Seis Garotas com Cristo: Rio dia três

Liz and I rose bright and early to start the day with bursts of energy. After reciting, “Today is going to be a GREAT day and I feel terrrrrrrrific!” Liz was ready to join me for a run and some yoga on Ipanema beach under the morning light. We pranced through the sand toward Dois Hermois, waves lapping at our bare feet, ocean breezes cooling our bronzed, muscular physiques. It was funny to observe the wide array of people who were on the beach at that hour. A team of little Brazilian boys practiced soccer. Women danced about the waves in their Brazilian bikinis. Old men speed walked in their skimpy swim trunks.  Young adults got their morning workout from soccer volleyball. A less fortunate man, burrowed in the sand, hadn’t yet awoken from his night’s sleep.

We finished our run, sweaty and exhilarated, and then attempted to do yoga on the beach. I thought of the Rodney Yee yoga videos that my dear mother used to watch. Turns out sand (especially when sloped) is quite difficult to balance on. I guess Rodney’s balance is even more impressive than I thought. Regardless, we still had a relaxing and invigorating yoga session. We quenched our thirst with a delicious, revitalizing coconut juice.

I watched longingly as a group of Brazilians played soccer volleyball, and I was determined to join in. I rehearsed with Liz multiple times, “posso jogar futbol tambem?” Finally, I worked up the courage to ask them. Rejection. Turns out they worked for a gym and were doing a private clinic. They told me I could play with them in an hour when the clinic was over, but unfortunately we had to leave to make it back for breakfast at the hostel.

The aimless, wandering escapades of Liz and Laura, pt. 1:

Liz and I both tend to get distracted sometimes. We had some really great conversations as we walked back to our hostel, located just a couple blocks away. There was also a tense moment when Liz thought she left her shoes at the beach, only to look down and find them on her feet. After learning a great deal about each other’s lives and observing many interesting aspects of the city, we realized we might have missed our turn. We turned around, asked a few pedestrians for directions and headed back toward the hostel. Turns out we had gone (more or less) a mile too far. Oops! When we finally got back, we had missed breakfast, but greatly enjoyed ourselves in the process (we decided that getting lost would definitely be worth doing again sometime)...

The six of us hopped on a metro bus across town toward Corcovado, with grand plans to conquer the mountain and chill with Cristo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer) at the top. We arrived at a station where a tram swooped us and scooted us up the rainforest covered mountain (located in the Tujuca Forest national park, in the middle of the city). Midway through the steep ride, the tram stopped and a Brazilian Samba band stepped on to serenade us tourists. Before we knew it, Sasha and I had been pulled up by the tambourine player to stand with the band while they sang The Girl from Ipanema. We stood there awkwardly cracking up to each other as 30 tourist cameras continually flashed at us. Finally we stepped off the tram to enter an even bigger sea of tourists at the top of Corcovado. We ascended the last sets of steps, passing all sorts of souvenir shops selling Cristo shot glasses, Cristo tanks… you name it. Finally, we stood before stunning panoramic views of Rio and Cristo Redentor himself (he was a little grey and bloated from 2000 years of decay, but he looked great). The iconic statue, sculpted from concrete and soapstone, towers thirteen stories over its human visitors. When dragons visit, they usually find themselves face to face with Cristo. I found it quite entertaining to watch tourists of all ages, shapes, sizes and nationalities take the exact same picture in front of the statue – mimicking Christ’s arms-spread-wide position. Liz and I took it a step further and incorporated Cristo’s facial hair (using grass) into our photo replication. As we waited for the tram to take us down, a monkey (macaco) decided to entertain us. We were far more amused than the other people, especially when the monkey shamelessly peed off the tram station.

That evening, we attempted to go to a Churrascaria (traditional Brazilian BBQ) but ended up at a nice restaurant instead. Following our delicious meal, we took to subway to Caraoca for a night on the town in Lapa. Our posse, GarotasMau5 was officially born. We ended up walking the wrong direction from the Subway and found ourselves in a seedy part of town. Let’s just say an unpleasant and slightly scarring (yet harmless) event happened and we decided to take a cab the rest of the way. We safely made it to our destination, where Caipirinhas took off the edge. We entered the Samba club as planned, and low and behold, the Samba band playing contained our favorite tambourine player from the Corcovado tram! Again, it turns out Rio is a miniscule town. We danced the night away, surrounded by people of many ages and nationalities (because of the conference). GarotasMau5 made it back to the hostel intact, with all six unscathed members. 

