Natal

Saturday, 16 June 2007

6:40am
Hm... If I was clever (or gutsy, or a tad adventurous, or more laid back, or, or, or... -I think you get the picture), I wouldn't have gone to bed early last night, or, rephrasing that, if I was all these things I just mentioned, I wouldn't have returned at all to my hostel last night(...). But, call me stupid, I did go to bed early, this is why it's only 6:40 but I am already up, taking pictures of... hammocks, little pools and doggies (as Al Bandy would say in "Married with Children" when he'd get really sorry about his life, "oh God", covering his face with his palms...).

7:20
Anyhow (which I use nine out of ten times instead of "anyway", and that's again because of Al Bandy in "Married with Children", my aaaaaaall time favourite TV show), my hostel's yard is "cute", breakfast is served, the weather is perfect, and generally speaking I'm in a great mood (which, actually, means pretty little, because I have an amazing talent in going from super happy to super sad in less time than what the 100 meters' world record man needs to cover an 100 meters' distance... I don't know the word in English to describe people like me, but I think that "mentally unstable" pretty much covers my type of people...).

8:15
I'm taking the bus from Ponta Negra to Natal, downtown Natal. Picture explanation: you have the bus stop's rooftop, you have Morro da Careca on the left (the sand dune, the trademark of Ponta Negra), you have the pavement, typical example of motif decorated pavements you can find everywhere in Brazil (and Portugal), you have the telecommunication tower on the right, and of course a palm tree, which, if you ask me, is like Coca-Cola, it goes with everything, it's nice to have one in any photo, same way coke can be enjoyed with any type of food... This is a typical example of my "journal photos", photos I take so as to capture in one picture a number of different things, helping me remember years later where I was that day I took the picture, and what I was doing/about to do. Is it important? Not really, but... long live digital cameras and 1GB memory cards!!

8:50
Ok, I know, don't do to others what you don't want others do to you, and for sure I wouldn't like someone taking pictures of me while I would be... eham... you know, doing this thing you see in the picture, but, give me a break, these are cats, they don't mind (right?). To be perfectly honest, I'm kind of lost. I got off the bus downtown Natal, started walking towards the direction I thought I needed to follow to reach the fort that stands at the northernmost tip of central Natal's beach, buuuuuut, "if there is one thing in the world I am good at, that's never losing my orientation" Dimitris, is actually far away from where he thought he'd be by now...

9:10
Not that getting a little lost is necessarily a bad thing. Sometimes it's a great thing, I reckon. Here I am, walking around some neighbourhood with houses like these two in the photo, simple low income families living in this part of the city, while (take another look at the photo) in the back, a really tall building is being constructed. The people look at me with surprise, I'd say, as if they hardly ever see tourists with cameras in hand walking around this part of their city. I buy some water from a small shop, digging in my pockets for some change I leave my photo camera on the counter, and the lady running the little shop tells me "cuidado", pointing at the camera, "careful". She reminds me that I shouldn't be that carefree...

10am
I have finally found my way and I am close to the fort. Runners who have participated in some marathon are quenching their thirst, while some band is getting prepared to play some tune while the rewards will be given to those who finished first. Brazil to me looks like a country that is jogging-mad, I have seen people, hordes of people jogging early in the morning everywhere, starting from Salvador da Bahia and reaching this very morning, so I am anything but surprised to see so many participants around. Especially in Rio it was the first time I saw so many joggers with those "thingies" attached on their arms, counting their heart palms and everything, looking like people here are serious about jogging... Oh, not to mention how well dressed they are, meaning... wearing cool running shoes and everything...

10:20
Parents must love Natal's beach, because of these rocks on the left, that create natural pools. No kid can get dragged by the sea deep in... If you are an adult, you can only wet your feet up to your ankles, or just lie down under the sun, which too many do. That explains the cool tan even of people who look very... European, (white) skin colour-wise... A long stretch of sand is waiting for me to walk it... If I was a puppy and had a little tail, my tail would be going right-left like crrrrrazy right now. I am that excited!

11am
This is the... 100th time I see people playing football on the sand, here in Brazil. I do admire the skills of Brazilians, I admire their technique, but if you ask me, if I was a president of a football team and decided to invest in the south American "market", I would choose Argentineans over Brazilians for my team. Why? Because I think Brazilians are too... show off-ish, they go too far when it comes to showing off their skills, and they are not 101% committed to what is best for the team, more like to what is best for them. On the other hand, the average Argentinean player, the way I see things, is not that naturally talented (with numerous exceptions, of course), but they are much more team players, they don't mind doing lots of dirty job, unlike the majority of Brazilians, I reckon. Maybe deep down I'm jealous of Brazilians, this is why I find their showing off "too much", because I'm full of complexes and not really a "bigger" person... There are always at least two ways to... read the same line...

