Amazing Amazon Forest - Mar 2012

The silence of the forest, the echo of the trees,
The whispers as the wind blows, just as you please!
I swirl around and around and look to the sky,
Through the tall branches, I see the clouds float by.
Can I be dreaming or am I just in a spin?
The peace that is before me, a chill upon my skin;
As I walk, the leaves rustle beneath my feet
Sending little notes of joy, a melody to beat.
I can only stop and stare and keep the memory mine,
The forest has it's mystery and I must keep in line;
I will sit beneath the tree and listen to the sound,
So many different messages are scattered all around.
The whistle of the wind rushing past my face,
Looking for the exit so it can leave this place;
The branches sway and the leaves begin to fall,
I can hear the birds now, sending me their call.
I must now follow and leave the forest too,
Day is nearly ended, the dark will spoil my view;
Tomorrow I can come again, enjoy the peace I seek,
The silence of the forest are whispers I can keep.

Eunice Powe

Was this a dream…or a dream finally coming true…
Was I actually going to wander in the most beautiful Amazon Rainforest with its abundance of flora and fauna that I had mugged about in the geography lessons?

The Meandering Amazon

My impatience increased as I peered out of the plane window to catch a view of the amazingly dense green rainforest with the ‘chai’ colored meandering river. We land at Puerto Maldonado, one of the smallest airports I have ever been to.
I think – and this is a thought that came to me several times during our stay in Peru – I may as well have been in India. The heat, still air, no air con and porters to help us with the luggage!!! While he lugs our luggage for a pittance, we fool around.

Egg fried rice innovatively packed!

We, along with our luggage, cram into a small tempo traveler for a short journey to the head office where we leave the bulk of our luggage and carry only what is necessary with us. We are handed the cutest little baskets with some snacks for our dusty and bumpy drive to the Infierno River Port. It’s a case of hot, hotter and hottest…and soooo still. Even the moving vehicle doesn’t create any air!!!! We board our boat for a 3 and half hour trip upriver on the River Tambopata - one of the 29 tributaries of the River Amazon to take us to our resort Refugio Amazonas.

Black Caiman

Finally…the Amazon River or rather one of its tributaries!!! The excitement…was I expecting an Anaconda or the Piranha??? In The Peru Amazon they believe and follow eco friendly tourism – and it starts with our innovatively packed egg fried rice lunch. One can sense that our guides are quite fascinated by our group of 23 women!!! It soon starts getting dark and Julian points out a Black Caiman and several Capybaras on the river banks. The capybaras look quite eikkie! By the time we reach its pitch dark and we have a short walk from the river bank up to the lodge. We stumble along… the night sounds of the forest don’t seem to make it any easier. A leaf looks like a tarantula, a cicada sounds like the hiss of a snake and one of us squelching along sounds like some carnivore!!!

The first view of Refugio Amazonas left me awestruck… the natural log type construction, the openness of the reception area and dining room, the dim lighting.

Refugio Amazonas

Walkways

 Hangout

 Dining Area

I had my 1^st taste of Peruvian food and its yummmmm. The curries were quite Indian like. Some also decided to try the Peruvian drink Pisco Sour which soon became a favorite in our group.

Walkways – the beauty of which I appreciated only in the morning since it was too dark and being an eco-lodge there was no electricity, just kerosene lamps and candles.

Our Room

One side open to the forest!

The rooms have one side opening out onto the surrounding rainforest…just a mosquito net between us and them!!! The rooms were separated from one another by light cane fencing, with drapes instead of doors so though they were private, not really soundproof. And since I am a light sleeper, I spent the night hearing my neighbor glugging water! Even the bathrooms didn’t have doors, only the drapes. We just aren’t used to darkness…and for a long time I could hear people dropping something, tripping and just cursing!

Our Guides

Honestly, it was a wonderful experience but I did miss a fan…it was so still and hot. The mosquito net was quite stifling and using a hand fan just didn’t generate enough air. Sleeping without the net was not an option given the buzzing mosquitoes. I was taken to a scene from a typical Somerset Maugham novel. When I had read him describing his afternoons in some colony, I always thought - what imagination. But now I know…he experienced it. I have now experienced the word STILL!

Rainforest Trees

The twittering of birds woke me up in the morning. I think I could have lain on the hammock just staring into the beautiful, deep green forest for hours. The same forest, that the previous night seemed so formidable now looked so calm. A cold shower with organic soap (not sure if that’s the right word) followed by a breakfast with some very interesting local fruit and we were ready for our walk. There were 2 options – a longer, supposedly tougher walk to the Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake, which I went for and a shorter, easier Brazil nut tour.

It’s a different story that a few from the shorter walk came back at the same time as us as they got lost and left behind somewhere!!!

We were advised to wear gum boats and I sure was glad - there were a lot of mucky, squelchy patches during our 4 hour walk since the leafy crowns of the 90 feet or taller trees prevent the sun’s rays from reaching the forest understory. It started easy enough but did get quite tiring as the day proceeded. The stillness and the heat can drain the energy!

The walk was very interesting as our guides pointed out the flora and fauna. Pedro showed us the shell of the local Brazil nut. One shell has several nuts inside it. Julian then broke one and we had a tasty treat.