Prática do futebol

Rodney Yee in Ipanema!

Bridge over Dois Hermois

Ironic (apparently Cristo can't watch over everyone...)

Our beloved tambourine man

Segment of view from the top of Corcovado

Perfect emulation of Cristo

Hawks circling Cristo

Macaco!

Samba band (find tambourine man)

Seis Garotas em Ipanema: Dia dois

Sasha and I woke early and transferred our stuff to the hostel where everyone else was staying, now that there was free space for us. We grabbed some hostel breakfast and coffee then all headed to the fruit market down the street. We swam through a sea of vibrantly colored fruits, vegetables and fish, some recognized, some alien to our previous food knowledge. Brazilian men shoved the sweetest of strawberries into our mouths, wiping off our faces with napkins afterwards. Walking down the fruit market street was definitely “café da manhã, parte dois” (breakfast part two), because we were forcibly (and enjoyably) stuffed to the brim with more and more fruit samples. 
One fruit merchant greeted me, Sasha and Liz by saying “bom dia,” “bonjour,” “good morning,” (respectively) as we walked by his fruit stand together. I’m still proud of this. A man who called himself “Big Ricardo” (he was actually smaller than me) sold us cherimoyas (known in Brazil as pinhas) and avocados the size of my head. He also insisted that Liz take a picture of the two of us together (see below…) and that I tell everyone in sight that he was my Brazilian boyfriend. He was relentless. This got old really fast so we turned our backs and moved on. 
Soon we headed to the famous and magnificent Ipanema beach. We frolicked in the waves, bought sarongs from a beach vendor (classic tourists), admired expressive street art murals, sipped juice from young coconuts, gazed at the Dois Irmãos mountains, people watched…  It was carefree and glorious. We ended up walking all the way to neighboring Copacabana beach, where we sat on some rocks and ate our lunch (mainly consisting of the fruit we bought that morning). Every piece of fruit was exquisitely delicious and juicy. 
We walked into town toward our intended destination, the Rio +20 Humanidade exhibit at the Copacabana Forte. We discovered the line to be several blocks long, but decided to wait anyway. After about an hour, silliness ensued. Said silliness consisted of beatboxing, boom-chicka-boom, funny noises and voices, unique sarong styles… We finally made it into the exhibit, which was awesome and totally worth it. 
The whole exhibit was built in about ten floors of scaffolding, connecting thirteen different rooms with ramps. The ground level consisted of a garden of many plant species from different Brazilian Biomes, as well as thought provoking quotes and facts about the rainforests and biodiversity of Brazil. All of the rooms were incredibly innovative and artistic, all with different sustainability related themes. One shared interpretations of development throughout the ages, another embraced Brazilian human diversity, and another was dedicated to the topic of biodiversity and sustainability. The “Rio de Janeiro” room was completely 3-D (we were given glasses when we walked in) and communicated many different dimensions of progress.  If you want to learn more about the exhibit or read more about the different rooms, visit this website: http://www.humanidade2012.net/en/o-evento/exposicao/ . I’ll also post a few (shitty) pictures below. 
After the exhibit, our jelly-legs managed to carry us to a quick, filling supper and back to the hostel. Liz, Sasha and I decided to grab a low-key drink, so we headed to a nearby bar. Low and behold, we walked in and ran into our friend who had visited Iracambi the previous week for her organization, which works with Iracambi. We ended up having drinks with her, her coworkers and some other people who were in town for the conference.  We got to hear more about the actual happenings of/surrounding the conference (which they were all in town for). Ended up doing a fair amount of enjoyable networking (who knew!), which was pretty chill and the last thing I expected from our Rio adventure. Thanks in advance, Rio +20, for possibly helping me to find post-college employment. 
More importantly, I had my first Caipirinha (a day in history). A Caipirinha is Brazil’s national cocktail. It is made of Cachaça (sugar cane rum), lime, and sugar. It reminds me a lot of a Pisco Sour, which means it is absolutely DELICIOUS. If any of you faithful blog readers ever get the chance, please order a Caipirinha!
After our little bar excursion (which proved to us that Rio is actually a tiny city, despite its population of 6 million people), our satisfied taste buds (accompanied by the rest of our bodies, luckily!) wandered back to the hostel and into our top bunks. 

