leavin brasil

so i kicked it in barra...thought i could leave the 24th but there want any space so i stayed for a lil of carnaval although really im just tired and wanna go home...it was pretty chill actually in barra just a coupla fools in they halloween costumes and a party on the beach...today i deposited my shit in a locker and spent the day in a nearby town where it is currently raining all over me my bus leaves at midnight and im bouts to head to el centro to await it, wet wet wet and just as tired as hell...missed my nap today cause i had to check out of my pousada...just about ready for a three day bus trip except i never did get to change dineros to argentinian and chilean pesos so i hope when we stop they take cards...i never thought id be this ready to just leave the crap out of brasil but i done been ready to go home all week...cant wait to enter a country where i got a fighting chance at speakin the lang...and man oh man do i miss my bed clean clothes even the obnoxious cat who comes in like he own the joint ever time i leave a window open, negrito...gringa signing off and heading back out into the rain which as a bonus isnt really that cold....

barra da lagoa the sequel

so basically things got better after that moment, i had basically just said to homeskippy man can you please just try to be nice to me and he responded by doing so, i guess really it was a painful situation for him as well and his distancing was his defense...but all told it was too fuckin much, id just been though this breakup but had to pretend nothing happened while his friend, ale the nice one got back together with his ex polola who was a part of this other group, so they all lovey and homeboys ignoring me and everyone knows somethings up but trying to be polite...whatev.
so i came up with this plan where im a convince the bus company to send me back to ba for a couple days then from there to santiago and if not i search for this hostel in el centro;
jorge is being nice, talking to me and making sure i got something to eat all up in the meaty meaty asado whatev.
im also on my best behavior just trying not to make any kinda scene happen..so we get really drunk and end up dancing on the beach, doing capoiera which none of us knows how and they teach me the cueca which is like chiles national dance and we help push a fishing boat into the water and the sun comes up and we all go to bed...so jorge and are still sleeping in the same bed and we cuddle up and its nice but feels so sad at the same time and i whisper to him that he was my boy and he says i know and you were my girl whatev we drunk its fuckin sad we go to sleep...i have this awful dream that everyone is leaving me alone on the shore while they climb into a boat and wake up crying...georgy is like no te llores and i go back to sleep..
in the morning we get some breakfast on he tells me im converting him to my big breakfasts and im like heh heh that was the plan all along..then i pack up my shit and im about to jam when it starts raining like insane thunder lightning and i have to wait but after a while it hasnt let up yet but its more chill and i ask can we just go now cause i really cant deal anymore, ive stopped taking the pill so my period is back plus cramps and being near this guy hurts i just wanta get away so he takes me to the bus stop and carries the big bag and hugs me and kisses my cheek and says cuidate with that emphasis v says is reserved for when you cant say te quiero anymore and its all sad..
so when i get to el centro and talk to the bus dude its like nothin doin there is no getting out of here until the 24th soonest same deal with all the bus companies and el centro is crazy everyone is here for carnival no space anywhere so im like ok sal what now?
gringa sola just abouts to cry again stuck in floripas and i lights up a smoke and this guy who was on one of the buses with me comes up and is like whats up, and i tell him im tryin to get out of here but cant so have to find somewhere to stay and hes like best to head to one of the smaller towns and im like yeah id like to go back to barra da lagoa and hes like its pretty cheap and they more likely to have room...so im like yeah good point id better jam..

so i landed in barra da lagoa a little worried thered be no room or no space cheap enough but i managed to find a tiny room for about twice as much as i usually have to pay, but then im usually with a group..so whatev im tired and crampy and hungry and i head out to eat and im trying to memorize stuff to find my way back and i see this guy standing about half a block up who looks just like one of pololo de ashes friends, cayeux, which means warts, i didnt ask..
anyway im like no it cant be im tired and halucinating and then hes like rach..im like whats up are the rest here and hes like yeah...so i follow him in and they all like hey whats up what are you doing here is t with you and im like no man but waitll you hear my tale of heartbreak and woe you gon be like woah thats some fucked up achy breaky hearty ass shit, but where my girl..they like man she sick..
so i head in there and im like yo man what up and she like when did you get here and im like just now stuff didnt work with turbo and i thought you were headed for uruguay and she was like im sick and im tired and i wanna go home and im like i feel that man, and she like ok ima need some details what the hell happened...

so we spend like two hours explaining to each other what went down and then she switches to her alternate personality, barb from brooklyn and says geez viv i really missed you, sometimes when it was too much with the boys everywhere i would talk to you in my head...and i was like oh my gawd barb, i so missed you too...

