Easter and rain

So this has been a rather eventful last week or so for Rio. We got a long weekend for Easter, one of the advantages of living in a Catholic country and going to a Catholic university. On Easter day I woke up at 5am and went with a group of friends to an island about an hour from Rio called Paqueta. We rented bikes and rode around the island for a couple of hours. There were beautiful views, beautiful houses, and great parks. You can only get to Paqueta by boat, and there aren't any cars on the island so the only transportation is horse-drawn cart and bike.

The girls!

After we took another boat to a city across the bay from Rio called Sao Goncalo. I have a good friend (Brazilian) from my university who has family there. They live on the outskirts of the city in a very poor neighborhood and welcomed us into their home for Easter. My friend's aunts fed us the best meal I have had so far in Brazil. There was fried chicken, chicken salad, pasta salad, roast, two rice dishes, flan, homemade jello, and chocolate cake. We all ate SO MUCH and had great conversations and laughs with his aunts, uncles, and cousins. Many jokes were made at my expense, as the only blond-haired and blue-eyed person in the group, but it was all fun. After lunch we played soccer with some of the neighborhood kids before starting the 2 hour, 3 bus trip back to Rio. On the way though we enjoyed a tumultuous bus ride along a dirt road and made friends with two ADORABLE Brazilian girls, Joyce age 4 and Jessica age 6, who even shared their Easter chocolate with us. It was definitely one of the best Easters I've had.

The whole group

So now for the rain. Rio is currently experiencing the worst tropical rainstorms in over 60 years. Tuesday the 6th was the hardest rain I've ever seen and it continued all day and night. My apartment was out of power and water for 20 hours and the streets all around us were under at least a foot of water. When we finally did regain connectivity to the outside world, we found out that almost 100 people died and the city had completely stopped. The rain is supposed to continue all week. Classes have been canceled at all institutions for the week and many businesses were closed for at least a day or two. I finally ventured out of my home today and there is mud and sand washed all over the streets from the hills. All of the people who died were in the hillside slums, called favelas, in Rio and the surrounding cities. When natural disasters hit, the poorest suffer the most damage and loss while the wealthy watch on their televisions and complain about the inconvenience.

This is a link with some great pictures of the flooding. Many of them were taken right near my house in places I pass everyday!

Almost 2 months in 1 post...Take a deep breath!

Dear friends and family,

I am alive! And it has become clear that I will never be an avid travel-blogger, but I will attempt to fill you in quickly and keep up better now that I have settled into a routine here in Rio.

Carnaval was a great experience. Not quite all the glamour I was expecting, but definitely full of glitter, samba, sun, cheap beer, and very little sleep. Rio fills up with foreigners for carnaval and all of the cariocas (Brazilians from Rio) flee to other, more remote cities. Carnaval in Rio is characterized by street parties called blocos that include heart pounding drum lines and samba singers. There were over 100 blocos everyday of carnaval, all over the city. I LOVED the drums and went to multiple blocos everyday of carnaval. Many people get dressed up in costumes and it is a great excuse (not that Brazilians need one...) to make-out with random people in the street.

Dancers from the samba school Salgueiro, last year's winners

Partiers at the bloco Suvaco do Cristo (Armpit of Christ)

Iguazu Falls, Buenos Aires, Buses

Immediately after carnaval, I left with four friends to Iguazu Falls and Buenos Aires. We spent two days exploring the Brazilian side of the falls and then another day on the Argentina side. The pure mass and strength of so much water was overwhelming, one of the most awe-inspiring things I have ever seen.

Iguazu Falls!

We then bussed to Buenos Aires and spent six days being tourists in a wonderful city. We went on a city tour, spent an afternoon in La Boca listening to tango and admiring artisan crafts, went to a tango show in the oldest tango club in the city, visited the Eva Peron Museum, rented paddle boats, wandered around the city on foot, visited a planetarium and an old Jesuit church with underground tunnels, explored the port, and went to a soul shaking drum show at a popular cultural center, as well as ate large quantities of bread, steak, and dolce de leche. We also met people from all over the world and had an AMAZING trip. Even though we did almost no pre-planning, the trip went perfectly and was one of the best times of my life. Oh yeah, and my friend Garazi and I saved $200 USD each by taking the 40 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires back to Rio. It was actually pleasant and definitely worth it!