Strolling along in front of Dois Irmãos

Sasha eating a maracuja, me stabbing something in the background

Liz and my child: Ricardo Jr.

Outside Humanidade exhibit

We <3 lines!

Some Girls in Ipanema: Dia um

Day one of our Rio de Janeiro excursion:

We rose early Sunday morning (June 17^th) to begin our thrilling journey into Rio de Janeiro, a cidade das maravilhas. The journey was pretty uneventful. Sasha and I listened to a Pimsleur Portuguese Lesson on the bus and repeated the phrases as we were directed. As we said in unison, “Eu sou brasileiro. Eu sou Americana,” in our flawed, robotic accents, we looked up and noticed an old Brazilian woman laughing at us. LOL literally, all three of us. We arrived in Ipanema and checked into our hostel. I met an Israeli girl who was staying there – she was in the midst of her post-IDF world travels, which is a common tradition (as I learned during my winter trip to Israel). Her next destination was New York, where she would stay with friends that she met on the birthright trip she went on as a soldier. This warmed my heart as I fondly thought of my Israeli birthright friends (shout out!).

As soon as we got settled, we met up with Liz, Emma, Georgia and Carole, who had arrived earlier in the day. We explored the streets and watched some lively Brazilian senior citizens work out on the exercise contraptions in the public park (why don’t they have these in the U.S. – it’s just like a playground for adults, and we saw them everywhere!). Eventually we settled on a pizzeria to satisfy our hungry tummies. Turns out Brazilian pizza is very different from American pizza, and it’s quite delicious! Following our banquete saboroso, Liz, Sasha and our lugged our satiated bellies to Ipanema beach. The sound of the waves was mesmerizing, and the outline of Dois Irmãos (“Two Brothers,” the two mountains on the western edge of the beach) loomed in the darkness. We frolicked along the sandy shore, getting hit with huge waves that made us feel like we peed our pants for the rest of the night. But we didn’t care. It was magical. We spied on a passionate couple far down the beach and yelled “paixão!”, practicing the Portuguese nasalization of the “ã”. We carved it in sand and pranced around it as the waves slowly washed it away. A magia do Rio had hit us.

The three of us had our hearts set on Bossa Nova for the night (we opted out of the Favela Funk party that was advertised at our hostel), so we searched for a Bossa Nova club/bar. Unfortunately it was a Sunday night, so we weren’t as lucky as we had hoped. We found a really nice one but the cover was pretty steep. The bouncer let us check it out, so we enjoyed about a minute of lovely, live Bossa Nova and then decided that was enough (a.k.a. we were feeling stingy). It was a delightful one minute, don’t get me wrong. We explored some more and found a cute little café/bar with a live guitar player, and we enjoyed drinks and brigadeiros (described by Wikipedia as a “Brazilian chocolate bonbon). Highly enjoyable. After a while we noticed that the guitarist was actually singing in (heavily accented) English, covering many songs we knew. How’s that for a cultural experience!

At this point, we found ourselves droopy eyed with exhaustion, so we headed back to our hostels and slept like angels under the protection of Cristo Redentor (you’ll hear more about this dude later). 


Fotos:

 Get a workout while you watch your kids on the playground at the park. Novel idea! (Elliptical trainers on the left, weight-like machines on the right)

 Frolic in the waves of Ipanema!

Bebidas e brigadeiros

Chegada

Although my multitude of blog groupies are probably dead with suspense by now, I will venture back 9 days to the occurrence of a certain *spoiled* event.

