. . .

March 8, 2013

Finally I managed to visit a Radio in Brasil. After spending almost three month in Rio de Janeiro without visiting any Community or free Radio Station I contacted Radio Heliópolis in Sao Paulo. After several intents to get hold of someone there I finally spoke to Geraldo on the phone and we agreed on a visit in the following morning. The free travel guide Wikivoyage writes in its article about the South east of Sao Paulo: “The only area which is more dangerous than the average of the city is Vila Heliópolis, in the district of Sacomã, a neighborhood that was once the largest favela of São Paulo.” A pretty common prejudice as it turned out later. I felt as save as everywhere else in Sao Paulo.

The Radio was founded in 1992 as a street Radio with speakers blasting there programme straight into the streets. When a German development worker visited a few years after its foundation he helped them setting up a real radio transmitter. This transmitter was stolen several times by the state communication agency ANATEL. In 2008 the Radio has been legalised by then President Lula which almost killed the radio. According to the regulation they were now bound the had to limit there emitter to 25 Watts which left lots of the listeners without signal. Furthermore they were not allowed to send any commercials to finance there Radio. Thanks to a grant they won by the minister of culture they were able to buy equipment for their studio and finance part of there rent for some years but still the financial situation is very precarious even though nobody is paid for there work in Radio Heliópolis.

Another visit to the Free Station Radio Muda in Campinas had to be canceled because I was too tired to ride any more buses on this trip.

February 27, 2013

A country I have not visited before on my trips to South America was Paraguay. Even though the political situation is quite interesting, with upcoming elections t come, I guess I would have not visited the country if I would have not been invited by Romi from Radio Candela.

I really felt welcome in this border-town Encarnacion which was heavily changed in the last decade due to a massive dam which flooded parts of the city displacing tens-of-thousands of people. In one of the first neighbourhoods who have been displaced Radio Candela was founded as a communication platform of a feminist collective. In the resettled neighbourhood of Itapasu, 12 km west of the city center the women set up a real community radio which was highly popular among the neighbours. For various reasons in 2010 the Radio relocated into the city center where more people could listen to the Radio and it would have a bigger impact. Unfortunately due to strong interferences on the same Frequency from neighbouring Posadas the outreach was not as big as expected. But from the neighbouring Argentina not just distortion signals arrive in Encarnacion – there is as well a tech-collective of Radioactivists dedicated to Free Software. They have set up an old computer with a Linux distribution developed especially for community radios and exclusively based on free software. Some of these argentinian Radialists visit Radio Candela regularly to give Workshops on different issues.

Encarnacion, Paraguay

The radio runs a quite interesting morning programme involving four (!) people working at the same time. One is in the studio, one on the mixer, one at the reception and one is cruising the city making live interviews in the streets of Encarnacion. This is heavily effective since up-to-date news are fed into twitter and Facebook while there is an interview running and the next interview partner is already being called by the reception while the reporter on the streets posts pictures from her phone on Facebook. One of the best live-programs I have seen in communitarian Radios so far. Good but as well intensive in (human) capital.

I accompanied this morning program for three days and we held another Workshop about Audactiy. I tryed as well to set up a Thunderbird which connects to their E-Mail, twitter, Facebook Accounts and gets News through RSS-Feeds from different News Outlets. Unfortunately I have installed this Thunderbird on the same Computer who is running the edcast online streaming. The number of protocols Thunderbird was searching every few minutes brought the system to hold for a couple of seconds and interrupted the streaming. I did not have the time to check what kind of CPU the system was running on but this is basically the same problem which could be solved by the Raspberry Pi solution mentioned in my post about Argentina. The streaming should be done on an independent system connected to the internet through a dedicated line or with a system which prioritizes Streaming data.