 Pedro showing Brazil Nut Shell

 The Brazil Nuts - Our treat

Canopy Tower

20 minutes into the walk and we reached a 90ft high canopy tower in the heart of the rain forest– I looked up and wondered…will I be able to climb it? There were three main platforms, each giving us a different perspective of the forest. The lowest platform was at the same level as the upper understory. The next platform was at the same level as the canopy, and the highest platform actually lets you look down at the tops of hundreds of trees and get a spectacular view of the vast expanse of standing forest with the Tambopata River lazily winding through the dense forests. Perched at eye level with the crowns of massive, thousand year old trees, listening to the Exotic birds calling from deep within the jungle – indescribable experience. I could have just stood there for hours and watched the toucans and parrots and scanned the canopy for other birds but we had a long walk ahead and had to leave.

Erotic looking roots of some trees, hazaare type of insects, vibrant and beautiful bracket fungi, Dusky Titi Monkeys, Toucans , Parrots, Parakeets, Weaver birds, White fronted Nun Birds,...wattawalk!

Bracket Fungi	Dusky Titi Monkey
Parakeet	Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake group

Blue Swallows

Finally we reached our destination…the oxbow lake. A large flat platform like boat takes us around the lake in our search for the giant river otters. We aren’t so lucky. We do see some fish which Pedro insists was the Piranha. I have my doubts looking at the way they enjoyed Maria’s crackers. If Piranha, wouldn’t they have enjoyed one of us more? Nearer the edge was a branch sticking out of the lake with 2 blue swallows, which didn’t fly off as we got closer but just flitted around there playfully!

Alligator

As we approach the bank on our return, some people there told us to hush up and pointed to a small boat docked there. An alligator was basking in the sun inside the boat with a little butterfly chilling out on his snout!!!

Suddenly Julian stopped and who would have thought that he would actually show us a Tarantula!!! It sure did send shivers down my spine.

Mamma and Baby Turtles

Tired, sweaty but very satisfied, we returned to the lodge - a refreshing shower, yummy lunch and a short nap before we were off again for our Ethnobotanical Tour. We needed to cross over the river and at the bank we saw the cutest sight ...mamma and baby turtle out for a tight rope/branch walk!!!

At the farm across the river we devour on the sugarcane, star fruit and fruits freshly plucked from the trees. We were really lucky to sight a beautiful variety of birds – Emerald Toucanet, Yellow Tufted Woodpecker, Blue Grey Palm Tanager, Tropical Kingbird, Forest Elaenia, Black fronted Nun Bird, Epaulet Oriole and a vibrant orange bird for whose name I can’t recognize my own handwriting on the piece of paper I wrote these names on :-(

After dinner some of us went for a night walk and what a mind-boggling variety of insects and spiders we saw – no wonder it is considered the No 1 Biodiversity Hotspot of the world. Next day we had to leave real early for our next destination. The beauty of dawn breaking over the Amazon that we experienced on our boat ride back makes me rate it as the No 1 place to watch a dawn.

Iguazu Falls,South America- Mar 2012

Let your soul be satisfied
with the odd beauty of this landscape
that although the world walk in truth
you'll never find, like this, nothing.
Good and bad dynamic and changing
find here, from ist name,
keep in your heart of man humble
a true and consistent message.
Meditate and feel the deep emotion
contemplating the vibrant climax
eternal mist that is circled.
And do not try to describe it in your voice
only he leans his forehead against the abyss
is the mirror of the word of God.

   -Alfonso Ricciutto

I have met many guides during the course of my travels – interesting ones like Stephen in New Zealand, chic ones like Qui in China, boring ones – can’t remember her name at Athens! I had yet to meet one who could manage a large group especially a group of women effectively!!! Till Oliver, our guide at Iguazu falls, who was a class apart! And considering the nature of the touring in Igazu, he really deserves a pat on the back. Funny, flirtatious – poor CN who was at the receiving end of all his comments, thorough with his explanations – so thorough that at our hotel which had the system where lights etc can be controlled from the telephone instrument, he got the telephone from the reception to show us how to use it and making sure that we all kept to his times!

Taller than Niagara Falls, twice as wide with 275 cascades spread in a horseshoe shape over nearly two miles of the Iguazu River, the Iguazu falls lie on the Argentina - Brazil border and are a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. The border between Brazil and Argentina runs through one of the larger falls called Devil's Throat. In 2011 it was declared as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature.

We arrive at the Foz do Iguaçu International Airport which is in Brazil and the plan is to leave immediately to visit the Argentina side of the falls. On the way there is a particular point where the Parana and Iguazu rivers meet and so do the borders of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. We can’t stop there, but Oliver is like – keep your cameras ready and click on the count of three :-)

Oliver collects our passport for stamping and tells us that the Argentinean custom controls are very strict so we should just not get off the bus for clicking snaps etc when we stop on the Argentinean side. He sure was experienced!!!!

However, on the Brazilian side he lets us off – in a shop!!! What amazing Amethyst!!! As usual we get busy shopping, but with a promise that he will get us here again either on the way back or the next morning, he manages to get us on to the bus again.

The falls are part of a practically virgin dense jungle ecosystem protected by Argentine and Brazilian national parks. We have lunch at the restaurant in the park and then take the Rainforest Ecological Train, a lot like the toy trains, across the forest to the entrance of trails.

