the time has finally come, i am leaving brasil today. i'm sad but i am also happy.
what am i going to miss about brasil? i feel like there will be so much. again, top ten things i am going to miss about brasil.
1. portuguese. this language is so beautiful and poetic, will i ever hear it again? i can speak this language, communicate with people on many levels. its fun, its challenging, it pains me to think that i may not have to opportunity to use my new knowledge while i am in the united states.
2. brasileiros. oh man, brazilians are some of the friendliest and helpful people i have ever met! a person on the street will go out of their way to help you find a street of the right bus, and brazilians love to meet new people. i will feel sad in the US where people walk with their heads down and avoid human contact.
3. fruitas e sucos. they have the most amazing tropical fruits and juices here. will i ever feel satisfied with orange and apple again? this is very questionable.
4. moving. i feel like traveling is therapeutic. we spend so much of out lives in the same place; our homes, our cars and work- rinse and repeat. i love the rootless feeling i have moving every three days, sleeping on overnight buses, and making fast friends with people in the same situations.
5. jugglers at red lights. what an enterprising idea! at almost all major intersections i have been to there is a person juggling- bowling pins, torches, blocks, and balls. they are living the life many of us dream about; transient, no ties, eating with the money you earn that day- they seem to be the dreamers. i think i need a little more stability in my life, but i appreciate the fact that not everyone does.
6. rain or chuva. the rain is a daily occurrence. it is a cleansing time, where mother nature forces you to chill out, stop running and wait. ela faleu fica tranquilo. it can be a small cool drop that falls from a sunny sky of a torrent of rain pouring down, soaking indiscriminately. california needs more of this.
7. the jungle. the way the forests are so dense. 500 different shades of green, mixed with blue, yellow, brown, and red. vines, mushrooms, palms, trees, bushes, grass! so much diversity of life. dark, dense, wet, and full of life. can you tell im inspired?
8. industry brasileira. the things i have bought in brazil came from brazil. i have yet to encounter "made in china". what a wonderful way to support your own economy; the US has lost its sense of locality while chasing the greatest profit. we are obviously seeing some of the repercussions now, but have an obligation not to leave our trading partners high and dry.
9. boats. i havent been on so many boats in my entire life. i love it. we paddle, we motor, we float. its peaceful, yet at the same time the balance may be thrown and could tip you out at anytime. i love the way the water can be so disturbed and frothy in the moment, leaving a white wake. yet, 30 meters late it is calm, glassy and undisturbed. que linda.
10. BRAZIL! this needs no explanation.
TCHAU brasil! você é muito legal, simpatio e linda. saudades a você pra caramba!
OLÁ estados unidos. vamos a dancar.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
Manaus
oba! i though belém was urban, manuas is much more. it 'spins me out' that it is an international port 150 km inland, weird. the boat ride was long, and i felt ill the entire time so i wasn't doing too much sight seeing. we were the only gringos on the boat as well and recieved much unwanted male attention. god, i wish i knew how to tell them how to fuck off in portuguese. thank you, yes, i know im beautiful. no, i do not want to marry you. no, im not married. yes, i have a boyfriend. gah. leave me alone. incessent. but, the families were great. i have a new 11 year old best friend names paloma.
today it is off to the zoo, and some other sightseeingingingly things. but first lunch!
tchau
today it is off to the zoo, and some other sightseeingingingly things. but first lunch!
tchau
Monday, March 9, 2009
Passagem no Amazônia
A boat, a barge, the amazon. A hammok, or hedge, multiplied by the hundreds. People are stacked, like cards. Squished, like sardines in a can. Are you jealous yet? It's amazing. I never thought in my life that I would float up the largest river in the world.
It is so vast. River ocean the color of tea. Floating near the banks, passing jungle. Not only, passing people. Children in boats begging centavos from tourists. Small children paddling, alone on the huge body of water. Just their skinny body and a hand hewen wooden canoe. We pass houses, shacks, platforms on the banks of the rio amazônias. Who lives here? Is their street aqua? Do they like it? What is their occupation or do they have one?
There is a cirus on the barge. Literally and in jest. People from all walks of life. Young wealthy tourists, hippies getting their bread by selling bracelets, earrings, necklaces. Brazilians, young and old. Babies, teenagers, famalies, grandmas. Colorful hammoks, hanging, swaying, swinging; propelled by the weight of human bodies. Free spirits, juggling on the deck, tossing balls and bowling pins, performing slight of hand for the enjoyment of others.
It rains. Everyday, not all day. There is sun as well, peeking out. Illuminating the white clouds, the verdant green plateu. Changing rapidly and staying the same, this time on the boat.
We stop, we streach, we explore. Santarém and Alter do Chão. City buses on rutted, rainy dirt roads leads to a gem. A village in the amazon, on the river, white sand beaches. We celebrate! freedom from boat captivity, for the newly found calm of this friendly village and the 201st birthday of Alter do Chão! Cake! So much cake. Cake lovingly made by groups of people who care for their ciudade. Then all cakes, seems like 100s in total, are paraded through the town like roman gods acompanied by music made of horns and drums. Cake eaten from the palm of the hand. Then watching a clown perform, out of the goodness of his heart, for children in the praça. Juggling, magic, imitations, laughing.
A short boat ride leads us to an island, where in the 'dry' season white sands connect to Alter do Chão. A skinny, ribbed dog come chasing after. Tail waving in the air, a flag of happiness; yips of joy sound and the boatman jokes this is our 'guia florestal'. No joke. A companion to the top of a peek, a furry, exploring, excited friend. A view that austounds rewards our hard work, rivers, rainforest, lagoons. A chat and next thing guia florestal is sleeping below a bench. A swim in the river, a beer on the beach.
Boating again, exploring a flooded jungle. We float pass the tops of towering palms; see geometrical reflections of leaves in the water. How strange to sit in the canopy of a forest. Up close to the greens, yellows and browns; smooth, glassy, and rough. How can you live with no air, tree? Where are your roots obtaining this life sustaining gas? Will you live to see the flood subside? to see the forest floor become capteted once more in green, then the litter of leaves?
An island in the rain. Where people live in a commune, where they share and you can come too if you want. Would you like to buy some of this jewlery I made? This is a feather, a bone, nut, tooth. A walk through the rainforest. Dense, dark, dripping; abundnce and life. A native guide climbing over, under and upon logs- us too. Navigating the small, barely visible path. We stare in awe at the strength and poetry of the vines; snaking, spiraling, surrounding. A bath in a secluded pool, the water is clear and not a murky tea color. We cleanse the busyness and buslte of Belém from our bodies. We wash under the roots of a fallen giant, who kindly left the hole to be flooded with clear, life giving water.
The rain continues falling. Shelter of a thached hut, a book on brids, on the amazon. I will always remember the sound of those mokeys howling. So loud. The rain, this is their song. Rawr, Hoot, exclaiming their power. Yet running at the approch of a threat. Is this like me? Wanting to be so big, exclaiming my independence, doing it because I can. Yet, mindful and sometimes fearful about where I am, who I am with, my safety.
This time on the Rio Amazônias has been dicotomous. This river, ocean, great body makes on feel so small. I am an isignificat speck in the history of this river. Yet, this grand, sprawling, unending waters will always be ingrained into my memory. I will remember the islands, the rain, tropical forests, children. But most significant in my mind will be the sheer magnitude of the river; who could think such a thing is possible?
It is so vast. River ocean the color of tea. Floating near the banks, passing jungle. Not only, passing people. Children in boats begging centavos from tourists. Small children paddling, alone on the huge body of water. Just their skinny body and a hand hewen wooden canoe. We pass houses, shacks, platforms on the banks of the rio amazônias. Who lives here? Is their street aqua? Do they like it? What is their occupation or do they have one?
There is a cirus on the barge. Literally and in jest. People from all walks of life. Young wealthy tourists, hippies getting their bread by selling bracelets, earrings, necklaces. Brazilians, young and old. Babies, teenagers, famalies, grandmas. Colorful hammoks, hanging, swaying, swinging; propelled by the weight of human bodies. Free spirits, juggling on the deck, tossing balls and bowling pins, performing slight of hand for the enjoyment of others.
It rains. Everyday, not all day. There is sun as well, peeking out. Illuminating the white clouds, the verdant green plateu. Changing rapidly and staying the same, this time on the boat.
We stop, we streach, we explore. Santarém and Alter do Chão. City buses on rutted, rainy dirt roads leads to a gem. A village in the amazon, on the river, white sand beaches. We celebrate! freedom from boat captivity, for the newly found calm of this friendly village and the 201st birthday of Alter do Chão! Cake! So much cake. Cake lovingly made by groups of people who care for their ciudade. Then all cakes, seems like 100s in total, are paraded through the town like roman gods acompanied by music made of horns and drums. Cake eaten from the palm of the hand. Then watching a clown perform, out of the goodness of his heart, for children in the praça. Juggling, magic, imitations, laughing.
A short boat ride leads us to an island, where in the 'dry' season white sands connect to Alter do Chão. A skinny, ribbed dog come chasing after. Tail waving in the air, a flag of happiness; yips of joy sound and the boatman jokes this is our 'guia florestal'. No joke. A companion to the top of a peek, a furry, exploring, excited friend. A view that austounds rewards our hard work, rivers, rainforest, lagoons. A chat and next thing guia florestal is sleeping below a bench. A swim in the river, a beer on the beach.
Boating again, exploring a flooded jungle. We float pass the tops of towering palms; see geometrical reflections of leaves in the water. How strange to sit in the canopy of a forest. Up close to the greens, yellows and browns; smooth, glassy, and rough. How can you live with no air, tree? Where are your roots obtaining this life sustaining gas? Will you live to see the flood subside? to see the forest floor become capteted once more in green, then the litter of leaves?
An island in the rain. Where people live in a commune, where they share and you can come too if you want. Would you like to buy some of this jewlery I made? This is a feather, a bone, nut, tooth. A walk through the rainforest. Dense, dark, dripping; abundnce and life. A native guide climbing over, under and upon logs- us too. Navigating the small, barely visible path. We stare in awe at the strength and poetry of the vines; snaking, spiraling, surrounding. A bath in a secluded pool, the water is clear and not a murky tea color. We cleanse the busyness and buslte of Belém from our bodies. We wash under the roots of a fallen giant, who kindly left the hole to be flooded with clear, life giving water.
The rain continues falling. Shelter of a thached hut, a book on brids, on the amazon. I will always remember the sound of those mokeys howling. So loud. The rain, this is their song. Rawr, Hoot, exclaiming their power. Yet running at the approch of a threat. Is this like me? Wanting to be so big, exclaiming my independence, doing it because I can. Yet, mindful and sometimes fearful about where I am, who I am with, my safety.
This time on the Rio Amazônias has been dicotomous. This river, ocean, great body makes on feel so small. I am an isignificat speck in the history of this river. Yet, this grand, sprawling, unending waters will always be ingrained into my memory. I will remember the islands, the rain, tropical forests, children. But most significant in my mind will be the sheer magnitude of the river; who could think such a thing is possible?
