Capo-Theta Tao

Holy goiabas it is moist in Brazil. At the moment it loves to mix periods of complete sunshine and rainforest downpour. It gets more and more beautiful here though with every passing day. I know most people who know me will not believe this, but I am coming to know this town like the back of my hand. Everyday I take a public van to the square of Santo Antonios, walk to portuguese class, then anthropology, then we have lunch somewhere in the town before either dance or capoeira classes and research. Today was the first day of capoeira, and it was damn good fun.We were huddled into a room with the wooden windows flappying open and closed as it poured outside, the rain echoing off of the tin roof with rain dripping through the holes. Capoeira is such a beautiful thing to witness. You can never truly wrap your mind over whether it is a dance or fight or what, in reality it is everything. It combines dance moves with martial arts rooting from the African and indigenous populations during colonial times. But we were taught basic moves and were able to practice, which as you throw kicks about your partners head, you cannot help but smile and realize its all about rythm and syncing with your partner. If you walk around the University of Washington campus during the spring and you can see some people practicing capoeira. And for the inner nerd inside me, Eddie from tekken was a badass at capoeira. The hut where we learned reminded me of the karate kid. I have expected Jackie Chan or my new sensae to come and start catching the flies that were landing on my face with some chopsticks and explaining life through elaborate metaphors. Alas there was just a goat named Emanuel who let me pet him. I will share more another day, because Allisson is waiting for me to finish. Oh! We are going to be on the Bahian radio soon! And yes... in portuguese. Legao!