Last Day

Today is the last day of my 8 weeks in Latin America. Tomorrow I will be on a plane heading back to New York City.

Thanks for being a part of my journey. Writing about it, taking pictures of it and making music for it have been an integral part of being here for me. And sharing it with you all was like my way of whispering secrets into the trees and having the wind sweep them up and blow them to you.

Now here are a couple final pictures that I managed to snag before Jean Grey bit the dust again.






So again thanks for reading. I have a feeling this blog isn't over, so don't delete it from your bookmarks just yet...

With Love,
Daniel

Bogota -> San Jose

Part one: Party On Bogota

I'll be honest with you, I didn't write at all in Columbia because 4 of the 7 nights I was in Columbia I went out on the town. Let me tell you what- if you ever want to party like a rock-star and dance the night away, Bogota is the place to do it.We met some amazing people and had a ton of fun.

It's crazy that it has such a bad reputation. I even expected a 3rd world type scenario, but it's a modern and expansive city. There are dangers, but I never felt unsafe even late at night. It's probably my most recommended city that I've been to so far.

Jean Grey (new name for my camera) started working again so I snagged a couple cool shots of the city.






Part two: Sick in San Jose

Immediately juxtaposed with the biggest positive surprise of Bogota was the biggest letdown of San Jose, Costa Rica. Let me be clear- Costa Rica is beautiful. There is rainforests, volcanoes, monkeys, sloths and all kinds of cool things. However the capital city San Jose where I have been stuck in the equivalent to a Motel 6 sucks really hard. In fact it's the first place that has disappointed me.

And on top of everything else I got a wicked cold two days ago and have been laid up in this gross, muggy, prostitute riddled place. Did I mention there is a casino in the lobby of our hotel? Sounds cool right? No, it's scummy and terrible. I was excited to gamble for the first time in my life, but as soon as I walked in there I realized that this was not the place to lose my gambling virginity. I picture gambling in a James Bond tuxedo, plopping down $100,000 chips in a fight to the death duel of no limit Texas Hold 'Em. This is ugly Americans with ugly hookers and ugly carpet.

I hate to be so negative, because I like to be positive about everything. In fact the first day here when everyone else was complaining I kept saying "Hey guys, it's not so bad! It's like hotels we stayed in while the band was on tour. And you don't have to share it with 4 dudes!"

But I'll tell you what, tour hotel generally don't have as many prostitutes. And you generally only have to stay in them one night and then move on to a city where hopefully you have some friends who'll let you crash on their couch. And usually your friends aren't prostitutes. And also on tour you get to place music at night and hang out in the city during the day, not work during the day, then stay inside at night for fear of being assaulted by fat prostitutes.

Did I mention prostitutes yet?

Anyway, enough of my bitchin. Here's what I've been doing in my free time.

Click To Play

PPS> I did get to go to a volcano in Costa Rica that was wicked awesome. I have some shots which I will hopefully post on Flickr soon, but they are on a drive that got sent to the editors room. So you're just stuck with the whining for now.

Up, Up and Away

Hello. How are you? What did you do today? Oh yeah? That's great.

Oh what did I do today? Oh not much. You know, the usuge for Brazil. Sandwiches on the beach. Drinking out of coconuts... Hang gliding.






Yep. That's all I really have to say about that.

She Dances On The Sand

Yeah. The title was a little obvious, sorry.

Rio De Janerio. Possibly the most beautiful place I've ever seen in my life. The city is intensely amazing. From my window I can see mountains and oceans, mountains in the ocean and behind my hotel are oceans tucked in betwixt mountains. Aerial views of the city are breathtaking and the beaches are golden. Today I watched the waves crash against rocks for a solid hour. Like this one;



Another perk to this job, for some reason my position requires that I have a common space for the crew to drop of tapes and equipment. This basically means that I get a suite(sweet) in every city. Here in Rio I have the most amazing room with a sick view, two television sets, a couch, a table with 4 chairs, two bathrooms, one with a jacuzzi and a king sized bed. I have no idea how I scored all this, but I'm not complaining. Check out the view;



And at night;



And I just think this is cool;



Despite all these pros, there is a strange sense of a con in Rio. I haven't been able to put my finger on it exactly, but what I've seen so far there is a weird negative vibe here. Admittedly, I haven't seen a whole lot yet, but just what I've seen of the people there is an attitude of what I like to call "tough guy superiority." I don't know if I'm off-base, but this is what I feel.

UPDATE!! I just spent the afternoon in Ipanema and it kinda changed my opinion of this city. Really cool laid back area with interesting people. Maybe "Cariocas" aren't as tough as they seem...
/UPDATE

Regardless, it's still gorgeous. Here's two shots of Ipanema;




Then here's me and our old pal, Jesus;



Random thoughts:

I missed New York for the first time today. Got emails and chatted with friends online and do miss the city a little. Sounds like everyone is having a good time, so just know I'm thinking about all of you.

I have been without a mobile phone for almost 3 weeks now. I love it. Might start leaving my phone at home sometimes when I get back.

I have been drinking aqua com gas (water with bubbles or seltzer) with apricot juice and it owns my face (© Copyright 2006 Ben Helfen).

Lost forums are amazing. There are folks out there with IDEAS, people.

My friend on the crew Fleur and I have been planning out a sloth farm. Proposed specifications are as follows:

- Lots of sloths
- Monkeys
- A garden
- A jacuzzi
- A greenhouse
- One baby tiger

Location for sloth farm yet to be determined.

So far there are two Mom's (that I know about) reading my blog. Can I just say that Mom's are awesome?

Finally, I still can't stop listening to Menomena.

Love and nunchucks.

