B R A Z I L

Brazil is the largest country in South America and the fifth largest of the world.  It borders with Uruguay in the South; Argentina and Paraguay in the Southwest; Bolivia and Peru in the West; Colombia in the Northwest; and Venezuela, Suriname and the Guyanas in the North.  It shares its borders with every country in South America except for Ecuador and Chile.  It has a population of over 178 million.  The official language is Portuguese.

Almost all of Brazil is south of the equator, hence their seasons are the opposite of the North American Continent.

The Portuguese Pedro Alvarez Cabral discovered Brazil in 1500 and they started to colonize it. From the 1500’s to the 1800’s, millions of African slaves were brought to Brazil, and the Portuguese had children by both Indian and Negro women.   

Coffee and sugar are the leading products.  Today, technology, hydroelectric power and factories are also part of their economy, as well as precious stones and gold.

Rio de Janeiro is the major port and cultural center.  It is the largest city after Sao Paolo, with a population of over six million people.  It is renowned for its beauty and striking natural settings.  It used to be one of the major tourist attractions in the world, but crime in the city -especially muggings to tourists- had made it less appealing in the last years.

Rio, as it is called by the cariocas, was the capital of Brazil until 1960, when the seat of government was moved inland to the new city of Brasilia.  It boasts the busiest port of the country, in the Bay of Guanabara, which is crossed by the 14 km. long Rio-Niteroi Bridge, the longest bridge in the world.

My wife and I visited Brazil in March of 2007 spending a few days in Rio, another one in Buzios and then traveled to Iguazu Falls and Buenos Aires.  Iguazu and Buenos Aires deserve separate articles.

Rio de Janeiro is, undoubtedly, the most beautiful city that we gave ever visited, but the fear of being mugged doesn’t allow you to enjoy the city as much as you would love to. We stayed at a fine hotel right across the street from Copacabana beach and were afraid to come out at night. A couple of tourists that we met there told us their experiences with young muggers. We were always walking watching everybody around us and keeping my cameras under the shirt.

The Forte de Copacabana is well worth a visit.  This is where you get to take the classical photo of Copacabana Beach that you see on postcards.  From here we walked a few blocks to Ipanema Beach, which also disappointed us a little bit as it is full of locals only.  That night we ate at the Carretao, a typical rodizio. This is a steakhouse that serves barbecue on an all-you-can-eat basis.  Tender, juicy, delicious cuts of beef cooked to perfection and served by skilled professional that seem tireless.  They give you a round ticket that is green on one side and red on the other.  As long as the green side is shown on your table, the waiters keep coming one after the other offering all kinds of meat, sausages, chicken hearts and other goodies. All this is complimented with a vast array of buffet-style salad and soup bar.  The price is only $13.00.

Saturday morning, after breakfast, we were picked up at the hotel and taken to the base of the Corcovado Mountain where we rode a cog-rail train for about 20 minutes to the top. The mountain has an altitude of more than 2,000 feet, from where you can have spectacular views of the city below, including the beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon ,the Lagoon and Sugar Loaf. And then there is the 120 feet high statute of Christ the Redeemer.  The huge statue is lighted and night and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city and from many miles off shore.

From there we went to visit the world’s largest jewel manufacturer, H. Stern, where we were welcomed with a typical Brazilian drink, called caipirinha, and then were given a tour of one of the floors where workers were sorting, cutting and assembling jewels of all kinds.  On another floor there are more than 100 sales people.  Bruni “needed” a pair of emerald earring and they were glad to charge my credit card

That night we joined a group of tourists in a van and enjoyed another delicious rodizio and the best samba show in Rio, called Plataforma.  This show is magnificent with over 100 performers.  The music, the dances, the acts and the $10,000.00 dresses were spectacular.

Sunday morning we took another tour to Sugar Loaf.  This site is really composed of two mountains and we had to take two different cable cars to the top, where the 360 view of the city is even better. 

At night we joined another group and watched a soccer game at Maracana Stadium, the largest in the world with a capacity of 198,000 fans.  

