I Have the Worst Luck: Jake's Arrival

After contemplating my options, I finally decided to take a bus to Porto Alegre last minute. I figured arriving around 10pm was worth not having to be up early the next morning, since I was meeting my husband, Jake, at the airport at 11:45am. However, after an hour on the bus, I was still only half way to the centro; meaning I still had to sit on the bus for another 20ish minutes and wait for the 7pm bus to Porto Alegre. At that rate, I was looking at arriving at midnight. I decided it was better to eat my free dinner at FURG and try my luck with the 7am bus the next morning.

At 6:15am, I woke up and made my way to the centro. I was able to catch the 7am bus, and made my way to the Porto Alegre airport. The first issue of the day was arriving 15 minutes after Jake’s plane was supposed to land, to find out his plane was delayed an hour. The issues only piled up after that.

We missed the 2pm bus by a few minutes and instead took our time to eat and relax until the 3pm bus. I had never heard of this bus company before and made the mistake of buying sem seguro tickets. (I found out later that com seguro means that if you are injured in an accident, you receive money from the bus company.) Twenty minutes after our midway snack break, our bus broke down. We were told another bus was on its way, but was about 2 hours out. By this point, it started to get dark. To top it off, the bus did not have a hazard kit. Someone called the police to say we did not feel safe, but they never showed up.

Finally, a bus arrived, but the issue was there were only 18 seats for the 40 passengers. Jake and I were able to get onto the first bus, but this meant leaving his luggage behind with the broken bus. As we were switching busses, we found out the original bus had ran out of gas (if I understood correctly). Either way, we were finally on our way home, which we finally reached at 10pm. To make things better, we ate some awesome bauru and called it a night!

Jake eating bauru

I Have the Worst Luck: Rio de Janeiro

As Brasil’s version of Labor Day, O Dia do Trabalhador, rolled around, I decided that a trip to Rio de Janeiro was in order. Since it would be the last long weekend of the semester, I wanted to make my way for an in-person meeting with a professor who is on sabbatical in Rio. I had planned most of the trip ahead of time, but I had forgotten bus tickets. So, the night before I was looking up the bus schedule to get me to my plane on time. Somehow, I managed to find a plane ticket from Porto Alegre to Pelotas for the same price as a bus ticket. Nevertheless, that did not help me get to Porto Alegre.

After 4 hours of sleep, I woke up to make my way to the rodoviaria. I was exhausted and fell asleep on the bus, but somehow woke up 10 seconds before the right bus stop. At the rodoviaria, I was informed there were not any buses to Porto Alegre until noon, which would have made me late for my plane. So, I went to Pelotas instead. Besides being 10 reais cheaper, it was on the way to Porto Alegre and had more bus choices. Although there was a bus leaving 10 minutes later, the bus was full and the earliest ticket was 12:30pm. Freaking out that I would not be able to make my 5:15pm flight, I started calling some friends to see if I had time to catch the flight. One of my friends stayed on the phone with me for 40 minutes calming me down and telling me it would be all right. Around this point, I ran into another ETA from Pelotas. She was heading to Porto Alegre too, but she was taking the noon bus. Somehow, I ended up on the bus with her, and sat on the floor the entire way (about a 3.5-hour bus ride). The crazy part was that I slept 95% of the trip!

I managed to arrive about an hour before my flight, having already checked-in on my phone while on the bus. As I waited for the plane to take off, I mentally wished I was on the right plane. The sign had said Recife, and I knew that was not where I was going. (Apparently, the plane stopped in Rio, then continued to Recife. Passengers going to Recife did not have to deplane, so the sign said Recife instead of Rio.) However, the universe had other ideas. After sometime on the plane, making a new friend, we were instructed to deplane because there was an issue with the plane.

Finally, those who were head for Recife were sent to a hotel, and those who were headed for Rio were given vouchers to eat at the buffet place in the airport. We were told that there was a flight with another airline at 9pm that we would take. If we were not on that flight, we would be on another flight at some point that night, but there was not a specified time.