Two thirds of the falls are on the Argentinean side of the river and walkways across the forest allow close views of falls. We take 2 trails - the Upper and Lower. Walking along we encounter some Quachi Racoons frolicking around on the track and some amazing birds and butterflies. And this is where I feel bad about the loss of my memory card and snaps. A beautiful butterfly on a guy’s knee…I ask him to freeze as I take snaps of it. Sweet fellow obliges. On a bench some people left crackers and a butterfly is captured nibbling away. Various shots of a blue butterfly perched on the railing with an 8 on its wings as it flutters away:-(

At some points one can literally walk over the water gushing into the Devil's Gorge. One of the walkways takes us directly over the falls of the Devil's Throat, the highest and deepest of the falls, with water pouring into it from three sides. I cannot describe with words what I felt at that time – beautiful, sublime, picturesque, awesome …I think one must put ones head in the spray of water to really feel the power and beauty. The Iguazu falls are among the widest in the world but because it is split into hundreds of discrete falls and large islands, it isn’t seen as one big curtain of water, but many spectacular smaller falls. The shape of the walkways is such that one enjoys so many different views and at one point near the end we are surrounded by 260 degrees of waterfalls.

So with Meeta’s words - FULL BEAUTA – still ringing in our ears we trace our steps back to the train and collapse in the bus. It seems that at the border, the passport control wanted to count the heads and boarded the bus to check – only to see a busload of sleepy heads! I wouldn’t know – I was fast asleep. By the time we reached our hotel, we all were refreshed for our drinks partyyyyy in Sumi’s room where Meeta and Sumi made some heady cocktails!

Next morning we leave to see the Brazilian side of the falls. The real enormity of the falls hits us. Though Brazil has only 20% of the balls, it has the most panoramic views. At the start of the trail, one can just look across to all the falls on the Argentina side. We then walk through the subtropical forest of National Iguaçu Park and stop several times to see the falls. Its brilliant, no doubts, but many of us start getting the feeling that the previous day was more impressive…but like its often said – leave the best for the last!

The walkway along the canyon has an extension to the lower base of the spectacular Devil's Throat, where fourteen falls drop 350 feet with such force that there is always a 100 foot cloud of spray overhead. The Mist, the Rainbows…not one but 3 at one time was breathtaking!

Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States' First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!" I haven’t seen the Niagara Falls, but I can’t imagine anything beating what I saw here!

And the cheery on the cake – my window seat on the flight out…I managed to get an aerial view of the falls!

Reuse, Recycle, Resell!

It’s CSR week at Logica and we at the Writer’s Club are writing for any cause that is close to our hearts.
My contribution -

A friend wondered - Will our children ever know the connection between these two?

When I sent the first draft of this post to a friend to read, she said “there may be some who don’t know what a cassette is!!!”.
So for all ye from the iPOD generation, this is what we used to jam up our evenings, listening to music on Tape Recorders and Walkmans!

I get all nostalgic.
We were not allowed walkmans in school. But rules are for breaking, aren’t they? Sneaking up to the terrace with our walkmans, sharing the earphone with the less fortunate (?), listening to Wham (George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley), Bruce Springsteen and our favorite was Cyndi Lauper with Girls Just Want to Have Fun!! 

Remember those days when our favorite audio cassettes would get all tangled up and we would use our pencils so diligently to roll back the tape.

She doesn’t let me reminisce for long!
In line with her belief of reusing, she comes up with a brilliant idea! Let’s retain the connection and the memories with this wonderful pen/pencil stand. 

This is just one of her ideas. Just Google ‘Anokhi Planet’ and you will be amazed at some of her other innovative eco-friendly ideas!

The mantra is Reuse. Recycle. Resell. I have always encouraged the principles of reuse and recycle in my daily life so that I can reduce my contribution to the landfills. I believe that we shouldn’t just don’t throw out stuff that we don't need. If we think, we can reuse or recycle.  But in all honesty, I wasn’t so innovative with my reuse / recycle ideas. And resell didn’t exist - either Hoard or Throw!!!
Till I went to a flea market organized by a group – Second to None, Bangalore (can be found on Facebook). To quote the founders of that group- “Find a new lease of life for objects around you. Don't discard. Resell. Don't waste. Share. Before you buy new, discover the charm of the old."

The reuse ideas that I saw at that market left me flabbergasted. There were soooo creative. I agree that maybe we all are not that creative. But they also post many of these ideas on their Facebook page. We can even post some stuff there and ask for creative ideas for reuse and there will definitely be some responses. Reselling cannot get easier than on this site.

Reusing may be a bit tedious. But the satisfaction from converting a Kelloggs cornflakes carton to a gifting bag, a Pringles box to an earrings organizer, an old pair of jeans/ shorts to a toothpaste/brush holder cannot be described.

To REUSE Mahatama Gandhi’s famous quote – “Simple Ideas, Immense Satisfaction!”

MY RAINBOW RACE

One blue sky above us
One ocean lapping all our shore
One earth so green and round
Who could ask for more
And because I love you
I'll give it one more try
To show my rainbow race
It's too soon to die.
Some folks want to be like an ostrich,
Bury their heads in the sand.
Some hope that plastic dreams
Can unclench all those greedy hands.
Some hope to take the easy way:
Poisons, bombs. They think we need 'em.
Don't you know you can't kill all the unbelievers?
There's no shortcut to freedom.
Go tell, go tell all the little children.
Tell all the mothers and fathers too.
Now's our last chance to learn to share
What's been given to me and you.