Jesuit tunnels used to protect the city

La Boca

Plaza de Mayo and La Casa Rosada

Showing some love to a toucan in the tropical bird park

Jenny, Garazi, me, Michelle, and Jessica

University

I started classes at PUC March 2nd. This has thrown off my feeling of perpetual summer, but I'm thankful for that. The bureaucracy and inefficiency of PUC's administration has been very frustrating to deal with, from copy houses with hour long lines to manual registration with two+ hour long lines!! I am taking one Brazilian anthropology class in English that is providing the opportunity for some great fieldwork. The rest of my classes are in Portuguese, including Portuguese level 3, Community Development, Photojournalism, and futsal (indoor soccer). I am enjoying all of my classes immensely and it has proved to be a great way to meet Brazilian students, though the size of Rio makes it difficult to meet up with them outside of school.

Volunteering

Today was my first day of volunteering in a public school in the favela Vidigal, near my university with a program called Educari. Twice a week I will help an English teacher with 10-12 year olds and co-teach a Spanish class to 13 year olds with a friend from my university. I think this will be very challenging and take up a lot of time, making curriculum and lesson plans, but I am very excited! The school has a unique history. It used to be a private school for the very wealthy families that lived in the area. As Vidigal grew, the wealthy families moved away and the private school was turned into a public school for children from Vidigal, in one of the nicest buildings in the area.

I miss you all back home, but am having a wonderful time here! If there is anything you would love to hear more about, let me know! Sitting down to write about my experience can be overwhelming, since so much is new. So give me direction on what you want to hear about!

Love you all!

Beijos,

Maya

Pedra da Gavea

I finished the Intensive Portuguese Language Program for Foreigners last week so I am now on summer break and Carnaval is just around the corner! I have been participating in lots of pre-Carnaval activities that include large amounts of dancing in the streets and dressing up. While these are all very fun, the highlight of my summer so far is hiking up Pedra da Gavea.

Pedra de Gavea is one of the highest points within Rio and is the most difficult urban hike. So naturally we decided to climb it on one of the hottest days of the year. But at least then we'd be safe from rain which turns the steep trail into a small river, right? Wrong. Our plan was to hike up in the evening, see the sunset, spend the night up at the top, see the sunrise, and then hike down the next day. The hike was very steep and included lots of vertical rock scrambling, but we made it up in just over two hours before the sun set. The view from the to is absolutely amazing. You can see all of Rio de Janeiro, the Christ Statue (I think we were even higher than the statue), Sugerloaf, and far out into the ocean.

The beginning of the trail, and this was the easy part...

The view of Zona Sul of Rio de Janeiro

We could see lightening in the distance which made the view even more beautiful and awesome. Soon the storm headed our way so we retreated off the top of the mountain and down to a small cave we had seen on our way up. It was too dark to attempt descending and with rain the trail becomes a small river anyway, so we spent the night in the cave with a strong storm blasting the rocks and trees above us (Thank goodness we weren't in California or there might have been a fire! Tree burning was definitely happening.). Luckily we stayed completely dry from the tropical thunderstorm and were only a bit cold, nervous, and unrested. Early the next morning we went back up to see the sunrise and were blown away by its beauty and our survival of the night.

Our cave and band of happy adventurers!

The moonset and sunrise.

We were back down by 10am and ready to sleep the day away. It was quite an adventure and we bonded a lot as a group, you have to when you're spooning in a cave on the side of a mountain during a thunderstorm in order to stay warm and telling stories and asking questions in order to keep your mind off the situation! All in all, worth it and I appreciate my thin Brazilian mattress much more after attempting to sleep on a rock!

Petropolis, Jardim Botanico, Bureaucracy, and Futebol

This Saturday we went to historic Petropolis, the city where the Portuguese emperor stayed for some time. It is in the mountains so was very beautiful and we saw some great museums and old churches. On Sunday my friend Lauren and I explored the gorgeous Jardim Botanico near where I live. It's a huge urban park and inside you almost feel like you aren't in such a huge city. It will definitely take a couple of visits to completely explore.

Large, Catholic Church in Petropolis. Long live colonialism!

Jardim Botanico, absolutely gorgeous.

I have now officially registered with the Brazilian Federal Police! As many of you know, last semester I learned to strongly dislike and distrust bureaucracy, but I have now realized that Pacific's bureaucracy is NOTHING compared to what it is here. I should have known because of my visa craziness, but oh well. Another cultural experience. To cut it short, it took 2 days and 10 hours to finally have my passport looked at for 10 min and approved. And I will have to leave Brazil in July to get a new visa for my second semester. Fun times.

