America: Found

So I've been putting off this recap post for a long time. And with the Peace Corps breathing down my neck, I wanted to tie up the loose ends of what I did on the road trip. So here is an abbreviated narrative of what went down.

We left Washington, D.C., ad drove to Richmond. On the way, we stopped at a Wa Wa, which was located on Jefferson Davis Blvd.

In Richmond, we went to the Museum of the Confederacy. The museum tries to convince you that slavery was not the main cause of the Civil War. In fact, there is a display that talks about the role that African Americans played in the Confederate war effort (both slaves and free ones). There is another big display that talks about how the South, when it realized it was losing the war, thought about maybe possible considering the possibility of freeing the slaves to help the war.

Then we drove to Chapel Hill, N.C. to go to the Clemson-UNC basketball game. We tried to meet up with my friend for dinner before the game but his phone died, and while he was driving to the phone store to get a new charger, he was pulled over for running a stop sign. So we had Qdoba and went to the game.

The Dean Smith Center is huge. It seats 20,000, and everybody is wearing Carolina Blue. We sat behind the basket in the upper deck. The guy sitting next to us played college football against a Bo Schembechler-coached Presbyterian team in 1950. It was a close game for a half, then UNC blew them out.

We planned to spend the night at my friend's apartment. He works for Duke. Well, he didn't answer his phone after the game. Long story short. It took two hours, phone calls to his sister, his mom, a guy named Snapper, 23 missed calls, and a guy in Durham brandishing a knife, but we finally contacted my friend and spent the night at his place. At one point, we considered couchsurfing in Kryzyzewskiville, but it was so cold that the tenters were given a grace period.

The next day, we drove to Atlanta. On the way, we passed Dale Earnhardt Blvd. in Kannapolis, N.C. (I just want to race, Daddy). In Atlanta, we stayed with my college roommate. We had a delicious dinner at his house before hitting the town. Highlights from that night included our Siberian waitress at the Irish bar and the Waffle House at Underground (considered by many to be the shadiest Waffle House in Georgia).

The next day we went to downtown Atlanta, looked into visiting the aquarium before deciding it was too expensive, looked into going on the CNN Center tour before deciding it was worthwhile, wandered around the Olympic Park, and went to the World of Coke. This was a good decision, except that the Coca-Cola bear bit off my friend's head. After the Coke Museum, we stopped at the Varsity diner, an Atlanta staple, before hitting the road toward New Orleans.

We stopped at the Tuskegee Airmen National Historic Site in Tuskegee, Alabama. The museum isn't quite open but, because one of the Airmen's trainers was visiting, we were treated to a special tour. Then we hit the road for the Big Easy.

We stayed with one of Marshall's high school friends, who is doing Teach for America in New Orleans. We went out that night, and through a random conversation, I learned that one of my good friends from Michigan was working for Americorps in New Orleans. I saw her the next day.

We pretty much spent the next couple of days exploring New Orleans, walking around the French Quarter, going to different music shows, eating beignets, searching for the king in king cakes, riding the street car, and learning about the hurricane relief effort.

After a weekend in New Orleans, we began our journey northward. Our first stop was at an unsatisfying, all-you-can-eat buffet in Meridian, Mississippi. Then, we got off the freeway in Birmingham, Alabama to drop by Bob Dylan's favorite bar, except that it is closed on Monday mornings. So, we continued to Nashville.

We spent the night taking in the scene on Broadway. We saw a country band, a bluegrass band, and enjoyed pint night at another establishment. Even I enjoyed pint night, because I got a root beer. The next morning we took a tour of the Parthenon. They build a model of the Greek structure in Nashville because some guy coined the town the "Athens of the South." Then we got lost in the Opryland Hotel, which has four different ecosystems in it and everything you could ever think would be in a hotel and more. Afterwards, we said goodbye to Marshall and continued our journey.

Unfortunately, the rain that was falling froze. So driving conditions were far from ideal. While driving on a two-lane highway in southern Indiana, we drove off the road and had to be towed out of the ditch. The guy whose lawn we drove onto had one eye and was carrying a sawed-off shovel. He was only there to help. We spent the night in Paoli, Indiana, which is famous for having a ski hill and is just a few miles from French Lick (hometown of Larry Bird).

We spent the next morning in Paoli, waiting for the roads to clear and enjoying the ambiance at the local diner. A bunch of the people staying at our motel questioned whether we would be able to move our snowed-in Buick LeSabre. Well, let's just say that this "city boy" proved them wrong. We were on our way to Bloomington.

We spent the night there with Danny's friend Danny. The next day we drove back to Ann Arbor for Danny's farewell party. We enjoyed a final meal together at the Northside before heading home.

A picture will tell a thousand words

But more importantly, it takes less time to put on the website than writing a thousand words. Because we have had an action-packed few days since the Inauguation, I haven't really had too much time to craft any blog posts. There are plenty of great stories and fun facts from our last few days. I will post them on the site when I get some more time on my hands. In the meantime, here are a few pictures and helpful captions that will explain where we have been and what we have done.

These images just scratch the surface of what we have been up to. I will go into further detail soon.

Our first stop after celebrating the inauguration of our country's first African American president was the Museum of the Confederacy in Richmond, Va.

Phillip Morris Headquarters outside of Richmond. We didn't go in. This is as close as the tobacco companies can come to roadside billboards these days.

Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, N.C. for the UNC-Clemson game. I don't really like UNC because they beat Michigan in the 1993 NCAA Championship game, but I definitely respect their tradition and the size of the Dean Dome. I just wish that I rooted for such a showtime college basketball program.

Onion rings at the Varsity in Atlanta. Marshall says they are the best onion rings he has ever had. I concur.

Tuskegee Airmen Museum in Tuskegee, Alabama. This is where they went through basic flight training. The museum is normally closed during the week, but because one of the Airmen's flight instructors was visiting, they let us join his tour. 

Old Hickory in Jackson Square in New Orleans.

Ian + Bourbon Street = Bad news for everyone involved

Is the country better yet?

Obama is somewhere behind that pole We stood in front of the Washington Monument with a clear view of a TV screen.


Everybody has their own impressions of the significance of this event in American history. For me, it was a cool experience. I am excited to see how this enthusiasm translates to change in America. The country has bought into Obama’s message. Now, I look forward to seeing how that message becomes action.

It has been a few days since Barack Obama took the oath of office. I've been in D.C. the most of the time, so I don't really have a good feeling for what is going on in the rest of America. But by my estimates, the country is 30 percent better than it was at 11:43 on Tuesday morning. Is this the sense that you get?

Who would've thought?

Go back five years in time. If someone were to tell you that in 2008-09, the following six events would occur, which would would you say was the least likely?

• The Devil Rays made the World Series
• The Cardinals made the Super Bowl
• Michigan would not go to a bowl game
• There is an African-American president
• Matt Millen would be fired by the Lions
  

All have occurred.

Just like shavuot

I have tried to compare this atmosphere to anything else I have experienced. The closest thing I can think about is shavuot at the Western Wall. And the more I think about it, the closer this comparison becomes.

On shavuot, Jews gather from all over Jerusalem at the Western Wall. They walk in the wee hours of the morning to congregate at the Kotel for services before sunrise. Everybody is walking for the same purpose. There is some singing, some reflecting, and some conversing.

It was very similar on Tuesday morning in Washington as people walked from all over to meet at the National Mall.

Apparently, we were on TV

When some of the TV stations tried covered what the scene was like on the Mall, they apparently showed our group doing the hokey pokey trying to pass the time and stay warm. Then, as we, and more than a million others, filed out of the Mall after the ceremony, we broke into song (Lean on Me, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Victors). And everybody around us joined in. Someone told us that they heard something about that on the news.

Power nap
We woke up at 6:45 and got to the Mall at 8:30ish. The Metro was so crowded that we couldn't get on. So we had to walk from my friend's apartment in Woodley Park. Some people were pretty tired, like Danny. He slept on the ground for 45 minutes. When he awoke, half his body was freezing cold. He claimed to be very well rested.

People laughed at Dick Cheney in a wheelchair

Despicable

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington with 2,000,000 others

On Monday, we didn't have any inauguration-related events to attend. Instead, we observed Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and did a bit of sight-seeing in Washington.
In anticipation of inauguration, museums throughout Washington prepared for
history museums and prepared presidential-related exhibits to mark the occasion. Like most other tourists in town, we headed down to the Mall on Monday morning to check out some of those institutions.

All of American history in one museum

That's quite a task for anything to accomplish. So when you go to the National Museum of American History, you should lessen your expectations. I mean, it's only one building. They recently completed a renovation, and I don't think I've ever been there before.

The crowds were pretty intense, and the lines were pretty long. But if you go through the exhibit backwards, you won't run into many lines. That is how we approached the American Presidency exhibit. While the lines near the entrance were extensive, there was no wait at the exit.

