21/01/2010

Today is the 21st of january 2010.
That means that on exactly this night it's been three years since I first arrived in Brazil... funnily enough in this neighbourhood, in a street just around the corner. (and to make things even more amazing I'm spending tonight with the same people that I met on my first night here.)
The realisation of the significance of this night came to me when I was in the gym a few hours ago. I couldnt help but thinking "Imagine if I could go back 3 years in time and see myself 3 years into the future in this exact moment".

I wonder what explanation I'd come up with? Maybe, given the initial rush of awe, inspriation and passion that I was already feeling for Brazil, after only hours, I would just realise that I would be about to embark on an amazing experience, one that would change my life in such a way that after my first 6 months here there was no turning back...that this place would shape my life to the point that one day I would end up right back here where I started off those 1095 days ago. or who knows, maybe I would just freak out and think that I hadn't left the country after all this time... but then again, strangely enough, I think that a part of that is pretty true.

who knows where I'll be in another 3 years, I'd take the chance to see if I could.

Jardim Botanico

On an afternoon of 43 degrees in Rio de Janeiro I thought that a reprieve from the heat was by far too much to ask. For the last 5 hours I had been sweating like I only thought possible in the hottest set of yards, on the most remote cattle station, in the Tanami dessert, in Australia. It was not a pleasant sensation to revisit. Rio de Janeiro, is likely the only place in the world where going to the beach actually makes you hotter and more uncomfortable than you were in the middle of the city’s centre walking along the very busy roadside sidewalks, so I knew that heading to the water was out of the question. (Because of the sheer amount of people that flock to Rio’s beaches on a day like that, there is no space for a towel on the beach, let alone 1m squared swimming space. And if, by chance, you happen to find enough space to leave your towel you wont make it to the waters edge without being harassed by someone selling something. But the Brazilian beaches are another story, and I don’t complain because amidst all the chaotic stress, they’re a lot of fun.)

So there I was at a blistering 2pm traipsing through the streets of the city. With intense sweat stinging my eyes, my feet black and blistered from walking along the dirty avenues in a pair of Havi’s and my mouth as arid and dry as the dust from the territory, with the lingering aftertaste of sunblock contributing to my desperate thirst, I was beginning to want to be anywhere but Rio.

I’m sure it was because the ancient spirits of Rio didn’t want me to think such a thought that all of a sudden I found myself at the entrance of the botanic gardens.

The moment I stepped foot through the gates and onto the white velvety path the leaves of the giant fig trees shaded me from the sun rays and the tree trunks and roots encircled me in an embrace I felt was from Mother Nature herself.

I remembered the stories my mother used to tell me as a child to help me sleep or relax “you are walking through a beautiful garden…” and I had a version of my nirvana waiting to be explored below my tired and weary feet, which had seemed to have soaked up the energy from the ground and were now feeling light and sprightly.

A beautiful afternoon awaited me.

Cristo o Redentor

Brace Yourselves!

Brace yourselves for three consecutive days of awesome photos!

The last pictures were the supporting act for my new Olympus e-30 camera.

Here's my Favourite 7 photos from a beautiful afternoon at the Pão de Açucar-Sugarloaf mountain in Rio De Janeiro. Keep your eye out for the Christ the Redeemer statue which makes his mark on the far horizon.

Saying farwell to my reservations about putting my best photos on the internet, I've come to the conclusion that theres not a lot of point in taking photos to keep them on a hard drive for the rest of my life... I can only hope that people resect them.

Enough Chit Chat

So far this blog hasn't had much to do with my photography... which is much more of a passion of mine than writing. so now's as good of a time as any...here's some random shots of Brazil so far. (these shots are all from my little canon, so stay tuned for the shots from my new olympus!!!)

A kitten that we found in a 'pound' for street animals (which had over 100 cats). it was trying to get through the wire to get to us.

An AMAZING sand castle...yeah SAND! on the beach in copacabana. this was on new years eve...the new year being born.

And just when I thought that I’d thought and thought about every split second of the 24 hours that followed their accident, here in a room in Brazil at 2:40 in the morning something has come into my head that has taken me to a place very far from sleep. It has made my heart race and sweat form between heavy and uneven gasps for air.

Imagine if I had answered the phone. Imagine if I had raced the 100 dark meters to the kitchen and picked up the phone to hear her voice in the wrong place on the other end. To hear something that in my most inconsolable and dreadful nightmares I could not have imagined. Imagine if I had to hear that and understand that by myself, like she had to live it and feel it. I would have to lift my own self from my knees on the cold concrete and try to breathe. And then the most frightening thought of all…that somehow and someway I would have to get myself to Lance and Kylie’s place to tell what I knew. To tell the something that would change everyone’s lives.

Up until now I’ve not wanted to forgive myself for not getting up to answer that call.

Copacabana at 6:30 on the eve of new years.

The clouds that blanket the city have trapped the excitement and spirit of Rio de Janeiro in a way that suffocates any negative energy. The atmosphere is charged with an electric anticipation as the party spirit of the Carioca simmers on the dirty asphalt and cobbled paths of the streets. The rhythm of the people is rising up and infiltrating the buildings and apartments where people hang from their windows and balconies breathing in the humid hope from below.

It’s the somewhat calm before the storm, where in a few hours, the city of Rio de Janeiro will explode in a sea of white. But for me, it’s too late for calm, or tranquillity. My heart is already pounding in a rhythm of rapture and rhapsody.