Amazonas

Perhaps it's the sun or perhaps it's the malaria pills, but for some reason this week I've been really tired. At night I've barely had enough energy to get my work done much less for blogging. And there have been a lot of nighttime activities. So I've just been beat.

I am staying in the most amazing hotel I've ever seen. It's like a huge expansive of long wide hallways with beautiful mahogany doors and gigantic, ornate, hanging street lamps. There are pools and restaurants everywhere. I will take pictures before I leave, but for the time being, let's check out some photos.

First off- The Amazon River is in my backyard. The first day we were here we took a boat tour down the river and saw the Pointe de Negro, which is where the Yellow River and Black River (Rio Solomoes and Rio Negro) meet. It's incredible. Two completely different colors butt up beside each other, but don't mix. There's science behind it which I don't remember how to explain.



Here's a freighter from the Yellow River, then from the Black River




On the Amazon there are lots of people who live right on the water either in floating houses or houses on stilts. It's pretty awesome and I love that they wave at you if you start taking their pictures.






So then we got off at this floating restaurant/market and walked down this dock through the flooded forest. Now there is tons of animal life all over the place and yes, I did get a few pictures, but what I didn't get were the monkeys which were too far away to get a good shot of (why oh why didn't I get that long lens?!) and the fresh water dolphins which were too quick for me. Well, I got a fin, but that's it and not worth posting.






Maybe you notice the alligator in that last one, hmm? And here's the crew in the boat.



Needless to say, it was an amazing experience. Now I hate that I didn't separate these into different posts, but since I was a slacker this week, you'll have to just pause for a second, maybe go pour another cup of coffee, then keep on for the second part...

Near our hotel is the Pointe De Negro and right now there is a big festival going on with a open market full of bead necklaces and silly shirts. We walked through it yesterday before it was open while they were still setting up the stage and found this little pier and started taking pictures. A handful of local boys came up and started diving into the water and petitioning us to take their pictures as they leap in. It was really surreal and also really hilarious. I got a couple shots that I am really proud of.






Pretty cool, eh?

And finally I made another song, which I'm not sure if I like as much, but it's longer and has the same vibe as the first. I have purchased two new instruments which I haven't taken pictures of, but I will and they'll be included with the hotel pictures. Scouts honor.

MP3 - Manaus (#6)

Whew, ok mammoth post I know. Next stop Rio de Janerio!

The Bells

Today I made my first musical instrument purchase. After walking around aimlessly for 3 hours, I found Sarmiento Street which is apparently the music district of Buenos Aires. There were more music stores in a 5 block radius than the lower east side and 48th street combined. It was an exhilarating moment for me. Being very careful not to blow my wad, I made a small purchase of a set of 8 bells (more commonly known to non-drummers as an Xylophone). The proprietor assured me that it's a genuine Argentinian instrument, not made in China as he put it. And it's kinda beautiful actually.



So this brings my Latin American instrument arsenal up to a set of bells and a melodica (purchased before the trip for any down time on top of mountains of monuments where a tune might be appropriate). And my new goal is to buy an instrument in every country on this trip. I'm gonna make it happen. Oh yes.




Also, I have a ton of new pictures from my adventures today, but I'm photoshop-less at the moment, and these ones need a little work (too much backlight). So I'll get them when I get them.

UPDATE!!!!
Not sure if this will happen often, but I made a silly song in Garage Band last night with my new toys. Check it:

MP3 - Buenos Aires 2

El Bano, my only Spanish

Two days ago I could only remember like 2 words in Spanish (well and the phrase that Cedro at the Dove taught me which means 'nice ass' which I promise I won't use, unless it's really really really really applicable.), now I am hola-ing and gracias-ing and adios-ing all over the place. It's pretty great. Trying to actually learn something while puttering about in a foreign land.

A couple quick things:

1) I don't know if these daily updates will be daily for much longer. Once the workload picks up I will probably have less time for this. Just so you know.

2) I have a skype account now. Username = bellurypants. Get it.

3) I forgot to mention yesterday that I have seen 3 instances where there has been graffiti of the word "Daniel". Maybe I am INfamous here? ("He's not famous, he's INfamous, which means more than famous!" - special prize to the first non-Bellury who knows what that is from...)

4) Bringing only one pair of jeans was stupid.

So anyway, today was good. Got some work done and have a good feeling about how the work flow will... flow. Had some quality meals with the crew. Breakfast was awesome and complimentary. Lunch was cozy and cheap.

But then... Dinner was freaking expensive! I was supposed to go to dinner with the other assistant editor and one of the cameramen, but the three of us got roped into going to dinner with the director and owners of the production company. And while dinner was excellent, and admittedly I did have a great time, the dinner turned out to be $140 each! Now, that is pesos, so it was really only like $45 US, but still my plan was to live off only $20 bucks a day US so that I can come home rich.

I really shouldn't complain. The dinner was great and probably would have cost at least $100 in New York. And I know it's ok to splurge now and then, I just am beating myself up about it so I won't get in the habit of it.

The owners of the company were really cool people and had lots of funny stories (they are an engaged or married couple), and they even got into a food fight was was ridiculous and awesome. I was definitely glad to get to know who I'm working for.

Ok, here are some pictures.


View from my hotel room


The Times Square of Buenos Aires


A flag.


The McDonalds corner. Apparently there are three at that intersection.


A pretty sign.


This big thing that tells me I'm close to my hotel. Kinda like a compass.


A funny sign that I don't understand.

Oh I forgot my 5th note and Kristian will be happy about this, I'm totally hooked on the show 'Heros'. I downloaded the first 3 episodes on iTunes and it rules. It's actually time for me to watch an episode and fall asleep.

Goodnight.