so i dunno if youd say happily ever after but things worked out pretty well, also ashleys left eye matches my prescrip so she gave me another pair of contacts and i had a nice time talking to some of the kids in my pousada and a wonderful nights sleep...just me and sal all curled up and happy the way it should be...i tell you what as a world traveller im a total pussy im always so scared something will go wrong but sal, man he just dont fuckin trip...

brasil unplugged

so here is the version i didnt tell you but need to tell somebody now or i will really go nuts...
so like the first week and a half in brazil im waiting around for some late as hell financial aid and basically trying not to spend any cash, my girl is spending like half the day in bed with her boy and i am rereading for like the third time a book of short stories and kickin it with two of my favorites of the friends of pololo of ash but feeling a little isolated cause she my friend what speaks my language and i feel like she aint kickin it with me plus everyone gets really drunk every fuckin night which is great once in a while but fuckin me da lata every night plus fast chilean spanish shit talkin i mostly just sit there not getting much...
i developed a schedule where i got up really early and ate at the pousada which was fuckin good, fresh fruit and bread and honey and juice, usually with lil or big ridic my faves, both of whom speak quite a bit of english...usually id chatter away in spanish until lil ridic tells me good humoredly that he is still asleep and are all gringas as talkative as me and he kinda liked me better when i couldnt really say that much...

then id shower and hit the pool and usually end up talking to some of the kids hanging out there argentinians or chileans mostly...

wed all usually cook dinner together and that was cool and then the drinking would begin and id go sit in a hammock and read...

so there was this kinda underlying im lonely drama but i kept saying to myself rach yer next to a pool in brasil what problems could you possibly have...
it came to a little drama between my girl and me when everyone decided to head somewhere else instead of meeting up with georgie and his crew immediately, i went with them but was starting to feel pretty annoyed surrounded by fuckin messy dudes who eat everything in sight even if it has a little note saying porfa no me comes la ra me quiere para desayuno...and i wanted to see what the hell was up with the guy which is this complicated as fuck we broke up but it didnt take but i hadnt been able to see him cause i was travelling and whatev but he says me quiere mucho but i dont know i mean there are some goddam good reasons i broke up with him whatev..

so finally i get a little fed up i get pissy with ash cause im just feeling very left alone and i decide to hook up with the georgy crew cause big and little ridic are going home to chile and this sitch would be impossible without them..

whatev it gets a little dramalike and then we talk and then everythings fine and then i go to meet jorge.
and at first things are going really well, i have more language skills so i can communicate about some of the things that i used to just get pissed off about and i can set clear boundaries and whatev...but it gets complicated fast, first of all by the fact that i went on birth control just prior to meeting up with him cause i just didnt want to take chances and didnt know what was going to happen, so i am feeling crazy and weepy and really not myself, second he is all up in a boy crew too so like i put on tegan and sarah and they are all ay que mamona and change it to heavy metal..and its like at first it looks like things might work, were having fun and when i have a problem homeboy is listening and trying to deal with me...but pretty quickly this becomes something more like jesus are you crying again god you have another issue if you dont like it when someone tells you to shut up why dont you just say so...

cause hes got this obnoxious friend who is all goergy did you see that ass right in front of me and when im like how you gonna do that hes like hes in brasil he has every right and im like ok dude and then hes like im gonna snatch food out yer hand eat anything you leave in the cupboards and bum cigarrettes off you constantly plus talk about every chick who walks by in the most obnoxious way possible (that being the hidden aggression underlying anger with women bullshit instead of actual love and adoration for the female) plus hes gonna constantly psuedo jokingly insist that i cook clean fetch etc, which the other friend does too, but in an actual joking manner and it doesnt bother me its more like my brother and i just tell him to suck my left nut and he laughs..

