After waking up a little bit late and getting caught into moronic saturday subway, we finally arrived at Alt Coffee one hour late. Everybody was already there and we exchanged cute little gifts. Pixels and candies were the most popular gift choices. The Saturday in NY Sito Crowd joined at Alt Coffee was: Lenara, Ivana, Elaine, Ranjit, Jesse and Sunshine. We headed for lunch, with Ranjit carrying his purple-wrapped painting until we found a place to eat. We had indian food in a cozy restaurant decorated with kitsch collages. We then went to Elaine's house to prepare my favorite brazilian drink: caipirinha. It's made with cachaca, wich is the best selling liquor in the world (seconded by vodka) and is made from sugar cane. While in Brazil a bottle of cachaca (or pinga, as it is also known) costs one dollar, Elaine told us that in the US she saw it being sold for 17 dollars! The caipirinha recipe is easy: cachaca, lemon, sugar and ice. Of course you have to mix it the right way. I just pour the ingredients and trust my "feeling" to do it. I practice since I was a kid, and I make great caipirinha. Everybody seemed to like it, and Jesse was noticeable happy drinking it ;)

After some chit-chat, tarot reading and doodling, everybody began to leave. I was going to see the baseball game with my sister and we carried Sunshine with us. I have to confess I haven't quite got the hang of it, and instead of trying to figure out the rules I went to the corner's restaurant, ate some mexican food and then took a nap :) When I woke up everybody was happy - the Yankees have won.

We then went to the party at Chelsea st. It was some sort of rave party, they took a big warehouse, two dozen image projectors (video, film, slides...) some sound equipment and... voila'! We arrived just in time for the brazilian music performance. Elaine was already there with a bunch of friends. Sunshine stayed with us until 1:30 and then left to catch his bus back home. We left the party at 3AM when everybody began to leave. It was too early for two nocturnal brazilians accostumed to leaving parties at 10AM, so we went to the Groove Lounge in East Village. We were kicked out of there at 4AM when the place closed. The music was great there! We then went to a cafe nearby and stay there since we got kicked again at 5AM. That was enough, so we went home to have some sleep and pack our stuff for the next day.

Sunday - the missed train

I guess we haven't adjusted ourselves for the NY time yet! One more delay and this time it costed us a 24 hours wait. Ivana took the wrong subway train (East instead of West) so we left late for the Train Station. We took a taxi but the traffic was truly terrible, and we arrived at the tracks 2 minutes after the train had left! We were able to check in our bags, tough, so we left Penn Station and looked for someplace to have dinner. Our friend Mark suggested the Carmine, where they have HUGE plates. We ordered fried calamari, and we could eat only half of the portion. We tought about going to the movies but everybody was really tired. I had planned to catch up sleep in the train, but since we missed it, I went home and fell on the bed like a rock.

Monday - last day in NY

We slept in the morning and went to MoMA in the afternoon. Mago was scheduled to arrive today, but we haven't planned anything - we were supposed to be on our way to Omaha. I sent him e-mail but I didn't know at what time he would be arriving or where he would be staying, so we'll have to wait to meet him in the West coast. This time we arrived at the station way before the train departure. We bought some food at the supermarket so we don't have to eat the greasy overpriced stuff they serve there :)

Tuesday - inside the train

We are now powered by a laptop so we can write reports on the idle hours inside the train :) The first trains we took to Boston and Washington DC had outlets near every chair, but the train to Chicago didn't seem to have any, and since we were tired we didn't bother about it. We changed trains in Chicago and after some asking and searching, I was able to find a power outlet three cars ahead of mine. They only have one outlet per car, and if you're lucky it's not unaccessible behind a chair or a sleeping passenger. So, here I am, writing this inside the train and watching the sunset... We expect to arrive in Omaha around midnight.

Pictures:

Saturday in NY

Sito Gang at Alt Coffee

At the Indian restaurant

Our adorable waiters

Walking in the city

A psychadelic rest

Lenara shows her juggling skills

Elaine's stairway

Our "cachaceira" hostess

Jesse under the effects of caipirinha

At the party. (From left to right: Ivana, Mark, Elaine, Stephan, Matt, Tatiana, Tiago)

The dancing

At the Groove Lounge: Lenara, Mark and Mireille

Monday pictures

Cibele photographed us for a brazilian newspaper

Lenara and Ivana at MoMA