I'm Back. And I'm Leaving Again.

Hey everyone. I am back from Rio. I was totally MIA while I was there, again, because of threats from Brazil. So I've been posting stuff to TechCrunch about my trip and FRANTICALLY trying to get a chunk of the book drafted before I leave again....Sunday.

First off, Rio was simply wonderful. I stayed on the beach in Leblon and found if i could run jump in the ocean for even 10 minutes before or in the middle of a day of meetings I felt completely reinvigorated. I also loved wandering around the neighborhood (during the DAY of course.) Aside from that, I met some cool companies and had some really life-changing experiences. I flew and then trucked out to the basin of the Amazon where BS Construtora is building a 1,600 house village. (More on that here.) And spent a day exploring the slums around Brasilia with an entrepreneur who grew up amid drug runners and now is starting and Internet company in Sao Paulo. Then flew back to Rio and spent some time in a pacified favela with a company that's spent a decade building computer labs in the most hard-core slums. What I don't write about on TechCrunch in the next week will be in the book. Oh, I also met a couple who own a trout farm. They said I could come work on it if this whole writing thing doesn't work out. Mr. Lacy says he's game.

One of the cutest things ever happened in the favela, by the way. A little girl-- dressed like an Indian for "indigenous people's day"-- just came up and grabbed my hand like we were friends. (See photo above.) Kids are always fascinated by foreigners. I've had them giggle, point, show me around, shyly ask me where I'm from, but none has just come up and hold my hand like we'd known each other for years. The level of trust from a child in a community that can't yet trust the city's pacification efforts showed how much things could change in a generation if the city stays committed to this. And thanks to the pressure from the World Cup and the Olympics coming to Rio, there's reason to be optimistic. I was so caught off guard and charmed and wanted to scoop her up and take her home. Wouldn't you?

Second off, the book. I've been talking with my publishers about titles and cover art so it's nice evidence I will actually have something tangible to show for all this work. I am somehow, amazingly, ahead of schedule. I spent the last week finishing drafting the section on India, and I'm drafting the section on Brazil now, hoping to finish it before I go. That leaves only Indonesia, Rwanda (which is half written) and the Epilogue and a TON of revising before my August 1 deadline. I can't actually believe I'm going to make it. The publishers do not want it over 70,000 words so I am really pruning and pruning each chapter. A lot of great stories are getting cut out, but I do think it's making the book stronger in the end. You will quite literally get a world of entrepreneurship in less than 300 pages.

Third off, I'm leaving again. For a long time. Five weeks. The longest trip yet. I have no idea what I was thinking, but now, barely recovered from the last trip I'm looking at this schedule and wondering if I'm going to make it. Fortunately, I'm equally as excited about it. Adrenaline don't fail me now... I am going to Cape Town, South Africa first where I'm speaking at the Net Prophets conference. Then, I head to Indonesia where I'll report around for two weeks and hopefully find some cool stuff. (Mr. Lacy is meeting me for the second week in Indonesia.) Then, I head to China for the last time. I've been to China more than any other country and somehow that section of the book has the most holes because so much has been off the record. I'll be a bit all over the place, including some smaller cities. Smaller being the operative word-- nothing is actually small in China.

Fourth off, reading list update. I am reading Nelson Mandela's autobiography now which is pretty great and I plan to finish before my flight. Taking with me "A History of South Africa," "A History of Modern Indonesia," "Asian Godfathers" and "China: Fragile Superpower." Amazingly I'll only have eight books left in my INSANE stack of reading once I knock those out. I have so much stuff about so many places coursing through my head I am forgetting basic things like, phone numbers and names.

Fifth off, packing. I haven't yet done five weeks out of carry-on luggage. There's going to be a lot of sink-washing going on...