The apartment I've been staying in

Since I got back from Brazil, I decided to try something different: rather than stay in a (rather mundane) hotel, I'd move into an apartment with three friends.

How has it been? Okay. I enjoy the company, but I've been working so hard I've been treating it like a hotel! (now there's irony) It's been good. Though there's no water pressure, and there's cockroaches, and sometimes it smells ... but who's complaining!? =)

The best thing about this place - apart from cable internet - is that it is the penthouse - the top floor of a 9 story building, with nothing blocking the view of the ocean or the city. It's great! So yesterday, I decided to do some work on the balcony all afternoon, this beautiful, open balcony with a little thatched roof hut for shade (I first found out about this place when I came to a party here).

Unfortunately, I brought my camera with me - so I always distracted taking photos of a beautiful semi-cloudy sky as the afternoon wore on ...



... and on towards sunset ...



... and then to dusk ...



Sweet, huh?

South Africa: Two countries in one

South Africa, like Brazil, is an amazing country - a beautiful one - but one with unbelieveably inequal income distribution.

Nelspruit alone boasts numerous shopping malls which are just like Australia's - clean, beautiful, and full of shops (funny that) - so much so that I was tempted to take photos of them (that's when I realised how long I've been in Africa for!). The only way for me to get back in the afternoon, however, was to take a mini bus from the local shopping mall - otherwise I would've had to take a coach back at midday. So I grabbed a taxi to the shopping mall, located about 5-10 minutes from the beautiful new "Riverside" shopping mall where I watched Star Wars.

I could've sworn I was in a different country.

Hundreds of cramped mini buses - just like in Mozambique - greeted me - the only difference was, there were signs saying where they were going.



My favourite? The pay toilet? 10c to go ... includes 4 sheets of toilet paper (that's what they lady in this photo is distributing) ...



Traders and outdoor payphone shops - what dominated the ailing streets of Zimbabwe - were also there.



South Africa. What a place of contrasts! (Try saying that in an Afrikaans accent ...)

My Star Wars quest: 24 hours in South Africa

Having spent some 4.5 months now in places of little civilisation, I thought I'd give myself a bit of a dose of the first world - and so, on Friday, I thought I'd spend half my weekend travelling to Nelspruit, South Africa - the nearest big city to Mozambique, about 3 hours by car (250 km away) from Maputo.

Okay, my real reason? I really wanted to see Star Wars III (no thanks to all of you who've written to me and told me how good it is ... I'm definitely up for a 6-episode marathon when I get back). I tracked down that Nelspruit had a new, 8 cinema complex. And, being fairly budget minded, I thought I'd do it on the cheap (and I would have - US$50 covered all travel, buses, taxis, accomodation, and the movie ticket, with another $20 for all my meals - except my shopping adventures burned up well over an additional US$100!).

So, here was my schedule:
7pm, Friday: Hop on a coach en route to Johannesberg.
10pm: Half an hour stop over at the first big stop in South Africa, So impressed with the level of civilisation I see that I end up taking photos of clean petrol stations (I won't bore you with them).
11:30pm: Track down a taxi in Nelspruit and get to the backpackers lodge, "Funky Monkeys".
until 2am: Spend time getting to know some of the other people staying there. On this trip, spending most time in hotels/apartments and the odd weekend in a backpacker's lodge has made me realise how much I enjoy staying in backpacker lodges - usually really well-taken care of places, interesting people, and cheap! And FULL of character ... I spent the night speaking to some French guy who's working as a chef around Africa, a South African couple thinking of moving to Nelspruit from Durban, and an eccentric lady who tried to convince me that emotions can modify a crystal's chemical composition ... all over dessert wine, coffee and coke ...



8am, Saturday: Check out and grab a lift with someone at the lodge to the shopping complex.



9am: Get my dose of 1st world junk food for breakfast.
9:15am: An almost completely empty movie theatre allows me to grab great seating for the Star Wars movie. And what a movie!
12pm: Spend the rest of the day shopping, shopping, shopping ... I never realised how much I missed Westfield-esque shopping malls! Ah ... civilisation dose!
2pm: Grab a taxi to the mini bus cab rank, next to a much more budget shopping centre buzzing with street activity (it felt like a different world).
2:30pm: Miss the first mini bus to Maputo because I was hunting down more bargains.