The exhibit explored various aspects of the presidency, from the portrayal of presidents in film to the constitutional duties conferred upon the president. Obviously, I had to take this picture.



We also went through the exhibit about American at War, which gave a crash course on American military history. I thought it was very cool but gave extremely brief explanations on some of the most transformative events in American history (World War I, for example).


If it worked for Barack, it should work for us

Everywhere you look in DC, there is an advertisement supporting the ideas of hope and change. It's the same message that Obama used throughout his campaign to the White House. But these ads aren't coming from the Obama campaign. They're coming from Pepsi, Ikea, and SEIU.





Day of service

As one of her first acts as "Humanitarian-in-Chief," Michelle Obama declared yesterday a "national day of service." There were numerous volunteer opportunities throughout Washington. We didn't build homes with Joe Biden. Instead, we went to a massive volunteer fair in Rockville and helped make scarves and blankets with Montgomery Hospice. There were hundreds of people at the fair.

The Maryland Coalition Against Porn. The woman said that Maryland is one of four states where possession of child pornography is a misdemeanor. One of their goals is to support any business which does not support pornography. So, that means they're interested in supporting 99 percent of businesses in America. They taught us that pornography degrades children, not just child pornography but all pornography.

There were massive signs saying that there were peanuts on the premises because of the peanut butter and jelly sandwich operation on the other side of the room. There were a lot of signs, but that makes sense when you think about how many peanuts there were.

Danny was walking by a booth. The woman asked if he smoked. He didn't respond, but she gave him a pamphlet anyway. It was all in Korean. So, if you any Koreans in Montgomery County interested in quitting smoking, let me know. I have the organization for you.

Portrait Gallery

After volunteering, we went to the Portrait Gallery. I've been there before, but it's always a good time. I really enjoy the Presidential Gallery. Here are a few of the fun facts I picked up:

• Andrew Johnson's wife taught him to read.
• Calvin Coolidge's dad administered the oath of office to his son on their Vermont farm after Warren G. Harding's death.
• Phyllis Wheatley was the first black woman to financially support herself as a writer.
  

They closed the top level of the gallery for a party. I was a bit offended by this.

The most popular picture in the gallery was the Obama "Hope" picture. There was a very long line to get your picture taken with it, or you could just walk by and get a quick snap shot.

Obamania or, in Hebrew, Obamagan

I spent Saturday afternoon with 750,000 of my closest friends. We sat in front of the Lincoln Memorial, in the same setting as Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream Speech", Marian Anderson in 1939, and Forrest Gump's "That's all there is to say about that" speech.

We got there at 9:00 a.m. and, after sitting in the freezing temperature for seven hours, left the Mall feeling great — about life and out country's direction.

Here is what we could see from our spot, which was actually very good. We were about 80% of the way up the reflection pond.



I'm sure you all watched the concert on TV, so I won't go into the details of every speaker. The consensus top performances from the afternoon were Bruce Springsteen, Herbie Hancock, Will.I.Am, Sheryl Crow, and James Taylor. The consensus worst was Tiger Woods.

Preview

At about 10:30 a.m., several of the performers came on stage for a practice run. The top performers of this part were the national anthem performer who went through the song six times (there was a lot of confusion over whether to stand up every time or just realize he was practicing) and Tom Hanks.

Hanks was standing at the podium for a long time, apparently trying to pick up the cues for his montage. But the sound kept going in and out while he was up there, which had everybody joking about his scene from Forrest Gump. There were also several people joking about running on the frozen reflection pool, playing the role of Jenny. Disappointingly, nobody did.

Jack Black also appeared on stage during the dry run, but nobody really heard him.


I came prepared for seven hours in the cold

Now, I forgot to bring a book, a deck of cards, or anything to keep me entertained throughout the day. Luckily, I brought these.



Riot?

Five minutes before the HBO broadcast started, someone stood at the podium and started to speak. But the issue was nobody could hear. The jumbotrons showed somebody speaking at the podium, but the sound was off. This was the case throughout the sound check as well.

This evoked chants of "turn it up," "we can't hear," and "there's no sound." Luckily, the speakers turned on once the HBO broadcast started. If this quiet continued throughout the concert, there would have been a massive riot.

The organizers could have corrected this problem a few ways. One would have been to turn on the sound. The other would have been to turn off the monitors because we were so far away from the stage we would not have known someone was speaking unless he appeared on the big screen.


Men in Trees

Put a few hundred thousand Obama supporters in an open field for three hours and you know a few of them will resort to their hippie tendencies. The loudest cheers throughout the pre-concert festivities were when people climbed up the trees that line the reflection pond.

It took about six hours for the first beach balls to appear. C'mon, people.

This feels very familiar

Walking through downtown D.C. after the concert the the entire crowd heading in the same direction felt very similar to the feeling of walking down Hoover Street after a big Michigan win. And everybody was feeling that good after the concert, too.

Welcome to D.C.

Day 1 = Success

We drove from Detroit to Washington, D.C. No problems. Here are a few highlights from out first day on the road.



Coincidence?

Yogi Berra once said "that's too coincidental to be a coincidence." I'm not quite sure what he was referring to, but as merged onto I-696 yesterday morning, we experienced something beyond happenstance.

While we were on the on ramp, the opening notes of "House of the Rising Sun" started played on the radio. Since the climax of our road trip will be a weekend in New Orleans, I can't help but think something beyond pure chance was at play.

I'm probably wrong, though.

Let down by The Wolf

With the advent of iPod and the technology that allows you to connect them to your car stereo, the importance of the car radio has lessened. You no longer have to scan the entire spectrum, looking for a song that appeases everybody in the car. Instead, you can put your iTunes library on shuffle.

But when I drive in Ohio and Pennsylvania, I turn off the iPod and listen to the best classic rock station in the Big Ten, 93.3: The Wolf. Every time I go through this part of the country, I tune in. And it has never let me down. I felt as if the station knew exactly what I wanted.

But times have changed. No longer routinely playing hits from the 60s and 70s, The Wolf now features heavy metal and modern rock.

The cheapest Quizno's sandwich ever

Ninety minutes into the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Danny and I got hungry for lunch. We pulled off at the service plaza. But meal options were relatively slim. There was a Roy Rogers, Starbuck's, and Quizno's.

At Quizno's, the only vegetarian option was the $6.59 Vegetarian sub. For me, that was a bit too much to spend on a mediocre sandwich. I had sandwich fix-ins in the car. All I needed was some bread. So, all I did was buy a piece of bread and put some of my lox on it.

Danny also bought some bread. But instead of fillng it with stuff from the bar, Danny made a sandwich from the pepper bar.

A taste of Kandahar

When we got to D.C., we went to dinner at an Afghani restaurant with our friend, Naomi. Neither of us had ever eaten Afghan food and didn't really know what to expect. The menu was full of grilled meat and other Central Asian favorites. There were a few vegetarian items on the menu, mostly featuring eggplant, sweet potato, and spinach. There was also a delicious dip served with the bread before the meal.

Overall, the meal was pretty good. I don't think I will travel to Afghanistan just for the food. I will need another reason to go.

Party foul

After dinner, we went to a graduation party for Naomi's friend. It was pretty much your standard apartment party. I met a bunch of interesting people and had a good time. But we witnessed something rather atypical.

It's always nice when you can bring a beverage to enhance the party — it's just part of being a good guest. But three girls came into the party and just brought mixers.



Now, I understand that you might need to bring a mixer to dilute/add flavor to the alcohol you are drinking. I find it completely inappropriate that these girls would bring four mixers and no alcohol to the party.

What's he going to do with the leftover Diet 7Up?

Drinking games without the mess

Naomi's friend lives in a nice apartment, but from all appearances, it doesn't look outfitted for people to play drinking games. There is plenty of space, but it lacks the front lawn for cornhole or a table long enough for beer pong.

These problems can be remedied with Wii Sober. This is a beer pong and cornhole video game. Brilliant.

We can't wait for Wii to upgrade its game with a flip cup and lawn darts.

I've gone to look for America

For the next two weeks, my friend Danny and I will embark on a road trip.

We each have a little while before we have commitments in the real world. Seizing upon this opportunity, we decided to go for a journey. Our original idea was to drive all the way to Mexico City. Although the itinerary has changed drastically, the purpose has not.

There is so much of America that we have yet to see, and we don't know when we will have this opportunity to explore again.

Saddled up in a Buick LeSabre, we have gone to look for America. I will post about what we find.

The Post-Graduate Life

I worked hard for four-and-a-half years to earn my college degree. Don't I deserve a little bit of a break?

Maybe I don't, but I gave myself one anyway.

In the three weeks since finishing finals, I have spent the majority of my time on these two cushions.



Despite all the hours logged on the couch in the last few weeks, I would classify that time as productive.

