So, I had a plan…. to update this page with a few brief travelaccounts once a week while i was away.
Part one of the plan has been succesful. i´ve written a few brief accounts of special experiences in my small leather-bound moleskine notebook (incidentally the notebook favoured by my all-time favourite travel-writer and something of a personal hero, Bruce Chatwin).

Part 2 of the plan is more difficult, because whenever I get near an internet café, i spend the first half-hour just sorting through the hundreds of mails in my inbox, and the next half-hour writing personal e-mail to friends and family. by the time i get around to actually updating this page, I, and especially Signe, am yearning to get back on the street, back to the experiences and the excitement that is brazil.

maybe i´ll have time to transfer some of my small accounts here once i get back, maybe not. here´s a little taster, which might weel be the last lengthy update here until early may when i get back to the office and it´s need for prolonged procrastination.

Sitting under a tree, by the Praia Vermelha in Rio. Pão do Açcucar dominates the view, the rest is beach, the moored rowing boats bobbing with the waves, and a small group of locals playing Bossa Nova, Samba, and popular brazilian tunes from the 20´s on various instruments.

It´s raining, but warm. We´re shielded from the worst of the rain by tropical trees and a few parasols. we´re sitting in the almost ubiquitous plastic garden furniture.
The music is lively and lovely.

The view over the water breathtaking.

It´s a very special monday night for us, our first night in Rio together, in shorts and flip-flops on the beach.

I start to understand the attraction of this miserable paradise, so lively, so awake yet so unbelievably poor. So full of music, of heart and passion. quitely, perhaps 20 people on a small beach in the tropical rain, tell me more about this beautiful city than any overfilled nightclub, any futebol at the Maracna, or even Copacaban and Ipanema.

The city lives.