Back To The Falls, Brazil

Carnivale Show

Rainbow Connection

Jan. 22, 2009-Carnivale Show

I promise you, if you read to the end of this email you will be rewarded with a good laugh.

David's epiphany yesterday was that there's no correlation between body size and bathing suit size. Laura Lee observed that only men were standing around the bar in the pool. They were drinking lots of beer. She speculated that she wouldn't want to swim in that pool given the amount of beer consumed.

We drove through the city of Iguazu last night and I was surprised at all the sprouting high rises and hotels serving their #1 industry, tourism. We arrived at the dinner theater early enough to meet one of the dancers and choreographer, take photos with and of her, and ask some questions. She was in a typical Carnivale costume. Dinner was surprisingly good for dinner theater. We've found that Brazilians actually flavor their food unlike Argentines and Chileans.

There are thirty performers in the show and many more costume changes. The costumes are from past Carnivales as they're extremely expensive when new. The thought of body shape and costume size flitted through my head again. These were not the toned athletic dancers we're used to. In fact one woman who proudly sported a thong had the biggest rear end I've seen. All the women wore pantyhose under their thongs and I thought she'd stuffed pillows in hers. The performers are all local and semi-professional. The show covered dance and music from Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. There was a knock-out bolo demonstration with the balls singing too close to our heads for comfort. The tango part included two men dancing together which was how it originally started. It was entertaining, cute, glamorous, colorful, hokey, enthusiastic, and had blaring loud live music. There was a non-finale finale that gave me hope and five minutes of bows without curtain calls. It was also interminable. We were seated next to the runway and at one point I really had to go to the bathroom. I gazed longingly at the glimmering WC sign in the distance but knew that if I made a run for it I'd crash into some incoming entertainer. I stayed put. In the end we had fun. We've survived children's dance recitals and this was several steps up from those.

Falls Brazile 

This morning we went to see the Falls from the Brazilian side. It's like with Niagara Falls. The Canadian side is better for viewing. The visitor's center is lovely but Anna got carried away explaining how the falls were formed. One interesting aspect was that because they were formed from lava they only erode two mm. a year as opposed to Niagara which is steadily marching upstream at an alarming rate. Anna did an admirable job even if she was slightly intimidated when she learned that Tom from Texas is a geophysicist.

We bussed a short distance to the entrance to the falls and were delighted to be able to get our first Brazilian glimpse of them as we got off the bus. The paths on this side were concrete and shaded. It was an easy mile walk to the Devil's Throat (I was wrong about it being Devil's Horseshoe). Some ingenious engineer built a metal catwalk at the foot of the falls so you actually walk between the cascading waters. Anna said they got the idea to build them during a horrible drought in 1977 when there was almost no water coming over the falls. I take back my statement that it's not as loud as Niagara or as stupefying. It looked like we were at a GLBT convention with all the rainbows hovering over the falls and into the mist. The majesty was breathtaking and body soaking. We once again protected our camera as we walked to the very tip of the catwalk into the mist. Those who couldn't manage the mile hike saw the same view at the end we did using an elevator to take them there. This is a frail group. Linda probably has walking pneumonia and several can't walk far. They are unusually needy but their needs are being met. Fernando is very solicitous.

El Stupido Grande

Fernando arranged for us to keep our rooms until after lunch so we could shower and pack. It was a big convenience. It's too bad he or Anna didn't tell us that TAM airline weighed carry-on luggage until we were on the bus going to the airport. What I am about to explain is so stupid I may not be able to explain it. David won't shop at Marc's (a local discount store) because he says the help is trained to be stupid. This exceeds that idiocy. Let me try anyway. 

Anna said there was a legal fiction and if our carry-ons were too heavy (over 11 lbs) we'd have to switch things around, give stuff to someone with less weight, or hand carry some items through security whereupon we could put them back in the carry-ons. When we got to check in, our checked luggage was under weight but our carry-ons were way over. We took the computer out of its bag but that wasn't enough. Next came a large rolled up case with drugs for any contingency. We were still over. They suggested we take out still more and put it in checked luggage. They insisted it was a small plane and it had to be done their way. We climbed over the scale and I pulled out a nightgown and thin robe in desperation. The empty case probably weighed almost eleven pounds. Finally I came up with the computer cable and a make-up case. That still didn't do the trick but the guy at the desk was disgusted with us. David's case was overweight too but a line was growing behind us and we were cleared to go on. 

Now it was time to re-lock the checked bag. Yes, security is so tight here they let you lock your checked luggage so they can't look inside. That was sarcasm. The lock had fallen somewhere while we were scurrying to transfer items. The clerk offered a plastic airline security lock but I wasn't leaving until I found our lock. I didn't care how many people were lined up at the counter. Finally Anna jumped over the scale and asked David if it was in his pocket. It was.

We schlepped the computer, drug bag, and two roll aboards through security in our arms where we had to take off our belts, watches, and glasses but not our shoes. When we cleared security we went to the gate and put the computer and drug case back into the carry-ons they'd just come out of. If we'd have had warning we would have distributed stuff in the carry-ons and a backpack. We were allowed two carry-ons each.

How it was not ok to have the same weight on the plane when carried loose was beyond us. When we boarded we were even more incredulous. It was an Airbus with amply sized overhead bins. We'd flown several on this trip and our carry-ons were never questioned. To make matters worse the snack was a ham sandwich but we were all relieved when the pilot got on and announced in German for a large German tour group "Alles is goot."  Even the Germans laughed.

We all had aisle seats for this flight so I can't report on Rio from the air but our local guide, Martha, assured us it was huge at 10 million. The down side is we can't drink the hotel water although we can use it to brush our teeth. The up side is there's a rain forest right in the city and our room at the Intercontinental overlooks the Atlantic.

Your Reward

Here's your reward for reading this far. David just came out of the bathroom holding his underwear. He said that somehow he got chewing gum stuck to it. He decided to throw it away. Good decision. He then disappeared into the bathroom again. He was in there too long so I asked if he was ok. He replied that he was trying to get the gum off his tusch (bum). I suggested Vaseline or a razor. When he emerged he laid down on the bed to listen to this email. He now claims to be plastered to the bed and his tusch hurts. We can't stop laughing. Pleasant dreams.

Toby