Nov12

Adventures on Land, part 1 – Urban Tree

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The other afternoon during a brief visit to the town center, I was walking back from the supermarket with my pandeiro slung across my shoulder and an overwhelming amount of groceries dangling from my person – bulging from my backpack, swinging from my wrists in shopping bags.

As I was heading to a friends house to drop off the groceries, and then to the gym for a class, I passed a little park in the middle of a busy street intersection.   The centerpiece of this park was a beautiful old broad meandering tree – a perfect beauty for climbing.  I imagined that at different times of day, the tree swarmed with frolicking little kids or served as a partially obscured hangout for transgressive teens.  But at this moment, its branches were bare.  Naked.  Inviting.  A monument of exploratory arboreal possibility.  To leave a tree like this unclimbed constituted a form of neglect.

But I was hurrying to get to a class at the gym.  It didn’t seem like the time to be dawdling.  The park was also public enough, and I am also grown enough, that a solo ascent of the tree with my bags of groceries and my pandeiro in tow, would designate me immediately as a public wierdo.

“You can come back and climb that tree later,” I told myself,  one evening when there is no one watching.

But as I walked by, I kept looking at that tree.  Not wanting to look like a weirdo seemed like a really bad reason not to climb such a beautiful tree.  Making it to my class at the gym was a noble goal, but did I really want to live in a universe where I couldn’t make time to stop and climb a tree, especially one as perfect as this?

I suddenly felt like if I walked by this tree, I would be killing a little part of my soul, and it seemed too early to start doing that.   “Screw it,” I thought – I am gonna be a weirdo and I am gonna be late.  And so I went back,  put my groceries at the foot of the tree, lodged my backpack and pandeiro in the first big crook, and headed up this sweeping grand dame of a tree.

This tree had sturdy thick branches, fat as telephone poles which extended almost horizontally out from her main trunk.  There were about 7 different routes you could take outwards from the central hub, walking on wide gray smooth branches, speckled with lichens and epiphytes.

For me climbing a tree is liking pushing a little reset button for my soul.  When I leave the ground, I leave my human self behind, and I can live for a moment as the spritely elfin monkey self of all my childhood dreams.  In the tree, there is only the feeling of branches under my hands and feet and the gauging of my movements to move through them.  The light is different, filtered through the crown of leaves that makes the tree a universe apart from the outside world.  When I am in the arms of a tree, it feels like the only worthwhile place to be.

I dawdled in the tree for a while, taking a couple snap shots to commemorate the experience, and no doubt providing some lively midday entertainment to the good people enjoying their lunches on the park benches surrounding me.

I landed back on the ground feeling lighter, with an extra kick in my step, relieved to know that I still had what it takes to be a wierdo, climb a tree in the middle of an intersection at midday, and keep my soul intact.

Nov11

Confessions of a temporarily grounded surfer

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OK — so I have a confession.  I hurt my shoulder (slight strain to Infraspinatus and Teres Minor, pictured below).  I didn’t hurt it bad, but I hurt it enough that I have missed about 3 weeks of surfing and have had to take it pretty slow as I get back into the water.  It’s a bit frustrating to be on a surfing adventure and not be able to surf the way I like to, just as I was really starting to make a lot of improvements in my technique.  But the world keeps reminding me that there are numerous ways to have adventures – big and small. So instead of feeling sad that I don’t have any surfing stories for my blog – I shall share some land adventures for now…

Nov1

Sao Paulo Street Art

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This gallery contains 8 photos.

When I went to Sao Paulo, my head pretty much exploded with how amazing and rich and vibrant the city was.  It is huge – a sprawling twisted organism of towering sky scrapers, buzzing tropical parks, museums that hold some of Brazil’s most exciting art, and neighborhoods that are their own universes.   I think […]

Oct16

The last week and a half in video

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So… a fun and important part of my Surfer Grrrls Brazil adventure is making music videos.  I have been writing raps, collaborating with some very special people, like my friend Dani, and working on some instrumental tracks.  I am also learning that all of this takes quite a bit more time than I planned, a big challenge is just getting everyone together to get all the pieces in place.  But it’s all happening!

In the meantime, I thought it might be fun to share some parts of my journey these last couple weeks in rough and ready video format.  So here are some highlights:

Oct9

In the water with a world champion!