k. so the more time goes by and the more im getting pissed off by little shit like homeboy putting on loud music first thing in the morning or spending tons and tons of time talking to his friends but hardly talking to me and hes reacting to my reacting by basically ignoring me all of which culminates last night when we ended up in the house of some friends camped out in the living room partying, and i just couldnt kick it, i mean im exhausted, we rode four buses and waited around for like two hours for the friends to meet up with us...so the house is cool and the people are super nice and everything but they are all friends already and whatev they wanna party like insane chilenos and i try to kick it, i get through the drinkin game or whatev, but then jorge isnt really talking to me and then he moves across the room and i tell myself to let it go but it bothers the fuck out of me plus we are sleeping basically in this same room which means no sleep for me as by the time i am starting to put on jammies the chileans are literally standing on the table pounding thier hands on the cieling...so i tell homeboy im going to bed and hes like ok, and then im like alright this sucks and hes like do you want us to stop partying and im like im not gonna say that this isnt my house and so hes like ok go to bed then and im like ok but i dont know how i can possibly sleep through all this noise and hes like what do you want me to do so i go off and tell him hes being a jackass and im tired of begging him to talk to me and waiting around for attention from him and hes like fucking thickskulled dumbass why dont you talk to some of the others and im like whatev and i go to bed knowing this was a huge mistake and curl up crying with sal only to wake up i dont know how much later when the door next to me is opened, im awake so i decide to go for a walk and as i leave he catches up and is like what are you doing...well i thought it was obvious, im pissed that i got woken up and im trying to walk for a second, he starts telling me thats crazy ill get lost whatev so im like come with me just for five minutes and hes like i dont want to i want to party with my friends and im like yeah i get that alright im out and hes like what are you doing you cant walk in the middle of the night blah and im like ok but just for a minute come with and hes like no i want to party and i thought you were sleeping and im like no i was crying with my bear and hes like oh jesus not again im so sick of you crying and im like fuck off then and hes like whatev...yeah so its ugly but in the morning we talk and things are relatively ok in that hes agreed to help me try and change my ticket home...but then he keeps doing that thing all day where hes got plenty to say to everyone but me and im like im in a fucking foriegn country where i dont speak the language i just went through yet another fucking stupid breakup and yer gonna fuckin ignore me and when i find out i cant change my ticket to anything sooner than the 24th im like fuck...

this is just like when carrie is stuck with that stupid fuckin russion in paris....
so now im a buscar anyplace where they got youth hostels or something cause i just cant fuckin take this no sleeping stupid friend housefull of strangers and homeboy ignoring my ass any more...

yeah thats right.

my ass is lonely and a little heartbroken in fuckin brasil ive been on the go since january and i just wanna go home, i mean my house in santiago...

and thats all for now folks...stay tuned

thats right im a brazilian cowboy

so my ass decided to join forces with a different group of chileans, showed up in barra da lagoa at a little green house with ringing ears and a tired ass pelucha, sal i mean. besides the whole ear ringing thing it was cool. i got my pack off and georgie took me to this little tiny beach and it was fuckin beautiful in the moonlight and whatev, so we swam and talked a bit and then headed back to kick it with his guys. so hes been travelling with two dudes, one is called chewy like chewbacka and the other is ale...one is small and gnomelike, thats chewy and the other is just a funny dude..they were sharing a house there with this guy angus, scottish kid, so we had a good time talking in english...but then he took off for ba for a rolling stones concert and we moved to another beach in an even smaller town. very cute relaxed sorta place where most nights there is some kinda music in the streets and kids start dancin and grown folks too, its pretty sweet.

from there we took a boat trip to this little island off the coast (of the big island that is) which was stunning, crystal clear water and shells and fish and georgie and i did a guided tour of the island which gave him a chance to sport his george of the jungle hat (thats right we both bought one but i paid less!!! whats more we arent keepin em, his is intended for his dad and mine cried out i belong to martin lempke at my very first glance) so we saw all these lovely jungly plants and huge twisty root systems and these adorable little creatures i keep forgetting the name of in spanish and not sure what they are in english but they are small and furry with long fuzzy tails and long snouty noses, and we saw these nutty birds, they looked like turkeys actually, jungle turkeys...the very thought of which just cracks me up in either language...pavos de la selva indeed. hay que tener cuidado porque los pavos son feroces...

the other side of the island was a different kind of geography more windswept rocks and green and gold profusion of lowlying plantlife plus lovely wildflowers and a view off the edge to the rocky shores of the island and the far shores of the big island...

basically i never wanted to leave. but then i lost a contact and our boat came and we went back to our little house and i realized that that was the last pair of contacts i have with me and now i have to wear my glasses all the time which kinda sucks...
and then it started to rain today while we made the trip to another beach to meet up with ales sister and some friends of thiers..

oh well i guess it cant all be perfect paradise all the time eh?

and wackiest of all, while waiting for the friends i meet this brazilian dready dude who speaks english really well and tells me he spent three years in the states and with earthfirst up in arcata and santa cruz plus peace and justice and im just a little thrown cause its odd how far you can come and still be pulled right back, so in the spirit of return i bought two pairs of lovely handmade earrings from his buddy to gift to my girls..