To continue where I left off… Sasha and I bought our tickets to Muriaé and lugged our bags to the platform to wait for the bus. While we were waiting, an elderly Brazilian man spoke to us in a long string of animated Portuguese and chuckles for about 5 minutes straight. We smiled, nodded and played along the entire time, and he showed us pictures of his grandchildren (presumably) on his cellphone. When he started asking us questions, we finally had to blow our cover that we hadn’t understood a word of whatever he had so excitedly told us about. We boarded the bus and made friends with a Brazilian guy sitting next to us who seemed about our age. We chatted and laughed in a combination of English, Spanish and Portuguese. Incredible how funny things can be when people don’t really understand each other. We gazed out the windows at rolling green hills, thick, varied stands of trees, eroding chunks of red earth…zZzzZzzzZz

I awoke to Sasha’s gentle, repeated pokes, and finally opened my eyes to see a few policia boarding the bus. I looked outside and noticed we were stopped in the middle of nowhere. Next thing I knew, the young gentleman from the back of the bus was being led off in handcuffs. Soon, the policia were searching the bag of the old woman across from us. They took her bag and led her off the bus as well. Sasha and I had no clue what was going on. Everything was strangely quiet, but we were dying to know, so we attempted to ask our friend. This is what we gathered: DRUG BUST! The young man in the back had a bag full of drugs, we think Marijuana and Cocaine. The old lady had drugs in her bag too, but she was soon let back on the bus. Apparently there was a padlocked case of drugs in her bag that she had not put there, and I thought I heard her muttering about her sister afterwards…

Anyway, as exciting as the idea of a Brazilian drug bust is, the whole ordeal was surprisingly calm. Despite our 30 minute delay, we made it to Muriaé just in time to catch our last bus to Rosário da Limeira, the small town that is closest to Iracambi. We were immediately greeted by Claudio, the owner of the bar where we were dropped off and the son of Carminha, the cook at Iracambi. He hooked us up with a taxi, and we began the last leg of our long, exciting journey to Iracambi. The taxi ride reminded of of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland: Dark, windy, rattly, hilly, surrounded by nature noises, nearly getting stuck in the dirt multiple times… One miniscule difference arose when the cab driver pulled out a pop out video screen and inserted a DVD of Brazilian pop music videos. Sasha and I were amazed as he successfully delivered us to Iracambi in one piece while simultaneously watching the scantily clad women dancing around on a little screen.

We arrived at Iracambi and everyone seemed a tad bit confused. Turns out they all thought we were arriving on Friday (it was Wednesday). Oops! Also, I later found out from Liz that Carminha thought I was a Brazilian soap opera star from one of the shows she watches. We brought our stuff into Centro (where we stay), met everyone (except for Jaim, whose head/ face were busy exploding), and then headed to the “restaurant,” “Sabor de Serra,” for our first Iracambi supper: rice, beans, and some other delicious accompaniments. We also met Bean, the last remaining kitten (the others went to other farms).

The next few days we familiarized ourselves with Iracambi. Emma showed us around the trails and the hills, and we explored on our own for quite a while. We hiked the nature trail and the medicinal plants trail. We marveled at fungi of all shapes and colors. We admired leaves of all textures and sizes. We traced winding mazes of vines up the trees.  

We are especially intrigued by the Dragonsblood tree, which oozes a blood-red sap. When smeared on bug bites or other itches, it works better than any store-bought anti-itch solution any of us have ever tried. Over the course of our stay, dragonsblood application has been multiple times mistaken (by visitors) for bloody skin gashes.

We explored more, talked with Robin about our projects, went on Robin’s famous Iracambi jeep tour (some great stories to come) learned a lot of things, and spent an afternoon/evening in Limeira. Perhaps (hopefully) I will not forego details of these occasions; however, Iracambi happenings must make way for the enthralling details of our recent, spontaneous 5-day excursion to Rio de Janeiro!

Centro, where we all live, is the small building in the middle

Funkay fungus

Let the Adventures Begin

I actually wrote this mostly on Tuesday (June 12). Haven't gotten around to posting it, oops. A lot of it seems so irrelevant to my life now, but perhaps I shall post more recent updates soon.

