Day 71 - Cusco

Thursday, 23 October 2014

I arrived at Cusco airport at about 6.30 am. I didn't sleep the whole of last night while waiting for my flight from Lima to Cusco. I can't remember the last time I stayed up all night, I think it was for work. 

When I reached my hostel, I took a shower and went straight to bed. I woke up in time for dinner, and then back to sleep. Maybe it's the weather (a nice kind of cold, not freezing), maybe it's the altitude, maybe I'm  just tired, but I am feeling sleepy all day today. Sometimes it is good to sleep. And I am on holiday, after all. 

Day 70 - Rio de Janeiro / Peru

Wednesday, 22 October 2014

Deepavali! Although I had to wish everyone yesterday itself because Malaysia is way ahead in time. Amma and Appa are sad that I am not home for Deepavali, and while I miss them and the festivity that goes with it, I don't really feel sad because it is not celebrated here at all (obviously) so I don't feel as if I'm missing out on anything, it is just another ordinary day. And this is not the first time I am missing Deepavali, when I started chambering we were not allowed to go on leave and I missed Deepavali that year, 2003. 

My last day in Rio! I quite like this city, there is something about it that is charming, laid back and fun. I certainly leave with fond memories. It was quite sad to say goodbye to Fabian and her uncle, they were very good hosts, kind and hospitable. I checked out of the favela at 12 pm and headed to the airport.

My first flight was from Rio to Foz do Iguazu at 4.30 pm. The next flight was from Foz do Iguazu to Lima at 8.45 pm. Here I had to collect my luggage, go through immigration and customs, and then re-check in my luggage. My next flight from Lima to Cusco was only at 5 am, so I had more than 6 hours to wait. I sat down quietly in a cafe, had a chicken empanada and a hot chocolate and updated my blog. I didn't really feel sleepy for some strange reason, but I had already decided to sleep the whole day once I reached Cusco.

Finally the flight at 5 am and I reached Cusco at about 6.20 pm. Four countries later, I am back in Peru!

Day 69 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 3)

Tuesday, 21 October 2014 

After lunch, we went to the house of Alberto Santos-Dumont. He was arguably the first person to successfully fly a dirigible (a lighter than air aircraft) as well as a heavier than air aircraft, the precursor to the modern airplane. There is some ambiguity as to who was the first person to fly an airplane, the Wright bothers or Alberto Santos-Dumont, and I haven't read much on this topic but what little I read seems to suggest that it was Alberto Santos-Dumont, and not the Wright brothers, who first successfully flew an airplane.

In Brazil, Alberto Santos-Dumont bought a small lot on the side of a hill in the city of Petropolis, and in 1918 built a small house there filled with imaginative mechanical gadgetry including an alcohol-fueled heated shower of his own design. The hill was purposely chosen because of its great steepness as proof that it was possible to build a comfortable house in that unlikely site. After building it, he used to spend his summers there to escape the heat in Rio, and affectionately called it A Encantada (The Enchanted), after its street, Rua do Encanto (Enchantment Street). The stairs are the most curious, each tread alternately hollowed in the right and left, like an alternating tread stair: it allows that the stairs be steep enough to fit the little room available in the house, but still enable people to climb it comfortably. As the first hollow was in the left side of the stairs, people must step first with their right foot to climb it.

The house is now a museum, and here there were many letters written by Santos-Dumont to various people in his lifetime, a packet of his cigarettes, a telephone, and many other small memorabilia of his. The house had no kitchen as he apparently used to dine in the nearby Catholic University. He was never married, and later on in life suffered from multiple sclerosis. In 1932, at the age of 59, he committed suicide due to depression. It is sad. Nearby the house there was a replica of the first airplane that Santos-Dumont flew. 

And then we were done with the tour, and we drove about 1 1/2 hours back to Rio where although it was a gloomy, rainy, cloudy day, the temperature was much more tolerable than in Petropolis. Here Sebastian, Normando and I walked along the Ipanema and Copacabana beaches, stopping at Confiteria Colombo at Fort Copacobana (Sebastian seems to have a fixation on this place!) where I tried Bohemia beer, it is good. The place was very cosy, beside the Copacabana beach, where we could hear the waves crashing as we drank our beers. Then for dinner we had a slice of pizza and more beer, and then we said goodbye to Normando Lima. It's a pity, here is a nice cute guy but no opportunity for me to get to know him better, as I leave Rio tomorrow. Welcome to my life. 

Before walking back to my favela, Sebastian wanted to show me this place which is very famous not only in Rio but in the whole of Brazil, it is a place called Bip Bip where every night, musicians play traditional Brazilian music such as bossa nova, and when they finish a song, you do not clap but snap your fingers. The owner is a man named Alberto, who reminded me of a grumpy version of Santa Claus, and this place has been operating now for 45 years. There are limited places to sit, but one could always buy a beer and stand and watch. We watched several songs being performed (I thought the most talented of them all was the man who played the flute; exquisite!) and then we went our separate ways back to our hostels. After spending 2 days with Sebastian, it was quite sad to say goodbye but such is life. 