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Pictorals
Butterfly at Foz do Iguaço
Foz do Iguaço
Foz do Igaço
Horseback riding in the Pantanal
Caimen in the Pantanal
Macaw in the Pantanal
Capivari, largest rodent in the world; Pantanal
Boating in the Pantanal
Look cloesly and you will see caimen
Salty fried piranahs
If you would like to see all of my pictures from the Pantanal and Foz do Iguaço check out my facebook album, Boa Viagem
Monday, March 2, 2009
a change of plans
oh the beauty of travel, of having no commitments.
my plans have changed. a flight to and from altamira and a flight from belém to são paulo just isn't worth it. plus, i don't like fliying that much!
im joining everyone in the hostel for an excurssion by boat up the amazon! sleeping in hammoks on the deck of the boat for five days. sound exciting? well actually we will be stopping in santarem for a few days, checking out the jungle and the white sand amazonian beaches. in manaus the plan is to book an amazon safari tour. maybe i'll finally see that jaguar.
as of right now nothing too exciting has happened. i bought a hammok (only 15 reais-$6.50 US!) ate some beans, pasta, rice and salad. oh and açai. the açai is drinken straight up here, no sugar, no granola, no fruit. it's intense. we listened to the people sitting next to us make fun of us, they thought we didn't speak protuguses. whops, i guess i do the same to tourists in yosemite too. not quite as fun to be on the other end of things.
i need to pack up my mochila and stock up at the grocery store. be prepared for updates in santarem.
tchau!
my plans have changed. a flight to and from altamira and a flight from belém to são paulo just isn't worth it. plus, i don't like fliying that much!
im joining everyone in the hostel for an excurssion by boat up the amazon! sleeping in hammoks on the deck of the boat for five days. sound exciting? well actually we will be stopping in santarem for a few days, checking out the jungle and the white sand amazonian beaches. in manaus the plan is to book an amazon safari tour. maybe i'll finally see that jaguar.
as of right now nothing too exciting has happened. i bought a hammok (only 15 reais-$6.50 US!) ate some beans, pasta, rice and salad. oh and açai. the açai is drinken straight up here, no sugar, no granola, no fruit. it's intense. we listened to the people sitting next to us make fun of us, they thought we didn't speak protuguses. whops, i guess i do the same to tourists in yosemite too. not quite as fun to be on the other end of things.
i need to pack up my mochila and stock up at the grocery store. be prepared for updates in santarem.
tchau!
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Belém
Belém is a wonderful city. It is the most urban place that I have visited thus far in brazil. The culture is very different here than in the south; there's a lot more seafood! Thus far I have wandered around the markets, danced samba until five in the morning, amd visited the bontanical gardens.
The botanical gardens were more like a zoo as there were monkeys, birds, turles and a manatee! While these animals are fun to look at I feel quite bad for them, do they deserve to be kept in such a small place with no freedom. I don't think so.
There was an afternoon downpour at the gardens and the vendors made off like bandits! Everyone was huddled from the rain as were the vendors. They saw their chance. Many small children with their parents with nothing to do.. Look buy this toy, cotton candy, bubbles. hilarious to observe.
I still have't purchased my plane ticket to Altamira and have had some trouble calling the family on the phone. I'm going to give it another go tomorrow and see what happens.
Tchau
The botanical gardens were more like a zoo as there were monkeys, birds, turles and a manatee! While these animals are fun to look at I feel quite bad for them, do they deserve to be kept in such a small place with no freedom. I don't think so.
There was an afternoon downpour at the gardens and the vendors made off like bandits! Everyone was huddled from the rain as were the vendors. They saw their chance. Many small children with their parents with nothing to do.. Look buy this toy, cotton candy, bubbles. hilarious to observe.
I still have't purchased my plane ticket to Altamira and have had some trouble calling the family on the phone. I'm going to give it another go tomorrow and see what happens.
Tchau
Thursday, February 26, 2009
I ate a PIRANAH
Back from the Pantanal with the mosquito bites to prove it. Seriously, it was intense.
I´ve been on the move quite a bit. Toured the Argentinean side of Iguaço (it is WAY better than the brazilian side). This was an all day, very sweaty excursion. Totally worth it. I stood above the precipe of the falls and could barely take pictures because of all the mist. It was very humbling to be surrounded by the power of such a simple element, water. It was a paridise really; rainbows, palm trees, birds, and butterflys abound in the unique ecological niche that it Iguaço.
Immediately after touring the falls I'm on a bus headed to Campo Grande, where the Pantanla tour departrs from. Oh man, I was stinky. Walking all day in the sun combined with 12 hours on a bus- stench. I putter around Campo Grande waiting for the tour to leave, oh and took a shower.
I thought I was outdoorsy, I thought I had everything I needed to rough it, I thought mosquitos didn't bother me that much. I think I thought wrong. I didn't bring insect repellent- bad move. as soon as we step off the bus we are attacked by a swarm of mosquitos. Oh shit, welcome to the Pantanal gringos! That's what we get for willingly visiting a SWAMP.
Besides the mosquitos the Pantanal was lovely (sorry, I've been meeting a lot of brits). The accomodations were very cool- hammoks! The food was fantastic, although I pretty sure I'm still farting from all the rice and beans...
The first day was horseback riding! I was practically peeing I was so excited. My horse was awesome, I named it howard even though it was a girl. We went for a 2.5 hour ride, glorious. I got to steer a horse and make it trot. I decided that I need a horsey, pweeeese? The scenery was beautiful, flat swamp, tall grasses, dense palm jungles, and isolated lakes filled with crocodiles.
Another favorite was the hiking. A little different to my idea of hiking. Hiking with long sleves, jeans, boots, hat, and bandana on the neck in a humid 90 degrees. I was very sweaty, but I was trying in vain to avoid massive attack by mosquito. Our guide, Sondro showed us native uses for the plants and animals in the area. It was facinating. There are lots of fruits growing in the jungle and I ate guava from a tree, a relative to the avacado that was sweet and a tiny tiny coconut. I also slathered my face in repelent about every half hour.
Boat riding on the river had to be my favorite. We saw so many animals! Toucans, monkeys, herons, cranes, capivarai- the largest rodent in the world, caimen crocodiles, macaws, oh the list could go on and on. It was glorious, the sun was setting and reflecting off the water and herons were taking flight. A serene and tranquil setting; that is until we realized that our boat was flooding. Sondro assured us that we would not die, but it was iffy. Fortunately we made it back to the landing unscathed, except for wet legs.
I also swam in the piranah and caimen infested river. It is the color of lager and very warm. refreshing none the less and mosquitos can't bite you under water.
I have claimed lately that if I were to every eat meat it would have to be a fish that I caught and killed myself. So, we went fishing for piranahs. Its was disgusting; gross meat on a hook dangling from a bamboo rod. apparently I really suck at fishing which was fine I didn't particularly want to kill one anyway. I caught one fish and promptly threw it back in the water, I'm a wimp. Lunch rolls around and I say no piranah for me, but then I was thinking about it. I participated in the killing and would I ever eat a piranah again? So, I did it. The group was suprised and so was I. It was salty and bony.
I also talked a lot with the locals. Having a command of portugese is a great thing, I have learned so much about brasileiros and Brasil. But, on the down side brazilians LOVE to tease. Damn. That part I am not enjoying too much. No Diego, I don't want to marry you, have brazilian citizenship, two children and a white picket fence. This was very annoying going on the fifth hour plus all other portuguese speakers joined in on the fun. I found a great way out, "não entedei" or "i didn't understand". Hahaha! Succas. Oh I have no idea what you are talking about let's changed the subject. It worked rather well.
That's all folks. I need to wash my very smelly clothing, figure out how to navigate to Belém and harass the hostel staff I hung out with last night...TCHAU!
I´ve been on the move quite a bit. Toured the Argentinean side of Iguaço (it is WAY better than the brazilian side). This was an all day, very sweaty excursion. Totally worth it. I stood above the precipe of the falls and could barely take pictures because of all the mist. It was very humbling to be surrounded by the power of such a simple element, water. It was a paridise really; rainbows, palm trees, birds, and butterflys abound in the unique ecological niche that it Iguaço.
Immediately after touring the falls I'm on a bus headed to Campo Grande, where the Pantanla tour departrs from. Oh man, I was stinky. Walking all day in the sun combined with 12 hours on a bus- stench. I putter around Campo Grande waiting for the tour to leave, oh and took a shower.
I thought I was outdoorsy, I thought I had everything I needed to rough it, I thought mosquitos didn't bother me that much. I think I thought wrong. I didn't bring insect repellent- bad move. as soon as we step off the bus we are attacked by a swarm of mosquitos. Oh shit, welcome to the Pantanal gringos! That's what we get for willingly visiting a SWAMP.
Besides the mosquitos the Pantanal was lovely (sorry, I've been meeting a lot of brits). The accomodations were very cool- hammoks! The food was fantastic, although I pretty sure I'm still farting from all the rice and beans...
The first day was horseback riding! I was practically peeing I was so excited. My horse was awesome, I named it howard even though it was a girl. We went for a 2.5 hour ride, glorious. I got to steer a horse and make it trot. I decided that I need a horsey, pweeeese? The scenery was beautiful, flat swamp, tall grasses, dense palm jungles, and isolated lakes filled with crocodiles.
Another favorite was the hiking. A little different to my idea of hiking. Hiking with long sleves, jeans, boots, hat, and bandana on the neck in a humid 90 degrees. I was very sweaty, but I was trying in vain to avoid massive attack by mosquito. Our guide, Sondro showed us native uses for the plants and animals in the area. It was facinating. There are lots of fruits growing in the jungle and I ate guava from a tree, a relative to the avacado that was sweet and a tiny tiny coconut. I also slathered my face in repelent about every half hour.
Boat riding on the river had to be my favorite. We saw so many animals! Toucans, monkeys, herons, cranes, capivarai- the largest rodent in the world, caimen crocodiles, macaws, oh the list could go on and on. It was glorious, the sun was setting and reflecting off the water and herons were taking flight. A serene and tranquil setting; that is until we realized that our boat was flooding. Sondro assured us that we would not die, but it was iffy. Fortunately we made it back to the landing unscathed, except for wet legs.
I also swam in the piranah and caimen infested river. It is the color of lager and very warm. refreshing none the less and mosquitos can't bite you under water.
I have claimed lately that if I were to every eat meat it would have to be a fish that I caught and killed myself. So, we went fishing for piranahs. Its was disgusting; gross meat on a hook dangling from a bamboo rod. apparently I really suck at fishing which was fine I didn't particularly want to kill one anyway. I caught one fish and promptly threw it back in the water, I'm a wimp. Lunch rolls around and I say no piranah for me, but then I was thinking about it. I participated in the killing and would I ever eat a piranah again? So, I did it. The group was suprised and so was I. It was salty and bony.
