Summer in South America

Hi everyone. I am in South America now. But here are the entries for the past few days to get you up-to-date on what has happened since the last post.

Tuesday, Jan. 4

This was my last day in Copenhagen. I had much to do and have been busy since leaving the apartment around 10:30. Before that, however, I relaxed by watching a DVD of a Danish film called Lykkevej (Happy Street). It was a nice film with the main character being a woman who has to make a new life at a much lower standard of living after being divorced by her doctor husband. It has been released in the U.S., I think, but I don´t know what title they used there.

I made stops at a cyber cafe to update my blog and a bookstore to use a gift certificate to purchase Girl with the Pearl Earring. Then I made a final stop at my favorite shawarma shop for a sandwhich (shaved lamb in toasted pita with lettuce, tomato, onion, creme fraiche, and hot sauce). There was a quick stop at the library to read the paper and an hour at the swimhall to enjoy the sauna. I dropped a bood off at Robert´s and said good-bye to him. Then I made a final stop at Arne´s grave site.

While having my shawarma, I saw one of the workers enter a back room and begin saying his prayers. These shops are owned by Islamics, and I had wondered how dedicated they are to their religion. It was the busy luch time when I saw this today, and another employee entered later. My guess is that they take turns praying. That way they keep the business going while remaining true to their religion. Watching these Islamics made me think about immigration and assimilation. I don´t think assimilation is likely in most cases today. The only reason it worked in America in the past was because the immigrants were from European countries or were black slaves with no other choice. In general, people don´t want to change, and it is so easy NOT to do so today with satillite TV from anywhere to anywhere, the Internet with newspapers in any language from anywhere, etc. My guess is that countries will become more and more places of tension between different groups with each trying to push its culture and values onto others. Examples today of immigrants making no effort to really assimilate include the Americans living in Central Mexico, the British settling on the Spanish coast, etc. Those groups are never going to want to drop their ways for those of the majority in the area.

It was so nice to be at the swimhall. I love going to the sauna. I´ve always liked steamy heat. It is so nice to spend an hour at a suana here, going into the heat for 10 minutes or so and then coming out to cool down under the shower before repeating the process again and again. It´s one of the special things about Scandinavia that I will miss.

I cooked hamburgers for Nurse Grethe tonight. We each had two small ones with tortilla chips on the side. Then I packed things. I took two suitcases of things to Grethe´s basement to have when I return--bathrobe, winter coat, winter shirts, shoes, etc. Then I made several calls to the U.S. and England to say hello tp people before departing here.

Wednesday, Jan. 5

Well, 4:30 a.m. came very fast, but I went to bed at 10:00 p.m. and slept well until then. Everything was already packed, and I had bathed and shaved late yesterday. I just dressed, splashed my face with water, thanked Grethe, and waited for Evy and Arvind to pick me up.

Pernille, Arne´s great niece was leaving for Portugal this morning, too. Her flight actually was 20 minutes earlier than mine. Evy and Arvind were able to see her off, too. And I was able to say good-bye to Anita, Holgar, and Gitte who came to see Pernille off. She and I went through security together, but her gate was at the opposite end of the airport from mine.

I was happy to find they could check my luggage all the way from Copenhagen to Sao Paulo. That will simplify matters in London, keeping me from having to claim and carry my bag during the day.
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It´s 12:21 Danish time (11:21 British time). I´m sitting outside security at Heathrow, and it´s been a good day so far. First, I was lucky to have a ticket qualifying me for Economy Plus seating on the SAS flight to here. That meant I got breakfast. People in normal economy class had to even pay if they wanted tea or coffee. I had lettuce, cheese, and Spanish chorizzo on top of a slice of warm Italian bread; yogurt with a packet of muesli;a warm roll with butter and marmelade; and tea and orange juice. That will keep me until mid-afternoon when I will eat snacks that Grethe sent with me.

