Incredible Floats From Rio's Carnival 2011

Although Carnival (Carnaval in Portuguese) is celebrated in towns and villages throughout Brazil and other Catholic countries, Rio de Janeiro has long been regarded as the Carnival Capital of the World. The Rio Carnaval is not only the biggest Carnival, it as also a benchmark against which every other carnival is compared and one of the most interesting artistic events on the Globe. Almost everyone has heard of the Rio Carnaval. Foreign visitors to it alone number around 500,000 every year.

Have a look at some of the floats that were at this year's celebration! Click on this post's title.

And find more at the Official Carnival website.

What Is Your Talent? ( Qual É O Seu Talento? )

These two gents recently appeared on Brazil's Qual É O Seu Talento? (What Is Your Talent?). 

 Sure, there were gasps in the audience (and a noticeable "Uhhhh!" from the show's Ryan Seacrest) when the pair smooched at the end, and while I don't speak Portuguese, I think the judges liked it.

Queerty reader Luc Santos says this is the first gay kiss on Brazilian television — or at least the first "more than a peck" kiss.

Orion

Today my sister and I went exploring along the coast to see if we could find somewhere that we could use our boogie boards. Alas, it seems that the wind is offshore and the waves are small as a result.

After taking Mom to the clinic again to have the wound she suffered in her fall looked at, we had a gorgeous dinner of Langostino Shrimp, Yuca, and Peas + Carrots. Then we went for a walk down to the beach to see high tide - albeit 1.5 hours late. The stars were beautiful though and I explained to my sister about the nebula in the constellation Orion:

Hoping tomorrow we can get out into the waves and find out what surfing on boogie boards is really all about!

Surfin' Dude

When I decided I was coming to Panama, I knew I wanted to try to learn how to surf ... again.

I have only tried it once before in Huntington Beach California, but my lesson consisted a couple of surfer dudes giving me a board that was too small for me, pointing me to the ocean and telling me to paddle out and stand up when a wave came along. I didn't do very well, and after about 2 hours was exhausted from trying to paddle out to where the waves were.

Panama is apparently an important destination for surfers and there are numerous world-famous places here to 'hang ten' - some on the Atlantic/Caribbean coast and others here on the Pacific side. Here is a video of what we were hoping for at El Palmar Surf Camp in San Carlos:

Based on these videos, it looks like we need to go there at low tide

Turns out, this really isn't surfing season here so our trip down the coast to San Carlos led us to the El Palmar Surf Camp, a busy black-sand beach and a lovely man named Sergio (pronounced: Sayrheo) but the waves weren't happening.

But we did have a nice time watching the Panamanians bobbing in the waves and watching their beer cans float away.

As a result, my sister, her husband and I turned to Boogie Boards on the beach here at Coronado with some hilarious results.

It was a good day, but not one that you could write a musical with Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon about! LOL

Bienvenidos a El Valle de Anton

Yesterday we drove about an hour up into the mountains to visit one of the most famous sites in Panama - El Valle de Anton.

El Valle de Anton, known simply as El Valle has a geologically unique setting, it's nestled in the second largest volcano crater in the world. A five by three mile crater created when a volcano blew its top off five million years ago. After flooding to make a lake, then emptying when the walls breached, the result iss a lovely steep valley surrounded by jagged mountain peaks and rich volcanic soil that gives way to flowers and verdant forest. El Valle also boasts a near perfect year round spring climate.

In the image above, you are looking Northwest with Lake Gatun and The Caribbean at the top and the Pacific on the right. You can clearly see the flat area inside the mountainous peaks.

While there we stopped at the market that you can see in this video (by someone else):

Boogie on Boys!

After last night's spectacular fireworks displays on the beach (which are continuing today!), it was a late night of tequila followed by an early morning.

So with not a lot of energy, and the fact that it is a statutory holiday beginning a long weekend, all that was on the agenda was going to the beach. Last night's full moon contributed to extra high tides today and hundreds of Panamanians were enjoying the sun and waves.

A group of young people were taking turns seeing what they could do on skimboards.

For those of you who don't know, a skimboard or 'boogie board' is a half-size surfboard with no bottom fin that you throw down onto receding waves and jump on. The thin layer of water lets the board slide easily and experts are able to manage several turns and tricks at high speed.

Because the rider is moving at high speed over sand, a fall can translate into a bad case of sandburn, so many of them wear shirts and long shorts.

Here is a shot of a rip current that I found fascinating. A wave washes up on 2 higher mounds of sand, and as they flow back to the sea, the two sides come crashing together. This creates a new wave that travels perpendicular to the oncoming waves.

Today I also saw painful evidence that, although Panamanians lay claim to some of the most beautiful natural resources found anywhere, they don't seem to have much respect for it.

In these shots, you can see their blatent disregard for picking up their litter - they just step around it and act like it isn't even there. They seem to think that as long as the ocean comes and takes it away, the problem is solved. Too bad for whoever is unfortunate enough to be on the beach where it washes up - many of the pristeen islands off the coast such as the Pearl Islands archipelago.

Gay couple marries in Argentina

Two Argentine men have succeeded in becoming Latin America's first same-sex married couple.

After their first attempt to wed earlier this month in Buenos Aires was thwarted, gay rights activists Jose Maria Di Bello and Alex Freyre took their civil ceremony to the capital of Argentina's Tierra del Fuego province, where a sympathetic governor backed their bid to make Latin American history.

The couple exchanged rings Monday in Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, closer to Antarctica than Buenos Aires. The informal ceremony was witnessed by state and federal officials.

Di Bello, 41, an executive at the Argentine Red Cross, met Freyre, 39, executive director of the Buenos Aires AIDS Foundation, at an HIV awareness conference. Both are HIV-positive.

Gov. Fabiana Rios said in a statement that gay marriage "is an important advance in human rights and social inclusion and we are very happy that this has happened in our state."