Words and Music by Pete Seeger (1967)

Rio de Janeiro – Mar 2012

Tall and tan and young and lovely
The girl from Ipanema goes walking
And when she passes, each one she passes
Goes "A-a-a-h"
When she walks she's like a samba
When she walks, she's like a samba
That swings so cool and sways so gentle
That when she passes, each one she passes
Goes "A-a-a-h"

Rio de Janeiro is locally pronounced as ‘Hee-oh dae shanairo’. And let me tell you that it’s not so easy, as was evident from all the twisted faces that we made as Ronaldo taught it to us on our ride from the airport to the hotel. And we are introduced, in a lighter vein, to the City Wars - Rio de Janeiro vs São Paulo. We are stuck in a traffic jam, which is unusual for Rio as per our guide. Traffic jams are found only in São Paulo!!!

Rio has long been romanticized - whether by the 1962′s hit “Girl from Ipanema” or more recently, when Cristo Redentor was selected as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. It is difficult to resist a city that’s wedged between lush jungle and crystal-clear ocean – no wonder it is the most visited city in the Southern hemisphere.

It was a bit late by the time we reached the hotel. Some of us decide to go and experience the vibrant night life later and try the Caipirinha (again recommended by Laura). I wanted to go, but a 10 minutes stretch on the bed turns into a deep slumber! So again, am up at 4:00 freakin' AM. Luckily for me, I had a roomie who just gets up with me without a sigh!!! We decide to go to the Copacabana beach, only a 10 mins walk from our hotel, for an early morning walk. Copacabana beach, considered one of the top 10 beaches of the world, hosts the biggest outdoor New Year party every year. And everyone wears white!!!

It was simply beautiful – the sunrise, the coast-hugging mountains including the famous Sugarloaf, the turquoise waters… Soon we are joined by a few others and are enjoying ourselves in the water, when we see A and N coming from the other end of the beach towards us. What they tell us leaves us all shocked. They have been mugged off their cameras - at knife point. Locals on the beach just ignored the whole incident. A little jittery as all of us were carrying cameras, we decide to go back.

Little later, our city tour takes us along the Guanabara Bay and Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas (lagoon) and through the Rebouças tunnel. This tunnel links the southern and northern parts of the city cut in half by the Tijuca ridge that makes Rio the only city in the world to have a National Park 5 minutes from downtown. From the Cosme Velho district, we take a cogwheel train to go up the Corcovado Mountain to visit Christ, the Redeemer (Cristo Redentor) statue. “Corcovado” means hunchback and that is what the granite hill looks like. Its original name is Pinaculo da Tentacao or Pinnacle of Temptation alluding to the Biblical Mountain.

The statue, 130 feet tall with a span from fingertip to fingertip of 28m, arms outstretched, as if it is embracing the city and welcoming all the visitors is magnificent. Covered with a mosaic of soapstone, it is one of Rio's finest Art Nouveau monuments and the largest Art Deco and the 5th largest statue of Jesus in the world.The status was very impressive, no doubt. But like I was explaining to someone, there are some churches /temples/ status which are very touristy while some evoke in us religious sentiments, want us to sit down and just close our eyes. It’s happened to me at many places during my travels. I particularly remember one small church in the Barcelona old quarter, where a service was going on and I just sat there for close to an hour! This was NOT one of them. It didn’t have to be Jesus. Could have been Pele for all I cared! But that does not take away from it, its magnificence.

The vantage point offers stupendous views of downtown Rio, the bay, Sugarloaf Mountain and Copacabana and Ipanema Beaches. The white of the cliffs, the blue of the sky, the green hills and ever-changing shore is so meditative.

We then visit the Samba Stadium where the Rio Festival and the completions between the various schools take place every year. It’s actually supposed to be closed, but they are bringing down the stands from the recently concluded festival so we manage to go in and decide to have our own Samba school!

Rio’s Catedral Metropolitana sure was an odd shaped building. Infact, it is one of the 50 most extraordinary churches in the world. Conical in form, it didn’t look like a cathedral at all, but more like a Pyramid of Egypt!!! The inside is 12 sided with four rectilinear stained glass windows that are a massive 210 ft tall and soar from floor to ceiling to a cross shaped roof of lights. I distinctly remember that after the scorching sun, the cool interior was really welcome! Now I have read about its green architecture, much ahead of the times when it was built in the 1970’s. There are no windows at all - the four huge stained glass windows are there but otherwise there are no open windows. The fresh air comes through openings in the walls that are layered so that rain cannot come in but cool air can. The architect has designed it in such a way that no electricity is needed for cooling the building. Hot air rises and leaves through the top vents and cool air comes in through the open doors and lower vents. Electricity is not needed to light the building either as usually sufficient light passes through the stained glass windows, the vents and the large doors.
It was designed by the world renowned Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. According to our guide, there was a competition held to select a design for the new cathedral and this one was chosen because it was cheap to build and also cheap to maintain ( no painting and little external cleaning required) and also cheap to upkeep as very little is needed to cool or light the inside of the building!!! There is a beautiful wooden cross with Jesus hanging from the roof. I just love the place. Some carol singing from a room at the back makes it perfect!

From there we go to an Italian restaurant for Lunch. The food takes ages to come. I am a vegetarian but for this trip I had decided I will be open to trying some non-veg so I decide to have the pomfret. It’s the only non vegetarian meal that I enjoyed. We had a choice of 3 desserts. The papaya dessert sounds very weird but it’s the yummiest. We are lucky. All the confusion from the delay, they mess up our order and get us more of that!!!

We visit the legendary Pão do Açucar better known as Sugar Loaf Mountain because it resembles the early large-lumps of sugar supplied to shops which they would simply slice a lump off when someone came to purchase sugar.

