Burner Billy Adventures: The Happy Brazil-nival Family

Brazil ALMOST didn't happen, and looking back on it that would have made me REAAAAALLY sad. Being American, our passport doesn't do shit for us around the world, because...we do not let people into our country without going through loops. In Chile and Argentina, you have to pay a reciprocity fee once you enter the county, same happens for Bolivia and Paraguay (which I avoided because I did not have enough time to explore them, nor did I want to spend the money. Next time, right?). But, for Brazil, you have to get a visa before entering the country. Sure, you could do it at border crossings, but I did not have time, and I was going to fly from Bogota to Sao Paulo, so I would have never even gotten on the flight without it. Long story short, I had to do it before I left and in doing so, you have to go to the Brazilian consulate to do it. Luckily, San Francisco has a consulate (usually only found in major cities like NYC, Chicago, and Miami), but it wasn't like the DMV, where you go and wait in line (which would have been complete hell). You have to make an appointment and you have to do it online. Since I was a month away from my trip, I went online to make the appointment....nothing was available until April. Not good! Brazil will be hosting the World Cup this summer then in Rio de Janeiro, the Summer Olympics two summers from now, and considering the weather is absolutely perfect there all year round....everyone wants to go there. First hiccup of the trip, but knowing NOT everyone goes to there appointments, I continued to look online for a cancellation and by the grace of God, one popped up. I booked the appointment, took my documents down and week later had my visa (later did I found out, you can do it through a third party vendor, but they charge you double the price of the visa....so if you are desperate, there's always a price). Brazil was NOW happening and two of my favorite travelers would be there at the same time as me.

In Chile, I met Charlotte and Marjanneke from Holland, and we said our goodbyes in San Pedro de Atacama, and felt like saying adios to family. Fast forward 2 months later, we reconnected at a cafe in Sao Paulo and picked up where we left off. Considering Brazilians speak Portuguese, communicating was a bit harder than in other South American country, and as much as people say "just speak to them in spanish", it really does not work that way. Brazilians are different and rightfully so, their country is beautiful! After a long catch-up with the Holland girls, we spent the day checking out two museums in Sao Paulo (Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Art) before I left them. I had a date with my SF buddy Ty and his fiance. Ty and I met back in 2008 in San Francisco, one day AFTER I completed the PCT (I had my crazy, long beard still), at the Bus Stop watching a Colts game with Dave Heimlicher. Not only was Dave freaked out by appearance, but Ty must have been thinking, "who's this hobo asking me to join him to watch the game?" (Ty was a Peyton Manning fan since he grew up in Tennessee, and naturally, he had a Colts jersey on, so there was no reason NOT to invite him into our group! Ty ended up watching multiply Colts game with us, played flag football when we arranged it on Sundays at Chrissy Field, and even played in the same kickball league as me in SF. San Francisco is a small place, and you always see people around the city, no matter where you go). Well, I am glad he did, because we were able to re-connect 6 years later in Sao Paulo. I got to learn much more about Ty on the two days I visited him in Sao Paulo then the 4 years I knew him in San Francisco. It's funny how things like that workout in life and after meeting his beautiful fiance, I felt like talking to two old childhood friends about the meaning of our lives. It was so great to catch-up with Ty that I hope to make the trek back down to Brazil for their wedding.....because why not? YOLO, people. Thanks for the hospitality Ty and Heloisa!

Sao Paulo is rather a big city that holds 17 million people, so you need years to explore everything. The Vila Madelena district is a great place to go drink beers, eat food, and hangout (I would compare it to North Beach in SF, Lower East side in NYC, or Broad Ripple in Indy.....okay, I was kidding on that last one. Sort of). However, it's a big city, and it was much like all the other big cities I have seen in South America (I will say it was more like an American city because people actually spend time to design pretty buildings instead of building a concrete, uncharacteristic box), and with the Holland girls we headed for the beaches and Rio. Our first stop was Paraty, but since we decided to be in Brazil (let along South America) on Easter Weekend, it took some navigating to get to there (typically travel is pretty easy going, but on this week and weekend, EVERYBODY was at the bus terminal). After two bus rides, we showed up to Paraty at midnight and decided to immediately drink beers at the beach bar, and I am glad we did because the following day and night required asking everyone in town for a place to sleep. I woke up earlier the next morning to watch the sunrise, and I am so happy I did. Living on the west coast for the last 10 years, I always watch sunsets and think, what a great way to end the day. But seeing a sunrise on a gorgeous beach with mountains in the backdrop, with literally nobody around you, is pretty peaceful. You realize the potential of great things ahead of you and instead of reflecting on what was just done. After a full day in the sun, the girls and I were able to find a camping spot in a trailer park, but one problem for the girls, they didn't have a tent. Since my tent is only a one person, they had limited options (as much as I wanted the girls to sleep next to me....it is NOT possible with my tent. Damnit!). Thankfully, a nice guy working at the hostel was able to get a tent from a friend of friend because if not then the girls would have been sleeping on the beach (I can think of worst places to sleep). The following day was tough for the girls because they obviously did not sleep well (everyone was partying because it was a holiday and the girls slept on the ground with no air mattress or thermorest which is not comfortable), but thanks to our new friend Tanya, we were cruising the Paraty bay with our personal boat captain under the warm sun. The boat was more like a tug boat, you could hear it puttin' away and crawling through the ocean waters. And our two-tooth, tan skinned, 60 year old skipper looked like a person who has been through life and back. But for me, sitting on the boat, looking at the wonderful landscape and beautiful water, I remember thinking, "how lucky am I?" I am on a boat (yes, a motherfucking boat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU&feature=kp) with three woman and skipper in the middle of Brazil. Life is good.