Day 69 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 2)

Tuesday, 21 October 2014 

Next, the Imperial Summer Palace which has now been turned into a museum, and we got to enter the museum wearing some funny looking slippers that you slide under your entire shoe, which means you had to slide and walk around, it was not the most comfortable thing to do. The palace was huge, with many rooms including bedrooms of the various royal family, sewing room, music room, diplomats' room, exposition rooms, etc. we also saw the crown of King Dom Pedro II and some of the clothes that they wore at the time. There were many paintings of various members of the royal family. 

In May 1888, slavery was abolished in Brazil. Queen Isabel, the daughter of King Pedro II, signed the decree abolishing slavery, and the original decree as well as the pen she used to sign the decree with can be seen in this museum. Queen Isabel signed the decree because she was left in charge of Brazil when Portugal demanded that its King be in Portugal and not elsewhere. 

I think I had already mentioned that King Dom Pedro II was interested in all things science. On a visit to the Philadelphia Exposition of 1876, he was impressed by Alexander Graham Bell's new invention, the telephone, and had a line connecting his Summer Palace to his farm headquarters. The telephone can still be seen in the room that was once his office.

Sometime in 1889, there was plans for Brazil to become a republic, and the royal family were politely asked to leave Brazil, and they left quietly without any bloodshed or violence. I am not sure why Portugal did not fight the Brazilians, but I think it is perhaps because the Portuguese empire was already declining at that time, making way for the new superpowers at that time, the Dutch and the British empires. But I may be wrong, I am not a historian although history intrigues me.

After the Summer Palace we passed by the House of Queen Isabel, this is where she stayed after she got married. We also stopped by the Cathedral, a beautiful church where the royalties and aristocrats used to be buried. And then we stopped by the Crystal Palace, it is a building made of transparent crystal or glass, and was a gift from Queen Isabel's husband to her. It used to be used for bird and flower exhibitions. Today it is used for exhibitions as well.

Then we had lunch. Because I was late to lunch, Sebastian had already sat down with this nice Colombian couple. So I sat down at the same table with this Brazilian guy, Normando Lima, and he could not speak a word of English and I could not speak a word of Portuguese! But with a lot of hand gestures and Sebastian's help from time to time (he can speak Portuguese), we got on pretty well. Normando is very cute.

Day 69 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 1)

Tuesday, 21 October 2014 

Breakfast at 8 am again, and at about 9 am I made my way to the tour agency for the tour to Petropolis. I was right - Sebastian was on this tour as well! Today was a rainy day in Rio, and Petropolis was situated in a hilly area, so the temperature was about 17 or 18 degrees Celcius. And I was in shorts and a blouse. Just great. But all the travel information I read on Petropolis never warned me about the cold weather, so how was I supposed to know? It's Rio de Janeiro after all!

There is some confusion about Rio de Janeiro, and I cleared it up with my guide, Sergio. There is Rio de Janeiro the state, and Rio de Janeiro the municipality, within the state of Rio de Janeiro. Petropolis is another municipality within the state of Rio de Janeiro. Rio de Janeiro means "river of January" and was named as such after the first explorers came to the harbour in January and mistakenly thought it was a river mouth.

Petropolis means "city of Peter" (Petro from Pedro, in English Peter, and polis from the Greek word meaning city). It is also known as the Imperial City of Brazil, and was the summer residence of the Brazillian emperors and aristocrats in the 19th century. Between 1722 and 1725, an alternative route was opened between Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais. While traveling to Minas Gerais along this route, King Dom Pedro I (the son of King Dom Joao VI) found the region's climate pleasant, while staying at the farm of Correia, a Catholic priest. As the priest's sister and heiress refused to sell his property, the King bought in 1830 the neighboring one, the Córrego Seco Farm. He had his Summer Palace built there, but never saw it finished. His son, King Dom Pedro II, finished the palace and stayed there with his family. 

Today Petropolis is a city of about 300,000 people. The main industry here is chocolate and beer. The famous local brand of beer, Bohemia has a big factory here which we passed by. 

Our fist stop was at the Quitandinha hotel, a beautiful European looking building. It used to be a hotel with a casino, and most of its guests came there mostly to gamble. However, in the 1950s casinos were not allowed by law, so they sold the hotel rooms as apartments to people, and the common area is looked after by the government. We saw what used to be the casino, a hall with very little lighting and few windows; apparently this was to make people oblivious to the time i.e. whether it was night or day, so that they would stay and gamble longer. There was also a swimming pool, a children's room, a show room, and what used to be a big bird cage with various birds kept in it. But since this is no longer the fashion nowadays, the cage with its interior decorations remains, but empty of bird life.

Day 68 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 4)

Monday, 20 October 2014

It was about 6 pm when we left and it was already beginning to get dark. We walked to the Municipal Theatre, the exterior of the building is very beautiful. Just across the street from the Municipal Theatre was the National Library, which apparently contains books dating back to the times when King Dom Joao VI and the Portuguese royalty escaped from Portugal to Brazil. Unfortunately this was closed for some sort of renovation. Next to the National Library was the Museum of Fine Arts, which is in a beautiful old building. Opposite the National Library is Palacio Pedro Ernesto which today is the headquarters of the Municipal Council. There is a small square in front of this building, where the Cinelandia metro station is, and here there was a pretty monument which had something to do with independence because the date 1822 was on the monument. 

