The Season of Euphoria

If anyone out there is still following my blog, you'll have noticed that I've REALLY fallen off the wagon lately. This is my attempt to get back into the swing of things. At the end of May, I took my first trip back to the US since January. I spent 2.5 glorious weeks with my loving husband and awesome family. Being home was a lot like being on a sugar high. I just wanted more and more and more. I was gluttonous for "Americana". I ate everything in sight, listened to country music, cooked every recipe for comfort food I know, met with every friend in town and watched a ton of daytime TV. When I got back in Brazil, I "crashed". I felt lazy, sad and unmotivated. It took me about a week to really get going again. The change in weather between my two residences has reached extreme, opposite levels again. It was sunny, humid and intensely hot (mid-90s every day) in the South while, here in Rio, it's cool and overcast most days (dipping down into the 60s at night). I had to sleep fully clothed for a few nights before I bought some extra blankets.

I'm at a bit of a crossroads in my Brazil experience. I'm rapidly approaching the halfway mark in my time here, which is causing me to evaluate how it's gone so far. I've realized something about my relationship with this place. I LOVE Rio in the winter (now) and I HATE it in the summer. I have the opposite of "season depression". The colder it gets here, the more euphoric I feel. It seems appropriate that my emotional attachment reflects the huge contradictions that make Brazil...well, Brazil.

Now that I'm officially in the "season of love", I'm living it up. Tonight, I went to a free samba concert downtown at the Centro Cultural da Justica (part of the fall/winter series "Musica no Museu" or Music in the Museum) on the historic Avenida Rio Branco. At night, it's a part of the city that truly awes me. It's so beautiful! In the early twentieth century, city architects and intellectuals decided to make the city more "modern" and mo

deled it's sprawling avenues and classical buildings after those in Paris. The effect, even today, is thrilling. Here are a few shots I took with wide-eyed wonder....

This is the Theatro Municipal (Municipal Theatre); the crowning jewel of downtown Rio in it's newly-renovated glory.

Adjacent, we have the Camara Municipal (City Hall) building...

And, finally, the Biblioteca Nacional (National Library).

People were dressed up and rushing to the theatre, I was comfortably wrapped in a sweater and a cool wind was wafting the smell of caramel popcorn through the plaza. In sum, it was a perfect evening. Now, I'm at home with a nice cup of jasmine green tea and, for the first time in a long time, I'm happy to be in Brazil.