6 days and 13 hours to go...

And I still need to do many things. 

Days are passing by quickly and i have the feeling 24 hours are not enough to accomplish all the things I need for my trip.

Gosh.  Yesterday i had that dentist appointment, and stayed there for 2 hours and a half. So, it delayed somehow some of the things I needed to do during a saturday, when the shops are opened.

 And on wednesday, i will need to return to do the last thing on my teeth before taking off.  The ultra sound cleaning. Gosh. This is the preparation for the laser whitening I will do when i return.  Pity I wont be able to travel with laser whitened teeth, but anyway, its good to have 70% of the job done for the sake of white teeth and cleaned, and beautiful

 Nothing can be better than being able to smile and show teeth that look like pearls.  Its good for self image, and moreover, socially, as here, ppl tend to exclude ppl who dont have aseptic-looking teeth.  healthy gums, white teeth, all well arranged and finally, with a wonderful smile.  We are always smiling, so having good teeth is a "must-have" .  lol

My teeth are ok, i cant complain.  This treatment is for a "improvement" , a vain stuff.  That not only women are crazy for, but a lot of men go for image improvement, especially in teeth.  My friend Hugo was the first to have his teeth whitened, and gosh, it looks so amazing. Then, Yazbek was the second, inspired in Hugos teeth.  lol

The same stuff that artists and celebrities do on their teeth, and u look at them and wonder: how come can she/he have such white teeth?

 

 Maria fernanda (behind) and Ana Paula (front), the 2 most stunning actresses we have here. Beautiful, sensual, pretty, and look! beautiful teeth, lol

Now, about the trip:

  This week i have these things to do:

Monday:

• Get the bank letter at B. Barasil and give to HSBC manager to make a similar letter
• Ask for the $$ to take with me to UK. at Banco Panamericano
• Go to federal bank and take my money from governamental FGTS account.
• Go to Av. Jurucê and buy a new case
• Call the agency and ask them to charge my B Brasil Credit card with the hotel upgrade fee
• Ask the  official translator the $ amount for her translation and pay her

Tuesday

• Set hour on Friday at the hair dresser and waxing session
• Call the dentist and ask him to deposit my cheque.
• Put the $ for the cheque into my HSBC account
• Go to a shop for extra things i need
  
  
  

Wednesday

• Go to the dentist for ultra sound
• pay more money to the dentist - gosh
• Call the agency to find out news about my hotel upgrade
• Collect documents at HSBC
• Call the exchange store and tell them i will be going there on the next day to change Reais for Pounds and some Euros

Thursday

• Collect vouchers and air tickets
• Prepare case, definately
• Collect my 2 trousers I sent to be tightened at the taylor
• Go exchange the money with dad
  
  

Friday

• Hairdresser + waxing
• Check list of luggage
• Buy a remedy to take while im flighing.

Saturday

• Wake up at 10am
• Check my luggage for the last time
• Shower at 12pm
• Dad picks me up at 13hs
• Airport check in at 14hs
• Boarding at 16hs
• Take a deep breath and try to sleep
  
  

 

 

 Good Afternoon.

I was browsing some sites about carnival and found one which has a very cool text. But unfortunately, Its not possible to copy and paste the info in here, so, I let u with the link to the site. It tells, on the right column, some of the aspects of Carnival Competition, as most of people - especially the ones who werent born here, dont know that carnival parades are a competition, and not a simple party.

The site is: http://brazilhotdeals.com/Carnaval.htm

Well, another thing i want to tell u is a sad thing that happened in last night's parade, with the most traditional samba school of Rio, called: PORTELA.

Everything was going on fine during PORTELA's presentation on the "arena" of samba, it was 4am, and the public was cheerfull and the samba ppl were all very organized and happy.  When the last float was about to start parading, the gates before it were shut!!

The thing is, as I told yesterday, schools have from 60 to 80 minutes to parade, and if they exceed this time, they start to lose points which can spoil a whole years preparation, as usually the "special" schools, the best ones get more or less all marks not below 9,0, so, a loss of point because of "time enlapsed" can mean the loss of all hard work of more than 5,000 ppl.

But when the president of PORTELA decided to ask - through an electronic communicator, the assistants to shut the gate and not to let the last float to parade, he forgot that he was about "to shoot his own feet" (as we say in here when u do something that will bring a bad consequence to urself) .

The last float was the one bringing the eagle - symbol of the school, and also the hundreds of "old generation" PORTELA samba participants.  People who were born inside PORTELA soul and had contributed all their lives with the success of the school, they are elderly people nowadays, but yet important for the school as the "first generation of samba participants" of the traditional PORTELA.

Then, when the gates were shut, preventing the float and the elderly to parade, a big confusion was set up!!  The TV cameras showed the ppl fighting, trying to open the gates, ppl crying, and meanwhile, the rest of the school was still in the sambódromo (the parade street), and in the "concentração" (where the schools get prepared to enter the sambódromo, a mess was going on.

The thing was that this last float, carrying the eagle, got broken down in the very last minute before it could enter the parade, and the president decided to ban its entering as it could break while parading, and get stuck in the middle of the sambódromo, what could delay the presentation, and as a consequence, make the whole school be punished by losing a mass amount of points.