Then we walked to the Lapa area, passing the Metropolitan Cathedral on the way. It was nice to see the cathedral at night. We walked passed the famous Lapa arches, and saw the Flying Circus, a square where various performances and shows take place. Lapa is supposed to be a happening party place, and there is a famous bistro here called Rio Senarium which has live samba and bossa nova songs, but tonight the streets were completely empty as if it was a ghost town, I think it's because of the public holiday. So then we walked towards the nearest metro station to take the metro back to Copacobana, and on the way, a kind lady told us to be careful because it is not safe to be in downtown at this time.

My first guide was right! And we were happily walking all around the place with our cameras and hand phones in plain sight, oblivious to the danger around us. It is very fortunate that nothing happened to us.This is the thing about guides, not just in Brazil but everywhere - I find that more often than not, they tend to tell you completely different things. What I write in this blog is based primarily on what my guides have told me, and it may well be wrong information.  

The metro currently has 2 lines (I heard they are making more tracks for more lines in anticipation of the 2016 Olympics). One way costs 3.50 reals no matter which station you go to, and regardless of whether you change lines. We took the green line (a newer line) which stopped at Botafogo, and from there we had to change to the red line (the first and older line). Except that there did not appear to be anywhere to go to change to another line. We were discussing this when a kind Brazillian boy explained to us that although there are 2 lines, both trains run on the same track; so we get out of the green line train and wait at the same place for the red line train. Interesting. If that is the case, I don't know why they just don't have one single line that stops everywhere. 

It started to rain when we reached Copacobana, and we found a small stall where we had a burger, and then we walked back to our respective hotels; Sebastian stays in Leblon whilst I am in Copacobana. Sebastian is also going to Petropolis tomorrow and since we both booked our tours at the same tour agency, I was pretty sure I would meet him again tomorrow. But we exchanged emails anyway "just in case". Sebastian likes to say that, along with "it's ok!". It is infectious.

I was feeling quite tired after the jungle trekking and the walk in downtown Rio, not to mention climbing the 110 steps, so I took a shower and went straight to bed, with slightly sore legs.

Day 68 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 3)

Monday, 20 October 2014

Then we walked back towards where the Municipal Theatre was, passing by the Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil and Casa Franca-Brasil on the way. Also on the way, I noticed many shophouses with really old designs, and it looked like the downstairs were shops and the owners lived upstairs, not unlike many of the shophouses in Malaysia. Except I think these shophouses were probably built by the Portuguese way back when, because the doors and windows are those that opened outward, something that you don't see nowadays in modern architecture.

Then we came to the Paco Imperial or Imperial Palace, which I found a bit disappointing because I was expecting something grand but it looked like a really big square house to me. Nevertheless, it is a historic building, built in 1743 and used as a residence for the royal family who fled from Portugal to Brazil. Apparently when it was built, it was the only building in Rio with glass windows at the time. When the royal family moved to a larger palace, this building was used as a government building. From one of the windows here, King Dom Pedro I announced to his subjects that he would disobey his father's orders and remain in Brazil. This episode is known as the Dia da Fico, and would eventually result in Brazil's independence. The Lei Aurea, the law which abolished slavery in Brazil, was signed by Princess Isabel (granddaughter of Dom Pedro I) here. 

Just beside the Paco Imperial is the Palacio Tiradentes, built in 1926 on the spot where the old jail was formerly located. This is where Tiradentes, who was a hero of independence, was held prisoner in 1792 before being hung and decapitated. There is a statue of him in front of the building. Today it is the congress building. There was a group gathered there protesting against abortions. 

Nearby is the Sao Jose church. This is a church dedicated to Saint Joseph, Mother Mary's husband and Jesus' stepfather. I have no idea why there would be a church dedicated to Joseph, as far as I am aware he is not the patron saint of anything. Anyway, this church dates back to 1608, although it has been renovated and restored over the years. We went to this church because Joao told us to go behind the altar, there is a 'secret' there that not many people are aware of. The 'secret' behind the altar was that there are statues of the holy family there - Joseph lying on the bed, Mary holding his hand on one side and Jesus looking down upon him on the other side. It was a nice thing to behold, and beautiful of course, like all churches in South America.

Then Sebastian wanted to go to this place called Confiteria Colombo, which is something like Rio's version of Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires. This confectionery was founded in 1894 (Cafe Tortoni is older!) by Portuguese immigrants. Like Cafe Tortoni, this confectionary has been patronised by celebrities, artistes and important people in Brazil over the years. There are huge mirrors on either side of the wall giving it a very spacious look; the mirrors are from Antwerp, the furniture and tiles from Europe. There is a second floor with a tearoom, and Sebastian told me that the Queen of England had a tea party there once. Here I had coffee and a brigaderio, a Brazillian chocolate delicacy which is basically a chocolate ball. Sebastian had pastel de belem, another Brazillian delicacy which is a kind of fruit tart (I tried some). Then we had a caipirinha just for fun.