Encarnacion, Paraguay

In the evenings we held once a dinner at the home of one of the radio ladies where lots of participants of the radio participated. Everyone brought some food and we talked a lot about the organization and legal frameworks of radios in Latin America and Germany. On this evening the campaign material for a Guide for Radialists arrived – a campaign by the Community Radio Network Voces Paraguay. With this guide the tries to give background information about the upcoming elections (Democratic Institutions of Paraguay, and 8 thematic topics). The last nigh we spent in Itapasu where we watched the Movie Sachamanta which talks about community Radios in Northern Argentina.

Radio Candela as well as Radio Placeres are part of the nice documentary Distorsion Armonica which was published in 2009 and can be downloaded here.

February 21, 2013

As mentioned in mi previous posting I arrived in Argentina with some difficulties but well prepared. In Mendoza I did not contact any activists or Radios. Partly because I was too lazy and wanted to make some hostel travelling after my home-stays in Chile. So I visited wineries in Maipu, cooked at the hostel and went dancing.

After a couple of days in Mendoza I travelled further to the Cordoba Province where I met up with a Lucre – an Argentinian maravilla I met at Christmas in Rio de Janeiro. She is living in a small town 50 km north of Cordoba City called Jesus Maria.

The contact of AMARC Argentina who invited me when I was in Bolivia remained in silence when I mailed her over and over again. Through Lucre I got in contact with Radio Ronda in the Colonia Caroya, neighbouring town of Jesus Maria. There I found a young collective who managed to regularize their radio tanks to the new Media Law passed in Argentina in late 2009. They are part of the Argentinian Forum of Comunitarian Radios (FARCO) and because of that have access to the state news agency who produces every hour a news-audio of about 2 min which Radio Ronda broadcasts as well as the News from PULSAR and the Contacto Sur of ALER.

With them I made another workshop with Audio editing based on the Manual I translated in Brazil and we talked about some tuneing of their studio equipment. They do have just two computers of which one is constantly blocked because it plays the radio stream. With a Raspberry Pi for little money you could fix this. You could run an automatic radio software there which could be programmed with any computer all over the world via a Web Interface. With a NAS you would have access to a whole bunch of files to make up your playlist and a shell-script could download automatically the news-piece they download so far manually from the FTP of the state agency. In Radio Ronda they even had a Mixer who was able to switch the program to another Input – otherwise you would need to buy an audio-switch which I could not imagine very expensive. Setting up such a Raspberry Pi Software bundle could be a nice project to set up in support of small Radio stations worldwide.
Another day I joined a Workshop of some geek-acivists from Cordoba which happened in a Small community approx. 15 km south of Altagracia. I was invited to workshop where we were supposed to set up antennas. I thought about Radio antennas and was quite excited about learning something on DIY Radio transmission. Ariving at the community I started to understood that we were actually talking about directional antennas of a massive mesh-wifi who brought an 6 Mbit Uplink from Altagracia on a distance of 16 km to this village of Quintana. There it got´s distributed through various nodes in different parts of the village. The activists from Altermundi set up these networks for free in Quintana and in another village on the way to Altagracia as in the Delta region in the state of Buenos Aires. In total there must be hundreds of Household who share an Internet connection in areas where the big companies do not invest in telephone infrastructure. In Quintana you can hardly get any mobile signal – not talking about landlines or a cable network.

It was very nice to learn about the opendwrt images these geeks developed together with other activists who build up huge Wifis to supply internet to marginal communities. Through them I found some collectives who work on a hosting plattform and CMS and work on a plattform for radio activists working with free software.

EDIT: There are some people trying to build a internet radio station on a Raspberry Pi. Check it out!

February 15, 2013

After my introduction mail to the AMARC Latin America and Carribbean Mailing list I received invitations from Radios in Chile, Argentina, Colombia and Paraguay. Unfortunately Colombia is not at all on my planned travelling path so I had to reject the two invitations from there. My first visits to Radios in Bolivia was that for organized by my own since AMARC Bolivia never responded to any message.