So, ppl got really angry - cos they thought that the most important thing was to join the parade and not the gain or loss of points, as carnival is to be enjoyed, and not taken as a "mortal combat", so, they forced the gates, police cops were called, and TV showing everything, many ppl crying, shouting, and journalists running through the streets to capture each single movement.

The elderly ppl were not understanding what was going on, and they were really confused, as they were all ready to enter the sambódromo, and all of a sudden, ppl shut the gates and demanded them to stand still, and wait cos they would not parade.

Well, after the rest of school finished the parade, the cronometer set 78min, phew, the preseident was right, if he had let the last broken float to enter the parade, they would have delayed the parade (max 80 min for each school). And so, he demanded the gates to open, so that the broken float could be pushed along the sambódromo and clearing the entrance gates for the next samba school - no, the float cant be pushed backwards, cos right behing it, the other samba school had already put all their floats in a queue, and imagine taking about 5,000 ppl off the way??

So, a magical thing happened:  When they decided to push the broken float and all the disappointed elderly decided to parade, even though the music was not playing any longer, the whole people who were there at the sambodromo grand stands went in deep silence...  The sambódromo went silent, and as the assistants were pushing the float, the elderly all entered the parade, walking, and they themselves were singing the school samba song, carrying a banner (that they were supposed to carry on the parade), and a big flag, showing the face of an old carnival man from the school.

This is the broken float. And then, guess what happened? the ppl from the stands started to sing the song along with them, and some of the drummers who have already left the sambódromo, went back, and joined them, making some music for the poor elderly

This is the group of elderly parading - in the silence, and not having the music with them.

Some of them started crying, while walking through the parade street.

And the big flag the elderly were holding.

 

This is a pic i found in a site for foreigners, explaining how the stands are divided, and the tickets are sold.

well, this is the story for todays "post-carnival chronicles", the day when the sambódromo went silent and a group paraded , with no music, just singing their hearts out.  People will never forget this night, a historical night for Rio's carnival History.

Naomi Campbell, the stunning british super model who simply loves brazil and she joined the parade of PORTELA, last night.   The papers say that she has bought a house in Rio in the same area that Rod Stewart and Bono Vox (U2) bought.  Nice neighbourhood, dont u think? lol 

This pic i find cool cos it shows the nature and the buildings far behind. This is the lagoon.

More contrast Pic.  I lieke it, lol

 Big ducks whatever they are called, lol  Gosh, I came really close to them, lol
I told Gustavo not to get too close, cos i read somewhere they can chase ppl,lol

Gustavo laughed a lot, saying that it wasn t a goose, but ducks, lol

Me, near a sort of artificial lake. Gosh, I was afraid to fall into the water, lol

Another snapshot , but this one I asked him to erase, I was laughing, but i noticed he didnt.

 This is a group of ppl who practise Tai-shi-shuan , a sort of Jap gym. lol They have the teachers there and u can join. We were sitting by the pavement, watching and making comments on the ppl, lol At a certain time, I got really sleepy, cos they play a song very relaxing, and I was almost laying down the ciment and let the sleep take me, lol

Gosh, this is a Fig tree, veeeery old, kind of hundred years old. Its massive, really big. In this pic Gustavo couldnt picture all the tree, but u see those branches there touching the ground? those belongs to this tree, its reeeaaly big.

This is my victim, oooops, I mean, friend, who agreed in going to the park at 9am, during a holiday, lol He asked me to take this pic cos he wants to send his mum, who lives in another state. Gustavo is from The south, and was transfered from the south to São Paulo, by his company. He is the manager of a internet site design co.
He does look sleepy, doesnt he?? hahahaha

LOL - Dont ask me why I wanted to take a pic kissing the tree, lol  I think it was the beer from last night that messed my brains, lol

Gosh, this is a living statue we found in the park.  Gosh, Its so scarying !

And some little girls who gave "her" some money. Gosh, i would never be brave enough to get close to that statue, lol

The cute ducks swimming!  The swim so cute!

This is aa warning outside the park, in the main gate, warning ppl that the dogs from the following brands can not walk around the park without the proper safety stuff: the thing u put around their mouths to prevent them from biting ppl, the cords, and also the special cord that goes around their necks and the person can pull and the dog gets suffocated.  Gosh. The dogs are freer inside their flats, lol

 Well, after this walk, which finished around 13hs, we went to have lunch in a bar, I had a delicious grilled meat with rice and fries, and he had strogonoff.  mmmmmm

I got in at 16hs, and now, im wearing a hair protector cos i washed my hair and i had put on some special creams and have to wait until it makes effect so that I can wash it out and dry my hair:)

lol

 Forgot to add some pics my brother sent me in the begining of january, his trip with his friends to Lake Tahoe.

Brother is the eskimo second from left to right, lol

Gosh, id never spend money on a 'vacation season" like that, lol  I prefer thousand times a sunny beach and my beers, lol

These are brothers friends at his place in St Barbara, during xmas.  Brother is the one laughing hard.  All these people are his friends either from university or whom he simply met there.  All brazilian, of course, lol

Another pic of him and his friends during xmas, at his place.

Gosh, it must be very tough to spend holidays all on ur own.  I think this is the reason they foreigners stuck together and become so close.  They need to feel at home, speaking their language and feeling the warmth of themselves.

Anyway, i will go sleep.