I also talked a lot with the locals. Having a command of portugese is a great thing, I have learned so much about brasileiros and Brasil. But, on the down side brazilians LOVE to tease. Damn. That part I am not enjoying too much. No Diego, I don't want to marry you, have brazilian citizenship, two children and a white picket fence. This was very annoying going on the fifth hour plus all other portuguese speakers joined in on the fun. I found a great way out, "não entedei" or "i didn't understand". Hahaha! Succas. Oh I have no idea what you are talking about let's changed the subject. It worked rather well.
That's all folks. I need to wash my very smelly clothing, figure out how to navigate to Belém and harass the hostel staff I hung out with last night...TCHAU!
Friday, February 20, 2009
a change...
Hello again and greetings from Foz do Iguaço. WOW. What an amazing spot. Not only is the waterfall absolutely stunning but the hostel I am at is fantastic. Arrived yesterday on the ônibus, ugh it was a 15 hour bus ride from Floripa. Managed to navigate to the hostel on public transport, checked in and almost immediately made friends with an australian girl and two irish girls. We went to the brazilian side of the waterfall together, stunning.
There is a weird difference between national parks here and those in the US. This park remineded me very much of marine world. Everything was very new and there were many `atractions´ likes rock climbing, hiking, bike riding, and boating on the river. All of this you had to pay for, even the hiking. Weird. I suppose it all helps pay for the conservation of the park lands, but it is not very accecible to all people. All in all it was very commercial.
Last night I went out with an english girl, a chech couple, an older mexican dude, and two canadian guys. What a blast! We went to a local pub and there was a live band playing brazilian rock/reggae/classic brazilian pop songs. Cut.A.Rug. Oh man, the mexican man was shaking his tail feather so much, at one point he was on stage dancing infront of the band... We pretended that we didn´t know him... But a seriously good time.
Today was a lazy day spent lounging around the hostel and making plans for travel next. The trip to bonito is off, based upon recomendations from employees at the hostel a safari tour of the pantanal is now booked and awaiting me. Apparently bonito is very commercial and all activities are very pricy, making a package much cheaper. WOOOOO! I am so stoked. It is going to be amazingly beautiful. Anteaters, crocodiles, birds, fish, horse back riding, hiking. I can´t wait.
Tomorrow it is off to a tour of the argentinean side of the foz. I have heard it is more primitive, less comercial and you can get closer to the waterfalls. Also, there are hiking trails on the argentiean side, and you don´t have to pay for them...
I´ll leave you with an embarassing story...
I arrived at the hostel after walking for about 1/2 hour in the hot sun with a heavy pack. Franco, an employee, checks me in and begins showing me around the hostel; where the kitchen is, the pool, the computers etc. He´s telling me all these things in portuguese/spanish because I tell him that I speak it alright. I´m understanding about half of what he is saying... He´s finished showing me around and turns his cheek towards me. I guess it was the fact that I had become comfotable with the custom of cheek kissing, or that I was flustered, or that he was cute, but out of nowhere I plant one right on his cheek. There is an akward silence. The franco says, "um, the bathroom is right over there". uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. whoops. I turn red, giggle and muter somthing in portuguese about the custom of cheek kissing. Fast foreward 10 minutes, Franco is helping me with my bags and points out a bathroom then procedes to look at me expectantly. "What? No kiss?". Oh jesus, I've created a monster. Later, one more joke about my misstep and all is well. Franco is incredibly helpful and friendly guy. Reason number 752 that I will grow up to become a brazilian.
Next up, the pantanal!
Tchau!
There is a weird difference between national parks here and those in the US. This park remineded me very much of marine world. Everything was very new and there were many `atractions´ likes rock climbing, hiking, bike riding, and boating on the river. All of this you had to pay for, even the hiking. Weird. I suppose it all helps pay for the conservation of the park lands, but it is not very accecible to all people. All in all it was very commercial.
Last night I went out with an english girl, a chech couple, an older mexican dude, and two canadian guys. What a blast! We went to a local pub and there was a live band playing brazilian rock/reggae/classic brazilian pop songs. Cut.A.Rug. Oh man, the mexican man was shaking his tail feather so much, at one point he was on stage dancing infront of the band... We pretended that we didn´t know him... But a seriously good time.
Today was a lazy day spent lounging around the hostel and making plans for travel next. The trip to bonito is off, based upon recomendations from employees at the hostel a safari tour of the pantanal is now booked and awaiting me. Apparently bonito is very commercial and all activities are very pricy, making a package much cheaper. WOOOOO! I am so stoked. It is going to be amazingly beautiful. Anteaters, crocodiles, birds, fish, horse back riding, hiking. I can´t wait.
Tomorrow it is off to a tour of the argentinean side of the foz. I have heard it is more primitive, less comercial and you can get closer to the waterfalls. Also, there are hiking trails on the argentiean side, and you don´t have to pay for them...
I´ll leave you with an embarassing story...
I arrived at the hostel after walking for about 1/2 hour in the hot sun with a heavy pack. Franco, an employee, checks me in and begins showing me around the hostel; where the kitchen is, the pool, the computers etc. He´s telling me all these things in portuguese/spanish because I tell him that I speak it alright. I´m understanding about half of what he is saying... He´s finished showing me around and turns his cheek towards me. I guess it was the fact that I had become comfotable with the custom of cheek kissing, or that I was flustered, or that he was cute, but out of nowhere I plant one right on his cheek. There is an akward silence. The franco says, "um, the bathroom is right over there". uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. whoops. I turn red, giggle and muter somthing in portuguese about the custom of cheek kissing. Fast foreward 10 minutes, Franco is helping me with my bags and points out a bathroom then procedes to look at me expectantly. "What? No kiss?". Oh jesus, I've created a monster. Later, one more joke about my misstep and all is well. Franco is incredibly helpful and friendly guy. Reason number 752 that I will grow up to become a brazilian.
Next up, the pantanal!
Tchau!
Saturday, February 14, 2009
florianoplois!
Hello friends and greetings from a new location. Florianopolis is fantastic! I absolutely love it here; college town with beaches- sound familiar?
I have done so many things it´s hard to remember them all, but I´ll give it a try...
From the begining. Ricardo and Loiva dropped us off at the bus station in Novo Hamburgo, after we had hamburgers at McDondals- I found it hilariously ironic. I won´t lie, I came very close to crying when I hugged Loiva goodbye. We developed a good friendship and I hope that I can remain in contact with the family. Anyway, I gave the Ricardo and Loiva this painting:
This is the stairs leading to the front yard and the house. They told me they were going to frame it and hang it in the house, similar to this fine piece of art:
Anyway, the bus took about ten hours complete with a stop at the a slightly scary roadside resturant made only for buses. I counted and there were 13 buses at the resturant. I bet you´re thinking city bus, 10 hours on a city bus, that sounds like hell on earth. No, it´s not a city bus. It´s a super cushy, air conditioned, reclining seat bus- well it was a cold hell for me as I wore shorts and a tee-shirt only, not making that mistake again!
Arrived in Florianopolis in the morning and felt too overwhelmed to navigate the buses to where we were staying, so opted for a taxi- another first. We´re staying with the most awesome people! There is a wonderful website called couchsurfing.com and we found a great gal, Fran, who was willing to have us in her home for the entirety of our stay in Floripa. I know what you´re thinking... Megan you´re crazy, stay with a stranger... but we talked quite a bit through email (I´m honing my portuguese grammar) and she had many good refrences from people she had hosted previously. I also spoke with her on the phone, that was difficult.
Turns our it was a great decision! I have a bed and instant brazilian friends! Fran studies art and is finishing her masters and lives with seven other students near a university here in Floripa. We talk a lot about politics, art, movies and music. All the housemates are really friendly and have been helping with things to do and navigation of the city. Last night we watched an incredible movie "Trope de Elite", it is a brazilian film about Rio de Janiero's special police force in the favelas, BOPE. It was told from the perspective of a sargent and highlights police corruption, ineffective policies, violence from the police and drug lords, and how innocent people can become wrapped up in favela politics very easily. It was a shocking account but is based off of true stories and is a history that must be shared. Afterward, to lift our spirits, we played UNO with some wine.
Thus far I have gotten lost; I got off at the wrong bus terminal and wandered around for a few hours. Then, thinking I failed tried to go back to the house and found what I was looking for, the city center. When I arrived they was a huge street party going on. Live music, vendors, transvestites in sparkly wigs- it was a precarnival festa! I wandered around, took pictures, bought a brazilian bikini and postcards (coming to a mail box near you), and generally soaked up and observed the happenings. I have been to two beaches, Molae and Jouaquin, they were both gorgeous with turquoise water, white sand, and good waves for the surfers. There were vendors wandering around selling jewlery, roased cheese on a stick, sarongs, and coconuts for drinking.
I have mostly done a lot of wanderng and observing, it is very entertaining.
All of Floripa has incredible colonial architecture, pink and yellow buildings with ornate white trim. Beautiful. There is very much a european influence in this city, it was originally settled by portuguese fishermen. Tomorrow it is off to the foz, I'm excited to see this natural wonder, not so excited about the 12 hour bus ride.
Beijos!
I have done so many things it´s hard to remember them all, but I´ll give it a try...
From the begining. Ricardo and Loiva dropped us off at the bus station in Novo Hamburgo, after we had hamburgers at McDondals- I found it hilariously ironic. I won´t lie, I came very close to crying when I hugged Loiva goodbye. We developed a good friendship and I hope that I can remain in contact with the family. Anyway, I gave the Ricardo and Loiva this painting:
This is the stairs leading to the front yard and the house. They told me they were going to frame it and hang it in the house, similar to this fine piece of art:Anyway, the bus took about ten hours complete with a stop at the a slightly scary roadside resturant made only for buses. I counted and there were 13 buses at the resturant. I bet you´re thinking city bus, 10 hours on a city bus, that sounds like hell on earth. No, it´s not a city bus. It´s a super cushy, air conditioned, reclining seat bus- well it was a cold hell for me as I wore shorts and a tee-shirt only, not making that mistake again!
Arrived in Florianopolis in the morning and felt too overwhelmed to navigate the buses to where we were staying, so opted for a taxi- another first. We´re staying with the most awesome people! There is a wonderful website called couchsurfing.com and we found a great gal, Fran, who was willing to have us in her home for the entirety of our stay in Floripa. I know what you´re thinking... Megan you´re crazy, stay with a stranger... but we talked quite a bit through email (I´m honing my portuguese grammar) and she had many good refrences from people she had hosted previously. I also spoke with her on the phone, that was difficult.
Turns our it was a great decision! I have a bed and instant brazilian friends! Fran studies art and is finishing her masters and lives with seven other students near a university here in Floripa. We talk a lot about politics, art, movies and music. All the housemates are really friendly and have been helping with things to do and navigation of the city. Last night we watched an incredible movie "Trope de Elite", it is a brazilian film about Rio de Janiero's special police force in the favelas, BOPE. It was told from the perspective of a sargent and highlights police corruption, ineffective policies, violence from the police and drug lords, and how innocent people can become wrapped up in favela politics very easily. It was a shocking account but is based off of true stories and is a history that must be shared. Afterward, to lift our spirits, we played UNO with some wine.