As I went through security for the second time, I was prompted to leave the gates and head to TAM for my new ticket. Since I did not have a checked bag, I was the first person to get my new ticket and went through my third security screening. I was also the lucky person randomly chosen for a bag search. After hours of travel, I finally arrived at my hostel in Ipanema, Rio de Janeiro around midnight.

The next day was somewhat better. I walked the three blocks to the Ipanema Beach and spent some time taking in the streets before heading back to the hostel. The other American invited me to go see Christ the Redeemer. We sat on a bus for about an hour and made our way to the tram station. Once there, we found out that next available trip was at 6pm; it was about noon. We ended up walking around and came across a company that took people to the park entrance via van. Deciding it was worth it, we headed up the mountain. However, we were greeted by two huge lines: one for the tickets, and one waiting for the rides to the top

Ipanema Beach.

As close as I got to Christ the Redeemer.

The view of Rio de Janeiro before heading back down.

Since, I did not have time to do all of that before my 3:30pm meeting, we headed back down to find some food. We ended up eating at a place where the restaurant chooses the dish for you. Across the street was a church with gorgeous natural lighting, which we explored afterward.

In the end, I made it to my meeting with minutes to spare. The meeting went well, and then I was off on my own again. I ended up going out with some Brazilians to a three-floor club that looked like a museum inside. Every floor was covered in antiques, statues, etc. Of course, this meant waiting outside for an hour before making our way inside.

As the trip came to a close, I was excited that my day of travel would be shorter with my second plane ride. Yet, another day had to be difficult. I had to pay for the hostel still, and I found out as I was leaving that they did not accept credit cards. I had to run three blocks to the bank while another person waited on me because we were sharing a cab to the airport. When I landed in Porto Alegre, I had 30 minutes to make it to my next flight, only to find out my connecting flight was in a different terminal. I had to take a taxi because the shuttle was not quick enough. I was sure glad to finally get home.

Nevertheless, the trip was full of stories and adventures! One, I am not going to forget anytime soon.

Blood Moon and Bus Issues

This morning there was a lunar eclipse, also known as the Blood Moon. Last night, we found out about it and I decided I had to see it. The only problem? It started around 3am, was completely red at 4:45am, and then I had a meeting at 10:30am. I ended up falling asleep and waking up to see the moon at 4am. The photos weren’t that great, and I wanted to see the entire moon red, but it was so cold. So, I fell asleep for 30 min, dreamt that a bright red moon got really close to the earth, and then disappeared before I could take a picture, and woke up fearing I missed the moon being completely red. I ran outside to see a distant red moon in the sky, and started snapping pictures. It really was worth braving the cold and going without very much sleep! However, the rest of the day wasn't as nice... 

The Blood Moon. 

The Blood Moon from Catherine's Camera

What the hell is up with the busses here? At first, the busses seemed great. You could catch a bus on campus to go downtown, or walk 10min to the main road to catch almost any bus for Rio Grande. On top of that, you can catch intercity and interstate busses. In the south, the busses are pretty safe at all times of the day and night. However, sometimes the busses are just WTF moments waiting to happen. They typically do not follow the schedule; either there are extra busses or not enough busses most of the time. They seem to do whatever they want, and are either packed like a can of sardines or there are a total of 5 people on the bus, including the driver and the cashier (yes there is a person that you pay that sits in middle of the bus). The other day was no exception.

I knew I was running late. I had a 10:30am meeting and was running to catch the 9:45am bus, which I think I missed. As I approached the end of the road, I saw a bus with its lights blinking sitting on the side of the road. Then, a nicer bus passed. Since there was no sign saying it was a selectivo, or where it was going, I didn’t realize it was the bus I wanted until it was too late. I continued to walk to the bus stop, figuring that the other bus was broken down. Why else would it be sitting on the side of the road? After 2 min at the bus stop, the bus started up and drove right past me. (I was at the bus stop 30 feet in front of it.) To top it off, the passenger that was on the bus waved to me as it went past me. Finally, around 10am, a selectivo came by.