This free time has allowed me to catch up on movies and TV shows that I have missed in the last few years.

Here is a partial list of what I have watched since coming home (I have seen some of these before).

• Crash
• Last King of Scotland
• Three Days of the Condor
• Independence Day
• Major League
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Favela Rising
• City of God
• Entourage (first season)
• Flight of the Conchords (first season)
• The Sopranos (first three seasons)
• Barton Fink
• Primary
• Chariots of Fire
• Primary
• Glory
• Juno
• Black Sheep
• Christmas Vacation
• Alien
• City Slickers
• Tommy Boy (well, I sat the front of the car while it was playing the back seat)
• You Don't Mess With The Zohan (several times)
• High School High
• The Simpsons Movie
• Home Alone 2
• Zach and Miri Make a Porno
• Remember the Titans
• Jerry Maguire
• I'm Not There
• Transformers
• Matilda

In addition to the films I've watched from the comfort of the living room, I have also seen a few films in the theater. I would highly recommend each of these films, but if you think you would suffer a reversal of fortune by watching someone staple guns a five-dollar bill to their forehead, I would miss the last one.

• Slumdog Millionaire
• Gran Torino
• The Wrestler

Like any good Jew, we went to a movie Christmas night. And like any good Jew, we also ate Chinese food on Christmas night. But we fulfilled that mitzvah to its fullest by combining the two activites. After getting carry out from the restaurant down the street from the theater, we ate our food during the movie. I can think of no better way to spend my Christmas night.

Photos from my summer

The Recap

Recapping a three-month trip in one post is quite a daunting task. Luckily, there aren't any space limitations (I wrote this in Wod, and it came to about eight pages single spaces. So take your time with this one). As a way to live my dream of actually holding a press conference, I will answer reader-submitted questions/Ian-submitted questions to provide some final mass e-mail thoughts on my summer.

Just as I did with my Israel recap post, I have written this dispatch from a Canadian highway (the last one was written between Jasper and Edmonton. This one is coming to you from between Petrolia and Etobicoke). Coincidence? Probably.

Well, before I open it up to your questions, I'd like to offer a brief opening statement about my summer.

Ian: It wasn't until I loaded all of my pictures onto my computer that I realized exactly how much I did this summer. I had the opportunity to see so many incredible things, from Galapagos to Macchu Picchu to Iguazu Falls to the beaches in Brazil and everything in between. But when you travel, you realize that the most memorable experiences or new perspectives don't come from being at major tourist sites. They come from the journey between. It's the locals you meet, overnight buses, the cab drivers, the interesting travelers you meet, the cultural differences, and immersing yourself in new culture that make this type of trip so memorable.

Peter Piper (of picking a peck of pickled pepper's phame): Give me a three-word alliteration to summarize your trip.

Ian: So, I'll break this one up into two parts. I have an alliteration that brings together the entire trip, and then I will have one for each country. There are repeats, because, well, I can't think of any other words right now that start with the same sound. At times, I went to the Phil Brickma School of Alliteration and Smart Travel.

For the entire trip: Cascao, Kwame, Cashapampa, kosher (the same thing as "vegetarian"), -quile (as in tranquilo")

Now, I'll break that one up by country.

Brazil: Cascao, Queijo con banana, Ceni, Cataratasq, Couchsurfing

Uruguay: Pony Pisador, Pleasant (I only spend 22 hours here, but I still have an alliteration, even though it's only between two items)

Peru: Huascaran, One-dollar lunches, Wonder

Ecuador: Tortuga, Tang, Tranuilo, ,

Argentina: Parilla, Papa, Palermo, Plaza de Mayo (just the madres), Paraguay? No,

Chile: ATM?, Atacama, Omellete, "On-time"

Me: What fears did you overcome?

Ian: Fire and bunk beds.

It's good that I've overcome my fear of bunk beds now. You know, so that I can sleep on the top bunk when I start going to overnight camp.

And, if I ever think about opening a hot dog cart, I would be comfortable lighting the flame. I have had no issues transferring fire, but the problem has been igniting it. But now, I don't have no issue with it

Rosie: Which country has the cutest old women?

Ian: This one is a tie. In Peru buses, you see these old native wmen, dressed in their traditional garb, missing teeth, and carrying about five hundred pounds worth of potatoes. If I were to choose one old woman as the cutest, it would be the woman in the bus station in Puno, Peru who tried to sell me her gloves. The only problem is that they were the gloves she was wearing and, fully extended, fit in my palm.

I also really like old, Brazilian couples dancing samba.

TMZ: Brushes with famous people?

Ian: While I was visiting the former presidential palace in Rio, I met some locals who helped translate the Portuguese from the exhibits. I really enjoyed talking with them and asked them what they were doing that night. They said that they always go to this bar with their friends, and that I was invited to come along.

I went back to my hostel and told the staff the name of the bar. They said that was mostly a gay bar, which worried me (not that there's anything wrong with that). Either there was something I didn't know about these two girls I met at the museum or they were playing a horrible trick on me. With a back-up plan in place if I felt horribly uncomfortable at this first bar, I set out to meet up with my new friends.

It turns out that my new friends are actors in Brazilian television, movies, and theater. I shmoozed it up with them and some of their other acting friends and had a great time.

I also met the son of an English parliament minister.

Everybody: How often did you shower?

Ian: At the beginning of my trip, I was showering at about the same rate I was sending out mass emails. As the trip wore on, I was showering much more frequently than I was sending out emails. It probably became about at 2:1 shower to email ratio.

Safire: What are your favorite new words?

Ian: Mochilerim. It is a Hebrew word for people who backpack in South America. In Spanish, "mochilla" means backpack. And "im" is the Hebrew suffix to pluralize something.

Successo – Protuguese for "success!"

Tudo ben. In Portuguese, it means :everything is all right." But In Brazil, It is a popular greeting, along the lines of "what's going on?" or "what's up?"

Tranquilo – Yes, this word means what you think it means. But it's much more frequently than it's English cognate. In Brazil, it's a common response to the "what's going on?" question. Actually, one of the friends I made in Brazil said that, when she first traveled in America, she responded to "how's it going?" with "tranquility." Now, she laughs about it.

But more than that. Throughout South America, tranquileo is how I would describe the mindset. Very laid back, take it easy, don't rush kind of attitudel.

Black and white cookie baker: Did you throw up?

Ian: My streak is still intact. As of today, I have been vomit-free for 760 days and over 3,000 days before that unfortunate morning in Jerusalem. Ruby…

Baklava guy: Who was your favorite vendor?

Ian: They guy from whom I bought my jeans in the street market in Chiclayo, Peru. Not only is it the largest street market in South America, but the guy was also very friendly. He allowed me to try on my pants in the makeshift fitting room (more of a fitting curtain along the main walkway of the market), cut a hole in the pants for the button, put my stin-ridding, hole-covered, not-so-pleasant smelling, old jeans in the garbage, and took a picture with me. (If this were a blog, I would put that picture right here). He had a charm that only the best street-market salesmen have.

There was another vendor who I really liked, but I didn't buy anything from her, so I don't know if she qualifies for this question. Since no one asked me about the favorite vendor I didn't buy anything from, I will include a profile here.

When you go on hikes in Peru, it is common to find old women selling beverages and snacks along the trail, snacks that they had carried in tradition Incan blankets/capes depending on how they are folded. This woman's spot is on the ascent from the deepest canyon in the world. She wakes up at 3:00 a.m. every morning to catch the first wave of hikers doing the hike in the middle of the night. Because it's cold in the morning and hot in the afternoon, she brings warm and cool drinks.

After the midnight hikers pass, she finds a shaded spot behind a rock and spends the morning reading her bible and listening to folkloric music until the afternoon hikers arrive. She has mastered her job because, even at 3:00 p.m., the pop is still cold, and bananas are still yellow. She leaves her spot at about 6 p.m. to cook for her family, goes to bed at 10 p.m., and wakes up at 3 to start the next day.

Shuuummmmmmmmmuuuuuuuun: What's it like to turn 22 in Rio?

Ian: Pretty great but I didn't treat it much differently than my other day in Rio. I went out both nights, spent the afternoon at the beach, and went to capoeira in the evening.

BNL: If you had 100 more dollars, you would….

Ian: This is a tough question because I feel that I did almost everything I wanted to and if something cost a little bit more money but greatly enhance my experience, I didn't have a problem paying a little more. The only thing I can think of is doing the Nazca Lines.

These are mysterious rock carvings on the Peruvian coast that you can only see from an airplane., I didn't go on the airplane because I had heard that it is dangerous/nausea-inducing but if I might have used this extra money to pay for a more reputable company.

Khamotkha: If you had more time, you would…

Ian: If I had more time, I would have visited Bolivia. As I talked about in my previous email, I was seriously going to Bolovia because everybody says it's their favorite country. I worried that the week and a half I would spend in Bolivia wouldn't have been enough time to fully do Bolivia. But if I had another week or week and a half, I would have spent it in Bolivia.