Easter weekend in Brazil caused us to shift our plans a bit because availability at hostels were limited in these small beach towns between Sao Paulo and Rio, so we went to Rio for two nights before venturing to Ilha Grande. It was quick pit stop, and we were able to see the nightlife in Lapa (we danced all night to some samba shaking music), the Escadaria Selaron stairs, and we did a favela tour before jumping back on a bus to see Ilha Grande. I was following the Holland girls schedule because this was the last week of their trip, and when you are on your last week of your trip, you tend to do some express traveling without worrying about costs (I'll explain later in Argentina), and no way was I missing Ilha Grande, because I heard so many good things about it. Ilha Grande is awesome and lived up to it's hype. Once an old fishing community, Ilha Grande now is a tourist attraction to see some of the most beautiful beaches in the South America. Since we were traveling in Brazil during it's rainy season, we were lucky to have at least one day to see Lopes Mendes beach which is easily accessible by boat or you can be more adventurous and hike on the trails through the luscious forest that rewarded you to a beautiful beach at the end (we only walked one way to the beach, and took a boat back. Ha). We spent the rest of our time there jamming to local music (the guy was jamming Rolling Stones and us gringos were singing along), eating lots of seafood (it wasn't cheap and not necessarily good. One bad experience can do that to you), and talking about how beautiful the island was among friends. Getting a little slice of paradise after you travel through so many places, is something hard to appreciate until you are there. Ilha Grande is a place where thoughts of work and life fade away in the blink of an eye.

Back in Rio again, I spent the 4 days with the Holland girls before they flew back. We knocked out many tourist things (even when it rained all day) before I had to say my goodbyes to them. One thing that was extremely convenient, walking 3 blocks from the hostel to the beach in Ipanema. I do not know how to describe the beaches or the city itself , but when you walk on that beach to see hundreds of people happy, in shape, and enjoying life, it's hard NOT to want to be them. Rio's culture lives for its beaches, warm weather, and dancing. It's like putting the beaches of Miami and New York city on the island of Oahu in Hawaii, it is total utopia. Among other things (I spent a day at the botanical garden and downtown center shopping for new shoes), we had a full day of seeing Christ Redeemer (the LARGE statue of Jesus on top of the hill) and SugarLoaf mountain. Once you get to the top of both those attractions, the view are breath-taking. If you are not amazed by it, then you have no pulse. It's stunning and overwhelming beautiful. One negative, these places are tourist traps and it's really hard to take in the views with ease (later did I found out there's a hike you can do outside Ipanema beach that has other great views of the city without the tourist attraction because you have to hike up to the view point and it is not easy hike!). Pictures do not do it justice and my only recommendation for you, go see yourself. Just do it. You will not be disappointed! However, my favorite part of Rio for this trip was not looking at all the beautiful the landscapes, checking out the beaches, or walking around the different parts of the city, but rather spending a Saturday night celebrating Holland's King's day in Rio of all places (American's version of 4th of July mixed with St. Patrick's day). I decided to extend my trip an extra day to party with Charlotte and Marjanneke on this day, and never in my life did I think I would meet so many dutch people in a city so far away from it's small country, but it felt like home. I was happy to wear the color orange that night (even though it was something the girls put together in 20 mins), and celebrate their heritage with ice cold Heinekens. We spent 3 weeks getting to know each other, and I feel like I could spend the next 50 years hanging around these women that's how much they made me feel comfortable on this trip. It was hard to say goodbye and walk away from them, but luckily I was so hungover the next day that I almost missed my bus and I had to say goodbye while running out the door. Thanks again girls, you made this man feel pretty special!

After Rio, I spent a couple of days and nights in Florianopolis (Lee, explained to me why I didn't spend months here? It's a surfer's wet dream) before venturing to Iguaza falls to finally enter the last country of my trip. After two longs bus rides (one from Rio to Florianopolis- 20 hours and then from Florianopolis to Iguaza Falls - 18 hours) in my last days of Brazil, I was left disappointed when I could not see the falls on the Brazilian side (Iguaza falls is on the border to Brazil and Argentina) because of the monsoon I entered once I got off the bus. I waited at the bus station in the optimistic hope the weather might get better, but once the Argentina bus came to cross the border, I decided to jump on it with fellow travelers Adam and Gus because my time in Brazil was already well worn out, and it was now time to spend my last two weeks with my sister Beth to wrap up this long journey.

This is for my father because he loves art! Dad, this IS ART! (MAM)

Art in the subway stations

Museum of Art in Sao Paulo. Cool building, but I was explaining engineering faults to the girls. No supports under the building, makes for amazing views though.