We booked yet another tour with our friend Ademir, this time to the town of Buzios. This quiet village was kept secret for many years until Brigitte Bardot, the famous French movie star, made a movie there in 1964, transforming it into the spectacular beach resort that it is today.  Buzios had been nominated one of the 10 most beautiful places in the world. It boasts 20 beaches, including one for nudists.  It has now over 100 inns and hotels and many fine restaurants, art galleries and boutiques.  The boulevard along the downtown beach is very picturesque.  It has a bronze statue of Brigitte sitting down and also another one called “the three fishermen” that depicts three men inside the water.

All in all, this part of Brazil was fantastic.  It really deserved a much longer stay.  But we had to depart for Iguazu. That will probably be my next blog.

I hope that you liked this one.

P E R U

The Republic of Peru is the third largest country in South America, after Brazil and Argentina.  The capital is Lima.  The main official language is Spanish, which is spoken by 80% of the population.  Other official language is Quechua, spoken by 16% of the population, mainly Inca descendants.
It can be said that Peru is a country of extremes. It boasts a lot of the world's highest mountains, the world's driest desert, the world's most biologically diverse rain forest, the world's richest fishery, and the world's most extraordinary cultural and archeological diversity.  The most extraordinary ancient stone architecture in the world is in Peru.  The most extensive pre-Columbian empire in the New World revolved around the imperial capital of Cuzco.   The deepest canyon in the world is in the southern Andes of Peru.  The world's greatest varieties of cultivars and cuisine are found in Peru.  Corn, potatoes, beans, chocolate, hot peppers, peanuts, pumpkins, squashes, quinoa, amaranths, and dozens of other tubers, grains and fruits are native to and were first grown in Peru. Peru has over 1700 bird species -more than any other country in the world, of which 114 are unique to Peru.  More species of tress (300) are found in 2.5 acres of rain forest in northeastern Peru than in any other place in the Earth.
There have been people inhabiting this land for approximately 10,000 years.  The Incas came around 1500 AD, and were possibly the most organized civilization in South America.  Their economic system, distribution of wealth, artistic manifestations and architecture greatly impressed the first of the Spanish chroniclers.
The Inca worshiped the earth goddess Pachamama, and the sun god, the Inti.  The legend of the origin of the Incas tells how the sun god emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca and sent his children Manco Capac and Mama Oclio to found a sacred city at the "navel of the world", which was to be named Cosco and become the capital of the Inca Empire.
The rapid expansion of the Inca domain stemmed from their extraordinary organizational skills.  The vast territory of this magnificent civilization covered the country of Peru, part of what is modern-day Colombia to the north, Chile and Argentina to the south and all of Ecuador an Bolivia, with a population calculated at more than three million people.  
In spite of this grandiosity, the imposing Inca Empire lasted only a few decades.  The fall of it may be attributed to two factors.  First, Atahualpa, the actual ruler, had been attacked by his step brother, thus dividing the empire in two groups at war with each other.  The other component was the ancient and deep belief of all the Incas in the coming of a messiah or god, who had light features and was coming mounted on a huge animal.
When Francisco Pizarro crossed the Andes in 1532, found a multitude of worshipers kneeling at his presence.  The Spanish troop of only 18 soldiers captured Atahualpa and triumphantly entered Cuzco shortly afterwards.
Peru was declared an Independent Nation in 1821 and in 1824 Simon Bolivar put an end to the War of Independence.  But the young republic faced tough economic crisis and was governed for many years by military strongmen who gave civilians little chance to govern.  It was not until 1860 that the first civilian president, Manuel Pardo, was elected.
Lima, the capital, is an attractive modern metropolis with very heavy traffic.  Being on the coast, the humidity is extremely high, although it rarely rains.  The center of the city is of a distinct architecture and is always full of tourists.  It is recommended not to visit it at night.  Outside of the center area, the streets teem with mansions, modern high-rises, excellent parks and exuberant gardens.  Banks, businesses, restaurants and night clubs are abundant in the neighborhoods of Miraflores, Barranco and San Isidro.
Cuzco is situated across the Andes from Lima and the only way to get there is by plane.  It has an altitude of 11,470 feet above the sea level, which is the cause of soroche (high altitude sickness).  It is a city where the past and the present collide in a striking mix. This mystical capital of the Inca Empire preserves with pride its walls and battlements of stone, on top of which the Spaniards built their colonial churches and mansions.  All the roofs are uniformly made of red adobe and the cobblestone, windy streets  are intriguing and charming.  It is the archeological capital of Peru and the world, surrounded by impressive remains of the glorious past, such as the temple of Qorikancha, the citadel of Machu Pichu, the Fortress of Saqsaywaman, the Pisac temple and the Ollantaytambo compound, just to mention the important ones.
Puno is the city adjacent to Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world at 12,500 feet above sea level.  The lake is full of    floating islands made of totora reefs, which grow wildly in the lake. The Uros people  have been living there for thousands of years. The last of them died a few years ago, but they had mixed with the Aymara tribe, which had followed the same custom. Their houses and picturesque boats are also made of totora, a fiber tuber that is also edible.
These are some of the interesting memoirs of our trip to Peru in 2005.

