Monday: Capoeira!

At work, Monday was just like any other Monday. The most exciting thing, perhaps, was when we bought ice cream from a store down the street after lunch. Rodrigo and I walked over and sampled almost all of the flavors before settling on a liter of Cookie and a liter of Creme. The ice cream was quite good, and we didn't finish all of it until today. After work, though, I was very excited to accompany Tiago and Fucho to learn some Capoeira. If you recall, I was going to learn about a week ago, but that never materialized. This time was for real. Let's just say the hundred pushups is on hold for now.

Tiago drove me home to pick up a change of clothes and then we headed off to meet Fucho at the fitness center to learn. We were on Tiago's bike when we came across Fucho walking up the hill, so we made room and the three of us buzzed up the street, garnering sideways glances from everyone we passed. We arrived at the place and met the Capoeira instructor. He was a very nice man and began class after a few more kids arrived. We were by far the oldest ones there. Fucho had trained before as a kid, and was looking to pick it back up. Tiago, like me, were experiencing it for the first time.

The Capoeira Professor, a young student, and me

We started off with a general warmup that began with jogging and running and gradually got more Capoeira-specific. After about an hour of these exercises, my muscles were already fatigued, though we had yet to begin the real Capoeira. Finally, I was taught the basic movement of Capoeira - a rhythmic, side to side step with the feet essentially tracing an X. I caught on pretty quickly, and the Capoeira Professor was surprised. He asked if I had ever trained Capoeira before, and I replied no, although I did tell him of my previous experience in martial arts.

The basic step

I then learned another move, called "martelo voador," which means Flying Hammer. This move is a sort of spinning outside-inside kick that maintains a straight line from the head to the kicking foot. Capoeira involves plenty of turning motions, and I found my head spinning on numerous occasions. It was all great fun, though, and it reminded me of my days with Tang Soo Do. I kind of miss that stuff now. We talked a while to the Professor after the class, and we're going to return to train again tonight. I'm super excited, though I woke up extremely sore this morning.

Tired after a good workout