I hope Carla tickled your travel spirit enough with her stories from Brazil that we'll run into all of you down there next year. You also know already of my little side trip I took to the land of carnaval.
Not much had happened since I had got back from LA. I did see a great concert of Gandhi, the top rock band of Costa Rica. Never before had I seen a band getting the crowd into such a frenzy as did Gandhi with their electric energy. Because work moved along in the usual tropical slowness here in Costa Rica and despite the dire state of my finances I decided to take a little vacation and go see my gypsy queen, before she headed back up to California. Two days later I was on a plane to São Paulo. Luckily, Marcelo (see previous entry) was waiting for me at the airport. He informed me that Carla was going to arrive only an hour and a half later. So we shared stories over some delicious espresso at one of the many coffee shops and planned our surprise. I waited behind a column and Marcelo went to meet Carla at the baggage claim and walked with her towards my hideout. When they were only a few feet away I came out and it took Carla a few seconds to realize that it was me standing in front of her. Unable to utter one word we fell into each others arms.

First we went to Marcelo's home to drop off our luggage and enjoy some of his famous spice and herb mixture. He then took us for a walk on famous Avenida Paulista. The weather was relatively cold and gray and when it started raining we decided to have brunch. In the evening Carla and I ventured out alone to find carnaval leftovers. We weren't very lucky, but at least we found the party of the winning samba school. They were also finishing up for the night as most of the people were drunk and worn out from the previous days of craziness. We did not mind too much since we had some catching up to do. The next day we explored more of this megalopolis of 19 million people. We found an Umbanda  shop where you could find anything from Jesus figures to dried bats. That night we had dinner at a Churrascaria, an all-you-can-eat grill restaurant, typical of southern Brazil. Then, on Thursday evening it was time to say good-bye again, Carla boarded her plane to LA and I got on my flight back to San José. I arrived on Friday afternoon, just in time for my meeting with the architects.
A week later it was full moon again. I missed all my friends, knowing they would gather in the California desert to dance all night in the silver light. I did find a party here, but it was of the commercial kind and lacked the blissful energy of a tribe. Nevertheless, I danced my butt off. Unfortunately, the same weekend news reached me that the Greenhouse, our palace of creativity in LA had been sold. So I'll be heading up north again soon to look for new soil to grow our souls.

Banana Phones

Anonymous Art on Avenida Paulista

Umbanda Supplies

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