I AM A SOFA

AUTHOR'S NOTE:  Back in the 60's, Reader's Digest used to publish a series of articles about the history of typical household items, detailing when it was invented, the way it was manufactured, its many uses, etc.  All from that item's point of view.  I remember one titled "I am a coffee mug" which was captivating because you could learn its origin, the materials that it was made of and other particulars.  And the amusing part...the mug was the biographer!
I will attempt to write my own story with the hope that you will find it interesting.  Thanks for reading it.
The sofa.


"I AM A SOFA.


I was born in the small city of High Point, North Carolina, just a couple of years ago.  I don't know the exact date but I know that it took more than 300 hours to conceive me!  Many husky men took turns to create the beautiful baby than I am today.  The first man in my life, Willy, started to form my frame using some kiln-dried maple wood from my state, which was free of knots, bark or any defects (the wood, not the state).
The ends of the many wooden parts were clean-cut, fitted double doweled and glued together and reinforced with corner braces.  In some places even screws were used. This part was a little painful (not to mention embarrassing). Then another man installed a series of tempered steel springs on my seat area.  I fell very strong at this point and knew that I could be able to resist any future heavy weights.
Then somebody else put a lot of padding on top of it and in the arm rest and sides made from animal hair.  I think it was hog or horse; I couldn't tell the difference, all I know is that it didn't smell very well.  This padding was interwoven with strips of jute, a kind of burlap made in India.  Then the whole padding was covered with synthetic fibers and polyurethane foam.
I was moved to another room then for the fancy dressing up, to get ready for my triumphant entrance into the luxurious furniture world.  A blend of cotton-polyester fabric was chosen on my favorite color: burgundy.  Every single piece was measured and recorded in a cutting list.  The many panels were plotted in chalk so they would match wherever their seams would meet when finally applied.  The largest piece covered my seat, then the back and sides were taken care of.  All these pieces were carefully straightened and secured.  Then I was turned upside down (not a very pleasant position) and my bottom was covered with a material called cambric, which does the nasty job of dust covering.  Finally, the four wooden mocha-stained legs were attached.
And presto!...I was a sofa!  When I had a chance to look myself in the mirror, I blushed with excitement.  Nobody noticed my blushing because of my deep red color; but I felt very proud and ecstatic with my gorgeous figure. My plush velvety burgundy coat covering my curvaceous and sleek body was the envy of every sofa in the huge plant.  I was sure then that I was destined to make somebody very, very happy.
After my photograph appeared in a Crate&Barrel catalog, a couple from San Antonio, Allen and Aixa, fell in love with me and soon I arrived at their home in Shady Oaks.  I also fell in love with them and specially with their two lovely princesses, Aleina and Ailani.  I soon found out that these doctors were a bunch of wild adventurers.  One day, with the help of their respective parents, Jay, Bruni, Bob and Ful, they hauled me on top of a pick-up truck and took me on a two-hour trip to a rustic cabin near the picturesque (?) town of Utopia and placed me in the living room.  Next morning, I was back in the truck for a ride to Lost Maples Park, where they proceeded to carry me for miles around the site, with the sole purpose of using me as a prop for family portraits.  At one point, the park warden stopped his vehicle to watch what we were doing.  He claimed that it was the first time that he had seen anything so crazy.  Well, that is his opinion.  Anahi and Edgar, the professional photographers, took dozens of beautiful shots; so it was hard  to choose the best ones.  Click on the entry above this article to watch some of the photos.
I hope that now that I am back home I can rest for a while.  Or they may use me for some kinky stuff in the near future.
...But that will be another story."