The first Radios to respond to my Mail were Radioneta in Valparaiso and Radio Juan Gómez Millas. At first I was in doubt if the 2000 km extra way to Santiago de Chile would be worth the hassle of entering another country and about three days extra bus ride. Soon after Radio Placeres in Valparaiso responded as well and since they are broadcasting a program produced by Radio Dreyeckland (Raices Nomadas) I decided that I would go. A few days before my arrival my contact from Radioneta mentioned the Cumbre de los Pueblos who was about to take on the very weekend of my arrival. So I hoped on a night bus and drove straight to Santiago de Chile (about 52 hours).

At the Cumbre de los Pueblos I managed to participate in the live radio broadcasting directly from the campus. I took part in a live program and recorded/edited the reports of the different working groups. Despite the quite chaotic organization of the event it was a great introduction into the active alternative media scene in Chile since radios activists from all over Chile participated.

The day after the Forum I visited the Radio Juan Gómez Millas at the University. This Radio has actually no frequency but works as a content producer for different radio shows like Semillas de Agua who publish their content on a Podcaster Website. I talked there with several active content producers and with one of them I visited Radio del Mar where I could listen to an hour of interview with two Mapuche activists.

Most of my time in Chile I managed to stay at the house of the Video Collective Productora de Communicacion Social who produces the Videorevista Synapsis. I have met them briefly last year on their Tour through Europe presenting their project last year. There we managed to hold a workshop on GPG encryption of E-Mails so they are better protected from authoritarian actions of repressive regimes.

Some days later I managed to travel to Valparaiso to meet up with activists from Radioneta and Radio Placeres. Due to their illegal status it was a little more tricky to find them since I could not just walk into their offices like I did in Bolivia or at the Radio Juan Gómez Millas. We finally managed to meet up and hold a Workshop about the Audio-Editing-Software Audacity based on the Manual I translated into Spanish while working in Brasil. I managed to stay with two lovely radio activists from Radioneta for three days in the charming city of Valparaiso. Thanks again for all the Hospitality I received in Chile!

Some further visits of Radios like Radio Galactica or others did not work out because the activists there did not have time to show me around. On the bottom line I visited quite some Radios in Chile and it was very interesting. Community or Free Radio in Chile is a difficult issue since the law reformed by Bachelet some years ago obliges independent radios to compete with evangelic radios when they apply for a frequency. The christian radios are most of the time better financed and have good connections so hardy ever the independent radio gets a frequency at all. That is why most of the free / community radios actually broadcast as a pirate radio or just online.

February 8, 2013

Yesterday I have got to Mendoza, Argentina. Again the bus time projected for the border crossing was totally wrong. I was reading on Wikivoyage that it should take 7-9 hours for this trip. The border issues went pretty easy if compared with the border crossing into Chile from Bolivia. The border between Mendoza and Santiago de Chile seems to be open 24/7 and the have 10 windows instead of two on the other border.

The problem came later. Apparently this year the region of Mendoza has experienced heavy rainfalls which filled the artificial lakes and guarantees the water supply for the extensive wine industry and other agriculture in this dry valley. On the other hand the rain has been so strong that the road between the border and Mendoza is blocked every day for several hours. This is why our bus was waiting for 9 hours next to a ski resort (which was abandoned in the summer now).

Never mind – part of the travel experience I m inclined to say. At least I have got through. Our hostel fills up today with travellers trying to get to Chile but all connections are cancelled.

Before I left Chile I met a Argentinian who was explaining to me the restrictions the Argentinian government opposed on the society. Apparently because of money stability reasons the access to foreign currency is limited for Argentinians. This leads to the situation that the official exchange rate for the US$ is 7.85 ARG Pesos and the informal (but not illegal) trader at the bus station offers between 7 and 8 ARG Pesos for the same dollar. This means you can actually travel with a ~30 % discount if you come with cash in US$ to Argentina. The informal dollar is called blue.

This is why I bought US$ in Chile before I got here.

