The Rest of August

After writing up some of my August travels, things got hectic fast.

After Lençois, we all headed back to Salvador. The day we were there, we decided to go to some beach on some island with a group of American students studying abroad in Rio de Janeiro.  We took a rickety boat across the ocean for about 30-45 minutes, and then the students decided to take a taxi ride to this “tourist” beach. Once the car stopped, down some hidden path, we found out we had to cross a river in a boat (short trip, like 2 minutes rowing). We ended up on some beach with hammocks, seashore, etc., but were told we needed to eat the R$30 lunch. It also looked like a storm was coming in, and the wind was so strong we had trouble enjoying it. A few of us were really uncomfortable with the situation, because we felt trapped. We ended up making our way in the rain, walking across the river (which came up to my waist), and getting on a ferry (those that carry people and cars). Starving, cold, irritated, we walked back to the hotel, which was about an hour walk away. (We had decided to walk because we were told it was about 20 min away. It also started raining on the walk.)

Us getting in the boat to cross the river

Us on the boat heading back to Salvador

The storm we were caught in

Anyway, fast forward to the next leg of the trip: Rio de Janeiro. We explored Santa Teresea, Lapa, Copacabana, and Ipanema. Here is the story through pictures:

Overlooking Rio de Janeiro from the ruins in Santa Teresa

The Selarón Steps in Lapa

A waterfall in the Tijuca Forest. The Tijuca Forest is a forest in the center of Rio,
 and the forest that houses Christ the Reedemer. 

One of our friends

And here He is.

Another friend

Christ the Redeemer as seen from Pão de Açúcar

We ate "squeaky beach cheese," as someone called it, on Ipanema Beach.
They grill the cheese on coals they carry around in a pot.

Another view of the Selarón Steps.

We ate at Colombo, a ridiculously fancy bakery in Rio.
The mirrors are imported from Belgium, and Queen Elizabeth ate there when she was in Rio.

Next, we hopped on a bus and headed south to Paraty. We were couchsurfing once again, and found out we were staying about a 10 min drive out of town. We ended up staying in this house, with our own room, over looking a waterfall. Here is the story through pictures:

The cachaça distillery 10 min walk through the woods and over the river from the house we were staying at.
Cachaça is a liquor made from sugar cane. We tried all sorts of artisan cachaça.
The best was Gabriela: cachaça with nutmeg and cinnamon.

A rickety plank bridge that can only hold 2 people at a time.

Some type of fruit that know one remembers the name of.

At one point, Jake and I went on a walk through the woods around the house. This little puppy decided to follow us, and became our guide. We made our way to a rock, near the mouth of the river. We thought we were at the top, but then the puppy disappeared and we followed him through this small, barely visible path. Then, Jake and I weren't sure how to get back. Next thing we know, the puppy has run off in another direction. We end up at a path going two different directions: one going to a road and one leading into the woods. As Jake and I are discussing where to go, we head towards the road. The puppy sat down, and refused to follow us. So, we turned around and followed him. We ended up right in front of the house. Such a great guide!

First thing day 2, Jake and I headed to town. When we started walking around, we ran into a group of Americans. They invited us over for dinner that night. Jake and I decided to go to another distillery that seemed close. It ended up being a kilometer walk  uphill in the rain. Suffice it to say, the walk wasn't great. However, that night we ended up at their house and taught them how to do churrasco, make quentão, squeaky beach cheese, and they made a great pasta. 

The one not rainy day, we ended up going on a snorkeling trip. Here is Paraty from the boat.

At the first location, we both went snorkeling. All of a sudden, I end up getting called over to the boat and screamed. I forgot how much I am scared of fish. Let's just say that I didn't swim the rest of the time.

Jake snorkeling

One of the islands we visited

Our lookout with the Brazilian flag.

Most of the time, we just relaxed at the house, mostly in the hammock. 

The natural slide in Paraty was a giant smooth rock.
Some of the guys were doing crazy stunts over the slippery rocks.

This is one of the tanagers that were found in the area.
This one was found outside of the house.

I ended up getting fairly sick at the end of this trip. So, we stayed an extra two days before heading to São Paulo for my mid-year seminar. São Paulo ended up being a great time to see and talk to other ETAs, hear their experiences and connect with the ETAs in Uruguay and Argentina. All of our experiences have been quite different. Additionally, as important people are talking to us, those of us from Rio Grand do Sul start tomando chimarrão. Afterwards, not knowing if it was rude or not in São Paulo, one of the Fulbright guys from Rio Grande do Sul tells us next time, we have to let him know. He just wanted some too. Nevertheless, I was excited to get back to Rio Grande, and start the next semester.

However, only a few short, uncharacteristically warm days later, we headed back to Porto Alegre for a Linguistics conference. The thing no one realized was that it was more of students presenting their doctorate level research, assuming everyone in the audience understood very specific terminology and processes. Suffice it to say, it was not what we expected. But being that far north, we decided to take a weekend trip up to Gramado, a very European style town. It is also known for chocolate adn wine. The best part: the food! 

Here is the waterfall in Canela

We went to a crystal factory and watched them make a crystal vase. 

Here is the mascot of Gramado

Jake became a witch of chocolate.

We even found an Iphone.

Gramado is well known for their sequence of fondue. First, we were given a plate of hors d'oeurves of pickled things and bread. Then, we got cheese fondue with potatoes, and other yummy food. Next came this lovely thing. A stone, raw meat, and 10+ different types of sauces. Here we are grilling our meat. The last was chocolate fondue with a bunch of fruit.
SO YUMMY!

Besides the Fondue Sequence, Gramado is known for their café colonial. Here is a picture of eating it. What isn't shone is the dessert buffet. 

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.

This is one for the Books!

I don´t know what life would be like here if we didn´t have the friends that we have. Imagine going to bed at 2:30 in the morning and having to be up at 5:15 that same day. It isn’t a pretty sight. Well, that is exactly what happened. My husband is arriving in Brazil today, so we had to take the 5 hour long bus to meet him at the airport. Since he arrives at 2:45pm, the only available bus this morning was at 7am.

Last night at our friends’ house, we realized there really weren’t a lot of options in terms of getting to the bus terminal downtown. Luan had his computer up and was looking up the schedule as 10 other people were “discussing” what busses went in the morning and what schedule it was on because it is a holiday weekend, etc. Finally, it was determined that we had to catch the bus that left Cassino at 6am and went downtown. (We live on campus in the back. You have to walk to the front of campus to get student housing, which is in front of campus. Then you have to walk to the end of the road to get to the bus stop that takes you to nearby areas/cities. To walk this length takes about 25-30 minutes.) And, Wesley volunteered to take us to the bus terminal downtown. Why? I have no clue.

So at 5:45am, Catherine and I headed out to the bus stop. Once we were near the front of campus, Wesley and Luan met us to take us downtown. We were informed that they had gone to bed at 4am. How they were up two hours later is beyond me! But, they were so great about everything, even carrying our bags! I don’t think paying their bus fare downtown shows enough gratitude. 

Wesley, Me, Catherine and Luan
We are waiting for the 7am bus downtown