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Another amazing moment.  So today I decided to head to Praia Mole, because it is just so pretty in the late afternoon.  I am on a 2 week program of “taking it easy” after an episode of doing too many pull-ups.  I probably should have kept walking to the next beach over, which had smaller waves, more appropriate for taking it easy.  But the waves on Mole looked so fun!  I made a promise to myself and my tired shoulders that I would take it slow, even if it meant not catching much (which is exactly what it meant!).  Sometimes, just being out there is a gift in itself, and today was one of those days.

But I had an extra treat in store.  As I was floating around amidst the other surfers, another woman paddled up to join the line-up.  And it was none other than Jacqueline Silva — who, for those who don’t know, is a super amazing pro surfer who is on the ASP WORLD TOUR!!  (you have to be one of the best 18 surfers IN THE WORLD to be on this tour).  That’s a picture of her on the left!  You can also check out her website here.

She paddled right next to me, and was so nice and friendly when I nervously and excitedly introduced myself.  Then she proceeded to SHRED like crazy just about every wave that came her way.  It was completely amazing and inspiring to see her in action, and also really cool to encounter someone who is SO damn good at what she does and still totally open and kind, and willing to talk to a random American stuttering in Portuguese in the water next to her.  Maybe I can get her to be in one of my music videos?!

Oct3

A new pandeiro for me!

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I am in love with my pandeiro.  It’s a humble little drum, often mistaken for a tambourine, but it holds a world of possibilities, and when it jumps in as an accompaniment, it can turn a simple song on a guitar into a party worth dancing to.  I love the crunchy sound you get from tapping the rim of the drum where the platinelas or jingles are mounted.  I love the resonant bass you get from thumping your thumb against the face of the drum.  I love how you can switch up the tones by muting the skin of the drum with your finger, like putting a wah wah pedal on your pandeiro.   Part of the reason I love my pandeiro so much is because my particular drum is a beauty.   It is no ordinary pandeiro.  Here’s the backstory:

I look forward to pandeiro class every week the same way a kid looks forward to the family trip to six flags.  But a couple weeks back, we had an extra surprise in store.

With my new pandeiro and pandeiro heroes

After class my pandeiro teacher, Vava, offered to take my friend and fellow student Dan and I to meet his pandeiro maker, from whom he was picking up an instrument that day.   We’ve always admired Vava’s pandeiro, which is made from beautiful dark wood, with an elegant inlaid border, and has such a clear crisp and full sound, it seems to come from a different pandeiro universe than our mortal pandeiros.  When he lets one of us play it, it’s like getting to sit down at a Steinway concert grand.  Of course we jumped at the chance to meet his pandeiro maker, the master craftsmen, Fabiano Raposa, who happens to live right here in Florianopolis.

One of Fabiano’s turkeys

We drove to an older neighborhood of narrow streets that wound up and down hills, where many small old houses still had sizeable yards and accompanying livestock.  Fabiano’s workshop was set next to his house and what appeared to be a miniature farm.  Chickens and very impressive turkeys wandered around  on the shady lawn while a horse happily grazed in a small paddock nearby.

Everything in Fabiano’s workshop was made by hand by him , his wife, or one of his sons  — from the treating and stretching of the skins, to the pressing and burnishing of the platinelas, the little cymbal-shaped jingles.  An array of beautiful pandeiros were set on the table before us and we got to try them all out for size and sound.

Dan checks out the wares

Dan, who is a very accomplished pandeiro player had brought along some cash so he could purchase one of these special instruments, and on his encouragement, I did too.   On one hand, I felt unworthy of such a nice instrument, since I am just an infant in my pandeiro playing and can’t make full use of all its sonic possibilities.  On the other hand, as Dan kept reminding me, a good instrument can make a big difference in your development as a player.  Fabiano had an intermediate model, which to me sounded more beautiful than any pandeiro I had ever dreamed of owning, and I decided to spring for it.

Dan was right.  Since getting that pandeiro, my playing has improved a ton.  And I practice a lot more now, because, as mentioned earlier, I am in LOVE with my pandeiro. It just sounds so good!  I can’t wait to pull it out of its little carrying case so I can listen to it crunch and thump and sing.  Somedays when I come home from surfing, I play samba with my

neighbors in the backyard of the hostel (totally thrilling and amazing to be in Brazil and to be MAKING MY OWN samba music) and in the evenings around sunset, you can find me strolling along the dunes of Joaqina with my little drum, trying to hone my jedi pandeiro skills.

