Let's try 20 days first!

Brazilians (South Americans in general) are in better health and shape than North Americans. They don't even go to the gym, they walk. Here one enjoys good food, enriched with flavor and at times, food is fried, but where's the obesity?! They drink beer as much as we do, but where are the beer bellies? I will start a new blog learning their daily food, diet and health. To learn what are they doing that we are not!

Bare in mind, this is not personal attack against anyone, if there's anything personal about this journey, it's me! I put myself in the middle of this war. Over the years, I have traveled to many places in the world and for some reason, strange or otherwise, I tend to loose weight more than I could in the America. I keep asking myself why and how do I maintain the (at the time) weight I have lost? This is tough thing to answer and I know that I will not able to simplify this in one sentence or just in one day. I will abandon things that I know that are truly unhealthy for me!! But, I will learn to find ways to replace them with other flavorful and healthier alternatives.

As of today, June 7^th, 2010, I will walk an average of 4.8 km, which is about 3 miles everyday. I must walk after dinner meals and/before going to bed. During my last 20 days left in this country. I will follow some difficult but yet simple rules:

I can't have the following:

1. Beer

2. Fast Food

3. Potato Chips (even if it's fat free)

4. French Fries (even they're cooked in Extra Virgin Olive Oil)

I will not seek your:

1. support

2. understanding

3. reasoning

4. approval

I ask that you don't

1. break me away from what I am doing

2. offering me beer

3. offering me just one french fry

4. give me your negativity

You, if you like:

1. take a walk with me

2. give me your opinion on this issue

3. tell me your experience when dealing with foods overseas?

4. What are other countries doing that we aren't doing?

free yourself from mid-aged crisis!

I don't even know why its called Business Traveling. It should be known as going somewhere only to speak and think and compare to what you have back home and how things are less superior to your standards. Still, is there another name of this kind of traveling? Currently, I am in São Paulo, Brazil. I spent over a month in Buenos Aires, Argentina with a group of guys that well not of them, but lack any desire to know the countries or cities that they are in. They are looking for familiar places, which they still fail to understand that they will not find. They refuse to accept the standards of living that our South American friends live and enjoy.
With only a few hours before I need to get some sleep, I pride myself by going outside and walking around the city, without thinking about it, a menu is provided not in English. Though, they are maybe some words I am not used to hearing or seeing, but asking is usually one way to adapt to one's surroundings. So you would think! If I am luck, I usually go alone, in order to feel the culture and its people and truly enjoy the foods and different drinks presented. Most of the times, I am trapped into an one meal ticket with my group of tech guys who (again, not all of them) must insist that the shopping center in their small town in Middle America is far more superior and has more choices than in South America. Everyone somewhat agrees, while I remain silent on the matter. I not trying to bring out the Che Guevara in me, I sit back and enjoy my sip of wine and fine tasting meat dishes.

They have no desire to try or explore! I am left with my own thoughts, dreaming and thinking of my friends of the La Legione di Resistenza group. Knowing that if they were with me, many streets and buildings would be known and explored. We would have already made friends with locals and enjoying the healthy outlook on life. Instead, I am left with middle-aged men in crisis.

As I said many times before, I don't believe in mid-life crisis. I believe that some people choose to live a certain way, because its safe doing so. Doing the safe thing allows others not to interfere in your life, not worry what you are doing, where you going and who are your friends and speculate about where your life is going or what poor choices you made for yourself. When you don't live up to those standards, you must handle the stress of dealing with questions on top of more questions, and shit that sounds like the last fucking set of questions. You must learn on to get ready to be interviewed and reviewed and finally given your assessment to the questions you provided. Still in the end, you failed to meet up to their standards. Even though, you ain't fucking asking for their approval. They have already wrote out your own auto-biography on how your life was and is and will be, the end! After your auto-biography is written, sold and placed on bookshelf. You could barely have time to read the preface of this great piece of literature with its handsome book cover and the choices of color for the background and oh yeah, you won't be getting any type of residuals for the book either.



By now, I got myself back in order and my stress level has calmed down. I can breath easily now, my skin feels smooth and my neck doesn't feel stiff. Though, I still have to remind myself that I am here on business, but after work, is my free time. I need to use that wisely and as often as I can. Its my time.