Hey again,
so I am catching up with the web… got a room and a kind of decent Internet connection – the browser just crashes every now and then… :-(
Well, I would have tons of things to tell besides that I by now am in BAires. I guess. Well, I have not been doing too much here. Playing frisbee, strolling through the city. Dancing a bit (Salsa and pop… still not sure about Tango). Oh yeah, and I got tons of questions about Bariloche and Rio… so from the top:
- Was in Bariloche after I got tired of flat searching the first time here. Landscape is really like Austria, but still great to hike for 4 days with hardly no people. Actually ran across two Norwegian girls that were as well alone there each for hiking (we were joking that that was probably the biggest random Norwegian meetup abroad ever… 3 out of 4 million) so we teamed up as one should not hike alone and the trails porved us that it was a smart choice. Also met some nice people from the US, who we could foillow for the difficult parts – climbing without rope and 20 kg on your back someone? Weather was great, pictures are a few on Facebook, mine will follow on Flickr in May.
- Also ate the best Mexican food ever there in Bariloche. No Mole. Great meat. And after 4 days of starving. ;)
- Then back 20 hours in the bus were nice ( i think I told about that already).
- Rio I got to know after more than half time that it has a Dengue epidemia. Well, luckily enough I seem not to have had any problems. Usually still sleeping at dawn and at dusk in a restaurant. Still, 40 cases per hour but of course more in certain areas. So almost got on Sugar Loaf, almost got into Maracana, almost got to the Jesus statue, almost got mugged on Copacabana, almost hooked up with a hot mulata, almost got a bad sunburn, almost never got to bed before midnight. Yeah, a lot of almost there. Actually we (Bernardo and me) decided not to go to the second top of Sugar Loaf and just hike the first one. Saw a match of Botafogo and Fluminese – or more the last 10 minutes – in Maracana. Amazing experience, I definitely like that (never really been in a football stadium before) angle. The Jesus statue we did then on a second day, the mugging at Copacapana was good not to happen. The guys were not the smartest (so was I by going to the pretty busy – runners, people with dogs, etc. – beach after sunset) as the two approached me with a suspicious distance and flashed the knife outside striking distance like 3 meters when still being both on one side not cutting the escape route. So I turned and ran away to a group of people with dogs that was already leaving. The mulata was probably the hottest girl I ever made out with (an actress) but very busy. She still got me a cheap hanggliding experience through her cousin (feels great, as I kid I always wanted to be a bird…). And mingeling with girls is definietly easier in Brazil than in Norway. The sunburn was bad as it happened on a cloudy day and the going to bed was just the good life of always things happening and nothing better than walking down Ipanema and Leblon chatting with Bernardo at 23 o’clock (or later).
- Here in Buenos Aires there are some bad fires in the surrounding of the city, which results in tons of smog. Yesterday the visibility was like 500 metres. Really weird feeling. Also otherwise the Aire is not that Bueno because of all the busses and cars… Otherwise I might be going to Valparadiso next week. Is supposed to be really pittoresque. We’ll see if I get there. Pretty much the last trip before returning soon. Weird feeling about returning…
And now a few other points, observations (more – especially reader’s questions – will follow):
- I never before (in Europe) met so many political scientists as were. I admit that certain professions always come in groups of friends, but here they are very unrelated. I am not sure, but I have a theory: In Europe – as it seems to me – politics is a uninteresting business for the people as one cannot change much anymore. At least I feel like I could not change anything even though I wish to (Italy anybody?). Here, however the systems are more fresh and maybe more fragile and definitely not more flawed than the EU. So young people feel like they can change things. Also there are many things to change, most places complain about the social unjustice (actually can anybody tell me a former colony that had valuable resources and that is well off now? US, Canada and AUS does not count because their history in my opinion was not a typical colony-history…). At least it is my theory.
- Another thing I realised is that for me it is more difficult to talk emotionally in German than in any other language. Is it because I learned to deal with emotional issues only later, when using ENlish? I am not sure because there is a second observation that German speakers to me seem to be less affectionate. Is it not a Germanic cultural “strengh” to be rational, not emotional and to be tough? Are these related? Any views on that by you, readers?
- And also another friend of mine complained about a Central-European uni the students being more competitive than collabotrative. I am happy it is not just me, who sometimes feels like that in Central Europe… is that an European characteristic? Helping in each other when needed but not “together” in general but “by your own”?… do I sound like Carrie from Sex and the City now with these questions (worse English tho)? ;)
- And last: I miss my Mac. Working in Internet Cafes is a pain as the computers tend to die in the worst moments destroying tons of info. Could some browser maker please do something about that? :)
Ok, more will come soon! Bye.
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