Thus far I have gotten lost; I got off at the wrong bus terminal and wandered around for a few hours. Then, thinking I failed tried to go back to the house and found what I was looking for, the city center. When I arrived they was a huge street party going on. Live music, vendors, transvestites in sparkly wigs- it was a precarnival festa! I wandered around, took pictures, bought a brazilian bikini and postcards (coming to a mail box near you), and generally soaked up and observed the happenings. I have been to two beaches, Molae and Jouaquin, they were both gorgeous with turquoise water, white sand, and good waves for the surfers. There were vendors wandering around selling jewlery, roased cheese on a stick, sarongs, and coconuts for drinking.
I have mostly done a lot of wanderng and observing, it is very entertaining.
All of Floripa has incredible colonial architecture, pink and yellow buildings with ornate white trim. Beautiful. There is very much a european influence in this city, it was originally settled by portuguese fishermen. Tomorrow it is off to the foz, I'm excited to see this natural wonder, not so excited about the 12 hour bus ride.
Beijos!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
tchau!
The time has come. It seemed like it never would, but it is here.
Departure from ricardo and loiva's.
I feel as if I am leaving a warm, pão and dulce de leite lined womb and/or jumping out the nest. Fly my little brasileira, fly! Go off into Brazil and prosper.
I got pretty sad about it, thinking "yeah, I could wash bottles/shuck grapes for another month". But the answer is a big resounding NO! There is so much out there to see, and as comfortable and accepting this place is to otras lugars I venture.
Today I said my final goodbye to my only brasilian friend under the age of 40 and above the age of 4- Caío. We worked, we laughed, we talked. To be honest it was mostly work, side by side in a comfortable silence (or with my awful choice of music blaring in the background). I think for the first three weeks he wasn't actully sure I spoke very much portuguese. But, he's a good kid. Works harder than you or I, that's for sure. He labors for Ricardo five to six days a weeks for three to five hours, sometimes ten or eleven on the weekends. AND, after that he goes to the leather factory where he works a nine hour night shift five days a week.
WHEW.
As much as I look up to someone who can do that without going insane, my ideal work life would be this:
eight hours for work
eight hours for sleep
eight hours for myself
Credit to a Mrz Hilary D. G. for that one actually...
In light of this great transition, I thought that I would make a list of the things I will miss about Ricardo, Loiva and João Pedro's.
1. Conversing with interesting, like minded people in portuguese.
2. Watching João attempt to eat his food directly out of the packaging, and then Loiva freaking out. Actually, watching Loiva freak out at any number of João's antics then watching her crack a smile within two minutes.
3. Throwing grapes at Caío and Juvilino
4. American cartoons dubbed over in portuguese. Actually any chill non-whiny time with JP such as: painting, reading, and making shadow puppets.
5. The view from my balcony.
6. The 3 ft iguana under the house. And my cow friends, I'll miss them too.
7.'Vamos a come' complete with hand gestures from Ricardo- this means lets go eat... Or any other Ricardo 'ism' such as: pronto (now), ta bom (it's good), chega a le (stop it!), or pão liquido (actually he has me to thank for that one, beer= liquid bread)
8. On a similar note, I'll sure miss homemade dulce de leite. But I'll expecially miss having all my meals for free.
9. Drinking çhimáro out of a wooden cup with a silver straw with Loiva while we watch the news (and ignore João's whines for 'cartoon'- all I have to say is that I now understand, I'm sorry mom).
10. Radio station 94.9 'Ipanema'. Any radio station that plays (in this order) bob marley, richard cheese, vampire weekend, and radiohead is a.o.k. in my book. Live 105, please take note. This radio station is responsible for my sanity; washing bottles for 9 hours a day in silence?
Just to even things out, and to lessen my feelings of longing, here are ten things I will not miss:
1. Waking up at seven am every morning.
2. Putting used tp in the tiny garbage can and not in the toilet. It's a hard habit to break folks.
3. An unlimited supply of icecream/popcicles. This occured during a transaction for the creation of grape icecream; we recieved a four month supply of icecream. I do love it, my bumbum (portuguese for butt, funny huh?) on the other hand hates me.
4. American cartoons dubbed over in portuguese.
5. João's incessent whining for coca cola, chocolate, and yogurt. Also, for McDonalds, cartoons, and nutella. Pretty much any whining...
6. Those tiny mosquitos which, instead of just stabbing you with their stylet actually chew a gaping hole into your skin. Not only is it more bloody, it itches like a mo-fo and gets super swolen. I guess on the same note, I'm not going to miss being carne fresca or fresh meat.
7. The scent of steaming grapes, it's quite unpleasant actually. Oh, and being covered in grape and attacked by flys. Who knew that grape juice in the eye was painful??
8. Being woken up before seven am by a pulp grinder- damn you jellys!
9. Akward transactions at PIA, the supermarket. Oh, and chasing João around PIA while all the locals give me wierd looks because I'm not german.
10. As much as I love (almost all) the people that I've met here and the beauty of Rio Grande do Sul, I'm not going to miss feeling like I'm in Bavaria.
There you have it. The next update will be from Florianopolis, Santa Catarina.
Beijos!
Departure from ricardo and loiva's.
I feel as if I am leaving a warm, pão and dulce de leite lined womb and/or jumping out the nest. Fly my little brasileira, fly! Go off into Brazil and prosper.
I got pretty sad about it, thinking "yeah, I could wash bottles/shuck grapes for another month". But the answer is a big resounding NO! There is so much out there to see, and as comfortable and accepting this place is to otras lugars I venture.
Today I said my final goodbye to my only brasilian friend under the age of 40 and above the age of 4- Caío. We worked, we laughed, we talked. To be honest it was mostly work, side by side in a comfortable silence (or with my awful choice of music blaring in the background). I think for the first three weeks he wasn't actully sure I spoke very much portuguese. But, he's a good kid. Works harder than you or I, that's for sure. He labors for Ricardo five to six days a weeks for three to five hours, sometimes ten or eleven on the weekends. AND, after that he goes to the leather factory where he works a nine hour night shift five days a week.
WHEW.
As much as I look up to someone who can do that without going insane, my ideal work life would be this:
eight hours for work
eight hours for sleep
eight hours for myself
Credit to a Mrz Hilary D. G. for that one actually...
In light of this great transition, I thought that I would make a list of the things I will miss about Ricardo, Loiva and João Pedro's.
1. Conversing with interesting, like minded people in portuguese.
2. Watching João attempt to eat his food directly out of the packaging, and then Loiva freaking out. Actually, watching Loiva freak out at any number of João's antics then watching her crack a smile within two minutes.
3. Throwing grapes at Caío and Juvilino
4. American cartoons dubbed over in portuguese. Actually any chill non-whiny time with JP such as: painting, reading, and making shadow puppets.
5. The view from my balcony.
6. The 3 ft iguana under the house. And my cow friends, I'll miss them too.
7.'Vamos a come' complete with hand gestures from Ricardo- this means lets go eat... Or any other Ricardo 'ism' such as: pronto (now), ta bom (it's good), chega a le (stop it!), or pão liquido (actually he has me to thank for that one, beer= liquid bread)
8. On a similar note, I'll sure miss homemade dulce de leite. But I'll expecially miss having all my meals for free.
9. Drinking çhimáro out of a wooden cup with a silver straw with Loiva while we watch the news (and ignore João's whines for 'cartoon'- all I have to say is that I now understand, I'm sorry mom).
10. Radio station 94.9 'Ipanema'. Any radio station that plays (in this order) bob marley, richard cheese, vampire weekend, and radiohead is a.o.k. in my book. Live 105, please take note. This radio station is responsible for my sanity; washing bottles for 9 hours a day in silence?
Just to even things out, and to lessen my feelings of longing, here are ten things I will not miss:
1. Waking up at seven am every morning.
2. Putting used tp in the tiny garbage can and not in the toilet. It's a hard habit to break folks.
3. An unlimited supply of icecream/popcicles. This occured during a transaction for the creation of grape icecream; we recieved a four month supply of icecream. I do love it, my bumbum (portuguese for butt, funny huh?) on the other hand hates me.
4. American cartoons dubbed over in portuguese.
5. João's incessent whining for coca cola, chocolate, and yogurt. Also, for McDonalds, cartoons, and nutella. Pretty much any whining...
6. Those tiny mosquitos which, instead of just stabbing you with their stylet actually chew a gaping hole into your skin. Not only is it more bloody, it itches like a mo-fo and gets super swolen. I guess on the same note, I'm not going to miss being carne fresca or fresh meat.
7. The scent of steaming grapes, it's quite unpleasant actually. Oh, and being covered in grape and attacked by flys. Who knew that grape juice in the eye was painful??
8. Being woken up before seven am by a pulp grinder- damn you jellys!
9. Akward transactions at PIA, the supermarket. Oh, and chasing João around PIA while all the locals give me wierd looks because I'm not german.
10. As much as I love (almost all) the people that I've met here and the beauty of Rio Grande do Sul, I'm not going to miss feeling like I'm in Bavaria.
There you have it. The next update will be from Florianopolis, Santa Catarina.
Beijos!
Friday, February 6, 2009
eu ri muito!
Today I laughed a lot! I laughed while I sorted through a new shipment of grapes. I laughed while I tried to convince Kieo, Loiva, João Pedro and Ricardo to come stay with me in Califronia. I told Loiva that if she cooked and cleaned for me she could stay as long as she wanted. I felt a little bit akward when I met a new person. She is from Rio de Janiero and works with an organic institution. With a business degree from Harvard, she and her co-workers give advice to small and medium sized organic cooperatives. We ate lunch with her; first time we used the dining room table! With a table cloth none the less. It was also the first time I ate pickles with a fork and a knife.
Later, I laughed when the only music they played on the radio was Bob Marley; Loiva says the DJs got lazy and just suck a CD in. Then I talked seriously with Mrs. Harvard (in english!) about organic agriculture, what coopernatural was doing, how hard this community of people work and her six cats in Rio. Ricardo, and coopernatural, is a little different than the other communities with whom she works with. Ricardo is eager; a meeting of organics? He's there the next day, never mind it's a 20 hour drive. The huge diversity of products they make sets them appart as well, did I mention those pickles? Yeah, theu're from the coop. If you have never had Goiaba, go find some right now. Goiaba juice is the most amazing thing ever, the most amazing tropical flavor ever with a texture of pear juice. The only problem is that when it is bottled without preservatives (a natural foods no-no) it has a tendancy to ferment. This means the bottles explode- I laughed.
I laughed when Ricardo attempted to force feed Mrs. Harvard creme de leite; hospitality over kill. I giggled when João attempted to take over Mrs. Harvard's computer. Oh man, I cracked up so hard after João threw a shit fit about having to take a shower, then refused to get out. After being forcfully removed from the water he was pissed, and threw shampoo bottles down the hall on his way to the floor behind the dining room table. Sulking insued for about five minutes, but without being given any attention this character craved it. So, out comes JP buck naked towel as a cape- I laughed.