The difference between a selectivo and another bus is mainly in the type of bus it is. The selectivo is more comfortable, like a charter bus. Therefore, it is also slightly more expensive (R$4.45 vs R$2.75). Since it is more expensive, less people ride it, making it quite a bit faster as well. So, as I got on a selectivo for the first time, I realized I had no idea what was going on. There is only the driver that works on the bus. So, you pay him. Additionally, unlike the other busses, there is not a cord to pull or a button to push. I had no idea how to get off the bus! Luckily someone else was getting off where I was, so I walked to the front of the bus to wait behind her. I guess you just tell the driver when you want to get off and wait at the front of the bus until the stop. 

Chui

Today, a group of friends and I headed to Chuy, Uruguay. We had been hanging out the night before, watching movies, and talking. But, we were planning on leaving at 7am the next morning. So, by the time I went to sleep and woke up, I had slept for maybe 45min. Let’s just say I slept almost the entire way there. Along the way, we only stopped to grab some food once. I was surprised that we didn’t have to stop anywhere for customs. When we arrived, it began to make a little more sense. Chui/Chuy is actually two towns in one. Half of the town is Chui, Brasil; the other half is Chuy, Uruguay.

Standing on the border of Brasil and Uruguay.

I had been so excited to finally pull my Spanish back out, that I was confused when people started speaking to me in Portuguese. Also, I was thrown off by the fact that most of the stores were “Duty-Free” stores that used USD for the price, but mainly worked with reais and Uruguayan pesos. Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and definitely an experience. 

All of us eating lunch.

Work Hard, Play Hard

After a week of classes, working, and little time for a social life, we finally were going to have time to relax and hang out with friends. Friday was one of our friend’s birthday, so after some chimarrão and work, we headed over to our old living accommodations, the hotel, to say happy birthday and celebrate. It turned into amazing pizza (the second day in a row, because I made homemade pizza the night before), and Happy Birthday being sung in three languages, five different ways. After, we headed to the store to buy ingredients for sobremesas (desserts).

Catherine and I had been craving desserts all week, so I decided that chocolate fondue with fruit was in order. However, this is not exactly what came out. Instead, as some friends met us at our house, I made chocolate and coconut covered bananas to eat with our vihno tinto. Chocolate and wine, the best combination ever. In addition, we played some music and ended up dancing bachata, which I had been missing a lot.

Chocolate and coconut covered bananas.

The next day was spent relaxing before heading out to celebrate our friend’s birthday again. We went to watch several bands play forro, and had a blast! However, as Catherine and I were tired we decided to head home. About an hour later, Catherine received a phone call and life got crazy.

Catherine comes to my room and explains we had 7 guests on their way over. We frantically starting counting beds and figuring out where everyone was going to sleep. By the time everyone arrived, we were all set to go, only to find out half decided to head home and there were only 4 guests.

Sunday was relaxing once again, and I decided I needed to read. We felt bad that we were unable to see our friend that had just returned from break (a week into the semester), but due to timing, we hung out at home, and I stayed up till 7am Monday morning reading. Obviously, that hadn’t been the plan. So, Monday was a little more difficult to work than I had anticipated. But, I started and finished two books. So, maybe it was worth it…

By the time we made it to campus, it was lunch time. We ran into our friend and ended up following him to the mechanical engineering office. (Yes, most of our friends are studying mechanical engineering.) Surprisingly, the office was fun. We hung out and I ended up seeing Wesley’s project, a go-kart that he is building. Also, he made sure that I received one of the best gifts from his mom! After being made fun of for putting hot sauce on everything in Maceió (and apparently more in one sitting than anyone they know), she made me my own bottle of hot sauce! We have to wait to try it, but I cannot wait!

See all the peppers? So excited!

At the end of the day, I was exhausted, and passed out for a while before having the strength to go home. When we arrived home at 10:30ish, we decided it was a good time for bauru. Earlier in the week, we found an amazing bauru place at the beginning of our road. Let’s just say, if we don’t watch it, we are going to get fat quickly. 

