Thursday, February 7, 2008

My Summer Home

Yesterday, I packed my bags and caught a bus which took me to the main bus station in downtown Rio. During part of the trip, we traveled through the outskirts of a favela. I was hoping the bus driver wouldn't kick me out there. With fifty pounds of expensive gear, I would be somewhat uncomfortable with that. Thankfully, we kept plugging along until arriving at a safer place—the terminal.

After arriving at the main station, I bought two tickets for São Pedro da Aldeia, one for me and the other my pack. The town resides on a large lake—Lagoa de Araruama—and is about two hours East of Rio de Janeiro. Fabio's family owns a lovely home there. They have graciously invited me to spend a few days there, as they are there during their time off for Carnaval—people usually take the whole week off—and to celebrate Fabio's younger brother's birthday.

Last night, we went to Cabo Frao, another town on the lake, saw some sights, and tried to make our way through a very thick crowd along the beach where a bloco was moving along at a snail's pace.

Today, Fabio and I are sitting at the dining room table, doors of the room wide open, as we peer outside at the rain. I'm catching up on some blogging and loads of photo editing—almost 4,000 shots between the blocos and Sambodromo—and Fabio is going through some mail and other paperwork and reading some photo articles from the Digital PhotoPro Web site.

If the weather clears, we'll head out for some photography. Otherwise, we'll just relax around here. I'll work on the laptop and read a book—I'm going through Robert Young Pelton's Licensed to Kill—Hired Guns in the War on Terror—and maybe watch a movie later. Last night, I got the best sleep I've had in a week—i.e., since leaving home. Deep barely begins to describe it.

A humming bird just flew into the house through the open doors, hovered for a second, then went zipping back outside.

Fabio and I will travel the two hours back to Rio tomorrow, although it could take significantly longer if we stop for some photography along the way. There are many good photographic opportunities between here and there, including favelas. We'll see if the precipitation is still precipitating then.

Back to the photos!

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