Brazil (Sao Paolo and Rio)

Hey all!

I know I just wrote a blog, but felt it would be nice to write a blog for each one of the trips I have recently taken. Istanbul was last weekend, so going to write about Brazil! This is my second time in Brazil, and I had a very limited time here, but I made the best of it.

It started out in Alphaville, a small city right outside of Sao Paolo. I was in Brazil for work, and Alphaville is an up and coming business area; however it is 45 minutes outside of the city. When I arrived (at 5AM) I was planning on heading to my hotel to take a nap prior to heading to my client site. Unfortunately for me, there were protests going on over the rise of the bus prices, which caused significant delays in me getting to my hotel (in reality the conflict is much deeper than this, it was just this that tipped the scales). The way the protests were happening, people were stopping their cars and blocking various highways around the city, essentially bringing traffic to a halt.

I finally arrived at my hotel at about 8:30, which gave me a ½ hour to show and get ready for work. People sometimes talk about how glamorous travelling is, or how they wish they could have come with me... Well I will tell you one thing, Alphaville is not like the rest of Brazil. It feels like you are in the middle of no-where, and my time was spent, wake-up, client, dinner, workout, more work, sleep, repeat. The benefit of the trip was that I was able to purchase a cheap flight to Rio for the weekend, and that is where my story begins.

I arrived in Rio on a Friday night. Even though it was winter, it was still a warm 80 during the day and a cool 75 in the evenings. I spend my first night walking around and then headed to a bar in the area to have a drink before bed. I was eager to get an early start, and after a long week of work, I was ready to relax. I was staying in Impanema, which is a couple blocks from the beach, so as soon as I had breakfast, I made a beeline for the beach. I remembered my favourite area and made my way down to it. I was looking for the right stand to rent a chair from, when I hear “Belton... Belton from Texas”! I was shocked, as I did now know anyone in the city, so who could be calling my name. It was none other than the tent/chair attendant who took care of me when I was there last November. He not only remembered my name, but recalled I was from Texas! Wow, you bet he got my service again.

I enjoyed a nice, long relaxing day on the beach, and as you can see from the pictures, it was amazing. One thing I was extremely impressed with was the volleyball players... To make the game more challenging, they were playing volleyball—with no hands! That’s right, they were using their heads, feet, knees, anything but their hands. I was so impressed because I recall when I was on our volleyball team back in Milwaukee (Sara Schmitt, Meredyth Hunn, Tim McDonald, Tony Alivo and others) we were horrible... Well, maybe just I was bad, but I enjoyed it. I could not even imagine playing with no hands.
After spending the entire day on the beach, I made my way to a Brazilian steakhouse. The way it works is as follows:

1. You receive a card that is red on one side and green on the other
2. You help your self to the salad bar buffet and then take a seat
3. The servers keep bringing you all different cuts of meat until you cannot eat anymore
4. Then you leave!

Only difference was that at this place, they decided to bring a table full of sides to go along with the salad bar and endless meat supply (see photo above). As you can see, I was not tempted by the cheap sides, and I opted to focus on the succulent cuts of lamb, beef and chicken.

The next day I made my way to Sugar Loaf, which is a peak situated in Rio de Janeiro, at the mouth of Guanabara Bay on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic Ocean. Rising 396 metres (1,299 ft) above the harbor, its name is said to refer to its resemblance to the traditional shape of concentrated refined loaf sugar. It was an amazing view of the city and it was such a great experience. While on the top, I though how much better it would be with my R with me, it was just such a romantic place to be (you know who you are ;).

After Sugar Loaf, I made my way back down to the beach to watch the sunset and then back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep before my flight out in the morning. It was such a great weekend away, and I hope to get back to Brazil someday to do more exploring!

That’s all for now.

Bye

Istanbul!

Hey guys,

I know I have been inconsistent with my blogs in the past. And while it is called ‘An American’s life in London’, I feel I can also use it to be part travel blog (for you) part travel journal (for me). As such, I am going to try to do a better job of writing about the trips I have either taken or are planning to.

As such, I am going to talk about my recent trip to Turkey. I had a business trip out there, and I was able to extend it over the weekend to do a little exploring of the city. I guess to start things off, Istanbul is not what I originally pictured. People kept telling me it was an extremely cultural experience, and while it was, it felt more like another European city as opposed to somewhere in India (which is what I had been picturing for some reason).

