It's been a month in Brazil. I've wanted to write to reflect on everything I've been done, but the longer I procrastinate, the more I feel as though the memories in my head will fall flat on the page. Also, it's been relatively tough to find enough peace and quiet to write ( Read more... )

Having finished my last few days in Curitiba basically doing just cardio workouts and kicks on the bag, I've made my way to Gramado, a small town in the southernmost Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. For most of the year it is a quaint tourist town for Brazilians to visit. But in December and January, the town converts itself into the first ( Read more... )

One common question I've been getting asked is how my Portuguese is coming along. As most people know, I spent four years in Costa Rica, so my Spanish is fairly solid. Spanish as a base for Portuguese is better than nothing, but once in a while it does get in the way. Reading and writing are definitely the easiest parts. A great deal of ( Read more... )

It's been raining non-stop since my arrival in Curitiba. And I am being literal here; I have yet to leave the house and have it not be raining. So even if I had the energy to go around town (which I can't say I do), it wouldn't be very enjoyable. Anyway, my roommate, Joe, says there's pretty much nothing to do in Curitiba: "we go to the ( Read more... )

I arrived late at night; luckily the cab driver knew exactly where he was going, and the big well-lit "CM System" sign indicated we'd arrived at the correct destination. I buzzed the door a couple times, and a tough-looking dude with a shaved head and a nasty black eye walks up. He is a stone dead ringer for Royce Gracie, and he waits for me to ( Read more... )

The first time I attempted to go surfing, I was 19. I was in Santa Cruz, CA. I was roadtripping with my cousin and we stopped in Santa Cruz to visit a childhood friend of my dad's, who was an astronaut for NASA, which we considered pretty badass. My dad's friend was also a surfer and so he agreed to take both of us out surfing -- it would be the ( Read more... )

The island of Santa Catarina is full of pristine, white sand beaches. Some around Lagoa like Praia Mole and Barra de Lagoa are full of beautiful people working on their tans or catching waves on their board, and the businesses serving them. Others, like Praia Solidão, are almost completely empty. Solidão is about 30km from downtown Florianopolis ( Read more... )

There's no doubt: this has been one of the best trips I've ever done and easily beats any of my solo trips. And I'm talking about a list of solo trips that includes Thailand, New Zealand, Spain, France, and Japan (and those are just the non-poker trips). I feel a bit guilty about updating, but I've almost never had a free hour to write blog posts ( Read more... )

My first couple of days in Floripa have been nice, even if the weather hasn't. The travel day was rougher than anticipated. Flying business from Vancouver-Toronto-Sao Paulo was obviously great, but due to some confusion with Air Canada I had a mild airport panic in Sao Paulo. All was finally resolved and I got to my hostel in Floripa at about 11 ( Read more... )

In 48 hours time, I will be on a flight from Toronto to Sao Paulo. My ticket is still booked to connect to Rio de Janeiro, but with the violence going on there between the police and the drug lords, it seemed like a good idea to start researching other options. After posting on some message boards, I found out about CM System in Curitiba. CM ( Read more... )