Gay bars!

This morning, we drove through Macacos, a small town that has, well, macacos (monkeys), and ate at a restaurant. We had some typical mineira food (of this state, Minas Gerais) - frango ora-pro-nobis (chicken with a vegetable like collard greens), angu (a cornmeal pudding, kind of like flan but salty instead of sweet), feijão comum (regular beans). It was delicious, and then we went to Nova Lima, a city of 70,000, where we passed through an intersection where people had two cars blasting rap (Brazilian rap), surrounded by people bumpin' and shakin', and then on to a field with a band singing music that was a bit lighter.

It was a concert, full of people, beverage vendors, and people picking up the used cans to sell, for 1 real per kilo - Lara tells me that the maid who comes twice a month to her house, used to do that, pick up cans, but quit it because it wasn't worth the effort for such little money. Looking around, I saw people of every shade of beautiful, beautiful brown. At the same time, I felt like everyone was looking at me, but Gil told me not to worry, because they're more likely looking at the three of us, since we were among the whitest people there.

Back in Belo Horizonte, we went to Establecimento, a restaurant/bar with a gay owner, and for that reason, the place has a nightclub below that while not exclusively gay, has a large gay following. The people there were totally different than the people in the concert in Nova Lima - artistic, chic, young and apparently educated, and at least a handful of gay guys (viados, bichas, bibas...a flaming guy can be uma bicha barulhenta or uma bicha de poque-poque, as poque-poque is the sound flip-flops make when you walk). They had caipirinhas and beer, and I just had a lemonade, before we ordered pastries of beef and chicken (pastéis). Lara introduced me to a friend of hers who was helping out the owner in the kitchen, Darlan. Lindo, lindo, lindo...I thought he was cute, maybe not soooo lindo, but cute. We didn't really talk too much, since he and Lara were talking most of the time the 3 of us were together, and I was a bit timid with my Portuguese. I'd like to see him again.
It was today that we had a conversation about how open-minded Lara and Gil are, and that Lara would gladly take me to a gay bar, since she used to go a lot before getting involved with Gil (4 years ago). Gil's not entirely averse to going to one with us, though. I really felt much more comfortable tonight, and Gil said to me, «you probably didn't know what to think about Brazil, about the attitudes here» «exactly!» . So they really made me feel like I can be myself.
In the house, Lara, Gil, and myself sat at the dining room table talking about English and Portuguese. Mostly, the words «anyway» and «by the way». We're dorks.
Tomorrow, we're going to Ana's house, a friend of Lara, and friends of their's, whom she tells me are very cool. (Ana used to go to gay bars too before her boyfriend.) I don't expect any strapping young available men to be there, but it'd be nice. :)

Yes, everyone *is* beautiful here

I think that says it all. I got to Belo Horizonte without a hitch. The flight from NYC to São Paulo was delayed about 2 hours, but I passed through customs in São Paulo - Guarulhos quite easily. I started speaking in Portuguese with the customs guy, and he was impressed, saying that my Portuguese is better than his English (the language we had started in initially). He stamped my passport, and I passed through. Then you remember my lost bag? I went to the baggage people, they told me where the Setor de Bagagen Perdida (Lost Baggage Area, though I never actually saw that name anywhere) was, and once I was in the Delta room (a very small room, full of a few other people and, of course, hundreds of suitcases), I saw my bag immediately. I picked it up, asked where the bus to Congonhas airport was, and went and found it within a few minutes. I was all smiles. :)

In line for the bus, I saw the woman behind me, and I could tell pretty much instantly that she was American. I don't know what gave it away - the red hair, the Google shirt, the frazzled and slightly disheveled behavior with respect to her luggage.

«Are you American?»

And she is, Leslie, as she introduced herself a few moments later.
On the bus, we spoke of revolution, of all things queer...she runs some sort of online workshops on Open Source programs for Google, and a student who found her inspiring, invited her to his graduation from college - in Goiânia, Brazil! She lives near San Francisco, in the heart of Google, and she's a big faghag. We'll stay in touch, definitely.

The flight from Congonhas to Belo Horizonte-Confins was very short - actual flight time was maybe 45 minutes. Deplaning, and getting my luggage, I saw Lara and her boyfriend, Guilherme ("Gil") immediately outside the sliding doors. We got along better and better as I sat in their car on the way to Lara's parent's house, where we had a lunch - pão de queijo (cheese bread), cheese, dumpling-type things maybe filled with fish?, cheese, little curvy fruit-flavored pastries, coffee, mango juice....it was quite satisfying.

After that, we returned to her apartment, but not without first passing through downtown Belo Horizonte, so I could see many of the popular praças, statues, and the things that make this city historic, even though it was only created in 1892.

I chose the bigger of the two rooms, the other saved for anyone else should they need to lodge here - if I find another exchange student who needs to place to stay, I can invite them to stay here. She's charging 400 reais a month, with is about $190. You can see the view that I have from my window - tall condos, favelas on distant hills, other hills and mountains all around, and even a rainbow in the picture that I took yesterday - so it's an incredible steal. I don't really have any furniture aside from my bed though, and a ginormous closet too, whose shelves I'm using as my nighttable.

I'm going to be using her mother's old cell phone while I'm here, which is still around (i.e. cost-effective), because it may not even have any minutes on it; it's pre-paid, so I have to buy a card to be able to make any calls. The phone itself is probably about 5 years old, can receive but not send text messages, and is quite hefty. I might buy a new one, so I have something smaller and more discreet to put in my pockets, but smaller could mean more appealing to thieves. I think I'm too paranoid though, from everything everyone's told me. Lara and Gil afirmed that one just has to be smart - if I'm okay in New York, then I should be okay here. Dress simply, don't carry too much money, etc. (Things a lot of people in New York don't do, though NYC is supposedly one of the safest cities in the U.S., at least Manhattan.)

I called Raquel, one of the young women that Sandra, my contact with the university, put me in contact with, around 9pm (we're 3 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time - I think cuz we're now on Daylight Savings Time here, meaning in the American summer, Brazil might only be one hour ahead). She was very glad to hear from me, as we've spoken through e-mail before I came. She did this same exchange program with Wayne State University, in 2005. She's 30 though, in her second Bachelor's Degree. I think now she's doing a Masters in English Literature, and she teaches English and is also a speech therapist. Quite accomplished, this Raquel. We'll try to hang out after Carnaval.

Natália, friend of Raquel's sister, I tried calling but I think the number's not working. She said she's take me out for Carnaval. I emailed her again last night, to no avail.

Around 10:30 last night, we went out, thinking in restaurants or bars - and ended up going to a wonderful restaurant. We all shared feijão tropeiro (beans, with bacon and some other stuff), rice with garlic, different cuts of beef and pork that are basically like sirloin (picanha), and there was farofa (toasted cassava flour, to sprinkle on) and some kind of salsa. And a peach Lipton Iced Tea, of course (though I could have gotten perfectly tipsy if I wanted). I paid R$12, about $5.50 for all this.

We got home 12:45, and I showed Lara pictures of my family, and gave her the majority of my foster care story, how I get money to be able to have my own apartment, and what kind of people we are (she's pretty disorganized, and I seem to like saying I'm organized, even though I'm actually quite messy at the same time). I got to sleep around 4am. Now it's past noon here, and they're inviting me for a walk.

I do want to do something for Carnaval, but I also still feel pretty shitty. I wish I'd gotten here earlier, so that I could've had some time to adjust before taking advantage of Carnaval, but I'll have to force myself. Carnaval. In Brazil. Oh darn. :)

I'm gonna walk with them. Tchau!