I arrived and the people were extremely friendly, and many spoke English relatively well. The first night I stayed by my client, opting to move closer to the city for the weekend (right by Taskim square). Yes, of course I choose the week after the protests to visit the city, but I heard it was much safer at the time of my visit, so decided to move forward with it. I arrived at my hotel, with a reservation made through booking.com, only to find that they had cancelled my reservation (and did not tell me about it!)... I was then told they were fully booked, but I could use their internet to look for another accommodation. I was livid, and, after looking at the cost of on-the-day bookings, was growing concerned about the cost. I had found a deal on booking.com (which is probably why they were trying to weasel out of it).

Anyway, I decided to call the company to see what their policy was. After speaking to customer service, she told me she was going to call the hotel to discuss my situation. Moments later, the phone rang and the receptionist I was speaking at answered so I could overhear the conversation. Basically, if a reservation is cancelled and they do not let me know, then they have to re-book me somewhere and pay the difference. He then agreed and started to help me look for alternative locations. Surprisingly enough, we found a new hotel through booking.com, but from a search for reviews on it, found out it was also on air.bnb (one of my favourite sites to book accommodation while travelling). As such, I agreed, only if I could see the room first. They went with me, and when I entered, I was shown a 1-bedroom, with lounge, kitchen AND back patio. The stress went away and I was happy again (despite the fact the whole situation took 3 hours out of my day).

The first night I settled in, went out to grab some dinner and a couple drinks at the local Turkish bars, and then made my way back home. While out, I met some really nice locals, who told me about a boat cruise/BBQ down the Bosporus that was occurring on Saturday. As I heard the boat cruise was something you had to do, I jumped at the opportunity and bought a ticket. I got an early start the next morning and started the day with a visit to a Hamam, a turkey bath. It was a really, I guess you would say, interesting experience. You enter this old historical building, receive a towel, and then proceed to experience a long standing tradition of steam and wash. It was just the relaxation I need to start my day after the stressful day before. I then made my way to some of the sites in the old town, including:


1. The Blue Mosque – The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is an historic mosque in Istanbul. The mosque is popularly known as the Blue Mosque for the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior. It was built from 1609 to 1616, during the rule of Ahmed I.

2. Topkapi Palace - is a large palace in Istanbul, that was the primary residence of the Ottoman Sultans for approximately 400 years (1465-1856) of their 624-year reign. The palace complex consists of four main courtyards and many smaller buildings. At its peak, the palace was home to as many as 4,000 people.

3. Basilica Cistern - is the largest of several hundred ancient cisterns that lie beneath the city of Istanbul.

4. Hagia Sophia - is a former Greek Orthodox patriarchal basilica (church), later an imperial mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul. From the date of its construction in 537 until 1453, it served as an Eastern Orthodox cathedral and seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931. It was then secularized and opened as a museum on 1 February 1935.

5. Grand Bazaar - The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul is one of the largest and oldest covered markets in the world, with 61 covered streets and over 3,000 shops which attract between 250,000 and 400,000 visitors daily. The construction of the future Grand Bazaar's core started during the winter of 1455/56, shortly after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople.


The great thing about getting around is they have a great tram network (highly recommended for visitors). It only costs 3 Lira, and is typically faster than the cabs because it avoids the traffic. If you happen to travel to Turkey, a couple tips the client told me about that are extremely common:

1. Had the cabbie a 20 note, and he will turn around and said you only handed him a fiver. As such, be clear the amount you are handing over before they take it from you.

2. Make sure they turn on the meter when you get in, and watch for the starting amount. Either leaving the meter off or having started it before you get in are also common.

Feeling shattered from such a long day in, I decided to call it a night and head home for an early Friday night (I tried to go out for a couple drinks, but at the first bar when I started yawning, I realised I would be much happier if I started the next day fresh ). It turned out that was a good idea, because I woke up and realised I had no idea where everyone was meeting (I assumed it would say on the ticket). And since it was a cruise for locals, not one of the tourist ones, there was limited information available on the Internet. I first went to the bar where I bought the ticket, no luck. I then decided just to head to the docks and hope I could find it there. Luckily I found it and boarded. I was a bit nervous because it was a 6-hour cruise, and not a tourist one, so upon boarding, I realised that many people knew each other, and I was the ONLY non Turkish person. Immediately, I had an English speaking Turkish couple approach me and introduce themselves. They took me under their wing and introduced me to their friends. It was a great trip, with the boat stopping for about 3 hours in the Black Sea to let us go swimming for a bit.

It was a great trip, and I was happy that so many places were so close because I was able to see so much in my short time there.

Well, on a plane right now flying back to London, so about to get some shut eye.

Talk soon,

Belton