Brazil Days 5-7

Hey there! So so sorry that I haven't written this week. My life has been really quite crazy. We are getting ready to leave on our trip to Chile in about a week (soooooo exciting) and because of that, we have been booking and rebooking and scheduling and rescheduling. I actually stole my own identity the other night and that was a doozie to work out with the credit card company. Apparently putting one wrong digit in a passport number while booking things online turns out to be a hasel in the long run. More on that trip later though.

So Brazil. The next day we got up and went to the Guaraní village in Argentina. Yeah, the passport is looking quite awesome at this point with about a thousand stamps on it! :) And that was really interesting. The Guaraní indigenous population has had long and hard struggles with the people who came from Europe basically since the 1500s. There was a bout with the Jesuits (see the movie, "The Mission") and the trouble never really stopped. But now where they stand is a nation within the nations of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay for the most part. They have their own settlements where they raise crops and live somewhat like they used to. They have their own schools and such there as well. This is the kind of village that we visited. It was not a tourist attraction it was a "pueblito" a tiny little village, where about 60 families live I think. It was great. They showed us their traditional houses and traps for animals and weapons and such. Really ingenious things!

I absolutely LOVE learning about indigenous and cultures that are untouched by western hands. Don't get me wrong, I am American through and through and will not be able to change that. I appreciate modern cultures as well, but not quite like cultures that fight to preserve the ways of their ancestors. Cultures that use their hands and the land to produce what they need. That, to me, is just such an organic and raw way of living. In someways, I feel closer to God when I can be closer to nature like that. Anyway!!

The next day basically all we did was get on the bus and come home. We had a lot of fun on the bus again, playing card games and joking around with each other. Thanks to a bit of Advil PM I woke up the next morning happy as a clam to be back in Montevideo!

This week we have been catching up on school work and working hard to get ready for Chile. I am the "team captain" so that's always fun! I can't wait, but I want it all to go smoothly and I have VERY little relative control over that.

Yesterday we went to a museum of a man called Joquín Torres-Garcia. He is a famous South American painter and thinker. It was really interesting. We even got to do an art project with it! Paste and crayons and all. It was great to be back in kindergarden again!

Today is more class, booking, and another visit to the Alianza where Dara and I get to help people with their English. I am looking forward to a Biochem and a P. Chem test before the trip to Chile as well! I can't believe it is already over half-way over! Craziness!!! Keep reading!

Brazil Days 3-4

Monday:

On Monday, we rose with the light of the day, well not quite but close enough, and got some breakfast from the lobby. Special Brazilian breakfasts consisting of ham and cheese, weird looking eggs that I didn't try, pastries, and super strong coffee. Always delicious and with scoop or two of fruit on the side nutritious as well. After that we got on a bus and drove to Paraguay. We are staying at the like the three corners of the countries, so it was not as long of a drive as it sounds. We took a dam tour of the Itapu dam. The cooperation between the countries of Brazil and Paraguay for this dam are just incredible. This hydroelectric station gives all of the energy Paraguay needs and about 25% of what Brazil uses (they split it half and half and Paraguay sells like 90% of its half back to Brazil). Brazil is a giant country so that is quite astounding. It's like the Hoover Dam but a lot bigger. We made a lot of dam jokes for my dam video and it was a dam good time. Okay. I am done. It was great.

Then we spent the rest of the day in Paraguay buying cheap things and eating sketchy hamburgers with pink meat inside of them. It was a little scary but fun. The shopping was the sketchiest thing I have done in a long time. Imagine the street markets found in like NYC plus an exploded Walmart plus no regulation of illegal goods. This combination lends itself to a once in a lifetime experience that I didn't realize was as scary as it was until I got on the bus at the end of it. That is such a college thing to say. I wish I could say that we were actually very safe, but I just don't believe it. We stuck to where our tour guide told us to though.

That night we played some volleyball in the pool at the hotel and then went to a Brazilian Culture show that was really unique. They did things from all over Latin America including a Mexican mariachi band. I felt like I was back at El Chico or something. It was great. Did I mention all of the great beef that I had in Brazil? Well, now I did. I had too much red meat on that trip for sure.