—–
edit 25.02.2013: I payed a bus ticket with my debit card and got charged 79,35 € which makes a rate of 6.32 ARG Pesos per Euro. If I would have had cash still I would have paid 54,97 €.

January 25, 2013

The enforced end of my stay Brazil confronted me with the question of what do with the rest of my time in Southamerica. Since Bolivia seemed to be a cheap and close enough destination I decided to travel to Corumba and cross there into Bolivia.
I have been in Boliva about 7,5 years ago on my first travel in Southamerica. This was before the rise of the MAS and back then I have not been to the eastern parts of Bolivia (Santa Cruz). So after some doubts about another entry in Brazil with another visa I decided to enjoy the time in other Latin American Countries and visit Radios wherever I get. Like we did as well when L&L from Brazil stayed in Germany.
So the first Radios I visited in Santa Cruz, the capital of the eastern province of Bolivia. In a shop for solar power I asked for small Radio Stations in the city worth a visit. The first to be recommended and visited was Radio Amboro F.M. 89.5 where I had the chance to talk to the director as the technician in charge of the Studio. They work with only one old computer from which they played lots of commercials during our half and hour stay. I did not manage to print the Manual for Audacity I translated in November 2012 but I copied the PDF to the studio computer so there is still some hope that they might make use of it. Looks like in Radio Amboro different Radio Journalists rent air-time and broadcast there content in this rented time-slots. As I understood this contributes just a little to the overall budget. Most of the income comes from the commercials mostly advertising local business in Santa Cruz. More or less the same situation I found in Radio Grigota FM.

They have been one of the pioneers of broadcasting in FM in the province of Santa Cruz. The difference between Radio Grigota and Radio Amboro is that Grigota is based in the house of the owner of the radio so his wife and his daughter accompany the owner in his radio shows. With him we talked as well about the new legislation concerning radio frequencies which is about to be passed on Bolivia. This new law is orientated on the progressive law passed in Argentina in 2009. Community Radios, which by now do not exist in Santa Cruz, will have access to 33 % of the frequencies with the new law. The rest of the spectrum will be divided by state and private radios. This will lead to a severe competition between the so far existing private radios because on the long run there number will be reduced to about 50 % of the status quo in 2013.

Other conditions I have found in the catholic Radio Betania. They are well equipped in a nice building (including their own chapel). They count with three studios and a room for the participants to do research on pretty new computers. They have several payed stuff and a foundation as their financial backbone.
After a couple of days in Santa Cruz I took refuge from the heat in Samaipata. This extraodrinary calm and nice village is inhabited by an international crowd and dozens of travellers pass by every day to visit the nearby arceological sites or the Parque Nacional Amboro. There I joined the Radio Show “rumbo al mediodia” en Radio Provincia de Vladi. He runs his Radio and several other projects for example a regional video news show or an Internet Cafe at his home. With him I had an interesting exchange about possible projects and the future of his radio. I sent him as well some sources for dayliy news in Spanish written especially for radios (ex. PULSAR ALC or Democracy Now!) Unfortunately he did not manage to involve other people in the production of radio shows. I was astonished by this fact because it seemed like there were lots of young people in Samaitpata who would like to communicate. Since Vladi was about to learn the edition of Audio I passed him the Manual as well. Pitty that we did not have time for an extended workshop.

