls we see are 'burrowing owls' and if so, these are an endangered species. They are unusual in that they are active during the day and as their name suggests, live in burrows. They seem to like the area around the sand dunes and scrubland. I have definitely seen more owls in the last couple of months than I have seen in my entire life. Not something I would have expected from this visit to Brazil.

Morro da Cruz
A hill behind the city centre provides a wonderful viewpoint of the whole city. This is the view to the north of the island.

You can just see the main highway to the north. We take this road every time we go to the city centre or the University.

I have posted more (rather hazy) photos in the Photo Gallery on my website.

Autumn in Florianopolis
There is a noticeable difference to the 'feel'/'atmosphere' in Jurere since we returned from Buenos Aires. The weather is very mixed. It can be cold and wet one day and really hot the next day.

However, most Brazilians no longer go on the beach and there are not so many people out in the evenings. A Brazilian woman that we know said that in the summer she runs the length of the beach and back (5 kms) every day - but when the weather is cold she just wants to stay in, eat cake and drink wine. She was complaining about putting on weight. I was definitely able to sympathize with this, but we do still go on the beach most days if the tide is not too high - and it is wonderful to have it almost entirely to ourselves. It looks different every time we go. This photo was taken at sunset yesterday.

Offending posts
It seems that I might have inadvertently caused offence by calling the Islas Malvinas War Memorial in Buenos Aires, the Falklands War Memorial.

There is a comment against the photo on the Flickr site, just saying Islas Malvinas. It caused my heart to miss a beat when I saw it.

I tend to forget that the Flickr site is public. I could make it private with access only for named people, but it seems a bit of a palaver to organise this and the advice from Flickr is not to worry. However, it seems that you do have to consider the wider public and not just your friends and family when posting photos.

Stephen Downes' Weekly Blog
I think I have mentioned before that I subscribe to Stephen Downes' weekly blog. This is a quote from his first post this week.

"......what matters is that we are honest with ourselves, and that we share without reservation. Honesty is hard, and sometimes people choose the safer path. And sharing is hard, and sometimes people choose silence. But the cost, I find, is greater than the sacrifice, even if indifferently you can watch it be borne by others. You tell the world what you want with your own conduct, and ultimately, you reap what you sow."

I think this speaks for itself.

Weekend walks
We tried to walk on this beach today - Campeche - a beach on the Atlantic coast, so strong waves and plenty of wind. The beach was miles long and a stunning sight, but we could not walk on it because the sand was too soft (John's wheelchair kept getting stuck) and the tide was coming in at a tremendous rate. What else was there to do but order an ice-cold beer and watch the tide come in!

Down to earth again!
It has been a bit difficult to come back down to earth again after our trip - but we both have plenty of work to get on with which is a good thing!

I am now planning my next trip and hope to go to Pantanal (Brazilian wetlands) for a few days next month. I've got the travel bug now!

In the meantime - it's back to writing online courses and I hope to add a few pages about Argentina and Porto Alegre to my website (i.e. as webpages rather than just in the blog).

So I'd better go and get on with it!

Photos
I have learned quite a bit about taking photos while we have been away - not technically - but what I feel about taking photos.

1. One of my friends once said that she never takes photos because the experience is enough for her. I have only recently started taking photos again (since returning to Floripa) and I have to say, I don't agree with her. For me, photos help to keep my memories alive. I now wish I had taken more over the past 10 years or so.

2. I find I can't bring myself to take photos of things which I find 'ugly' and know that therefore my photos repesent a biased view.

3. I feel very uncomfortable about taking photos of people, unless they are friends and I have their consent or they just happen to be in the photo as passers by. I wouldn't want tourists in England taking photos of me, so I think it must be the same for local people here.

4. In Buenos Aires I realised that the photographers who take all those photos for guidebooks must return to a spot time and again to be there at just the right time for the shot. As a tourist you might get a good picture, but often you are just not in the place at the right time.

5. I am amazed that there seem to be people 'out there' who are looking at my Flickr Photo Gallery. I have been contacted by two people I don't know about my Buenos Aires photos. Why would anyone I don't know be interested in my holiday pics?

6. I can see that once I get the 'recording places and experiences' mode of taking photos out of my system - then I could become interested in more creative photography.

7. I need another Photoshop course!

Who is this blog for?
This question has cropped up again for me, as I have really enjoyed making a record of our trip to Argentina, but hope I haven't been too verbose for anyone else reading this blog.

I have tried to capture the spirit of our trip to Buenos Aires but it has been difficult to be concise and stick to 'postcards', as we had so many rich experiences.

For me these posts about Buenos Aires and Porto Alegre will help me remember it all in the future and reflect on it from time to time.

Friends in Porto Alegre
These are our friends in Porto Alegre, at the book launch.

Whenever we go to Porto Alegre, they are always so incredibly kind to us. We are driven everywhere and taken out for fantastic meals.They are also a lot of fun! Really good friends.

Porto Alegre
This is the capital city of the the most southerly state of Brazil - Rio Grande do Sul. We stopped off here for one night on the way back from Buenos Aires for the launch ceremony for the book to which John has contributed a chapter.

Our time in Porto Alegre consisted in eating and meeting up again with many friends from the past as well as meeting lots of new people.

We started with lunch in the old colonial market (in the photo) - a wonderful fish lunch in a vibrant, informal atmosphere - and we ended the day with a churrasco dinner (BBQ) at Montana restaurant. We sat down for this meal at 11.30 pm and left the table at 1.30 am. I felt really sorry for the waiters, but they seemed to be used to it. A meal of this type in Brazil consists of a help yourself salad bar with every type of salad you can think of and the waiters coming round with spits of bar-b-qued meat of every type from which you can accept a slice or reject as you wish. You just keep eating until you are satisfied. I finished my meal with papaya mousse and cassis - delicious.

