Image by Gal Oppido
São Paulo dos Campos de Piratininga, founded January 25, 1554.
My favorite city on Earth.
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Happy 458th Birthday, São Paulo
Posted in Brazil, photos, São Paulo, South America
Tagged Brazil, photos, São Paulo, South America
War and Travel, Unlikely Allies
Tuskegee Airmen Col. Benjamin Davis Jr. and Edward Gleed, 1945 (Source: US Library of Congress)
Black Americans have actively participated in every war and military skirmish since the United States was first conceived, even as a colony. But it was during the Spanish-American War in 1898 that black soldiers first had the opportunity to leave their own reluctant country for another – in this case, Cuba.
Until that time, scant few black Americans who didn’t have international family ties, work for someone who traveled abroad, or have the independent means to do so themselves, actually left the United States. The military – while segregated and just as unwelcoming as society at large – afforded young black men (and later women) the opportunity to visit other places, interact with other societies, and even become more cognizant of their worth as citizens. True, militaristic forays into foreign lands could hardly be considered pleasure cruises, but it was a chance to go, to see, to explore.
Estimates suggest over 350,000 black Americans served in Belgium and France during World War I, and films such as The Tuskegee Airmen and Red Tails(SEE IT NOW!) depict African-American experiences abroad during World War II. For the first time, black American men and women were getting to see the world in large numbers – at least on leave – thanks to Uncle Sam, and lots of folk stayed abroad, a prospect that seemed a helluva lot more appealing for some than heading “home” to Dixie.
Even today, the armed forces provides an opportunity for thousands of young people to experience the world (just ask Fidel), and despite my personal feelings about war and military intervention, I recognize the military’s importance in broadening the horizons of many fly brothers and sisters who came before me.
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Posted in history, inspirations, military
Tagged history, inspirations, military
Greetings from (Warm, Sunny) Florida
Forecast high in Jville today: 77 degrees.
While I’m home with the family recharging the ol’ batteries with barbecue and sweet tea, Fly-Brother.com will be undergoing some minor site upgrades. Subscribers might see a few old posts pop up in their feeds over the weekend, but don’t be alarmed. It’s just me reformatting some of the old stuff. And before anyone gets jealous of these wonderfully mild winter temperatures and glorious sunshine we’re experiencing in my home state of Florida, just remember that this is also the home state of Casey Anthony, hanging chads, and that nutcase Koran-burning preacher. See how things always balance out?
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New Years Eve in Rio … and Around the World
Getting blessed in 2012
It’s 2012, folk! While many of you spent New Years Eve in the frigid climes of Europe or North America, I was getting my hot-and-sweaty on in Rio de Janeiro. True, it rained most of the weekend, and the transport situation from my centrally-located apartment to the beach was less than ideal – a 5km walk uphill (and down, both ways) – but I made it to Copacabana in time for the countdown, the fireworks action, and even a little oceanfront afterparty with friends from São Paulo. Here’s a little taste:
At the same time, two very fly sistas – Nicole is the New Black and Oneika the Traveller – rang in the New Year with friends and family in Europe: Nicole in bright-and-sparkly Copenhagen and Oneika in on-and-poppin’ Berlin. Take a look!
How’d you spend New Years Eve?
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Posted in Brazil, celebrations, New Years Eve, Rio de Janeiro, South America, videos
Tagged Brazil, celebrations, New Years Eve, Rio de Janeiro, South America, videos
(Samba) School’s in Session
Camila Silva, Queen of the Drumline
With just over a month left before Carnival, the samba schools are getting into the groove with twice-weekly practices in preparation for the main event – a 14-contestant competition of beads, beats, and booty-shaking to see whose themed samba presentation tops ‘em all.
Even if it’s not as well-attended, São Paulo’s got a two-day parade event as big and flashy as Rio’s, and since 2005, I’ve been Vai-Vai for life. But last year, Acadêmicos do Tucuruvi grabbed my attention with a brash, colorful, poignant paean to the migrant workers of Northeastern Brazil who come to the city by the thousands each year to escape drought and poverty. These Northeasterners are more often than not black and brown, with traditions derived more wholly from the African and indigenous elements of Brazilian culture than those of any other region in the country, and they’re subjected to discrimination and even physical violence from more than a few locals who ignorantly stake claims to the place as if their grandparents hadn’t come here to escape drought and poverty in Italy, Spain, or Portugal. I loved the lyrics and the melody of the samba, and was hyped that they snagged second place (after Vai-Vai, of course), though I wouldn’t have been disappointed in the least if they had won.
Last Friday, I stopped by the ole HQ in Tucuruvi to check out this year’s theme: “O Esplendor da África no Reino da Folia” (very loosely translated as “The Splendor of Africa in the Realm of Revelry”).
