City in the rainforest
Trip Start
Dec 14, 2007
1
14
70
Trip End
Ongoing
Petropolis, Brazil
Friday, January 25, 2008
We rented a tiny car from Budget that barely fit Jim's 6'4" frame. Dalus arrived to the airport by bus from Rio so he drove with us directing us to Petropolis. Jim drove fast and furious like he'd been driving there all his life. We past the favelas, which are the poor and dangerous neighborhoods. This is where the 3rd world enters in.
Petropolis is located at a 3000 ft.elevation in the mountains just west of Rio. It's a dangerous windy road where we past speeding trucks that barely let us by, gorgeous waterfalls and roadside coconut stands. We were entering a real life Brazilian rainforest! We were in Brazil!!! The lush trees and their canopies rolled on for miles. Then, there it was, Petropolis, a colonial Portuguese city in the middle of a rainforest. This is where the king of Portugal fled to and built his summer palace. The city's architecture is very European, with influences from Portugal and Germany. It reminded me of Lisbon, but the only difference is that it is located in a rainforest. It was cold (which surprised me in the middle of their summer) rainy and the mists blanketed the mountains. Since it's so mountainous, most homes are built straight up, almost on top of each other. It rains so much here that mildew grows back literally overnight, therefore there is a law that says you must paint the outside of your house every month to prevent the onset of peeling paint and the black ugliness that plagues the city.
I forgot how much I missed Dalia. She was so happy to see me she was crying. Her home is 100 years old with tall ceilings and so many little rooms that you can almost get lost in it's maze. Her dance studio is located in her home. This is where I'll be teaching the workshop on Saturday. We were led up a steep and narrow staircase to Dalus's old room where inside stood two twin beds and an engtertainment armoir/bookcase. I guess we'll wait a little longer for the honeymoon.
We met Luiz who is Dalia's husband. He is a sweet man who doesn't speak very much English, but what we couldn't understand through sharades we understood through Dalia's translating.
The rest of the evening we relaxed and had good conversation as we snuggled up to her six cats.