how i left the island and got myself a brazilian cowboy hat

well.
so the chick and i had just bussed our asses to get to florianopolis, and then meet up with her pololo nick and his buds...and they tell us they got plans to leave the island the very next day.
i opposed this on principle. we just couldnt leave the island just like that could we? well we did. went to a cute little beach town north on the mainland called ferrugem, which once i saw it i loved it...we rented a little house from the owner of a little pousada which is like an inn which meant we got to use the pool and eat breakfast there, which was fat as fuck, fresh fruits and bread and honey and mermelada and manjar for those at like it, strong as shit coffee and all the juice and bread and cheese and fruit you wanted for 3 reales...like a buck and a half...we also got to use the pool there and i took to spending the morning reading by the pool..
i had run out of books to read so nick loaned me a book in spanish and i actaully did ok with that.
so what can be said about that week...well..they got big ass bugs in brazil, and of course i have to speak my crappy spanish to which they respond in portugese, thats always fun...but i actually did make a little buddy, this guy who basically patrolled the inn at night and would always stop and chat,
this was a party ass beachtown full of tiny bikini wearin chicks and scammin argentinian dudes...just kidding, there was actually a fuckin lot of chileans, some argentinians and some brasilians...
so anyway they had all these discotecas that every night women got in free, so our asses were out dancin a lot...but i dunno i just didnt have the energy for it there somehow so by the middle of the night i would be curled up in a hammock reading and paulo, thats the brazilian dude, would come chat for a second...
it was cool as fuck though that town..i saw a couple more lovely beaches, big bugs, drank with a crowd of chileans every night, spent most mornings by the pool and afternoons at the beach, burned my ass all to hell...
the deal is that bathing suits are just smaller here for everybody, little kids grandmas everybody be showin a bit of butt, you got the whole thing covered it looks a little out of place...so i went and got a new and smaller brazilian bikini and promply burned a stripe on each ass cheek where i had newly exposed skin that had never seen the light of day...

this went on for some time, burn the butt, wear an old suit to allow for some butt recoup...burn turns tan, newer smaller bikini new burn same deal...anyway i was thinkin of going all the way to hella scandalous but this butt burnin business is gettin me down so i think ima stick at my thats a small bikini...

k

so we stayed there for a week or so then moved to another beach town also north of the island, during this time the guy i had been dating for a while back in santiago arrived with some of his buds to the island and i was trying to coordinate it so we all met up together, but nick and ash wanted to keep going north and i was tired of playing the violin anyway like 3rd wheel only in spanish they say playing the violin...so i decided to break away from this group and join up with georgie and friends on the fuckin island, cause i never even wanted to leave the island...

so i email jorge and ask where he at and can his ass give me some clear directions..so he hits me back with the town i have to get to and then cross a puente colgante which i figure as hanging bridge then im lookin for a calle angosto, only i didnt catch that as adjective i thought it was the name of the street, then a pub called chill out pub and across the way en el fondo a house that quizas puede ser verde...

so the first part of the trip back im accompanied by two of nicks friends who are heading home to chile and thus need to get to florianopolis center cause thats like the hub if you will, also where i needed to get a bus from...
so its like two and a half hours somethin like that, and i have some seriously intense cramps, so ive been poppin brazilian aspirinas without really realizing how many until we get to floripas and i realize that my ears are ringing and i cant really hear..
thats right i overdosed on brazilian aspirin..when i looked to see how much id taken it was like 10 in two days...

so the dudes leave and i get my tired dizzy cramping cant quite hear ass plus bags over to the bus station to try and figure out how to get to a lil town called barra de lagoa. this is always confusing because there is usually at least one transfer and this time it was like three different buses...but we made it, sal and i...just jumped out as soon as we saw the sign for the town and started asking about hanging bridges and volleyball courts and if anyone knew of a street called agosto...nope..

also bridge in portugese isnt one of those words that sounds almost exactly like bridge in spanish and dont nobody know no english...so this is some long and complicated trek that sal and i do as we head for al fondo...the person who seemed to know about the pub and got the concept of bridge just told us to keep on sigiendo hasta el fondo...

so we did..eventually sal and i saw to our great relief a hanging bridge and on the other side a tiny crooked street, a pub called chill out and a little green house..and this is how i hooked up with the georgie group ears ringing and all...

