Rio / Early Return

Hello everyone!

This past weekend I spent in one of the most beautiful cities I have ever seen, and perhaps one of the most beautiful in the world, Rio de Janeiro. I will spare you the travel details… except for the flight into the city. Once I knew that we were about to land, I started to search for the omnipresent Cristo Redentor statue on top of the hill, and right before my eyes out of the window opposite my row he appeared with open arms, as if to welcome me to the new city and culture I was to experience. After arriving to the hostel where I was putting my bag for the weekend I met a Brazilian traveler and and Aussie and the three of us decided to head straight for the man in the sky. We found a guide from the bottom of the hill at Corcovado where the statue is located and had him take us up the hill, first to the area where many of the helicopter tours take off from, and then to the top. To be honest, the statue is a sight to see, but it pales in comparison to the view that you catch from all around it. Rio is set within a national park, with city life fighting its way up the hills into the jungle vegetation. When you are within the confines of the city streets, every neighborhood feels like it's own distinct community, as each piece of the city is separated by either an ocean inlet or part of the many fault lines that run through the city. From above, you can catch the scope of the city as a whole, and see how each piece fits in to the massive jigsaw of city and nature. It is a place, like many in the world I suppose, that you can see pictures of a thousand times in your life, but nothing compares to the actual sight, to feel the breeze from the top of the mountain, and to take in such a marvelous new place.
On Friday evening, after spending some time at Ipanema watching the sun set, I went with some fellow travelers to a part of town called Lapa, which holds a street party that serves as a miniature carnival full of different sights, sounds, tastes and fragrances. There were Samba bands playing in bars, doors and windows open to let everyone in on the rhythm and heartbeat of Brazil. The rhythms come fast and furious, and seem to constantly change, so while I enjoyed getting in to the spirit, I didn't by any means conquer the beast that is the samba. Every turn down a new alleyway was a trip into a different musical experience, from the samba groups to reggae to drum circles supporting the art of capoeira. The night was full of laughs and some great new acquaintances, and was one I will never forget.
On Saturday I took a guided trip into the largest favela in Rio, called Rocinha. More than 200,000 people live within the slum that is really a city in itself, it has its own commerce, laws and infrastructure. The only effective way to get up into the heart of it is to take a motorcycle, so the each member of the group was given a ride by a local cyclist who takes people up and down the hills everyday for a living. Once we reached the top, we were able to go inside a home and see the view from the top of the favela, which was as good as any five star hotel in the world. The spirit of Rio is one that accepts the fact that a vast number of people in their city have no choice but to live in the favelas similar to these, and they embrace the not only the wealthy tourist sections of the city, but the beauty and necessity of the favelas as well. Most of the people from the favelas travel into the city everyday to perform all kinds of jobs, so it is not as if they are disconnected in any way from the heart of the city, simply by location and a lack of monetary resource. From the crest of the city, we cut through the narrow streets and alleyways through different parts of the city, visiting some local shops and people along the way until we reached the end of one of more than one hundred ways to get to the foot of the hill.
I appreciated the opportunity to be able to go into the favela and see the lives of the people within it, but at the same time the whole tour felt a bit contrived and was just a made for tourists sort of attraction. It was very similar in scope to a trip I had taken into the slums of Cape Town, where you are able to see and appreciate the world in which the people live, but it feels strange to have your camera out and at the ready simply to say that you had been there. Also having the people around me snapping photos of people living their everyday lives seemed a strange, as if we were at the zoo or some sort of attraction where the people didn’t matter, only the pictures you could take and show to your friends at home.
The final day of my trip I spent in the gigantic botanic gardens that lie near the Ipanema neighborhood, in a seemingly endless array of new plants and trees that stretched on for miles, a beautiful spot for a picnic or simply a walk through the park, as many families were taking advantage of. After my time in the gardens I headed to the famed Copacabana beach for the afternoon, amongst the wildest display of umbrellas and people that I have ever witnessed. From the water to the volleyball courts that run down the beach's entirety, the beach was filled to max capacity with people of all sorts, from local Cariocas soaking up the sun to tourists all over the world looking to enjoy a day on one of the most famous beaches in the world.
At the end of the weekend, I was sorry to have to head out of Rio, as I'm sure most people are who have spent any time there, but I did get to meet some great people and experienced a new piece of Brazil very different both geographically and culturally from where I have been before.
This brings me to the next piece of my blog, which will make this most likely the last one I will post. I have decided, sadly and for a number of different reasons, to cut my trip to Brazil short. The job situation did not work out as I had expected and I made the decision that a shorter timeframe for my work and stay here would be the best decision for me. In some ways, the trip has exceeded my expectations and in others it has left me frustrated and disappointed. Nevertheless, it has been an experience that I will no doubt learn from and I will take every bit of what I have learned and experienced here and use it to move forward into my next endeavor, whatever that may be. It has been great for me to be able to come and see my friends, George and Dani, and to get to experience what their lives are like, and I am forever grateful for the time I have been able to spend with them. They have been such supportive forces for me and without them here my trip would have lacked my favorite aspect, their company, and the time I was able to spend with them in Sao Paulo on the weekends having some amazing times and being able to be a part of their lives, if only for a few months. I will be heading back to Colorado early next week, and I will be starting anew. I will take all that I have learned here, about travel, living and working abroad and about myself and hopefully put it to good use moving forward with my life. While this has been a difficult decision for me, I do not see it as an outright disappointment, but simply another step in my walk of life, and I am blessed to have had the opportunity to experience what I have during my time here. I want to thank all of you for your support and for all of you that have read the blog, I hope you have enjoyed it, even though it was a bit shorter than I had expected. I am very excited to return to Colorado and see my family and friends, so hopefully I will see you all very soon.

