警惕:中文是现在写的,底部英文是2012年blog!
探索一个陌生城市最好是晨跑,天蒙蒙亮我就起来,所在地区是富人区,从我酒店窗户可以看到危险的downtown,再不去了。但就是跑步到附近公园,我也战战兢兢,担心有抢劫犯同伙虎视眈眈;一路不敢照相,进入公园看到有好多当地人,胖胖的还气喘吁吁的锻炼,松口气!
湖里很多黑天鹅,此公园比如成纽约中央公园,笑话!
一圈不过5公里,我开始胆子放松,看到一个用废旧垃圾建的迷宫,就跑进去,没人的时候偷偷拿出手机照相;但听到有人在附近呼吸,吓了一跳,这可是暗杀的好地方,马上大声咳嗽,很man的样子开始找出口,越急越乱,本来就是迷宫,等我跑出去,骂自己一顿!病人,刚逃离虎穴,又折腾,不想活了!
和同事约好早餐,这是圣保罗很drama的地方,早餐的地方氛围恍如在西班牙或葡萄牙,超级阳光明媚,好像一切完美;有我最爱Acai巴西莓,决定每顿早餐只吃她;我美丽的同事Ceci来自墨西哥,到巴西一年了,非常不适应;西班牙语和葡萄牙语区别很大,她要从头学起,文化也很上海,就是现实,她和男朋友分开很难过;我一大堆废话鼓励她事业为重,她压根无所谓。美女都有这问题。之后她和老公搬到新加坡以老公事业为主,最近我在上海某五星酒店蹭好友早餐意外碰到她来出差,世界太小了!
晚上和巴西Country Manager F一家人见面,我和F是瑞士一起工作同事,有共患难的感觉;当时她自己工作,老公M随行带孩子做家庭主妇,失去所有自信心,G就自己回巴西啦,任性!为了挽救婚姻F也搬回来;我很他们一家都很熟悉,当年在瑞士她让我帮她小儿子大号换尿布,场面太colorful生动,我一天没吃下去饭,彻底断送了孩子很纯洁干净遐想。现在一家人典型巴西中产阶级,和我Downtown碰到的人群完全不同:在一个最好Barbecue餐厅里,都是领结服务生穿梭给你各种烤肉,我反复道歉自己不吃肉,在当地人眼里就相当于不吃饭的怪物,很受白眼!老公M换若两人,已经是一家外企的总经理,瑞士做家庭主妇的憋屈都以大男子主义加倍表现出来,叱咤风云的和我讨论国家经济和时事,这种状态是我强项,让他感觉很high,超级有口若悬河的欲望!F一直关照两个孩子,穿的都是美国欧洲买的衣服,好可怜!我看到巴西完全分裂的极端,也知道当地公立教育质量极低,私立费用极高!Elite越来越Elite,抢劫犯继续打劫中国人!
我是很晚飞到Salvador,既然圣保罗不安全,二线城市好一些吧。住在Downtown,晚上出来想买水果,发现周围都是黑皮肤的当地人闲散喝酒打闹,中心的几个Block被圈起来,跃跃欲试要出去,门卫警告我不要走出去。我很郁闷回酒店,碰到一对欧洲旅行夫妇,说当地很不安全,劝我不要一个人行动。好吧,我第二天一早继续跑步到海边,没碰到任何劫匪,但手表,手机全部不带,穿的越破越好,劫财劫色都失败的那种,希望抢劫犯也这么认为!
Salvador非常颓败,历史悠久现在失败,非洲移民聚集地!教堂都不开门,Museum也是,只能有限的地方转,找到一个学Percussion的地方,一个外国人和几个当地人在练习,也无聊;终于看到一个博物馆让一个老头进去,我就直接跟进去,不求允许;馆长亲自接待,讲解非洲文化在当地演变,很有意思,我问很多问题,老头知道好多,他是Croatia克罗地亚驻巴西大使,来当地参观,本人也是个诗人之前背景是医生,这对我无聊的危险旅程是个捡到的元宝,我和老头回了他的酒店,继续探讨生命的意义,开始幻想做大使夫人是一种什么感受.......................Well
After robbed first day, I should be more modest.......yes morning jog to the park I did not dare to take my phone out until inside this park artwork: gabage sculpture, I was walking inside then realize it can be a bit dangerous as well.............anyhow did not stay long and jog in the park with many people around, seems safe enough:+)Then morning walk to the main financial street, without any bad on hand and sneakly take a photo when I see this booth...........hope nobody noticing it.
The view from my hotel balcony, into downtown is nice............
Love the breakfast, the best Papaya in the world.........tropical fruits is phenomenal!!!
The park has many black swans.........they told me it is like Central Park in New York, yes yes it is nice park, but...........like Central Park so much more.
Walking to the finance main street come cross this small park with Chinese Gongfu practice.......or Taiji whatever u can call it, quite nice!
Sugar cane drink in this nice neighborhood is fresh, like it very much. It is like a paradise in a noisy and unsafe world, u appreciate place like this so much more!
Just about right time to walk back to hotel, pass some nice neighborhood of Embassy areas. Fabiana came with the whole crew, kids are getting so much bigger and amazing thing is how her husband has transformed from a quite man in Switzerland to a very proud business man showing me his country and local customs.........we were in a very nice barbecue restaurant...........salad bar can fill me up already without taking any this barbecue staff showing off their huge meat and seafood sticks!!! A very nice atmosphere even for non meat eater I enjoy the hot air there!!! Great to see how happy the whole family is!
Evening got a great dinner, Japanese one with Ceci, she is suffering and transforming during the past one year moving from Mexico to Brazil, not that easy as I thought as it is from neighboring country...........But good for her and she is surely growing up with more maturity and acknowledgement on real quality of life..........