Driving around Copacabana and Ipanema beaches we cross the university area where we see several boys with painted bodies. It seems that’s a part of their ragging and inclusion to the tribe! Return to our hotel to get ready for our ‘Pink’ evening. We all are expected to wear pink for dinner at one of the barbecue restaurants. The waiters come with various cuts of meat at the table. Unfortunately I am sitting at a corner and they would come suddenly with these huge chunks of meat. It is here that I decide – I can’t eat non veg. All that meat just got to me and I return to being a vegetarian!

After dinner we go for a Rio by Night Plataforma Show - a samba show. 7 feet tall ladies dressed in samba attire come around to get photographs clicked. They tower over even the tallest of us and are nearly double the size of the some of the shortest in our group. The show begins where the "mulatas" exhibit the intricate steps of local dances and "batuqueiros" produce a delirium beat from exotic percussion instruments. After the show, we leave cracking chocolate jelly / mousse jokes amongst us all the way back to the hotel.

São Paulo – March 2012

“Non dvcor, dvco”
(Motto of São Paulo translating as "I am not led, I lead.”)

As we landed at São Paulo, our first stop on the South American trip, our excitement was just so obvious– like little kids grabbing window seats, peering out and clicking snaps. The first impressions are of a rapidly growing congested city with all those skyscrapers. After all, it is the third largest city in the world!

At the airport we are greeted by our bubbly guide Laura. She doesn’t stop talking for even a minute, as we move from the airport to our hotel, which is at the other end of the city, nearly an hrs drive away- giving us so much information about her city, Brazil, Brazilian culture, what to eat, what to drink etc etc. It starts raining & pouring and we are transported to our very own Bengaluru / Mumbai with traffic jams and over flooded streets! She warns us that this is a daily thing – morning will be nice and sunny and it will start raining at 4:00 PM. And she is so right, as we encounter rain again at the same time the next day!!!

She tells us that traffic jams are so bad here that São Paulo has the 2nd highest no of helicopters per person in any city in the world. Many of the high-rises have helipads. The business honchos feel that the cost of owning and maintain a helicopter are less than the cost of the time wasted in traffic jams. Plus there is the added benefit of freedom from the fear of mugging and kidnapping.

M and I decide to call it a day early. The downside of that is that we are up at 2:00 AM, ready and packed by 5:00 AM and at the breakfast table at 6:00 AM. No one seems to speak English as we struggle and finally succeed to explain Laura’s recommendation - 'cheese bread' (pão de queijo ) to the staff. It’s yummy especially if eaten hot!!!

We finish breakfast and no one from our group is to be seen so we decide to go for a walk. And that was the best part of the day. My initial impressions of this being just another economic power-house with offices, offices and still more offices are changed. Just a short walk from our hotel in the business centre, and we are in lovely neighborhood. It’s full of bakeries and patisseries which have the most amazingly creative ideas for their shops, cakes, vans! Then we see a computer repair shop – that was like height of creativity. They gate of the place had been decorated with chips, keyboard and mouse. The banner had an old laptop with a stethoscope around it…he is after all a doctor for sick laptops!!!!

A cute little dog scampers up – he has orange balloons for socks!!! What a great idea, considering the dampness left by the rain of the previous day.

Back at the hotel, Laura has arrived. As we wait for the bus she gives us a samba demo!!! We leave for the city tour. What a city of contrasts - next to the modern High Rises are the 'The Favelas'. These are supposedly the 'slums' of Brazil but as Maria rightly pointed out - they ain't no 'Dharavi'!!! Inspite of being slums, they are on neat clean tree lined roads

The municipality developed a slum demolition and redevelopment program named Cingapura (Portuguese pronunciation of Singapore). But that was a failure and now what they have is the Favelas, still existing as is behind the Cingapura.

We pass by the official residence of the Governor against the backdrop of towering, modern skyscrapers – again a wonderful blend of the traditional & the contemporary.

Located on Paulista Avenue is the striking São Paulo Museum of Art, one of the postcard monuments of the city. It can’t be missed - it’s a large concrete and glass structure raised above the sidewalk, supported on two huge bright red beams on one side. From there we pass through Ibirapuera Park with it’s beautiful gardens and lakes. It is a huge 2 million square meter oasis of green in the heart of down-town São Paulo.

At the entrance to the park, we stop to admire another of São Paulo's postcard monuments - Monumento às Bandeiras, popularly called by the locals as the Push Push monument. It’s homage to the first settlers, the Bandeirantes. The name literally means "monument to the flags" i.e. "those who follow the flags", which was the name used to refer to these private explorers.

Inside the park, we stop by the lake and admire the obelisk – a monument built in memory of the republicans that were killed in the 1932 revolution.

Laura introduces us to a Brazilain term – Jeitinho which the Bangaloreans can equate with ‘Adjust Maadi’. She changes the itinerary because she knows we will enjoy the local market more than a soccer stadium. So we stop at this market with the most amazing fresh fruits, spices, food, meats & sweets!!!!! Everything looked so tempting it was hard to decide what to try and what to leave.

We first attacked a fresh fruit stall and tried some of the freshest fruits! M bought her lunch – a chicken Pastel de Bacalhau. It was a wee bit salty, but still quite nice.

Obviously Brigadeiro was not to be missed. In southern Brazilian states is it called as negrinho, literally "blackie" and is just a simple chocolate bonbon, but wow…was it yummy!!! There were other flavors also and I tried a pista one which was also amazing!

Soon it was time to leave and say good bye to the market, São Paulo and Laura. One image that stays with me is the friendliness of Laura. She had bought her lunch, a vegetarian Pastel with corn and banana at the market and she willingly was letting some of us try it.