I laughed when JP demanded a popcicle and returned from the kitchen with a cold sausage.
Loiva and I laughed at the ridiculousness that is Caminos das India- holy mother of pearl telenovelas are hilarious. I almost died of lack of oxygen when a rat came running into the livingroom. A classic reaction from Loiva and I, yelping and perching ourselves ontop of chairs. João is standing on the sofa trying to take pictures of the thing and Ricardo is chasing it down with a hobby horse. It was never discoved, sneeky rat.
The thing that caused the most humor this evening? Some photos. Old fashioned photos in round frames over the fireplace. I always assumed that these were family photos, the people looked pretty Greman after all. I finally asked. Turns out they are recent. These photos are actually of Ricardo and Loiva. Ricardo is wearing fake wire rimmed glasses and holding a bizzare looking horn, a very serious look on his face. Loiva is wearing a fancy old school dress and a hat with a fake braid attached to the back, carrying a purse and a parisol. What? That was worth about a good 10 minutes of chuckling. I'm pretty sure I will laugh a little everytime I look at those pictures now. Meaning I will go out of my way to look at them everyday while I am here.
Later, I laughed when the only music they played on the radio was Bob Marley; Loiva says the DJs got lazy and just suck a CD in. Then I talked seriously with Mrs. Harvard (in english!) about organic agriculture, what coopernatural was doing, how hard this community of people work and her six cats in Rio. Ricardo, and coopernatural, is a little different than the other communities with whom she works with. Ricardo is eager; a meeting of organics? He's there the next day, never mind it's a 20 hour drive. The huge diversity of products they make sets them appart as well, did I mention those pickles? Yeah, theu're from the coop. If you have never had Goiaba, go find some right now. Goiaba juice is the most amazing thing ever, the most amazing tropical flavor ever with a texture of pear juice. The only problem is that when it is bottled without preservatives (a natural foods no-no) it has a tendancy to ferment. This means the bottles explode- I laughed.
I laughed when Ricardo attempted to force feed Mrs. Harvard creme de leite; hospitality over kill. I giggled when João attempted to take over Mrs. Harvard's computer. Oh man, I cracked up so hard after João threw a shit fit about having to take a shower, then refused to get out. After being forcfully removed from the water he was pissed, and threw shampoo bottles down the hall on his way to the floor behind the dining room table. Sulking insued for about five minutes, but without being given any attention this character craved it. So, out comes JP buck naked towel as a cape- I laughed.
I laughed when JP demanded a popcicle and returned from the kitchen with a cold sausage.
Loiva and I laughed at the ridiculousness that is Caminos das India- holy mother of pearl telenovelas are hilarious. I almost died of lack of oxygen when a rat came running into the livingroom. A classic reaction from Loiva and I, yelping and perching ourselves ontop of chairs. João is standing on the sofa trying to take pictures of the thing and Ricardo is chasing it down with a hobby horse. It was never discoved, sneeky rat.
The thing that caused the most humor this evening? Some photos. Old fashioned photos in round frames over the fireplace. I always assumed that these were family photos, the people looked pretty Greman after all. I finally asked. Turns out they are recent. These photos are actually of Ricardo and Loiva. Ricardo is wearing fake wire rimmed glasses and holding a bizzare looking horn, a very serious look on his face. Loiva is wearing a fancy old school dress and a hat with a fake braid attached to the back, carrying a purse and a parisol. What? That was worth about a good 10 minutes of chuckling. I'm pretty sure I will laugh a little everytime I look at those pictures now. Meaning I will go out of my way to look at them everyday while I am here.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
chuva de uva
chuva de uva literally translates to rain of grapes, but reign of grapes would be more appropriate. there have been lots, ands lots of grapes this week. mostly bordo grapes, which are sweet at first then make your mouth pucker with sour. these grapes stain hands, clothes, anything really. fingers, nails, caluses are the color of burnt umber. that is until loiva and i venture for manicures after this insanity is over.
work is different here. work is longer and more monotounous. it is not nicely divided up into different, entertaining sections throughout the day. it is the same thing 8-5(or 6, 7, or 8 depending on how much work needs to be done). yet, these brazilians remain happy, if not about the work, then about talking with each other. my mood began to fail me going on the 11th hour of sorting grapes. "megan, va a descansar" loiva told me, but i refused feeling too stubborn to give up and not wanting to rest while everyone else worked.
apparently it is also not uncommon to recieve deliveries of produce to your house very, very late at night. all cargos of fruit we have recieved here have been between 6 and 8 pm, when things are starting to cool down. when the cargo didn't arrive by 9 on saturday i figured that it would arrive the next day and took my long awaited shower. fast foreward five hours, i am blissfully sleeping, dreaming of, apparently, carrying crates of grapes from a truck into the vinicula. i can even here a rumbling motor, men talking, and the sound of heavy plastic crates hitting tile floors.
the next morning loiva asks if i heard the delivery last night. "delivery?" i ask. "yes, it came at two in the morning. oiii, i never sleep..."
there were shocking similarities between the grandparents of joão perdo and mine. i accompanied loiva to her parent's house in a nearby town. here we sat around the television in brightly colored lawn chairs (as opposed to recliners or couches), sipping çhimáro (erva maté) out of a wooden cup with a silver straw. instead of the livingroom where we would always gather with my grandparents, in brazil we sat in the sun room. both the sunroom and the livingroom are in close proximity to a window for spying on the comings and goings of the neighbors. much television was watched and the newpaper was read by every member of the group.
the beauty of not totally understanding everything that is being said is that sometimes you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. i realized this when loiva turned to me and said "i hope you brought a book, we're going to be here a while"- damn it, all i brought was my english portuguese dictonary. ricardo was on a business trip set to return late that night, to the house i thought; turns out he was meeting us at a casa dos pães.
the family was very nice, but i was feeling too shy to strike up a conversation. loiva never introduced us, and i believe for the majority of the evening they thought i didn't speak any portugese. so mostly i shared shy smiles and bashful looks with sr. and sra. parents of loiva.
the telenovela 'caminos do india' is over and im thinking it's time to go home. no movement. next up, another round of the news, okay. my mood started to sour and i became seriously unhappy when i realized that i would be there for the enirety of big brother brasil 2. and then some program about people and their pet dogs. and then, after loiva's mother almost shoved cookies and coca-cola down my troat, i fell asleep, head in my own lap. exausted, i had worked all day and it was way past my newly aquired 10pm bedtime. i am awoken at 1 am by ricardo arriving, a crying joão, i grunt in greeting to ricardo and zombie my way to the car. the entire ride back i curse my very grumpy existance.
the compound on which loiva's parents live is shared with two of the sons. they have a large piece of property with three houses on it and a large shared backyard. families are very close here in brasil, ricardo lives down the street from his parents and his 30 year old brother still lives at home. ricardo's mom comes over and watches joão every weekend and his dad helps out with all this grapey madness, i eat eggs from their chickens almost everyday. mom, don't get your hopes up, were not sharing a backyard...
leaving here soon! heading by bus to florianopolis, a beach infested island in the state of santa catarina. lots of european architecture, secluded beaches and surfers- i can't wait! next up, a trip to foz do iguaço, 3rd largest waterfall in the world. then, bussing it to brasilia, capital of brasil. catching a flight to belém capital of pará, a state in the amazon. from there meeting up with a friend of ricardo's and going to live and work on her farm. amazon, chocolate, brazil nut and guarana farm here i come. here's to eating açai everyday, hopefully.
i love you all, unless of course you don't love me, then the deal is off. until next time...
tchau!
work is different here. work is longer and more monotounous. it is not nicely divided up into different, entertaining sections throughout the day. it is the same thing 8-5(or 6, 7, or 8 depending on how much work needs to be done). yet, these brazilians remain happy, if not about the work, then about talking with each other. my mood began to fail me going on the 11th hour of sorting grapes. "megan, va a descansar" loiva told me, but i refused feeling too stubborn to give up and not wanting to rest while everyone else worked.
apparently it is also not uncommon to recieve deliveries of produce to your house very, very late at night. all cargos of fruit we have recieved here have been between 6 and 8 pm, when things are starting to cool down. when the cargo didn't arrive by 9 on saturday i figured that it would arrive the next day and took my long awaited shower. fast foreward five hours, i am blissfully sleeping, dreaming of, apparently, carrying crates of grapes from a truck into the vinicula. i can even here a rumbling motor, men talking, and the sound of heavy plastic crates hitting tile floors.
the next morning loiva asks if i heard the delivery last night. "delivery?" i ask. "yes, it came at two in the morning. oiii, i never sleep..."
there were shocking similarities between the grandparents of joão perdo and mine. i accompanied loiva to her parent's house in a nearby town. here we sat around the television in brightly colored lawn chairs (as opposed to recliners or couches), sipping çhimáro (erva maté) out of a wooden cup with a silver straw. instead of the livingroom where we would always gather with my grandparents, in brazil we sat in the sun room. both the sunroom and the livingroom are in close proximity to a window for spying on the comings and goings of the neighbors. much television was watched and the newpaper was read by every member of the group.
the beauty of not totally understanding everything that is being said is that sometimes you have no idea what you are getting yourself into. i realized this when loiva turned to me and said "i hope you brought a book, we're going to be here a while"- damn it, all i brought was my english portuguese dictonary. ricardo was on a business trip set to return late that night, to the house i thought; turns out he was meeting us at a casa dos pães.
the family was very nice, but i was feeling too shy to strike up a conversation. loiva never introduced us, and i believe for the majority of the evening they thought i didn't speak any portugese. so mostly i shared shy smiles and bashful looks with sr. and sra. parents of loiva.
the telenovela 'caminos do india' is over and im thinking it's time to go home. no movement. next up, another round of the news, okay. my mood started to sour and i became seriously unhappy when i realized that i would be there for the enirety of big brother brasil 2. and then some program about people and their pet dogs. and then, after loiva's mother almost shoved cookies and coca-cola down my troat, i fell asleep, head in my own lap. exausted, i had worked all day and it was way past my newly aquired 10pm bedtime. i am awoken at 1 am by ricardo arriving, a crying joão, i grunt in greeting to ricardo and zombie my way to the car. the entire ride back i curse my very grumpy existance.
the compound on which loiva's parents live is shared with two of the sons. they have a large piece of property with three houses on it and a large shared backyard. families are very close here in brasil, ricardo lives down the street from his parents and his 30 year old brother still lives at home. ricardo's mom comes over and watches joão every weekend and his dad helps out with all this grapey madness, i eat eggs from their chickens almost everyday. mom, don't get your hopes up, were not sharing a backyard...
leaving here soon! heading by bus to florianopolis, a beach infested island in the state of santa catarina. lots of european architecture, secluded beaches and surfers- i can't wait! next up, a trip to foz do iguaço, 3rd largest waterfall in the world. then, bussing it to brasilia, capital of brasil. catching a flight to belém capital of pará, a state in the amazon. from there meeting up with a friend of ricardo's and going to live and work on her farm. amazon, chocolate, brazil nut and guarana farm here i come. here's to eating açai everyday, hopefully.
i love you all, unless of course you don't love me, then the deal is off. until next time...
tchau!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
a few photos
hi folks here are a few photos from the last week for your viewing pleasure. they include:
-making grape juice
-visiting a national park
-being awesome
enjoy!