Kippy, your neighborhood porcupine: What are two places you spent too much time?

Ian: I can't really think of any place that I spent too much time. For three days, I tried hard to get out of Buenos Aires and make my way to Uruguay, but, in the end, staying more time in Buenos Aires was probably a good thing. I got to enjoy more meat and spend more time with the friends I met.

Any time you spend in Lima, Peru is too much time.

Jane Goodall: What animal would you have liked to bring home?

Ian: This is probably the easiest question I'll field in the press conference. Giant sea turtle.

Sallah Shabati: Which countries or parts of countries did you miss and would like to go back to?

Ian: If I learned one thing in my South America trip (aside from everything else I learned on this trip), it's that I need to return to South America and not only to see the friends I made while traveling. This trip revealed that I need to come back to this continent to visit Bolivia, Patagonia, and northeast Brazil.

Guy walking aimlessly in the corner: What kind of people did you meet on the road?

Ian: I met very few Americans in my travels. The majority of people I met on the road were from Great Britain, Canada, Israel, or Australia. There are a few reasons for this. First, there is a mentality in these other countries to travel and see the world. Plus, there is so much to see in America, and it's expensive to travel internationally. In these other countries, there isn't the same diversity of landscape. In order to see different things, you need to travel to other places. And the American dollar sucks right now.

If I met Canadians on the road, they were typically college-aged kids traveling over the summer. If I met British people, there were typically post-university/pre-real world people. The Australians I met were mostly in major life transitions and one more extensive travels or over a year. Israelis were, well, Israelis.

John Williams and the Boston Pops: What did you do for Olympic opening ceremonies?

First off, I watched them live. In your face people America. I was sitting in the TV room of Che Legarto Hostel in Copacabana. I really enjoyed watched the parade of nations in this opening ceremonies because you didn't know which country would walk next. With the Chinese alphabet, I had no idea what kind of order the countries would walk out in, so you had to try and guess based on the flag in the background.

Eli Roth (director of the movie Hostel): What was your favorite hostel?

Ian: I spent the final week and a half of my trip in the Che Lagarto Hostel in Rio (site of my opening ceremonies viewing). Maybe the breakfast at this place wasn't up to the standards of other Carioca hostels but the staff was as helpful and caring at this place as they were at any place I stayed at.

Eli Roth: And your least favorite hostel…

Ian: I don't really want to think too much about the hostel we stayed at in Guayaquil, Ecaudor. Our guidebook described the place as a clean, safe, popular backpacker hostel, with a friendly staff and not the kind of place that bosses and their secretaries pay by the hour. Well, the book was wrong in all three aspects.

Our room had a bit of a cockroach issue (ooohh, las cucarachas). The guy at the front desk was angry with us when we tried to buy bottled water. And, standing in front of us in line when we checked in were an older man and a much younger woman (I'll save you the rest of the details).

Mitch Murphy (or whoever the neighbor kid from Home Alone was): What was your favorite souvenir?

Ian: Whenever I buy gifts and t-shirts from my travels, I always avoid the traditional touristy gifts. I like to buy shirts that reflect an aspect of my experience there or some part of the local culture. This is why my favorite souvenirs from the summer I spent in Israel were my sej (upside down wok used to cook pita) and t-shirt from the community garden I worked at.

I spent two and half weeks in Rio, so walking away with a t-shit of Sugar Bread Mountain and Corcavado would have been unacceptable. On my final day there, I came across the public school uniform t-shirt. On all buses, I saw kids wearing this t-shirt with the orange municipality logo. After I bought the shirt, I showed it to my friends. They got a great laugh out of it and told me that if I wore it on a city bus, I wouldn't have to pay the fare. That is advice I shall pass on to other backpackers.

Yes, you can borrow my t-shirt if you are planning a trip to Rio.

Fred "The Crime Dog" McGrifff: Were you ever mugged

Ian: Yes. It happened on a sunny morning at about 11:00 a.m. on one of the major streets in Copacabana on my walk to the beach (six prepositions. Beat that.). As I walked past a church, a 13-year old came out of my blind spot (if you didn't know, I don't have right peripheral vision) and said something in Portuguese. I told him that I don't speak Portuguese and tried to continue walking, but he put his hand out and wouldn't let me walk past him. I tried to go around him but his friend (Well, I'm not sure if their friends, They might just be business partners) came out of my blind spot and shouted in bad, Brazilian English "give him your money." The first one reached behind his back to grab something but I reached into my pocket and gave him my money (a wad of bills, the equivalent of $20) quickly enough that I didn't see what he was reaching for. They asked if that was everything. I told them it was and ran off to enjoy a day at the beach.

It might have sucked to lose 20 bucks, but it did make for great conversation with people at the beach. I learned how to say "today, I was robbed" in Portuguese (hoje, eu estaba robado).

Luckily, it wasn't a horrible experience. I think I was more unlucky than stupid because I was wearing the same thing and carrying the same amount of stuff as other people going to the beach. But you can live and travel safely in South America (or anywhere in the world) if you just use common sense and aren't stupid.

Euphegenia Doubtfire: How many times did you do laundry?

Ian: Three times. Once in Galapagos. Once in Cuzco. And once in Buenos Aires. Judging by my capoeira nickname, I probably should have done it once in Brazil.

Wow, three times in three months. I nevert thought about it like that. That seems disgusting and probably is. But I did clean my underwear in the shower to make sure things were fresh down there.

I knew things were getting really bad when the cleaning lady at the hostel told me that I looked like a homeless person.

Spider: What items did you bring but didn't need or need by didn't bring?

Ian: Every item in my bag served a purpose, and I wouldn't remove anything if I were to do this again. Yes, I did meet some people who only had one or two changes of clothing for yearlong trips. I could've done that if I needed to, but I was very happy how I packed. Because I had to prepare for all types of climates and activities, I could not bring too much of anything.

The only thing I am still debating about whether or not I should have brought is my iPod. As I sat on a six-hour bus from Puno to Arequipa, Peru listening to the same six folklorico songs played on repeat struggling to find a comfortable position to sleep in but couldn't because the bus was cold and the music was loud, I thought that iPod would have been a great idea. Then I thought about the kid sitting across the aisle from me yoinking the iPod at the end of the ride and thought that keeping at home was a smart decision. By the way, I hate Sonia Morales's music (She might be related to Evo.)

Plus, I am traveling in South America to experience and different culture and bringing an iPod with me would be defeating that purpose. In the end, I think I am happy with my decision.

Shuk guy: What was your favorite new fruit?

Ian: In Ecuador, I was in much more of a fruit-sampling mood than I was in Brazil (I was more into fruit-juice sampling). I would say my two favorite fruits I had were the babaco (melony fruit) and maracuya, and not just because of their names but mostly..

Ira and Barry Shalowitz: We've never seen you at Stuccchis or Ben and Jerrry's...

Ian: When I am in the United States, I'm not a big ice cream consumer. But when I am in a country known for its dairy products, like Argentina, I eat ice cream almost everyday.

Ira and Barry Shalowitz: A follow up. Do you have any ideas for new ice cream flavors?

Ian: The Japanese population of Sao Paolo has this mastered but I've never seen it done elsewhere in the world. The honeydew is a great fruit to nosh on, but I've never seen anything honeydew-flavored. That was until I got to the Liberdade neighborhood in Sao Paolo, where I came across their sea green-colored glory

Zohan Dvir: Who was your favorite Israeli you met?

Ian: I really like the independent Israeli. The Israeli who is doing the post-army trip like all other Israelis, but unlike other Israelies, this Israeli doesn't stay at the Israeli-only hostels, doesn't eat at Israeli restaurants, doesn't only travel with Israelis, and actually interacts with other people.

Also, watching the "Don't Mess with Zohan" with Brazilians who don't speak English, don't understand the Spanish subtitles from my bootleg copy, and don't know too much about Israeli humor is a lot of fun.

Ms. Frizzle: What was the longest bus ride of your journey?

Ian: Twenty hours from Lima to Cuzco with one stop. We watched Three to Tango, Keeping the Faith, Pearl Harbor, 27 Dresses, and Something's Gotta Give.

Ms. Frizzle: A follow up. How would you rate bus quality between countries?

Luckily I went from the country with the worst buses to the ones with the best. In Ecuador, buses are essentially mayhem. You don't really know if you will get a seat, if the door will close, if the road is paved, if the breaks will work. When you ride the buses, you're essentially playing a game of chance.

In Peru, the buses were of a little higher quality. If you were willing to pay a little more, you would get a more secure ride with fewer on-bus vendors yelling that they are selling "gelatinas" than in Ecuador.