After a 2 hour, $300 airport debacle, I have successfully reached Latin America. (Note to future travelers: some airlines won’t let you board until you have proof of a purchased ticket leaving your destination country. I along with about 5 other young travelers had this problem and had to buy a plane ticket out of Brazil even though I will most likely be leaving by bus at Iguazu Falls.

I am currently on the ground at the San Salvador Airport of El Salvador, perched in my carefully selected window seat, watching my fellow plane mates board while listening to snippets of foreign chatter over a background of Spanish Enya-esque music (why aren’t they moving in slow-motion??). It looks like clouds are being violently purged from the ventilation system on this plane, curling around the popout videoscreens displaying romantic naturey depictions of El Salvador. This hardly seems strange after inhaling the airport air reminiscent of a mixture of tropical rainforests and perfume samples and gazing out the windows to view the unfamiliar juxtaposition of what appears to be thick rainforest next to runway.

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On my flight from San Salvador to Lima I busied myself by sleeping, scrapbooking, and listening to Pimsleur’s Portuguese lessons (thanks Charlotte!). I didn’t converse with my row mate until I saw her pull down one of her parcels from the overhead compartment at the end of the flight. It was a long velvet bag with Hebrew letters on it. From casual interaction, I knew she was a native Spanish speaker, so I was curious. I struck up a conversation and asked her about the bag, which turned out to contain the longest shofar I have ever seen. She told me her husband was bringing a Hanukkiah and many other Jewish artifacts as well. I asked her where she was headed and where she was from, and low and behold, she answered La Paz! She and her husband live in California, but now that he is retiring, they are going to spend a lot more time in La Paz and start a Messianic Church. I told her my grandparents were from Bolivia and she got very excited. I asked her about the Messianic religion, which I know very little about, and gathered that it is rooted in Judaism but they believe that the Messiah has already come. I don’t know much else, and the internet is pretty slow here (if you care to enlighten me). Unfortunately it was time for the plane to unload, so we didn’t get to continue our conversation (we both had other connections to make – mine to Rio and hers to La Paz). Small world!

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My flight from Lima to Rio was pretty uneventful, but I could just barely make out silhouettes of beautiful Brazilian ocean shores as we arrived in the dark around 4:50am. As I waited for Sasha, I chatted for a few hours with some people who had just arrived for the Rio +20 conference. A Colombian man named Damar told me all about his environmental “red de apoya” fundación called Indigena, and two young men working with an Environmental group in DC (Earth-something..) explained to me the specifics of the conference and all the surrounding events. Around 50,000 people are coming in from all over the world for the summit, which happens every 10 years. Many of the people (including the ones I met) are part of environmental organizations that actually have no say in the decisions being made. They are there to network, spread their messages, discuss, and establish common goals with other organization. Together, they participate in many outside events and put pressure on the governmental negotiators.

I found Sasha around 9:30, and we used our extensive Portuguese vocabulary to find an ATM and the cheapest official taxi available. I took it as a compliment when people replied to my inquiries in a rapid string of Portuguese – they must have thought I was a native speaker because of my flawless accent, right?? We enjoyed many different views of Rio as we taxied to the Rodoviaria (bus station), then we bought our bus tickets to Muriae.

Ran out of steam. Description the remainder of our travels to Iracambi to be continued. (Spoiler alert: Drug bust!!)

How I knew I had successfully made it to South America (Lima airport)

Venturing into Blogworld

The corny title of my blog represents a few things. I will be observing existences from a physically different vantage point (actually multiple new ones, over the course of the next six months). I will be encountering many new perspectives. I will be flying/migrating to new places (hence the bird reference/blog theme). I enjoy perching in trees (or anywhere, for that matter) and appreciating the details around me that I often forget to slow down and notice.

I will be spending 2 months in Brazil (most of which will take place at the Iracambi research center in the Atlantic Rainforest), 3 weeks travelling in Brazil, Argentina and Peru, and 4 months studying abroad in Ecuador on a comparative ecology and conservation program. More South American adventures may follow.

Welcome to my first blog post ever!!! Be forewarned of endlessly rambling descriptions, painfully tangential stories, and asthma-inducing puns.