Today is a sad day for Canadians. The Leader of the Opposition, Jack Layton, has died. It was Cancer, and even though he stepped down from the leadership on 25 July to focus on recovery… this still came as a shock, for me, anyway. We are lesser for his passing. Proof—his last words, in a letter written to Canadians this weekend, were:

“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world.”

(source)

Rest in Peace, Jack.

As if to buoy my spirits, and just one month and eleven days after it began its voyage toward me, look what arrived:

it’s CHOCOLATE!

From KATH!

And it’s DARK! The likes of which I haven’t even seen here before—but clearly, that’s because I’m in Brazil, and not Peru or Bolivia, right?

Shard on the left is the 90% (OH, YES PLEASE!) and rectangle at two o’clock high is 100% (CARAMBA!), and I’m behind the camera, with my first BIG SMILE of the day.

Thanks, Kath—a needed pick-me-up today!

I’m not the hugest ice cream girl around, but this trip has given me the chance to get back in touch with a childhood love.

I remember being thrilled by pistachio ice cream when I was growing up, but because it was green more than for the taste. I *think* the brand we had growing up was Parlour—it had stripes—but I can’t find anything on the web that looks like the image in my mind. Did I dream it? Well, Parlour doesn’t make pistachio anymore, either way—so maybe I did.

Marcella promised me the “best pistachio ice cream EVER” when we came to Brasília, but first we had a birthday party of insanity (all Saturday—there might have been Samba. And I *don’t* dance, right?) and Father’s Day breakfast and a lie-in most of Sunday… but when the sun became less oppressive and we could go out comfortably, however, we committed. It was 6.30pm. It was dark. And crowded. And since I had, in the summer of 2008, had the “best gelato in Italy” in Reggio Calabria with my friend Angela, this felt like a bit of déjà vu and I wasn’t quick to take photos at first: how many places can be the best, after all?

Well, Saborella wins… *something*.

We actually ate our pistachio round in such rapture that I *still* didn’t think to take a photo until Marcella went back for her Round 2, this time of plain yogurt:

(I’m super-proud of this photo, taken with an ISO of 1,000,000: it was DARK! But it WORKED! And in line, up next to the palm tree in the middle, you can see a tall thin figure in a polka-dot shirt… that’s Marcella.)

And this is Saborella—a storefront in the Asa Norte of Brasília, nothing spectacular until you see that it’s the busiest place for 5 km… They serve a lot of the Brazil standard flavours (lots of fruit, as you can imagine), but Marcella recommends the pistachio, yogurt, and mascarpone (which they were already out of that night. Boo). And two of those three, I do, too.

As you can see, the servings are small and the cost relatively high (this *is* Brazil…), but SO SO worth it.

See?

That’s the look of rapture, ladies…

And now, some other sights of Brasília. My impressions: I like it. It’s got more open spaces (and about 1/6th the population) of São Paulo, it’s got a lake!!!, it’s got really friendly people, it’s got an interesting layout (designed by Juscelino Kubetschek, and built for the purpose of getting UNESCO world heritage designation in the early 1960s). It’s got some nice architecture on the governmental esplanade, but… it also looks really communist, kinda run-down (even in some expensive real estate), and it’s the dry season, so there’s a lot of brown.

BUT: there’s also grass. And I’m SO EXCITED! I’ve missed grass and all green things during my time in SP!!

GREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!

And in other news, I visited the non-denominational Temple of Peace (Templo da Paz). It seems to be in existence to honour the world’s largest crystal (21kgs!), from a place nearby that has a strange preponderance of crystals. To visit the crystal’s energy, you must remove your shoes and walk the black path in and the white path out. And then you can drink the “energised water” that’s been bathed in crystals (or something). What am I talking about? Check it out, below…

Peace is nice, but this still had a twinge of the cult-like. Observe:

BEHOLD THE CRYSTAL.

And, the bonus round of a red flower, my obsession:

Today marks 8 weeks in Brazil. I feel absolutely no need to achieve anything. Except maybe dinner. Happy mid-August to you!

OK, a little cheat… I *didn’t* learn anything new or take new pictures since yesterday. This week, I’ve been struck down with an intense case of exhaustion. The stress from that article has finally broken and I’m crashing… so I’m going to show you some of the stuff that Marcella and I did last Saturday at the street bazaar and get back on the photography horse tomorrow. Verdade. (Truly!)

This is gutter water. Which means it’s about as clean as swimming in an unflushed toilet… but it just seemed so pretty and fresh to me… I think I miss Canada sometimes.

duck spout.

so many mirrors!

I spy, with my little eye, something that’s not a valid Canadian currency at the numismatics booth…

… and then I just had Canada on the brain, I guess, because these felt a bit Canadian for me. Random.

This particular pasteis (remember them?) booth is award-winning… and as I watched them make the pastel, it occurred to me how much it’s like a savoury McDonald’s pie. Don’t tell a Brazilian I said that.

See what I mean? I also learned that if you hold them vertically, the cheese all slides to the bottom. Lessons from the trenches, everybody, lessons from the trenches.

New favourite thing: a buraco quente—literally, a “hot hole” (keep it clean, kids). A crusty roll has a plug drilled out (for lack of better wording), and they pour in a warm meat mixture. Really tasty, but the “hot” definitely refers to the temperature, ’cause nothing in Brazil’s got HEAT. Marcella’s also eating a cup of bean soup served with puffed pork things on top.

This day ended with a round of brigadeiro, but you’ve seen those already. Instead, I’ll end with a photo I took of the WORLD’S SMALLEST ANTS marching in formation… don’t know where they’re going or why, but ever since the day they went into the wall, they haven’t been in the kitchen. Or my bed. So… progress?

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Today, I woke up at 7.16am.

This is “sleeping in” to some, “nothing special” to others, and “the middle of the night” to still more.

For me, it was huge! I didn’t do it on my own, I did it because my computer was Skype-calling me to wake up, and tell me that I’m an uncle. YAY!

No, no gender-reassignment, I just reject conventions and gender-focused labels. (This may actually *be* why I got a PhD: a gender-neutral title is mine forever, even if I’m an unemployed vagabond!)

My closest friend welcomed bébé #1 today, and this little lady was a long time coming. Thanks to the surrogate, little Aloysia Rose (named for her grannies and to be known as “Sia”—like “see ya!”) came into the world at 12.10am EDT. I’m so excited! I’ve been walking around grinning for the last two hours, and it didn’t even have anything to do with this:

Bug-free coffee and a morning coconut-oatmeal-lentil cookie.

I’ve also made my counter-offer and might be on my way to living in Brazil…

and I’ve pulled out my websites and handouts and camera books and am getting ready to bring back my next “I learn my camera” photo for you soon.

I LOVE TODAY!