After the relaxing week in Samaipata I travelled further to Cochabamba where I met with the Red Tinku. With them I held a workshop about Free Software and installed Xubuntu 12.10 on one of their computers. There is a group who wants to start a free Newspaper so I recommended Scribus and sent them some links about secure communication in the Internet.
On Thursday I joined them on a little tour to three Radio Stations in Cochabamba where they were about to anounce their activities of the week. The first Radio we went was Radio Pio XII which is associated with ALER and exists for about 50 years already with radios in Potosi, Oruro and Cochabamba. They have 10 employees just in the Radio in Cochabamba and a nice buildung with two studios and several offices. Even though La Tikuna had to pay something for having their activities announced in the radio their main income comes as well from advertisement as the director of the Radio assured.
The second Radio CEPRA (Centro de Educacion y Produccion Radiofonica) was unfortunately in the process of remodelling and most of the employees were at a seminar. At least I could leave a printed copy of the Manual with the lady who was taking care of the reception.
At Radio Kancha Parlaspa the whole group of us was invited to the programme and we could all present ourselves and invite the audience to the concert which took place on the following days and the Rythm of Resistance Workshops given by some European activists in the central square of Cochabamba.
In the afternoon I took the bus to Chile where I plan to arrive at the Cumbre de los Pueblos in Santiago de Chile. In Chile I will continue to visit Radios in the capital and Valparaiso.

January 13, 2013

When I bought my ticket to Brazil in June 2012 the visa situation seemed to be pretty relaxed for my planed 5 months stay. On arrival I would get a Tourist Visa of 90 days for Brazil and then soon before this period ends extend it for another 90 days at any Federal Police station. When I arrived in Brazil I learned from another German that since 01.10.2012 Tourist Visas granted to citizens of the Schengen Area can NOT be extended any more.
Studying the new agreement between Brazil and the countries of the Schengen Agreement this meant that I could just stay in Brazil for 90 days in the 180 days following my entry in the country. A serious obstacle to my plans. If I would have known this by the time I bought my ticket I would have applied for another type of visa but from my information back then the use of a tourist visa seemed to be the easiest choice.
After some research on the legal background and two failed intents to extend the tourist visa at the Federal Police I decided to leave Brazil with 80 days of my 90 days visa spent. Like that I would be able to catch my flight leaving from Rio de Janeiro in March without having to carry all my stuff with me during my travels in Bolivia and Argentina.
Arriving at the border the official of the Federal Police told me that, having left the country I could re-enter with 10 days left (as I expected). To my surprise he told me that in the end of 2012 the agreement between Brazil and the Schengen Area was altered again, allowing me to extend my tourist visa at the Federal Police in Corumba, the bordering town in Brazil.
Excited with this new information I wrote an E-Mail to my colleagues asking them to check if any official change of the visa-agreement can be found. I went to the vice-consul of Brazil in the Bolivian Border town Puerto Suarez to confirm this information. He told me that upon arrival in Bolivia I should be given a new Visa of 90 days. This totally contradicted the information given by both the Federal Police in Niteroi and the Federal Police at the border. The following day I went to the Federal Police in Corumba and asked if they would extend my tourist visa when I would come back with a 10 days visa after re-entering Brazil. The answer was “possibly yes but it depends …”.
For me it looked as if the official I was talking to in Corumba was not even aware of the agreement changes in October 2012.
My colleagues did not find any publication of a change after 10/2012 in the visa-agreement between Brazil and the Schengen States. I am still not sure what to do now. Staying out of Brazil until the end of February and just return for the flight and a goodbye party or trying the chance of returning for carnival to Rio de Janeiro.
Comments / Suggestions are welcome…

January 8, 2013

I have lived and travelled between Mexico and Argentina for about 2,5 years. I got to Brazil, or lets be more accurate to Rio de Janeiro, almost three months ago. I have attended two courses each for one semester dealing with Latin American History at the University of Costa Rica, read “The open veins of Latin America” by Edouard Galeano several times and participated in various conferences dealing with Latin American policies in the 21st century. I am writing articles about Latin America on amerika21.de and linksunten.indymedia.org. What I want to say is: I tink I am somewhat informed about the continent and its history.

Why am I writing all that? Well, in Rio de Janeiro I ve got confronted several times with the accusation that I (as an European) am guilty of the economic misery of (some of) the brazilian people. This feeling is seldom expressed in an open way. It is a way of thinking popular especially in “leftist” social environments and swings with in a lot of conversations.