In Chile, Argentina, and Uruguay, the buses were really good,. The food was good and the seats reclined to great angles.

In Brazil, buses were top of the line. On my ride from Lima to Cuzco, we only stopped once. On my four hour ride from Sao Paolo to Parati, the bus sopped twice, just for a break. Yes, this might be a little slower but it feels great to walk around a little bit and to know that the driver will be fresh.

But I am very proud of the fact that I made it all the way from Quito to Rio on buses, except for the boat from Buenos Aires to Uruguay and a mistake by the Chilean bus company that resulted in a bus company-sponsored van ride from San Pedro de Atacama to the Argentine border.

That is all for this dispatch. I hope you have enjoyed my emails as much I have enjoyed writing them. Much of this has been a one-sided conversation of me sending emails to you. I look forward to talking to you and hearing about your summer.

There is no river here

So, the city is called Rio de Janeiro. Most people would then assume that there is a river nearby that the place was named after (In Portuguese and Spanish, "rio" means "river."). They would be wrong -- no rivers in Rio.

I have heard two explanations why Rio has its name. This first is that the explorer who discovered (and named) Rio thought that the large bay there was actually the mouth of a big river. The other is that "rio" used to refer to any body of water. Either way it's very misleading for anybody who comes to Rio expected a river.

Luckily, most people come to Rio for the beaches and aren't too disappointed. I wasn't.

I'm writing this e-mail from Franklin, Michigan (From the couch). After this dispatch, I will write a final summer recap to put a fitting end on my adventure. For that email, I am looking for some reader assistance. If you have any questions about my summer travel, send them to me in the next day and I will answer them in the email. (You can ask anything you want. If you want some help on questions, below you will find the link to the recap post from the summer I spent in Israel)

Without further ado, my two weeks in Rio.

My capoeira nickname

When you play capoeira, the other members of the group don't refer to you buy your traditional name. Instead, everybody in capoeira has their capoeira nickname. For example, my teacher's name is Scarecrow (Espantalho). On my last night of capoeira, I received my capoeira nickname - cascao (pronounced caSh•cowng).

They wouldn't explain to me what it meant but they told me that it is the name of a Brazilian cartoon character. They told me to look it up on Google when I got back to a computer. Here is what I found:

It is the name of a character in the cartoon Matilda's Gang. Cascao is known as the charater who has never showered or taken a bath. He is afraid of water and always carries an umbrella in the case that it rains and he gets cleaned. I think that I earned this nickname by wearing the same white shirt (by the end, it was a brown shirt) to capoeira every night. When you are a backpacker and have limited clothing, it is easy to lable your clothes for a specific purpose - such as beach shit or bar shirt. So, my white shirt was my capoeira shirt. In English, Wikipedia translates cascao to mean smudge. You can learn more about him here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smudge_(Monica%27s_Gang)

This used to be The Big House

If one thing is abundantly clear in Brazil, it's that everybody loves soccer (futebol, pronounced Foo•Chee•Ball). And everybody has their team. In Rio, there are four big teams, and everybody identifies with one of them. The center of soccer in Rio (and Brazil, for that matter) is the Maracana Stadium.

Built for the 1950 World Cup (which Brazil lost to Uruguay in one of the most disappointing moments in the country's history), the Maracana had a maximum capacity of over 200,000 people although official attendance numbers are impossible to know for sure. The stadium has undergone some renovations to make it safe and ready for modern sports competitions (like the 2007 Pan-Am Games and the 2014 World Cup). Now, the capacity is about 95,000.

During the week, I went on a stadium tour that allows you to visit the locker rooms (they are very basic) and step on the field (an awe-inspiring experience).

Then, using my Michigan Daily sports writer credentials and the connections of a sports writer friend I made in Rio, I had the opportunity to sit in the press box for a game and go down to the press conferences afterward. I only understood one line from the press conference, which was when the Internacionale coach complained about having to play three road games in six days. It was a truly memorable experience.

It's like Welcome Week (except every weekend and without the cops breaking it up at midnight)

In addition to its beaches, Rio is known for its nightlife. The epicenter for much of this nightlife is the Lapa street party, which happens every weekend night. People gather in the street and have a good time. There are carts selling alcohol and other people walking around with bottles of Jose Cuervo and little cups. Every Carioca (person from Rio) that I talked to said they go to Lapa almost every week. So, in addition to being a great party, it really brings the city together.

It is a great people-watching spot. And if you know me, you know how much I like people watching. Actually, if Rio is good for anything, it's good for the people watching. Whether it be the street party, the beaches, the centro, or the Metro, you will always see interesting people. Some of the best people watching questions were: man or woman?, foreigner or Brazilian? Carioca or just Brazilian? and homeless or favela?

Poverty tourism?

Before getting to Rio, I read about favela tours where you go with a guide into the squatter settlements to see how they live. Favelas are famous for being some of the poorest and most dangerous places, where you can't even walk inside the gates without being harmed. Plus, the idea of paying to see poor people didn't really interest me.

Once I got to Rio, I talked to a few tourists about their experiences in the favela tour, and they said it was one of the most rewarding experiences of their trips to Brazil. They said that the guide was great, sensitive to the community's needs. Further, the money from the tour goes to support a day care center in the favela. It would be wrong to spend two weeks in Rio and not see all sides of society (especially, if you have a safe, socially responsible opportunity to do so). So, I went. The favela I visited was Rocinha (Ho•Seen•Yuh). It is the largest favela in Latin America with 200,000 residents.

It was an eye-opening experience. Having worked in Detroit for the last five summers, I have seen plenty of poverty. What interested me the most was how the favela operated. The favelas started in the early 20th century when low-wage laborers moving to Brazil's largest cities moved into government-owned land, cut down the trees, built their homes, and settled there without paying any taxes. The government never evicted these people, and the favelas developed into slum cities. People from the favelas work in the upper class neighborhoods and live in the favelas. Aside from labor, however, there is very limited interaction between people in the favelas and those outside. In the favelas, all of their social needs are fulfilled. There are health centers, schools, post offices, stores, markets, night clubs, and even concert halls (JA Rule played there a couple of months ago). But living conditions are really poor. There is trash everywhere and the scent of sewage is strong in the street (Street is loosely defined. It is more of a narrow, uneven alley with shit everywhere, literally). Very few people wear shoes.

Because the favelas developed as squatter settlements, the residents did not receive any services from the city or utility companies. All the electricity is stolen by people connecting their own wires to the power lines (it looks like a jungle). People don't have addresses in the favela. There is just a central post office there. There is some water availability but for people without access to water, the water company leaves a hose running for three hours a day so residents can collect all the water they will need.

There is some form of elected government in the favelas that communicate with the municipality, but these people are essentially just pawns of the drug gang which control the favelas. Despite the gangs (actually, because of the gangs), favelas can be some of the safest places in Brazil. The gangs want to make sure that the police don't have any further reasons to enter into the favelas. So there is very little crime between people in the favelas.

Throughout the tour, the tour guide said it was cool if we took pictures of the neighborhood. I felt a little (I mean, really) weird taking pictures in the favela, but some things were very interesting and there were some cool views. When I looked over at some people in my group who were smiling in pictures, I was amazed. There were a few times, like when we walked by the guy with the machine gun, when one of the heads of the gang, or when you walk by the lookout guys at the favela entrance that the tour guide told us to put our cameras away.

I have a lot more stuff about the drug gangs in favelas, police raids, and other favela info but this post is gettting really long.

My first motorcycle ride

Nothing against people who ride motorcycles, but they have never struck me as the safest form of transit. But when I went on the favela tour, we got out of the vans at the bottom of the favela and the tour guide told us to get on the back of the motorcycle taxi that will take us to the top of the favela.

It was a pretty interesting feeling. I don't know if it was being in the back of the motorcycle or the fact that I was riding a motorcycle in the middle of the largest favela in South America, it was a very cool experience.

Sugar bread

I arrived in Brazil, I was taken aback by the name of the market and bank Pao do Acucar. Translating it to English, it sounded like Sugar Bread. It sounds very fairytale-ish. If it were in America, it would be called Ginger Bread Bank.

Then I asked someone about it, and they told me that that was the name of Sugar Loaf Mountain - one of the top landmarks in Rio. Now, it makes sense. I'm sure that there are American institutions that are equally ridiculous. But Brazilians are lucky that Pao do Acucar translated to English means Sugar Loaf instead of Sugar Bread. If it meant sugar bread, people could not take that landmark seriously.

By the way, it was a gorgeous view from the top.

Wonder-ful view

One of the most famous vistas in the world is from the top of Corcovado in the shadow of the Cristo Redeemer statue. In fact, the statue was recently named one of the seven modern wonders (not to take away from that honor but I heard that Brazil and Brazilian companies spent millions of dollars on a campaign to get Cristo on the list).