-making grape juice
-visiting a national park
-being awesome
enjoy!
uma vista, uma idea
bending grasses in the wind
a bumpy dirt road, dust
yellow sundial flowers peek
their niche in terra verde
streaking clouds change
mutate white to pewter
arbols loom against the sky
ancient floating pinohs
cavalos graze undisturbed
upon curves of green, gold
cattle call in unison
whip cracks in the humid air
water falls from cliffs and sky
drifts into the depths of a gorge
trees grow up into lumber
and children into workers
rustic chimneys leak smoke
heating, cooking, burning
a boy and a toy are content
if only for this moment
vaca piciniño escapes
wanting more than a herd
a horse sweeps its tail
against soft grey hide
corn, palms, fejos, bananas
orange, red, pink, azul
brick and madera casas
corrugated tin, plastic
crops are squares of line
our lives seem to be spirals
a bumpy dirt road, dust
yellow sundial flowers peek
their niche in terra verde
streaking clouds change
mutate white to pewter
arbols loom against the sky
ancient floating pinohs
cavalos graze undisturbed
upon curves of green, gold
cattle call in unison
whip cracks in the humid air
water falls from cliffs and sky
drifts into the depths of a gorge
trees grow up into lumber
and children into workers
rustic chimneys leak smoke
heating, cooking, burning
a boy and a toy are content
if only for this moment
vaca piciniño escapes
wanting more than a herd
a horse sweeps its tail
against soft grey hide
corn, palms, fejos, bananas
orange, red, pink, azul
brick and madera casas
corrugated tin, plastic
crops are squares of line
our lives seem to be spirals
Saturday, January 24, 2009
trabalhao do brasil
today, oh today. i worked a lot today, and i feel great. i was frustrated and confused when i washed bottles for two weeks straight. for a while i felt like really cheap labor, but now i'm seeing things from a new perspective. on thursday ricardo received 3,000 kilos of grapes from an organic farmer in the cooperative coopernatural, which he then turns into grape juice, ice cream and other grape-y natural organic products. i would like to let it be known that i personally carried 1,000 of those 3,000 kilos... não! not all at the same time! in crate increments.
so, back to the point. grapes do not magically turn themselves into juice and so forth, although it may seem that way when we grab a welch's bottle off of the shelf in the supermarket. it takes lots of energy and people to make the purple stuff we drink out of tiny cups at communion. so how it works at a tiny cooperative here in brasil is this:
-pour crates of grapes into spinning machine which attempts to remove fruit from the stem.
-hunch, while standing, or sit around said machine and pick out stems and remove fruit still stuck on stems.
-pour gleaned fruit into buckets for next step in the process- either steaming into juice or freezing for later use.
-repeat, until all 3,000 kilos are terminado.
this was my task for the past two days.
i have found throughout my life that it is while laboring that my thoughts are the most creative and clear, some may call it day dreaming- i say screw you! it's helpful too that i cannot understand half of what the people around me are saying, so im really alone with my brain- no distractions. i became enamored with the grape clusters throughout the process and exclaimed how cute they were for about the first five hours, especially the light red grapes. they look like little brains. this lead me then to think about how if grapes were brains then the stem was the brain stem and each thought we have is a fruit. if this were the case, then your thoughts could be picked for consumption, dried and condensed, left on the stem to age and sweeten, fermented to intoxicate your spirit, squished and mixed with other thoughts, or to rot and become part of the earth once more.
oh the thoughts you have when you only need a search image to perform work. i also thought of new programs to give this summer in yosemite, what i want to study while im in grad school (can i get a hell yes for the environment?), and most importantly what my time here at ricardo's is shaping up to be.
in a previous post i was upset, and claimed that i was gaining nothing. im sure most of you could tell this was written in the heat of the moment, although all feelings are legitimate. i have learned so much already, just not what i was expecting. i was expecting a different kind of agriculture, i was expecting traditional farming methods, i was expecting weeding, i expected dirt under my fingernails not water logged hands. but, i have discovered so much about the lives and lifestyles of these people.
this is more than ricardo's idea. this is a group effort. this a group attempting to create livelihoods which are in tune with their ethics. the fruit isn't picked by a migrant laborer, nor are the products created by low-wage workers. the workers are their neighbors, people from the community, individuals in the cooperative. and the work isn't half assesd, they don't stop in the middle of a project because they can. it is seen through to the end with earnest. i find this inspiring. even im seeing projects i started come to an end! like all those bottles i lovingly washed, theyre now being filled with grape juice! oh yeah, and those 3,000 kilos of grapes i helped glean.
today i worked for 12 hours. im tired but i feel accomplished. i don't feel used, i feel helpful. i feel like the little part that i am doing can maybe help the noble cause. maybe this isn't exactly a farm, but where does all the organic juice you buy at traitor joe's come from, directly from the farmer? or any product for that matter? this is how the economy works, and im seeing that coopernatural has found a pragmatic solution. a way to modernize traditional agriculture (please see pictures of the pear farm in my first post), a way to provide sustenance that is wholesome, natural and made by humans who care.
i am now stepping down from my soapbox, if you have made it this far im impressed (unless of course you're from santa cruz, im sure you've heard this rant before-"organic produce! isn't it so beautiful? i love the farmer's market..."). in other news, i am now vaccinated against yellow fever, i have sore forearms for the first time in my life (thats what gleaning grapes will do after twelve hours), my hand are permanently stained a purplish brown color and im going to a national park tomorrow!
sorry folks, too tired to post pictures tonight but i'll leave you with a few links...
this is coopernatural's website, it's in portuguese but you can get the gist:
http://www.coopernatural.com.br/
if you really want to know what it says use this website:
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/
and if you really, really want to see some pictures here's link to my facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2188883&l=33173&id=6702180
boa noite!
so, back to the point. grapes do not magically turn themselves into juice and so forth, although it may seem that way when we grab a welch's bottle off of the shelf in the supermarket. it takes lots of energy and people to make the purple stuff we drink out of tiny cups at communion. so how it works at a tiny cooperative here in brasil is this:
-pour crates of grapes into spinning machine which attempts to remove fruit from the stem.
-hunch, while standing, or sit around said machine and pick out stems and remove fruit still stuck on stems.
-pour gleaned fruit into buckets for next step in the process- either steaming into juice or freezing for later use.
-repeat, until all 3,000 kilos are terminado.
this was my task for the past two days.
i have found throughout my life that it is while laboring that my thoughts are the most creative and clear, some may call it day dreaming- i say screw you! it's helpful too that i cannot understand half of what the people around me are saying, so im really alone with my brain- no distractions. i became enamored with the grape clusters throughout the process and exclaimed how cute they were for about the first five hours, especially the light red grapes. they look like little brains. this lead me then to think about how if grapes were brains then the stem was the brain stem and each thought we have is a fruit. if this were the case, then your thoughts could be picked for consumption, dried and condensed, left on the stem to age and sweeten, fermented to intoxicate your spirit, squished and mixed with other thoughts, or to rot and become part of the earth once more.
oh the thoughts you have when you only need a search image to perform work. i also thought of new programs to give this summer in yosemite, what i want to study while im in grad school (can i get a hell yes for the environment?), and most importantly what my time here at ricardo's is shaping up to be.
in a previous post i was upset, and claimed that i was gaining nothing. im sure most of you could tell this was written in the heat of the moment, although all feelings are legitimate. i have learned so much already, just not what i was expecting. i was expecting a different kind of agriculture, i was expecting traditional farming methods, i was expecting weeding, i expected dirt under my fingernails not water logged hands. but, i have discovered so much about the lives and lifestyles of these people.
this is more than ricardo's idea. this is a group effort. this a group attempting to create livelihoods which are in tune with their ethics. the fruit isn't picked by a migrant laborer, nor are the products created by low-wage workers. the workers are their neighbors, people from the community, individuals in the cooperative. and the work isn't half assesd, they don't stop in the middle of a project because they can. it is seen through to the end with earnest. i find this inspiring. even im seeing projects i started come to an end! like all those bottles i lovingly washed, theyre now being filled with grape juice! oh yeah, and those 3,000 kilos of grapes i helped glean.
today i worked for 12 hours. im tired but i feel accomplished. i don't feel used, i feel helpful. i feel like the little part that i am doing can maybe help the noble cause. maybe this isn't exactly a farm, but where does all the organic juice you buy at traitor joe's come from, directly from the farmer? or any product for that matter? this is how the economy works, and im seeing that coopernatural has found a pragmatic solution. a way to modernize traditional agriculture (please see pictures of the pear farm in my first post), a way to provide sustenance that is wholesome, natural and made by humans who care.
i am now stepping down from my soapbox, if you have made it this far im impressed (unless of course you're from santa cruz, im sure you've heard this rant before-"organic produce! isn't it so beautiful? i love the farmer's market..."). in other news, i am now vaccinated against yellow fever, i have sore forearms for the first time in my life (thats what gleaning grapes will do after twelve hours), my hand are permanently stained a purplish brown color and im going to a national park tomorrow!
sorry folks, too tired to post pictures tonight but i'll leave you with a few links...
this is coopernatural's website, it's in portuguese but you can get the gist:
http://www.coopernatural.com.br/
if you really want to know what it says use this website:
http://babelfish.yahoo.com/
and if you really, really want to see some pictures here's link to my facebook album:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2188883&l=33173&id=6702180
boa noite!
