May 19, 2004
HEAVEN 17A-
A friend writes from São Paolo:
"Standing on line for three hours to clear immigration because, since January, all US citizens are photographed and fingerprinted, and there's only one immigration official at a time who performs that function. Getting into the cab and having the driver instantly switch the radio channel from Brazilian music to American pop (I asked him to change it back; he didn't speak English; "musico do Brazil?" I said, and for the entire hour-long trip we listened to great Brazilian music I've never heard before—except right before we turned into the hotel, when a song I recognized came on and my driver, who had said literally not one word to me, turned around and said "Caetano Veloso!"). Staying in a hotel that has the most majestic marble bathroom I've ever seen and is right across the street from an entire neighborhood of favelas—which are not like anything I've ever seen before, even traveling in Southeast Asia in the 80s."