Wolfgang Maehr

This might be my last entry while travelling as my return trip is rather soon (time flies no matter whether fun or not…). Kind of is an odd feeling of returning. Bittersweet. Some things I look forward to, others I don’t, some things are in both categories… so i will spend the last time probably a bit more offline.

But now for the questions/reactions all people sent me. :)
• Q: Estas hablando Español, o você fala mais Português? Or has the English language epidemia killed all possibilities to learn a language? A: Estoy hablando mucho Español, pero no tan mucho que seria possible. Ingles lo hace mas facil a no apprender – pero no solamente Ingles. Encontre una chica de Noruega quien viaje Africa y tambien Latin America sin hablar Frances, Portuges o Espanol. A sympathetic smile does get you far. Puedes ver que no utiliso los acentes (tildes) ahora (no hay claves en este computador pero tambien necesito aprender/escribir mas) y este texte no fue controlado con un corector… Fue tamben falando Portañol en Brasil. Me gosta la lengua do Brazil, la melodia, pero esta muito diferente de la ortografia. Entonces, penso que no esta mal por unos meses. Entonces quiero practicar mas pero todavia tengo nuevas idiomas intresantes que quiero aprender (arabe, hindu, swahili,…). So, some more practice would be good, to get them on the same level as my French (I got to practice that in Bogota) before heading for the next one.
  And trekking is called trekking here. :)
• Q: How are the girls in Latin America? Are they really that … [fill with preferred characteristic] … as everybody says? A: Well, I would say that it is a matter of taste, of course. For Europeans many of them are definietly exotic in terms of looks and character. I found them nice as all people here are more open and “allegre”. Still, there are many variations between countries, cities and so on. They have more fire, like to dance and more often move more elegant than in Europe. And while emancipation here might be “less advanced” in terms of gender equality, the women here definitely are strong characters. In terms of countries there were differences to me, which are highly subjective. I found them in Mexico and Colombia most friendly, charming and accessible while Argentinia’s Gabriela Sabatini is defo not the only beauty around here. Dress-code is also differing between countries but is in general more colourful than in Europe. All in all, life here is deinitely more colourful – for example yesterday in San Telmo (a part of BsAs) there were drumming roups and people jamming in the streets, as it seems to happen every week.
• Q: Did you get married in Cuba or Colombia? A: Yes, and with my both wives I got in total 3 children from their earkier relationships. As soon as I am in Norway I will prepare for them to reunify with me.
• Q: What about the dances, which ones did you like? A: To be honest, this trip was more silent than I thought. I decided to not buy music (which luckily prevented me of buying 20 Putumayo Presents CDs) but rely on live plus music playing from radios and so on. I did encounter a lot of music styles, but the streets and bars were more silent than I thought (ok, I’ll see how that was in Norway). The richer countries here in the south have again more people with MP3 players and mobile phones as well. Also, here, in Argentinia there is quite some international music in the air.
  In terms of music styles I found the Costa Ricans and the Colombians more open for different local flavours, while other countries seemed more favouring their own local or then international music. Also, there seem to be two general directions of music, one with old Spanish flavour (folklore) and the other with more african (percussion) influence. So what did I all encounter (accumulative list, e.g. Salsa was everywhere…)? Cuba had Salsa, Son, Afrocuban and Reggaeton with me mainly remembering the cafes with tourists and locals listening to live Salsa and the one club we went to dance Reggeaton with locals. Mexico had Mariachi and other local but for me nameless music. I should remember Gaibaldi (IIRC), a square filled with like 50 Mariachi bands playing all at the same time few meters away from each other. Calypso, Mambo, Reggae and ChaChaCha was added Costa Rica, where I enjoyed dancing in this Reggae dance hall with my friend and even more I liked sitting with the old Ticos outside, on the porch next to the beach singing and listening to classical latino songs. Colombia brought Cumbia, folklore and other things that I forgot the name of. very memorable the busses with the drivers having loud music (Cumbia, Salsa…) on and also bein out, dancing with friends; In Brazil there was mostly Brazilian music like Samba, Forro, Axe, Bossa Nova, Zouk and the rest of MPB (an aggregational term for Musica Popular Brasileira) but clubs and radio also played a lot of international music. Most memorable again sitting outside in the tropical night on the porch hearing Akon’s “Don’t Matter”, also dancing in the bars to Forro and in one club hearing all Samba remixes even of the Start Wars melody and the Mario Brothers tune. Not to forget the Capoeira shows, out of which some were great but many were crap. Argentina brought the Tango (well, still not so my thing), drums, reggae jamming and folklore like other types of Samba and Cumbia. Most memorable here the live jamming and drumming in San Telmo and the techno club as a negative setting…
  All in all, I cannot wait for Oslo’s MELA festival this year! :)
• Q: So are you now a latino dancer? Did you learn a lot or does nobody dance? A: Yes, I learned a lot and pretty much everybody dances here but no, I am by far not a latino dancer. As some people just encounter answers on the mysteries of dance maths after years and years of great dancing, I am still in an apprentice phase. But on the other hand the experience here helped to care even less about the dance and just enjoy the music with (preferrably) or without partner. Sidenote: Jose, I hope we ca make another MiniMELA party when I am back!
• Q: Did you find a job in Lartin America? A: A concrete job not, but I found interest from contacts and I found hints on possible opportunities. I also found hints on my personal preferences, which I will try to cater better for.
• Q: How are the beaches and the bikinis? A: As it had been 7 years since my last time at the beach (Lanzarote) you can guess that I am not a beach animal. Still, I enjoyed being there for a while, to swim and fill my head with water when trying to float on big waves. I did not see the Pacific (not in Costa Rica and probably won’t go to Chile), so I will have to come back some day.
• Q: Films, books and other stuff? A: Well books, i have been rather lazy, still reading J.Krishnamurti. No theatre either – planned to go to one in Cuba, but the tickets were too few. But I saw a lot of films, dubbed or with subtitles in settings from home, in the bus, cinema in various languages and various topics.
• What about Martinho da Vila, baile funk, Araketu and Orixo? A: Martinho da Vila I do not know, I do somewhat know a bit about Carlor Gardel. Baile Funk Carioca I probably encountered some time when being in Rio, but I cannot rememeber it… But Araketu and Orixo I did not actively encounter…

So, these were the answers for the most burning questions so far, new answers will come from Norwag, just keep sending in the questions. :)