Tudo Bem, BRAZIL!

Day 1:

At 5:30 a.m. on February 5th our ship sailed into our second port, Salvador, Brazil. The sunrise that morning was breathtaking, setting up a perfect beginning for an exhilarating port. We arrived in Salvador on the last day of the biggest party in the world, Carnival. I was super nervous for both the port and the festivities because we were constantly told awful horror stories of students getting mugged and how we must take ALL possible precautions. Before making my first excursion into the city I put on my fancy shmancy money belt, hid money in my sock and bra, and stripped myself of jewelry that might look like it cost anything. I was ready for anything!

Departing the ship is always such an awkward experience; 700+ white college students flood into the streets at the same time all heading in the same general direction. It is nearly impossible to not look like a tourist in this situation. The first thing I spent my Brazilian Reais on was a Guarana, the national soda. It takes kind of like ginger ale with a citrus flavor and a boost of energy. In order to get to the “old city” of Salvador, Pellorinhio, you have to take a 20 story public elevator which cost 5 centavos. I don’t have any pictures of it because I indeed left my camera on the ship. Pellorinhio was completely captivating with its cobble stone walkways, fountains, statues, and aggressive street peddlers. It was prepared for Carnival with massive stages, boarded up store windows, and extra cerveja (beer) vendors. We walked the streets for a few hours in the scorching sun and ate a traditional feijoada meal consisting of beans, rice, and floppy meat. It was kind of nasty. :-/

After taking a nap on the ship, it was time for CARNIVAL! I had tried to get a ticket to go on an SAS Carnival Camarote (a safer route) because I was so unnecessarily paranoid about the “might/could/would”s. Instead, I sucked it up and made the decision to go with my friends…best decision ever! We left the ship around 6 p.m. and made our way up to Pellorinhio. The festivities were just starting to pick up but were definitely not in full swing quite yet. We ended up in a tiny square where small bands with just drummers were marching in circles accompanied by men on stilts with masks 5 times the size of their head. We danced right along with all of the locals, bouncing up and down, getting a strange foam sprayed all over our bodies. Three locals befriended us and we formed a dance circle, going on the middle one by one showing off our carnival moves, later forming a conga line. Their friendliness and exuberance was such a nice thing to encounter.

We left the square after a while and headed toward the “real” carnival scene. People flooded every single street; not just young people, but little kids, grandparents, mothers, babies, everyone! We met our first float. The floats were European style busses decorated elaborately with bands playing atop. Each float has what’s called a “block” and in order to be in the “block” you have to pay anywhere from 100 to 500 reais for the specific shirt. What separates the block from the average carnival viewer is a rope extending for a good quarter of a mile around the float. We were not in a block, so we danced in front of the roped off float. This dancing was the craziest thing I have ever experienced. When the float would advance, so would the people…and they moved fast! You would all of a sudden find your body moving so quickly and against your will that it felt as if you were floating. It was absolutely fun, but it was also the time when I felt most unsafe. Javier (our interport lecturer) advised us girls to not be surprised if a Brazilian decides to come up to you and kiss you because they love kissing. This is only a funny concept when it doesn’t actually happen to you! At one point while dancing, some Brazilian men were trying to dance with me and my friend - I never once made eye contact with this man (he was behind me) and I kept trying to push him away. However, the music stopped and all of a sudden a face whipped around and his mouth and tongue were all over my face. I immediately yelled “PARA!” (“STOP”) and pushed him away. He wasn’t trying to harm me…but it was really raunchy. Apparently, according to Javier, this happens all the time.

After that lovely experience we made our way to a less rambunctious area were we saw other SASers for the first time all evening. From this spot you could watch the floats pass by without being near the crazy Brazilians. We stayed there until I looked over to an area people were moving away from and saw a blonde SAS girl throwing up like the Exorcist (sorry for that gruesome picture, but I felt it necessary J) We vacated the premises, weaved our way through the crowds back to the square we began in. We grabbed some Brazilian food before calling it a night – many of us had to get back to the ship early in order to leave on our red eye flights to places like Rio de Janeiro, the Amazon, Lencois, and Iguacu Falls. The entire night was a blast and I never felt as if I was about to be mugged. We were back on the ship at 10:30 p.m.

