One of the frustrations I am having with the Internet cafes here in Rio is that none of the computers in them have USB ports. Thus - I can´t plug in my USB Key drive. I wasn´t able to bring my portable CD-RW/DVD drive either, I had to send it in for repairs before I left. Thus, I have no way to create CDs to use on the CD drives here or transfer large files / any file. I don´t have a floppy drive either. Oh well... I am glad I brought a computer. Working in private in the hotel room, even at a slower connection speed is nice. Thank you Worldcom! On the other hand I am no longer in my executive suite (I´ll miss the bathroom) and my new room doesn´t appear to have a separate phone line I can tap into. But, they both have in-room music via speakers in the ceiling. Go figure. So no pictures until maybe Igasu Falls.

Rio is a study in contrasts. During the favela tour I took yesterday it was strange to see how the lower classes and upper upper classes live so close to each other. Sometimes right across the street from each other. I have some good pictures of the favelas. I keep hearing from different sources that one shouldn´t go there. It´s perfectly safe in the tour. I imagine even if I went alone - in an unassuming manner - it would be ok, although I would see no reason to go alone. I wouldn´t have gotten a good explanation of the place. Yea -- the place is "run" by drug dealers..but hey there´s a McDonalds in there! I wonder if it is on McDonalds website - it would probably only include the number in the RIO count, but the favela is called Rocinha. A favela is like a mini-city within a larger city. The largest one has an official 60,000 people, but perhaps closer to 150k-200k. Tight tight living.

Carnaval started today officially. Party on. I´ll see for myself it what this article (NY Times) says is true.

I'm in Rio de Janeiro right now. I had to temporarily disable the link to the site. It's back up now - of course you are reading this.
I've also uploaded my first journal entry which I wrote completely by electronic ink. I wrote this before I flew South. You can read it in my original handwriting with the link below or the "converted to text" version. There is a link at the top left of the journal when you can download the Microsoft Journal Reader. It is a big download, but it will allow you to read my Microsoft Tablet PC Journal files (JNT format).

I also have completed an article in the Join the Circus secion - How I Travel - something that I mentioned I would post earlier. It is in Adobe Acrobat format. I'm having a problem accessing it - hopefully by the time you read this it will work. Try SAVING it as opposed to OPENING it (Right click on your mouse). That might work. If I can't get it to work properly I will convert it back to HTML text.

I also have completed a photo slideshow of my 21 days to WA trip - but it will be difficult for me to upload to the website for various reasons (It's a big file - 5MB). I'll try my best - otherwise it will have to wait until I return to the USA. I have only partially completed the previous trip report. If I can find the will while stumbling around South America I will do it.

Brazil Journal Entry #1 - JNT format
Brazil Journal Entry #1 - Converted to Text (PDF)

As for my first impressions of Brazil - I'll post that on the next entry. All I'll say for the moment - I like this place!

The recent Columbia Space Shuttle explosion is one of those events in my life which I will remember where, and what I was doing. I was driving north of Mendocino, CA - USA on an old highway in a thick forested area. Radio reception is poor there, but the one FM station I could get had a brief clip on it. (No AM stations available) I was quickly wishing that I were in a better area. On the other hand, maybe I was lucky to hear about it where I was. I could digest the information without subjecting my emotions to a constant barrage of news, media images, and sound bites. While stopping at a small town grocery store I broke the news to a young girl at the cash register. She was surprised and then told me that her Grandpa's brother was one of the Apollo 7 Astronauts. Go figure. Six Degrees of Separation? (Columbia University link on related experiment).

My original plan was to drive through a Redwood tree. An "Adventure" that I have dreamed about for the last 20 odd years after watching Black & White 16mm filmstrips in elementary school. It was not to be. I didn't have the appetite for it, the Columbia Explosion weighing on my mind.
RoadsideAmerica.com on drive thru trees(new window)
Review of drive thru trees by Outwest Newspaper(new window)

One of the highlights of the rest of my US Tour is to see a Space Shuttle launch in person. Now, I'm wondering if I will be able to do this. I hope the US does not delay a shuttle launch for 2.5 years like we did after the Challenger Shuttle incident. I don't like how the US media sensationalizes and dramatizes death (I can't speak for other cultures or countries). Many (Not all) newscasters talk about it as if death isn't supposed to happen. And if they don't do it, the way the information is presented repeatedly does it, beit the music or graphics. Un-necessarily spreading ideas of fear and danger. Try this -- if you're sitting in an office, stop --- look around. Short of any biogenetic medical advance, in approximately 100 years everyone around you will be dead. "Obvious to be sure", but a little mind blowing if you stop to think about it. In a little more than 100 years every living person on the earth will be dead. 6 billion dead people. How's that for a news headline? Every living thing except some remarkable trees (Like the Redwoods I just visited among others) and a few turtles (If man doesn't destroy them first) will be "dead". Everyone dies, what are you going to die for? Knowledge, Buddha, money, Jesus, science, Allah, sex, Shiva, family, power, greed, "God", pursuit of pleasure, fame, . . . .the list is endless.

I joke with some friends that - I will consider myself fortunate if I complete my trip and return home in one piece while breathing at the same time. They say be careful. I say - I'm just going out in the world to "live." I'm living! Some people I know are already "dead," even while "living." We should honor these astronauts who have passed, they do not die in vain. But, let us not overglorify or sensationalize their deaths. They lived - let their accomplishments testify to that. There are many more like them (astronaut or not) who will pass on without a squeak from the media.

We should not let the search for knowledge be overcome by fear. - WC

Shed a few tears, show some humor, but soldier on and press forward. For we will all suffer the same fate. Will we "live" or "die" before we say goodbye to this physical world? There may be an afterlife, there may not. I am being mindful of my own fears, ignorance of many, and the greed of others before I make my decision. The one thing I am sure of, is that the world around us, beckons me to see it for myself in all of its living glory. Life is "dangerous." Go live.

Animal life spans
1. Giant tortoise: up to 200 years
2. Human: up to 122
3. Sturgeon (a type of fish): up to 100
4. Blue whale and golden eagle: up to 80
5. African elephant: up to 77