4pm: Finally our bus leaves! (no schedule ... it just leaves when it gets full! And, having done the break even analysis, I don't blame them ...) And, due to a confusing customs process, it is well after sunset that we actually arrive back in Maputo ...



South Africa really is a fascinating place though ... but I'll save that for another entry ...

Blesssings
john

Lots of presentations and not much sleep

Over the past five days, I worked about 80 hours and slept the rest, having to get ready for a large presentation to the US Agency for International Development (Which went well, I thought, though I’m biased!).

We went to Katembe, a part of Mozambique which you could only access by ferry, to Mariam's house (one of the team members). We spent some 20+ hours over the weekend debating, laughing, crying, and formulating a 100-page powerpoint presentation. I completed almost all the powerpoint ... and, come to think of it, most of the debating, laughing, and crying ...

The ferry to get across is quite interesting. It's basically an old rusted ship (from the 1970s, colonial days!) where you cram 12 cars onto ...



The place itself is beautiful. Despite only being a 15 minute ferry ride away (which takes about an hour because of all the waiting and queueing) it has a very different feel, party atmosphere ... maybe that's because of all the happy hardcore techno playing in the background.

Our house was right on the beach ...



Which had a really nice sunset ...



... Though as night wore on, the discussions became more heated. Here's Neville and Mariam trying to prove to me how subsidised soya beans can be used to stimulate the local chicken economy ... while I eat on some soya chips ...



But, when it was all over, we had a beautiful ride on the ferry home, with a great view of the city (Which is ugly by day, beautiful by night).



And, when the presentation was all over, it was time to celebrate ... with cigars! (though I was quite content with my diet coke ...)



God bless
john

Goodbye Brazil, hello hard work

Well, it’s been about a day and a half (jet lag = staying up to 5am trying to get to sleep last night = not good) since I got back and I am absolutely missing Brazil and Rio.

In its place has been replaced a lot of work. We are presenting to 20+ senior people about the chicken industry at the US Government Agency for International Development HQ on Tuesday(!) and there is still a lot to do. Like write the entire presentation on powerpoint – and figure out wht we’re going to say – then coach the team, then make sure my boss is happy, and try and catch up on sleep …

I have spent the last day and a bit getting my team back into order, giving them presents from Brazil showing them photos, trying to get them to give 100%, and feeling sorry for myself … and, to get ready, we are pretty much going to have to work through the whole weekend! Argh!

Anyway, I’d better get back to work. Say hi to Rio for me …!

God bless
john

(view from the plane on the way out … a sunset!) (kind of fitting, huh!)

We interrupt this lazy weekend afternoon in Rio to bring you … a soccer game

My last afternoon in Rio. On beautiful autumn afternoons like these there’s not much to do except go sailing …



(for perceptive readers, you'll see that the large statue of Jesus is in the top left hand corner ... 10 John points if you did)

… Eat coconuts next to the beach …



Or play “beach soccer” as the sun goes down!



Instead, we thought we’d go watch a soccer game: Flamencos of Rio de Janeiro vs Santos of Sao Paulo.

It was a great atmosphere with lights …



Wild crowds that swore a lot in Portugeuse …



And guards – with 5 metre high fences next to the pitch so we couldn’t streak or invade it! Oh well!



Blessings
John

Rio, the city that just loves to party

The first thing that strikes you about the Rio night life is that it is everywhere. From people juggling and doing performing arts on the street (or in this case, the road) …



… to huge random parties happening in the footpaths, where the dancing and noise in the restaurants spill out over into the sidewalk …



… to people just dancing and eating in parks at 2am in the morning – and – in case you tried to get to sleep – there were people playing drums in the streets for no apparent reason …



… at about 2:30am I began to get hungry. These little sausage shops are everywhere (but aren’t very good – the meat was cold! Ugh.)