Often this accusation is stated by people who´s ancestors mainly have come from Europe (maybe not even two generations ago). Or rephrased: During the colonial times, their ancestors where as European as mine. If this kind of guilt is inherited through generation, these people are as guilty as I am. Note: I do not think that guilt can be passed on through generations – we have to learn from history and avoid mistakes and politics which have been proved wrong (Yes, I grew up in Germany!)

Brazil became formally independent in 1822. That is more then 190 years or lets say six generations ago. A lot of time to reorganize the country. Sure independence meant foremost the independence of the criollos from Portugal. Black people where still held in formal slavery until 1888 and some people (mostly indigenous) are still working today in slave alike conditions. Most of the people complaining today about the European exploitation of Brazil where part of the Brazilian elite for half a dozen generations. In this time they have been the people who set the rules in Brazil and exploit black and indigenous people.

A lot of my readers will object now that European exploitation of Brazil continued after the formal independence in 1822. I do know, that “European corporations” have been and continue to be active in Brazil. Yes they might extract primary material as for example soy bean or Metals at low prices from Brazil and sell cars and computers to Brazil with an added value they keep for themselves. That is Capitalism. If you don t like it stop complaining about colonialism and change the system. Make politics work and pass laws which establish taxes on these raw materials so the whole Brazilian society can benefit from the extraction.
More importantly please stop referring to this kind of “exploitation” as a European exploitation. The private companies who keep extracting resources in Brazil might have their head-quarter in Europe but they are not European. The owners (shareholders) of these companies might even be Latin American or Asian. In the end: It does not matter which passport the owner has! Why should it matter? People have to start understanding that average European citizens have as little to do with these transnational corporations as Brazilian citizens have. These corporations operate all over the world and influence governments around the world. That is called lobbying and there are several initiatives in Europe and the U.S. who try to shed a light on corporate lobbying in politics.

It must be understand that by complaining about colonial exploitation by European states or nowadays exploitation of transnational capitalism nothing is won. Brazil has to overcome the high rates of political corruption and unequal income distribution within the country. On the later the government of the PT has made some small steps forward. As I heard the income gap in Brazil is (very slowly) decreasing. In Germany and I would say in most of Europe the gap is becoming bigger.

There is a long way to go and a lot of work to do in order to make Brazil a better place.
Stop whining – start doing!

January 6, 2013

After the Federal Police rejected for the second time the extension of my Tourist Visa I am leaving Rio de Janeiro today. I am travelling west to Mato Grosso do Sul today – a region known for its massive soy production and land conflicts. I plan to stay there just for a couple of days and then continue to Bolivia where I will try to get a new visa for Brazil at the consulate in Santa Cruz. In the best scenario I will be back in Rio for carnival – if I don t manage to get a visa there I will stay outside of Brazil until the end of February and just come back to catch my flight back to Europe.

Lots of Europeans face the same situation now in Brazil. The change in the visa regulation took them by surprise. I know quite some foreigners who prefer to stay illegal and pay the 8,50 Rs per day fine when they leave the country. Since I am not a friend of national states and visa regulations I should do that as well. Just ignore the stupid visa regulation. Somehow I dislike the idea of paying approx. 180 € to the Brazilian government because I want to stay longer then 90 days here. On the other hand do they make me pay this money anyway in bus tickets and/or applications fees for a new visa in Bolivia.

It might be irrational to leave the country because of these regulations but I feel better leaving Rio de Janeiro / Brazil right now. It is a contradiction – something is pushing me away and something is keeping me here.