Why do I travel?

I was asked to write for the Logica’s Women Network blog on Travel. They couldn’t  have chosen a better topic for me to write on. Below is what I posted on the Garam Chai blog.

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page! -  St. Augustine

I love to travel, explore new places and re-explore already explored places!
People who know me say, my eyes twinkle and I become a different person when I talk of old travels and plan for new travels.
Why do I travel? To learn and grow – when I visit better countries, I wish to improve my own. I have now realized it is possible to drive without honking and I do try to do so. And if I travel to a country worse than mine, I learn to appreciate my own country.

The perspective of the word Still changed after my visit to the Amazon Forest.
Visiting Hampi, Ajanta & Ellora, Golden temple, I learnt that as we build the so called ‘state of art’ sky scrapers, we forget Beauty.
Fear was redefined after being chased by an elephant in Kabini.
Skydiving in New Zealand instilled in me a new found Respect for myself.
Scandinavians give a new character to the word Honesty.
As we travelled in the Norwegian Fjords, I discovered Majestic.
For the first time we Listened to our guide to stick together, after my friends were mugged on Copacabana beach in Rio.

I could go on and on but for now I want to leave you all with a beautiful quote from Mark Twain - “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

A bit of Johannesburg – March 2012

What a start to the trip! I had just finished my immigration and was waiting for the rest to join me when an official approached me and wanted to know if I was Sumitra or belonged to her group. As I nodded he asked for my passport and rechecked my visa and says –‘see ur visa is OK. But one of your frens has a transit visa and so we can’t let her out.’ WHAAAAT! I went to the baggage collection to send Sumi back to immigration and start the beginning of what seemed an endless wait. 2 were missing – Nalini and Smita. Finally Sumi returned …but only with Nalini – mixed feelings …whew for Nalini (they kept her passport for a day and allowed her out), and bewilderment for Smita – where the hell was she? We walk out and see her standing there – she had been up and down to the hotel 3 times in the shuttle looking for us! A porter accosts us and offers to show us the way to bus stop for the shuttle. But we had heard so many horror stories about Jo’burg that we found it difficult to trust him. On hindsight – what were we thinking? That one man is going to kidnap 20 of us!!!

A quick nap and lolee (yummy Sindhi style paranthas) courtesy Meeta’s mom and off we were to the Lion Park. The Lion Park - neither a game reserve nor a zoo, is split into two areas – one area for the herbivores such as zebra, giraffe, antelopes etc and the other area for the carnivores.

First stop was the Cub World area where sub-adult lions and cubs are housed and where we could enter and actually play with lion cubs. Awww…the cubs were sooooo cute…playfully pulling at our laces and trousers. I just didn’t want to come out of the cage.

Then off to the herbivores area where they roam freely around and we can interact with them at close proximity. The Giraffe was the cutest…eating peanuts from everyone’s hands and seemingly having a very intimate conversation my friend.

The baby Meerkats suckled while the mother stood patiently and majestically. Other sightings were Zebras (first time for me), Ostriches and deer and black wildebeest.

This was followed by the Self-Drive through the Main Park – first through the antelope area where our guide pointed out various species like Gemsbok, Springbok & Blesbokthen and Black Wildebeest, followed by the wild dogs’ enclosure where we saw what tops the list of the 5 ugliest of South Africa.

And then the highlight – we entered the cheetah and lion enclosures. There were 2 Cheetahs and they were like the synchronized swimmers – they were sitting in identical postures, facing in the same direction and when they moved they seemed to move in sync! The Lions and lionesses were very impressive, specially the white lions. But now I know why patience is required when you go on wild life safaris. Initially we couldn’t see the front of the 2 lionesses sitting as we entered the enclosure, so we asked the driver to move to the other side. But as luck would have it, before we all managed our pictures, they decided to turn to the direction where we came from. It was if they were trained to show only their backsides ;-)

And the lions were sleeping away peacefully - lazy bums refused to get up. But we waited patiently and patience pays. Because we finally saw them get up and I even managed a beautiful picture of one of them yawning. Unfortunately, my memory card got spoilt after a few days and I lost all the pictures of the first few days L

As we moved away, one of the lions emerged from the bushes and crossed the track right in front of the vehicle behind ours. Did a personal ramp walk for them – lucky people!

I was having so much fun that I just didn’t want to leave. The thought of Pan African cuisine at one of the top restaurant in Jo’burg pushed us into leaving and off were to the stylish Moyo restaurant at Melrose Arch. It had started to drizzle and sitting on the diwans under a Moroocan tent, with fire bowls close by – very, very exotic! I am told by M to go visit the loo – she doesn’t tell me why, but has this smirk on her face. Not getting into the details, but I have yet to see a more erotic loo!!!

Live music was playing inside so we moved to the bar after some time where some enjoyed the African Amarula (like the Baileys Irish Coffee).

A winding, spiral wooden staircase took us up to our tables. The waitress comes with a big bowl and a water jug and makes us wash our hands. They also paint our faces with intricate tattoos… a lot like what the Bengali brides do. The starter– a moyo flat bread with dukka spice and olive was awesome. Yummy carrot, coconut & cumin soup, chickpea, chilli & feta salad and abampofu salad and my tummy was nearly full. So I just nibbled at the main course of Tanzanian mango chicken, North African lamb tagine and tagine seven vegetables as I wanted to keep some space for the dessert. And thank god for that – the never ending bowl of toasted almond ice cream was sinfully yummy! I thought I’ll have a few bites and leave the rest…but it was just impossible to stop.

