Saturday, November 13, 2004
Mi Buenos Aires Querido....
Greetings from Buenos Aires. What a beautiful spring day! Very happy to see Andres. computer center closes in 5 minutes. more tomorrow.Love Aaron
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Friday, November 12, 2004
Sugar In My Bowl
Suddenly, free time. Got up at 6:45am for a helicopter ride to a sugar cane plantation (picture left) and refinery in the interior of Sao Paulo state. But a broken propeller grounded that project, and after a brief meeting, went back to the hotel. Finally, very very sunny weather and a delicious 70F with a breeze. Last night, we went to a Japanese restaurant (there are 1 million Japanese-Brazilians, mostly in Sao Paulo) and got drunk on sake served in little cubes so it was impossible not to spill the sake, even for those more coordinated than me. Tonight I'm flying, real late, to Buenos Aires, where I'm spending the weekend. I can't wait to see Andres, who was my boyfriend from 1988-1993 and remains a close friend. Will also have coffee with my friend Celia. Well, that's about all for now. I miss my friends, but it's lovely here, I'm in good company, and it's great to put some distance (about 5,000 miles) between me and the post-election depressing aftermath. Happy Friday. Love, Aaronthis entry's permalink
Wednesday, November 10, 2004
Take Me Out
Great day, very enjoyable and successful trip, though exhausting. About to collapse. Today, Brasilia, that white-elephantine retro-futuristic vision run amok that serves as Brazil's capital. I was falling asleep during an actually exciting meeting with Brazil's equivalent of Federal Reserve governors. Lunch was lovely, at a bamboo and grass-hut open-air pavillion that served the cuisine of Bahia, family style. Bahia is famous for seafood cooked in spices, fried in dendê oil or coconut milk, and then made into casseroles like the moqueca pictured left. We actually drank some delicious Brazilian cocktails, too, 'batida de marecuja', or passion fruit shake with cachaça rum. It's great, but tonight bedtime at 8pm and no dinner, to remedy sleep underages (5 hrs 2 nights in a row) and calorie overages (avg 3000 a day vs my usual 2000-2100). AOL is working sporadically. I feel cut off, and I miss smoothies. Looking forward to coming home on Tuesday.Best of all, I am being very forward about being gay down here, for once, and it feels great. People are mostly fine about it. It's such a different experience when you can be yourself and share your life with people you know professionally. What took me so long?
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Tuesday, November 09, 2004
hey there. arrived in Sao Paulo at 8am. rose at the ungodly hour of 4:30am to accomplish this. we have 8 back-to-back meetings, each of which is an hour-long presentation. my brain is engaged, but my eyelids keep sinking. oh dear. more coffee, which is like rocket fuel here. the gentleman to the left? as any Brazilian can tell you, this is Alberto Santos Dumont, who invented the airplane. Or was it the Wright Brothers. This depends on how you define 'first flight' as they each 'took off' simultaneously. Why did I think of this? Because I flew out of Santos Dumont airport in Rio, their LaGuardia. Finally, Santos Dumont's house here is full of his inventions, including an entire floor designed for left-handed people.Later - Aaron
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Monday, November 08, 2004
must rise at 4:30am tomorrow to catch 7am flight to Sao Paolo. And at 5am the next day to catch 7am flight to Brasilia. oh well, you can't have glamour and beauty sleep. Just got back from a marathon meal at Os Antiquarios, a Portuguese restaurant. too many hors d'oeuvres, now i'm hors service : - )
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Finally! this luxury hotel in Rio had no internet for two days. hopefully Sao Paulo will be better. Rio is very very rainy - I feel bad for those investors who've never seen it before, visibility in this scenic paradise is close to zero. As for me, I'm doing great - this is going to be a huge success, I'm on a roll again... Last night we ate at Porcão, or Big Pig, an all-you-can-eat meat festival where the waiters keep coming by with skewers of different meats until you cry 'uncle' by flipping your green coaster on its red side, and thus signaling 'Stop.' With panoramic windows right on breathtaking Guanabara Bay, which was all but invisible in the dark and the rain. At left, a local artist's rendition of our predicament. : - )
Can't access my cartoon library from here, alas. More later. Love Aaron
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