January 3, 2013

After almost 6 weeks in Rio de janeiro I have finally managed to travel a little bit in this huge country. Almost by accident I have stumbled upon a message in Couchsurfing looking for travellers for a Roadtrip to the Chapada Diamantina, Bahia. After a first meeting at Leme Beach the owner of the car set up the crew which was formed by a Moroccan couple, a polish guy, the Brazilian owner of the car and myself. Overall an interesting combination which communicated mostly in English and Portuguese. On our first days we made about 600 km from Rio de Janeiro to Vitoria on Atlantic coast. The city of Vitoria is a smaller city then Rio de Janeiro but has some of its charm. We have found really helpful hosts their, just before Couchsurfing decided to ruin their website by introducing a new design combined with a restructuring of their group system.

On the following day we headed north and after missing the exit to the beach we actually planed to go on this day we chuck away the stupid Discovery Channel GPS System and used a normal map from this point. After a night in a Pousada somewhere next to the BR-101 heading to Salvador we found a way to the Praia do Pariti on the Dende Coast, There we stayed over night, camping on the beach, because it was just too beautiful to leave to stay just for an afternoon. The following day we arrived around noon in Salvador where the group split up for a couple of days due to different hosts. Well we did not really split up – just our driver stayed with friends of her family while the rest of us were hosted by Angelo in his cosy studio. A Hospitality maniac who receives dozens of travellers per week in his one-room-studio.

After three days we left Salvador direction east straight to the Chapada Diamantina. I myself was actually pretty lazy in the preparation of this trip so I did not really knew what to expect. Since we had a Brazilian native with us, who is by the way training to become a tourist guide, and the Moroccan girl, who has already been to Chapada Diamantina before I did not thought it was actually necessary to prepare myself. Getting there it became more and more obvious that none of us actually had a real plan and that it did not make sense to make a plan since it changed from day to day – just according to the mood of the people. In the beginning this felt kind of nice and spontaneous but while the trip was continuing I just lost my motivation in becoming involved in making any plans since they were overthrown on the next day.

Anyway – despite the misinformation by the locals in Lencois about the trails leading to the Waterfalls we managed to see some of them and documented the ways to get there on Wikivoyage. Almost the same happened in Vale do Capao with the difference that I did not even bother to ask for directions. I relied on a map the polish guy bought on our first day in Lencois. On one of our hikes we met a guy from Spain with a GPS Navigation system who just downloaded almost all the trails of the Chapada Diamantina on a Website called Wikiloc. Smart idea if you ask me. I really think the people of Lencois have to change their strategy of dealing with tourists. Giving misleading information and overcharging visitors for easy accessible tours will not be the future when you can download GPS traces for free on the internet. I would rather prefer to have a decent national park set up at Chapada Diamantina. Charge some entrance fee and employ people to take care of the park and its infrastructure. Especially set up an appropriate fire-fighting system. So far they rely on voluntaries who try to put the fire out with some blankets attached to a stick.

About two weeks after we left Rio de Janeiro we decided to rush back so our Braziiian travel mate could celebrate Christmas with her family. We drove the 1500 km from Ccapada Diamantina to Rio de Janeiro in one piece making turns with three drivers. Quite an experiment on Brazilian roads if you are used to drive on German Highways.

Around New Year I set out again for a travel. This time to the much close Ilha Grande with more then 100 Brazilians. It was an interesting experience to spend more then 4 days so close together with these friendly and rackety people. At least the people I travelled with are definitely different from most of the German folks I normally travel with. I am honestly impressed by the amount of songs they knew and sang together. I knew barely any of them (except the Bob Marley songs).

As it looks by now I am going to continue travelling roughly until March due to a change in the Brazilian visa policy regarding citizens of the Schengen Area. Before the change in the policy German citizens were able to extend their tourist visa for another 90 days totalling 180 days. Now they can just get 90 days of visa within a 180 days time frame. This means you can still be in Brazil for 180 days per year but you have to leave for 90 days if you already stayed your full visa on the first time.

Well – If Brazil does not want me to spend money here (and that is basically what I am doing every day) I am going to spend my money somewhere else. On the top of the list is Bolvia in the moment. I have just been there in the mountains area and that was 7 years ago – before Evo Morales took power.

. . .

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