brazil pics

closin in on realtime

so close my people so very close...
so after the dramatic entrance the blonde and i were given an opportunity to shower then whisked off to probably the most beautiful beach i have ever seen, with bright fucking sitting in a toaster over type sun big as fuck waves clear as shit water and white white sand...
then there are the dudes selling beer on the beach who tried to give us the gringa price until our chilean buddies intervened...
thats right my ass aint paying no tres reales for a fuckin beer, two for five baby that is correct!
so even though we were thouroughly exhausted and starving the chick and i somehow forgot all about that and just kicked it on the beach till the sun went down. at that point starving returned to the forefront so we went to a buffet where they weigh your plate and charge you by the kilo.
mine was the costliest plate cause i loaded that puppy with potato salad and lasagna and black beans and rice...tenedor libre it aint but it was pretty fuckin good food, little did i know that because we were still on the island, florianopolis that is, there was a distinctly argentinian cast to much of the food that would soon disseapear....
ash and i headed straight for bed upon our return only to be woken by the return of the partying chileans
nick of course pololo de la ash, and his buds include a little dude i like to call little ridiculous man, a big dude i like to call big ridiculous man, un tal hair man, man with a beach house, and man we dont know....
anyway upon their return i was awoken by a scream, little ridiculous man had somehow or another stumbled into something (explanation in spanish i dint really get it all) and cut the fuck out of his toe, so his ass comes stumbling through in the middle of the night, turning on the light to search for bandages and leaving a trail of blood..

this is disconcerting at best but i roll over and go back to sleep only to be awakend by another scream, this one very high pitched, then another...
i was later informed that man we dont know had walked in on ash and nick having sex, apparently gotten a pretty good glimpse cause she was on top, left the room, then came back to apologize drunkenly explaining in spanish that he thought it was the bathroom..

at this point i am awake so i go out to smoke and read for a minute to put myself back to sleep and big ridic plus man with a beach house wanna have a fuckin convo all drunken chileno spanish...i explain that im reading, they ask what im reading...
i give up and talk to the stupid boys, then i go back to bed..

so the very next day our towels mysteriously disseapeared, the chilenos informed me that they dont eat breakfast at all!!!! and nobody made even the slightest effort of cleaning up a house that had been thouroughly trashed...

we packed up and headed for another beach town off of the island, called ferrugem.

THE LONGEST BUS RIDE IN THE WORLD

two sleepy gringas got up early the next day eager to enter brasil, where awaiting one of them (la rubia) would be her pololo y a bunch of his insane chilean buddies...so they hopped on a bus with all thier heavy gear and rode over the border to the argentinian immigration where they waited in line with all this gear attached to get they passports stamped, then they emerged and got on the same bus which took them further to the brazilian immigration where again they waited in line with much heavy stuff for a stamping of a passport, this time they also had to wait for the next bus to take them into iguazu the brasil side which is spelled with the c plus squiggly i dunno how to make...
in iguazu the brazil side they were directed to a local bus depot where a bus could be found to take them to intl bus depot...again with the waiting...
at the intl bus depot they bought tickets to florianopolis and sat around waiting for about two and a half hours for this bus to leave...
this was indeed what would later be known as THE LONGEST BUS RIDE IN THE WORLD...the two gringas found themselves seated in the very back right behind THE LOUDEST BABIES IN THE WORLD and right next to THE STINKIEST BUS BATHROOM IN THE WORLD which boasted a door that stuck so much these gringos were repeatedly required to help smaller passengers open it, and the gringa nearer the door (la rubia otra vez) was often struck when the panicky passenger shoved from the inside trying to open the door...the smell of which continually wafted out to distract said gringas from the continual crying of not one but two babies seated seperately but directly in front of them, in addition they had little leg space, the lights never all went off and the ride was bumpy as hell...during the long night neither gringa slept much...they traded the discman back and forth as the only effective method of blocking out THE LOUDEST BABIES IN THE WORLD and one found herself having lost her water bottle at some point and totally dehydrated, crawling through the aisle with a flashlight searching beneath every seat for her water while the other vainly attempted to sleep...
finally after an evening, night and morning of this hell the gringas arrived in florianopolis where an atm that doesnt like gringas forced them to lug aformentioned heavy shit to a gas station down the road and then asking for directions in spanish and getting a mixture of portugese and english in response they finally located the bus station where they could catch a bus to the beach where the chileno group awaited them...this bus, to thier surprise and dismay, actually consisted of two buses and the exhaustion of getting directions in portugese nearly defeated our fair heroes at this point, but the blonde fought back with superhuman strength taking mime and charades and asking for directions in spanish recieving response in portugese to a whole new level...tracking down the appropriate bus and saving the day...
at long last and after two days of near continuous bus and baggage lugging these gringas found thier way to their speaking spanish fluently and ok with response in portugese friends, and they put down they fuckin bags...