Day 68 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 2)

Monday, 20 October 2014

Then we were to go jungle trekking to see a waterfall where people could swim in, and Joao gave us a choice whether to go by an easy trail or a more challenging trail. The ever adventurous Sebastian wanted to do the more challenging trail (so did I in secret) so we went this way. The trek itself was quite short, but there were 3 places where we had to climb over rocks, the first I could manage without any help, the second we had to hold a rope and climb down backwards (something which I cannot do don't ask me why, I need to always see where I am going) which I did half way and then needed help, and the third was the most difficult of all, it was a vertical climb up some roots of a tree, over a jutting out rock, walking along a small space by the side of the rock (if you slip here you will fall and probably break a leg if not die) and then it's done. 

Going up was not as hard as I thought, coming down was difficult because at one point, you really couldn't see where your foot is to land, but luckily Joao was there to help place my foot on the (invisible) rock below.  At the waterfall we refreshed ourselves for a bit. It was fun to go jungle trekking. I realise that no matter how many times I go jungle trekking, I will never get used to it, I am always so careful and slow when I trek. But I also realise that I love jungle trekking, it is something that I don't think I will ever get bored with. I am a jungle girl for sure, not a beach girl.

And then we were done at about 1.30 pm. I wanted to go downtown to check out some of the old buildings in the old part of town, buildings that were erected by the Portuguese. Sebastian said he would come with me. Today was a public holiday in Rio, and my previous guide on the city tour told me it is not safe to go downtown alone, especially on a holiday because there are not many people around, but both Joao and Sebastian said it was perfectly ok so we took the metro from General Osorio station to Uruguaiana station.

The heart of downtown is a place known as Praca XV. Portugal was actively trading with the British empire, and Napoleon was not happy about that and threatened to invade Portugal unless it stopped trading with the British. The king of Portugal, King Dom Joao VI and the royal family of Portugal then fled to Rio, under the protection of the British, bringing with them about 40 ships filled with all kinds of technology, books, produce; everything necessary to build a new city in Rio. Praca XV is where they first landed.

Our first stop was the Candelaria church. This church was originally built in the early 17th century by Spaniard Antonio Martins Palma and his wife Leonir Goncalves as thanks for being saved from a shipwreck. It fell into a state of disrepair, but over the years was renovated. There is a beautiful limestone dome which crowns the church, this was finished in 1887 and weighs 630 tons, silencing the doubters who said the structure of the church could not stand the weight of the dome. Like most churches in South America, this church was beautifully decorated with paintings, carvings and stained glass inside.

Next, the Sao Bento Monastery. This was one of the earliest churches ever built in Rio. It was built in the early 17th century, about 1617 to 1641, by Benedictine monks as a place of worship and study. The compound is huge, and it was not open to the public to enter the entire compound, we were only allowed into the church but there was not much to see as it was under heavy construction, probably some kind of restoration work. But from what little I saw, the interior was really beautiful, with wood carvings interlaced with gold and silver carvings. Beautiful designs of angels, cherubins and other Christian themed stuff. Apparently there are still some Benedictine monks on the premises but I didn't see any.

Day 68 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 1)

Monday, 20 October 2014

I had breakfast at 8 am sharp, and then at about 8.40 am I started walking down to the tour agency for my tour to the Tijuca National Park. It's confirmed. No tour agency would come up to the favela to get me. I am on my own walking up and down the million stairs and the hill. Ok, a thousand stairs. Actually it's about 110 stairs. But there is quite a steep hill before that ok! 

There were just 2 people on the tour today, a guy named Sebastian from Argentina and yours truly, and our guide of course. His name is Joao, which is John in English, and is a very common name here apparently. It was nice having a tour in a small group as we got to ask Joao many questions which we otherwise probably couldn't ask. To go to Tijuca National Park, we had to take the tunnel which connects the South Zone of Rio with the North Zone of Rio. On the way, we saw the Rocinha favela, the biggest favela in Rio with its own restaurants, clinics and schools.

According to Joao, the Tijuca Forest is the largest urban jungle in the world, and at the same time, the smallest national park in the world, covering about 39,000 square meters of land. It is a secondary forest. Previously, the land which the forest is now situated in was used primarily for coffee and sugar plantations. In 1861, King Dom Pedro II, who was a man of science apparently, became concerned about erosion and deforestation caused by intensive farming, as declining levels of rainfall had already begun impacting on the supply of drinking water. He then appointed Major Manuel Gomes Archer to be in charge of protecting Rio's water supply. This man, together with 6 African slaves, began replanting trees by hand over the entire area which is today the Tijuca National Park. There is a plaque in the park dedicated to these 6 slaves. Imagine planting by hand an entire forest! 

