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.
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.
------------------------------------------------
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!
-----------------------------------------------
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!!)
Ran out of steam. Description the remainder of our travels to Iracambi to be continued. (Spoiler alert: Drug bust!!)
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| How I knew I had successfully made it to South America (Lima airport) |
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