The lyrics start off:
Teu filho, Oh Mãe África, (Your son, Oh Mother Africa)
Faz festa pra te exaltar (Celebrates to exalt you)
and end:
Herdeiro eu sou, da batida do tambor! (Heir, I am, to the beat of the drum!)
Amen and amen.
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Happy New Year ● Feliz Ano Novo ● Feliz Año Nuevo
Many, many thanks to you, readers, for keeping me motivated through the last twelve months. Here’s to another amazing circuit around the sun!
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Posted in Uncategorized
Fly Brother’s Travel Alphabet
B is fo BRAZIL, baby.
The ABC’s of travel gives bloggers the opportunity to share their favorite and most memorable travel moments from A-Z. Nicole from Nicole is the New Black tagged me, but I’ll spare some of you the pain and won’t tag 3 other bloggers at the end of this post so they can share their ABCs as well.
A: Age you went on your first international trip:
I was 3 years old when my parents schlepped me around the Caribbean on a 7-day cruise. After that, I was 11 when we flew (my first time in a plane) on then-in-bankruptcy Pan Am from Fort Lauderdale to Freeport, Bahamas. My first solo international trip was at 16, when I went to Sweden for the summer between my junior and senior years of high school.
Fat Kid in the Arctic: A Memoir
B: Best (foreign) beer you’ve had and where:
I don’t drink alcohol.
C: Cuisine (favorite):
Indian food. From all over the country. Can’t get enough.
D: Destinations, favorite, least favorite and why:
Brazil is my favorite destination because of its dynamism and the openness of the people. Colombia is, unfortunately, my least favorite because I lived there for four years and just got to know it all too well. But hey, sometimes people and places just don’t get along…doesn’t mean you won’t have a blast there.
E: Event you experienced abroad that made you say “wow”:
Vai-Vai samba school rehearsal, São Paulo, 2006. It was like being at the biggest HBCU homecoming battle of the bands in the world. Didn’t make me say “wow”; I said “damn.”
F: Favorite mode of transportation:
Planes, then trains, then automobiles.
G: Greatest feeling while traveling:
Glimpsing the departure board with my destination just before boarding the plane. Still gets me geet.
Flying to Brasília via Manaus.
H: Hottest place you’ve traveled to:
Egypt, Claude Hammercy! I had to laugh while walking from the airport to the bus terminal in Cairo because the heat was honestly absurd. It ain’t make no damn sense. I almost had to sing a Negro spiritual, it was so hot!
I: Incredible service you’ve experienced and where:
The service I received on Korean Air from Kuala Lumpur to LA through Seoul has been unmatched in my travels.
J: Journey that took the longest:
Delhi to Kuala Lumpur via an 18-hour layover in Chennai. On Diwali, the holiest day in India (which means everything was shut down). Always check holiday calendars before booking flights with long layovers.
K: Keepsake from your travels:
Postcards and inflight magazines. I’m not big on souvenirs.
L: Let-down sight, why and where:
The Mona Lisa at the Louvre, which is about as big as a postage stamp. Boo.
Underwhelming.
M: Moment where you fell in love with travel:
I’ve always been in love with travel. It’s innate, and I can’t ever remember a time in my life when I didn’t want to go somewhere. Read about how I got started.
N: Nicest hotel you’ve stayed in:
Nicest hotel I’ve fucked around in was the Fontainebleau on Miami Beach. Nicest hotel I’ve actually been booked into? Tie between the Sheraton Park Tower in London (“traditionally” nice) and the Sheraton Centro Histórico (now the Hilton Reforma) in Mexico City (brand-spankin-new when I stayed there, ultra-modern, amazing).
O: Obsession—what are you obsessed with taking pictures of while traveling?:
Sunsets, landscapes, and cloud formations from the air.
I love it up here.
P: Passport stamps, how many and from where?
Too many to count. I’ve only been to 33 countries at last count, but I’ve been to many, many of them multiple times (including Cuba – legally – thrice, though they don’t stamp your passport). And often, while traveling through Europe, they don’t stamp your passport either. That said, I’m on passport #3.
Q: Quirkiest attraction you’ve visited and where:
Inti-Ñan Solar Museum at the equator just outside Quito. Plastic shrunken heads, wooden totems, and all kinds of crap that reminded me of the kooky roadside attractions I remember from my childhood in Florida (that, alas, no longer exist post-Disneyfication). See “Missing Middle Florida”.
The "real" middle of the Earth.
R: Recommended sight, event or experience:
Vai-Vai samba school practice, at least once. It’s outdoors and smack-dab in the middle of a megalopolis; a totally different vibe than Rio samba schools (which are fun, but much more touristy).
S: Splurge; something you have no problem forking over money for while traveling:
I’m so broke, there’s no way for me to really answer this question. I’m all about as much value as I can get from my dollar, so splurge ain’t even in my vocabulary. Now, hook-ups…that’s different.
T: Touristy thing you’ve done:
I look up at skyscrapers. Love those things.
