Vacation Time!! Iguazu Falls, Porto Alegre, and Rio de Janeiro
This blog will be a bit long as I have a lot to talk about, more than a month's worth in fact, so hang onto your hats and let's get started.
On July 14th, I spent the entire day finishing up my master's class and turning in all of the assignments and projects I still needed to get done. I ended up getting 234/235 points, so it was worth all of the hard work in the end. On Sunday, I went to Londrina to hang out with some fellow Fulbrighters who are also in my mentor group. We went to the mall and window-shopped and had lunch together before Kayla, the girl I stayed with, and I went back to her apartment to hang out. The next day, all of the Fulbrighters living in Londrina (with me tagging along) flew to Salvador for our mid-year conference with the rest of the Fulbright cohort. Monday was a travel day, so once we got to the hotel, I settled in, unpacked a bit, and then got dinner at the hotel with everyone who was there already. We were one of the last groups to fly in, so it was fun seeing everyone again. After, I went out for drinks and then headed to bed early to get ready for the busy days ahead.
Tuesday was really fun but tiring as conferences always are. We started the day with a small city tour which was fun and interesting. It's always nice to understand a bit of the history of the places I visit and I enjoyed learning about it. We then had lunch and settled into the conference room to get started. The day mostly consisted of people welcoming us and giving brief presentations about security and whatnot until it was time for dinner.
Wednesday was more fun for me as I didn't just have to sit and listen all day. We had five groups of people come and present on their lives after the Fulbright and talk about how we could get involved after. They each introduced themselves and what they were currently doing for their job and then after we had breakout sessions for each group. I went to the session for education. I thought it would be interesting to talk about different ways to get involved in education abroad or even in the US, but the entire time, the lady leading the session just complained about how terrible education systems are. She said teachers are not valued in brazil, they don't make very much money, and they have terrible teaching strategies that don't work and aren't willing to change their ways. She also said that the US education system isn't great and she worked in a school that had a lot of poverty and was hard to work at and she didn't feel appreciated as a teacher there either. It was honestly just depressing and left me feeling like that was not the breakout session I should have gone to. After that, we had a person come from the Regional English Language Office to talk about teaching English. This was an amazing session with a wonderful woman who really knew what it was like to be a teacher. She gave us ideas for what to do when your cooperating teacher makes you come up with a lesson at the last minute. It was a session full of amazing resources and it helped me feel a lot better about teaching after the terrible education session. The last session of the day was a workshop. We had to sign up for three workshops to go to throughout the week. For the first one, I chose to go to one about setting priorities for my time here in Brazil. It was a great way for me to really value my time here and get the most out of my experience. That night, we had a June Festival party where they had traditional dances and food. It was fun, but I enjoyed going out after for a few beers and having a much more relaxed atmosphere.
On Thursday, we had a professor come and talk to us about teaching English in another culture and how she has loved having Fulbrighters work with her. Her presentation was very meaningful as we always have to be conscious about living and teaching in another country and in a different culture. We then had two more workshops to attend. The first one I went to was about how to talk about controversial topics in the classroom. It was an amazing workshop and gave me a lot of ideas for future conversation clubs. The second workshop was about putting English into action. I thought this meant something totally different than what was presented, but it was still interesting. They talked about a science club they started up where the kids that came could learn English and were expected to speak in English. So they learned about science in the English language. I thought they were going to talk about more than one project and give me some ideas, but I don't see this as a need in my community, so I didn't feel like it pertained to me. Once the day was over, we all had dinner together and then everyone got ready to party as it was the last night together and people would just be traveling home the next day. Fulbright bought a flight for me, but I had to leave the hotel at 4:30am to get to my flight that left around 6:30am. I was a little mad since I like getting sleep and I couldn't party, but I just went to the pre-parties in different hotel rooms to say goodbye and have some fun before getting a few hours of sleep and heading to the airport.