Day 2:

The first and second day in Brazil kind of blurred together - I only got one hour of sleep between the two because our SAS trip to Rio de Janeiro left at 2:30 a.m.! Our group only had 18 people in it, which was much nicer than traveling with 40 people like the other group. Salvador to Rio is usually done in a straight shot, but we ended up having a three hour layover in a city I yet to have a name for. From what I could tell from looking out the airport window was it was very green and inland. We finally arrived in Rio at NOON! The other group left at 6:00 a.m. and got to Rio the same time as us…this was very unfortunate to say the least. We all immediately went to grab lunch on Copacabana Beach and afterwards quite a few of us returned to our hotel for a nap. The moment my head hit the pillow I was out. I’m not one of those people who can stay up all night and remain unaffected – I will get sick. I got on the internet that night on the hotel’s computer where I was able to talk to my parents and my sister on instant messaging, which was super exciting! I slept the rest of the night….kind of lame, but very much needed.

Day 3:

We met our tour guide, Rodrigo, in the lobby at 8:45 a.m. (which is 3:45 a.m. your time..haha) after having an amazing complementary breakfast! Brazil has some outstanding pastries if I may say so myself. We first visited the favelas, the slums of Rio. The homes looked as though large concrete boxes were stacked atop of one another with little holes cut out for windows. The favelas spanned for miles and miles, climbing up on hill sides and leaking into the industrial areas. It was ironic how beautiful they were from a distance. We didn’t actually go into the favelas because it was too dangerous, but we got to visit a special school set up for the kids in order to take them out of the streets and give them a good life. They have these kinds of schools all over the city. We also visited a Samba school where they practice dance for Carnival, although we didn’t get to see any dancing because Carnival had just ended. It was kind of a bummer.

Next Stop: Sugar Loaf Mountain! Sugar Loaf looked a little like an oversized mound of manure…but much prettier and less smelly. We ascended the mountain via cable cars capable of fitting 40 people, and by golly we fit all forty! That part was a little smelly… The view from the top was unbelievable! Christ the Redeemer kept peaking out from behind the clouds every five minutes making for some beautiful pictures.

Afterwards we went to one of Rio’s fabled Churrascarias, an unbelievable all-you-can-eat restaurant with every possible kind of meat served to you on skewers the size of a sword. The meal was complete with singing, dancing, and waving of napkins. If you ever go to Brazil, you must go to a Churrascaria.

That night we were lucky enough to see the famous Brazilian futbol team, the Flemengos, play in Brazil’s largest stadium! The stadium was hardly crowded, maybe one third full, but we ended up sitting in the section where the most action was going on. Brazilians dressed in their black and red jerseys played drums, sang, and waved flags the entire game long. They really did not stop once…not even for a breath or a sip of water. It was pretty nuts. The game was all right, but I enjoyed the environment much more - we made friends with a couple of Brazilians who spoke really good English. After getting back from the game, me and a couple of my friends found a pizzeria along the beach where they had the most amazing pizza I have ever tasted…yes, even better than Mackenzie! My friend had heard Brazilian pizza was good, but who would actually believe something like that – you expect things like rice and beans from South America. We were pleasantly surprised to say the least.

Day 4:

Today was the day of Christ the Redeemer! We left again at 8:45, but this time we boarded four-by-four jeeps. It was a little awkward riding through the city of Rio in these jeeps made for the jungle, but the locals didn’t take a second glance. The rainforest sits right in the middle of the city, rather the city sits around the rainforest. On the way up we saw a couple of waterfalls and stopped at a Pagoda donated by the Chinese that overlooked the most astounding view I had ever seen. Describing it would not do justice…ask me for the pictures when I get back.

Christ the Redeemer was far touristier than I could have imagined, but it still did not fail in amazing me. The crowds of people were difficult to maneuver around in order to get a decent, undisturbed picture…at the same time the statue is so tall that no one could possibly get in its way. If you have never seen a picture, Jesus Christ is a massive stone figure with his arms outstretched reaching out to the entire city of Rio. How they got that statue all the way up that mountain is beyond me.

That was supposed to be our last stop…however our tour guide decided to take us to Saint Sebastian, a small town near the favelas. While we were there, we discovered our jeep’s axil was broken. Hah. Our group leader started freaking out, yelling at our tour guide, and some of the dudes in our group started doing the same. It was all really silly. All we had to do was get some taxis to take us back to the hotel, which was accomplished in about ten minutes. They say people’s true colors come out in a crisis!

We made our way to the airport and arrived at the ship that night around 10:30 p.m.

Day 5:

Today was simple and nice. I slept in until 10:30, woke up, met some friends and went into Pellorinhio. I ate my last Brazilian meal complete with a Guarana. We went to an internet café where I got to talk to my Daddy on the telephone, which made me very happy because I haven’t talked to him directly since I left home. We hit the market for the remainder of the day where I bought some gifts for both friends/family and myself.

We said goodbye to Brazil on the ship with a grandiose barbeque. Brazil was a much more enjoyable experience than I had thought it was going to be…in fact, I can honestly say I will be back.