A short brief on my travels

So, for the past couple days...and actually almost 2 weeks, I have been traveling in the beautiful country of Brasil. Notice that I spelled it 'Brasil' and not 'Brazil'. That is because that is the correct way to spell it. However, the anglicized spelling allows for english speakers to get the pronunciation a little more right than otherwise. However, the word sounds more like (Bra-zi-oo) because the 'l' doesn't close in portuguese like is does in english. But, enough with the linguistics lesson.

I drove with my friend Mario to Maceió from São Paulo. The trip takes 2 days of straight driving. The roads were precariously formed at best. There are parts that are reasonable, but there are huge stretches that are full of holes, bumps, and cracks. The reason for that is because even if the government sets aside money to resurface or fix the road, it generally ends up in some local construction guy's pocket, or gets signed off by the government as having been done and the governor, mayor, or whoever is responsible puts the money in his account in Zurich. But it was a pretty decent drive, with pit stops for gas, salgados (snacks) and lots of guaraná (an energy soda). I traveled across the states of São Paulo, Minas Gerais, Bahia, Sergipe, Alagoas, and I even visited Pernambuco when I went to Recife with Mario to do some business and visit the Mormon temple there.

We arrived in Maceió around 3:30 in the morning last monday, slept a little in the car for an hour or so in a town just 30 minutes north called Paripueira. The town sits right on the water and there are beautiful reefs, fish, manitees and local cuisine, but at that hour we were hardly conscious of this. We then drove around Maceió a bit, and eventually got in touch with our mutual friend Meri. She let us stay at her house for the week.

Without going into too much detail, I will say that the beaches in northeastern Brasil, and especially in the state of Alagoas (where Maceió is situated) are some of the most beautiful in the world. I'll have to attach a few photos to this blog post later to show you. While there in Maceió we went to Jatiúca beach, Ponta Verde beach, Francês beach, Paripueira, the Barra de São Miguel and visited old friends, acquaintances, and pretty much gorged ourselves in all the delicacies that Maceió has to offer. We had a cheesy shrimp called bubble gum shrimp, had lots of pizzas, exotic fruit juices, crabs, and every other delicious sea food or land mammal that was available. I did not get to surf because they only took cash at the rental place, and my bank card is without a pin now for weeks because my bank is inept. But next time I won't miss out on it.
I've decided that I'm going to buy a beach house in a town north of Maceió called Maragogi. I had dinner there and asked the waiter how much a beach house would cost. He said R$40,000. In dollars, with the current exchange rate, that's $25,000. Hard to refuse a piece of paradise at that price. Maragogi sits just 2 1/2 hours north of Maceió on the border of Alagoas and Pernambuco. The sand is pearly white, the water a turquoise and emerald color, and it is full of coconut trees, old buildings, churches, and hammocks. Ideal. And the taxes on a house like that would run about $250 a year and utilities wouldn't be much more than that. I could even rent it out while I'm not there and make a profit. Sweet deal.
Now I'm back in São Paulo. I got to visit a beautiful Ibirapuera Park, and I went to the Museum of Art yesterday. Today I'll have lunch with some friends, and as usual, I'll keep it crazy at night. All my best to you. I return friday to the US of A.

Things Worth Dying For...

There are many things in live worth dying for. However, one thing that I wouldn't want to die for is murder. Not to say that states don't have their rights to electrically roast up or juice fry their worst criminal offenders... I'm totally for that. Kill the killers. What I'm saying is I don't think murder is a good idea. Really. It may or may not be hard to believe that, but it's true.

That being said I want to talk about homicide for a moment.

There are a lot of shows out there recently that are making bank off of telling stories about mayhem, murder, money and manslaughter. And while that's all well and good, (Or actually evil and demonic depending on your opinion), I had a friend who said something interesting to me a little while ago. He said, "I suppose I like watching these shows because they depict an aspect of the human ego that all of us possess, we all have the power to become as these killers, and it is intriguing." (Not a real quote) At risk of sounding insensitive to my friend who should seek professional help, that is wrong! We don't all watch those shows because we like to toy with the idea of the power gained from taking life!

I think we watch gore and insane murder mysteries for one simple reason. It is fantastic. (Meaning exotic and imaginative) It is a world we do not live in, like a galaxy far far away. I think the reason I like watching CSI, and not CSI Miami cause is sucks, is because I like watching them catch these beings who are anything but human. Murderers are not like you and me, they have become alien to a society that exists in harmony when death is not on the menu.

So, there's a show out there called Dexter. About a serial killer who kills serial killers. People love it. They root for a murderer. Is this bad? No, go on ahead! Watching that is no different than watching a discovery channel special about a tribe off the coast of the edge of the world who drinks cow blood for breakfast. It's not my culture, I'm not a serial killer. I'm not even a regular killer. But, by golly they are a fun bunch of people to make up stories about, huh? Like vampires or werewolves, except not as cool, and murderers actually exist in the world. Ok, so really, don't call me a creep for enjoying stories of death. If you do, I'll kill you.

No no, I'm just kidding.