Monday, January 19, 2009
arte
the past few days have been great! i spent sunday sitting on the porch drawing with joao pedro. i was watercoloring and j.p. was color penciling the world, which consisted of the house, two of his friends and the estados unidos way off in the corner. on sunday we also (well everyone but me) had chirosco, traditional brazilian barbeque. huge chunks of meat on giant skewers roasted over a wood fire. apparently it was delish. we also drank more brazilian beer and caparinas, the national drink of brazil. caparinas consist of chausca liqour with lime and sugar. very strong.
later, we went to the town hot spot. it was a park by the river with a snack stand. there were tons of people sitting around their cars, which were parked on the grass, blasting bizzare brazilian techno. luis, ricardo, loiva and i drank some beer made out of cabbage. i put my feet in the river, which was the color of chocolate milk! joao pedro and i spent a good 30 minutes throwing rocks into the river and i unsucessfully attempted to skip stones on the surface. on the way home ricardo took us on the scenic route; it consisted of, literally, driving through the river, i thought the car was going to flood! loiva was berating ricardo very much at this point; he was just trying to show off.
it rained all day today so luis and i spent the day washing and labeling bottles of nectar peach (pessigo) and blackberry (amora). this was a nice break from scrubbing the insides of bottles. also, we found the best radio station yet, 90's rock! hell yes. luis made a loaf of bread which we ate for cafe de tarde.
i spent this evening with joao pedro painting. he saw me painting with my watercolors and wanted to paint so bad. ricardo went to the store and bought a little set of tempura paint and we sat around the coffee table and painted together. pretty much joao just wanted to pour the paint onto his paper, it took a lot of help from me for it not to turn into a total disaster. i guess im working on my portuguese comands! the skills i gained instructing art to small children at artopia came in handy for the first time in a long time.
i suppose that is all for now. tomorrow luis and i are going to watch the inaguration live on fox news (hahahahahaha)! so stoked. i bid you boa noite and leave you with some pictures.
later, we went to the town hot spot. it was a park by the river with a snack stand. there were tons of people sitting around their cars, which were parked on the grass, blasting bizzare brazilian techno. luis, ricardo, loiva and i drank some beer made out of cabbage. i put my feet in the river, which was the color of chocolate milk! joao pedro and i spent a good 30 minutes throwing rocks into the river and i unsucessfully attempted to skip stones on the surface. on the way home ricardo took us on the scenic route; it consisted of, literally, driving through the river, i thought the car was going to flood! loiva was berating ricardo very much at this point; he was just trying to show off.
it rained all day today so luis and i spent the day washing and labeling bottles of nectar peach (pessigo) and blackberry (amora). this was a nice break from scrubbing the insides of bottles. also, we found the best radio station yet, 90's rock! hell yes. luis made a loaf of bread which we ate for cafe de tarde.
i spent this evening with joao pedro painting. he saw me painting with my watercolors and wanted to paint so bad. ricardo went to the store and bought a little set of tempura paint and we sat around the coffee table and painted together. pretty much joao just wanted to pour the paint onto his paper, it took a lot of help from me for it not to turn into a total disaster. i guess im working on my portuguese comands! the skills i gained instructing art to small children at artopia came in handy for the first time in a long time.
i suppose that is all for now. tomorrow luis and i are going to watch the inaguration live on fox news (hahahahahaha)! so stoked. i bid you boa noite and leave you with some pictures.
the best sunset yet!
my painting from the porch
Saturday, January 17, 2009
brazilian beer
the past two days have been quite a daze. yesterday was a downer; both luis and i were sick and tired of washing bottles. this did not make a very good combination. but things turned up and we both felt better. plus, there was the most amazing sunset last night. the sky was gold, orange, pink, red, purple and grey. streaked across these colors were clouds of silver and pewter. we could hear monkeys calling from the forest and joao perdo was playing with us on the porch. we also watched the movie 'hook'dubbed over in portuguese- it was even more amazing than in english.
i still cannot quite comprehend the amount of insects that exist here. i have seen at least 100 different types, or that is what it seems like. insects were responsible for my sickness. i was attacked by a mosquito in the night and woke up with a swolen, zombie, monster eye. it was not a good start to the day.
today, we did more of the same. im sure you can guess what that was. it was fine, our spirits were high and we listened to brazilian roque and american pop while we scrubbed away in the sun. im getting quite a good tan already! the highlight of the day was having my first taste of brazilian beer! it was quite good, a pilsner- it really didnt taste like much. luis, ricardo and i sat at the kitchen table drinking two bottles of beer and discussing development in latin american and terra preta.
terra preta is a phenomena which occurs in the amazon of brazil, it is pockets of very fertile dark earth in an area which has thin nutirent poor soil. it is believed, in academic circles, that terra preta was developed by the ancient amazonians and may be the first example of agriculture in the western hemisphere. a really great book that explores terra preta, the development and preconcieved notions of the new world is '1491' by charles mann.
i was suprised to discover that brasil is 8th in the world for consumption of orgnaic products! the united states did not even crack the top ten. one thing that has really impressed me about brasil is how local the consuption is based. it seems that every product that we use and consume in this house was produced in brasil, and usually in rio grande do sul. everything, from the soaps, tools, coke and milk. this not only supports the national economy of brasil but also the local economies of rio grande do sul- they might even know the person whose cow produced the milk or cheese they are eating!
one more thing about brazilian products... the amazing and ever comfortable brazilian sandal, havianas. i have decided that these are the work boot of brazil. seriously, sandals are worn for almost every occasion. to work in the grocery stores, while stroling with the family, while building a house and operating a table saw. who would have thought? i do a double take when i see someone wearing actual shoes. i have visions of construction workers in sao paulo walking on beams 100s of feet in the air wearing hard hats and havianas.
i hope that all is well in the states! this evening luis and i watched a speach given by barak obama in baltimore. it was good, obama is an excellent orator. we thought it wa shilarious at the end when he said (we think) 'lets get out of here...'i don't blame him it looked freaking cold. were are very excited to watch the inaguration and ricardo and loiva keep asking us about it. its funny, they get one english news channel: fox.
i miss my family and friends very much but am so excited to see what the next 2 months hold for me here in brazil. until next time, i remain your faithful forgien correspondent.
the brazilian work boot
i still cannot quite comprehend the amount of insects that exist here. i have seen at least 100 different types, or that is what it seems like. insects were responsible for my sickness. i was attacked by a mosquito in the night and woke up with a swolen, zombie, monster eye. it was not a good start to the day.
today, we did more of the same. im sure you can guess what that was. it was fine, our spirits were high and we listened to brazilian roque and american pop while we scrubbed away in the sun. im getting quite a good tan already! the highlight of the day was having my first taste of brazilian beer! it was quite good, a pilsner- it really didnt taste like much. luis, ricardo and i sat at the kitchen table drinking two bottles of beer and discussing development in latin american and terra preta.
terra preta is a phenomena which occurs in the amazon of brazil, it is pockets of very fertile dark earth in an area which has thin nutirent poor soil. it is believed, in academic circles, that terra preta was developed by the ancient amazonians and may be the first example of agriculture in the western hemisphere. a really great book that explores terra preta, the development and preconcieved notions of the new world is '1491' by charles mann.
i was suprised to discover that brasil is 8th in the world for consumption of orgnaic products! the united states did not even crack the top ten. one thing that has really impressed me about brasil is how local the consuption is based. it seems that every product that we use and consume in this house was produced in brasil, and usually in rio grande do sul. everything, from the soaps, tools, coke and milk. this not only supports the national economy of brasil but also the local economies of rio grande do sul- they might even know the person whose cow produced the milk or cheese they are eating!
one more thing about brazilian products... the amazing and ever comfortable brazilian sandal, havianas. i have decided that these are the work boot of brazil. seriously, sandals are worn for almost every occasion. to work in the grocery stores, while stroling with the family, while building a house and operating a table saw. who would have thought? i do a double take when i see someone wearing actual shoes. i have visions of construction workers in sao paulo walking on beams 100s of feet in the air wearing hard hats and havianas.
i hope that all is well in the states! this evening luis and i watched a speach given by barak obama in baltimore. it was good, obama is an excellent orator. we thought it wa shilarious at the end when he said (we think) 'lets get out of here...'i don't blame him it looked freaking cold. were are very excited to watch the inaguration and ricardo and loiva keep asking us about it. its funny, they get one english news channel: fox.
i miss my family and friends very much but am so excited to see what the next 2 months hold for me here in brazil. until next time, i remain your faithful forgien correspondent.
the brazilian work boot
Thursday, January 15, 2009
and the task of the day is...
hello again from the casa of ricardo and loiva (i finally figured out how to spell it!). today was a day much like all the others which i have e xperienced this week. i stood around a tub filled with water, chlorine and bottles and washed them. i was in really good spirits for the majority of the day; we found a radio station that was tollerable and not polka. it was "pop e roque"it played everything from rhiana to the romones with a good dose of reggae. im becoming a big fan of portuguese rock and especially reggae! so good.
anyway, all this constant, unending bottle washing has been wearing me down. i was feeling pretty sad and over it by the end of the day. i thought the idea of WWOOf was the spread and sharing of knowledge. what the fuck am i learning? im feeling like really inexpensive labor at this point. can a girl get a little variety around here? it's frustrating. ricardo said something about not washing tomorrow so we'll see if that pans out. if i spend another week washing bottles, there is a good chance im going to bid this family farewell.
loiva keeps asking me if luis and i like fiestas. everytime she asks me she's not quite sure i understand. of course i do! fiestas are universal! anyway, based upon the half of which i could understand i think there might be a party, along with a brazilian barbeque, this saturady. im excited, i haven't gotten off the property much and, as much as i like chatting with joao pedro the four year old, i would enjoy meeting some new people.
i shall bid you adios and relinquish the computer to luis who has been waiting oh so patiently. boa noite!
anyway, all this constant, unending bottle washing has been wearing me down. i was feeling pretty sad and over it by the end of the day. i thought the idea of WWOOf was the spread and sharing of knowledge. what the fuck am i learning? im feeling like really inexpensive labor at this point. can a girl get a little variety around here? it's frustrating. ricardo said something about not washing tomorrow so we'll see if that pans out. if i spend another week washing bottles, there is a good chance im going to bid this family farewell.
loiva keeps asking me if luis and i like fiestas. everytime she asks me she's not quite sure i understand. of course i do! fiestas are universal! anyway, based upon the half of which i could understand i think there might be a party, along with a brazilian barbeque, this saturady. im excited, i haven't gotten off the property much and, as much as i like chatting with joao pedro the four year old, i would enjoy meeting some new people.
i shall bid you adios and relinquish the computer to luis who has been waiting oh so patiently. boa noite!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
mais o menos
yesterday was a plus and a minus. on the plus side, luis and i got a lot of work done for ricardo and luja. on the menos, we fucking washed bottles for 10 hours. those last three hours were pretty tedious, boring and tiring. also, the day before luis and i were performing the same task and did not get nearly as much acomplished, i think that ricardo was a little disipointed. thus, i felt i needed to redeem myself. as tedious as the work is, the concept is great; ricardo uses recycled bottles for his organic juices. if he did not buy the bottles (1 real each= about $.30)they would just be thrown away. i support that. standing around a giant tub filled with dirty bottles, water and chlorine-i suppose i support that. eh, im just griping because im tired. i have seriously got it made, i wear a bathing suit while im working!
i bought a pair of havianas-this is portuguese for hawaiian. in the us these sandals cost around $20.00, which is ridiculous as they are made of rubber. i bought them at the supermarket for 11,00 $r which is about $5.00 us. whooo!
today, we worked and guess what we did? washed bottles all day long. it was a little better today because i asked loja for a radio, but it was seriously jerry-rigged. the antena didn't really work so we taped a huge peice of wire to it and then had to lean the wire against a ladder to prevent it from falling over. the only station that came in clear was italian polka from the next town over, petropolis. i guess it was better than static, crap, american pop.
if i understood correctly we DON'T have to wash any more bottles tomorrow (oh, please). i believe we will be bottling suco de ova (grape juice) in the recently washed recycled bottles. i think this is what loja told me, i hope! i ususally understand about half of what she is trying to tell me. im just going to believe my little pipe dream. plus, there isn't any more room in the vinicula (the building where they make wine, juices and dulce de leite) for the bottles anyway and in the last three days we must have washed over 500 of those suckers.