Tuesday:

I just want to write too much about everyday, but I am trying not to. Just wanted to put that on the record. Okay. Tuesday.

Tuesday we got up and had breakfast again and then we drove to Argentina. Seeing the amazing breath-taking falls from one side was not enough. We were hungry for more of them. So we got the park and there was like no line, unlike in Brazil. We started off hiking the upper trail which was gorgeous. We took lots of pictures but didn't really get wet. The day that we went there was 4 times the normal amount of water going over the falls. That means though that there were more just big falls and less little ones scattered about because they all blended together so much. We hiked through the jungle on this path and were shown a lot of medicinal plants by our tour guide. He even told us about some hallucinogens and such. That was a little sketchy but he was really nice and funny.

We ate lunch at another buffet with a ton of beef and such. Same song and dance for the most part. Then we went on the lower trail to get up close and personal with the falls. We got quite wet but saw lots of rainbows and more interesting plant and animal life. We were supposed to go to the Devil's Throat, the most intense part, but because there was so much water, we didn't get to. Apparently the water was sweeping over that path that was supposed to be 10-12 feet over the water. Just a smidge dangerous!

That night we ate out and went to a tourist shop. We came back and played more volleyball. I can't even find the space in the world to write about everything that we did. Basically, trust in this, we have a great time everyday no matter what are doing. We all get along so well, praise the Lord, and have so much fun even when we are stuck on buses for 20 hours or at a boarder with nothing to do. Thank be to God for this group!

Brazil Days 1-2

Well, let's start from the beginning, a very good place to start...

Saturday:

It occurs to me that I last wrote you all from the lobby of the Hotel Panarama shortly after the long bus ride to Brazil. The trip took about 20 hours of road time in the bus, plus the short stops along the way.

One of these stops was in Missiones, Argentina to see the San Ignacio mission. This mission, built by the Jesuits for the Gauraní people is now in ruins. In it's peak time, it housed over 4,000 indigenous people. The Guaraní people were relatively accepting the Jesuit invitation, partially because the Jesuits would keep them from being taken by slave hunters. This same mission is the one that the movie "The Mission" is based on. Although sad, I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in ministry, or really, Christianity at large.

In the same town, we went to the writer Horacio Quiroga's house. This man was from Buenos Aires, but loved the jungle dearly. He was a twisted author, reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe. He wrote deep and dark stories that paralleled his life and the life of those who once lived in the jungle. It was a disturbing place, but very interesting to see.

After our tour of the house and grounds we again loaded up on to the bus (our new home) and had another 2 and a half hours to go. It's amazing just how short 2 and a half hours is to me now.

Once we arrived in Brazil, we settled in and had some time to relax. Matt and I entertained everyone with our dramatic reading skills. No surprise there. We watched some soccer and fell asleep mostly just happy to be horizontal.

Sunday:

What a full and amazing day. We toured the bird park here on the Brazilian side and it was fascinating. There were beautiful birds of all types. Giant man-eating ones and tiny little parakeets. They were adorable. My favorites were the toucans and macaws. The birds are all kept in these giant walk through cages. Some of them are the size of a large room and some the size of gymnasiums. One of the first ones that you walk into is a big one and toucans are just flying all around you. It was very lucky that some of them came over to say hello and pose with us for a bit. They really liked Flip, my video camera.

We saw snakes, an anaconda under the water (spooky) and the man-eating bird. Then we went into the macaw cage! They told us to go in at our own risk and hide anything shiny, like rings, cameras, cell phones, sunglasses, because the macaws might decide to snatch it. We shortly found out why. They were swooping over our heads and going back and forth. They were big and beautiful but a little bit scary at the same time.

After the bird park, we stood in line for a long time to get in to see the Brazilian side of the falls. I was very excited though, because we had lunch while we were waiting and they had turkey sandwiches! I hadn't had turkey since the Miami airport, so it was quite a big deal.

Once we got in, we went straight to our boat ride up to the falls. We took a little safari van thing to a walking trail and then hiked to a waterfall and went down to the river. We got in a motor boat thing and went upstream to the falls. It was absolutely amazing to have our first view of the falls be from below. We went into the falls a little bit and got soaked (fun!!).