Our first stop was the Taunay Cascade, a natural waterfall where people were not allowed to swim in. Then we saw what was the last property to be expropriated to make way for the national park, this property was once a house but now converted into a restaurant. We also passed by a small chapel known as the Mayrink chapel. Because the forest used to be a coffee and sugar plantation, there used to be a neighbourhood in this area, but when it was decided that the forest was to become a national park, all properties were expropriated and mostly demolished, except for a few, including this chapel.

Then we went for a very short walk through the forest. Among the fauna that live here are monkeys such as micos and capuchins, hummingbirds, buzzards, really small scorpions, coatis, wild cats, snakes and insects. We stopped by a really small lake where there were carps peacefully swimming. Then we went to a Chinese garden overlooking the coast of Rio. The Chinese came to Rio wanting to plant tea. They built a garden and roads leading to it. In the garden was a stone table known as the Emperor's table, apparently this is where the Emperor of China would come to have a picnic and contemplate the sea (and life, I suppose). However, in the end Rio was not a suitable place to grow tea and they left.

We also saw what is called a Chinese Vista, built by Brazilians to honour the Chinese. This vista is peculiar because it has gargoyles in the shape of dragon heads, facing downwards. The gargoyles are spouting rain water out of the vista, but the romantic version is that the Chinese usually built their temples with the dragons looking upwards to heaven, but here they are looking downwards towards the coast line, because Rio was heaven.

The view was pretty amazing though. We could see Copacobana beach in the distance, Botafogo port, 2 mountains known as the 2 Brothers because they are similar in height and beside each other, the Corcovado mountain, the Flat Top mountain and many other mountains.

Day 67 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 2)

Sunday, 19 October 2014

Then I walked along the Ipanema and Copacobana beaches again. The day before yesterday when I walked along Copacobana beach (as well as today) I noticed a bronze statue of a man named Carlos Drummond de Andrade. I had no idea who he was and then I did some research and found out that he was a Brazilian poet who lived in Rio, and often visited this stretch of Copacobana. Maybe because tomorrow is a holiday, or maybe because today is Sunday, the beaches were crowded with people! For a person who doesn't like human beings and hates crowds, I think I have seen enough human beings to last me a life time. I just wanted to find a quiet corner to drink a beer. 

But first I went to the tour agency, luckily they were open and I booked my tour for Tuesday to Petropolis. For tomorrow, they didn't have tours to Buzius but to another place called Angra. I was not particularly keen on this place, and then I found out that both Buzius and Angra are basically beach-y places, we travel about 3 hours by van, then get on a boat which will take us around the area and stop at 3 places to swim and play by the beach. Not really my thing. I am discovering very quickly that I am not a beach person at all. Which is really weird considering I grew up practically beside the beach in Kuantan. Perhaps because of that I am not a beach person. I have access to a beach anytime, I just have to go home.

They also did a tour to the Tijuca forest, where we walk through the forest along jungle trails. That appealed more to me than the beach trip so I booked this tour instead. It's funny how I can never get tired of jungles. For me, there are more things for me to see and explore in a jungle than at a beach. Unless you go swimming in the sea (which I don't because I can't swim) there is really very little that one can do by the beach.

After that I had nothing to do so I stopped at a nearby bar and ordered a beer and what I thought was a sandwich. It was not. It was a piece of chicken filet, feijoada (rice with black beans and bits of pork, a staple local food), salad and French fries. Way too much food. Instead of figuring out the menu in Portuguese, perhaps it is best that I ask after all, although communication is a real problem here. 

But the walk back to the favela sorted me out. Still full, but I can feel the food digesting away.

Day 67 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 1)

Sunday, 19 October 2014

Today I had nothing to do. So I woke up late, and it was actually really late because now the time is an hour later than yesterday. Last night at 12 am Brazil had to change its time to an hour later. It's called daylight saving time. I had no idea what this was, and when I googled it, I found out that it was just a practice of advancing the time during summer so that people wake up earlier and enjoy longer days. I don't understand why one has to adjust the time for this. If the sun rises at 5 am instead of 6 am, and if you wanted to say, jog in the sun, wouldn't it be easier for you to just get up at 5 am instead of adjusting your clock so that you are in fact waking up at 5 am but the time shows 6 am. Bloody confusing. Well, I for one am glad I live in a tropical country with rain and sunshine all year round and there is no need to adjust the time.

I wanted to book my tours for tomorrow and Tuesday, but unfortunately the tour agency that my hotel is in contact with have no tours available! Luckily I saw some tour agencies near Copacobana beach, and I hoped they were opened today so that I could book my tours. Otherwise, I would again have nothing to do for the next 2 days. Although I must say, just hanging out on the balcony or in my room, writing my blog or listening to music is quite fun. 

After breakfast I walked around the favela a bit. It is a network of stairs, streets, lanes and even more stairs - almost like a labyrinth, and it took all my brain power to remember where I came from, in order not to get lost. Although there is an elevator going up and down the favela, I notice many people do not use the elevator. This is why most of the people here are very fit. The biggest favela is known as Rocinha (pronounced Hocinia - the 'r' is always pronounced as 'h' here), with more than 70,000 people. I imagine it is a nice cozy place to stay, if not altogether that clean and tidy. 