My ticket was waiting for me at the Star Alliance ticket counter in the Departure Lounge of Heathrow Terminal 3, the same terminal where I arrived. The lady said that her colleague had processed it at 5:00 a.m. British time this morning. That would have been about the time I checked in at Copenhagen for my flight. I wonder if they waited for that to happen as proof that I would be coming to pick it up. She asked to see my credit card and assked me to sign a signature sheet (not the credit card form) as proof for getting the ticket. She said that procedure was due to the high price of the ticket (about $2850 U.S.). The best news is that she checked me in for my flight. That was possible only because my luggage had already been checked from Copenhagen to Sao Paulo, and it means I don´t have to stand in a long check-in line here. I can just go through security and to the gate.

The timing gave me 12 hours to wait for my flight tonight. I could have taken the subway into town, but it is an hour in and an hour out. I wouldn´t have anything to do but wander around, and I would have had to do it while carrying my heavy backpack and wearing only a light coat. Instead, I am staying in the terminal and reading. I have finished the Herald-Tribune. I also have the British paper The Guardian. And I have my nove (Girl with the Pearl Earring) to finish reading. Reading those and watching people should get me through the day. I board my flight at 9:00 p.m. for a 10:00 p.m. departure. Now that I know the process is reliable, I can plan to take a later flight next year on this date when I will fly my last segment of this ticket from Copenhagen to London and pick up a new ticket taking me to South America again.
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It´s 8:30 p.m. (9:30 p.m. Danish time). It´s 17 hours since I got up this morning, and it is 11 1/2 hours since I got my ticket here and began waiting for my flight. Heathrow makes everyone wait in a central area until 45 minutes or so before the flight. They do that by not posting the gate number until then. By the time people get to the gate, it is time for them to board the plane. In the meantime, people have been in the shopping areas longer. It is a process that works both for the airport and for the airlines, I think.

I napped about 1 1/2 hours this afternoon. Each seat is an individual one with a metal armrest on each end. I put my stuffed backpack on the seat beside me and leaned over the armrest to put my arms on the packpack and my head on my arms. I feel better for having slept, although I shifted everything 15-30 minutes, sometimes even changing to the seat on the other side of the backpack. I am still going to be very tired when I get to Sao Paulo. It is about an 11-hour overnight flight that arrives there tomorrow morning.

I have almost finished my book. It is an easy read and a short book. I may read the rest of it on the flight, but I need to sleep as much as possible.
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I am at the gate. It is 9:30 and we should leave in 30 minutes. The good news is that I was upgraded to business class. Maybe that is because they don´t have Economy Plus on Varig. It could also be because of my silver status on the SAS Eurobonus plan. Whatever the reason, it should mean a nicer flight for me.

I forgot to mention earlier that there was a 3-minute pause of silence at noon today in respect to the persons who have died in the Asian tsunami. Several people have asked it the school in Inida where I will be this fall was affected by the tsunami, but it is on the opposite (western) side of India.

Thursday, Jan. 6

I am sitting in the cathedral in Sao Paulo after having walked around the center of town for 2 1/2 hours. The plants, the architecture, the smells, etc., bring back memories of my previous four trips to Brazil. And what a contrast it is to Europe in terms of weather. It is warm and humid here.

We arrived this morning at 8:00 a.m. Because it was only a change of 3 time zones from Copenhagen (the hours were spent going south within a limited number of zones) and because I was able to sleep about six hours on the plane, I was fairly fresh this morning.

After our breakfast on the plane, I took my toiletries to the toilet and shaved and brushed my teeth. That was refreshing for me and made me much more presentable to others.

I really didn´t want to travel another night getting to my next stop, however, so I gathered info and headed into town. The tourist office gave me maps and helped me locate the street of the pousada where I had tried to make a reservation. Although I had not had a confirmation from them, I decided to take my chances by going there anyway. I took the bus to its nearest stop and walked the rest of the way. The lady spoke no English, but she recognized my name. Because it was only 11:00 and the room wouldn´t be ready until noon, I sat in their lounge and finished the last few pages of Girl with a Pearl Earring. It was a book I would recommend, but it is so short and simple, one should buy it at a used book store to save money.