For the more refined, there are samba shows with dancing girls (And guys) in beautiful costumes …



Or a walk along Copacabana beach at night!

Corcovado Mountain – Jesus’ arms outstretched wide for the world

One of the most picturesque and symbolic, um, symbols of Rio must be the large statue of Jesus on the highest point of the city.

This statue is BIG. It is large enough to be seen clearly from a lot of the city: at night time it is lit up (making it look like Jesus is actually hovering over the city … amazing). By day, it looks like this …



And the view? Stunning of course. You can see much of the city … (like this bird!)



… as well as some great views of the cities and beaches!

Sugar Loaf mountain – a huge mountain in the middle of the city

Just a few kilometres from Corcovado – and right next to the beach – is a huge rock face called Sugar Loaf (because it looks like a sugar loaf … see what you think?)



By the time we took the (rather crowded) cable cars up to the top, evening approached. It was a gorgeous sunset, and you can even see the large statue of Jesus (albeit very faintly) in the top left hand corner of this evening shot of Rio’s city …



Night time brought even more incredible views of this incredible city:

Beaches in Rio de Janeiro = amazing

There is a LOT to be said for the beaches in Rio. Beaches are generally beautiful everywhere ... but especially in Rio for a few reasons ...

1. Endless beaches. The beaches in Rio are plentiful and go on and on and on. (It's a bit like Sydney, in that regard.) You have a beach, then another one, then another one ...


note the huge temporary stadium for the FIFA beach soccer world cup! Though Brazil lost in the semis to Portugal ... what a fizzer. We were watching outside, on the large mlounted screen in the corner.

2. The proximity of the beach to the city. The thing that DOES set Rio apart from Sydney is that the beaches are literally across the road from the city. High rise buildings overlook the sand, trains come up right next to the beach. Whoa.



3. Beach volleyball and soccer. About 50 metres from the water, there are heaps of goalposts and volleyball nets for people to come and play. It's awesome! No wonder Brazillians are in such good shape ... though that's another thing about the beaches. You have people of all shapes of sizes there, and they're not afraid! (We'll talk about she-males another time too ... another unique Brazillian aspect!)



4. Closing half the main roads next to the beach on Sundays. The roads are closed - free for children and adults to cycle, walk, ride, have coffee ... very cool, great atmosphere.



5. Selling stuff on the beach - including umbrella spaces. There are quite a few (but not too many) people selling sunglasses, t-shirts, little cheese things to eat ... though some people are ripping tourists off. A man was about to charge me ten US dollars to put up an umbrella to sit under ...



(though even in May - almost winter - it was BOILING on the beach, about mid-30s. Whoa!)

Brazil days 5-7: Rio de Janeiro, one of the greatest cities on earth

Have just spent a few days in Rio and all I can say is WHOA. This place is sensational, for so many different reasons. A few highlights from Rio that we got to sample …

• Staying across the road from Copacabana beach, where they had the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup finals
• Going to visit the two huge mountains in town: Sugar loaf mountain and Corcovado Mountain (where the massive statue of Jesus is), and watching the sunset
• The Rio nightlife – parties in the street, samba, and a huge 50-hour party at the showgrounds …
• Lots and lots of Brazilian food – including soft shelled crab and local beef and lamb … mmmm
• Going to see the soccer game in front a cheering crowd (and a HECK of a lot of police, mounted military and surveillance helicopters)

Will post some photos soon!

Blessings
john

Brazil Day Four: Portuguese karaoke whilst eating an ice-cream buffet – Welcome to Florianopolis Island

In pursuit of my record of 19 internal flights within Mozambique, we set out for our third city within Brazil, Florianopolis Island. Located in the south of this massive country just 200 metres from the mainland, and clearly modeled on Europe, Florianopolis Island is beautiful – with new apartments surrounding an endless bay …



Why were we here? To visit one of the biggest chicken shows in the world, “AveSui” (literally means chick-pig … oh yeah, it was a pig show as well!). AveSui brings together tens of thousands of people in pursuit of the same thing - success with chickens – meaning that it is full of middle to old aged men who work the industry and beautiful young Brazilian women who probably very little about chickens giving out free brochures and hats. Again, I collected my share of hats/water bottles/pens/free food … for purely professional reasons of course ...