Okay, now this is when the fun actually starts. I got home, did laundry, and repacked my bags and headed out to Foz do Iguacu (Iguazu Falls) the next day. The bus ride was from 10pm until about 7am and it was hard to sleep on the bus, but I eventually made it to my hostel to settle in. I only had a few days, so even though I was grumpy and tired, I headed to the Brazilian side of the falls to get some sightseeing in. It was very beautiful, but I thought it wasn't organized very well. First, you had to buy a ticket and then wait in a huge line to take a double decker bus to the beginning of the short trail to the falls. There were stops along the way to take a boat ride or kayak, but most people didn't get off the bus and I didn't want to pay to do those things. So we all ended up at the trail at the same time and everyone stood around or slowly walked in each other's ways. I finally got ahead of the group and was able to actually walk without going around someone or waiting for people to move. But then, I got to the top of the stairs. They have a rail down the middle so there can only be two people on each stair and everyone is in single file lines. It took forever for people to get down the stairs and at the bottom, an hour and a half later, I saw why. There was a path that people could go out into the river to see the falls better and take pictures. But it was in the shape of a lollypop basically where people walk out and then there is an opening for people to stop and take pictures on. There were no rails to keep people on one side or the other so everyone just mobbed on and got in each other's way so the people leaving the trail had trouble getting around people who were trying to get to the opening. I waited in that line for probably another hour until I finally got to the opening. It would have worked out great if everyone just went in a nice, calm circle to get their pictures and look at the view, but people were pushing and shoving left and right to get to the rail and then they would stay there for 5 minutes to take pictures of themselves, their families, and whatever else they could think of. I finally just pushed my way through people, took a few pictures, and then got out of there. I went to a more secluded place to enjoy the falls from a distance. The falls were beautiful, but there were too many people for it to be an enjoyable experience. I also was tired and grumpy still, but I finally got to sleep when I got back to my hostel.
After some much-needed rest and a good breakfast, I headed to the Argentinian side of the falls. I was a little skeptical that it would be the same as the Brazilian side, but I was pleasantly surprised. I was really nervous about crossing the border as people have told me they didn't get all of the stamps they needed and then it was hard to get back across. However, a French family of three were going that same day and let me ride in their taxi with them. Between me, the taxi driver, and the French family, we didn't really speak a common language, but everyone was friendly and we got to where we needed to go while crossing the border legally. We split up at the park and I headed to the train station to get a train to Devil's Throat as soon as possible. Devil's Throat is basically the main, furthest back section of the falls. However, I didn't realize that the train only took me to another station where I'd have to take a different one all the way to Devil's Throat. I got really confused, so I walked along a path until I saw the Superior Trail. This was one of the trails I wanted to go on, so off I went. The trails were really easy walking which was nice and it wasn't too crowded, so I got to enjoy nature while walking next to a beautiful waterfall. On this trail, I basically got to see the superior view of the falls, which was pretty, but I really wanted to go to Devil's Throat. At the station again, I finally found the correct, slightly hidden path going up to Devil's Throat. Most people take the train I think, but I didn't want to wait for hours, so I walked. It took about half an hour to get to the entrance to the Devil's Throat trail, so I stopped and got lunch before heading onto the trail. It took a while to get out, but once I did, it was beautiful. There weren't as many people this day, so I was able to take my time and get some pictures and just enjoy the amazing waterfalls. When I got back to the station again, I still had a few more hours before our taxi driver would arrive at the time we decided on. So I went to the Inferior trail and got to see the falls from below. I think this was actually my favorite trail as it was in the middle of the forest and surrounded by trees, animals, rivers, and the falls. I also really enjoyed this angle of the waterfalls as well. I still had some time left after so I shopped for a few souvenirs before heading to the entrance to wait for the family and taxi driver. The family was actually already there, so we went to see if our driver was waiting for us, and she was. I had a feeling she literally sat in her car all day and waited for us, which seemed terrible to me, but maybe was worth the money for her.
