The next series of pics are from my trip to Brazil. This was a very interesting journey, and Brazil is a magical place. I first started out in Sao Paulo, but it was a huge city, and I soon got tired of it since there was not really much to do there. I will mention that the last night I was there, I went to a musical event with some people from my hostel, and it was off the hook. You will see some pictures of the party. It basically consisted of live drums and DJ's. One percussionist started playing by himself, and soon a trap set drummer started playing with him. One by one, they added another trap set drummer until they had five trap sets going at once. This was of course accompanied by the percussionist. Interwoven in the rhythms were some DJ scratching and beats. It was one of the most musical and rhythmic experiences I have ever had. It amazing how telepathic they were together. It wasn't too surprising since these were some of Brazil's most famous musicians. Some of the DJ's were from the states as well. The best thing about it was that it was not very loud. Just a good warm, powerful rhythmic pulse.

After Sao Paulo, I went to Rio De Janeiro - see from the pics below. Rio was amazing as well - rich with music and culture. The beaches were some of the best in the world. You can rent an umbrella, a chair, and sit on the beach all day long. People come by with everything you need - food, juice, water, beer, arts and crafts, etc. It was quite incredible. I did my best to capture the essence of the beach experience in the pics. You will notice two pics - one is from the people I met in the hostel, and one is of two guys from the east coast that I met down there. They were a little more wild than me - what's done in Brazil, stays in Brazil kind of thing. Anyway they were cool.

After Rio, I started to make my way back to Sao Paulo to fly home. Along the way, I went out to a coastal town called Santos. Here I went to a soccer match between Sao Paulo, and Santos. It is a very old rivalry, and Santos is the place were the great soccer player Pele played. If you take an Oakland Raider game, and multiply the energy by ten, then you are getting close to a soccer match in Brazil. The competition is so fierce that they have to have completely separate sections for the two different fans, separated by wire fences and armed guards. I guess if they were to put them in the same sections together, they would kill each other. It gives new meaning to "just a game" doesn't it? I had decided that if Santos started loosing the game, that I was going to hightail it out of there ASAP. Luckily, Santos won the game - if you look close, you will see one pic where I capture the ball on the way into the goal. The score was 2 to 1, so I was pretty happy to catch one. Anyway, it wasn't without incident. After the game (I was in the winning, Santos section), there was a fight that broke out while we were trying to leave. There were only four exits - one in each corner of the stadium, and we were being herded out. When the fight broke out, there was nothing I could do. Four big guys fell on top of me, and I injured my shoulder. I had to use my legs to push the pile off, and wriggle to safety. Suffice to say, it was an experience I will never forget. And last but not least, you will see a picture of Estela. If I was a crazier man, I would have married her. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the pics...:) P.S. the pic of the Policia in front of the McDonalds I thought was hysterical. It looked like they were guarding the place, but really they were about to run out some protesters...