… whilst I learned HEAPS about chicken during the day, the night was the highlight. Whilst the streets are like Europe’s, Florianopolis feels like the central coast – quiet, safe, and long sandy beaches; the wind whispering in the background on an autumn’s evening.

After having a dinner by the sand, we stopped off at an icecream place on the way back with a difference – this was an ice cream BUFFET. Ah … heaven – 32 flavours, numerous toppings, and lot of different nuts and chocolate bits to add on the top. And this delicious warm caramel sauce that hardened when you put it on ice cream …

… But the best part? It was also a karaoke store. The next two hours was spent reliving love songs from the 1980s, to the applause of the local Brazilian crowd … I think we were the only thing making loud noises in the neighbourhood!



(Me and a non-English speaker performing "One Moment in Time" by Whitney Houston ... you can see the ice cream buffet in the background. Now that's inspiration ...!)

Brazil, Day Three: Rio Prato – Millions of chickens, “the other Rio”, and what it feels like to be enter jail

Today we flew to our second destination: Rio Prato, home of many of Brazil’s hatcheries (that is, where eggs from hens are incubated until they hatch, and sold to chicken growers). The size of these operations are absolutely phenomenal: in this small area, over 10 million chickens are born every single day.

After driving to the operations, we were given a fantastic lunch, and an overview of how chickens are grown in Brazil on powerpoint. Not to mention free merchandise (hats, t-shirts and pens … ah, I felt like I was home again!) … it was nice to be the client again!

One part which was quite not-as-hospitable-as-I-was-expecting was the procedure we needed to go through to have a look inside the hatchery. You see, with millions of chickens under incubation – and each chicken worth almost a dollar – disease is an extraordinarily big issue.

The solution? Before anyone can enter the premises, they need to strip, shower, change into a sterilized set of clothes (complete with thongs), have all your belongings fumigated, and enter the sealed, restricted area. Sound glamorous? It was the closest I think I’ve ever felt like what it is to enter jail – without the strip searching and feeling guilty! Here’s us at the shower block after our “hose down” …



Once inside, the usual array of cute chicks ready for sale was to greet us …



… accompanied by cool little machines that segregate male and female chicks – labeled accordingly! If only human life was this easy! Just kidding … =)



It was great to get out to Rio Prato. Unlike the endless urban sprawl of Sao Paulo, these are the Brazillian suburbs - where chickens and cows wonder free and little kids play soccer and skip rope in the streets. Like African kids, life is beautiful for them …



Oh, and now I can say “I’ve been to Rio” without lying!

Brazil, Day Two: The sights and sounds of Sao Paulo, the 3rd biggest city in the world

I think I mentioned it in my last entry, but Sao Paulo is BIG. It has all the trappings of a big city … from the hustle and bustle of tens of millions of cars …



… to all your old favourites – such as McDonald’s (something Mozambique does NOT have). Pictured here is one of my old favourites (McNuggets … hmmm … fattening) with some Brazillian extras: a ‘Grape McFruit’ (glorified grab cordial) and a ‘McMax’ (which was suspiciously like a McFeast, except without the beetroot … oh, and the spelling was different). Note the typically Brazilian place mat – some kind of soccer promotion …



… However, there was a valuable addition to the McDonald’s line up: now here’s food for thought!



Like most big cities of more than 20 million people, Sao Paulo has some incredible restaurants. Here is a Brazilian special – Rodezio Real – the (very expensive) Wildfire restaurant in Circular Quay is based on this traditional style of restaurant which literally means “Royal all-you-can-eat meat served as you wait” in Portuguese (well, kind of). Here’s one of my team – Jake – being served my favourite meat – medium rare rump steak, one thin strip at a time …



But what I will not forget about Sao Paulo is its endless apartment blocks, which stretch for tens of kilometres into the horizon. It’s like Hong Kong, just many times larger, and even more congested …!



(the view leaving Sao Paulo ... it really is amazing)