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Day 6 and 7: CTG and International Park

53 Years Preserving the Gaucho Tradition. Notice. Men: Entering with guns, or wearing hats, caps or berets indoors is prohibited. Women: Dancing with low-cut, see-through and/or crop tops, and/or miniskirts is prohibited.

More photos of gaucho girlies.

Former heads of the CTG

Their long shelf of awards and trophies from dance competitions.

CTG's unfinished back room.

Finished kitchen.

Drinks menu. Why ski? (When you can dance.)

Growing towards the sun.

The mega-fountain in International Park.

Sarah taking a photo of Louisa in International Park.

We ran into Marcelio, a friend of Michel Croz (one of our workshop leaders) in the park, and identified him as someone who'd be interested in our project since he was wearing a "Riveramento" shirt, a name that combines the cities on either side of the border.

Random building on the Uruguayan side of the park. This is the only park in the world that is run jointly by two countries. Both Brazil and Uruguay are responsible for maintaining their own half of the park, including stone tiled paths that mark the border.

Virgin Mary statue by Jose' Belloni (famous Uruguayan sculptor) that straddles the border, with Brazilian and Spanish inscriptions.

City(cities) map.

The "X" marks the you-are-here spot, with a dotted red line marking the border.

Another horse and cart pic, taken around the corner from Flavia's house.

Socializing after dinner, with wine, wafers, computers, phones and cards.

Our food comes from the hospital down the street, which is a bit bland, but not bad. It was served in these huge circular containers (which are heavy to carry and a pain to wash) until we bought some large tupperwares. Now we get our rice and beans and veg and meat and soup for 10 in those.

Day 6: The Rains, Dogs and Dancing

Thursday the 11th began with a street theatre workshop from Tanise Carrali and Vladimir Cavalheiro of P Com P Theatre company. We had just begun brainstorming ideas for attracting attention and audiences at the start of a performance, when we broke for lunch and the rains came.

The view from the front of Flavia's house, where we're staying. The rains were so quick and torrential that for a couple hours no one could cross the street without wading in ankle-deep and sometimes knee-deep water.

We observed from the front of the house, safe and dry under the overhang.

A few shots of the vibrant colors that came out during the rains.

We eventually made it over to the CTG for our afternoon session, where we learned some dance moves and listened to samba music from the various regions of Brazil. We also learned a bit about candomble, learning the chorus (and dance moves) to a lovely song, "Cirandeo," which is now stuck in our heads, along with "Bella Ciao" and "Message in a Bottle." And I don't think any of us will forget our random dance improv session outside the CTG, which was cut short by two stray dogs who insisted on getting it on in the middle of our party!

Day 5: First day at CTG, World Map of Yarn Workshop

The CTG (Traditional Gaucho Center), our primary rehearsal space. It's huge and ideal for big dances, card game nights, gigs, and of course, making theatre. Gauchos are kind of like the Brazilian equivalent of American cowboys, if the border areas of Rio Grande do Sul were the Wild Wild West. This center is one of a handful across the state that keeps gaucho traditions alive with various cultural events.

Images of gaucho dancers (their womenfolk) throughout the ages on one wall.

They wear amazing dresses, which are quite heavy.

Plenty of chairs and tables, so roll on up!

Air vent--there's no heat and no A/C here though it gets up to 47 degrees CELSIUS (that's 116 degrees Fahrenheit for you Americanos) in the summer.

Wagon wheel chandelier.

Wagonwheel and makeshift teapot props onstage.

And no stage would be complete without a giant mate cup and spoon.

We wove a world map out of wool, putting down chairs where we'd lived and interweaving colors to represent our travels across the globe. Hard to get a sense from this photo, but there was quite a web with this multinational bunch of artists! When we met in one country, we'd tell each other a story from that place. Then later, we told our favorite stories to the group and created individual scenes or scores inspired by each others' travels.

Couldn't help but notice that all the yarn matched my sandals.

My lone chair representing the U.S. of A.

Day 4: Rivera and Livramento

On my first day here, we started with a tour of Rivera (Uruguay) at the market on the border with Livramento (Brazil). The following are a number of images from both cities. I'll identify which side the first few are on. See if you can guess which side the rest come from...

Brazilian market view.

Uruguayan market, complete with Julia Roberts above the brand-spankin' new stalls.

This square at the border (which has now been overtaken by the Brazilian market) used to be the Plaza of the Dogs.

We watched this man spend ages setting up his 'table' atop perfectly balanced stones so he could put it in a prime spot.

Crumbling buildings in need of repair above the market.

Statue at the border symbolizing unity, with flags from both countries.

The casino is a huge modern monstrosity designed to draw tourists from miles around.

Can't visit a new city without a stop at the local theatre.

The governor of Rio Grande do Sul stayed here when he was in exile.

Some views climbing Cerro do Marco along the border.

Rio Branco statue (first to come up with an idea for a border committee, who began diplomatic border discussions between the two cities) with a hole in his head, overlooking the tallest building in both cities.