nationalgeographic

I think it reminds me of American Gothic:

japlandic.com

We went to the island of Florianopolis. It is an unusual island which is long and narrow with a lagoon in the middle. We drove across the island in a few minutes and saw some of the ocean facing beaches and the massive sand dunes. The town of Centro was very cool and we enjoyed sequência de camarã or sequence of shrimp – basically so many types that Forrest Gump is the only one who could remember them all. It was one of the nicest meals I had in a country of amazing food.

We spent two nights on Ihla do Mel (honey island) – there are no cars on the island. It reminded me of the Phi-Phi islands in Thailand with its dark sandy pathways. Many of the visitors were there for a day or just the weekend and lot of surfers were there to visit Praia Grande (Long beach).

Summer weather in Sao Paulo state

I got off the plane around at 6am local time having escaped the European winter. It was strange to feel such warmth when your body is more used to freezing darkness.

We drove to northern Sao Paulo state and on the way I was a bit confused at the sight of people randomly jogging and cycling along the motorway. Others were just standing there miles from civilisation with nothing else around besides coffee plantations and fruit farms:

Typical view from the motorway - orange grove

We visited Jose-Gabriels ranch – they are very hospitable and eat and drink all day. We got a tour of the garden and were able to pick and eat the many fruits they had growing there:

persimmon or sweet tomato fruit at Jose's Ranch

Jabuticaba - brazilian grape

Speaking of food, one of the things I was most looking forward to in Brazil was a visit to a Churrascaria or steak house. It is an all you can eat affair and you have a little sign which you can flick from red to green. If green the waiters come to your table with cooked meat on a spit and slice it off for you. On my first visit to one I ate Alligator, Ribs, Sausage, Chicken and eventually they brought some Picanha. I expected I would get a whole one but unfortunately they only serve you a slice or two at a time:

Picanha - top sirloin cap

I learned my lesson the second time I went to one in Rio and waited patiently for steak, steak with garlic and steak with cheese. I also tried this meat on a pizza, my two favourite foods combined.

The brazilians do some strange stuff with ice cream. I tried it on a chocolate pizza (strange) and sweet corn ice cream (not great!)

sweet corn ice-cream

Rio is amazing! We arrived on a Sunday and the streets were packed with people trying to sell any and everything. Some guys were selling empty glass bottles, plastic dolls, old books, clothes, shoes, wires, pieces of broken telephones etc etc.

The layout is confusing at first and I eventually figured it out when we got above the city to the Christ Redeemer statue.

Rio from Christ Redeemer

We visited the Sugar Loaf Mountain and more spectacular views of the city:

view of copacabana from the sugar loaf mountain

favella from fast and furious rio

Spent an afternoon on Ipenama beach:

Ipenama beach

Beautiful sunset at Ipanama to clapping and cheering

visited Rio botanical garden:

Rio Botanical Garden

They are fond of old cars in Brazil, especially the VW Beetle, Opel Kadett and the Ford escort.

common sight in brazil

We are going to Florianopolis and German Brazil. The lonely planet mentions that many people think the German towns in Santa Katarina were built by Nazis on the run however they were created far earlier than that.

Maybe we will meet some of the boys from brazil.

phoneixmag

I thought it was photoshopped at first but either way it is funny.

In other news: I have not had much to write about the last week or two as I was away from the pc for a while and I am busy concentrating on other things (like watching the sopranos, spartacus blood and sand, alan partridge, peep show and psychoville).

I am going to Brazil for a month from next weekend so outbursts will be minimal until mid Feb.

The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs according to which cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on December 21, 2012. This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5,125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae related to this date have been proposed.
A New Age interpretation of this transition is that this date marks the start of time in which Earth and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era. Others suggest that the 2012 date marks the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. Scenarios suggested for the end of the world include the arrival of the next solar maximum, or Earth’s collision with a black hole, passing asteroid or a planet called “Nibiru”.
Scholars from various disciplines have dismissed the idea of such cataclysmic events occurring in 2012. Professional Mayanist scholars state that predictions of impending doom are not found in any of the extant classic Maya accounts, and that the idea that the Long Count calendar “ends” in 2012 misrepresents Maya history and culture. Astronomers and other scientists have rejected the proposed events as pseudoscience, stating that they are contradicted by simple astronomical observations

wikipedia.

I think the Mayans just ran out of room on their calendar and should make a new one.

Another key piece of the puzzle has something to do with the Dogon tribe in Africa and a mysterious star Nibiru which has the potential to turn the world upside down:

“Let me tell you two last things please. One, it is this, that I am told by the great storytellers of our tribes, that fresh water is not native to our earth. That at one time, many thousands of years ago a terrible star, or the kind called Mu-sho-sho-no-no, the star with a very long tail, descended very close upon our skies. It came so close that the earth turned upside down and what had become the sky became down, and what was the heavens became up.

“The whole world was turned upside down. The sun rose in the south and set in the north. Then came drops of burning black stuff, like molten tar, which burned every living thing on earth that could not escape. After that came a terrible deluge of water accompanied by winds so great that they blew whole mountaintops away. And after that came huge chunks of ice bigger than any mountain and the whole world was covered with ice for many generations.

“After that the surviving people saw an amazing sight. They saw rivers and streams of water that they could drink, and they saw that some of the fishes that escaped from the sea were now living in these rivers. That is the great story of our forefathers. And we are told that this thing is going to happen again very soon. Because the great star, which is the lava of our sun, is going to return on the day of the year of the red bull, which is the year 2012.”

darkstar1.co.uk

Here are the Dogons in action:

“Tallafornia. The spread and influence of Western Dublin culture, esp. that of Tallaght, across the rest of the country”

- excuse me ?

Check it out to see some gay roid abusers who think they are in Jersey shore but they are in the Hotel at the square in Tallaght. The program is disgusting but the commentary is accurate. I like the line “they should just suck each others cocks seeing as it appears they want to”

“Cormac’s Tallafornia Facebook page”

Occupation: Taxi driver

CORMAC BRANAGAN is a 29 year old taxi driving native of Rathcoole. Cormac studied business in IT Tallaght and having worked in both property and cars, intends to launch his own business ventures sometime in the near future.

I like the comment by “tallaght against tallaghfornia”:

Unfortunately the details are not really all that exciting:

In Bild, Germany’s three-million-selling tabloid, Nicklaus Blome said: “The euro is more important than the Brits.” It was true, he said, that the euro rescue plans had deepened the split in the EU. “But if the euro is not saved, we won’t be talking about temporary or deepening divisions in Europe – we’ll be talking about its demise. A temporary split can be healed in the future. An end to the euro, on the other hand, would be irreversible.”

guardian, bild