Summing up Buenos Aires
I would recommend anyone to visit Buenos Aires. It is a fabulous place. If you stay in the centre you can walk to all the most interesting sites very easily.

It is a colourful and cultured place, full of contradictions and currently in an uneasy stage of not feeling quite happy with itself. It has been weakly governed for a number of years now and it shows.

But the Argentians remain fiercely patriotic and there is certainly no need to 'cry for Argentina'.

Eating in Buenos Aires
Vegetarians might not enjoy it so much, but if you like meat, Buenos Aires restaurants serve the most spectacular meals for a fraction of the cost that you would pay in England. In fact for us, everything in Buenos Aires was very cheap.

If you like fillet steak and chococate, you will eat like a king in Buenos Aires, although too much of it probably wouldn't do your heart any good!

However, like any city, you can encounter any type of food from French to Italian and Brazilian to Chinese. I didn't see any Indian restaurants, but that's not to say there weren't any.

Eating in Buenos Aires was a memorable experience, even after Brazil!

Puerto Madero District
I loved this area for its visual stimulation. It is the recently restored, latest official district, dock area of Buenos Aires. It is a combination of old brick warehouses and modern tower block buildings.

It has miles of pedestrian walkways along the banks of the river. Even at weekends there is plenty of space and the atmosphere is calm. You can see art exhibitions (currently statues of cows depicted in various ways, which I have seen somewhere else but can't remember where) and entertainers along the banks of the river, as well as eat in superb restaurants. We listened to a gaucho musical group and treated ourselves to a meal in what we were told was one of the best restaurants in BA - and it certainly lived up to its name. Not only was it incredibly cheap for an English person/couple, but the service was impeccable, the atmosphere very latin and the food 'maravilhoso' - a steak to die for (apologies to vegetarians!).

We also walked across the fabulous Puente de la Mujer (Women's Bridge) several times, which reminded me of the millennium bridge in Gateshead.

Retiro District, Buenos Aires
Perhaps the most interesting thing about this district, which is also very near the centre, is the Torre de los Ingleses (Englishman's Tower) which is modelled on Big Ben with a clock and bells and was a gift from the English to celebrate the centennial of the May Revolution (which incidentally is on May 25th - while we were there - so we saw all the parades).

However, more interesting than the Tower itself is that directly opposite it, across the street, has been built the war memorial to the Argentinians who died in the Falklands War. I felt distinctly uncomfortable in this area, although we never once received any bad treatment or hostility from the Argentinians during our trip.

Monserrat District, Buenos Aires

Near the centre of Buenos Aires, in the district of Monserrat ,is the Plaza de Mayo. This is where you can see the Casa Rosada (Pink House of the National Government), El Cabildo (the colonial Town Hall) and the Catedral al Sur, which is so unimposing on the outside that we walked past it without noticing it on our first visit to the square. However, when we did finally realise that it was a Cathedral and went in, by chance we were able to hear a wonderful choir of about 15 men and women singing, unaccompanied in perfect harmony, a whole range of classical pieces. Very impressive!

The Plaza is the scene of celebrations, protests, parades, political dermonstrations and when nothing of this sort is going on, as when we visited, a peaceful meeting place for pigeons, tourists, day-trippers and passers-by.

Today the Plaza probably owes most of its fame to the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, the women who still show up in the square seeking information on the deseparecidos, their loved ones who vanished during the Dirty War.

The Opera House: Centro
This is worth mentioning. Maria Callas, Pavarotti and Toscanini have all performed here. It is a stunning building, both inside and out, with wonderful accoustics, due to be completely renovated by 2008. There are 8 levels, with room for 2,500 people. 5 theatre levels (the top 2 are standing only) and 3 underground levels which extend out under the highway and where there are workshops and rehearsal rooms. We were able to watch students working on building scenery, designing costumes etc.In his 3 years in office, the current President has not once used his private box or attended a performance, much to the consternation of the Opera staff. In fact he turned down an invitation to attend the opera with the Queen of Holland. I wonder if he realises that this may be how he will be remembered!

Buenos Aires - a city of contradictions
For the tourist it is sometimes difficult to know what to make of Buenos Aires. On one side it is so poor and dirty - on the other rich, cultured and sophisticated.

It has appallingly rundown areas and its inhabitants don't seem to care much about litter - which is everywhere and often piled high in the street.

It's city centre pavements are in dire need of repair, yet it has 11-lane highways and wide leafy streets which the Argentinians are proud to call European in style.

It has the corrugated iron houses of La Boca whilst at the same time having an internationally recognised Opera House, many impressive high rise buildings and the 'Obelisco'.

It is a city full of surprises.

Poverty in San Telmo
Like La Boca, San Telmo is a poor area of Buenos Aires and one where you watch out for your bag/belongings. On the streets of San Telmo we saw a group of men living on the pavement in plastic rubbish bags and cardboard boxes. It was a well established living area. It was a shocking sight - as bad as I have seen in third world countries - and not something I felt I could take a photo of.

Then just round the corner you can visit the most amazing Sunday antique market, which not only has stalls laden with antiques, but also has many shops piled high with beautiful antiques. See the Photo Gallery for one or two pictures.

San Telmo
This is another district on the south side of Buenos Aires. In the 1800s it was occupied by aristocratic families, but when yellow fever broke out they all left and squatters moved in. It wasn't until the 1970s that Buenos Aires began to renovate the original old buildings. This is now the Engineering University building.