Corcovado was a favorite hiking spot of Brazil's first emperor Don Pedro I. It became of popular vista and, in the late 19th century, there was a movement to get a religious monument to crown the mountain top. In 1921, the statue of Cristo was completed.

Among the people who have visited the statues, aside from me, are Pope John Paul II, Albert Einstein, Princess Di, and 300,000 people per year.

Everybody takes the obligatory picture with Cristo in the background. I found some Israeli tourists to take said photo.

I only trusted authority once in Brazil

When you travel to Brazil, everybody warns you not to trust law enforcement. You hear stories about how the police are dirty, corrupt, and can always be bought off. So, throughout my time in Brazil, I was always wary of people in uniform. This was until I had a run in an army training exercise.

A friend of mine had told me that one of the most rewarding views in Rio comes from the top of Pedra de Gavea (it is the largest seaside boulder in the world at about 900 m). On a clear day when the view would be the best, I decided to embark on this journey. After an hour and a half of hiking, I made it to what I thought was the peak. Then I walked around a bend and saw that there was a mountain I would need to climb, rather than hike. I haven't actually climbed since I went to Planet Rock (Ruby thinks I last went there in 1997). Then I arrived at this ascent.

When I made it around the bend, I saw a guy in a camouflage uniform carrying his gun. But he wasn't alone. He was with an entire company of soldiers doing a training exercise. When they saw that I wasn't an expect mountaineer, they offered me to use the rope that was already in place. Having already seen a few soldiers ascend the same rope, I trusted that it would hold my weight. As I climbed up the rope, my leg accidentally bumped into the butt of one of the soldier's guns. It was the only time in my entire trip that I came into physical contact with a gun.

Brazilians are proud to be from Brazil

It is very refreshing to see how proud Brazilians are to be Brazilians. In Rio, it is really common to see people wearing clothes with the Brazilian flag. It could be a towel, swimming suit, t-shirt, or anything else, you always see Brazilians wearing Brazilian gear.

In America, you see some people gear wear clothes with the American flag, but you don't see too many people in NYC wearing American flag. In both Sao Paolo and Rio, it was common to see the yellow, blue, and green of Brazil.

They are also proud of their national music. I didn't find a Brazilian who dislikes samba. I can't think of a traditional music style that is so universally loved and unites a population like samba does in Brazil. At a samba club, you see people of all ages enjoying the music. It's just very refreshing.

Hey, Super. Hey, Juicy

One thing that I really like about Brazil is the availability of exotic fruits. (there are quite a few things that I really like about Brazil) Given the countries size and tropical location, there is a large variety of unique and delicious fruits for me to try. On nearly every street corner, there is a juice bar that serves these interesting fruits in juice form.

Having two weeks to spend in Rio, I made it my duty to try as many of these juice flavors as I could. I focused in on one juice bar between my hostel and the Metro station - Bigbi (no relation to the formerly offensively named coffee shop). Because of its location, I passed it numerous times per day. After sampling a few of the juices, I decided that before I left Brazil, I would try all of the juice flavors offered on the menu. And I don't even know what half of the fruits are called in English (neither did the Brazilian I asked to go over the menu with me). But by the end of my trip, I had tried each of the fruits offered on the menu.

Some of my favorite juices on the menu were acerola, abacaxi, and caju. My favorite names for fruits were camu camu, umbu, and maracuja.

English swear words aren't swear words in Brazil

Sitting in the back seat of a Rio cab, I was enjoying (or just listening) to PIMP by 50 Cent. I was following along and, as they got to the chorus, I realized that they didn't get rid of the swear words or use a radio-friendly version. They don't face the same restrictions or English-understanding audience that they do in the United States. So they can play all the swear words they want.

An aside: In my three months in South America, I never heard one Kanye song. But I heard 50 Cent at nearly every bar, club, or cab I was in. If the "PIMP" and "In Da Club" are now popular in Brazil, I say that Kanye will become popular here in two years.

Eu so aprendo portugues no bar e mar

When I crossed the Argentinian border in Brazil, I didn't speak a lick of Portuguese. After three weeks of intensely studying the language (i.e. bringing my Brazilian Portuguese Phrasebook to the beach and the bar), I can now handle a conversation in Portuguese, especially if they speak slowly. (editor's note - i don't know how to write the portuguese accents on this keyboard yet).

To translate the title of this bullet, it says "I only learn Portuguese at the bar and on the beach." And I think that I studied a lot of Portuguese while I was in Rio.

One in a Million Chance. No, make it 20 Million

Sorry for the lack of any updates in the last couple of weeks. My internet
time has been taken by my nightly capoeira classes. Instead of regaling you
with tales of my journey, I have been busy doing handstands, cartwheels, and
break dancing. But I have found a bit of time here, so I will offer you some
tidbits about my time between Iguazu Falls and Rio de Janeiro (I have been
in Rio for about a week and half now).

Who´s laughing now? I am

Among backbackers, there are a few standard conversations. They typically include the ´´where are you going?´´, ´´where have you been?´´, ´´how long are you here?´´ , ´´how long are you traveling?´´ variety of questions. Most people, whether they are interested or not, act excited and intrigued by your travels. That was until I finished my stay in Argentina.

Because the first place in Brazil that I would be visiting was Sao Paolo, I naturally answered the ´´where are you going next?´´ question by saying ´´Sao Paolo.´´ In response to this answer, some people laughed and others asked ´´why?´´ Most suggested that I go directly to Rio and bypass Sao Paolo.

Logistically, it didn´t make sense but more importantly, 20,000,000 people live in Sao Paolo (actually, only about 11 million in the city itself but many more in the metro area). It is the largest city in the Southern Hemisphere. If nothing else but to see such a massive metropolis, there must be something interesting in Sao Paolo.

And I found it. In fact, I would probably say that my experience in Sao Paolo was the best of any city I have visited in my travels. I stayed with and hung out with some locals, who showed me around Sao Paolo. I went for a walk around the downtown, went to shul, walked around the central park, visited the central fruit market, attended a soccer match, went to see Batman and experienced the nightlife.

I´m going to be the subject of a documentary

After arriving in Sao Paolo, I went to lunch with the guy whose apartment I was staying at. While eating, one of his coworkers, a 50-something Jewish mother, walked into the cafe. We started talking, and it turns out that she is in the middle of making a documentary about Jewish foods.

I told her about kugel-offs, my mom´s challah, hotdog carts, assorted other Shmooze topics. Two days later, I was braiding challah in her kitchen. I will pass along the link to the video when she puts it on YouTube.

What are the odds?

The common phrase when something unexpected happens is that is was a ´´one in a million´´ chance. But when you walk into someone who you know in Sao Paolo, I would describe it as more of a ´´one in 12 million´´ chance.

With great population comes great congestion: In Detroit, there are problems with traffic and fewer than a million people live there. Imagine how bad it would be in Sao Paolo.

The municipality of Sao Paolo has an interesting solution: make it illegal for people to drive. Depending on the last two numbers of your liscense plate, there is one day a week that you cannot drive.

Zero tolerance

In Brazil, there is a zero tolerance law when it comes to drinking and driving. If you have any trace of alcohol in your breath, you get in trouble. Many people are made about this, saying that you could eat a chocolate with a bit of liquor inside and get ticketed.

This law has really hurt the bars in Brazil because people aren´t going out as much. Some bars even offer to pay for cabs within a 10 km radius so they don´t lose that much business.

True love

The first thing that I was told when I got to Brazil was: ´´In Brazil, you can change your religion, you can change your wife, but you can´t change your football team.´´ They kind of take that sport seriously down here.

When I was in Sao Paolo, I went to a Sao Paolo FC game with a friend. Sao Paolo won the game 2-1. Despite a lackluster effort for the first 30 minutes of the second half, I saw enough to commit myself to Sao Paolo. Now, I´m Sao Paolo fan for life.

Parati on, Wayne

After Sao Paolo, my next stop was the colonial beach town of Parati. The downtown area is gorgeous and so are the beaches. It was my frist real beach vacation experience.

The cool thing about Parati is that it is built right on the water. When the tide comes in, it floods the streets of the city. Because of this, the streets are made of stones, making them unfriendly to pedestrians, bikes, and cars. Actually, I can´t think of a mode of transit that they are friendly to, so I would just describe them as unfriendly.

The beach was gorgeous but I can´t take too much sitting at the beach and doing nothing. I have to be active, whether it be running, talking Portuguese, playing soccer, etc.

While I wanted to tell you about my experience in Parati, I mostly wanted to make the outstanding Wayne´s World reference in the notebook slug.

Brazilian foods I like

Like any country, Brazil has its unique cuisine. In Brazil, I have developed a few favorite items. The top of the list would be the queijo con banana sandwich, which is essentially a grilled cheese and banana sandwich. It´s very good and available at most street corner cafes.