U: Unforgettable travel memory:
Sounds cheesy, and it’s not one specific travel memory, per se, but 2009 – the year I left Colombia and took my first round-the-world trip – was full of once-in-a-lifetime encounters and experiences. Easily the best time of my life, thus far.
V: Visas, how many and for where?
Not sure how many, but I’ve had tourist visas for India, Brazil, and Cape Verde, and temporary work visas for Colombia (renewed five times), Brazil (once), and South Korea (never used).
W: Wine, best glass of wine while traveling and where?
See beer.
X: eXcellent view and from where?: (Why not X-ray horror story?)
Now I’m bout to brag: the Caribbean Sea from my old apartment in Barranquilla and downtown Bogotá from a different old apartment.
Yes, I took this photograph from the balcony of my apartment near Barranquilla.
This one, too.
From the crib in Bogotá. Yes, my crib.
Y: Years spent traveling?
Traveling for 31 years. Lived abroad for 7.
Z: Zealous sports fans and where?:
Brazil during the World Cup, of course. Dumb-ass question.
Nuff said.
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Holiday Greetings + A History Lesson
Happy Holidays
The history lesson:
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Posted in celebrations, videos
Tagged celebrations, videos
Consolidation and Realization: Annual Review 2011
Amen.
It’s that time of year again, good people, for a bit of self-reflection and pre-planning. And following the lead of peer-mentor Chris Guillebeau (who’s almost done with his all-the-countries-in-the-world quest), I’m looking back on the year that is about to close and looking forward toward the year that’s around the corner.
What went right in 2011:
I was promoted from editorial assistant to assistant editor of Time Out São Paulo; I represented the magazine on Brazilian TV (and in Portuguese); my writing was featured in Time Out London, on the Matador travel network, at Get Your Guide, and at Gap Year Escape; I was profiled in Ebony magazine (in the current issue, still on newsstands); I officially started my travel consulting firm Fly Travel Media and landed my first set of clients and investors (Rob and Star, infinite thanks); I traveled to Berlin twice and began laying the groundwork for the six-months Berlin/six-months Brazil arrangement that is one of my medium-term goals; I visited Zurich for the first time and made repeat trips to New York, Miami, Portland, Brasília, and home to Jacksonville; and, most importantly, I attended the very first World Domination Summit this summer, where I met some of the most amazingly forward-thinking people in my life and where I learned that I have everything I need – right now – to begin building a better me, on every level.
What didn’t go right in 2011:
I had a severe case of hives that took four months to clear up and overdosed on a corticosteroid that caused me to gain 15 pounds in two weeks; a very demanding work situation meant very little time to take the excursions that I’d planned for at the beginning of the year; Fly-Brother.com is thus far still un-monetized and blog posts have dripped in irregularly and infrequently (and my podcast series remains painfully silent); Finnair did not choose me to be one of its seven Quality Hunters, despite a solid application and video; the dramatic rate of inflation in Brazil (São Paulo’s now the world’s 6th most expensive city for expats, up from #10 last January) made securing the type of home base I’d been planning here virtually impossible and infusing a dose of reality into this Brazilian Dream that even I had bought into; I’ve not remained in contact with the people that I’ve met over the past year as much as I should have; and despite my parents’ best efforts to raise an upstanding young contributor to society, my 17-year-old brother is now an adjudicated youth and possibly a convicted felon.
Going into 2012:
I’ll be taking a sabbatical from Time Out for a few months to focus on writing projects and Fly Travel Media while in Berlin; I’ll be traveling to as many destinations in Europe, Africa, and Asia as I can (compared to Latin America, flights from Europe are a steal); I’ll be monetizing Fly-Brother.com with a mix of my own products and those from worthwhile vendors; the Fly Brother Podcast will be resurrected (I promise, this time); I’ll be returning to São Paulo just after Northern Summer to plug back into the dynamic energy of my favorite city on the planet; I’ll be focused more on maintaining contact with old and new friends as well as building partnerships with like-minded individuals; and I’ll be determined to maximize my opportunities and possibilities, to the best of my abilities. It’s about the realization of my goals. Oh, and I will be at WDS 2012, one way or another.
In 2012, no regrets. Higher. Farther.
What about you? How has your 2011 turned out and what are you anticipating for 2012?
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Cesária Évora Passes Away at 70
I first experienced Cape Verde – and another facet of the Diaspora – through your haunting, bittersweet voice. Thank you for that, Barefoot Diva.
Cesária Évora, Fly Sister, 1941-2011
Also, you can listen to my favorite song by Ms. Évora, “Roma Criola,” from her 1999 album Café Atlantico. It’s one to add to the collection.
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Posted in Africa, Cape Verde, Fly Brothers/Sisters, fly originals, inspirations, music, videos
Tagged Africa, Cape Verde, Fly Brothers/Sisters, Fly Originals, inspirations, music, videos
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