After that I went to a crafts fair near Ipanema beach, where I bought some souvenirs and very quickly ran out of money. While for me, Brazil is still cheaper than Chile, the things here are not that cheap. The cheapest country for me was Peru, followed closely by Argentina (but only because of the black market exchange rate) and Ecuador, and then Uruguay, Brazil, and the most expensive is Chile. 

Day 66 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 3)

Saturday, 18 October 2014

Next, the Metropolitan Cathedral or the Cathedral of Saint Sebastian, which is located in the centre of the city. This church was built from 1964 to 1979, and is unlike any other church I've ever seen in my life. It is conical in shape, about 75 meters high and has a standing room capacity of 20,000 people. Inside, in 4 corners of the church, are stained glass going all the way up 64 meters to the ceiling. The 4 corners of the stained glass meet in the middle to form a cross at the internal roof of the church. It was beautiful, something really very different. And here I thought I've seen it all! 

Then, we went to the Santa Theresa neighbourhood, to see the stairs of Selaron. This is a very colourful stairway which was the work of Chilean artist Jorge Selarón, who moved to Rio in 1983, in a tiny house just in front of the desolate stairway connecting the areas of Lapa and Santa Teresa. There are 215 steps that he entirely covered with tiles, ceramics and mirrors either collected in urban areas of Rio or donated by visitors from all around the world. Since 1990, Selarón has laid over 2000 tiles, unique pieces representing a tribute to the Brazilian people. He never finished embellishing the stairway, and one day in 2013 he was found dead lying on the very steps he decorated. This is a true story. The steps are probably the most famous steps in the world, Michael Jackson made his music video for 'They Don't Care About Us' here, among others.

Then we stopped for lunch. It was about 4 pm (since we started late and took forever to see Christ the Redeemer), and I was so hungry. It was a buffet lunch, and when everyone was done I was still eating because I was the only one who took seconds. This was embarrassing but in qmy defence, it was a buffet lunch, it was 4 pm and I was starving! And I would probably walk off the food anyway. What can I say, I love food!

After lunch, we went to the last place of the day - the Sugarloaf Mountain. This mountain is about 396 meters high. Its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. There are actually 2 peaks, and there are cable car rides to both which I took. The first peak is Urca Mountain, about 220 meters high. The second peak is Sugarloaf Mountain. From both peaks, but especially from Sugarloaf, you get a bird's eye view of the Botafogo harbour, Copacobana beach and the city of Rio. As it was getting dark, I got to see the view during the day time and when the lights were turned on. You could also see Christ the Redeemer in the distance, but it was a foggy day today and therefore it was not so clear. 

And then we were done with the tour. I reached my hotel at about 7.30 pm. No tour agency would send me all the way up so I had to walk uphill and the thousand stairs again. I told you I would walk the food off. Then I had to decide once and for all whether to go home or travel some more, and finally I decided to travel some more (I probably will never again come back to this part of the world so I might as well make the most of it while I can) so I booked my flight ticket to Peru on 23 October 2014.

Tomorrow I have nothing to do, Monday I plan to go to Buzius, and Tuesday to another place called Petropolis, and Wednesday back to Peru. Maybe I am just denying the inevitable - that I will have to eventually go home, where I am sure things will go back to the same as it used to be and worse - I have to bloody work again!

Day 66 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 2)

Saturday, 18 October 2014

To go up to the mountain top we had to purchase the entrance ticket (which our tour guide purchased for us) and take one of the vans up. There was a long line and we had to wait for almost 2 hours before we finally got into a van! And then from the entrance you either take a panoramic elevator up to where the statue is (there was a long line here, too!) or take the 220 stairs up, which is what I did.

Unfortunately it was not a very sunny day today so there was a lot of fog, but whenever the fog cleared, the view of Christ the Redeemer is really a sight to behold. The statue is 30 meters high and the base is 8 meters, so altogether it is 38 meters high. The arms stretch 28 meters, and it weighs about 635 tons. The statue was a gift by the government of Brazil to its people in commemoration of Brazil's 100 years of independence. The idea was conceived in 1921, and the actual construction work began and in 1922, and the statue was completed in 1931. The statue was designed and built by a collaboration of French and Brazilian architects and engineers. It is made of reinforced concrete and soapstone. There is a small chapel here, in honour of Our Lady of Apparition, the patron saint of Brazil.

To me, Christ looked a bit sad. Of course, in a religious context one could say he is sad because mankind continues to sin even after he sacrificed himself for our sins. But the first thought that came to my mind was that Christ was sad because Brazil lost miserably in the recent World Cup. And yes, I'm probably going to the Hell I don't believe in for thinking that. 

