Alternate Vision

It took me 20 minutes to make it from my bed to the restroom this morning. Jelly legs. I had to stretch for a good 10 minutes, before I could even attempt to stand on both feet. Upper thigh muscles are numb and my feet are swollen but I see it as a good thing. Mid afternoon run followed by five hours of non-stop samba. My stamina has increased, and so has my ability to do the samba. The last time I danced like this was at the Batucada in Ouro Preto, no estado de Minas Gerais. I have discovered that it is the 'vertical bounce motion' that is characteristic of the samba that is hardest to learn. You have to keep your body swaying, in a rhythmic motion, while balancing on the ball of your foot. A coupling of the foreward basic movement and backward basic movement has to happen with subtle variations in body or foot position i.e changing weight onto the opposite leg at the right time. But its the hip movement in combination with all this that will determine how sexy a samba dancer one is.

An army of musicians, equipped with every drum and percussion instrument imaginable, leads the way for the arrival of this temporary microcosm of song and dance, and people dress to kill as they flow across the floor to the sultry rhythms of Afro-Brazilian samba.

Amidst all this, I managed to leave my phone in the Ethopian driver's cab. As a result, I will be phoneless for the next week. Happy 60th Birthday Bob. Back to finishing my 10 page project proposal report due tomorrow. Craving some Guarana and Peco's fried rice.