11:10
If I had to choose one beach as my favourite, among those few I have been to up to now in Brazil, this one would get my vote, for a good reason. Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro is cool, of course, but when I was there, it didn't look that lively, and besides, it's too wide, it's difficult to feel "warm" in a beach which needs thousands of people to stop feeling empty. Ipanema is narrow and perfect for people watching, but I felt that... something was missing, liveliness-wise. It felt too... I don't know how to describe it... too... "idle", not much movement around, not much loud talk, hardly any kid voices (which can be annoying, but personally I love them), something, something was missing... The rest of the beaches I saw in Northeastern Brazil were super, no doubt about that, but really, when it comes to liveliness, no beach can beat this one, which of course is only my totally subjective opinion after having spent very little time here. Feels like you are at... some Kingdom of carefreeness, liveliness and joy, and it doesn't feel "artificial", it feels 101% "natural", if I help you see what I mean...

12:10
Earlier I wrote something about the photos I call "journal" ones. Well, this photo belongs to the category I call "life is gooooood". You've just walked and walked and walked, you've reached the end of your walk itinerary, and you can sit and enjoy a great view with a cold beer on the table in front of you. You just lay back and enjoy it, you catch your breath feeling so content... I guess this is how a painter feels once he's finished a painting of his he has been working on non stop for hours and hours, or how a gambler in a Las Vegas casino feels at the end of a poker marathon which finds him with hundreds of dollars in his hands... I wouldn't be able to paint anything decent even if my life was depending on it, and I have no idea what "winning in poker" means, I just... walk and take pictures, and at the end of a long walk during which I have taken dozens of photos I liked, I have this silly sense of... completeness... (This photo is my laptop's wallpaper for more than three months now).

5pm
Back to Ponta Negra, back to the feet of Morro da Careca... I have this theory according to which the way people look at us, is only a mirror of our mood. I mean, I strongly believe that if we feel self-confident, cheerful, dynamic, even sexy, then people tend to "sense" it, and see in us the very same "qualities", let's say, and this is when nice things happen to us(...). Be moody, and most-most-most probably, people will "smell" it and put on you a "moody" tag. Feel happy, and people will only fill your day with even more happiness... It's like playing basketball, feeling your hand "hot", knowing, just knowing that you are going to score, no matter where you shoot from. The basket looks gigantic, not like a head of a needle, you just know that all you need to do to score, is shoot, and the ball will go in... Aaaaaah, if only all days/matches were like this...
Where did all this paragraph come from? Well, let's just say that these last hours I have... tasted the seeds of my perfect mood(...).

7pm
Can you believe that I am in Brazil for ten days now and I still haven't tried caipirinha? Well, it's never too late, even though this cart is not exactly the best place I could get a caipirinha... Who cares? I get one, after, note, I have already drank two-three beers, which is really-really-really not I. When I'm at home I never drink alcohol, and here... here I allowed myself to get tipsy, because the more alcohol I allowed down my lungs, the better I felt. No, I'm not drunk, I'm not that stupid to spoil a perfect day... It's just that people like me, too damn reserved I guess, need a little "push" sometimes to do things we wouldn't do under different circumstances. The key is to stay tipsy, not go further than that, and thankfully(?) I am sticking to "tipsy".

8:30pm
After having had a nice talk with a guy who wanted to take me to this place where I could have a tattoo shot (it's amazing what kind of conversations a Brazilian who speaks little English and a Greek who speaks English but hardly any Portuguese can have...), I slowly find my way back to my hostel. Right next to it, there is this little square, where a "forró" night is under way. Forró is a typical Brazilian type of music, damn popular in Northeastern Brazil. A lady in her 50s is dancing, while the rest of us are just watching, as the music plays. Gradually, more people start dancing. I don't see any tourists around. Even in my hostel I saw two, maybe, Europeans/Americans, while the guy I shared my dormitory with is a young Brazilian. I think we four are the only ones staying here at the moment. The poor guy is taking tomorrow a bus to Belo Horizonte(!!!!!) which is further away than... the end of the world, in my eyes. He showed me some card, with which he says he travels for free. He has a speech problem, and he only speaks Portuguese, so go figure what kind of a conversation we had earlier today...
Tomorrow morning I am taking a bus myself, but to nearby João Pessoa. I want to leave Natal for the same reason I wanted to leave Canoa Quebrada, even though I was/am having a fantastic time there/here. I want to leave now that my mind is full of many fond memories, I don't want to risk spoiling them by staying for a third day. The other day I wrote how a basketball, for example, player, should quit at the pinnacle of his career, while people still remember him as a great one, not as someone who retired a year too late, having his butt kicked again and again and again during his last season...