I´ve also fallen in love with Guarana. It´s a fruit juice/energy boostin drink. It´s best served chilled, on ice with an orange slice.

My name is different down here

When a word begins with ´R´in Portuguese, it is pronounced with an ´h.´ So, my last name would not be pronounced Robinson down here, but rather Hobinson.

That means that whenever you say the name of Brazil´s famous soccer players Ronaldo or Ronaldinho or Romario, the words should begin with an ´h´ instead of an ´r.´ Rio de Janeiro is called Hio de Janeiro. as well.

I could be a soccer player

With my name, I have everything it takes to be an outstanding soccer player in Brazil, except for soccer talent. Imagine the story: student journalist/hotdog salesman/usher turned world class soccer player (actually, I would accept mediocre soccer player. I don´t need to be world-class).

Get Me My Barrel

I´m writing this blog from Ilha Grande, an island off the Brazilian coast between Sao Paolo and Rio (Brazil = awesome). To give you a sense of the setting, yesterday I was told by a local: ´´If you don´t pass a monkey on your way to the beach, it would be a disappointment. Oh, and beware of the snakes.´´

Now, I will regale you with stories of my experience at Iguazu Falls.

Niagara * 1000 = Iguazu

Iguazu Falls is on the border between Argentina and Brazil. Unlike Niagra Falls, which is just one huge waterfall, Iguazu includes 270 distinct large falls. While Niagara is in the middle of the city, Iguazu Falls is in the middle of the jungle. You don't have loads of hotels, casinos, restaurants, ferries, bridges, etc blocking your view. Mostly, it's just the falls and nature.

Apparently, when Eleanor Rooseelt saw Iguazu Falls, she said ´´Poor Niagara.´´ So, did I. At Niagara, they love telling stories about people going over the falls in a barrel. Maybe it´s because I don´t know the Spanish or Portugese word for barrel, but I never heard one.

This is one of the locations where the accompanying photo explains much more about it that what I can write, but there are a few good stories to mention.

Normally, everybody laughs at people who swim with t-shirts on

One of the options for activities at the falls is to take a boat ride next to them. You get to see the falls in their majesty and get really wet. Everybody said this was very cool, so I signed up. I didn't realize exactly how wet you would get, but when I saw people walking around the park who were completely drenched, I knew that I was in for a shower (which is good because it had been five days). I also only have one pair of pants on this trip, so I couldn't really afford to have them soaked. I decided to go on the boat trip without any pants, and because it would just look awkward to be in a t-shirt without any pants, I put that in my bag as well. Interestingly, there was a sign that said you couldn't go into the boat barefoot. So, there I was standing in my underwear, Tigers hat, and running shoes (went straight to the falls from my overnight bus and didn't change into sandals). I wore the fewest clothes of
anybody on the boat.

Whenver someone goes swimming with a shirt on, they look funny. If someone takes a shower in their clothes, it looks weird. But why do people strangely look at someone who goes on a ride into the waterfalls in standard swimming attire?

This is when it pays to know the lunar calendar

In preparation for my trip to Iguazu Falls, I looked into what activities I could do there. One of them piqued my interest: falls by moonlight. You can go to the largest of the falls in the middle of the night and witness its awesomeness by moonlight. But you can only do these tours in the four days around the full moon. Knowing that the 17th of the Hebrew month of Tamuz was in three days, I knew I came to the falls at the right time. (The Hebrew calendar follows the moon instead of the sun. The month is 30 days long and the 15th day of the month is the full moon.)

The falls were very cool by moonlight (Sorry if the photo is unclear. The light wasn´t great for photos and my camera isn´t a miracle worker). I can now add that to the list of things I´ve done by moonlight in my life: volcano watching, biking in the Chilean desert, watched a movie featuring Doc Graham.

No duty

On the bus from Puerto Iguazu, Argentina, to Iguazu Falls, I noticed the girl sitting behind me was wearing a Duty Free jacket. Either, she bought the jacket from the store and I would ask where I could get one or she works there. She works there. I´d never talked to a Duty Free shop employee before, except to say ´´not interested.´´ Nothing to interesting about this bullet point except I can make the comment. Do you know what they say about girls who work at the Duty Free shop?

No duty.

My Duty Free experience was much more pleasant (and legal) than that of the B´nai Sakhnin soccer team in Israel. As the team was leaving for a match in Spain, some of the players decided to stop at the Duty Free shop at Ben Gurion to pick up some cologne and perfume. They also decided not to pay for said products.

Iguazu is natural awesomeness. Itaipu is manmade

In addition to being the home of Iguazu Falls, Foz du Iguazu, Brazil is also the site of one of the largest dams in the world. Depending on who you listen to or what metric you follow, it is either the largest or second largest in the world. After completing my tour of the falls, I had seven hours before my bus to Sao Paolo. So I hopped on a bus for a tour of the dam. I've never really toured a hydroelectric facility before. Most of my knowledge of how they work came from Sim City 2000. Well, this was quite an impressive site.

I missed the part of the video that talked about how the dam was constructed, but I learned that it took nearly 30 years. I did catch the part about how the company tried to correct the environmental effects of its project (large national park, big lake that is used by fishing industry, channel that connects both parts of the river and allows fish to continue to spawn, corporate social responsibility awards won by the company, etc.).

At the peak of its construction, Itaipu Dam employed nearly 40,000 people. Before the dam, the town Foz du Iguaçu was just a small town. Because of the boom created by dam construction, 250,000ish people live there now. (All of this is according to the University of Illinois-educated engineer I met on my Itaipu tour.

Was I in Paraguay?

Itaipu Dam is built on a river that divides Brazil from Paraguay (actually, the dam was one of the main reasons I wanted to go Paraguay and I didn't know that I could see the dam from the Brazil side.). The dam is constructed on a sort of binational/neutral territory between the two countries. I didn't have to get my passport stamped Paraguay to go to the dam, but the side of the river that I was on was the Paraguay side of the river.

Because I don´t see myself visiting Paraguay ever again (odds are, because I wrote this sentence, the Peace Corps will add a Paraguay program next year), I´m leaning toward claiming I was there.

Stay tuned for my next entry when I bake a challah, try and prove 20 million people wrong, make a great Wayne´s World reference, and find my true love. Depending on whether I can take an entire day of sitting on the beach, I might send this email out in a few hours.

El Gaucho Judio

I wanted to do this blog chronologically so it would be the easiest for you to follow, but if you want to skip to an incredible story (probably the most) go to the last notebook slug.

Trapped in Buenos Aires - and loving it

Saturday morning, I went to the boat terminal in Buenos Aires to catch a ship to Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. The staff at two different youth hostels told me that it would be no problem to get a ticket the day of the ship. I arrived three hours early just to be safe.

Well, after waiting twenty minutes in one line, fifteen in another, and half and hour in a third, I finally spoke to ticket salesman. He told me that there were no tickets available (in the tourist class) until Monday morning. If I was going to go to Uruguay, I wasn´t going to take the eight-hour bus from Buenos Aires to Montevideo. I was going to do this crossing like every other tourist does - by water. I kindly thanked the salesman for giving me reason to spend two more days in Buenos Aires, purchased my ticket, and went in search of a place to stay.

My taste buds love me, but arteries are about to go on strike

Why was I most excited about the opportunity to spend two more days in Buenos Aires? The two more steaks that I would eat for dinner. In my three meaty meals in Buenos Aires, I sampled three cuts of meat. Do you know that feeling of meat melting in your mouth? Yeah. (Back to being vegetarian)

Some people go to London to shop, others to Paris

I go to Buenos Aires. I have my store, as well. It´s the Coto across the street from the mall with the McDonald´s in it. In two trips to Argentina, it is where I found the best deals. Becuase my bag didn´t have too much space in it, I had to restrict my purchases a little. I bought a really soft, zip sweatshirt for equivalent of 10 bucks and a three pairs of socks for two dollars (I don´t want to go into how necessary it was for me to get new socks. Dire straits is how I would define the situation).

Missed My Tiger - or Tigre

Last time I was in Bueos Aires, I passed on the opportunity to visit the suburb of Tigre. It´s about 20 km from Buenos Airest on the Parana River Delta. Many people from Buenos Aires have homes in this area. The main form of transit in this region is boat. I would say that not going to Tigre last night was a mistake. Luckily, I had this chance (Don´t worry about the water being brown. It´s because of sediments in the river, plus I didn´t drink any of it).

U R Gay. Ha, ha, ha

The first 21 years of my life, the most I knew about Uruguay is that Homer Simpson doesn´t know how to pronounce - or read- the country name.I also knew that they won two World Cups in soccer (including the first) and that a player with one arm scored a goal for Uruguay in the 1930 World Cup.