Paz e Amor
Conor

P.S. I still need to upload some photos of Rio, but I don't have internet access at home so bear with me and I will have some up on facebook in no time.

A Real Peach at the Beach!

Hello everybody,

Sorry it has been awhile since the last post on here, but hopefully this post will make up for it! Last weekend I was invited to go to Dani’s parent’s beach house, which is on the island of Ilhabela off the coast of the state of Sao Paulo. It was a beautiful drive out to the coast, took about 2 and a half hours from the heart of Sao Paulo, and the landscape was filled with lush jungle vegetation and scattered with small lakes and waterfalls every few miles. It provided a much needed break from the urban sprawl of Campinas and Sao Paulo. The island is a magnificent sight from across the bay, with foliage that I haven’t seen since I watched the last few episodes of Lost last spring (minus the smoke monster, of course). Once we arrived across the bay, we were greeted by Dani and her sister’s boyfriend Bruno, who whisked us up the hill in their personal dune buggy to their home away from home.

The beach house, my American friends, was everything I had imagined and more. While I had seen photos of the house and the surrounding bay and scenery, they did no justice to the view that I was privy to once I made my way through the living room and onto the patio, complete with a barbeque, a tanning deck, hammocks, and an infinity pool. What’s an infinity pool, you ask? Well check out the photos and you will get an idea, my blogging skills just wouldn’t do it justice. After a late afternoon churrasco (BBQ) and a lengthy nap (a welcome Brazilian custom), we took to the water as the sun was beginning to slide its way down the sky across the bay. I got to experience the joy that is driving a jet ski, the slight adrenaline kick when you hit top speed and the spray of salt water with every new wave or break in the bay. George and I traded spots until the black night settled on the water, and we made our way back towards the yacht club for a quick dip in the pool and some caipirinhas. The caipirinha is the traditional Brazilian fruit cocktail, made with any type of fruit (pineapple is my personal favorite) and a liquor called cachaça, which is made from fermented sugar cane. The drinks are strong, and they can be troublesome because the alcohol is so beautifully hidden behind the flavor of the fruit.

Sunday morning after breakfast we took to the high seas again, except this time we went by sail boat. I have been on the water for a decent amount of time in my life, but I had never gotten to experience the mellow drift of a sailboat. Dani’s father Rich, showed me the ropes, quite literally, and taught me a little about the science of sailing. After a two hour trek, we found our spot, dropped anchor and swam to the nearest beach. The water was slightly opaque, but just the right temperature to cool us off after lying on the scorching decks of the boat. After our swim we headed back to the house and took another delicious nap before packing up and heading back across the water for and back to reality.

The most memorable part of my beach weekend, however, was not the beautiful home, or the jet skis ripping across the bay, but the people I was able to spend time with and the hospitality that I was treated to. My Brazilian friends, from Dani and George, to their families and friends, have done so much to make me feel welcome and at home. It’s in no way possible to repay them for this feeling of warmth and the unabashed sense of family that they have given me. They are the true representation of what Brazilian culture is all about, and even if you have heard stories like mine, it is something that needs to be experienced to understand. As your can see from my last couple posts, while my life in Campinas is far from optimal, I have had some truly magical times with two of the most interesting friends I have ever come across.

I hope everyone at home is doing well, I wish you all the best in your snowy endeavors, I will talk to you all sometime soon!

Paz e Amor,

Conor