We hiked after that the Brazilian side of the trail. The falls are almost at the intersection of Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay and the big part is directly between Brazil and Argentina. I can't even use words to paint the picture of the falls. It is extravagant, awesome, breathtaking and mostly just indescribable. There is so much force and power and water; it is absolutely overwhelming.

That night we talked about the falls and what that reminded us of in the Bible and reflected on how spiritual the experience was. I couldn't help but be marveled by the power and might and size of the falls. I thought of the Casting Crowns song "Your Love is Extravagant" and couldn't stop singing it.

That sums it up for days one and two. Stay turned in for the rest of the trip! :)

Oi tadu bem!

Hello and how are you? I'm coming to you tonight straight from the Foz do Igauçu do Brasil. Which is the small town near the Iguazu Falls. We just got off of our 20 hour bus ride and are settling into our hotel now.

I learned several things about bus trips in the last 24 hours. Here are the ones that I will share with you.

1) Spanish-speaking DVD players will automatically set your language to Spanish if given the chance (subtitles are not immune either).

2) The most comfortable way to sleep in a bus is the way they intended; you might be creative, but your neck won't appreciate it.

3) When watching a movie with an 11-year old, you notice EVERY curse word, even if it's rated PG and only has one.

4) Advil PM works; embrace the drugs.

5) Eat when offered food. The only exception is alfajores (cookies with carmel) after 11 PM.

6) Pack toilet paper. If you don't, you will be paying for it, argentine pesos only.

This list is not exhaustive, but I definitely am exhausted. I apologize for the overall incoherence of this post. I will have more and more exciting news tomorrow!

Presidential Elections

Hey there! I hope that everyone is doing well and enjoying reading along with my adventures. I haven't posted in the last couple of days because nothing to exciting has happened. Yesterday, we had church at Igelsia and then had a "PChem Picnic in the Park." By that I mean that we took our blankets and pillows out into the courtyard and worked on studying for our tests together. No surprise, that made me quite sleepy and I ended up sleeping for the rest of the afternoon. In my defense, I did get some good studying in. Our teacher thought it was really funny that we did that so she took pictures of us. Those to come I am sure.

Today my roommate's alarm didn't go off so we were kind of late to chapel. No big deal though, there was still breakfast on the table when we got down there after chapel. We got our schedules for our next trip and the hotel information and such. I am so excited! I looked on the website today and the place looks really nice. We are going to go to a Jesuit mission, see the falls from both countries (Argentina and Brazil), and spend a day wandering around Paraguay. I am pretty excited about the shopping opportunities there. I hear that you can get really cool, very cheap stuff there.

So that was chapel and breakfast. Then I worked on a couple more videos that will hopefully be posted before Brazil. I have a lot of homework and stuff to do, but I need to get ahead of the game on the videos before Brazil as well. Then we had nioquis for lunch which are like little potato/pasta/dumpling things with like spaghetti meat sauce and as all things that Raquel makes, were delicious! I have tried a lot more foods here mostly because Raquel makes them and I have no choice but to eat them. But it's fairly easy because Raquel is an AMAZING cook. She's creative and frugal but like gourmet, y'all, not kidding!

Then we had biochem! Hip hip hurray... and then we got two hours before our next class because we had a special guest. His name was Bruno, I think, and he told us the early history of Uruguay. For our Latin American Culture course, we have read a lot about the larger countries like Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Peru, so it was good to hear about Uruguay.

After an hour of that, we got ready and went to hear a presidential candidate speak. We got there early and I got to sit by a nice lady from church named Pricilla. She talked to me a lot about their politics and this candidate and different things. Then she asked me to explain our bi-partisan system and the tenants of Democrats and Republicans and I was really intimidated. I did my best and then tapped my poli-sci friend on the back and had her turn around and help me.

Lacalle is the presidential candidate for the Blanco (white) or Nacional party. He was accepting some documents from a group of union workers that had come up with some ideas for him. Because it was all in like formal and fast Spanish, I didn't understand everything but that wasn't the main point. The funniest thing I have seen during my stay here in Uruguay, is how the presidential candidate looked horrifically bored while the people were talking to him. He was bouncing his pen, tapping his nose with it, folding up his nametag and playing with it, doodling and other funny things. He was totally zoned out! If Obama or McCain had done that at a public hearing the month of the election, they would have been taken off the campaign trail. It was funny though.

