day to go explore the city!

So, about a week ago I was given the day off to go do whatever I wanted to. Super exciting. : ) I hadn’t really done much exploring in Ribeirão Preto yet, so I really had no idea what I was getting into. So, it was going to be interesting. I got around to going on a run around 11 (bad idea by the way- way too hot) and just headed towards the tall buildings. The Martins live just outside the city so I was in it for a long run…you know the type of run that you generally run one way, make a few turns and head back in the general direction you came from. A blonde’s nightmare. But, I made my way back, familiarized myself a little with the general surrounding area and made it home for lunch.

Next stop, o centro. Now, I had no idea how to get there, what bus to take…what was there or anything. I knew my little circle between then mall, the gym and the house. : ) It was a good chance to make my way around by asking people around me, practice some Portuguese and have no real time frame for any of it. : )

I checked out a few stores on the streets near the ‘shopping’ and met these really nice store owners who gave me some good advice on what to see downtown. They had a little artisan store filled with wooden sculptures, calabaça painted dolls, and other artsy stuff typical to Brasil. I hadn’t really gotten any positive responses from people so far about going downtown, so it was nice to meet some people that thought it ‘vale a pena’ to go check it out.

I caught a bus to the city center and stopped in front of the cathedral. We passed a few major streets that had some cute stores and lots of interesting looking people. Surrounding the cathedral was an artisan fair that circled it, so I made my way around…..and a little sign caught my eye, reading ‘piercing’. It’s about time I got my nose pierced, I thought. I’m in another country, I’m out on my own roaming the city….hell why not. : )

So, I bought a tiny little post and found my way to a legit piercing place around the corner. Honestly, I think I would have done it right there at the both if they offered the service though. I first went up this ally looking for this place the lady told me about, but all I found was a row of little hole-in-the-wall shops for butcher shops, hair braiding and tattoos apparently aimed at the African descendants in the city. I was out of place, and not in the right place. The shop I was looking for was actually up these stairs above all the rest of the shops with an address of 722 and half or something weird. The place was legit though and they had all new and sterilized gear and what not…so no worries mom. ; ) The guy was some Rastafarian dude who pierced my left side for me….quite nice actually. It hurt while he was doing it, but not after…or since.

All together, it cost US$10…Perfect, I thought: cheap, foreign and a much wanted experience…just like the one I got on my upper part of my ear in Spain by that Chinese man…..who owned a watch shop, not a piercing parlor. He simulated the ‘shot gun’ technique in my face first just to show me its safe…but nearly made me jump out of the damn chair in the meantime.

Smiling and satisfied, I left the shop to go check out some more of downtown. I checked out myself in anything and everything that reflected for the rest of the afternoon…..haha. So, I had a vain couple of hours after piercing my nose, so what? I roamed the streets, rubbed shoulders with some street vendors, ate some corn on the cob for 2 rais (US$1) and sat in this park with a decent fountain I kind of enjoyed. It wasn’t quite the pensive and solitary moment I was thinking it was going to be however, as I was approached by this homeless crazy man who found me interesting. He invited me to go have a drink with him and told me I was good-lookin’.: / Yeah he’s a little off his rocker, but not that much apparently huh? ; ) But I quickly moved on…….and made my way to Pinguim, the internationally known bar that started here in Ribeirão Preto. I ordered a choppe claro (light choppe) and the Pinguim sanduíche. Great beer, awful food.

I made it home after an hour or so figuring out my way home….but made it safetly…for the second time that day without any real complications. : ) I swear my sense of direction turns on when I’m not home….and especially when I’m somewhere that speaks another language. Here's a pic of how it looks...and I'm tan, not burnt Mom.....seriously.

...sorry dad. oh and happy Brasilian father's day : ) <9.8.09>