Blisters and Bus rides

I forgot about the first few days here and blisters from chinelos! (flip flops) How could I have forgotten? I started out on one of my many long walking trips (this time to buy shampoo, toothpaste and a chip for my phone) to the calçadão of Bangu (big sidewalk shopping area) that has this covered area in the middle that protects you from the rain, but more importantly, has a
very heavenly light and refreshing mist that shoots out intermittently....brazilians know how to live, don't they?
Anyway, back to the blisters...I forgot that if you aren't used to wearing chinelos and are walking a lot....my purpose had been to get personal hygiene products, but now I had to find chinelos that fit and didn't have a strap in the same spot as my blisters (and they had to be cheap because I'd have to buy different colors). I got one pair that I thought would fit the bill, but they ended up being worse than the first pair; I then had to go look for another pair that didn't touch the blisters that this second pair made...you get the picture. I did have a good time meeting new shop people though. I'm the only gringa for miles, so when I use my ice breaker, " Sou americana, não falo português muito bem...", they get this smile on their face and I get the feeling that I made their day. I know I have that same smile and willingness to help when a foreigner asks me for help in portland. That's another thing, in Bangu, I've never minded telling people I'm from the US. Out here, people tend to be very protective of me.

I'd also forgotten about the engarrafamentos (bottle necks that go on forever). I wanted to go to Mangueira's ensaio tecnico, and I was supposed to meet Bruno and another good friend there. I kind of slipped into the relaxed way of life here and left the house a little late. Not a good idea, as there was a not only the huge traffic tie-up, but a car had overturned shortly after my stop.
Once we finally approached the avenida, we pulled the cord for the busdriver to stop...no way. this dude took us way past sapucaí, which elicited at first, mild, "hey stop!", "where are you taking us" to my favorite new swear phrase, "this 'puto do motorista' is crazy". Not exactly grammatical, but we all got the idea. We were all instant friends as we walked the few long blocks back to the avenue, agreeing with each other as to the dastardly-ness of the bus driver (I actually just looked very put out and shook my head in disbelief with them. My portuguese isn't that good yet). Anyway, I arrived super late, which was a bummer not only was I was supposed to meet my friend who does sound on the avenue, but I had a mangueira shirt from Renato who played guitar on Mangueira's carro de som last year that would have granted me entrance to the pista (the actual avenue, not the stands). Needless to say, I arrived very late (they hadn't started, but had already closed the avenue off) and I couldn't call my sound guy friend Hudson and fix it because my stupid new chip in my phone wasn't activated yet. At least I could stay close to the bateria and record their esquentimento (warm-up), and record their caixa feel. By the way, 99% play it hand over hand and they blast out those first two hits 1 E , as well as & A of 2; they're almost equal. Anyway, I need to read the manual for my zoom, because I didn't have it at the right setting and it was waaaay too loud. sucks. The other thing is that it was so overloaded with sound, that the little meter wasn't moving and I thought I hadn't recorded anything, in fact when I checked, it didn't show that track. Kind of bummed, I went to sit in the stands with the rest of the cattle and heard a couple of great breaks which I wished I could've recorded...I didn't try to remember because I was worried about my zoom, already planning on emailing Sue and John and asking them to bring me a new one. When I got home, I checked again, took the batteries out and put them back in, and voilá, the track was there, I'll try to fix it, because it is kind of muddled and hurts your ears.
Ok, enough for today, I've got to take a shower, it's starting to heat up here and I'm sweating already. It's 11am my time 5am your time.
beijos