Next, we went to the Sambadrome, which is a parade area where samba schools parade competitively each year during the Rio Carnival. The Sambadrome was designed by the lovely Oscar Niemeyer and built in 1984. It consists of 700 meters stretch of the Marques de Sapucai street, which has been converted into a permanent parade ground with stadium like seats built on either side for spectators. Its capacity is 90,000. The official Carnival parades take place just before the start of Lent. They are held for 4 consecutive nights, during which schools parade one after another from 8 pm until the morning. Each samba school is given 90 minutes to parade from one end of the Sambadrome to the other. On Ash Wednesday, grades are gathered and one school is declared the winner. The Parade of Champions is held the following Saturday featuring the five winning samba schools. 

Outside the Carnival season, part of the Sambadrome is occasionally used as a major concert venue in Rio de Janeiro, and among the artists who have performed here are Nirvana, Janet Jackson, Bon Jovi and the Rolling Stones. 

After this, we went to the Maracana Stadium. It is actually named Estadio Journalista Mario Filho after an important journalist in Brazil, but is more popularly known as the Maracana Stadium due to the place it is situated in, which is known as the Maracana neighbourhood. This was the stadium that was built for the 1950 World Cup when Brazil was host, and in which Brazil unfortunately lost to Uruguay in the finals. At that time, it was the biggest stadium in the world, with a capacity of 200,000, including places to stand. But there was a change in the rules which prohibited standing areas, so with only seating areas, the stadium's capacity is now down to only 75,000. It still remains the largest stadium in South America. 

Day 66 - Rio de Janeiro (Part 1)

Saturday, 18 October 2014

My Pest's birthday! I call my younger brother the Pest for obvious reasons. I even wrote a song about him:

"He's a pest who likes to

Irritate my life in every

Way and everything that I do

What am I to do

He's immune to all the

Weapons that I've used against him

No matter what I do or say

He comes back again" etc

I used to write songs. And poetry. It's been a while since I wrote anything creative. I need to be inspired to write. And I haven't been inspired by anything in a long while. Times are bad.

Today I have a full day tour! It was supposed to start at 9.30 am but by the time they picked everyone up we only started at 10.30 am. Apparently Monday is a public holiday here, and due to the long weekend traffic was busier than usual. 

First, we went to see the Christ the Redeemer statue! The statue is situated on Corcovado Mountain, in Tijuca National Park. The mountain is 710 meters high. On the way we passed by the Hotel Copacobana Palace, a grand hotel inspired by the luxury hotels on the French Riviera. We also passed by the Botafogo neighbourhood, which has a lovely harbour. This is the only beach in Rio where people don't swim, because the water is polluted due to the many boats in the harbour. 

My life - Part 43

I didn't have to shave my head bald. 3 As (History, Economics and Malay) and 2 Bs (English Literature and General Paper). I was most disappointed with my General Paper. If I had gotten a B for Economics and A for General Paper I would have been happier. And I was happy with a B for English Literature, I did after all study this subject on my own.

And then application to university. In the university entrance form, we are given 5 choices of which university to go to and which course to do. For all 5 choices I put Law in University Malaya. My mother saw the form and asked me what I was trying to do, and I told her this was just a draft form. It wasn't. I sent it in. 

I remember people telling me (most of them were my relatives because for some weird reason, most of my relatives seem to be wishing for my downfall, they appear to get some sort of bizarre satisfaction from knowing that their children are doing better than me - it's like I'm in some competition that I never signed up for from the day I was born, and there is no way out, I will always be watched and judged, and the harder I fall the more they have to talk about) that it was almost impossible to get a place in the law faculty in University Malaya, and perhaps I should choose an easier course. Four letter words came to mind but I restrained myself. My revenge shall be by action, not words.

And then the results for university entry. I was successful. 

My life - Part 42

I was to teach Science (of all things!) to Form 2 students. However, I was lucky again. When I arrived in the school, there was another temporary teacher there (from my school, actually - I did recognise her!) and she was supposed to teach English and Malay - so we spoke to the school administration and they agreed to let us swap.

I loved teaching. Many people told me that with my temper, I would not make a good teacher. But on the contrary. I had immense patience with my students. And this is the thing about me. When someone shows a desire to learn, I can spend a lot of time teaching them, no matter how long it takes or no matter how many times I had to repeat myself.

Like most Malaysian schools, the classes were streamed from the best students all in one class, to the worst students all in one class, and the in betweens in various other in between classes. I had to teach a mixture of classes, from the best to the in betweens to the worst.

One of the things that I realised straight away was that in the worst classes, there were students who could not even read and write. And here again, is the problem with Malaysian education. There is a public exam in Standard 6, and regardless of whether a student passed or failed, they are automatically sent to Form 1. So in Form 2, I had illiterate students. And then I also had dyslexic students. These I had no idea how to teach because obviously I am not trained to understand how they look at things.

But the illiterate ones, I could see that some of them were really interested in learning but they just couldn't read or write. So, with the permission from the school administration, I told them to come to school on Saturday morning and I would teach them how to read and write. Word spread, and soon I was having students from the good classes coming on Saturdays too although I told them this was a reading and writing class. But they came anyway, and I used it to my advantage, I paired a good student with an illiterate one and had all sorts of games and competitions to see who could spell, read and write correctly the most, and I would give the winners small presents.

