The wonderful world of Brazil

Here´s a quasi update to my life for those of you who haven´t heard from my in a while.  My girlfriend Jema and I wanted to take a trip out of the country for the summer.  After narrowing it down to several places, we finally decided to spend 10 weeks in Brazil.  We left on the 7th of June and will be here unitl the 10th of August.  So here I am.  Things are crazy and will only get crazier.  The last few days have been quite a shock and I´m sure the shock factor is going to stay up there for the whole trip.  Sao Paulo (the city we landed in and are currently residing) is insane.  It is a huge mass of people, buildings and concrete.  I´ve been told that it´s the third largest city in the world.  Probably after Mexico City and one of the cities in China, Hong Kong maybe.  Anyway, the sights, smells, sounds, and even tastes are way different than from where I have come.  The people (all Brazilian of course) are always either moving faster than you or trying to sell you something, but I guess that´s what to expect from the city.  So far we have seen a few sights, to include two beautiful cathedrals and a giant building with a viewing tower at the top.  We did not get to go up to the viewing tower because, as near as we could decifer (neither Jema nor I speak Portuguese), the elevator is broken and won´t be operational for another month.  Today we moved hostels and are staying closer to the center of the city because it´s cheaper than the hostel we were at previously.  On Monday we start Portuguese lessons, which should be quite an interesting adventure.  Jema speaks fluent Spanish, so she can communicate with the locals somewhat because:  a)  some of the locals speak Spanish since every other South American country speaks that language  b)  Spanish and Portuguese are similar languages, about 60% the same.  Any way, the lessons will be interesting because I do not speak any other languages, so I am starting from square-one.  Also, the lessons are four hours a day (two in the morning and two in the afternoon) for five days.  Next Saturday, which will be our last day of lessons, we are going to leave the city and head south for some fun at the beaches and smaller coastal towns of Brazil.  Our first major stop will Be Iguacu Falls, on the border with Argentina.  Iguacu Falls are said to be the biggest in the world, much more impressive than Niagra.  |´ll be sure to post pics on this cite when I get them.  Other places we will hit are Machu Pichu in Peru (this one´s not definite because it requires five days of travel across Bolivia),  seeing the Pantanal (crazy huge wetlands with the greatest concentration of wildlife on earth), the Amazon (we´re thinking a trip down the river in a house boat), and the Northern Coast to Include Rio de Janeiro.  I think the count is down to 54 days, and the country is massive, so we´ll see how much we actually accomplish.  Anyway, this is supposed to be my trip overview, so I´m going to sign off now.  I´ll keep this cite updated as often as possible.  I would love comments from everyone, do don´t be shy.  I hope you all are havin a rockin´ summer so far!!!

Patrick  =:-)