Sep26

From the bus stop to the bicycle

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The bus stop, where I was spending much of my time.

A couple weeks back, I had to make a touch decision about my living situation.  I loved living with my Brazilian family, Susana, Hugo, and Daniel.  Everynight, I could plop down on the couch with them and unwind, watch Brazilian soap operas with Daniel, discuss feminist literature with Susana, and enjoy home-made drinks by Hugo. They cared for me like my own family and we got along famously. The only glitch was that they live in a neighborhood from which it is rather tricky to reach the beach by public transportation.  I was spending one and a half hours every day to get to the beach, and another one and a half hours every day to get home.  At first it was an enriching exercise in patience and slowing down the pace of my life.  But after a month, even with employing a Zen Buddhist outlook, 3 hours a day on public transit seemed too much.  Since my adventure and project were about surfing, it seemed to make sense to

On my surf bike with my new digs in the background.

relocate closer to where the waves were breaking.

So, with their blessings, I have recently relocated to a friendly hostel close to Joaqina beach.  Hugo lent me his bike, which he only uses in the summer, and I got a little surf rack to put on it.  Now I can get to Joaqina in 10 minutes on my bike.  If the waves are better elsewhere, I am also just  10 minutes by bike or bus from 3 other surfing breaks which work well on different wind and swell directions.  Vida Boa!

With my dear friends Daniel, Susana, and Hugo, after eating many oysters!

I still visit and keep in touch with my familia Braziliera, and I am eternally grateful to them for their kindness to me!  To celebrate our time together, we went for oysters at the famous Riberao da Ilha.  (seafood as fresh as you can get it, you can look out off the waterfront veranda to the farm where they grow the oysters!) Here I am with my Brazilian Family!

Sep24

Midnight Skate Session with Dani – super Skater, Poet, Teacher, Mom, Philosopher

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Elis, age 4, surfer in training

Yesterday I hung out with my friend Dani, who is a super radical and inspirational skater, surfer, high school teacher, mom, poet, and rapper. (You can check out her poetry blog by clicking here.) Dani is getting her masters degree in philosophy, studying the relationships between human knowledge and the natural world. She also regularly blows open the minds of her high school students at the “demonstration” public school where she teaches philosophy (how cool that Brazilian high school students are learning philosophy as part of their curriculum!).   I met her at a potluck dinner where, after some fun conversations about my project and Dani’s previous life adventures rapping in Sao Paulo, we decided to write some raps.   When we finally met up to do some writing one afternoon on the shady lawn of the University, I felt that wonderful feeling you get when you know you’ve found a kindred spirit.

Yesterday I went to her lovely house in a small town in the southern part of the island.  Her husband, Zazo (also a surfer), grew up on the street where they currently live, although he told me that when he was little there was no street and the whole thing was a forest.  They have two kids, Caio and Elis, who are wondrous.  Elis (age 4) likes to spend her time scaling the wall of the living room, standing atop the window sill, and launching herself onto a mattress below.  She already calls herself a surfer and when the family goes on walks, she rides a skateboard, pulled along with the help of her dad.  Caio, (age 10) has got the 100 mile an hour brain of a video game designer and/or backyard inventor, likes to talk like darth vader, generously shares everything he has (including chocolate, which to me is extraordinary for a 10 year old), and cares for his little sister like a second dad.

Enjoying the view with Caio

After a yummy spaghetti lunch, we hiked to the top of a forested mountain from which we could see much of the southern island, including the vast sand dune ecosystem of Joaquina.  And after the kids went to sleep, Dani, Zazo, and I took out skateboards and went “street surfing” down one of the best skating streets on the island Rua Pau de Canela, perfectly smooth, very long, and downhill all the way.

Dani who is an ex-competitive skater had some sick moves.  I was just stoked to be on a board after many years of not being on a board.  I scared and thrilled the bejeezus out of myself just by  shooting the not so steep hill.  Here’s some very dark footage of us having much fun, taken by Zazo.  Thanks Dani, Zazo, Caio, and Elis for a perfect day!