Of course, there were students who were not interested in learning at all. At first I tried to talk to them but there are some who just don't care. And I had to tell myself that I can't save them all. And I ended up telling them that it's their choice if they don't want to learn, but I expect them to be quiet in class and allow the rest to learn. For the most part it worked.

I liked teaching Form 2 because I think that is the age when it's not too late to be moulded, and they are open to new ideas, new inspirations, new dreams. And what better way to open their eyes to new possibilities than to have a teacher who is a dreamer herself, telling her students that nothing is impossible, everything is within their reach, they decide their future.

I have no idea whether they were inspired or not but I have nothing but best wishes for all of them. There was one illiterate Chinese boy who I remember in particular, because he was completely illiterate (the rest were more or less partially illiterate). With a lot of patience and encouragement, he could read simple English by the time I left. And I thought to myself, if I could help just one student, I have done my job. 

It's very fulfilling to be a teacher. Now that I am jobless, I sometimes think of teaching again. Not in university but in school. There is so much that you can do with young students, the most important of all is moulding them into useful human beings. The reward is seeing a once illiterate Chinese boy read in English in front of the class, to thunderous applause. It doesn't get any better than that.

My life - Part 41

One of the things about doing Form 6 is that you lose about a year of your life just waiting for results and admission into university. After the exams in Form 5, there is about a 5 to 6 month wait for your results and a place to do Form 6. So Form 6 is really just slightly more than a year and a half, although with the waiting it becomes 2 years. And then, after the exams in Form 6, there is again about a 6 month wait for your results and a place in university, and public universities usually begin their terms mid year. So my friends who went to college and did A-levels would all graduate at 21 or 22, whereas I would only graduate at 24. That was just the way it was.

Since there was a long wait until my results and admission into university, I decided to temporarily teach in a school, I heard that they gave preference to Form 6 students waiting for results to give temporary teaching positions to. I had to go for an interview, and one of the questions asked of me was whether I was willing to teach in a school on top of Gunung Tahan. I had no idea whether there was really a school there, but I knew that Gunung Tahan wasn't an easy mountain to climb, you needed climbing equipment. So I told the interviewer that if he gave me climbing equipment sure, I would teach there. 

I didn't know it then, but I discovered that the best way to pass an interview is to be completely honest. It has worked for me every time since. I got the job in a normal school in Kuantan.

My life - Part 40

And then the dreaded exams in Form 6! Actually, I wasn't as nervous as I ought to have been, I think because I was quite confident of the effort I had put in.

For English Literature, I was the only one in the entire exam hall, with 3 invigilators looking at me! Talk about pressure. And one of them told me in jest that if it was not for me, they would get the day off. Ha ha. I'm preparing for my future here, so please excuse me. Later, I found out that I was the only student in the entire East Coast (Pahang, Terengganu and Kelantan) who did English Literature for Form 6.

I prayed to a God that I still didn't believe in at that time that I would shave my head bald if I scored 5 As. And if I didn't get 5 As, for every A that I got I would fast for a month. 

I say this with a lot of conviction - Form 6 exams were the most difficult exams that I ever had to sit for in my entire life - forget about degree and masters, they were walks in the park in comparison - if I could get through my Form 6 exams, I could get through any exams easily thereafter. 

And then it was over.

My life - Part 39

Not everything in my life is unfortunate. One lucky coincidence was that when I went to a music school to look for a piano teacher, I met this woman who had recently moved from Kuala Lumpur to Kuantan, following her national hockey player husband who had a coaching job here. She was a piano teacher there at the music school, but she offered to teach me piano lessons in her house for a lower fee. I preferred that option and although I didn't know her credentials as she was new in town, I decided to take a chance with her because I really liked her and I could see that she was passionate about music.

And I was right about her. Generally I am a good judge of character, a lot of which depends on my intuition. Sometimes I just get a feeling that a person is not good, and I keep my distance. Of course, my opinions can change but it very rarely happens. And then of course, sometimes I ignore my instincts and plunge headlong into the arms of the devil. But that's another story.

I loved this piano teacher! All my previous teachers were very exam orientated, so that I only ended up playing exam pieces and little else. This teacher was really different. She first asked me to play a few pieces by different composers, and she told me that I had a heavy touch on the piano, meaning Mozart pieces were not suitable for me. I was more Bach and Beethoven. That's what I already thought, but the other teachers didn't care about all that and chose 'easy' pieces to play rather than which composer was suitable for me.

Whereas for my Grade 8, I chose the composer rather than the composition. And my teacher gave me books to read about the composers whose pieces I would be playing, including the history of a particular song they composed. And not only that, she made me play other pieces by the same composers as well, although they were not exam pieces, so that I really got to know their style. 

I looked at music very differently then. It was not just an exam to pass but a creative journey. The history behind the pieces I was playing made me understand the composition better, and if I put myself in the composer's shoes, I could almost feel the emotions they were feeling when they wrote that particular piece. I travelled back in time and with imagination and a lot of feeling, I lost myself in those compositions.

I had very little time to prepare for my Grade 8 exam. But now I was playing music like I never did before, or since. I passed my exam.