Afterwards we got to meet both Lacalle and his vice-presidential candidate and that was really interesting. Lacalle has already been president of Uruguay once, and is running for his second term. Apparently, here in Uruguay, presidents are elected for one five year term and there is no consecutive re-election. However, like Lacalle, you can run again in five or ten years depending on if you take one, two or more terms off. Also, they must be elected by more than a 51% majority of popular votes. The polls right now are saying that there will have to be a run-off between the two most popular candidates, Mujica and Lacalle, because they have no chance of getting 51% with independents not voting. Anyway, more on that later this month when the elections take place!

A P-chem test tomorrow and Brazil on Friday! Thanks for reading!

Recovery from BA

This week has been overshadowed with tiredness from our trip to BA. We got back late Tuesday night and grabbed some pizza and went to bed. Castrobo's, our favorite pizzeria, is almost always open, which is convenient for late night snackages. Wednesday, we had class for most of the day. But in the afternoon the few of us here who are pre-health majors got to go help out at a local clinic which was amazing. We got to help med students take notes and weigh people and such for a heart-healthy prevention event just down the street. I got to learn some new Spanish vocab like hipertensión and glicemia (which mean what you think they do, hypertension and glucose level). It was a great opportunity to see cross-cultural medicine and how globalized medical practices and standards are.

Then Thursday, we had class and then Spanish in the afternoon. Our teacher gave us a TON of homework to do in Spanish and we started learning a new tense. My Spanish has been kind of off for a couple of days. I think it is most fatigue. I am also in the phase of cultural adjustment that the newness of the language has worn off so I am finding that I am getting a bit lazy about using it. I need to concentrate more on taking advantage of this opportunity to learn.

Thursday night, Linley and I led another conversation club at the Alianza and it was fun again. We talked about Uruguay, Argentina, and the States. I love talking with them and seeing them try so hard to learn and understand English. They really work hard!

Today I mostly wasted the day uploading pictures and catching up on some homework. We have started a tradition of cooking all together on Friday nights. Allie cooked this week and we had orange chicken and fried rice that was really good! I made some "dirt" and banana pudding for everyone. I didn't realize how much I missed it until I had it tonight. It reminded me a lot of home.

Anyways, no big plans this weekend besides planning our trip to Chile and getting ready to go to Brazil! Thanks for keeping up!

Buenos Aires: Part II

Alright, so we left off with Saturday night at the tango show. Sunday morning we woke up, packed our backpacks and took the subway to another part of BA. The city is huge. We took the subway called the "Subte" and I felt like I was in NYC or Boston again. We went to church and met three girls that go to Pepperdine that are studying abroad in BA. They were nice. The church that we went to was bigger than ours. We enjoyed fellowship for a while and then had service. The song leader was good and reminded me somewhat of my brother. After that we went to the English class to help them out by having another few English speakers. It was so odd to hear people that weren't in our group speaking English. It's like the only place that we expect to hear English is with each other and when someone else speaks it, it is very exciting. Then we hung out and played ping-pong and fusbol with the youth of the church for a while. After that we walked to a bus station and all took the bus to the mall. That was the last activity that we all did together until getting on the bus on Tuesday afternoon!

That night, Amber, Josh, Amanda, Jaimie, Dara, Rachel, Matt and I went to a live jazz concert at a restaurant/coffee shop/book store that was really cute. The performer sang half her concert in English and half in Spanish. She sounded perfect when she was singing but when we met her afterwards she said she only spoke a tiny bit of English. I suppose its like learning to sing in Latin, Italian, or German for us, we are taught to pronounce it right to sing but don't really know what we are saying. The contrabase player was rather fond of eyeing Amber and I at our table, but never did anything about it. Thank goodness!

