Interesting times

‘May you live in interesting times’  is said to be a Chinese curse, that we all have heard at one point or the other. Seeing the protest that have sprung up in Hong Kong over the organization of somewhat free elections promised for 2017, I came to realize that I have ‘escaped’ a few political […] Read More

Where’s home?

After traveling for over ten months now, I often start to ask myself: where is home? I have visited so many places. Just to recall, I have been to Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santiago, Valparaiso, San Francisco, Melbourne, Hobart, Sydney, Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and all through New Zealand, Tokyo, Osaka, Hiroshima, Zurich, […] Read More

Phone issues

I have phone issues! And this post is going to be a bit of a rant about efficiency issues in South America. In each country it has been a struggle to get a pre-paid phone chip, or to get it charged. In Brazil, I finally got a pre-paid chip from Claro, which worked pretty well. […] Read More

Brazil budget

Ok, so I finally did a bit of math to have an estimate of my budget, and my spending… I decided I’ll post it here. It was really helpful for me to read on other blog how much they had spent, so I could have an indication of what I might need. I have calculated […] Read More

Rio revisited

It’s time to have a look back at Rio, so here’s the best-of. I first wanted to do it on Brazil as a whole, but São Paulo and Rio are Janeiro are just too different to put together in one… If you have suggestions for other categories, shoot! Best part/scene/place: Ipanema. Somehow in Rio, but it […] Read More

Last day at the beach

I had not given up hope yet to see Rio from above, the famous Cristo Retendor on top of Corcovado mountain, so I hopped on a bus, even though the statue was still hidden in the clouds. Once at the Cosmo Velho train station, I realized that the next available train was in 2h40. Ok, […] Read More

Exhibition in the rain

I heard about a little art event at the Parque de Lage Art School that I had visited before, so I went again and had a second look at the exhibition. It was in the evening, with the Rio hip student crowd showing up. The dress code: Guys: scruffy. Girls: artsy-alternative. The setting was even […] Read More

Muqueca de Banana

I had to go back. Espírito Santa, the restaurant, I mean. This time: Muqueca de Banana, a stew of not overly-ripe Bananas in a coconut sauce. The bananas were actually rather vegetable-like, firm, you nearly had to use a knife… Of orange color, no idea what kind of banana that was. It came with rice and some […] Read More