Iguazu

so when i last left our fair heroes they were hot as fuckin hell in ba. there is an unfortunate time lapse in reporting back from the front lines, but unavoidable due to slow computers and the like....soo
a coupla happy gringas got on a bus headed to a border town containing the BIGGEST WATERFALLS IN THE WORLD and where they arrived tired and hot about a day and a half later to discover that it does get hotter than ba. thats right, they had not figured into they calculations a lil somethin we like to call humidity...they got off the bus and it felt like they had stepped into the mouth of a giant beast, a several nice young gents tried to direct them to nearby hostels and hearing the magic word, pool, they were off to settle in...
the hostel was sweet lotta wood very open air kinda rustic pretty basic but cool...they put down they shit and hit that swimming pool which wasnt so big nor so clean but they could give a flying fuck...then they found themselves some seriously bomb pasta and took they tired asses to bed.

the following day saw these gringas up hella early to celebrate the CUMPLEANOS DEL ORO de un tal rachel lea gringa extraordinaire and birthday girl, by heading to the BIGGEST WATERFALLS IN THE WORLD...

thats right. these evil twins headed out to THE BIGGEST WATERFALLS IN THE WORLD where they spent the day under a hot hot sun exploring trails in the natl park and getting closer and closer to THE BIGGEST WATERFALLS IN THE WORLD. by a certain point they were about ready to jump into the biggest waterfalls in the world having been so hot and sweaty every item of clothing stuck to the skin and thats when they discoved the little boats that take visitors out to the little island san martin where they can at last get in the water...lack of swimgear did not stop these girls nosirree they went in in shirts and panties cause they dint care and let me tell you folks water is gooooooood

after a long day of exploring and taking pictures and facing into the spray of THE BIGGEST WATERFALLS IN THE WORLD two tired and hungry gringas headed back into the little town for more bomb food, this time it was individual pizzas, four cheese and camarones respectively, dunno if i said it yet but argentinian food is bomb and they have a large italian influence...they decided to order desert to celebrate and the birthday girl ordered flan having informed cute little old waiter dude that it was indeed her bday and recieved shortly what had to be THE BEST FLAN IN THE WORLD it was covered with fresh cream and tiny little shoots of real flowers decorated the plate while a single candle burned atop...

happy birthday to me...

last days in BA

i gotta say i loved this city but couldnt stand much more of the weather, humans really shouldnt be subjected to such extreme heat sin piscina...in my opinion anyway..
our hostel was in the central part, which was lovely and very european in feel plus lots of italian influence lending itself to the architecture and producing amazing pizza like i never had before..
it was all white and glass and glisten like shells on a beach, buildings stacked high and bright under a white hot sun...
and then just wandering around encountering less central parts with that lovely architecture crumbling in the heat, which more than anything reminded me of nawlins, that hot wet humid slow talkin slow movin thing that happens outside of el centro, plus the profusion of plants and graceful balconies, lotta music there too, and of course the tango..natl dance, also very hot..

so the last full day danny and mom and gemela mala and i went to plaza de maya to see the mothers.
this was so powerfull for me having heard so much in classrooms and books to lay my eyes on these aging women still carrying signs and buttons portraying portraits of lost children and family and friends, and they werent alone either, there was a rowdy group of students there in support of them, marching and laughing and jumping, waving banners and flags as they all circled the plaza...then there was the camera crowd como yo then people selling food and beaded trinkets on the outskirts...

it was beautiful though. a really bright hot day and all those flags flapping in the wind and all these high spirited young people and those dauntless old women, lined faces and self effacing gestures no obstante proving by their very presence the revolutionary and truly radical power of love, of motherhood, of womanhood...

remember what cherry moraga said in loving in the war years, loving each other is the most radical thing we can do..

then we went for dinner with danny and mom, then out for drinks with danny...in the morning i woke to dannyboy peering over the railing whispering hey dont forget me...we love us some danny, so he and mom said goodbye and headed home (switzerland)while chick and i finished packing, kissed goodbye my fave of the housekeeping staff, had a huge tenador libre meal where we wanted to ask our cute little waiter if we could take a pic with him but finally didnt...picked up my brazilain visa and headed our asses out on a bus to iguazu...