Sunday again–missed a week
So this blog was supposed to be more than once every week or two, but I’ve been remiss. Nonetheless, let’s try for a re-cap.
When last we left our heroes, they were preparing for the visit of friends Rebecca and Aisha. Part of that involved a cleaning lady, which a luxury to which I’m unaccustomed. Her cleaning the place was part of the deal of the apt, though, so I don’t feel too indulgent, albeit I do recognize I’m rather living the life of Riley right now.
Rebecca and Aisha arrived Wednesday morning, and Marcy & I took the bus to the airport to meet them, then we all took a cab back. It’s been grand having them visit. Last weekend, we all went to Paraty, a really beautiful little old town in the southwestern part of Rio state, and stayed in a little pousada (B&B–not to be confused with the "posadas" described in HSB-64, if you know what I’m talking about–otherwise (though I’m sure they come from the same root), no worries), where we erred on the side of staying too cool the first night, by not fortifying ourselves against mosquitoes. Rebecca, Marcy, and I slept horribly trying to protect ourselves from the little b*st*rds the whole night, while Aisha slept calmly and was eaten alive (her arms only, fortunately, though it looked like chicken pocks).
The next day we had a really lovely cruise all around Paraty bay on an "escuna" (schooner, with rigging and everything, though curiously no signs of the actual use of wind power) called the Estrela de Manhã III. It’s really amazing to be on the sea. We dropped anchor in three of four little coves and went snorkeling and swimming. It was definitely the highlight of Paraty.
We came back Monday afternoon from Paraty and I finally was able to line up some interviews that week (ie, this past week), both on Thursday (after a lot of calling and e-mailing. I’ve got a couple of more scheduled for this Monday and Tuesday, which will hopefully be quite interesting (the last two, with a guy from ex-Pres FHC’s party, the PSDB, and a woman from current Pres Lula’s party, the PT, were pretty good, though they did get a bit rambling). Unfortunately, I think I’m coming around to find that one of the main arguments I’d been hoping to argue against in my dissertation really probably does explain a lot of what I’m interested in (basically, electing a lot of people from your party is irrelevant to gaining overall power, the only thing important to politicians is getting themselves elected, because of the benefits that accrue to elected officials–the added benefit of electing co-partisans in a team effort is negligible, so parties are irrelevent).
Anyways, that’s the bulk of what’s new for new. Rebecca left yesterday, and Aisha is departing tomorrow. We’ve had such fun with them, it will be sad to see them go. However, this Wednesday Marcy & I will be departing for the site of my first extra-fluminense research of this trip: São Luis, far to the north. It’s also the site of the breathtaking Parque Nactional Lençois Maranhenses (gosh, I hope all of these diacriticals are coming through correctly!). I’ll have to download the pics from Marcy’s camera and put them up so you can see Paraty and what we’ve been up to Rio.
I hope you’re all well–and to hear from people what they’re up to! We’ve been here a month already–it’s unbelievable! We’ve got only 3-1/2 more! Take care
Dan