I used my guidebook to map out a walking tour of the center of Sao Paulo. I cirled the buildings worth seeing and set out on foot. The neighborhood of the pousada is a nice residential one similar to Maria Helena´s neighborhood in Rio where I stay. Between it and the Center is a more ordinary area with cheap restauants, car repair shops, "hotels! with special 3-hour rates, and other local businesses. The Center is nice, but it is not so special. There are some nice buildings, but mostly it is just a big Brazilian city with little character. There is little to see that is very old. I do like all the pedestrian areas they have, though. And they have pedestrian corssing lights at intersections, something that is special in Brazil!

I had an acai this afternoon. It is a fruit drink made from a concentrate of berries from a palm that grows in the Amazon region. It was so refreshing! And I have seen lots of good looking places to eat. Soon I will be into a normal routine here.

I am somewhat out of shape. My legs are tired after just 2 1/2 hours of walking (9783 steps=6.65 km (4 miles)=400 calories burned according to my pedometer). Soon, I will be back walking 5-6 hours a day before getting tired.

After getting back to the room, I was too tired to go back out. I had intended to explore the nearby Ave. Paulista/Jardin District, a well-to-do inner city neighborhood. Instead, I showered and read. I ate some snacks in the room--peanuts and part of a Marabou chocolate bar. It will soon be 8:30, and I am going to put in my earplugs and turn out the light and go to sleep.

For the Day: 14,578 steps, 587 calories, 9.91 km/5.95 miles

Friday, Jan. 7 (Part I)

It is so nice not to be at the university in Corpus today or making plans to rush back for the start of the semester. For 5 years since I retired, I have realized that my part-time work in the spring was keeping me from traveling to South America. These around-the-world tickets require progressing in one direction. Because my tickets begin in London in January and I have always had to return to the university, there was no chance to include South America in my itinerary due to it´s being between Europe and the U.S. I had to keep heading westward as I left the U.S. Now I am free to come here each year if I want.

Diarrhea has struck for some reason. I seldom have a problem with it when traveling. All I have had here since my arrival was my acai drink yesterday. I bought it from a major chain of juice bars, but maybe the water or ice they used was bad. I didn´t get sick until 7 hours after drinking it, however. Will just have to see what happens today. It has now been about 8 hours since I had to go to the toilet.

My room is clean, but in terms of quality it is toward the lower end of the range of places where I normally stay. This place is built like a house rather than like a hotel. The rooms are around a tiled and covered courtyard. My room as one window which opens to the courtyard. It has shutters on the outside and mini-blinds on the inside. Light can be seen around the edges of the door like in a simple home here. The floor is tiled (which means it is probably cleaner than one in a hotel with carpeting). The walls are yellow and freshly painted. They are plain except for a mirrow on one and a picture on another. The light is an exposed florescent ccrew-in bulb. The bed is a double with a foam-filed mattress and two hard cotton-filled pillows. There is an oscillating fan on a bedside table. The bath is large, and like most baths in homes as openings at the tops of the walls either outside or into adjoinging baths to accommodate air circulation. It has a toilet that works well with a covered trash can beside it for the paper. The sink is small with a vanity on the wall above it. Unlike most baths in places of this caliber, it has a VERY bright light. The shower has an electric heating shower head, and it works well with a good flow of warm water. It is a good value room costing only $12.78 per night including breakfast. A hotel room at a 2- or 3-star level would cost at least double that and would have a TV and nicer bath and room. But here I interact with other long-term travelers and probably have a safer situation when leaving things in my room.

One question that always bothers me is whether it is safer to carry my valuables (passport, extra money, air ticket) on me or leave them locked in my suitcase in the room. I am not sure if I am more likely to have a maid or guest rifle through my things or someone to rob me on the streets. I know both would be rare, but I never feel comfotable with my valuables in either place!

Breakfast was rather good. It is served as a buffet at this place. I had a large roll with sliced ham loaf in about 2/3 of it and a thick honey spread in the other third. I also had a slice of papaya, a slice of melon, a small banana, and a slice of pound cake with a slice of the fruit gel they eat here (normally with cheesxe, but there was no cheese this morning). I had a cup of coffee and a glass of some type of melon juice. I skipped the cookies they also had and the tea.