2003 tagged posts

In America, Brazil, Nordeste 2003 On  17/11/2003  No comments

The first thing I did when I got to Fortaleza was walk around the handcraft fair in Meireles. It starts in the end of the afternoon and, with the movement in its tends and tourists, goes until late night. I went to see hammocks, t-shirts, dolls, cashew nuts, cachaças, sweets and handcraft. From there I walked to the Centro Dragão do Mar, a cultural building complex with cinemas, theater, concert house, bars and restaurants located in the center of the city. The place was crowed, it seems to be the best option for Saturday evening.

Sunday early morning I went for a walk to get to know the beaches. I started in Meireles, since it was early, there were not so much people. I talked to some street sellers who were putting up their tends. One of them came to me because he wanted me to photograph him, what I did. From Meireles I went, by the shore, to Iracema and downtown, where I was supposed to meet Marcelo (I had met him in Jericoacoara)...

In America, Brazil, Nordeste 2003 On  15/11/2003  No comments

I arrived in Canoa Quebrada really tired because I had spent the night in a bus coming from Jericoacoara and early morning I got another bus to Canoa. I had some food and went to the hotel to change clothes, put on a bikini. Getting there I looked at the bed and couldn’t resist, I slept a few hours.

In the afternoon I went to the beach. I walked a little and sat down under the shade in a bar. I had fish, fruit juices and some sea baths. There everybody looked relaxed, some talking, others reading, sleeping or sun bathing. To me it was wonderful, I was tired, given that the last days I had walked a lot and my knee was hurting. It was great to relax a bit and be surrounded by relaxed people…

At night I walked around town looking for a place to have dinner. They all looked good, what made my choice hard. I end up having Italian food as here there is a lot of Italians (tourists and residents), that means, a great possibility of having good Italian food. Seafood pasta, it was delicious...

In America, Brazil, Nordeste 2003 On  13/11/2003  No comments

The arrival in Jericoacoara is fun, from Jijoca or Preá one has to get a truck to cross the dunes. We arrived by the end of the afternoon, and as many have recommended me, I went to see the sunset.

On my first day I woke up early to walk on the beach, there was almost nobody. I met, by chance, Marcelo (a guy from São Paulo that came in the same bus I did). Together we hired a guide, Nilson, to do walk us to a place called “pedra furada” (rock with a hole). On the way there we stopped to see a natural pool with a fish form, we bathed in another pool in the middle of the rocks and visited caves. Then we got to “pedra furada”, the post card from Jericoacoara. The way back was by the top of the dunes so we could have a general view of the city and its area. After that we spent the afternoon eating fish, drinking juices and beer and sea bathing.

On the second day I did a tour in a 4×4 wheel drive to the lakes of the region...

In America, Nordeste 2003, Hiking/Trekking On  09/11/2003  No comments

On my arrival in Pipa I was welcome by the people from the hotel. They advised me to go for a walk to Praia do Amor and showed me the path. I walked to the beach and sat down in a bar on the shore. The day was beautiful, sun, sea, beach, fruit juices… Since my knee was hurting and swollen, I stayed there for a while. After, I walked on Praia dos Afogados to the Chapadão, and, from there, to the city where I had lunch looking at the ocean.

On my second day, I left early morning for a walk to Tibau do Sul (about 7km). In the hotel I had seen the tide table of that day and I would have plenty of time to get there before it was high tide and I could not go through the rocks. I started my walk on Praia Principal. Since it was early, there was not many people around, they were all waking up. There were many fishermen and parents with small kids. Further on I saw a group playing soccer on the beach. They were organized in teams with uniforms...

In America, Brazil, Nordeste 2003 On  06/11/2003  No comments

I got in Natal late evening and booked a buggy tour for next day. The tour, to the north coast, was arranged with a young couple from Pernambuco (another state in the northeast of Brazil). They, Juliana and Leonardo, had been in honeymoon in Natal for a week.

