Wow it’s been quite some time since I last updated the world on my comings and goings. Now where did I leave off…?
AMAZONAS: After arriving in hot-as-hell Manaus I went on a super touristy 3-day jaunt into the jungle. I spent my time at a gringo lodge on a serene lake 90km south of Manaus. Boat trips through flooded forests, jungle hikes, piranha fishing, bird watching, caiman “hunting”, etc. I went with a very nice group of gringos from Sweden, Switzerland, Spain, and Slovakia. Everyone was just visiting Brazil briefly on a vacation. You can check out all the photos from this trip on the site.
Afterwards I spent a few days chilling at a hostel in Manaus. Manaus é chato! Manaus is boring! It’s always so freakin hot that you have not motivation to do anything. While the facts on the ground may not be very interesting, the idea of a city of 1.5 million people situated in the middle of the jungle is captivating. WHY?! There is one road that goes north to Venezuela and another that runs west to Porto Velho near the Colombian border (that was flooded when I was there and stays that way a few months every year) but there is absolutely NO land route south. NONE. You have to catch a boat east or west to connect to a city that has access to the south. That said Manaus is an industrial powerhouse in Brazil with a sprawling zona franca constantly billowing smoke. Bizarre. The city came to prominence as Europeans plowed upriver during the rubber boom of a foregone era and many relics still remain (see the Teatro Amazonas). Then, during the military era the generals pushed forth a plan of developing the interior, allocating lots of resources to expand Manaus and opening the free-trade zone. Anyways, after a few days there I returned to Curitiba, caught a bus at 1:10am and made it back to Floripa before sunrise.
THE MOMENT YOU’VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR: after a few days home I came down with a high fever (38.9C, 102ish F) and passed out 2 times in the kitchen. My roommate found me lying on the floor with my eyes open and drove me to the hospital. All good after that. That brings up the grand total to hospital visits in FIVE foreign countries (I’m counting Puerto Rico b/c I had to speak Spanish).
Soon thereafter classes started…supposedly. Actually barely any of the gringos went the first week and one of my classes really didn’t get on its feet until THREE WEEKS in. Academics here are wayyyy laid back compared to GW. Most classes meet once a week for a 4 hour block, but after starting 20 minutes late, a 20 minute intermission and ending a bit early it’s more like just under 3 hours. Coming an hour late barely provokes a glance from the professor and extended private conversations as well are generally ignored/allowed. I have “6” hours of classes Monday, 7 Tuesday and 4 Wednesday…Thursday and Friday are free. Hehehehhe. I am taking Cinema and Literature; Brazilian Culture (Anth); Sociopolitical, Economic, Cultural History of Latin America; Cognitive Psychology and General History of Brazil.
For someone who rarely has class I'm surprisingly busy. I just spent 5 days in a van full of 13 gringos going to the 3 nation boarder of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay and it was pretty great. 1 moçambica, 1 brazilian, 1 uruguaio, 2 germans, 3 portuguesas, 4 french fries, and a partridge in a pear tree. We camped in tents and hammocks at a woodsy hostel and made big group meals every night with a big party afterwards. It was really cool getting to know all them better and having a group of so many people that actually worked out reallllly well. When we went to Ciudad del Este, Para and Foz de Iguazu, Arg we split up into smaller groups and I was an honorary frenchy/mo'bico. For the ride home we woke up at 5:30am, dark, rainy, cold, and windy to get an early start. That said I made it into my house just before 10pm! Ughhhh
I spent one night in the house and my padrinho Gustavo asked me if I wanted to go to a beach up north with him to visit some family. Seafooooood. Of course I went. Shrimp, octopus, Brazilian style caviar and flounder in an apartment right on the beach. That night I was having a dream in English and a girl asked me a question in Spanish that I didn’t understand so I responded in Portuguese and spent the rest of my dreams speaking Port w/ people. That was a first. I've arrived! (I did have dreams in Portuguese before but I never understood what people were saying hahaha)
My buddy Sean from NMH is coming in October for Oktoberfest (the biggest outside of Munich) and I think Ben is coming with his friend Mike in November for a HUGE street fest called Folianopolis (it’s like off-season Carnival). My GW roommate Micah came with our friend Jackie in August. I met up with them in São Paulo for a weekend. We spent nine days together and it went very well. It rained for almost a month before they came and rained the day the left but didn’t rain ONCE when they were here. Incredible.
I'm not looking forward to coming back to DC to work my butt off for a whole semester and then take a summer class on top of that. I worked hard at GW and I've been enjoying fooling around here with parties, bbqs, adventures and chilling. It’s weird to think that in May I’m GRADUATING FROM COLLEGE, but I’m already contemplating my next great adventure (teaching English in Asia perhaps?)
I've been really truly lucky here. It seems like everything goes my way more or less. I've come across a lot of really cool people and met a lot of nice Brazilians who helped me settle in. I just hope I pass all my classes.
By the way, Argentina lost to Brasil 1-3 the day before I went to Argentina and then to Paraguay 0-1 and then Brasil beat Chile 4-2. The country is very happy right now. Everybody hates Argentina. A lot. hahah
As for today, I’ve been on the move a lot lately and I think I’ll take it easy.
Então tá. Falou amiginhos!
P.S. Excuse my spelling/grammar errors, my spellcheck is in Portuguese haha
|