this morning i resuced a little bird (avio) from the house. it had flown in and gotten itself stuck. loja tried to chase it out unsuccessfully with a towel. it almost hit me in the face when i startled it trying to go up the stairs a few minutes later. it flew into the bathroom and tried to fly out the closed window, poor thing. i managed, after many attempts to catch it in a towel and carry it outdoors. it was pretty calm when i was holding it but once it saw the open door it escaped my grasp and flew to freedom. poor bird, it lost a lot of it's feathers in it's excursion into the casa.
man, standing in the sun all day long has got me exausted. i had a lot of coffee with cafe de tarde (dinner) and i still managed to unwillingly pass out for about an hour afterwards. i tried to do some drawing after i woke up, but i just felt like a zombie. all i managed to do was sit on the lawn and grunt in response to luis.
luis and i have been planning out next move, and it looks like iguazu falls is on the agenda. it is a waterfall on the border of brasil and argentina and is one of the 3rd largest in the world definitly, bad ass. according to wikipedia it is 275 falls all converging in a 1 mile radius. i can't wait. the only downer is that it will be a 30 hour bus ride one way, but flying is a total rip off price wise.
in other news, i called human resources in yosemite yesterday to check on my seasonal applications and... i qualified for the gs5 and the gs7 positions! yes! my application just needs to be cleared by the hiring official and then im golden. whew. i suppose that is all i have to say for now, and i've said quite a lot. boa noite! or for those of you in the states, good afternoon.
iguazu falls
butterfly on a dead spider
the 'hood
caminamos no oa rua 
the iguana under the porch
cleaning 2070 ml bottles, again.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
pizza de brasil!
hello friends and welcome to another episode of rural life in brazil... today has been a lazy day becuase as ricardo told me "domingo e a dia de descanso" or sunday is the day of rest. so, we had cafe da mahna (breakfast) of coffee and mango.
let me backtrack a little, so my second day here loja asked me what i knew how to cook and i began listing off items which i felt comfortable cooking for others, icluding pizza. oh man, loja was so excited! apparently brazilians love pizza... well, who doesn't?? anyway, yesterday at the market ricardo and loja bought ingredients to make pizza and told luis (code name: mateo) and i that we would "fraze pizza por almoco a dia" or make pizza for lunch today. so that is what we did. luis made the dough (masa) and i made the sauce and prepared the toppings. pizza in brazil is a little bit different. apparently brocoli is a common topping and it is good to eat it with mayo, mustard, ketchup and pickles (it's not a burger!). it was fun and enlightening and we have decided that every sunday will now be pizza sunday, luis and i are already planning our next combination of ingredients; he was trying to convince me that adding nutella to the sauce would be a great idea. i vetoed that one.
later we went for a walk along the rua (road) and acted like silly tourists. it's funny, here in picada cafe we don't stand out as much as we would further north in brazil where there are more people of african descent. so, the town's people were aprroching us asking us questions, commenting on the heat and the rain of last night, but we had some problems understanding/responding so mostly we just smiled and nodded.
agora (now) it is raining with thunder and lightning. it came so fast! just an hour ago were were walking in the sun! we had to run around the house and shut all the windows and doors because there are some fierce winds as well. tonight we sat on the porch and listened to monkeys howling in the forest and i read about sao paulo, the third largest city in the world. 'luis' and i have decided that it is nessesary to visit florinopolis. it has some of the best beaches, liberal minded people, veggie friendly resturants, young people and did i mention beautiful beaches??? can't wait. im off to smell the freshly cleansed earth from the saftey of the balcony, boa tarde!
let me backtrack a little, so my second day here loja asked me what i knew how to cook and i began listing off items which i felt comfortable cooking for others, icluding pizza. oh man, loja was so excited! apparently brazilians love pizza... well, who doesn't?? anyway, yesterday at the market ricardo and loja bought ingredients to make pizza and told luis (code name: mateo) and i that we would "fraze pizza por almoco a dia" or make pizza for lunch today. so that is what we did. luis made the dough (masa) and i made the sauce and prepared the toppings. pizza in brazil is a little bit different. apparently brocoli is a common topping and it is good to eat it with mayo, mustard, ketchup and pickles (it's not a burger!). it was fun and enlightening and we have decided that every sunday will now be pizza sunday, luis and i are already planning our next combination of ingredients; he was trying to convince me that adding nutella to the sauce would be a great idea. i vetoed that one.
later we went for a walk along the rua (road) and acted like silly tourists. it's funny, here in picada cafe we don't stand out as much as we would further north in brazil where there are more people of african descent. so, the town's people were aprroching us asking us questions, commenting on the heat and the rain of last night, but we had some problems understanding/responding so mostly we just smiled and nodded.
agora (now) it is raining with thunder and lightning. it came so fast! just an hour ago were were walking in the sun! we had to run around the house and shut all the windows and doors because there are some fierce winds as well. tonight we sat on the porch and listened to monkeys howling in the forest and i read about sao paulo, the third largest city in the world. 'luis' and i have decided that it is nessesary to visit florinopolis. it has some of the best beaches, liberal minded people, veggie friendly resturants, young people and did i mention beautiful beaches??? can't wait. im off to smell the freshly cleansed earth from the saftey of the balcony, boa tarde!
Saturday, January 10, 2009
os primero dias en brasil
brasi is a beautiful (linda) country, although i have only experienced a small portion thus far. i am living with a family of three; the husband, ricardo, wife, loja, and son, joao pedro. the nature of work is not nessesarily what i was expecting, but it is fun and rewarding none the less. i guess all the pot washing i achieved while working at the university greenhouses is going to come in handy! the first day i worked with loyva recycling glass bottles for use in juice bottling. huge tubs of water held hundereds of used glass bottles which we scrubbed until they were squeeky clean... for eight hours.
a little more about where i am staying... i am currently in picada cafe, a small city in the state of rio grande do sul, the southern most state of brazil. interestingly, the city is mostly composed of individuals of german desent (ww2 escapies??). when i first arrived it appeared that i had entered bavaria of the tropics. seriously, driving through the town center today we passed groups of young people standing by their cars blasting techno music, how very european!
there is some much green here it is unbelievable! a million different kinds of trees, including pines! there are many animals as well. living under the porch of the house is a three foot long iguana, which has been dwelling there for seven years, according to loja. there are also many, many birds (tocans!), monkeys and huge insects (my favorite are the beetles and butterflies).
yesterday, i washed and labled bottles of peach necter and accompanied ricardo to caxias do sul, the second largest city in rio grande do sul. there we went to a meeting of organic cooperatives from rio grande do sul. the only problem was that ricardo didn't tell me this until i was in the car, wearing a tee-shirt, shorts and sandals as i had been working all morning. the issue is, in brasil you do not go to a meeting dressed in this manner. all the women at the meeting were wearing blouses and high heels! i felt a bit out of place to say the least, not to mention i could only understand about 1/3 of what was transpiring. after the meeting i went with ricardo to a farm where he obtains pears and necterines to turn into to juices. the orchard was nothing like an orchard at all! it was more like a forest where pears happened to be growing. we ate pears picked from the trees and it was good. the whole understory of the pear orchard was covered in lilies! it was shady, cool and verdant.
i have yet to experience life in the cities of brasil, but country life is calm and domestic. i like it. everyday the entire family has their meals together (except perdo who is at school for lunch), ricardo comes home from work to eat! the meals are delicious and it's not difficult to be a vegitarian here. i have tried so many new foods! dulce de leche, tapioca bread, pan de queso, papya, a small melon like fruit, blackberry juice, necterine juice, peach juice, mango juice (juice, juice, juice!), crema de leche, melado, and... well that's alot! i am so thankful that the people of picada cafe love their coffee, it is included in almost every meal.
today we went to an area by the river where the most bizzare bird lives. this bird, called sargento, builds it's nest from human hair and hangs it from the smallest branch over the middle of the river. it is much like a bag where the birds crawl in and out of the top. ecological adaptations never cease to amaze me.
as far as the weather goes it has been great, even cool. it has rained 3 of the 4 days that i have been here and there has been thunder and lightning almost every night. i have had no trouble keeping a 10 p, (22:00) bedtime as i have been working hard every day. also, i have started thinking in portuguese and spanish!
until next time! i am off to the porch to soak up the rolling thunder and flashing lightning.
p.s. sorry i haven't quite figued out how to rotate the phots, so just turn your computer on it's side!
a little more about where i am staying... i am currently in picada cafe, a small city in the state of rio grande do sul, the southern most state of brazil. interestingly, the city is mostly composed of individuals of german desent (ww2 escapies??). when i first arrived it appeared that i had entered bavaria of the tropics. seriously, driving through the town center today we passed groups of young people standing by their cars blasting techno music, how very european!
there is some much green here it is unbelievable! a million different kinds of trees, including pines! there are many animals as well. living under the porch of the house is a three foot long iguana, which has been dwelling there for seven years, according to loja. there are also many, many birds (tocans!), monkeys and huge insects (my favorite are the beetles and butterflies).
yesterday, i washed and labled bottles of peach necter and accompanied ricardo to caxias do sul, the second largest city in rio grande do sul. there we went to a meeting of organic cooperatives from rio grande do sul. the only problem was that ricardo didn't tell me this until i was in the car, wearing a tee-shirt, shorts and sandals as i had been working all morning. the issue is, in brasil you do not go to a meeting dressed in this manner. all the women at the meeting were wearing blouses and high heels! i felt a bit out of place to say the least, not to mention i could only understand about 1/3 of what was transpiring. after the meeting i went with ricardo to a farm where he obtains pears and necterines to turn into to juices. the orchard was nothing like an orchard at all! it was more like a forest where pears happened to be growing. we ate pears picked from the trees and it was good. the whole understory of the pear orchard was covered in lilies! it was shady, cool and verdant.
i have yet to experience life in the cities of brasil, but country life is calm and domestic. i like it. everyday the entire family has their meals together (except perdo who is at school for lunch), ricardo comes home from work to eat! the meals are delicious and it's not difficult to be a vegitarian here. i have tried so many new foods! dulce de leche, tapioca bread, pan de queso, papya, a small melon like fruit, blackberry juice, necterine juice, peach juice, mango juice (juice, juice, juice!), crema de leche, melado, and... well that's alot! i am so thankful that the people of picada cafe love their coffee, it is included in almost every meal.
today we went to an area by the river where the most bizzare bird lives. this bird, called sargento, builds it's nest from human hair and hangs it from the smallest branch over the middle of the river. it is much like a bag where the birds crawl in and out of the top. ecological adaptations never cease to amaze me.
as far as the weather goes it has been great, even cool. it has rained 3 of the 4 days that i have been here and there has been thunder and lightning almost every night. i have had no trouble keeping a 10 p, (22:00) bedtime as i have been working hard every day. also, i have started thinking in portuguese and spanish!
until next time! i am off to the porch to soak up the rolling thunder and flashing lightning.
p.s. sorry i haven't quite figued out how to rotate the phots, so just turn your computer on it's side!
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