Well, Uruguay is probably the most tranquil country in South America. There is a relatively high standard of living, a stable currency, and great beaches (in the summer). It is a great change of pace from the cosmopolitan lifestyle in Buenos Aires on the other side of the River Plate. Yesterday morning, I took the boat from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento, as I had planned on Saturday, and ambled through the towns enchanting old streets before catching a 4:30 bus to Montevideo. I went to dinner in Montevideo before a midnight bus to a town on the Argentine border.

My stay in Uruguay was brief, but there is very little to do there, especially off-season. I can tell people that I was in Uruguay, but the lady at border control messed up when stamping my passport and you can barely read that it says Uruguay.

Probably the best story of my trip

I arrived in Concordia, Argentina at 9:00 a.m. this morning with no clue of what there was to do in this border down except smuggle stuff. The city isn´t really covered in my Lonely Planet book except for the fact that it exists as a border crossing with Uruguay. I went to the municipal tourism office to see if they had any ideas for how someone could occupy 11 hours here. They gave me a map and sent me on my way. I perused the map and something caught my eye - Museo Judío. Then, I checked my dictionary to make sure there wasn´t another meaning for the word Judío that I was unaware of. I checked and the only listed meaning was ¨Jew.¨

Off I went. My expectations were minimal. After all, I was in the middle of the pampas. I knock on the door and the curator, Adolfo (but he prefers Nito), welcomed me in. As has been my strategy with other Jewish institutions in South America, I started talked Hebrew so the people there know you are Jewish and don´t confuse you as a threat. He said that he doesn´t speak English (not even recognizing the Hebrew. maybe my Hebrew is just that bad), but then I told him that I understood Yiddish. That one sealed the deal.

Her might have been the curator of the museum, but he had more questions for me than I had for him. It is also that he was such a good curator and didn´t leave much unanswered.

The museum, which opened last year, tells the story of how the Jewish population in the fields of Argentina became the Jewish community in the fields of Argentina. It started with the pogroms of 1882 in the Pale of Settlement (Poland and Russia). In response to these, the Jews of France petitioned to Baron Mauricio Hirsch to help the embattled communities.

He assisted in getting thousands of Jews out of Poland and Russia and into the developing agricultural communities of Argentina. He set up agricultural collectives (very kibbutzy) where the Jews lived, farmed, went to school, went to shul (synagogue), etc. All the collectives were named after Hirsch or his family members. The settlements were throughout northern Argentina. In the schools, the children learned Spanish and Yiddish (which explains Adolfo´s language situation). Half of the day in Yiddish and half in Spanish. They also welcomed non-Jewish students to the school, as well.

A couple years ago, when the Jewish community was raising money to build the museum, a 100 year old man came to them with a check. He wasn´t Jewish, but he spoke perfect Yiddish. He wanted to thank the community for what it had for him in providing an education.

Adolfo, whose grandfather was sponsored by Hirsch to come to Argentina and who was born on one of the settlements (the settlements don´t exist anymore), said that the people in the community had a saying about how successful the Jewish communities were. ¨They grew wheat and turned it into doctors.¨ He says it's a testament to the value that the communities placed on education that the youth became successful professionals.

He just published a book all about the settlements that I bought (It´s in Spanish, so I should finish it in the next decade)

In the temporary exhibition room, there was a display about Rambam in honor of his 800th birthday.

Next door to the museum is the JCC. I sat in there with the guy at the office for a while, just shmoozing. There are about 200 families in the community in Concordia and just one of them keeps kosher. Services are held Friday night and Saturday morning. Like many cities (including my own), the Jewish community is plagued by the exodus of the youth to the big cities.

Well, that´s it for now. I am off to catch my bus to Iguazu. Hope you found this tale as interesting at I did. If you ever want to borrow Adolfo´s book, let me know.

Food Coma

Before reading this blog, I suggest that you get some visqueen or something to cover your keyboard from the saliva that might drip out of your mouth.

I am writing this dispatch from an internet cafe in Once, the Jewish neighborhood in Buenos Aires. If you know anything about Argentina´s reputation as one of the best places in the world for meat, you know exactly where I am going with this one.

As someone who keeps kosher, I have had very few problems being a vegetarian in South America. You might have to walk to a few different restaurants to see if they have a vegetarian dish, but it´s not that bad. And, to be honest with you, the meat that I have seen so far hasn´t been that unbelievable appetizing looking. That was until two days ago in Salta, the first city I went to in Argentina.

I went to a restaurant with three other backpackers. They all ordered large portions of meat. I ordered the vegetarian pizza (which, for some odd reason, came with ham). Just looking at the meat on their plates, I couldn´t resist the urge for meat that much longer (The only meat I have eaten in two months was lukewarm piece of chicken at the JCC in Quito). So I booked a bus ticket to Buenos Aires, one of my favorite cities in the world and a place I knew I could find tongue-hanging-out-of-my-mouth good meat.

My original plan was to take a bus to a city north of Argentina, but I reasoned that a great steak is worth going six hours out of my way.

I spent the day visiting some of my favorite Buenos Aires sites from my Spring Break trip to this outstanding city last year (Teatro Colon, a protest of the madres de la plaza, the most beautiful water company building in the world, the only kosher McDonalds outside of Israel). I took someone I met while traveling on the Ian Robinson Reality Tour. Then, when dinnertime hit, I booked it to the Mi Parilla Restaurant on Tucuman in Once. (For those who were on the trip last year, it is the meat restaurant around the corner from Hotel San Luis. The waiters carried huge knives on their belts.).

I sat down at the table and skipped over all parts of the menu but one: the meats. Looking at my choices for meat, I would not be able to take myself seriously if I didn´t order a large piece of meat. There was no time to fool around with burgers or sausages. I ordered a ¨tiro de asado¨ (cut of roasted meat) and waited anxiously.

After I finished ordered, three unkempt Israelis walked into the restaurant speaking Hebrew well above the restaurant´s noise level. We exchanged pleasantries as they passed, and they asked me where I knew my Hebrew from and where I was from. The next thing I know is I´m talking Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball (truly a shame that Moni Fanan left the team last week. He´s a Maccabi institution) and about the Red Bull boycott of Israel.

We fill the time between ordering and dinner with conversation, but when the food arrived, I was all business. No fooling around with ketchup. Just attack, and appreciate, meat. I did a number on this animal.

Because I rarely eat meat at home, I understand what it´s like to be a vegetarian. Aside from shabbat dinner, I would almost consider myself a vegetarian. But what differentiates me from vegetarians is that I still crave, and can eat, meat. So, if I were a vegetarian and I saw my friends dig into that meat in Salta, I wouldn´t have the same desire for beef.

Is it weird that I have more photos up about a meal than for Galapagos and Machu Picchu? No, it´s not.

A brief recap

Well, while the photos load, I´ll give you a bit of an update on what I´ve done lately and what the next step is in my journey. Before Salta, I had spent three days in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. It is the driest place on earth, has the second largest salt flat in the world, and is close to the highest geyser in the world. From there, I took a 12-hour bus ride to Salta, Argentina. Actually, it was a nine-hour bus ride because the bus forgot to pick up seven passengers, including me, at San Pedro de Atacama. So, they paid for a van to take us from San Pedro de Atacama to the the Argentinian border, where the bus had been waiting for an hour as the passengers enjoyed the John Wayne classic ¨Trails of Hate.¨

That night, July 8, we arrived in Salta. The next day was Argentinian Independence Day. So, we (all the backpackers in the hostel, collectively) thought it would be a pretty happening bar night. Even though people were out in the middle of the week, there were no signs that people were out to show their pride for Argentina´s independence. We did go to a bar named after Barney Gumbel from The Simpsons. That was pretty cool.

The next day, I walked through the center of Salta to observe the Independence Day festivities. They´re more into gauchos, Barney the Dinosaur, smiling suns, and blue-and-white ribbons than fireworks. But there was still quite a bit of life. At 1:00, I boarded a 20-hour bus to Buenos Aires.

Jimmy John´s day-old bread is to Ann Arbor as Salon de Té is to San Pedro de Atacama

Like any tourist city, San Pedro de Atacama is obviously going to be more expensive than other places in Chile. And, given it´s desert location with limited natural resources and direct access to fresh food, food will obviously cost more there. But, for a backpacker trying to live on a budget, San Pedro de Atacama is a place where you expect to go over your budget (I did).

But that doesn´t mean you can´t try to stick to your budget.

After completing a thorough check of the city´s restaurants, I struggled to find a vegetarian, or any, meal under 2500 Chilean Pesos ($5) [On a backpacker budget, that translates to gourmet. In Peru, I had gotten used to a three-course meal for $1]. I did find one restaurant that cost just $3 for a vegetarian omelet, toast, and jam.

In the course of my stay in San Pedro de Atacama, I went to this restaurant five times. In fact, when my friends wanted to find me, they looked at the restaurant first before checking to see if I was at my hostel.

Well, I´m being kicked out of this internet cafe.