Monday morning it was my birthday and we woke up and had a wonderful breakfast. Everyone here was super nice and remembered and everything. They have like sweet cresant things here called "media lunas" which are absolutely to die for. I had two on my birthday because I like to get what I want on my birthday. Then Autumn and Joyce and I took a stroll down Florida street which is a major pedestrian street with lots of shops and such. Then everyone met at La Boca for my birthday lunch. Matt, Linley, and Dara and I went off to look for a restaurant that would give us a good deal and seat all 19 of us. We were greeted on the street and talked to a guy for a while. He told us that he would give us drinks, starters, and an entree for 40 pesos, which is like US$8 which is great! So we did that. They also had a live tango show and dancing gauchos (like cowboys). I got to sit right by the stage and then they played "Happy Birthday" and sang in Spanish and I got to get pictures with all of them. So much fun! La Boca has so many bright and wonderful colors and the neighborhood just screams, "Kate!" After that we walked around and shopped. Taylor, Rachel, Autumn, Joyce, and Matt stayed with me most of the day.

We then went to the Recoletta Cemetery. I know it's a bit odd on my birthday, but the place is interesting and beautiful. There were so many statues and amazing things to see. The mausoleums are all super individuals. They have religious and blatantly anti-religious, like Masons and such buried there. Some of them we looked in went down like 2 stories at least and would have HUGE families buried in them.

After that we walked to the huge flower and hung out there for a while. Then we walked to the English tower (a clock tower that was a gift to Argentina, pre-Falklands War). It was about a two mile walk, but in the direction of our hotel, so we just enjoyed the cool but pretty weather that way. After that, we walked back the hotel and I got to take a 2 hour nap. I know you are thinking that this was a waste of time on my birthday, but we had been going so hard the whole time that I really needed it.

Taylor, Rachel, and Allie came and woke Linley and I up after that and we met Matt and Amber for dinner. After that we went and got ready (a little bit cuter) and went to a concert thing. The band only like warmed up at the time that they were supposed to start, and started at 12:30AM (two hours late). We played some games to pass the time and I got to bond better with the group. It was great! That was it for my birthday, but it was seriously one of the most amazing days of my life to date. Stack that on top of emails and facebooks from friends and family and you just can't get any better (besides actually being with my family).

Tuesday, we got up about the same time and took the subway to the Japanese gardens (shout out Bethany Newman). The gardens were beautiful. There were amazing water features and flowers and trees. It was very relaxing. Autumn, Matt, Joyce, and Abel and I ended up being in a group and it was really fun.

After lunch at a restaurant called Kentucky Pizza and decorated with horse racing things, we went to the zoo. First of all, for like US$5 we got to see all of the exhibits including the special ones. Right when we walked in, we decided that we needed a bucket of food for the animals and we were so glad we had it. First of all, there were these like giant water rats/beaver/otter/webbed-toed things that were cute until you got up close. They would come right up to you and try to eat out of your hand or bucket. Then there were these like rabbit/deer/dog things that also came right up to you. Then there were two peacocks (shout out Norris family) and then we got to the animals in cages!

There were so many things. GIANT snakes and turtles (one turtle smiled for my picture) and alligators. Penguins, sea lions, fish, sharks, and a lion fish. Followed by wolves (long-legged fox according to Matt), tapirs, deer, goats, cows, monkeys (a baby monkey!), white and yellow tigers, lions (one looked like Scar with a black mane), antelopes, prong-horns, guineas, chickens, donkeys, hyenas, hippos (we sang the song), birds, spiders, butterflies, llamas (comó se llama, llama? lol.) capybaras, ant-eaters, giraffes, camels (one had two humps), and more! I had never seen most of the animals. We spent all afternoon there and I would have loved to have had more time there. We got to feed basically everything even the sea lions!!!! It was the best zoo ever!!!!!!

So then we got on the bus to the boat to the other bus. The boat ride was really rough on the way back. I was trying to read, but I started to get a little nauseated which is odd because I don't get motion sick ever. Then we got on the two-hour bus ride back to Montevideo. This was amazing because we could see the stars because we were driving through the country. I thought about the stars in Samoa and got to see the Southern cross again, the first time since I have been here!

I got a little sleep on the bus, but I was ready to get back to my home away from home (Casa ACU). Overall, we decided that BA is great for visiting, but Montevideo is better for living because it is smaller, slower paced, less tourist oriented, and well, home...for now!