On to more exciting things... The insane thunderstorms have calmed down and the sun is out again. Which means lots of beach time and exhausting games of sandy soccer, consequently why my foot is now swollen and purple, but it's worth it! I'm one of the only girls that plays, even in our group of foreigners, and that definitely gets some laughs and catcalls out of the Brazilians (not that really white gringos trying to play soccer isn't funny enough already!)!! This Sunday is the classic game between two Brazilian teams, Flamengo and Fluminense, in Maracana stadium. Maracana stadium is the huge soccer stadium in Rio that will be the centerpiece of the upcoming World Cup and Olympics. This is THE GAME TO SEE!! And we got tickets for $20 Reais (about $13 USD)!!!!!! I am so so SO excited.

Samba jam session on Ipanema Beach with instruments, singers, and dancers.

Portuguese classes are over next Thursday and then begins the craziness of Carnaval and real vacation. Plans are being formed to try and go to Argentina, but we will see how that goes. My friend Melissa and I found an adorable little cafe and bookstore today that made me think of school and Olympia. Too bad books here are crazy expensive! Oh yes, and I tried cashew juice...a very strange and bitter experience. Also, there are these evil little ants here that get in EVERYTHING! No food or glass is safe. You have been warned.

First Two Weeks in Brazil: SUCCESS

This is Rio from the top of Sugerloaf Mountain. The mountain to the right is the Christ statue and I live to the left at the foot of it. Such a beautiful city!

Today I finished my second week of Portuguese classes and had my first written exam. And got robbed! It was inevitable and I'm actually surprised I made it two weeks. My friend Lauren and I were walking in broad daylight around the lake near my house and four teenage guys ran up, surrounded us, and pulled out a knife. We handed over our phones damn fast and they ran off. We were a little shaken up, but we're fine. It's a good experience to have had and now we know what to be aware of for the future.

My Portuguese has gotten a lot better and the heat isn't quite as stifling. I've been kept very busy with Portuguese classes Monday through Friday, which is really tiring, and then taking advantage of being in such an amazing city. My university took us on a city tour of some popular tourist destinations, which was fun, and then I've been exploring the beaches and parks some with other students (alone too, but that might end today).

Maracana Soccer Stadium. Home of Brasil!

Historic downtown Rio de Janeiro.

Sambodrono, where the famous Samba School parades happen during Carnaval.

One thing I love about my bus ride to school, and Rio in general, is the amazing graffiti. It's on almost every wall and some of serious works of art. There's political, social, gang related, and just drawings. I will try to get some pictures up soon. It definitely brightens up the already beautiful city.

Eu não falo Português.

And so begins my semester at PUC-Rio. "I do not speak Portuguese." I appear to be one of the only international students here for the intensive Portuguese program who has not studied the language at all, ever. I tested into level 3 of 5 with the online test (Portuguese and Spanish are similar), but the oral test put me in level 1 as my pronunciation and actual knowledge of Portuguese is pretty nonexistent. It's a strange position to be in, but I am loving it!

Today was orientation so I met the 130 other students who will be here this month. There isn't as much diversity as I would have liked, at least half of the students are from California! Mostly from UC Berkeley, UCSB, UCLA, and a couple of other UC schools. Apparently PUC and the UC system are very close; they even have an official representative with an office on campus! Other than that there are numerous other undergraduate students (the majority), grad students, entrepreneurs, army wives following their husbands, and travelers.

PUC is only a 15-20min bus ride from my house, which is convenient. The campus is beautiful, though pretty empty now as the school is on vacation. Classes start Monday and are Mon-Fri from 8:30am-1pm.

I definitely have much more freedom here than with my host family in Ecuador. I have my own key to the house and no real restrictions except boys aren't allowed to spend the night. I am truly enjoying myself so far and just need to get some more reais out of the bank, buy a cell phone, and learn to speak Portuguese!

Tchau! Maya

BRAZIL!

I arrived in Brazil this morning at 6am in insane heat and humidity. I met two other international students from my program, both from France, and we managed to communicate in a weird Portuguese/English/Spanish dialect. There was some confusion about family living situations which left me homeless for a couple of hours, but now it's sorted out and I am in a different house than I originally thought. I am living with a woman named Erminia who is a psychotherapist and has had many other students from my university stay with her. She informed me matter-of-factly after I arrived that I was now her daughter forever, which is fine with me! We live on the 9th floor of an apartment building close to a huge lake, 15-20 minutes from my university by bus, and about 30 minutes to Ipanema beaches. Tomorrow I have an orientation beginning at 9am in my university and Portuguese classes begin on Monday. Crazy exciting!