When I got back to the hostel, I showered, changed clothes and headed out again. I wanted to go to the Tres Fronteiras (Three Borders) Marker. This is where Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina meet, except there is a river between. There are markers at each border, but I only got to see the Brazilian one as it's all I had time for. I went with a Canadian woman I met at breakfast and we spent some time looking around at the art and monuments. All of a sudden, some people in costumes came out and danced. I had been told dances wouldn't happen that night, but indeed they did. The dancers took a break so Julie and I went to get some dinner. Right as I was ordering dessert from a food truck, the dancers started up again. This time, they danced different dances from each of the three countries and it was a lot of fun to watch. After taking some more pictures, Julie and I headed back to the hostel to get some rest.
My flight to Porto Alegre was the next day, but I still had one more sight to see. I went to the bird park. My favorite thing about this place is that all of the animals are rescues and the goal is for every animal to be released again once they are better. It was a very enjoyable morning seeing a bunch of beautiful birds; some of them very rare.
My flight to Porto Alegre was delayed by a few hours, but it was nice to see some friendly faces when I landed. I spent my time there with Alexa, Lauro (a professor I work with), and Lauro's girlfriend Paula. We spent the week eating at some amazing restaurants, going to some really fun bars, and having our own personal tour guide for the city. It was a really fun week and I was glad I made the city part of my vacation plans. However, I got even sicker there. It was cold and rainy most of the days and I started coughing really bad and having a terrible plugged up nose. They let me sleep with a heater on all night as they know I hate being cold and there is no internal heating or air conditioning in the buildings in Brazil. I did get tired of wearing a scarf, coat, and shoes inside the house all the time, but I still had a lot of fun.
After Porto Alegre, I headed to Rio to spend a little over a week seeing the city. I imagined a week spent outdoors exploring, but instead, I got a cloudy, rainy week where I spent a lot of time indoors. Saturday and Sunday were the only two nice days. I spent Saturday visiting the Christ the Redeemer statue and also site seeing with my mototaxi driver. There weren't a lot of cars to take me back to my hostel from the Redeemer besides taxis and they tend to be too expensive for my budget. But a motorcycle taxi driver offered to take me for a decent price, so I accepted. I was terrified as I had only been on a mototaxi once before and that was in Colombia in a tiny town. I was planning on going back to my hostel and then visiting two sites very close to it, Parque das Ruinas and the Selaron stairs. On the way, my driver Carlos asked if I had seen the sights of Rio yet. I said I'd seen some, but not much as it had been raining. So he took me to some beautiful viewpoints and became my photographer. He took me to Parque das Ruinas (Ruins Park), which had an old building with an amazing viewpoint of the city. He then took me to Escadaria Selaron, which are some stairs that have a bunch of ceramic squares with different paintings on each one. There are even some of US states. I tried to find Nebraska, but there were too many squares to look at and I don't even know if one exists. After that, Carlos asked if I wanted to visit a favela with him and if I wanted to go to a Samba party with him that night. I hate big parties and didn't feel very safe going to a favela with him, so I said no thank you, paid him, and continued exploring the stairs as he left to find someone else to transport around. I was glad I got to see the sights I had wanted to see, but I was exhausted after holding onto the motorcycle with all of my strength and wondering if I was safe and making good decisions.
While in Rio, I also visited a huge market that they have once a month and I hung out with my friend Tyler who graduated from Doane a few years before me. He also did a Fulbright in Brazil almost three years ago, so it was fun talking to him and hearing all of his stories.
I'm back home now; I just got home yesterday. It was nice unpacking, doing laundry, and just being back home. It rained most of the day yesterday, but today has been sunny but a bit cold. I can't wait for it to warm up a bit. My teaching schedule has changed just a little bit. I will still have my Monday and Wednesday conversation clubs, but I am teaching with a different professor now. I will still be with Lauro, but I will be with him on Fridays with the third year students. I will be with a new professor, his name is Fernando just like the other professor I was teaching with before, and I will be teaching first year students with him on Tuesdays. I will still have some lectures and workshops on Thursdays too, so all in all, I'll be kept busy but it's a lot of fun.
If you made it this far, you did it! Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed catching up with my travels. Can't wait to see everyone back in the US in November!