When not trying to have fun, you have it (Day 10)

Another trip into the interior. This time, instead of overwhelming our poor brazilian hosts with "Gringos", who speak no portuguese, there was only myself to worry about. In this case, Karen, Mark and myself went with a large group of Brazilian tourists into the interiour to see a carnival of Maracatu groups. This entire day was one of pleasant surprises, from experiencing the full-on Brazilian driving experience, (two solid yellow lines mean two vehicles can pass each other at the same time, especially if one is a motorcycle). This was a trip to see how some of the non-city Brazilians live, and it was a great experience. I think we Canadians, (I wanted to use Germans, when not giving in to the local shakedown crew, but our sense of national pride would not allow it), provided as much entertainment to the Brazilians as they did for us, or at least a direct subsidy to "Skol" in a few cases.

I sure hope that this festival does not grow faster than their capacity to handle the crowds. There was space to sit, the timing of the groups was a nice change from the day before, and more importantly the streets were clean, you could find a garbage can to throw away your trash. Although, it was mentioned that the street cleaners appeared to be men dressed as women, hmmmm. This raised a few questions, because there did seem to be a large percentage of men dressed as women. Ok, some were obviously drag queens, but a few were old men in ratty old dresses. A Statcan study for next year on the "% of straight Brazilian men who dress as women", let me start my proposal right now. Could this be the "lost shakespearan actors" tribe we have been searching for.



After grabbing something to eat and drink in the shade, us Canadians were able to "out-carnival" the hosts as we were the last of our party to leave. This was a wise decision as we stopped in Tracunhaem to view some local artisans. We viewed a couple of shops and were able to purchase an item or two, as well as take a few pictures.

On way back to home base, Karen figured that to really experience Brazil, we needed to see all economic ranges of the Brazilian people. From those living in the Favela's (should be safe it was daylight), upper lower class living, and the lower middle class (apartment complexes). A tour of the bio-waste facility was also necessary, and a Brazilian police take-down (don't take a picture). Eventually we arrived back at the apartment, where everyone was pretty tired, so it was a quick trip to a nice restaurant for "fish stew" and a shrimp casserole. After this full day, everyone kind of decided to relax, finish reading, catch up on emails or plan an intinerary for the next day.