The guide, Jean, took us to the white sand dunes of Genipabu. It was like a roller coaster; we drove up and down really fast on the walls of sand. It seems that any time we would overturn. Here they always ask if people want the tour with emotion or without. The difference is that, with emotion, they drive faster and higher, activating your adrenaline. The other one is a bit more behaved, but also a little scary.

We stopped on the top of some dunes in Genipabu to enjoy the view of the lagoon and the beach. Leonardo decided to hide a dromedary for some minutes. From there we went north, always driving on the sand. We stopped for a sea bath and continued to Pitangui Lake...

In America, Diving & Snorkeling, Nordeste 2003, Hiking/Trekking On  05/11/2003  2 comments

This was the second time I visited the island. In order to remember everything, I did a buggy tour with Cinara, Carlos Alberto and José Carlos, who I met in the flight from Recife. Our guide, Bruno, showed us the most important tourist attractions of the island. We started on a tip called AirFrance, which, according to Bruno, was the place where an aircraft from that company landed. Nearby we visited “Buraco da Raquel”and “Enseada da Caieira”. Then we went to Baia do Sueste, where we did snorkeling. The place is known for having sea turtles, besides, of course, many small fishes. We saw three turtles. When we were already swimming back to the shore, the guide pinched me to show a small shark beside us. When I turn to look, he was swimming away from us.

After the snorkeling, we walked on the trails of Baia dos Golfinhos, Baia do Sancho and Baia dos Porcos. From up there we can have a great view from the Dois Irmãos islands, a postcard picture from Fernando de Noronha...

In + More..., Karla and animals On  05/11/2003  No comments

Crab shell, Fernando de Noronha, Brazil 2003

In Learning German 2003, Europe On  15/09/2003  No comments

After the exhausting week in Linz, I got in Munich and slept for almost a whole day. I needed… The days here were not so beautiful. It was raining and it started to be cold. I realized the summer was over.

I waked around downtown, went to shops, cafes, and, as usual, I end up in museums. First, I visited the city museum (Stadtmuseum). There were paintings, drawings and maquettes that told the region history. There was a part dedicated to music and theater. Here it could be found all kinds of marionettes and toys. I liked to see that, as in Brazil I do not know any museum that show such things. The music part, for being small, impressed me the great amount of instruments from other parts of the world as from Asia, America and Africa. Every time I see this, it bothers me that the third world is being left without history, and that the rich countries are the ones to tell our history.

On the same day I visited the Deutsches Museum, a huge museum on technology...

In Europe On  12/09/2003  One comment

I decided to go to Linz because of the Ars Electronica Festival. It was six days attending to lectures, performances, artists and seeing electronic art exhibitions. Yet on my first day, I visited the O.K. Centrum für Gegenwartskunst where it was the exhibition of the Golden Nica prize and honorary mentions. This years winners showed a commercial side of the electronic art. Maybe compared to years before when it was selected more critical works on activism and artificial life, this edition showed that electronic art it is already being incorporated to the big artistic market.

There were five days of symposium with lectures on mornings and afternoons. This year the theme was “Code: the language of our time”. There were lectures and presentations on code as language and art. Important names on art and technology such as Roy Ascott, Casey Reas, Roman Verostko, Florian Cramer, Howard Rheingold, Andreas Broeckmann and Christa Sommerer, participated on the conference...

In Learning German 2003, Europe On  05/09/2003  One comment

Right after my arrival in Karlsruhe I went to see the ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie and visit the Medienmuseum. It was impressive for me because I had the opportunity to see works of electronic art that I only knew  from books. Works as the ones by Christa Sommerer, Laurent Mignonneau, Bruno Cohen, Jeffrey Shaw, Hermen Maat, really are nothing in a book when compared to the experience of touching and interacting.

I walked around the city downtown area. Crowded with shops, cafes, and lots of people walking around, it reminded me Brazil. Maybe due to the modern architecture, the noise and movement of people coming and going. One of the most important tourist places in the city is the Schloss Karlsruhe. The palace was constructed in the eighteenth century by Karl Wilhelm. Today it houses the museum Badisches Landesmuseum im Schloss. Here I could get a sense of how it was the life in the palace and appreciate the art. I climbed up the tower to have a view of the city...