Thanks to Sumi and South African Airways we had an awesome time in Jo’burg. I now can definitely say – I enjoy wildlife holidays the MOST!!!

Rain

Found a little note as I was clearing a drawer - I had written it down during my trip to New Zealand. It was so appropriate that time, as it had rained the whole day. And now also it seems appropriate as I miss the Bangalore rain!

It rained and it rained and it rained and it rained;
the average fall was well maintained,
and when the tracks were simply bogs,
it started raining cats and dogs.

After a drought of half an hour
we had a most refreshing shower,
and then the most curious thing of all:
a gentle rain began to fall.

Next day was also fairly dry,
save for the deluge from the sky,
which wetted the party to the skin,
and after that the rain set in.

Getting a high

The company that I work for has a Writer’s Club of which I am a member, albeit not a very active one.  Recently they introduced PROJECT 46 under which for the 46 Tuesdays starting Valentines' day, writer members who have not written for the Writers' club will write about their passions, hobbies or anything that they want to write about.. no specific subject. The whole idea is to have the different writing styles, the different flavours of ALL the writers captured on our site.

Reproduced below my post for which I have taken tidbits from an earlier post on this blog
****************************************************************************************************

I am a hyper kind of a person.
Someone once said of herself - “My mind is always in constant chatter with itself in which I think about a million things” and I was like – that is so me!!!!
Only Music, especially the flute has a calming effect on me.
It touches my soul like nothing else. From as far back as I can remember the Flute was always my favorite. It inspires me, stirs such emotions and even though this may sound like an oxymoron – it energizes while bringing about a greater peacefulness.

Long back I read somewhere that the Latin word for Breath is ‘spiritus’. And breath is a prerequisite of music. Is that a coincidence, an accident? I doubt it, for music invokes the spiritual in us.

I love music….maybe a result of all the Spic Macay programs I was made to attend in school.
But the answer to the oft asked question – ‘what kind of music do u like to listen to’, I don’t have a clear answer. Anything that sounds nice to me. It could be Indian or Western Classical, Folk from different parts of the world, Instrumental including movie songs, Old romantic Bollywood songs and even some new ones!!!

Forget being an expert, I’m not even an amateur at music. I’m simply a music lover...

I don’t really understand classical music the way the concert goers are expected to…but I still go. One friend asks – But would you really like to go to a Carnatic music concert?  I fail to explain to her –‘music has no language for me’.
In fact Music is the only language in which different cultures can have a conversation. Have you heard the Indian Instrument Tabla and Western instrument Harp talk to each other – mind blowing chemistry!  Flautist Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia and Harpist Gwyneth Wentink left the audience totally mesmerized with their performance one evening in Bangalore.

Remember, one learns to listen to music as one learns to listen to oneself, not just with one's ears but with one's awareness.

According to Discovery news, listening to music releases dopamine, a feel-good chemical associated with addiction and good food.
And to quote Bob Marley “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.”
So get a hit, experience a high, and get some music into your life.

South America – preparations etc!!!

South America called…finally. I think I day dreamed of walking in the Amazon forests as Ms Bhati talked of rainforests in the geography class ages ago. As long back as 2006 I had started talking to travel agencies for quotes and realized I needed to have a separate ‘SA Fund!’ It was ****** expensive…but then that’s me…I always seem to like the most expensive product on the shelf.

The dinner  in Devonport, New Zealand comes back. On the 1^st day of our trip as we discussed travelling to South America the following year we nearly got ourselves a companion – the waiter wanted to accompany us after listing to our excited chatter!

Getting the required visas – South Africa, Brazil, Peru, and Argentina was a marathon by itself. A teaser to what was in store for us. Many visas – much confusion! Change of the application city for Bangalore wanderers, form needing refilling in black ink as I had filled it in blue! Some surprises too – one day I get an email that my (MY!!!!) Peru visa was rejected because they wanted original bank statements! Later I realized it was not rejected, but they just declined to accept the form. I thought printouts with signature and bank seal were treated as originals everywhere. What the heck? I was just wondering how to get 4 more copies from ICICI (what a nightmare that was gonna be), when I was informed that the WOW office had resent my passport with another bunch and it worked!!!Talk about weirdness!

Then South African airways decided to change the schedule and wanted us to leave one day earlier. In hindsight this worked better for us – not only did we get a break after an 8 hrs flight instead of traveling continuously for over 20 hrs but were also able to check out Jo’burg with the cost of one night hotel in Jo'burg, airport transfers, breakfast, and visa charges being borne by the airline!!!

The final straw was when on 5^th afternoon I got call – the South African consulate didn’t quite like my photograph (JERKS!). Some white shirt on white background nonsense. They needed spectacles – it was a white PRINTED shirt! Courier new photographs was what I was instructed. 7^th and 8^th were holidays at the mumbai consulate on account of Holi, 9^th night we were travelling – this was NOT going to work. Luckily it struck me that I had a soft copy of another snap, which I sent and requested them to take prints of in Mumbai itself and resubmit the forms. What a restless night that!!! I even contemplated staying in the airport for that one day and night

What a relief when we finally had our passports with all the visas stamped. And off we were to South America via Jo’burg.

Blowin' in the Wind

A friend and her daughter are making pen stands from old music cassettes – they call it REWIND...RETRO...RECYCLE... It brings back memories of Gurgaon, listening to the cassette over and over again.

