I’m not sure I understand this. I’m not sure the “point” of this is to understand what she’s saying. I’m more impressed by her native accents (nerdy), it sounds musical in the best way. I’m happily confused by this video. Enjoy! (Thanks Kuya Mikey)
Concept and direction by Reggie Watts, text by Tommy Smith, performance and translation by Carolina Ravassa, edited by Thomas Arsenault, recorded at Ground Control Studios, engineered by Murray Trider
I havent written because I got to Argentina last week & have been busy, busy busy catching up with family.
I LOVE the Diva Cup, when some of my friends proposed it to me awhile back I was unsure & swore I would never use it but it has CHANGED MY LIFE!
I would recommend buying it before your period & practicing so that you aren’t stressed when you actually need it. I first put it in during a shower, which felt more sanitary and less stressful. All you need to do is fold it in half and hold it with one hand and push it up with the other.
I am not saying it’ll be easy at first but it WILL be worth it!!
-I can bring the little cup with me and always know that I am prepared no matter what!
-It is always “enough”, unlike needing 6 tampons a day maybe, you can just dump it out and put it pack in
-you never need to worry about having a trash can, toilet paper etc, just rinse w water!
-SO MUCH BETTER FOR THE ENVIRONMENT
["Each year, 12 billion conventional pads and 7 million tampons, made out of plastics, rayon, viscose, and cotton, are dumped into the North American environment. These products have been bleached with chlorine, which releases carcinogenic dioxins into the environment, and most use non-organic cotton, which has been saturated in pesticides and insecticides."]
I love this product & it is great for travelers! About $40 at Henry’s or other health food stores or also on Amazon for $30
GO GET ONE RIGHT NOW!!
Map of the 2 locations
Botafogo is my original home neighborhood in Rio & I’ll always have fond feelings for this little neighborhood. It’s inland/ behind the big beaches of Copa & Ipanema. South of Flamengo & Centro. For some reason there are quite a few hostels located there, all pretty well reviewed. However, I’m not sure I would recommend staying there. Each bus trip is R$2.75 and if you are partially going to Rio for the beaches (how could you not?), none are in walking distance.
[The beach right there behind Botafogo shopping isn't really swimmable & not popular either]
We started the day out at the Museu do Indio, at R$3 it’s worth a stop. Even if you don’t want to pay the small entrance fee you can wander around the exhibits downstairs, which include audiovisual displays. Right now the free display is on indigenous children’s play things & it’s beautiful & fascinating! To be honest we weren’t even in the mood for museums so we didn’t end up going upstairs but now I regret it, I’ll go back in Feb for sure. [TA]
Then you can easily walk 2 blocks to the Morro Santa Marta. I didnt realize this but this favela is very touristy (in some ways). They have a map, and guides and the trolley that goes up and down the mountain is packed with tourists. We were going because I want to take pictures of the new paint that they put up. I never got around to it though because we followed a group of American high schoolers up to “Michael Jackson Square” (he filmed part of his music video there) where they had a percussion lesson.
This community is interesting, it doesn’t seem as “fancy” as Vidigal, it doesn’t seem as “busy” as maybe Rocinha, some houses are still wood with corrugated tin roof. And the houses at the very top have signs that lead one to believe that maybe they aren’t as tickled by the tourist attention..
So when you go to Santa Marta, or any favela for that matter, try to keep in mind that this is where people live. If you want to take a picture of someone, ask them first & find out their name, they aren’t just part of the scenery, they have a life & a story too. Be respectful, learn some words in Portuguese.
I would recommend coming at “off hours” before lunch or before 5, people will be commuting back home, schlepping groceries, kids & work supplies, let them go first on the trolley up to their houses. When we came down around that time there was a HUGE line forming. The trolley is small, slow & has to move lots of people, be considerate.
I hate to lecture, and I don’t have all the answers. But I do hope that when you visit Rio you’ll see “the 2 Rios” & think about it for more than just a second.
View of Cristo from Santa Marta
After being in the countryside for over 2 weeks, we traveled to São Paulo to take Colie to the airport last week. After she left I hung out with a friend of mine who lives & works here now.
He took me to the loveliest little restaurant in Jardim Paulista called Veridiana Pizzaria.
It was a huge restaurant with multiple levels, loads of indoor greenery & ornate decor. We sat at the little bar in the middle for awhile & caught up over some caipirinhas made in front of us. The bartender had fresh fruit that he used, I had lychee & he had frutas vermelhas (berries). The atmosphere is so plush & relaxing I could have stayed there forever. The pizza was great (& pricey!). They even had “american” style red pepper flakes which i later was told are called “pimenta calabresa”.
It was so nice to be “fancy” again. Even though I didn’t pay I think the experience was worth the pricetag 
Pure Wow emails is one of the greatest things I’ve stumbled upon in awhile. I unsubscribed from the recipes but I love the shopping & culture updates. They always have great app suggestions and website ideas. Best of all they even have some specialized metropolitan issues. The SF edition gives me great restaurant & activities in the area. It’s free & a nice thing to wakeup to in your inbox.
p.d. The picture shows a post from this fall where you could have an artist & his team illustrate your email & mail it in snail-mail form anywhere in the US for FREE!! My friends loved them
WindGuru is really a site for wind-sports, beach activities etc. But if you live close to the coast it can be a lot more informative than weather channel or others
Bell-pepper Sandwich!
Roast Beef Stuffed Bell Peppers
This post is inspired by the EggPlant Lasagna that dad & I made last night. We were inspired by a relative’s version that we had last week. The recipe we found online said to egg and breadcrumb the slices of eggplant then bake on both sides. However after we tried it I like the more slippery version of Marcelo’s because it was closer to the texture of pasta. Overall though I would just bake some slices & use them in place of pasta in your family’s lasagna recipe.
Another thing I’ve been doing is wrapping canned tuna (low sodium in water), mixed with a little mustard in lettuce leaves for a lunc or snack, yummy!
Update: this website has some fun low-carb ideas
Tuna Lettuce Wraps
