Last days of 2008

Happy New Year!
Mine was, as planned and ought to be, spent on the beach!
But before that, I am going to try real hard to be brief about my past couple of days...

Claudia´s mother´s birthday last sunday was really great. There was a barbeque and kids running all over the place - and a pool table! So we ate, listened to music and played pool and poker all day until the early hours of the morning. I also got affectionate with the toucan! He likes his beak and head to be stroked, it´s amazing! Birds usually dont come near to humans. I´ve decided that toucans are very intelligent beings.

On monday we went shopping downtown in the malls to find me a dress for new year - I also bought a device to download my photos (halleluya!) and we ate in an arabic self serive fast food. They had great mtabal and even kousa mashi! In the evening we went to see her sister play in a band all the popular Brazilian songs and I am beginning to reognise them. My favourite artist, aside from 'Seu Jorge' up till now seems to be "Djavern" (being only one of the most popular bands in Brazil).

The following day we went to the beach - finally some sun! The beach is very long and has little food carts scattered randomly selling corn on the cob, 'pasteis', ice cream, fruit juices and, of course, caipirinha. The sea was green due to the colour of the earth, and the coast was dotted with green hills. I was told that Santos has the longest garden by the beach - 7 kilometers of trees and flowers all along the coast. Santos is growing as a touristic city for Brazilians, especially from Saõ Paulo (which I will have you note, is a metropolis of 600 kilometers in diameter). That night we went to listen to live music. I didnt get much of a tan - so that mission is still in progress.

I must go out now - I will post more pictures and write about my New Year later. Beijos!

PS: Honestly, writing a blog in itself is a strange experience. Am I writing TO you guys out there in the foreverness of virtual reality? Or am I just writting a 'memoire'?