More Brazilian Coast (by request)

Este baño no es privado.

One day, I'm in the elevator wearing nothing but a towel and some bits of shaving cream — being one of only two tenants at the time, I feel pretty secure about the low odds of an encounter — when the door (whose default setting is 'open') starts to close behind me. This can mean only one thing: someone will be on the other side when that door re-opens.

(Because my new apartment is presently without a mirror, my routine involves shaving blindly and then proceeding to the elevator to check the mirror there. Inevitably my face is all tufts and nicks after the first rough pass. Using the elevator mirror, I scrape off the last patches and then scramble in my loincloth through the cold to my apartment.)

All Ezekiel Ortiz wanted was to travel without event from the 4th floor to the ground so he could leave in peace after a nice visit to his brother. But he was not so lucky. When the door opened on a half-naked gringo holding a razor and laughing maniacally, Ezekiel gasped and did a little two-step back and forth, unable to believe his eyes. With a garbled explanation in Spanglish and a limp quip about the unavailability of toiletries, the dripping gringo scurried out of the elevator and up the stairs.

First impressions are very important.

When I subsequently met the rest of Ezekiel's family, they (whom I'd never met before) rehashed the shaving encounter with much delight. It was a big hit, really. If ever you have the opportunity to meet someone while shaving in an elevator, then do not hesitate to grasp the chance, for it may increase your popularity.

New Graffiti in San Telmo

Dune Buggies in Brazil

On two of our day trips from Natal, we rode in these bare, low-slung vehicles that looked like modified racecars. They sped up to 70 mph on the highway, and on sand they could slide sideways, skidding and fishtailing at the whim of the (insane) drivers. I cannot overstate the thrill, which was pretty much based on a constant feeling of real danger (no seatbelts in the back). I have no photos of the stunts because everyone used their camera hands to hold on for dear life.

There are parts of the coast that can't be reached any other way.

There were a couple of points when we needed to cross bodies of water. Here we're waiting for the ferry to cross an inlet. We assumed that we'd be stepping off the dune buggies and walking onto the ferry.

We were wrong.

And when the mama boat wasn't around, we took the baby boat...

Natal, Brazil

Manary Praya Hotel

Janet and Vivian, along the coast, on break from the dune-buggy adventure

Proving, once again, there is no masculine way to drink from a straw

Outskirts of the largest cashew tree in the world, which suffers from—get this—Monster Plant Syndrome (trans. from the Portuguese)

Brazil, after-dinner ritual

Cuban cigar, every night

Dinner Team, USA

Brian, Stephen, and Fiona are medical students at Vanderbilt who're taking the summer to do research (party) in a few laboratories (clubs) around Buenos Aires. Lovely people. I'll be sad to see them return home in a couple of weeks.

Snow on Independence Day

Yesterday brought snow to Buenos Aires for the first time in 90 years. It didn't stick, but they freaked out anyway.



Unperturbed by the wet cold, this muchacho conducts an experiment to see if his pelota (soccer ball) still functions under extreme weather conditions. It does, but madre still stands near to catch him if he slips. She will continue this duty until he is 30.

Clean the teeth profoundly!

Perfect.

This whole city smells good.

Everywhere, all the time, and everybody.

I've never experienced anything like it. If at any moment I'm not smelling a soft perfume, then I'm smelling a distant barbecue, or a nearby barbecue, or barbecue perfume, or flowers.

Dancing til dawn is as natural as breathing to these people.

Friday night, we threw a party in my building that lasted until 6:00am.
Saturday night, we threw a party in my building that lasted until 6:00am.



Axel Springer, coolest landlord ever


Joe is the architect of the building, a friend of Axel's, the only tenant other than myself (currently), a rippin' guitar player, and an expert on American music of the 1970's and '80's.

Paul and Janet's Wedding in Sao Paulo

Paul and Janet dressed up like they were getting married so that we could dance and spank Paul's feet. Observe.

Lovely bride, desserts

awww...

Traditional Korean foot-spanking


Janet begs for Paul's release!

Mrs. Lee attempts a bribe


"What do you think, Brian? Should we let him go?"

"Nah."

(Real Asians)

Peter's Hot Dogs

You're looking at approx. 45 different sauces.

Am I dreaming?

Or is this restaurant playing a mambo remix of Coldplay?

Observaciones 2

The sexual aggression displayed by the men here, especially at the dance clubs, is unparalleled by anything I've seen in the States. Here are two scenarios:

1) Man wearing a suit sees three slender brunettes passing him closely. The third woman is jerked to a stop, and looks back to see, at the end of her outstretched arm, her wrist trapped in his hand. In the noisy club, his shrugging shoulders and the expression on his face tell her, "Know this, woman: I am thirty minutes of paradise. My consuming stare is a good indication of the vigor with which I will use you to cheat on my wife." Woman shakes her hand vigorously to free her wrist, turns on her high heels, and leaves to catch up with her friends. Man, unperturbed, pursues her into the crowd.

2) Three women dance together in the middle of the club. Man wearing dress shirt and tie gyrates boldly into their midst, facing the prettiest of the group. She turns around immediately, facing away from him. Her friends, still dancing, arrange themselves to reform their circular feminine defense structure. Man uses hand on pretty one's shoulder to physically turn her around, then stands squarely in front of her, close, with his mouth at her ear, speaking there for an extended period, all the while growing taller while she grows shorter. Later they are making out—in the middle of the dancefloor—in a manner befitting the last two people on earth in the final moments before the bomb strikes.

Menu at UdaOndo

The Maytag Man Is Long Overdue

(That's insensitive, isn't it?)

Calle El Salvador

quiet (and a little blurry) at 4:00am

To block light

until able to hang from above, must stack from below

Pool Deck, Finished!

The noise has stopped; the men with hammers and saws have left; my office is nearly complete.


Some water in the pool would be nice. For now, I'm using it as a squash court.

Stencil Art in Palermo

Big Brother is Watching You

Homesick

I have been asked several times about whether I'm homesick.
Until last night, I wasn't. But then I went (a long way) to the casino here. Two river boats, four floors each, full of table games, and only ONE hold 'em table. No blinds, an $8 ante, and a $750 buy-in. I had to turn right around and leave, saddened by the unavailability of a good poker game.

That made me homesick.

My landlord, Axel

...is the singlemost animated fellow I've ever met. Having spent a year living in Ireland, he has absorbed the Irish brogue into his Argentine inflection, so he speaks with a hilariously unique accent. He gestures as though he were trying to churn the air into butter, and he's exceedingly friendly. He even invited me out to his friend's birthday party on Friday, where we closed the bar at 4:00. I've never known anyone else to hang out with one's own landlord, but hey, why not?

from an email:
"Hey Mason, how are you keeping it? [...] As I told on the other days, this weekend we make a party on saturday (because of my birthday and building inuguration) and on sunday a friend of Joe and me birthday party. Of course you are invited, just bring something to drink."

The Coco Late Photo Series

This twist on the alfajor includes toasted coconut. They're overwhelmingly tasty, but are a bit pricey at $0.43.


Coco Late chillaxin' at home.


Coco Late enjoys the outdoors.


An intimate moment with Coco Late.