Vamo.

Unfortunately this has to be a short post, as I (Jack) am leaving for Buenos Aires in about an hour.  Once I settle in a bit (which will hopefully only take a day or so), I’ll start taking Spanish classes at the University of Buenos Aires and looking for an apartment.  I’ll be coming back August 2nd, and should be making some posts throughout the summer, so check back every now and then if you’re interested.  Meanwhile, Paul has a few more days here in Porto Alegre and Jim a few more months.  Hopefully we will get a few posts from them as well.  Below are some pictures from recent mini-jaunts, and short summaries by day of what we have been up to:

Friday

Slept in too late to catch the bus to Gramado on Thursday, so we go today.  After missing the early bus, we arrive in Gramado around 4 PM, rush through a mountainous park with a beautiful, albeit much smaller, substitute for Iguazu falls, and climb 750 stairs in about 5 minutes.  After the park closes, we go to Gramado Colonial Restaurant where our table is flooded with various meats and deserts.  We eat for several hours, walk around downtown Gramado, a sort of Brazilian Aspen, then go to a small club next to our hostel for a few hours.

Saturday

Wake up early, head back to Porto Alegre and play futbol in the field/stadium type place where I’m convinced Ronaldinho honed his game (he’s from PoA).  That night we went out to a stadium-rock themed club, if you can imagine that at all, and watched a ridiculous mockrock band called Black Cat.  I’ll see if I can put a video up I took of this.

Sunday

Go to a Gremio game (Paul stays back and listens to the Red Wings game online - that’s fanship my friends).  Maxi Lopez of Argentina leads Gremio to victory - and the game itself is convincing proof that Brazilians love soccer at least as much as anyone in the world, and probably more.  We had a last churrasco last night, just like the one we had the first night we arrived.