My favorite then and still, I guess …Bob Dylan’s Blowin' in the Wind

How many roads must a man walk down

Before you call him a man?

Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail

Before she sleeps in the sand?

Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly

Before they're forever banned?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows

That too many people have died?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist

Before it's washed to the sea?

Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist

Before they're allowed to be free?

Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,

Pretending he just doesn't see?

The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind.

my updated wish list

In 2007 I made a travel wish list and I’ve been lucky…some of the places I managed to visit from that list
- Barcelona
- New Zealand
- Paris, France
- China
now its time to write a new wish list…
- Machu Picchu, Peru (and this could happen next year!!!)
- East Africa – Kenya and Tanzania
- Madhya Pradesh, India
- Bali
- Costa Rica
- Japan
- South Africa
- Sikkim and East India
- Bhutan
- Novi Sad, Serbia
- Sri Lanka
- Israel and Jordan
- Vietnam and Cambodia

Franz Josef & Heli-Hike- NZ March ‘11

We were quite excited that morning as we left early from Fox Glacier town to go to Franz Josef for our heli-hike – an awesome scenic helicopter flight over the Franz Josef glacier that would then leave us high up for a 2 hrs guided walk amongst the ice caves and pinnacles of ice.

The weather didn’t look too great…there was a drizzle and it was soooo grey. But we hoped that it would clear up soon. When we reached the Heli Hike office at 8:45 we were informed that the trip had been postponed and they would give an update an hour later. We hung around the office but that update kept getting postponed. I watched as the glacier which we could see in the morning, was now covered with dark clouds. Short bursts of rain, then the sun would peek out for a few minutes and then drizzle again. We decided to walk around a bit and I kept everyone entertained with my weather predictions – the clouds seem to have moved an inch and we can now see the glacier from here…now its hidden again!!! What a game of peek-a-boo!!!!

We decided to explore the place a bit to kill time. There seemed to some kind of an exhibition on the formation of glaciers with very nicely made paintings – and one depicting Maori Legend on the formation of the Franz Josef glacier really caught my eye.

Hine Hukatere, as adventurous Maori maiden who loved mountaineering above all her other pastimes, frequently persuaded her lover, Wawe, to accompany her on escapades into the hills. On one such expedition the unfortunate Wawe, who had never been found of climbing as his sweetheart, slipped and plunged to an early death. Heartbroken, Hine Hukatere cried - her tears were frozen by the gods as a memorial to her grief, thus forming Franz Josef Glacier or Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere (The tears of Hinehukatere)

A forest walk marked a little ahead seemed like a good idea as by now we were worried that the hike may get cancelled. Walking in the forests in a light drizzle with the sounds of birds made us forget our woes for some time at least. I am sure I heard a Kiwi, though Stephen was not quite convinced since Kiwis are nocturnal… maybe the dark clouds and grey weather had confused him!!!

Returning from the walk we stopped at a cute church, outside which I read some more Maori Mythology - according to which four sons of Raki (the Sky Father) came down to greet their father’s new wife Papa-tua-nuku (The Earth Mother) in a canoe known as Te Waka o Aoraki. The karakia (incantation), which have returned them to their celestial home failed and the waka (canoe) fell back into the sea. It turned on its side and was turned to stone and earth, thus forming the South Island! Aoraki and his brothers clambered to the high side of the waka and were turned into mountains. Aoraki became Mt Aoraki/ Mt Cook, Rakiroa became Mt Dampier, Rakirua became Mt Teichelmann and Rarakiroa became Mt Tasman.

Lunch at a small café which had some amazing 3D paintings and still more amazing burgers!!

We were now informed that the heli-hike had been cancelled but since they were doing the glacier walks we could change to that. After considering all the options, we called our agent. Our itinerary had been changed a bit due to the Christchurch earthquake so that we would be spending 2 nights in Greymouth rather than Christchurch. We asked her to change that to one night and gave us another in Franz Josef so that we could give the heli-hike another go the next day. Lo behold, she agreed and organized everything, even though it was such a short notice!!!

Stephen then suggested that we do the Franz Josef glacier valley walk to spend the rest of the day. The spectacular glacier valley walk is a 1 1/2hr return walk up the glacier valley and follows the riverbed made up of rock and shingle with great views of the glacier. The valley was formed by the glacier thousands of years ago and as it has retreated, features have been carved into the valley.

As soon we enter the valley we see some lovely waterfalls and the glacier can be seen immediately. The funny thing was that it never seemed to get closer as we walked down until we realized we were right up on it….just 100m away from the terminal face where you can see the ice cave and the river run through it. It was well spent time.

Yippeeee….next day is clear and we take off for our heli hike. We are taken to base camp and provided with the gear - rain jacket, waterproof over-trousers, woolen socks, caps , gloves, sturdy boots and crampons (with small waist bag). The views from the helicopter ride are mind boggling as the pilot takes us deep into the heart of the glacier and does the twists and turns! We land and start our hike. Our guide is a kid…all of 21 yrs. The glacier scenery can’t get more pristine and awe-inspiring. We see spectacular ice formations and make our way amongst towering pinnacles of brilliantly blue ice. We hear thunderous rumbling… that was the ice falling. We want more that we can see and not just hear. And we are blessed…coz we see several. It’s an experience I can’t describe in words. But the fact that Anita, who never really asks anyone to share snaps, for the 1st time asked me for my videos of the glacier ice falling.

It was well worth the wait and a fantabulous way to end our trip to New Zealand.