Bauru Number Two!

Finally Home!

The day after I returned to Rio Grande, Catherine and I moved into an amazing house in Cassino (a suburb of Rio Grande). Although it is a little far from campus, we could not be happier with our living situation! The house is set up so that there is a small house connected to a large house by a patio. The owners, a Brazilian woman and her Taiwanese husband, live in the small house. Catherine and I have a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom house, with each bedroom having at least one queen bed and one twin bed. However, we are not planning on filling any of the twin beds. They are being left for guests, of which we have had plenty. The best part, besides the owners, is the restaurant kitchen off of the patio…

Our first guests were our ETA-brethren from Pelotas. The day after we moved in, on Saturday, they came to visit and stayed overnight. We also had a churrasco that was amazing! The owner’s son-in-law cooked the meat, and it was amazing.

The Rio Grande and Pelotas ETA's getting ready to eat stir-fry
that the owner of the house made for us. She is amazing!

Everyone eating at the churrasco. We even had veggies!

We even had an amazing bartender for the event!

I might have even tried chicken heart, with chopsticks, of course.

As Monday rolled around, Catherine and I finally started to realize we were going to have to start working. We began planning our classes, and started to get excited about what we could do with our classes. I might have even turned into a workaholic for a little while; anxious to work, antsy when I wasn’t, and working late into the night once or twice. Being far from our friends didn’t really help.

Since we moved, it has become a 30min at least trek to see our friends that live on campus. Our friends are great. So, sometimes it really sucks being that far away, or having to leave early to make sure we get home safely. The one night we were on campus late, we walked to the bus stop around 10pm and, while waiting for the next bus, decided it was easier and safer to stay the night at our friend’s house. However, when our other friend returns, this won’t work because there won’t be enough places to sleep for everyone. 

Yet, the good far outweighs the bad. The owner of the house is amazing. She is constantly making food and bringing it over, or asking us to join her and her family for meals. Most of the time she makes this salad she makes that is light on lettuce and includes apples and mangos. I have always hated fruit and veggies together in a salad, but this is amazing. Additionally, I finally have a hot shower, and feel at home. And, anything we could need is usually available in the restaurant kitchen for us to use!

Maceió

 Meu Deus! Everyone here wakes up so early! I guess the sun comes up at 5am or something, so everyone gets up at that time. One day I went to sleep at like 1am and didn’t wake up until 7:30/8am. Apparently, this is super late, so I must have been drinking the night before and recovering (this was not true, by the way)…

So, my inability to wake up early means that seeing the piscina natural was impossible. The first morning I wasn’t up early enough, and the second, we didn’t arrive until 9am. (The traffic here is so bad that we left at 7:30 and arrived over an hour later, but returning it took like 30 minutes.) By this time it was already high tide, and we would have had to wait until 5 or 6 at night. Instead, we hung out pass all the algae and went to lunch by some island somewhere.

However, while at the beach we saw a police helicopter flying in circles overhead. After traveling thousands of miles to visit my friend and the two ETAs placed here in Maceió, I found out Maceió is the fifth most dangerous city in the world. Hence, the helicopter.

Police Helicopter that kept circling the beach

Additionally, we headed to UFAL to attend the English conversation course taught by the ETA’s here. We ended up discussing the US, majors and minors, and how different Rio Grande is from Maceió. Everybody was shocked that it was so cold in the south already. Whereas here you have to wait for the showers to cool down, in Rio Grande, you have to wait for them to warm up.

Lastly, when we arrived back from our excursions yesterday, Wesley’s mom had painted me a shirt. She paints towels, etc. in her free time and wanted to make me one. She is so sweet!

Wesley's Mom painted this for me!

So, to thank her and everyone else, I made dinner and dessert: chicken pasta and chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches with toffee ice cream.

Ice Cream Sandwiches...which were VERY difficult to make in Maceió.